I own nothing. I am writing this for shits and giggles.

~Provocation and Improvisation~

Four bodies sit in the M's Orchid manager's office. These bodies are merely vessels for unstable emotions such as rigidness, awkwardness, and pure unadulterated tension. Montgomery and Michelina sit at their respective areas as they invite Jareth and Sarah to do what they can to sit comfortably in the leather guest seats.

"Why do I feel like I've just been sent to the principal's office?" Sarah does what she can to cross her legs. She pulls her cuffed hand to her lap. Jareth is content to let his hand hang over the arm of his chair to suit Sarah's comfort.

"Because the principal caught you pulling a prank." Michelina says as she lowers her gaze to Sarah as if she were a mother looking to a problem child.

There is so much tension. Sarah's head is about to explode. "Okay- I'm gonna say it. What the hell is going on?" Sarah cuts to the chase. She has had time to try to process things a little. "You guys..." she points to all three cousins, "you're all related?"

"That is correct." Jareth nods.

"So... what does that mean? You guys take magical shits, too?" She points to the twins.

Michelina chuckles, "Yes, we have magic."

"You're magical... beings- or something- and you own a business here? In... my world?" Sarah's confusion grows with each word. "Why?"

The twins look at one another with a shrug. "Why not?" Montgomery asks.

"You're from the same place as him, right?" She points to Jareth.

"Correct." Montgomery nods.

"But you choose to be here?"

"That is also correct." Michelina nods.

Sarah points Jareth's direction, but avoids any direct eye contact. "And you're here because...?" She doesn't know exactly how to look directly at him yet.

"Well, cousin Jareth is here because he feels as though-"

"Family business." He cuts them off as he sneaks a glare in their direction.

"Family business." Sarah reiterates. "Is this, like... a do or die kind of family business? Because if you're trying actually, literally, going to murder him over a family reunion or something, then I think we all need a come to Jesus moment-"

"Wait- hold on." Montgomery stops her banter. "Murder?" He highlights one of her words.

"Yeah, with- with these?" Sarah pulls up her arm. This action causes Jareth's arm to follow.

"Now I'm confused." Montgomery says to Sarah with a wrinkle in his brow.

Sarah tries to clear her mind. "You... gave these handcuffs to Constance so she could use them on the bartender, over here. You wanted her to do the finale instead of me and gave her these particular handcuffs." She scoots to the edge of her seat. "You said that she had to use this exact pair." Again she pulls her arm. "You said that he would just die of embarrassment-er something. What else is that supposed to mean?"

There is little silence as everyone is gathering all of this information. "So, let me get this straight," Montgomery prepares. "You eavesdropped on my private conversation with Constance, and upon hearing this information, you try to rectify the situation by handcuffing yourself, as well as the person that I am apparently trying to kill with, said handcuffs?" Jareth looks to her with a similar eye of curiosity.

"Would I really be that stupid?" Sarah is a little insulted. "Lola got mad that I stole Constance's big moment and thought this would be funny."

"Well," there is a noticeable break in Michelina's speech. "it is pretty funny," she admits.

"I'm glad that my pain amuses you." Jareth rubs his wrist in a slight wince of pain as he looks to Montgomery. Sarah looks to him as he continues to rub his wrist. He is careful not to touch the cuff itself.

"P-pain- so there is something wrong with these things..." she looks down to her wrist. "But I don't feel anything."

"That's because they are just ordinary handcuffs." Montgomery sighs with the shake of his head. "I have not tampered with them in any way."

"Then why-"

"Because they're made of iron." Jareth finishes this silly roundabout. "Iron is poisonous to our kind."

"What?" Sarah turns in more confusion to the twins. "Wait- how-"

"It's a chemical reaction within our blood stream." Jareth continues with dark eyes as he mentally set his cousins ablaze in his head. "Earthly creatures such as homosapiens and other animal-like creatures carry iron as a result of living eons on a planet where iron is apart of its chemical construction." Jareth crosses his legs to gain any kind of comfort in his seat. "The Fae realm- our realm- is not constructed with as much iron. Because of this, we do not have iron in our bloodstreams, and thus, too much iron can severely hurt us- poison us..." His eyes never leave the twins. "I am sure this was just his way for them to try to get me to leave or, break my will in some way. But my cousins forget that I am half human and that I have trace amounts of iron in my bloodstream." He looks in Sarah's direction. "It isn't as poisonous, but it is painful and it cancels out my magic."

"He's basically a puny human." Montgomery adds.

"This also explains why he turned back into his fae form after the show," Michelina adds, "which is quite the shame. It would have been quite amusing watching you walk around in that cute little piggy costume."

'He's... partly human?' "Okay... So why no shirt?" Sarah points to Jareth.

"Magic can't touch these cuffs. When I transformed, all of my clothing returned when my human mask dissolved. But because my shirt is related to my arm, I couldn't create one in time."

Sarah looks to everyone. Her eyes endlessly switch from one side to the other, trying to figure out what to say next. "Well..." her eyes turn dark as she looks to Montgomery, "this certainly is not what you had in mind tonight," she motions to Montgomery as she lowers their arms. She tries to repress the memory of him in her mind. "I am obviously not going to be able to work with 180 pound baggage at my hip."

"You weren't supposed to work at all." Montgomery simply states with a small grin.

"Boo-hoo." Sarah spats. She remains remarkably strong. "You're just gonna have to get over this stupid grudge, get the key, and let us go." Montgomery looks away from everyone at this moment, and starts to twiddle his thumbs. Sarah is quick to catch his avoidance. "Monty." Her voice carries warning. "You do have the key, right?"

"I don't think he does, love," Jareth replies. His voice sends an odd feeling through Sarah, yet another feeling that she represses for the time being.

"It is... unable to be reached at this time." He grins.

"Excuse me?" Sarah's voice drops. Jareth doesn't seem to be the least bit surprised.

"I had planned on leaving those disgusting things on your person for the duration of your stay." Montgomery is honest as he switches his vision to see the irritation stirring within his cousin. He then turns to Sarah. "I had Gunther, the sword swallower, swallow it."

"How clever." Jareth berates Montgomery with an ugly look.

"Are you kidding me?!" Sarah shouts in outrage. "Exactly how long did you plan on keeping him in these?!"

"About a month." Jareth finishes the thought.

"So... we're stuck like this?" Her eyes grow wide.

"It could be worse," Michelina points out. "If I had to choose, Jareth is much better company than this dim-witted buffon." She points towards her twin.

"No!" Sarah stands. "Nononononono! I don't even think I could survive the night-" She struggles to say something, anything.

"You being apart of this wasn't part of the plan." Montgomery stands to overpower her. "If you had followed my orders, this wouldn't have happened."

"Well, if you didn't treat me and my friends like dogshit, we would respect you enough to follow anything you had to say." Her voice raises as she stands just a little closer to him, losing herself in the moment. She has to bring it up. "If you ever touch me again..." Sarah can't even finish her own thought as her eyes pierce her boss.

There is a different silence in the room with all eyes straight on the human brunette. It is a discomforting feeling for all parties. Jareth's ears catch a darkening tone in her voice. Something definitely happened between these two, and the thought leaves a nasty taste in Jareth's mouth. As if he didn't hate his cousin enough.

Montgomery diffuses the situation with a sly grin. "I love it when you get feisty." This comment causes Sarah to sit down as she continues to snarl at the sleaze of a man.

"It seems as though Ms. Williams has a slight history of doing things her own way," Jareth comments. "No matter the Fae."

"See, Montgomery? I told you it was going to get interesting when she returned." Michelina can't help but to add a chuckle.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sarah says slowly putting all of this together in her head.

"When we first heard the story of the strong and thick headed child, named Sarah Williams, that bested our dear cousin years ago, we could hardly believe it." Michelina tilts her head to the side in glee.

"But who knew that, that same pig-headed brunette would waltz her little desperate feet through our doors one day." Montgomery's expression matches his sister's.

Sarah's eyes grow with every word spilling from their mouths. "Y-you guys... knew who I was when I came here?"

"Of course we did." Montgomery smile doesn't leave.

"Everyone in our family knows about you and your little run in the Labyrinth." Michelle's mischievousness starts to show.

"Oh Jesus..." Sarah's world is blown. She sits in her chair, defeated. "Isn't that just fucking fantastic."

"Oh, Ms. Williams," Michelina sighs, "what are we going to do with you?"

A quick thought suddenly enters into Sarah's head. She looks over to see her arm as an idea pops into her head like a light bulb. "Look, I'm tired. We aren't going to be able to get anything done stuck like this, and I definitely have no desire to have any part in... whatever it is that is going on here between all of you."

"Doesn't that prove a tad bit difficult considering our situation?" Jareth asks, questioning her motives.

"Look, if these are, indeed, a regular pair of handcuffs, then any handcuff key will work in unlocking them." She says factually as she turns towards Jareth's direction. "Luckily for you, I have a key. But it is at my house, and you will have to escort me, if it's not too much trouble." Her voice carries an array of emotions, such as flirty, sarcastic, and disgusted, all in one.

"You just have a handcuff key twiddling around your humble abode?" Montgomery asks.

"You can't just give us this information and expect us not to wonder how or why." Michelina finishes.

"I'm sure you all would just love to know." Sarah stands, "Well?" She motions to Jareth.

Jareth follows suit. "You ask as though I have a choice." His smile is less harsh upon her request. "My hands are... tied."

Sarah's eyes roll to the back of her head. "Greeeeat. Off to the dressing room we go."

"Good night, love birds." Michelina calls to them as we leave the room.

"Don't encourage them." Her brother's words are brash as he crosses his arms.

"-Ooooh. What do we have here?-" The catcalling already starts as they walk on the club's main floor. They get picked on by many of the waiters and waitresses that pass them.

"-Oww-oww-" a waiter squeals.

"-Sarah was serious.-"

"-Are you gonna make him squeal?-"

"-Hot daddy!-"

"-He doesn't look bad shirtless, though.-"

"-Didn't think Sarah was that gullible.-"

"Alright alright," Sarah nods with a fake laugh. "Laugh it up." They push through the door of the dressing room to get her things, as well as something to cover Jareth up in the chilly nighttime air.

"And where are you two off to?" Lola waltzes up to the couple as they ready to leave.

"I have to go find a key to unlock us, because some bitch couldn't keep her nose out of my business." Sarah's insult puts a cheeky grin on Lola's face. "I will be gone for the rest of the night, so you can all fight for my parts." Sarah's tone causes giggles to stir.

"Oh, ya'll hear that?" Constance asks.

"-Yeah! They'll be gone for the rest of the niiight!-" another voice adds.

"OoooooOOooooohhhhhhhhhhh!" The whole room rumbles in noises upon Sarah and Jareth's embarrassing expense. Sarah slaps her palm over her face to hide her blush. Jareth remains stoic faced, but intrigued, nonetheless. Humans are quite interesting.

"Grow up." Sarah sassily says.

"I wonder what Ellie will think of this?" Constance says, with a smile that is wide and goofy. Her comment causes more of a reaction from the girls. Sarah looks to her knowingly.

"She'll be asleep."

"That's kind of rude." Lola says with her own smile.

"I think she'll be a little jealous." Constance finishes with a flirtatious look towards Jareth. This causes his brow to lift at the body language he notices from everyone. Not his style, but definitely not unpleasant.

"Have you met Ellie yet?" Another girl approaches a Jareth with the question.

"I suppose I am about to." He replies. His accent causes the girl to smile in the slightest. "Is she well known?"

"She's Sarah's girl." Constance says with a wink.

"She is THE girl to know around here." Lola chimes in.

"-She's cute-"

"-She's smart-"

"-She can charm the pants off you-"

"-Has one hell of a toy collection, too-" Cackling is heard all over the room.

"You're all going straight to hell." Sarah says, less than amused by her, so called, friends.

"-in a handbasket!" Lola preaches as she tosses a shirt back behind her in celebration.

"Let's go." Sarah painfully exhales as she throws a velvet red blanket-like object around his back. "You're not gonna get sick because of me."

"Much appreciated, Ms. Williams." Jareth is careful to keep his responses simple when regarding the firey brunette that he honestly cannot believe that he finds himself tied up to.

The cackling seems to continue to no end as they exit the building through the back exit where they first met. She shakes her shameful head as she readies herself. "This would be a great time for a cigarette, wouldn't it?" She muses pulling her purse over her free elbow and she leads on.
"Would you like one?" He asks.

"No. I'm trying to quit."

"Is smoking your only vice?" Jareth quizzically asks.

"As opposed to what?" Sarah's question leaves no room for a rebuttal.

"We are in quite the predicament," he decides to change the subject.

Sarah is quick to nod. "If someone told me this morning that I would end my night taking the Goblin King home, handcuffed to my wrist, I would have been quite skeptical." She suddenly pauses their steps as she looks to the ground. "I can't believe that sentence just came out of my mouth..." she shakes the whiplash out of her head as they carry on.

"How far is your home?" He asks, in a wince as he rubs his wrist.

"Only eight blocks from here." She says pointing ahead of them.

"Quite close, considering how large this city seems to be." Jareth adds to the conversation.

"Yep." She simply responds.

"Do you usually travel home on your own?"

"Yep."

"Don't you think this is rather dangerous for someone as... young as you?"

"Nope."

"I see." His voice withers away with his steps. He looks to the sky full of skyscrapers waiting for her to say something, but she remains as silent as ever.

He continues. "It's chilly tonight."

She nods. "It is."

"You must be freezing." He looks towards her ensemble.

"You even more so." She doesn't return the gesture. She keeps her eyes straight ahead.

"Hmm," he urges to continue, "do you suppose that is normal weather for March?"

"Ok-look." She brings them to a complete stop on an empty intersection. "I know that you're trying to diffuse the situation by undermining the serious complications that are, literally, at hand, here, but I am just not in the talking mood."

Jareth is pleasantly surprised by her change in vernacular. "Clearly."

"I am severely confused. I am utterly... speechless. I am full of hate for the people that I am stuck working for, and now you've showed up- I am still trying to come to terms with all of this." She points to him. Her voice relieves a chuckle of frustration. She still tries to evade his curious eyes as she continues. "A lot of information has been dumped on me, I feel like I have been lied to, and I have to come to grips that my past has come back to haunt me in the most daunting of ways." Various limbs on her body start to fidget and shake. "I-I just need a moment-please. I need a moment of silence. I need to figure all of this out, so if you don't mind remaining silent until we get back to my house, I would greatly appreciate it." Her hands clutch in a moment of desperation.

Resorting back to a more formal version of himself, he straightens up and nods. "As you wish." He tries to sympathize with her. This must all be quite a bit to take in. She is adjusting to new information. It's just too bad that this conversation is only the tip of the iceberg. There is so much more at hand, and explaining everything would definitely send her head reeling. Jareth wonders if she will be able to handle it all. She is quite young. She doesn't have enough experience to handle anything quite so mentally demanding.

All of this has comes to just as much of a shock for Jareth. He hadn't the faintest idea that he would ever see this girl again. And he definitely did not plan on seeing her in that place. His mind replays her actions as he sat on stage earlier in the night. He has a hard time believing that everything she had physically done to him had actually came directly from the girl he is bound to. He slightly turns his gaze to her direction to try to fathom all of this. She is still so young by human standards- infant-like compared to his species. Yet, she lives the life as a provocative dancer, making many men feel the way she was somehow able to make him feel for a moment. His is Fae, but he is also half human. It was a strange experience, and the circumstance deepens when he connects those erotic emotions to this... Girl; this girl that equally haunts his past. This... Child! What is she doing? Why is she here? What path has Sarah Williams taken since he had seen her those few short years ago? Though she is humanly old enough to make her own choices in this world, he never expected to see a child of her prestigious stature wasting her days- and apparent years- in such a dark and dampen place such as M's Orchid.

His own mind starts to swirl downwards with endless questions, that he fears will forever plague his mind.

"Damn it." Sarah suddenly forces them to another stop, pulling him straight out from his thoughts.

"What?" Jareth looks around them in curiosity as to why they have suddenly stopped.

"There's a cop over there and he sees us." She adverts her eyes from his direction.

"Is this a problem?"

"He's- shit, he's coming towards us. Look-just hide the handcuffs, and follow my lead." Jareth takes a look to see that an officer of the law is, indeed headed their direction from across the road. He takes his time crossing towards the direction of the couple.

Jareth feels her hand as she grabs his arm to pull it under his blanket. "What are you doing?"

"I need you to stay quiet and to let me do the talking, alright?" Sarah says is hushed to a whisper. "Now bend over. Act like you're in pain." Jareth rolls his eyes and regrets his decision to do what he is told.

"Good evening," the tall cop with dark skin walks up with a flashlight blaring in their general direction.

"Oh Officer!" Sarah smiles a relieved chuckle. Her voice changes to a light and bubbly sound, like a magic trick. Jareth is eager to continue observing. "Oh, I am glad that we have run into you."Jareth wonders what the hell she is up to.

He eyeballs them. "Might I ask what is going on here?"

"I was on my way home," her voice is steady and kind, " and I met this man behind the alley, by the back doors of my establishment. He is in bad shape." She keeps a sorrowful arm around Jareth's back. "He had gotten beaten to bits by these stupid thugs. I saw them run when I walked out the door. I told him that I would escort him to the overnight clinic just north of the hospital up here."

"Mmhmm," He leers his handy flashlight over the hunched man, whose face is covered by his blonde hair.

"Poor guy even lost his shirt." Her convincing act is one of the many wonders of this world to Jareth.

"What these guys look like?" He points the light to Jareth face, causing his eyes to squint.

Sarah's eyes light up. "Well, I only saw the back of their heads, but they both had long hair with these leather jackets and jeans on. White. Vaguely tall. They were skinny guys, but muscular-" Sarah chuckles. "Quite the unique description, I know. But what can you do?" Jareth remains silent and meditates on the deception of her voice. If he had been observing the situation from afar, he feels that even he would believe her. "I would have reamed them myself, but I was more inclined to help out this poor guy."

"Miss, you look familiar," he says as he lowers his flashlight down her body to take a look at what she is wearing. Seeing her ensemble, his eyes grow dark, as if he were about to arrest her.

"Oh yes," she gives off a hearty chuckle, "I work at the club just down the street. M's Orchid? I'm sure you read all about it in the paper." She laughs as she shows her outfit. "I was in a rush and didn't have time to bring a change of clothes with me tonight."

His eyes instantly lighten up. "Wait- I do recognize you..." he points, "you were in the paper, too, weren't you?" He nods remembering.

She chuckles with a shy smile. "Yeah that's me."

"You're that girl that throws all the drunken creeps out onto the street from the club. You sure are doing a service." He grins as his tips his hat to her.

"Whatever I can do to help the community, officer." She chuckles happily at the uniformed man with a gun.

"Keep up the good work, and make sure he gets to the hospital safely." He looks down to Jareth. "You're in good hands with this one, she really knows how to beat 'em." He shakes his flashlight in the air as he turns it off. "I'm off to do my part and arrest those airheads you've successfully thrown out tonight." He smiles as he pulls his cuffs from his belt as a small laugh.

Sarah laughs along with him as Jareth sees the cuffs in his hand at the corner of his eye.

Jareth reaches for him, "Excuse me-" He reaches to the officer, "those cuffs- ooof-" his statement is cut short as the wind is suddenly knocked out of him at the feeling of Sarah's hand being shoved in his gut.

"Oh God. I don't think he's doing well. We better get moving." She looks down to her secret cuff buddy trying to recover. "Thank you officer. I feel so much safer knowing you're in the streets." She lays it on thick as she starts to hurry Jareth away.

"You guys have a good night."

They continue to walk in some sort of limp fashion until Sarah knows that the officer is far enough away to notice any difference. "God, that was close."

"A little too close." His voice warns her of a specific area she almost hit as he rubs the area of his lower stomach. "What on earth was that all about?" Jareth slowly regains his composure, voice deep and trying not to convey the irritation in his mind.

"It's called improv." She says letting him go as they grow closer to the house.

"Why was any of that necessary? And why wouldn't you let me ask him about his handcuffs?" He huffs in her direction. "Didn't you say that any key works on any set of handcuffs?"

Sarah, finally turns around to face him. With a heavy sigh, she breaks through her fear and looks straight into 'his eyes'. For the first time she is able to see his height, his face, his nose, his lips- dare she looks any lower? She tries to remain civil. "You better be happy that I said what I could. Do you know what he would have done if he saw us handcuffed, with a shirtless "you" and a skimpy "me" in a sexy bodysuit in a back alley?! He would have arrested us on the charge of illegal prostitution- because that is what this looks like." The word scrapes his mind. "If I didn't pull the "girl that busts drunkards out of her bar" card, he wouldn't even have questioned us. He would have just thrown us in his car and we would be stuck in jail, behind more iron bars, and we would be there for days. I don't know about you, but I prefer not to do that."

"You are quite the hot-headed little creature, aren't you?" He says looking down to her. "I wonder what else hasn't changed in that childish little mind of yours." He asks as he taps the side of her head with the flick of his finger. "I am willing to wager that this is something you have experience with in the past."

"I really hope you're not insinuating-"

"I am willing to bet that you have used your "charm" to convince many men of anything." The tone in his voice belittles her past experiences, whatever they may be. Her jaw slightly drops at the comment.

"Excuse me?" Her voice breaks at his deep rooted comment. His failed guess at her past does not sit well with her. Her gaze in his eyes darkens to a deadly stare. Her ravenous emotions struggle to stay at bay.

"Oh, it seems that I have struck a nerve." He can no longer hide his irritation towards her. "You always were too easy to tease. You haven't changed very much, have you?"

"Don't assume that your pompous, pretentious, glittery ass knows anything about me." Her voice cracks in what Jareth would assume to be anger. "Don't you ever assume you know who the fuck I am." Her teeth gnash on her words.

"It's not difficult when you show the same spoiled, bratty, and selfish traits as you did as a child. You haven't grown at all. At least you haven't grown anywhere that matters." He eyes her from head to toe, greatly judging her and her risque appearance. His grin is that of accomplishment, as if he had won an argument.

She snarls at him, completely disgusted. "That's a lot of smack from someone who wastes his days away being falsely worshiped as a glorified lawn ornament by stupid creatures that do nothing but terrorize innocent people." She turns around, not wanting to look at him anymore.

"Isn't that calling the kettle black?" Jareth sneers.

Sarah scoffs. "It's a wonder that you still know how to form a sentence. Did you even have any intelligent conversations with anyone until you showed up here?" She pulls him with extreme force, wanting to get out of these cuffs as fast as possible.

"The conversations I have had with the dim-witted, large, furry, abominable creature you befriended, far exceeds the one I am currently having with you." Jareth finishes.

The discomfort in the rest of the walk home could tear a hole in any dimension.