Blue Bananas in the Moonlight - and Selections from the Goblin Kingdom

by Shadow131

The new Goblin Queen is unhappy, and it's up to Bugwit, Nogtwit and Wog to find out why. Light-hearted adventures do NOT ensue. Rated for peachiness and Slightly Evil Jareth.

3. Shake, Rattle and Roll

A.N.: I hate this title, but Mztlynne thinks it's adorable. Leave your opinion in the reviews!

Also, two chapters in a row where it starts with His Nibs getting some! He does this on purpose, you know. I was just packing boxes in the shipping room at work, and he's all, "Hey, you know what I'd like to do with Sarah now?"

"Jesus Christ, dude, I'm at work!"

The Goblin King has no sense of propriety.

100% Fey B.S. Free!

Sarah's cravings are a nod to my own poor mother, who could not live through her pregnancy with me without Hershey's with almonds. Here's to you, Mom and Milton Hershey.

While I am quite pleased with my version of the nursery, if you want to have your heart strings really pulled, go read "Goblin Market" by Viciouslywitty, if you haven't already. Damn is it imaginative with its toys.

Shake, Rattle and Roll

"Hands up, Sarah. I want to have full access to you."

"I-I can't."

It was apparent to Sarah that fall suited the Goblin King's temperament. His already elaborate wardrobe was given the addition of fabulous colors, golds and scarlets and even a dash of purple to match with the start of fall in the Underground. Summer had been too hot for much leather, it would have stuck to the skin, but now it smoothed over his hands or popped along his collar again, and he looked very sensual and cozy in his leather jackets, his wife would have had to admit, were she pressed on the issue. It was also time again to light great, roaring fires in the disused hearths, and Jareth made every opportunity to drag his bride before one in the evenings, mugs of cider or snifters of brandy nearby while he made liberal use of his body to keep her warm.

Even now, Sarah could see the dying light of the fire reflecting in his hair, turning his pale locks into a beautiful ruddy gold. His skin was always so white, yet somehow so warm, and in the firelight it gained a gilded, gorgeous glow.

"Can't?" His mouth had claimed the peak of her breast again, and the poor girl whimpered, her hands dropping to grip his silky hair of their own accord. "Or won't?"

"Please..." She hated how husky he could make her voice become. The wretched devil had turned an innocent girl into a wanton, and he repeated the process over and over again every night. Just the weight of his body atop hers was enough now to start a Pavlovian response within her, and she soon found herself aroused and mewling beneath him, however much she did not want to. It was no easier tonight, the way he was tasting and teasing her bosom, his teeth grazing very carefully over the sensitive point of her nipple.

"No mercy, Sarah," he scolded, his fingers digging into the bones of her hip. "I don't want you shifting while I work. Either keep your hands up or I will tie them."

Sarah tried to raise her arms – she didn't like admitting she enjoyed what he did anymore than she supposedly liked receiving it – but she had such little control over her actions when he did these things. In the bed, he had complete power over her and it was terrible. He was gently moving her hips against the hard planes of his body, just letting her feel how aroused he was becoming as he worked over her when her pale fingers dropped down again and knotted in his hair, whimpering all the while.

"Tsk." Jareth picked his head up with his lips pursed, scolding his bride. "Naughty Sarah..."

"Please, Jareth, I-"

"Shhh..." His hand was groping blindly in the drawer of a nightstand, his eyes never leaving her lust-clouded ones. "I won't make the knot too tight, precious, I assure you."

"No!" Too late. He licked and nibbled at her wrists a moment, enjoying the heat from the point of her pulse, before carefully tying her hands together with a red, silk tie and looping this to the head of the bed. Without another word, Jareth began his tortuous and tender ministrations again, and poor Sarah writhed.

She wouldn't have been surprised if he had stopped time again, for it felt like hours of intensity she simply could not handle. It was downright painful, but so thoroughly pleasurable, all at the same time. It was not infrequently that her husband decided he did not want to chance any interruptions and stopped the flow of time around their bedroom, so he might indulge as long and well as he liked in her body. The girl was a mess of begging and pleading now, and the King grinned against the sweat-beaded skin of her stomach. "You have no idea how beautiful you are like this..." He kissed the swell of her stomach and looked up at the girl, seeing how flushed her face was, how her mouth hung open with the effort of her breathing. "My little Champion conquers me...but it seems you're ready for me now, love." Sarah closed her hot green eyes and mutely nodded. "Now, you know how I like to hear you say it...but I'll be generous," she stiffened beneath him and he grinned further, "just this once."

Sarah's gasps were choked as he pressed himself inside of her, and she bit her lip so hard she would have believed it was bleeding. Jareth separated her teeth from her lip with his tongue, however, and all of the moans of pleasure she had tired to repress spilled effortlessly into his mouth. Such a hard, ruthless man, yet his tongue was so soft, like velvet. She closed her eyes and whimpered as he sucked gently at her lips, his initial rhythm slow and steady, but building ever harder, ever faster. The Goblin Queen's breathing grew heavy and her dulled eyes peeled open; she needed to see how he looked when he did this, it was always hypnotizing. No one had more intensity of emotion than he did. Jareth's eyes fairly blazed when he moved within her, the way he kissed her flushed skin was like being worshiped. It was just too much, and Sarah's hands began to writhe against the restraints.

Her husband's head snapped up at the movement, not breaking pace for a moment. "None of that, love, I told you."

"I-It hurts," she pleaded in a pathetic whimper, her hips involuntarily moving to keep time with his thrusts.

His tongue in her mouth was aggressive, it made her moan into him all over again with desperation. "I wouldn't hurt you for the world." His breath was ragged, he nipped at the lobe of her ear a moment before returning his fiery gaze back to her. Sarah felt herself puddling beneath him on the bed. "But you are just so willful, my precious thing. How else am I to teach you what I like?"

"Please, Jareth-"

"Oh, beloved..." His teeth sank into the curve of her throat and Sarah cried out, hoarse, not caring that she would be heard beyond the bedroom – at least, not caring at the moment. "How can I be strict with you when you sound so sweet." The noises leaving her lips were senseless, begging whimpers, pleas for more, never even specifying what she wanted more of. "Why do you wish to have your hands free anyway, Sarah, darling? Is it because you wish to touch me?" He thrust a little harder now and she almost shattered beneath him. "Is that it, Sarah? If you say it, I may be inclined to do as you ask."

"I...I..." She couldn't think. Her brain was melting under this assault. It didn't help when his head returned to her heaving breasts and his attentions there began all over again.

"Say you need to touch me, and I might let you go. Say it, Sarah. Say that you want to touch me, that you love me, and I will untie you." She tried to stiffen, but his movements were too severe, and her wide-eyed surprise soon became wide-eyed desire. Jareth merely fixed his mouth upon her swollen lips again. "Say that you love me, Sarah, only me, just me forever. Say you're dying to touch me, and I will do whatever you ask of me." He ground into her harder, and she almost had to bite into his shoulder in desperation. "Say it."

"I love you!" She was crying out before she could think of what she was saying, and sex addled as her mind was, at that point she really didn't care. He was bringing her right to the point of release, knew he might leave her there for ages, make her beg as he once had, and she just couldn't take it. "I need to touch you, Jareth, please!"

His pupils were so wide it was as if his eyes no longer had any color to them, as he caught the end of the tie with his sharp teeth and pulled. Sarah gasped with relief as her hands came free, and before she could think of anything else to do, her fingers were buried in his impossibly silk hair, yanking his head to her so she might have fuller access to his mouth. His measured pace was becoming erratic now; he was close, she could feel it, and it drove her to writhe against him harder.

"Again, Sarah." He thrust deeply against her, hard, so that she cried out and was driven over the edge, every muscle contracting in painful ecstasy. "Say it again."

"I love you!" She whimpered and shivered beneath him as the climax rode roughshod over her body, making her twitch deliciously beneath him. She was gasping for breath as her head fell back onto the pillow, face turned away from his as she attempted to slow her racing heart. "I love you..."

He groaned and pumped deeply within her; Sarah's right hand lingered along his shoulder as he poured his release within her, watching him grip her hips with almost bruising intensity. Her mind was clearing, but slowly, and she submitted to the fierceness of his kisses with weak acceptance. Why had she given in and said it...it wasn't like she even meant it, so why did he want to hear it. Even so, she couldn't complain as he lay atop her, his body still racked with the occasional shiver. If she were being honest or at least complimentary, her husband was an amazing specimen in every single way, far outpacing any man she could have ever met in the Aboveground. His passions were as far beyond any mortal man as his cruelty. But if she did love him, God, what did that say about her? Severe Stockholm Syndrome? Whatever – she just said it to make him let her go, it didn't necessarily follow that she meant it-

Sarah froze, stiff as a board, beneath him, and the Goblin King didn't even notice. With a quiet, yet intense voice, she suddenly whispered, "Get off me, Jareth."

The Goblin King was licking a bead of sweat from off the column of her neck and chuckled deeply in his narrow chest. "Not a chance, dearest. Now, to return to that delightful topic of-"

Sarah sat up fast enough that it actually threw him back a little, and her eyes burned in their sockets. "Get off me right now, or I swear I will puke all over you."

Jareth stared at her, blinking dumbly for a moment. He was too surprised to be angry, and after a moment's gawking, he shifted off the girl, who bolted immediately from the bed and ran to the bathing chamber. Usually Sarah liked to pull on her pink silk dressing gown, which Jareth found amusing, since he knew every inch of her wonderful body so intimately already (he preferred to lounge about in all his glory post-coitus to remind her of every sinful act they had just committed), but this time she did not even bother. The Goblin King listened carefully to the dull thud as her knees dropped to the marbled floor, and even winced a little at the wet, retching sound that soon followed. He gave the girl a moment's peace before stealing from the bed to examine her.

Sarah's dark hair hung limp about her, her already pale skin looking a little sickly and tallow in the low light of the bathroom. She was clinging to the marble bowl, a pained groan escaping her lips, and she murmured her thanks when her husband handed her a small glass of water. It felt cool slipping down her throat, and she gathered the strength to tilt her head up towards him – and nearly fell backwards.

Jareth was looming over her, positively grinning. In the dark of the room, his teeth were a haunting white glow, and she could see the sharp point of his canines very clearly. She scrambled back from him in a crab walk, suddenly terrified by the look alone. "W-what is it?"

He stepped towards her with a sense of purpose, and before his foot had even hit the marble floor, his bare form was covered over in his black silks, his leather gloves and high polished boots. Sarah could swear there was no breeze in the echoing chamber, but his hair and cloak seemed to move about him anyway. "Sarah..." he half hissed, half purred, and it was a sound of sheer, horrible delight.

What could he be so happy fo- Sarah covered her mouth, a speck of vomitus still stuck at the corner of her lip. "No," she wheezed, still scrambling until her back touched the icy smooth wall. "No!"

Jareth's grin did not falter even once.

---

Goblins were hanging about in every nook and cranny – that was by their nature. It had to be a big event for court hours to be completely canceled for the day. It was true their sovereign didn't enjoy hearing their lists of complaints and suggestions from thirteen to one in the afternoon, but it was his duty as the Goblin King, and he took it very seriously, dispensing justice and righting wrongs. The dumber goblins of the Castle could not remember a single time court hours had been canceled before. The smarter ones, those who labored in the library or the kitchens or in capacities that took skill and intelligence, they remembered such an occasion very well, when the then Lady Sarah had stormed and destroyed the great Castle. It was of great interest to them, for that reason, that it seemed she was the cause of the cancellation yet again.

"Sarah." Her husband was cooing her name, tilting her chin up to face him or stroking her hands in an effort to stir her from this melancholic mood of hers. "My little Goblin Queen, why this long face, hm?"

"I just have the stomach flu," she repeated in a morose monotone, her eyes never leaving the stone floor. "That's all this is."

"Beloved, must you crush all my hopes like this?" Sarah fixed her green eyed glare upon him and the King gave a wry smirk. "I suppose you must."

Jareth had taken her to what he called the "healer's room." Sarah would have preferred a real, Aboveground doctor, but she knew she would have no such luck. Even so, the walls were all washed white, and an exam table was draped in white linen, so in many ways, it felt similar to being back at her old general practitioner's office. What sort of healers did they have in the Underground? Beings of ancient magic, ones who made medicines from herbs and tree bark and fairy tears? She turned her head as the door opened.

"I apologize for the wait, Your Majesty." Sarah's jaw dropped open. Bowing low before her was a creature in what she would have normally identified as a laboratory coat – except it was a bear. An honest to God black bear stood up on his big, hind paws and adjusted his spectacles along his long nose. It was like Little Bear had grown up and gone to medical school, and Sarah gawked. "Now, what seems to be the trouble?"

"Can I call you Doctor Bear?" she blurted out before she could even register his question, and Jareth covered his mouth with a gloved hand in an attempt to hide his amusement.

"Doctor Bear" seemed less pleased, and he glowered just a little at the girl over his half moon glasses. "I am known as Healer Orso, my Queen."

Sarah hopped off the exam table without a second's hesitation, her fingers immediately fondling the bear's rounded and fuzzy ears. "But you're a bear, right? Like, a real bear?"

Healer Orso was downright scowling while the Goblin King did his best to remain absolutely regal in the face of this entertainment. "I am an Ursus americanus, yes."

"Jareth, look how cute he is!"

"Indeed, love. Quite adorable."

"Your Majesty." Healer Orso shook himself the way an Aboveground cousin might shake water from his fur, and Sarah's fingers went to her mouth in sheer glee. "My appearance may be...fluffy, but I assure you, I am the most skilled healer in the Goblin Kingdom, and not a teddy bear to be gawked over."

"I'm sorry." Sarah was murmuring only to keep the squealing from her voice, and she obediently pulled herself back onto the waiting table. "I've just never seen a bear doctor before."

"Yes, well, I wager many of them have not seen you, either." She giggled again as he brought his long, tubular stethoscope from out of one coat pocket. "Please breathe deeply, Your Highness." Orso examined her head to toe, from her breathing and heart rate to her tongue and teeth. His inspection was thorough, eyes, ears, skin, all of it. It was probably a good idea, Sarah thought, since she had already spent months in the Underground. What kind of changes could that wrought in a girl? "What other symptoms have you been having, Majesty?" the black bear asked her, his long claw moving carefully along a list on a clipboard.

"Um..." Sarah's hands fidgeted in her lap. "I don't know. I've been fine, except the vomiting."

"Have you experienced increased fatigue?"

Sarah leveled a hard glare at her husband, lounging as he was in a waiting chair. Jareth just smirked. "He doesn't let me sleep."

"Any tenderness in your breasts?"

The girl flushed. "That just happens sometimes, like...hormonally."

"And do your breasts seem...fuller?"

"Fuller?"

The bear looked at his monarch. Jareth crossed his lean legs and rested his chin on his fist, still with that stupid, satisfied smile all over his great, dumb face. "Oh yes. My Queen is filling out deliciously in that regard."

"Sh-shut up, I haven't changed at all! Everything's the same."

"It seems unlikely that that is the case, Your Highness." He smiled and patted his giant paw pad against her knee. Sarah was not comforted. "But that alone is not definitive. There are some tests I can run, and then we will know for certain."

"W-will it take long?"

"A little while. Not very long. You may relax with His Majesty, and I will be back just as soon as there is an answer."

Sarah slid off the table as soon as Orso left the room, and before she could move in any direction, Jareth had seized her hand and pulled her onto his lap. "Aren't you excited, my sweet?"

Sarah sat stiff as a board in his embrace, near to shaking. "I'm terrified."

"Don't be. Nothing very bad is going to happen. If you aren't, things continue on as they are, and we will be patient. And if you are..." His voice dropped off lowly, his mismatched eyes gazing far away and clearly pleased with the thought.

"If I am...what?" Sarah hesitated, definitely trembling now.

Jareth's brow moved as she drew his attention back to her, and he cradled her soft face in his hands. "Then you will have given to me a precious gift I can scarce ever repay..." He took her hand in his own and pressed it tenderly against his lips. "I would truly be your slave, Sarah...I would owe you everything..."

"S-stop." The conversation was making her uncomfortable, and she was truly shaking now.

"Would it truly be so terrible? To be loved by me?"

"Jareth-"

He took her face in his hands again. "Do I not treasure and adore you? Have I not made you the center of my universe? What more could you possibly wish for?"

"It's not that I want more, it's that I want something else entirely."

"Oh Sarah." His fingers had entwined in her long, dark hair and held her still, so that she was forced to look into his eyes – and it felt like she might drown in that gaze. "I know it has not been an easy change. It was difficult for me as well. But can you not see the sense in it? How...well we fit together?" The King's gloved hand ran up her leg, pausing only to keep her skirt from obstructing his forward path, and he was stroking high up her thigh when the door opened again.

The bear held a vial of some strange liquid in his paw, his expression unreadable. "Majesties," he bowed; Sarah tried to scoot off her husband's lap, but he held her firm, his hand never moving from her thigh. "I have the answer you seek."

---

The girl could be seen running full tilt out of the Castle.

News spread like wildfire. Goblins were murmuring throughout the halls, in every shadowy corridor, in every forgotten corner of the great stone palace. And when the Castle goblins had all been informed, the word went to the City goblins as well.

Sarah briefly considered plunging straight into the Labyrinth, but she didn't. She put her hands up and skidded to a halt before she could hit the wall – or at least, she thought that's what she did. When she blinked open her whingeing eyes, she saw that rather than stopping short of the wall, the wall had bent itself to accommodate her. Power over the Labyrinth, huh...?

In so densely populated an area, gossip moved quickly. Passing fairies overheard market mongers, and their little lips were always loose. From there, the fieries were soon informed, and they began throwing heads in glee. One sailed over a wall, into a tunnel, and shouted the news to the False Alarms as it rolled on by.

She was quick to find a gate and stood before it, hands still outstretched. "Open up and lead me to somewhere far away!" she cried out to it, and she could hear the creaking of the boards. "I want to go far away from here!"

The False Alarms bellowed the news throughout the tunnels, where a mouse overheard. The mouse skittered into the hedge maze, where it was quick to whisper what it had learned to a passing worm. The worm informed his wife, who hurried off to let her sewing circle know of the wondrous happenings, and from there it reached even the very outsides of the Labyrinth's walls, to a bent little gardener with sad eyes.

As instructed, the gates of the Goblin City did not open upon the trash heaps, as they usually did, or even the major roadway to neighboring kingdoms. No, at its Champion's behest, the walls of the Labyrinth gave way to a sparsely wooded area, a little goat path meandering between the trees. The fall sunlight dappled the grass, dying leaves dropping here and there as autumn made its way through the Goblin Kingdom. It reminded Sarah a great deal of the park near her house, of the days she spent pretending to chase fairies through the bowers. Looking down the intriguing trail made her feel like she was a fairy tale princess all over again, even if she already was a fairy tale queen. She might as well see where the path took her. She walked slowly at first, to take in the sights of the gently waving, thin ash trees, but a sense of foreboding and of energy overtook her soon after, and she started her run again.

Sarah wasn't worried about becoming lost, though she had no idea where she was going, her skirts hitched around her knees. She was certainly not adept with magic still, she couldn't go "poofing" about like Jareth did, but she could call upon the power of the Labyrinth, and it would eagerly respond to her. If, for some reason, it could not show her the way back to the Castle, she had no doubt her husband would come looking for her.

She ran on as the ash trees gave way to thick and sturdy pines. She ran on as ivy and eye fungus wrapped the trunks and peered after the galloping Queen. She did not stop even when the line of trees suddenly ended and she found herself in a glorious meadow, charging up a sloping hill. At the crest stood an ancient, gorgeous willow tree, its dainty leaves green and gold in the dying world, and its whip-like branches swayed gently over a small, crystal clear pool. It was only here that Sarah slowed to a halt, a stitch in her side, her calf muscles aching from her insistent pace. White flowers ringed the willow trunk and swayed in a gentle breeze, and the Goblin Queen fell to her knees, her breath coming in heavy, short bursts – from the exertion, and from the threat of tears.

"This can't be happening to me!" she cried aloud, wondering if she could make the Labyrinth undo the damage that was done to her life. With no one around to witness it, she had no qualms about shouting, "It isn't fair, it isn't fair! Why does this have to happen to me! I-! I..." Tears slipped down her face, and Sarah drew her knees up to her chest, her cheek laying across the bend of her legs and her arms wrapped around herself. She was crying with the desperation of a child, which was how she felt. She couldn't do this, she was so young! She'd never made any pretense at home about being grown up. What would Dad and Karen say? How could she live like this! "I hate my whole, stupid life!"

Sarah intended to cry long and hard and feel good and sorry for herself, but she felt a tap at her shoulder, and turned; she expected her husband, since he was so bad about letting her have time to herself, but instead she found...one of those white lily flowers was being held out to her, and a soothing voice gently murmured, "Dearest Queen, what ails thee?" It would have been a tender moment.

But the flower was being offered to her by a branch of the willow tree.

Sarah let out a scream of surprise – though how anything could surprise her in the Goblin Kingdom now, she did not know – and began to scramble backwards, away from the bewitched arbor. Her feet, however, quickly became tangled and she felt herself pitching back, straight for the gazing pool behind her, her hands outstretched in an effort to grab onto anything to stop her descent.

Before she could make another sound, several branches of the willow tree had shot out and wrapped themselves around her back, making a kind of hammock to catch her in, gently righting her. "My lady!" it protested, a kind of chuckle in its voice. "You nearly fell into the pond, dear girl."

"How are you talking! You're a tree!"

"Indeed I am, fairest Queen." It still seemed to be chuckling, and its branches delicately guided her back into a seated position, pulling back stray wisps of her dark hair. "How does anyone speak, though?"

"Vibration of the vocal cords," Sarah bit back through gritted teeth, yet she accepted the flower when it was offered to her again, holding it between her small fingers.

"Is that how it is done?" It was definitely the most bemused tree Sarah had ever carried a conversation with. "Thou canst not imagine my surprise."

Sarah sighed, twirling the stalk of the lily between her fingers. "You're a bit of a sarcastic willow, aren't you?"

It stroked her pale cheek with a branch, and she actually giggled a little; the motion tickled. "I have been called many things, but chief among those titles is, 'most devoted servant.' I ask again, what ails thee?"

She sighed again, looking into her lap a while. "...I'm going to have a baby..."

"What splendid news!" His (for the tree's voice was distinctly masculine) branches quivered, the leaves swaying with excitement. At Sarah's non-reaction, the genuine sadness upon her face, he stopped his movements. "Yet I sense this does not please thee."

Sarah's breath shook with effort, it came as a sigh from her red mouth, and it looked like she may cry again. "I can't have a baby! I'll never get out of the Underground if I have a child here!"

"You wish to depart?"

"I don't belong here. I live in the Aboveground; my family, my friends, they're all there."

About her, the willow tree nodded. Sarah looked up into his flowing canopy that draped over her like a curtain, and felt...strangely protected. "I sense thy discontent. Yet also do I sense – your ties within the Underground are great."

Sarah looked down again, biting her lower lip. "I have power over the Labyrinth...I guess the longer I stay, the deeper it goes."

"And thou hast made many friends, hast thou not?"

"Friends?" Did he mean Hoggle, or Didymus or Ludo, the friends Jareth still refused to allow her to visit? Or did he mean...the goblins? "There are people I care about, yes..."

"And wouldst thou be sad to leave them as well?"

"Look, is this supposed to be making me feel better?" she snapped a little, lightly tossing the lily beside her. "Because it's really not. I get it: my life is a big, complicated mess. But can someone please get my perspective here? I'm just living my life, trying to graduate school, and all of a sudden, I'm abducted from my bedroom, married, and getting railed by my childhood nemesis!" The branches of the tree quivered; it was laughing to itself. "I'm so glad you think this is funny."

"My most humble apologies, my Queen. Your manner of speech is just...refreshing."

Sarah sighed and let herself flop back against the tree's sturdy trunk. It wrapped two thin branches around her shoulders in an embrace, and it did make her smile a little. "I know I can't get out, but I guess I just always hoped..." Her voice trailed off and she shook her head, green eyes very sad. "It's impossible now...I-I've been trying to make the most of my life here, I swear I have, but I'm not ready for this!"

"Yes...many a mother is not. We go through this life with stumbling feet, unprepared for what may lie ahead of us. Yet we persevere."

"Thank you, oh Zen Master Tree." She rolled her eyes.

The tree was laughing again. "You are a most witty young woman. The King must count himself fortunate to have thy hand to his."

"I guess I should have expected this," she murmured. "I mean, he goes after me like a dog humping a leg, it was just a matter of time." The tree shook around her again, and it actually made Sarah smile softly before becoming serious once more. "It's not that I didn't want kids someday, but now? After all this? A-and I..." She stammered and seemed to grow upset again. "I-I don't want to hate my own baby..."

The tree swayed; he seemed quite curious as to what the girl could mean. "Hate? Why wouldst thou hate thy progeny?"

Sarah sighed again, her knuckles to her lips in an attempt to keep her composure. "Mom wasn't ready to have me, she thought we were keeping her from her dreams...so she left. S-she said she resented us, and she didn't want that, so the only thing to do was to go." Sarah brushed the back of her hand over her eyes, refusing to break down again that day. "Wouldn't I do that? If I have a baby, I really am stuck here, because I wouldn't, couldn't leave like Mom did – but that just means I would resent them! It isn't fair!"

The tree wrapped himself tighter around his Queen in an effort to soothe her, to stop her from collapsing as it seemed she might at any moment. "Dearest child, thou hast proved thy worth merely through thy concern."

"W-what?" She sniffled hard and twisted her fingers around a stray branch.

"Shouldst thou be selfish, as thy mother, thou wouldst not care if the babe was the cause of hate or of love. But as you worry, you show that it is love you wish, and so love you must give."

"I really wish you could just say things straight forward rather than all this fancy lingo..."

"Hmm..." he laughed deeply in his tree throat, tucking a branch beneath her chin. "I say merely this: thou shalt be a fine mother, even if untried and unsure. It was thus for all women, through all of time, both Under and Above."

"I'm glad for the vote of confidence," Sarah gave a dry response. "But I just don't feel the same way. I'm a freaking high school drop out now, you know? And pregnant. There are TV shows about this! Bad ones, on trashy networks!"

"I have not the slightest clue to what you refer."

"Jareth never respects me," Sarah hissed through her teeth, her ire suddenly up. "I say, 'No, Jareth, I don't want to go Underground and marry you.' He does it anyway. I say, 'No, Jareth, I am a freaking virgin, let's not have sex all over the place, I'm not ready.' He does it anyway! And I say, 'Jareth, I am not ready to have a baby.' He freaking gets me pregnant. I swear he does this shit on purpose."

"'Tis common enough for wife to hold some dissatisfaction with husband."

"This goes way beyond dissatisfaction. This is some marriage counseling shit right here."

"I see." The willow seemed to nod around her, and Sarah drew her thin bolero jacket tighter about her shoulders; it was thin as spider's silk, and she could see that the afternoon was starting to die around her. It was growing cold. "What wouldst satisfy thee?"

"What?"

"What could thy husband do to give thee peace? If, as you say, you cannot escape, how to sweeten the deal, as it is said?"

Sarah looked down and picked up the discarded lily. "I guess I hadn't thought about that much..."

"Is it gifts that you lack? Appreciation? Affection? Many a woman wishes for more affection."

"It's not that, not really..."

"What, then?"

Sarah looked up, her jaw set with a bit of new determination. "I want what I think to matter, not for him to just ignore it like he does everything else."

"Canst thou tell him this?"

She smiled a little, looking up into the canopy of the willow tree. "...guess I have to try, don't I?"

"It is the wisest course, yes."

"You're pretty smart, for a tree, you know."

"And you, dearest lady, are tolerable company, for a mortal child."

"Your compliments are just overwhelming." Sarah stood, brushing stray bits of grass from her legs. "I guess I got what I needed, some time to think and scream and be alone. Time to go be a...a...responsible Queen and mother." She sighed and smiled, patting the bark of the tree. "Even if I don't want to be, it's what I am, so gotta make the most of it, right?"

"True wisdom indeed, my Queen."

"Thanks." She hugged the tree, which was a bit odd, but started back down the hill toward the line of the forest, twirling the lily in her fingers as she went. Jareth really didn't deserve any help from her in making this sham of a marriage work – but she'd rather be successful than petty, so she figured she'd just have to swallow a little pride, and hope he'd do the same.

---

"Queen look sad again..." the Goblin Guardsman rumbled with nervous discontent, peeking through the doors of the Throne Room.

"But baby," Tweezledown whined, entirely enthusiastic about the prospect of a baby the goblins could play with that wouldn't be taken away and given to some awful fey family. The goblins adored children, but had no idea that their rough antics were inappropriate, such was their enthusiasm.

Wog stopped grooming his ears in the alcove and thought, a noble prospect on his part. "Maybe baby what make her sad?" The horrified gasps around him made him shrink down somewhat. "Just thought..."

"Move, move!" Boltsneeze was hurrying through the gathering crowd, bustling through the Throne Room doors. His wings beat hard to keep himself righted, a large package balanced atop his knobby head. Goblins dove out of his path as the majordomo made his way to the King and Queen in their respective thrones, bowing low before them. "'Nother package, Majesty!" he cooed with drippy enthusiasm.

"Ah," Jareth purred, taking it in one gloved hand while he studiously ignored the goblins before him; the plaintiff claimed the defendant had eaten his entire store of pig's feet. The defendant didn't deny this either, mounting the defense of, "it was tasty." "Thank you, Boldrip."

"Boltsneeze..." Sarah sighed, her cheek resting on her fist. The little goblin bowed again anyway.

The plaintiff and defendant continued to yammer away, even as Jareth completely tuned them out, handing the white package over to his wife. "Well, precious? Isn't it like Christmas for you?"

"Oh yeah, if the gifts I was getting were all reminders of my impending doom."

"Oh Sarah, don't be so gloomy," her husband chuckled, tucking his gloved fingers under her chin. "It's only a little mood swing, nothing more." He shook the package in her hand, pressing his thin lips very close to her ear. "Aren't you curious about unwrapping it...?"

By this point, she really was not. It had been surprising at first when the packages came rolling in; gifts from far off places with names she had never heard before. There was even a gift from the Winter Kingdom's new monarch. The surprise quickly turned to dread, however, as each subsequent gift was unwrapped: baby items. Troll King Eradmol sent a shrunken head, guaranteed to be a useful talisman to ward off the child's future enemies. Sarah dropped it as soon as she touched it, and the goblins took to playing catch with it before the Goblin King made them return it. The Fairy Queen Appleblossom sent a gorgeous toy rabbit, its fur as soft as down, and it looked entirely lifelike – and it would become real, a note assured, once the child believed it to be real. A wacky Velveteen Rabbit, then? It didn't make Sarah feel any better. And from someplace she'd never heard of, with a name she couldn't pronounce, came a string of semiprecious stones meant to be used for teething.

The Goblin Queen wanted to be sick. She wanted her mind off her current state of creation, and no one in the Underground would allow that.

"Open it, Sarah," Jareth was insisting with a hint of annoyance in his smooth voice, and he placed her fingers at the seams of the package's paper. Sarah sighed and did as told. This item came from the High King and Queen, and she lifted it up from the box, curious: a mobile for the crib? The mobile's center was glassy and warm to the touch, and she could see clouds swirling through it – and was that a bird? "My," Jareth whispered with appreciation, gently taking it from his wife's hands. "It has a protection enchantment as well, for the child's dreams."

"It's...a mobile, right? To hang over the crib?"

"Mhm." Her husband nodded, turning it over in his hands. "But it's not some static image or hanging felt, like you might see in the Aboveground. Look closely: it shows the sky in real time. You'll be able to see the movements of the stars across the heavens come nightfall."

Sarah felt her stomach clench a little, and wondered if it was nausea. No, not this time – she was actually touched by the gift. "It's...k-kind of beautiful."

"It's an extravagant treasure, much magic went into the making of this."

Sarah took it back, turning the mobile this way and that. "Do you think you'll be able to see raindrops during storms? Wouldn't that be neat for the baby, to be able to..." She dropped off, noticing the way Jareth was looking at her. His chin rested on his fist, his elbow perched on the edge of his throne, and the intensity within his strange eyes made Sarah's stomach flip again. "W-what..."

He opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by the whining of the defending goblin. "-and if I hadn't eaten those pig's feet, then I would have kept on being hungry, and that just ain't right! It-"

"Enough." Jareth's nostrils flared with irritation, and Sarah carefully put the mobile back in its container, handed off to Boltsneeze for storage in the nursery. "You will repay the plaintiff, either in the amount of pig's feet you consumed, or its monetary value." Sarah didn't think he'd been paying any attention to the goblin nonsense, but she was constantly surprised by Jareth when it came to court hours, as he seemed to pick up on every nuance and whisper without giving any outward sign of listening at all. "Dismissed. Bumblesnuff."

"Boltsneeze."

"Yes, Majesty?" he asked, never caring if his name was wrong or not – and even a little irritated at the Queen for correcting his sovereign – bowing low.

"Do you have any other cases on the docket to completely waste my time with?"

"E-er..." The goblin steward hesitated, flipping through mud-stained pages. "No, Majesty."

"Very well..." Jareth sighed, his other least favorite part of court hours on hand. "Let them all in." Goblins poured into the Throne Room; some carried chickens above their heads, others paper tubes for blow darts. One came in attached to the leg of a vulture, another with a leashed pig in miniature armor. As the goblins adored their King to the point of excess, it was a matter of national stability they be given some time daily in his presence, and that was how the hour from one to two was passed, in gleeful chaos and absolute boredom for the Goblin King. He had found it, however, considerably more amusing now that he had a darling partner by his side to occupy him during this hour, before the goblins would be banished back to the rumpus room or the halls or the City. Jareth grinned his devil's grin and lay the soft end of his riding crop under his wife's chin. Sarah glared over the strap of leather. "How goes it, love? Tired, hungry, ill?"

"Sick to my stomach, don't worry."

"My darling," he purred, sitting up and leaning over the arm of his throne so that he lorded over her, as though he might fall upon her at any moment. Sarah refused to cower before him. "Knowing your cross temper, I know next you will say it is not due to the pressures of motherhood, but to my ignoble presence?"

"Jareth – you took a hint. Congratulations."

"Little you know how besotted I am," he sighed, running his gloved fingers down her soft cheek, so that Sarah cast her glance away from him – it was either that or be drawn into his hypnotic eyes, his honeyed words, and she did not want that. "That even venom from that lovely tongue is as sweet as nectar to me."

"Ugh..."

"Besides, I know how to soothe that foul humor of yours." He was grinning at her, which usually made Sarah nervous, but she couldn't help but watch as he twisted his wrist and produced-

"Oh, damn it. Alright, give it to me." She reached over the arm of the throne, but Jareth simply pulled his hand away, so that she had to reach clear across his torso. He'd made a chocolate bar with almonds, her current and complete weakness. Sarah's cravings for chocolate with almonds had reached an absolutely fevered pitch, though it had never been a particular favorite of hers before. Yet even so, she had such a candy bar after every meal, even breakfast, and often munched on chocolate covered almonds throughout the day.

But Jareth was teasing her again, and he grinned still as he held it just out of her reach. "Kiss me first."

"Get real."

"Kiss me, or sit upon my lap."

"That's worse!"

"Such a little thing, Sarah, my sweet. Isn't it worth it to you?"

"Jareth," she growled, green eyes glowering. "You are keeping chocolate away from your pregnant wife. I want you to think carefully about your next actions."

Before the Goblin King could further antagonize his bride, a loud ruckus began among a knot of goblins in the Throne Room. Sarah watched as Jareth stood, kicking gawkers out of his way as he moved to break up the altercation. Wog had his teeth well into the tuft of black fur atop Bugwit's hair, who, for his part, was yanking hard on his friend's boarish tail. Nogtwit was wailing his distress, a high pitched keen that could grate on the ears of the most patient of men – which the King was not. "What is going on," he snarled, and all but the two fighters instantly drew away with cowering expressions on their faces.

Bugwit and Wog could only be separated by the Goblin Guard, who pulled them apart with vicious fingers. Boltsneeze was wagging a scolding finger at them. "Why you fight, you tell King!" he admonished by his sovereign's boot. Jareth kicked him a few inches away as well.

Wog was growling, his wrinkly lips curled into a snarl. "Bugwit say Tweezledown like him better!" For her part, Tweezledown was nowhere to be seen, Sarah noted, carefully picking her way through the staring crowd.

"She do!" Bugwit puffed his chest, smoothing his unruly tuft of black hair with pride. "She say so."

"Not!"

"Too!"

"Not!"

"Too-"

"I don't care." Jareth snapped his fingers, and the crowd drew a few inches back in terror as the Queen approached his elbow.

This was, perhaps, the greatest disapprobation, for the smooth forehead of the much beloved Goblin Queen was lined with unhappiness. "Boys...it's not like you to fight." Both Bugwit and Wog dropped to the ground, ears pulled back with their shame. "I'm very disappointed in you." Nogtwit's keening doubled in volume.

Jareth grimaced with sharp teeth visible, and he swept a gloved hand through his silvery mane of hair. "Do you hear that? You've disappointed the Goblin Queen." The two began to shake with terror, but the King was relatively lenient – for his usual moods. "I declare court hours to be concluded. Get out, all of you little idiots."

Bugwit and Wog were tossed vicious glares by their compatriots as everyone slunk from the Throne Room, disappointed to have the day's fun cut short so soon. Sarah watched them go with a sad sigh, and just caught Jareth before he could leave as well. "W-wait."

"Hm?" He perked up slightly, touching where her fingers met his elbow. "Did you reconsider that kiss, then, love?"

Sarah's nose wrinkled even as she blushed, and she shook her head. "N-no, there's something I've been needing to talk to you about..."

"Talk?" Carefully pulling her along, Jareth reset her on the throne, looking interested. "Whatever could you have to say, precious thing?"

"Well...it's about...you know, us."

"I'm listening."

Sarah felt stupid and uncomfortable, beet red and twisting her hands in her lap. What in the hell was she supposed to say? So, I guess apparently I want to make our marriage work, because here are the things you do that upset me, and I'm actually getting the gumption to tell you- She'd opened her mouth to stammer something like that out, but noise from the hallway interrupted them again.

Jareth looked positively murderous. Sarah gulped a little and bolted from her seat as he stalked to the door, and she grabbed his hand in an effort to pull him back from the arguing goblins beyond the entryway. It did not work. The fey yanked the doors open with a vicious crack, and the bickering goblins were smart enough to go silent and attempt to scatter. This worked no better, for the King's magic hemmed them all in, and they smacked their little noses up against invisible walls. "Was I not clear during the first interruption?"

"Jareth," Sarah was pleading; she twined his fingers with her own, pressed the length of her body against his arm and did her best to be alluring. "Don't be like that, please. Look how sorry they are already."

"Not sorry enough."

He lifted his hand to banish the whole lot to the Bog of Eternal Stench, but before he could snap his fingers, Sarah seized his chin, yanked his head in her direction, and planted a full and passionate kiss upon his lips. All the little goblin eyes stared, some even murmuring, "Ooooer..." The King wasn't an idiot, he wasn't going to be put off merely because his wife had kissed him – publicly. And initiated it as well. He desired her, but he wasn't stupid, so Sarah pressed on before he could make his next move.

"They're like children, you know? They just need occupation. We could...give them a quest or something, something to get them out of the way."

"Getting them to do anything is like herding cats."

"Cats?"

"Cats?" A dozen little goblin mouths opened to belt about the Jellicle Ball before their monarch swiftly cut them off.

"And there will be no singing!"

Sarah clapped her hands together in desperation, and her subjects turned their attention to her. "Okay, scavenger hunt! Whoever, um...whoever..." They were all staring at her, and that included Jareth. She swallowed hard, but pressed on. "Whoever finds the ultimate rattle for the new baby gets a prize!"

"Prize?"

"Prize?

"What prize!" They were suddenly all bouncing and alert, little mouths working. "Prize," "Prize," "Prize-!"

Sarah looked herself over in desperation, and finally pulled a diamond studded hairpin from her tresses. It made a twisting lock of her dark hair fall into her face, and her husband watched it with a sudden hunger; it was the little things that set off his desire for her. "The royal hair pin. Deal?" She needn't say anything else. Goblins tore off in all directions, she practically expected them to leave smoke trails behind them like a cartoon. She would have sighed with relief and slumped against a wall – but she saw the way Jareth was looking at her. "W-what...?" The King said nothing; he simply bent forward and scooped the girl into his arms. "Jareth!" She kicked her legs and thrashed her arms in an effort to be put down, but his unerring stride was carrying them straight toward the bedroom.

"With court hours canceled, I have a sudden empty place in my schedule. And I know just how to...fill it." Sarah gulped again, but didn't bother fighting, as if it would have done her any good anyway.

---

City goblins found their homes overturned by their searching cousins, pots broken, larders plundered. When nothing suitable was found there, the hedge maze was mangled, and a certain gardening dwarf grumbled excessively about nasty goblins and their mischievous ways. No hill nor dale was left alone, and in desperation, many a little goblin even drove themselves to the Bog of Eternal Stench.

Tweezledown hefted a rock above her head, cheeks puffed out as she tried to hold her breath against the truly horrible smell that seemed to permeate her entire being. No success there either, she tossed the offending stone, which landed in the Bog with a "plop." Her fellows scattered, lest they be hit by even a drop of the noxious liquid. "No good!" she whined. "No rattles here neither!"

A grumbling goblin was attempting to uproot a tree in his desperation, and he huffed angrily. "Maybe Queen make impossible task."

"No!" Wog shook his wrinkly head. "She no do that!"

But as the days turned to weeks and the search for the ultimate rattle for the future Goblin Prince dragged on, goblin tempers ran thinner and thinner.

They were not alone in this. Sarah's temper was frayed at even the best of times in her life Underground, but the mood swings that wracked her body drove her to new highs and lows that were exhausting for both herself and those around her – namely, her husband.

For the first time in a millennium, the nursery was being opened. Jareth was eager to show it off to the mother of his heir, drawing back heavy curtains to allow sunlight to touch where it had not in many ages. Sarah stood in the middle of the floor, a soft rug beneath her feet, and felt increasingly ill. A large fireplace dominated the wall to her left, and between that and the window stood a crib on runners, the symbol of the Labyrinth at its headboard. In the opposite corner stood a changing table, and beyond that, a box full of soft toys, things safe for little hands and little mouths. For when the child was older, a rocking horse stood; a great black charger, his head held high and mane flying as though he was already carrying his Prince into a great battle. The saddle and tack were all real leather, the bits were all gold, and red streamers hung from his withers. It was a stallion, she noted with her mouth thinned, and it just figured that the Goblin Kingdom would give a child an anatomically correct horse. In a massive wardrobe, there were more blankets, hats, jackets, socks, booties and jumpers than she could ever recall seeing, and she'd sat through Karen's baby shower, and that woman's friends all had ticking biological clocks. They were all very soft things, safe for an infant's skin, but still regal and befitting his station. Sarah's arms wrapped around her stomach and she felt like she was going to cry again.

"You have yet to see the best part, Sarah," Jareth was continuing with a real, true smile on his face. It would normally have effected her very deeply, but she felt like she was going to fall apart at any moment. The King cleared his throat, addressing the empty air. "Nurse. Rock the cradle, would you?" On cue, the cradle began to rock smoothly and slowly, back and forth, back and forth. The mobile from the High Court turned delicately above, a fall storm flitting across its surface. Jareth grinned at his Queen. "It's a magic similar to the Labyrinth, love, see? It works on its own. The child will be shushed and fed and even changed without you needing to worry your lovely head about a thing."

"Please," Sarah was begging, her lower lip trembling. "Don't make me see this right now..."

Jareth's smile quickly dropped, his temper fraying thin. "Must you insist on making the joyous depressing, Sarah? It grows tiresome."

"You're tired!" She wasn't sure if she was crying or shouting. Probably both. "I feel horrible – all the time! All my choices were taken from me, and now my body's being usurped as well! It's...it's...parasitic!"

He seized her upper arm and she cried out a little, more tears slipping free down her cheeks. "I will not have you speaking of our child so."

"You really don't care about how I feel at all, do you!"

"I might if it made any kind of sense and weren't completely selfish!"

"I'm selfish?" She was screaming, hands balled at her hips, which became rounder and smoother every day. "What about you! You never once asked me about what I wanted, not ever! And you can't yell at me when I'm pregnant, Jareth!"

"When can I yell at you, Sarah?" His teeth were set, seething. "You have no qualms screaming your head off at me!"

"It's bad for the baby!"

"You say that any time you don't want me around!"

"Well gee, maybe you'd get a fucking hint by now!" He seemed about ready to grab her and drag her down into an oubliette as he had done often when they first were wed; Jareth never abused his wife in these situations, despite how the picture looked. Rather, it was an entirely private way for them to yell at one another to the point of hoarseness without being overheard, which was something the stuffy monarch detested. Sarah, however, did most of the yelling. When she seemed on the point of exhaustion, that was when her husband struck, a seductive battle that always ended with her pressed against the wall and him making her scream for entirely different reasons. He would exhaust her and there would be peace for a few days.

The Queen, however, was not about to give in that easily, and ducked out of his grasp, bolting for the door. Jareth easily could have stopped her, he could have transported her without even being within an inch of her – but it wasn't worth the effort. She was exhausting him, which had always been a habit of hers, but now it was far worse. He could not keep up with the head spinning changes in her mood, but it did not occur to him that neither could she, and it was a deep source of upset for her. Still, to see Sarah this unhappy was...painful. He could ignore her bouts of tears and hissy-fits well enough before, but this was supposed to be the beginning of a truly wonderful event for them: a child, a family, something they had created together. That she might not want it, might not want a part of him and what they had made through their most ancient of bonds...it was one of the few things that could crack his cold facade.

It seemed that, once again, they did not lack an audience, for Healer Orso came ambling down the hall, his long, furry head poking into the nursery room door. "I saw Her Majesty disappearing down the hallway." The Goblin King glowered at him and the poor bear shrunk back slightly. "I mean no intrusion, Majesty, I bring only her daily vitamin supplement."

Jareth snatched the concoction from his paw, giving it a peremptory sniff. Ugh, no wonder Sarah hated these, if they tasted as poorly as they smelled. "The Queen is going out of her mind, and driving me to madness in the process."

The black bear chuckled slightly, taking off his spectacles with careful claws to wipe them along his lab coat. "That is often the case with expecting mothers, Your Majesty."

"Something must be done. Perhaps I shall give her another peach, let her spend the remaining months in a dreaming state."

"I do not recommend that course of action, Your Highness," he said with a bow of his head. "For the health of mother and child, it is best she have occupation and exercise. Moreover, I suspect it would be much worse for you when she awakens."

Jareth gave a put upon sigh, rolling his eyes and facing the window, gloved hands tucked behind his back. "How much worse could it possibly get?"

"Majesty..." Orso was very cautious, his long nose sniffing the air for any sign of danger from his sovereign. "Please, forgive me that I make so bold, but it bears considering: the Queen is very young, without family in this world. There are few fey mothers who could give her much insight into a very trying time in her life, and even if there were, they are strangers to her, of little comfort."

Jareth turned slowly, his terrible eyes narrowed at his healer. "What are you suggesting?"

Orso gulped a little, steeling his courage. He really hoped this worked...

---

For the King to appear in the doorway of the rumpus room, the situation must be dire. Goblins had been cavorting about as their natures prompted them, playing games, making messes, grooming chickens and drinking ale. This all came to a grinding halt as soon as their sovereign's shadow crossed the threshold. They gasped loudly and stared.

Jareth looked over his ragtag assortment of subjects with a careful, disgusted eye. Which were the ones Sarah was so fond of...ah. "You." He pointed at Bugwit, who saluted smartly. "You." Wog hunkered down, worried he was being singled out for punishment. "And..." There was another one, wasn't there? "You, Twizzleduff." Tweezledown bowed low, which was considered very genteel by her fellows. Nogtwit nearly fainted with relief at not having been selected. "Here, now." The three scrambled over their brethren, many of whom remained rooted to the spot like so many shrubs.

"Majesty?"

"Majesty?" They bowed and scraped as was their duty, though Wog did so with a distrustful eye on his monarch the entire time.

Jareth looked the terrible trio over, a gloved finger tapping against his chin as he thought. The toe of his boot kept equal time. "I have a mission in the Aboveground for you." Excited murmurs broke through the crowd, but Jareth cut them off with a single look. "The Queen is lonesome for...female company. Her mother would be a welcome surprise for her – and when the Queen is happy, I am happy. Is that clear?"

The three little goblins all nodded enthusiastically, even Wog. "It good idea, Majesty!"

"Great idea!"

"Best idea!"

"We bring lady down right now-"

"Idiots." He kicked Bugwit a little, the poor boy skidding on his cloven feet. "I can't just take the woman. Do you know nothing? No, she must wish herself into my power."

Bugwit had recovered enough to scratch his tuft of hair, as he often did when attempting careful thought. The three looked at each other and were entirely clueless. "How that gonna happen?"

"You," he replied with a terrible, goblin grin, "are going to make it happen. Ready?" He held up a crystal on the tips of his fingers and they absolutely shook their heads no; how on earth were they going to manage this task! "Safe journeys." The crystal was tossed at the little band, and they disappeared in a puff of glitter and smoke, while their brothers in the rumpus room gasped with horror. Nogtwit had taken to keening again.

---

There was another crash from the side bedroom, and Jeremy was listening carefully in the kitchen. "Linda! I think the cat's into the dresser again!"

"Fine, I'm coming!" Linda Williams huffed as she stormed from her library-stroke-studio. Why couldn't the man deal with the cat himself, he knew she had lines she had to rehearse. She was grumbling to herself about five years together and how it was more his cat than hers when she reached the spare bedroom. Now, wasn't that funny? The cat had managed to shut itself in, the door was closed; no wonder the poor thing was causing such a fuss. Linda turned the handle. "Mr. Mittens! Are you in here?" The still-stunning actress flipped the light switch, but nothing was happening. This damn old brownstone... There was a crashing sound from the closet and she jumped a little. "Of all the...Mr. Mittens, you are a naughty kitty!"

There was definitely a scratching noise coming from the dresser. Linda moved over to it, pulling open mostly empty drawers in search of the darned cat, when something tipped over. It was a small crashing sound, and it made the woman jump again. Her thin hand groped in the dark and came upon the smooth, cool edge of a picture frame. What the... Turning it right side up, returning it to its spot on the dresser, her breath hitched in her throat.

Sarah, it was Sarah's picture. The poor woman had to cover her rouged mouth with one dry hand. "Oh, Sarah, baby..." Tears were threatening to spill out of her eyes. More than four months she'd been missing, four months without any word. Linda knew she hadn't been the best of mothers; she hadn't been cut out for it. In that way, attempting the quiet suburban life with Robert had been a mistake. But she'd been young, she'd been scared then, she thought it was her only option. It wasn't a choice she regretted – she'd gotten Sarah out of the bargain. And if Linda wasn't good at putting her child first, of being there whenever she was needed, it wasn't due to a lack of love. That she had in spades.

"Oh, Sarah..." She was definitely crying now, and she held the picture to her breast, wishing she could have just one chance to be what her only daughter needed. "I wish...I just wish I could see you again, baby. Know that you're alright." She nearly jumped out of her skin at the horrible, hair raising cackling that started all around her in the dark.

In the kitchen, Mr. Mittens jumped onto the marble counter top, pausing to lick a sleek, grey paw. Jeremy scolded him as he opened up the can of tuna fish, pushing the feline off the counter. "Well, out of the dresser then, are you? You are a fickle little beasty. Linda, the cat's out!" He carefully drained the liquid from the can and into a dish for the mewing cat, humming a tune all the while. "Linda!" Was she absorbed in that new script again? "...Linda?"

---

Her eyes felt heavy...no, not just her eyes. Everything felt heavy, her entire body, even the strands of her dark hair. Where...? Her eyes were slow to open, catching only color at first, a little light. It was a...a bed canopy, strawberry red, and it looked like silk, the way it reflected the light. What scene is this... "Jason," she murmured sleepily, her mouth so dry. "Jason, darling, I've forgotten my line..." Where was the director when she needed him?

She stiffened in the bed – was she in the bed? - when she heard a door fly open with a "bang!" Her heart rate tripled, her green eyes shot open, her entire body went rigid. "Mom!" That voice – it couldn't be. She was dreaming, it wasn't- "Mom, Mom, Mom!" There was a sudden weight on the bed, Linda Williams felt her body being smothered further, she gasped-

"Sarah."

Dear God, it was, it was her, her daughter, her child. Sarah had her arms around her smooth neck, her face at her collarbone, and she squeezed fit to strangle the life out of her. "I'm so happy to see you..." It sounded like she was crying. Linda's shaking hand came to pet her grown daughter's back, and she felt like the world was spinning.

"Have I died, is that what's happened?"

The girl gave a choked, laughing sob against her throat and pulled away slightly, wiping at her eyes. "No, Mom...you're alive. You're here, in the Underground."

"In the what?" Linda was finally able to pull herself into a sitting position. It was definitely Sarah sitting before her, hands on her knees in her characteristic kneeling pose – but simultaneously, there was no way it could be Sarah. This young woman was wrapped in a gown of purple silk, and there was no way it was anything other than genuine silk, because it reflected a myriad of blues and mauves as she turned in the light. The bodice and skirt were studded with stars, all made of individual crystal cabochons, and a small bolero jacket of matching silk protected her white shoulders. Her hair, a perfect match for Linda's, was swept back so that curls tumbled down to the level of her throat, and around that slim neckline was an intricate network of diamonds and silver, perfectly matching the star pattern on the dress. If this was Sarah, she'd had a busy four months.

But it could be no one else, for she planted an affectionate kiss on her mother's thin cheek, tightly squeezing her hand. "Do you remember when I was little, and you'd read to me? And my favorite book was that fairytale, 'The Labyrinth?'" Linda nodded, green eyes still as wide as saucers. "Do you remember that part, 'the King of the Goblins fell in love with the girl?'"

"Yes? Sarah, what does this have to do with anything? Where are we?"

Sarah pressed her lips together and tried to smile, though it was awkward at best. "...it was real, Mom. I mean – not quite like in the book, but...it was real."

"Sarah." Linda held her child's now grown face between her cool hands, trying to make her see sense. "Honey, you're sick. Whatever has happened, it's just your mind trying to wrap it in a way that makes it easier for you to deal with. That was just a story, it wasn't real."

"Mom-"

"Don't worry." She pulled her daughter close, and Sarah melted into her arms. "We're together now, and wherever we are, Mommy's going to get you out of here."

"Really? After all the trouble I went to to bring you here? Is it the guest room you object to?" Linda gasped and Sarah stiffened in her arms; a man was in the open doorway. At least, she thought it was a man. Linda had spent most of her life in the theater and she'd met some pretty out there people, but she'd never seen anyone quite like...that. The ethereal creature leaned against the door jamb, his gloved hand at his lips, which he then moved to snap his fingers. "Sarah, love. Come here."

Linda let the girl slip out of her embrace, watched her slide to the floor with her head bowed as her skirt made a soft swishing sound against the floor as she moved. Ms. Williams could scarce believe it. He had his arm around her daughter's waist, had pulled her close to him in a clearly possessive manner. Linda sat up a little. "Excuse you, Sarah is seventeen."

"Eighteen," she whispered mutely. "I'm eighteen now. My birthday was..." A gulp. "May first." May first? Of course it was, but that was the night she...

The man grinned, and Linda shuddered. His teeth were sharp. "A fact I am all too intimately aware of, Mrs. Williams."

"Ms. Williams," she hissed in reply, not noticing Sarah shifting uncomfortably at his arm.

"Darling..." That monster was purring, his finger running along her daughter's cheek, and the movement was definitely not appropriate. "You didn't tell her yet?"

"I was getting to it..."

"Tell me what? Sarah-"

The stranger turned so that Sarah stood before him, his arms around her stomach as his chin rested on her shoulder. "I owe you my eternal gratitude, Ms. Williams," he grinned at her again. "You bore an amazing daughter, one who makes me extremely happy. Isn't that right, my love?" He nuzzled his face into the crook of Sarah's neck, and the girl shivered. Linda's mouth fell open a little. "Now that Sarah has reached the age of majority, I haven taken her to wife – to be my Queen, to be more specific."

"You...what?"

"My Sarah is the Goblin Queen." He kissed her cheek, and still Sarah's eyes were on the floor. That was it, Linda had figured it out. It was a wrap party, she'd gotten blitzed at a wrap party and this was how the alcohol was soaking through her subconscious. This was not happening. "We've been enjoying a wonderful honeymoon, have we not, my precious thing?" There was more of the sassy girl she remembered: Sarah rolled her eyes and pulled away from him slightly. "Oh, come now."

"Stop being a tease, Jareth."

"I am not teasing, pet. To tease would mean I have no intention of following through on my caresses of you, and I have every intention of that." He planted his mouth at the crook of her neck again, then let his eyes wander back to the stunned visitor in the bed. "When the time is more appropriate..." he grumbled slightly. Straightening and smoothing out his elegant coat, he continued in a dry voice, "As to 'getting out of here,' we are quite pleased to have you as our guest, but you are certainly not a prisoner here, Ms. Williams – would you prefer I referred to you as 'Mother?'" He grinned at the dark look that crossed her features. "No, I can see you would not...So, while it is true that you will be returned at the appropriate time, Sarah will be staying right here."

Linda yanked the covers off of her, stumbling out of the bed with shaking hands. "Did you take my daughter?"

"I did." His long, sharp nose was in the air, he seemed pleased with the answer. "In every sense." Sarah had flushed and made to elbow him, but he held her too tightly in his embrace. "Sarah was claimed by the Labyrinth for its Queen, and so she cannot ever truly leave. And I cannot allow her to visit at the present, as the Aboveground would completely destroy my heir's magic, and that is unacceptable. So I brought you to her instead."

The poor, middle aged woman had to put her fingers to her temples, head throbbing. "Magic? Heir? I must be out of my mind..."

"Must be," Jareth was still grinning, but the smile dropped at the look his wife was giving him. "In any case...when one is brought to the Underground without a specific purpose or time limit, the atmosphere can be...difficult to adjust to. You would do well to rest, Ms. Williams."

Sarah had at last pulled away from her husband's arms and took her mother's hand, gently leading her back to the bed. "Here, Mom. It's really comfy, I promise." She kissed her and hugged her tightly, and Linda did not protest being gently pushed into a seated position on the bed. "I'll be here first thing in the morning. W-we're going to have so much fun together, just wait! I promise, I'll make everything perfect for you!"

"Sarah..."

The girl fluffed her pillows and quickly skittered back to her waiting husband. "It's going to be great, Mom. Goodnight..." Before Linda could make heads or tails of the situation, the pair had vanished and the candles in the room all guttered out. Her head hit the pillow with a soft sound, mind swimming. It had to be a wrap party, for sure...

In her own room, Sarah's hands were shaking as she tried to take the diamond necklace off. She could barely sit before the vanity in the master suite, so full of nervous energy was she. Jareth brushed her hands aside and finally did it himself, not seeming to notice as her eyes locked on his image in the vanity mirror. He simply handed her the jewels and moved away to stand before the fire, peering deep into its warm depths. For her part, Sarah could not take her eyes off of him, her breathing very shallow all the while. He did it, she thought with a rapidly beating heart. He actually did something for her. She knew how Jareth's jealousy worked, how little he would enjoy seeing his wife spend all of her waking hours with her mother – but he'd done it anyway. She then noticed that he was slowly removing his gloves as he continued to stand before the fire, and without thinking, rose from her seat and crossed to him.

The Goblin King said nothing as the girl approached him, one eyebrow raised in silent question, but it quickly became a look of total surprise as she knelt before him. Well, well, and it wasn't even his birthday, and she was giving him the submission he so loved... Without a word, Sarah brought his hands down so she could remove his supple leather gloves herself, kissing his bare palms with – it seemed – true adoration. He refused to admit it, but Jareth could feel his heart pounding in his chest.

Sarah's small hands smoothly moved up the taught muscle of his thighs, resting at the sharp point of his hips as she actually embraced him that way, her beautiful face turned up to him. "Jareth." Her voice was a whisper in the darkness of the bedroom, the fire the only light. He said nothing and waited, watching her press a kiss onto his muscled thigh. "Thank you. Y-you don't know what this means to me, y-you really-" She stopped, voice choked, and he could have sworn she purred as he stroked the satin of her long, dark hair.

They stood – well, he stood and she knelt – that way in the dark of the room for another moment, saying nothing. They were not good at speaking with one another, and so it was better that nothing was said. Without a word, Sarah slowly pulled his shirt from where it was tucked into his breeches, unbuttoning the lower buttons, the ones she could reach. Jareth slowly fussed with the rest as she peeled his tight trousers from his skin. Still voiceless, he tucked two fingers beneath her chin and Sarah rose to her feet, nuzzling the sharp line of his throat as he bent to slide one arm beneath her knees, to carry her to bed the way he had when he first claimed her. It was different now. Not better, but nothing was the same.

Jareth had become...tender since discovering she was "in the family way." It wasn't that he wasn't capable of such gentleness before, he had often unnerved his bride with how suddenly he could soften in his ministrations to her. But more often than not, he was intense with his passions, almost rough, but never quite hurting. Not anymore. Now he really made love to her, it kept knocking poor Sarah for a loop, how slow and considerate and even gentle he was with her at night. It felt like being worshiped, being adored, being...loved. If she were being honest – which she usually was not – she did like the frenzied passion they often engaged in, but this...this was even more mind-shattering than usual. He could bring her to ecstasy over and over again with the way he took his time, ran his hands and lips and tongue over every last tantalizing part of her. She had the feeling he liked this, taking his time, in different ways; liked seeing her so helpless and longing beneath him. What was even more amazing, was that when Sarah asked him not to press his attentions upon her – he would actually stop. It was unheard of.

She didn't mind knotting her fingers into his hair and crying out his name tonight. Jareth had actually done something right, something for her, and she was willing to praise him with every encouraging word, every murmur of pleasure that could pass her lips. It fed into the way he moved over and in her, which only served to make her more enthusiastic, so that the night ended with him holding her face still so they could look into each other's eyes as they reached mutual satisfaction, breathing labored. Sarah felt lost in his eyes tonight, and for once she was alright with that. Her arms wrapped around her husband's shoulders, and this time she was perfectly content to snuggle against him, to pillow her head along his arm and feel...warm, safe, contented. It was going to be okay, it was all going to be okay...

Sarah awoke in the dark, which didn't happen all too often, and it was usually Jareth's fault when it did – the husband rousing his wife for another round of matrimonial duty. It was his fault tonight, but not for that reason. She could hear his voice murmuring in the darkness, and for a moment, she thought maybe he was talking in his sleep. The Goblin King, doing anything so vulnerable? It would be a treasure not to be missed. But as her mind cleared from its sleepy haze, she noticed she could no longer feel the heat and pressure of him nestled at her side. No, instead she could feel his silky hair tickling her bare stomach, his long hands stroking along her hips and thighs.

"Don't mind your mother's fussing, son," he was whispering in the quiet night. Oh dear God, he was talking to the baby. Sarah's heart just about stopped dead. "I know it seems like she does not want you, but do not take that personally. She went through a dangerous trial to keep you safe, against a terrible villain. Luckily, your strong, powerful father was there to right that..."

Sarah bit down on her lower lip to keep from laughing. Her body shook anyway, and he clearly noticed. "Don't forget 'handsome.'"

"Yes, handsome as well. The knave wanted to take you away from us, but Mummy braved his terrible castle to stop him, and strong, handsome Daddy tore his arms and legs off."

"Jareth, the baby isn't developed enough to be able to hear your voice yet." She paused, running her fingers over her tired eyes. "And don't tell him things like that."

"If he cannot hear me, clearly it does not matter if I say it."

Sarah shifted so she pulled herself into more of a seated position. Her husband moved right along with her, that his ear could remain at her still fairly flat stomach. "And as to all this 'he,' business, for all you know, it's a girl."

"It is not." The King shook his head. "I would not produce anything less than a future Goblin King."

"Just for that," her eyes narrowed and her nose wrinkled. "I am going to use my force of will to make sure it's a girl, and I'll teach her to fight and use magic and kick ass just as well as any man."

But Jareth actually laughed at that, at last picking his head off her abdomen so he could kiss his bride. "I know you would, too. And you would mother the most amazing Goblin Queen the Underground has ever seen, I have no doubt."

It had to be more baby hormones – because having Jareth's face so close to hers, his hands still trailing the outside of her hips...she felt tortuously turned on. "Jareth." The Queen licked her lips and let her delicate hands trail her husband's muscled shoulders.

"Hm?"

"Kiss me again." He did so, little more than chaste, very tender. "No, really kiss me." The King raised an eyebrow, and kissed her a little more fiercely this time, his tongue teasing hers. Sarah's eyes were closed, her lips parted. "Again." He pressed her into the bed, fingers becoming entwined in her rich, dark hair as her arms held him fast about the shoulders. Her eyes slowly opened in the dark, emerald green, clouded with desire.

Above her, the Goblin King was smirking, still holding her in his arms. "That's all you get for free. I won't do a thing else until you ask me to."

The girl whimpered, her fingers digging into his arms. "You're horrible..."

"And strong, powerful, handsome...It's time you started having to use your words, precious thing."

God, he was so vindictive...right now, it didn't matter, she needed him. Her eyes shut, her lips parted, her uncovered bosom heaved with her unsteady breath. "I want you..."

Jareth kissed her fit to die, like the fate of the world depended on the passion and sincerity of that one kiss – and Sarah returned it with equal fervor. It was some time before they disentangled enough to breathe again, to open eyes and think at all. "All I've ever wanted to hear, my Queen..." he murmured, before bending his mouth to hers once more, and the night went on.

---

Goblins cackled in the dark of the posh, Upper West Side apartment. "It work!"

"It work!"

"Ehehehehe!" Bugwit, Wog and Tweezledown danced in the dark of the spare bedroom, rollicking in their wickedness the way their ancestors had once pranced around Samhain fires when the lines between Under and Above were not so clear. Magic was made by strong vows and careful word choices. It would not bend to lying, but it could be manipulated with a little thought. The goblin trio were vowed to return when their task was complete – they just happened to include finding the ultimate rattle in that quest. Linda Williams was Underground, it was true, the task their King had set for them. But their own was just beginning. They might have forgotten entirely what it was they were to do, so immersed in their joy were they, but for the yowling of the cat at the door.

Each gasped, but their eyes lit with curiosity. "Wuz that?"

"It look like...cat."

"Cat?"

Tweezeldown's yellow teeth were born in a brilliant, goblin smile as she crept closer to the feline defender. "Is gumpy cat?" Mr. Mittens had his grey back arched to better show off his fierce nature, his tail fluffed like a bottle brush. He was growling deep in his throat, but Tweezeldown's curiosity was too peaked for her to take this as a sign of danger. She reached out one claw to touch the creature, and the cat struck out with his paw, claws out, hissing all the while. With a shriek, the little she-goblin dove behind her companions. "Is not gumpy cat!"

Bugwit stepped forward, his little chest puffed. "I protect you, Tweezledown." Wog glared miniature daggers at his back. He strode forward on his cloven feet, and the cat snarled at him like the jungle beast he felt himself to be. "You...shoo!" Mr. Mittens was not up to handling this big of a rat infestation, and he tore out of the side bedroom like a shot, knocking over a lamp in the process.

"What in the...Linda! The bloody cat is out of his head!"

Wog tilted his head in curiosity. "That man voice?"

"Oooh...What we do?"

"Find rattle. Focus!" Bugwit clapped his hands, and the other two stood straight with a strong nod.

"Linda? Where in blazes are you?"

---

A dream...a strange, perhaps alcohol induced dream, that's what it was...Sarah. Her mind was missing Sarah, had cast back to childhood memories to think of that book. Linda had always encouraged Sarah's love of fantasy, of pretend. It was the thing they most shared, aside from looks and temper. Sarah had always devoured fairy tales, but the story of a princess who defied a wicked king, that one had always been near and dear to her heart. Linda remembered playing all the parts, and how wide Sarah's little green eyes would become as they reached the dramatic conclusion. "Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered, I have fought my way here, to the Castle beyond the Goblin City..."

Mmm, the bed felt extra comfortable this morning. Just five more minutes of beauty sleep, just enough to keep circles from forming under her eyes, and then she would awak- "Good morning!" Linda jolted with a start, green eyes wide, body stiff. Oh God. The canopy, the bed – this wasn't her apartment. She turned her stiff neck, and saw a girl drawing back lavish curtains to let a strange, orange sunshine into the room. "Did you sleep well, Mom?"

"S...arah?"

"I didn't wake you up, did I? Oh!" Sarah's hand covered her mouth. Holy mother, it was another stunning gown, something she'd have seen the costume department put together for a lavish scene: rich red, strapless, silver patterns sewn into the bodice. She looked like a queen – her Sarah looked like a queen. What kind of sick joke was this? "I'm sorry, Mom! I thought you were already up!"

"It's...fine..." The edges of Linda's mind still pounded a little, but she tried to shake it off and sit up. "Sarah...why am I here? What's going on?"

The girl blushed, that shy way she'd taken up since her parents had divorced. "It's...kind of a long story..."

"Clearly, I have time."

"Well..." The girl took a seat on the end of the lavish bed, smoothing her skirt under her ringed hands. A story about a stormy night and a crying baby ("Toby? Your half-brother?") and a reckless wish. She skipped most of the details, only barely covering her trip through the Labyrinth and her ultimate success, but lingering on what that meant for her. "The Labyrinth responds to power...I'm the only one who ever beat it, so it picked me."

"The...maze picked you?"

Sarah's smile was weak, it did not even reach her eyes. "Sounds pretty crazy, huh?"

"Frankly, yes. I'm still not convinced I'm not in a psych ward somewhere."

"Mom." Sarah grabbed her mother's upper arms with an urgent grip, her green eyes pleading for understanding. "You're not crazy, it's real, Mom." With a sudden gasp, like a sob, the girl threw her arms around her mother and squeezed for her life. "I missed you so much..."

"I missed you, too, sweetness...but I still don't understand." Sarah drew away again, laying her hands in her lap and looking down at them in careful study before murmuring something. "What was that?"

"I'm pregnant," she repeated, a little louder this time.

Linda's jaw dropped open. Sarah couldn't meet her gaze. "...Sarah! You're eighteen!"

"I-I know."

"I told you I'd get you birth control whenever you wanted it!"

Sarah rolled her eyes, a bit of sarcasm she'd picked up from her lord and husband. "Couldn't really ask you for any...and believe me, Jareth would not be okay with a rubber."

"Sweetheart." Linda took her daughter's chin between her slender fingers, tilting her face up to meet her searching gaze. "Is this what you wanted?"

The girl bit gently at her lower lip, eyelashes fluttering with the effort it took her to hold back a fresh bout of tears. Slowly, she shook her head. "N-no."

"Is he hurting you? If your father were here, he'd-"

"He's not," Sarah murmured, laying her hand on her mother's wrist so that she released her chin. "Jareth is a bastard in many ways, but credit where it's due, I guess..." With a shaky sigh, Sarah straightened with a smile. "H-he thought I could use some help, um...I've not been...nice since I got knocked up..."

Linda snorted, a smirk touching her own, red lips. "Your father went on a fishing trip every month for the last two trimesters to get away from me."

Sarah giggled a bit. "R-really?"

"They deserve a little hell for what they put us through."

The girl laughed harder and stood from the bed, aglow with her new happiness. "I know it seems weird, but it's going to be wonderful, Mom, I promise! I brought all these dresses in for you to try, and jewelry, and I can put your hair up like I used to, a-and-" Sarah had to turn away from her, the emotion overwhelming her. Linda sighed a little. She was probably in the middle of a psychotic break, but she might as well go along with it.

The Goblin Queen gave her mother a grand tour, anything and everything there was to see. They took the morning meal in the echoing dining hall, and the Goblin King stayed out of their way. Sarah showed her the Throne Room, still free as it was from goblin mess this morning, and took her to the winding stairs of the Escher Room. Linda had to close her eyes against the nausea it induced, but Sarah merely laughed and ran up and down and under and across the many stairs in impossible geometry. She offered to take her through the Goblin City, but Linda thought one look at its dirt and chaos was quite enough. Any hurt the girl felt, she refused to show. Instead, the tour continued through the ballroom, designed like the inside of one of Jareth's crystal balls. She thought about showing her the Labyrinth, but decided that would serve more to frighten her mother than anything else.

Instead, she had a lovely picnic lunch served for the pair in the King's garden, surrounded by roses and orchids and flowers that were nothing like anything Linda had ever seen on earth. And strange trees, some almost familiar, but bearing unreal fruit. "Sarah...is that a...banana tree?"

Sarah giggled as she served up a slice of cake, covered in whipped cream, as light as air and delectably sweet. "Yeah. That was a...present."

"...they're blue."

"Only sometimes. Here, Mom, have some cake."

"Sarah...it's all very magical and all that, but this is...ludicrous."

The girl hesitated over the chalice of iced tea in her hand, her mother's favorite. "W-what do you mean?"

"I mean...why you? You're just a girl."

"I know that."

"Does this...King love you?"

Sarah put the cup down. It was a question she'd asked herself a thousand times. "Jareth's love isn't selfless, it may not even be good. But in so far as he can, he does love me."

"Why?" Linda was insisting, peering into her daughter's face. "You barely even dated in high school. Why would you be abducted by some...fairytale man that's absolutely besotted with you?"

The conversation was not a private one; the King's garden could be accessed from many doors, but one of them was his personal study, and he'd been watching the picture that his wife and mother-in-law presented from its doorway since the luncheon began. Nogtwit sat at his booted feet, a lonely little scamp without his friends, and daring not to approach his Queen as he otherwise might.

The Goblin King sighed, leaning against the door frame, irritation clear upon his features. "For a woman who makes her living in clear expression, she certainly knows how to put her foot in her mouth." Nogtwit looked up at his sovereign at this remark, and, curiously, began trying to fit his own foot into his mouth. Jareth simply ignored him and strode easily up to the unseeing pair.

"You're just a girl, you didn't even graduate high school. You would never be a beauty queen. I don't understand what's so special that he-"

"Truly, you do not?" Sarah jumped in her seat at her husband's voice, and Jareth settled himself beside her on the picnic blanket. "Might I join you, precious?" Mutely, she nodded, and Jareth carefully took his wife's hand in his, stroking it with his gloved thumb. "I am surprised at you, Ms. Williams. It seems to me that, if anyone, a girl's own mother should be well aware of her charms." Linda just stared at him, green eyes slightly narrowed. "You may think that there are prettier girls, but to my mind, there is only Sarah."

He brought her hand to his lips, and Sarah wiggled. "Jareth, don't do this..."

"And even if there were, it does not matter to me. Do you mean to say you never saw her courage in adversity? Her wit and verve and determination?"

"Determination?" Linda laughed a little, picking up her glass of iced tea. "Her dad and I argued with her often enough from her stubbornness, if that's what you mean."

"Virtues can also be vices, yes." He plucked a strawberry from a plate and chewed it with clear thought, smirking all the while at Linda. "Tell me, madam, you kept your married name? Do you regret abandoning your family, then?"

"Jareth."

Linda just flicked her dark hair over her shoulder. He thought he could get to her that way? Please, she'd been around chorus girls, Linda knew catty. "I was already becoming well known by that name. It's brand recognition, not sentiment." She didn't seem to notice the hot blush on her daughter's cheeks.

"That's another wonderful thing about Sarah – she told you about her first time in the Labyrinth, yes? No reason to want the child back at all, but her sense of honor would not allow her to abandon him, when before she didn't even like him."

"Please." The girl squeezed his hand as it still held hers, looking at him with begging, wet eyes. Jareth scowled darkly. "Please, don't do this."

"Do what."

"I-I want everything to be happy. Please."

The King's scowl did not depart, but he stood, bowing to each woman in turn. "The duties of a Kingdom call. If you will excuse me, ladies..." He left, but Nogtwit scampered up in his place, curious about the food; his foot was wet with slobber.

Linda snorted, watching Jareth's back as he departed. "Rich, isn't he?"

"H-he's a little abrasive."

The mother had opened her mouth to say something else, but nearly threw her glass at the sudden...creature on their blanket. "Sarah!"

"What? Oh!" She smiled broadly and pulled that horrible thing into her arms. "Nogtwit!"

"Majesty," he cooed, snuggling into her bosom.

"Sarah, drop that, it probably has fleas!"

"Nogtwit no has fleas!"

"It's just a goblin, Mom. He's harmless."

"Harmless! He's...hideous!"

Sarah's face fell, her arms around the creature going a little slack. "You don't like them? I think they're kind of cute."

Linda stared from the beast in her arms, with its curly horns and the spittle at its mouth, and then back to her daughter. "That is cute?"

Sarah hesitated a moment, but she put the goblin down anyway. "Nogtwit, go play in the rumpus room."

"Queen..."

"I'm sure Bugwit and Wog are looking for you, go on." Nogtwit went, but he wasn't happy about it. Things had to be in a pretty bad way for the Queen not to notice his erstwhile companions were nowhere to be seen.

---

"Holy hell! Mittens! Rats, get 'em, boy!" The cat was not about to obey that order – as if it would obey any order – and the goblins found themselves dodging flying missiles as they dove for an open window, leading to the fire escape.

"That almost as bad as when King kicks!" Tweezledown squeaked, smoothing herself over and making sure every bump was in its place.

Wog put his spindly arm around her shoulder and drew the she-goblin close. "I protect you, Tweezledown."

Bugwit glared at him. "Wog. You find rattle?"

The little goblin bristled. "You?"

"We must find!" Tweezledown whined, and quickly climbed along the brownstone in search of another open window. Goblins, it must be noted, are excellent climbers; it is how they are able to attach themselves to the barest of crannies, and it was only with the slightest of shimmies that Tweezledown skittered up the wall of the building and through the next open window. The boys quickly followed suit, and Bugwit whistled in the dark.

"What this?"

"Cold floor..."

Wog sniffed it, licked it, but he couldn't figure it out, and that was generally the limit of his fact finding abilities. Bugwit had begun opening small doors, as if fitted for them, and Tweezledown was examining a tall, cool rectangle. "Dark in doors!" Bugwit called, knocking his head on a low shelf.

"Can't...open..." Tweezledown was grunting as she pulled at the strange, smooth box, and Wog could not budge it either; they were pulling on the wrong side of a refrigerator door.

"Hey, Tweezledown! Look this!" Both goblins turned back to Bugwit, who had hefted a large soup pot over his head and was doing curls with it. "Cool, yes?"

Wog growled and scampered from the mysterious kitchen. "You be silly, I find rattle."

Bugwit growled, tossing the pot aside and giving chase. "No, I find!"

"Me!"

"Me!"

Tweelzedown rolled her eyes at their posturing and nudged open a nearby door. This room was even darker, with metal shelves lining every wall and strange boxes on the shelves. The poor girl bumped her nose along a black suitcase, and she rubbed it as she examined the yellow stripe across it, lettering in black blocks standing out from it: "Dr. Henry's Happy Herpetology Hour." As Tweezledown could not read, this did little to enlighten her, and so she stumbled along through the dark, peering at each box. They were cool against her nose, she noticed, and vaguely opaque. Not knowing much about glass, they reminded her of the King's crystals, and she had started to vaguely wonder if crystals tied together might make a rattle when she tripped and knocked right into a box.

"Eeeek!"

The boys stopped their bickering immediately, ears tilted at the sound of Tweezledown's little scream, and tore off in her direction, nearly tripping over each other in their eagerness. The little she-goblin was pointing a long claw at one strange box on a shelf, where a snake could be seen lifting its head, eyes glowing in the darkness. "Look!" she shouted, and look the boys did – what was better, they listened. For the serpent had the end of his tail raised, shaking the tip back and forth in rapid time, creating a rattling sound.

"Oooooohhh..."

---

"Everything has to be perfect."

"Yes, Majesty."

"I want caviar for the starter, and then the salad with the truffles." Nogtwit was watching as his Queen spoke with the kitchen staff, the smart goblins. It was, of course, her right to plan the menu any time she pleased, but even for the Midsummer Ball, Sarah had stayed out of the way. She wasn't a student of haute cuisine, she would rather leave that to the professionals. Not this time. The girl was carefully checking items off her fingers, eyes blazing. "The main course is to be roasted duck, and for dessert, vanilla bean crème brulee."

"And wine, Your Majesty?"

"Yes, wine...champagne with the caviar, and that white pinot noir with the salad a-and..." She almost wanted to ask Jareth, she wasn't very good with wines. But no, she could do it herself, she had to. Knowing him, he'd recommend frozen pizza and powdered Tang, such was his dislike of the current situation. Sarah was desperate to make her mother see all that she could give her. "That...côte du Rhone for the duck. And I want the best madeira and ports for dessert, and His Majesty will want brandy, a-and..." Sarah sighed, shoulders slumping a little. "I guess that's it. Oh! Make sure the linens are blue!" Goblins everywhere nodded and took off to do their Queen's bidding, and Sarah just rubbed at her arms absentmindedly. "Cause blue's her favorite color, you know..."

Sarah was not blind. It was true that, in her desperation, she wished only to see her mother's happiness, but Linda's dislike of the Underground was very obvious to her daughter. She couldn't exactly blame her. It was true, also, that Sarah deeply loved and reveled in its magic and its mystery, however violent her transition there was; the way she'd always loved fantasy and prayed for it to be real. But she understood that to someone else, it could seem frightening and horrible. Sarah wanted just so badly to make her mother happy and proud. She was a Queen, after all; this was her chance to prove it, to show her worth at last.

Jareth could hardly believe the trouble the girl was going to. Boltsneeze told him the wine list as he handed him his daily papers; Sarah wasn't even drinking with the baby, a new human custom as far as he was aware, but if she said it was healthier, that was good enough for him. The girl even rejected caffeine on the wisdom that Karen had been told to stay away from it when pregnant with Toby. So all this maddening effort spent on a woman he knew would not appreciate it – what had gotten into the girl's head? Well, if nothing else, it explained where that ungrateful streak came from... Still and all, Jareth's goals in bringing Linda down to the Underground had been met: he had not had one screaming match with Sarah since she'd been here, and even if the girl was distressed, she was still smiling. But it was a sad kind of smile, one that didn't reach those lovely green eyes of hers...

Damn. He wanted to be satisfied, but he wasn't.

He was sure he'd given Sarah something that she wanted, but then why were neither of them happy? Oh, Linda was full of useful advice on carrying a child, just as the healer said she might be: butters and creams to use to prevent stretch marks; different things to eat for health and to combat the myriad of side effects a baby caused; folksy wisdom learned from grandmothers and grandmothers' grandmothers. And yet, the Goblin King was coming to the very frustrating realization that it could be that what Sarah wanted from her mother was not in his power to bestow, however strong and almighty he may be. And this made him irritated.

If there was one thing he could comply with, however, it was Sarah's desire that he look his absolute best for her dinner. He even had the pleasure of having the girl on hand as he dressed. "What about your blue coat?"

He raised a thin brow at her, pinning his satin cravat at the line of his throat with a large, silver filigree pin. "Do you mean the one I wore when I danced with you, Sarah."

The girl blushed from her seat on the end of their bed, turning her face away. "It brings out the blue in your eye."

"My, is that a compliment I hear? From my wife?"

"Please," and she was looking up at him with those jewel eyes of hers, that delicious little pout on her soft lips. "Don't you want Mom to be impressed with you? I can't imagine you like anyone thinking you're not all that and a bag of chips."

He ignored this last cryptic comment of hers and instead tucked his still bare fingers beneath her chin, tilting her face back toward him. Sarah even kept her eyes open as he used the other hand to stroke the roundness of her cheek. Such a pretty little thing... "Do you mean to tell me you want your mother to feel you've made a good match?"

The girl's mouth pursed, Sarah was not about to melt; her mind was too preoccupied. "I mean to tell you to please wear that blue coat. Please."

The King sighed, turning away from his wife. "I suppose I must be satisfied with that answer. Usually you only say please when you don't want me to do something. 'Please, Jareth, don't take me to the Underground and make me a glittering Queen just like I always dreamed,' or 'Please, Jareth, don't caress me to the point of ecstasy-'"

Sarah stood, a small glare in her green eyes. "You have a lot of nerve, you know that?"

"I have a lot of everything, precious thing," he grinned at her, shrugging on the glittering blue jacket. "And everything I have, I give to you. I wonder, will you ever say thank you?" The girl stormed to her boudoir to begin her own dressing, and while she'd adopted the high style befitting her station, she still always managed to take less time than her husband did.

The dinner went off without a hitch; for once, the goblins were afraid of what their Queen might do should things not go to her liking, as opposed to their King. Linda certainly seemed impressed. Her eyes closed with the pleasure of the cuisine quite often, she praised the wines and the hundreds of glittering candles that lit the massive dining hall. Sarah was practically on the edge of her seat, barely able to eat despite her new-found ravenous hunger, mainly sipping the fruit juices the staff poured for her and hanging on her mother's every compliment. The King looked considerably less pleased, and his strange, cold eyes flicked from one woman to another throughout the meal.

It was perhaps lucky that Sarah was not drinking; for if she had been, her nervous flutterings of joy would have been a sure sign she'd imbibed too much. The girl was hopeful, watching her mother's intense satisfaction. She twisted her napkin between her fingers in anticipation of happiness, and began blurting out whatever came into her head. "Isn't it great, Mom? We can do things like this forever!"

Linda choked slightly on her small glass of port. "Forever?"

Sarah nodded enthusiastically, biting at her lower lip. Jareth raised a brow and looked from one woman to another. Here was the moment of truth he'd been anticipating for some time now... "Yes! I'll make sure every night is as fun as this for you, and I'll get you all kinds of pretty clothes and jewels and everything you ever wanted!"

"Sarah," the middle aged woman laughed awkwardly. "Honey. I'm touched by your generosity, really, I am. But...I can't stay here."

The girl blinked wide, green eyes. "Why not?"

What to say to that? That the entire world was insane? That it was a nightmare? "Well...what about Jeremy!"

"We'll bring him, too!" Sarah promised, enthusiasm overflowing. "Won't we, Jareth?" The King said nothing. "Anything you want, just like I promised!"

"Sarah, no."

Something flashed in the daughter's eyes. Linda's hands were pressed against the mahogany tabletop, like she was ready to push away from the table. "But you just said..."

"Sweetie, I can't stay here. I need to go home."

"You can't!" Sarah had bolted up from her seat, and the other two at the table did so reflexively. "Mom, you can't leave me alone again!"

"Sarah, try to understand. This is what's best for me."

"You always say that!" It was the scene she replayed in her mind all over again: to Sarah's mind, her mother was not standing here in her grand dining hall, oh no. She was at the front door with her suitcase in her hand, asking her child to please let her go, assuring her this was what was best. It could not be borne. "I-I don't want to be alone anymore." Beside her, her husband twitched obviously. "Mom, Mommy, don't go, d-don't, not this time." Tears were springing into her eyes, her throat was constricted, and she moved to embrace her mother with open, desperate arms. "Please."

As soon as the girl stepped forward, Linda stepped back, half in horror. "This can't be real...Sarah, you have to understand. I-I wish I was home right now."

"No!" Linda Williams had every reason to be afraid now, for the flash and fire in her daughter's eyes was very clear: she had not simply disappointed her child, but she had upset the Goblin Queen, and this was not something to be done lightly. Jareth might have even been pleased by the radiating sense of power coming off his wife – were the situation not so heartbreaking. "I won't let you, not this time!"

However, the laws of the Underground could not be stopped, even by one of its Queens, and the Right Words had been spoken this time; Linda felt herself out of breath as a kind of white cloud began to coalesce around her. Sarah, of a sudden, was ten years old all over again, trying desperately to keep her mother from leaving her. She lunged forward, but Jareth caught her in his arms before she could go much further. Aside from his wife's distress, he almost felt relieved at his mother-in-law's exit. "It's time to say goodbye, Sarah," he pressed his mouth to her ear.

"No! No, no, Mommy-!"

Linda was blinking out of their gaze. The Queen shook violently, on the brink of her own kind of breakdown. To have finally been able to see her family again – no, worse than that, to finally have her mother all to herself – and to be abandoned all over again? She was too vulnerable as it was, but even at her strongest, that was not something Sarah could take.

But the King's arms encircled her tightly, held her close to his body so she could not fall apart or fall away. Sarah could feel the cool lips of her husband pressed against her temple. "There's such a sad love, deep in your eyes..." His smooth voice, he was singing to her. Tears rolled down Sarah's cheeks, her hands flew to where he supported her with an arm around her stomach while she trembled violently. She was absolutely sobbing, going limp against his arms. She was gone, her mother was gone all over again. She had needed her so much; Linda knew how hard it had been for her, suddenly the Goblin Queen, soon to be a mother – and she had left anyway. Sarah felt like her whole world was falling around her, brick by brick. Was this how Jareth had felt when she told him he had no power over her? Maybe it didn't matter now. She turned in his arms so her face could be nestled against his neck and she cried her heart out. She felt the familiar, nauseous sensation of the world shifting under her feet, and before she knew it, she was no longer standing in the familiar dining hall. In fact, she was no longer standing at all. Instead, Jareth lay on his back on their bed, torso propped against several pillows, with Sarah sprawled over his chest, still crying. But the King was singing to her still, and his voice was so soothing where it rumbled in his chest...Before she could understand what was happening, she felt her sobs slowing, her breath occasionally hitched with a hiccup. How dare he be what she needed when he had been the cause of all this? The poor girl didn't have the energy to be mad, though...

"Jareth..." She had a hard time speaking, her breath coming in unsteady, shaking gasps, like a child.

"Shhh..." His thin fingers combed through the thick tangle of her hair, pausing to run down the nubby length of her spine. "Hush now, precious thing..."

"I-I-I-"

His arms tightened around her just a little, his bony cheek resting against the crown of her head. "Your mother is undeserving of you, my dear...Please, try to understand that."

"I-I didn't mean..." She rubbed at her face with the back of her hand and found her fingers smeared with the remnants of her eye makeup when she did. Lord, she must look a mess... "What I said about being alone. It's just that – my family – and my life – I miss them, I-"

"Shh..." He kissed her on the round point of her nose. "I know already."

He had turned the whole world upside down, it was all his fault – but here he was catching her. It was terrible, it was villainous, it was monstrous; to ruin her life and then make her need him. What would it mean if she was giving up, if she was accepting life as his wife? What would it mean if she loved the man who had destroyed everything? Would it mean she was sick? Or strong enough to forge a life out of a ruin? Sarah didn't know. Jareth was petting her hair.

There was almost a companionable silence after that, Sarah drifting into a half-sleep as his voice still hummed at her ear where it pressed against his sternum. So warm and solid and strong... "This was not a marriage of choice, I realize – but I would choose no other but you to be my wife, to bear my child. Perhaps the comfort is cold, but I hope one day you can accept that."

She stiffened slightly in his arms – but relaxed again. She needed anything she could get, at that moment. Linda didn't want her – but someone did. Someone terrible, but someone all hers. It was almost nice, in a sick sort of way. Sarah's thin arms wrapped around her husband's chest and she nestled against him with a slight nuzzling of her cheek on his pectoral.

---

"C is for Cookie, that's good enough for me..." Toby was giggling like mad at the antics of a fuzzy blue monster on the television screen when the phone rang.

Robert and Karen exchanged the briefest of knowing glances before the former rose with a grunt from his position on the sofa. "I'll get it," he assured her, while Toby never paid them a second's notice. With quiet footfalls, Robert Williams walked into the hallway adjacent to the family room and picked the phone up from its spot on the wall. "Hello? Linda? What in the- slow down." Karen's head pivoted slightly on her neck, straining to look behind her and hear what her husband was saying in the hall. "You've seen Sarah? Where!...In the- what? Linda – have you been drinking? Because you sound crazy, that's why."

"Oh no..." Karen's hand went to her painted lips, she glanced down at her child. Toby hadn't seemed to have taken any notice just yet.

"I can't believe you...Sarah is my daughter, you know, do you understand how much I am hurting since she disappeared?" She could almost hear her husband's teeth grinding. "Is she your daughter, Linda? Really, Linda?..I don't know, maybe because you didn't come to her sixteenth birthday party!...Because it made her cry, that's why I'm still holding on to that!"

Karen turned her head back with a sigh on her lips and nearly jumped to see Toby looking straight up at her, Cookie Monster now forgotten. "Is Daddy fighting with Sarah's mommy?"

The woman chewed the inside of her cheek. "Sounds like it..."

Toby pulled himself from off the floor, onto the couch with his mother; he didn't look particularly sad, but he did seem contemplative. "Is Sarah ever coming home?"

Karen didn't hold out for hope the way her husband did; she was a worldly woman, she understood the reality of what happened to most beautiful young girls who were suddenly missing, even if it wasn't something she wanted to acknowledge. Karen had always been good about facing the truth. However, she couldn't say that to a baby. "I don't know," she answered as honestly as she could.

The child cuddled into his mother's breast the comfortable way that children do. "I miss her."

Karen had to bite hard against her lips to fight off her tears. "Oh, honey...oh, I do, too..."

"No, Linda, I don't want to hear it!" The phone call had devolved into a shouting match; Karen was hardly surprised. "And don't call here again, until you're sober – or ever!" There was a slam as the phone went back to its receiver, and Mrs. Williams jumped slightly. Her husband stalked back into the room, sat back down on the sofa, and said nothing. A tense silence pervaded the air. After a moment, Robert turned the volume on the TV up, so that muppets were fairly yelling across to one another; the man gave a discontented sigh. "...who wants milk and cookies, huh?" Toby bashfully raised his hand. Karen tried to smile, but her mouth was trembling too much.

---

"Majesty! Majesty!" Their cries echoed down the long stone corridor that led to the royal chambers. Three little sets of feet, some with paws and some with hooves, pounded down the flagstones and slid to an unsteady halt before the master suite door. It was unwise, but the three little goblins did not even hesitate in throwing open the bedroom door.

It was lucky for them that the King was trapped beneath the body of his wife, for he might otherwise have risen from the bed to kick them at the very least, or throw them into the Bog of Eternal Stench – or, conceivably, worse. As it was, he snarled at them with cold fury instead, hissing, "Idiots. She'd just fallen asleep!"

"Mmm..." Sarah stirred in her husband's arms, picking up her tear stained head. "N-no, I'm awake, I'm awake..."

Bugwit, Wog and Tweezledown felt the briefest of pangs for having woken their Queen, but quickly pressed forward anyway. "We won game!"

"Game?" Sarah blinked confused, sleepy eyes. She certainly didn't remember any games. But then, Sarah noted, she hadn't seen the three of them since her mother had arrived, and she also realized she hadn't even cared. Dear God, maybe it wasn't Jareth who was horrible, but Linda, if this was how she changed the normally thoughtful girl? This was too much to think about at once, Sarah tried to focus on the goblins.

"For rattle!"

"For ultimate rattle."

"Here." Bugwit puffed out his chest and held out a very strange device: it was a long rod of perfectly molded silver, the bottom of which matched the shape of the Goblin King's pendant, the goblin horns. And atop it was...Sarah squeaked.

"I-Is that a...rattlesnake tail?"

"Well now," the King hummed with appreciation. "You stupid little beasts – that's actually quite clever." The three little goblins gasped in their surprise. "Listen to this, dear." He shook the royal rattle, and it certainly gave a rattling sound as its tip moved back and forth in rapid motion. Sarah squeaked again, her grip around him tightening, and he chuckled slightly in his throat. "It won't hurt, precious, it's just the tail."

"Y-yeah, I know..."

"...you fools somehow actually made the ultimate rattle for a Goblin Prince." The trio just about fainted dead away – praise from their King? That was almost better than the prize of the royal hair pin. Almost

Even Sarah managed the smallest of smiles, carefully taking the object from her husband's thin hands. "It...it is, isn't it?" A Goblin Prince's rattle...a symbol of ruthlessness and power, even in one so small...she may have been Underground too long, because it was becoming an enjoyable prospect to her. Unconsciously, Sarah's hand trailed along her stomach, but Jareth watched the movement very closely. "...good job, you guys, you won."

"We can have prize now?"

"Yes, prize?"

"Oh, that's right..." Sarah muttered. "It was...a hair pin, right?" She looked at the three sets of glowing, orbicular eyes as they gazed at her with anxious hope and managed a small smile. "Well...since it's such a good rattle, I guess you could each have a pin." They'd begun a joyous cackle at that, but Sarah quickly shushed them, not in a mood to handle any kind of chaotic noise at the moment. However, it was her husband who gently pulled the pins from her curls, so that he could see the mass of brown silk fall completely loose at her shoulders, and Sarah could feel his eyes on her skin. It made her shiver, but not with horror this time. "Here you go..." she whispered as she handed them over with a small smile on her red lips. "And...I think Nogtwit has been missing you." With a quick bow, the three amigos scurried out of the bedchamber, nearly tripping over each other in their joy.

Sarah had been about to roll off her husband's abdomen when her red rimmed eyes took on a desperate light. She tried to sit up, but Jareth held her too tightly. "Wait. The thing I wanted to tell you, before, in the Throne Room-"

"What thing?"

There was no time to be bashful; she was already broken apart, more pain could hardly hurt now. "I want you to start respecting what I have to say!"

The King just blinked, confused by her sudden topic change. "I beg your pardon?"

"You don't listen to me, when there's something I want or don't want. You always just..." Sarah's voice hitched in her throat again, but she pressed through it. "If I say no and you say yes, you don't care what my answer was. I want you to care, Jareth." A pause. "I need you to care."

The Goblin King continued to stare at the girl; had her mother driven her totally out of her mind? "I...see."

For her part, Sarah wrinkled her nose, still red with the blush of her tears. "Do you?"

He hissed a little, drawing his arms tighter about her. "I am trying..." After a moment of frowning thought, he said, "...you wish equality with me, for our wants to be weighed equally."

Sarah could hardly breathe; dear God, he actually got it. "Y-yes..."

"You never do ask for anything easy, do you. Not jewels, not clothes, no, you're not satisfied until I pull the stars from out of the heavens." He pressed on before she could interrupt, her lips already parted. "But that is the nature of my Sarah. You are maddeningly frustrating, child." The King ground his teeth. "I will...attempt to keep this request in mind." It wasn't exactly the admission Sarah had been looking for – but from her husband, it was quite a lot, and she really smiled for the first time in what seemed like an age. It was enough to melt the Goblin King – but only slightly. Internally. For his part, Jareth kept his eyes focused on his wife for a few quiet moments in the dark. At last, he broke the silence: "What is on your mind, Sarah?"

The girl sighed, rolling off him and letting her head fall back onto a silk swathed pillow. "...that my old life is gone forever."

"It is," Jareth nodded, turning on to his side so that he loomed over her, locks of his pale hair tickling her skin. Sarah brushed them away with an almost tender gesture.

"And...and knowing that, I-I...I want to be a real Goblin Queen. I don't want anyone to make me feel the way Mom has, ever again." She closed her eyes with a slight spasm of the lids, seeming to briefly be in pain before they opened again; this time, with fierce determination. "I won't be that weak anymore.

Jareth could feel the radiant pleasure of success roaring through his veins as he pulled the girl, his wife – his Queen – into the tight circle of his embrace. "Oh, Sarah..." His voice was husky, like a desperate prayer. It made Sarah shiver with a very instinctual kind of pleasure. "You will be a true Goblin Queen – and you are..."

Most of the goblins were curled up in small mountains of sleeping companions at this point in the night, but they were awoken quite loudly by Nogtwit's squeals of glee. The poor little creature climbed over his slumbering brethren, never minding when his feet landed right in the middle of squishy faces, and nearly tackled Bugwit and Wog. "You back!"

"Oof!"

"Get off, stupid!"

Nogtwit didn't care, he cuddled his friends with the desperate love of companionship. Tweezledown actually gave a pleased sigh of joy at the scene. It awoke the two more "macho" of the goblins, however, and both Bugwit and Wog prized poor Nogtwit off of them, ready to snarl and posture. "I one who cut off snake tail!"

"Was me who killed it!"

Nogtwit began to keen again. Tweezledown's yellow teeth showed in a frown. "Boys."

"My idea!"

"No, mine!"

"Boys!" she shouted, and there was some grumbling from different sleeping piles about beauty sleep being a requirement for any little, dumb goblin. When both pairs of eyes were on her, she simply opened up her arms and smiled. "I like both you!" And she wrapped one arm around each scrawny neck. It did not solve the issue, so far as the boys were concerned, and they fixed each other with a cold look – until Nogtwit promptly joined in on the group hug, and they seemed to collectively decide, well. Perhaps they'd both helped in finding the perfect rattle, and that might be enough.

For the present.