Much to the driver's relief, they did not spend the entire ride hugging. Sarah pulled back eventually, a little embarrassed but not exactly regretful. They continued their conversation a little deeper past small talk, but they were still reserved in what topics they brought up in hushed voices.

They soon arrived at the cabin. It was small, and in the middle of a line of other such small cabins in way that almost reminded Sarah of townhouses, but none of them were connected. Each cabin had a spacious view of the towering forest several dozen yards behind them. They had short front decks on each, some with various differing decoration - rocking chairs and wreaths and wood carved animals and lounge chairs.

The front door was a deep red, a colour that was accented on the inside as well. It was cozy but spacious considering the size of it all. A wooden staircase led to what seemed to be a loft and other rooms, but Jareth led her around this to the back of the cabin where the kitchen was.

Her many questions died on her tongue temporarily as she looked around, trying to take in as much as she could. She wondered if the cabin had already been decorated in such a manner or if Jareth had picked out each and every object that graced these walls and shelves. If they were all his choices, he'd clearly had this cabin for much longer then she'd been here - perhaps he often came here in the past whenever he needed to get away from the goblins. There was art in frames, and small trinkets lining shelf after shelf, but her eyes settled on the large bookcase, trying to read the titles of each one.

But there was no time to pause. Jareth continued leading her to the kitchen, and she followed because it was bad manners to simply stop and gawk at your host's reading material when you were a guest.

She soon forgot about the books when she reached the kitchen, anyway.

"Tell me everything." she immediately asked, finally out of earshot from prying strangers. "What's happened in the Labyrinth since I've been there?"

"Quite a lot, actually. It's rather a long story. Would you like anything? Tea, hot chocolate?" he asked.

She nodded, and proceeded to help him grab ingredients from cabinets, somehow knowing where each item would be.

Back when Sarah had still worked at the company she would eventually leave after starting her career as a writer, she had run into an old friend from high school. They had lost touch for a while and hadn't talked since back when they were both in the same classes. As they had always been on good and friendly terms, Sarah would have assumed they could fallen into their old chatter that once flowed so easily. But so much time had passed and eroded whatever had been there, and they found conversation stilted and awkward. Finding words to say had felt like trying to find the answer for a quiz that neither of them had studied for, and when they finally parted ways afterwards the relief was nearly tangible.

But it wasn't that way with Jareth. They carried on as if there had never been any time apart, questions and stories rolling out like the creek that was viewable from the bay windows around the kitchen table. They were immersed in their own worlds, with topics only they could know about. Political updates from neighboring kingdoms were shared and it was somehow decided they would make cinnamon rolls, anecdotes from Sarah's favorite goblins were recounted and giggled over as the dough was mixed. The dough left to rise, her experiences on her book tour were discussed over cups of jasmine tea and rich hot chocolate.

They had years of catching up to do. She was secretly thankful that it wasn't weird, no blame or guilt on either side for the times of absence. They worked together seamlessly at the baking, a kind of efficiency flowing with an ease that had taken forever to achieve with Alex. She looked out the window at the gently falling snow and thought of Alex. She hadn't thought of him very much recently, but it was that thought that popped up out of the depths of her subconscious- "it was never like this with Alex". And it was true, it wasn't like this with Alex. But she didn't feel regret for their time together, and even more surprisingly, she didn't feel as much sadness as she thought she would at the sudden reminder of her former love. Standing here with Jareth, her time with Alex seemed like a lifetime ago. And that was okay with her. She wondered briefly how he was doing, and then Jareth asked for the jar of brown sugar from the pantry, and she let all thoughts and memories of Alex melt away like butter over an open flame.

Another thought occurred to her.
"These would be delicious with orange zest on them."

She glanced at the fruit bowl, but there were no oranges. Jareth nodded towards the fridge.

"They're in there. So Hoggle tells me that yes, he is planning a surprise party, except it's not a surprise party for me, as if I'm supposed to overlook his asking several goblins to sign a birthday card addressed to me not two minutes before I walked into the room. Can you believe the audacity of it?"

Sarah smiled as she opened the fridge door, picturing the look she was certain on Hoggle's face as he tried to lie to his king. She glanced through the shelves in the fridge, seeing the regular staples one would expect to find there, along with a few items she had never seen before and had the suspicion that they may have been imported from Underground.

Her airy grin had turned to a frown.
"I don't see them..."

"The drawers at the bottom?" he suggested.

She dropped to a half kneel and pulled out the produce drawers one by one. These oranges were the first product to have eluded her all night. She was so thrown by this development that she didn't even notice Jareth had come up behind her to help her look. He peered over her, one hand on the fridge door. He was certain they were in there - somewhere.

She found them in the back of the last drawer and grabbed two out, standing up suddenly and turning quickly to present her new found prize to Jareth - only to turn and find herself practically in his arms, mere inches away from him.

A hush fell over the room. Time itself seemed to pause in anticipation, waiting to see what they would choose.

Her eyes flickered from his mismatched eyes to his lips out of reflex. He held his breath and hesitated, uncertain of how to proceed.

A thousand possibilities flashed before their eyes, a single moment with near infinite ways to move forward, all hinging on the very next action - will he? Won't she? Could he? Should she? The slightest of movements, to lean forward ever so gently, to close the gap between them and kiss...

She cleared her throat, preparing herself to say something she felt needed to be said.

He raised an eyebrow, intent on listening to what she was about to say, knowing it would be important.

Her cheeks were flushed as she spoke, and her eyes wide.

"If we mix some of the juice from the orange into the frosting, they'll taste even better."

He smiled and took one of the oranges from her.

"Let's try that then."

Time went on. They breathed again. The fridge door was swung shut. The other possibilities faded away, waiting for a moment in the future when it would be the right time to consider them once more.

Their conversation fell into ease again, now finally working its way towards the present after exhausting all topics from times past. The oven timer dinged and they ate their dinner of cinnamon rolls, both agreeing that the orange juice did, in fact, add that extra kick that tasted just right.

By the time they washed up the dishes, the sun had long since set.

Jareth glanced out at the snow, illuminated by the lamps on the back porch and falling more heavily than it had been earlier.

"Where does the time go." he mused. "Do you want me to drive you back to the lodge?"

Sarah thought about it. He had said it causally enough, but there was the hidden implication that she could also stay if she wanted. She went to stand beside him by the window.

"Yeah, all my stuff is at the lodge. I'd like to go back, but I also don't want you to have to drive in unsafe conditions." she was conflicted as she watched the snow.

"As a personal rule, I try my best not to use magic while Aboveground. But the for the safety of myself and those around me I always make an exception."

She realized a part her actually wanted to stay. She had been apart from him for so long, and she was afraid she'd lose him again. She weighed it in her mind, and eventually leaving won out. She had already ordered room service breakfast for in the morning at her room, and here she no tooth brush or case to store her contact lenses, and she didn't want a car trip where she was blind as a bat but she also had an intense fear of falling asleep with the lenses on lest they migrate behind her eyeball.

"If you're sure it'll be ok..."

They were mostly silent on the drive back, but it was a comforting silence, lulled into an almost meditative state by the sound of the windshield wipers and the engine. As they pulled near to the lodge entrance they said their farewells.

"I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Of course."

"Thank you for driving me, and for having me over. Your cabin is lovely." she paused before adding playfully, "You'll have to show me the upstairs sometime."

"Oh, absolutely."