Bringing together what should have always been
AN: Please note I do not have a Labyrinth Beta. All mistakes are mine. This is for my friend Jessa Lynn, since like me, she like fics on the Labyrinth XD
Rated M for later chapters
Chapter 8
Sarah had just gotten ready for school when Karen had come to her room looking for her. She knew what was coming. Karen did this everyday after her father had left for work. It was here daily 'put his daughter in her place' speech.
"Going to school?"
"Yes Karen"
"Your to be home right afterwards, you have chores to do"
"Yes Ma'am"
"You are to do everything you are told and keep your mouth shut about it"
"Yes Ma'am"
Then to Sarah's surprise, Karen added something new to her speech.
"When your father gets home tonight, stay away from him and give me your camera"
"Excuse me?"
"You heard me you little tramp. Tonight you are to stay in your room. Tonight is a night just for Toby to be with HIS father. You are not allowed to come down for dinner. Make whatever excuse you want, but I don't want to see a hair on your head tonight. And give me that camera. You bought it with MY husband's money and I don't approve. You will no longer accept any gifts from MY family. Is that clear? Now hand me the camera"
Sarah had never been so angry in her life. How dare this woman! She was apart of this family and this house long before Karen ever come into the picture. She was tired of taking her shit, and she was getting tired of her abuse. She didn't need her abuse either.
"I'm sorry Karen, but this camera was a GIFT from MY father. I refuse to hand something over to you that does not belong to you. Please move so I may leave me and my brother's bedroom, as I need to go to school"
"This is my house and..."
"No Karen, this is me and Toby's Fathers home. It was before you ever came around and it will be long after you are gone. Now excuse me, I won't have you upsetting my perfect attendance record for your foolishness. I care about my future"
Sarah felt wonderful as she watched Karen leave the room in a huff. It had felt good to finally go off on the woman. She hated her to be precise. She carefully took a key in her backpack and locked the closet door. The only one who had a lock was her, her father had seen to that after he married Karen, so if ever needed, it could also serve as a panic room. The hinges were on the inside so no one could remove the door even. It was a brilliant idea since she was the only babysitter when Toby had been born.
School had been uneventful, and she planned to follow Karen's instructions tonight, even if it pissed her off. She even had her excuse ready. So she was pleasantly surprised when she walked out of her school to walk home to find her father waiting on her. He didn't look to happy either.
'Karen must have told on me for going off on her. Great, now dad is mad at me' she thought
Robert was waiting outside of the school for Sarah. Unbeknownst to her and to Karen, when everyone was out of the house Sunday, he had an old friend come over and bug the house. Every room in fact had its own bug and hidden camera. He knew if he was going to try and leave Karen and make sure he got Toby and his home, he would need evidence of her abuse of Sarah and her abandonment of Toby. All the evidence could be watched and listened to from her home computer with a code only he knew, or from his computer in his office at work.
He had heard Karen mistreat Sarah today, and he needed to see for himself that the effect it had on his daughter. A year had passed since Sarah had changed so drastically, and he planned to use it against Karen. He had even found Karen's Rules, and found the hidden 'list of things to do' list hidden on the back. He felt guilty and horrible that he never noticed her abuse before. It had taken Karen's behavior at church and Toby's reaction that had finally put him into action. He couldn't ignore the signs anymore. His children were being abused; his home had become a prison for his daughter. He had finally had enough.
He saw his daughter freeze for a moment and knew his stance said he was not a happy man. He wanted to see if she came up with an excuse, if she would play along with Karen's mental abuse. He soon got his answer, and he didn't like it.
"Hello darling, I thought maybe your old man could pick you up from school and we have some daddy daughter bonding time, what do you say?"
"It sounds nice daddy, but I don't feel so good. I think I should just go home and go to bed. I think I stressed myself out to bad about my tests today"
Robert now had his answer. Karen had broken his daughter's fighting spirit, and for it the woman would pay.
After Sarah had gone to school, Karen had been beyond furious. She called the day care and dropped Toby off there so she could vent in private at home. She had attempted to destroy everything in Sarah's part of the room, but then thought better of it. She went to remove the new clothes Robert and bought the little bitch to find the closet was locked and she couldn't get in. This just made her even angrier, especially since the way the door was made, she couldn't remove it form the outside.
She decided to take Robert's extra Visa card and shop her anger and frustration away, to find she couldn't find her credit cards. She looked top to bottom, but couldn't find them. But that was ok, she had written all the cards numbers down in her address book after her and Robert had gotten married, in case the cards were ever stolen, she had the info to get them replaced.
Instead, she used it to go online and shop. After two hours of this, she felt much better and decided to pick up Toby after she had pampered herself with a nice long hot bath. Tonight she had plans to start pushing Sarah out of the family. She refused to lose to a daughter of a two bit wanna be actress whore!
Deep in the underground, a man sat on a throne in the middle of the Troll Kingdom. King Herald was a jealous and spiteful man. He had no love lost for the King of the Underground, King Arthur. The fact he just lost his bid to become the next king angered him even more. Apparently, that spot was reserved for his oldest son, King Jareth of the Goblin Kingdom when the time for Arthur came to step down. Then to make matters worse, his daughter, Queen Christina of the Elfin Kingdom, refused his attempts to woe her and combine their kingdoms.
He wanted revenge against his enemies, and he would have it. By the time he was finished, Arthur would be dead, his son would be forever heart broken, he would force Christina to be his bride and Gwenivere and Sarah Williams would be the first two women to start his harem after he combined the three kingdoms and ruled the Underground with his iron fist.
Christina watched the exchange between Sarah and her stepmother and was proud to see some of the fire she used to have come out into the open. If it had been her, she would have slapped the witch. She took a large cleansing breath before she returned to the task at hand. She had decided to throw a large party at her home, just family, when Sarah and Toby returned to the Underground. Christina felt it was the best way for Sarah to meet all of the family at once. She had all the Party decorations and food already planned out. Her own children were even excited.
Some how her daughters had found out their mom had found a way to bring their Uncle Jareth's beloved home and got all excited. They had to be sworn to secrecy, but it just made Christina happy that her children supported their uncle. The two people she was worried about were her younger brother Lance and her father the High King. The High King didn't think very highly of mortals, and the fact two of his three children had fallen for a mortal was going to be a low blow for the man's ego.
That just brought her thoughts back to her Christopher. His steel blue eyes, dark brown hair, and his lanky frame had made Christina swoon the moment she met him. Now a year later, she was about to reveal her secret to him. Not only was she an immortal Fae, but she was also a Queen. Not to mention her other little surprise. Christina rose out of her seat to look over the gardens where her two sons were playing with their sisters. She placed her hand against her stomach and closed her eyes.
Usually, it was hard for Fae to reproduce. That was why the underground had the Goblin kingdom to begin with. Unwanted children got wished away, once here the underground would change them after while, and depending on what they changed into, that was what determined what kind of family they were placed in afterwards. She had had 4 beautiful Children with her late husband, King Aaron. It was a celebrated event each time they found she was with child. Now she was having a fifth child, which was basically unheard of, but she was also widowed. How would her father react to find out not only had she fallen in love with a mortal, but she was also bearing the mortal's seed?
There were spells of course to make sure a mortal would turn a certain way if it was desired to do so. Jareth had done it to Prince Toby not thinking Sarah would win. A simple spell could also make sure Sarah and Christopher would turn Fae instead of anything else as well. But would Christopher want that? Will he accept her for what she is, or will he run away in fear or worse? Still, she needed his help. She just prayed he would. There wasn't much time left. With nine days left, and the threat of war on the horizon, everything was going wrong and fast.
Sarah was more than a little surprised when instead of going home; Robert took her to a little restaurant outside of time. She knew the place as somewhere they used to go before Karen came around, or before she knew about her. She cautiously followed her father inside and they went to a corner booth in the back. She sat quietly as her father order two double bacon cheeseburgers for them with fries and soda. After the waitress walked away, her father turned to her.
"Sarah, what can you tell me about this?"
Before Sarah could respond to her father's behavior, he brought out her 'To Do List'. She sat there just looking at it for a bit before looking at her father. He was sitting in front of her, with his arms crossed, waiting for her response. He wasn't expecting her response either.
"How long have you know?"
Robert didn't believe in beating around the bush, so he came right out with it.
"I found this yesterday underneath Karen's rules while we are out. Sarah, how long has this been going on?
"Since she got pregnant with Toby"
Robert gave a sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose. Since Karen had gotten pregnant. Karen had gotten pregnant quickly after they were wed. That would have made Sarah's abuse starting when she was only 14. Two years his daughter had been going through this, it was unacceptable.
"Why didn't you tell me Sarah? I have always told you if something was wrong you could come to me. So why didn't you?"
Sarah bit her thumb nail as she looked at her father. How could she tell him and not make him feel bad? She only had nine days left with him and she didn't want these last days to hold a fight between her and her father that she would end up regretting for the rest of her life. But she also saw the look on his face and knew she had to come clean as well. Her father was a lawyer, not to mention her father. He would know if she was lying.
"Daddy, you seemed so happy when you first married Karen. Then when this started, I tried to tell you and you didn't listen. Remember me telling you I didn't like her, she was mean? This was what I meant dad. Then Toby came and you were so focused on you and your new family that it seemed as if I was the odd one out. When I started acting up, you just took as I was being spoiled and jealous. What I was doing was acting out my frustrations. I couldn't do anything anymore, and at first I was resentful for it. But every time I did that, it just got worse when Karen got me alone. Then I realized that Toby needed me. I couldn't just leave him to a woman who in my opinion was just using him, he's my little brother, and as his big sister, it is my job to protect him"
Robert sat back as Sarah went through her little speech. That was when it hit him. Looking back, Sarah didn't start acting out intil Toby was born. It was also when Karen started trying to get him to send her to a private finishing school out of state. He had thought she wanted something better for Sarah, now he could see wheat she was really up to. She was trying to send Sarah away so he would forget about her.
He did remember Sarah telling him she didn't like Karen. He had thought it was because she idolized her mother. He was wrong because it now seemed it was because Karen was abusing her. He felt horrible. He had let his passions come before his duties as a father. Then to top it all off, Sarah had come to the realization that Toby was only a pawn for Karen and therefore felt she had to protect him. The more he thought about it, the more it made his blood boil. He needed to tell Sarah what he was doing. He knew she would help him.
"First off, Sarah I'm sorry. I should have seen what Karen was doing. I was so focused on finding you mother and me a wife, I didn't think to look more into it. I thought you were just going through a stage, so I ignored it. I should have just sat down and talked to you, because I would have known all this so much sooner. I'm so sorry sweet heart; could you find it in your heart to forgive me?"
His answer came in Sarah scooting around to the side of his booth and hugging him. A single tear ran down his face as he embraced his daughter. He had to stop himself from crying out loud when he heard her speak.
"Daddy, there is nothing to forgive. I love you and I understand."
Robert sat back and looked Sarah in the eyes to see if she was really ok. When he saw she was, he decided it was time to lay out his plan to her. He knew now for sure she would be on his side.
"Sarah, I know this is a lot, but I have revised my will. I have stated that if anything happens to me, you get everything; your brother, the house, my stocks and bonds, my money, everything. I need to gather more evidence against Karen before I can file for divorce. I need to prove she is abusive and a bad mother. Will you help me?"
Sarah just smiled. She knew if would be for nothing, but she still agreed to it. She had such a short time left with her dad, and if this helped put his soul in peace then so be it. She would stand by her dad.