How to Woo Properly: Ch. 10

Author's Disclaimer: No, I do not own Labyrinth. All rights go to their respective owners. Likewise, the original idea for this story is not mine, as it belongs to Kyndsie, who wrote All's Fair at the County Fair and then kindly allowed me to expand on the ideas in it. Nothing can replace her original words, but I tried my best here to stay true without them. Everything before led up to this moment as it was highlighted in her one-shot, so I hope you enjoy it!

Chapter 10: The County Fair

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"When did you next see Jareth, Sarah?"

"It was not until the fair, actually."

"How? You said that it had been a few days, maybe even a week, before the fair!"

"Jareth could not make it for reasons beyond his control."

He definitely had goblins appear though, and they were very sorry. I hated sending the goblins back, but at least I told them to tell Jareth that I understood and that he was missed. Those always-pesky runners strike again!

"Really."

"Stuff at work came up. It is not frequent when it does, but when it does, he has to be there. Surely, Jessie, you have seen him disappear at a moment's notice for work?"

"Yes, twice. Both times, he was gone so fast; he didn't even take dessert with him!"

"In any case, he cares a lot about his work. He did tell me that work came up, so I knew. It didn't matter, though, because I was busy with the fair. Naturally, Jessie roped me in to help with set-up at the last minute."

"What all did you do during the actual fair?"

"I had two main jobs, the kissing booth and the bachelorette auction."

"Believe me, Sarah, I tried to convince Jareth to be in the bachelor auction. I even asked Dave to help me, but Jareth could not be convinced."

"Was that before or after you told him that I was going to be in the bachelorette part, Jessie?"

"Come to think of it, it was after."

"No wonder you failed."

"Yes, I see that now. It wasn't until I saw him appear at the auction that I realized what he was doing."

"And that is as far as you are going with the story. We will start with the beginning of the day. I got there early, and I checked out the other booths. I wanted to go on the rides at night. When it was my designated time to stand watch for the kissing booth, I got there."

"Stand watch?"

"Of course! Any girl who had the great honor of being voted and chosen to kiss at the kissing booth knew that there were going to be all kinds of weirdos at the fair, getting in line to kiss a pretty girl. The way they set up the girls was quite ingenious. Early on, they had the college girls come up in an attempt to bring out the younger crowd. As the day wore on, the young professionals came in, followed by the thirty-somethings who all looked ten years younger. They knew who to expect. With those expectations, all us girls formed a pact if you will, and we decided to watch out for one another."

"What were you watching out for?"

"The usual stuff. Since each kiss was timed already, it was a matter of figuring out which ones had bad breath, who smoked, and making sure that no one was chewing gum or eating food. None of us wanted to deal with that stuff, so we did what we could to help. We had water available, as well as trash cans to get rid of everything. Occasionally, if the breath was really bad, we would 'just happen' to bring out a tic tac to have, and then offer it to the next person in line, who always was willing to when he had a pretty girl smiling at him like that. Overall, I'd say we were doing a pretty good job."

"You weren't worried about anything else?"

"No. The committee decided earlier and made rules about where hands could be during the kiss, as well as if multiple kisses could be had."

"Were they allowed?"

"No. Otherwise, everyone would want more than one."

"Very true."

"For which I am grateful. The only special attention we girls could give was in choosing certain men from line and letting them kiss us. Otherwise, we had the luck of the line. Originally, I was supposed to be in the afternoon, but someone needed to get off early, so I took her shift, which happened to be the last one of the day for the booth. As it turned out, I would have to close the booth quickly in order to still make it to the bachelorette auction on time."

"Did you have to change as well between the two?"

"No, thankfully. I just decided to wear the dress I was supposed to wear to the auction to the kissing booth as well. I'm sure most of you remember it well, a cotton-candy pink confection of a dress, complete with a slight train. So beautiful and hard to walk in. I felt like a princess in it."

And came out a Queen, or almost a Queen.

"It looked so well on you, Sarah."

"Thanks, Karen. I liked it, and so did Jareth."

"When did he come to the fair?"

"At the end. I was the last person there since there was no longer a line. I just sat there, smiling at all and sundry, secretly grateful that I didn't have to kiss anymore old dudes or have Jareth see me kiss them, if he even came. It was while I was waiting that Dick showed up, of all people!"

"You still here, Sarah?"

"For another fifteen minutes, yes. How are you, Dick?"

"Better now. I'm dating someone again, and she is really nice. Did you finally marry that Jared fellow who kicked my sorry butt out of your life?"

"His name is Jareth. No, I didn't."

"Why not? I saw how he looked at you, and you at him."

"And how was that?"

"He saw no one else. When he looked at me, it was with anger and hate like none I had ever seen before, despite barely knowing you. He fought for you, far more than I was ever willing to do, even though I was the one who wanted to get married to you."

"His feelings were always there."

"You two must have had some history before me."

"Not as much as you think."

"Then why was it that you closed yourself off from me? Why did you never show any feelings around me?"

"Because you didn't show any affection toward me!"

"Only because you held back. You were always holding something back, or hiding. I was never really sure. I figured you would tell me after we married."

"No, not likely."

"That is what I figured. Does Jareth know?"

"Oh yes. He has always known."

"Is that why you smiled at him in ways that you never had with me? He knew all about me, but I had never heard of him. You hugged and kissed him in front of people, right after we broke up and when he fought me. It took you months to kiss me, let alone in public. Why such a change?"

"He's different."

"I'll say. And you like him?"

"Yes."

"Then why haven't you married him yet? I rather doubt he has lost interest in you the way he stared at you. He looks like one of those brooding fellows from a period drama with the starchy outfits and manners, and he only seems to have eyes for you. But that is just me."

"That is one way of describing him, I suppose. Thanks for telling me all that. I didn't realize all that."

"It's fine. We don't always recognize fault in ourselves. Goodness knows it took a beating from whatever-his-name-is and some choice words for me to see what I was doing wrong. Did I ever mention that I'm still sorry about my behavior then?"

"You have. But thanks again. You are forgiven."

"Thanks. Well, there's my girl. I gotta get going, but good luck with Jareth!"

"Bye! Good luck with your girlfriend!"

"And off Dick went with his girlfriend. I haven't seen or heard from him since, but I hope that he is happy now. I'm just glad that we were able to have that talk and have more closure. It was so much easier since I understood myself better."

"For a while, you hated his guts."

"That was in the past. I blamed him, not me. That, and I'm about to get married, so I am happy and at peace with the world."

"That last reason sounds like the more likely cause of this goodwill."

"It doesn't matter! What does matter is who came five minutes later."

"Was it Jareth?"

"Of course. He appeared in his work clothes, and for once, he fit in with all of the other outfits seen at the fair. He strutted his way up to me with flowers and a single ticket for a kiss."

"Only one ticket, Jareth? I'm surprised and hurt."

"I only need one, Sarah, to do it right."

"You sound a little over-confident there, Jareth. Are you sure you are able to make good on such a claim?"

"Quite. It will be a piece of cake."

"I think both Jareth and I had the same idea then. I wanted to flip the tables on him and give him a kiss to remember so that I could laugh at him after. I didn't bother putting on a timer for the kiss, knowing that I wouldn't need or hear it."

That, and he would probably just reorder time to get more time with me.

"Jareth, on the other hand, had come prepared. I know I had missed him, but it was still nothing compared to him and his repressed feelings of love that he had been harboring for months."

Months, my foot. More like years.

"I went in to kiss Jareth, giving him everything I had. Every feeling of fear, of dislike-turned-opposite, of my desire to see him after missing him for those short days came out. And then Jareth returned it with his love. I have spoken of the warmth I have felt when I kiss him, but it was nothing like this kiss. This kiss was all heat, enough to make me reach for him and hold him close, the same way he clung to me as though I was his life. He burned for me, and he shared it with me. It didn't take long for the kiss to deepen so that we were both lost in the loving warmth that had been created between us."

"Is this your favorite kiss of his?"

"By far! At some point, my body accepted the warmth and had come alive, only to have Jareth hold me so close, as though he was not going to part with me. I knew what he felt, but I was not afraid of it at all. Rather, I accepted and wanted it with all my heart. I'm pretty sure we would have just stayed there the rest of the night, lost to the world in our embrace, but the woman from the bachelorette auction appeared, and eventually had to tell us to pull apart so that I could be the first bachelorette to be auctioned off."

"Did Jareth take well to that?"

"Do you think he did?"

"Nope. I rather think he wished her gone."

Probably in the bog.

"He did. But he held back for my sake. He just gave me another kiss on the forehead and told me to be ready."

"What do you mean by ready, Jareth?"

"Aren't you going to the auction? I imagine there will be other men wanting you. However, that is not to be."

"Why is that?"

"Because, this is the day that your dreams come true."

"And what do you know of my dreams, Jareth?"

"Much more, actually, thanks to that kiss. Speaking of which, how was it?"

"Much better than any previous one."

"See, what did I tell you?"

"I'll see you later, Jareth."

"Good bye, Sarah."

"Once I arrived, the auction began right away. Despite my hair being in slight disarray from running over, the bidding had five different men start out bidding for me, and then Jareth joined. Slowly, Jareth overbid each of them. And each time he did, he would add some phrase about how I deserved still better than anything being offered. How I worth so much more. Eventually, it came down to one man versus Jareth. Jareth looked confident, and all he did was smile at me."

"You knew he was going to win?"

"My head told me he was. My heart wanted him to win desperately. To prove it once and for all. Even so, as I watched him smile at me, I found myself thinking of that day he fought Dick. He smiled similarly then. It seemed that even in the end, he was going to fight for me, despite all the drama and rejection I put him through. Realizing that made my heart sing for joy, a joy I hadn't felt before."

He loves me, and he deserves so much better than this. So much more than I have given him. Why me?

"Finally, the other guy gave up. As it was, Jareth's bid was higher than any other bid ever seen in the fair's history. And he just smiled like that amount was completely normal to be spent. The auctioneer was about to close and make me his, when Jareth suddenly spoke up again, and he said that I was worth still more, so he raised his own bid to ten times what he had just said. That it was still nowhere near enough, but would suffice here. That was when I knew that I loved him. For him to do that, well, he had to be crazy, and I was completely okay with that. He shocked everyone else with that statement."

"I'll say! I wanted to go over to him and hug him for the very generous donation he was giving. I didn't understand why, until he went up to claim Sarah."

"Jareth was quick to come up and claim me, kissing me again before picking me up and swinging me off the stage. However, we had not gotten very far before he stopped, and he placed me down in the center of the floor. Everyone was looking at us, and Jareth kept on smiling at me. Then, he began talking to me. First in a whisper, but his voice gradually got louder with time."

"Sarah, I like to think that I know what your dreams are, but the truth is, I don't. Not all of them, at least. There is one thing that I hope you dream of, and that is of falling in love. Certainly, you didn't know who you wanted at first, but after much soul-searching and many dates, I hope you do now. You know how I feel. I love you, and I have always loved you. There will never come a time when I will not care for you, no matter how many times you spill coffee on me, yell at me, or do stupid things you know I don't like. I'm not an easy guy to live with, and I will only make your life more complicated. But, no matter what comes, I will always love you. You, and you alone. For you alone, I think and plan. Have you not seen this? After that kiss we shared just before this, the hope I have has only grown, that you have feelings for me, and not just any feelings, but feelings of love as well. I don't expect you to love me as fully as me since this is so new for you, but I want you to consider this: if there is love now, will it not continue to grow with time? What I ask is simple: Will you marry me? Will you become my wife, my only love?"

"I was trying so hard not to interrupt Jareth during that whole speech, as I could see he had it planned. Then, when he mentioned having hope, my thoughts took a new direction, and I knew my heart was pounding, desperately needing to know what he wanted to ask, if it was what I thought it was. However, as loud as my heart was pounding, to me at least, all I could think was, 'Be still, my heart, I'm hardly breathing!' Would he say it? Was I so lucky? And then he said it. I knew what I wanted to say."

"Jareth, you spoke earlier of me deserving better, when it is in fact you that deserve much better, and yet you still want me. I don't know how that came to be, but I am happy all the same. Happy because I love you, too. I didn't realize how much until today, but I do. Yes, I will marry you."

"Jareth pulled me into another kiss then, but had to pull away since we had an audience."

"Still, you two kissed for some time."

"It didn't feel like it."

"That's what happens when you are in love."

"Once Jareth stopped kissing me, he put his ring on my finger. He had pulled it out once he started to ask the question, and it had been momentarily forgotten in the joy of the moment, but he was quick to put it on after."

"Jareth, does this ring have any special significance?"

"Besides marking you as my Goblin Queen, nothing at all."

"You could try not to look so pleased about saying that."

"That's not going to happen for a long time now, my dearest. You're mine now, and I intend to keep you."

"Just one question: why me?"

"Really, Sarah? Even after all this time? Do you remember nothing from our first encounter, or that book of yours? But what no one knew-"

"Was that the king of the goblins had fallen in love with the girl."

"Yes, Sarah. Even then, your courage and strong will showed themselves to me, and I was enthralled."

"Jareth, I've treated you horribly of late, and I'm sorry."

"Apology accepted. Don't worry, Precious, we have forever to make up for it. Much time indeed."

"I know."

"So how soon would you like to get married, Sarah?"

"Jareth…"

"And now, here we are. It's been about eight months since that fateful day, and much to show for it. Jareth and I have only gotten closer, and managed to plan a wedding in the meantime. It turned out there were more difficulties planning-wise from his side, from work and his family. But we figured it all out now, and we are both excited to start our next phase of life with another."

"And I can speak for all us girls here when I say that I am so excited to be a part of your life and happy for you. Happy to see you in love, that you found someone who loves you for who you are. Jareth is a great guy, and you both deserve nothing but the best. I have high hopes for the two of you to have a lasting love."

"Believe me when I say that forever starts to describe it."

"Not long at all?"

"Exactly."

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Author's Notes: Fluff! Beautiful, glorious fluff! Sorry, you knew that I had to stick in at least one Labyrinth reference. There were only two here, so you should be happy. Instead, you can concentrate on the two Beauty and the Beast references, as well as a reference to Persuasion. Can you tell what I have been watching of late? Cookies if you find any of those three references!

So, this is the official end of the story. Yay! There will, however, be an epilogue, because I love writing them/writing even more fluff. Naturally, it will involve the wedding. As much as I want to switch back to third person to tell that part, I will not to keep it in sync here.

Once again, a big THANK YOU goes out to Kyndsie who writes such cute and fluffy one-shots, and for being generous with her ideas by sharing. I tried to stay as faithful as possible to the source, but a couple things were changed for narrative convenience (time of walk, Sarah's questionable singleness while being asked to help with the booth, etc) only. It took some time to get this story off the ground due to college graduation and writer's block in writing in first person, but I managed. Thanks so much for reading and for sticking around to the end!

SVJohnson8721: I want to give you a really BIG shout out! You have been so supportive of me since you first found me. Thank you; I really appreciate it! :D Jim Henson would be proud of you and all you do to help toward that goal. Thank you for being so generous with your thoughts and praise!