Sarah heaved an exhausted sigh as she unlocked the door to her apartment. Before she could even get the door open, however, Mrs. Kelley's door opened.

"Sarah?" Ashley asked. "Oh my god! Where the fuck have you been for the past two months?!"

"I… uh… it's a long story," Sarah said as she lifted a hand to absently scratch the back of her neck.

"Oh my god, Sarah!" Ashley exclaimed.

"What?" Sarah asked rather hesitantly. Ashley raced over to Sarah and roughly grabbed the hand that was half-hidden amongst Sarah's long, dark hair. Jareth's engagement ring twinkled on Sarah's ring finger.

"Oh my god, Sarah!" Ashley said again. "You completely vanish for two whole months without telling anybody where you are. No note, no explanation, nothing! We've all been worried sick about you! And meanwhile, you've been out with Jared and you got engaged!"

"Well, not really," Sarah said hesitantly.

"What? What do you mean? A guy gives you an expensive-looking ring like that, and he obviously means that he's serious about you!" Ashley said with a giant, shit-eating grin on her face.

"I think that it's a family heirloom," Sarah said blankly.

"Wow, I didn't know that Jared came from that sort of money, though," Ashley said. She turned Sarah's hand this way and that in order to look the ring over completely.

"I think that you've got a lot of explaining to do, young lady," Mrs. Kelley said as she shuffled out into the hallway.

"Yes, but you guys are never going to believe me," Sarah said with a slight laugh and a roll of her eyes.

"I don't care if it takes all night; I want to know what the fuck happened to you!" Ashley exclaimed as she tugged Sarah into her apartment. "The last thing that I knew, you were having some sort of seizure in your apartment after you'd broken up with Jared. But then, bam! Jared just appeared, as if from nowhere, and he took you away. And that was two months ago, and I haven't heard anything about either of you since! Nobody has, and we've all been worried sick."

"You'd better come in, then, because I've got one hell of a story to tell you," Sarah said with a sigh as she pushed the door to her apartment open further. Ashley and Mrs. Kelley trailed in after her, and Ashley started to make tea while Sarah started her story.

"And then we both decided that maybe it would be for the best if I spent some time away from Jareth to sort through everything that happened," Sarah finished after about an hour. "After I got all of my memories back, I remembered how much of a jerk that Jareth was the first time that we met, and how completely creepy that it was that he just showed up here to try and get to me."

"I thought that you were all talking about finding 'the one'?" Ashley asked.

"I was, but when I said that, I didn't mean a creepy, narcissistic Goblin King! The guy sparkles more than a stripper pretending to be Tinker Bell!" Sarah exclaimed. Mrs. Kelley hid her laugh in her cup of tea.

"My dear, it is not up for us to decide what is best for you," Mrs. Kelley said after she'd gathered herself. "But I am curious to know about the fates of the Troll King as well as the other Fae queen and her daughters, your Elf friend, and that creature Mizumi made that looked like you."

"It's a lot easier to explain about Moppet and Naba than Mizumi and Helviir. Well, more Helviir than Mizumi," Sarah said slowly. "Naba came back with us from Helviir's castle to make sure that I was okay, but he left not to long after we got there. Jareth said that he wanted to help him since he'd helped me, but Naba declined, and said that he'd go back to his own people. As far as Moppet goes, Jareth told me that there were ways to put ablations back into the person that they were from. But, I don't know how I could do that to Moppet. She might have lived a rough life after Jareth discarded her as well, but it's still a life. I promised her that she would be able to remain at the castle, and I'm certain that Jareth will not kick her out again."

"And Helviir and Mizumi?" Ashley prompted.

"When I came here, Jareth had Helviir down in an oubliette," Sarah explained. "And Mizumi and Drumlin were still missing. Although, as Amael pointed out, the longer that they're gone, the more likely it is that at least Drumlin's dead."

"I am just glad that you're okay and that you escaped from the Troll King's castle unharmed," Mrs. Kelley said as she lay a gentle hand over Sarah's hand. "Oh, but this ring, though!" She held up Sarah's hand so that she could get a better look at it.

"I didn't want to come back with it. It's clearly very old— probably some family heirloom— and I was afraid that I'd lose it. But Jareth insisted. He said that it should help to remind me of what I have to decide upon."

"This is all very exciting," Mrs. Kelley said as she released Sarah's hand and stood up. "But I think that it's too much excitement for me. I'm going to go to bed now."

"Alright. Have a nice night, Mrs. Kelley," Sarah said, and Ashley echoed her friend's farewell.

"I was so worried about you," Ashley said once the elderly woman had left. "I kept calling the school to see if you'd come back yet, but they only just told me that you'd called in a leave of absence. And your parents and Toby were no help at all, either! They kept saying that you'd be back soon and that you were an adult and capable of taking care of yourself. Well, that might have been okay the first week after you'd left, but not two months later! And they just wouldn't listen to me when I tried to explain that you'd had some sort of fit and this guy randomly appeared and took you away. They said that you didn't have seizures, and that I was being silly."

"I think that Jareth mentioned saying something to my family and the school, but that sounds more like a spell to me," Sarah said with a frown. "Why wouldn't my parents worry about me?"

"But, I guess that there's no point in worrying about it now that you're back," Ashley said slowly. "I should probably go now; you've clearly got a lot to think about."

"Yes," Sarah said hesitantly. Ashley showed herself out, and Sarah just sat on the sofa and stared blankly out the window until it got too dark to see.

"Ms. Williams! You're back!"

"We were all really worried about you, but the school wouldn't let us file a missing person's report!"

"And that sub really stunk up the entire school! We were about ready to do a walk-out if she stayed for one more period!"

"I'm really sorry that I was gone for so long, everybody," Sarah said to the teenagers who had gathered around her. "And I'm sorry that the sub that the district hired wasn't great. But I hope that you've been working on the musical?"

"We have!" several of the students said at once.

"But the sub was no help, and kept wanting for us to do a bunch of stuff that didn't really have anything to do with the play at all. It was one of the reasons why we were about to stage a walk-out."

"But we ignored pretty much anything that she had to say because we knew that you'd want for us to focus on the musical."

"Good, I'm glad," Sarah said with a faint smile.

"Oh my gosh, Ms. Williams!"

"What?" Sarah looked sharply over to the young girl whose exclamation had carried over the chatter of the other students.

"Is that an engagement ring?" The room was suddenly silent and all focus was on Sarah's left hand.

"I suppose that it is, but I haven't said yes yet."

"Aw, why not?" several of the girls asked at once.

"It's… complicated and hard to explain. A lot happened to me while I was away."

"I'll bet I know what!" one of the boys said, and he and his friend exchanged a high-five. Sarah scoffed and rolled her eyes.

"I mean besides that," Sarah said dryly.

"Well, can you try to explain to us?" said the girl who'd noticed the engagement ring.

"Um… I guess?" Sarah tried her best to edit the story that would be appropriate for her students to hear. But she made Jareth a duke from England, since she had no desire to tell her students about the Underworld. Knowing how teenagers worked, they would wish their parents or teachers away to Jareth!

"Ms. Williams, I honestly don't see what the big deal is," one of her female students said. "People do hurtful stuff to other people all the time. But it seems to me like Jared is trying to put the past behind him because he loves you." Sarah looked down at her hands, but twisted her left hand into a fist with her knuckles turned outward so that she didn't have to look at the ring.

The bell rang, and the students got up to go to their next class. "It doesn't really matter what you choose to do, Mrs. Williams," said one of her students as she passed Sarah. "But you should do what makes you happy."

"Alright! There's been more than enough dawdling while I was gone! Tomorrow, be prepared to get back to work on the musical!" Sarah exclaimed as everybody trailed from the drama room. There were a few grumbles, but Sarah expected that. After all, what kind of teenager didn't complain about literally everything?

"Oh, Sarah! I'm glad that you're back because there's a package for you!" Mrs. Kelley said as soon as Sarah had opened her door. "I signed for it, like I normally do." She vanished inside her apartment for a brief moment before she came back out with a smallish box.

"Thanks, Mrs. Kelley."

"Hope you have a nice evening, dear."

Sarah gave the elderly woman a small wave before they both went into their separate apartments. Sarah dropped her bag on the sofa and then carried the box into the kitchen, where she opened it with a kitchen knife. Inside, was a large stack of papers, and the top paper read "The Princess's Return by Jared Garfied" in type-writer font, and there was some crude concept art.

Sarah heaved an annoyed sigh, but she pulled the manuscript out from the box and flipped the cover page over to find a hand-written note on the back.

To my dearest Sarah,

I know that I promised that I would leave you in peace to come to a decision on your own, but I wrote this for you.

Well, everything spanning ten years ago that I wrote, I wrote for you in the hopes that you would somehow stumble across it and remember me. But, I don't think that that worked out very well.

But this one, I wrote specifically for your eyes only. I don't really have any intentions of publishing it, but I suppose that you'll see why soon enough.

I await your call, as I am completely miserable without you.

Jareth

Sarah took the manuscript over to the chair by the window and started to read.

Sarah lay on her side in bed, and a moment later, the mattress jolted a little as Jareth climbed into bed next to her. He lay on his side and wrapped his arms around her, and Sarah didn't say anything until they'd gotten settled.

"I finished your novel," she said softly.

"I figured that that's why you called for me," Jareth whispered against the side of her neck. He pressed a light kiss to her neck, and then another, and another. "I missed you," he whispered after a while.

"I missed you, too," Sarah replied quickly. She laced her fingers through the hand that Jareth had casually draped over her waist. "Your stupid book made me cry, and dammit! It fucking happened to me and I knew that perfectly well and I still fucking cried!"

"I'm sorry, precious," Jareth replied. He ran his thumb over Sarah's fingers. "But I hope that reading it has given you some insights as to what was going through my mind."

"Yes."

"And? Did it help you to come to a decision?"

"Yes. That and some sage advice from some of my students."

"Your students are all fourteen," Jareth said with a roll of his eyes that Sarah missed since he was behind her. "I don't think that they're exactly qualified to be giving out advice, about love or anything else."

"No, but they're also not quite burned out on love quite yet, either," Sarah said. "Their lives are still full of hope that they'll become the next Leonardo DiCaprio or Kate Winslet and marry Brad Pitt or whatever. They still see the world as being in black and white, not in shades of grey like adults tend to do."

"Okay, but what have you decided then?" Jareth asked. "Judging by the fact that you have yet to kick me out of your bed and haven't thrown my ring back at me, I'm guessing that it's good news?" Sarah twisted around in Jareth's arms and awkward kissed Jareth on the mouth. Jareth easily moved the two of them until he was lying on his back and Sarah lying on his chest. He wrapped his arms around her waist and she pressed herself into him, and for a moment, they were content to just lie like that, occasionally exchanging sweet kisses.

Then, Jareth reached down and tugged on the hem of Sarah's blouse. She pushed herself up and raised her arms so that Jareth could pull it off. Once he'd discarded it over the side of the bed, Jareth reached behind and undid the clasp for Sarah's bra as well. As soon as he pulled it off from her arms, Jareth flipped them over so that Sarah was lying on the bed on her back.

Jareth knelt above her and started to kiss her jaw, her neck, her collar bone, down to her breasts. The last time that they'd been together, the night of Amael's ball, they had been frantic and hurried. But now, both of them seemed content to take their time. Jareth ran his tongue in a slow, lazy circle around Sarah's right areola, and then started to gently suck on her nipple.

Sarah let out a contented sigh and ran her fingers through Jareth's hair. He lifted a finger to Sarah's lips, and she took it into her mouth and started to roll the digit over in her mouth with her tongue. With his other hand, Jareth started to roll Sarah's left nipple between his thumb and forefinger until it was hard.

With one final flick of his tongue, Jareth pulled away from Sarah's breasts and sat up to look at her. She released his finger with a wet pop, and Jareth leaned over and gave her a lingering kiss on the lips. He didn't pull away until Sarah started to pull on his shirt, and then he let her remove the frilly article of clothing. Sarah trailed her hands down the hollow of Jareth's throat, and where ever her fingers went, her lips were quick to follow with gentle kisses.

When her hands reached the top of Jareth's pants, her fingers made quick work of the buttons there and pushed them down enough for his erect cock to spring free. She grasped it with her hands and pressed a light kiss to the tip, all while she looked Jareth in the eye. Jareth let out a throaty groan and pulled Sarah back up to meet his lips for another kiss.

"Sarah, I need you," Jareth whispered against her lips. Sarah reached down and undid the button and zip on her pants, and Jareth was quick to pull her jeans and panties down. Then, he pulled off his boots and pulled his pants off the rest of the way before he grabbed Sarah and pulled her on top of him.

She sunk down onto his length with a low moan and didn't break eye contact from Jareth as she slowly started to rock back and forth on top of him. Jareth wrapped Sarah's hair around his wrist and yanked her head back so that he could kiss the side of her throat.

The room was filled with the sounds of soft moans and the gentle sound of flesh against flesh. "Jareth…" Sarah moaned softly.

"Min dyrebare, min dronning, min Sarah, (1)" Jareth whispered as he pressed his face into Sarah's breasts. Sarah paused in her slow movements and looked down at Jareth, who returned her stare. He wrapped his arms more tightly around her waist. "Vennligst si at du vil bli min, (2)" Jareth whispered.

Sarah frowned as she tried to puzzle over what Jareth had just said. Finally, she simply said, "Ja." Jareth cupped Sarah's face between his hands and gave her a passionate, lingering kiss as he started to move within her again.

After several more minutes of slow lovemaking, Jareth and Sarah both reached their climaxes together; their voices, like their bodies, were entwined around one another so much that it was difficult to tell where one ended and the other began.

Sarah's head rested on Jareth's chest, and she closed her eyes as she listened to his heart beat slow after his orgasm. Jareth had his arms wrapped lazily around Sarah, and his hand gently stroked her dark hair. "I didn't know that I could either speak nor understand Norwegian," Sarah said after a moment.

"I think that it's part of the magic," Jareth whispered and then he pressed a lingering kiss onto her forehead.

"After my brief bout of magic in Helviir's castle, I haven't been able to do much," Sarah said.

"I think that you were only able to do that because you were so scared for your life," Jareth said. "Not so much the breaking out from the crystal, but blowing a hole in the wall of the tower."

"I think that I wouldn't mind so much if I didn't have to do much magic anymore," Sarah whispered. She started to trace random patterns on Jareth's chest with the tip of her finger.

"I'm perfectly happy to want to do magic for you, precious," Jareth said. He pulled his hand away from Sarah's back and presented her with a red rose. "I love you," he said as Sarah accepted the flower.

"I love you, too," Sarah whispered. She looked down at the red flower in her hand and then looked up to meet Jareth's gaze. He gave her a giant, cocky grin.

"Does this mean that you're saying yes?"

"Yes."

1) Min dyrebare, min dronning, min Sarah. = My precious, my queen, my Sarah.

2) Vennligst si at du vil bli min. = Please say that you'll be mine.

As usual, these are only thanks to google translate. If this is somehow wrong, please let me know at once so that I might fix it!