No masturbation scene this time! I know last chapter was longer, but we had a lot to get through to keep the story moving so it was an exception. Maybe. We'll see how long I can get the chapters to. This one has a lot of conversation and ends with an exciting moment ;) Enjoy it!

"Hello, precious. I think it's time we finally had an actual conversation. Do not hang up," he said.

Sarah knew that voice all too well; that deep and dark voice. It had haunted her dreams for almost fifteen years. Even now, in her shocked moment, his voice flowed over her like thick, melted chocolate. Just hearing it made her breasts feel heavy and her inner thighs ache.

But nope. Screw that. She immediately hung up out of sheer shock. Slammed the phone back down as a matter of fact.

"This can't be happening," she told herself, perspiration forming on her forehead despite being in only a small tank top and shorts. She could feel herself growing panicked, as anxiety took over her whole body. Just as she turned away from the phone to go gather up her things and leave, it rang again.

"You've gotta be kidding me!" she yelled, turning towards the obnoxious device once more. As the phone continued to ring, Sarah did the only logical thing she could think of: she bent over and unplugged the phone all together, roughly yanking the cord out of the wall.

"Good luck pestering me now, you asshat!"

As she breathed heavily in and out for a few seconds staring at the black phone, Sarah then began laughing manically to herself, thinking she must be in a dream. That's the only thing that could explain the Twilight Zone episode she found herself in. She was suddenly laughing so hard at the ridiculousness of what was happening that tears formed in her eyes, and she began shaking her head, unwilling to accept this whole situation.

There was absolutely no way this was truly reality. She refused to admit to herself that…that…him, Jareth, The Goblin King from the Underground who stole her baby brother had been Ericka's cousin this whole time. The man who she had been talking to. The same man who had been watching her these last couple of nights. The man who saw everything and sent her a purple penis! And now he was calling her!

Speaking of Ericka…

Sarah's laughing ceased and her nostrils suddenly flared in anger. She stormed to her bedroom where she saw all her things lying around the room in disarray. Her heart still beating fast, she found her cell phone charging on the nightstand and walked over to it with the intention of calling her so-called friend. She quickly unplugged her phone from the charger and dialed Ericka and felt her foot tapping the floor in an impatient manner.

"Pick up, pick up, pick up," she said out loud, getting irritated and antsy when Ericka didn't immediately answer. As she waited for her friend to accept the call, Sarah began picking up her things that were scattered around the room and threw them in her bags, disorganization be damned. She had to get out here.

"Hello?" finally came the voice of her friend, her tone sounding surprised.

"Ericka! You have a SHIT TON OF EXPLAINING TO DO!" Sarah exclaimed.

Silence. Sarah rested her hands on her hips, eyebrows raised as she waited for Ericka to say something. She suspected that Ericka would know right away what Sarah was referring to, and swallowed back the angry lump that had grown in her throat.

"Wh…what are you talking about?" Ericka finally asked, feigning innocence.

Rolling her eyes, Sarah sat down on the edge of her unmade bed. "Oh don't act like you don't know!"

"The sky is blue?" Ericka asked in a high-pitched voice.

Sarah stood back up and scoffed. "I am not playing games right now, explain to me how and why I found myself staying at THE GOBLIN KING'S house!"

She heard Ericka breathing on the other end of the line and assumed she was figuring out what she should say.

"Um…okay. Okay, look…" her friend began, but Sarah would have none of it and interrupted her almost instantly.

"You LIED to me! This whole time, you lied! Jareth is your…your…your cousin!?"

Sarah could hardly control herself by now and demanded to get answers. She was fuming, and couldn't believe Ericka had kept this from her. That's what had made her the most upset – the deceit.

Ericka sighed in defeat. "Can you just try to calm down and listen? Please?"

Sarah didn't respond right away, for she was trying to decide whether or not she was willing to be reasonable and listen. She concluded that if she wanted to know what was going on, she'd have to play ball.

"I'll listen, but I can't promise I'll be calm," she responded, sitting down again.

"Yeah, I can see that," Ericka retorted. "Look. Yes…Jareth is my cousin. I…I figured you'd find out sooner or later, but I didn't think you'd be this pissed off about it! I mean, in my defense I did tell you his name in passing. Granted, you were drunk so you probably don't remember. But you have history with the bloke! What the hell did he do to make you so worked up?"

Now that Sarah thought about it, she did somewhat remember Ericka telling her Jareth's name after those several beers. No wonder she thought it started with a 'J' the other day. How had she missed that? Still, it didn't matter. His real name slipped by accident and Sarah was too drunk to even notice. That doesn't count.

"Are you kidding me?" Sarah asked in disbelief. "Does it really matter what he did or didn't do? The fact of the matter is I found out, and you encouraged me to come here under false pretenses! This whole time I've known you and not once did you mention to me that you're related to him! Telling me his name while I'm drunk doesn't count! How is it even possible that you're related, first of all? And why does he live here?!"

"Uh, well, my mom, aka his aunt, fell in love with and married a mortal guy then had me. Simple, really. You can imagine how interesting the family dynamics are. He's always had a life Aboveground, but he mostly does it to stay connected to us. He really is a sweet guy…"

Sarah blinked in astonishment. Jareth, sweet? Yeah, right. She had a hard time thinking all of this was really that simple. She supposed it made sense realistically, but she still couldn't grasp the idea that her best friend was actually related to her teenage-nemesis. A fae at that! What the hell were the odds of that? Unless…

"I'm assuming that we didn't meet and become friends by happenstance then," she said bitterly. "Have you ever really been my friend? Or were you just doing as your king bid?"

She wasn't sure she wanted to know the answer to that question. Their whole friendship had begun to look like a lie, and after everything Sarah had dealt with, she didn't want to think about the fact that Ericka was planted in her life as some sort of spy and only that. She could only handle so many disappointments.

"Of course I have been, Sarah!" Ericka promised. "I love you, I swear on my life that I do! But…" she took a deep breath and exhaled. "Yes, okay? I was initially told by Jareth to befriend you back during our undergrad. He saw an opportunity and took advantage of it, knowing we'd be going to the same school together. How we even ended up at the same school together, I don't know, maybe it was fate. All I do know is that he cares about you, even though he has downplayed it all these years. He wanted us to become friends so I could ensure your wellbeing. Well…when we hung out a few weeks ago, I saw an opportunity where you two could hopefully reconcile and meet again and everything. You've been so depressed these last few years Sarah, and I wanted to make you happy. Both of you. Maybe it was a mistake, and maybe I went about it completely wrong, but I had good intentions…I mean, I've heard you whisper his name in your sleep before..."

Sarah gulped, and clenched her jaw. She'd said Jareth's name in her sleep before? That was news to her. Why hadn't Ericka ever said anything to her about that? She never mentioned the Labyrinth to her, for she knew Ericka would probably think she was insane. Well, clearly she knows all about it and more. This was all so weird! Her thoughts were interrupted when Ericka continued.

"I know I kept all of this from you, but Jareth made me swear not to ever say anything to you about our relationship. So I didn't. I didn't even tell him you were staying at his place until he questioned me about it the other night. I guess I had this romantic idea in my head that everything would go much smoother between the two of you, but…I see that didn't happen. I'm so sorry, Sarah. I really, really am. Please know that our friendship is and has been real…please don't hate me."

This is too much to take in! Sarah could still hardly wrap her brain around the fact that Jareth had a mortal cousin who he was seemingly quite close with. A mortal cousin who Sarah had known for nearly seven years and called her best friend this whole time. If Ericka was being honest and they really were friends…

She wanted to believe Ericka and trust that their friendship was genuine and not just a means to an end. She thought about all their times together; the times they'd gotten into trouble, the deep conversations they shared, the tears they both shed and wiped away when they were having boy issues…how Ericka was there during Sarah's moms cancer. She couldn't believe that Ericka wasn't sincere in her past actions. How can you fake friendship like that?

Wiping her face in exhaustion, Sarah plopped on the bed, mentally fatigued. How the hell was she supposed to face this? Could she? Did she want to? Should she hate Ericka? Then there was Jareth to deal with…

"Sar?" Ericka said, forcing Sarah out of her dubious thoughts. "Are you there?"

"Yeah," Sarah answered in a faint tone. "I'm here."

"Can you please say something?"

Sarah chuckled, but it came out to be more of a sneer. "What do you want me to say, Ericka? What can I possibly say to all of this? That I'm okay with you having lied to me all these years? That I'm happy you sent me to the lion's den? That I appreciate you trying to play match maker? You have no idea what has been happening these last few nights and I just… I am mortified. Mystified. And mad. Beyond belief."

"Are you okay?" her friend asked sweet fully.

"No, no I am not okay," Sarah responded aggressively. "I just told you how I'm feeling! I mean, shit! I found out that you've kept a huge secret from me all these years after I showed your egomaniac of a cousin my entire body because of that damn webcam!"

"Wait, what?"

Sarah could just envision Ericka shaking her head in confusion, wanting to fully understand what Sarah had just said and meant. Well, she figured she'd tell her and make her head spin!

"Yep. Ever since you told me about that stupid webcam I made the smart decision to masturbate in front of it. And guess who had front row seats to the show? Jareth, your dear old sweet relative! Well I, being the dumbest person alive, didn't realize anyone would really be watching and I fell down the rabbit hole. And it led to…things. So yeah. He's seen everything. And I mean, everything. So thanks for that! Good looking out."

There was no sound coming from the phone, and for a second Sarah thought Ericka had hung up due to anger or embarrassment, but when she took the phone away from her ear briefly to see if the call had dropped or something, she saw that they were still indeed connected. She put the phone back to her ear, waiting for Ericka's response. And hearing a burst of laughter was not what she expected.

"Oh, my god!" Ericka spat out seconds later. She could hardly contain her laughter. "You seriously flicked the bean KNOWING Jareth could have possibly been watching?! Oh that is too good! I don't know who's more perverted, you or him!"

Sarah's face contorted to that of pure annoyance. This was so not funny. "First of all I didn't KNOW it was Jareth! Second of all, I didn't really think anyone was actually watching me at first!" Sarah slapped her hand over face, muffling her voice. "God this is so embarrassing!"

Ericka continued to laugh for thirty more seconds and finally settled down by trying to calm her breathing. "Oh, Sarah. I remember distinctly telling you that my cousin, regardless of who it really was, could be watching. Yet you did some naughty things anyway! If I didn't know better, I'd say you were hoping that someone really was watching you."

"Don't turn this around on me, okay?" Sarah said defensively. "It's creepy that there is even a live webcam here to begin with!"

"It clearly didn't bother you enough to keep you from messing with it," Ericka chortled.

Sarah grumbled. She was officially over this conversation. "Look, I'm already embarrassed enough, okay? I don't need you judging me or giving me shit."

Ericka continued to laugh a little bit, but had mostly stopped by now. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. It's just…never mind. You're right. This isn't funny."

Could this get any worse! All Sarah wanted to do was shrink into a corner and mope. She was irritated beyond words, humiliated, and disappointed. How could she ever look at Ericka the same? How could Ericka ever look at Sarah the same!

Taking all this new information in was a huge shock, and Sarah didn't know how to navigate any of it. But she also couldn't imagine Ericka not being in her life ever again, either. They'd been through too much together. She only knew she needed to leave and find her peace of mind. Alone. Somewhere else.

She took a deep breath. "I'm going to say this and be done with it: I honestly don't know where we go from here. I'm extremely weirded out with all of this and all I know is I need space. On top of everything else that has turned to shit in my life, I don't need to deal with the worry that I can or cannot trust you ever again. This really feels like a betrayal, Ericka. Like our whole friendship has just been one big lie. I just…I don't know. I need time to process this and get over it. I'm going to pack my things and come back home to Washington. I can't stay here anymore. It's too awkward. I'll figure out the rent issue somehow."

Maybe I'll just prostitute myself out, that seems to be something I'm good at it. Ugh.

"Sarah, I….I don't know what else to say except how sorry I am," Ericka said softly. "I understand if you want to leave. But…can you do me a favor?"

Sarah furrowed her eyebrows in annoyance. Ericka was seriously asking her for a favor? After all this? What nerve!

"What's that?" Sarah asked impatiently.

"Just think about staying," her friend replied. "I'll talk to Jareth and have him leave you alone the rest of time you're there. I promise. You still need this getaway more than you think, and coming back here won't do you any good until you're ready and have a game plan. Sleep on it tonight, and if you're still pissed at me and the world and feel uncomfortable tomorrow then I guess I can't blame you. Just…please? Think about it."

Sarah didn't know what to say to that. For some reason she got the impression Ericka really only wanted her to stay just to sort out her issues with Jareth, even though she promised he wouldn't bug her. Sarah didn't even know Jareth that well, but she knew enough to assume it would be impossible for him to just leave her alone for good while she stayed in his house. What's more…she was afraid that if she did stay any longer, she wouldn't want Jareth to leave her be. Why the hell was that?

"You really think your creepy cousin would just leave me alone?" Sarah questioned. "Somehow I doubt that would fare well with him. And I'd still be paranoid that he'd be watching me."

"He would if I asked it of him. I know he would. Don't worry about a thing."

Sarah found that hard to believe, but she didn't want to argue anymore. And she didn't want Ericka to be the middle man here. No, she had to deal with this on her own.

"Don't say anything to him yet," she necessitated. "I'll take care of this myself."

When Sarah and Ericka hung up a few short minutes later, Sarah had given herself some time to calm down to where she could think somewhat clearly. Ericka was right – maybe Sarah did need to talk to Jareth. And now was her chance to tell him to piss off if she were to remain at the house. She wasn't sure she could trust him even if he 'agreed' to respecting her privacy.

So without further ado, she began to neatly pack up her bags so she could leave. All her logic was telling her it was the right, and safe, thing to do. Yet…there was that part of Sarah, the curious and reckless part that tried convincing herself to stay, like Ericka advocated. She still needed a quiet retreat to sort out her priorities after all...

While she packed, she kept biting her lip and fumbled with the idea of really staying or going. She eventually reasoned with herself that she definitely had to go, but she'd hand it to Jareth first and then leave that way she wouldn't do something she'd regret later. Like staying and wishing him over. So far, her horny thoughts had swayed her into careless decisions. There was no way she could let that happen again.

Once she finished packing, she stared at the cleaned up room in approval in her sweat pants and zip up jacket – she wanted to be covered up – and headed to the living room. She peeked into the spacious room as though someone would be in there, and when she felt the coast was clear she entered the area and walked to stand in front of the webcam.

She didn't know if this was a good idea; talking to him again to try and reason with him. Her heart rate was sky rocketing, but she knew she had to do this, even though it could be disastrous. The truth was… she was innately attracted to Jareth despite everything. And a part of her did know, deep down, that it was him she was speaking with the moment he had called her 'precious,' but she didn't want to believe it was true. It was too farfetched to really consider at the time. But she'd run away from her problems too many times in the past. If she wanted to grow up and get her shit together, confronting her fears was a good place to start she rationalized.

She took a deep breath and exhaled. "You probably don't even need this stupid thing to watch or hear me, since you have those…crystals," Sarah said out loud. "But if you're there – I've decided I'm willing to talk. Maturely and rationally. I don't know. This is probably the worst idea ever. But I've done stupider things, as we both know. So…call me, I guess?"

Smooth, Sarah. Real smooth.

No more than ten seconds later the phone rang. That's when Sarah realized the damn thing was still unplugged, yet he was able to reach her anyway. God damn him and his magic! Sarah stared at the phone hesitantly, then let out a flow of oxygen again before picking up the phone.

Clearing her throat and bracing herself to sound confident, she answered, "Hello?"

"You rang?" came the same voice from earlier.

Sarah could feel her eyes hazily shut at the sultry way he spoke. How was it possible that someone who frightened her in so many ways could have this effect on her? She wanted to flat out punch, smack, and choke him earlier, and still did, but his voice was almost a nice reminder of a part of her life that she often put in the back of her mind. She also couldn't forget all the sexy things he said to her during their chats and how he made her feel when she touched herself, like it was really him who was doing the dirty work for her. Maybe she just needed to get him out of her system…

NO! God damnit, Sarah, stop! She told herself to snap out whatever spell she was in and focus on the objective of the call.

"Uh, yes. Yes I did," she finally replied, standing up tall.

"That wasn't very kind of you to hang up on me earlier, when I explicitly told you not to, precious."

Sarah scoffed. "Can you blame me? This whole situation is completely fucked up."

She heard Jareth chuckle deeply on the other line. "I've quite enjoyed it, myself."

"Yeah, I'm sure you have," she mumbled. "Look, I didn't ask you to call me to discuss what you may have enjoyed."

"Oh, you didn't? Then what do you want, Sarah? If it is company you're looking for, you need only ask," he responded.

That arrogant ass-wipe.

"I want you to leave me alone," she said. "Forever."

She could taste the lie on her tongue even as it came out of her mouth. She wanted to mean it, for she couldn't bear to look at herself ever again if she didn't at least try to wade out the person who she'd done inexplicable things for. He was a bad influence on her, she told herself. And she couldn't let distractions be a part of her life if she wanted to create a better one for herself, no matter how tempting the distraction was. She waited for him to say snarky back, or ask her why. She wasn't counting on what he asked her instead.

"Why do you think sex is wrong, precious?"

She felt her face contort into confusion and her mouth opened at his random question. How did they go from her demanding him to leave her alone, to him asking such an odd question?

"Ex…excuse me?" she asked. "I never said that."

"You don't have to," he answered. "You've been disgusted with yourself the moment you began indulging in your sexuality and ran away when you realized who you were speaking with and performing those acts for. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you feel guilty of treating yourself to such acts. And I'd like to understand why."

"Let's get one thing straight pal – I do not think sex is wrong at all. In fact, I think it's great! But I'm not comfortable doing weird sexual things with you over a god damn computer! I don't…" she paused, trying to think if what she was going to say next had merit to it. "I don't know you."

"Oh, precious, how you wound me!" he said dramatically. "We have so much history together and have shared such intimate acts with one another, yet you say you don't know me. If that's how you feel, Sarah…why don't we change that."

She heard him breathing on the other end of the line, and despite herself, couldn't help enjoying the continued illusion that he was somehow closer now. God, he was tantalizing. But no- she didn't really want anything he had to offer. Did she?

"Absolutely not. I'm conservative and sensible," she reasoned. "Nothing about this is conservative and sensible. We aren't even in the same state anyway, so this is a completely screwed up way to be intimate with someone."

"So if I asked you to meet me at the computer tonight at ten o'clock?"

"You'll find an empty room this time – I swear it."

And she meant it – sexy phone voice or not. Because she was planning on leaving without telling him. She simply didn't think she could muster another masturbation scene for him now. Not after everything she knew.

"I hate to hear that, precious." He sound disappointed, but his voice also held a hint of teasing. "You are quite the little vixen to watch, and I must admit…no one has gotten me off this way in a very. Long. Time."

There was no teasing this time. She could hear the seriousness in his voice just then, all heat. Now she was just curious.

"Why is that?" she asked frankly. "Why not find a real woman? Surely you can find someone of your kind who you can touch yourself? I hear the ones Underground are exquisite."

He laughed softly, although it held little humor. "You're real enough for me – more real than most women I know. Above or Underground. You're the woman I want right now."

She blinked slowly, then finally lifted her gaze to the camera, feeling she needed to really face him if she were to get her point across. "Then I guess it's too bad I'm here and you're there. Good bye, Jareth."

With that, she hung up the phone, then pushed to her feet and walked away. It took every ounce of strength she had to do that – really walk away from him, or as close as she could come to walking away. But she meant it. She'd been reminded this morning of how things ended between them all those years ago and how little she really knew about him and just how intimate she'd become with him. It was too much. Too risky. And just…too strange.

His liquid voice still reverberated in her ear as she forced herself to grab her car keys and begin loading her car with her bags. However, when she walked outside, she gasped when she saw the sudden snow storm that had taken over. Gusts of wind were blowing snow everywhere, and there had to be a good few inches of snow that piled up. There was no way she could drive in this…

"Mother fuck," she cursed.

How had she not realized the weather had taken a turn for the worse? She was so preoccupied with all the drama within the last several hours she apparently didn't notice the forecast.

This really was too much. And it had simply gotten worse. Shit.

Sarah had no choice but to stay overnight. The weather worsened and her anxiety was flaring up due to be stuck in the house she so desperately wanted to leave. She'd just have to wait out the storm and then she could move on with her life, she supposed.

Throughout the day she watched the weather reports, read, and listened to some music. Now, at 8 pm, she nibbled on the remainder of the hamburger meat she had cooked before and watched some sitcoms to take her mind off of things. She glanced at the computer once or twice, but she wasn't tempted. In fact, she didn't know if she was imagining it, but she had the oddest feeling Jareth truly wasn't even there – as if he'd really believed her when she'd said it was over and would never continue.

She shut off the TV an hour later, then headed to the room where she'd been sleeping soundly the past few nights. She lay down to sleep in a pink cami and a pair of cheerfully striped flannel pants. She felt at once adrift, yet also settled, centered. The excitement with her voyeur had ended now – but that was okay. She'd left Jareth behind before, this was no different. She'd go home and retreat to normalcy, where she hoped things would get better.

She ignored the vague sense of loneliness she felt for the first time since arriving here, and tried to fall asleep peering out the window, at a bright, nearly full moon hanging low in the sky. Snow was still falling, which wasn't a good sign. She sighed and turned to lay on her back.

When blessed sleep came, it brought dreams. Of Jareth. Of sex.

Only…when a kiss came on her cheek, waking her, she instantly knew it wasn't a dream, nor was the warm male body hovering over her.

She should've panicked, but didn't. Somehow she knew it was him, and was somehow more than okay with it. This wasn't over at all – even before he said low, near her ear, "Don't be scared, precious. It's just me."

AN: I know, I know. Isn't that such a cruel ending? But I guess you know what to look forward to next chapter! Hehehe.

Oh, Sarah. She really thinks she meant it when she said she wants Jareth out of her life. I wonder what she said to give him the impression that she wanted him there? I know we'd all be ecstatic to have Jareth suddenly appear in our room haha.