Ch 37

When Sarah woke up the next morning, she slowly stretched and looked over at Jareth to see he was already awake and looking at her. She smiled. "Good morning."

"Good morning, my love," Jareth smiled back. He hated to have to get up; Sarah would have to leave tonight, and he would miss having her next to him when he woke up.

Sarah was thinking the same thing, but she tried not to dwell on it. Today was Julie's wedding day, and she wanted to focus her energy on that.

After Sarah and Jareth had both showered, they headed down the hall for breakfast. As they passed Julie and Bayron's room, Sarah was surprised to see it empty; all of Bayron's things were gone.

"Where'd they go? Did they leave?" Sarah asked.

"Yes, they went to Bayron's home sometime late last night. Since that is where the wedding will be held, Bayron wanted to be there to oversee everything."

"Oh." Julie hadn't mentioned leaving to Sarah, and she was a little disappointed that she wouldn't get to see her until the wedding.

"The dress you are to wear in the wedding will arrive sometime this afternoon, and I can have one of the maids help you to get ready, if you wish."

"That would be great," Sarah replied. Herma came out of the kitchen with their breakfast, and carefully set the plates down. Sarah smiled at her. "Thank you, Herma, it looks delicious."

Herma looked flustered, and she quickly curtsied as she replied, "Thank you, milady." She then hurried back to the kitchen with Sarah grinning after her. She liked the little goblin.

"So," she said to Jareth, "will everything be okay, with us moving up the wedding?" She hoped it wouldn't be a lot of trouble.

"Yes, everything will be fine," he assured her. "I don't know if I mentioned this before, but Underground weddings are considered private affairs, and it's unusual to have many guests, usually only family and extremely close friends. So that's one thing in our favor-at least invitations hadn't already been sent to hundreds of people!"

Sarah agreed, then asked, "What about my wedding dress?"

Jareth smiled. "Ah, the dress. Don't worry, love, I promise you it will be finished in plenty of time."

"Why aren't you just, zapping it up or something with magic?" Sarah asked curiously.

Jareth laughed at her description of magic before answering her. "I suppose we could do that, my love, but there are certain things I prefer to have done the 'old-fashioned' way. I have two of my best seamstresses working on the gown, and I know they will do a marvelous job."

"Okay, then, as long as you're sure," Sarah said, trusting Jareth to make sure everything was done.

"I'm sure," he said. "Don't worry about a thing; every detail we talked aboutwill being taken care of."

They finished breakfast, and Jareth asked if she would like to explore the castle and the Labyrinth for a bit before they had to dress for Julie and Bayron's wedding. Sarah jumped at the chance. Not only did she need to learn her way around the castle, but she was curious to see more of the Labyrinth.

"After we're married, will I be able to control the Labyrinth, too?" she asked curiously.

Jareth smiled at her. "Yes, love, after we're married, you will have powers equal to mine. It'll take some time for you to get used to them, but I'm sure you'll find them amusing."

Sarah grinned, excited at the prospect of being able to do magic. "I can't wait!"

Jareth pretended to look hurt. "Ah, I see now, you only wanted to marry me for my magic!"

Sarah laughed and lightly hit his arm. "No way! I'm marrying you for your hot body!"

Jareth grinned devilishly, puffing out his chest. "Well, I guess I can understand that…it would be pretty hard to resist."

Laughing, they walked hand in hand down the hall, slowly strolling around the castle, continuously joking with each other. Suddenly Sarah stopped. She looked seriously at Jareth and said, "No, this is why I'm marrying you. Because of what we're doing right now. You make me laugh, and I have more fun with you than anyone else. I couldn't imagine wanting to be with anyone else, and I can't wait to spend forever with you. I love you." She reached up and gave him a long, slow kiss, which he was happy to return. When they parted, he grinned at her.

"Well, my love, I believe there is just enough time to show the future Queen a bit of the Labyrinth. Let's go!" And they were off to explore the place that had brought them together.