Alright, sorry it took so long to get this chapter up. My fiancé was sick last week so I had to help take care of him, which put a cramp on any writing time I would have had. It would have been up yesterday, except ff.net kept giving me error messages. Server down maybe?

Also, I refer to a 'goddess moon' in this chapter. I pulled that from an ancient Irish belief that the moon has three stages; a waxing moon, a full moon, and a waning moon,  all of which were women.

Thanks to everyone who's stuck with me and followed my story. I only have two replies because I'm rather hurried at the moment. Jenny: Sarah heard all of the conversation up until she dropped the ball, and lizz: aww, don't cry! We'll see what Jareth says!

Anywho, here it is. Hope you enjoy.

Andrea

            Chapter 8: Tick tock, tick tock, and all a ruse.

            Jareth paced the floor of the dining hall in frustration. It was 12:27; Sarah had been in her room for a few hours now and he'd not heard a peep from her. While he normally would have considered the silence a pleasant change from earlier, he knew she had been aging rapidly over the past few hours. Every minute the clock ticked by was another minute lost. Another minute less that he had with her, unless she chose to stay.

            He glanced outside; anything to take his mind off Sarah. The sky was pitch black and so thick with stars it illuminated the valley below. The waxing moon had risen to its' full height, and he could see the silhouette of the goddess, almost as if she were reveling in the glory of this beautiful new night.

            He sighed. Sarah herself was very much like the goddess moon of the old tales. She was beautiful, confident in herself, and as his mind wandered back to that first glimpse of her in that silk nightgown, a new word to describe her sprang to mind. Curvaceous.

            Gods, but that woman was a gorgeous creature. While he knew a great deal of his attraction to Sarah was physical, he also knew it was more than that. He'd been with countless women in his time and had never felt this way about any of them.

            No… Sarah was different. She'd stood up to him years ago, determinedly fighting for her brother when others would have given up. She had a flash of intellect and a spark in her eye that even eighty years of hardship and loss had not dulled.

            He'd known long ago that he loved Sarah, but it wasn't until Nicholas had asked if he did that Jareth had admitted it outright. He knew he had to tell Sarah how he felt… but how? Walk right up to her and kiss her hand while professing his feelings? Sweep her off her feet and take her to his bedchambers as he'd longed to from the first moment he'd seen her in that nightgown?

            Hardly.

            He would have to sit her down and explain it to her, word for word. He longed to tell her and get everything out in the open, but the very thought of it made his stomach turn. How was it that this one mortal woman could unsettle him so?

            Jareth stole another furtive glance at the clock. 12:32. Where was she? He supposed it could be a good sign if she hadn't decided yet; that at least meant she was still considering staying… but on the other hand, she had been aging fast… what if she'd fallen and hurt herself, or worse, had a heart attack? He continued pacing, nervously.

            *****

            Sarah stared at the crystal where it had fallen on the plush carpet by her foot and tried to ignore her furiously beating heart.

            Jareth loved her? How? She vaguely remembered him saying something earlier in the dining room, but she hadn't thought he was talking about her. She guessed she'd never put two and two together.

            Sarah thought about him for a moment. Everything about Jareth; his oddly colored eyes, that devilish smile, his beautifully sculpted face, and especially his long, sinewy body screamed sexuality at her. She would be lying outright if she said she weren't attracted to him, but was there anything other than attraction?

            She'd remembered Jareth as an arrogant, manipulative bully, and though he'd acted that way towards her at first, she now realized it was all a ruse. He'd let his guard down around her, and opened up about how he'd really felt when she had left the labyrinth.

            How he felt? How she felt as well. Sarah knew that through the course of one day Jareth had gone from a feared, arrogant enemy to an equal, and to an extent, a friend. She was beginning to realize that their friendship could develop into something more if she stayed.

            She sighed. She had been close to making her decision, but now she would have to rethink everything.

            Since he'd evidently tried to tell her how he felt earlier, why didn't he just tell her now? Be honest and get everything out in the open? Should she just walk up to him and ask him how he felt about her?

            No. Definitely not.

            Jareth didn't know she knew…if he asked why she decided to stay, what would she say? She was spying on him and heard everything? Even the chef had seemed like he was censoring what he said to Jareth, so how would he react if he learned that a mere mortal woman had been spying on him?

            Sarah paced the carpet in the bedroom. She would wait to see if he said anything and act surprised, or continue on as if she'd never heard the conversation and stick with her decision.

            For now, she decided, the ball was in Jareth's court.

            *****

            Jareth frantically inspected the clock again. 12:46. Where was she?? At the rate she'd been aging… He did some quick calculations in his head and gasped. She would nearly be her normal age by now. He was really becoming worried. Could something have happened to her?

            He chastised himself. He couldn't just go barging into her bedroom because he was worrying about her, she'd think he was a complete idiot.

            On the other hand… it was his castle, and as King, he had the right to go wherever he wished, whenever he wished. He also knew he would never forgive himself if something had happened and he had just stood there, too proud to swallow his pride and go verify that she was all right.

            A knock on the door interrupted his thoughts and he almost cried out in relief when Sarah entered, the crystal ball in one hand. Thank the gods she was okay. He took a deep breath to calm his pounding heart before he stood.

            Sarah resolutely walked over to the table and thanked Jareth when he pulled a chair out for her. She took a deep breath. Time to get this over with.

            "If you have said everything you wish to say to me," she said solemnly, "I'll make this short and sweet."

            *****

Ok, now don't send me flaming bags of dog poo on my doorstep. However, please DO send me an email or review telling me what you think! I'll post more as soon as I can.