Karen rushed into the throne room, expecting to have to fight Jareth for Sarah's freedom. But when she arrived, there was nothing there. The throne room was empty, and the only other room was beyond a set of stairs. It was the only choice, and she took it.

Karen exited the stairs to find a room full of them. It looked like one of those optical illusion paintings that Sarah kept in her bedroom. It was dizzying.

Karen looked around for any sign of the Goblin King, or of Sarah. Thankfully, she found the latter, and she began to climb one of the stairs to reach her. However, Sarah ran the opposite direction.

"Sarah!" Karen called out, thinking maybe Sarah didn't see her. Sarah didn't even look back, like she didn't hear her either.

For grueling minutes upon minutes, Karen chased after Sarah on the staircases. A few times, Sarah acknowledged Karen's presence, but continued to run, as if she was testing her for something. What more did Karen have to prove? But finally, she and Sarah were on the same plane.

"Sarah, please!" she called out. Sarah finally stopped and turned around. "Please," Karen said once more, extending her hand to Sarah. "Let's go home."

Sarah didn't take Karen's hand. Instead, she clapped teasingly slowly as the young woman morphed into the Goblin King and gave a mocking smirk.

"Good, good," he said. "You made it through, and even managed to catch me." He gave a slight chuckle and gestured to a pillar. Karen hadn't even noticed that the landscape had changed so drastically. Now it was like the room had fallen apart, pieces of a puzzle just suspended in space.

From behind the pillar came Sarah, who ran to Karen and openly accepted her embrace. The affection was so unusual that Karen had no idea how to respond, except by tenderly holding her stepdaughter.

"Sarah was watching that whole ordeal," Jareth explained. "You've proven that you will never give up on her," he said a smile that said "I told you so."

"Of course I wouldn't," Karen said beaming, tears beginning to run down her face. "Would you do anything less for your own family?"

Jareth nodded, and soon everything was gone. They were back in the living room, still hugging. Karen gently stroked Sarah's hair, and Sarah looked up at her stepmother with a newly found respect.

"You'll have to tell me how you know that man, sometime."

Sarah broke the embrace and invited Karen to join her on the couch. "No time like the present," she said.

… "You did WHAT?!"