All right, here is the next chapter for you all. Thanks to everyone who has left me some feedback, and keep it coming!!! It's greatly appreciated!!! Here we go.
Sarah went numb as she saw Jareth, standing in front of her holding a tray with food on it. The hand that held the sheet in place fell limply to her lap. The sheet, not having any support, also fell with her hand, leaving her breasts exposed to Jareth, who couldn't hide the smirk that was slowly appearing on his face.
When Sarah saw the smile appearing on his face, she suddenly found her voice and asked, "What are you doing here, and what are you smirking at?"
Jareth said nothing, but cast his eyes downward to where the sheet had once been held over her chest. Sarah followed his gaze and felt her jaw dropping again when she realized what he had been smiling at. As she gathered the sheets around her she felt her face flushing with embarrassment.
Jareth said nothing, but crossed the room to place the tray down on a table that sat in front of a large fireplace. He then turned and sat down on a chair next to it, crossed one ankle over his knee, and crossed his arms while he waited for her to speak.
Once Sarah had the sheet gathered firmly around her, she glared up at where Jareth sat, the smirk still on his face. "What the hell are you smirking at?" she asked him, very annoyed that he sat there.
"It was a nice way for you to greet me, Sarah, I greatly enjoyed the show," Jareth said, the smirk growing larger and larger into a full-blown smile as he talked.
"Do you think that I could possibly have a robe or a shirt or some form of clothing for myself so that I might get dressed?" Sarah spat at him.
"Look right next to you on the bed," Jareth said.
Sarah looked down and saw a midnight blue silk robe lying on the bed beside her. Looking back up at Jareth, she asked him, "Do you mind giving me a little privacy?"
Still beaming, Jareth joked, "What, no encore?" seeing that Sarah was getting angrier with each passing second, Jareth stood and turned away from her so that she might dress herself.
Seeing that this was a private as she was going to get from Jareth, Sarah quickly dropped the sheet and covered herself with the robe, tying the sash tightly around her waist. She swung her legs over to place them on the floor, but when she put weight on them to actually stand, they gave out and she went crashing to the floor by the side of the bed.
Jareth heard her let out a small yelp and he turned around to see her fall to the floor. He ran to help her up, only to have her push him away from her. "I don't need any help," she said angrily, and tried to push herself back up to a standing position. When her legs failed her again, Jareth was there to catch her before she hit the ground.
Moving her so that she sat on the edge of the bed, Jareth noticed that her knees were scabbed from the cold stone floor that she just fell on. Walking to the table, Jareth poured a small glass of water and grabbed a napkin off of the breakfast tray, then walked back to where Sarah sat. Dipping the napkin into the water, Jareth went to work cleaning Sarah's knees.
As he worked, Sarah took in her surroundings again, and asked, "Where are we?"
"We are in my chambers. You are back Underground Sarah." Jareth said as he dipped the napkin back into the water.
"What? Why did you bring me back here, and against my will for that matter? I distinctly remember turning your offer down last night." Sarah said, her anger toward Jareth growing.
"Shhh, be quiet for a minute," Jareth said as he set the napkin and the glass on a bedside table. He then looked closely at the wounds on her knees, brought both hands up to cover them, and closed his eyes. Sarah felt the areas where his hands were covering her get very warm for a minute. Jareth then removed his hands and inspected her knees again, noting that the scrapes that were there a minute ago were no longer there.
Satisfied, he looked up at Sarah and said, "Now, what were you saying?"
Sarah looked at her knees in amazement, momentarily forgetting that she was angry at Jareth, then remembering and answering, "I told you last night that I wouldn't help you out. So tell me why I woke up this morning Underground, in your room, in your bed, wearing nothing at all, and having you come in with a breakfast tray. Did you put some sort of spell on me Jareth? Because if you did, so help me I will kill you."
"Sarah will you calm down?" Jareth said as he stood and grabbed the glass off the table and walking back to return it to the tray.
"Why should I Jareth? You put me under some sort of spell and brought me back here to your bed and probably had your way with me in hopes of getting me pregnant and keeping you from marrying that other woman." Sarah accused.
"I did nothing of the sort." Jareth defended. "If you would just quiet down I will tell you what happened."
Sarah crossed her arms over her chest and cocked one eyebrow, but remained silent, waiting for his explanation.
"You see last night, after we had parted company, I came back down here and began to carry on my duties around here. Not long after I got settled, I sensed that someone was calling for me. When I conjured up a crystal to show me who it was, I was shocked to see you lying on a table with these strange men hurting you, poking you and cutting you and inserting all these different objects into you."
Jareth continued, "So I went to where you were and fought the men off, then I brought you back down here, where my healer and I worked on fixing everything they had done to you."
"Wait, hold on one second," Sarah said. "I don't remember any of that Jareth. The last thing I remember was walking out of the theater not long after you had left." She paused for a second, then asked, "Can you show me what happened last night?"
Jareth formed a crystal out of nowhere, and walking over to where she sat, held it out for her to watch. What she saw in the crystal made Sarah gasp. She saw herself lying in the middle of the street, the rain pouring down on her, as the driver of a car tried to help her while screaming into a cell phone.
The images flashed to two orderlies in an emergency room tearing at her clothing and beginning to work on saving her life. "Those are the two men who were trying to hurt you," Jareth said as he looked up to watch Sarah's expression.
Sarah caught on to what he said, then groaned, "Oh Jareth, they weren't trying to hurt me, they were trying to help me. It looks like I was hurt, probably hit by a car or something like that, and those men worked in a hospital. They were trying to save my life." She saw the blank expression on his face, then said, "They are the equivalent to medicine men or healers. You didn't hurt them, did you?"
Jareth looked back into the crystal and Sarah's eyes followed, and she watched as Jareth flung the two orderlies around like rag dolls. She looked back up at him, a look of disbelief on her face. He shrugged and said, "How was I supposed to know that they were helping you? It looked as though they were doing more harm than good."
Ignoring his last comment, Sarah said, "So you brought me here, and you healed me. Why?"
"Well, like I said, you summoned me Sarah. With the one exception that I made in visiting you at the theater last night, I never go Aboveground unless I am called upon by someone. I saw that your life was in danger, so I brought you back here and healed you with the help of my healer."
"Once I knew that you were going to be okay, I made sure that you would sleep for a while to help you regain some of your strength. But if that small fall that you took a few minutes ago was any indication, it wasn't long enough." He finished, standing up and holding his hands out to her. "Let's see if you are any better now."
Sarah hesitated, then placed her hands in his and he pulled her up to a standing position. Sarah stumbled forward and Jareth easily caught her in his arms. "Still need a little time," he noted. "Maybe if you had some food in your stomach, it would be better."
Before Sarah could say anything, Jareth had picked her up in his arms and carried her across the room to the table where he had set the tray down. He placed her in a chair then brought the tray closer to her in order for her to see what he had brought her. She chose a few pieces of fruit and began to eat.
Jareth sat in a chair across from her and watched as she ate. Sarah didn't realize how hungry she was and began to reach for more food on the tray. Jareth smiled and chuckled as she crammed as much food into her mouth as she could. Then a thought crossed his mind.
"I don't suppose you would reconsider my offer that I made to you earlier would you?" Sarah choked on the bite of toast that she had in her mouth, and took a sip of water. "What?" she asked him.
"Sarah, it is my duty to keep you here until you are fully healed, and since you aren't going to be going anywhere for a while, you maybe would reconsider what I asked of you earlier." Jareth said.
"Why is it your duty?" Sarah asked him.
"It is an ancient law written into every book down here that if someone calls on you for help, you must see to it and help them until everything returns back to normal. So, you must remain here until I know that you are completely healed.
With a smile, Jareth added, "And according to my healer, you will be down here a while, since many of the injuries you sustained were internal and very difficult to get under control."
Suddenly, there was a knock at the door, and Jareth went to answer it. A goblin guard stood on the other side and said nervously to the Goblin King, "Sire, King Arcinot and Princess Antonia are on their way here and request your presence to discuss your future."
With a sigh, Jareth said, "I will be ready and waiting for them in my office. Please show them there when they arrive." The guard merely nodded, turned on his heel, and ran off to wait for their visitors.
Jareth turned to see Sarah attempting to stand on her own, and he smiled when she triumphed. As soon as the smile appeared though, it was gone, and Jareth said, "I am afraid that I will have to leave you now, there are certain matters that I must prepare myself for."
"And what matters are these?" Sarah pressed for an answer.
"My time to find a bride for myself has run out, and now my future father-in-law and fiancée are on their way here so that I can formally ask him for his daughter's hand in marriage." Jareth said grumpily.
His mood changed suddenly and he said caringly to her, "Feel free to use the bath if you would like. And if you would like something else to wear.." With a flick of his wrist a large chest appeared in the room, "there are some clothes in there that you might find comfortable."
"Okay," Sarah said. Jareth turned and headed out the door.
"Jareth", Sarah called out to him as he stepped out of the room. He peeked his head back in, and she said, "Thank you for saving me and for everything that you have done. I really appreciate it."
Jareth smiled and said, "It is my pleasure Sarah."
Jareth turned once more and exited the room, grabbing the door handles behind him. As soon as the doors were closed, the smile dropped from his face and his shoulders sagged. With a sigh, Jareth turned on his heel and headed down the hall to prepare for his doomed fate.
Sarah turned back to the tray of food and saw that Jareth had created another beautiful ring for her and placed it in the middle of the tray of food. Sarah eased her way back down in the chair and began to think as she looked at the ring.
I am going to cut it off there so that the chapter doesn't wind up being 12 pages long. Let me know what you thought of it.