Sarah awoke to the obnoxious beeping of her alarm clock. If there were any one thing on this planet that she really and truly hated with a violent, personal passion, it was that nasty beeping that she willing subjected herself to five days out of seven. She whapped the clock with her hand, and lay back against her pillow, rubbing her eyes.

Okay, what do I have to do today? She sat up, pushing away the covers. Ugh. Alright. I need to call into work. I need to make breakfast. Jareth. Ummm… No, no more thinking. Coffee. Coffeeeeeee…

Sarah shuffled herself into the shower, and then into a pair of jeans and a tee shirt. Naturally, she didn't notice that the pair of jeans that she'd chosen were a pair that fit her quite well.

She walked down into the kitchen, still foggy, only to find a wide-awake Jareth sitting at the kitchen table, his ankles crossed and a cup of coffee in hand, speaking with two (hmmm…pointy ears, pointy teeth, greenish skin—soooo) elves.

Jareth held up a hand to halt the discussion, and smiled at her.

"Sarah, may I introduce Lords Willamar and Joharran."

Sarah had a wild moment of wondering what the proper etiquette was—should she curtsy, or bow, or what? The moment passed with the smell of coffee, and instead she smiled, and nodded to them.

"Gentlemen. Welcome to my home." They nodded politely in response, murmuring courteous nothings. Sarah poured herself a fresh cup, and took a bracing sip of the dark, rich brew. She smiled at the three—men—at the table.

"Please, let me know if there's anything I can get for you." She gestured around the kitchen. "I'll just be in the living room, let me know if you need anything." She heard them resume their conversation quietly as she left the kitchen, and she sat down on the couch with relief, closing her eyes, and drinking more coffee.

Okay, what did I need to do? Call the boss. Okay. Sarah picked up the phone, yanking impatiently on the cord. She closed her eyes and sipped at her coffee as she tried to think of how she was going to tell her boss that she couldn't come in for a week… and sorry, no notice! At least she didn't have any grants or paperwork that was time sensitive.

The phone call went as expected—very little screaming, but it wasn't like Sarah didn't have a ton of vacation coming to her. Sarah was really more of an auxiliary than an integral member of the office team, and everyone knew it.

Sarah finished the rest of her coffee, letting her mind and her eyes rest while the caffeine kicked in. About halfway through her cup, the voices in the kitchen vanished, and Sarah heard only silence throughout the house. Sarah was an early bird (and apparently, so was Jareth), but her family was not—both Karen and Toby slept as late as they could before rushing through their morning routine and hurrying out the door.

She was just getting to the bottom of her very large mug when Jareth strolled out of the kitchen, and sat down in the easy chair across from her.

"I hope you don't mind that I invited some of my subjects up for a chat, this morning. I wanted to get some work out of the way before anyone woke up. I didn't expect you so early." He glanced out of the front window at the sun that was peeking over the horizon.

Sarah chuckled, still sounding a bit sleepy, despite the coffee. She yawned. "I like getting up early—it means that I have more time to wake up, and as you can see, I really need that." She yawned again, and smiled at Jareth has he laughed at her. "And I don't mind you having people over." She shrugged. "I know how it goes when you're a king."

"Oh, you do?" Jareth raised his eyebrows. Sarah felt her stomach flop. Now that brought back some memories! Sarah mentally started to fan herself. Play it cool. Literally. Down, girl!

"Well, not really, no." Sarah rolled her eyes. See, I can play it cool. "But I can well imagine, and apparently, I'm not too far off, if you've got your generals in and out of here at the crack of dawn."

Sarah drained the last few drops from her mug, and shifted her weight, preparing to stand up.

"Please, allow me." Jareth rolled his wrist, and lightly dropped a crystal, as softly as a soap bubble, into her coffee cup. As it touched the inside of the cup, it dissolved into hot, dark coffee. "Would you like any cream or sugar?"

She looked down at her cup, bringing it back to cradle it in her palms. She looked down into the steaming coffee, the slanted her eyes over at Jareth. She looked back down at the coffee.

"No, thank you." She took a sip. "Delicious." She smiled at him.

Jareth smiled back at her smugly, enjoying how impressed she was with his little trick.

"Thank you."

"No, thank you," she replied. Her eyes were finally clear, and she no longer looked half-awake. That had been an unexpected circumstance—having Sarah, eyes heavy lidded, her dark hair still damp from washing, those lovely clinging denims, walk into his conference, easy in his presence, and in welcoming his people into to her home—well, as much as he trusted Willamar and Joharran to act properly in his stead, they were still soldiers (generals were all still soldiers at heart), and soldiers gossiped worse than old women. He knew that the rumors would be flying on his return. He grinned, showing the tips of his sharp teeth. It was just as well.

She looked a little curious about the thoughts that were making him smile so broadly, and he began to speak in an attempt to distract her.

"So, what are we going to do with ourselves for the day?"

It worked.

"I don't know. What would you like to do?"

"Spend some time with you." He was leaving the ball firmly in her court.

"Hmmm…" her voice trailed off. "Why don't we go find something to eat, and maybe we could spend the morning at the museum? They're having an exhibit of Degas' paintings there this month."

"Shall we wait for Toby and Karen to join us?"

Sarah lifted her eyes from her toes, looking a little surprised. "No, Toby has school, and Karen will be going to work today."

"So it will be just the two of us," Jareth clarified, his eyes dancing.

"Well… yes." A light blush covered her cheeks.

"Do you have work, Sarah, later in the day?" Her blush increased.

"No, I called into work this morning; I won't need to go in for another week."

"Thank you very much," he said, gently. "I appreciate it."

Sarah smiled at him, the blush receding. "You're welcome."

Jareth leaned back in his chair, quietly watching Sarah finish her second cup of coffee. He had spent all of last night thinking about how to get Sarah to agree to go back to the Underground with him when his time here was ended. He knew that she would love him—he knew that he would love her. All he needed to do was convince her that he would be a very safe, low-risk prospect—and his impetuous, passionate Sarah shouldn't be too hard to convince. God, he hoped not.

A/N— Sorry about the long wait for this one, guys. I'm going to try and get back in gear. I really loved my Tin Man fic, and it derailed my Laby-muse completely, she was incredibly pissed off with me, and especially with dear Wyatt. So I've been adding one or two sentences to this at a time for the last month(s) or so, and finally, I kicked her back into gear by watching Labyrinth before I fell asleep last night. It worked—now I'm listening to "Moonage Daydream," drinking a small cauldron of black tea (I borrowed that awesome phrase from an HG/SS fic, I don't remember which one) and my Laby-muse is dancing around the inside of my skull, using my eyes as disco balls. We're both psyched to be back in gear!

Also, I totally snaffled the names Willamar and Joharran from Jean M. Auel's The Shelters of Stone. They sounded foreign enough, and familiar enough to work for Labyrinth courtiers (who are led, after all, by a Jareth), without being cutesy like Hoggle or Ludo or Mops.

This was a bit of a transition chapter—plans will go awry, passions will be flamed, and there will be a decided dearth of meaningful conversation in the next chapter. Which won't take nearly as long to post.

Cheers!