Author's Note: Sorry that this is such a long chapter, but I have an announcement: this is the last chapter of this fic! Yes, 'Time without Dawns or Dusks' is over and here is the end. There will be a sequel, however, which should be up sometime soon.

Author's Note 2: Thanks again to my reviewers, who have been so beautifully encouraging even when my writing's not been as good as it should have been. I hope you like this chapter and I hope you'll like where I'm taking this next. It's sad that we've lost a few people, but so terribly exciting that we've gained a few. I hope these 'newbies' will follow onto the next one too.

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Toby was waiting in the sitting room outside his bedroom, trying to stay calm while he waited for Jareth to return with his new healer. It had been sad to hear about Arienne's demise. Jareth hadn't said anything after they'd found out, but it didn't need genius to know that Arienne had been close to him.

The door opened and Jareth walked in, calm and cool, a curious smirk on his face.

It was the smirk that had become rather infuriating lately. "Where's my healer and what did you do to him?" Toby asked, suspiciously.

The Goblin King raised an amused eyebrow. "I?" he gasped, looking perfectly innocent, "I have done nothing. Hoggle is showing your healer the wild herbs that may be found in my gardens. Do not be so impatient."

"I am not impatient," Toby snapped, rising to his feet and walking towards Jareth with clear intent, "I simply do not trust you in this mood. You're laughing at something at my expense. What is it?"

A gloved hand flicked his cheek and then withdrew. "Nothing at all, my elf. Nothing at all." The sound of footsteps outside their door and then a polite knock sounded on the door. "Ah! I believe this is the new healer."

Toby gave him one last shrewd look and went to open it. His smile faltered slightly as his eyes fell on the personage standing calmly outside his door. "E- excuse me?"

"Lord Toby?" the dwarf asked, dropping a curtsey, "I thought you would be laying down, my Lord. His Majesty don't have no sense to be letting you wander around in that condition."

Toby blinked and found himself being pushed gently passed a very smug Jareth and towards the bedroom. He blanched as he realized what was about to happen. And in his bedroom! "Uh, wait a minute," he called, digging in his heels and effectively stopping the purposeful progress of his determined healer, "I- I need to discuss a few things with- with His Majesty. If you could just give me a few minutes..."

The dwarf woman nodded, bowed and disappeared with her bag into the bedroom, walking in as if it were not the shared bedchamber of the Goblin King and his consort. She might just as well have been asked to take a seat at the dining table of a close friend for all the concern or tact she showed. Toby stared after her with large blue eyes before turning back to look at Jareth.

The Goblin King was leaning weakly against the wall, a hand over his mouth and his shoulders heaving slightly as he swallowed down his laughter.

Toby glared at him for a few minutes and then shut the bedroom door, grabbing Jareth and yanking him out of their suite to talk to him. "My new healer is a dwarf?" he asked, looking dubiously from the shut door to his husband.

Jareth shrugged. "As you so eloquently reminded me, Arienne is dead. This birth is even more irregular than the last one. You need a healer."

"But it's a female," Toby hissed, "I have to expose myself to a female?"

Jareth compressed his lips. He wasn't going to say it; he really wasn't. "You seemed to have no such problems with Gwenél." There, he had said it.

"Oh." Toby was a bit taken-aback. Not to mention ashamed and horrified. How did Jareth ever find out about that? He hadn't told him. And he had certainly not let the Goblin King long enough into his mind to find out from his thoughts. "I- I don't know..."

"What to say," Jareth completed dryly, "It is to be expect. But that is not the point. You are in need of a healer. This female dwarf is a healer, and a skilled one at that. Lorelei will take good care of you."

"I get what you're trying to do. You're trying to guilt me out, aren't you," Toby murmured, beginning to circle the half-goblin as his shocked nerves turned to anger in those disturbingly fluid mood changes, "You're angry because I slept with Gwenél so you want to punish me. Is that it? Oh, come off it, Jareth, stop looking so bloody outraged! You might as well push me off the top of the bloody Castle too. You and your ego; always need revenge, don't you? That's all this is about! Revenge!"

Jareth went white and then clenched his fists carefully by his side. He wasn't going to lose his temper again. It was far too draining to lose his temper. He didn't have the energy for it. "Lorelei was recommended to me as being the most talented healer for the job," he said quietly, "She has handled a male pregnancy before and she knows what to do. That is why I hired her."

"Really?" Toby's voice was getting dangerously close to hysterical. "I want a male, Jareth. Not female; male! Get me a male or I will not have this child!"

"It's a little late now for that," Jareth bit out, "Might I remind you, you were the one who initiated the child's conception."

"Oh, shut up! You were the one happily groaning because your dick was inside me," Toby howled, "It's all your fault and I want a male healer! I want a male healer and I want one now! She could be the bloody Queen of Sheba for all I care, but I will not take my trousers off to a female!"

Jareth grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him hard until the hysteria dropped from him. "Stop it," he demanded, "Stop it right now, you spoilt little brat."

"Or what? You'll hit me again? Throw me off the roof? Stick a knife in me?"

"No, but I will put you over my knee and spank you," Jareth snarled. "For the love of all that is pure, you are behaving like that ill-bred cretin you told me you weren't! Now get in there and let her examine you."

The golden head shook in emphatic denial. "No!"

"Toby, I will tie you to the bed myself if I have to."

"Then you'll be as bad as Archer." The words had just left his mouth when Toby realized what he'd said. His arms were let go and he clapped his hands to his mouth, too late to stifle the hurtful words that had tripped off his tongue. Jareth's eyes had that veiled, cold look again. "I- I'm sorry. You're nothing like him. Don't look like that; I didn't mean it, honest!"

Jareth nodded slowly, a finger tapping his pursed lips. When he spoke, his voice was strained- "For the sake of argument, let us say that somehow I managed to engineer the amazing revenge of having a female healer attend you. Why would I do so?"

Toby stared down brokenly at his boots, hands clasped demurely in front. "To get back at me for Gwenél," he whispered, cringing at his own presumption. To even think that he merited that kind of possessiveness was ludicrous. After what he had done, how could Jareth care enough to be bothered by that?

A hand took careful hold of his chin and forced it to rise, forcing his face up to the clear view of a pair of cold mismatched eyes. Toby gulped fearfully.

"You betrayed me," Jareth reminded him, "You dared to think that I would do something as despicable as abandon my family and my Kingdom. You dared to presume such a thing without trying to find out the truth. You are my bond mate; you are supposed to know me, understand me... you don't even understand yourself, my elf. You're nothing but a spoilt, wilful, passionate child. And yes, that makes me angry."

"Jareth, I'm sorry."

"What was it like, Toby? You've never had a woman before and Gwenél is beautiful. What was it like? Did she let you put her on her back and control her, did she respond gracefully to your every command? She did everything you ever wanted me to do, isn't it?" Pale, bloodless lips brushed the curve of a pale-honey ear. "Do you even realize that you used her just as surely as you used me that night in the forest?"

Toby whimpered and pulled away, squirming as those merciless fingers dug into his arms. But the fire directed at him was cooled almost instantly when Jareth let go, looking at him with a blank, angry stare. A silent gesture to the door of their suite and Toby went obediently.

Jareth accompanied him and stayed with him when Lorelei prattled on about the precautions she wanted him to take and examined him, running her hands over his abdomen with a surprisingly delicate touch.

Lorelei's knowing blue eyes noticed that the mortal answered only in monosyllables and that the Goblin King's voice was anything but eager and anticipatory. He seemed almost to be treating it as another chore to be completed, another mess to be sorted out and put right. She never mentioned it, but prattled on regardless, trying to get her patient to talk to her.

Eventually she left, leaving a strengthening tea that she wanted Toby to drink every morning and with the promise to Jareth that she would return the next week. Once outside, she sighed with relief and went to find Hoggle. At least there was a dwarf who wasn't as crazy as all the goblins and mortals running around the Castle.

Toby yanked his shirt back on, more than a little morbidly depressed by Jareth's reaction. He wanted to talk to him, but it hurt so much. Yes, he had used Gwenél but Jareth made it sound like something wrong and misleading. Toby had never misled the elf on what he was doing in her bed; he'd never promised her love or any kind of a relationship. Didn't Jareth know that it was only for some form of comfort on the nights that he missed him?

"I only missed you," he ventured, "That's why it happened."

Jareth looked at him and shrugged. Toby was still sitting there, an overlarge shirt on his small frame, the neck open to reveal the flat lines of hard ribs and chest. It was a tempting picture. All he needed to do was push Toby back and cover him with his body and nature would take its course. Or he would take his own course, letting nature have a say in what he eventually decided to do.

"However it happened," he shrugged, "I believe it should be kept in the past."

He left before Toby could say anything else, walking out and shutting the door casually behind him. Toby contemplating throwing something but since Jareth wasn't there to play target, missile-hurling was not quite so tempting. He crawled into bed and shut his eyes, determined that he would find peace somewhere from the hammering thoughts in his brain. He refused to even notice the tears that leaked from the corners of his eyes.

The silence between them had been growing to an ominous, tactile thing for many days. Well, months almost, too. They sat at the same table and found nothing to say to each other. They slept in the same bed and didn't touch. Their schedules never met in any way and they rarely saw each other from one day to the next.

In many ways, Toby couldn't blame Jareth for that. The Goblin King was far too busy with the reconstruction of his Labyrinth. He spent hours out in the ruins, trying to determine what stones went where, organizing the resetting in a surprisingly calm manner. Any spare moment he had, was used in his library or art rooms, sketching out detailed plans or researching the many ways in which the magicks had been altered.

That night was no exception. The Goblin King had been charm incarnate to his guests- who had asked to stay for a few days more to reacquaint themselves with Toby- and had seemed too much like his old self.

Sarah had sat back and watched, conscious of something being wrong with the cosy scene. The children had already been sent to bed and if Sarah wasn't mistaken, her two little terrors were already inducing poor sweet Aidan to participate in an obstacle race around their rooms- a point to note because in the absence of his children, Jareth was often the least charming person around. It was almost as if he lavished all the best feelings and emotions on them, draining himself until there were none left for anyone else. And that 'anyone else' seemed to include her brother.

Toby had sat all through dinner, a somewhat hopeless look around the eyes. Karen would no doubt say that she was overreacting, that Toby was obviously only tired what with his recent exertions and the pregnancy. But still, Sarah didn't consider that tiredness accounted for a complete breakdown of hope.

Had she asked, of course, Toby might have told her the truth. He was confused enough as it was and Ben had apologetically not been much help. The situations for them were too different. So the fire-blond could only sigh and hope that whatever was boiling in the tension around them would finally come to a head. He couldn't take much longer without knowing.

"I told mom and dad," Toby commented, watching from the armchair as Jareth poured over the books in the library late that night. "Sarah was right; they don't care any more than I can get pregnant. They were actually quite happy for us."

Jareth said nothing, continuing immersed in his own personal world. The plain hide-bound book held more frightening news than just that of a male pregnancy. He had been surreptitiously reading the book for days now and it was becoming apparent what was happening to him.

"Jareth, are you even listening to me?"

He looked up and shook his head. "I am trying very hard not to. Quiet, please. I am trying to work." The book was becoming ever more interesting.

Toby scowled and kicked at the floor, shivering slightly in the cheerless room. "This place is like a tomb, Jareth."

"Then I suppose you have heard that old saying- as silence as...? Perhaps we should practise that."

Toby couldn't believe his ears. He was trying to talk and he was trying to share something... he actually didn't know what he was trying to do any more. It sure as hell wasn't anything to do with becoming the target for Jareth's sharp tongue! For God's sake, he didn't deserve this kind of scorn!

He sat up in the chair and stifled his anger as best he could, so serious that the frustration and hysteria were not even an option any more. He was tired and he was heartsick and he wanted an answer immediately. "Put that book down, Goblin King. We have a few things to discuss."

'... symptoms eventually combine to result in permanent coldness of the body... the energy will be sapped slowly to fuel the life that is stifled and the body will begin to age... death in the final stage.'

An interesting chapter, Jareth sighed. He slid the bookmark between the pages and snapped the book shut. "What will we discuss now," he snarked moodily, "Are we painting the nursery a new colour?"

Toby flushed and stiffened. "I would appreciate not being sniped at," he warned quietly, "I may not be as powerful as you but I think I may give you a fair fight if it comes down to it. Jareth, what is going on? I know you hurt and I know you're dealing with pain I can't even imagine but there's something more. You haven't spoken a civil word to me in weeks."

Jareth just sat there on the window ledge, framed by the night sky, a figure in black with white skin and ancient eyes. There were many things he could say to that. He could evade the topic altogether. He could apologize, as Toby deserved. Or he could actually protect the mortal and himself. "You have not merited the civility." Protection, then?

"Oh?" A dark blond brow arched even more precariously, blue eyes beginning to glitter with the ice of a cold rage. "And what have I done that was so awful?"

"You have betrayed me," Jareth said simply, watching closely from under half-closed lids, "in yourself, with Gwenél, and with the child."

"Explain that."

"You believed me capable of running away. You, who know me- did you think I have no honour?"

"You very frequently don't!"

"If that were true, I would not have called the war in order to capture your rapist. That I did not know Archer was the one is another matter. I tried to protect you."

Toby nodded slowly. He plucked a crystal out of the air and changed it to a sheet of thick parchment, eyes flicking down the written scrawls until he came to what he wanted. "Right here- 'an abomination can only spawn abominable offspring'. Did you truly believe I never heard you from my bed, Jareth? I was asleep and I dreamed it! I saw you read this letter; I felt your rage overpower you with this one phrase. Don't lie to me about defending my honour."

"If you think it a lie then what more is there to tell you?" Jareth asked, hands out in a casual gesture, "You will always believe what you will."

"What I believe, however, is determined by you. If you could bring yourself to come off that lonely mountain you've hidden yourself on, we could try to sort things out. Jareth, do you realize how much you've pushed me away since I've found you? It's rather frustrating to know that the last time we shared a pleasant memory was that night over seven years ago, before you left. We've been together for months now and I just... I understand if you can't handle physical closeness, but at least talk to me."

"Very well then. Let us speak of a topic of great interest to me. While I was being abused and raped, you were enjoying yourself in the arms of a very beauteous elf maiden. Do the scales seem imbalanced to you?"

"Jareth, I wasn't with Gwenél because I wanted a good time."

"I see. It was a furthering of education, I suppose."

The slick comeback might have been funny at any other moment. Unfortunately, this moment was not one of them. "Yes, and no. Yes, I have never actually had sex with a female before Gwenél and the experience was one that roused my curiosity. And no, because I never loved Gwenél; it was never about love, and both of us accepted that it was only comfort and a means of release. That was all."

"A very tidy explanation," Jareth yawned, "How many days have you spent planning it out?" He knew the anger was building behind that composed façade. He needed Toby to explode. He wanted to see him angry and passionate. Alas, this was all the passion he could now allow himself; at least where his bond mate was concerned. Strange that he should eventually end up trying to keep his distance from Toby.

"Shut up!" Aha! There was the passion Jareth knew so well. "I never loved her! You want to know what it was? She was a body that kept me warm at night. I was attracted to her, yes; I wanted her. By the end of five years of sleeping alone, I was willing to throw her against the nearest wall and take her whether she agreed or not. But you! I only had to see you once more, and I was hooked, drugged, addicted- all over again. I only had to see you and I didn't care whether the world around me existed just so I could touch you. Don't blame me for the child inside me; we both wanted it."

Jareth began to wonder just how far he could push the mortal before he eventually got what he needed. "I beg to differ. My opinion was never asked."

Toby was out of his chair and on his knees before Jareth, anguish written clearly on his face, his hands wrung together in his lap. "Because you couldn't think straight! And neither could I! You spent seven years within any control of what happened to you. You were confused, but your body enjoyed it, Jareth, even if your mind didn't. I was raped three times by someone I trusted. I needed to feel in control. It was something we both needed and I'm sorry if you wanted me to stop and I didn't hear you, but I needed it. For once, could you forgive me for needing something?"

A hand reached down and brushed through his blond hair. "I could forgive a lot of things," Jareth whispered, "I don't care what you needed. Perhaps that night was not entirely your fault- we will always think differently on that. But Gwenél? I cannot and will not forgive that. You are mine. That child is mine. And you will understand that I do not share what is mine."

"I am a person, not an object. You cannot possess the children or me. It's not something you can do."

Sharp glint of sharp teeth in a sharp smile- "I can and will. You will go nowhere without first telling me. Beyond the gardens or the Goblin City is forbidden to you and the children. The Labyrinth too is a place you will never visit."

Toby was staring at him with his mouth open, unable to believe what he was hearing. Staring at him in horrified fascination.

"You will attend public functions only if I specifically invite you to one or all of them. If you do not receive that invitation, you do not show your face."

"That's not possession, Jareth; that's capture," Toby whispered, sitting back on his heels when his knees threatened to give out on the hard floor. The blood was pounding in his veins and still Jareth's pretty mouth was moving, locking him closer and closer into the hidden depths of the palace until he didn't know if he was going to be allowed to set foot outside his room.

"... but I am not entirely heartless," Jareth interrupted, a cool hand cupping his cheek, "You may choose a companion. A male companion! I do not think we will see each other very much and your mind must be kept stimulated."

"I don't... Jareth, what are you going on about? You can't seriously mean this."

"Do not mistake just how serious I am. You are mine and I will dispose of you as I wish."

Shades of Archer and broad streaks of sadism. Was that the life he was going to lead down here? One look in those curiously deadly eyes and Toby's heart sank. Jareth was serious. He would do those things without a second thought. "What will you do if I refuse?"

The Goblin King got to his feet and actually looked amused as he walked elegantly around the still-kneeling figure. "Do not look so scared, my child. I will not beat you. I shall hardly see you as it is. But do not mistake the matter, if I find you trying to escape me, I will follow you and I will bring you back. After which I will only lock you in your room. The more you resist, the closer I will bind you."

"Jareth, I..." Toby licked his lips as he got shakily to his feet. He couldn't believe he was about to say this. "I can't do this. I can't be that thing that you keep locked in a cupboard. This won't work and I'm so sorry. But if you keep going with these ridiculous plans to play 'Master', then I'm leaving to go back Aboveground as soon as the baby is born."

The crystal glass dropped from nerveless fingers and shattered at Jareth's feet. Clearly he was startled, for he had gone pale and almost stumbled, one hand at his throat and the other clutching the table for support.

Toby stood a little straighter, as if forcing himself to confront the situation. "After the baby is born," he laid a careful hand on his midsection, "I'll stay for six months while she's an infant and then I will leave. I- I know the other kids are your heirs and I will leave them here. They're both immortals and your blood flows too strongly through them to let them live comfortably in the Aboveground. But this one- she isn't immortal. She's mortal, like me. I'll take her with me. You obviously don't want me, Jareth; you're just going to keep me somewhere dark where you don't have to see me."

"No..." Didn't he understand, Jareth mourned, how could someone so bright not see what he was really trying to do?

"Yes, Jareth. I'm not staying to be locked in an Ivory Tower. That wasn't what you promised me. If you insist, I'll even leave the baby with you to care for until she's old enough for my world."

Jareth felt his blood begin to freeze.

"But I am leaving just as soon as I can."

Gods, it was so cold! How had no one told him how cold it was? "Listen to me, Toby- you are going nowhere." Jareth was in front of him without even moving his feet. "All of you belongs to me, do you hear? And I will have it. You cannot go Aboveground ever again. If you do, I will find you and I will chain you to me. That collar I wore is easily duplicated, Toby. I will have no hesitation in cutting off your magic."

Toby was almost falling over in fear. What exactly had he got himself into? Was this monster really his husband? But Jareth wasn't being a monster; he looked angry and urgent and... scared? Why was he scared? No, terrified more likely. Of what- losing him? He didn't even love him. You couldn't love someone and chain them up like a bad dog. It wasn't possible. "My parents..."

"May come here when they need to see you. I will give you a means to converse with them any time you like. But you will never go to the Aboveground, Toby."

Blue eyes blinked up at him. Jareth longed to reach out a hand and touch that pale honeyed skin. He wanted physical contact, had wanted it for many months now. But was it fair? Knowing what he was, knowing what he knew? No. Toby deserved better. Let the mortal think as he wished; it would only be for ten years at most. Jareth hoped desperately that he could hold on that long. Arradine needed a childhood. He had never had much of one but he wanted his daughter to enjoy hers before she was dragged into an adulthood she wasn't ready for.

So no more kisses.

"To make sure that you do not try to run away," he said softly, "I have asked Lorelei to bring a friend with her. Fiorle will keep you company for as long as you are pregnant and he will care for all your needs when I cannot be there." Which will be almost always, he silently added. "I suppose I should warn you- he is a fairy."

"WHAT?"

Jareth tsked deeply and shook his head. "Do not prejudice yourself against him. He never fought in the wars. He has spent some time travelling the known Underground, and some of the unknown too if Lorelei is to be believed. He is strong and capable too. His orders will be to ensure that you do not leave my Castle without my full knowledge and consent. Besides that, he is yours to do with as you wish."

"But... Jareth, how can you stand there and speak like that? After what you promised me, after all those times you said you cared! Is this caring?" Toby was screaming, shuddering where he stood, unable to move his body because his mind was so numbed by these revelations.

Jareth only looked at him with an indifferent smile with bitter undertones. "You would not understand even if I told you," he dismissed, "How could a mortal understand anything of the Underground?"

The Goblin King vanished out of the room, his book tucked under an arm.