Author's Note: Sorry for the late update; my account was frozen due to an infringement on another story so I couldn't update earlier. That, and this part is a little more tricky to write. Anyway, on with the show, my sweets...

Sarah sighed and stared up at the ceiling. It was dark- a common occurrence for the middle of the night- and she couldn't sleep. Of course, her husband was currently out for the count and beginning to snore. She nudged him vindictively in the side with her elbow, smothering a smile when he jumped and woke up.

"What... oh. What now?"

"I couldn't sleep," she whined plaintively, reaching out to wrap her arm around his neck, "Keep me company?"

Ben glared at her, blinked at his watch and then glared at her again. "You want me to fall asleep at work tomorrow because I stayed awake all night just to keep you company?"

"Yes."

"All right, sweetheart, I'll bite- what's bothering you?"

Sarah smiled ruefully and sat up, switching on the light while she was at it. She really didn't want to bother Ben with such a silly thing but she was worried. Both waited while their eyes adjusted to the light and then Ben pulled his wife over into his lap, kissing her hair.

"It's Toby," she sighed, "But I guess you knew that?" The dark head nodded. "I don't know what he thinks he's doing! I know he thinks he's in love with Jareth but I just feel like he's running scared. It sounds stupid, but I actually think Jareth's more sensible than Toby is right now! And that's pretty weird 'cause Jareth's the Goblin King and he isn't supposed to be sensible and am I making any sense at all?"

Ben chuckled and shook his head. "Not very much," he admitted, "But enough. You trust Jareth a little more than you trust your own brother. Right? Sarah, you've got to let Toby decide for himself."

"Ben, you don't understand! You've never seen the Underground! It's all crazy and wild and Jareth's just one small part of the danger. I'm so worried that one day Toby will wake up and find that he's just made the biggest mistake of his life. And what then? He's only sixteen; what does he know about love and marriage! He's been raped, for God's sake! He's just throwing himself at the first person he feels can keep him safe; it's got nothing to do with love."

"I think you're underestimating the situation, sweetheart..."

"Don't 'sweetheart' me, mister! I know what I'm talking about. And Toby isn't ready for this."

"Sarah..."

"No, you're not listening! He is going to get in so much trouble and Jareth's not going to lift a finger to help him."

"If you could just..."

"Ben, Jareth's a cruel guy. He'll push Toby too far and what happens when Toby grows up a little and stops worshipping him like he does now? Jareth'll just throw him away and forget about him, that's what he'll do. And Toby will have to pick up the pieces of his life and try to make things work again and..."

A hand clamped onto her mouth, effectively muffling everything else the agitated woman was going to say. Green eyes looked at Ben's frustrated face with innocent enquiry. A dark brow lifted, asking silently what was wrong.

"May I finish what I've been trying to say for ages?" Ben asked gently.

Sarah dipped her head.

"Your brother is very young and yes, he's only sixteen. Maybe he doesn't know about life and love and stuff like that, but as I recall neither did you when we met. And you'd agreed to marry me three months later. As I recall, you almost proposed to me yourself!"

Sarah had the grace to blush. "That was different," she protested, "I was twenty eight and we waited for three years to actually get married. Jareth's talking about getting married next week! And how exactly are guys supposed to get married anyway?"

"Apparently it's perfectly acceptable in his Kingdom," Ben shrugged, "But it is rare. Jareth's pretty nervous about it. Very jittery. He keeps staring off into space when Karen starts talking about the wedding. I think it's to do with the fact that his will be the first royal marriage between men. No other King has done that. For that matter, it seems no Queen's married a woman either."

The woman pouted and turned away, not a little annoyed that her husband was so perfectly calm about something that could only mean trouble. For God's sake, Jareth was involved! If that wasn't trouble then what was?

Ben groaned and ran a hand through his hair, pushing it off his face. He had thought that actually settling into married life would not involve such shocks as raped brothers-in-law and insane Goblin Kings, but he had after all sworn to love and live with Sarah through the good times and the bad. He hoped life would start to pick up after a while. "Sarah, I know you're worried. But it's Toby's life. He won't exactly jump for joy to know you're meddling in it. And I think this just might work."

Sarah looked back quickly, the pout falling away to wide-eyed wonder. "You do?"

"I really do."

She considered that, letting her husband pull her close and press a kiss onto her mouth, sighing slightly at the warm tingly feeling that instantly wrapped around the both of them. "I guess you're right," she allowed, reaching up to cup his face.

Kind brown eyes looked at her, darkening ever so slightly in just the way that made her shiver in anticipation. Oh, but if Toby ever had it this bad then he was probably doomed!

"I know I am."

Meanwhile, in a house in a town just five miles away, Toby was saying the exact same thing. True, the circumstances were different and he was rather more desperate than confident, but they were the exact same words: "I know I am!"

Archer folded his arms, cold and magnificent. "How would you know," the fairy accused, "You are a child; barely legal for marriage even in your world let alone ours. What business have you enchanting the Goblin King? Do you imagine that his people will accept you, such as you are?"

"Archer, I don't want power, you know that. I just want Jareth!"

"Well, then I suggest you take a very close look at what you ask for," Archer continued brutally, "You cannot have Jareth without taking the Goblin King as well. Are you prepared for that? What will you give the King of the Goblins that no one else can?"

Toby glowered mutinously. He was tired, morose and his stomach was still sore in spite of Arienne's magic healing the knife wound so fast. He'd been reading, trying to establish some kind of normalcy in his life once more, only to have Lord Archer of the Fairy Kingdom billow into his room like an avenging fury. Which, considering what their topic of conversation had since been, he was. Though Toby still couldn't figure out how Archer had enough magic to make the transition from the Underground to the Aboveground.

Archer stepped closer, shapely legs flexing powerfully beneath the dull gold of his trousers. "I have just spent the most mortifying four hours of my life," he growled, brown eyes dark with anger and worry, "I was in the middle of a formal ball with my Queen when my cousin burst into the palace and demanded my attention. That, Toby Williams, is how far you have pushed him. He had the gall to stand in my palace and serenely announce that he was engaged to a mortal male from the Aboveground."

"Really? Mortal males come from the Underground too?"

A hand clenched unexpectedly fast in the air just a few inches from his throat, gloved fingers tight with violence, a snarl on the handsome face looking down to him. Oh, yes, Toby may have grown; but Archer still towered over him as even Jareth didn't. "I would not," Archer bit out, "Use that tone of voice, mortal. I am inches away from giving you the hiding of your life."

"For which Jareth won't be happy," Toby retorted, standing firm against the aggressive fairy. He was done with backing down from fights. "Touch me and Jareth will never forgive you."

"I know. Why do you imagine I stand here tonight?"

Blue eyes blinked. Was he mistaken or had Archer actually sounded wistful and sad. Toby narrowed his eyes and tilted his head, regarding the other with a keen eye that tried to see past the anger and the posing. Was this about jealousy?

"Yes," Archer answered unexpectedly, eye to eye and quite open about it, "I despise you for what you've done to him."

"I- I haven't done anything."

"He was happy! Until you came, everything was perfect. And then you and your sister invaded his mind. Even with Sarah he could think of nothing else. He obsessed over her until I thought one of us was going mad. But then he found out about his bond with you. And do you know what I thought of him? I thought that Jareth had never sunk so low as the moment he let himself bond with an infant! For the first time in my life I was ashamed of him. It took me many years to overcome that. And now this!"

"Let it go," Toby sighed, "I'm not arguing with you. If you're ashamed, then fine. I won't change your mind. Not like anyone else is offering to love Jareth the way I am. If your cousin needs me so badly, then what does that say about his love-life, huh?"

Archer opened his mouth and then shut it again. Even in gold cloth he seemed to melt into the shadows, the glory of his person reflected in the cold wisdom of his eyes. Toby looked into those eyes, and got the start of his life- there was a passion there that completely superseded everything he'd ever believed about the fairy Lord and himself. Archer was staring intently at him, demand and emotion and desire fluctuating within those boundless depths as if attempting to swallow the small mortal whole.

"My cousin has never lacked for lovers, either physically or emotionally," Archer said quietly, "You would do well to remember that. Do not look at him and see someone alone against the world; he is no such thing. Jareth has more allies than is good for him. And more lovers than he shall ever need, would he just care to look."

Toby had promised not to interfere, but Archer was throwing the topic wide open. The boy couldn't not ask the questions. "I... were you ever... are you in love with him?"

The distance between them was short enough to be covered in two steps. But for all that Toby felt as if he was an entire world away. Perhaps it was due to the fact that they were both, essentially and always, two different people from two different worlds. Archer seemed alien where his cousin seemed outlandish; Archer was foreign where Jareth was merely different. The dynamics were breathtaking now that Toby thought about it. And he despaired of ever being able to measure to the fairy Lord's ideals.

"Would it change your mind if I agreed?" Archer asked, beginning to pace in just the same way that Jareth always did- slow certain steps with his hands clasped lightly behind his back. "What would you think of a cousin who desires his brother in all but name?"

Toby gulped. "I wouldn't say anything," he muttered, "It's none of my business. Does Jareth feel the same? Is that why he wants me, as some kind of denial of the way he feels?"

The ghost of a smile curved those full lips, blood-red and sensuous in the half-light of a bedside lamp. "I have not said that such a love exists between Jareth and myself. But if I were to say so, would you leave him be?"

The mortal opened his mouth to say 'yes'. He wanted to, truly he did, but something was sticking in his throat, selfishness of the very purest kind. "No," he sighed finally.

Archer didn't smile. But the two steps between them were covered in a second, a hand reaching out to grasp the loose cotton t-shirt and haul. Toby found himself dangling almost off the floor, his toes barely scraping the wooden boards beneath as he was brought eye to eye with a severely pissed-off fairy. "You harm one hair of his head and I will kill you," Archer warned, "Look at you! A mortal child trying to play the game of adults! What gave you the right?"

"Jareth! Jareth gives me that right because I love him!"

"You do not even know what love is. You are soiled and broken, looking for some kind of glue to hold your life together. And Jareth's soft heart falls for your little game." The mortal was shoved away to the desk. "What makes you think I would ever let Jareth traffic with such a one as you?"

Toby licked his lips unconsciously with nervousness and fright. "You wouldn't. You'd do everything you could to keep me away from him. Like I'd do everything to stay with him," he said bravely, "And you know what? You'll win. But you know what else? Jareth won't thank you for it."

Long moments passed, seeming to crawl by on crippled limbs, dragged out with every slow breath that each male took. The boy raised his chin, challenging the other to dare take his right away. The fairy wiped all expression from his face, looking like nothing so much as a marble statue made flesh.

Then Toby was set on his feet and Archer turned to leave.

"You have made your decision," Archer said shortly, "And I hope you have the strength to carry it out. I can do no more to stop this foolishness."

"Archer..."

"Hurt him and I will kill you."

Blue eyes looked to brown and saw something else in them; something that said that perhaps the next meeting would be a little more cordial. For there was a smile in those brown eyes. The dark head dipped in a curt nod and then Archer was gone, sinking through the wall to leave his companion alone with his thoughts.

Three days later, Jareth led a group of five awe-inspired people into his formal throne room and threw himself into an enormous chair with a griffith's head carved into the back, the razor-sharp beak and claws moving to protect him instantly.

"Welcome to my kingdom," he smirked.