Chapter 8: Date #2, Part II

Flashback:

One Year, Seven Months, and Thirteen Days

After the events of the Labyrinth

"Sarah Anne Williams!" Karen's shrill voice echoed from the kitchen.

Sarah cringed, but made her way towards the room her stepmother was calling from. Her stepbrother was sitting at the table in his booster seat, a dry bowl of Cheerios in front of him. "Yes, Karen?" she asked timidly.

"What kind of nonsense have you been telling Toby?"

"What do you mean?"

"He was just telling me of the bedtime story you told him last night. I thought I asked you to refrain from filling his head with fantastical garbage!"

Sarah's frowned, "It's not garbage!"

"For God's sake Sarah! It's a fairy tale! They aren't real!"

"You don't know that! How could you know? You never open eyes enough to see past the end of your nose!"

"Don't you take that tone with me young lady!"

"You're not my mother!"

"No, but you're living in my house, and you will do as I say!"

Sarah suddenly struck out at Karen, hitting her across the face with the palm of her hand. She then turned in a huff and stomped up the stairs to her room, slamming the door before flopping down face first on her bed. An hour later, a gentle knock came at the door. "Go away!" Sarah yelled, her voice muffled by the pillow.

The door creaked open, "Sarah?" her father's voice called gently.

Sarah didn't turn to look at him, "I don't want to talk!"

"Sarah, we need to talk," he said sitting down on the side of her bed. "Karen told me about your fight."

Sarah scoffed, but didn't say anything else.

"Sarah honey, I want you to talk to someone about this. A professional someone."

Sarah turned sharply to look at him, "Like a psychiatrist? No! I don't need a stupid therapist!"

Her father let out a sigh, "Sarah, Karen is insisting. I mean, for God's sake you hit her! I think you owe it to her to give it a try."

"I don't care what she wants!"

"I would appreciate it if you would see a therapist as well," he said softly.

Sarah's eyes widened, "You always take her side! Why don't you ever stand up for me?"

"Sarah, I do stand up for you. I just think this would be a good idea."

"No! I won't do it!" Sarah yelled before flopping her head back on her pillow.

Her father sighed and left the room, closing the door gently.

Despite her objections, Sarah found herself being forced into therapy sessions three times a week. She didn't make it easy for the guy either; in fact, looking back on it Sarah would have called herself almost cruel to the man. It was by his recommendation that she was put in a home for a while. The institute she was admitted to was called Berkley's. It housed young people with "problems" between the ages of twelve and seventeen. Sarah's roommate was a fourteen-year-old girl who had intentionally committed arson on the home of a boy who had been teasing her at school.

Sarah didn't quite see how she fit in with these people, but she wasn't allowed to leave. She was required to attend group meetings to talk about whatever was on her mind and the orderlies kept giving her small white pills. She didn't know what they were for, but the woman who gave them to her stayed in the room to make sure she took them, then checked her mouth to make sure she swallowed. Sarah found the whole thing to be utterly ridiculous and blamed Karen for it entirely.

It took Sarah another four months to figure out exactly what the doctors wanted of her. And even then it took two months past that to convince them of her sincere change. During the entire six months she was not allowed visits from Toby. She got to talk to him once during a phone call from her dad, but that was cut short when Karen walked in the door. Her father did visit as often as possible, offering encouragement and positive words. She resented him at the time because of his siding with Karen, but she later learned to appreciate his efforts.

After the six months at Berkley, Sarah was put into a foster home. The couple she stayed with, Kim and Allen Johnson were very nice people. They weren't able to have children by themselves and were thrilled to have her in their home. She wasn't allowed to go back to her own home, despite it being just one town over. Instead she threw herself into her art, taking every painting and drawing class offered.

After a year living with Kim and Allen, Sarah didn't want to go back home. She loved her father and Toby, but her dislike of Karen kept her away. From the few times Sarah had spoken with her, the woman just couldn't believe that Sarah had changed. Her love of fantasy never left her; in fact it became her source of inspiration. Her art was her escape. Come senior year of high school, she was accepted to a four-year art college in Minnesota called MCAD or Minnesota College of Art and Design. Kim and Allen were so excited for her and offered to pay more than half of her tuition, a generous offer considering tuition cost over $9,000 per semester. Of course she had to buy her own art supplies, but that was expected and gave her experience in budgeting between supplies, food, and rent.

During her sophomore year at college, she tried to contact her father again via letter. Two days later she received a letter back… from Karen.

o O o O o O o

Present Time

Sarah glanced up at Jareth from behind the curtain of her long hair. "It was the same letter I caught you reading a few days ago," she explained looking back down at her boots quickly. "I haven't had any contact with them since."

There was a moment of silence where Jareth sat wondering what to say and Sarah held her head in her hands, her hair hiding her face. A loud sniffle from behind the curtain alerted Jareth. He scooted closer to Sarah and cautiously put an arm around her shoulders, pulling her close. She leaned into him willingly, turning herself and hiding her face in his jacket, but not before he saw the tears streaming down her face. He gently held her, patting her back and whispering reassuring words.

After a few minutes, Sarah pulled back. "I'm sorry…" she sniffled.

"It isn't your fault in the slightest, Sarah. You have nothing to be sorry about. Come; let's walk some more before returning to your apartment. I have something special planned for this evening if you are still up to it?" he said looking down at her puffy eyes.

Sarah attempted to smile and whipped her tears away with her coat sleeve. Jareth took her arm in his and led her down the walking path around the lake before starting back to the apartment. Upon arrival, Jareth bid Sarah to take a relaxing shower before their night out. "What's the dress code for tonight?" she asked before disappearing into the steamy bathroom.

A smirk appeared on his face, but he replied simply, "Casual, my dear."

She nodded and vanished into the steam. Jareth spent the time doing up the dishes from earlier in the day so Sarah wouldn't have to worry about it later. He was just drying his hands on a dishrag when she emerged from the shower, wrapped in towels, and made the dash to her room to get dressed. Jareth smiled and went to wait for her on the couch. He didn't have to wait long as she came out after a couple of minutes later in a faded pair of jeans and a dark green sweater. He rose from the couch as she approached and held out his hand to her. She let him take her hand and help her with her coat, scarf, and hat. She put on her own gloves as he pulled on his coat and a scarf. "Where are we going?" she asked pulling her boots on.

"It's a surprise," he said with a cryptic smile.

"Of course… I suppose you and Jackie plotted this too?"

Jareth shrugged and led the way out of the door, turned left, and continued walking down the sidewalk with Sarah on his arm. She followed along, block after block, until they came to a large building with bold lettering proclaiming it to be the Riverside Arena. "What are we doing here?" Sarah asked.

Jareth smirked and pulled her inside and to the counter to rent two pairs of ice skates. "What size do you take, my dear?" he asked.

"Eight and a half," she answered then took the white pair handed to her.

Jareth paid the man at the window and took his black pair, following Sarah out to the benches along the side of the ice arena. They slipped off their boots to replace them with the blades. "I have to warn you, I haven't been skating since I was a little girl," Sarah warned, wobbling slightly as she stood.

Jareth stood beside her, steadying her with a hand and led her toward the ice. "Don't worry, I'll catch you should you fall," he smiled down at her then took her hand and pulled her out onto the ice.

Sarah slid slowly on her skates; her legs stiff and awkward like a newborn colt. Both of her hands were being held by Jareth, who was skating backwards. She was glad there weren't many other people there. "Come on Sarah, just relax. Let me lead you."

At his prompting, Sarah attempted to relax a bit. Her legs were still stiff though as Jareth started to skate faster. She tightened her hold on his gloved hands, holding on for dear life. "Slow down!" she urged him as they rounded the curve of the arena.

"We're not going very fast Sarah."

"Just slow down, will you?"

Jareth grinned at her and her eyes grew worried. Without warning, Jareth dug the toe of his skate into the ice and whipped Sarah around; her hair flying behind her. She screamed and clenched her eyes shut as she flew around, her only anchor was the pair of gloved hands holding tightly to her own gloved digits. A second later she was ensconced in a warm pair of arms and crushed to a strong chest. She opened her eyes as the spinning slowed, and looked up to see Jareth beaming at her. They slowed to a stop and stood still. After a moment, Sarah used her gloved fist to hit Jareth's chest. There wasn't much force behind it though considering how close they were. "Don't ever do that again!" she shouted hitting him again.

A deep rumbling laugh was her response. She hit him one more, but then couldn't help joining in with his laugh. "Come Sarah, skate with me," he requested, pulling her along.

This time, he faced forward, holding only one of Sarah's hands. They skated slowly around the arena to the music playing on the intercom. He allowed Sarah to feel more comfortable in her skates before pressing her to go faster. Soon she was flying over the ice. She let go of Jareth's hand, and coasted around the ice on her own. Gently, she bumped into one of the guardrails when she'd slowed down enough. She looked back out at the ice to see Jareth skating gracefully as though he were an Olympic competitor. He zoomed around the ice and Sarah's jaw dropped as he completed a jump, spinning around twice before landing again skating backwards. He turned forwards and glided over to her, smiling at her expression. "How did you learn to skate like that?"

"There isn't much to do inside during the winters in the Underground. My parents taught me to skate on a pond near our house."

"Show-off…" Sarah muttered.

Jareth smiled again, but raised an eyebrow when a gleam entered Sarah's eye. "Come on! I'll race you to the other side!" she grinned at him.

He nodded in acceptance and propelled himself forward. Sarah was faster though. She hurtled down the length of the arena until she was a quarter way till the end. Jareth could hear her terrified voice echo back to him, "Jareth! How do I stop?"

"Just turn Sarah!" he yelled back and tried to speed up to grab hold of her.

Sarah tried to turn, but with her inexperience and how fast she was going, she ended up sprawling flat on her stomach and ran head first into the side barriers. "Sarah!" Jareth slid to a stop beside her inert form.

He knelt down and turned her over. A groan emerged from her and Jareth smiled, at least she was conscious. "Sarah? Are you okay?"

"Ugh… I think I cracked my skull."

"Maybe we should get you to a healer of some sort?"

Sarah groaned again as she sat up and leaned against the side barrier. "Come on, lets get you off the ice," Jareth grunted as he pulled her to her feet.

He led her off the ice and to the bench where they left their shoes. Kneeling down, he untied her skates and pulled them off before helping her put her boots back on. "Here, just lie down for a bit," he slowly tipped her over on the bench, resting her head on his coat.

He took off his own skates, replacing them with his boots, then returned the rented blades to the man at the window. Coming back to where he'd left Sarah, he helped her to stand, threw his coat over his arm and led her out of the arena. Sarah rested her aching head on his shoulder and tried to remain steady on her feet. Once outside, Jareth leaned down to whisper in her ear. "Sarah, stay with me here. What do I need to do? How do I get you to a healer?"

Drawing strength from the man beside her, Sarah stepped to the edge of the sidewalk and raised a hand. A bright yellow car pulled over a minute later. Jareth opened the door for her, sliding in after her. "Where to?" the driver asked.

"Princeton-Plainsboro Hospital," Sarah answered then slumped back against Jareth.

The cab pulled out into traffic and drove for ten minutes before pulling up to the entrance of a large white, blue, and green building. Jareth handed the man a few bills then helped Sarah out of the cab and through the automatic doors into the hospital. He sat Sarah down in a chair then went to the receptionist. "Excuse me, miss?"

The blonde haired woman behind the counter held up a finger, said something intelligible into her head set and pushed a button on her phone. "Yes? How can I help you?"

"That woman over there," he started, pointing at Sarah. "She needs some help. We were ice skating and she slipped and hit her head fairly hard on the side barrier."

The receptionist glanced over at Sarah who was leaning back against the chair she was sitting in, her head lolling back. "Sir, you're going to want to take her over to the ER. It's just through those doors and down the hall to your left," she told him pointing to a set of glass doors. "If you'd like, there's a wheel chair just there for public use."

"Thank you," Jareth replied then grabbed the wheel chair and wheeled it over to Sarah, helping her into it before heading down the hall.

He pushed Sarah down the hall and until they reached another counter. "Can I get some help here?" he asked now slightly irritated, of the woman behind the desk.

The woman paged an orderly and rose to help Jareth. "Sir, just bring her this way. What happened?"

Jareth related the story while the woman led him into an examination room. A moment later an orderly arrived and helped Jareth put Sarah on the examination bed. A minute or two after that, a man in a long white coat entered. His salt and pepper hair and mustache made him look distinguished. "What do we have here?" he asked striding over to the table.

Jareth once again related the story and the doctor nodded and started to feel around Sarah's skull. She moaned as he reached a tender spot. "I want to give her a CAT scan just to make sure everything is okay, but just from my initial examination, she should be fine. Probably going to have a goose egg of a bruise, but that should go down in a week or so."

Jareth nodded along, even though he had no idea what a CAT scan was. The orderly came back in and helped Sarah into the wheel chair again then wheeled her out of the room. "You can wait in the lounge while we do the scan. I'll come out with her when we're done," the doctor said before following the orderly out of the room.

Jareth nodded again and went to wait in one of the uncomfortable chairs in the lounge. As soon as he sat, the woman from the ER desk approached him with a clipboard and a pen. "Excuse me sir, but could I ask you to fill this out for the lady you brought in?" Jareth gave her a skeptical look, unsure that he would know everything. The woman seemed to guess what he was thinking and patted his shoulder, "Just fill it out as best you can. We can call for more information later."

Jareth nodded and set to filling out the paper work. It was just basic questions and he found that with a little help from the cards in Sarah's purse, which the orderly had handed him, he was able to fill out most of the questions. At the very least he was certain of the telephone number he'd put down so they could at least call later. He took the clipboard back up to the woman when he was done then returned to his spot in the lounge. The waiting was horrible and seemed to take forever. He was just leafing through a Home & Garden magazine when the doctor came back out… without Sarah. "Is everything okay?" Jareth asked rising to meet the doctor.

"She's going to be fine, but I want to keep her here for the night for observation. We should have the CAT scan results later tonight."

Jareth ran a hand through his hair, his anxiety levels still not down to normal. He desperately wished he had his magic so he could heal Sarah himself. "Can I visit her?" he asked.

"Of course, she's in room 13B," the doctor replied before turning to the woman at the desk.

Jareth wandered down the hallway until he reached room 13B. It was a two-person room, but there was no one on the other side. He cautiously approached Sarah who was lying on the pristinely white sheets. She opened her eyes as he came to a stop beside her. "Hey…" she said weakly.

"Sarah, I am so sorry," he started.

Sarah grabbed his hand though and shushed him. "It's not your fault Jareth. Just my own clumsiness to blame here."

"But…"
"Stop, Jareth." He shut his mouth and simply stared down at her, his thoughts clearly showed in his gaze. "Just stay with me, okay? I hate hospitals, but they said I have to stay overnight."

Jareth smiled, "Sure, I'll stay."

He moved to sit in the chair, but Sarah refused to let go of his hand. He gave her a confused look, but her eyes were closed and she did not catch it. He stared at her hand clenched tightly around his own for a moment before climbing onto the bed next to her. His intention was to only sit beside her, but she scooted over and pulled at his hand again. He lay next to her in the small bed, his shoulders touching hers and their hands still clasped together. She sighed in contentment and seemed to fall asleep almost instantly. Jareth watched her chest slowly rise and fall with shallow breaths of sleep. Despite the fact that she looked so vulnerable in the pristine room, he thought she still looked beautiful. Her dark hair haloed out on the pillow, her soft pink lips seemed to move slightly, as though she were talking in her sleep, a light smattering of freckles danced across her cheeks and nose, and every now and then, her hand would tighten around his. He decided that he liked the feeling, the feeling of her hand clenching his, the feeling of her warm body next to his, and the feeling that was starting to bloom in his chest. He smiled and closed his eyes.

Several hours later, a nurse came in to tell him visiting hours were over, but upon seeing the entwined couple, she stayed her words and backed out of the room, a folder with the results of Sarah's CAT scan in hand.

o O o O o O o

Wow… so I've had this chapter in mind since about chapter three, but I've had to wait to put it into words. Now that it is written… it isn't quite what I was expecting, but satisfying anyway.

FYI: this chapter is un-beta'ed because I wanted to get it out as a Thanksgiving Day present to you all. I know Thanksgiving is almost over and in some places is over, but I live in the Minnesota and it's still Thanksgiving here! So… Happy Thanksgiving to you all! I hope you and yours had a great day together and if you didn't celebrate Thanksgiving today then I hope you at least got to have a turkey sandwich. (Of which I didn't… my family is making lasagna for our evening meal! yum!)

Labyrinth (c) Henson & Co.