You'll need this note later: # signifies song lyrics being sung in the background.

"Hold still," Cara scolded.

"Are you sure this is absolutely necessary?" Tieran asked plaintively.

"Yes. Without makeup you aren't Jareth."

"But what about the mask?"

"I told you they're hard to see out of," Alia reminded Tieran. "And you'd have to hold it and keep track of it. Besides, Jareth didn't wear one for most of that scene, anyway."

"Now quit arguing and trying to distract me, so I can finish. Does that look right?" Cara asked Alia.

"Looks about right to me," Alia answered.

"Good."

"Ow!"

"They weren't the right shape – ask Jareth," Cara told Tieran. "Just be thankful we didn't pluck them individually."

"What am I going to do with only half of my eyebrows?" Tieran complained as he surveyed the results in a hand mirror.

"They'll grow back. Trust me," Cara reassured him. "They always do. We'll just pencil them in if you have to go out in public between now and tomorrow night. Now do you think you can manage the eyeliner, or would you like Alia or me to help you with it."

"I can do it myself, thank you. I am not letting either one of you near me again, if I can help it."

.….

"I'm sorry, Tieran, but it's just so funny," Alia gasped through her laughter at the results of his determined independence and self-preservation. "I think you'd better let Cara do it. She's had a lot of experience with makeup. She dresses up for costume parties all the time. She did mine for me." She grabbed the metallic sleeve of his jacket.

"Come on. There's no more pain involved, just putting on the makeup. Let's go get Cara, then we'll all go back to your place. I think I need Irielen's help with my hair. At least, I hope she can help. Cara and I can't do a thing with it."

.….

As they walked into the party, for the first time Alia could remember, she felt self-assured and comfortable at a party. She knew she was wearing exactly the right thing. She knew she had been invited, that she belonged. And most importantly, from the social standpoint, she came with the most popular man at the party. Everyone recognized him and noticed when he arrived. Was it always like this or was it the costume he was wearing?

A rapacious woman, eyeing Tieran with a covetous smile, sailed straight for them. Sailing was the correct word, for this woman had worn a dress patterned after Sarah's in the movie that billowed out behind her as she moved. She had obviously planned this, knowing that Tieran would be wearing Jareth's costume. But with this woman at least, the attention had nothing to do with the costume. She had set her cap at Tieran and did not bother to be subtle about it.

"Tieran! Darling! Don't you look wonderful. It's as if you had been wearing that all your life. Some of us can wear these costumes and some can't. And who is this you've brought with you?" she asked as she grasped his arm possessively.

Alia clutched her hands tightly together at her waist to restrain herself from crossing her arms. She was sure that everyone heard the thin leather of her gloves protesting at the pressure. Did she think she felt comfortable? Had she been gloating because she was with a popular person? If that meant she had to deal with this... this… creature, she wasn't sure she wanted to be popular. But Tieran was introducing her now. "Pay attention," she thought.

"This is Alia. Alia this is Caereh. She is the one I have told you so much about," he smiled pleasantly

"Oh, so you're Caereh. I've heard so much about you. How clever of you to play on your name and wear Sarah's dress. You must have been planning it for some time."

Caereh simpered as though modestly flattered and claimed, "Oh, no. I just thought of it at the last minute and ordered it made. They barely had it finished in time."

"Mm-hmm. And I'm a goblin. I'll bet when she found out that you would provide the voice for Jareth, she hatched this costume plan. And I'm sure she was dressing as Sarah already."

Alia dragged herself back to what Caereh was saying. "...terribly original of you not to come as a character from the movie. Wherever did you find that dress?"

"This old thing? It's been in the family for ages. They never threw anything away. I believe a grandmother wore it to a coronation." Alia was finding reserves of cattiness she did not even know she had. "I believe I will find myself a drink, if you will excuse me?" Alia turned to go before Caereh could reply. "Did you want anything Tieran?"

"I will come with you. I am sure we will see you later, Caereh." Tieran disengaged his arm from Caereh's grasp and followed after Alia, leaving Caereh wondering how she had lost control of the skirmish.

"Where did that come from?" Tieran asked, amazed.

"It was the truth wasn't it? Irielen said it had been in the family. Maybe it wasn't worn to a coronation, but it had to have been worn to something important, otherwise they wouldn't have kept it."

"No, not the comment, the attitude."

"Oh, that. Honestly, I didn't know I could do that. I had to defend myself though."

"And what if she tries for a second engagement?"

"Oh, I hope not. I don't know how long I can maintain it. Everyone isn't like that, I hope?"

"No, no. Thankfully Caereh is one-of-a kind."

They mingled for a while, talking to the various people Tieran worked with and knew. Most seemed to genuinely like him and only a few, such as the trio of Jennifer, Michelle and John, seemed to have ulterior motives or personal agendas.

Tieran introduced her to Thomas and Amy. They were the only people not dressed in late eighteenth or early nineteenth century garb. Instead Thomas had come as the clock that struck twelve as Sarah ran from the ball and Amy as the parrot puppet, complete with her own large yellow box. Alia enjoyed talking to them and was glad that Tieran had been introduced to them in the beginning.

Thankfully, Caereh did not approach them again, but Alia could feel her watching them the whole time. They had been at the party for about an hour and a half and made the rounds, when they started thinking about their own ulterior motive.

"How are we going to lose Caereh? She's been watching us all night," Alia asked.

"I know. I think I have a plan. Head for the west wing."

"But, the computer and her office are in the east wing."

"I know. This is a diversion. If she is going to follow us and look for us when we leave, we do not want her wandering around where we are and stumbling on us. Once we are safely out of sight, I can transport us to the east wing, leaving her behind to wander the west one."

"Sounds like a plan," Alia agreed.

"It is more believable that we would go to the west wing in any case. That is where my office is located. Where else would I be going?"

They gradually worked their way toward the west wing, occasionally contriving to observe Caereh trying to follow them casually. They ducked down a corridor and around a corner. They ran around a second corner and transported before Caereh could catch up and find them. Conveniently, they arrived in the room with the computer system, in the east wing.

Alia immediately started removing gems from the waist of the bodice of her dress and arranging them in the same pattern on the desk nearby. Meanwhile, Tieran was transforming computer components into similar gems and forming his own copy of the pattern. When he had cleared the room, he took the gems Alia had laid down and turned them into replacement components. Alia took gems from the pattern he had laid out and held them to the velvet. Where she pressed them they stayed.

"You're certain these things won't fall off? I don't want to lose anything. We might not be able to get the Labyrinth back."

"They will stay. Are you ready for the disks?"

"Just a minute," Alia answered as she affixed the last few jewels. "Ready." She started pulling off the more numerous stones arranged around her neckline.

Tieran opened the storage cabinet for the animation disks and began copying her pattern again. They had worked their way around to the back of her neckline and waist and were starting on the skirt before he ran out of disks. He started helping her replace the gems.

"Is that the last one?" They both looked around and could find no more stones.

"What do you think? Do they look different? Will anyone notice?" Alia asked turning around.

"I doubt it. The pattern looks identical to me. We should go to Caereh's office now." Neither one had seen the small gem that had fallen off the desk, rolled under it and into a vent in the corner.

Tieran went directly to the hidden safe and opened it with the help of the combination Jareth had obtained from Caereh. In it were the backup copies of the software and the written code for it.

This time Alia started to remove stones from Tieran's coat and handed them directly to Tieran, who in turn handed her the safe's contents in lapidary form to replace on the back and shoulders of his coat. Once the genuine backups and code had been replaced with the imitations, they were ready to implement the second phase of their plan.

Alia stepped to Caereh's terminal and sent the code Cara had given her to the ersatz server they had just set up. It would trigger the virus Cara had written and installed, and would also turn on a prearranged signal to attract the netgoblins. If luck was with them there would be nothing left of the software by morning.

Once Alia finished typing and logged off of Caereh's computer, Tieran grabbed her hand and they popped to a hidden alcove near his office in the halls of the west wing. They listened for a moment and peered around the potted palms and the corners of the alcove. There was no one in sight.

Tieran slipped out between the plants and started down the hall.

"Wait for me!" Alia called out irritably. "I have to get these blasted skirts out without knocking the plants over. It's all right for you with your tights and tails, but I've got enough bulk here for three people."

Tieran turned, suppressing a grin, and caught a tall plant as it started to tip. "Come along. We should return to the party before anyone besides Caereh notices we are gone."

They were hurrying along the corridors, when Alia started hearing the music coming from the party in the atrium. They were starting to play music from the movie. If she remembered correctly, the current piece was the one heard as Sarah entered the Labyrinth. It seemed particularly appropriate to their situation as they half-ran down the hallway.

Alia was enjoying this coincidence when suddenly Tieran grabbed her out of her thoughts and pushed her firmly against the wall. She was about to ask him what he was doing when he covered her mouth – with his.

"Stay quiet," he warned her.

"What do you think you're doing?" She tried to push him away. Had she totally misjudged him? She thought Tieran was as safe as a brother, a complete gentleman.

"Caereh. She is just around the next corner. Feel her?" He opened part of his mind to her so she could feel the world around her.

"Yes," she answered, amazed. "But what's with the sudden attack?" She was still against the wall, but he had moved from her mouth to her jaw line.

"Can you think of another reason we would be by ourselves in a hallway at a party? Perhaps an argument, but I could not act that out as convincingly. Could you?" "But we could try it if you like," he whispered in her ear.

She flinched, "That tickles." "I see your point. I don't think I could fight either. And that would just encourage her." She put her hand on the back of his neck and pulled him closer to kiss him back.

"She is watching from the corner."

Alia could feel Caereh's cold, hard rage and jealousy through Tieran, and some other softer emotion closer.

They played Magic Dance at the party now. #You remind me of the babe,# David Bowie crooned from the recording.

"How long do we let her watch?" Alia asked. Tieran pulled back and looked at her. She could see his emotions in his eyes. Love. Pain. Fear? He was not acting anymore – his emotions were real.

#I saw my baby crying hard as babe could cry. What could I do?#

"What's the matter?" she asked him as she cradled his face in her hand, forgetting about Caereh in her concern for him.

Tieran closed his eyes, concentrating on her touch, and trying to his emotions again behind the mask of makeup. This act had broken the precarious walls he had built around his emotions. Now everything had rushed to the surface.

#My baby's love had gone and left my baby blue. Nobody knew...#

"Will you be leaving me, too?" he asked in a voice so soft and strangled with emotion she could barely hear him.

Disclaimers, trivia, credits:

Labyrinth, etc. belong to the Jim Henson Company.