After her dinner plates had been removed Sarah indulged herself in a hot, creamy bubble bath. When she emerged the bathroom was shrouded in steam and for a moment Sarah couldn't see a thing. She started to panic as the steam cleared and she realised where she was. Lying in front of her was Harry, his ghostly pale complexion and emaciated body shocked her. He was wasted beyond belief, and semi conscious.

"Harry?"

He didn't move but his eyes flickered in recognition of her voice.

"Harry? Are you ok?"

She moved towards him and crouched down, reaching her hand down to touch his face.

"Marion?"

The sound of his broken voice hurt her heart. She couldn't believe that this was the same Harry she had loved so much. She couldn't believe that she had been in the same state as him before Jareth had rescued her.

"Harry? Why are you doing this to yourself?"

"Marion" he tried to ease himself off the bed "Where have you been?"

"I've been away Harry"

"I missed you…your mom and dad missed you"

"I missed you too Harry"

Sarah paused, she knew as soon as she had uttered the words that she hadn't meant them. She didn't miss him, or what they had become, at all, but she hated seeing him like he was.

"Why did you leave?"

His voice was pathetic and she knew she shouldn't have left him without saying goodbye, not when he had been so vulnerable.

He reached out to her and as she took his hand she found herself in the bathroom again, Jareth standing before her, a fury on his face she had never seen.

"You want to go back there Sarah?"

"No, I don't know what happened"

His face softened slightly.

"If you want to go back to your old life Sarah, I won't stand in your way"

"I want to be with you, here, I don't know why I went back, it just happened"

He left the bathroom and she pulled on her robe and tied back her hair before following him through into the bedroom. He was sitting on the bed and she stood by the bathroom door. It was definitely not the way she had imagined finally reuniting with him after so much time. She didn't want to go back to Harry, she knew that and she thought that Jareth had felt the same, and here he was, expecting her to go, and not doing anything to stop her.

"It's not like that Sarah" he snapped, reading her thoughts "you wouldn't have appeared to Harry unless you both wanted it. I don't want to keep you here against your will…however much I want to"

Sarah started to protest but Jareth silenced her.

"I'll give you time to think about your answer Sarah"

She blinked and he was gone. She felt more alone now, than before Jareth had come back. She didn't know if he had gone back to the Goblin City, or to somewhere else in the Winter Palace.

She left their room and ventured out into the cold corridors of the Palace. It was dark and silent. Everyone else had gone to their own homes, and she was alone in the castle. Suddenly she was frightened, anything could happen to her and she would be alone, no one to help her. A familiar feeling of being overwhelmed returned to her and she blindly made her way through the Palace. Before Jareth had rescued her she would have drugs to help her overcome the feelings, now she didn't know what to do. She reached the entrance hall and stopped. She had realised there were tears falling from her eyes, panic taking over again. She wanted Jareth now more than ever. A noise at the entrance doors made her stop. She moved closer to the wall, trying to figure out what it could be. With all the trouble in the Realm it could be a horde of god knows what waiting to attack the Palace. She swallowed her fright and edged to the door, listening closely for any more sounds. The door began to open and she choked back a scream and hid behind a statue in the corner. To her immense relief, and surprise, she watched as Arnica let herself in and tip toe in the direction of Jareth's offices. Sarah's curiosity took over. She followed Arnica and watched as she knocked once on the door and entered. Sarah allowed herself to get closer to the door, enough to hear what was going on inside. She didn't trust Arnica at all, and she especially didn't trust her with Jareth. She suspected that's why Arnica had been so spiteful since she arrived, pure and simple jealousy.

There was quiet murmurings for a while, then, as Sarah was considering going back to her room, she heard Arnica's voice raise a notch.

"Obviously you can't see what is right in front of you!"

"I don't think you should be speaking to me like this Arnica."

Jareth's voice was calm, and low, an icy fury underlying.

"She's not for you your highness, she doesn't understand"

"Arnica, jealousy doesn't become you"

Arnica started but Jareth interrupted her.

"We" he paused for a second "We will never, ever be anything. You work for me; anything else was you, filling a void."

"You'd prefer that, that, girl?" spat Arnica

"Her name is Sarah, soon you will address her as your Queen, be careful what you say Arnica"

"She doesn't even want you! She wants to be back in her normal life, back with her fiancé"

"How did you know that?"

There was a long silence.

"Arnica, think very carefully about how you answer, and what you answer"

Even through the door Sarah could sense the other girl's fear.

"I wanted you to see…"

"Go Arnica, right now. Your father is an old friend of mine, I owe him more than I can imagine and your life is the least I can do to repay him"

Sarah found herself knocking on the door. The voices stopped immediately and Sarah entered, as Arnica had done before her.