Chapter Five

Not If You Ask the Right Questions

Sarah woke with a fright. For the time being she had forgotten where she was. She was a little surprised that she'd finally fallen asleep, sometime in the night. She looked at how she was positioned; her head lay against Jareth's bare chest. When she realized this, her breathing stopped. How'd that happen? She carefully attempted to move herself off of the sleeping king, but with no avail. He'd moved slightly so that any movement whatsoever would wake him.

Even when he's asleep he tends to annoy me, she thought to herself.

"Do I?" he asked sleepily and yawned. He opened one eye to look at her playfully and then smiled. "I see you finally fell asleep."

"Ahem," she quickly pushed away from him "yes, I seemed to have finally dozed off." Jareth looked a little disappointed with Sarah's attitude toward him, but he grinned amusingly. "What?" she asked, noticing his cat like smile.

"I am going to show you the kingdom today," he said cheerfully "and after that you will have the pleasure of meeting my, family."

"I think I've seen enough of the Labyrinth for a lifetime," Sarah muttered and got up, grabbing close from her bag and going into the bathroom.

"Not where I've been," he said.

"Isn't it all relatively the same?" she asked through the door.

"No," he swore "there are places, well, I'll just have to show you." Sarah quickly changed and poked her head out of the bathroom.

"Did you say I was meeting," she paused "your family?"

"Yes," he said firmly. She closed the door again without a word. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Is your father a lot like you?" she asked.

"No," he said sternly.

"Alright," she said coming out fully ready "does everyone say you're like your father?"

"Yes," he said "all the time."

"You fight with him a lot don't you?" she asked.

"Yes," he said "how'd you know?'

"Because," she said sitting on the bed watching Jareth finish changing "everyone says I'm just like Karen. I say I'm not. And I fight with her, ALL the time."

"I don't think you're like your stepmother," he said "I think you're like your real mother."

"I wouldn't know," Sarah muttered and Jareth turned around as he finished. He gave a dashing smile and grabbed her by the hand, and practically pulled her down the hallway. He stopped directly in front of a large wooden door and opened it and quickly led her inside, closing it behind them. "Isn't it a little soon to be dashing me into closets?" Sarah grumbled once she realized she couldn't see in the darkness.

"It's not a closet," he muttered scrambling around the room "and I wouldn't have the indecency to take you into one. I just haven't been in here for years."

"Would you mind shedding a little light?" she muttered and Jareth finally found the curtains. As light streamed into the room, Sarah saw that she was in a library. "If I had a library like this I'd be in it all the time," she sighed.

"Well," Jareth became quiet "I've read them all."

"All?" she repeated. There were many books, more than at a normal library. He nodded and pulled a book from the shelf.

"This," he said handing Sarah a leather bound book "was your mother's." Sarah took if from him and looked at the cover, brushing it with her hand. She looked up.

"What do you have it?" she asked.

"Your mother gave it to me," he said "to give to you when you returned. I would have given it to you the first time you came, but since the outcome wasn't as I had hoped, I left it."

"How did she know I'd come back?" she asked, still shocked.

"As I've said before," Jareth smiled "you're very much like your mother." Sarah looked at the book again.

"And I can keep this?" she asked, not bothering to look up.

"Yes," Jareth smiled. Sarah opened it and read the dedication.

"To my wonderful daughter," she read aloud "may my journal be an answer to your questions." Sarah's eyes filled with tears, but she wouldn't blink, for fear that one would fall.

"She loved you very much," Jareth said quietly and then took a deep breath. "Your mother stayed here for a long while before I gave you back to her. During that time, and much time after she kept a journal. Soon, before she died she gave it to me, in hopes that you would return to this place." Sarah was still looking at the journal. "I'll be in the garden when your ready." With that Jareth left the room, closing the door behind him.