Alright… hope you enjoyed the last chapter, here is the new one finally! Sorry it took so long, but this chapter just did not want to be written. Had to wrestle it for a few days before I could tackle it onto the paper.

I'm in a bit of a rush today, so I can't respond to each individual review, but thanks to everyone I left out!  

Thanks: Cormak (Corrie! Hiya sweetie! A compliment from you means a lot, thankyou! And keep working on your story too!), terrie (I lived in Cadillac and Tustin), Jenny (me? cruel? hehe.. *grin*), and Kitty (how are you confoozed?).

Andrea

            Chapter 7: Eavesdropping, avocados, and a minor dispute.

            Jareth's voice echoed in her mind. Her life past twenty-five wouldn't have ever happened? She wouldn't have met Jake, gotten married and later been blessed with a beautiful, healthy baby girl? And that sweet child would never have grown up, giving her an adorable grandchild? It just couldn't be true.

            Dumbfounded, Sarah could only sit and stare at Jareth.

            He sat in silence and waited for her to say or do something; any reply would be better than the uncomfortable silence he was enduring now. It was like seeing lightning in the distance and waiting for the storm to break.

            Sarah's forehead creased as she thought. She could save herself by denying her own child and grandchild the very gift she'd given them- life. Although she wouldn't be killing them, theoretically, she would still be the reason they no longer existed, and the thought made her sick. It seemed too much like she would be erasing them, smudging them out like a mistake on the timeline of her life.

            Jareth watched Sarah's face as she sat across from him. Several emotions crossed her face; some identifiable, others not.

            When she wiped a tear from her eye and looked up at Jareth, he could tell which emotion had won the battle- the one he'd hoped wouldn't.

            "You bastard," she said quietly, coldly.

            He raised his eyebrows in surprise. He hadn't expected quite that.

            "Oh, don't look at me like that!" she said, her voice raising hysterically. "You told me it was never your intention to hurt my family! And now you're asking for my permission to kill them!" She stood up from her chair and started pacing the floor a few feet from the table. He opened his mouth to argue but she kept talking.

            "You know, I was actually beginning to trust you…" she snorted. "You healed my hand for me, twice actually, treated me as an equal, and did not try to take advantage of me when I was sleeping, which was a surprise in itself." She shook her head. "I should have known all you wanted was revenge." She kept walking back and forth on the carpets but was silent, so Jareth took this opportunity to tell his side.

            "Sarah, I am not seeking revenge for the past, nor am I here to hurt your family." She kept pacing, shaking her head as if denying everything he said. "If you decided to let the labyrinth heal you, you would live. Don't you want that?" he asked her.

            She stopped pacing and looked at him. "At the cost of my daughter and granddaughter?!" she yelled. "How dare you make me choose between myself and them! Evidently you aren't a parent yourself or you'd know my answer!"

            That remark evidently hit home, because a hurt look crossed his face. Under different circumstances, Sarah may have felt some degree of regret for her harsh words towards Jareth, but at the moment her mind was in turmoil, and she allowed herself the luxury of not caring.

            As Sarah continued ranting to no one in particular, he stood up from the table and strode to the large windows, turning his back to her. Outside, the sky was black and the waxing moon had risen. One or two stars shattered the dark like diamonds sparkling in the distance. The window glass reflected the image of the clock behind him; 10:17 it read. He knew by 11:30 the night sky would resemble a field full of firebugs in the summer for all the stars.

            Gods, how many nights had he spent, standing as he was now, watching the sky and thinking of Sarah, wandering if he'd see her again? And now, when she finally stood there in his dining hall, she would not speak to him. He'd tried telling her earlier how he felt, standing in front of this very window, but she had not understood. He didn't know if she currently felt anything for him, if she ever had, or if she could grow to love him if she stayed.

            He heard her voice rise in volume and intensity once again, and ducked as an alligator fruit went flying past him. He caught the second one before it hit him.

            "You aren't even listening!" she shouted.

            He looked at the fruit splattered on the wall behind him, then the other one in his hand. He grimaced. Perhaps it was time for the Goblin King she first knew to reappear.

            "You're right," he replied, his voice growing hard. "I'm not." He set the fruit down on the table and advanced towards her slowly, menacingly. "But I am sick of your behavior." He met her brown eyes. "I brought you here expecting you to hear me out fully and calmly, carefully weigh your options, then allow me to help you." He kept walking forward, and she took a step back. This was not the same man she'd just thrown an avocado at.

            "You just brought me here to get me to trust you, then stab me in the back and kill my family." She still held her head high, but her eyes held a bit of nervousness and her voice betrayed her. She wondered if he might still throw her in an oubliette. She backed up a bit further away from Jareth and felt the wall behind her, trapping her where she stood. She looked back up at him with fear in her eyes.

            Though he could not allow his mask of irritation and anger to change, he smiled inwardly. She would take him seriously now, and perhaps they would actually get something accomplished. He softened his voice and continued.

            "Sarah," he said, placing one hand on her cheek, "I want you to realize that if you stayed here, you would want for nothing. Your dreams, anything you wished for, would be yours. If you wanted me to, I could use the labyrinth's magic to create a crystal for you… A special crystal." He paused, then continued.

            "It would show you Dawn and Heather as they would be if you had stayed Aboveworld." He watched her eyes grow wide. "It would be an illusion because they would have never been born, but it would still allow you contact with them." He brought his hand down and rested it on her shoulder, continuing before she could answer.

            "Now, I want you to go and rest," he said. "Think about everything I've told you. If you make a decision, your crystal will show you the way back here. I will be awaiting your decision and ready to heal you, or send you home to your family."

            He closed his eyes and concentrated. Sarah saw the room around her shimmer then disappear. She reappeared in the bedroom she'd slept in earlier. Flopping down on the bed, she lay down and sighed. This was going to be a long night.

            *****

            A soft knock on the door startled Jareth.

            "Sarah better not have made her decision already or I shall be most upset," he muttered under his breath.

            "Come in," he said wearily. He was surprised when the chef entered. Nicholas cleared his throat and walked forward.

            "I didn't mean to eavesdrop, but I overheard you and the lady fighting…"

            "We weren't fighting. It was a minor dispute." Jareth corrected him.

            "Right…" he said, eyeing the squashed alligator fruit on the wall behind Jareth. "But if you don't mind me asking, what was the… 'discussion'… about?"

            Jareth sighed and sat back down at the table, running his fingers through his hair in frustration.

            "Sarah has a condition from which she will surely die if not treated, and soon. I am trying to persuade her to stay here and be healed, but she does not wish to leave her family." A bit of an understatement, but Nicholas didn't need to know more.

            "And she was quite adamant about it? She knows she will surely die?"

            Jareth nodded.

            "Well…why not bring her family here also?" the chef reasoned.

            "It's not something that easily done," Jareth sighed, shaking his head. Nicholas noticed the expression on his face.

            "You love her very much, don't you?" he asked softly. Jareth froze, then slowly nodded.

            "More than I think she knows or will ever realize," he admitted. "The only thing that has kept me going for almost seventy years was the hope that I might see her again." He looked down at his hands. "And now she's here and I'm going to lose her." The chef frowned. He had not known she meant that much to him. Jareth certainly could hide his emotions very well at times.

            "Have you told her how much she means to you? Surely that would sway her mind…" he offered.

            "I tried telling her earlier, but I don't think she realized I was speaking about her…" Jareth shook his head. "Right now she may not even talk to me."

            Nicholas sighed. "M'lord, if you truly love this girl, you must tell her how you feel." He saw Jareth shaking his head, admitting defeat before he even tried. That was not at all like the Goblin King he knew. This man needed to wake up!

            "Jareth, she could be making her mind up right now as we speak!" he bellowed. "Would you have her leave without knowing how you feel, and kick yourself for eternity because you've lost the only woman you've ever truly loved?"

            Jareth stared at him, his mouth slightly open. How did he know? He'd brought many women to the castle before…

            "Aye, I do realize you've had the lady visitors before, but with them you are arrogant, self-assured…" Nicholas paused, afraid he may be overstepping his boundaries with the King, whether or not he was also his friend and chef. Jareth nodded for him to continue.

            "…But with Sarah, you are more unsure of yourself; you're vulnerable. The Goblin King doesn't let his guard down for just anyone…"

            Nicholas lifted his shirt sleeve and looked at his bare wrist. "Wow, look at the time," he said, his eyes widening. "I'd better be off… dishes to do and all." He stood up and strode to the door, then paused just before he opened it.

            "Jareth?" He looked up at Nicholas. "Don't let this one get away without a fight. At least try. Tell her how you feel." Jareth nodded, and the chef left.

            *****

            "Would you have her leave without knowing how you feel, and kick yourself for eternity because you've lost the only woman you've ever truly loved?"

            The crystal ball slipped from Sarah's fingers and fell to the floor, landing with a dull thud.

            *****