A/N: Thank you to everyone who has read the story! No one has pelted me with rotten tomatoes yet, so I guess it's not too awful. After the chaos of the beginning, this is where life starts to settle into routine for our dear characters. Everyone has some adjustments to make, and for the first time we get to see Sarah's friends. I'm going to warn you now, I don't write in accents. I never have, I'm awful at it, so I probably never will. So just imagine they sound the same way as in the movie, if it makes you happy, because I have no ability to display that in type. Sorry!

Chapter 10: Headaches

Jareth was still waiting outside the door as Lilac slipped out of the room. His narrow-eyed look was enough to confirm that he was still aggravated at being kept from his Heart. "In my study," he said shortly, and dropped a crystal to transport them. Lilac hated teleportation by magic, but allowed Jareth his petty revenge without comment.

Inside his study, he walked to the door that connected to his room and opened it. He peered silently at the sleeping woman for several minutes, before quietly shutting the door. The slight reconnection to his consort helped to settle his nerves. He crossed his arms over his chest as he turned to regard Lilac.

"Well?" he demanded.

"You heard everything we said?" she asked.

He nodded impatiently. "Your conclusions?"

Lilac sighed. "She is very traumatized, but I think she has the strength to overcome it, given enough time and rest. That is what she needs more than anything else at the moment, and a familiar face to support her."

"I am a familiar face," he pointed out crossly.

Lilac hesitated, and then nodded and shared her theory of Sarah's disassociation with his appearance. By the end, Jareth was growling and pacing the study.

"What can I do to help her?" he demanded. Only his awareness of Sarah in the next room prevented him from shouting.

"For now, I suggest we limit her visitors," Lilac said. "As she recovers, she may wish to see the friends she made on the first trip through the Labyrinth, but as if this moment, it is more important that she is not overwrought. With your permission, I would bring in my niece, Zinnia. Between her, myself, and you, we can see to Sarah's needs until she is ready to face the world."

"See to it," Jareth ordered sharply. As far as he was concerned, there would be no delay in anything Sarah needed. "What role do you have for me to play in this?" he asked narrowly. So far Lilac's advice seemed sound, but the moment he didn't like what she said, he was going to do his own thing. He had no idea what that was, when his presence was both a trigger and an aid to Sarah, but he would think of something. All he knew was that he would be spending as much time as possible with his Heart.

"Yes, I would not dare to exclude you from her care," Lilac said drily. "However, you should take care to position yourself in the light so that she might always see your face. I imagine it will be a while yet before she does more than eat or sleep. She is in very poor condition."

"I saw," his voice was rough with strangled rage.

"When she starts spending more time awake, we will see what she can handle."

"She will handle it," he was confident. "She is strong, my Sarah."

"No, I didn't imagine you would choose someone who wasn't, but it will be difficult on all of us, not just her, for the time being."

As Lilac had predicted, the next few days were fraught with trial and error and—on Jareth's part—headaches. The first headache came because he could not forgo the running of his kingdom, and he resented every moment not spent with his Heart. Ogres had joined the trolls in besieging the Labyrinth. He was not overly worried about the greater forces opposing the Labyrinth, but it was yet something else that tried to draw his attention from Sarah.

There were almost daily incursions into the Labyrinth that he had to deal with, and a multitude of reports from every corner of his kingdom for him to read and respond to. He turned the low table in front of the settee into a temporary work desk. It was the only way he could spend more time with Sarah, and be there for her whenever she woke. The problem was that he kept forgetting and putting his feet up on the table. More than one of his missives was rendered half-illegible by the print of his boots.

As if facing outward threats wasn't enough, he was soon facing an insurrection from within—when Sarah's friend discovered she was in the Castle. Goblin gossip traveled faster than thought, and there was no hope of hiding her presence from them. The three of them confronted Jareth in the courtyard one morning, led by Hoggle and surrounded by their respective posse of goblins.

It was four days after Sarah had called to him in the caverns, and the last night had been particularly hard for everyone. He was in no mood to accommodate other people. At the same time, he knew Hoggle, Ludo and Sir Didymus were trying to see Sarah, and the sooner he told them to stop, the less likely they were to break into his quarters by force and upset Sarah further.

"We want to see Sarah," Hoggle demanded without preamble. The dwarf planted his hands on his hips, looking even more surly and disgruntled than usual. Hoggle's goblins were similarly stubborn and suspicious, as if they were prepared to hold Jareth down to get past him.

Jareth gritted his teeth. He'd planned the confrontation in the courtyard so there was no chance of it being overhead by Sarah. "You can't," he said shortly.

"You mean you won't let us," Hoggle sniffed.

"Take your pick," he ground out. "You still won't see her."

"She wouldn't want to be cooped up with nothing but a rat like you for company!"

Hoggle's words hit him particularly hard. Last night flashed in Jareth's mind. He'd been sleeping on the settee when Sarah began to whimper from a nightmare. He had gone to her, and tried to stir her from the nightmare without waking her. He hadn't conjured a light, just stroked her hair and back soothingly. Unfortunately, she woke, and upon finding his dark figure kneeling beside her on the bed, had reacted as if he were a demon come to force her.

He called frantically for Lilac and Zinnia, had tried to make Sarah look at his face—he made a light at her first scream—but she was too far gone in her terror. He was forced to put her out, again, and this time whenever they tried to lift the spell, she went right back into her terror. It took more than six hours before she slept off her horror of him. He couldn't lie; knowing that he had caused such a massive set back made him feel like the Bog of Eternal Stench.

He rounded on the dwarf furiously. "No? And do you suppose she has been pining for your company? I can honestly say she has not spoken a single word about any of you!" He laughed cruelly. "Now, no matter how much you want to see her, or think I am keeping her captive against her will, I will tell you that she is in no condition to see you. If you care for her, as her friends, you will leave her alone and let her recover in peace!"

Stunned silence greeting his declaration. He glared at each of them, daring them to argue further. Sir Didymus, his goblins lined up in a crooked military fashion behind him, was the first to be brave.

"Recover, sire? Has the fair lady taken ill?" the little fox-creature piped up.

Jareth remembered Sarah's screams, the frantic way she tried to get away from him, her nightmares and sobs, the way he couldn't even stay in the same room as Lilac and Zinnia tried to comfort her. She was his Heart, and he was not allowed to touch or hold her when she needed succor. Shame burned in his veins.

"She was captured by the trolls," he said in a low, bitter voice. "They hurt her before she broke free. The slightest disturbance now threatens to send her into a panic attack."

There was horror on all three faces. Ludo summed it up the best.

"Sarah hurt?" the rock-caller crooned in his deep, slow voice.

"Yes," Jareth spat, feeling his failure to protect his heart keenly.

"Ludo sad. Sarah get better soon." The big creature lumbered forward. "For Sarah." He dropped a sizeable stone into Jareth's hand.

Jareth went incandescent with rage, and nearly crushed the gift in his hand. The giving of gifts was an important part of Fae courtship. To give something to a woman already claimed by another Fae was a declaration of the intent to seduce her. Except this was Ludo, and he didn't think Ludo wanted to seduce Sarah.

And then he felt the warmth in his hand. He looked down, and realized what he had taken for an oblong stone a little large than his fist was anything but. It was a rock baby, an incredibly rare and ancient creature of the Underground. He'd thought they were all extinct ages ago. Trust the rock-caller to find something so scarce and precious.

This infant was probably four times older than Jareth, and it was still considered a newborn by its kind. Rock babies slept for centuries at a time, waking for only a few minutes each millennium to eat the minerals it needed to grow. While they slept, they emitted a feeling of benevolence and warmth. Sarah would definitely benefit from the rock baby's soothing presence.

"I will see that she gets it," he said, somewhat humbled by Ludo's offering. "And I will inform you when she is ready to accept visitors." He did not like the way these three questioned him—and led their goblins to do the same—but he could not fault their loyalty to their queen.

The Castle staff became another source of contention for Jareth. There were a few dwarfs like Hoggle, and some elves like Lilac and Zinnia, as well as a decent handful of other Underground races, but most of his staff were goblins. Knowing that Sarah might not have pleasant associations with goblins after her first visit to the Labyrinth, he ordered them to keep out of her sight.

Unfortunately, though she didn't see any goblins, Sarah still heard and occasionally felt them rushing by her. Being surrounded by unseen creatures that giggled and made noises sent her into a wild-eyed state of fear. It wasn't a full-blown panic attack, but it took all the efforts of Jareth, Lilac and Zinnia to keep her from descending into one. Once they talked her down from waving a fork at anything that moved, Jareth called in two of his best-behaved goblin maids. He gave them a stern warning to not make any sudden moves or frighten Sarah.

Sarah and the goblins studied each other for a few minutes, and then she began to relax. It wasn't the goblins that bothered her, Jareth realized. It was not being able to see who was around her. He rescinded his order to keep out of sight, and Sarah got along well with the staff.

By far, the biggest vexation to Jareth was Sarah herself. She slept far too much in her first week at his Castle. He was constantly distracted and hovering over her. He was impatient for her to wake, and when she was awake, he wanted to know what had happened to her. Unfortunately, Lilac insisted that they not press her until she was ready. He understood the wisdom in that, but there was a burning need in him to repay the trolls with the same pain they had inflicted on his Heart.

The Labyrinth felt different, with Sarah in residence. His Heart was back. She might not be using her magic as the Heart of the Labyrinth, except by accident sometimes, but just the fact that she was here in the Labyrinth again made it easier for him to defend his kingdom. He marveled constantly at her sleeping form. He could still feel her heartbeat in his chest, and grew used to the feeling of two hearts within his ribs. Could she feel his heartbeat as well?

And yet not everything fell into place like it should have. There were setbacks, the worst of which being the nightmare she had four days after her arrival. As she began to recover her strength, she spent more time awake. Jareth was eager to show her the Castle and grounds, everything she would be queen over—make her his—but there were complications. For one thing, she could barely venture out of bed without falling over in exhaustion.

Lilac and Zinnia were invaluable in helping Sarah with those early days, when she had trouble bathing and dressing herself. Zinnia was a young elf, not yet two hundred years old, with skin a delicate shade of orange and bright yellow hair. She had a way of prattling on that helped to distract and cheer Sarah, though Jareth found her ceaseless chatter to be inane. Still, Sarah seemed to enjoy it, and all he had to do was raise one eyebrow, or clear his throat, and Zinnia was silenced. It was good to be the Goblin King.

They discovered that any glimpse of Jareth was enough to terrify Sarah. If she did not see his face within seconds, she went into a panic attack that could only be halted by putting her under a magical sleep or removing Jareth from the situation. Even allowing her to see his face was an imperfect solution, for she had to continuously watch him whenever they were together. The second she looked away, any hint of his presence made her stiffen.

It was not just his appearance, they found out the hard way. It was also his voice and touch that she could not tolerate. If she didn't know he was in the room, and he spoke from behind her, she shrieked and cowered from him. It was the same if he reached for her when she wasn't expecting it. His rage grew with each flinch and whimper, until it was a miracle the Labyrinth did not melt with his fury.

The trolls had really done a number on his Heart.

Viewing his face was sometimes not enough to bring her back from a panic. If he was too upset, or moved too fast, raised his voice, it shattered whatever calm his face had on her. Lilac had entirely too much self-preservation to suggest that he leave, especially when Sarah was in one of her attacks, but even he could see there were times when it was better for him to step back. He hated doing it, every time. He kept his face impassive until he was out of sight, and then he stormed off. He took his wrath out on some hapless trolls or ogres lost in the Labyrinth, and returned when he could control his temper again. By that point, Sarah was usually recovered as well. So long as he was careful, he could enter her presence again.

What he really needed after those sessions was to pull Sarah into his arms and guard her against all comers, but that was out of the question. Her body had been healed of the troll-inflicted wounds, but she still shied away from unnecessary touch. The only thing that kept him from going berserk with a jealous rage was that she did not allow anyone to touch her, not just him. He needed to have patience with her, but it was so hard when everything inside him cried out that she was his.

He came back from one of his sessions with the trolls to find that Sarah was not fully recovered. He paused outside the door to his room when he heard sobbing inside. His chest lurched, and it took everything in him not to wrench open the door and charge in. His Heart needed him, but when he had done so before, he only succeeded in sending her into a worse attack.

Shaking with helplessness—a very unfamiliar feeling for one of the most powerful figures in the Underground—he leaned on the door with his eyes closed. He needed more than to comfort his Heart. He needed her to want him, and she didn't. The trolls might have been done torturing her, but every day it was like his skin was being flayed off. He was about to leave to burn some more trolls, when he heard her voice.

"I don't mean to," she wept.

"There, there, child," Lilac soothed. "It will be alright."

"It's not alright," Sarah cried. "It's not fair! I don't want to be afraid of him. But when he turns around, I don't know who he is! It's awful, and I hate it. I don't know why everyone is being so nice to me, I haven't done anything to deserve it, and it's worse when it's him, because I can't even look at him half the time…"

Waves of hot and cold swamped his body. A chill swept over him when he heard that exclamation that had so frustrated and amused him during her first visit, followed by heat when he realized her sense of injustice was for him this time around. And it continued as she spoke, heartache that she knew what she was doing to him, but unable to control it. Disbelief that she didn't realize what she was to him, why he would move the stars to make her feel better. She didn't know he loved her. So far as he was concerned, when she won his Labyrinth and his heart, she had earned everything he was. He had told her!

Just fear me, love me, do as I say, and I will be your slave.

But those were the words he said last time, six years ago. Had he said anything since then? No, instead he told not to mistake him for a lover, and she said no chance of that. He felt like stale Bog water. He needed to show her that nothing had changed for him. She would always be his Heart, and it was time she knew it. He backed away from the door, leaving Lilac to settle Sarah. He was already plotting his course.