Author's Note: Thank you for the lovely reviews. I'm glad you are enjoying the story. The next chapter will be posted sometime in the next few days or when there has been 20 reviews, whichever comes first. It is a slow build up to the smut, but I promise it will be worth it in the end. ;)

Mistletoe Magic

Ch. 4: Santa's Surprise

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Sarah groaned, waving her hand as she thumped her pillow.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

Grumbling, Sarah waved her hand again, more agitated at being disturbed by the persistent noise. She was tired. So very tired. And…cold?

At the realization that she was actually extremely cold, Sarah cracked her eyes, blinking as she tried to focus. Blearily she looked around trying to remember where she was and how she had gotten there. As she sat up, her head throbbed painfully, making her wince. Stretching her back, she gingerly felt her neck as she realized she was in her car, the airbag pressing against her as the dash lights cast their faint blue-green glow into the interior of the car.

The deer.

Images of a large deer, the car skidding and then plowing into the snow bank flashed inside Sarah's mind as she groaned, rubbing her eyes. Reaching out she turned the keys in the ignition, automatically trying to turn off the car before she realized that the car had already stopped running. 'Well…that can't be good…' she thought, wincing as she ran her fingers over her shoulder, then shivered. Pulling out her cell phone, she checked the time only to end up shocked that she had been out for over an hour. Now that she was awake, the cold was rapidly starting to get to her. She had to make a move to get somewhere warm, and she needed to move fast.

Sarah reached into the backseat and grabbed her backpack with her things in it, then frowned – clearly today was not the day to 'dress light', she mused with a frown as she looked at her jeans and hiking boots. She didn't even have a proper coat in the car, wearing instead a turtleneck under a university sweatshirt, with a denim jacket. Turning around, Sarah dug through the backseat and finally unearthed the fluffy blanket she kept there for napping at the library during all-night study sessions. It wasn't great, but in this case, it would be better than the alternative, which was nothing.

Tucking the important items from her purse into the backpack, Sarah wrapped the blanket around head and body and opened the door. As she stepped out of the car she shook her head in confusion at the sight that met her eyes. All around the car were footprints, as if something had circled it repeatedly. Looking up, she gasped in surprise. What she had thought was a simple deer was not – it was a stag. A pure white stag, that was currently standing on the other side of the snow drift and staring at her piercing blue eyes. Seeing her, it bobbed its head as if nodding at her. Unable to take her eyes from the beautiful animal, she watched as it walked toward the road then stopped, pausing to look over its shoulder at her her as if to say, 'Well, come on. Don't just stand there gawking.'

As an icy blast of air cut through her, Sarah shuddered, pulling the blanket tighter around herself as she started off down the road, following the stag. After the first few minutes, the shivering ramped up, with each new icy blast of wind swirling around her and making her body temperature drop further. Sarah concentrated on following the stag's footprints, groaning inwardly she pulled the blanket tighter as the snow began to fall faster once more.

She tried not to think about the cold and snow, concentrating on following the footsteps in the snow rather than thinking about how long she had been in the cold or exposed to the elements. Glancing up, Sarah looked around and sighed as the snow increased again, making it harder to see. When she looked ahead again, she groaned, the stag was gone. Looking down quickly she cursed, so were the footprints. "Probably a figment of my freezing imagination in the first place,'" she grumbled, clenching her teeth as they started to chatter. Pausing, she noticed that she had reached the arched sign for Tír na nÓg. She shivered violently, hoping this was a good omen, afterall, Tír na nÓg was the fabled Fae land that sat at the edge of the otherworld and mortal realm, a land that was populated by Fae and those humans who had been invited.

"Here's hoping I have an invite," she muttered as she turned up the lane, the cheerful warmth of the lights in the distance the only thing helping her focus on putting one freezing foot in front of the other as she shivered again. Then, the lights in the cabin went out, leaving Sarah alone on the wooded lane, with only the moonlight to keep guide her.

~J/S~~J/S~~J/S~~J/S~~J/S~~J/S~~J/S~

Although it was still relatively early, being only eight o'clock, after cleaning up the dinner things, Jareth decided to enjoy the holiday lights and a glass of goblin fire whiskey. With the glass of scarlet liquid in hand, he moved through the cabin and turned off the lights, until the room was bathed only in the warm glow of white twinkle lights. Taking his drink, he draped himself in an armchair near the back porch doors and basked in the soft lights, the warm crackling of the fireplace and the peaceful sight of the snow falling heavily outside. Smiling to himself, he sipped his drink, relishing the way the spicy spirit warmed his insides as it went down – really, if one had to be banished from home for the holidays, this wasn't a bad place or way to spend them.

He had been enjoying the peace and solitude for an hour when he thought he heard a noise at the front door. Frowning he waved his hand, silencing the radio. In all the years he had used this cabin as a getaway, he had never had a visitor of any kind. Jareth placed his drink on the coffee table and sat up, looking toward the door. Then he heard it again. A light tap on the door, followed by another slightly louder to tap. Rising from the couch he moved toward the door, arriving in time to hear another soft rap, followed by a quiet voice pleading, "Please be home. Someone. Anyone."

Opening the door he frowned in surprise seeing a huddled form wrapped in a hideously ugly plaid blanket. As he look at the person on the front porch, they looked up, the plaid blanket falling from their head to reveal chestnut hair and green eyes – eyes that had burned themselves into his very soul and ones he thought never to see again.

"Sarah?"

~J/S~~J/S~~J/S~~J/S~~J/S~~J/S~~J/S~

Sarah had made it the rest of the way up the lane to the cabin on auto-pilot, no longer able to feel her feet or hands. Here eyelashes were crusted with tears and ice, and she was sure that there were frosty bits on her face. -13 degrees was not the temperature one wanted when taking a walk through the woods at night. The only way she made it to the cabin was by sheer determination and force of will. She hadn't let the Goblin King, his Labyrinth or the goblin army deter her, she wouldn't succumb to a mere snowstorm.

When she reached the cabin, she thought she would cry both from relief and fear – relief that she had made it and fear that no one would answer the door. Knocking had been one of the most painful moments of her life. While her hands were essentially numb, tapping the wooden door caused them to flare to life, the pain enough to make her whimper. As she waited for an answer, she prayed that someone would hear the soft tap. When nothing happened, she knocked again, harder this time, the pain enough to bring tears to her eyes, which then froze in her eyelashes.

She heard the door open and registered a wave of heat washing over her from the open door, but it was hearing her name that shocked her back to her senses. Sarah fought to focus, noticing that the person who answered the door was barefoot, something which made her momentarily wonder if their feet were getting cold. As her eyes travelled upward, she noticed faded jeans and a soft blue sweater and…gloved hands?

"Sarah?"

There was that voice again, a voice that seemed familiar somehow, but she couldn't place it. Squinting she tried to see more clearly through the ice crusted to her eyelashes as she tilted her head upward. The light from the inside of the cabin shone behind the man at the door, illuminating his pale blonde hair with an otherworldly glow. If she didn't know better, she would almost think he was Jareth, but that was impossible. The King of Goblins wouldn't be in a mountain cabin on Christmas Eve. Blinking painfully, she opened her eyes wider. No, the hair was shorter than Jareth's, falling around his face with shaggy, careless grace.

"Sarah," the man said again, his voice quiet and gentle as he reached out with a gloved hand.

Sarah found herself wondering why someone who was indoors and had bare feet would need to wear gloves, then she blinked again, finally focusing on the man's face only to be confronted with mismatched pale eyes and the sweeping eye markings that she knew belonged to only one being. Since she turned fifteen, Sarah had often daydreamed of meeting Jareth again and him falling madly in love with her, and as lovely as those daydreams were, part of her was afraid that he would hate her and that was the part that spoke the loudest just then, forcing her to step back another step from the door.

"Goblin King?!" she gasped, clutching the blanket more tightly around herself as she stepped back, her mind reeling.

~J/S~~J/S~~J/S~~J/S~~J/S~~J/S~~J/S~

Seeing her step back with fear in her wide green eyes, Jareth cringed inwardly. He didn't know how the Labyrinth Champion and the only woman he had truly wanted in over 500 years had shown up on his doorstep this Christmas Eve, but he wasn't about to let her leave, not now and not ever if he had anything to say about it. Looking her over, he frowned. Her eyelashes were coated in ice and unless he was greatly mistaken, the frosty glaze on her cheeks was the beginning of frost-bite. He had to act fast, but without scaring her further.

"You need to come in and warm up," he said gently as he held his hand out to her, trying to ignore the stab of pain in his chest at the fearful look she gave him. Biting her lip she looked at him a moment, then placed her hand in his, the fear in her eyes turning to tears as she looked at him once more, her hand slightly squeezing his. Sarah's other hand came up and she tentatively placed it on his chest, gasping at the feel of his heart beating steadily under it. Shaking her head as if not believing it, she suddenly threw her arms around him and kissed him, then yelped, jumping away only to whimper as her frozen feet screamed in agony.

To say Jareth was surprised when she threw her arms around him in a hug would be an understatement, and when she kissed him, well, the Goblin King was stunned beyond words.

"Oh my Gods. You are real?" she squeaked in shock, and he was sure she would have blushed had she not been sol pale with cold. "Oh my! I'm so sorry!"

"Don't be, Sarah…I'm not," Jareth said with a warm smile, rolling her name over his tongue as if tasting it. "And yes, I am quite real, Precious."

Jareth held out his hand once more, heartened when she took it, then he guided her into the cabin and shut the door behind them, blocking out the snow as the wind howled through the trees. As Sarah walked hesitantly across the floor, ice cracked and fell from her jeans, melting into icy pools on the wooden floors. She flinched with each step, confirming for him that she was not only frozen through, but in pain from it. Jareth waved his hand and a comfortable chair appeared before the hearth, leading her to it, he nodded, "Sit, Sarah. Let me see about thawing you out."

She shook her head, "I'm soaked through, Gob…"

"Jareth, Sarah. Call me, Jareth. For tonight I am not the Goblin King," he said, lightly pressing upon her shoulder until she sat in the chair.

"But I'll ruin the chair…Ja…ja…Jareth," she protested.

At first he smiled as she stuttered his name as if it felt odd upon her lips, then he realized the poor girl was shivering so violently, her teeth chattering. With a wave of his hand another blanket was wrapped around her. "We have to get you warmed up, Sarah. And you are far more important than some chair," he said, his gloved fingertips lightly caressing her cheek, as he smiled at her. "Stay here a moment." Moving from the room, he disappeared for several minutes. Sarah leaned her head against the back of the chair, her eyes falling shut as she muttered to herself, "This isn't real. It can't be. The Goblin King is not here. He is not being kind and gentle. He hates me. I'm probably freezing to death out on the road in my car and this is all some crazy hallucination."

Returning from the bathroom, his heart ached at her words. He knelt next to the chair, taking her icy hand and cradling it in his, startling her into looking at him, her eyes bright with surprise.

"Sarah…I am here and where you are concerned, this is the real me," he said, his eyes boring into hers with each of his heartfelt words. "I do not hate you. I could never hate you, Precious. I would move the very stars in the heavens for you, you have but to ask it of me."

~J/S~~J/S~~J/S~~J/S~~J/S~~J/S~~J/S~

Sarah couldn't believe it. He was here. Jareth. The Goblin King. Was here. And he didn't hate her. At his words, she looked at him, then sniffed, tears welling up in her eyes.

Smiling tenderly, Jareth stood, still holding her hand. "Come Sarah, we have to get you warmed up properly," he said, the sound of running water coming from a room upstairs. "Do you think you can manage a bath?"

Nodding, Sarah tried to stand, only to gasp in pain as her feet refused to hold her, forcing her back into the chair with a whimper, tears flooding her eyes and rolling down her cheeks. "I'm so cold," she said in a choked whisper. "I can't do it."

"Shh, Sarah. I'll take care of you. I will always take care of you if you have need of me," he said his pale eyes soft as he looked at her, leaning in to brush his lips across her forehead, the touch making Sarah tremble but not from the cold.

Without a word, Jareth stooped, picking her up bodily and carefully carrying her toward the stairs. Sarah marveled at the way he carried her, cradling her against his chest as if she was the most valuable thing in the world. Sighing, she leaned her head against his shoulder, amazed by the warmth radiating from him. Despite the fact that she was in his arms, she still felt like she had to be dreaming.

Upon reaching the second floor, he walked into a large bedroom. Seeing it she started, shifting in his arms only to be shushed gently as his grip tightened slightly, "Relax, Sarah. It is not what you think." He moved through the bedroom and into a bathroom, gently standing her on her feet, his arm wrapped around her back supporting her. Seeing the bathtub brimming with water, Sarah finally remembered what he had said before bringing her up the stairs – a bath.

His touch was gentle as he unwrapped the blankets from around her, laying them aside, before freeing her from the sodden denim jacket. Sarah nibbled her lip as she watched him, his expression never changed, quiet and warm, as if he were caring for something precious. As he pulled her wet sweatshirt over her head, Sarah trembled knowing what was coming next. In her dreams she had often fantasized about Jareth and a large bubble bath, but she never imagined it would really happen, and definitely not like this.

"Jareth…um…."she said hesitantly, her green eyes finding his as she nibbled her lip, torn between wanting desperately for him to continue and embarrassment.

~J/S~~J/S~~J/S~~J/S~~J/S~~J/S~~J/S~

Stopping with his fingers wrapped around her hips, Jareth caught himself and smiled, releasing his grip on her. "Yes…well…You can manage the rest then?" he asked with a nod, both relieved and disappointed when she nodded in return. Backing toward the door, he waved a hand toward the vanity and a pair of velvety soft flannel pajamas and a matching robe appeared. "Soak as long as you need, Sarah. I will see you downstairs when you are finished," he said, pulling the bathroom door shut behind him.

Jareth leaned lightly against the door and shut his eyes, still trying to come to terms with the fact that Sarah… the girl who ate the peach and forgot everything…the girl who stole his heart then dashed it to pieces… was here. Not only was she here, but she was soon to be nude and in his bath. As much as he wanted to go back into the master bath and join her, the point of the exercise, at this moment in time at least, was to get her warmed up. If he had anything to say about it, there would be plenty of time for other things later – forever in fact.

The Goblin King made his way out of the master bedroom and down the stairs. Picking up his glass of whiskey, he raised it in toast toward the softly twinkling lights of the tree, "Merry Yule to me and with a bit of luck, an extremely happy new year."

Author's Note: As always, please review. :)