While the plot moves forward, we can also indulge in some fluff. Oh me oh my, looks like only something like four or five chapters left! Thank you for your patience, you have all been so great! Please note the username change, and don't forget to activate email notifications! Xo

Sarah held uncharacteristically tight to Gwyreign's arm that morning as they walked to breakfast.

"It's not a walk of shame," Sarah thought to herself. "He said it's normal. Natural. It was just another instance of intimacy between us." Sarah hoped he wouldn't take last night's events and rub them in her face over morning tea.

Sarah left Onika and Gwyreign in the hallway and crossed the threshold of the dining hall. Light streamed through the motes of dust like linen curtains wavering in the breeze. The Goblin King sat at the head of the table; every seat seemed a throne when the brazen monarch sat upon it.

Sarah fought off a blush, but she couldn't keep away the sheepish grin that pulled at her mouth.

"Good morning, dear," Jareth said, the slightest hint of amusement in his voice. He rose to greet her.

"Good morning," she said, dropping her gaze to the floor.

"Ooooh," he tutted, removing himself from his seat to wrap her in a hug. He comforted her embarrassment with his embrace. Sarah buried her face in his chest, mostly because she wanted to avoid eye contact rather than show affection.

Jareth caught onto this quickly. He looked down at his beloved who nuzzled herself in like a small child. He couldn't help but smile at her sweetness.

"It's okay," he reassured her. He rubbed her back, kissed the crown to her head, and lay his cheek upon her silky hair.

~.*.~ ~.*.~ ~.*.~ ~.*.~ ~.*.~

"Not again," thought Sarah. Once again she found herself walking through the Labyrinth of her dreams. The sky was dark and the edges of her vision were fuzzy, like an illusion that only comes into focus if you squint. Sarah knew where to go. She walked forward to the crossroads and took a left.

As expected, the walls before her were oozing and blackened—only now, the strange infection has spread further.

"I've seen this before, but this is just a nightmare, isn't it…?" The Labyrinth was silent. "Why are you showing me this? I already know this is here, and it isn't even real, right?" Again silence. Sarah felt like the Labyrinth wasn't leading her here; she sensed there was something else she was supposed to see—but what? Sarah turned from the blackness.

Behind her stood a figure cloaked in black. It was shadowy and wispy, like a wraith only half-tethered to their realm.

Sarah's breath stopped. Her heart jumped into her throat. But, she quickly swallowed down her fear.

"Who are you?" she demanded, but the figure didn't answer. The face was blurry. If only she could just make it out…

"Who is this, why am I seeing them? Is this my attacker, or the figure in the market" Sarah asked the Labyrinth gently. She felt the figure was not real, that it was only a projection, an image.

She took a step forward, but the cloudy humanoid was still a blur. Another step forward. She reached up to touch its face; perhaps a shroud needed to be lifted, if she could only make contact…

The thing's hand shot up and grabbed Sarah by the neck. Sarah felt its cold hand choke the scream that tried to escape her throat.

~.*.~ ~.*.~ ~.*.~ ~.*.~ ~.*.~ ~.*.~

Sarah woke up and screamed. The moment she recognized her room, she jumped out of bed. Without grabbing her robe, she dashed down the hallway. By now, she knew her way in the dark, even when she had to manage the Labyrinths changing twists and turns.

Knock knock knock knock.

"This had better be—"

Jareth flung open his door and stopped short, stunned at the sight of his beloved. Sarah was ready to tell him everything she had seen, she was ready to let every communication and vision from the Labyrinth pour out of her like a dam of water that had been waiting to burst, but her voice never made it past her lips.

Jareth was shirtless. She had seen him without a shirt before, but seeing him standing there, disheveled, in the dim light made her heart skip a beat. Sarah had always thought Jareth's regular hair was messy, but she was mistaken; this was messy. His eyes were sharp and attentive, but half-closed. Was that dried spittle at the corner of his mouth?

"I…I have something to tell you. Something happened." If Jareth's swim-shorts had kept no secrets, his underwear were screaming them. Sarah tried to keep her eyes level, but she couldn't help but sneak a peek at the tiny, thin briefs that were barely there.

Jareth stared at her for a second, unsure what to make of the intrusion.

"Uh, come on in," he said, ushering her into his bedroom. With a wave of his hand, a warm glow lit up the space. Sarah stepped across the threshold.

The hair on the back of Sarah's neck stood up. Their frequent make-out sessions had usually taken place throughout the castle. On rare occasions, they had gone to Sarah's bedroom. But, never had Sarah been in his bedroom—especially never in a short, lacy nightgown. Her cherry-blossom pink negligée tickled her thighs as goosebumps formed, and the deep swoop of her neckline that exposed most of her chest made the warm room feel cold. Despite her current feelings for Jareth, her body remembered. Her feelings remembered. She was in his territory now, and panic mixed with urgency dreams and confusion. She took a nervous gulp with a dry mouth, hyper-aware of her surroundings.

"What's the matter, dear?" asked Jareth, his voice now sounding more awake and concerned. Sarah's pulse steadied as he wrapped himself in a silky, umber robe, concealing the pale skin and lean muscles of his body.

The bed was a four-poster bed draped with midnight-blue curtains. Each column of the bed frame had a detailed barn owl carved at the top. A massive, fur rug covered the center of the floor. Not one, not two, but three large wardrobes were placed at the perimeter of the room. From all around them several lit candles cast their light from bronze sconces.

Sarah tried to focus on the feel of the floor under her feet, on which she swayed slightly. She mentally reassured herself; Jareth was a different person, she was safe; and she enjoyed intimacy with him. She gulped once more and parted her lips to speak.

"I've been dreaming, but I don't think these dreams are coincidences. The Labyrinth is communicating with me; I'm sure of it."

She told him how she had dreamt of the blackened Labyrinth walls, how the Labyrinth had revealed a threatening figure to her, how she had even seemed to communicate more than once.

Jareth drew back the bed curtains and sat, his brow furrowed in thought.

"It…can't be sick. The Labyrinth would've told me. Why wouldn't she have told me. And at the worst possible time…"

Jareth looked bewildered.

"It was the Labyrinth that healed me after the changeling spell. I don't know why it's speaking to me, but it is."

"But why. Why you and not…"

The king looked forlorn with his knitted brows and wide, despairing eyes in a rare moment of unguarded emotion. The king was not jealous, as Sarah had thought for a split second, but simply forlorn. Sarah took her beloved's hand and squeezed it tightly. She couldn't imagine what he was feeling now that the Labyrinth was talking to her and not him. Perhaps he felt he failed. Perhaps he thought the Labyrinth thought him unworthy. Perhaps he felt guilty for not finding the sickness.

"Don't blame yourself. You've got a lot on your plate. The ability to communicate probably has something to do with successfully running the Labyrinth," Sarah said, sitting next to him. She stroked his arm with her free hand.

"Well, we already know someone is after you, so this vision was no help whatsoever," Jareth snapped.

"At least it's a warning."

"Yes, but you do not know if this black corrosion is symbolic or literal, nor do you know where it is."

Sarah didn't have a positive reply for this one.

"Tomorrow. I have to start tomorrow in the search for this sickness or whatever it is. I need to connect with the Labyrinth. Perhaps I have let myself get too distracted of late." He hung his head and combed his hands through his hair, taming his many fly-aways as a result. Sarah moved her hand from his arm to his back and rubbed her hand in wide circles. There were problems politically and now problems with the Labyrinth itself, both of which Sarah was feeling less and less qualified to deal with. Seeing Jareth this way worried Sarah; if Sarah didn't know what to do, and Jareth didn't know what to do, then things were about to get even more complicated.

"Tomorrow, not today," said Sarah, "so let's stop worrying and get some sleep."

Jareth sat up. His eyes that were squinted in thought opened wide as he became self-aware.

They were together. At night. In his bedroom.

His head snapped to look at her, scanning her eyes. "Would you…like to spend the night?" he asked, unsure.

Sarah's mind went blank for a moment. If she stayed the night, surely that was giving a green light for… No, she was allowed to want to stay the night and say "no." Wasn't she? Yes, he was a different person. She was safe.

"Yes," she replied with a soft smile. Her green eyes glistened in the candlelight, making them deeper, darker. Jareth leaned in, unaware he was staring, unaware he was falling into her gaze. He reached out and brushed his fingers along her cheek.

"You're so beautiful, Sarah." Her smile reached her eyes, only deepening the green of their depths. He leaned in to kiss her. Every time they kissed, it felt as if they had been apart for ages, for eons, as if every moment their lips were apart was an eternity. These eternities were forgotten until their lips met, and then it was if they had been hungry without knowing it, starving but not feeling it until the moment they made contact. It took only moments before Jareth felt drunk, felt that dizzying, spinning sensation as he became overwhelmed with the very presence of her.

Sarah broke the kiss and crawled across the bed. She tucked herself beneath the covers, and Jareth scrambled to spoon her. He pressed himself flush to her, purring into her ear. He buried his face in her neck, letting her warmth envelope him. He already felt as if he were drifting, as if the daze of her scent and skin sent him careening into the world between sleeping and awake

"My love," he whispered as he traced his fingers up and down her arm. She turned her head back towards him to steal another kiss, and another, and another. She sighed. He pulled back and ran his thumb over her plump lips. They shone in the candlelight, now moistened after their kissing. He dipped his thumb into her mouth. She bit down lightly before sucking on his digit, causing the consequence of his arousal to dig into her back.

She pulled her mouth away. "I'm sorry. I don't mean to tease. Let's get some rest."

He placed tender kisses on her head, pressing his lips into her silky hair. "Whatever you want, love. Holding you is heaven to me. Just touching you fills me with…with…" he shuddered as he sighed as satisfaction coursed through his body.

Sarah relaxed. She knew she was safe, she just had to convince herself.

"I love you," she said, allowing her tension to dissipate and body to melt into him.

"And I you, my darling."