Author's Note: I have seen Toby's mother (Sarah's Stepmother) being referred to as Karen in many fanfics; however, I have read both the original script and the transcript of the Labyrinth movie, and have never seen her name actually mentioned (in both the script and transcript, she was merely referred to as 'stepmother'). I have therefore named her Aileen in this story. This is not a Sarah story. It revolves around her younger siblings. This is not a Jareth/anybody romance. It is not a romance, period.
Katie sat straight up in bed, still trapped in the nightmare that had left her slightly disoriented, dripping with sweat and tangled up in her sheets. She reached over to snap on the bedside lamp but fell out of bed, head first. CRUNCH!!!
For a few moments she lay there, stunned, but then she realized she was in a totally awkward position, her legs still entangled in the sheets, and if she didn't get up and use the toilet she'd be in an even bigger mess.
"Shouldn't have drunk those last 4 cups of cocoa," she muttered as she wriggled out of the sheets, carefully pushed herself up and staggered to the door, still dazed from her dreams and the fall.
The hallway was softly lit with small phosphorescent panels, something she was relieved to find didn't hurt her head any more than it was hurting all ready.
"Oh great!" she muttered, "Another concussion, and I have that presentation to give sixth period." She shielded her eyes as she opened the bathroom door, otherwise the sudden glare would have made her headache worse.
As it was, the pain in her head became rather more pressing than her bladder. She rummaged through the medicine chest but couldn't find anything. Then she remembered using the pain reliever and not putting it back.
"OOPS! It must still be in my room, but I can't think of exactly where I put it last."
She headed down towards her room, having temporarily forgotten the urgency of her first mission and had to retrace her steps before it erupted. Once back in her room, her initial mission accomplished, she flicked on the main light and blinked her eyes into adjustment with the glare.
The harsh light disclosed heaps of chaos and dispelled the remnants of the gloom night fall always brought with it.
"What a mess!" she exclaimed, echoing her mother, "I don't know how I let it get this bad, but I'll never get back to sleep unless at least half this mess is cleared away."
Four hours later she'd gone as far as she could without using the vacuum cleaner. Once started she found she couldn't stop, refused to stop, until it was as organized and as sparkly as she could get it.
"I found 3 plates; 4 bowls; 8 cups; 7 missing spoons Mom's been screaming about; 5 library books I was sure I had put in the book drop and those had better be returned as soon as possible before they issue a warrant for my arrest; the dress I was supposed to return to Julia before she got married last winter; the homework assignment due last Wednesday which should have been in the folder I turned in; a batch of clean clothes I misplaced before they could be put away; assorted dirty ones I've really needed but had no real clue where they were, besides being buried somewhere in my room; the bear I meant to return to the giver as he'd put the condition of I could only keep it if I was in love with him... and I'll never feel anything for him besides friendship, I told him that when he gave me the bear in the first place and he said keep it a week and think it over, he left town before I could return it but the office should know where his father's been transferred to; the all important pain killer; and a bag of rice cakes which were crunched when I fell out of bed. I don't remember why they would be in my room, but better them than my neck."
She shuddered at the close call, took two pain killers for her headache, and put the misappropriated items away in a safe place until they could be properly taken care of, all that is, except for the dishes. Those she could take care of almost immediately.
Carefully she carried the dishes down to the kitchen, put them in the sink, and ran water over them. "I'll get them washed before I leave for school, I hope."
"Who are you talking to?"
She gasped and whirled around to face the voice, then got irritated as she saw who it was.
"Hello Terry, goodbye Terry, go back to bed Terry....I wish you were back in your own apartment Terry, when are they going to be through fumigating it so you can leave; Terry? I'm too tired to fight with you and you know I always talk too much to myself when I'm tired and occupied with things."
Her older brother smirked, opened his mouth to say something, but he changed his mind when she got rather pale and suddenly slid down to the floor. "Katie, oh Katie....come on now, you're not dead, are you?"
At first she didn't answer, didn't move when he shook her, then a soft gurgle came out of her mouth. Relieved, he grinned, got some ice, and put it down her shirt.
There was no immediate reaction, he was beginning to worry again.....for although he loved to torment his little sister he truly cared about her well-being. Then....
"AAAAAAGH!!! TERRY!" she shrieked as she leaped up off the floor and danced around, trying to get the ice out of her shirt.
He suddenly caught sight of the clock.
"3:30 A.M.!" he exclaimed, grabbed Katie and put his hand over her mouth, which she promptly bit, something he temporarily ignored as he whispered, "Sorry about the ice. I tried to wake you up but nothing worked on you, then I thought it would be funny to see your reaction to having ice down your shirt..... but you'd better be quiet because we're waking everyone up. LOOK AT THE CLOCK...." he growled as she elbowed him hard in the ribs and stomped hard on his foot.
He let her go and collapsed onto a chair. Katie turned to look at the clock, gasped, and began to back towards the door.
"WHAT ARE YOU TWO DOING UP MAKING NOISE AT THIS HOUR?!!!"
"AAAAGH!" Katie shrieked again and Terry leaped out of his chair, knocking it over. Then he noticed who it was.
"Sorry Mother, she collapsed briefly, I thought it would be funny to put ice down her shirt to revive her, wasn't thinking of the time."
Aileen sighed as she gazed at her two oldest children. 20 year old Terence Tobias Kellsen Williams looked like an innocent cherub at first glance; 5'11 with blond hair, blue-green eyes, stream-lined swimmer gymnast martial artist muscles. A closer look revealed mirth and mischief bubbling just under the surface. He certainly delighted in tormenting his little sister, no matter how much he was ordered not to. This wasn't the first time the house had been awakened by Katie shrieking at the top of her lungs, but at least it was later than the last time.
Katherine Merry-Rose Kellsen Williams had been very much a surprise, popping up three and a half years after Terry, who until her arrival he had been referred to as Toby, but she'd taken an instant dislike to that name the first time she'd heard it and wailed and wailed every time she heard it mentioned in her presence after that. Finally they realized it wasn't her brother, she was fine in his company as long as they didn't mention his name. Terence seemed to be too long for the little fellow at the time, so they'd decided on Terry, and while he had grown into his name, at times like these he was certainly not dignified.....
Katie started out very short and slight for her age group. Aileen thought it was likely due to her appearance a month and a half early on Christmas Eve, hence her hyphenated middle name. She had avoided having a lot of the health and physiological problems most premature infants had, they knew they'd been blessed to avoid that, but they were still as careful as possible; except when Terry decided to torment his biggest Christmas present and she returned the favor in kind.
She grew 10" between her 15th and 16th birthdays, finishing her growth at 5'9" with no signs of growing any taller. Where once she'd been picked on because of her delicate appearance (although between her talents and Terry's contributions for her defense many a bully had regretted singling her out for his or her peculiar attentions), now the boys ran after her for what it was wrongly rumored they could get from her and most girls ignored her as they felt they could not compete with the fiery haired goddess, as one of her many male admirers put it. Somehow she had ended up with this incredible shade of red hair, these almond-shaped eyes which were gray when she was calm but violet when her emotions were riled up, long dark eyelashes and eyebrows... some accused her of having dyed everything but it was proved to be totally natural and her face was framed by a widow's peak hairline which made the effect to be that of a heart.
Aileen snapped out of her remembrances as she noticed Katie turn absolutely white and begin to sway.
"Terry! Catch your sister! She must have locked her knees."
He blinked, and turned around just in time to keep her from hitting the floor. Carefully he scooped her up and carried her back up to her room, grunting as he pulled himself up the stairs, Aileen following close behind.
Although far from fat, Katie weighed more than she looked. Like Terry she swam, and until her growth spurt two years before she had been in competitive gymnastics which they'd decided to table until her body had adjusted to being stretched out. Most of her growth had taken place the summer between her birthdays and had put a great strain on her body's resources. Since then she'd started taking martial arts to add to what defense knowledge gymnastics had taught her but she currently showed no interest to returning to competition.
Terry plopped his sister on her bed as carefully as he could, then both he and their mother stared at the room in amazement. It was clean, neatly organized, something no one had seen in over a year.
"Wow!" he exclaimed, "Looks like a tornado hit this in reverse. No wonder she's feeling faint. It didn't look like this when I checked on her just before midnight. Wonder if she'd like do the same thing to my room?"
Aileen frowned at him. "You're a grown man Terry. You don't need anyone toclean up after you. Why were you checking on her? That's my job."
He sighed. "She has nightmares on occasion. Most of the time she doesn't get very loud, just whimpers. One night when you and Dad left for the weekend she kept screaming so loudly a neighbor called the cops because they thought a murder was being committed. I couldn't get her to stop so I called Sarah. She and Ryan came right over and took care of things. I never was told what upset Katie in the first place."
"Why wasn't I told?" Aileen demanded. Although she and her step-daughter had worked out a comfortable relationship over the years, she still felt a small sting of jealousy when her children seemed to confide more things to their older half-sister than they did to their own mother.
"I asked them not to tell." Katie pushed herself up to a sitting position. "I promised I would tell you when you got back, I meant to tell you, but you were so relaxed and happy from your vacation so I decided to wait a little while until the vacation glow wore off naturally..... then I got busy with school and forgot."
Aileen walked over to Katie's bed and sat down, pulling her into her arms.
"You did a wonderful job on this room, honey, I don't think I've ever seen it this clean and organized, even when Sarah was still living here, and she did keep it fairly neat and tidy, most of the time. Once in a while it looked like there'd been a wild party.... streamers and fur everywhere, which your father and I never understood how the mess came about as no one ever came to the house to visit her until she got into college."
She felt Katie's forehead, finding it to be a little warm she told her "I'd like you to stay home today. I don't think you've gotten enough rest in the past few days and you did such a lot of excavation on this room I'm sure you've overdone it. I'll call the school and get you excused."
Katie pulled away from her mother and turned to look at her.
"But Mom," she protested weakly, near tears, "I have to go to school today, at least to sixth period. My presentation is due today and I can't miss that class. I want to graduate as soon as possible."
Aileen sighed. "Very well, you sleep for a while, I'll check on you around lunch time, then we'll discuss at least going to that class. Promise me you'll go back to sleep?"
Katie settled back against her pillow.
"Make it 10:00, I still have to get professionally dressed for the career day presentation and you promised you'd be there to see it. It's at 1:00 this afternoon." She yawned, snuggled under the covers Aileen and Terry had straightened out and tucked around her, and drifted back to sleep.
Aileen and Terry tiptoed out of the room, shut the door, and returned to the kitchen.
"I'm over-booked. I thought the Career Day Presentation was next week instead of today; Alan's and Elza's scheduled Room Mother called last night and asked if I could fill in for her today. Will you do it for me, please? Your father has to work, Katie needs me at her school for moral support, and I'm sure the twins would love to have you visit their classroom again." she asked.
Terry's eyes widened at the mention of his 9 year old siblings.
"No way Mom, NO WAY!!!!" he protested, "Remember the first, last, and only time I substituted for you?"
Aileen giggled. Terry had come home with smears of food and water colors in his hair and on his clothes; swearing up and down that he'd never ever go to any type of function involving the twins as long as he lived.
They'd walked in the door after he'd stormed through, spotlessly clean and looking perfectly angelic. Like Terry, they had blond hair....but it was more the color of honey, gray-green eyes, the same mischievous mirth which bubbled beneath the surface of all her children but was more apparent in these two, especially when they ganged up on a target.
Terry cancelled his date for that evening and missed some swim practices after discovering the stains left behind from the water colors would not easily wash out of his hair, off his face, nor off his body. She suspected the twins had instigated the food fight, and had customized the water colors with their chemistry set, but nothing was ever proven and no one had seen them do anything.
"They're almost 3 years older Terry." she offered in their defense.
"Yes, but twice as scary." he grumbled.
"Please, I don't know what to do. I'm sure they'll be extra good." she coaxed.
Terry sighed and sat down. His lap was suddenly filled by the excited twins who had been woken up by Katie's shrieks and had decided to quietly listen in on whatever was going on.
"Please Terry," Alan started.
"Come to our class." Elza interrupted. "We promise we'll be extra good."
"No teasing, no paint or food throwing....we're too old for that, no tricks." Alan added.
"Terry, please, pretty please?" Elza entreated, looking up at him with soulful eyes.
He groaned. He never could resist their puppy dog eyes, especially Elza's, and they knew it.
"Okay, I'll come to class with you. But you had better behave. A certain birdy told me your school has a late fall carnival in three weeks and asked if I'd like to take you, and the only way I'd feel up to it is if you are especially good today."
"WHEE!!!" the twins jumped up and began dancing around.
"HUSH!!" Aileen hissed as she looked at the clock. "You'll wake your sister and your father up. It's almost 4:00 a.m. I'm going back to bed for at least two hours and a half hours, I suggest you all do the same. There's a lot to do today and none of it will get done well unless we get more sleep."
She hugged them and the twins padded silently back to their room.
Terry sighed as his mother hugged him as well. He was not looking forward to the day ahead.
She cupped his face in her hands.
"I know you are not wanting to do this, but I know you will perform your duties as my deputy well, and the teacher really needs the help, otherwise I wouldn't ask you to do it. Now off to bed with you."
"I offer you your dreams."
"You know what my dreams really are? I'm sure you only know of the surface ones, you've never heard the deepest one. I wish you were literally nothing more than a bad dream, that you had never existed in the first place."
His eyes were full of sorrow as he slowly dissolved into a wisp of gray smoke, which was then swallowed up by the very crystal in which she had been offered her dreams. He was trapped forever in a crystalline prison of his own making, until they crushed it and made him vanish forever off the face of and from the depths of the Earth.