There is so much fanservice in this chapter, I almost feel the need to apologize... But I know you have all been waiting for this crap, lol.
It's good crap.
Enjoy my crap.
I hope there aren't too many mistakes. I got a little too excited in posting this chapter.
I own nothing. I am writing this purely for shits 'n giggles.
~Parental Conundrums~
"Alright, may I have everybody's attention?" Michelina's musical voice chimes in the room of dancers as they all warm up and get ready for their new routines. "I would like for you all to meet our new recruits." She says as three young and innocent faces tiptoe in behind her, fully ready in dance gear and fresh ambition.
"-Ooh-"
"-Fresh meat-"
"-Let's see how good they are.-" All of the girls murmur and whisper about the newbies.
Michelina hushes all gossiping voices. "I am sure you will make them feel quite welcome. Sarah, if you will help them catch up with the routine you just learned." Her boss urges her to come to the front to meet the girls.
"-Be careful-"
"-Don't get too close to Sarah.-"
"-She'll gnaw your arm off if you take any of her parts.-"
Sarah rolls her eyes as she hears the shameless name calling from the incessant voices all around her. "Just shut up. I dunno why you're all still mad about this weekend. Constance got the damn promotion. I don't think she gives a rats ass about whatever I did."
"Hey. Go ahead and sabotage me!" Lola says with a volunteering hand. "Maybe I'll get promoted, too." She says as all of the juvenile girls laugh.
Regardless of the picking and prodding of Sarah's character, they go on their merry way and start their practice as per usual, except it's all entirely too different, now that Sarah is on a mission. She is trying to figure out how to keep her plans a secret while still figuring out how to carefully prod information from people without anyone suspecting anything. She feels as if she has to walk on eggshells, and that feeling isn't helped by the fact that she is still getting heat from the stunt that she pulled on Constance over the weekend. Everyone is more or less over it, other than Lola and her hot-headed side.
Other than having to remain a little extra sneaky, it's a wonderful setup. Sarah and Jareth keep their distance, and each one is able to keep the twins busy as the other snoops for information. During rehearsal and dance practice, the promotion was brought up to catch the new girls up to speed on how things worked, and this leads to some chatter. When someone is promoted, they are given the opportunity to move to what Michelina and Montgomery refer to as the "M's Orchid's Southern location." The process starts immediately, and there is lots of work is involved. Room and board is automatically involved, and families are welcome to join. It's almost too good to be true, with the hefty bonus that is promised with this promotion. Montgomery and Michelina are scarce on what exactly happens, with their reason being that it's more for them to dangle over all of the dancers heads with. If they are so inclined to find out all of what is to come, they need to work as hard as they can. Many girls believe that M's Orchid is actually a training ground for Hollywood or Broadway, and use a southern location as a cover-up. And if you make a good enough impression with Monty and Michelle, they give you the hook-up with one of their mutuals. Monty and Michelle are known to have many famous (and infamous) acquaintances. Many times have the women in this club been able to mingle and dance for many, upon many celebrities that come and go. Some are even lucky enough to catch an eye of a talent scout to get them on the road to fame.
That's how her Sarah's mother said that she was discovered, after all.
M's Orchid is a well known place.
Sarah is able to go up to some of the dancers that had been here longer than she to kind of get some history on the place; something that she might not have been able to get from the papers that she found, or the new friend she made at the shop next door. She got basic stuff like how this place used to be an old wild west saloon, and how they used to smuggle illegal substances that were forbidden at the time, like alcohol, during the prohibition era. Speaking to some of the older staff, like waiters and bartenders, she hears of more obscure things that happened throughout the centuries, like opium dens and brothel rooms for people to divulge in less than legal pleasures, but it's all rumor and whispers. None of this information, no matter how interesting, can be proven true, and things like these happened on almost every block a hundred years ago. It isn't exactly hard to find this kind of information.
On Jareth's side of things, he would keep Ellie busy as he would sneakily find his way around the twins' office. This wouldn't prove too difficult. The attention span of an almost-four-year- old is incredibly finite. He would get her focused on a subject for a few moments and he could slip away. During the entire mid-morning he had found absolutely nothing inside of his expert snooping. No buttons, no ropes, no magic- not that he would be able to sense any with these blasted cuffs slapped around his wrists, anyway. His cousins were good at hiding their tracks, and he admits to himself that they aren't exactly as stupid as he was led to believe. Score one for the evil M's as he sits right next to Ellie. With a heavy sigh of temporary defeat, he sees that she struggles to understand something that catches her eye in the book that she is determined to read, no matter how high the book may be above her reading level.
"Daddy... what is... Daddy? What does that mean?" Ellie struggles to understand as she underlines the word at the beginning of the book. This question pulls Jareth back into their reading session.
"Hmm?" He hums in question as he sees the word she is asking about. They have only really tried to read the first few pages of "Labyrinth." In the story, the young girl is talking about her father. She refers to the father figure as her daddy, and Ellie is confused by this statement.
"What is that?" She asks again as she turns to Jareth expecting him to answer.
Quite the unique question, he thinks. After thinking about it for a moment, he can understand why she would be unfamiliar with that term. He tries to explain in a way a child would understand.
"Well, I suppose a daddy is kind of like a mommy, but as a... boy." He isn't used to having to dumb down such an intricate definition of what a specific parental figure might mean from one person or another. To Jareth, a mother or a father can be anyone that is willing to fill the role, they do not have to be a specific gender, or even a blood relative. He has grown up with many parental figures, most of which were of the female species of the Fae. He only called his mother as such because he had been born of her womb. Of course he had a father. He had heard of him enough, but with his mother's back story, and the events that had led to Jareth's birth, he opted to have nothing to do with his "father". Jareth doesn't even know the man's name, and he has opted to keep it that way. But this is a personal preference. He made the choice to reject who his "father" was. However, Ellie didn't have this choice. She is forced to live with a decision that was made for her, and because of this, she isn't able to even understand what or who a father is.
"A... daddy... is a...mommy?" She struggles to understand.
"Sort of." He chuckles at her vague and childlike understanding. "It is just a person, usually identifying as a male, that helps out a... mommy, as you would say, with children. They help a mother's children grow up and do good things."
Ellie's brows curl at his choice of words. She looks down in contemplation as if she were meditating on the definition, much like a monk would with a prayer. After a moment of hesitation, she looks back to him in a eureka like moment. "Like you!" She smiles as she feels like she understands. "Yo'wr a boy!" She smiles, extremely proud of herself. "Yo'wr a daddy!"
The color immediately drains from Jareth's face. A small laugh spills from his throat. "What?" He feels like he completely misunderstood her.
"Yo'wr a daddy...?" She tilts her head as her smile slowly falls. "Right?" She suddenly feels insecure about her understanding. "You help my mama." She tries to help him understand, "Yo'wr a boy..." She starts to see the fear in his face. "You help... me." She suddenly feels so wrong. "Right?"
Jareth is having a hard time further explaining himself. He can see how his simplistic explanation can confuse the child. He is just totally unsure of how to fix this. But before he digs himself deeper into this hole, the office door opens to see a sweaty and dance-ready Sarah with a smile.
"Lunch time, my love." Sarah smiles as she holds out a hand for Ellie to take.
"Yay!" Ellie drops the subject completely, along with her pencil, and scurries to her mother. This leaves Jareth still in a slightly confused state as Sarah focuses her eyes to him.
"That means you, too, your majesty. Come on-" She sees his pale face as he stands to straighten his clothing, "Whoa. You look like you just saw a ghost. You okay?" She asks with her mind still on the routine she just finished teaching the new girls.
He immediately returns to his former self; smug and proper. "Peachy." He grins, dismissing this little episode. "Nourishment sounds preferable." He decides that this is not the ideal time to bring up Ellie's new ideology to Sarah's attention.
Mondays are always the shortest days for routines. As lunch time comes around, Michelina and Montgomery always treat the Monday group with some kind of catered restaurant. As everyone mingles and eat throughout the empty club, all of the ladies urge for Ellie to sit with them and talk. She is eager to show everyone her artwork and complement the new girls of the group. She has a blast talking and getting boatloads of attention. Sarah is comfortable leaving Ellie with the girls as she sees that none of them will let her out of their sight. This especially gives time for Jareth to move freely about the club and pester his cousins about whatever he deems worthy.
The afternoon starts to take a toll on Ellie as her coughing starts to return. She starts to complain about feeling winded, and her sore throat starts to return. Sarah wonders if Ellie should need a nap. It has been a trying day, and traveling to the club is out of her normal routine. Ellie refuses. She is having too much fun with her friends. Sarah is sympathetic, but stern. She needs to rest and lay down, at the very least. Jareth volunteers to take her back into the office and let her catch up on rest for a while, assuring his cousins again that she will not touch a thing.
Montgomery is weary, but accepts, only if he keeps the door open. This gives some of the dancers a chance to see Jareth mingling with the child as she starts to feel better. The more they pass the two working in the office, the more the dancers start to talk. There are small rumors that start to caress ears of all of the entertainers. The girls wonder if this is the same sleazy bartender that would keep on harassing them all the week prior. He hasn't said a thing to any of them besides Sarah, but only because he is taking care of her kid. They all wonder what exactly happened between the two over the weekend that made them so civil towards one another.
Everyone is let out after a few reminders of being on time to rehearsals as well as the endless lingering of the promotion that is lingered every other day. To someone like Sarah, a promotion sounded like a dream come true last week, and it still could be for someone who yearns for that path in life. Sarah could see that fresh sparkle of ambition in the new girls' eyes, but she is more interested in leaving, rather than advancing. She silently wishes all of her colleagues well, for when she and Jareth crack this mystery, the last thing that anyone is going to get is a raise. It's just meaningless propaganda to make the girls work harder for the same amount of money, anyway. Why take part in something that shady? She then makes a mental note of how many lives that will be changed after all of this is over. Are Michelina and Montgomery really responsible for what is going on in their world? Sarah feels for Jareth's story, but she doesn't really feel like it is the best thing to just shove the blame on the first person or people that might look suspicious- well maybe Montgomery, especially after the stunt he pulled on her. It takes everything in her not to set him on fire with a cigarette butt.
Sarah would just feel really bad if all of this ends up a shit show for no reason.
But she needs to trust that Jareth knows what he is doing.
He better know what he's doing.
Being let out in the late afternoon, Sarah decides that this is a good evening for some Chinese takeout, and has the group of three stop in a little hideaway restaurant that lives next to their apartment building. Getting home around sundown, they lay out the respective Chinese takeout bowls and chopsticks and proceeded to chow down on their dinner. Ellie formed quite the appetite after her adventure at the club today. She had never eaten so much. Sarah and Jareth also have few good laughs as they try to teach the child how to use chopsticks for the first time.
As the evening winds down, Sarah catches Jareth up on the small things she learned about some rumored history, but since it was all speculation, Jareth thinks it would be ideal to return the papers that Sarah had borrowed and try any find any new information about the building before the building's name change. Sarah volunteers to make the trip, since it is hard to give directions to the library if one has not been there before- not to mention, it would also be a good time to smoke. Before leaving, Sarah mentions that Ellie will need to learn her numbers up to fifty by the end of the month to stay on top of her preschool schedule. With nothing else to do, Jareth agrees to help the child, only thankful that the subject is related to math instead of literature.
As night sets in, Jareth works on reading the new round of information that Sarah was able to find on the M's Orchid building, and Sarah readies Ellie for bed. Jareth tries to stay focused on the more promiscuous findings about the building. Most of the information is true, but severely outdated, and it is difficult to be exact on old locations like this. There is little that can be found, so it would require a professional to dig deeper, if they wanted to learn anymore. Jareth doesn't have that much time, though. It truly is interesting to read that everything that was said in the rumors to be true, but he just can't keep his attention on the topic at hand as numerous giggles can be heard from the next room.
Why is his focus continuously compromised when he is near these mere human girls?
This incessant nosiness that he has formed since he has been dwelling here is really starting to get on his nerves. He is on a mission. There is something terrible going on in both this world, as well as his, and yet he can't seem to stop eavesdropping on the mindless chatter of a couple of ignorant humans that are bonding on the next room. He fumes at this dilemma as his eyes gloss over the words on the paper as he, without mental consent, extends his full attention at the mother and daughter who seem to be having the time of their lives. What could be so funny about getting a child ready for bed? What is so blasted funny about that?
Better yet, why does he care?
This is driving him mad!
"Okay you little hummingbird. It's time to put your little wings to rest and go to sleep." Sarah says as she catches Ellie in a mid-run. She has so much energy today.
"I don't wanna." Ellie says between her giggles. Her smile is contagious. Sarah tries to stay firm.
"Too bad." Sarah's grin never falters.
"I feel good." Ellie says as she falls into the bed full of pillows and blankets. "I like feeling good." She stretches all of her limbs.
"I know." Sarah's smile only grows bigger. "You look better, and you act better, but you aren't at one-hundred percent, yet. That coughing fit this afternoon proves it." Sarah says pulling covers over her daughter.
"Will I ever be bestest?" Ellie asks, wondering if there will be a day where she is not sick.
"I certainly hope so, my love." Sarah says as she lovingly caresses the toddlers long flowy hair. "But the only way we can get better is if we sleep."
"All I do is sleep," Ellie points out, "I don't wanna."
"I know you don't wanna," Sarah pokes at one of Ellie's tickle spots at her side, causing her to giggle, "but sometimes we gotta do things that we don't like." Sarah manages to get the wiggily little girl to be still. "Besides, you need sleep so you can have energy for when we go back to the club tomorrow."
"Yay!" Ellie's excitement leads her to kick under the covers.
"Medicine." Sarah says as she holds up a nighttime cough medicine bottle. Ellie not so thrilled to swallow the gross tasting medicine, but she does what she is told.
"Mama," Ellie starts as she is tucked in tightly.
"Yes, my love." Sarah's gleeful smile shines on the little girl.
"Do I have a daddy?"
Sarah freezes in an instant. She takes a moment to study her daughter's face.
Where did this come from?
"...What...?" Sarah's voice drops to a whisper. The change in Sarah's face tells Ellie that the question was a surprise. Sarah tries her hardest to keep her composure. "Where did you hear that word?"
"I... don't have one..." Ellie's eyes grow sad. She slumps backwards in disappointment.
After a moment or two, Sarah tries to explain. "W-well..." Sarah slightly nods, "Y-yes you do, but-"
"I do?!" Her happiness radiates the room as she starts to bounce.
"N-now hold on-"
"Daddy!" She calls out. She looks beyond her mother out into the hallway expecting a response. "Daddy! I knew it!"
"Ellie- I don't think you-"
"Sarah," Jareth's voice is suddenly heard at the door. Sarah quickly turns to see a regretful look on Jareth's face. Sarah is about to ask why he is looks so upset before Ellie speaks again.
"Good night, mommy. Good night, daddy." Ellie continues to beam with a smile as she cuddles herself inside of her bed, satisfied with the her mother's answer.
"What...?" It takes only a moment, but Sarah's eyes suddenly grow.
Jareth can tell by Sarah's body language that she has connected the dots. Deciding to keep the child out of it, he leaves the doorway, and awaits the mother in the next room, as far from the hallway as possible. Sarah slowly turns off the light as she goes to shut the door. "Good night, my love." Sarah's voice is kind, but her disposition could not be further from that fact.
She quickly approaches the Fae with large steps. Even with Jareth being half a foot taller than her, she is still able to shrink him down to size with the voice that booms from her small figure.
"What. The. Fuck."
Jareth tries to start. "Listen, it's-"
"She thinks you are her FATHER?!"
"It was a misunderstanding."
"Oh PLEASE tell me how THAT is misconstrued? Where did she even discover that word- w-what the hell were you even teaching her today?!"
"This." His anger matched Sarah's as he goes to pull the Labyrinth book out of her bag. "She told me it was her favorite book," he shoves it into Sarah's stomach, "and she urged me to teach her how to read it." He looks to her in expectancy. "It's certainly not what I expected her to pull out, though I am waiting for you to blame me for introducing her to this, as well."
Sarah pauses as she sees the title of the book. Her eyes soften as she instinctively lingers her fingers over the decorative cross-stitching that embroiders the cover. Her actions slow as she opens the page that is dog-eared towards the beginning. She speed-reads the page, knowing each and every word on it. She used to have this entire book memorized as a child. She sees where Ellie underlined many words that Sarah never really said aloud to her.
Jareth continues, urging for understanding. "She asked me a question and I did my best to answer. I told her that a father was a person that helped out a mother to help children grow; A father is just a mother but male. She came up with her own conclusions from there."
"I..." she sighs. "Shit." Sarah curses as she lands on a couch in an upcoming headache. Jareth can sense the change in her attitude. She becomes less angry at him and more angry at herself. "You could have just said to ask mom, or something." Sarah shakes her head.
"Would you like to continue to blame me for anything else? I don't think you've brought up the brother stealing thing in a few days."
She looks up at him, appreciating his level of attitude towards her. "I... fuck." She feels bad now. "I... always paraphrased. I never really read directly from this book." She flips through the pages, reminiscing her childhood. "I would tell her the story and she would always think it was so real. I did NOT want her thinking that." Sarah immediately eyeballs the Goblin King. "I told her it was just a story, and I wanted to prove it to her by showing her the physical book that it was just a fairy-tale. But I never really read from it." She shoves frustrated fingers through her hair. "I never used the words "dad" or "father" or "daddy"- for obvious reasons." Sarah sighs as she shoves the edge of the book to her head in a groan.
Jareth sits across from her, hearing her story. "I did take that into account, you know." He looks towards Ellie's room. "I wasn't expecting a question like that. I had to improvise. She is very smart."
He hears Sarah release a regretful sounding chuckle. "Too smart." She follows his action. "She always has been."
"I'm sorry." His words are honest. "It was not my intention to stir up this kind of trouble."
"It's..." she sighs. He's right. She can't get angry at him. "You're right. It's just..."
"I understand." He holds up a hand to try to end this. "And my apology still stands."
"It's okay." She deeply exhales. "I'll... I'll figure it out." She forcefully rubs her face in frustration as she plops into the nearest seat. "She needed to find out sometime, right?" She then releases a little more of a lighthearted chuckle. "Oh God. She thinks your her father."
"Yeah... I'm not sure how to rectify that."
Sarah leans back into her couch to stare at the ceiling. "Me neither." She muses. "I'd almost prefer to just drop it and hope she doesn't bring it up again."
Jareth's mind still ponders at something that Sarah had said. He looks to her. "I'm confused," he starts to change the subject, "if you didn't want her knowing about the Labyrinth, then why tell her the story?"
She shrugs, "It's a good story," she speaks with honesty. "And..." she holds her hands together in sudden nervousness, "It's apart of me." Her head kneels down as she feels her cheeks grow red at the thought. "No matter how often I dismissed it as some sort of cracked out fever-dream, it was always there at the back of my head. All of it." She leans back in her seat, crossing her legs in the process. Jareth is eager for her to continue. "It was... always apart of me. And so is she." Sarah shrugs, not really knowing how to add to her confession. "But it's not like she has to know."
This comment sinks into Jareth's heart a little. Why not? Why shouldn't she able to believe the Labyrinth to be real?
Then a question sprouts in her mind, as well. "Why is this a book, anyway?" She leans in, her question probing his mind this time. "What possessed you to make this a tangible thing for humans to read? Do you get some sick satisfaction from stealing children, or something?" She asked the question knowing it to be untrue.
"Aah, I never tire of hearing this question," he muses as he leans back in his own seat, "though this vile and pathetic excuse of literature was not my doing." He makes himself comfortable as he starts to tell his story. "My job is not something that I take pleasure in. It is something that must be done and I was cursed with the title do what what is expected with being the ruler of... goblins." His eyes roll at the mention of the creatures.
He continues. "Goblins are wild, rabid, and stupid creatures. They are hell spawns with little to no self-control that tread from the darkest trenches of the underworld, and that's giving them too much credit. They are quite tame in today's society, at least compared to how they used to be."
Sarah didn't expect that response. "I don't recall seeing much. They acted more silly than evil, to me."
"Those were the evolved creatures that you interacted with. The majority are still pinned away and clawing and killing to be free to do what they were made to do- pillage, rape, and kill."
"Eww." Sarah squirms at the thought. "Those... things? I was surrounded by those things." She feels utterly creeped out.
"That is why they need someone to keep them tied up and pinned down, at least until they are brought up as somewhat civilized. The book even says that it is goblins who take children, which is simply not the case. The creatures that the book refers to as goblins are actually creatures called the Bendith y Mamu.
"The Bendith y Mamu are the result of what happens when an uncivilized goblins get a hold of fairies and abuse them. The misfortunes are further dealt when the fairy in question is forced to give birth to a Bendith y Mamu. They are much too large for Fairies, and in turn, the Fairies in question are slowly killed by the creature they are forced to carry. Such a site is quite ghoulish and is something that I could have gone a few millennia without ever seeing." Jareth even shivers at the thought. He sees Sarah's jaw dropped at the description.
Sarah is having a hard time finding a voice after that story. "And those things took... Toby?" She gulps.
"I'm afraid so. Weather someone says the word "goblin" or "Bendith y Mamu" it makes no matter, because they have goblin blood flowing inside of them." Jareth says factually.
"I..." Sarah shakes her head, trying to rid herself of the horrid mental images. "The first time I ever met Hoggle, he was spraying down fairies at the gates of the Labyrinth." She looks back with a scrunched face at what Jareth had educated her. He nods at her statement. "I just assumed he was being an ass."
"Yes." He grins at the mention of the dwarf. "He was trying to help the young fairies from getting hurt. Those fairies were in their infancy, and did not know any better. He was put in charge of putting them to sleep and transporting them back to the entrance of the Fairy realm." Sarah continues to listen with intent as Jareth pinches the bridge of his nose. "Nowadays, the issue is mostly resolved. There are laws in place that make it to where there are dire consequences due to the actions of the ignorant. But some fairies are still caught in the crossfire. Today there are more counts of infant fairy suicides. They would rather die than at the risk of becoming test subjects. On the opposite end of things, I am forced to kill the goblin that caused such a crime."
Sarah's eyes are quite large at this point. Everything is so much darker than she ever thought possible. "I thought fairy-tales were supposed to be lighthearted and fluffy. Not dark and disgusting." She regrets ever hearing anything about this.
"Have you never heard of the Grimm Brothers Fairytales? They told some interesting stories when they were first published. They caused quite an uproar at the time." Jareth reminisces a little on the past. "As I recall, stories such as "Little Red Riding Hood" and "Rapunzel" are quite watered down, these days."
He has a point, there. Sarah nods in agreement, but not really wanting to agree. "That puts a lot things into perspective. It makes me wonder what other nuances I missed while I was in there."
"This Labyrinth book appeared somewhere in the thirteenth century. I still haven't been able to pinpoint its exact origins. Even if I were to trace it back now, it wouldn't matter. It was originally written in human Scottish Gaelic, and the damage has already been done. I personally believe that it was most likely the work of someone who had some sort of vendetta against me after they accidentally used the magic of spell casting to invite the Bindith y Mamu to accept their human sacrifice." He sighs at his memory. "It's maddening."
"And I was one of the lucky few to bear it's contents." Sarah takes a different look at what feels like a cursed book, now. "What- so I practiced... dark magic?"
"It was unintentional, but yes. I told you that there was more going on that you realized. But these problems need not involve a runner. Your job was to run and leave. It is risky running the Labyrinth. Anything can happen."
"If your job was to watch kids as runners ran, then why did you pick on me so much?" Sarah crosses her arms at the notion.
Jareth grins in impish delight. "I am not granted much interaction with competent beings. It was a breath of fresh air to be able to speak to someone half-competent. And you were fun to tease. All teen-aged humans are." He shrugs at his own comment.
"So you were bored?" She chuckles at the thought. But then she caught his sudden change in demeanor, and understood a tad bit better. "Or were you... lonely?"
Jareth slowly nods to the latter. "I will admit that you did end up catching me in a more vulnerable state towards the end of that day." He reflects to her last few moments in his castle during her run. "The book creates me to be something that I was not. It was entertaining playing the game with you, especially since you were the first ever to win. There was a drama to your character that I enjoyed indulging in." He releases a gentle sigh at the thought. "Even my human side likes to show its ugly and dramatic face every few thousand years."
"Ain't that the truth," Sarah chuckles at the true statement, "for all of us."
Jareth appreciates her understanding on the matter as he continues to educate her. "Unfortunately, most of the people that do discover this book do mean their intentions when they wish children away. My position went from keeping goblins in, to collecting human children. It's a lovely job to bare, and it creates a wonderful reputation for me, as you can imagine." His voice drips with sarcasm at his own fate.
"What happens to the children that have been wished away?"
"It's all very "by the book"- no pun intended. It's very similar to your experience. The people realize what they did was real, and then they are challenged. If they beat my challenge, they take the child home. If they don't, they live with the guilt of what they did, and they will have to bare the consequences of their reality that the child is gone. The humans that were wished away are then adapted into my world."
"Why do you challenge them?"
"Why would someone wish their child away?" Sarah's eyes twitch at the question, but she has to admit that it was a good comeback. "The book idiotically says something about the child turning into a goblin when wished away. If that is the intent of the wisher, then they deserve a little harmless torture for what they tried to inflict on a child before being sent home empty handed."
Her curiosity does not cease to end. Her face is mixed with a bit of horror. "How many children have been wished away?"
"Less than two-hundred since the thirteenth century. Not too bad, considering how many humans have come and gone in that time span."
Sarah is afraid to ask the next question. "How many children have been saved by a runner?"
Jareth smiles as he looks directly at her. "One."
Sarah's eyes bulge. "What..." Sarah gulps. But her mind just can't stop there. "What happens to the children?"
"Humans are fantastic coils for Fae magic. They only help our magic flow stronger. One child can do wonders for a small Fae village. Now imagine two-hundred. Those human children are still alive today." He adds as he stands, feeling the need to pace the room. "Now imagine all of the new human magic that is being transported due to this new influx of humans in my world."
"Oh God. Why-? How-?" Sarah is having a hard time trying to ask her question. "What's so special about humans? How are they so powerful for your kind?" She stands to meet his gaze.
"That is quite the mystery. This conundrum has baffled my kind for centuries. But, humans do indeed hold magic. Many of our doctors wish to experiment on your kind, but our officials have declined the idea. Unfortunately, it is only a matter time before minds are changed. There are many humans being smuggled into my world, and if human magic continues to grow, the rulers of the Tuatha Fae Court will have to be forced to take countermeasures to ensure our safety. Too many humans have and will cause issues."
Sarah's heart races at the information. "What kind of issues?"
"Catastrophic."
"Oh shit." Sarah is starting to have an idea on just how dire this situation has become. She sees the papers that sit at the table, and has a sudden drive to start looking for answers. "We better get to work."
"Indeed."
+x+x+x+
The next morning, a discussion is had between the adults and the child. They sit Ellie down for breakfast and explain to her that Jareth would prefer to be called by his actual name, instead of being referred to as "daddy." She didn't quite understand it at first, and thus become a little sad at the idea, but then Jareth told her that he quite liked his name, and he really liked it when people used it. He told her that he liked calling her Ellie, and that people just like to be called by their names, sometimes.
Ellie turns to her mother with a little fear for her next question. "You don't want to be a mommy?" Ellie looks to Sarah with large and sad eyes. If Jareth didn't want to be called daddy, then Sarah must not want to be called mommy either, right? She was really warming up to the idea of using the word daddy more often.
"Ellie," Sarah bends to her level to hold her hands. "I will always be your mommy. That will never change. I like it when you call me mommy. I like that name very much." This seemed to be satisfactory to Ellie for the time being, and at the end of it all, she approaches Jareth and says it its okay if she calls him by his name and that she can wait to call him daddy when he was ready.
Both adults just decide to let the matter fall. There is no need to push any further then they already had to.
The days seemed to pass quicker and quicker. The daily routine didn't deter much from Monday's. They all get up, have breakfast, get ready, and head to work. Sarah does her job as Jareth stays with Ellie. Sarah would use her charm to catch wind of any more information, but many trails run cold. Ellie would work on preschool with Jareth while he snooped, Ellie would eat lunch with the girls while Jareth snooped, Ellie would eventually get tired and sick, and then nap with Jareth at the end of the day.
On Sarah's end, instead of trying to get rumors about M's Orchid, she starts to catch other rumors floating around; rumors that are wrapped with giggles and whispers from the dancers about this new bartender.
Apparently, this new bartender has created a drastically new reputation for himself. Sarah catches wind at this new and seemingly improved reputation, and how it has melted the hearts of almost all of the dancers and waitresses. She can't help but to listen in on how the new majority idea of the bartender went from sleazy creep to attractive man with a baby. Apparently, this is a turn on, and this really irks her. What is so special about him, all of the sudden? Why are they all suddenly so smitten with him? They all sang a very different tune a few days ago. Why do they keep insisting he's cute, now?
"-It's like he's a different person.-"
"-Right?-"
"-You think they're fucking?-"
"-Sarah? With a dude?-"
"-Yeah. Get real-"
"-So you think he's single?-"
"-Eww. Gross.-"
"-Like, has anyone been hit on, today?-"
"-By who?-"
"-She's new. She doesn't know.-"
"-You mean the cute guy with that little girl?-"
"-Oh, him? He's so cute!-"
Of course, Jareth noticed the attention. It doesn't take a genius to catch the subtle hints of human females. They are hardly secretive. Many of the younger dancers would pass him in the halls with a smile and a wave. Some would even talk to him and try to get to know him. Sarah pretended not to watch and listen to each and every word that would flood out of his mouth as a response. And the worst part of all of this is that he seems to enjoy the attention. The girls would stop Jareth in the office door and hit on him. Sarah would heavily roll her eyes, and Jareth would catch her, though he would keep his sly grins to himself. There was even a point where Sarah had to physically pull one of the new girls away to get her to work and then scold Jareth for taking dance time away from her dancers. He would always release a satisfactory smile upon seeing how hard she tried to hide her blatant jealousy of his newfound popularity.
It's not his fault that dancers suddenly wish to spend more time with him. But at the end of the day, he always goes home with Sarah, and every night, he would wait for her to bring it up. But she never does.
It becomes a pattern; it becomes comfortable. Jareth even starts to recall the stinging around his wrist less and less as time trucked into the end of the week, and the more time that is spent with a child that seems to keep getting better, Sarah sees herself smoking less and less, not wanting to smoke around her daughter. Everything was working well, splendid even through the pain in his arm. He is sitting with Ellie, now, working on her sight words, and is just about to inspect a small hole under the twin's desk until he almost gets caught by the twins with a surprise visit.
Montgomery and Michelina enter the office to inform Jareth that they will be needing the use of the office for some personal business matters and that he would have to move the babysitting elsewhere. Jareth is more than understanding with them, and guide Ellie away from the comfortable room, forcing him and Sarah to re-group their plan in the evenings. They feel like they are starting to get close, and that there is something in their office that they definitely do not want him to see.
It is now a lovely Thursday afternoon, day seven of Jareth's accidental imprisonment of a human to get answers, and all of the dancers are getting ready for their weekend show. Costumes have just been tailored, and people are leaving in and out for the day. The new girls are still hard at work as they focus on the finishing touches of their first performance, and this creates a comfortable atmosphere for conversation and a little miscellaneous dance circle. A shoulder boombox plays pop music at the side of the stage as dancers of every shape and size share ideas and routines with one another, wanting to shake things up a little. Sarah is packing up for the day as she looks up to see Ellie inside the dance circle. She is getting a dance lesson from some of the girls, and having a pretty damn good time in doing it, too.
As she watches Ellie giggle and have fun, she glances over to the main entrance door to see that Michelina and Montgomery are taking a momentary leave. This is something that they do at least once a week to meet with investors and other mutuals about business. Sarah informed Jareth about this the night before, and told him to keep watch. This new change in events alerts Sarah's mind as she turns to see Jareth on the other side of the room observing the same thing. They both knowingly look to one another as Jareth nods and makes his way towards the office. As the twins are seen leaving the property, Sarah uses this moment to make some noise to get everyone's attention in hopes of limiting wandering eyes towards Jareth's direction. Sarah hops up on stage to dance along. It is such a sweet site for everyone to see; a mother teaching her daughter how to dance. The song is nice and mellow as Ellie watches her mom and copy every step. This enchanting scene causes all eyes to turn to the star-studded little four year old.
On Jareth's end, he makes it to their office door and tries to open it, but's locked. Frustrated, he tries to use his muted magic to unlock it, but it doesn't work. Feeling desperate, he grabs a pen from his pocket to try to pick the lock, but nothing happens. So he has a different idea. Running back to the bar, he gets a business card from the little card stand to see if he will have any luck with this direction. He starts to make a run for it...
Until he sees them.
Sarah and Ellie.
He freezes in his place as he watches Sarah and Ellie dancing. He can't stop watching. He is mesmerized. He sees the blissful giggles upon Ellie's face, and the pure, unadulterated happiness inside of Sarah's eyes as she watches a healthy Ellie getting to be a kid, for once. His heart grows heavy for the child, as he sees how much she has improved from her first day he saw her and her sickness. He remembers how often Sarah had worried and how much she tried to hide her fear for the well being of her child. The more he dwells on this, the less he is able to escape the fact that he has grown attached to this mother and daughter. He has had a taste of what it is like to have a family by being able to watch theirs. They are small. They are imperfect by human society's standards, but to Jareth, there is nothing more perfect. He has only been able to watch a happy and blissful relationship from afar and, oh how he craved for anything even remotely close to what they have.
He wants this.
He wants a family.
And he wants this family.
Finally letting his mind accept it, He is able to admit it...
He's in love.
He runs back to the hallway.
Sarah doesn't notice that Jareth had been watching. She was too happy while dancing to be able to spot anything beyond her daughter. She pauses to let Ellie twirl on her own as everyone in the circle claps and chants for the child to keep going. It is truly a magical site.
With great precision, Jareth shoves the card-stock into the crease of the door and listen for any break in the lock. And in one swift motion, he is able to unlock the door with the swift make-shift lock-pick.
Just as he enters the room, he hears a deafening and heart-wrenching cry from Sarah.
"JARETH!"
The alert in her voice sends him dropping all of his thoughts about the twins at the door as he sprints towards her.
He arrives to see...
Ellie has collapsed in the middle of the circle.
+x+x+x+
Okay listen... I know that is a really STUPID cliffhanger. Yes I am evil. YES this is a terrible place to stop. But that whole daddy thing tho. Am I right? XD
Okay. I am not a person to try to put music to this particular story, but I REALLY want to shed some light on this.
I started writing the beginnings of this story roughly two or three years ago. This freaking story has been a baby project of mine for a long time. As I was getting to know my own characters and giving Sarah her own child as a single mother, the song "Rockabye" By: Clean Bandit premieres on the radio and I AM ECSTATIC, because it is LITERALLY the basis for Sarah and Ellie's relationship. When I would get stuck with writers block for this story, I would CONSTANTLY go back to that song and listen to it. Magically, it would give me further inspiration, and I am absolutely in love with this song even today.
If for some reason you have not heard this song, I really recommend giving it a listen- ESPECIALLY at the moment that Ellie and Sarah are dancing together, because I always imagined them dancing to this song. It was just something that always appealed to me, and I wanted to share it with you guys.
Okay. Spiel over. Thank you for reading.
I PROMISE I will see you soon. I won't let you stay hanging for too long.