35 ~ The Morning After

Hola! Not much to say today. I'm tired. I'm hoping I can finish the epilogue tomorrow before I leave to return to dorm life. No theme unless I think of one later. Round up the disclaimers & brand 'em. Have fun!

Ladymage ;)

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To the Victor Go the Spoils

Part 35 ~ The Morning After

It was near dawn when the music stopped and the remains of the festivity began to be cleared away. Children begging to stay up longer had been tumbled into bed hours before. The air was cold and grey as the sounds of city life seeped into the field.

Exhausted, Sarah and Jareth supported each other as they made their way to Libertad's wagon. Half-drunk with the night's events, Jareth suddenly picked Sarah up by the waist and swung her in a wide circle, her skirts flying. Her laugh rang as freely as a little girl's and she was still smiling as he lowered her to the ground.

"You're not wearing gloves," she remarked abruptly.

"No," he said. "You've reminded me that they are scars of honor. I should be proud of them, not pretend they don't exist."

Sarah took one of his hands in her own. "Do they still hurt?"

"A little," he admitted. "But they tell me that I will never forget. For too long I have remembered my family but forgotten why they are important. I will not let that happen again."

"I'm glad," she said simply.

"Sarah?"

"Hmm?"

"Before this night is over, I want to tell you something."

She looked puzzled. "What?"

"I want to say 'Thank you.' And I want to say. . . " He paused.

"Yes?"

"I love you." His free hand moved to cover his pendant. In a brief moment, he offered his hand to her, the silver circle shining in his palm, the surface of his pendant now sleek and flat. "Here."

"Jareth. . . " She gazed up at him in wonder. "I couldn't. . ."

"It's yours, now, Sarah," he told her firmly, pinning it to her dress. "It was made for a woman who loved and was loved, by the man who loved her. It should be worn by a woman whose heart is just as full."

Sarah looked down at the silver swirls now resting amidst the ruffles of her dress and burst into tears. Awkwardly, looking somewhat uncertain, Jareth pulled her to him. After several minutes, he spoke. "Sarah?"

"Yes?" she snuffled.

"You're getting my shirt wet," he replied.

She chuckled, pulling back slightly. "Sorry."

"It's not that I mind," he said conversationally, producing a handkerchief for her, "but I really don't know what I'm supposed to do with a crying female."

"Is it that difficult to figure out?" Sarah asked skeptically.

"I grew up in a family of nine brothers! How am I supposed to know?"

Sarah nearly choked. "Nine brothers? Are you serious? I hope you don't expect me to have that many children!"

He stared at her as though he'd seen a ghost. "Ch-children?" he gulped. "You? Us? Children?"

She looked at him sharply. "Yes, me, us, children. I wasn't planning on it immediately, of course, but I imagined it would happen at some point."

"I'd be a father? You'd want to have my children?"

"No, I thought I'd ask Matt to be the father," she retorted. "Yes, your children, you idiot!"

Jareth's face slowly became a mix of wonder, terror, and delight. "I'm going to be a father" He picked her up again and began spinning. "I'm going to be a father!"

Sarah grinned wildly. "It hasn't happened yet, silly! Put me down!"

His low growl rolled down her spine. "Why don't we work on that technicality, hmm?"

Sarah's eyes widened as her heart began to race. Before she could utter another sound, Jareth was everywhere. His lips made their way from her ear down her neck. "'License my roving hands and let them go,'" he murmured, suiting action to words. Her mind felt wrapped in dreams and she could only barely notice when she began to collapse, unable to stand. Without a break in his exploration, Jareth lifted her in his arms and crossed the rest of the way to the wagon. Sarah decided to lend a helping hand and opened the door. . .

"Buenos dias, mi nina. Jareth." Libertad's voice destroyed the mood as effectively as a bucket of ice water. "I see matters are going well."

Jareth's head drooped for a moment as he carefully set Sarah on her feet. "Good morning, Abuela," she replied shakily, blushing crimson.

"Good morning, Senora," Jareth added, his face still hidden from view.

"Ordinarily," the woman continued conversationally, "I wouldn't dream of interfering. In fact, I would encourage you by my absence. However. . ."

"However," Jareth prompted dismally.

"For one thing, if you two don't want to have children within the next year or so, you might want to think about your timing. For another, I realize the age difference isn't going to change anything, but Jareth can still be arrested for statutory rape at this point."

Sarah took a step away from Jareth. "She's got a point," she acknowledged, sounding just as crestfallen as Jareth.

"Finally, I consider it simply good manners to inform a girl's parents that, at the very least, you two are dating. I don't know that telling them you're engaged is a good idea just yet. And, of course," she finished with a twinkle in her eye, "telling them you're sleeping together is definitely a bad idea."

A low rumble was heard from Jareth's direction, which rapidly developed into a chuckle. "Why is it, madam," he said, shaking his head, "that in spite of the fact that I have millennia more experience than you, you always seem to win?"

"Perhaps because I'm always right," she answered cheekily. "Now come; it's time for bed. Sorry to say, you get the couch this time, Jareth. Never tempt fate more than you can possibly help. Mija, what's wrong?" Libertad turned to Sarah, who was staring wide-eyed at nothing, her hand over her mouth.

"Oh my God," she whispered. "I totally forgot about Dad! He doesn't know where I am! He'll be worried sick!"

"Jesus bendito," her grandmother sighed. "Well, I'll go find a phone and call him. You two get some sleep." As she headed for the door, she turned back and said, "And I mean sleep." And she was gone.

"Well," Jareth commented, "with a family like yours, I'll be interested to see how our children turn out." Even through the teasing in his voice, the pride when he said "our children" was clear.

"It's certainly an interesting gene pool," Sarah agreed. She moved up on her toes and kissed him. She broke it off quickly. "I need to get some sleep, Jareth," she said, removing his hands. "Besides," she continued impishly, "do you really want to gamble on how long it's gonna be before Abuela gets back?"

"I'll never win," he groaned in mock despair. "I'm doomed to lose for the rest of eternity."

"You just remember that, 'kay?" Grinning, Sarah ducked into the bedroom, closing the door. Jareth sighed and, removing his boots, collapsed onto the couch.

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"My ears are still burning," Libertad confessed to them later. "Your father's never liked me very much."

"What did he say?" Jareth asked lazily. He was draped along the couch, munching on an apple.

"Well, he more or less blamed me for Sarah's disappearance and demanded that I put her on the next bus home. "

"What about me?" he asked, pouting.

"I thought it better not to mention you," Libertad told him drily. "We're in enough trouble as it is."

"What are we going to do, Abuela?" Sarah moaned. "What can I possibly tell Dad?"

"Well, Sarah, I think we can either tell him the truth," Jareth mused, "or tell him only what is absolutely necessary and lie our way through the rest of the proceedings. Either way, I imagine we'll have to go back, though we could really use more time to test the limits of our magic. And," he leered at her, "the limits of our self-control." Sarah stuck her tongue out at him. "Tut tut," he admonished, "such bad manners. You shouldn't do such childish things, Sarah. Unless you plan to use it," he added silkily.

Sarah blushed bright red.

"Couldn't you just play with time, like you did in the Labyrinth?" she suggested.

He shook his head. "Not here. My magic is still tied to the Underground, though you might be able to. But it's too complex to work with so many minds. Besides, who would remember how much of what's happened? No, time's a chancy thing to play with, and though nobody minds much about what happens in the Underground, the powers that be might get a little testy if we tried such tricks up here."

"'The powers that be?'" questioned Sarah.

"Yes. They're rather strict about keeping the dimensions in order. The Underground works on an entirely different set of rules, but around here, if you mess with one dimension, the rest of them are liable to become hopelessly knotted. As much as I love chaos, that would be a bit much. And we'd be sentenced to an eternity of hard labor."

"But who are you talking about?" Sarah persisted.

Jareth pointed up. "Need I say more?"

Sarah stared at him. "You mean God?" Jareth nodded once. "You actually know God?"

"Not really. They prefer to keep Themselves to Themselves, you know, and I'm hardly a candidate for divine confidante. But I have a wide aquaintance among the various Heavens and Hells and they insist on talking shop now and again. So I have a fair idea of what's going on."

"So. . . You know angels and saints and people like that?"

"Stop looking at me like that, Sarah!" Jareth exclaimed, annoyed. "I feel like I've grown horns or something. Yes! I know angels and devils and old gods, beings like that. Saints, I'm afraid, tend not to like me very much. I can't imagine why. Would you like to meet some old gods?"

"I think I'll pass," Sarah said nervously.

"Pity," Jareth commented. "They'd certainly like to meet you. They're extraordinarily intrigued by the one person who has managed to rearrange my entire universe. But I imagine they'll drop in of their own accord at some point. They have an irritating habit of doing that. In any event, we should get back to the topic under discussion. What are we going to do?"

"I should tell them the truth," Sarah decided. "All of it. Dad, at least, deserves that much and it's not like we can't prove it. But after that. . . I don't know. Do we stay here or go back home or to the Underground? Can we marry soon or do we wait? Could we manage waiting? Or--"

"Sarah, my Sarah," Jareth murmured in her ear, having moved to the arm of the chair she was sitting in. His hands massaged her shoulders. "Calm down. Nothing need be decided immediately. Let us take things one step at a time. First, we will go to your father and tell him what has happened. I will ask him for your hand in marriage. Let us see what he says. Then we can work from there."

"He makes sense, mi nina," Libertad commented. "Go. You know how to find us now. Let us know what you decide. And remember, we want to dance at your wedding."

With a few tears and many promises, Sarah said good-bye to her grandmother and, settling herself in Jareth's embrace, she conjured a crystal. Within the blink of an eye, they were gone.

Once returned, they found much to occupy them. Sarah's father yelled and hugged and cried and yelled some more. It wasn't until much later that they could tell him their story. Then they spent more time showing him that they weren't making it up and he wasn't hallucinating. That last bit was the hardest. After that, more yelling, this time for putting Toby in danger, for putting Sarah in danger, for being an evil, kidnapping villain, etc. Then the bit about seducing girls and being a cradle-robber (in the colloquial meaning of the term). Sharp retorts that Jareth hadn't seduced anybody, it was almost the other way around. . . Karen finally ended it by shouting that it was late, and she, at least, was going to bed. Not to mention that Sarah still had school the next morning, if she was still planning on graduating, of course. With a universal sigh, the group broke up, Sarah stumbling upstairs, Jareth following. Or, at least, he would have followed except that Daniel Williams placed himself rather solidly in his way. Rolling his eyes, he retreated to the living room. Hopefully, he would be considered worthy of sleeping in a bed at some point. Conjuring a pillow and blanket, he changed into an owl and went to spend the night in the tree outside Sarah's window. Maybe it wasn't quite as comfortable, but it was much more fun. Besides, where else would he be able to keep an eye on the girl without getting into trouble?