Disclaimer: Not mine, I just play with the characters.

Jareth rolled the crystal between his fingers and absently watched the light sparkle off the surface as he debated looking in on Sarah again. With a frustrated sigh he threw it against the wall and turned away, not bothering to watch it vanish upon impact with the wall. He stormed over to the window and looked out upon his kingdom and spoke to himself in a quiet growl.

"Look at you… mooning over a mortal girl like some lovesick idiot." Jareth let out a sigh and shook his head. "This foolishness has to stop. Get her out of your system if you must, but then you're done. No more thinking about her or dreaming about her or fantasizing about her." He nodded his approval of this plan and climbed into the windowsill to ponder a course of action, pulling out his crystal and rolling it over his fingers again as he thought.

He couldn't figure out what it was about Sarah that mesmerized him so much to begin with. She was just a spoiled, arrogant little girl. But beautiful, he thought to himself. And innocent.

Jareth particularly liked her innocence. That childlike giddiness she had as she discovered something new within his Labyrinth, or when she looked around his corrupt ballroom, fascinated him. The way she blushed and struggled to leave his embrace when he tried to kiss her intrigued him. One of his favorite fantasies to have about Sarah was imagining how she'd blush when he introduced her to pleasures of the flesh. Jareth shuddered in pleasure as he let his mind stray for a moment to just how far down her body her flush would go, and then forced himself back to reality before he let his mind stray too far.

Her false confidence was another thing about her that Jareth found particularly captivating. She may have admitted that he frightened her in the end but she put up a delightful show of confidence the rest of the time. Enough to tell me that my Labyrinth was a 'piece of cake,' he thought with a chuckle.

With a vow to himself that he would rid her of his system for good, Jareth sought out her image in the crystal and set about getting her to call on him. He watched her in the darkness of her room as she slept and whispered himself into her dreams. Though he couldn't hear her through the crystal, Jareth smiled as he saw Sarah smile faintly and whisper his name in her sleep. It wasn't long after that he had himself firmly ensconced inside her mind, a stray memory that wouldn't let itself be exorcised.

The next morning Sarah woke not remembering her dreams but feeling well rested. She stretched and rolled out of bed and began to make her way down the hall to the bathroom for her morning shower. On her way she passed Toby who beamed at her and jubilantly reminded her that he was turning five today.

"Ha- Happy Birthday, Toby" Sarah yawned out. "Are you looking forward to the party later?"

"Uh-huh! Pwesents!" Toby said, half bouncing, half dancing back into his room.

Sarah smiled and finished her trek into the bathroom. She turned on the water and got her things together as she waited for the water to heat up, then finally stepped under the spray.

Sarah always looked forward to her morning shower because she felt it was the most relaxing part of her day; the solitude she had to relax under the rhythmic pulse of the water and recall her dreams from the night before. She soaped up her hair and tried to remember her dreams from the night before but couldn't seem to bring much to the front of her mind. She remembered music and started to hum the tune she remembered.

"I remember dancing…" she murmured to herself as she rinsed the soap out of her hair and tried to find her loofa. She finally found it and poured some soap on, humming the music again trying to remember where she'd heard that tune before. When she realized she dropped the loofa and had to grab onto the wall to steady herself. She hadn't thought of the Labyrinth or of Jareth in almost four years and the sudden remembrance made her feel faint.

The rest of the day, try as she might, Sarah was unable to get Jareth out of her mind. She thought that this might not have been so terrible if she'd also been able to focus a bit on the friends she made in the Labyrinth. But no matter how hard she tried to think of Hoggle, Didymus, or Ludo, her thoughts kept going straight back to Jareth.

Jareth smirked and tossed the crystal away after he watched Sarah try to shake thoughts of him out of her head later that afternoon. There was a new bounce in his step as he prowled through the Labyrinth, making sure his traps to deter the young woman running his Labyrinth for her infant son were in place and fool proof.

"You'll soon learn exactly what the last four years have been like for me, Sarah," he said to the vanishing crystal.

Jareth continued to make his way through the twisting paths, making his way towards his new adversary. Even this silly, inept woman that had barely made it through the outer walls in seven hours couldn't shake his delighted mood. As he spotted the young redhead he shook his head, Such a pity these mortals don't put regulations on who can breed. Silly children like this wind up with children and then wish them away when they realize how difficult it is to be a parent. He sighed, Fortunate for us though, I suppose, and approached her from behind with a feral grin.

Toby's birthday party was underway and Sarah still hadn't managed to stop thinking about her time in the Labyrinth. She was beginning to get irritated with herself.

"Get a grip on yourself, Sarah" she mumbled to her reflection as she splashed water over her face and toweled it off. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and contemplated herself in the mirror. She had changed since she left the Labyrinth four years ago, she noted as she turned to look at herself sideways, filled out and put on some weight as well.

Not bad, she thought, smoothing her hands over her breasts and down her abdomen. You can tell that I never say no to chocolate, she added to herself with a smile. But, overall… Sarah gave herself another look over and nodded her head in approval.

"I wonder if…" She trailed off and shook her head, giving herself a stern look in the mirror. "None of that. It doesn't matter what he'd think. You're not even thinking of him." She glared at herself in the mirror again before added in a warning tone, "Are you, Sarah?"

Letting out a frustrated sigh, she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and made her way out of the bathroom. Merlin, now I'm talking to myself. I'm crazy.

Sarah walked over to Toby and ruffled his hair, ignoring Karen's shrill voice whining about how long she'd been gone. "You're going to make sure to open the present from your favorite sister first, right?" she asked with a playful grin.

"Sawah," Toby began in all the seriousness a five-year-old can muster, giving Sarah a look like she'd lost her mind, "you'we my only sistew."

Sarah laughed and gave Toby a hug. "I know, I know. I was just teasing you, Toby." Noticing the skeptical look he gave her, she pushed the gift from her over to him. "Here, it's time for the best part of the party."

Distracted, Toby started tearing into his gifts.

That night Jareth wove himself and the Labyrinth into Sarah's dreams again. He allowed her glimpses of things she hadn't seen on her journey that he knew would impress her. The majesty of his castle and areas that were not visited by the goblins, a glade that was laid out like a giant chessboard, a view of a spectacular sunset from the balcony off his chambers, and some of the other amazing creatures that inhabited the Underground were only a taste.

"Soon," he whispered as he watched her wake the next morning. "Soon you'll wish you were still here." Jareth grinned predatorily, "And then you'll be mine."

Jareth flung the crystal away and watched it melt into the wall before rising from the throne and heading to his own bed. It had been a long night first dealing with the creation of a new goblin and then weaving dreams for Sarah. He shook his head at himself when he realized he was letting Sarah exhaust him again and crawled into bed.

Sarah pulled the small red book off her shelf and looked it over apprehensively. It had been four years since she held this particular book and months since she had been able to read for pleasure at all. Even though she was still only working on her general education requirements in school, college was still exhausting for her and left her with little time for her own pursuits. Between classes, homework, theater productions, and going out with the new friends she had made from theater, she often found herself surprised that she was able to find time to sleep and eat. But now that she was on summer break, she vowed that she would find time to enjoy the things she could do alone.

She hesitated as she turned the book over in her hands. As much as she wanted to read a fairytale, Sarah knew that this wasn't just some fairytale. She'd actually lived it after she carelessly wished away her brother, had met the Goblin King and traversed his Labyrinth, and she wasn't sure if she wanted to add to her newfound obsession by reading the story.

"Well," Sarah sighed, "what harm ever came from reading a book?" She took the book and headed out into the late morning sunshine and started to read.

Two hours later Sarah closed the book and looked around, half expecting to see a white barn owl somewhere nearby and almost disappointed when she didn't see one.

"Oh, stop being silly, Sarah," she scolded herself. "It's not like you want to be back there."

Or do you, a small voice at the back of her head asked in a mocking voice.

"No, I do not." But even she could hear the lack of conviction in her voice.

The voice didn't say anything else to her but Sarah felt the smug look it was giving her, or would be giving her, if a voice inside her head had a face.

"Well, what do you want me to do?" Sarah mumbled irritably. "Wish myself there? That would be such a brilliant idea. Just go have a nice chat with my 'old friend' the Goblin King and see how things have been since I got through his Labyrinth. I'm sure the conversation would be delightful."

It's not his anger you're afraid of. The voice whispered, apparently immune to sarcasm. You're afraid he wouldn't want you there. That he'd send you home when he realized it was you. Or worse, that he wouldn't even come for you.

"That's not true!" Sarah cried softly, glaring at the book as if the voice was coming from it. "That is absolutely not true."

Then do it. Wish yourself into the Labyrinth. See if it works since you're not afraid.

Sarah pulled her t-shirt tighter around her and shivered. Though it was June she felt suddenly chilled and she wasn't sure if it came more from the sudden breeze or the thought that she was actually tempted to try wishing herself into the Labyrinth.

"I… I…" she began. The wind picked up.

"…don't have to prove anything to you." She finished stubbornly.

Chicken, the voice taunted. Admit it, you're afraid he won't come and that he won't want you.

"Fine. Fine. I'll prove it. And it won't matter anyway because I defeated him and he has no power over me." Sarah stood up and glared around defiantly. She glowered down at the book she still had in her hand and spoke firmly to it. "I wish Jareth would come and take me back to the Labyrinth, right now."

The wind died down and everything seemed eerily silent. Much different from when I wished Toby away, Sarah thought, confident though disappointed that Jareth hadn't come back. "Told you it wouldn't work," she muttered to herself and started back for the house. She'd barely taken two steps when she heard the low, cold voice.

"Well, hello, Sarah."