A/N- The regular disclaimer.

...words are binding...

Jareth had been sitting by the fire when he first saw the crimson rope drop down to dangle in front of his bedroom window, though really you could not call the floor to ceiling expanse of glass a window, much more accurate to call it simply a glass wall. One that afford him both an amazing view and a clear look at the strange happenings of his balcony. He set down the book he had been reading, and picked up the crystal that had been set carelessly next to his chair.

Well now, this was a development he hadn't been expecting. Sarah's face greeted him with the determination that he had come to associate with her, an unyielding stubbornness that frustrated him to no end. As he walked over to lean in the open glass doors of his balcony he wondered idly if she had any notion of where her escape attempt would lead her. From the expression on her face when she heard his soft words he could only assume that she didn't.

Still, who was he not to take advantage of such a surprise visit...

To his bedroom...

In the middle of the night...

"Sarah, how nice of you to… drop by."

...words are binding...

Sarah's eyes shot open and her head snapped up at the words.

"Really, you needn't look so surprised; if anyone has a right to look shocked, it's me. It isn't everyday you find people dropping onto your bedroom balcony." Jareth was leaning against the doorframe, his black clad figure stark against the contrasting light spilling from the room behind him. "Do you have any idea of what time it is?"

Slowly Sarah stood, the adrenaline that had powered her for the escape, still simmering in her blood. Even if she now felt like she had been caught with her hand in the cookie jar, "Does it matter, Jareth?" She straightened up with a bravo she knew she didn't really have, she had defeated him once before, she could do it again. "I'm leaving."

"You are, are you?" She could kill him for that smile. His voice was mocking, as if speaking to a child. "Well, don't let me stop you." He turned slightly to give her access to the room behind him, his arms still crossed over his chest. Her gaze lingered on him for a moment, he was infuriating, truly infuriating, that smile, the ego she would just like to smash. Fine, he wanted to play? She would play, she would find her way out of the god-damn castle. She stalked past him, even though she wasn't looking at him, for some reason all her nerves were focused on him, she could feel his breath as she passed. She didn't touch him. And then she stopped, his previous words truly registering for the first time as she looked around at the room she had entered. Bedroom balcony. Bedroom. She was in Jareth's bedroom.

It was huge compared to hers, not even compared to hers. She had pegged Jareth as a hedonist, and the sight that greeted her did not contradict it in the least. Three steps dropped down to a thick blue carpet. Several smooth leather chairs surrounded a great marble fireplace, but it was his bed that was the focal point. Overlarge, it had agiant canopy, the four wooden posters the same polished wood of her room, but at the top of the poles, crystals were set into the wood. At least three doors lead out of the room, one for each of the walls of stone. The wall behind her was made entirely of glass. Sarah gasped in surprise as she felt someone press against her from behind, the musty, foreign smell, smelling of flowers, but still managing to be overwhelmingly masculine, the smell of Jareth. "So Sarah… What do you think?" His breath was warm on her neck.

"It's… it's very nice." She pulled away from him, his chuckle ringing in her ears. Her own breath echoed loudly to her, too loud, too fast. Her heart was beating quicker then it should have been and her stomach was on pins, twisted up in a way she had never felt it before. Probably still nerves from the descent. "Whatever game you're playing Jareth, I want no part of it." She turned to look at him, his black shirt hanging almost open, funny, she had seen more of his chest then she had of his hands. Even though she was no longer touching him, she could still feel the tingling where he had been leaning into her, the warmth from where his body had been. Her eyes lingered on the pale strip of flesh, before she tore them away, back up to his face, to his smile. To those mismatched eyes that regarded her with a strange look, hungry, cold, mocking, wanting, burning. Sarah took a step back.

A bad move, she had forgotten the steps behind her. Her foot meet with thin air, hovering madly before she lost her balance and stumbled. Her shoe found the step too late, and the contact jarred her, her knee buckling and she lost all semblance of control. "Shit." Her arms flailed around wildly as she fell backwards- real smooth Sarah, real smooth. She closed her eyes out of instinct, for when she would hit the ground with bruising force. But she never hit the ground. Sarah didn't hear him move, didn't see him through her tightly closed eyes, but her nerves braced for the fall, she felt him behind her, felt his arms before they touched her, catching her before she hit the ground. They were strong arms, holding her lightly against his chest, as if she were no more then an empty sack. But he held her as delicatly as a baby, as if she were fragile in his arms.

"Be careful Sarah, we wouldn't want to break you. Not yet anyways." The whisper sent a shiver down her back even as her eyes snapped open once again in rage.

"Put me down this instant Jareth!" He complied. Sarah hit the floor with a thud and she rolled away from him, unable to find any suitable facial expression to express all of the emotions that were running through her. She was angry, no that wasn't strong enough, she was livid. She had had enough of the Goblin King, enough of doubting her sanity, enough of her step-mother, enough of the Underground, enough of the chills that weren't entirely fear. She didn't want this, didn't want to be here, she just wanted to go home. Wanted to hide in her room. She scrambled to her feet, unable to find the right words to throw at him. Unable to find the right words to knock that smug little smile off his face. Finally she just turned away from him, seething. "I hate you Jareth. I really truly hate you." She wasn't able to say it to his face.

Her words worked, staring at Sarah's turned back Jareth was no longer smiling. The good humor draining from his face at the knives in her words. For a moment his face grew cold, empty, hovering on the brink of a thousand different emotions, and then, his eyebrows snapped together, his mismatched eyes gleaming with anger. How dare she? She did not know what hate was, how dare she throw those words at him? He had done so much for her and she had thrown it all back at him, how dare she tell him she hated him, she didn't understand what hate meant. The bitterness that festers for so long, staring at what you can not have, trapped inside a life you never wanted, bound by careless words, she did not know what hate was. How dare she. In an instant he was behind her, spinning her around to face him, his hand wrapped tightly around her wrist, pulling her against him.

"You hate me Sarah?" Harsh whispered words. Dangerous words. Words heated with anger that coursed through his veins, tempered by the press of their bodies, a heat of another type entirely. "You hate me?"

A/N- Chapter four, delightful, now I only have one chapter in reserve left to post, so I may have to start writing the fic again. Ah well, c'est la vie. I went over this chapter and tried to improve the writing, eliminating fragmented sentences and run-on's ect. I'm not sure if I actually improved it at all, but I did try. And to what Sarah says, well, I'm mean and that's the next chapter. (I feel like my charecter's have emotional ADHD, that they jump around alot. Opinons? Do the mood swings flow? I always like reviews. My thanks to those who have already been thoughtful enough to review.)