Sarah went to the airport and bought the next flight to Manhattan. It was going to cost her a fortune, but she didn't care. She HAD to see her mom. She would worry about the cost later.

When she got there, she practically broke down the door knocking into it with her fist.

The door opened to reveal a man with neat blond hair and calm blue eyes in a comfortable robe. He blinked at the state of her. "Sarah?"

"Hey Jeremy." She said, trying to not break down in front of her stepfather.

He ushered her in, taking her bags for her. "I wasn't expecting you."

"Yeah, neither is Mom." She took off her jacket and set it down on a chair.

Jeremy looked very concerned. He took her jacket and hung it up for her. "Sarah, are you alright? I thought that you're in school. Are you running away from someone?"

Sarah was about to shake her head but paused for a moment. In a way she kind of was...

He looked alarmed. "Should we call the cops?"

"No, nothing like that." She sat on the couch, her mind in a flurry. "I swear, I'm not being hurt or anything like that."

Jeremy sat next to her. "Well, alrighty. I'll set up your room for you. Make yourself at home."

She smiled at him. "Thank you."

Unlike with Karen, Sarah had welcomed Jeremy with opened arms. Part of it was the fact that she had already gone through it with Karen since her mom met Jeremy a few years after her dad remarried. It was easier to when he and her mother lived far away and Jeremy showered her with presents since he didn't live with her so he wasn't afraid to spoil her. She realized now that Karen loved her just as much as Jeremy did. Sarah bad been bitter about her parents' divorce, but the truth was, they were just a terrible match. Wonderful parents, but a terrible match. Linda saw Sarah often and retained a close relationship with her Dad and Karen. Both Karen and Jeremy had known her since she was a child, so they knew her very very well.

Another reason that she got along better with Jeremy when she was young was because of his line of work. As an actor with her mother, he was all about encouraging her imagination and reaching for the skies. Karen and Robert were much more rooted in reality. They never exactly stifled Sarah's creativity, but they would remind her to look to reality, something that didn't go so well when she was younger.

Jeremy came back out after a few minutes. "Your room is all set up, kiddo. Your Mom is working late, teaching a dance class but will be home in an hour or so. I told her that you're here. Are you hungry?"

Sarah nodded. "Yeah, I don't need much though."

Jeremy was already making a sandwich for her. "Do you want to talk about what's wrong?"

Sarah moved to sit at the kitchen counter. She looked at her hands, feeling jittery. "There's this guy... It's kind of complicated."

"Matters of the heart always are, my dear." He took out two slices of bread. "Mayo? Mustard?"

"Both please, and thank you." She started to tear up. "It's sort of life decision stuff and I guess I'm just having a sort of mental break down. I dropped out of all my classes. On a whim too."

Jeremy gave her a tissue. "And you miss your mom."

"Yeah, I have to see her. Not just to talk on the phone. I have to see her." She repeated, sniffing.

Jeremy cut a slice of tomato for her, just as she liked it. "I get that, sometimes we just need our moms. No matter how old we get. And your mom is the best. It's why I married her." His eyes looked up in a wistful manner.

Sarah smiled as he set the sandwich down. "She really is."

He sat next to her. "Well, let me tell you. No guy is worth going so insane that you're dropping out of classes. Especially you, of all people. I know how you plan and how meticulous you are. I'm not kidding when I say that you're one of the smartest people I've ever met."

Sarah beamed. "Thank you. That means a lot coming from you."

Jeremy rubbed her shoulder. "I know you'd rather talk to her, but trust me when I say that when it comes to love, I'm sure that I've seen it and been through it myself, at least somewhat. Not exactly of course, but I'm sure that I've been in an almost identical situation as yours."

Sarah tried to not laugh at his face at the moment. She thought of Jareth, how he was cursed, how she had been wished away, how she went through this fantastic, magical journey…

"No offense, Jeremy, but I really don't think that this is something you've been through." She shrugged.

Jeremy rolled his eyes a little. "Oh you young people. Trust me when I say that you'll be saying the same thing when you're my age."

No, pretty sure I won't. But she smiled anyway. "Yeah, maybe."

He stood up, giving her a comforting smile. "I'll let you eat in peace. Like I said, anything here is yours to snack around or to use as always. You're always welcomed in our home."

Sarah didn't realize how hungry she was until she started eating. "Thank you for dropping everything to set up the room and get me food."

"You're welcome, Sarah. It's what parents do."

When Linda came home, she made sure to bring Chinese takeout for Sarah. That was often their comfort food when they had long chats. "Sweetie, oh, are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Mom." She hugged Linda. She could see the wrinkle line on her face and felt a bit sad that it had been so long since she last saw her.

"Well apparently not if you came all this way to see me." She rubbed Sarah's arms. "Do you want to talk about it in your room?"

They closed the door. Sarah realized then that she had no idea how to even start.

"Sweetie?" Linda put an arm around her.

Sarah looked at her mother. "You're going to think I'm crazy."

Linda laughed at that. "No crazier than me, I'm sure both your father and Jeremy can attest to that."

Sarah shuddered. "I don't even know where to start."

"You start from the beginning." Linda got a hairbrush and started to go through Sarah's hair. It was what they did whenever they had long talks. It was comforting and it gave their hands something to do. "Know that whatever you say, whatever you've done, no matter how terrible it is, I love you. Forever and always."

Sarah felt strength anew. It was just what she needed to hear. "Okay, but you have to listen to the whole thing. No matter how insane it sounds."

She reminded her mother about the little Labyrinth book that she had gotten for her. "Do you remember how I was obsessed with it?"

Linda laughed. "Yes I do, you loved the book."

Sarah told her about how she wished Toby away. How the King of the Goblins came to her, how she won his labyrinth. How she had been wished back to be with him by Toby. How Jareth saved her life. How she had feelings for him. How they had argued but then became friends. How she felt betrayed by him when she took a chance on him. How she came back just in time to save Toby.

Linda stayed quiet the whole time, just brushing even when Sarah's hair was straight. When Sarah was done, she still kept brushing.

"Mom?" Sarah said quietly. "You don't think I'm crazy, do you?"

"Sarah…" Linda put the brush down and sat facing her daughter. "You know that I've always had a kind of belief in magic. But this is a whole different level. To think that you have not only met such a… creature… but had feelings for him and him for you." She put a hand on Sarah's forehead. "Are you well?"

"I'm not lying!" Sarah started to get hysterical. There was no one else she trusted with this information. Except maybe Toby, but he was too young to understand about romance.

"I didn't say you were." Linda held onto her shoulders, steadying her. "Were you hurt or anything? Maybe your memory is being altered?"

"No." Sarah was firm. "Fine. I'm going to prove it to you."

She flipped her luggage over and undid the locks on it. She pulled out a beautiful dress, the same yellow-gold dress that she had the night she danced with Jareth. "This is the dress I wore on that date with him."

She set it on the bed, Linda looking at it. Her mother, along with being a fantastic actress in her own right, was a wonderful seamstress. "Wow, this is beautiful. You can tell this was hand stitched too. This must have cost a fortune with how long it took to make this." She wanted to ask where Sarah got it, but held back as she would just say that it was from that Goblin King.

Sarah picked up the crystal ball that Jareth had given her. She carried it with the deepest reverence to her mother. "This is the crystal he gave me."

Linda took it from her. "Sarah, this looks like a normal crystal."

Sarah laughed dryly, surprising Linda. "That's what he said to me too. 'It's a crystal, nothing more. But if you turn it this way, it will show you your dreams.'"

"So this is to show your dreams?" Linda shook it a little like you would a snow globe, but nothing showed up.

"Well, not this crystal." Sarah took it from her mother. "It's supposed to show the Underground creatures. And him. To remember them by."

With the shock wearing off of her, Linda was able to read Sarah better now. She could tell that her sweet daughter had so many feelings, all genuine feelings too. And all directed to this king that she was talking about.

Sarah held the crystal out. "Show me Hoggle."

The crystal swirled inside then an image of her friend showed up. He was gardening, wiping sweat off his brow.

Linda gasped. "Is that-"

"A dwarf? Yeah." Sarah didn't want to look too long. She missed Hoggle so much. "Show me Ludo."

The crystal swirled again. In it was Ludo and Sir Didymus together. The two were talking in hushed tones. Well, Sir Didymus was talking. Ludo was listening as he always was.

She asked to show the goblins, including Evie. They all looked sad. Many were crying and holding candles. Sarah couldn't take it anymore, seeing them cry. They were probably crying over her. She put the crystal away after that.

"You didn't ask to see the King." Linda noticed.

Sarah shook her head. "No, I didn't. Mom, everything is so confusing."

"Well how do you feel?" Linda held Sarah's hand.

Sarah looked at her mother's hand. The soothing hand that had taken care of her, that had comforted her throughout the worst times of her life.

The fog in her mind cleared.

"I'm in love with him." Sarah whispered.

To actually think the words out loud made it so much more real. She looked at Linda, tears coming down her face. "It's why it hurt so much when I found out that he was keeping it from me. But what do I do?"

Linda wiped her tears. "I think that you were noble in choosing what was right, in choosing Toby both times you left the Goblin King. That he did a lot of things that were wrong. But according to what you said, you did too. So maybe, just realize that this was his way of amending things."

"That doesn't explain what I should do." Sarah said a little tiredly.

Linda rolled her eyes a little, but not in frustration. More of amusement. "I think you know, you just are scared and would rather someone tell you what to do so it's not on your conscience."

Sarah thought about it for a moment. "Yeah, you're right."

"It's why you came here, isn't it?" Linda asked.

Sarah's nod confirmed it. "I should talk to him. I think I would regret it otherwise."

Sarah got out the crystal. She was ready. She took a deep breath. "Show me Jareth."

The crystal swirled and revealed Jareth, sleeping in his bed. Sarah felt her heart constrict at seeing him. He sat up, coughing.

Sarah let out a sound of pain when she saw that he was coughing up blood. He laid back in his bed, sweat dotting his brow.

"He's dying." She said in horror.

Time stopped for her in that moment. She didn't even feel sentient, couldn't even feel her own body.

"Sarah? Sarah!" Linda caught Sarah in her arms as she fainted onto the floor. "JEREMY!" She screamed for her husband.

Jeremy came in, carrying Sarah to the bed. He and Linda both revived her. Sarah felt like SHE was the one who was dying after seeing Jareth the way that he was.

When she was stabilized and Jeremy had left, she knew what she had to do.

"I'm going to go back to him." She told her mother. "I will try to come back, to see you. But I HAVE to see him."

Linda caressed Sarah's hair. "My sweet baby girl. From the moment our children are born, we raise them so that they can live away from us. That's the whole point of being a parent. I'll be fine."

Linda's voice broke a little at this. "I love you."

"I love you too." Sarah hugged her. "I'll find a way back to you. But I have to see Jareth."

Linda kissed Sarah's forehead. "You're a woman now, you have my blessing. I can't help but worry. I know you've made the right decision for your life."

Sarah gave the crystal to her. "Here, so you can watch over me. Will you give Jeremy, Dad, Karen, and Toby my love?"

Linda wiped the tears from her eyes. "You can tell them yourself when you get back."

She didn't know how she knew, but she could feel it. That this wasn't a goodbye. She always knew that her Sarah was an extraordinary girl with a strong will.

She stood up, still wearing her nightgown. "I wish the goblins would take me away. Right now."

Sometimes, the best person to talk to is your mom. My mom is wonderful, although being very, VERY traditionally Chinese it's not really the best thing to talk about romance with her lol. However, in most matters, she is the best person to go to. I also thought it would be interesting to put in the other side of Sarah's life, and also I've made Linda a bad mom often enough in my stories that she deserves some good storylines. Thank you again! This story is close to ending.