Jareth had never thought babysitting would be quite so… taxing. Sarah's parents had gone away on holiday and the babysitter they hired to watch over little Sarah was a withered prune of a lady who he was fairly certain was either a narcoleptic or just plain old. Either way, the woman was always napping on some surface in the Williams' home and effectively leaving Sarah to her own devices.
Which was never good.
Several months had passed since Jareth had decided he would have Sarah as his little princess. However, he wasn't going to kidnap the child. No, he would do nothing of the sort. He would have Sarah come to his kingdom of her own will and commit to it fully. She was not yet ready.
Because even though her parents neglected and did not love her, she still loved them with all her heart.
Love is dangerous. Love makes us weak.
Jareth visited her often. Very often. As in almost every other day often.
Sarah's loneliness had slowly ebbed away. The first couple weeks or so he found himself answering many a stir that came from her, but now they were much less frequent.
Sarah said she was happy she had made a new friend.
Jareth said he liked being her friend. She was a good friend to have, too.
If not for the fact that she had a seemingly endless supply of natural energy.
It had become routine that the moment he arrived to visit they would play a game of her choosing outdoors (if the weather permitted). Then, they would come inside and play some more. Sometimes they would play board games, all of which were pathetically easy (Candy Land? Seriously?). From the moment he arrived nearly up until the time she was to go to bed they played games. He enjoyed himself and Sarah seemed to have an endless amount of fun.
But her activities were completely draining.
If he weren't feeling so completely and utterly exhausted he may have found his current situation amusing. He simultaneously ran a kingdom of rambunctious and pesky goblins, watched over wished away and frightened babes for a maximum of thirteen hours, and mercilessly taunted and tricked every runner that had the misfortune of attempting his labyrinth on a regular basis, but it was a single six year-old child who was zapping every bit of his energy.
"Jareth! Let's play something else!" Sarah's enthusiastic and bubbly voice pierced his ears.
The King of the Goblins groaned at the interruption to the blissful silence he had been permitted to enjoy for a few sacred moments. He had rested himself upon her bed to relax while Sarah cleaned up the mess she had created in the kitchen due to her experiment with FrankenCandy.
Jareth had his arm thrown over his eyes. His body was begging him just a few more minutes' rest. "I am sorry, Sarah mine, but I fear I am exhausted. I shall not be able to play for the rest of tonight."
"What?" Sarah's voice was petulant. "But you said we were gonna play!"
"Yes, love, but I am too tired to do so now," Jareth responded.
"Alright." Sarah did not sound at all thrilled.
In the few moments of silence that followed Sarah's acquiescence, Jareth felt himself begin to drift into sleep. He sighed blissfully, but that sigh quickly turned into a sharp exhale when he felt a pressure on his chest.
"I'm bored," Sarah whined, climbing on top of him. Her weight was making it difficult to breathe.
Can I not have a moment of peace? Agitated, he hoped in vain that if he just ignored Sarah she would find her own amusements and leave him be.
No such luck.
"Jareth! I wanna play a game!" Sarah's voice had risen in volume. She bounced painfully on his chest and tugged at his hair.
Her whining, pinching, and prodding continued on mercilessly and Jareth did everything in his power to remain unaffected. He would not give in to her. She was in need of learning a lesson; one does not get what one wants by whining for it.
"Jareth!" She had climbed off of his chest and was now whining and squawking loudly directly into his ear. He could practically feel his eardrum violently vibrating.
His patience snapped.
Bolting upright in bed and seething with anger, Jareth turned a heated glare towards his tormentor.
Only to find her asleep.
He faltered, unable to believe his eyes. She had been yelling at him not four seconds ago!
Yet there she was…curled up next to him and sleeping peacefully. He belatedly realized that she must have expended the rest of her energy trying to rouse him and had effectively tired herself out.
Somehow, he could no longer find it in himself to be upset with her. No, the anger he felt moments ago was completely gone. Chuckling softly and shaking his head, he settled himself back down next to Sarah, brought the blankets up to cover them both, and was finally able to enjoy one of the best night's sleep he had experienced in quite some time.
Only to be woken up by Sarah's bright and jovial face early the next morning.
"Can we play now?" she asked eagerly.
Squinting up at her, he grumbled, "Precious, I think now is a good time to tell you that I am not a morning person."