Disclaimer: I do not own any characters from the movie Labyrinth. You know the rest of the drill.
Your Eyes
Story by Jessica Arbuckle (Jessi, Princess of Impatience)
June to possibly August, 2005
Chapter Seven, Would You Believe…
"Jareth," she said, her voice no longer a whisper, but clear and strong. "I love you."
'At last!' his mind cried in glad triumph as he gazed at her. 'I love you Sarah," he said, he voice ever so slightly choked from emotion. Unable to wait any longer, her placed a hand on the back of her head to draw her back closer to him as his lips made contact with hers.
The kiss, at first, was tentative on both their parts. His lips were gentle as they explored hers and his tongue snaked quickly out to caress the fullness of her lower lip in a cautious touch. The feeling of it shot through Sarah and she gasped, instinctively seeking out his tongue with her own as it retreated. As she did this, he deepened the kiss, almost crushing her lips to his own. The pressure made Sarah gasp softly into his mouth and he drew back a bit to kiss both corners of her mouth gently. Sarah's hands moved from his face to his hair, her fingers running through the spiky blonde strands before pulling tangling deeply in them and pulling him hard against her mouth. She relaxed against his chest as the deepened kiss spread a warmth slowly over her body, the sensation making her feel as though her whole body was being turned to liquid. She sighed with pleasure as the kiss ended and dropped her head back onto his chest, one ear over his heart. He continued to rain light kisses upon her face where he could reach it before burying his face against her neck and closing his eyes.
Softly, Sarah asked, "Are you are here tonight because it is the anniversary of my journey through the Labyrinth?"
"In part. I am truly here because I knew you would tell the story to Toby, as you have done every time you have returned home," he stated.
"You watched us? How often?"
"As often as I could. I've watched you occasionally, in my owl shape, from windows in the places you were, and often through the crystals when I was back at the castle. That is how I knew about the song," he told her.
"Pervert," Sarah said, giggling.
One thumb gently covered her mouth, caressing their soft fullness. "Shush, you," he growled with mock menace. "As I was saying, I waited, hoping tonight would be the night you would call for me as you remembered your journey through your story to him. When I heard your discussion with him, I knew that tonight was a perfect time for the song because you needed convincing that I would answer your call." He brought his face closer to her ear. "I knew it was the only way I could truly reach you," Jareth whispered softly into her ear. "Even in your dreams, song has been the only way I could ever reach you."
Sarah pulled back from his arms. 'He was in my dreams?' she thought, feeling slightly angry, but not at the intrusion. It was at the fact that he had to have known of her feelings from the dreams and he could have come sooner. Even though she knew she was to blame, she was still angry that he had known and not come. Jareth looked at her face with concern, startled that she was pulling back.
With a particularly grumpy look upon her face, Sarah said hotly, "If you could become a part of my dreams, you should have known that I finally realized what a mistake I had made. Why didn't you come for me months ago?"
"I do have my pride, Sarah," he said irritably. It was not something he wanted to admit, to himself or to her, that his pride had played a role in keeping them from this moment. "I needed to know that what I had seen in your eyes in the dreams was really there, that you loved me and you understood I loved you, and was not my some figment of my imagination. I had already been rejected once and I did not wish to go through that again. I realized something had changed when I was able to add to your dreams by showing you places from my home, instead of being merely a participant, but I had to know you were truly ready. However," he continued, one eyebrow raised as he turned her indignation with him back at her, "you could have called for me at any time."
At that, all irritation inside Sarah abruptly died. A look of weariness settled across her face and she hesitated, wanting to settle back into Jareth's arms. Seeing the look and sensing her hesitancy, he tightened his hold on her once more, drawing her back in his arms. 'You are an idiot, old boy,' he thought to himself.
"I feel like a fool for saying that Sarah," he muttered, discomfited. It did not come easy to him, to apologize, but what he said, he had only said in irritation. "I am truly sorry… please, forgive me. The fault was mine."
She buried her face in his chest and tightened her arms around his body as he softly stroked her back. "No," she said, turning her head to one side to again hear the beat of his heart, "it is you who should forgive me. This whole thing happened because I didn't understand."
As Jareth began to protest, Sarah stopped him with a hand against his side. She had to explain to him, to get it all out in the open. "Let me finish."
"I am so very, deeply, sorry," she began in a whisper that barely carried to his ears.
"For some time after I returned three years ago, I was childishly pleased over my achievement, proud that I had won Toby back. I turned sixteen a month later and slowly my excitement cooled and then I just accepted it, neither pleased nor upset over what happen."
"During the first two years after I left, I dreamed often of the different meetings you and I had during my journey through the Labyrinth. At first I could not understand why, but slowly I came to realize that I loved you. I was slightly mortified over my feelings, as I was sure to you I was nothing but a stubborn, selfish child. I was so sure you did not love me, even though you had sang to me in a way that I thought could have been love."
"The songs were my favorite parts, for I could pretend, for a few moments, that you sang to me out of love. I thought at the time they had just been part of your attempts to win, but I knew that despite that I would always love you. I continued to dream, events in the dreams exactly as they had happened, but my feelings would occasionally intrude and I would want to change the events. Each time I woke from one of them, I felt I had missed something."
"On the night of my eighteenth birthday, I dreamed of you singing, first the song from the ballroom in my drugged dream, then the song from the Escher room as I relived our last moments together, slightly altered. The songs had never combined and this time you no longer offered the crystal, but spoke the same words."
"I know, my love," he said. "I was there every time, waiting for you to understand. For every dream you had of us, I was there, dreaming right along with you. The songs seemed to be the only way I could truly tell you what I wanted to say and they were the things you responded to the most in your dreams. I relieved every moment with you again and again, but dared not interrupt the flow of your dreams."
"I finally grew frustrated that you had yet to understand that I loved you. I wove those meetings together and removed the crystal so you would focus on me. The dream was my birthday gift to you," he said lovingly.
She noticed him stare at her intently before she became lost in thought. The dream had been the start of so much pain, doubt and regret over the last few months, but it had been a gift from him and it had brought them to this moment. Sarah did not regret having it now, as she had many times in the past. As she thought about all of this, she played unconsciously with his chest, tracing around the medallion hung from his neck. Jareth captured her wandering fingers, holding them over his heart.
She smiled faintly at him and continued, "Thank you for my present. Although it hurt, it all finally made sense to me, like a piece of a puzzle that had failed to be set until that moment. I thought you had offered me the crystal in place of winning, but the dream made me realize that I had unknowingly rejected you, that you had been offering yourself if I only conceded. That is why I couldn't say the words before I woke up."
Something made Jareth mutter a sound of protest, but Sarah continued without noticing.
"Since then, I dreamed of all the things we would never do and the dreams awoke feelings in me I had never felt for another. I had already been dating for some time, but I found myself unable to feel anything for them – nothing more than simple friendship and never attraction. I began to realize, from the way the dreams always ended, that I wanted you, only you, and that I needed you in the way… well, the way a woman needs a man," she said, flushing embarrassingly. The heat of the flush touched Jareth's skin and he knew without looking her face would be brightly stained with color. He smiled in a supremely satisfied way, but let her continue.
A thought struck her as her embarrassment faded and she looked up at Jareth. "Last night, for the first time in almost two years, I dreamed again of our last moments together. Were you there too?"
He nodded sadly, and she continued. "I didn't want to do it, I didn't want to say it, but I couldn't stop the words coming from my mouth. I woke up, more miserable than I had ever felt, wanting desperately to tell you I was sorry."
Sarah sighed, then searched his face as she asked, "I am sorry, Jareth. Can you ever forgive me for defeating you?
a/n: As always, please R/R, I would just adore it!