Darklady: (sits with Ly right beside her) Hello everyone. Aren't you just SOOO glad that I wrote this next part so quickly?

Ly: You might want to wait to ask that question, love.

Jaerth: (looks to Sarah with thoughtful eyes) Are you alright Sarah?

Sarah: (nods saddly) I'm fine . . . just a little upset that everyone has to read this chapter.

Darklady: (moves from Ly's side to Sarah's) I'm sorry Sarah . . . but to understand whats going to happen . . .
Sarah: (smiles slightly) I know Lady.

Jareth: (pulls Sarah into his welcoming arms) You have nothing to worry about Sarah. Everyone that reads this will think nothing bad of you. (Sarah nodds as Jareth leads her to couch where Ly is offering tea)

Darklady: Alright everyone we're going to get to our tea. You read and please remember. . .

THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS GRAPHIC SCENES OF PAST RAPE AND CHILD ABUSE

ALL THOSE WHO ARE OFFENDED BY SUCH THINGS SHOULD WALK AWAY NOW.

Just so you know though guys . . . this chapter has quite a few parts. . . and this isn't the worst of them.

Chapter 9: Getting to know you Warning graphic situations in this chapter.

Past rape.

Part 1: If only

The café was closing. Sarah had gotten her $200 in tips and was helping Sam clean up a little. James and Jareth sat, each lost to their own thoughts. After Sarah had finished the last song of the night Jareth had gone up to the stage and whispered something into her ear. At first Sarah had been warm and welcoming to it, but then James saw the flash of a memory across her face and watched her body go stiff.

Jareth pulled away giving her the space that she seemed to need, the concern he felt was evident on his face. Jareth couldn't figure out what was wrong. 'Did I do something to upset her?' He questioned himself. He had done nothing that he could think of. Sarah had been open and warm to him at first, then something seemed to change. She stiffened in his arms closing herself off and grew cold. Something HAD happened to her but he did not believe that it had anything to do with him.

'I did it again. I can't BELIEVE I did it again!!' Sarah thought beating herself up mentally. 'He was just HUGGING you Sarah! Why did you have to freak out??' She felt Labyrinth come fully into her mind. Now that Sarah had accepted her, she never really left her mind but partially pulled out.

'What is bothering you, little one?' She asked sounding happy at the idea of helping.

'You don't know?' Sarah asked puzzled. 'I thought you and I were connected, shouldn't you know what's bothering me?' Sarah could feel Labyrinth's smile as she spoke.

'It is true that you and I are connected. But though I feel something is upsetting you, I can't tell WHAT is upsetting you. Our spirits are connected as well as a part of our minds. You still have your own thoughts, feelings, and memories. Things that unless you wish to share with me are yours and yours alone.' Sarah nodded.

'So your saying because we share a spirit you feel some of my upset, but because I'm blocking you from certain parts of myself you don't know WHY I'm upset?' She could feel Labyrinth's glow of pride.

'That is precisely it, little one.' Sarah couldn't help but smile.

'And you would like me to tell you why I'm upset, wouldn't you?' Sarah couldn't help but sound a little upset at the idea of sharing one of her secrets.

'Only if you wish to, little one.' Labyrinth said with a mental shoulder pat.

Sarah was interrupted from her thoughts when James pulled her aside. 'Uh-oh Labyrinth, give me a few minutes. I promise I'll tell you everything you need to know.' She felt Labyrinth agree and pull from her mind. 'All right, now what does James want?' They had left the café without her noticing and walked to her favorite park without her realizing 'Gods I feel dense'. James asked Jareth to excuse them for a moment and pulled Sarah over too a swing set. Believing them far enough away from Jareth, James sat on a swing and spoke. "You need to stop it Sarah." She sat on the swing beside him and looked as though she had no clue to what he was talking about, although she knew full well. "You know exactly what I'm talking about Sarah Elizabeth Williams, so don't try and play dumb with me. You really are a wonderful actress but you do a horrible job of playing dumb, you're just to smart to pull it off." Sarah smiled and started to swing.

"First you know I HATE it when you use my full name and yeah your right, I DO know what you're talking about. But that whole thing about me being too smart to play dumb IS dumb!" She got a playful smack from him for the comment. Both friends laughed. James was the first to sober.

"Sarah, he's not like Mitch." She gave him a look that said 'how would you know?' he smiled. "Because I've known you for years and first off, you don't hang around people who give you bad vibes." 'Not after Mitch' they both thought. "And second you have some pretty weird gifts, Sarah. You've always been able to tell when something just isn't quite kosher, and Jareth isn't giving off anything weird is he?" Sarah looked back at the Goblin King as he watched them from a bench.

"No. I'm just scared James. I was supposed to be able to trust Mitch and he . . . " She stopped swinging as her eyes filled with tears. James got up as fast as he could and pulled her into a hug.

"I know Sarah, I know. But sweetie what you have to understand is not every guy you meet is like him. Not every guy deserves to pay for what he did to you." He pulled away from her enough to look her in the eyes.

"You're right."

"I know I am." He said 'matter-of -factly' making both friends smile at each other. "He isn't coming back Sarah. Mitch can't hurt you anymore." She felt a tiny trickle of fear run through her blood. He saw the change in her face, felt her body go stiff, and her breathing stop. "Sarah, what's up?" He asked concerned.

"I don't know, but something bad is going to happen tonight." They looked at each other and Sarah knew that Mitch was coming back sooner than she would have ever hoped.

Jareth let them go off by themselves. He was Fae, there really wasn't anywhere in the park they could go to get away from him. He could hear every mortal in the park. He listened to a few conversations as they walked in, some making him laugh, some making him upset, but as he listened to Sarah and James now he was left with nothing but questions. 'Who is this Mitch person? And what did he do to HIS Sarah?' He could hear her heart racing something had scared her. Something wasn't quite right. 'Only one way to find out' he thought as James and Sarah started to walk back to him.

James and Sarah walked back and James said his goodnights. "I've got a portrait to finish. I'll see you Monday at school Sarah." He turned to Jareth and shook his hand. "It was a pleasure meeting you Jareth. I hope we see each other again soon." Jareth smirked at the boy.

"The pleasure was mine and don't worry, I believe we will be seeing quite a bit of each other." James felt as though he should be worried about what the man said but couldn't help smiling back at him as he walked away.

Sarah knew James was right. She needed to explain a few things to Jareth before anything else happened. They walked alone for a while, making it to the bridge that she had crossed the day before with Merlin in her rush to get home. She sat underneath the clock and called Labyrinth. 'Yes little one?' She asked sounding perplexed.

'You might want to listen up, Rin,' She heard Labyrinth's laugh. It was like tiny chimes in her mind soothing and sweet, like chocolate as it melts on your tongue.

'Rin, little one?' Sarah smiled.

'Well you don't want me to call you Laby do you?' When Labyrinth squealed with displeasure Sarah laughed out loud, making for a very confused Goblin King.

"I was talking to Labyrinth, deciding what I could nickname her. I decided on Rin. She didn't like Laby." Jareth gave a nod of understanding but nothing else. "Guess you had to be in on it."

Sarah took a few deep calming breaths. She could count the number of people she told about what Mitch had done to her on one hand. James, his parents, her father, and Karen. James and his parents believed her mostly because they were the ones she ran too after it had happened. But Karen and Robert Williams, even with the doctor's notes didn't believe Mitch Matthews capable of such a thing. She sighed 'Time to see if Jareth will.'

"Jareth there is something that I have to tell you." He moved and sat ever so gracefully beside her of the ground.

"Very well little Sarah, what do you wish to discuss?" She visibly shuddered at the 'little Sarah' he had said it before, but she was always too angry to be bothered.

"Ok first things first. You can call me anything you want, I won't complain once if you refrain from using 'little Sarah'." He looked her in the eyes and nodded.

"Forgive me for being so bold but why, may I ask?" His voice holding nothing to clue in how he felt.

"When I was ten years old, my father remarried Karen Matthews, as you know. They were going away on their two-week honeymoon, and instead of paying for one of my usual babysitters Karen asked her older brother, Mitch Matthews to watch me." She sighed and stood, starting to pace in front of the still sitting King.

"I told my dad when Mitch first came that I didn't like the vibes from my 'uncle'." She looked up from her pacing and smiled. He was confused, she could tell. Something about the way his eyes stopped glowing with arrogance let her know THAT much. She stopped her pacing altogether, walked over to him and knelt before him. "For as long as I can remember which is around the time my mom left, I've been able to feel things about people. Vibes, as James and I call them, can tell me a lot about a person. Whether they are good, bad, going to be friends, or hurt me. My feelings about people are always SPOT ON!"

"And you didn't like the 'vibes'," he smirked " you were getting from him because?"

"I'll get to THAT in a moment." She stood and started her pacing again as if trying to run away from the memories.

"Please go on, my love." His face a mask of shock, had she heard him?

She continued her pacing, 'No. It appears not, Thank the GODS!!' he thought, he waited for her to speak. He was going to do a lot of thinking . . . LATER, NOW he was listening to Sarah. 'You're fine, little one. Just relax.' Labyrinth said calmly in Sarah's mind, she looked down at her feet as she paced not wanting Jareth to see the emotions that she was SURE were playing through her eyes. "My dad told me to cut it out, 'He's your 'uncle' he wouldn't do anything to hurt you'." She said mimicking her fathers voice. She snorted at the memory.

"So they left us alone. I was cautious but polite, he seemed nice enough so I shrugged off my feelings saying that this time they were wrong. We would play games, watch T.V. together, stuff my 'parents' wouldn't do with me." She smiled a particular memory and looked up at Jareth with tears in her eyes. "When I put on my first 'Labyrinth' plays, he did a wonderful job with his role as 'The Goblin King'." She let a tear fall before she turned away from him again. "He wasn't a good cook, so we would go out dinner or order in. 3 days before my 'parents' were do back he took me to the BEST place in the city, I haven't been there since . . ." She sighed and turned back to him as she leaned on the clock that the same strange white owl had been on yesterday as she practiced her lines. "We got home and something about the way he was looking at me made me scared. I thanked him for taking me to dinner and told him I was going to bed. He brushed my hair out of my face in a very 'intimate' and unwanted way. I shivered as he gave me a light kiss on my cheek. If felt like someone had poured ice through my blood, starting where he had kissed me. I was halfway up the stairs before I heard him say he'd be up in moment to check on me. A part of my mind told me to get out of the house, told me that something bad was going to happen. But like the idiot I was/is I shrugged it off, even as every fiber of my being screamed for me to listen, Gods if I knew then what I know now, I would have run for the hills." She turned to him and smiled sadly. "I would have even wished myself away to you." She shrugged her shoulders as if to say 'doesn't matter now'. She looked Jareth square in the eye. "You remember what you said 'What's done is done', Oh if I could turn back time Jareth I would prove you wrong. I WOULD have gotten out of that house then and there but . . ." Jareth looked at her, her fire was small NOT gone, but like someone was raining on it. Like someone or something was trying to turn out her light.

"Sarah, tell me what happened next." She nodded and sat facing him.

"I went to my room and put on my favorite night gown. My father had gotten it for me, red cotton soft as silk with black lace around the neck. Karen told my dad that it was too much for a little girl to wear, if she only knew what I did with it." She smirked at the thought. "Mitch came up to my room just as I was getting into bed. He came into the room and closed the window a bit, then went back to the door and locked it shut. I asked him what he was doing and he just turned and smiled. I closed my eyes for a second and when I opened them he was sitting on my bed, his face a breath away from my own. The next thing I knew he was kissing me. His lips on mine were like sandpaper on silk, rough and unwanted. Once I got over the shock, I pushed him away and smacked him hard across the face. That was my first mistake. He pulled back and smiled again, he never stopped smiling. He punched my in my right eye and I screamed as I fell back on my bed. He moved to lift my gown up and I kicked him as hard as I could in the face, second mistake. I cut his lips and he STILL smiled at me. He punched me in the gut, knocking the wind out of me. He pushed my gown up as I was gasping for breath. I tried to fight again kicking my legs, but he stopped that by grabbing my legs spreading and pinning them so I couldn't move them anymore. When he moved to kiss me again I spit at him, he laughed at that and smacked me across the face, the only way he knew how. You know like from the movie 'Pretty Woman'" She smiled 'no he wouldn't know'.

"...His hand hit my cheek and my whole head spun, my eye felt like it had exploded in my head and my head felt like I'd been kicked by a horse." She sighed. "The next thing I felt was two fingers moving my underwear aside and pushing roughly inside me. It hurt like hell so I screamed and pushed against his shoulders. He punched me again in the face and using his punching hand, he pinned my arms above my head. He pulled two fingers out and slammed THREE back in, his nails scraping my insides, bruising me inside as well as out. I screamed as I felt him cut me he leaned down and whispered in my ear 'relax and enjoy it'. It felt like forever before he finished, pulling his fingers out of me he made a show of licking the blood off them. He pulled my night gown back down, kissed my cheek and left the room."

Jareth was speechless, he watched her and waited for her to finish for he knew she wasn't through. Sarah closed her eyes as the tears started to flow faster. "I curled up into a ball and cried as quietly as I could, trying to listen to the house to hear when he fell asleep. When I was sure that he was snoring, I got my back pack and filled it with a few days worth of clean clothes. I walked to the bathroom and used a wash clothe to wash my face, I would have taken a shower but I knew I was going to the hospital and I wanted them to be able to find something if they could." He gave a sad smile even in the face of horror his Sarah was a quick thinker. "I put on clean clothes, grabbed the nightgown of the ground and walked back to my room. I got my shoes and socks on as fast I could, grabbing nothing but a match box as I left the house, with my back pack and nightgown." She tried to wipe the tears from her face, finding it to be useless, she stopped. "I ran a few blocks away from the house and set the nightgown on fire. Leaving it to burn as I continued on my way, the cops wouldn't find anything on it and even if they could I didn't care I never wanted to see the thing again." She stood again walking to the nearest to tree and leaning on it. "I went to James' house, told him and his parents what happened and the of course they took me to the hospital. Even with Mr. And Mrs. Reese telling them about what the doctor found my 'parents' didn't believe it. Karen telling my dad that I was just doing it for attention, not happy about them getting all the attention with the wedding." She turned to face Jareth with a fury blazing her eyes.

"She told my dad that she heard me telling James that I PAID some guy to beat me up so that it would look real." Jareth stood and moved closer to her, about to put a hand on her shoulder he saw her stiffen and decided to just let her sit for a moment. Then she spoke again anger, hatred, and fear in her voice. "So tell me Goblin King what do you think of 'Silent Sarah'?"

Jareth shuddered inside at her cold, cruel voice. He knew she expected him to get angry, to act like her 'parents' had when she told them. He almost did just what she was expecting, yet again wanting to live up to her evil expectations. But then looking in her eyes he caught something that he was almost shocked to see, hope. She was hoping that he wouldn't be like the rest that he would be different. If this was a cartoon, you could have seen the light glow above his head.

"Sarah what that animal did to you is not your fault." He put a hand on her shoulder, she stiffened under his hand but he didn't pull it back and after a moment she relaxed again. She turned to give him a sad smile.

"You don't know me well enough to know whether or not I deserved it. I'm selfish, stubborn, and as most people have informed me that I am a complete waste of time and space." She looked away from him again hiding the tears that were coming to her eyes, again. 'I hate seeming this weak in front of anyone . . . in front of him'. She thought trying to blink back the tears. "Maybe they're . . ." she didn't finish. He turned her body to face his and put a finger to her mouth.

"Don't EVER think like that again." He said lifting her head, his voice soft but stern. "Yes there are things in your life that are no ones fault but your own," he paused to cradle her face in his hands " rape . . . abuse of any kind is never, NEVER the fault of the person who is receiving it." He kissed her forehead, letting a little of his magic flow to comfort her. "Believe me Sarah. I've seen quite a few abused children." Sarah turned a confused face to him.

"Abused children?" He gave her a genuine smile, she was amazed that it somehow made him even more beautiful, which is truly the only way you could describe Jareth.

"Indeed," he watched as she started to right herself, she was still upset but hell bent on making sure he didn't see any more than he had already. She wiped the tears from her eyes and smiled at him, he could tell

right away it was forced. 'Does she feel that she has to be strong before the world, or me?'

Darklady/Sarah: (sit wrapped in each others arms)

Jareth: Whats wrong ladies?

Darklady: I'm scared of what people will think.

Jareth: Of you or Sarah?

Darklady/Sarah: BOTH

Ly/Jareth: (move to ladies sides)

Ly: Neither of you have anything to worry about.

Jareth: Sarah you are strong and this chapter shows just how much so.

Ly: Lady . . . you have never really cared what other people think of you . . . why start now?

Darklady/Sarah: (smiles) Thanks Guys.

Darklady: Don't forget to review guys. I'll try and get the next part up soon. Catch ya soon