Disclaimer: I don't own Sarah, Jareth, or any other Labyrinth related characters.
Chapter 37: Recovery
Jareth was roused from his light slumber by the feeling of movement against his chest. He ignored it at first, but when the previous nights events came back to him his eyes shot open, immediately going to where Sarah had lain as he fell asleep. He was greeted with the site of Sarah's eyes staring intently at him. He stared at her a moment before gathering her within his arms and holding onto her as if his very life depended upon it.
Finally he withdrew, keeping a firm grip on her shoulders and looking at her as if reassuring himself she was indeed awake and that this was not simply a wonderful dream.
Sarah let him hold her and stare at her for as long as she could stand, but eventually she felt the need to speak. "Jareth, what happened?" she was looking to him for answers. The last thing she remembered was feeling tired and slightly ill yesterday afternoon before taking a nap. Then she had woken this morning with Jareth's arms wrapped around her in an embrace that was almost too tight to be comfortable. She felt weak and drained, but otherwise relatively alright.
Jareth pulled her close again and then began telling her what had occurred after she had fallen asleep yesterday. Twenty minutes later Sarah sat on the bed opposite Jareth staring wide eyed as he finished speaking. "You mean I could have died?"
"Yes love, you also could have suffered other problems due to the heat your body was suffering thorough. I wish I knew what had caused it though. It was so sudden. What worries me more though is that I could not heal you with magic." He sat there in contemplation; now that the immediate danger to Sarah was over with he could think more clearly on the matter.
"Jareth, do you mind if I sleep a little longer? I'm still so tired," she yawned as she spoke and Jareth nodded at her.
"Of course love, would you prefer if I left or remained here?"
"Could you stay?" she looked at him pleadingly until he answered.
He smiled at her before sitting back against the bed head and opening his arms, Sarah took his invitation and lay herself against him, reveling in the feeling of his arms around her, protecting her. She fell asleep smiling after only a few moments and Jareth looked her over. Now that she was sleeping she couldn't hide anything from him.
He took in thedark circlesunderneath her eyes and the paleness of her skin. She looked so small and fragile, as if the slightest breeze could knock her over, causing her to break and shatter into a million pieces. He shook his head, breaking from his musings and continued to look her over. Besides looking as if she was badly in need of some sleep, Sarah didn't look to bad. He placed a hand on her forehead and felt that she was warm to the touch, but not abnormally so.
It appeared as if her sudden and mysterious illness had passed just as swiftly as it had arrived. He was grateful she was well again but couldn't help but feel as if this was not over with yet.
xxx
AN: Thanks for the reviews. I'll update as soon as I can. Also to those of you who wanted to know what was wrong with Sarah, I'm afraid you'll have to wait a while longer to know.