A/N: Only one chapter update this time, but at least it's a nice long one. Long for me, anyway. And kudos to Elfwood, who was the only person to guess the actual, tangible connection between "Labyrinth" and "The Wizard of Oz," which was that Sarah had a copy of that book in her bedroom. Bravo, Elfwood.

Chapter 65: Messy Mornings

Sarah woke up panicking. Why hadn't Lorikar wakened her yet? The sun streamed in brightly through her window and she sat up abruptly. Oh, no. She was late for breakfast. She zipped through her morning ablutions, not even answering the bathtub's cheerful chatter, and threw on her clothes to dash down to the breakfast table.

She got as far as the door which she threw open just in time to collide with Lorikar carrying a breakfast tray. Crash! The little maid went flying, along with all the dishes and food on the tray. Sarah grabbed the door frame to keep from falling.

"Oh, no! Lorikar, are you all right?"

The little dwarf rolled to her feet and groaned. She got up and looked with dismay at the mess around her. "Oh, I'm sorry Lady Sarah! I'll clean this up right away."

"Well, well, well, Sarah," Jareth's mocking voice appeared before he did. He shimmered into view, leaning against the opposite wall with one foot up on it. "First you fall asleep in your dinner, and then you scatter your breakfast along with your serving-maid. If I didn't know better, I might start to think you just weren't interested in eating at all." He negligently waved a hand, and all of the food, tea, and broken and overturned dishes disappeared. Lorikar gave a big sigh of relief along with her curtsey of thanks to the king.

Sarah glared at him. "I'm starving! It's not my fault you worked me so hard I fell asleep over dinner."

He laughed, and came forward and offered her his arm. "What? You can't handle a few measly goblins arguing over the beer kegs without getting all worn out?" he teased as he started down towards the dining room.

"Neither can you, or else you wouldn't have pawned the job off on me," Sarah pointed out sharply.

"Ah, you've discovered my secret," he said lightly, pushing open the dining room doors.

As they sat down to breakfast, Sarah asked, "So what evils have you in store for me today? Be warned that if you tell me I have to sit in for Court Day again, I may very well throw my toast at you."

He grinned. "As tempting as the thought is, no. I have other plans for you today."

"More history lessons?"

He shook his head, smiling.

"More introductions to some more of your political allies and enemies?"

"No."

"Hobnobbing with the High Muck-a-mucks of the Underground?"

"I wonder how they'd feel about such a soubriquet? No. We're going for a ride."

"A ride?"

He nodded.

"On horses?"

"Even so. I went down to visit the stables after you… ah… fell facefirst into your rice last night. Janna tells me she misses me, and that Dover has been asking for the nice-smelling girl who called him a 'sweetie' and embraced him."

Sarah laughed, charmed. "No lessons today? No hobnobbing? No trying to remember the names of every single noble in the Underground AND all their ancestors for the past several millennia? Just a horse ride?"

"Just a horse ride. Possibly with lunch, if the fancy takes us. You've been working much too hard lately, Sarah—your cheeks aren't as rosy as when you came to me, and the glow of your carefree spirit has diminished somewhat." His face softened in mocking concern.

This time she really did throw her toast at him, letting out a little shriek of exasperation as she did so. "You're the one who's been making me do all that work! You're the one who told me how important it was that I know all that stuff! You're the one who—"

He interrupted her with a kiss. She struggled at first, trying to hold on to her outrage, but soon gave in and returned it with a will. When they parted, she gave him a mock-glare. "Don't think that trick is going to work every time, to shut me up," she warned.

"No, no, no, of course not!" he protested, sounding for all the world like one of his own false alarms. "Be aware, though, that you may use it on me as well, whenever necessary. In fact, had you done so that time before graduation, I might not have become so pig-headed."

Sarah laughed, her rancor completely dissipated. "So that's how I can manage you, is it? Just kiss you into submission?"

"You're certainly welcome to try it," he suggested with a grin. "But now, you should probably finish your breakfast so we can get going." He gazed ruefully down at his shirt, where the toast had made a butter-stain on it.

"Oh, now, that wasn't my fault. You drove me to that!" Sarah teased. "I'm not paying your dry-cleaning bill."

"No matter," he said airily, waving a hand and vanishing the spot. "I'm an inventive sort of man. I feel certain I'll find some other way to pay you back."

The ride was wonderful, just what Sarah needed after all that time cooped up in Jareth's study. The sun was warm, the air was fresh, and Sarah decided it was a wonderful time to ask him her last few questions.

"So when I'm queen, will I have to help you steal babies?" she asked him suddenly as their horses picked their way across a shallow stream.

Jareth coughed. "I don't steal babies. I relieve people of their unwanted burdens that they've wished away to me." They were treading on thin ice here and he knew it.

Sarah grinned, hearing the discomfort in his voice. "Yeah, whatever you call it. Will I have to help you?"

He hesitated, then nodded. "Yes. The bulk of the responsibility will fall to me, simply because I'm used to it… but if there is ever a time when someone is wished away at the same time as someone else… why, then, you would have to answer one and I, the other."

"And I'll give them the chance to run the labyrinth to get the child back, but try to talk them out of it first? Like you did to me?"

"Yes."

There was a long pause, while Jareth steeled himself for Sarah's cries of outrage. Instead, she shrugged. "I guess I can do that."

He looked at her in surprise.

"What? You thought I'd make a big fuss about it? Believe me, I'm not nearly so concerned about it, now that I know you adopt them out instead of turning them into goblins." Sarah thought of something else, and grinned. "Will I get to help you confuse them, too? Intimidate them, scare them, lead them around in circles?"

"If you like."

"Randomly pop in on them in the middle of the labyrinth, just to make them jump, and mock them when they tell me it isn't fair?"

Jareth laughed. He reined in his horse and slid to the ground. Sarah grinned at him and reined in Dover, throwing a leg over to slide down into Jareth's arms.

"Sarah, you are a wonderful, delightful woman," he informed her. "If I didn't know any better, I might be afraid at how eager you sound for all this!"

Sarah shrugged, and kissed him quickly. "Well… you looked like you were having so much fun when it was me," she teased. "We might have to do that again sometime, you know… only you'll be the one running the maze, and I'll be the one trying to confuse you. You said I'll have some magic after we marry, so I should be able to do that. Right?"

He nodded. "You'll be able to manipulate the maze right away; you'll need to, as part of your duties as queen. External magic – the kind outside the labyrinth and the Goblin Kingdom—might take longer to develop."

"And will you teach me how to use it?"

"Of course, if you need me to. Some of the knowledge is innate. And of course," he said, bending to drag his lips up her neck to her ear, "You already know that I've found you enchanting for years."

"Yes, you pervert. What kind of man falls in love with a fifteen-year-old?" Sarah gasped at the sensations he was eliciting, and pressed her lips to his jaw.

"Oh, I didn't fall in love with you then. I merely suspected I was going to, once you grew up. There's a difference," he clarified, tightening his arms around her.

"Just as I thought: you're still a perv," Sarah teased. His teeth closed over her ear, and she gasped and dug her fingers into his side.

He jumped.

Sarah blinked. She did it again.

He jumped, and actually let out a very unkingly-sounding squeak.

"Oh… you're ticklish?"

"Why don't I like the tone of that question?"

She had him on the ground before he knew it, and at her mercy… until he decided to return the favor. She jumped.

"Ohhhh, so you're ticklish too, hmm?" he smirked.

It all went downhill from there, and the horses shook their heads and rolled their eyes at each other as they stood companionably under a tree, eating grass together. They could communicate well enough to share a single disdainful thought: Bipeds!