"Where magic is concerned, there is always an initial decision, an initial willingness to let it enter your life. If that is not there, neither is magic."

-Neil Gaiman

The next day

Ben had been waiting a while, feeling disappointed when Uncle Toby didn't come to get him from school yet. He looked at his hands, seeing that they were nearly all the way healed. Blaggerspout told him it was because of magic.

All the other kids from his class had already left. The staff were trying to get ahold of his mommy, but no one was answering. He decided to take matters into his own hands. "I wish the Goblin King will come here."

He was sure that Mister Jareth would come. He could explain to him then why he was alone.

"Hello Benjamin."

Ben turned, seeing the Goblin King in very normal clothing. Well, normal for him anyway. He still stood out with his hair swept up and the way he held himself by magic, but it was much less wild than last night. And no pointy ears. "Mister Jareth!"

"Oh!" One staff walked in, clearly mesmerized by the man. She turned as red as a tomato and adjusted her skirt when she saw Mister Jareth. "Um, hello. Are you here to pick Ben up?"

"Pleasure to meet you," Jareth said smoothly, charming her right away. "I would be happy to."

"Might I have a name?" The staff looked in Ben's folder.

"Jareth."

"Hmm, I don't see a Jareth here as an emergency contact," she said, unsure and not wanting to offend him. "I'm afraid I have to wait until his mother or another emergency contact comes to pick him up."

"I understand, it's for the safety of the children, after all," Jareth said, smiling at her. "You do a great job at keeping the children safe."

"Oh, um, thank you," she blushed, brushing her hair out of her face in an attempt to make herself look more presentable.

"I'm bored," Ben pouted, wanting the Goblin King's attention on himself and not some school staffer. "Uncle Toby was supposed to pick me up."

Jareth sat next to him. "What would you like to do to ease that boredom, young one?"

"You talk funny," Ben said, grinning. "Can you do magic?"

Sarah parked her car, fuming as she got out. "Toby!"

Toby recoiled as his sister stalked towards him. "Sarah, I'm-"

"Save it!" She locked her car, folding her arms and looking up at him in displeasure. "I was in the middle of teaching a lesson when I got phone call after phone call. If you couldn't pick Ben up, next time just tell me!"

"Sarah, I'm sorry, I just forgot-"

"If your nephew was important to you, then you wouldn't have forgotten, especially after what happened last night." She unfolded her arms and marched away. "I can't rely on anyone, I have to do all of this shit by myself!"

"Hey, that's out of line!" Toby caught up with her easily. "It was one mistake!"

"That's what they all say." She continued to look ahead, flames of anger coursing under her skin. Even the freckles on her arms seemed to redden. "And then one mistake turns into two until I'm left alone, picking up the pieces that my dead husband left behind, putting on a brave face at the funeral as everyone abandons me when I need them most."

Toby stood in front of her, putting his hands on her shoulders to get her attention. Sarah shoved him off. "Let me go-"

"Knock it off!" He shouted with force, regretting his harsh tone almost instantly. At least, it worked in making Sarah stop talking. "I know that you're stressed out because of that Goblin King. And Mom and Dad were shit at being there for you at times because they're dumb, and your in-laws are a bunch of assholes sometimes-"

"Sometimes?"

"Okay, most of the time," he conceded. "But you need to stop projecting that on me. I didn't do anything wrong besides be an idiot in forgetting the day of the week. I'm not abandoning you. I never will. Please believe me."

Sarah fought against breaking down in the parking lot. It was everything she needed to hear, everything she needed to believe. The shame at lashing out at her baby brother over the people who actually hurt her was overwhelming at the moment. "God damn it," she sniffed, wiping away a couple tears. "I know, Tobes. I'm sorry."

"I know," her little brother said, awkwardly patting her shoulder. "And I'm sorry for not picking him up on time."

"It happens," Sarah sighed. "At least you didn't wish him away to the goblins."

"Yeah, that was a shitty move from you," he smirked.

Sarah snorted as they approached the office. She paused with wide eyes, seeing through the window who Ben was next to. Alarm rose in her chest. "Why is the Goblin King sitting next to my son?"

She quickly opened the door. "Ben?"

"Mommy!" Ben waved with the biggest smile she had ever seen. "Uncle Toby!"

"Hey buddy," Toby did a small wave, staring at the Goblin King. Who was sitting next to his nephew like he was an ordinary human, even dressed like one.

"Mister Jareth is showing me magic!" Ben held out a crystal. "Do you want to see magic?"

"What are you doing here?" Sarah questioned the king. Her voice was sharp but with a slight taper, giving him the chance to explain.

"Why, merely keeping your son company," he answered, doing a few mesmerizing tricks with three of his crystals, even letting them slide behind one arm, across his shoulders, and into the other. "He wished for me."

She blinked. "Ben made a wish. To see you."

"Yes, what's so hard to understand?"

She took a deep breath. "Ben, why did you wish for him?"

Ben looked confused and embarrassed. "I was waiting for so long, Mommy."

Toby flinched but Sarah wasn't mad at him anymore. She looked from the Goblin King to Ben then back to Toby. "Stay here, let me talk to the staff."

After clearing with the staff that no, this handsome man was not one of Ben's guardians, Sarah came back to the group. She spoke to Toby, but her eyes were on the Goblin King. "Toby, can you take Ben to your car? Wait for me there."

Toby hesitated.

"Toby." She said his name again with command.

Toby nodded, taking Ben's hand. "Okay, we'll wait for you there. Ten minutes."

"Ten minutes," she agreed.

Ben waved at the Goblin King and Sarah. "Bye Mister Jareth! Bye Mommy!"

Jareth waved back. "A pleasure, Benjamin."

Sarah cleared her throat, causing him to look up at her. It surprised her how gentle his smile was, since he seemed to always be mocking her or pissed off, according to the last time they interacted. Her heart crashed against her rib cage with every beat. She hoped that he didn't notice.

"Sarah," he said her name slowly, almost with reverence.

"Goblin King," she said in short reply, not buying his sweet talk. "Won't you take a short walk with me?"

His calm expression became unreadable, like an ice mask. She felt a surge of pride, hoping that perhaps, she had caught him off guard. He stood, offering her his arm. "My pleasure."

She wasn't sure what to make of it. Not wanting to offend him (who knows what might happen if a fae was offended), she carefully placed her hand on the crook of his elbow and walked out.

Sarah didn't know what to say, so she stayed quiet, carefully studying him. He was shorter than she had remembered though that could be from the fact that his hair wasn't so tall and he wasn't wearing heels. He didn't age a day. Not that she had expected him to. She could smell the pleasant peach and cinnamon scent all over him, making her feel right at home.

Even now, years later, she could not find anyone who matched the king in charm and attractiveness. It was a bit too strange to have someone she both disliked and found attractive to come into her life at this time.

"You know," he started, bringing her out of her train of thought. "I think I prefer you now compared to your adolescent self."

She couldn't help but smile a little at that. "Oh, you didn't like my brattiness and arrogance?"

He laughed. A true laugh, not one that was mocking or sadistic. "Even at that young of an age, you were a force to be reckoned with. You pushed through, being assertive and determined to right your wrongs."

Sarah had considered what she might say if he told her that she was selfish and horrible. If he made fun of her. If he called her names or tried to hurt her family.

She had not considered how she would react if he was kind to her. "Ah, thank you?"

"You are surprised by how I view you?" He asked lightly.

"I mean, yeah," she admitted. "I was a brat. I wished my own brother away because I was mad and wanted to play pretend. I yelled at him when I should have checked if he was hungry or soothed him in some way. But everything you said was true. I did, still do, love Toby."

"And that was why you won."

"Yeah, about that," she stopped walking, but kept her hand on his arm. "What does it all mean?"

"What do you mean?"

She couldn't decide if he was teasing her or if he was serious. "It really did happen, right? How come none of my friends came back? Or did I make them up?"

"Ah, asking questions about that fateful day." He started walking again. "I wouldn't expect any less of you."

"Yeah, so, what about them?" She asked him again, hoping that he wouldn't continue to evade her.

He didn't say anything at first, then eventually said "Yes, it really did happen. I will explain more to you another time."

Sarah hated when someone said that. It was exactly how her mom acted when she left home and never came back when Sarah was barely older than Ben. Or when her in-laws acted when Ethan died. "Goblin King-"

"Jareth." He corrected her. "My name is Jareth, and I'd like you to call me that. You are the Champion of the Labyrinth and have that right to call me that."

"Umm, okay, Jareth," she said, realizing that this was the first time she said his given name out loud. She knew what it was since Hoggle called him that, finding that the unfamiliar name fit him well. "I'm not saying you're doing this on purpose, but it frustrates the hell out of me when someone tells me that they'll tell me that they'll explain later without even a hint of why."

He grinned a little. "Your fire hasn't extinguished at all in the past two decades. If anything, it has grown, though more controlled. I rather like this wiser, more mature Sarah. I do not mean to frustrate you, I feel that this topic takes more time to go through than the ten minutes you gave your brother and son."

Sarah spotted her car and Toby's, seeing Toby give Ben some of his emergency chocolate in his car. "Okay. Do you want to come to my house then? Maybe we can chat?"

Jareth's smile broke out, his pointy teeth made visible. Sarah wasn't sure if she made the right decision after all. "Yes, I would like that very much."

Toby rolled down his window. "Hi guys."

"Hey Tobes." Sarah approached him. "I just invited him home."

"Are you sure that's the best idea?" Toby's eyes flickered to Jareth, who was now sitting in Sarah's passenger seat and looking at her.

"Yeah, I'm sure," she settled. "I don't know, I just feel like, we'll be okay with him. Fae take rules of hospitality and such really seriously."

"And where the fuh-," he stopped himself, glancing at Ben. "Where the freak did you learn that?"

"Like I said last night, my mom's side of the family is huge on faerie lore and my great-grandparents believed in this stuff. Guess I should have listened to them." She leaned back. "I'll have a word with him, don't worry, okay? If he wanted to harm Ben or us, he would have done it already. Even if he does have ulterior motives, at least we're safe for now and better to confront him first to see what he thinks before anything else."

Toby figured she had a point. "Okay. And I guess, he never actually hurt you, right? Still, be careful."

"I didn't live this long without being careful. See you at home." She waved to him, then opened up the back door to give Ben a kiss and a hug. "I'm sorry we were late, honey."

"Is Mister Jareth coming home with us?" He waved to Jareth, who waved back at him.

While Ben was a friendly child and polite, he usually wasn't very talkative to most strangers. There was something she was missing about her son and the Goblin King.

"Ben," Sarah didn't answer his question quite yet. "How did you two meet? You know he's a stranger and you should wait for an adult you know like me to introduce you to him, right?"

Ben looked a bit sheepish at that. "Well, I made a wish."

"Yes, the wish today?"

He shook his head. "No Mommy. I saw you crying and you said you had bad dreams."

Toby swiftly turned around. "Wait, you heard that?"

Ben nodded. "I just wanted Mommy to have nice dreams. You read me the story of The Lab-rin."

"The Labyrinth?" Toby asked.

"Yeah. I made a wish for you to be happy and he said he couldn't but he could give you nice dreams." He fiddled with his hands, speaking quietly. "I don't want you to be sad anymore."

Sarah tried to hide her tears but couldn't. That explained the nice dreams she had recently, why she actually had a good night's sleep. "Oh, Ben. That's the sweetest thing I've heard. You don't have to worry about me, you know? I'm okay, I promise. Thank you." She kissed his forehead, touched but also horrified that he could see how tortured she was. Good thing she was getting therapy. "And then you wished him after that to save you on Halloween?"

He perked up, glad that no one was mad at him. "Yeah."

"Ben, you can't just wish him like that," Toby added.

"Why not? He's my friend," Ben retorted, folding his arms exactly the same way Sarah did when she was being contrary.

"Because… because he's a king," Toby settled on that answer, looking at Sarah for approval. "He has a kingdom to take care of and he might be busy. You were in danger on Halloween so I get that but don't call him for things like when you're bored waiting for us."

"Oh, okay." Ben shrugged. "Can we go home now? I'm hungry."

"Yes yes, let's go." Sarah kissed him one more time. "See you two back at home."

Sarah climbed in the driver's seat of her own car, trying to hide her tears from Jareth but failed.

"Are you all right?" He asked her, conjuring a handkerchief.

"Oh, me?" She sniffed a little, then accepting his offer without really thinking. "I'm fine. It's just, Ben told me how you two met."

"Ah, yes."

She started the car. "What exactly did he say to you?"

Jareth created a crystal, rolling it in his hands. Maybe it was a way to appear thoughtful and menacing, but Sarah thought he looked like Ben when he would fiddle with his toys when he got nervous. "He asked me if I could make someone happy. I told him that magic doesn't quite work that way. I asked him who, and he said you."

She wiped a tear from her eye. She had been trying so, so very hard to keep Ben away from the sadness inside of her. Instead, she failed, and her son was carrying a burden he should never carry within himself. "Did he say anything else?"

The ice mask hardened. "He said that you might be missing his father as much as him, that he had passed a few years back."

They drove in silence for a few more minutes.

"You know about Ethan then? Did you always know?"

Her facial muscles tense, but not angry.

"No," he answered. "To answer one of your earlier questions as well, I have no power over you, if you so recall." He didn't look exactly happy at that idea, but not angry either. More resigned. "I could not reach you. I could not see you. I can only approach you in dreams but I have left you more or less alone in that matter since you did not call for me. What ever dreams you had were from your own mind, I just plant a seed of contentment and peace for you once Benjamin wished for it, not before."

"Did you... see my dreams? Or know what happened in them?"

"Not prior to Benjamin's wish, besides the one you conjured during your run."

She knew exactly what dream he meant. The one where she was dressed in silver, hair adorned with ornaments and they danced until the striking of the clock told her to leave.

"After Benjamin's wish," he continued, taking her out of her thoughts. "I am only aware of one dream. The one where we sat under peach trees. I cannot enter or see your dreams without your consent, because you are the Champion."

She had no idea if he was lying or not. And yet, something in Sarah told her that he was telling the truth. She thought of him singing as she played guitar, relieved that he hadn't seen the dreams from her younger years when they were… very colorful. "But what about Halloween?"

"I can find you the human way, if you will. Without magic. Benjamin was hurt so I waited for you, his mother, to approach. My goblins and your friends follow the same rules, which was why one of the goblins, Evie, approached Toby instead of you. You could not see your friends until you allow me to open the portal to the Underground with the power of a wish."

"But why?"

"Even I am not sure of all the rules and why. I assume it's for the protection of humans from otherwise vengeful faerie monarchs."

"How did you know that I'm Ben's mother?"

Jareth shifted, tugging on the seatbelt uncomfortably as she made a turn. "He showed me a photograph of you, him, and his father in trying to convince me to help you. I assume he was your late husband?"

She nodded just as they reached the house. Sarah parked but didn't make a move to get out. "Listen, Jareth, there's something I need to be clear with you."

He made a gesture for her to continue. "Proceed."

Sarah heard some saying once that bravery wasn't doing something without fear, but doing it in spite of fear. Well, she definitely felt a lot of fear but it did not overpower her conviction. "You are entering my home where my brother and son also live. I don't mean to accuse you of anything, but the truth is, I don't know you. I don't know your motives or what the whole labyrinth thing meant and I wouldn't know if you're lying. I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt and letting you in my home in good faith."

She pointed to Toby and Ben, who were going inside. Sarah made gestures to let them know to go in first. She avoided Jareth's gaze, looking to the left. "I love all the people my family and have made a lot of effort to keep in contact with Toby, but the truth is, Ben is truly all I have left in this world. I don't know what I would do without him. He's the reason I get up every day. He's the reason I haven't wasted away into a lifeless husk when my husband died."

He swallowed thickly. "Sarah-"

She didn't want to be rude and interrupt him but she needed to finish before she lost the nerve. She turned to him, eyes ablaze. "I may not have magic like you or have a big title, but I will do all I can to cause you harm before I let you or anyone hurt my family. Are we clear on this?"

Jareth observed her for a moment before he took the handkerchief he had given her earlier from her hand and dabbed under her eyes, taking away tears she didn't even know had fallen. The very act was incredibly intimate and tender. For a second, someone was taking care of her in a way that she hadn't been taken care of in so very long.

She finally looked into Jareth's eyes. He nodded once. "I would expect nothing less from you."

Sarah didn't know what to do with that, so she just nodded. "Oh, um, good."

"Sarah," he said her name carefully. "I hope to earn your trust, that you will understand that despite our… antagonistic interactions in the past, that I really don't mean you harm. You and your family, including Toby and even your parents, are under my protection should you accept it. As a Champion of the Labyrinth, you are entitled to that but I would offer it to you regardless of this rule."

He took her hand and she didn't move away, vaguely registering that this was the first time his bare skin touched hers. It was so strange seeing him without his signature gloves on. He was as sincere as anyone could be. She couldn't explain how she knew, just that she did. "Thank you, I appreciate that." She sniffed. "And thank you for not ridiculing me for still grieving. I know two years is a long time, but the truth is, I haven't felt whole since the day Ethan died."

His smile mirrored her own melancholic smile that had become the new normal. "I am more closely acquainted with death than you might realize. I see it up close and raw quite often. I understand that it can take time. Your late husband must have been very special."

"He is. Was." She corrected herself, though she hated talking about him in past tense. How could she talk about him past tense when he still existed in her life, echoing all through the home with his memories and in their son? "Let's go inside."

I had a difficult time with this chapter. The part with Sarah and Toby was easy. We all lash out at the people we love most, sometimes it's because we feel comfortable acting out but we also have to keep in mind that it hurts them too so I was glad that I showed Sarah losing it a bit at Toby and him setting her straight.

Writing Jareth and Ben was also easy, but Sarah and Jareth was difficult. I wanted her to be cautious but to also have that chance to get to know Jareth. She's one tough cookie. Hopefully I did a good job lol. Thanks guys!