Oh My Gosh! You all are so good to me! Thank you thank you thank you to all of you who reviewed the first chapter! *Gets on her knees and does Ali Babas to the reviewers* Sniff sniff, I feel so honored...Okay, so I didn't make you wait long for this chapter, but the next one needs serious help. Hopefully I will have it up soon.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything! All the characters (thus far, he he he...) belong to the imaginations of someone else. Chapter title still belongs to Ricky Martin. Don't worry, not all of them will.
Chapter 2
I've Been Waiting For You All of My Life
Sarah was back in the crystal ballroom. All around her were familiar sights: the dancers wearing garish goblin masks, the ladies wearing ridiculously huge dresses, the strings of pearls and lengths of chiffon hanging from the chandeliers. Except, no one was laughing at her or whispering to each other while staring at her. They all stood quietly, as if waiting to receive orders or for someone to call for the music to start. Sarah began to move among them, and they cleared a path for her wherever she went. Each person she passed by murmured "Milady" and bowed their head ever so slightly. Feeling self-conscious, Sarah looked down to see that the dress she was wearing was made of deep lavender velvet with silver lace accents around the neckline and hem. She ran her hands over the soft folds of the full skirt, thinking that is was the most beautiful dress that she had ever seen. As she admired her dress, she got the feeling that someone was behind her, watching her every move. She squared her shoulders, lifted her head, and turned swiftly on her heal, determined to discover who was staring at her, only to walk right into Jareth's arms.
"Going so soon, are we?" His eyes twinkled and a smile played about his lips, "They did this all for you, you know. You should stay longer than just a few minutes."
"Who did this?" Sarah asked bewilderedly.
"They did." Jareth nodded towards the dancers who were now looking at the pair, "They wanted to make you feel more at home."
"But my home is nothing like this." She said, stepping away from him.
Jareth put a finger to her lips, "Hush, my dear. Just enjoy." Out of nowhere, a very slow waltz began to weave its way around the dancers, "Would you do me the honor of giving me the first dance?" He held out a gloved hand to her, and she shyly placed her own into the one offered. Jareth led her to an open space, then placed his right hand at her waist and began to move softly across the floor with her.
The silence between the two felt awkward to Sarah, so she started to speak about the first thing that she thought of.
"This doesn't feel the same as it did before."
"No, it doesn't."
"I suppose that is because no one is laughing at me now." Ugh, I feel like such an idiot! Sarah thought to herself.
"No, no one is laughing."
"And the last time I was here was because I ate the peach." I can't believe I just said that!
"You came of your own accord this time."
Sarah was quieted by this. She let the music wash over her and felt the rhythm created by their two bodies moving with the music. The waltz was slow and mournful, as if the composer was crying out for a lost love. After a while, Sarah's head grew heavy and she closed the space between her and Jareth by laying her head below his shoulder. Jareth brought her hand up to his chest and covered it with his own. Sarah saw the other people in the room fade away until it was just the two of them. They slowly danced on until the music stopped.
"Must it end?" Sarah asked as she looked up at him.
"Everything must end eventually. Except for one thing."
"What is that one thing?"
Jareth didn't answer.
"Jareth?"
Still no answer. He began to fade as well.
Sarah heard a song from the latest boy band fill the ballroom. She covered her eyes with her hands. When she removed them, she found herself laying in bed in her room, with the alarm going off beside the bed. She swung her arm out to shut the alarm off.
"Dammit!"
She sat up in bed and rubbed sleep from her eyes. She flung back the covers on her bed, got up and crossed her room to the open window on the other side. The warm morning sunshine was pouring through the window, and Sarah could hear the sounds of sprinklers coming on and kids already riding their bikes up and down the street.
"Didn't I close this window last night?" She said out loud to herself. Her thoughts were interrupted when Toby burst into her room and ran over to hug her, still dressed in his pajamas.
"Good morning, Sarah! Mom told me to wait until you door was open, but I just couldn't wait anymore. What are we going to do today? Did you sleep good? Did you dream about anything?"
Sarah sighed at the string of question that Toby blurted out. "Yes, I did dream about something. It was a wonderful dream, too."
* * * * * * * * * *
Jareth watched to exchange between brother and sister. He felt a twinge of jealousy towards Toby, the child that Sarah used to hate so much but was willing to risk her life to save. Well, not risk her life really. She was never in any danger Jareth thought to himself. She only thought she was.
He was still standing in the ballroom in his finery as he watched Toby and Sarah. The room, which he had always had a fondness for, suddenly seemed empty and bare, despite the abundance of decorations. The dancers were gone, not even a trace of their shadows remained to give him comfort. Yes, Sarah had been there. She had created the scenario and had called upon him and the dancers to be a part of her fantasy. It was times like these when Jareth believed that Sarah returned his feelings. They seemed so close, so alike in their thinking that it was hard to imagine that she didn't love him.
"Don't we always want what seems beyond our reach?" Jareth said out loud. In all of his life, he had never met anyone like her. Sure, there had been many pretty girls who had wished a sibling away and been sent sobbing back to the Aboveground to live with the memories of their failure, but none had stood up to him as she had, much less solved the damn Labyrinth. There were no tears shed when she was faced with obstacles, unlike all the rest who had dissolved into a quivering mass when taking on the same challenges. The wise men in his father's court had always told him that his match would be a girl who could take on anything he put her through and come out stronger after defeating it. She would defiantly look him in the eyes and tell him exactly what she thought of him.. He would be cursed (or so he used to think) with being unfailingly faithful and loving to her. She would reject him time and again because of her own insecurities, but would one day see that they truly did belong together.
When he was younger, Jareth traveled across the kingdoms Underground in search of his love. It was something he regretted later on when he began receiving invitations to every imaginable social activity from all of the kingdoms, ready and willing to marry off their most eligible maidens to the oh-so-available Goblin King. Week after week they came, only to be answered with rejections or even plain silence when he grew tired of having anything wearing a dress thrown at him..
When he first saw Sarah reciting her lines in the park, he wasn't even thinking that she would be the one. She was just a child playing make believe. Over the years, he checked on her every so often to see how she was. He watched the hurt in her eyes whenever her real mother brushed her aside, the arguments with her father and stepmother, and the despising way she looked at Toby after he was born. He thought about her more and more, until the day came when he didn't go more than a few hours without thinking of her. When she called on the goblins to take Toby away, he knew that he had fallen in love with her. As she traversed the Labyrinth and defied him time after time, he came to the realization that she was the one who was meant for him.
Jareth wearily rubbed his eyes, and with a flick of his wrist was changed into more casual garb and transported into his bedroom. Sarah was awake and needed time with her family, and what he needed was a nice long nap.
* * * * * * * * *
Sarah picked up the wet frying pan and rubbed it dry with the dishcloth. She listened as Karen chattered away about all of the latest gossip about the neighbors while washing the breakfast dishes and setting them on the counter for Sarah to dry.
"The Smith's bought a new dog that has chewed up everything. They've had to replace so many things that they are thinking about taking him to a farm and just giving him to the owners."
"Hm..."
"And then John across the street just up and quit his job last month. Said the walls were closing in on him or something."
"Oh"
"What about you?" How is work lately?" Karen handed her some plates.
"Oh fine. Very busy lately. A lot of new authors signing contracts, so we have to negotiate all of the option packages to make them happy." Sarah dried the plates and put them away. She and Karen worked on in Silence. Karen finished with the glasses and sat them on the counter. Sarah picked one up and began to dry it.
"How is Jareth? You two still seeing a lot of each other?"
The glass that Sarah was holding slipped out of her hand and shattered on the tile.
"Oh my goodness, Sarah, are you hurt? Did I say something wrong?" Karen stooped to pick up the shards of glass on the floor. "You two didn't have a fight, did you?"
"No, no. Not at all. The glass just slipped from my hand. Jareth is fine. Don't try to pick up the glass with your hands. You'll cut yourself. Let me get the broom."
Sarah carefully crossed the kitchen to retrieve the broom, remembering that her parents saw Jareth as a friend from Sarah's work. In her mind, Karen had blown their relationship into something bigger than it was and Sarah played along just to keep her happy. Now that she thought about it, she did seem to mention his name quite often in letters and in phone calls to her parents. It would be natural for them to think that she and Jareth were seeing each other. It was just as well. At least they weren't bugging her about dating. Sarah had thrown herself head first into her work, and the last thing she wanted to think about was a relationship. Her work was her life, and she wanted to keep it that way. She had settled into a self-imposed singleness, one that was not threatened by any of the men that she worked with, or by any of the blind dates that she had been set up on. So, the charade went happily undetected.
Sarah returned to the kitchen, broom and pan in hand. As she swept the shards into the pan, Karen resumed her endless chatter.
"You know the Robertson's daughter Jessica? She went out and found someone who would actually marry her! Can you believe it? That catty little witch will actually get married. And of course she has registered at the most expensive places in town. Although I have to say that the crystal she picked out is some of the prettiest I have seen."
Sarah stood and emptied the pan into the garbage, absentmindedly replying, "Yes his crystals are lovely. They are flawless. So perfectly round that you can see an entire room within them."
"What?"
"What?..Oh.. I mean, yes I'm sure that it is very pretty." Sarah blushed deeply and bit her bottom lip, hoping Karen wouldn't notice. Karen apparently took the hint, and the kitchen was cleaned up in silence after that.
Much to Sarah's delight, Toby rushed into the kitchen and dragged her off to the park, yelling something about wanting to play with his friends. Happy to get away, Sarah did not turn around to say goodbye to Karen, whom she knew was staring at her back all the way down the street.