Sarah opened her eyes to sunlight flooding in through the open curtains of the windows surrounding the room. She thought she remembered them being closed the night before - but, then, the goblins would have been up early to open them up.

Sighing, she sat up and threw the blankets off to walk over to the windows. The pajamas she wore were soft, blue fuzzy pants with a cotton white tank top. She felt like a guest of royalty with everything she'd been given. It was almost like the Labyrinth was far away, and that she wasn't right in the middle of it.

After a bit of squinting, she smiled in awe at how much more beautiful the fields were in the daylight. Light shone across the meadows and the flowers

"Madam," she turned to see a goblin holding a sundress. "Your change of clothes."

Sarah took it and looked it over. It was white with patterns of roses twisted throughout. No pockets. "Thank you, but do you also have a pair of jean shorts I can put on underneath this?"

The goblin nodded, bowed, and scurried from the room, returning about a minute later with white jean shorts. Upon handing those to her, the goblin bowed once more and left her so she could get dressed.

She did so quickly, putting the ring in a pocket of the shorts and opening up the bedroom door to see Autumn sitting obediently outside.

"What are you doing here?" she asked with a laugh, scratching her chin.

Autumn purred contentedly.

"Hey, do you want to go outside?"

She bounced around excitedly.

"Race you!"

The two of them ran down the staircase and, after a bit of fumbling with the handle on the front door, ran out into the sunlight. The soft, wet grass underneath her feet reminded her that she was barefoot, but she enjoyed the cool feeling as she and Autumn raced around the meadow. Flowers let off a strong, beautiful fragrance that filled Sarah's senses.

Autumn let out a playful growl as Sarah spun around with a smile on her face, then jumped right on top of her. Sarah laughed as they went tumbling to the ground.

After a bit of squirming to get away from Autumn's tongue, she heard, "Autumn - fetch!"

Autumn pounced right off of her and ran after something while Sarah propped herself up on her elbows to see Jareth standing there in a white cotton shirt and black pants. He held out his hand to help her up, and she took it.

"What did you throw?" she asked as she looked in the direction that Autumn ran to see the Shakana playing around with something in her mouth.

"A rock. I thought about using a stick, but I couldn't find one."

Sarah laughed. "It is a meadow. I suppose Bjorg is usually very careful about rocks and sticks on his land?"

He nodded, a smile on his face as he asked, "Would you walk with me?"

"I can't think of anything I'd enjoy more," she replied, entwining her arm with his and starting a slow, leisurely walk. "So…" she started out, "What's so different about Bjorg that you left him this mansion?"

"He's always been there for me.. since childhood, really."

"Like a nanny?"

He snorted, "Yes, I suppose you could call him that. In any case, he was like a guardian to me after my parents died when I was just a kid - an illness. He took me in without a second thought, and I've been grateful to him ever since."

"And he was also there for the incident with Jocelyn's father?"

"He's the one who suggested that I make this Labyrinth. I made sure that I had a spot just for him in it - and I'm actually quite glad I made it so that he couldn't be pushed out without his permission."

"Otherwise Jocelyn would have gotten it," Sarah finished with a nod. "What did he want to talk to you about last night?"

"My plan for getting the Labyrinth back."

"And that is?"

He chuckled, "You and I will figure that out in due time. Bjorg understands that we need some time to rest and think it over before we act."

"Right, so we need to figure out what Jocelyn's weakest -"

"How about we just enjoy ourselves today?"

"Oh…" Sarah hesitated. She still didn't want to wait for too long before setting off. The safety of her friends was extremely important to her and there was still no knowing just what Jocelyn was subjecting them to. But, then, she also knew that some time off could help them regain their strength. "All right. Why not?"

He smiled at her sweetly, causing her heart to flutter against her chest.

She cleared her throat and asked, "How's Serboa doing?"

"His leg is healing quickly thanks to Bjorg. He'll be ready for travel in no time."

Sarah smiled, "That's great! I know how much pain he's had to suffer from that leg, so it should be exciting for him to be able to walk again. Also, I think Sir Didymus would like to have Ambrosias as his ride again once we rescue everyone."

"You really care for your friends," he said softly, surprising her with how longing his voice sounded.

"Well… yeah. They helped me a lot in my quest through this Labyrinth. A lot of bonding can happen when you have an adventure with someone - when they're always there for you no matter what. I mean, it was hard for Hoggle at first but -"

"What about me? I was there for you every step of the way last time, as well."

They stopped walking to face each other.

Sarah thought about how best to reply, hoping against all odds that she wouldn't say something wrong. "The thing about that was… it… in my mind at the time, and throughout my life since then, you had been the antagonist. Not an evil fae, per say, but I fought my way through the Labyrinth to get my baby brother back and you tried at all costs to stop me. That peach was one out of many hindrances."

A thoughtful look crossed his features.

"Temptation had always been hard for me to fight, and you knew that, except my brother was the perfect incentive to keep me from giving in… it sounds bad, calling you the antagonist, but that's what I thought and felt back then. Now.. I see a completely different side of you."

He looked up at her with an expectant look on his face.

"And I like it," she finished.

Taking her hands in his, he looked into her eyes - his own sparkling - as he smiled down at her. "This is the part of me I'd always wanted you to see, but I was trying to keep to the rules that I had set when I had the Labyrinth built. I'd always watched you from a distance before, wishing beyond hope that you'd call for me and.. and fall in love with me."

She looked down at their hands, "Then I hurt you by turning down your offer."

"These three years had given me the time to think and plot, but… it helps to hear from you just what your thoughts had been at the time. If I could have done it all differently, I would."

"No… where would this moment, right here and now, be if you hadn't done everything the way you did? There's no guarantee that my response would have been any different, or that we'd be able to understand each other much better than we thought we would."

"Sarah…." His hand let go of hers and he took hold of her chin, forcing her head up to look at him. "While nothing can be done differently, I still want you to be mine."

She smiled, "Silly Goblin King. Because of our deal, I already am yours."

His chuckle was deep, the corner of his eyes crinkling with the smile on his face as his face slowly moved closer to hers. Her heart pounded madly as she noticed, due to his close proximity, that he smelled of flowers and fruits. Honeysuckle was the strongest.

"Jareth.." she mumbled softly, just before his lips touched hers. It was soft, gentle, and Sarah found herself instantly kissing him back. Her arms wrapped around his neck while his hands moved to her lower back, pressing her closer to him.

"I know we're in a sort of paradise now, but really?" a voice asked, surprising the two of them into jumping away from each other. Serboa tsked, "If you must do that, get a room! Don't do it in the middle of a bright field where we can all see you!"

Jareth looked everlastingly annoyed by the interruption, but said, "I have been meaning to have a talk with you, Serboa. Let's go inside."

"Okay!" Serboa replied, unperturbed. His hurt leg was bandaged, but he pounced away as happily as though he had no injury.

"I'll be back," he now said to Sarah, giving her one last peck on the lips before walking away after Serboa.

Sarah found that her lips seemed to tingle after that and, putting her hand to her mouth, found an uncontrollable smile appear on her face.