ItsACrystalNothingMore- Thank's Tez. That means a lot coming from you.

BOWIEgirl- I knew that…

Moonjava- Wow! A spelling mistake from YOU! That makes you much less… intimidating. Thanks for the review. It means a lot that you've been here from the beginning.

Morrigana- I just love lemongrass, and I love Jareth, so I just put them together. And, no, that is not the end. I'm going to try and make Sarah scream- just so that we can enjoy it.

jumping-jo- Wow. You are such a J/S nut. It's kind of scary. You'd better not read my other stories if you like Sarah…

RochLupin-Black- Snogging? What the hell? In something an Australian can understand, please. I hate the pining thing, too.

Satta- Oh, you're welcome. I like letting people know how much fun I get from reading their stories. In the second chapter, um, Karen was actually a real bitch. I mean, if it's so important for Sarah to leave school because she's sick then Karen has no right to ask questions. I know my whole Angus thing is really un-subtle, but it's what he was created for. Thanks for the comment about the conversations- I guess I have so few of my own that I spend most of my time imagining them… I'm a real loner.

Chapter Eight

The Castle

LLLLLLLLLLLLLL

Sarah looked around. 'This isn't your room, is it?'

Jareth chuckled. 'No. It's a spare bedroom. There are some clothes for you in the wardrobe.' He hated being so formal with his Sarah, so uncaring, so cold. But this was how it had to be…for now.

Sarah looked around. 'OK. Thanks.'

'The bathroom is through that door,' Jareth pointed to a gilded door with carvings of fairies and unicorns. 'I will not lock your door, but I do not want you wandering around the castle. This is for your safety.' He couldn't help himself; he touched a strand of her hair. Then he started towards the door, only to turn back to Sarah. 'Do I really have a morality problem?'

Sarah laughed uncertainly. 'No… I didn't know you heard all that…' She fidgeted a little, wondering if she would be the butt of an especially heinous punishment; such as the Bog of Eternal Stench or maybe she would be relocated to an oubliette.

But Jareth just smiled. 'I did. Goodnight.' And that was all.

He left the room via the door, not wishing to alarm Sarah by disappearing in front of her, leaving her to ponder the direction her life had taken of late.

0

Jareth closed the door behind him and set off down the corridor. He was almost ashamed of himself, as he had very nearly transported Sarah into his own bedchambers.

Oh, he wouldn't force her into anything she didn't want to do, he knew that would break her spirit…and he loved that spirit.

He had put Sarah in a spare room in the same wing of his castle as his own chambers so that he could be as close to her as possible.

The room was a guest room for any members of royalty that stayed for visits in the Goblin Castle. The room had not been used in over 300 years (come on, let's face it, no-one really wants to visit a place chok-a-blok with goblins, do they? O.K., maybe me…).

She needs time to heal and to come to grips with the fact that she has left everything behind…Jareth said to himself. Well, maybe I could let her Aboveground to see her brother every once in a while… I don't want to seem like the villain…not again…

And, besides, thought Jareth, trying to take his mind off the last time Sarah had been in his castle, she needs to get over her fear-, no, suspicion of me; her trust in me is almost non-existent. She probably won't even let me touch her again. Sarah needs time.

Jareth grinned devilishly. But time I have.

He swished his cloak, and at once was gone.

0oo0o0o0oo0o0

'And that's the end.'

Lady screams in fear and wraps her arms around her head as she hears the angered shouts of her readers echoing across the globe. She hides under her computer desk

Readers from across the globe (mainly, as I have noticed, America) grab their burning torches and their sharp-pronged pitchforks. They rally at the airports and threaten the air-…air-…(oh, bugger I dunno what they're called) air-people and get on planes with their burning torches and their pitchforks flying toward the Lady of the Labyrinth.

'WAIT'

Angry mob stops just a metre away from her.

Lady peeps one eye out from under her arms, blinks and takes her arms away from her face

'Um… That's where the story originally ended…pauses to see the mob's reaction

One of the mob (Morrigana or Solea or someone- it's hard to tell in the torchlight) prods Lady in the arm with a pitchfork. 'Get on with it.'

'Um…Yes. B-but then I saw how popular my story was and so I decided to continue the story…'

Mob mutters and lowers pitchforks (and spades; I guess some people don't have pitchforks). Someone from the back shouts 'How do we know you're telling the truth?' The mob growls as one and surges forward in a sinister fashion.

Lady puts her arms back around her head

'Um… um… MY NOTES! Yeah, yeah, uh…I'll show you my notes. I always write my stories out on paper first, so if anything happens to the computer I've still got a draft…' Lady realises that she is babbling and stops talking.

Mob mutters amongst itself again. 'Show us,' shouts someone standing in the doorway of Lady's house.

Lady uncovers her face again

'Uh, could you guys give me a sec?'

Lady scrambles around under her computer desk, muttering almost indiscernible things under her breath

'No, not that…Ewww, what is that?… My lollipop! I've been wondering where that went… Er, what's MORTICIA!'

Lady shoves a very large purebred American Pitbull Terrier out from under the desk

'There, make friends,' instructs Lady carelessly.

Morticia whimpers.

Lady extracted herself from beneath her desk, waving a very thick stack of papers in the air and sucking on a lollipop

'Here we are,' says Lady. 'My handwritten manuscripts. Uh, but you can't read them.'

The mob, having edged closer at the sight f the new chapters, steps back a little. 'Why not?' asks someone at the front.

'Um, because there still are major faults in it…'

Seeing how the mob isn't very impressed, she begins to back away. The dog, Morticia, follows, as does the mob

'You know, Lady, I do wonder if you really do mean to use Sarah against me.'

Lady looks around

Jareth is hung lazily on the couch.

'Um, hi, Jareth, says Lady uncomfortably.

Jareth disappears from the couch and appears in front of Lady, backing her up against the wall. 'It seems that the answer to that could be in those wonderful notes that you are holding in your hands.'

'Um…Possibly,' says Lady.

Jareth looks around. 'Oh, I didn't realise that you had guests… of the 'burning torch' variety.'

'Yeah… I think they might be around for a while…'

'So, why don't you just let me have a little look at your notes, just to check if everything is in order,' Jareth purrs against the hollow of her throat.

'Um, no.'

Lady tries to pull away, but when Jareth tugs her right back into position, she, seemingly, gives up

'And why not?' he says, lightly tonguing her neck whilst the mob looks on in awe.

Several whispers were thrown around amongst the mob: She's with the Goblin King? No way! He's mine! She doesn't look too happy about him…I'd be happy, though and What's so special about those notes, anyway?

Meanwhile, Lady looks as if she's becoming totally engrossed in Jareth's attentions. She seems intoxicated, somehow.

'I can't show you…my notes…Because if I did… I would have…WAIT!' Lady appears to reclaim herself.

Jareth pauses in his soft seductive advances, the mob stops whispering, too. Jareth, just in time, stops Lady from kneeing him extremely forcefully in the crutch.

He chuckles and whispers in her ear: 'I wouldn't do that if I were you.'

Lady looks at him disgustedly. 'Wanna bet? GABRIEL!'

A fey man, presumably Gabriel, appears in Lady's living room in a puff of wind.

Jareth, still keeping a firm hold of Lady, turns to Gabriel. 'Hello, brother.'

'What are you doing, brother?' says Gabriel, contempt obvious in his voice as he surveyed the scene before him.

'I'm just trying to get a little…co-operation…'

'As if!' shrieks Lady. 'You're trying to figure out whether or not I'll get Sarah to castrate you! And you know that if you find out when or how or what happens I'll lose my power over you! And the big, mighty Goblin King wouldn't want that!'

Jareth looks at her closely. 'Don't mock me, my dear. What happened to the lovely little conversations and staring contests we used to have?'

Gabriel looks like he's just about to pop Jareth one in the nose and takes a step forward.

'Well, for one, you weren't trying to seduce me-'

Gabriel looks like he's just about ready to rip Jareth apart.

'- and for another you were doing the things I wanted you to do (within reason) without my needing to threaten you.'

Lady lets out a strangled moan as Jareth presses her even harder to the wall

'Gabriel- help, please?' she whimpers, clearly frightened.

Gabriel rips his brother off Lady, sending him sprawling on to the floor and grabs Lady, the manuscripts and the dog (who had bounded up to him instantly after his arrival and was trying to get him to pat her).

'Of course,' he says gently and he and Lady disappear, with the dog and the papers.

Jareth gets up scowling and dusts off his clothes. '…stupid interfering troll…' he mutters. Then Jareth looks up at the mob. The mob looks at Jareth. 'I guess I have a lot of explaining to do…'

BOWIEgirl steps forward. 'Hey Jareth, can you run fast?

'…not particularly…why?'

'GET HIM!'