Ch 29

Jareth woke the next morning to feel Sarah pressed against him, her arm slung over his stomach. He loved the feeling of waking up next to her, although he had imagined that the first time she slept in his bed, it would be under different circumstances.

He watched her sleep for a moment, smiling at how beautiful she looked. Asleep, her face was untouched by stress, and she looked peaceful. He hated to have to get out of bed, but he had matters he needed to attend to.

He carefully slipped out of the bed, mindful not to wake her. She needed too badly to rest.

He walked down the hall, wanting to check on Julie before anything else. He entered the room to see Bayron slumped in a chair next to the bed, sound asleep. The two healers looked tired; it took much more out of them to heal a mortal than a Fae. Jareth motioned for them to follow him into the hall.

"She's doing much better, your Majesty," Shira said, without waiting for Jareth to ask. "She's not quite awake yet, but I have no reason to believe she won't recover."

Jareth breathed a big sigh of relief, looking at the healers gratefully. "Neela, Shira, thank you. You've done your job well, and I will be eternally grateful."

Neela smiled. "You're welcome, your Majesty. I'm glad we could help." The two healers headed back into the room to attend to their charge.

Jareth made his way to his throne room, frowning at the messes the goblins had made in his absence, reminding himself to have a talk with them before Sarah became Queen. She shouldn't have to shove her way through garbage just to get to her throne.

He sprawled out on his throne, and thought of all the work he needed to get caught up on. He pictured the pile of paperwork he knew was on his desk, and he thought about having to settle disputes between dim-witted goblins. Not to mention doing the tedious day-to-day tasks involved with running a kingdom. He sighed. "To hell with it all," he said to himself, and produced a crystal to keep an eye on Sarah so he could be there when she woke up.

Sarah woke up a short time later, with the momentary amnesia that that only happens in the morning, shielding her for a short time from the events that had happened. She was looking around the bedroom, unsure of her surroundings, when Jareth opened the door. Sarah smiled at the sight of him, and then she remembered.

"Oh my god, Julie!" she cried, "is she okay? How is she?" Sarah tried to jump out of bed and get to Julie's room, but Jareth held her back.

"Wait, Sarah, she's okay. She's still sleeping right now," he told her. She looked up at him, her eyes brightening. "So she's going to be okay?" she asked hopefully.

Jareth smiled at her. "Yes, love, the healers say she is doing much better, and there's no reason why she shouldn't recover fully."

Sarah threw her arms around him, holding him tight. "Oh thank god, I was so worried about her. Thank you so much, Jareth, for bringing her here, I know it helped." She lifted her head and kissed him gently. He returned the kiss, then said, "You don't have to thank me, Sarah. I just did what I thought was best."

"How's Bayron?" she asked, remembering how anguished he'd looked last night. She hoped he was holding up okay.

"I don't know, he's asleep right now," Jareth replied. "He was no doubt up most of the night, so I'd rather not wake him yet." Sarah agreed, and then was embarrassed as her stomach let out a loud growl. She clamped her hand over her stomach, and grinned at him sheepishly. "I guess I'm a little hungry. I never did eat dinner last night." She suddenly remembered her parents.

"Oh, no, my parents must be worried sick," she said as she thought of how she'd left them. "After all we threw at them last night, we end up just disappearing right in front of them! Jareth, I have to let them know everything's okay!"

Jareth understood her concern, and he produced a crystal, handing it to her. "Use this. Hold it in both hands and simply speak. Tell your parents what you wish, and then I will send it to them."

"You mean they'll be able to see me talking?" Sarah asked, fascinated by how magic worked. Jareth nodded. "The Underground version of a camcorder," he said with a smile. Sarah grinned at him, and then held the crystal in both hands. She did her best to explain toher parentswhat had happened, and promised them she was okay and that she'd contact them again soon. When she was finished, she handed the crystal over to Jareth. When he tossed it in the air, it disappeared.

"Not that that's taken care of, let's get some breakfast," he said, taking her hand and leading her to the dining room.

They sat side by side at the long wooden table. As soon as they were seated, a female goblin hurried out to them, carrying plates of food. "That's fast service," Sarah noted with a grin. The goblin carefully set the plates of food in front of them.

"Thank you Herma, it looks wonderful," Jareth said to the little goblin. Herma blushed and curtsied clumsily. "You're welcome, your Majesty," she said politely, then scurried off back to the kitchen.

"She was cute," Sarah said, staring after the goblin. "And she seemed very polite; I didn't think the goblins were like that."

"They're not all bad," Jareth told her. "They all have good hearts, most of them just don't understand what they're doing when they make a mess, or scream and yell and carry on. It's just their nature."

Sarah was smiling at him. "You really care about them, don't you?" She had seen Jareth's face soften as he spoke of his subjects.

"Of course I do," he replied, "what kind of king would I be if I didn't care about my subjects? It's important that I'm not too easy on them though, because I have to keep control of them. My goblins need to respect me, and sometimes the only way of accomplishing this is to be cruel."

"I guess I can understand that," Sarah said doubtfully. She actually felt rather bad for the goblins, if they were always forced to deal with Jareth's cold side. Jareth knew what she was thinking, and said, "Sarah, my dear, we're definitely going to have to toughen you up before you become the Goblin Queen!"

She laughed at him, saying "We'll see about that!" Jareth smiled at her, knowing she would always stay as good-hearted and kind as she was now. He loved her for it, and he knew the goblins would love their new Queen, as well.