Chapter 6: Date #1

Sarah shrugged on a black jean jacket and grabbed a small black clutch before heading out the door to see Todd waiting on the curb standing next to a sleek black Jaguar. He wore dark slacks and an oxford shirt with a tie under an unzipped dark leather jacket. He smiled when he saw her and brushed back a strand of his dark hair behind his ear before opening the passenger's door of the Jag. "You look lovely tonight, Sarah," he flattered, taking her hand to usher her into the car.

"Thanks Todd, you clean up pretty well yourself," she replied moving to sit in the leather interior.

Todd closed her door and walked around the front to get in the driver's side. He started the car, put it in gear, then pulled out onto the street. "So where are we going?" Sarah asked fiddling with the clasp on her clutch.

"How do you feel about Mexican food? I know of an authentic place on the other side of town."

"That sounds great,"

Sarah wasn't quite sure what it was about Todd. He seemed to be trying very hard to impress her, but for some reason it only made her more suspicious of him. Maybe Jackie was right; maybe she should have called off the date... Sarah mentally shook herself; there was no use complaining about things now. What's done is done and Todd really had sounded sincere when he had called her.

They drove along listening to a pop music station until Todd pulled into the parking lot of a crowded little Mexican restaurant with a neon sign proclaiming it to be called "Gracie's". Todd parked and got out to open Sarah's door. "Come, my lady, and we shall dine on the finest Mexican food this side of the Rio Grande," Todd grinned offering her an arm.

Sarah took it and let him lead her into the restaurant where an authentic mariachi band was playing in a corner and waitresses in traditional Mexican garb were weaving through the crowd of tables and people dancing to serve steaming platters of rice, beans, tacos, and burritos. Todd led Sarah to a more secluded booth near a window. "I want to thank you for agreeing to come out with me again," he said after they sat down.

Sarah shrugged, "I suppose everyone deserves a second chance."

"That's generous of you."

Sarah's eyes moved sharply up to Todd's face. He'd just echoed words Jareth had spoken to her not so long ago. "Is something wrong?" he asked.

"No, just… someone said that exact thing to me not long ago."

"Is this someone that I should be jealous of?" he teased.

Sarah blushed, "Maybe…"

"Well, I shall keep that in mind."

At that moment a waitress approached their table with a basket of tortilla chips and a bowl of salsa, setting them on their table. "What can I get you?" she asked, a pencil ready.

"We'll both have the pollo con arroz."

The waitress nodded, "And to drink, sir?"

"I'll have a Corona on tap and the lady will have a glass of Sangria."

"I'll have that right out for you," the waitress said moving back through the crowd towards the kitchen.

Sarah raised an eyebrow, "Should I take it as a good thing or bad thing that my date ordered for me?"

Todd brushed a stray hair behind his ear then folded his hands on the table. "I would consider it a compliment that your date already knows enough about you that he can order for you without feeling foolish."

Sarah felt a little embarrassed and tried to cover her blush with a smile. "Would you care to dance?" he asked, ignoring her embarrassment.

She nodded and allowed him to pull her out onto the dance floor where an upbeat tune was playing and they joined the couples bounding around the floor. Todd was a gentleman and kept his hand above her waist and his other hand in hers. After a few minutes the song changed with the same up-beat melody, but one what was more modern and a woman joined the mariachi band and began to sing. The lyrics were a mix of Spanish and English and begged to be danced to. Todd's hands moved to her waist and hers were on his shoulders. They moved with each other; her hips moving in time with the music and her feet following his as they moved around the dance floor. By the end of the song his body was nearly touching hers as they both moved to the music. She had forgotten how good of a dancer he was. The memory of her dance with Jareth ten years ago popped into her mind at that moment, the feel of his warm hands in hers, the way his hand felt on the small of her back, and how he led her gracefully through a room of masked deviants. She mentally shook herself to push the image out right as the trumpet let out one last note and the woman who had been singing began to talk into the microphone. "Thank you everyone for dancing, but the band will be taking a ten minute break before coming back for requests. Thanks again!"

Todd led Sarah back to the table. "Todd, I'm going to go freshen up in the lady's room real quick, okay?"

He nodded and she rushed off to wait in the line for the woman's rest room. Why is there always a line? she asked herself. A whole ten minutes later, Sarah rejoined Todd at the table, the mariachi band was back, and the drinks had been served along with a glass of water. Sarah took a sip of the water to quench her thirst, she'd learned long ago that drinking alcohol when you're really thirsty was a bad idea. "You haven't lost your skill at dancing, Sarah," Todd complimented.

"Thank you, and you've gotten better."

Todd smiled and made as though to tip his hat to her if he had been wearing one. He seemed to eye her apprehensively. "What?" she asked.

"Nothing," he answered averting his eyes, "I'd like to propose a toast actually."

"Okay, what are we toasting to?" Sarah asked picking up her glass of Sangria.

"To second chances…" Todd raised his glass of beer and tapped it against Sarah's wine glass.

They both drank deeply. She licked her lips, guiltily thinking of Jareth back home and his so called second chance he'd blown in her eyes. God what's wrong with me? she asked of herself. I'm on a date and I'm still thinking of the Goblin King…

"So, Todd, what have you been up to lately?" Sarah asked trying to get her mind off of the arrogant monarch back in her apartment.

"Work mostly, the boss is a slave driver…" he joked. "What about you?"

"A lot of painting. The muses have visited and they're working me to the bone," she admitted grinning.

Just then, the waitress came back with their order, two platters with grilled chicken, pico de gallo, and Spanish rice. They ate quietly for a few minutes; she watched him as he cut his chicken and scooped up rice. He really was being a good date, she thought. She knew Jackie had just been looking out for her when she told her to cancel the date, but Sarah just couldn't help thinking that Todd really had changed. Not once had he been pig-headed this entire night. Of course the date had only lasted about an hour and a half now, but still… he was different from the Todd she had broken up with. She had this feeling that she could trust him, which was completely different from when they'd last gone out. She looked up at him, noticing his handsome face with dark hair coming down to his ears… he looked a little like a darker version of Owen Wilson except with a Johnny Depp nose.

He looked up and she quickly looked back down, embarrassed to be caught staring. "See anything you like?" he asked smiling smugly.

Sarah looked up again, a rosy blush spreading across her cheeks once more. "Just a guy who I think I'd like to dance with again," she said shyly.

Where had that come from? She hadn't really meant to say that, but it was too late to take it back now as Todd rose from his seat and offered her his hand again. "Anything my lady wishes…"

He led her to the middle of the dance floor as a slow song stated to play. Todd placed his right hand at the small of her back and his left held her right. They moved along with the slow tune, oblivious to the other dancers around them.

"Sarah?"

"Yes?"

"Can I ask you something a little more personal?"

She nodded.

"Do you believe in the creatures in your art work?"

Sarah thought about the answer to that for a moment. Before the Goblin King had re-entered her life, she would have said no, but now… now things were different. Now there was a Fae King sitting in her apartment; she could remember the biting sting of a fairy and running away from a group of firey's that had wanted to remove her head. She looked up at Todd, who was still swaying gently with her in rhythm to the slow song. "Yeah, I do," she blushed. "And don't you dare make fun of me!" she added hastily.

Todd grinned, "I wouldn't dare,"

"Do you believe in them?"

Todd's grin grew wider, "I suppose I do."

Sarah chuckled and ducked her head. "Listen to us, talking about believing in fairies and whatnot. People will think we're crazy."

"Do you really care that much what people think?"

"No, I guess not," she replied looking back up at him.

"Have you ever seen a fairy or a Fae creature, besides those you paint, of course?" Todd asked, swaying slower.

Sarah wasn't quite sure why, maybe it was his confession that he believed in the denizens of the Underground as well, but she felt herself trusting him more and more. "Yes…" she breathed.

o O o O o O o

Jareth's fingers drummed across the arm of the sofa. His other hand held the remote, flipping through channels so fast the screen was a blur. Sarah had been gone for four long hours now, and worry was starting to build in him. He didn't like the idea of Sarah going out with her ex-boyfriend, especially when she was the one who dumped him in the first place. He couldn't understand her theory of "second chances", and wondered when he had blown his first chance? He'd only been doing her will ten years ago; however, he could understand her distress at him rummaging through her personal belongings. He knew if he caught someone going through his things, he would be upset. However she seemed to be milking this incident for all it was worth, almost as if she didn't want to get too close to him.

Jareth was suddenly startled as the telephone rang. He stared at the cordless phone sitting in its cradle next to the couch and decided to ignore it. After five rings, the beep to the answering machine sounded and he could hear a voice echoing from where the machine was in the kitchen. "Hello, Jareth? I know you're there. It's Jackie. Pick up the phone."

Startled, Jareth moved into the kitchen. "Jackie?"

"Jareth? Helloooooo? Come one, just pick up the damn phone!"

Jareth hesitantly picked up the cordless sitting next to the answering machine and held it up to his ear like he'd seen Sarah do. "Hello?"

"Finally! Look, we need to talk."

"About?"

"Sarah, I think she's making a big mistake going out with Todd and I need your help to prove it to her."

"Really… I don't see how I can help considering Sarah's desire to remain angry with me."

"Oh she's not really angry with you. She's angry at herself."

Jareth paused letting that sink in for a moment. "Care to elaborate?"

"Oh lord," she sighed. "She's angry with herself because she likes you."

Another pause, "I realize that for a human that may make sense, but I am not human, so please indulge me."

Jackie let out a large breath of air before continuing. "Okay, she's liked, maybe even loved you for as long as I've known her. She just didn't know you actually existed until you showed up. She's obsessively drawn and painted you and she refuses to sell any of those paintings or drawings because she thinks they're... 'imperfect'."

"Well they were…"

"You've seen them?"

"I found some of them in the loft."

"Oh."

"This still does not explain why she is angry with herself."

"Oh yeah… well she's mad at herself because she feels she can't tell you how she feels about you because you're only going to return to the Underground. So instead of telling you that she likes you, she's giving Todd a second chance that he doesn't deserve."

"Aah, at least we agree on something…"

"So... I need your help!"

"How am I supposed to help?"

"We need to prove to her that Todd can't be trusted. I don't want her to get hurt again."

"What did this Todd do that makes him so unworthy?" Jareth felt he needed to know, despite the fact that Todd didn't really need a reason to be unworthy in his eyes.

"It's hard to explain. Todd only cares about himself. He never takes other people into consideration or thinks about how what he's doing might affect them. When Sarah was going out with him last time, he would want to go on dates, but then would only talk about himself. The conversation only turned to Sarah when it was something involving both of them. Sarah doesn't deserve that kind of guy. Sure he's handsome and charming at times, but I could tell that he doesn't love her."

Jareth soaked in this new information. "I agree with you, Sarah is too good for this Todd person. What is your plan?"

"Well, I want you to take her out on a date."

"What?"

"Hang on! Let me explain… I want you to take her out on a date, that way she'll see how much better you are for her than Todd. I mean, I've only known you for a little over a week Jar, but I can already tell you're a much better man than Todd will ever be."

Jareth scowled at her nicknaming him, but took the compliment in stride. "I see. How do you propose I go about procuring this date when she avoids me like the plague?"

"Very simple, just ask her."

"Are you delusional?"

Jackie laughed, "No, I'm serious, just tell her that you'd like to go out. You don't have to mention to her that it's a date. Just tell her that you want to get out of the apartment for a while. She has to go with you because she's afraid of what would happen if she were to let you go out alone. I can give you tips on where to take her."

Jareth was starting to appreciate the genius that was Jackie's plan. "I see. One other question though; it is customary in the Underground for the gentleman to treat the lady. How would I do that if I have no money?"

"Don't worry about it. I can loan you some."

"Are you sure? I don't want to put you out."

"Nah, you wouldn't be. I just sold a huge piece down at the gallery so I have a bit of extra spending money at the moment."

After getting details and suggestions from Jackie, Jareth set the phone back in its cradle and glanced at the clock…

Midnight.

He let out a puff of air as he ran his hand back through his hair. When would Sarah get home?

Not a minute after this thought ran through his mind, Jareth heard a key scrape in the door, and instinctively moved to sit casually on the couch again. Sarah entered, shutting the door behind her. Jareth turned to look at her; she didn't look any worse for wear, in fact she looked like she was quite happy. He raised an eyebrow trying to look indifferent. "You didn't have to wait up for me," Sarah said setting her purse down on the table near the door.

"I realize that," he replied not taking his eyes from her.

Sarah slipped off her shoes and coat, tossing it on the arm of the couch. "Is there something you wanted?" she asked crossing her arms.

"I have a request to make."

Sarah raised an eyebrow in imitation of the Goblin King. "Yes?"

"I'd like to leave the apartment."

"What? Where would you go?"

Jareth smirked, "You misunderstand me Sarah, I simply meant for little while. I've been stuck in this building for days and I'd like some fresh air."

"Oh… well, I suppose we could go to the park or something."

Jareth smiled, Jackie had said that's where Sarah would suggest going first. "That sounds fine. Tomorrow then?"

"Okay, we can go after lunch."

"Splendid," Jareth gave her a genuine smile and turned back to his book.

Sarah gave him a suspicious look then moved into her room to retire for the night.

o O o O o O o

Sorry this is taking so long. School is a real pain in the butt this semester, probably because it's my last semester before I graduate. Anyway, I felt really good after finishing my Shakespeare midterm and decided to sit down and just write. I'm going to take this story off of hiatus, but I'm not going to promise regular updates. I'll try my best and that's all I can offer.

Thanks to everyone for reviewing!

Labyrinth (c) Henson, Froud, & Lucas