Well, here is chapter 1 of the second book. I hope you enjoyed the first one. Jareth is a new father now. Let's hope he learned something from babysitting Toby, and not how to throw him even higher. I'm sure some goblins can give him some advice on that. Please leave a review as an incentive to keep writing. Thanks all.
Chapter 1
Worst babysitter in the world
Another year had passed in the Labyrinth Kingdom and Sarah could not believe how fast the year had flown by. Jay and Jeremy had already turned one year old a week ago, and had begun to walk around. Aria had her hands full now as they were running everywhere, and with two of them, it became definitely a chore. Their energy seemed to be endless. Sarah helped out as much as she possibly could.
"I think I need to hire another nanny to help out Aria", Sarah mentioned to Jareth after dinner. "The two boys are keeping her busier than I think she can handle on her own. They are wearing me out."
Jareth laughed. "They are definitely their father's sons."
He smirked at Sarah as he stoked the fire and added another couple of logs. It was a cold and blustery evening outside and it hadn't quit snowing for three days.
"If it keeps this up we'll all be snowed in soon", Sarah worried.
"How wonderful would that be, babe", Jareth replied with a happy face. "You and me, snowed in for weeks, all alone, plenty of time to do certain things in front of the fireplace."
He put his arm around her and pulled her close.
"And two unruly toddlers driving us crazy too", Sarah replied laughing as she worked herself lose from his grip.
"Luckily we can teleport ourselves out of here. I need a change of scenery."
She moved closer to the fire which started to put out heat again since the new logs were added.
"Well, why don't you take a day off and hang out with Chayrone or Marjorie. I probably can arrange for her to come to the Underground for a few hours." Jareth suggested. Sarah sighed and contemplated over his idea.
"Let me think about it. That would be really nice actually. It would have to quit snowing though, or we'll be turned into snowmen before we leave the castle's garden."
Jareth had to laugh at the thought of three women turned into snow sculptures in his garden.
"Yeah, but then I could bring you in, take all your clothes off, and thaw you out by the fireplace, and..." he wasn't able to finish.
"Oh Jareth, seriously? Think about something else for once", she hit him with a newspaper over the head, but was laughing at the same time. Jareth grabbed her and they started wrestling around and laughing. Jareth almost managed to get Sarah's blouse completely unbuttoned, when Hoggle came in.
He had a surprised and partly embarrassed look on his face.
"Sorry to interrupt, whatever this is you are doing, but you have a visitor." He bowed and stepped aside for Kelan.
At the sight of Kelan, Jareth cleared his throat and straightened up his jacket the best he could, while Sarah desperately tried to button up her blouse in a hurry. Both looked like children who had been caught doing something naughty and Sarah excused herself in a hurry.
"I need to check up on the boys, that's it, the boys", she muttered as she made her way out of the room.
"But, it is you my dear I came to see", Kelan interrupted her exit. Sarah stopped in her tracks and turned around with a surprise look.
"Me?"
Jareth had managed to make himself look presentable in the meantime and motioned Kelan to sit down in a chair, as he himself sat down on the sofa. Sarah walked back and took a seat in the chair across from Kelan.
"Yes, you", Kelan smiled gently at her. "Why does that surprise you so much?"
His eyes pierced hers and Sarah wanted to melt into the walls.
"Oh, it's just that, Jareth is the king and most people..." She faltered and made a lose hand gesture in the air. Kelan laughed.
"I came to invite you to speak in front of the Elder Council. We have been watching you for over a year now and have noticed how well you have been doing with the goblins.
Our economy is up, our crime rate for the goblin population is down, and the literacy rate of goblin children is higher than ever. I would attribute that to the YGLC you opened a little over a year ago. In matter of fact goblins never went to school before you arrived."
Sarah sat in stunned silence and looked at Jareth for help, but he just shrugged his shoulders and put up his hands with a smile.
"What exactly would you like for me to speak about then?"
Sarah asked and felt incredibly stupid for asking the question at the same time. It was obviously about her involvement in the goblin community. She cringed and wanted to slap herself, all the while, Jareth was smirking at her from behind Kelan's back.
"We would like to get your insight on how to improve on all of this and make the Labyrinth Kingdom a safer place for all, improve the living standards of the goblins. If we can keep the goblins in check within our borders, we can protect ourselves better against outside forces."
Kelan looked at Jareth as he said the last few words and Jareth held his gaze with a stoic face, nodding in agreement. When it came to the security of the kingdom, Jareth was always on top of it. It was his utmost priority.
"When would you like for me to come by?" Sarah asked, still feeling unsure about it all.
"Tomorrow at ten o' clock in the morning". Sarah looked to Jareth for input, and when he mouthed "yes" to her, she agreed to it as well.
"Wonderful", Kelan replied. "We are looking forward to it and see how we can implement some of your Surface World tactics in our world. Now, how about a cup of hot tea? It is miserable out there", he added, and Sarah called Hoggle to bring all of them a round of hot tea and some of his cinnamon rolls.
"Oh my god, Jareth", Sarah cried out in agony as they were in the bedroom, "what am I going to say tomorrow? I'm so screwed. They are going to dethrone me", she cried into his chest as he held her tight and tried to console her.
"Now Sarah, nobody is going to dethrone you". He started laughing. "That's not even a thing, babe, dethroning." Sarah was not convinced.
"Come on, babe", he lifted up her face with his fingers under her chin and looked softly into her eyes. "You'll be great as always. And you know why?" Sarah shook her head.
"Because your heart is always involved. Everything you do here comes from your heart, and it shows. That's why you are so successful, not because you are a diplomatic genius."
"Ah thanks hun, I feel so much better now", she replied with a hint of sarcasm. Jareth laughed, gave her a big hug, and a long kiss.
"That may have come out wrong, I do admit", he said with a smirk.
"I'm going to take a shower now and go to sleep", she stated and gave Jareth a questioning look. "Want to join me?" she asked with a seductive smile.
"Do I?" Jareth replied and started to undress.
"You are so easy, hun", she laughed.
"Yes I am, babe. When it comes to you, I am very easy."
Sarah woke up with a scream and an anxiety attack.
"What is it, babe?" Jareth asked concerned, having been woken up himself.
"Oh my god, Jareth. I can't go today. I forgot that Aria is off and I don't have a reserve babysitter for the boys."
She jumped up and paced anxiously around the bedroom floor.
"That's all?" Jareth replied with a yawn feeling much calmer now. "I'll watch them." Sarah looked at him with surprise.
"You? I thought you have meetings today?"
"Nope", Jareth yawned again. "Everything got postponed until next week due to the snow. I have all day available."
Sarah relaxed and breathed deeply. "You are a lifesaver."
"Remember that when your bill comes due", Jareth replied dryly with a seductive smile and raised eyebrows. Sarah rolled her eyes with a sigh and went into the bathroom to get ready.
It was the first time Jareth was going to have to watch the boys for an entire day all by himself. Kelan had told them the meeting could last well into the early afternoon, depending on how things went, and Sarah had wanted to stop by Chayrone for a short visit as well. She hadn't seen her in a couple of weeks and wanted to catch up on the latest news. Jareth told her not to worry about it when she wanted to cancel her visit.
"Go on, visit with Chayrone. The boys and I will be just fine. Trust me."
It was those last two words that worried her, but she agreed to go ahead with her plans.
It all started out very innocently. Jareth went into the nursery and took the boys down with him to his study. They played peacefully with some goblin toys on the floor while he played his piano. He even let them sit on his lap and let them try their little fingers at the keys themselves.
"Another two years and I will teach you how to play this instrument. We'll have our very own band.
"We can call ourselves 'The 3Js', he proclaimed proudly.
At noon he had Hoggle bring them some lunch and the boys behaved perfectly well. It was the diaper change that had Jareth a bit off track but Hoggle helped him out.
"Perfect", Jareth laughed and he took them back up to the nursery.
"Time to see what powers you have", he declared and pulled out one of his crystal balls to see whether they could get it to float towards them.
At first nothing happened, but finally Jeremy managed to get the crystal to float to him, and Jay managed to divert it from its path and smash it into the wall.
"Splendid", Jareth cried out. "How about teleporting? Now watch your dad closely."
He showed them how it was done several times as they paid utmost attention. Jeremy laughed and suddenly dematerialized to end up rematerializing right outside the window five stories high. He dropped like a rock.
"Oh gosh, not good", Jareth yelped and went zooming after his son. Jay in the meantime had also managed to teleport and materialized in front of Jareth, on the way down the side of the building.
Halfway down the boys suddenly stopped dropping and floated slowly to the ground, followed by their father who cheered happily.
"Well, now wasn't that great. You know how to defy gravity. One of the basic skills of all faes. I'm only glad you learned it at the right time. I don't think your mother would have appreciated if you would have smashed in your little faces."
Some of the goblins in the garden had watched all of this unfold and cheered as the boys dropped out the window.
"Again", one yelled. "Let's drop them from the roof", suggested another.
Jareth had a better idea. "Let's teleport back up there. You first Jay."
Jay looked at him with his big toddler eyes and laughed. In an instant he was gone and rematerialized on top of the roof.
"You overshot it son. Let's do this again", Jareth yelled, and mumbled:" just like his mother."
Jeremy did much better, and teleported himself right back onto the window sill. The garden goblins cheered and more and more started to accumulate, until about a group of twenty stood there watching the princes learn their new teleporting and anti-gravity skills.
After about thirty minutes Jareth decided that was enough of teleporting and took them back to his study. The goblins followed behind.
As the boys warmed up by the fireplace Jareth played a few tunes on his piano.
"Party", one goblin yelled and they all started to laugh and scream, and throw each other around, including Jay and Jeremy, who squealed with joy every time a goblin lifted them up in the air and tossed them across the room to be snatched up by another goblin. Jareth thought it was hilarious and continued to play party songs on his piano.
It wasn't until Jeremy got tossed up into the chandelier and ended up stuck, that everyone stopped and stared thirty feet up into the air trying to figure out what to do.
"Yeah, that's a slight dilemma", Jareth pondered. "I guess I have to go up there and get him unstuck. Or maybe, YOU go." He grabbed a goblin with wings and threw him as high as he could, much to the delight of the other goblins.
"It's like the old times", one of the older goblins yelled with excitement at Jareth, and Jareth agreed with a big laugh.
"Remember the cool parties we used to have? Toss babies all over the place. Ah good times." The old goblin continued with a look of melancholy in his eyes over the old days.
Jeremy looked down from his chandelier and squealed with joy while Jay threw crystal balls into the fireplace, which exploded with colorful lights and a loud boom.
"Again", the goblins egged him on and gave him more crystal balls.
Jareth had decided to go back to his piano and play a few more tunes while the winged goblin was working to free Jeremy.
In the meantime, Jay managed to set his hair on fire with an exploding crystal ball. Jareth figured this was one incident that needed immediate intervention. He didn't want his entire son to go up in flames. Sarah would never forgive him for that. He managed to blow a crystal ball over to him just in time to douse Jay with water. He was not hurt. Besides a few singed hair he seemed fine.
The winged goblin finally managed to get Jeremy unstuck and dropped him to the ground. Jareth caught him in his arms.
"Ah there you are son. Don't do that again or your mom will be quite upset with us."
Jeremy only laughed and wiggled out of Jareth' arms.
"Toss the baby", the goblins called out, and for the next ten minutes, Jeremy and Jay sailed across the room at lightning speed, thirty feet high at times. Luckily Sarah was not there to witness it or Jareth would have been condemned to the doghouse for eternity, alongside his goblin friends.
Jeremy decided he had enough of 'toss the baby', and started to crawl and walk up the walls and onto the ceilings; with Jay close behind. Jareth looked proudly on as the two kept evading the goblins with a mix of teleporting and gravity defying magic. At one point they teleported both out of the room and everyone stopped.
"Where did they go?" one of the goblins asked. They all shrugged their shoulders and put up their hands.
"Let's go then, party is over", a few started to mumble with disappointment and turned to leave when Jareth yelled "STOP"!
"Nobody leaves, and I'll have all of your heads if you don't find me my sons."
In an instant he had changed from party going Jareth to the powerful fearsome goblin king.
The goblins shivered and ran in all directions looking for the two princes. They were nowhere in the castle. They were not in Goblin City, or in the garden, nor in the other settlements around the city.
Jareth sent out hundreds of crystal balls. One finally tracked them down to the Bog of Eternal Stench. Jareth was about to have a heart attack and teleported as fast as he could.
He arrived at the Bog of Eternal Stench in seconds and looked around. Jeremy stood on a precarious ledge above the bog and Jay balanced on a thin branch that leaned over the bog.
"F...ing wonderful", Jareth thought. He was not going to make any noise to detract them from their dilemma.
Jay started to rub his eyes and yawned. If he was going to lay down and fall asleep he would end up in the bog for sure. Jeremy kept moving around on the ledge, as part of it crumbled under his feet.
The boys had anti-gravity powers, but Jareth knew, not for that short of a distance. Before they could activate their powers, they would have already landed in the bog. It took highly developed skills to instantly activate this power and the boys were nowhere near that skill level.
"Oh, Sarah is going to literally kill me, and there will be no more 'Jareth playing with the queen in the hot tub' moments", Jareth thought to himself with self-pity.
That possibility alone put enough fear into him to give it his best. He moved as close to Jeremy as he could and instantly teleported to him, grabbed him, and teleported safely back to dry land.
"Stay right here and do not move", he instructed Jeremy who giggled, but stayed put.
Jay had lost his footing on the branch and now hung from it by his little hands. Jareth was about to pass out.
He soared through the air, half teleporting, half jumping, and grabbed Jay just as he let go of the branch, inches away from the surface.
With both boys back safe and sound on dry, non-stinking land, he decided to head back to the castle as fast as possible. No telling if Sarah had returned yet, but it was getting close to that time.
By the time Jareth arrived back at the castle, the goblins had hightailed it out of there; but they also had left quite a mess behind. Jareth did the best he could to clean up and erase any evidence of their ever having been a goblin party. It was one of those times he was extremely happy to possess magic powers. It sure made the job somewhat easier.
"She's going to kill me", he kept mumbling, working feverishly to remove the last few stains of evidence. He stepped back and looked at his cleaning job.
"Not bad, it'll pass. She'll never know."
It was time for another diaper and clothes change. Jareth decided to incinerate the clothes to be on the safe side. This time he did not dare asking Hoggle to help. He worked through the diaper change by himself with a grimace.
"Seriously? This is worse than the Bog of Eternal Stench", he held his nose and got rid of the trash with an incinerating crystal ball.
It was also time for an afternoon snack, which he did have Hoggle bring up to the study. Hoggle looked around, but didn't seem to suspect anything out of the ordinary.
The boys were hungry after partying all day and practicing their magic skills, and wolfed down Hoggle's snack in record time.
The weather outside was turning dark and it began to snow again. Jareth put the boys on the floor in front of the fireplace on a few pillows and stoked the fire.
The warmth and flickering of the light must have had a calming effect on everyone as within minutes, Jareth, Jay, and Jeremy lay on the floor, asleep in the pillows.
When Sarah came home an hour later she found Jareth laying on his back in front of the fireplace, holding one son in each of his arms. All three were sound asleep and snoring.
"Aw, that is such a sweet scene", she thought and didn't want to wake them.
Mara looked around suspiciously and gave Jareth a sideways look that seemed to say "what did you do?", but she didn't mention anything to Sarah.
When Sarah bent over them Jareth opened his eyes and gave her a big grin.
"Ah I see you are back", he carefully got up. "The boys and I had fun and I guess I wore them out."
Sarah picked up little Jay, and Jareth held Jeremy in his arm, as they carried them carefully up to their nursery. After Sarah had tucked them in and closed the door she looked at Jareth with loving eyes.
"You did a wonderful job, honey. I owe you one. I was worried for nothing."
"I'm ready anytime you want to pay that debt, babe", he said in a sultry voice. Sarah laughed and went to change clothes.
"Why don't you meet me in the study?" Sarah asked Jareth as he sprawled out on the bed.
"Because I have more fun up here watching you get undressed and then dressed again." He smirked at her with mischievous eyes.
"Yeah I know, but you could get me something to eat in the meantime from Hoggle", she laughed. "I'll make it worth your while", she teased him with a sultry look.
"Coming right up", Jareth said as he jumped up and teleported into the kitchen.
They had a nice quiet dinner together in their small dining nook. After Hoggle had finished cleaning the table they retired to the living area and sat by the fireplace. Jareth had added a few more logs to bring the fire back roaring. Mara laid on her rug chewing on a bone.
"How was your day?" He asked her gently and played with a string of her hair.
"It actually went quite well. They all like my ideas and we'll be getting together to work out a plan for implementation." Sarah looked at him excited.
"That's wonderful, babe", Jareth replied.
"What about your day? Any issues with the boy?" Sarah looked at him with anticipation of the answer.
"Nope, none at all." He coughed.
"What did you do all day?" Sarah followed up.
"Oh, you know, the usual, play, have fun, boys' stuff." He waved with his hands and tried to act non-conspicuously.
"Boys' stuff, eh?" Sarah replied slowly as if she was contemplating over a murder scene on who done it.
"Well, I'm glad you had fun. Maybe you can do it again soon." She patted his leg and went to get a cup of tea.
"Oh, I think I'm good for a while", Jaret coughed again. "Dry air, makes my throat itchy", he pointed at his chest.
Mara gave him an intense look with her piercing green eyes and squinted them. Jareth avoided looking at her.
Sarah returned with her tea.
"You are the best babysitter in the world", she sighed and leaned her head against his shoulders as she sat next to him on the couch. Jareth put his arm around her and gave her his famous smirk.
"May I collect my debt now?"
"I was hoping you say that", she replied and kissed him passionately as he began to undress her and reclined her on the couch.
"You do know he had a goblin party in here", Mara grumbled, looking up at the chandelier where a tiny little shoe hung from a string, dangling in midair, thirty feet above them. Sarah followed her gaze with her eyes and heaved a heavy sigh.
"I do, but he's so damn hot, and the boys are ok. Let's just let this one slide", Sarah replied and motioned her to leave the room, never interrupting her long sensual kiss for Jareth as he began to make love to her.
