Chapter 10: Accusation
Irene's heart couldn't have been further up her throat than what it felt like as she rushed downstairs to the kitchen. She had left Brendon with Jareth and she wanted to see them, just to put her mind at ease. Brendon had made a wish; Breni, whose pale features and light hair were so unlike his mother's that no one doubted he must look like his father. Brendon had made a wish, just the other day. The Goblin King, whose prophesied queen had made the Underground shake and was also the mother of this child, showed up, just the other day. Irene wanted the thought that plagued her mind to be wrong, but as she neared the kitchen and caught sight of the two within, she knew there was no doubt. Her blood pounded in her ears as her mind tried to deny what she should have seen all along.
Irene stopped just within the doorframe, holding on to it for support as she watched Jareth chop up celery, then hand it to Brendon to place into a Tupperware bowl. Irene couldn't believe how broadly Breni smiled at doing such a simple task, but then again, he wasn't allowed to do much by his mother. Irene had been surprised when Sarah let him do the eggs. Even simple things like preparing a meal Sarah felt were too risky to let her son participate in. But it wasn't unjustified for Sarah to be so protective; five times in his short life Brendon had been hospitalized from his heart condition and no one could tell what had brought on the attacks. Irene herself should have stepped in and told Brendon to go do something else, but she couldn't bring herself to ruin his joy…or spoil the time he was experiencing with his father. Irene gasped and brought her hand to her mouth in the realization that she had finally let herself think it fully. Jareth was Brendon's father. No wonder Sarah reacted the way she had.
Jareth was startled at hearing Irene behind him and as he turned, he sliced right into his finger. He cursed something foreign to Irene's ears and refused to let her touch him as she rushed forward to help.
"Don't be a big baby." Irene said in annoyance, reaching for his hand.
Jareth caught her wrist with his uninjured hand, "Irene, stop. I'm bleeding."
"Yeah, that's what I want to fix. What, are you afraid still? It doesn't hurt that much…"
"I wasn't bleeding when you dressed my wounds before. I am still Fae, regardless of my absent magic."
"What, is it poison or something?" Irene asked with wide eyes as she wrenched her hand away from him.
"I don't know, though I have heard stories…and knowing my kind they be just that. But if you want to risk injury, then feel free." He said the last bit with a glint of mischief to his eyes, testing her integrity.
Irene took a step back, "I'll go find some Band-Aids…"
"I got 'em right here." Breni said, holding up a box of child's Band-Aids with He-Man characters.
Neither adult had heard the child scoot the chair he had been standing on over to the sink, above which was a cabinet Sarah kept all the household medicines and the like in, which included bandages. And now Breni stood holding them out expectantly, proud to be able to help so quickly. Irene couldn't help but smile at him.
"Thank You Breni." Iri said, taking the box from the boy. She pulled a bandage out and removed it's package as she turned to Jareth, "Now, I can put this on you without getting blood on me, but just in case, wash your finger off."
The king did as he was told and watched as Irene shakily placed the sticky Band-Aid over the cut. As she was doing this, Irene glanced over and noticed a pair of mismatched eyes were watching attentively beside them. She said with a little annoyance, "Breni, why don't you go up and play with the boys?"
The boy looked saddened, "They didn't want me to play."
"There is no reason for the boy to leave." Jareth said as he examined the cartoon characters now covering his wound. He then looked to the child, "There are still the carrots to finish. Why don't you take the ones already cut to the table?"
The boy smiled and after reaching on his tippy toes for the bowl, he hurried off with it to the next room.
"Breni, don't run." Irene said on reflex.
With him gone, Jareth turned to Irene, "Why did you want him to leave? Did you need to speak with me about something?"
Irene didn't know what she should actually say, if she should confess her knowledge. She was hesitant because for all she knew, Jareth had no idea. "I did…I do, but…"
"Okay, I put it on the table." Breni marched back into the kitchen, straight up to Jareth, "Now you're hurt, can I cut the carrots?"
Jareth placed his hand on the boy's head, scuffing up his blonde hair a bit, "No, I will do it. But, I still need you to put them in the bowl."
The child nodded and moved to push the chair back to where he could help. Irene watched again in awe at how these two interacted without having met before. It was as if Jareth could sense what the boy needed to hear so as not to be distressed.
Jareth still wanted to know what Irene wanted to talk about, so he turned again to her. "I take it we'll speak after dinner?"
"Right." Irene nodded absently, "It really isn't something that can wait very long." 'if we're going to keep some peace around here.'
"Butter's here." Roy's voice came from the living room, then he stepped into the kitchen, "We got some wine too…"
But before he could even finish his sentence or set the items down, Irene was pushing him out the door.
"We need to talk." Irene paused only long enough for her to reach for her coat that she had placed on the back of a kitchen chair, but that was just enough time for Roy to set the groceries on the counter before she was pushing him out of the kitchen again.
"Hey, don't you have to get the potatoes…" Roy started to protest.
"Now, Roy--outside."
Roy knew there was no arguing with her and so headed to the front door. Robert was putting his coat in the hall closet and he asked where they were going. Irene quickly said, "Just right outside."
"You know there's a storm out there." Her brother stated.
"Not like the storm there's gonna be in here," Irene grumbled under her breath as she shut the front door behind her.
Roy rubbed his hands together as his wife exited behind him, "So what did I do now?"
"I figured out why Sarah hates the Goblin King." Irene stated plainly enough.
"And?"
"Brendon."
"Brendon?" Roy looked at her as though it meant nothing, until it began to sink in, "Bren…Brendon? Holy Shit!" He kicked some of snow off the porch, "But how? J don't know. It doesn't make sense, Jareth doesn't even remember Sarah since she was three."
"Well, apparently it happened, Roy." Irene said, pulling her cigarettes out of her pocket, "You cannot tell me Brendon doesn't look a thing like him."
"But Sarah, she ain't said nothing, and she would."
"She's said enough, but she thinks he's somebody else." Irene breathed in exasperation, "God, I don't know what to do. Should we tell them we know?"
"Tell Sarah--HELL NO. This storm's gonna keep us here until tomorrow and I'd like to keep the peace as long as possible." Roy said.
"Well, we have to tell Jareth--we have to. He's his son." Irene sternly stated at her husband's protest. "He's in there with him now, getting to know him possibly for the first time. Might as well let him know."
"Wait a second--" Roy's eyes lit up in furry, "He's lied to us the whole time. That fking…" Roy started marching toward the front door.
"Roy, wait a minute." Irene pulled her husband back, "Jareth hasn't given us any reason to think he has any idea, and neither has Sarah. What if we ARE wrong? We don't just want to go and accuse him of something he hasn't done."
"Fine." Roy turned to her, "But we are going to talk to him, and it will be now. I'm not going to let some creep hang around if he is the one that cost Sarah her dreams."
Roy didn't care that the door slammed hard behind him as he entered the house, didn't notice his brother-in-law sit up with a start from laying on the couch in the living room. His mind was too focused on confronting a certain Goblin King to care who he disturbed. Roy had no uncertainties that Brendon was Jareth's. Just like his wife, he was astonished he hadn't seen it before. But unlike Irene, Roy was pissed beyond words. Roy's mind fumed: the Goblin King had conveniently worked his way back to Sarah by using her relatives as a means. How dare Jareth come into his home, accept his generosity while Sarah had endured such hardship because of him. Well, that would end there and now.
Roy marched straight into the kitchen, only to find the Goblin King and his nephew missing. His heart raced a moment with fear. They should have never left the boy alone; Jareth probably had come for Brendon and the moment he knew no one was looking, he'd taken the child Underground.
"Jareth!"
The Goblin King poked his head in from the side door connected to the dining room, "Yes, Roy."
Roy blinked, not expecting Jareth to have still been there, then with a stern face he asked, "Where's Breni?"
The boy came into the kitchen, sprinting from behind Jareth, "I's right here, Uncle Roy. Are you gonna start the potatoes? Can I help?"
Jareth smiled at the boy. "Irene's recipe must be quite good. It's all Brendon has spoken of since your return." Jareth looked around for any sign of Irene, then met eyes with Roy, "Will she return shortly? Is there something I can do until she does? We're done with the vegetables."
Roy cringed at how sincerely the king looked at him; it was hard to stay mad at a person who appeared to have no knowledge of why they were about to get yelled at. But he didn't know if Jareth really didn't know or if he was just a really good actor. Either way, Roy wasn't going to let himself be fooled.
Roy shook his head sharply, "No, there's nothing else."
At hearing there was nothing else to do to get dinner ready, Breni turned to Jareth, "Wanna go play…"
"Breni, go on up with the boys." Both Jareth and Brendon looked startled at Roy's abrupt interjection, but the man iterated again, "Go on Breni. Jareth, follow me."
"Can I come too?" Breni asked.
Roy had no patience to be distracted. "NO, now GET."
The child's eyes went wide with worry, not used to his uncle yelling at him, but he wasn't going to give in so easily. He turned to Jareth, taking his hand. "I wanna go with you."
Jareth looked to Roy, about to ask why the boy couldn't go, but he stopped short at the look in Roy's eyes. Roy had never looked at him with more hate. He didn't take his eyes off Roy as he answered, "Perhaps you should go up with your cousin."
Breni's shoulders slumped, his hopes crushed as he slipped his hand away from Jareth's and moved out of the kitchen.
Roy indicated with his head for Jareth to follow him.
Jareth went under protest, "Why were you harsh with the boy? What are we doing that he cannot come?"
Roy headed to the hall closet and opened it harshly. He was to frustrated to think of something other than profanities at the moment. Instead, he grabbed Jareth's coat and flung it at him.
Jareth caught it ungracefully, and confusion shown in his eyes as he asked harshly at Roy's behavior, "Are we going somewhere?"
"That depends. YOU might be leavin' for good," Roy said as he flung the front door open. "OUT."
Jareth was too curious to protest, so he stepped out into the storm. Irene was waiting on the porch, nervously smoking a cigarette, which she tossed into the snow when the men came out. Roy stood angrily with his arms crossed, eyes glaring at Jareth just as they had when he attacked the king in the park.
"What do you want of me?" Jareth asked as he finished placing the coat on.
Irene was the first to speak. "I found out something and I want the truth from you." From her tone and the way she refused to look Jareth in the eyes, he could tell she was trying to remain calm. "Is Brendon your son?"
Jareth blinked hard then stared at her, unsure he had heard her correctly, "What?"
"Oh, come on, J. Stop actin' dumb!" Roy shouted, "Why else would Sarah hate you? You knock her up, then leave---real royal of you."
"Roy, let him talk!" Irene interjected to calm her husband, then she met the king's eyes, "Jareth, what do you have to say. Why did you lie to us?"
"Lie to you? About what?"
"Knowing Sarah." Roy spat, "Brendon…"
"Is not my son." Jareth stated lowly.
"Jareth, have you looked at the kid? He is your spitting image." Irene declared.
"What do you say to that?" Roy asked.
Jareth glared at him, "I haven't had relations with a woman for any child to have been conceived, let alone a young girl of 16. What made you think I was his father in the first place?"
"Brendon made a wish he could know his father, the day Roy found you." Irene said.
"Coincidence." Jareth shrugged.
"Really?" Roy said, taking a few steps closer to the king, "It's a coincidence that you happen to find the family of the girl YOU say is to be your queen, a girl who HAPPENS to have a child that has the same funky eyes as you, and you just HAPPEN to be taken straight to her? You planned this entire set-up." Roy yelled.
Jareth had to admit, things did look that way…and he would have agreed had he not been the one being accused of things he couldn't have possibly done. "I don't know what you are talking about."
"Jareth, we have only known you three days, I know," Irene started, "but you don't seem like the kind of guy to have just abandoned your own child. You must have had a reason to have left Sarah, just tell us. Help us understand."
Jareth couldn't believe it; it just wasn't possible. If it was, how could he not know? How could he have left Sarah pregnant so young to raise their child alone in this backwards world if he had ever known at all? Jareth shook his head, staring at nothing as he tried to find memories to prove this couldn't be true.
"What, won't fess up?" Roy asked.
"I would never have---I don't remember." Jareth felt like leaning against something, to steady himself as he tried to think. There was so much he couldn't remember.
"Must be convenient," Irene chided, "You don't remember, so it never happened."
"I didn't say that. I only…it can't be true." He looked at her desperately.
"Why can't it be true?" Irene asked.
"Because she was only 16!" Jareth shouted.
"It wouldn't be like you are the first king to get your kicks then dump the sl…"
"Roy, don't." Irene stopped him before he could say anything bad about Sarah.
The three of them stood in silence, none of them knowing what to think. All Jareth knew at the moment was that the Carlson's were completely convinced of what they were accusing him of and there was no way he could challenge what they claimed. "I cannot prove to you that I am innocent."
"And we can't prove that you are guilty beyond looking at Brendon." Irene confessed after a moment, then added, "Sarah knows you, even though she's not said it straight out. I can just tell, when she looks at you…." Irene didn't finish what she was going to say. She was going to mention how Sarah didn't look as though she hated the memory of the Goblin King, that she actually missed him.
Jareth looked to both of them, "What do you want me to do? Do you want me to leave?"
"I don't know." Roy confessed, a little more relaxed.
"Then let me say this," Jareth started, before he really knew what he could say to salvage the trust that had been shattered between them, "If it is true, that Brendon is my son, I will not abandon them. Let me stay; let me find out the truth. If you won't, just let me stay long enough to see Sarah's book and then I'll be back in my world and you'll never hear of me again."
Irene was the first to agree, "That is reasonable."
"But if it is true," Roy interjected, "I hope we can find some curse to put on you so you'll feel how much you've made Sarah suffer."
"Let's go inside. I'm freezing," Irene said. Both she and her husband went for the door, but when Jareth didn't follow, she turned to him, "Are you coming?"
Jareth shook his head, "In a moment."
Jareth didn't feel the cold; his whole being was numb, mind and body. He sat down on the snow covered porch steps, not caring if he got himself wet or frost bitten. He placed his head in his hands as his elbows rested on his knees. What if they were right? He wished he had the certainty that they weren't, that he could account for every day of his life for the past twenty years, but he couldn't. For the life of him, he could not remember meeting Sarah before that very morning, and only yesterday did he remember he had met her as a child through her mother's wish.
By the prophecy, Sarah was to be his queen. Could he have possibly been with her at some time? Wouldn't he have remembered such a life-changing event? The only thing to decipher was why he had left, how he could have forgotten. God, if he had forgotten Sarah did have every right to hate him raising their son on her own, going through her step-mother's death, her father's depression all by herself. That was no life for a queen.
updated 4/14/2006 with slight tweaks, nothing major