A/N: I want to thank everyone who has added this to their favorites, and also big thanks to those who gave me reviews. I appreciate the objective criticism on certain accounts of this story, some I wasn't aware of. So, I ask for your patience while I work on a few character flaws. In the meantime, I hope you all continue to enjoy reading this. ~Kat~
A Dreamer's Heart ~ Chapter Three
After cleansing his wounds and re-bandaging them, Sarah carefully maneuvered Jareth to the center of the full sized bed. Hopefully it would deter him from trying to get up again, though she doubted it. The bite marks on his leg and foot were nearly healed completely, leaving only his back to tend to for the most part. If he'd stop exhausting himself that was.
Not trusting Jareth to stay put, she laid down on the outer edge of her bed with the intention to just rest for a little bit, and keep an eye on him before assigning a goblin to guard him while she moved to slept on the couch. But, the next thing she knew it was morning, and the annoying sound of the phone ringing filtered into her dreaming mind. Rolling over, she promptly ignored the phone until the battle cries of goblins shattered her sleep like a stone against fragile glass.
Forgetting she was so close to the edge of her bed, Sarah rolled backwards and squealed as she fell off the mattress to land on the floor with a loud thud and an oomph. Jareth raised his head curiously at the commotion. "Goblins," Sarah muttered disoriented from the floor. Then the phone rang again, causing an uproar in the living room. "Oh shit, no!" she exclaimed louder, scrambling to her feet. "Goblins, no!" she yelled, running out of the bedroom. "Stop!"
'And she wonders why I want to stay,' Jareth thought whimsically, dropping his head back to the pillow. 'This is the most entertainment I've had in ages.'
Sarah raced through the living room, pushing the goblins out of her way as they ganged up on her ringing telephone. "No!" she shouted at them firmly, grabbing the old style phone protectively with both hands. Only when they stopped hissing and growling did she dare answer it.
"Hello?" She said into the receiver. "Hi, Stella," she greeted in a forced calm voice, though rolled her eyes as she plopped in the nearby chair. "No, everything is fine, I was just in the middle of… cleaning." Slumping back in the chair, she half listened to Stella go on and on about Mary Baker and the gardener. After telling the older woman four times that she had to go, Stella finally conceded and said her goodbyes, twice. Hanging up the receiver, Sarah placed the phone back on the table, then turned towards her bedroom.
"Goblins!" she shouted, letting her ire convey in her voice. Two of the five goblins appeared instantly, Dink was not one of them. Striding steadily in the direction of her room, Sarah told the other two to follow her.
"I know you heard me call you," she stated from the doorway.
"We were telling King a story," Dink defended, letting her know that their King still had superiority over Sarah.
"Really?" she quipped. "Well, let me tell you a story," she started sarcastically. "It's about a woman who lives in a cabin in the woods all by herself, and every once in a while people from the nearby town will call her on the phone to make sure she is okay. Now if for some reason the woman does not answer the phone when it rings, then the people will drive all the way up here to find out why!"
"What she say?" Dink asked his King.
"She says," Sarah spoke out. "You do not attack anything in my home unless I tell you to!"
"Is that right?" Dink asked the King curiously. "She can do that?"
"Yes, she can do that," Jareth replied, surprising Sarah as well as the goblins. The small horde sighed in disappointment and solemnly left the room. "They grow on you, don't they?" Jareth quipped pleasantly, propping his head with his palm.
"Sure they do," she replied cynically. "Just like a scab you can't help but pick at. It's annoying, but there for a reason."
"Have I disrupted your life so horribly?" Jareth asked ruefully after a moment of silence.
She stared at him for a moment, stunned by his question. "No, I… I just…" 'You just what, Sarah?' her inner voice asked. 'You just save his life to treat him like shit?' "I need a shower," she stated quickly, making an excuse to leave the room.
Her emotions were in turmoil as she stood under the steaming spray of her shower. When had she become so intolerant to anyone being in her home for a few days? For the first time in what seemed like forever, she had someone to fuss over, and the goblins… well, the goblins were a different story. They were simply messy and loud, and… disruptive to no end. But, they were here to defend their king, whom was the root of her emotional turmoil.
She'd often caught herself fantasizing about him, usually while cleaning the wound on his back, but her fantasies were starting to take on a life of their own since he's become conscious. At first she thought it was his magic that entranced her senses, drawing her to him and feeding her attraction to him as his magic grew stronger. But, then she realized that it was her own doing when she still felt the same impulsiveness to touch him even after he had depleted his strength completely. She felt herself falling for him, falling for the fanciful idea that he could be how she dreamed him, and that was a problem.
He wasn't some hardbound hero from a romance novel, he was the Goblin King. He was powerful and frightening, arrogant and self righteous, and god only knew what he was capable of. She frowned thoughtfully at her own depiction of the goblin king, comparing him to the men in her books, 'He really isn't all that different, is he?' she thought. 'Well, except that he's immortal, and comes from an entirely different world.' She surmised to herself. 'And the fact that he's only here because his magic brought him here.' She frowned again, almost getting soap in her eyes. 'Why would his magic bring him to me?'
With that very question foremost in her mind, she finished her shower and got dressed. Towel drying her hair for the time being, she returned to her bedroom, grateful at finding him in the same spot she had left him. She huffed an inner laugh. 'Yea, he stayed still because I told him to, good one Sarah, why not have another dose of delusion while your at it.'
"What has happened this time?" he asked with light exasperation. Seeing the disgruntled expression on her features, he surmised that his goblins had done something else to annoy her.
"Why are you here?" she asked bluntly, giving no warning to her inner thoughts.
"Pardon?" he quipped, his brows arching higher on his forehead, completely taken by surprise at her question. "Have you fallen? Hit your head, perhaps?"
"Dink said that your magic brought you here, and not home," she explained. "Why would it do that?"
Jareth let his head fall back to the pillow with a deep sigh, holding her gaze with his. "I'm sure you recall the words you spoke just before our last parting," he remarked.
"Yea, what about them?"
He stared at her for a moment before slightly diverting his gaze from her eyes. "You had spoken words that magically bound you to be my equal by will, authority, and power." He met her gaze once more. "Therefore, upon my incapacity to make any decision on my own behalf, my magic would deem you the only one entrusted with my well being."
Sarah processed what he had just told her. "That's why you were reluctant to simply let me go," she murmured more to herself thoughtfully, remembering the crest fallen expression on his face when she had refused his offer. "I won the right to have Toby back the second I stepped foot into the castle."
"You would have never accepted that," he told her simply. "It was within you to seek me out, to challenge me personally. You needed to stand before me and prove that you would not cower, and I let you." He sighed deeply while looking away from her. "Of all the times for you to remember those words," he stated with regret. "Just a few seconds more and…"
"And you would have let me believe that I belonged to you forever," she finished, her tone somewhere between incredulous and fascinated.
His eye contact wavered slightly, a brief pained expression flitted across his features. "It matters not, now," he replied in a nondescript tone, clearing his face of all expression. He cautiously shifted into a better sitting position. "If you would be so kind," he directed towards her. "I've grown hungry and would like some sustenance."
She watched him struggle for a comfortable position to sit in, while favoring his wounded back. After he finally settled himself he let his head fall back against the headboard, meeting her eyes regally with a stoic gaze.
"I'll clean your wound and change the bandages after you eat," she stated quietly, leaving the room to make breakfast.
She wanted to be angry and hate him for deceiving her like that, but she couldn't. He really had done more for her than she had ever thought. She wanted to call him a liar and a cheat, but that wasn't fair either, he had let her run the challenge by her own design, and that must have been very hard for him. She paused in the hallway, out of his sight, and stared back towards her bedroom. 'He really had been generous towards me.' she thought in retrospect. 'And I threw it in his face.' She stared down at her feet. 'I wonder what he would've done if…' she stopped herself from going down that road, shaking her head to clear her thoughts. 'Like he said, it doesn't matter, now.'
She paused in the den to stare at the goblins for a moment. They had grown quiet as soon as she walked into the room, making her feel bad for yelling at them. "Later, I'll see if I can find some fun things for you to do so you won't be so bored."
"Okay, Lady," Dink replied with a smile, nodding at his brothers as they all smiled happily at her.
She continued on to the kitchen to fix something quick for breakfast.
XxXxX
"I'm really starting to worry about this," Sarah stated with concern, straddling his waist while cleaning the wound on his back. "It's not looking good at all. In fact, it looks worse than it did last night."
"Of course it does," he replied evenly. "With all the gook you keep putting on it, I'm surprised it's not much worse than it is."
"What gook?" she questioned indignantly. "It's antibacterial ointment. It helps heal wounds, and reduces infections."
"For you, perhaps. But, not me."
'He's not human.' The realization struck her like a slap in the face. "Oh my god," she whispered, looking at the glaze of ointment she had just liberally applied to his wound with horror. She removed herself from atop of him, standing at the side of the bed.
"Why didn't you say something sooner?" she questioned, completely irate at him. "Why would you let me use this on you knowing it would make things worse?" She angrily waved the tube of ointment near his face.
"And give up having your undivided attention?" he countered in a smooth tone, raising his shoulder to rest his upper body on his elbow. "I happen to enjoy the feel of your delicate hands on my back," he told her in a seductive, velvety voice. "The way you straddle my body with your shapely legs, the caress of your breath upon my skin when you lean over me. A small infection is nothing to be concerned about in light of gaining so much personal attention."
She stared at him dumbfounded, letting the sound of his voice seep through her ire. His seductive words fed the void of loneliness within her, hope filled her entire being and did back flips in her gut at finding someone to want her, someone to love her and…
She blinked in rapid succession and slightly shook her head, frowning outwardly for almost believing him. She became angry again, at herself this time, for wanting to believe him so badly that she was nearly blinded to the truth. He didn't want her, he just didn't want her to be his equal and would say anything for her to relinquish that power.
"Nice try," she told him curtly, scoffing at the confused expression that came to his features. "Why don't you just tell me how to get that wound to start healing so you can go home," she dictated in a curt tone.
He regarded her carefully, confused by her sudden coldness when mere moments before she had looked upon him with longing. But, her eyes had become cruel once more, hiding any feelings she may have towards him. It was obvious that she no longer fancied him being in her care, and wanted to be rid of him. "You must purge the wound to get the infection out," he told her directly, resigning himself to the fact that she would never want him, or accept him as anything but an adversary.
"I have to what?" she asked in a deep voice. "I don't know how to do that," she informed him. "I'm not some trained professional, I'm lucky was able to do as much as I did considering how deep that thing is!"
"Once you remove all traces of the ointment you've been using, my body will heal itself."
"Well, how am I supposed to do that?" she asked, still slightly incredulous. "I can't put you in the shower, the pain alone would damn nearly kill you all over again."
"Get one of your towels and soak it in warm water," he instructed in a quiet, calm tone. Wring it out, and lay it over the wound. I'll do the rest."
"What do you mean, you'll do the rest?" she asked warily. "You don't have any magic in you. How can you…"
"I always have magic within me, Sarah." He chuckled without humor. "Though doing this will most likely render me unconscious. I hope, for the last time in your presence."
She nodded dumbly in agreement and went to her bathroom for a hand towel. Returning a few minutes later with it damp with warm water, she laid it over his wound as he had instructed.
"This won't be pleasant, I warn you," he stated, looking over his shoulder at her. "You must hold the cloth in place to absorb the infection as I magically draw it out."
Nodding, she climbed up on the bed to straddle his waist, placing her hands on the outer edges of the towel.
"How will I know if it's working, or when you're done?"
"You'll know," he answered in a quieter voice, diverting his gaze. "The infection will most likely be a nasty color, black by the feel of it. Once it's absorbed into the towel, you must remove it." Again, Sarah nodded, bracing herself though she wasn't sure what to expect.
"Sarah, you must burn it to kill the infection," he instructed as an afterthought. "It has magical tendencies and will assume a life of its own once removed from my body. You must make sure it is completely destroyed."
"Oh, shit," she muttered, bracing herself anew over his back. "You could have mentioned that a little sooner. I could have at least had a fire going." Then an idea came to her. "Wait a minute," she told Jareth. "Dink!" she called in a firm voice.
"What are you doing?" Dink asked suspiciously upon seeing the Lady sitting on his King's back, seemingly holding the King down."
"I need you to go outside and make a fire in the char pit I have out back," she instructed him authoritatively. "Make sure it is contained, and don't let it get too big. We're going to have something ugly to burn real soon."
Dink shifted his gaze from the Lady to his King's back, then wrinkled his face with distaste. "Purging?" Both Jareth and Sarah nodded. "I will do this," he declared and vanished within an instant.
"What am I getting into, Jareth?" she asked quietly, feeling him breath deeply in preparation to use his magic. "What is this thing going to look like? Will it try to bite me, or have claws?"
He relaxed his preparations at her questions, would have laughed out right if the circumstances were different. But he heard the fear in her voice, felt the nervousness in her hands over the towel on his skin. "It won't be as monstrous as that, Sarah," he reassured her calmly. "Just make sure none of it escapes your towel." Then as another afterthought came to him, he added. "Oh, it will have a very unpleasant… stench."
"Stench?" she repeated, remembering vividly the smell of the bog of eternal stench. But before she could ask him to elaborate his body tensed underneath her and a black slimy substance began to soak into the towel under her hands.
It started as a thin line from the center of his wound, weaving itself into the fibers, then spread outward into the towel as she held it firmly in place at a diagonal angle along his back. As the slime grew thicker a foul stench assaulted her senses. "Oh my god," she exclaimed, turning her head to the side to burry her nose into her shoulder.
His jaw was clenched tight, his face that of pure agony as he magically expelled the vile substance from his body. He growled gruntingly as the last of it was exercised from his wound. "Now!" he managed to say before losing consciousness.
She methodically pulled the towel from his wound by one end, folding it this way and that to contain the thick ooze within the fibers. Jumping from the bed, she was about to bound out into the hallway when Dink suddenly appeared in front of her.
"Me take it," he stated firmly with urgency, holding out his hands for the towel. Trusting him to know what to do, she handed it to him, and he vanished. She continued into the hallway, ran through the house to the kitchen, the back porch, and out the back screen door. Sprinting around the corner of the house, she saw Dink and the other goblins standing before the char pit she used to burn her rubbish, watching the infectious… thing burn in a blaze of variant colors with sounds of sizzling, hissing, and moaning. When the infection had been completely burned, the blaze dimmed to a low flame, turning into embers and ash within a few short minutes.
"Jareth."
Turning back to the screen door, Sarah quickly made her way through the house to her bedroom. Reaching the doorway she slowed her pace to casually walk into the room, capturing him in her sights as she neared the bed. She could already see the difference in the wound on his back. It wasn't as raw or swollen, and the jagged corners of skin on each end of the laceration seemed to already be healing itself closed.
She sat wearily on the edge of the bed by his waist, her knees bent with both feet on the floor. "Why would you purposely let yourself suffer like that?" she asked quietly, twisting her upper body to brush the uneven blonde strands of hair away from his face. Her heart told her why. 'Because he still wants you. He loves you, Sarah.' While her mind rebutted the idea. 'He's just too proud and stubborn to ask for help. He is a king, after all.'
She swallowed back the tears that threatened to fall from her eyes, blurring her vision. "You won't have a reason to stay after this heals," she murmured in a soft, quiet voice, swallowing hard once more as she gently caressed the side of his face, reveling in the feel of his smooth skin. "In a couple of days you'll go home," she choked, clenching her jaw when her voice cracked with emotion. The realization that she would return to her lonely existence after he left painfully tore at her heart.
She suddenly rose to her feet, looking back at him from the side of the bed. She had to distance herself from him emotionally. He would be fine now. His wound would heal without any interference from her, and then he would leave. She did what she promised the goblins she'd do, and that was to help their King, to save him from dying. She turned away from Jareth to find Dink standing in the doorway hugging himself with a pained expression on his little face as he stared up at her.
"What is it, Dink?" she asked almost fearfully, having no idea that the little creature could sense her inner turmoil, then gave herself a mental shake. 'He's just concerned about his king, that's all.' "He'll be fine, Dink," she reassured him in a steady voice, moving to leave the room. "He'll most likely be back to his normal self in a few days, and then you'll all go home."
"Dink can stay with Lady," he told her in a cautious voice, turning his head to follow her as she left the room. Sarah paused in the hallway to look back at the little goblin. "King too busy to miss little Dink anyway," he added, smiling up at her with his attempt at humor.
"I'm sure you're more important than you realize, Dink. Thank you for offering to stay, but you belong with the king back in your own world." She smiled weakly at the brave little thing. "Stay with your king for now, and let me know when he wakes up, okay?"
"Okay, Lady," Dink replied quietly, turning to fully enter the room. He glanced over his shoulder to stare at her retreating back as she moved down the hallway.
He turned back toward the bed, stepping up to the side to look upon his king. "Lady don't know you hear things in your sleep, does she, King?" he asked quietly. He frowned with very deep thoughts as he climbed up on the bed to sit near Jareth's feet. "This sleep is different," he surmised to himself. "King wouldn't make a crystal if he knew what Lady say." He looked up the length of the long, familiar form of his sovereign with loyal eyes. "Dink will tell King what Lady say when you in this sleep," he vowed determined. "Then maybe you show Lady some magic that she is sad about not having."
XxXxX
Sarah had fallen asleep on the couch only to wake up to the distinct smell of something burning in the kitchen. 'Goblins!' she lurched from the couch and raced into the kitchen to see a billowing cloud of black smoke pouring from a pan on the stovetop, the goblins busily mulling around the room with happy expressions on their faces.
"What are you doing?" she asked, keeping her voice to a sweet, curious tone instead of screaming at them hysterically as she wanted to do.
"We cook for Lady and King!" Dink announced enthusiastically, the others nodded and bounced in agreement.
She glanced around her kitchen with her mouth gaped open and eyes wide. "Oh…"
Milk streamed onto the floor from the open container that lay on its side on the countertop, the sink was near overflowing with the water still running in it, and the black smoke was the handle of a pot that had been left over one of the burners.
"My…" There was a white coating of what could only be flour all over the counter, the floor, and the table, along with goblin prints scattered over everything.
"God…" The fridge had something dripping out of it from under the door, every pot and pan was dirty with… she had no idea what. Batter of some sort was running in clumps down the walls, the window had egg shells stuck to it, and utensils lie wherever they happened to be dropped.
She closed her eyes, and her mouth, in an attempt to gain control over the situation, but simply came up short as her mind went numb while trying to process the mess in a calm and orderly fashion.
"Lady like strudel?" Dink asked cheerfully, stirring something in a pot.
"Strudel?" Sarah asked dumbly. Then, her temper got the better of her. "Are you kidding me?!" She exploded vocally. "My kitchen is a complete disas…"
The hand that adeptly covered her mouth could belong to only one person, holding her outrage in her throat as he stepped up behind her. "They will clean everything when they are done," Jareth reassured her in a calm, if not weak, voice at her ear. He felt her relax instantly and let go of her as she turned around to face him.
"You shouldn't be up yet," she told him in a concerned voice, her anger suddenly forgotten. "Where'd you find clothes?" she asked, frowning at the oversized t-shirt and sweat pants he was wearing.
He gave her a weak, knowing smile before turning to head back to the bedroom, assuming she would follow him without any prompting. He was right in that assumption.
"How the hell are you even standing?" she asked, letting her previous question drop as she dogged him from behind. "And what gave them the idea that they could cook?" she demanded to know, pointing back towards her kitchen. "Did you see the mess, Jareth? I have no idea where to even 'begin' to clean that mess!"
"They'll clean it," he replied evenly. "Just as they cleaned their mess in the bathroom."
"The bathroom?" she echoed, stopping short with an expression of dread on her face. "What about the bathroom?" She would have ran down the hallway to investigate if it weren't for Jareth blocking her way as he slowly tread along the hallway. But, she'd have to practically shove him aside to get past him, and she wasn't about to do that.
"Nothing, is about the bathroom," he stated evenly. "They've already cleaned it, and returned everything to your liking." He stopped to turn around and face her. "They discovered bubbles in water about three days ago, if you must know. And I'm not going to tell you any more on the subject."
"Bubbles in water," she repeated, closing her eyes as images of what kind of mess that would've been flashed in her mind. "Oh, thank god for magic," she stated with a deep calming breath.
"God had nothing to do with it," he quipped cynically, turning around to continue towards her bedroom.
"No, of course not," she muttered, following him again. "It's just an expression."
"Yes, of that much I am aware," he replied dryly, entering the bedroom to head straight for the bed. He eased himself tenderly onto the mattress, wincing only slightly as he positioned himself to lean upon propped pillows along the headboard.
"How did you get to the kitchen so fast?" she asked with sudden curiosity, considering how long it took him to walk back to her room.
"I'm a fast healer," he quipped evenly, meeting her gaze impassively.
Upon wakening, Dink had informed Jareth of many things that he hadn't been aware of during his bouts of unconsciousness. The feeling of complete despair that his goblin had sensed in Sarah while she contemplated Jareth's return to his own world had been the most important as far as Jareth was concerned. Now, it was simply a matter of prolonging his stay until she admitted to herself, and to him, that she wanted to remain with him forever.
"Really?" she questioned skeptically. "You used magic? This soon?" His arched brows rose indignantly at her doubting him. Sarah licked at her suddenly dry lips, and stepped closer to the bed. "Let me see your back."
He leaned forward, enabling her to gently pull the t-shirt, that he had found in her closet, up to his shoulders. She gasped in surprise at how much his wound had healed. The previously gaping wound had already closed itself completely, leaving only a puffy scar-like imperfection on his otherwise perfect back.
"I can't believe it's healing so fast," she murmured in awe, tenderly running her fingertips over the almost healed wound. "It's only been a few hours since we purged the infection."
"I'm sure you'll learn not to doubt my word soon enough," he remarked casually. He straightened his back and pulled the shirt down, forcing her to step back from him as he resettled himself against the pillows. "I expected you to be relieved once you saw how quickly I'd be able to return to my kingdom."
"You honestly used magic to get to the kitchen just now, didn't you?" she asked in a quiet voice, ignoring his impromptu question. If he was healing that fast then he'd leave even sooner than she had thought. It was all happening too fast, she hadn't had time to quell the dreadful feeling of loneliness that would ensue after his departure. She didn't have enough time to convince herself that she was hoping for something that didn't exist outside of her fanciful dreams and stupid novels.
"Having enough magic to use within such a short distance," he explained patiently, watching her intently. "And having enough to return home are two very different types of magic."
She nodded in acknowledgement, frowning as she processed everything in her mind. Jareth clearly sensed her inner turmoil; her relief of him not being able to leave just yet, her conflict for why she wanted him to remain in the first place, and the hope of a dream that she'd been suppressing since his arrival.
"I don't understand your confusion," Jareth told her openly.
"What do you mean?" she asked, meeting his gaze.
"The constant battle of emotions that I sense within you," he informed her, thinking it was a good time as any to let her know he was aware of her inner turmoil. "I've sensed it often between my bouts of unconsciousness, though I'm not sure if you are troubled because I must stay or because I am recovering faster than you expected. Would you care to enlighten me?"
"Not particularly, no," she answered curtly, moving away from him, as though that would make a difference when he could sense her emotions no matter where she was within her home. "How long have you been able to sense things within me?" she asked warily, her emotions suddenly guarded against him.
"Since I gave you your gifts," he told her. "Just as you can sense emotions within others."
"No, I can't do that," she denied definitively, shaking her head. "I wouldn't have went through… I would've known things if I could do that."
"I've noticed your denial," he voiced contemplatively. "Though, I can't fathom how you aren't aware of my gifts as you claim."
"I don't 'have' any gifts, Jareth, that's how," she stressed, moving to the other side of her room, leaning on her dresser with a bowed head. "There never were certain gifts, just like you never fell in love with me. It was just part of a story."
Oh, now that hurt. He clenched his jaw, suppressing his hurt with anger. "Then I should return home as soon as possible," he sneered. "Since I am nothing but part of a story."
"That's not what I meant," she began to explain, slumping her shoulders as she turned to look at him. "I just don't feel…" Her words were cut off by stunned shock at finding the bed empty. "Jareth?" She glanced around the room as panic consumed her. 'No, he can't... he's not strong enough!'
"Jareth!" she screamed, panic rampant in her voice as she ran from her room to search the house.