Ch 30

When they were done eating, Sarah wanted to go see Julie. "I know she's notcompletely better yet, but I just want to check on her." Jareth could understand her concern, so he took her to Julie's room. They entered to see Julie awake and talking to Bayron.

"Julie, you're awake!" Sarah cried, and rushed forward to give her friend a hug. Julie weakly returned the hug, and gave Sarah a small smile. "Yeah, and I feel like shit!" she said, making Sarah laugh. She was glad to see Julie was able to act like her normal self.

One of the healers, Neela, spoke up. "I'm afraid I have to ask you to make this a short visit, as Julie is still very tired and weak, and she needs to rest if she is to get well."

Julie wanted to argue-there was so much she needed to talk to Sarah about!- but she had to admit that she was still tired, and didn't have the strength to keep up a conversation. She'd already been talking with Bayron for quite awhile, and it wore her out.

"That's fine," Sarah told Neela. She turned back to Julie. "I just wanted to make sure you're really okay, we'll have all the time in the world to talk." Julie nodded, feeling her eyelids grow heavy. Seeing how tired her friend was, Sarah turned to leave, promising to come back when Julie was feeling better.

Bayron followed them out of the room, looking exhausted but thrilled that Julie was better. Julie had been awake for some time before Sarah had gotten there, and they had had a long talk. Julie said she didn't blame him for her getting sick; she said she should have known better than to just gobble up seafood without questioning what it was. Bayron felt like a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders; he'd felt so incredibly guilty all night. He's spent most of the night just looking at her, and talking softly to her, hoping she'd pull through. He'd never been happier than he was the moment she opened her eyes and smiled at him.

Julie didn't know it yet, but he had been planning on asking her to marry him last night, after what was supposed to have been a romantic dinner. He'd had it all planned out, but then disaster had struck. He'd never been more scared in his life, not knowing if his love was going to live or die. He hoped she'd recover swiftly, so he could set his plan back into motion. He didn't want to live another day without that woman by his side; having come so close to losing her, he knew that the love he felt was true. He only prayed she loved him even half that much, for if she did, he was a lucky man, indeed.

"Jareth," he said to his old friend, "I can't you how much I appreciate you bringing her here. I can't believe I didn't think of doing it myself, the moment she collapsed, but I was too shocked to do anything, except call you. And I'm thankful I did."

"No thanks are needed, my friend. As I already said to Sarah, I only did what I thought was best," Jareth replied.

"Well, I'm thanking you anyway," Bayron said with a smile. "And now, if you don't mind, I'm going to rest for awhile, I want to be alert when Julie wakes up again!" With that, he walked away towards the room he stayed in every time he came to visit Jareth.

"Call on me when you wake up!" Jareth called to Bayron's retreating back. Bayron waved his agreement and disappeared into a room.

"Well," Jareth said to Sarah, "What would you like to do now? I can send you back home if you'd like, or I could show you around the kingdom." Sarah barely hesitated before answering.

"If you don't mind, I'd really like to see my friends, I haven't talked to them in years and I miss them." She looked at Jareth hopefully. He was a little disappointed; he wanted to spend the day with her. But they would have tonight to be together, and he didn't have the heart to tell her she couldn't see her friends.

"If that's what you'd like to do, it's fine with me," he smiled at her. She stood on her tiptoes to give him a kiss. When she tried to pull away, he grabbed her around the waist and held her tightly, deepening the kiss. When he finally allowed her to pull away, he said, "I love you, Sarah, more than you'll ever know."

Her heart melted as she gazed into his eyes, seeing nothing but love reflected there. "I know, Jareth. And I love you too, more than you ever imagined I would!" They smiled at each other, and leaned in for one more quick kiss.

"Now," Sarah said, "what am I supposed to do about clothes?" She looked down at her sleep-rumpled sweater and pants. "The future Queen can't walk around looking like this!"

He secretly thought she looked quite adorable, but out loud he said, "We can take care of that." With a wave of his hand, Sarah found herself wearing the same clothes, but they were fresh and unwrinkled, and her hair was shining and brushed. "Wow, I could get used to this," she joked.

He smiled at her. "You will," he replied.

"Do you know where Hoggle and Ludo and Sir Didymus are? How do I get to them?" she asked.

He had used magic to summon them right after she told him she wanted to see them, and he told her that. "They should arrive shortly. We can go into the throne room to wait." He led her down the same hall he'd traveled that morning, noticing how much cleaner it was now. He smiled; the goblins must have caught wind of the fact that Sarah was here. Although the king had never said so, they knew of her importance. Rather than facing his wrath, they had done their best to clean up their messes. Jareth appreciated their efforts.

He and Sarah entered the throne room just as Hoggle arrived. When she saw him walk in the door, she cried, "Hoggle!" and ran over to him, dropping to her knees to envelope him in a hug. "Oh, Hoggle, I missed you! Please forgive me for not staying in touch!"

Hoggle looked embarrassed at Sarah's display of affection, but he put up with it as he replied, "We missed ya too, Sarah. I understand about ya not keepin' in touch, we all do." As he spoke, the rest of Sarah's friends arrived, and she jumped up to hug them all.

"Feel free to use any part of the castle, or the grounds, for your visit," Jareth spoke up. Sarah smiled at him gratefully. "I'll find you when you're done, Sarah," he said, and left her to enjoy the company of the friends she hadn't seen in so long