Author's Note: Oh, all of you are doing so well with the guessing!!! But you're not getting it: I told you to keep a sharp eye on the chapters as the series progresses. Every little bit of information is important. But don't worry; it won't be long now.

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Toby said a few last words and then smiled one last time as the image in the mirror faded. He never liked these conversations with his parents, but it was all he was going to get for now. Jareth still forbade him to go anywhere that wasn't in the Castle or the Castle grounds and Aboveground was a subject that he didn't dare bring up.

Sarah always told him to risk it, to just come up and leave Jareth. He was, after all, thirty-five. He was old enough to have wasted quite a lot of his youth and young enough to do something about it. He could certainly start again. Maybe get a job or go to college, marry a girl, let her have the kids and sympathize completely when she had to cope with late night feeding and teething problems. Of course! And no girl would ever wonder what kind of freak she was marrying when the guy she was with looked like a twenty-one year old and never aged.

"As usual, Jareth's made sure I can't leave," Toby sighed, lifting his hands to retie his hair. The ribbon always slipped off his hair. It was infuriating.

Not that he was planning to leave in any case. The one thing Toby knew for certain was that Jareth would go ballistic if he ever left. And that worried him. Jareth had been acting strange for many years now and there was only so much that he could blame on Archer and the enslavement. Which was another sore point. Jareth wouldn't even permit Archer's name to be mentioned in his Kingdom. No goblin dared to talk of the war or the seven years of upheaval that followed. Jareth had had it stricken from all the record books.

But Toby couldn't see how that helped. It didn't make a difference to him whether Archer was alive or dead, forgotten or remembered; he still saw that dark shadow in his dreams at least once every month.

Fiorle had been right. The nightmare of the rape Aboveground had been playing in his mind for weeks. He couldn't sleep for fear that he'd feel the phantoms of that pain touch him once more. And always he would wake up reaching out for some kind of anchor or reassurance. Fiorle was there; he always was. But Fiorle wasn't capable of the reassurance that Toby needed. They were friends, but Toby wanted Jareth. Jareth was not a friend. Jareth was anything but a friend and the mortal thirsted for him desperately on those nights.

No, love was never easy.

It was tragic that he knew he was in love with Jareth. He wasn't gay and he still held to that. There should be no reason why he loved him, or desired him. The craving for just one touch of those long white fingers was the cause of much of the tension on Toby's behalf every time they came into contact. He missed his lover. It was as simple as that.

"But," he told himself, "Jareth has moved on. So why am I still sitting here and staring into space? There has to be a reason."

And oh, but there was and he knew it. Somewhere inside him he knew that Jareth couldn't have just stopped desiring him overnight. If there were the slightest chance- any chance at all- that the Goblin King could take him back, he would have no reason to abandon his life for something that would always be less than satisfying. The thought pushed him to his feet and out the door of his bedroom, his conversation with his parents over and his restlessness leading him to the books that he had planned to read but didn't want to.

Time crawled when summer was virtually over and the autumn drew near.

A knock at the door fifteen minutes later was like a blessing from the Gods. Toby joyfully called to whoever it was to enter and threw down the book. It could wait.

Aidan came in but didn't look too good. "Dad, I... we n-need to talk," he stammered.

Concern flared and Toby bounded from his seat, taking the paper that his son held out. He read it once and almost fell over. He steadied himself and read it again. Looking up, he stared at Aidan as if expecting the kids to bounce in and say it was all some terrible joke. But there was nothing in those blue eyes but hopeless fear. "When did you find this?" Toby demanded.

"This morning," Aidan answered, "I thought she was sulking from yesterday after her argument with Father, but..."

"What argument? Another one?"

Aidan flushed and nodded, eager to wave the question. He beckoned his dad to follow him. "She was upset, but I thought nothing of it. She went to bed early and I never saw her this morning because I went down to the City to see a friend. I- I don't know when..."

"Last night," Toby said grimly, "She wrote it in the note. Go the stables and see if the horses are all accounted for. That dratted girl would do something this stupid! Red doesn't know anything I suppose?"

Aidan hesitated for a moment and then plunged boldly on. "She says that Arradine is going to live with the draconites."

"The... Fucking hell! Go the stables, please. I'll be with your father."

"You're telling Father? He won't like it. Dad, you know he just hits out when he loses his temper. At least wait until I can come with you."

Toby blinked in momentary shock. The child really sounded worried that Jareth would hurt him in his rage. It was a little touching and rather terrifying. "Aidan, your father won't lay a finger on me. We may not get along but we don't quite hate each other." A white lie would do for now. "Now go. The faster we know where to look, the safer she'll be."

He waited only until Aidan had left before taking a deep breath and shutting his eyes. He knew where Jareth was. Now he just had to transport himself there.

The room he found himself in was one he had never been in before. But he recognized bits from Ereditha's descriptions. Even Aidan and Arradine never dared come up here. It said a lot for his youngest daughter's courage. The room was surprisingly not as dusty as he expected, nor damp. It was enormous, the entire floor spread out into one room with wide-open spaces and tables and chairs scattered randomly around. Canvases and paintings were hung on the walls or stacked in corners. Shelves full of books were everywhere. Shockingly enough, Toby recognized a guitar lying in an old armchair.

Be that as it may, Jareth needed to be found and this new mess sorted out. And while Toby considered it laughable that the half-goblin would hit him, he did expect a few harsh words. Better that Aidan never heard those.

"Jareth? Jareth, where are you. Something's wrong and I need you now."

Jareth was startled to be interrupted by a hauntingly familiar voice at his back, disturbing him right in the middle of his writing. He sat stock-still for a moment, confusion and disbelief warring in him for supremacy. It couldn't be Toby, for no one but Ereditha and Lorelei were permitted to enter. Why the devil was he starting to hear voices? Surely he wasn't as far gone as all that?

"If you would care to turn? I don't want to talk to your back."

No, there was no mistaking that snide voice. Jareth turned slowly, dual-coloured eyes over-bright in his face, energy draining away to nothingness as the coldness took over again. "Really," he commented, "Then what do you want?"

Toby wasted no time in wordlessly thrusting the letter out to him. Everything he needed to say was said. "It's not a want," he eventually said, eyes scanning Jareth's expressionless face as the Goblin King read the letter, "It's more of an offering of information. We need to find her. Now!"

Jareth looked up, trying very hard to process all of this. "Arradine has run away," he began slowly, "Why? Was she unhappy?"

Toby frowned a little. The pensive voice sounded a little confused, as if Jareth couldn't understand what it was he was being presented with. "Yes," Toby agreed, "She ran away. Last night. Apparently after an argument with you. Which is something we'll have to talk about when she gets back, but right now we have to get her home. Okay? Jareth? Are you listening?"

The Goblin King could hear Toby. He really could. But after yesterday's emotional upheaval and quite a few nights spent sleeping off his last overdose on black magic, it was not his best day. That, and his energy levels were dangerously depleted. Lorelei would kill him herself for being out of bed.

"I am fine," he managed, a discreet hand on his desk steadying himself. "Perhaps she will return on her own, Toby. She is surely not that stupid. We need only wait."

"Wait? I'm not waiting for anything! What about all those hints of the children being in danger?"

"What hints?"

"You made me promise to protect them, Jareth. Think! Or are you drunk again?"

Yes, drunk, Jareth wanted to say, let's pretend I'm just drunk and forget this whole mess. He couldn't face it. He didn't want to. He was supposed to be resting, dammit, not chasing after demented children who ran away because they were upset over his treatment of their younger brothers. Which was when it finally sank through to him. "Oh Gods, she's outside alone!"

Toby sighed in relief. This was more like it! He blushed a little as Jareth cursed volubly in the goblin tongue. But that wasn't the point. "Stop, okay? She can't have gone far even with a horse from the stables. I'll take wolf-form and see if I can track her. It shouldn't be too hard because, well, she'll smell slightly of blood."

Jareth looked perplexed and then Toby sent him an expressive look. "Oh. She's menstruating, is she? Well, that should make it easier. She'll probably go slower. I'll take the sky. If I see her, I'll let you know."

"How? We might be miles apart," Toby protested.

'Just because I don't use the link, doesn't mean it cannot be used,' Jareth mind-spoke.

Toby stared with his mouth open as the white owl flew through the window. After seventeen years... he had heard his husband in his head!