Disclaimer: I feel as if we've been here before… Anyway, don't own 'em. Except Michael.
A/A/N: Elona, I'm glad you did. But the truth it, I only got the double entendre myself after I'd already chosen the poem. Doesn't mean I didn't like it . And thanks again everyone for your reviews.
- Chapter 4 -
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You've got this strange effect on me
And I like it
You've got this strange effect on me
And I like it
You make my world seem right
You make my darkness bright, oh yes
You've got this strange effect on me
And I like it, and I like it
And I like the way you kiss me
Don't know if I should
But this feeling it's love and I know it
That's why I feel good
You've got this strange effect on me
And I like it
--Hooverphonics, "This Strange Effect"--
Michael blinked. "Oh. Of course. Wherever there are goblins, there must be a Goblin King."
Sarah frowned at that. "Are you alright with this? I mean, you believe me, don't you?"
"Sure I do," he replied, giving her an unsteady grin. "I mean, I think I do... well, I'm open to the possibility that you should be believed…"
Since his conviction seem to be wavering with each successive sentence, Sarah decided to interrupt. "Look, I understand that you'd find this all difficult. It's one of those things you have to see to believe—" Michael quickly nodded his assent—"But you were here, you saw us both disappear into thin air, and you can't tell me that that was normal."
"Yeah, I was kind of wondering how you did that."
"That would be thanks to his Highness," she said, rolling her eyes. "One of those powers that I guess comes with the territory, and one which he seems particularly fond of." Then, as an afterthought she added, "That and those damn crystal balls."
Eyebrows raised, but deciding to let the last comment pass, Michael inquired, "Um, so, since Toby's still around, even though you wished him away, I'm guessing there's more to this story."
"Well, I never really meant for Toby to be taken away, and as soon as I realized what had happened, I tried to take back the words. But of course, he wouldn't let me. 'What's said is said'," she mimicked the words he had spoken all that time ago. "So instead, he gave me thirteen hours to solve his labyrinth, and if I succeeded I got Toby back, if I didn't he'd be turned into a goblin." She paused.
"And?"
"I won. I said the words, got back the baby. And everything was good and right in the world. That's it in a nutshell."
Yes, it left a lot out, but suddenly Sarah wasn't in the mood to be sharing the details. Partly, it was due to the fact that, having never told anyone the story before, she suddenly didn't know how to put it all into words. And in part it was just that she felt uncomfortable telling Michael about the experience, almost as if she were betraying—no, that was just crazy. You can't betray a memory. Well, maybe you could, but you couldn't betray a bad memory like her ordeal in the Labyrinth.
Michael mulled over her words, a slight crease appearing in the center of his forehead. Sarah knew what that crease meant. She even had a name for it: it was the "something's rotten in the state of Denmark" crease. Acting in her blood and all, she thought it rather appropriate.
"What?"
"Well, while I don't doubt what you've said so far, none of that explains why he showed up here. And why now."
Sarah leaned back against the couch and slouched down low in her seat. "I'd explain it to you if I understood it myself."
Michael didn't seem to buy that. "Sarah?"
She sighed. "Yes, okay, there is the possibility that he may have been interested in me… in some form or another… but I didn't really know it at the time. I just figured he was trying to distract me from solving the labyrinth and getting back Toby." Before Michael could comment, though, she hastily added, "But it was entirely on his part, not mine. We were not involved!"
The Denmark crease hadn't entirely disappeared yet. "Okay, so he's in love with you, but you're not in love with him." At the word "love" Sarah began fidgeting nervously. She really wished he wouldn't put it that way. "That would explain his showing up here out of the blue." There was a thoughtful pause and she could sense a "but" coming on.
"What?"
"It's been three years, and this was the first time you saw him since that day?" Michael asked.
"Yes."
"Hmm."
"Hmm, what?" Sarah couldn't help but feel that there was something that she was missing in this conversation. And her frequent need to use the word "what" was beginning to irritate her.
"I was just thinking," Michael replied, but he seemed to hesitate, unsure of whether he should continue.
Sarah was not so indecisive. "What is it?" she asked sharply.
Michael glanced at her, and in his eyes she could read that he didn't want to be the one to point this out to her. She was really starting to get worried now. "We both heard him say his purpose was to prevent you from, um, 'making the biggest mistake of your life'. How did he know just when to show up? I mean, he couldn't have known when you were planning on having sex, or whether you hadn't already done it anytime during the past three years, unless..." he drifted off, leaving her to put the remaining piece in place.
"Unless he's been watching me this whole time," Sarah completed, the horror of it just dawning on her.
"Oh my god! He's been watching me this whole time!" She leapt up from her seat and began her pacing anew, but much more frantic and erratic than it had been before.
"All these times that I thought I was alone, and no one could see me... he could just pull up his little crystal ball..." her eyes widened even further, and it seemed that she'd forgotten all about Michael's presence. "What about when I was... Or when I was..." She abruptly stopped her pacing here. "Or when I... Oh my god!" Her face turned a bright shade of red, and her hand covered her mouth in the classic sign of horror.
Michael found himself very intrigued by all the possibilities running through Sarah's head, and he unconsciously leaned forward in his seat, wondering exactly what were all the things that she could never imagine doing in front of another person. Of course, he had enough sense not to ask, because he certainly had no death wish.
Suddenly, Sarah glanced down at him and revealed in a harsh whisper, "He could be watching us right now!" Michael swallowed uncomfortably and looked about as if he could somehow sense whether or not this was true. The possibility did not sit well with him. But then shaking his head as if to clear it, he decided they could not keep up this line of thinking.
"Sarah, I meant that he would have had to been looking in on you from time to time," he interjected, hoping to calm her down and divert her from further disturbing thoughts. "I doubt he would have been watching you all the time. I mean, he has to have a life, doesn't he?" He reached up and grabbed her by the arms, gently pulling her back onto the couch next to him.
Confused and worn out from all the emotions that she had already endured in the span of a few hours, Sarah let herself be guided. "I guess," she mumbled.
"Right," Michael continued, gaining in his convictions. "And it's not like he would have had to watch you all the time to know whether or not you were, um, involved with anyone."
"Yes. Yes, I suppose so."
"And, well, I don't know this guy Jareth at all, but I would like to think that he would have better taste than to be watching in some of those situations that you—" he cleared his throat here—"seem to find especially disturbing."
Sarah blushed again, tilting her head forward so her long hair fell between them like a curtain. Even if Michael didn't know exactly what those "situations" were, he was bound to have ventured a guess as to their nature. Well, she supposed, there wasn't really any reason to be embarrassed. They were things that everyone did.
But that didn't mean that anyone should watch you do them. Definitely not. There was no way she would ever forgive Jareth if she found out that he had. Damn, infuriating Goblin King! Now she was going to have to live the rest of her life in the shadow of paranoia.
Still, she tried to let herself be comforted by his words, and not to indulge her fears. Eventually, they left the topic altogether, attempting to somewhat enjoy their night together, even if things hadn't gone as they had planned.
It was several hours before Michael finally went home, and even then only after a great deal of convincing on Sarah's part. He had insisted on staying to watch over her in case Jareth should return, but Sarah had assured him there was little chance of that happening tonight. After all, he had waited three years to make his move, and being who he was, of course he would want to draw this game out as long as possible, just to enhance her misery.
Finally, having seen Michael to the door, she decided that she no longer had the energy to deal with any of it, and made her way to her room. After changing into her pajamas, with the lights off and every visible mirror covered, she made her way to her bed to fold down the sheets, pausing as her hand brushed up against a smooth piece of paper.
She snatched it up and flicked on the nearest lamp to reveal the elegant writing. But all she could feel was a prevailing sense of dread as she read the message inscribed upon it:
Sarah,
