I'm not overly happy with this chapter, but at the same time, I feel as if it's important for later. (I already know that it's important because I just finished up chapter 7 and, oh gosh, this sets everything up in that chapter.)

Grammatical mistakes? You should know what to do.

"And even if I were to come back home, I'm not even sure if I'd know where to begin looking for answers about this," Jareth said as he paced in front of the crystal that floated a few inches away from his face. "I'm completely at a loss here."

"I see," Amael, Jareth's mother, responded coldly. "I guess I now know why you had not responded to my ball invitation."

"Mother," Jareth said in a low growl as he spun around to face the crystal. "Not everything revolves around your balls and other society gatherings."

"Well, as I'm sure that you've figured out centuries ago, I mainly use them as an excuse to introduce you to elegible women for you to marry," Amael said evenly. "But, I probably shouldn't have bothered if you were going to go around and start playing happy homemaker with the first human woman who so much as looks at you."

"Mother!" Jareth barked out.

"Fine, fine! Your relationship with this girl is different— you aren't using her as a means to an end because you looove her! Yeah." She raised an eyebrow at Jareth. "If only I'd heard that line before."

"You don't have to understand what it's like, mother," Jareth snapped at her. "I'm only asking for your assistant in the matter. I'd like to make Sarah my queen, but I have to at least try and figure out what that… thing is inside her mind! If I take her back to my kingdom, it might have some ill effect on her."

"I only have one question, followed by one request," Amael said with a sigh of defeat.

"Alright," Jareth agreed rather reluctantly.

"Do you love her? This… Sarah?"

"To madness," Jareth said without missing a beat. Amael nodded her head slowly.

"Then I'd like to speak to her."

"What about?" Jared said with a hint of defensiveness in his voice.

"Well, as your mother, I feel that it would be within your best interests if I talked to her about you," Amael said; she seemed to be choosing her words with care. "But, it might help me to get a feel for what's going on in her mind, even if I can't be there to see it for myself."

"Alright. I will figure out some way for you to be able to talk with Sarah," Jareth said, his mind already set to the task.

"Before you go, honey…" Amael said, her voice sugary-sweet. "What do you want me to do about your kingdom?"

"Obviously, this entire venture with trying to figure out Sarah's blocked memories will be for naught if I can't offer her my kingdom," Jareth said.

"This woman's really gotten to you, hasn't she?" Amael said with a small smile. "Rather than worrying about what whoever might take your throne would do to your kingdom, your subjects, and most importantly, your Labyrinth, you're worried about not having enough to give to her."

"Why do you mention it? Is it a bad thing that I want to give Sarah the world?"

"That's not bad; that's love, honey."

Jareth offered his mother a bright smile. "I see. Thanks for your help in the matter. I'll contact you soon about speaking with Sarah."

"Alright. Be safe, and I love you."

Jareth dismissed the crystal with a wave of his hand before he stalked away from the park where he'd gone to in order to have the conversation without causing a black out.

"So, I finally got around to calling my mother today," Jared started as he started to pick things out from his refrigerator.

"Oh yeah?" Sarah asked with a raised eyebrow.

"It's a lot harder to call her now that I live in America; long-distance calls are expensive! And I've been busy, okay?"

"It's not that I don't believe any of that, because I do," Sarah said quickly. "I'm just curious if there was some reason why you brought it up or if you're just making idle chit-chat."

"No, there's a reason," Jared said quickly. "Of course I told her about the wonderful woman that I met, and she said that she'd like to talk to you sometime." He looked over his shoulder as he washed some peppers off at the sink to see Sarah's reaction; she was looking at everything but him.

"Why?" she finally said. Jared gave a non-committal shrug.

"She's curious as to who's captured the heart of her youngest child, I suppose."

"Well, I suppose that it couldn't hurt," Sarah said hesitantly after giving it a moment of thought. "Wait, you're not going to turn into one of those guys whose relationship with a woman hinges on the approval of their mother, are you?"

"Of course not," Jared said as he put the fruit on the counter. "I'm an adult and my mother knows that."

"Okay, good," Sarah said. Jared leaned across the counter and lightly pressed his lips to Sarah's.

"And even if she doesn't approve… so what? She's all the way across the pond in London right now. What's she going to do about it?"

"I just don't want to talk to her and then she'll hop on her broom and fly across the Atlantic to turn me into a toad."

"That's not her style, precious," Jared said. He kissed Sarah again before he pulled away, grabbed a knife from the display by the sink, and started to cut the peppers. "Just be yourself, and she'll have a hard time liking you."

With an angry sigh, Jareth waved his hand over the pieces of plastic and wiring that had once been his phone. He had only purchased it the other day so that he could try to figure out how he could put a communication crystal inside of one so that Sarah could talk to his mother without raising suspicions.

Until he figured out what exactly was the cause of the block on Sarah's memories of her time in the Labyrinth, he figured that he should err on the side of caution and do as little magic around her as possible.

The phone put itself back together quickly; Jareth conjured another communication crystal— an open line to his kingdom— and carefully slipped it into the mouthpiece of the phone. The plastic cracked a little, but it was nothing like the explosions that had happened on the other four tries. Jareth easily repaired the plastic, and gave a triumphant smile.

"Just be yourself, precious," Jared whispered as he handed the phone to Sarah. He kissed her temple before he backed away to give Sarah and his mother some privacy.

"Hello?" Sarah asked hesitantly as she held the phone up to her ear. Little did she know that the phone didn't even work— a side effect of the magic.

"Hello Sarah. It's so nice to finally be able to speak to you. Jared has said so much about you."

"He has?" Sarah asked, a little surprised. As far as she knew, Jared had only called his mother once since he'd been in New York.

"Well, as much as he can in one conversation," Amanda said with a slight laugh. "So, Jared tells me that you're a theater teacher."

"Yes, that's right. At a high school."

"Jared always did love the theater, and he's always had a flare for being overly theatrical. Did he ever tell you about the time when he…"

"You two spoke for a really long time," Jareth said as he looked into the crystal with the image of his mother.

"There was a lot for us to discuss. Sarah's a lovely young woman," Amael said with a small smile. "If your father were still alive, he would have loved her."

"I'm glad that you like her," Jareth said. "Sarah was worried about what I would do if you didn't. She was also worried about the massive phone bill that I would recieve thanks to your long conversation, and offered to pay for it."

"Well, aren't you glad that somebody decided not to levy a tax on magic during the Renaissance?" Amael asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I still stand by my initial observation that it would have generated a lot of money for the crown faster," Jareth said with a scowl.

"Then I suppose that it's a good thing that you're not in line to be the high king after I die, because I don't think that you would be overly popular."

"My subjects love me!" Jareth protested. "Well, about as much as a goblin can love something more than his own belly button lint. But we're getting off topic."

"Hm, yes," Amael agreed. "It was difficult to get fully into her mind across such a distance, while limited by both the communication crystal as well as the fact that we're in separate worlds. But I do see what you mean. I don't think that I've ever come across anything quite like that before. It is a bit of a puzzle. Do you mind if I talk to Kielat about this? You know how much she completely loves mysteries like this."

"My sister?" Jareth raised an eyebrow. "I suppose, but mention me as little as possible, and don't say anything about the fact that this spell as been cast on a human, or that she lives Aboveworld. Unless you think that it might have something to do with how strong that the spell is."

"If you want my initial thoughts on the matter, I think that the reason why the spell is so strong is because it's been ten years since Sarah ran your Labyrinth, and that time has given the spell time to solidify to such a state."

"You mean it's matured like fine wine or cheese?"

"Yes, exactly."

"But it would take an exceptionally skilled magic user in order to cast a spell that would be that strong," Jareth said with a puzzled frown.

"I know that this was never your strong suit, but what of the magical signature?"

"Mag… Mother, I was so surprised by what I found in Sarah's mind, that looking for the magical signature was probably the farthest thing from my mind. And besides, I have no idea who might have done this to Sarah. She was only in my Labyrinth for less than thirteen hours."

"And it never occurred to you that somebody else was watching her as she ran?"

"I was watching Sarah pretty much the entire time," Jareth said with a frown. "If there had been anybody else who was also watching her, I would have sensed them."

"Well, that woman would barely clap for Tinkerbell (1), let alone to have magic strong enough to do this to herself," Amael snapped. "I want you to go back into her mind to try and get a sense of the magical signature."

"I'm honestly a bit worried about what prolonged contact with magic might do to Sarah."

"You've already been inside of her mind once, as well as the first time you tried to find out what was wrong," Amael said sourly. "And if her memories of the Labyrinth are sealed up, why didn't she have a reaction to you when you first showed up?"

"Could it be that I look too different now?"

"It could be, but you said yourself that when she first saw you in the elevator, she asked if you'd met before," Amael said. Jareth paced in front of the crystal, which hung in the air at eye level so that he could move about.

"And what about the nightmare that she had the other night? It sure sounds like one part of my Labyrinth. Do you think that she's starting to break through the barrier on her own?"

"It could be that your continued presence in her life is starting to chip away at it, yes," Amael agreed absently. "But, I think that it's important that you keep a close eye on her. Nightmares are one thing, but if she starts to have vivid flashbacks during her waking hours, you should probably bring her to me at once."

"Yes, I agree," Jareth said with a frown. "I should go— I promised Sarah I'd watch this dreadful TV program with her tonight." Jareth rolled his eyes.

"Alright. Keep me posted, and I'll see what I can dig up about this on my end."

"I've never had a conversation with somebody's mother before," Sarah started. Her feet were propped up on Jared's lap, and her head rested on the armrest of her sofa. The TV flickered before them, and cast weird shadows onto the wall behind them in the dark of Sarah's apartment.

"You've never talked to a mother before in your life?" Jared asked.

"Shut up, you know what I mean!" Sarah said with a roll of her eyes. "I just… it's weird to think that somebody actually wants to be around me."

"You are a very likable, intelligent, not to mention beautiful, young woman, Sarah," Jared said with a small smile. "I can't imagine that any man would give up a chance to spend time with you."

"Well, maybe I'm not always so nice to people?" Sarah said with a smirk. "Maybe I have a tendency to want to push people away? I don't normally want to be around people."

"But I'm different?"

"I think that you are," Sarah whispered as she looked up at him. Jared leaned over Sarah and gently kissed her lips. "Hey, okay, I'm trying to watch this show, okay?"

"Considering that we just spent the past two minutes talking, I'd say that you're not overly keen on the show."

Sarah moved her right leg so that it was on the other side of Jared, pushed herself into a sitting position, and straddled Jared's lap. She wrapped her arms around his neck and then proceeded to make out with him for several minutes.

"You didn't have to lie about wanting to watch TV if all you wanted to do was to kiss me," Jared said with a shit eating grin.

"I did want to watch this show," Sarah explained with a smirk of her own. "A lot of students at school talk about this show, and some of the other teachers were a bit worried that it's inappropriate for them to be watching."

"Anybody with eyes could have told you that," Jared said simply. "The show didn't even wait for the opening credits to roll before they made a sex joke. But how exactly does watching the filth that your students watch help you to stop them?"

"I don't know… I've got more interesting and more immediate things to think about right now," Sarah said as she pulled her shirt off over her head.

"Hm, yes. I agree," Jared said before he gave Sarah a lingering, searing kiss. Sarah rocked her hips over Jared's erection, before she pulled away from his kiss to give off a breathy moan of pleasure. Jared removed Sarah's bra before Sarah pulled Jared's shirt off. After several more heated kisses, Sarah slithered off from Jared's lap and knelt on the ground in front of him. She quickly undid his jeans and with a little help from Jared, pushed them down.

Then, she wrapped her hands around his engorged cock and gave it a few, leisurely tugs. Then, she looked up at Jared from under her lashes— her eyes were dark in the dim light of the living room, darker than usual— before she gave his penis a tentative lick. Jared's breath caught in his throat when Sarah wrapped her lush lips around him and ran her tongue around the edge of the head of his penis.

The television, the volume on low, covered the sounds of Jared's breathy moans as Sarah pleasured him. "Sarah," Jared groaned after several minutes, which was immediately followed by a low groan. Sarah coughed a little, her mouth still around Jared's erection, before she pulled back; strings of saliva mixed with semen trailed from her mouth until she reached up a hand and wiped them away.

"Well then, now that you've made me cum, what in the world am I to do with you until I'm ready to go again?" Jared asked after they'd both collected themselves a little. Sarah put her hands on the top of Jared's legs and used the leverage to push herself to her feet.

"That all depends on what you want to do," Sarah said. She put her hands on her hips and struck an alluring yet cocky pose. Jared put his hands on Sarah's hips, above where her own hands were resting, and pulled her closer to him until her knees hit the couch. Jared then buried his face between Sarah's breasts, and gently nipped at the sensitive flesh that he found there, before he ran his tongue over where he'd just bitten.

Jared undid the side zip on Sarah's skirt and it fell easily to the ground. Then, Jared pushed down Sarah's panties until they fell onto the ground as well. Sarah stepped out of her shoes as she stepped out from her skirt and panties, and Jared pushed her back a little so that he could stand. "Lie down," he told her.

Sarah lay back down on the sofa with her head on the armrest, like it had been earlier. Jared picked up Sarah's right leg and pressed a gentle kiss onto her inner ankle. Then, he started to kiss up her leg.

"You did the same thing the other day," Sarah whispered as Jared got closer and closer to her vagina, which was already throbbing slightly from the anticipation.

"If you are unhappy with my actions, then I am more than willing to stop."

"When in what I just said did I tell you to stop?" Sarah said with a raised eyebrow. Jared ran his tongue up Sarah's inner thigh, and gave her the same look that she had given him about ten minutes earlier. Sarah gave him a little pout, and he turned his attention back to the task at hand.

Jared started to lick at Sarah's clitoris and after a moment, he put his middle finger into her vagina and started to move it in a sort of come-hither gesture inside of her. Sarah made a whispered oh and she buckled her hips against Jared.

"Don't hold back on me, precious," Jared whispered before he lightly nipped at her inner labia. "I want for you to ejaculate for me."

"I… I've never been able to do that before," Sarah panted.

"That's because your other lovers were mere children in comparison to me," Jared said. "You know that I can make you scream my name, so it won't be too difficult for me to be able to make you ejaculate." Jared pushed his index finger inside of Sarah next, and started up a rhythm of push, gesture, pull, all the while he continued to apply a delicate yet frustrating pressure to her clit. "Just let go. Don't hold anything back." Sarah let out a low moan as her body started to convulse; her fingers dug into the couch cushions. Jared did not stop his actions, and then coaxed a second, a third, and finally a fourth orgasm out from Sarah. "You didn't cum for me, precious."

"I'm sorry; I tried really hard," Sarah murmured.

"Then I'll just have to try harder next time," Jared said with a smirk. Sarah put her hands up, and Jared grabbed them and yanked Sarah to her feet. Then, he sat back down on the sofa and held up a condom between his index and middle fingers. "On the sofa?" Sarah grabbed the condom from Jared, ripped the package open, took the condom in her mouth, and then slowly slid it over Jared's penis, which was hard once again.

"Wow, I didn't think that that would actually work," Sarah whispered as she pulled away from Jared. She looked rather in awe at what she had done and pleased with herself.

"Who told you about that? Because I'd like to thank them," Jared said with a smirk.

"Um, Ashley did, actually. I don't know where she learned it from, but, yes. She is in need of thanks," Sarah said as she straddled Jared's lap. Jared put his hands on Sarah's hips and guided her as she sunk down onto his straining cock. They both let out breathy moans of satisfaction once they were finally joined. Sarah gripped the back of the couch and used it as leverage as she started to move up and down on Jared's erection.

"I'm not even going to ask anything more about the show that you forced me to watch, but I'm now questioning what's now on," Jared whispered after several minutes.

"What?" Sarah whispered with confusion. She twisted around to see the TV behind her, and then reached for the remote before she switched it off. It had been the only source of light in Sarah's apartment, and once she'd turned the TV off, both of them were unable to see for a few minutes. Sarah ran a hand down Jared's cheek before he turned his head slightly and gave a slight nip to the pad of her thumb before he pulled the digit into his mouth. Sarah let out a low groan before she pulled her hand back and pressed a light kiss to the side of Jared's lips.

"La oss bli en evig, dyrebar," (2) Jared said in a low growl. "Si ja." His lips pressed longingly to Sarah's. "Say yes."

"Yes," Sarah agreed in a breathy moan.

"Si navnet mitt. Say my name!"

"Jared! JARED!" Sarah screamed. She scrunched her eyes closed and watched as a whirlwind of colors exploded behind her eyelids. Her body wildly shook, and she continued to scream Jared's name over and over like a mantra as she had the most intense orgasm of her life.

1) For those of you who don't know, in the stage adaptation of Peter Pan, the audience must clap if they believe in fairies in order to revive the dead Tinkerbell.

Amael is insinuating that while Sarah enjoys fantasy novels like the story that Jareth wrote, she only views them as being works of pure fiction.

2) La oss bli en evig, dyrebar = Let us become one forever, precious

Si ja = say yes

Si navnet mitt = say my name

Hurray for google translate. If anybody feels as if this is not correct, please let me know ASAP so that I might fix it.