Author's Note: Finally! A longer chapter! Sorry for the shortness of the more recent ones. I've been struggling with writer's block lately, but I promised myself to write at least one chapter every day, so I've been trying to force something out. Now I think the plot is finally picking up again and it's really getting good.

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Chapter Twenty: Explanations

"Jareth?" An older version of Sarah's voice startled Jareth out of rocking the baby.

"Oh! Mrs. Williams-"

"Linda." She corrected him, crossing the small, dim baby room. "Oh, he's so beautiful. Such curly dark hair. Just like Sarah's."

The Goblin King went to the crib to lay the sleeping child down. "I know how this must look to you, but he's really not ours."

"Oh, please, you don't have to put up an act for me!" Linda protested quietly, standing beside Jareth, looking into the crib. "I don't have any illusions about the kind of relationship engaged couples have these days."

Jareth's face warmed up just a little. "Actually, Sarah has made the boundaries quite clear, and I have respected those boundaries for the last four years. This child is my nephew. I watch him quite frequently. Now, if you don't mind, I do believe everyone will be wondering where we've been." He turned toward the doorway and motioned for Linda to go ahead.

Sarah's mother put her hands on her hips. "Now, listen, Jareth. You are part of the family now, and I do not tolerate lies. I promise I won't judge you and I will still love you and Sarah the same as I always have. I just want you to be honest with me."

Jareth took a deep breath. "I am being honest with you. Why do you have so little faith-"

"SIRE!" A goblin launched into the room in full battle armor, gray beard slightly singed at the end. "The fireys! They've gotten into the city and they're wreaking havoc among the goblins?"

The Goblin King glanced over his shoulder at the curious-filled expression on Linda's face. "Are you sure you want the truth, Linda?"

Mrs. Williams stopped gawking at the short humanoid creature with a long snout and blinked at Jareth. "Yes?"

"Very well." With as little effort as possible, he vanished them both from the castle into the center of the goblin city, where all manner of goblins of all shapes and sizes were yelling, screaming, running, jumping, leaping, diving, rolling, and hiding.

All around them, windows were broken, doors hung open, flower vases and other glass containers had been smashed all over the ground. Vendor carts were turned over, their contents scattered and broken. Linda's mind struggled to comprehend.

"I know Sarah's told you I am an accountant." Jareth explained, taking a few steps into the street. "That was a lie. I am actually the Goblin King, and this is the goblin city. We are surrounded by the Labyrinth, which is a place unto itself. My realm is called the Underground. Sarah met me once when she wished Toby would be taken away by the Goblin King. Does any of this sound familiar to you, Linda?" He smirked at her, while the firey's voices yelped and hooted not too far away.

"I thought..." Mrs. Williams stepped uneasily onto the cobles, staring around her at the leaning buildings. "...but it was just a dream...Sarah was asleep when I got back to her room..."

"Yes, that's usually how you humans write it off." Jareth mumbled. "But it does look familiar?"

Linda nodded. "I remember when they brought me through here. There were goblins everywhere. They were all staring."

"That's because you were the second grown human they'd ever seen in their lives," Jareth explained, meandering down a cluttered lane. "I was the first, and Sarah the third."

"I still don't understand what happened." Linda touched her fingers to her temple as she followed behind the Goblin King. "I was walking circles in the maze, and so hopelessly lost."

"I sent the goblins to find you," Jareth went on, hands clasped behind his back, paces tapping steadily against the cobbles, "so that I could send Sarah home."

"But you had said I couldn't have her back until after I'd beaten the Labyrinth." Linda protested, jogging a few steps to catch up with him and walk beside him. "I think I only wandered around for a few hours before they came to get me."

The Goblin King nodded. "I know. Usually, I can't make exceptions like that." He stopped and turned to her, looking her squarely in the eye, "I would do anything for Sarah. I knew then when I held her in my arms as a babe that she would grow into a lovely woman with a truly beautiful heart. I don't know exactly what happened or how I knew it. It was as if someone had flipped a switch and I realized I'd been crawling around in the dark all my life, and Sarah was my light." He smiled gently then. "I didn't fall in love with her. I was born loving her, and didn't know it until I met her, even though she was so small then. That's why I could send you back to earth without waiting for you figure out the Labyrinth. True Love overrules everything."

Linda watched him turn and walk to the end of the street, realizing that the man her daughter had only just married that afternoon had probably been stalking her since the he'd met her as a baby. I did this to them. Linda thought to herself. I made the wish that brought her to him. He might never have met her if not for me. But then how did she ever get to know him? "Jareth," she marched down the street and grabbed his wrist, turning him to face her. "What did you do to Sarah?"

"What are you talking about?" He took a small step back and wrenched his arm away from the woman.

"You bewitched her or put a spell on her or something, didn't you?" Linda demanded. "She's not really in love with you at all, is she? You can't just keep her here like this! You have to let her go!"

"Linda, I promise you, there's no spell. Sarah wished to live her of her own free will. I sent her home and told her she could stay, but she chose to come back!" He held up his hands pleadingly. "Please, believe me, I would never do anything to take Sarah's power of choice from her. If I had wanted to force her into anything, I would have made sure you failed that night and kept her here to raise her myself."

"No." Linda shook her head and started to back away from him. "No, I won't believe it. You've got everyone here under a spell, and you're going to keep us here for ever." Her eyes widened with a new understanding. "I've got to go warn everyone." She turned away from him and ran.

"Linda! Wait!" Jareth shouted and started to follow her, but a goblin ran past with a firey's arms wrapped around his head and the Goblin King paused long enough to wrench the arms off the goblin. When he looked up again, He could see no sign of Linda. With a scowl, he vanished.

"Jareth!" Sarah jumped up out of her chair and glanced around to see if her family had noticed.

"We need to talk." He took her wrist and pulled her to the doorway.

"Sorry, everyone!" Sarah yelped back into the room. "We'll just be a minute. The chairs are still set up outside if you want to get some fresh air!" As soon as the door was shut behind them, Jareth vanished them into the baby room, where he went immediately to check on the child. "Okay, Jareth." Sarah folded her arms over her chest. "What is it?"

"It's your mother." Jareth answered quietly, adjusting the blanket covering the baby. "And the fireys." He briefly explained the situation in the city and the disappearance of Sarah's mother.

"So what are we waiting-"

"Don't!" Jareth grabbed her arm so hard he almost bruised her. "We only have so much magic and we still have to send everyone home later. Remember how difficult it was bringing them here?"

"But you said it would be easy to send them home." Sarah responded quizzically.

"At the time," he released her arm and took a step back, "I had not anticipated having to deal with a baby, the fireys, or a runaway mother."

"How's the baby's relative doing anyway?" The Goblin Queen asked tiredly.

"I don't know." Jareth pulled a crystal into the world and held it between them. "Oh, look! He's found fluffy."

"What's fluffy?" Sarah asked, peering around him and into the crystal.

A large gray-furred, six-legged creature with a black face and a mouth shaped like a plunger was chasing a small, blond girl and a familiar-looking dwarf.