Ch 21

Sarah was waiting anxiously for Jareth to appear. Then, he was there so suddenly that she gasped. He stood there looking at her for a moment; it was hard for him to read the expression on her face.

"You called?" he asked softly, hoping against hope that she had called him to tell him she still loved him, and not the alternative.

He felt his heart leap as she gave him a tiny smile. He wanted nothing more than to gather her into his arms, but he could tell she wanted to say something, so he restrained himself.

"Jareth," she began, "I watched what was in the crystal you sent me, and I want you to know that I understand what happened. I think you're a wonderful friend for doing that for Merelinda, and not everyone is lucky enough to have a friend like you. So I want you to know that I'm not mad about you being engaged. But I am upset that you didn't feel like you could tell me the truth from the beginning. I guess I understand that, too, but it still bothers me, because I want you to be able to trust me, and I want to be able to trust you. So for any kind of relationship between us to work, we need to be completely honest with each other, about everything. So please, if there's anything else I should know about you, tell me now." She stopped and waited for his reaction.

He felt relief wash over him that she was not longer angry with him. No matter how innocent his relationship with Merelinda was, it took someone with a huge heart to forgive what he'd done. His eyes were sparkling as he said, "Sarah, I can't begin to tell you how happy I am that you understand. Please forgive me for not telling you sooner; I was worried it would scare you off before I had a chance to explain everything." He stepped over to the couch and sat down next to her.

"There is one other small confession I must make," he said, and he saw her guard instantly go up. "No, it's nothing as big as a fiancée, I assure you. It's just that, well, do you remember when I first came over to you at the bar, and told you I couldn't go home until we resolved why you'd called me here?" He waited for Sarah to nod before he went on. "That wasn't exactly true; I just used that as an excuse to get you to talk to me. I'm actually able to return to the Underground at any time, although I'm only able to stay here until tomorrow night."

Sarah took that in stride; she didn't feel like much would faze her now, not after the fiancée announcement. She didn't like that he had to leave so soon, but she at least wanted to make the most of the time they had left. "Jareth, I feel like I say this every five minutes, but, we need to talk." She rushed on without waiting for him to reply. "How long do you have to stay engaged to Merelinda?"

"Only until the end of the month. I know you're probably confused as to why exactly the engagement was necessary." He could tell by the look on her face that she was. "Well, the Merfolk have some pretty strange and unusual laws, and a lot of them don't make sense to anyone but them. One of them is that for someone to take over the throne, they must either be married or engaged. Merelinda does not wish to marry any time soon, but she wants to be Queen, so I agreed to be her fiancée until her father hands the throne down to her, which will be the end of this month. Once she is crowned Queen, it no longer matters about her marital state."

It sounded pretty stupid to Sarah. What kind of law was that? She didn't question it further though, she had encountered plenty of strange things in the Labyrinth, so she was able to accept Jareths's explanation without questions. Well, except for one.

"Jareth, tell me the honest to god truth. Do you love her as more than a friend?" Sarah thought she already knew the answer; she had sensed from the crystal visions that Jareth and Merelinda felt only platonic love for each other, but she had to be sure.

"No, Sarah," Jareth said, looking deep into her eyes. "I love her as a dear friend, nothing more. You are the only one I love, and the only one I want to be with forever." He got up off the couch and went down on his knees. He magically pulled a sparkling diamond ring out of the air. Sarah's breath caught in her throat when she realized what he was doing.

"Sarah, my love, you are the one who captured my heart so long ago, and there is no one I would rather spend eternity with than you. You are my heart and my soul, and I swear to you that I will cherish you as long as we both shall live. Nothing would make me happier than to have you as my Queen, my equal, and my partner in life. I love you with all I have, Sarah Williams. Will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?"

For the second time in her life, she was speechless. With tears of joy in her eyes, she did the only thing she could. She leaned down to him and kissed him, putting all her feelings into it.

Jareth pulled away momentarily. "Does this mean you accept?"

Sarah smiled and said, "Yes, Jareth, I'll marry you, I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I love you." She pulled him up onto the sofa with her and kissed him again. they only paused long enough for Jareth to slip the ring on her finger.

He pulled her closer to him, loving the way her body felt against his. He kissed her harder, eliciting a small moan from her as she melted into the kiss. He gently ran his hand up her leg and up her side, stopping just under her breasts. His touch made her tingle all over, it was like electricity. Never had she felt so much from just a kiss.

Jareth was lost in her. He kissed her with all the passion he had held inside for ten years, and he felt himself starting to lose control.

He broke away gently. "Sarah, we should slow down."

She pulled him closer, saying, "I don't want to slow down. I just want you."

He almost lost all his self-control at that. Somehow, though he composed himself. "Sarah, I want to wait to finish this until our wedding night."

She looked at him in amazement. "Am I actually hearing this from a man? You want to wait to have sex until our wedding night?" She could hardly believe it. Plus, she was rather disappointed.

"Is that so bad?" he asked her, trailing a finger along her jawline. "It will just make it all that more special, plus it will be something to look forward to." She had to admit it made sense, and reluctantly she agreed.

"All right then, if we're going to wait, then we can't be doing much of this. Because I don't know if I can stand it," she said. It was true; already she wanted to feel his lips on hers again.

"Okay, then, what do you suggest we do instead?" he asked her.

Relieved that for now, her problems were over, she wanted to know how Bayron and Julie were. "Does she know?"

"Yes, he told her everything. And surprisingly, she took it quite well. I'm fairly certain that we can expect a happy ending from them," he answered.

Sarah was relieved. She had been so worried about how Julie would react to Bayron, and she was glad that things seemed to be working out.

"Well, it looks like tonight will wind up being a good night for all of us," she said. She glanced at the clock and saw that it was nearly 10 p.m. It seemed early; after all that had happened today, she felt like a week had passed. "We could see if Julie and Bayron want to go somewhere to celebrate our happy endings." She figured they could go to a late dinner, or just do something simple like go out for ice cream.

"Sounds like a good idea to me," Jareth replied. And with a snap of his fingers, they were back in Julie's apartment.

And by the looks of the couple madly kissing on the couch, this time, they were the ones with the bad timing. "Looks like they're doing okay," Sarah whispered to Jareth. She felt happier than she had been in a long time. Finally, everything was working out okay.