They were almost done eating when there was a SCREEECH! CRASH! outside. The house shook a little as the front door was flung open and slammed shut. An approaching voice shouted. "Is everything okay? Are you all right? I felt really strange so I decided to come over and make sure......" The voice abruptly broke off.
Katie sighed. She had been hoping to put off this confrontation until she at least had had time to digest her food. "Sit down and have some food Sarah, you must be hungry. I take it Ryan stayed home with Helene?"
Like Terry had before, Sarah stood frozen in the doorway, but thawed much sooner than he did, without intervention. "Wh...what is HE doing HERE? HOW? I thought I GOT RID of you FOR GOOD, yet here you are...." Her voice wavered between outrage and bewilderment.
Jareth pushed back his chair and stood up. He didn't want to be caught like a sitting duck if she decided to do something.
Sarah took one good long look at him and pivoted around to face away from him. They could see her shoulders shaking as she fought to compose herself, but it was no use. She spluttered, honked, and snorted in a fit of violent laughter.
Katie also pushed back her chair and stood up.
"Terry, take Jareth and find him something to wear. I need to talk to Sarah once she settles down, and I don't know how long that will be. You also might want to check the condition of her car, it didn't sound too good when she....... parked."
Once they were alone, Katie positioned a chair behind Sarah and gently pushed on her shoulder to get her to sit down. Sarah obediently sat and immediately doubled over, her wild mirth deteriorating into shuddering sobs.
Katie pulled a chair over and plopped herself down in front of her, ready to talk when Sarah was able, but for now, sitting in silent support. Then she decided she couldn't abide just sitting there, watching a loved one relive so much pain. Quickly she boiled some water in the microwave, put one of her special herbal blends in a nice pot, added the water, and let it steep while she returned to sit in front of Sarah and watch her until she was ready to talk.
When Sarah's sobbing and shuddering gradually decreased, Katie strained some of the tea into a mug, added some honey, a splash of lemon, and handed it to Sarah_who smelled it speculatively before accepting it.
"Don't worry, there's nothing exotic in this particular blend" Katie assured her, "just some chamomile, some spearmint, a touch of sage, lavender, honey, and a splash of lemon."
Sarah grimaced at the memory of some of Katie's special blends she'd been "lucky" enough to be the first to try, a human guinea pig for Katie's creative culinary excursions. Granted, a lot of them actually turned out wonderful.... but the bad combinations were even more memorable. She slowly sipped at her tea.
Katie decided once again she couldn't sit still one more minute waiting until Sarah was able to talk. She could feel that Sarah was still very tense, so she went behind her and methodically rubbed as many knots as she could out of her half-sister's shoulders. Gradually she could feel the knots release and the muscles unwind. Deciding that was all she could do at the moment, she washed her hands to remove what tension she'd absorbed from Sarah then sat back down and waited some more.
Sarah pulled a frownie face at Katie. "Hey," she protested "I'm the big sister, I'm supposed to soothe you." Then she smiled. "It is nice to be taken care of. Thank you for caring for me." Turning very serious she asked "Do you know how that man got here? Are you aware of who he is?"
Katie sighed. "The answer to both your spoken questions is" she paused "Yes. I know who he is. A Fae known as Jareth, King of the Goblins, ruler of the Labyrinth, who became obsessed with you after you solved the Labyrinth and defeated him in your quest to rescue Toby; whom you wished away." She held up her hand to halt Sarah from speaking. "Let me finish. I know you didn't really intend for it to happen." She sighed again, then continued. "No one told me. I have been having recurring dreams of your adventures in the Labyrinth since I was a baby, and then when I was older, they changed to include what pain you experienced because of his obsessive behavior. At that time you had no choice but to seal him away with your wish, and he was almost destroyed."
She broke off, and went to get some water. On her return, she held Sarah's hands in her own before she continued. "As for how he got here" she paused again, "I wished him back, only it was a lot earlier than what I intended. Emergency situations. His global prison started after my food and I wished him back to save it."
Katie could feel waves of hurt and betrayal emitting from Sarah. "Before you get extremely angry and disown me, listen." Her urgent request was granted by Sarah's continued silence. "There are things, tasks you can call them, only he can take care of, should he choose to do so. Another person forced to take them on his or her shoulders would be sadly ill-equipped to complete them. Jareth does have his agency to decide whether or not to accept. It's always been up to him."
"Very well, I won't disown you, and I know you must have had a very good reason for bringing him back." Sarah broke off and stared at her tea. "What I'd like to know, what concerns me... Is he going to come after me and my family for revenge or for any other reasons? I don't have anything to offer him, not even friendship." She grimaced and resumed sipping at her cooling tea.
Katie was stunned, she hadn't thought that far. It had all happened much too fast. She finally answered. "I really couldn't tell you, not until I've talked with him. He was only wished back two hours ago, and as you saw..... he appeared decidedly unprepared."
Sarah giggled, feeling strangely a lot calmer about his reappearance. "Is that why he is dressed so strangely."
Katie shrugged. "It was either have him wear Mom's most covering work ensemble, or allow him to run stark naked about the house until I got enough energy to obtain something more presentable. Terry didn't return home until right after I made the wish. Unfortunately, as we found out afterwards, he was in a position to see the whole show. I'm quite sure he'll be having nightmares for awhile."
She paused to breathe before continuing. "Now that I think about it, I'll have to ask him exactly what happened. I was so drained I had my eyes closed all through Jareth's reappearance, it sounded very interesting from what I heard. I did open one eye when I heard something land hard on the floor, and was able to somehow process the situation fast enough to advise him of some temporary covering." She turned a little red but the corner of her mouth quirked. "I'm just glad Mom restocked the apron drawer with items more substantial than what had been in there before."
Both she and Sarah howled at the thought of Jareth having to fashion some modesty out of the former occupants of the drawer.
Sarah wiped her eyes and handed the mug to Katie. "I'd better go take over on the baby. Helene's teething and feeling very miserable, I'm sure Ryan is about to start sobbing with her." She stopped. "Oh dear, I do hope my car still works. I was so distracted I'm afraid I drove very badly, and parked much worse." Quickly she dashed out to check on her car.
Katie expected her to drive away, but Sarah returned with a covered basket in her hand.
"I've been meaning to give these to you. I found them about eight years ago. They appeared out of no where. I couldn't just throw them out." She handed it over and retraced her steps out of the kitchen, letting out a mirthful gurgle as she passed Jareth and Terry on her way out the front door.
Jareth raised one eyebrow and stared stony-faced at Katie, who had followed Sarah as far as the stairway. "Classic Spock!" she shouted, giggled, and clapped her hands.
"I don't find this situation amusing." he clipped.
"See?" Katie appealed to Terry, who nodded in agreement, but advised her "Cool it Katie, he's reached his limits."
Just then the grandfather clock struck 3. BONG! BONG! BONG!
Katie and Terry stared at each other, and gasped. "Mom! The twins!" they shouted.
Katie thrust the basket into Jareth's arms and tugged at his sleeve, insisting that he follow her upstairs. "Come with me." she ordered, and pushed and tugged the bewildered Fae up the stairs, his head whirling at the amount of tension they were suddenly both putting out.
Once they got to her room, she shoved him inside. "Stay in here until I get back. Take a nap, read, please don't go anywhere else until I return." She peeked under the covering on the basket. "Yes, I take it these would belong to you. Don't do anything with them until I return. Okay, I'll be back in about half an hour to 45 minutes, depending on how fast Terry and I can restore the kitchen to order." She pulled the door shut and ran downstairs, almost tumbling in her haste.
Jareth stood frozen for several moments after the red-haired whirlwind left. Then his head cleared. Wondering what she had seen in the basket which presumably belonged to him, he pulled off the covering to find.....several small crystal globes, just like the ones he had offered to Sarah so many years ago, and identical to the one he'd been trapped in for so long. All of a sudden he yawned, and decided it would be prudent to take Katie's bossy advice. He stretched out on her bed with the globes beside him and drifted off to sleep.
Katie and Terry were almost done with the kitchen when they heard their mother zoom up and it wasn't long before it sounded as if a herd of thundering mustangs had entered the house.
"HELLO, HELLO, ARE YOU ALIVE IN THERE KATIE?" Alan and Elza yelled at the top of their lungs. "WHAT HAVE YOU BOTH BEEN UP TO ALL DAY?"
The older two siblings stared at each other taken aback by the question. "Ugh, nothing much." they answered in unison.
Aileen, who had followed her boisterous twins in, grimaced at the noise. "SHHH! Shhhhh....it is time for quiet voices now." She rubbed her temples.
"Mom," Terry grinned, "I take it you had lots of fun today. To be honest, I'm just glad it wasn't me who went today." She threw an apple at him which he barely managed to dodge. "Hey, careful." He yelped.
She sighed. "They were actually quite well-behaved this time, for the most part. It was pretty much the other children in the class." She plopped herself down in a chair.
Terry went over, gave her a kiss on the cheek, and rubbed her neck. "Wow, Mom, you must have had a rough day. Every muscle you've got is extremely taut. Why don't you go and take a long soak, Katie and I can handle the twins and dinner." he suggested.
Katie went "EEP!", then turned around and glared at him, jerking her head towards the ceiling.
'Later' he mouthed silently to her.
"Is something wrong?" Aileen asked, aware that Katie was upset about something.
"Oh no, I can take care of it a little later. Your sanity and subsequent health is more important. Yes, we'll take care of both dinner and the twins." Katie resumed wiping the counter down. *I'll have to take care of Jareth later. Mom looks exhausted.*
The twins, who had disappeared right after their shouted greeting, just as suddenly returned. Elza sidled up to Katie and tugged at her shirt. "Hey Katie!" she stage whispered.
"What?" Katie asked absent-mindedly, her thoughts divided between her current kitchen tasks and what to do about the person in her room.
"Why is there a strange man on your bed?"