DISCLAIMER: I own half a mint Kit-Kat, a painkiller and a rather fetching leather bag. I do not own Labyrinth or anything associated with it. And I definitely don't own Jareth's hair. It is the property of seven year old Sarah.

NOTES OF AN AUTHORESS: A follow-up to "Sure did treat me nice." since you all seemed to want one. Review now! And I will write more!

A Lovely Birthday Surprise

"Close your eyes and make a wish Sarah!" Sarah screwed up her face in concentration and blew as hard as she could. There was a round of applause from her family and Sarah looked around, beaming.

"What did you wish for Sarah?" her father asked.

"Can't tell you!" Sarah said through a mouthful of the gooey chocolate cake. "If I do it won't come true!" And above every other wish she'd ever made she really did want this one to come true.

Her father smiled with paternal pride and ruffled Sarah's short brown hair, a gesture which earned him a fond smile from his ex-wife Linda. She had come down specially for her daughters birthday and though things were still awkward with her ex-husband they made an effort for Sarah's special day.

Sarah bolted the rest of her cake and jumped up. "Daddy, can I go to my room? I want to play with my new presents." She smiled angelicly, knowing that today of all days she could twist her father around her little finger.

"Of course you can sweetie." Sarah flashed him a dazzling smile of gratitude and bolted upstairs. When she arrived at her bedroom she paused with her hand on the door knob, her heart thudding. Would her wish have come true? Only one way to find out. Taking a deep breath she flung the door open and ran in. And her wish had come true for standing in the middle of her room was a boy, a boy with mis-matched eyes, flyaway hair and the strangest costume she had ever seen.

"Jareth!" Sarah squealed, running across the room and flinging herself at him, wrapping her arms around him in a bone crushing hug. "You came!"

Jareth hugged her back, his grin just as broad as hers. " 'Course I did," he said, as he carefully removed the limpet-like Sarah from him. "Couldn't miss your birthday now, could I?"

Sarah giggled with sheer joy as went to shut the door so her parents wouldn't walk in and ask who the strange boy was in her bedroom. When she turned back round Jareth was rooting through the drawers in her vanity.

"Hey!" she squawked indignantly as he examined the various hair-clips, bobbles and beads that littered her desk. He stopped and looked up, not in the least bit guilty.

"What?" He asked, his face a picture of innocence. Sarah was not fooled and stomped over to him.

"Those are my things! You can't just go touching my things!" She grabbed a plastic necklace out of his hand and jammed it back in the drawer.

"Why did you call me?" Jareth enquired, changing the subject abruptly and throwing Sarah off balance. Why had she called him?

"I wanted to see you," she murmured, suddenly embarresed. There was a pause and then she added. "I really liked that candycane you gave me."

"Thanks!" Jareth grinned and sat down at her chair, a chair that her mother had bought for her when they moved in and that they had painted with little fairies and flowers. It was her favourite piece of furniture, excluding her bed and she didn't like it when other people touched it. So it was a surprise when she found that she really didn't mind Jareth sitting on it. Her gaze flitted from him, to the vanity and finally to his hair. Sarah picked up a brush and smiled wickedly.

"Want to play a game?" She asked innocently.

"Sure," Jareth replied, oblivious to the fact that Sarah was choosing some of her more flowery and more sparkly hairclips and putting them in the pocket of her dress for easy access. "What game?"

"Hairdressers." Sarah stated simply though you would have thought she had said "Axe Murderers" by the look on Jareth's face. He tried to stand but she pushed him back down and started pulling the brush through his birds-nest hair. She thought that it would have been horribly knotty but the brush slid through it easily and when she ran her fingers through it it was as smooth as silk. When she had brushed it she chose a section at random and plaited it, just the way her mother had shown her. At the end of it she secured it with a sparkly pink band and stood back to admire her work. Jareth was twisting around in the seat, trying to see what she was doing. "Sit still!" Sarah said irritably as she put the hairbrush down and began to plait again.

When she had done seven plaits she got bored and started putting in her clips at random; a butterfly here, a sparkly flower there. When she ran out of clips she reached for a felt tip pen but Jareth had turned round and was glaring at her.

"No."

"Bu-"

"Just. No."

Sarah sighed and lowered the felt tip, reaching out and fluffing Jareth's hair up. "You look pretty," she informed him.

"Boys aren't pretty," Jareth sneered, staring at his reflection with contempt.

"You are." Sarah said as she adjusted a butterfly that was coming loose.

Jareth paused and then said, with more than a hint of doubt in his voice. "Really?"

"Really." Sarah assured him with a finality that could not be challenged.

Jareth's sneer changed to a beaming smile as he looked at his reflection proudly. "That's good then."

Sarah nodded and moved back so that he could stand up. He did and turned to face her. "Got something for you," he said. "Birthday present."

"You do?" Sarah squealed, unable to contain her excitement. What would it be? She knew that it would be something very special, he was, after all, the Goblin King.

"I do." He replied and reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out...a book. A simple book, with a red leather cover and gold lettering on the front. It said simply The Labyrinth.

"Oh." Sarah said, unable to hide her disapointment. Just a book. She took it and turned it over, her dismay obvious. "Thanks," she said lamely.

But Jareth didn't seem offended, in fact he had the look of one struggling to hide a secret. "It's a magic book," he told her, his eyes alight with excitement. "It's all about me. You'll love it, promise."

Sarah looked at him and opened it carefully, as though it would burn her. "And what they didn't know was that the King of the Goblins was in love with the girl..." She looked up at him, shocked. "Is the girl me? Are you in love with me?"

Jareth chuckled. "It's just a story Sarah." Seeing her crushed look he hurridly continued. "It might be true one day, you never know."

"But you're not in love with me," Sarah pressed, refusing to budge from her point.

"No. You're my friend."

Sarah brightened. "Good!" She reached out and hugged him, enjoying the feel of his fluffy hair against her cheek. She pulled away and clutched the book to her chest, almost reverently.

"I'll take real good care of it!"

"I know you will. That's why I gave it to you."

Sarah beamed with joy. "Do you want to stay for tea?" She asked.

"Can't." Jareth replied simply. "Kingdom to run 'n all. But I'll come visit."

"You better!"

"See you then Sarah."

"Bye Jareth."

And then, in a swirl of glittery wind he was gone.

She was half-way down the stairs when she realized that he'd taken her favourite hair clips with him.