Disclaimer: I do not own the Labyrinth or any of its original characters, that privilege belongs to Jim Henson. I also do not own the song "As the world falls down"

Chapter 4: Somewhere to belong

Jareth Materialised into his very own bed chambers. He still carried Sarah firmly pressed against him he walked over to the king sized canopy bed and placed Sarah on top of the covers. He examined Sarah looking over her delicate body all he could feel was remorse.

He had debated going to the far North to the Kingdom of the Elves to fetch a healer but he didn't want to leave Sarah in the fear that she became worse or woke up. He decided the best course of action would be to try to heal her himself.

He began by placing her arms down by her sides. He then removed his gloves so that his magic would be able to run through to her more smoothly. He placed his bare hands on her ribs and began focusing his magic on healing any that were cracked, then he placed his hands on her face and tried to heal all her cuts and bruises. From what he could tell he had mended her broken ribs and nose. Her eyes were still very bruised but the swelling had lifted significantly.

Although Jareth possessed very strong powers he was not a healer and his skills lacked in this area. When he was satisfied that he had done all that he could do, he gently lifted her off the bed and placed her under the blankets, he began to tuck her in.

He could not help but admire her beauty, she was after all half naked. He quickly stopped himself and placed the blanket down around her sides. Just as he was about to leave the room to fetch a servant, Sarah began to stir.

Jareth turned around and stood next to the bed towering over her. Sarah looked up at him, her green eyes glistened with tears and appeared even greener than normal with the purple bruising that surrounded them.

"And why would you let him torture you that long before you would call to me. Are you that stubborn that you would allow yourself to be beaten and raped?" Jareth said with a firm voice.

Sarah shrugged her shoulders, tears filled her eyes, ashamed of what had happened and that she had called for him, she turned to her side to hide her tears.

"I didn't think you would come, I thought you hated me." She quietly replied.

Jareth sighed instantly regretting his harsh tone.

"I don't hate you love, its just... You are not fair to me. I offered you everything and you rejected me to return to the aboveground. Next you call to me out of fear and I find you in the worst possible state. I am exhausted to living up to your expectations Sarah. Can't you see that you belong here- I can't ever see you that way again Sarah." He replied softening his tone.

There was a long pause between them they both stared into each others eyes as if trying to read each other.

"I'm sorry for everything and for what it's worth- thank you." Sarah said in a soft voice.

Jareth felt his cold exterior melt away and his frown diminished into a relaxed face of surprise.

"I move the stars for no except you pet." He said under is breath.

He then smiled briefly and then quickly became serious again.

"You need to rest now, I will not disturb you, you will sleep in my chambers tonight, I will have a room prepared for you tomorrow."

Just as Jareth began to set out, Sarah quickly leapt up from the bed wincing in pain.

"Can you please just lay here next to me.. I really don't want to be alone tonight." She said with urgency.

"Of course precious, whatever will make you feel that this is your home." He replied tenderly.

Jareth headed towards the other side of the bed, he removed his leather vest, shirt and boots and climbed into the bed next to Sarah, he dimmed the lights with a flick of his hand. Sarah cautiously moved closer to Jareth until the side of her body was touching his. She could feel the warmth of his skin on hers and it sent shivers down her spine. There was a forbidden mysterious lust about him that made Sarah feel warm and tingly all over. As if Jareth could sense that Sarah wanted closeness he reached over to her and pulled her into his chest. Sarah nuzzled into him and surprisingly as nervous as she thought she should feel she felt herself relax into him.

Jareth could feel the sadness and fear within her and slowly and melodically began to sing what he liked to think of as their song:

"There's such a sad loveDeep in your eyes A kind of pale jewelOpen and closed Within your eyesI'll place the skyWithin your eyes

There's such a fooled heart

Beatin' so fast

In search of new dreams

A love that will last

Within your heart

I'll place the moon

Within your heart

As the pain sweeps through,

Makes no sense for you

Every thrill is gone

Wasn't too much fun at all,

But I'll be there for you

As the world falls down

And just like that Sarah was asleep.

When Sarah rose in the morning, she woke to find herself alone in the Goblin Kings bed. However on the side of the bed where he had slept was a beautiful breakfast tray, a dark green floor length dressing gown and a note. The note read "My beautiful Sarah, I didn't wish to wake you, you looked so peaceful. I am attending to some work around the labyrinth and will be back shortly one of my servants will be in shortly to give you a hand out of bed. Please do try and eat something. Love Jareth"

Sarah stared at the note and read the word "love" over and over again. Did he love her? She knew that without a doubt after last nights antics that she in fact loved him. She just didn't have the guts to act out on it. She placed the note aside and decided to listen to Jareth's advice and try to eat something. But as she lifted the silver lid off of the plate she stared down the bacon and eggs in front of her. A wave of nausea overcame her much like it had the night before, she tossed the tray aside and tried to push the thoughts away of what Nick had done to her. She was truly thankful that Jareth had stopped Nick before he had taken her virginity. She had been saving it for the man of her dreams and not for some psychotic creep. She began to wonder what had happened last night after she had passed out.

Suddenly there was a knock on the door, Sarah was too sore to get up so she decided a simple "please come in" would do.

A large goblin entered the room, it appeared to be female, with green leathery skin and yellow eyes.

"Our King has asked that I help you out of bed and into the bath. Would you like my help?" She asked breathlessly.

"Oh no that won't be necessary I can manage on my own. Thank you though." Sarah quickly replied.

"Okay than I'll be on my way. But if his majesty asked why I did not assist you I will tell him that you rejected my services, I am not being dunked into the bog."She said firmly.

"No problem, I don't mind taking the blame." Sarah replied giggling.

And with that the goblin turned on her heels and was out the door.

Sarah crawled her way out of bed and had a look around for the bathroom, she assumed in a room like this that there would be an ensuite. She glanced around the room and noticed a large stone fireplace with a beautiful lounge chair.

"That will be perfect for me to read in later." She thought to herself smiling.

She noticed some large book shelves that went all the way to the ceiling, that made her smile even wider. The room had several large wooden doors that she was dying to explore but she decided to try the one closest to the bed. She opened the door and could not believe her luck- the bathroom. A very massive bathroom complete with a deluxe marble tub and porcelain toilet. She was absolutely busting so she took care of her business first, once she was finished with that she began to undress to get into the tub, when she glanced back at the bathtub she was shocked to see that the it had filled itself. The aroma of essential oils filled the room, she wasn't sure how the tub had magically filled and she didn't care. She carefully climbed into the tub and lowered herself in. The hot water felt amazing on her sore muscles and bruises.

Once she was finished soaking she climbed out of the tub and wrapped a towel around herself, and walked over to where the wash basin and mirror was. She wiped the fog off of the mirror and was shocked at what she saw. Her face was black and blue and her neck appeared to have hand prints on it. She removed her towel to view her body in the mirror, it was then she noticed that there were bruises all over her breasts and along the sides of her torso. Tears streamed down her face as she thought of just how close she had come to death.

Suddenly she heard the bedroom door open and footsteps enter. She quickly wrapped the towel back around herself. With her body still damp and her hair sopping wet she carefully left the bathroom to see who had entered the room this time.

It was Jareth he stared at her with slight embarrassment at the fact that he had walked in on Sarah wearing little to nothing.

"I apologise love, I didn't realise you were out of bed, I will come back a bit later once you are decent." He said bashfully.

And at the moment Sarah didn't know what came over her, a sense of passion and determination struck her, she walked over to where the Goblin King stood and reached up and pulled his face towards hers and embraced him a warm and heartfelt kiss. She tangled her fingers into his hair and reached out onto her tiptoes to obtain a better position. At that moment she felt Jareth break the kiss, he stood there holding her face in his palms shocked beyond belief.

End of Chapter 4! Please let me know if you like the story so far, or let me know if you don't!