Disclaimer: I'm only borrowing these characters. I promise to return them when done, no worse for wear. Flynn and Tiana are only mentioned, but those two I own.
Author's Notes: So, this is it. This is the end. For some reason, I pictured Sarah going to a private high school, so that's kind of wear this is, although I don't think I mentioned one way or the other. I'm also assuming that Sarah made a point to fix her relationships with both her father and Karen after beating the Labyrinth, in that sense that she grew up. Also, I'm planning to write a companion piece. Tentively titled Minus the Thirteenth Hour, look for it under my profile or in the Harry Potter section.
Forgoeing individual shout-outs this time around. But just want to say, thank you to everyone here's who read. Hope to see you again!
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"But I only need three years…"
This was very strange in itself. When Jareth first fell in love with Sarah Williams, meeting her parents had never been exactly high on his list of priorities. Although, he supposed, he shouldn't be surprised. Even in the Underground, when a young man wished to court and eventually marry a specific young woman, it was traditional for him to meet her and ask permission from her parents. At least here, in this case of him and Sarah, he didn't need to ask for permission to date Sarah. He just could date her.
Three years. Three years had past since that fateful thirteen hours they spent in the courtroom, Councilmen Tiana and Flynn fighting for and against his civil rights while they also fought for and against each other –they had indeed taken their week off afterwards. Three years since Sarah admitted she loved him in a room full of people and held her own in that same courtroom full of people. Three years since they kissed under a lilac bush and promised to wait forever…
It amazed him how three years could both fly away and last forver. But that didn't matter now. It was over now, and Sarah was his.
After she graduated from high school.
That was where he found himself now. Sitting in a fold-out chair next to Robert and Karen Williams, on a high school football field, wearing a black renaissance-style shirt under a black blazer and red tie that Sarah had found for him in something she called a department store; he held Toby in his lap.
The field was abuzz with the quiet murmurs and whispers of the parents, the students themselves still no where in sight. While this was not the favorite date he and Sarah had been on, he knew that this was the most important. Or, so that had been his arguement when and Robert had talked last night, while Sarah and Karen laughed in the kitchen, washing the dishes from dinner.
"You really do love her, Jareth." Robert peered over the rounded edge of his coffee mug, sitting on the couch, not quite a terrifying presence with his polo shirt untucked over the waist of his khakis, and his shoes kicked off onto the floor. "My daugher, I mean."
"Very much."
"You've been very patient these three years, waiting for Sarah to be ready. She said you just graduated from university yourself?"
"Ah, recently, yes." He white-lied smoothly, having told that same story fairly frequently for the sake of Sarah's parents.
"What are you doing now?"
"Overseeing the family business, or so you might say…"
"Ah, yes. I see how you look at her, Jareth, butmore importantly, I've seen how she looks at you. Most people live their entire lives without ever finding the type of love you two obviously share for one another."
"We are very lucky, sir," Jareth responded, but for some reason, at that comment, his mind focused briefly on Tiana and Flynn, curious as to what they were doing, and wondering if he'd be safe to give them a call in the very near future. "very lucky," he repeated.
"What are your plans in regards to my daughter, Jareth?" Robert smiled over that same rounded coffee cup edge.
"I hope to marry her, sir. I'm hoping to have your permission to ask her tomorrow afternoon, after the graduation."
"My permission?" Robert good-naturedly chuckled. "Definitely didn't expect that one. The permission part, I mean. I've been expecting the proposal for awhile now. Three years is a long time, Jareth. But you're a good person, you're good for Sarah, and I suppose it was about time we made you officially part of our family. I know Toby would certainly would certainly like that."
"Thank you, sir." A relieved smile passed over Jareth's face. "Thank you very much."
"Oh, please, Jareth!" Robert's earlier chuckle errupted into a full-bodied laugh. "We're not signing your death warrant here. I've told you before. Call me Robert. Or better, you might as well as satart calling me Dad."
Of course, eventually, the graduataes did march across the stage. Jareth held Toby high over the crowd, so that he could see Sarah better, and wave and cheer loudly. Next to him, Robert and Karen were taking pictures, shouting loudly, "That's our daughter!" when Sarah's namewas called. And all Jareth could feel was this flush of pride and love, and such an immense feeling for one single person, that somehow he knew it to be all ten definitions.
After she ran across the field, clutching her diploma proudly, she hugged first her father, then Karen and Toby, before she finally turned to Jareth. And all he could was gather her in his arms tightly, and swing her around and around, so that her feet flitted madly in the air, and he whispered in her ear, "Marry me."
"All right," she laughed. "I mean, yes, yes!"
And the two of them were laughing and kssing and crying, and Jareth still swung her madly in the air, still kissing her, while Sarah simulataneously laughed and cried. Robert smiled, and suggested to Karen that they might go find Toby some punch.
