"Let me get this straight," Sarah said rubbing her temples. "You and Grandpa had a daughter, but she was kidnapped as a baby and you never told anyone about her?"

"Well, we couldn't, could we?" her grandmother chimed in. "How could we have explained having a baby when no one saw me pregnant? And how could we have explained where she had gone?"

"Right," said Sarah. "Okay, I get that, but why were you kidnapped in the first place?"

She directed the question at her aunt who was dunking a lemon cookie in her cup of tea.

"Because I'm a Time Lord," the woman answered simply.

"Okay…" Sarah drew her response out. "But how do two human people end up conceiving a time travelling alien child?"

River smiled wickedly. "Well, when a mummy and daddy love each other very much and they're inside the Time Vortex-"

"Never mind," Sarah interrupted. "I don't need to know."

She rubbed her eyes with her thumb and forefinger. The story her grandmother and aunt had told her made her story sound like a picnic at the beach: scary aliens that you forgot if you didn't look at them, a doppelganger of her grandmother that travelled with her grandfather while she was held prisoner on another planet, her aunt being ripped away from them before they save her. The most intriguing part of the story was the man who was seemingly at the center of it all, the Doctor. He sounded terrifying, but Sarah's grandmother spoke of him as a friend. Her aunt spoke of him as a lover. Sarah wanted to know more about this alien who travelled through time and space in a box that was bigger on the inside.

"So, AuntRiver," she began. "Tell me more about this Doctor. That is why you're here, right?"

River smiled at her niece. "Yes, Sarah. I want to help you. And the best way I know to do that is to tell you about my own experience loving a man who isn't safe." She paused and took a sip of tea.

"There are always risks involved when it comes to love, and I think no one knows that better than the Williams women, right Mummy?"

Sarah's grandmother laughed and nodded and River continued.

"We tend to fall for wonderful but mad men who aren't quite human and who are never what they seem. Men who are brilliant and beautiful and fierce and wild, who can be gentle as doves one minute and raging storms the next."

Sarah nodded to herself thinking of Jareth's mercurial moods in the short time she was with him. He had been so frightening at first, then almost playful, then seductive, and finally broken and desperate, but still threatening throughout.

"Are you afraid of the Doctor?" Sarah asked her aunt. River chuckled.

"No," she replied. "I know what he's capable of, but I know he'd never harm me. However, I know there is a price in loving him. He is always surrounded by danger and death and oftentimes it's the people closest to him that suffer. He will always fight for the greater good and that sometimes means letting go of those he loves. It breaks his hearts, but he does what he must for what is right."

"What does that have to do with me though?" Sarah asked.

"Sarah," River said with a small smile, "This Goblin King, what do you really know of him?"

"Not much," Sarah answered truthfully. "I interacted with him on a rather limited basis, yet I always felt his presence. I know what the story says of him and I don't think he's really evil or anything, but I know he's not someone I can afford to be naïve around."

"Well, that's a start," said her aunt. "I think though, you should get reacquainted with him."

"I'm not sure that's a good idea. We didn't exactly part on the best of terms and I don't think he wants to get reacquainted. If he did, wouldn't he have come to me by now?"

"Sarah, what was the last thing you told him?" asked her grandmother.

Sarah didn't even have to think; the phrase was now seared in her mind.

You have no power over me.

"I told him he had no power over…oh. He can't come to me, can he?"

River shook her head. "He can only come to you if you call him, Sarah, and I think you should. Otherwise, you'll always wonder and always question."

"No, I know I did the right thing," Sarah argued, shaking her head. "I had to save Toby. There was no other option!"

"Perhaps not then, but what about now?" asked River.

"River, I really doubt very much that he wants to hear from me."

River winked at her niece. "Oh Sarah, I think Jareth would like to hear from you very much."

Sarah looked up at her aunt in alarm.

"How do you know his name? I didn't tell you his name."

A devilish grin crossed River's face. "Let's just say His Majesty and I go way back, shall we?"

"You what?" Sarah gasped.

"Oh, not like you think, Sarah," River added quickly. "I've just known him for a very long time. You see, when I was very young, I sought asylum in the GoblinKingdom."

Sarah stared at her aunt, not believing what she was hearing.

"I had just undergone my first regeneration and I was in sorry shape, cold and alone with nowhere to go," River continued. "I didn't even really know who or what I was. I was just a helpless child, lost and scared. I made a wish…"

"And the Goblin King came and granted you asylum in the Underground?"

River laughed. "No, silly Sarah. You did."