AN: Just a warning, a good deal of swearing in this chapter and some violence. You've been warned. This digs more into Sam's background as well as other things that I don't want to give away by saying. Thank you again to my reviewers! Keep 'em coming!

Disclaimers: see chapter one.

"Nightmares and Invisible Saviors"

"Oh look at him Sam, he's so cute and he's so into you." Sam's partner in crime and best friend since 5th grade elbowed her to look at the new transfer to their school whom was walking by.

"So what. I have no idea who he is, where he came from." * He is pretty handsome. *

"Sam, I'm getting worried about you. When are you going to start going after some men."

Samantha chuckled. "There aren't any men in this school. They're all little immature boys."

Laura rolled her eyes and threw back her long blond hair. "Excuse me but what about Brad Martins?"

Now it was time for Samantha to roll her eyes. "Pul-ease don't tell me that you are falling for the Captain of the Soccer team. Brad Martins is a stuck up jerk."

"Yeah he needs a little work."

"Not a little, Laur, a lot. A real lot. He may be a nice looking guy but he's got a bad attitude."

"Um excuse me." Both girls looked up to see the new transfer standing beside them. He was tall, well built and had incredible blue eyes that looked so blue with his dark hair. "I'm sort of lost. I have Chemistry with Mr. Souza in room 58 and I can't find it." He raised a brow and gave them a look of utter confusion.

Sam laughed softly. " I have Mr. Souza's class next. I can show you where it is."

"That'd be great. Hey aren't you in my English class?"

Sam smiled sweetly. "Yeah I am. I sit in the back row. I saw you got stuck in the front."

"Yeah the breaks of being a new student." He smiled.

"Sam I'll see you at lunch. I gotta go before I'm late for math."

"Sure, see you later Laura." Laura walked away with a grin on her face.

"C'mon I'll show you how to get to chemistry."

'Thanks I really appreciate this. You're Samantha McGoff, right?"

"Yeah." She was surprised that he remembered her name. "It's Mark right? I'm afraid I don't remember your last name."

"That's ok. Yeah Mark Sampson."

The two began to walk side by side down the busy hall. "So where did you move from?"

"Portland Maine. Not too far away but not real close either. This town's nice though. I like living in the northeast."

"I wouldn't dream of living anywhere else."

"Have you and your parents always lived here?"

"I don't live with my parents. They ah, they died when I was younger. I live with my aunt and uncle and my cousin, but yeah I've always lived here."

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"It's ok. Look here we are, Chemistry." She smiled hesitantly and walked into the room, expecting him to take a seat elsewhere but he sat right next to her.

"Do you need a lab partner? Or do you have one already?"

"No I don't have one, but you're welcome to be mine, if um, if you want to."

"Yeah sure."


The days flew by in a blur and suddenly Samantha was spending time with a boy. Laura was ecstatic. She had been trying to get Sam to date since middle school, but she was always so busy with Josh. She was practically the kid's mother. Mark and Sam got to know each other for a few weeks and finally he asked her out on a date. Her aunt and uncle didn't care, didn't want to meet him and only said that she could date as long as it didn't interfere with taking care of Josh.

"They're like wicked step parents eh?" Mark told her as they sat in his truck looking out over the ocean.

"Sometimes. I don't let them bother me though. If I did I'd be miserable. They give me a place to live, my aunt cooks and before I got my own car they would let me borrow theirs sometimes."

"That's cool."

"I forgot to tell you. When I turn 18 after graduation I'll be buying my own place."

"Really? That's awesome. How are you going to afford that though, Sammy? I mean apartments are expensive and I don't mean to say your job is crap but working for the newspaper you don't make a lot."

"Actually I'm buying a house, I'm not renting an apartment."

"Whoa, how you gonna manage that?"

"Well my parents left me a good deal of money before they died and they left their life insurance to me. When I turn 18 I get it and I'm going to buy my own place. A small house with a nice big backyard. That way Josh can come over and play baseball. Poor kid, he gets yelled at all the time for trying to play in the kitchen!"

"That's cool Sam, but why don't you get a place that you like. I mean you don't have to get a big backyard for your cousin. You could get a big house and throw some nasty parties."

"Mark, you know I'm not really a party person. Besides if I got a big house then I would have to clean it. I'd much rather be outside in the backyard playing catch with my cousin or swinging in a hammock or reading a good book. Or watching a movie with you."

Mark grinned. "I think I'm going to like this house idea."


The months passed by quickly and after graduation Samantha did buy a house. A beautiful gray house with two floors. There was a big backyard with an oak tree, a swing she put up and a hammock swung in the breeze on the sundeck. Living on her own with Josh visiting often and dating Mark made her spirits soar and she was the happiest now then she had ever been in her life. But all good things come to an end and they ended quickly and tragically. Samantha's best friend Laura was killed in a car accident. Laura was on her way home from her boyfriend's house when she was hit by a drunk driver.

Sam sat on the kitchen floor in the darkness rocking herself back and forth.

"Yo Sam. You home? Sam?" Mark flicked on the kitchen light and nearly stepped on her. "Hey what are you doing on the floor? Sam, what's wrong? Why are you crying?" Mark was immediately on his knees by her side. He stroked her long brown hair. "Hey babes, what's wrong?"

"You...you didn't hear?" she choked out.

"Hear about what? I just got outta work."

Her eyes filled with fresh tears and her lips trembled. "She's dead, Mark." She began to sob softly.

"Oh god, who's dead? Who's dead Sammy?" he grabbed her shoulders and shook her gently.

"Laura." She let out in a quiet whisper.

"Oh no! Sam what happened?"

"She was on her...her way home from, Jason's. She never made it... she got hit. She died on impact." She began to sob again, this time her sobs were louder and full of anguish.

"Oh baby." Mark pulled her into his arms and rocked her. "I'm so sorry baby. I'm so sorry." He continued to rock her as she sobbed into his chest. A short while later, her sobs subsided and Mark was holding her, gently running his hands through her hair. "Hey why don't I put you to bed. You look tired. You should sleep. I'll stay over tonight and make sure that you're ok."

She picked her head up from his chest and looked at him through red eyes. "Would you stay for a little while. Just until I fall asleep?"

"Sure. Anything you want babes."


Samantha awakened with a start, fresh images of Mark in her mind. *I lost my virginity to that creep! * she cried out in her mind. The jerk had done more then just stay and comfort her. He had taken advantage of her and slept with her. She shook her head trying to get the images out of her mind. She glanced around seeing that she was still in Jareth's castle. The sun was already high in the sky, which meant that it had to be at least noontime. Sam threw the sheets away from her in disgust. They were a tangled mess. She had not slept very well and when she looked in a mirror over the dresser she wanted to die. There were little bags under her eyes and her eyes themselves looked tired and lifeless. "I haven't thought about Mark in a year, I come here and instead of drooling over Jareth, now that I have the chance, I'm thinking about Mark." With a sigh she dressed and attempted to cover the tired look on her face with make-up.

She found Jareth after a great deal of hassle. She had tried to locate him herself, but she still didn't know her way around the castle very well. She had been lucky to run into Grackith who showed her where she could find him. He was out in the gardens that connected to the back of the castle. He was looking out over the Labyrinth and he looked every bit as arrogant and powerful as the first time she had laid her eyes upon him. She had been a child then, more interested in showing him that she was a worthy opponent and not frightened then to see how handsome he was. Her knowledge of his good looks had come a year or two later. She leaned against a tall stone wall and watched him for a short while. He turned after a few moments, as if sensing that he had company. The arrogance and self righteousness peeled away leaving a calm and amused look on his face.

"Good afternoon." He bid her.

"Afternoon. Sorry that I missed breakfast."

"That's all right. When you didn't come down I assumed that you were still sleeping. Did you sleep well?" As she walked closer to him he noticed the tired look in her eyes. She saw the concern seep into his mismatched eyes. No make-up was going to hide anything from the observant Goblin King. She shook her head slowly, almost embarrassed. "You didn't sleep well did you?" She shook her head again. "If the bed isn't comfortable I can arrange for another, or if the room is not suiting your needs." She raised a hand to silence him.

"The room and the bed are both fine. I...I just had a few nightmares that's all. Nothing to worry about."

Her words didn't seem to convince him. "It's obviously something, if they kept you up all night."

"I wasn't up all night. I slept, just not soundly. It's not a big deal. It's not like I've haven't had bad dreams before. They'll go away, they always do."

From the tone of her voice, he could tell she didn't wish to discuss the matter any further and he dropped it. "Lunch will be ready in about a half hours time, if you are hungry."

"Lunch sounds good. I am pretty hungry." He smiled and she returned a smile of her own. She felt better being in his presence, although she still remembered a time when she was unnerved being around him. She still didn't trust him completely even when he was in this calm vulnerable state that he had been in with her lately. She refused to let her guard down.

The day was warm and they ate lunch out in the gardens. One of the goblins who, worked in the kitchen brought out a picnic basket with sandwiches and a pitcher of cold water. They sat beneath a tall tree eating in silence. Samantha leaned her back against the tree, sneaking peeks at Jareth every so often. He was sitting with his legs stretched out in front of him, crossed at the ankles. He was in casual clothing today. No frock coat, no cape. Just a simple white shirt, black leather vest, the gray pants and black boots. The sun made his hair look as though it were white and his skin glittery. He was gazing off to his right, sandwich in a gloved hand, a glass of water and the picnic basket beside him. Taking a bite of her own sandwich, Samantha giggled. She was horrified that she had actually laughed aloud but she just couldn't help it. If someone had told her that she was going to have a picnic with the Goblin King 7 years after she had defeated him, she would have laughed out right in their face!

Jareth's face turned to look at her. One brow arched delicately above his blue eye. "Find something amusing?" he asked.

She shook her head and continued to eat her sandwich. The right corner of his mouth twitched into a slight grin and then he turned away from her again, looking out into the gardens. Sam smiled to herself, finished her sandwich and then rested her head against the tree.


The door slammed shut with such force she thought that it was going to come off the hinges. He walked into the kitchen, his arms over his chest. She looked up from her book and then placed it gently on the table beside her. He didn't look happy.

"Did you forget something?" he asked in a voice so cold she felt herself shiver.

"I don't think so." She replied giving him a puzzling look.

"You don't think so? Oh that's real good Sammy." There was no doubt now that she knew he was angry.

"I didn't forget anything. I picked up Josh today, spent some time with him and came home to finish reading my book."

He was suddenly across the kitchen and he had her by the wrist. "You didn't forget anything?" He chuckled icily. "That's real nice Sam. Real nice." He twisted her wrist and she cried out.

"Mark you're hurting me, let me go. What is this all about?" She tried to pull away from his tight grip but it was useless. He was much stronger then she was. He grabbed her shoulders and slammed her into the wall, knocking the phone off the receiver in the process. She was barely aware that it fell, except she could hear it beeping. "Mark!"

"You didn't forget anything? You didn't forget anything!!!" He shouted and he shook her hard.

Tears formed in her eyes and she was suddenly afraid of him. She had never seen him like this before.

"You spend more time with that G Damn little kid then you do with me. Have you forgotten about me Sam? Have you forgotten that I'm you're boyfriend and maybe you should spend some time with me too? But no I don't think you've forgotten and that's the kicker." He pressed her tighter to the wall. "Ever since that bitch of a friend of yours died you've hidden in a cocoon. You spend time with your cousin and you hide away from me."

"I haven't been hiding!" she cried out. Tears were falling from her cheeks now as she trembled beneath his hands.

"Bullshit!" his hand smacked her face so hard she lost her breath. She gasped and tried to squirm away from him. "You're a shitty liar Sam, you always have been! Every time I come by to see you, you aren't here! Something is going on. Either you are cheating on me and so help me, I'll clobber you right now if you are, or you're keeping something from me."

Sam managed to pull away from him and threw herself across to the other side of the room. A red mark had appeared on her face and tears trickled from her eyes. "What the hell is wrong with you?" She cried.

"What's wrong with me? No! What's wrong with you? You're walking around like a fucking fox. All sneaky and sly. I want to know what the fuck is going on around here and I want to know now!!! You've been avoiding me and I want to know why!!!"

"You want to know why? You want to know why?!" she shouted. She was angry and scared all wrapped into one. "Think real hard about what happened after Laura died."

"Things got strained between us. You started hiding yourself from me. Not being home, not answering the phone. Avoiding me, not coming by my work."

She let out a frustrated sigh. "You really don't have a clue do you? I trusted you and you let me down!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! I let you down? I don't think so babes."

"You knew that I was hurting, I just lost my best friend and what did you do as soon as my guard was down?" He shot her a blank look and she nearly cried out in frustration. "Instead of staying by my side so I could sleep knowing I had someone who loved me and I loved him with me, you coerced me into having sex with you! Damn it Mark, you knew how I felt about that!"

"You're a fucking baby. So what we had sex, big deal."

"Yeah real big deal to you. You didn't care that I was hurting, you just wanted to get some and knew you could get it because I wasn't myself! Things weren't supposed to be this way." She added softly to herself.

"You live in fantasy world Sam. You of all people with all the shit you have been through in your life should know that nothing ever goes how we plan it to."

'Oh so we should just say, screw the rules, screw our dreams and what we care about and just go wild? Sorry, my dreams and my morals are what make me the person that I am and they make me strong enough to face the crap that's thrown into my life. You know I might have been able to pass off what happened that night as an accident. I thought at first it had been, but the way you acted with me after that. I knew it wasn't. You're not the person I thought you were." She told him crossing her hands over her chest.

Before she knew it he was across the room and he had her by the shoulders again. "How dare you try to pin this all on me. You miserable little bitch! I did nothing but care for you and love you."

"This is how you love me? By coming here and beating me up in my house, by seducing me and telling your friends about it."

"So what I told a few people."

"Sure the whole town practically knows that you're the one I finally lost my virginity to!" His hand came into contact with her face again and she cried out from the sheer force of it.

"You keep your mouth shut! You're making everything out to be some big deal. And it ain't!" She tried to pull away from him and he gripped her tighter. She let out a scream as she felt him grab her shoulder.

"Samantha! Samantha!!" Since when did Mark have an accent? She opened her eyes, to find Jareth's worried face staring back at her. He had his hand on her shoulder and when she peered down at it he pulled it away quickly. Her eyes were full of a real fear and he had never seen her look at him that way before. She was trembling and her eyes were full of tears. "What happened?" he asked softly. "You were sleeping and then suddenly you just started crying." His mismatched eyes were full of deep concern.

"I...I..." She began to sob softly but he didn't touch her. He didn't scoop her into his arms as he had last time. Something was very wrong with her. The fear was fading from her eyes to be replaced by a look of hurt and misery. He remembered this look well. It had haunted him in his dreams. The last time he has seen it was when...

'You had another nightmare didn't you?" She nodded, wiping the tears from her eyes, as she tried desperately to collect herself.

He didn't have to ask her what it was about, for he already knew. The last time he had seen that look in her eyes was when Mark had beaten her.

She had sat on the floor after he had gone to the hospital and cried, rocking herself. Jareth had stood there, invisible to her eyes but he was in the room with her. He stood perfectly still, just watching her. He had never felt so much pain before and he knew it was her pain and despair that he had been sensing. With a twist of his hands, he brought forth a crystal. With a wave of his hands, he made her sleep, pulling her away from reality so that she could rest and try to put this behind her. He stood over her as she lay on the bed. He was visible to her now she should happen to wake, but she didn't and for that he was glad. He didn't want her to see him like this, utterly vulnerable over a silly mortal woman. He could feel her pain and it devastated him. Using the crystal he worked a spell so that she would sleep until late morning. He turned sadly, to return to the underground. He didn't want to leave her, especially like this, but she had not called for him as he wished she would have. He had no reason to be here except to tell her something, but now was not the time. Now was definitely not the time. It might never be the right time to tell her he loved her.