"What?" Jareth exploded, tearing his blindfold off his face. Before he could examine the final marker placement, Sarah interrupted his forward march.
"I think I'm going to be sick." She pulled the blindfold off and covered her mouth as she not-so-gracefully gagged. Jareth gently picked her up and strode toward the door.
"We'll be back." He tossed over his shoulder, just barely managing to avoid the Terminator impression. How he did enjoy those Arnold Schwarzenegger films...he had a complete collection in his man cave.
Sarah lay on their bed, her knees drawn up, Jareth rubbing her back rhythmically. The tossed cookies bin was on the floor next to Sarah but had yet to be used.
"I'm feeling better, Jareth. It was all that turning about nonsense. I'll have to have the aunts modify the game for the next unlucky Prell." Sarah took a deep breath and eased into sitting position.
"They're leaving after dinner tomorrow." Jareth flopped back against the pillows, one hand behind his head as he stared at the ceiling.
"Who is?" Sarah had made it to standing position and was moving toward the ensuite bathroom at a snails pace.
"Your family. Toby may stay. And Emma and her friend." Jareth closed his eyes, his order decreed.
He didn't see the flying cushion until it was too late. Sarah had snatched a pillow in passing of the chaise and magicked it to Jareth.
"Like hell. They're staying until next week, you've already agreed." She closed the bathroom door with a firm 'click', the conversation over.
Until, of course, Jareth, flung the door open and entered the small room. "They've upset you. They argue. They're loud. I will not have such chaos in my house!"
"Oh, but, Jareth, you are the Goblin King – surely you can manage a few rowdy humans? Besides, you started the food fight." Sarah was now accustomed, in the short months of their marriage, to Jareth joining her in the bathroom. Accustomed, yes, accepting, no.
Sarah stood before the sink, Jareth standing behind her, watching her in the mirror. Somehow in the process of squeezing toothpaste on her toothbrush a squirt hit Jareth's well developed chest...a chest that had somehow misplaced its shirt. Odd, that.
Sarah's eyes flew the Jareth's in surprise and she squawked. "Geez, Jareth! Put on a shirt!"
"Oh, but I rather like seeing you flustered. And I knew you would somehow manage to get a bathroom product on my person. I'm a planner, you know." He grinned mischievously and wiped his chest with a towel. Sarah's eyes followed the motion.
"Smug jerk." Sarah mumbled through the toothpaste foam.
"Now, to be serious, what shall we tell your aunts about Ishmael? I will not acquiesce on our children's names and your aunts can be rather...sensitive. If they are staying for another six days, then I'd rather have them sober and content than drunk and disorderly."
Sarah had a thoughtful look on her face and she continued to brush her teeth. Then she shrugged. "I dunno."
"Oh, really, Sarah, you have to have a better answer than that."
"Nope."
"Fine. I shall get them sauced and talk them into giving Liam his name back." Jareth provoked his wife, knowing that mention of her bottle-happy aunts being coerced while under the influence irritated her.
Sarah spit, rinsed, and hung up her toothbrush. "You do that, then. I rather like Ishmael."
"Sarah Kavanaugh? How can you say such a thing?" Jareth gasped, clearly shocked at his wife's statement. She just smiled, reached up and patted his cheek.
"You're so easy, darling." She paused. "In more ways than one." She smirked and wrapped her arms around her husband's shoulders.
Jareth sighed. "You're incorrigible. But you taste all minty." He leaned in for a kiss.
Thirty minutes later
"We should probably go check on your family. To make sure that they're not injuring each other or the furniture." Jareth spoke quietly, completely relaxed in their bed, Sarah snuggled into his side.
"'mmkay." Sarah mumbled, her eyes still closed.
Next thing she knew, they were both clothed and standing in front of the family room doors. It was a shock to be prone one moment and upright the next, not to speak of the unclothed/clothed change.
Her disorientation quickly dissipated when she heard sounds of boisterous laughter.
"What in the world is going on..." Sarah breathed and Jareth pushed open the doors to chaos.
There seemed to be some sort of keep away game going on, the aunts at the center of the disorder, shouting encouragement and prodding players along. Charlie and Bobby were standing off to the side, laughing at their relatives; the children were tossing some sort of soccer ball that had an odd shape to it. The other adults were grouped around the fire, sipping what looked like sherry, and talking among themselves, ignoring the keep away game.
The ball looked suspiciously like Blarm, one of the smaller goblins of the Castle. He had a fancy to twist up into a ball and bounce off things for fun, but it couldn't be him. Not playing a keep away game in front of the relatives, for which he should know it would be forbidden and punishable by bogging.
Jareth stepped in to the middle of the game, catching the ball, pulling a disbelieving look as he examined it, and tossed the ball in the air, at which it disappeared like a puff of smoke.
"Now, what say you all to an early night? We will have a long day tomorrow, what with the holiday and all." Jareth asked, with a pointed smile, wanting to end this day as soon as possible.
"We haven't finished the game, Jareth dearie!" Aunt Gaby exclaimed, realizing that both Sarah and Jareth had come in to the room.
"The game, Aunt Gaby?" Sarah asked, clearly confused – the game had ended when the ball had be taken.
"Why, yes, the naming board. We haven't confirmed the third baby's name!" Aunt Gaby pointed toward the board.
"We were just kidding you, of course, with Ishmael, Jareth. We knew that you would have a conniption! Though you left before we could see you throw a fit!" Aunt Sally piped up, grinning from ear to ear at the joke they had played.
"Oh, very funny. Just a joke, tra la la." Jareth muttered under his breath, turning to glare at his wife, blaming her for her family's stupid jokes. She smiled back at him, used their shenanigans by now.
"And what, according to the name board, is our second son to be called?"
"Why, Liam, of course!" Emma piped up from across the room.
"Of course, I told you all, but no one ever listens to me." Jareth said, loud enough for the room to hear.