A/N: Well here's the next chapter. Also I'd just like to say that I have no official beta. Just Brandy, Chelie, and myself doing all the work. So if there are any mistakes, I'm truly sorry, and please point them out. I had planned on updating every five days, but I decided to give everone chapter two a few days early.
One Month Later
Sarah sat around the dining room table, staring silently down at her hands, tightly clasped infront of her. Her step-mother, Karen, paced the room fuming.
"Just you wait! Just you wait until your father gets home!", Karen shouted. As if on cue, Richard, Sarah's father came into the room, from a long day of work at the office. He took one look at his daughter and wife and sighed. Toby was no where to be seen, so he was obviously still at his grandmothers house.
"Richard! Do you know what this daughter of yours has been doing?! Well, do you?!" Karen screeched. Before giving him time to answer, Karen continued talking. "Oh yes. Poor poor sick little Sarah. Getting sick all the time. Putting on weight. She didn't start wearing baggier clothes just to hide her weight you know!".
Richard stared at his wife, knowing to just let her finish. He wouldn't dare inturrupt her dramatic speech, for fear of being made to sleep on the couch again. Sarah put her head down on the table and cried.
"She got sick at the breakfast table Richard! She made a mess all over the floor. I decided to take her to the doctors. Silly me. I wasted my time being worried about that little monster! Do you know what the doctor told us Richard? Would you like to know what the 'sweet, mature' daughter of yours had been up to? Would you like to know what the doctors said?!", Karen went on looking expectantly at Richard.
When he stayed silent, she glared at him. "Well?! Do you? Don't just stand there and ignore me! Answer me!". Richard sighed and rubbed his hand across his face. "Ok... so apparently this is one of the times I'm supposed to talk. Yes Karen. What did the doctors say dear?". During the whole exchange, Sarah kept silent.
Karen smirked at Richard before continuing. "Well...", she said calmly. "This sweet, innocent, perfect daughter of yours that you always brag about at the office has been off doing god only knows what Richard. The doctor did tests, and told us that she's pregnant! She's pregnant Richard. As in going to have a baby!".
Richard visibly paled. "Oh dear god. Sarah... No. This isn't true is it?". Karen glared at Sarah. "Go on Sarah. take off the sweater! Show him!".
Sarah stood up from the table, her eyes downcast and pulled her oversized sweater over her head, revealing a plain, black t-shirt, covering a bulging tummy.
"Sarah! Oh god. Please no! How far along ARE you?!", Richard asked, waving his hand at her large stomach. Sarah opened her mouth to speak, but was cut off by Karen. "One month Richard. Only ONE month! Now Sarah, tell us who the father is! Tell us now or you'll regret it!".
Sarah put a hand on her swollen belly. She was only one month along, but she learned after the first week, that this pregnancy would be moving along faster than it should. She guess it had something to do with Jareth's magic. Hoggle had told her once that he's what they call a 'fae'.
Sarah wasn't sure what to tell them. It's not like she could really tell them she made love to the Goblin King. She shook her head, refusing to talk. She had already decided she wouldn't say anything, to any of them.
Richard stared with wide eyes. "I can't... I can't deal with this. I'll let you two work this whole thing out. Right now I just need to get some sleep. Karen, I'll call your mother and tell her we need her to keep Toby for a few more days", with that being said, he walked out of the room, towards the stairs.
"Sarah, answer me! Tell me who the father is", Karen said sternly. Sarah sighed. She knew she was in deep trouble, no matter what she said.
"Its- i mean, well... I'm not sure", Sarah stumbled over her words, unsure of what to say. Karen looked at her with pure disgust.
"Oh dear god! You mean there was more than one? I thought we raised you better than this Sarah! That's horrible. Do you know what your problem is?! You're just like that mother of yours! I could only expect something like this from her daughter. God and everyone knows no child of mine would ever behave like such a harlot!". Karen spat the word 'mother' out, as if it left a bad taste in her mouth.
Sarah stared at the floor, hair covering her face while shaking. Karen thought and hoped it would be out of shame. But that's not what Sarah felt. She felt complete anger at having her mother's name dragged through the mud like that. Sarah said something quietly, through clenched teeth.
"Speak up child! What did you say now? And don't be making damn excuses!", Karen snapped.
"Shut up! Don't say things like that about my mother! She was more than a mother than you could ever be you wretched woman! Just shut up!", Sarah screamed suddenly.
The much older woman stared at her for a moment, slightly taken aback. "Well, I never! Don't you talk to me that way young lady!".
"I understand you don't like it, but what's done is done! I'm having a baby, and theres nothing you can do to change that! And I don't need you telling me what to do either! You're not my mother, you're not anything to me. You're just my fathers wife", Sarah said angrily.
"Don't take that tone with me! And you're right. I'm not anything to you. Even if I was, I wouldn't claim you as anything. 16, and a month pregnant! That's disgusting. You're too much like your mother. And since you want to be like her so much, then why don't you just go live with your aunt Abigail, your mothers sister!"
Sarah stared at her. "You're... You're kicking me out?".
"Yes that's exactly what I'm doing", Karen nodded her head in confirmation.
"Well that's fine by me! I'll be better off with her anyways! And at least now I won't be stuck watching your child every weekend!", Sarah said while smirking. She really did feel a little bad about acting like she minds taking care of Toby. She used to mind, but not anymore, not after... that night.
"No you WON'T have to take care of Toby every weekend. You'll be too busy taking care of you own kid!", Karen retorted while digging into her hand bag for her address book. She copied something down and handed it to Sarah. Sarah glanced at the paper and saw a phone number written on it.
"It's your aunts. You got yourself into this mess, and you need to fix it. Lord knows I'm not going to call that crazy woman. You can do it yourself and explain everything", Karen stood in front of Sarah, arms crossed.
"Crazy? What do you mean crazy?", Sarah asked about her aunt. She'd only ever met her aunt once, when she was a little girl, and she could hardly remember anything about her. Karen smirked. "Ohhh you'll see soon enough", She answered, while handing the phone to Sarah.
Sarah snatched the phone from her hands and watched as she walked out of the room. She dialed the number, and after a few rings, she heard a a voice on the other line. "Hi... Aunt Abigail? This is Sarah. Listen Aunt Abigail, I have a favor....".
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Sarah sat in her room, packing her stuff while thinking of the conversation she had with her Aunt. She seemed like a really nice person. She seemed, nice, and fun, and the exact opposite of Karen. Actually, Abigail reminded Sarah a lot of her mother.
She had told Sarah that if she was ready and packed, she could come pick her up in the morning. Of course when Sarah told that to Karen, she told her that she would be out shopping, and not there to greet Abigail. That was fine by Sarah though.
When Sarah explained that she was pregnant, she was kind of scared of her aunts reaction at first, but then her aunt told her that love should be expressed, and if she loves th baby's daddy, that's all that matters.
Sarah worked quickly, trying to pack up as much as her stuff as she could. Abigail had told her she lives by herself, and has a very large house, so it's okay to bring as much as she wants. Her extensive book collection took up several big boxes. She stayed up well into the night, packing everything in her room up. When she was finally finished, she looked at the clock and saw she only had a couple of hours before her aunt would arrive.
She climbed into bed and was asleep almost as soon as her head hit the pillow.
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Sarah crunched her eyes tight when her room was suddenly flooded with light. She shielded her face with her hands, and slowly opened her eyes. When she moved her hands, she saw a pretty, chipper looking middle aged woman smiling at her standing by her curtains, which were just pulled open.
"Wha? Huh?" Sarah asked groggily. "Up, up up sunshine!" the woman said.
The woman was almost a spitting image of her mother. Peaches and cream complexion, bright, beautiful green eyes, and thin, with waist length chocolate brown hair. Sarah stared at the woman stangely before realizing it must be Abigail.
"Muh. What time is it?", Sarah asked, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. Before her aunt could answer, Sarah glanced over at her alarm clock. "Oh no! I don't believe it! it's nine o'clock!" Sarah shouted.
"Oh aunt Abigail I'm so sorry! i over slept!", Sarah said with a gasp.
Abigail laugher and said, "It's ok sweets, don't worry about it. Your mother was always late for everything, so I thought you might be the same way. I just got here also. Karen left you a note downstairs saying she went shopping and for you to call your father later and tell him you made it to my house alright".
Sarah nodded her head and got out of bed. She felt sort of silly and self-concious in front of her aunt, wearing her pajamas, which also did nothing to hide her growing-by-the-second belly.
"It's not anything to be worried about hun. You should feel proud! show off that nice round belly of yours!", Abigail said, sensing Sarah's discomfort. "And besides", she continued, "it's not like I'm dolled up for the red carpet myself". Sarah looked at her aunts apparel, and it was different indeed, but she really liked the way it looked.
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"So, you just woke up about a hour ago, and I had to drive two hours to get here. It's around ten now, I've been up since six, and I'm hungry. How 'bout grabbin' a bite to eat?".
Abigail and Sarah loaded the last box into the car. Sarah nodded and got in, putting on her seat belt. Abigail smiled at Sarah. "Goood. Safety. Uh, seatbelts and all that stuff", she said as she leaned into the drivers side, buckled her seat belt, placed it behind the back of her seat, and got in, closing the door.
"Good, but not me for. I hate those damn things".
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Abigail and Sarah pulled out of the small diner they found on their way back to FatedOak. "Aunt Abigail? What about my school? And everything else. Aren't there some sort of papers for all of this?". Abigail took her eys off the road long enough to give her niece a reassuring smile.
"First, I'm not an old woman. I'm only 33. That's still young! Plain old Abigail or Abby will do just fine. And second, you don't need to worry about a thing. Back in the diner I used the pay phone to call Karen. Paper work will be taken care of in a few days, and I called yesterday to get you set up with a doctor. And since you have a bun in the oven, we can't really send you to a public school. I think homeschooling is the best option.".
Sarah's eyes drooped sleepily. She was exhausted. And sore. She was much bigger than she should have been at one month, and the pregnancy was already taking affect on her feet, back, and ankles.
She leaned her head back and shut her eyes, only intending to rest them for a few moments. Within the next ten minutes, Sarah was fast asleep.
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Sarah felt a hand gently nudging her shoulder. She opened her eyes and realized she must have slept the whole way back.
"Morning! I thought maybe we could unload this stuff either tomorrow or tonight and I can show you around the rest of the house today. I'd love to show you my garden".
'Abby' opened her car door and got out, stretching her sore muscles. Sarah soon did the same. She was about to tell her aunt that unpacking later was fine, but was rendered speechless by the sight before her.
Behind her stood a tall, wrought iron fence, and in front of her up a little pathway was the hugest house she'd ever seen. It wasn't even a house. More like a small old fashioned castle.
(A/N: Ok people, I really have noooo idea how to describe this. The other day me and Brandy watched Edward Scissorhands. It was my first time ever seeing it, and I loved the castle on the hill with the garden and it was just so pretty! So when you picture this, picture that castle, with a huge garden and fountains... only not as gloomy!).
Abigail grinned at Sarah. "So Sarah... Would you like to see the rest of your new home".
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Sarah laid in her new bed while thinking of her day. When her aunt had showed her around the property of the house, she was amazed!
There was ivy clinging to the fence, shaped bushes, fountains, everything! Though her favorite part was behind the house.
FlashBack
"There's one more part I'd like to show you today", Abigail spoke softly. Sarah couldn't believe how beautiful everything was. Abigail had been showing her around all day. it was already around 6 o'clock, and they hadn't even made it to the inside of the house yet. She told Sarah to close her eyes, and led her around the house.
"Open your eyes", Sarah heard quietly in her ear. She stared at the wonderous sight before her. It was a small hedge maze, about four feet tall.
She began to work her way through the carefully placed bushes. It reminded her of a time she went through another maze like this, only much larger.
"Wow. You're good at this!", Sarah heard Abigail say a couple feet behind her, but paid no attention.
This was amazing to her. Like going back in time. And to her, that's exactly what she was doing. She wasn't walking a small, maze constructed out of tall bushes around her new home. No. She was walking through a very large, intricate maze, with goblins around every corner. Walking through the Labyrinth.
When she got to the center of the little maze, it was like a little room. It was about 15 feet wide, and 15 feet across. There was a small bench with a fountain a couple feet in front of it. On each side of the bench was a potted bush, carved into the shape af an owl, in mid-flight. The bench, the fountain, the pots holding the plants were all stone. The ground beneath her feet was also.
Sarah sat down on the bench and looked at the beauty surrounding her. A tear leaked down her cheek, soon followed by a second, and a third.
And that's how Abigail found her a few minutes later. Gazing around, hair covering her face, silently crying.
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One Week Later
Sarah was quickly getting used to the new house. it was amazing. And just as beautiful on the inside as it was on the outside. She loved all the rooms, There were so many of them.
She loved exploring the house, and looking at all the stuff her aunt kept in it. The walls were lined with book shelves, some of the books newer, some of them very old, with languages Sarah had never even seen before. There were statues of elves, fairies, dragons, and even goblins and owls all over the place. It always smelled of candles and incense.
The walls were all stone, decorated in beautiful tapestries. The floor also stone, were covered with thick, shag rugs. It was like all her favorite parts, from all the fairy tales she ever read. Unlike how she felt when she lived with her father and Karen, she actually felt at home here.
There was just one thing... one tiny little thing that bothered her. One of the times she was going through and looking at all the rooms, she found a staircase that led up to the attic. She was looking around and saw a large door...
FlashBack
It was late at night. Around three AM, and Sarah couldn't sleep. She stepped out of bed and headed into the hallway. She liked doing this at night. Just wandering around the large house when she couldn't put her mind to rest.
While walking around, she noticed a door hanging wide open, a set of steps was visible. She was guessing those were the steps to the attic.
Her aunt had told her that a lot of her mothers old stuff was up there. She had been wanting to go up and look around, but hadn't really had the chance. That, and she was partly afraid of what she might find. She figured if she was going to do it, she might as well get it over with.
She slowly climbed the steps and found herself in a large room. It was truly huge. Sarah guessed it must have taken up the whole length and width of the house. Part of it looked kind of like a living room. Carpeted with chairs, a coffee table, a large couch, and a sofa. Another section had wood floors.
It had piles of boxes, and random pieces of furniture such as another couch, more chairs, book cases, a bed, a dresser, and other things.
She went over to one of the piles of boxes and looked at the the writing on it. 'Photos'. She opened it up, and saw many pictures of two girls, ages ranging from small children, up to teenagers. They were almost identical. Sarah realized they were pictures of her mom and her aunt.
She put the photos away and moved onto other boxes. This one wasn't even her moms. She should have thought to ask her aunt which boxes had her moms stuff in it.
As she was standing up, she noticed another small part of the room. It had a door in front of it, but the boxes were stacked in a way she couldn't get through to it. She went to work on moving the large, heavy boxes.
She finally got through, and tried to open the door, but it seemed to be locked. She tried a couple more times, then heard a bang come from the other side. She jumped back and watched as it opened up just enough for Abigail to come out, and quickly close the door behind her.
Abigail locked the door and turned around to face Sarah. "What were you doing up here?",
Sarah stuttered a moment. "Um, well you said mom's stuff was here and I could look at it",
Abigail eyed her. "Well why'd you move those boxes to get to the door?!".
"I thought maybe more stuff was inside it".
"No. It's just an empty room. Don't go in there okay? Please Sarah, promise me you will never ever go into that room?".
"But if it's just an empty room then why can't I g-"
"Please Sarah! promise me!", Abigail cut her off, a pleading look in her eyes.
Sarah stared at her aunt and nodded her head. "I- I promise. I won't go in there".
Abigail nodded her head and and walked towards the stairs, Sarah following behind her. Sarah knew her aunt had to be lying, but couldn't figure out what it could be about.
She walked her to her room and turned to look at her. "Sarah? Honey just-... just put that room out of your mind okay?".
Sarah came to the conclusion that whatever's in that room, it must be very important to her aunt that she doesn't find out. She saw the tears in Abigails eyes and decided she would do just that. She would simply put it out of her mind. She'd forget about it. Sarah promised her aunt once more, and went to her bedroom.
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Sarah opened up her closet and considered what to wear. She was basically left with sweat pants, sweaters, and some of the clothes her aunt had given her that would fit. Most of her clothes quit fitting her a long time ago.
Abigail took care of all the paper work and legal documents, and she now had her first doctors appointment, in her new town. She would be starting her lessons in homeschooling in a few more days.
She pulled on a pair of grey sweat pants with a black tank top. Over the tank top she wore a white, over sized mens dress shirt, buttoned half way up. She felt huge. The young girl surveyed herself in the mirror and pulled her hair into a low pony tail.
She walked out of her bedroom and down the large stairs, in search of Abigail. "Abby?", she called. "Are you ready to go?".
"Yep! The doctors not far from here, and I thought that after the doctors we'd go to the pizza place down the street from it".
Sarah laughed. "abigail that's the fourth time we've gone out since I've been here!"
"Yes well... I can't cook very well!", Abigail slung her purse over her shoulder and walked out to the car with Sarah in tow.
"Abby you're nuts! You cooked for me last night, and you're a great cook. And besides, even if you aren't good at it, I can cook you know"
"Yeah well still. You're pregnant and shouldn't be on your feet cooking. And you being here gives me an excuse to go out more often. I want pizza!" Abigail said sheepishly while making the quick drive to the doctor's office. Sarah laughed at her aunt and shook her head.
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"My, my, my". Doctor Clairborne rubbed a blue gel on Sarah's uncovered stomach, machines hooked up all over the room.
"That's quite a belly ya got there! Are you sure you're only a month along?". Sarah nodded her head and winced as the young female doctor preformed the ultrsound and pressed on a particularly tender spot.
"This is your first ultrasound. That means since no one has seen whatever's layin' around in there, it's very likely you're having twins. Maybe even triplets! You really should have gone to the doctor sooner, but from what I can tell right now, everythings workin' fine and healthy".
Sarah and Abigails eyes bulged out. TWINS?! TRIPLETS?! Sarah shook her head. That's not even possible is it? She opened her mouth to say something, but was interuppted by the doctor.
"Hmm... that's very odd. Well you see, it's not really a bad thing, but Ms. Williams. there's only one baby in there. One. And its rather large. Things are progressing very rapidly. In terms of size. For you and the baby, things are already moving past the first trimester", Doctor Clairborne continued to poke and prod at her belly. Abigail gave Sarah a very odd look.
Sarah was mildy concerned. "Well, the baby... its healthy though right?". The doctor smiled at the young mother.
"As far as I can tell, there's absolutely no reason for you to worry. All I can really tell you is that you will have what appears to be a very large, healthy baby on your hands".
"Now, you guys wait here, and I'll be right back in with some paper work that needs to be filled out".
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Abigail took a sip of her soda, staring across the table at Sarah.
"I'm not even sure what to say about that! I saw your baby on that ultrasound screen. The things huge!".
Sarah took a bite of her pizza and shrugged her shoulders. She was pretty certain that magic had something to do with this. Now that she knew the baby was fine, what she was most concerned about is if she's this big at just one month, then what will she be like on her ninth month? She'd be a blimp!
Sarah voiced her concerns to Abigail. She widened her eyes in thought at what her niece had sad.
"Sarah! Good lord we'll have to have all the doorways widened just to get you through!".
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One Month Later(Second month into pregnancy)
Sarah tossed and turned in bed. She couldn't get to sleep at all. Her back hurt, and she had to pee every five seconds it seemed. She was beginning to think her child was using her bladder for a trampoline.
She rested her hand on her stomach and stroked it absently. She couldn't figure it out. She didn't understand why Jareth wasn't there with her. It felt like things were getting better, but they hadn't at all.
That night, it seemed like he loved her, but didn't he? Who would he do those things with her, and then leave her all alone? It just wasn't fair. She loved him, and she wanted him there with her. With her and their child.
Sarah closed her eyes, trying to hold back the tears that were sure to fall. What would she do? She'd been left all alone.
Sure, she had Abigail, but what about somebody just for her? Someone she could love, and who would love her right back.
She knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that she'd never be able to marry. Her heart and soul would always belong to the man of her dreams. To Jareth.
Finally the tears she had been holding back began to fall.
She rolled onto her side, and softly cried herself to sleep.
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Complete mayhem. Utter chaos. Panic, fear, confusion. Those are the things Sarah felt.
She couldn't make heads or tails out of anything. Nothing made sense. Goblins, creatures of the labyrinth, even Hoggle, there were all there, gathered in the Goblin City. It seemed something horrible had happened. for lack of better words, they were just plain freaking out.
Though there was shouting, she couldn't really hear any of it. It seemed muffled, like she was under water, or was in a room full of screaming people with her ears tightly plugged.
Flashes. So many of them. Goblins running around looking lost and confused, the hedge mazes, once lush, green and beautiful, was now dying off.
She couldn't understand ANY of it. No matter how hard she tried. She saw bits and pieces, just glimpses. None of it fitting together, like mismatched puzzle pieces.
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Sarah's eyes snapped open, gasping for breath, arching off the bed, clasping her necklace, like she might die without it, tears streaming down her face. She rolled on to her side, and pulled here knees up as close to her body as she could. She kept seeing flashbacks of the dream she just had, and it was leaving her in a panicked frenzy.
She tried to go back to sleep, but couldn't. It scared her. She didn't understand why, but it hurt her. Physically. It felt like someone had jammed ice cold hands, straight through her chest and began to rip apart her heart, piece, by painful little piece. She could feel it, she knew something was very wrong.
She'd ask Hoggle, but ever since her first 'dream', her last encounter with Jareth, she was unable to reach him, or any of her other friends from the Labyrinth.
A/N: We don't need much, but how 'bout to get the next chapter up, we try to get atleast five more reviews. How 'bout it guys?!