DISCLAIMER: I don't own Labyrinth or any of the characters associated with the film. They are the property of the Jim Henson Company.

AN: Oh, you're all so eager :D There's about four chapters left after this one. Enjoy. :D

I returned with more cocoa and stood for a moment, trying to decide where best to sit. I could feel Jareth watching me, and I caught him shifting his position on the couch in my peripheral. I looked at him straight on to find that he had moved over for me. He raised his eyebrows at me and glanced at the space beside him. I gave him a wry smile, but then decided that it might be best for me to sit there after all. I was mildly uncomfortable with the idea, but it also felt quite right. I sat next to him, eyeing him warily. His expression was so unreadable. We stared at each other for a long. My head was swimming with a thousand ideas, but I couldn't shake the most prominent thought. I broke eye contact.

"Do you hate me?" I asked. My voice cracked with emotion. Why wouldn't he? I remembered his words so clearly now: Everything I've done, I've done for you. It had been so true. I hadn't realized it while it was happening, but I had been so selfish. Take my brother away – give him back. Give my dreams so I can throw them back in my face. The more I thought about it, the more mortified I became. Was he here for revenge? Because, really, who could blame him after that?

I refused to look up and I fully acknowledged my cowardice. I was surprised to feel his fingers under my chin, gently tilting my head upwards. I raised my eyes to meet his hesitantly. His is eyes were so intense; I almost wanted to look away but found that I wasn't able to at all. Without saying a word, he dragged his thumb over my bottom lip, dragging it down my chin before sliding his hand along my jaw line and over my ear, finally burying it in my hair. I watched in nervous anticipation as his eyes moved from mine to my lips. I didn't know that it was possible for anyone to make me feel this way. The way his eyes focused on my face made me feel so much desire. He was wrong for me, wasn't he? He would only hurt me, right? At long length he spoke.

"To hate you would be a crime against my very nature, Sarah. To say that I hate you would be the master of all lies," he whispered. The sound of those words coming from his lips in hushed tones sent a horrifying thrill through me. I suddenly forgot that he was so wrong for me. He raised his eyes to mine again. "I have never loved anything more."

I really had nothing to say at this point. How does one respond to that? I had spent my childhood and my adolescence wishing that the wicked Goblin King would love me. I had wished that he would give me special powers, but more than that I had wanted to be the one to tame him. My desire to save my baby brother had been driven by fear then. I had barely heard his words, barely acknowledged them. He had offered me everything I had ever wanted, but I had thrown it back without a thought. I remembered now how I had put away everything that I had which reminded me of him. I had put on a smiling face and partied with the inhabitants of the labyrinth, hoping against hope that the Goblin King might make an appearance. He hadn't. I decided then and there that I would forget him. Of course, that had been made easy with my father's first heart attack. By the second I had convinced myself that it had never happened at all. It had been a dream. Life took over from there. I had to raise Toby and dreams became a luxury that I couldn't afford.

I opened my mouth to say something, but what I was going to say I didn't know. Fortunately I was saved by Jareth's lips against mine. This kiss was sweet, soft, and short. He broke the kiss to rub his nose against mine and rest his forehead against mine. There was something so natural and so intimate about the gesture.

"Are," I hesitated. Was this a subject I should be asking now? "Are you human?"

I could hear him laugh at my question, that silky chuckle reverberating through our contact.

"Well, what do you think?"

"Uh…no?"

He laughed again. "To be honest, I'm not sure what I am right now."

"So…what about before?"

"No."

"No?"

"Well, I was the King of the Goblins, Sarah. Goblins."

I drew away from him immediately, my mouth falling open in surprise.

"You're a goblin?"

At this, he threw his head back and laughed fully. "No," he answered finally, "But, I wasn't human either."

I stared at him again, drinking in his appearance. It was different from before. Less dramatic, less untamed. He could be human…even he didn't know. I closed my eyes tightly at once. I was letting myself rationalize everything that was wrong with this situation. I was setting myself up for pain. I pulled away from him quickly and tried to ignore his confused expression.

"This won't work," I said, plainly.

"What? Sarah…," he responded, almost pleadingly.

"You'll just leave. Right? You'll just find out why you're here and leave."

The words burst forth from me before I could stop them, but the truth was the very idea of this broke my heart. I hadn't really realized it, but I had stood up from the couch. I was standing there, denying the tears that desperately needed to flow and balling my fists at my sides. I was one step away from ordering him out so that I could cry by myself. Jareth tilted his head, watching me silently.

"Sarah, you won't solve anything by running away. Talk with me. I assure you that, if given the choice, I would rather live and die here with you than exist for an eternity alone as the Goblin King. Whatever happens, I won't leave your side."

I couldn't stop them now, those tears. I don't know when it happened, but the next thing I remembered was Jareth's arms around me, holding me so tightly. He was leading me somewhere. It finally dawned on me where we were after a moment. He sat me down on my bed, stroking my hair soothingly. I remember him whispering in my ear. For some reason the tears just wouldn't stop. It was as though I had locked everything away for the last eighteen years and a floodgate had just been released. I clung to Jareth, soaking his shirt with my tears and he sat with me patiently. Finally, when I had felt that I had no more tears to shed, I choked back sobs and lay down. I wanted to stay that way forever, with Jareth near me, soothing me. It had been a long time since I had anyone to soothe my fears. I started to fall asleep even though there were still so many questions to ask. I felt the bed shift as Jareth stood up to leave and I reached out for his hand desperately.

"Please don't leave," I whispered hoarsely. I could barely see his face, but I knew he was smiling.

"I would never," he said softly.

"Please, can you stay with me tonight?" I asked. I couldn't believe I had asked it, but the thought of him leaving me alone even tonight was just too much. "Please."

"Certainly," he said. His tone was something I can't quite describe, something between kindness and restraint. Perhaps I was asking too much of him, but I was still quite selfish after all. He climbed into bed beside me, wrapping his arms around me. I revelled in his warmth and his scent. There was something different about it now – as though the memories had been overpowering his scent before. I couldn't quite place it, but it was wonderful. He rested his cheek against mine and began humming. The song was familiar and somewhat frightening to me, but with his arms around me I knew that nothing could touch me now. With a feeling like that, there was no reason for me to deny sleep any longer.

When I awoke, there was this wonderful smell invading my nostrils. It was some magnificent combination of cinnamon and freshly fallen rain. Wherever it was coming from was warm and soft. It made me smile involuntarily. Then I realized that the warmth was coming from Jareth and the softness was his shirt. God, he smelled so good. I could just eat him up. Of course, self preservation kicked in and I was rudely reminded that Mr. Knightly was, in fact, the Goblin King. I opened my eyes slowly and pushed away from him even more slowly. I looked up at his face to find that he was still asleep. His face, with that untameable handsomeness, looked so very innocent in sleep. Not at all like a child, but very vulnerable. It was hard to believe that he was the Goblin King as I watched him sleep.

Without warning his eyes opened and I surprised to see that he looked sleepy. I don't know why that surprised me, but it did. I smiled slightly because I couldn't help myself.

"Sarah," he mumbled sleepily. Then it happened. I don't know what I was thinking, he was the Goblin King. But, my hand acted of its own volition – running my fingers through his hair. He closed his eyes at the touch of my hand. Something felt very right about this whole situation. Waking up with him beside me, bathed in sunlight and sharing a comfortable moment of silence. I had fallen, I realized, and I had fallen hard. I watched him as I continued to run my fingers through his hair until he opened his eyes again to peer at me.

"Do you have plans today?" he asked hopefully. I couldn't help but smile again at his tone. Really? Jareth Knightly was Jareth the Goblin King? How could I have been so wrong about him?

"Not really," I shrugged. "I was thinking about doing grocery shopping, but it can wait."

"No," he said softly. "We can do that. I mean, if you'll let me stay."

My smile widened and I felt tears coming again. Everything was too perfect; I had to keep reminding myself that he was the Goblin King. Things could still go very wrong. But, it was the fact that he was the Goblin King of years past that had allowed us this sort of familiarity. The idea was ludicrous, after all we had never been friends while I had traipsed through his labyrinth but there was some indefinable connection between us. I don't know that I would have allowed Mr. Knightly to stay otherwise.

"Sure, if you want to," I said tentatively. I watched him as he lounged, unwilling to get out of bed yet. "Can I ask you something?"

"Already? Sarah, I've only just awoken," he replied, but there was a roguish grin on his face as he said it. He looked at me expectantly, but I wasn't sure how to word the question.

"I…well…I wanted to know….I mean," I started, incoherently.

"You wanted to know?" he prompted, eyebrows raised.

"Well, how are you Mr. Knightly?"

"I'm quite well," he replied, smirking. I gave him the look.

"You know what I meant."

"Sarah, I'm not clear on the details yet. I have memories of being born to the Knightly family and raised in England, yet these memories seem to coincide with having been the Goblin King. Nothing seems to make sense at the moment. I'm sorry."

I shook my head. "No, that's okay. I just…wondered."

Jareth smiled. "Let's not worry about it today. If we're meant to know, then it will come to us, I'm sure."

I nodded and smiled. It seemed to make such wonderful sense. Why rush it?

"Okay," I said, "Shall I make breakfast? How does His Majesty like his eggs done?"

Jareth rolled his eyes at me. "Scrambled, please, Kitchen Wench."

I narrowed my eyes at him before whacking him in the head with a pillow. Then I promptly ran from the room giggling. The day passed in a similar, easy fashion. We joked, we laughed - we behaved as if neither of us were ever aware that we shared a common, very strange past. At the end of the day, Jareth walked me back to my apartment. It seemed odd to have to part but against acceptable social terms to invite him in for yet another night. As we stood at my door, I found myself fidgeting. Fidgeting. Can you believe it?

"Sarah," Jareth said, his voice a quiet caress on my soul. My eyes shot up to his. The expression on his face was simply unreadable and a little too serious. "Knowing what we now know, I feel…"

I didn't give him a chance to finish his sentence because I knew what he was going to say. The fact that he cared enough about me to say it was all that I had ever needed. I grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and pulled him to me, pressing my lips against his. I have to admit the kiss was smouldering. The added height I had by standing on the ledge of the doorway combined with his standing a step down from the main landing was what really made the move work. We were nearly at equal heights in this position.

I pulled back slowly, my hands still on his collar, and I looked him in the eye. To be honest, I kind of liked the odd mixture of lust and confusion that I found in them.

"You don't have to ask my permission, Jareth," I said. The confusion cleared from his eyes and a dangerous smirk spread across his face. My heart skipped a beat because before me I saw the Goblin King.

"Well, in the case," he growled, winking at me before pulling my head down into another heated kiss. It was dizzying, the effect he had on me. When he finally let me go, I leaned heavily on the doorframe. If I hadn't, I would have collapsed.

"Good night, Sarah," Jareth said, his smirk muted with blatant amusement at my current state.

"Good night," I managed to croak out. I turned to put my key in the door.

"Oh, Sarah," Jareth called back. I turned around with a questioning look in my eyes. "In two weeks, there will be a gala event for the launch of the television advertising campaign. Will you come to it?"

I smiled warmly, "Of course."

"No, I suppose I worded it incorrectly. Would you come to it with me?" He asked.

"Oh," I said in surprise. That would be acknowledging our relationship to the firm. It was very risky business. "I'm not sure that it's such a good idea."

"You're worried about the firm?"

"Well, yes," I answered plainly. There was no point in dancing around it.

"Sarah, they can't fire you at that point. You're a main lead on the project; firing you after it was launched would be a huge mistake on the part of the firm. At that point, they'll be so concerned with keeping me as a client, they won't want to rock the boat by doing anything to you. So, will you?"

I stared at him for a moment. I didn't like the sound of what he had just said to me – like I was his arm candy. As though the firm would only keep me on just because I was involved with him. I frowned at him.

"What?" he asked, his expression suddenly puzzled.

"Nothing," I said crisply. Jareth's shoulders slumped visibly.

"Sarah, that isn't what I meant," he said smoothly. "I only meant that, well, we have to do it at some point anyway. Why not when they're less interested?"

"Who says we have to do anything at all?" I asked. My tone was becoming more acidic as I spoke. What was I doing? I was ruining a perfectly lovely day by taking offence to some business-oriented comment. But, I wasn't business and I didn't appreciate being treated like I was.

"Sarah," Jareth said beseechingly. He was giving me that look again. I stopped myself from full-out pouting.

"We'll see, Jareth. A lot can happen in two weeks."

What the hell was I saying? My God, I'm an idiot! Oh well, it was too late now. Jareth frowned at me, his brow furrowed. It was strange to see him standing on my sidewalk, gazing at me with a frown. He looked so human, so real. I swallowed hard. What if he wasn't? What if he would just up and leave at any given moment? What if…? I had to stop with the 'what ifs'. I could go on forever at that rate.

"That's true," he sighed resignedly. "Well then, until we meet again, Sweet Sarah."

My mouth opened to say something, but nothing came out. I watched his back disappear into the darkness and I felt like crying now more than ever. Why couldn't I keep my tongue at bay? Damn my self-preservation.