Ch 45

Jareth paced around his throne room He had been trying to contact Merelinda, but he couldn't find her. He had a sick feeling in his stomach as he thought of where she could be.

Almost scared to do so, he produced a crystal to look in on Sarah. But before he could call up her image, he was interrupted by someone entering the room. He looked up, somehow knowing who it would be.

"Merelinda," he said with a sigh. "I'm glad you're here, I was worried that you had gone and done something we'd both regret."

She stared at him, and he didn't like what he saw in her eyes.

"Merelinda…" he said warningly, starting to get angry at her again.

She saw that, and bit her lip. She had been furious when Jareth had turned her down, then left her alone, crying. She had a bad temper; she knew it, and Jareth knew it. But hiding behind her temper wasn't going to get her out of the mess she was in. She was stuck.

Jareth was watching her, waiting for her to talk. His stomach sank lower with each second she was quiet.

"What have you done?" he asked her quietly.

"I have simply arranged it so that it won't be a problem for us to get married," she replied, still foolishly hoping this could end in her favor.

Jareth's eyes flashed dangerously. "I told you, I am not going to marry you. I'm marrying Sarah, and nothing you say to me will make me change my mind." He paused for a second. "You went to Sarah, didn't you." It wasn't a question; he could see in her eyes what she'd done.

She spoke softly. "I told her I was pregnant, and that you were going to marry me."

Jareth exploded. "You did what? You had no right at all to do something like that! My god, I can't imagine what must be going through Sarah's mind right now. You disgust me," he snarled at Merelinda with enough conviction to make her flinch.

"Jareth, I-" she tried, but he wouldn't allow her to finish.

"I want you out of here. Now. You are no longer welcome in my kingdom. I don't care what kind of mess your future is now, you'll only be suffering the consequences of your own actions. Damn it, Merelinda, did you really think that going to Sarah would convince me to marry you? You must be mad! I swear to you, if you ruined what I have with Sarah, you'll regret the day we ever became friends. You may have succeeded in stopping my marriage to her, but it won't be to your advantage. You get nothing from me. Get out." He crossed his arms and stared at her with pure fury in his eyes.

She knew she had lost, and she turned and ran from the room. What had she done? She couldn't bear to think of it, and she returned to her watery kingdom, a kingdom which she would never rule, because of her stupid mistakes.

Jareth stormed around the throne room, angrily swiping objects off tables and pounding on the walls, anything to vent his fury. Damn you Merelinda, he thought, damn you for all eternity.

He had to go to Sarah. He knew he wasn't supposed to, but he had no choice. He couldn't leave her alone with the thoughts Merelinda had put in her head.

He took a deep breath, and then transported himself, hoping against hope that he could fix this.

Sarah was still sitting on her couch, staring into space, when he appeared in front of her. She barely glanced at him before staring back out the window.

It scared him to see her like this. He had expected her to cry, or yell, something. Not this…indifference towards him.

"Sarah," he said, "please let me explain."

She looked at him, and he couldn't read the expression in her eyes. It could have been either pain or anger, he couldn't tell.

He sat down next to her and took her hand in his. She made no move to stop him, but then she barely seemed to notice he'd taken her hand at all.

"Sarah," he began, "I can't begin to tell you how sorry I am. Merelinda had no right to come up here and tell you that. She-" Sarah cut him off.

"So you're saying it's true?" she asked, her voice cracking slightly.

Jareth shook his head, saying "No, my love. Well, it is, but it isn't." Sarah gave him a Look, and he sighed in frustration. "Look, Sarah, it's true that Merelinda is pregnant. But it is not my child, I swear to you. Look at me Sarah, look into my eyes. Do you really think I would keep something like that from you?" He held her gaze as she stared into his mismatched eyes.

"I wouldn't," he said softly. "Merelinda got herself into a mess, and she tried to take advantage of our friendship. But Sarah, don't you remember what I told you? I told you that no matter what circumstances arose with Merelinda, I would marry you regardless. I love you Sarah, please understand," he pleaded, begging with his eyes.

She looked at him thoughtfully. He was telling her exactly what she had hoped to hear. But was it true? She really didn't have any way of knowing if the child Merelinda was carrying truly was Jareth's or not. But then, she honestly didn't believe Jareth would lie to her about something like this. What if he was, though? She looked at Jareth, waiting patiently for her to answer with a worried look on his face. She couldn't imagine him deliberately hurting her, but if they got married in spite of Merelinda, would the mermaid do something even more drastic? Sarah almost felt like this relationship was too full of drama; this was supposed to be real life, not a soap opera.

She stared at Jareth, trying to decide what she wanted to tell him.