A/N:  Hey everyone!  I hope the story has you captivated enough to keep coming back for more.  I shall try to have this finished by Friday.  Though, I will admit, I do have a tendency to write faster when I receive reviews.  Lots of reviews.  I wonder why that is…  Anyway, enjoy this next installment!

Generous Until Now

"Goddamn you, woman!"

Stutz cursed Mother nature as he tried to see out the water blurred windshield.  The files on his passenger seat were wet from his frolic to the car, but they were still in tact; which was most important, because Sarah did have a good idea in comparing the files.  Though when he arrived at the office, he wasn't sure if he was relieved or not to learn no letter had been sent to them.  Perhaps that crystal was the note…

When he pulled into the other parking spot for her apartment number, there was something in the air that made him uncomfortable.  An intense feeling of fear overcame him, and took his breath away for just a moment.  He'd read once that those sort of feelings came to people who were around UFO's, and for a minute he wondered if perhaps he was about to be abducted.  He gave a sharp bark of laughter as he realized that he was being absurd, and his exhaustion from this case was starting to wear him down at the edges. 

            Grabbing the files and stuffing them as best he could into his coat, he forced himself out into the storm that could have rivaled a small hurricane.  As quick as he could, without slipping and killing himself, he ran up to the door and barged in, not bothering to nock.  Sarah knew he was coming, anyway.  He also expected Sarah to be alone.  But when he threw open the barrier, he was greeted with two people standing in the living room, holding hands, it looked to him, and then a sudden white flash, followed by an incredible disappearing act of his dark haired partner.

"What the hell?!"

The other occupant, a tall man with long white hair and medieval styled clothes, turned to face him.  He smiled, winked, and then disappeared as well.  Stutz remained standing in the door way, too stunned to move.  The phenomenon before him was dazzling and quite impossible, but it must have been true, because Sarah was no longer in the place she stood not a few moments before. 

So where did she go?

He walked into the apartment to find himself stunned by the amount of electricity in the air.  It made his hair stand on end and his fingers tingle.  What the hell had happened in here?  And who was that guy that winked at him?  His face turned in disgust at the thought that the guy may have been gay and sending him a message. 

But, wait.  Hadn't he seen that man before?  In his mind, he searched for the familiar face.  Then the feeling of fear from the car overwhelmed him again, making him gasp, and suddenly he was back in the forest where the children were found dead.  He was walking back to his car.  There was a crowd, curious and questioning, and he caught a flash of white hair.  A man among the masses, staring directly at him, smiling, and giving him a wink.  Stutz, devastated by the loss of the children, had ignored him as a freak who enjoyed antagonizing the cops…

But his reappearance tonight was just too coincidental.  His heart lurched as he realized Sarah may be in danger, along with the other children.  Seizing up the other files, he ran back out into the storm, diving into his car and tearing out into the street.  He needed to get back to the office and into the database.  At last, he had a lead, and it was a suspicious white haired man.

For the first few moments, he stared at her with only a neutral expression, not bothering to move or show any signs of interest in her arrival.  His eyes shifted to the clock on the wall.  Then he sighed and returned his gaze to the window, silently dismissing her.  "You're late," he clipped with a bored tone.

            So, he had been expecting her.  Ariman's spell didn't work quite as planned, and though she had been discovered, Sarah still felt she had the upper hand.  Slowly, Sarah proceeded into the room, a steady click accompanying the fall of her feet while she walked about.  "Really?  Is that all you're going to say to me?" she asked in a mocking tone.  "What happened to those wonderful little taunts you've always been so fond of?  Or has you sharp tongue become too dull to cut anymore?"

"No, I just don't see you as the object of such affections anymore," he responded flatly.

Sarah stopped just at the depressed circle in the middle of the throne.  The place looked the same as she had remembered, save it didn't look as messy as before.  On the wall to her right was the clock with knives for hands; the dread that had filled her heart when she saw the minute hand so close to the thirteenth hour.  She had had so little time left…

Now it was Jareth who had such little time left.

But, of course, there was always time for a bit of play.

"I remember this being such a lively place, once," she reminisced while looking about the room.  "So powerful and threatening.  Now it's just worthless, fearless.  Pathetic."  Her eyes locked onto him, pointedly.  "A perfect mirror of its king.  Such a pity," she drawled.

At this, his eyes met hers, a small smile caressing his lips.  "Ah, Sarah, how biting you've become.  What a pleasure it is to see you turning out just… like… me," he remarked, annunciating the last words.

Sarah's face drew closed in anger.  "I am nothing like you," she spat. 

"You'd like to believe that, wouldn't you?"  His eyes dazzled with merriment at her reaction.  "After all these years, you haven't changed a bit.  Still the naïve little heroine.  Such an innocent… or so you think."

"No," Sarah argued.  "I may not be so innocent anymore, Goblin King, but I have a heart, and compassion, and friends," she replied, "Things you so sorely lack.  You are nothing more than a monster, cold, spiteful, and cruel."

"And you are not cruel, Sarah?" he asked casually while rising and stepping down from his throne.  "You have haunted me continuously, day in and day out, never letting me forget.  You have given me no peace.  Isn't that cruel?"

 A humorless laugh, full of mirth and mockery, burst from her.  "Simply no peace?  Beware, Goblin King.  I have been generous up until now, and I can be cruel," she quoted.  "Though, as a basis for comparison, I have nothing on you in that department," she answered.  Sarah stood her ground as he approached.  Internally, she was pleased with his advancement, though made no appearance of it.  Bringing him closer would make less work for her when she finished him off.  

A predatory smile likened his appearance to a shark moving in for the kill.  "So I trust that you've been taking excellent care of Toby?"

Sarah's blood ran cold and her cheeks went red with heat.  It took all she could to keep from hitting him.  Her pride, however, kept her from losing complete control of her limbs.  Certainly, she wouldn't give him the satisfaction of her intense reaction to his comment.  Then at that moment, something inside her shifted; it rose up from the recess of her mind, and she realized the memories were coming back.  Desperately she clamped down on them, her focus set solely on the despicable creature before her.  "Keep Toby out of this," she hissed. 

The words 'Ah, ha' practically lit up in his eyes, and she realized her mistake too late.  As simple as her reply had been, it had given away her weakness, and he was more than ready to use it.  "Oh," he continued in mock concern, "Touchy subject.  I hope you two didn't have a falling out."

Sarah was fuming silently, desperately trying to get her emotions in check, to keep the flashbacks from coming, yet they were too persistent.  The throne room disappeared as the memories flooded her, and the Goblin King's haunting words echoed in her ears.  She saw the picnic she had made for the two of them, the traditional red and white checkered cloth spread out upon the bright green grass, various sandwiches, fruits, chips, and drinks all bundled into a brown wicker basket.  And Toby was running along with Merlin, throwing a Frisbee to the dog and laughing gleefully.

"You really must be careful with such young boys," he continued taunting.  "One wrong word, and they'll go running off, and who knows when they'll be back."  His voice had lowered, but his smile didn't, nor the brightness in his eyes as he watched her resolve crumble.

Sarah shook herself mentally, trying to make the images stop coming, but it was like the floodgates had opened and washed her away with their intensity. 

They had eaten, played games, told stories, and made shapes from the clouds.

And then the argument started.  There was always bad blood over Karen, and sometimes Sarah couldn't keep her mouth shut.  The spiteful words left her before she could stop them.  She had seen the hurt in his eyes, could see that he loved his mother very much and wished Sarah would do the same.

"Why can't we be a good family?  Why can't we be good enough for you?"  And he had bolted for the woods to hide his tears. 

Panicked, she screamed for him to return.  She was ashamed with her words, and frightened when he ran, and angry with her slowed pace caused by a sprained ankle a week earlier.  If only she could have run a little faster, if only she hadn't been so foolish, if only she had known…

And guilt crashed into her heart, drowning it in sorrow when she remembered the blame Karen had in her tear stained eyes, the absolute anguish at learning her son had darted off on a bright, sunny day in a decently populated park, and that her step-daughter couldn't find him.

 She was never forgiven…

To relive it again was too much, and to see his detestably pleased smile at her suffering was unbearable.  A strangled cry on her lips, Sarah pulled the knife from her belt, yanking off the sheath and tossing it aside carelessly.  Brandishing it before her, she stared long and hard at him with vengeful eyes.  "A long time ago, you offered me my dreams," she growled low in her throat.  "Give them to me now.  Die in anguish, with my face as the last thing you see in this world."

Jareth looked at her then threw back his head and laughed.  When his fit of amusement passed, his arms crossed over his chest, his head cocked to the side, and his voice became appropriately mocking.  "Well, now.  Look at you, so furious and threatening.  What would Toby think?"

"Shut up!" she suddenly snapped, her eyes wild. 

With a victorious smile and amused eyes, he raised one hand and elegantly waved it with an air of dismissal at her weapon.  "Put it away, little girl.  We both know you can't possibly harm me," he countered with a chuckle.  "Of course, you're welcome to stay and argue some more.  A banter with you has always been a pleasure."

He wasn't taking her seriously, she realized, and Sarah was suddenly overwhelmed with fury.  Killing him wouldn't be enough; she had to make him suffer.  So when he moved to again sit on his throne, she shot her arm out with a fierce cry, cleanly slicing his upper arm across the bicep.  Yelping in pain, she watched as he stumbled back against the wall, gripping his injured arm.

"I think I'll find killing you to be much more pleasurable," she purred in satisfaction.  Looking into his eyes, she expected to see pain and fear.  Yes, she wanted to see fear… but she didn't.  Instead, he looked surprised.

No.  He looked shocked.

And then his words, whispered so softly from his pale lips, reached her ears.

"You're real…" 

Everyone who's intrigued or confused, raise your hands now!