My sincere apologies about the late chapter. Real life has been more and more demanding as of late and it has given me even less time to write. I am going to finish this story. I've worked too hard on it to let it go unfinished. The ending is still some chapters away as I have many things to work out. Thanks to everyone who has continued to write reviews and e-mail comments. A big thanks to those who have reviewed nearly every chapter. I have some dedicated readers and I thank you for that.

Special thanks to my talented beta and friend, Scattered Logic.

This chapter has been edited for ff.net. The full version is available at my website.

Chapter 34: Doubt and disbelief

Sarah's jaw dropped and her eyes widened. "Aa year?" she stuttered.

Her father nodded and ran his fingers through her long silky hair. "Sarah, we were sick with worry."

Sarah glanced away from her father's eyes. "A year" she whispered to herself. How was that possible? She and Jareth had not even spent a year back in time. She looked up and noticed her father's worried expression. She sighed. "That was a quick year," she told him with a weak smile.

"God, Sarah, where have you been?"

She opened her mouth and then snapped it shut. What was she going to tell him? That a fairytale enemy accidentally brought them back in time to the Revolutionary War? That they fell in love, got married and she was carrying his baby? She couldn't tell him that.

"Robert, who are you talking to?"

Karen entered the room and her eyes widened in shock. "Sarah? Butwhere did you come from?"

Sarah sighed. "It's a really long story."

Sarah felt her father's hand rest on her shoulder.

"I think you should tell us," he suggested. "We've done everything possible to find you with no luck and out of the blue you appear in your bedroom acting as if nothing happened. I think we deserve an explanation."

Sarah bit her lip and sighed. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

Robert frowned but squeezed Sarah's shoulder. "Of course we would."

Sarah took a deep breath. "Someone from my past showed up when I wasn't expecting them. Things happened that were beyond either of our control and I ended up far from home."

"What kind of things? Where were you and who was this person?" Karen pushed.

"I" Sarah started but she couldn't say it.

"We shouldn't push her," Robert told his wife. "Whatever she has been through must have been difficult."

Karen inspected Sarah as if she were inspecting a pound of meat at the supermarket. "She looks healthy to me. No scratches or bruises."

"Not all injuries are physical," Robert reminded Karen.

"You look well fed," Karen blurted out. "In fact you look as if you have been eating very well."

Sarah's hands immediately went to cradle her stomach. She was only 3 months and didn't show that much, but she had gained some weight. She gave a weary sigh.

"I have been well fed, but I didn't gain weight because of food." She paused and then looked away. She cautiously glanced back at them. "I'm 3 months pregnant."

Robert and Karen went silent. Robert had turned white. "Sarah, you can't be serious. Were youraped?"

Sarah shook her head. "This baby was created with love," Sarah assured him.

"With love? What could a child possibly know about love? You ran away with some boy that you were seeing, didn't you? You got pregnant and you've been hiding away with him," Karen accused.

Robert shot his wife an incredulous look. "That's a bit far fetched, Karen. All of her friends from school were questioned. None of them knew her whereabouts." Robert turned to his daughter. "Sarah, you're only 18 years old. You haven't even graduated high school and you expect to raise and support a baby?"

"The baby's father will support us," Sarah told him confidently.

"Oh, really?" Karen piped in. "I'm surprised that he's still around! More and more men these days desert their girlfriends when they find out they're pregnant."

"Who is the father, Sarah?" Robert's voice was stern. He wasn't taking the news of being a grandfather well at all.

Sarah gritted her teeth and looked away. "You wouldn't believe me anyhow so why should I tell you?"

"I think you should tell us, Sarah. We deserve to know who fathered our future grandchild," Robert pushed.

"Fine," Sarah spat. "He's the Goblin King."

Her voice echoed through the room followed by Karen's laughter.

"Oh, really, Sarah. The Goblin King? This is getting even better."

Robert got to his feet. "Sarah, don't make up stories. If someone got you pregnant just tell us. And for Pete's sake, if you were raped, please don't hide it from us. Someone should be arrested."

"I wasn't raped! You asked me to tell you about the father of my baby and I've told you!" Sarah's voice had begun to rise.

"Sarah." Her father's voice took on a warning tone. The same tone he used on her when she was a child.

"Daddy, I'm telling you the truth. The Goblin King is the father of my baby. I'm going to be the Goblin Queen and our baby will be heir to the throne."

Karen put her hands on her hips and glanced at her husband. "Robert, I told you she was prone to lie and make up stories. But this takes the cake. The child has a serious problem differentiating what is real from what is fantasy."

"I'm not a child and I'm not lying!" Sarah shot back. Her temper was beginning to rise. Her eyes clouded with tears. They didn't believe her and she knew from the start that they wouldn't. So, why did it bother her so much?

"Oh, this is precious. The Drama Queen is going to cry for us. Or she's going to cry so her Goblin Prince can whisk her away from this awful place," Karen taunted. "Isn't that right, Sarah? He'll take you away from your wicked witch of a stepmother?"

Sarah gritted her teeth and attempted to keep her tears from falling.

"Enough!" The masculine voice filled the room from every direction. A wind whipped around, drying Sarah's tears and making her heart soar.

Robert and Karen looked at each other in confusion.

A man suddenly stood by the window. A cape whipped around him and settled obediently behind him as the wind died down.

Sarah rushed toward him and he accepted her, his arms circling around her protectively.

"What is the meaning of this?" Robert asked.

"Isn't it obvious?" Karen asked. "This was staged, Robert. This has to be one of her weird friends dressed up in eccentric clothing," Karen told him.

Robert watched Sarah's reaction to the man, how she seemed so at peace in his arms. Then Robert looked him over. "This is the man who fathered your child? Sarah, are you crazy? He's got to be in his thirties and he's obviously some acting reject that has taken you under his wing. He's using you and can't possibly love you. You have to see that!" he blurted.

"Presuming to know what I feel for my wife is a dangerous thing," Jareth said coldly.

Robert nearly choked. "W-wife?"

Jareth stroked Sarah's cheek and then her hair with his gloved fingers. "That is correct. My wife and my Queen," he purred.

"This is preposterous!" Karen shouted.

Jareth turned to regard the woman. She was petite, fair-haired but fire burned in her eyes.

"What is preposterous is your disbelief," Jareth said calmly. "Sarah told you the truth yet even now with me standing before you, you doubt her."

"Fairytales don't exist and they don't walk around in the everyday world. They certainly don't marry my daughter and create a child with her," Robert said firmly.

Jareth didn't reply with words. He merely ran his hands over Sarah, pulling her even closer to him.

Robert glanced over Jareth again and his anger began to rise. This man was many years older than Sarah was and he'd obviously fed her some lines to get her into this bed. Robert's eyes narrowed. "Who the hell are you? Really."

Jareth smirked and tilted his head in a mock greeting. "Jareth, The Goblin King. But you may refer to me as Majesty or Sire."

"Like hell we will!" Robert shouted. "You're no King. You're some actor who's obviously suckered my daughter into your bed with promises of a grander future! I'll have you arrested for that! Maybe some jail time will teach you a lesson for meddling with young girls!"

Jareth's anger rose to a dangerous level. Pushing Sarah to one side, he whipped his cape back and drew a crystal sphere onto his fingertips.

"Cheap magician's tricks." Robert told him.

Jareth threw the crystal to the ground and the entire house began to shake. Things teetered to the ends of shelves and ultimately crashed and broke on the floor. He drew another crystal, which floated out the window and created a terrible storm. The rain poured down, lightning flashed brightly and thunder crashed so loudly that it hurt one's ears.

For a few moments, Robert and his wife looked terrified.

Jareth made a gesture with his hand and the house stopped shaking and outside the storm cleared, revealing the stars and moon.

"I think not," Jareth answered simply. He drew Sarah to him once again, his hands roaming the flatness of her back before settling firmly on her waist.

"This is insane," Robert finally replied. "I must be insane. This can't possibly be trueyet." He glanced at Jareth again and he noticed things about the man that he had not noticed before. His eyebrows slanted at an odd angle, and strange markings sounded his eyes. What appeared to be make-up and a costume didn't appear to be so now.

"It's not true," Karen spoke up. "I told you, this is one of Sarah's friends. He sneaked in through a window when we weren't paying attention and used illusion or something."

Robert looked at his wife and appeared doubtful. "Then how did he make the house shake and the storm outside?"

"Oh, Robert, don't be so gullible. He must have heard the storm approaching and used it to his advantage."

Jareth gave a weary sigh. One of his hands left Sarah's waist and he made another crystal appear on his fingertips. Two more joined the first and he began to twirl them. "Must I demonstrate who I am again? Most mortals are thick headed."

Robert shook his head and held up a hand. "No, that won't be necessary. I believe you are who you say you are."

Karen snorted.

"Is it true that the child Sarah carries is yours?"

"That is correct and there will be many more in the future," Jareth boasted with twinkling eyes.

"Jareth!" Sarah jabbed him playfully.

Robert sat down on the edge of the bed before his legs gave out. This was way too much for him to handle. He looked up at Jareth with pleading eyes. "My daughter is only 18 years old. She's not old enough to raise a child or even be aa Queen."

"You obviously do not know your daughter as well as you should," Jareth reprimanded. "Sarah is quite mature and surpasses many who are her age. She is no child."

"Of course she isn't to you! You lured her into your bed and gave her the false impression that she was an adult."

"Daddy, please. Stop this. I'm not a child. We were married before I became pregnant and I love him."

Robert's eyes widened and then narrowed. "Do you, Sarah?"

"Of course she doesn't!" Karen injected. "He gave her attention like she wanted."

Robert frowned. "Is that why you love him, Sarah? Because he offered you something you wanted? Do you even know what love is?"

Sarah met her father's eyes with no hesitation. "I never did. Not until I met Jareth. He showed me what real love is which is more than what you and mom ever showed me! He makes me feel wanted, lets me know that I'm worth something. He protects me."

Robert didn't reply.

"If he didn't love me and I didn't love him, I would not have married him." She nervously toyed with the two rings on her left hand and her father frowned at the sight of them.

Robert sighed. "And how long were you in love before you married? A few weeks? Maybe a month?"

"What does it matter? I love him enough to want to spend the rest of my life with him. Isn't that good enough?"

"I know you, Sarah," Robert told her. "You live for the moment, but what happens when the moment ends? What then?"

"It will never end," Jareth added. "For as long as she is my wife, she will be loved and protected. Sarah will never doubt what I feel for her. She will have all that she desires and all that she deserves. In addition, she will live as my wife for many times over the usual number of years you mortals exist."

"Oh, many times over?" Robert asked sarcastically.

"Sarah will live much longer than you or any of your kind. Once in my realm, the magic will extend her life well beyond the longest recorded life of any mortal."

Sarah looked surprised at the news. Jareth had never told her that her life would be extended.

"In your realm? Which is where?" Robert crossed his arms over his chest.

Jareth's grin was predatory. "The Labyrinth, of course."

"A maze? She's going to live in a maze?" Karen asked. "That's her fairytale world? A maze?" The fair-haired woman laughed.

Robert shook his head. "You're not taking my daughter away from me to live in some maze."

"You have no say in the matter," Jareth announced coldly. "Sarah has made her decision. Furthermore, the Labyrinth is much more than a maze."

Robert looked at his daughter. "Sarah, is it true what he's said? Are you going to go with him?"

Sarah nodded. "Daddy, I love him and to be with him, I have to live in his world. I can't ever come back."

"You have to be kidding."

Sarah shook her head. "I'm telling you the truth."

Robert moved forward to reach out to Sarah and Jareth drew her closer to him. His gesture was fierce and protective.

"Sarah, I can't allow this to happen."

"I'm sorry, but I've made my decision, Daddy. I made it when I married Jareth." She suddenly gave a large yawn and looked surprised that she had done so. The events of the past few days as well as her pregnancy were starting to get to her. She quickly covered her mouth.

"Sarah is tired," Jareth told her family. "She requires rest."

"I am tired," Sarah agreed. "We can talk again in the morning, Daddy. We can have breakfast and I can visit with Toby and we can act like adults about this." She stepped forward, leaving Jareth's embrace, and kissed her father's cheek. "Okay?"

Robert suddenly looked weary. He had not taken this well and he suddenly realized how much that must have hurt Sarah. She had been telling the truth and he had not believed her. He reached forward and stroked her face. "I'm sorry that I doubted youit just seems unreal."

She smiled. "I know. Get some rest and things might seem better in the morning."

Robert nodded and stood. He glanced harshly at Jareth. "You can sleep in the spare bedroom."

"I will sleep with my wife," Jareth said firmly.

Robert opened his mouth to protest, but snapped it shut with the withering look that Jareth shot him. "Fine, but nothing better happen in this room." He and Jareth eyed each other. Then he glanced at Sarah. He pulled her into his arms and hugged her. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Daddy."

He left the room with Karen following. She looked smug at the idea of Sarah leaving for good.

As soon as the door closed behind them, Sarah saw Jareth's shoulders slump and he suddenly looked very tired.

"You're exhausted and using more magic didn't help," she told him.

"I could not let them believe that you were lying to them."

She shrugged, refusing to show him how much her father had hurt her. He had not believed her about Jareth and he had not seemed thrilled about the baby. She forced the depressing thoughts away and concentrated on Jareth. He was still holding her, his gloved fingers raking through her silky hair.

"Jareth?"

"Yes?"

"How did we end up returning a year later than when we left?"

"I'm sorry that I did not warn you about the time difference. I was far too exhausted to concentrate on bringing us to the present at the correct time. I did not mean to make things worse with your family."

"It's all right. I think things can be settled in the morningI hope."

He didn't reply but instead buried his face into her hair and breathed in her scent. He held her like that for several minutes before releasing her.

Sarah suddenly felt awkward standing with Jareth in her childish looking room, complete with teddy bears and pink frilly curtains. She glanced at the bed and frowned at how small it was. "Why don't you sleep on the bed and I'll get some blankets and sleep on the floor?" she offered.

"You will join me on the bed," he told her, his tone commanding. He snapped his fingers and they were both dressed in sleeping attire. Sarah in one of her nightgowns and Jareth in loose fitting pants and no shirt.

Sarah saw that the gesture exhausted him further.

Jareth reached for Sarah's hands and pulled her toward the bed with him. They settled on it together, the old thin mattress protesting the weight of two bodies. They faced each other as they lay on their sides.

Jareth shifted and rose slightly on his elbows, looking into Sarah's eyes. He looked incredibly vulnerable. "I love you," he told her and he kissed her lips gently.

She smiled as he drew back and ran her fingers through his long golden hair. "I love you, too."

Reaching forward, Jareth buried one hand into her hair and then stroked her face. "No matter what anyone tells you, I will always love you, protect you and provide for you and our children."

His words brought tears to Sarah's eyes and one fell and streamed down her cheek. Jareth leaned forward and kissed it away before he lowered to the bed and drew her to him once again.

Sarah listened to his steady breathing and realized that exhaustion had finally taken its toll. Jareth was sleeping soundly.

She smiled and then sighed. Tomorrow morning she would have to face her father and stepmother as well as say goodbye to Toby. She knew it would be difficult but it was something that she was going to have to face. She loved Jareth and was carrying his child. As difficult as it would be to leave her family, she would need to do it and move on.

She suddenly had an idea and, cautiously, she slipped from the bed. Jareth shifted slightly in sleep but did not awaken.

Sarah put on her nightgown and then dug through her closet. She found a canvas bag and then went to a drawer at her desk. She stopped when the drawer was halfway open as she noticed the abandoned theatre lines she'd left a year ago. It was only 6 months or so to her, but here it had sat for a year, untouched.

She left it where it lay and opened the drawer fully. She pulled out 3 photo albums and placed them inside the canvas bag. While she could not ever visit her family again, she vowed never to forget them.

She moved around the room and retrieved more things she wanted to bring with her. A crystal unicorn that her mother had given her, some of her books and other photos as well as clothing. The bag was filled quickly and soon she filled another.

After some time, all the things she wished to take with her were packed. Exhausted herself from the events of the day, her lovemaking with Jareth, and her pregnancy, she settled back on the bed with him and let sleep claim her as well.