Hey folks! This has been kicking around my head for some time now. This story is almost done, but some of the parts need drastic rewriting, so I don't know how long it will take to get all of it up. So please, read, enjoy, and tell me what you think. If it stinks, don't hesitate to tell me. Please forgive any mistakes I make, I do my own editing.
Disclaimer: I don't own any Laby characters. They belong to Jim Henson Productions. Lucky them...."Don't Waste Your Heart On Me" belongs to the Dixie Chicks , and the title of this chapter belongs to Ricky Martin. I wish I owned him. There is one bit of dialogue in this chapter that is borrowed from the tv movie "Anne of Avonlea", which belongs to L.M. Montgomery.
Chapter 1
Time is Precious and its Slipping Away
Sarah hummed along with the radio as she turned her car down a street she knew well. Even though it had only been a few months since her last visit to her childhood home, the neighborhood still seemed to grow smaller every time she visited. The trees grew taller, hiding the houses from passing cars on the road and filtering the summer sunshine into great splashes of color on the pavement. A smile spread across her face as Sarah spotted the house with its lights blazing and front door to reveal Toby frantically searching up and down the street for her car. Seeing her pull into the drive, he ran out to open her door and throw his arms around Sarah's neck before she could even unfasten her seat belt
"Whoa there, Kiddo! I know it has been a while since you saw me, but we just spoke on the phone last night." Sarah pried Toby's arms from her neck, grabbed her shoulder bag from the passenger seat, and climbed out of the car. Toby already had the trunk open and was lugging Sarah's suitcase towards the house.
"Gee Sarah, did you pack rocks or something? This sure is heavy!" Toby knew that Sarah always brought him a lot of presents when she visited.
"Yeah, I thought that you could take a break from the action figures and start collecting rocks instead."
Her father and Karen came rushing out of the house at the sound of Sarah's vioce and enveloped her in a crushing hug. The had swept her into the house, upstairs, and into her old bedroom to unpack before she could say two sentences to them.
"Dinner is in twenty minutes, Dear. Come down when you have settled," Karen called over her shoulder on her way back down the stairs.
Sarah's heart pounded as she looked around her old bedroom. She had not taken much else besides her clothes when she moved, so the room remained pretty much the same as it had when she was growing up. Her favorite books were there, as was the dinosaur pillows on her bed. Lancelot had even found his way back to the shelf. It was as if time had stood still in this room, waiting for the moment when she would come back and start it up again. Here and there, Sarah got a sense that someone had left the room just before she had entered, but she shrugged it off as probably having been Karen or Toby making sure that everything was perfect for her arrival.
Sarah unzipped her suitcase and began unpacking. On top of her clothes were several wrapped packages for Toby. She lifted them off and set them on the bed and continued to unpack while thinking about her brother. He had grown and changed so much since her last visit. He had outgrown the lisp that used to trouble Karen so much, and he had grown a patch of freckles across his nose. Sarah smiled as she thought back across ten years and how much her own life had changed since her journey in the Labyrinth. Things were so different now...
Sarah herself was not much different. A little older, a lot more mature, but still fiercely independent. Her strong will was more than some people could handle, but she didn't mind. She had always been a bit of a loner, anyway. She only had a few good friends that she cared to spend time with, and had had several boyfriends, none of which had come to anything serious. Of course, there was always Jareth.
Sarah stopped for a minute to think about how she and Jareth had come to their present situation. He had left her alone for nearly five years after she returned from defeating him. She still called the others once in a while to check up on them, but she never called him. Then, one day before her 21st birthday, she needed someone, anyone to talk to. She sat down at her dressing table as usual and, looking at her reflection in the mirror, had called out their names.
"Hoggle? Sir Didymous? Ludo? I need someone to talk to."
Nothing
"Fireys? Mr. Worm? Anybody?"
Still nothing.
Sarah concentrated harder, almost not seeing the blue costumes figurine standing next to her mirror. Before she could think, she blurted it out, furrowing her forhead.
"Jareth?"
"I can't believe that you would rather talk to a firey than talk to me. Was I really that mean to you?"
Sarah had turned to see Jareth standing at her window, looking exactly the same as he had when he took Toby. His presence had more of an effect on her that she cared to admit. He was so near that she could barely breathe.
"Uhh, no....ummm, I mean....ah well..." She dumbly searched for the right words to say.
"Don't tell me that I frighten you to the point of speechlessness. You used to stand up to me, and very articulately, I might add."
"I just didn't expect to see you, that's all. Where are the others? Did you do something to them, because if you did, I..." Sarah's eyes began to glitter with anger.
"Don't get yourself all worked up. Do you think that I would harm one hair on Hogbrain's head? I merely sent him on an errand."
"Oh. Well in that case, I will let you get back to you goblin kicking then. I'm sorry to interrupt." Sarah rose out of her chair and was headed for the door when Jareth had caught her hand and held it with both of his own.
"Is there anything I can do? You know that you need only wish it."
"If you insist. I wish that you would sit and listen to me. I have had a rough day, and I need a sympathetic ear."
"Consider your wish granted." Jareth had said as he settled himself into the chair near the window.
So the previous five years had gone. Sarah had always called upon Jareth when she was troubled or just wanted some company. She had been close to tears several times when he arrived, and had always ended up crying because she was laughing so had when he left. He was there to dry her tears during her last night in her old bedroom, and to help her clear up the frustration of moving into her apartment shortly after their first conversation with each other. Sarah had been in her apartment only a few weeks when Jareth had asked her 'The Question'.
"Sarah are you happy here?"
"Of course I am. You know that my parents were driving me nuts. I had to get away. I am growing too independent, and it was time fro me to go." Sarah looked a little shocked because Jareth was so supportive of everything she did.
"No, I mean here. Aboveground. The noise and the crowds. How can you find any peace here? Don't you ever find yourself wishing for more?"
"What do you mean? This is the life that I have chosen for myself. Why wouldn't I be happy?"
"Sarah, I have waited years to say this to you. My love, you once were too young to understand my feelings for you. Now I offer my heart to you once again in hopes that you will finally see what you mean to me. Please say that my feelings for you are not unwarranted and that you feel something for me too." Jareth finished with a pleading look in his eyes. He felt so much more than he dared say, but he was afraid of scaring her.
"Jareth, I do love you, but as a friend. I know that I could not make you happy. I know that I would be unhappy, and wish that I'd never done it. I'm so sorry."
"One day. One day you will feel differently."
Sarah sighed as she broke out of her thoughts. Jareth had been the most constant thing in her life, yet she was still apprehensive about consenting to something she so desperately wanted. He never begrudged her rejections, even though he had tried to change her mind several times. She always managed to duck the question, or had brushed it off as nonsense. But still he remained, as he said he would. Never wavering in his affection, never making her guess his feelings. Always there for her even though she never returned the favor. She wondered how much longer he would wait.
"Sarah? Its time for dinner." Sarah heard Karen call from the bottom of the stairs. She put away the last few things from her suitcase, and stowed it in the closet.
"Time," she thought to herself, "It certainly does change things. Look at what it has brought me. I have a friend whom I never thought would be such when I met him. I wonder what Dad and Karen would say if they knew that I had befriended the Goblin King who kidnapped Toby? " She had to smile at their imagined reactions. She was still smiling when she reached the dining room table and sat down with the rest of her family.
* * * * * * * * *
Jareth sat in his throne room, occupied by a task that he was very fond of: watching Sarah through a crystal. He had watched her silently unpack her suitcase as though her mind were miles away. He had hoped that she would se the gift he had placed in her room only seconds before she entered. He knew that he had taken a chance in doing it, but he hoped that being in her childhood home would make her think about him more, but he couldn't be sure if it was working. That had been his intent when he gave her the idea to go home. She had grown pale and tired from her job at the publishing company, so he suggested that a visit to her family would be just the thing to bring her spirits back to normal.
He had watched Sarah grow into a beautiful woman over time. It was true what her offered her on their first encounter, but he realized too late that she couldn't possibly understand how he felt towards her. She was too young. But now, Jareth felt their connection become stronger as the days went by, knowing that it was only a matter of time before he finally had what he had loved from afar for so long.
His Sarah would be with him soon enough.
* * * * * * * *
After tucking Toby into bed several times and helping clean up the dishes, Sarah said goodnight to her parents and climbed the stairs to her room. Opening the door, she noticed something shine in the darkened room on the table next to her bed. She snapped on the light and crossed the room in three steps, focusing on the object. It was a perfectly round crystal on a gold stand. The crystal looked like it contained a miniature sky within it. Sarah could see a dark blue sky filled with sparkling stars that seemed to wink at her when she rolled it back and forth in her hands. She placed the crystal back on its stand and picked up the note that lay beside it.
Dearest,
Welcome home. As before, I will always come when called. I remain
Forever Yours,
J
Sarah smiled to herself. So, there had been someone here immediately before she walked in this afternoon. Just as she was about to change into her pajamas, Sarah was startled by a noise coming through her open window. She turned, and there on the branches of the tree was a large white owl fringed in gold. She smiled and went over to the window.
"Goodnight, Jareth." she said, then closed the window with a snap and pulled the curtains to.
Please please please please review!