Author's note: Sorry for the wait on the chapters again! I've discovered that working on things involving lots of words in front of a computer screen all day does not leave much verbal brain power left after dinner. However, I have finished my second Labyrinth music video! You should check it out: .com/watch?v=SA5Blb_N3lM In the meantime, here is the next chapter - enjoy!

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Chapter Twenty-Four: Almost Resolved

Fluffy wheezed a triumphant suction-cup yelp as he dropped the last twitching leg onto the pile of groaning bright red fur. "There!" Kelly announced, hands on hips as she smirked at the Goblin King. "Now give Sam back!"

Jareth grinned as he sauntered around the edge of the pile. "You have immobilized them, he admitted, but you haven't removed them from the city." He stood back and crossed his arms over his chest.

Kelly glared at him with her dark brown eyes and then frowned at the pile of firey pieces before her. "I need a tarp." She looked back up at the Goblin King. "A big tarp."

Jareth shrugged and snapped his fingers. Immediately, an enormous black tarp appeared, covering the entire pile of fireys to some mild protesting of the heads that were still conscious. Kelly grinned up at Fluffy.

***

"So, you're Sarah's mother?" Hoggle asked of Linda as he led the way through the corridors of brick walls.

"Hm? Oh, yes." Linda's brow creased. "How did you know?"

Hoggle smirked to himself. "You look like her. How else?"

"Oh." Linda glanced over her shoulder to her daughter, who was following several steps behind them.

"Erm, if I may ask," Hoggle went on a little sheepishly, "what kind of a fight was it?"

"What fight?" Sarah and Linda asked at the same time.

Sarah scowled at her mother and then directed her attention at her feet.

"A bad one, then," Hoggle muttered to himself.

Linda and Sarah humphed in unison.

***

The little blond girl stood before the Goblin King, eyes narrowed, arms crossed, feet planted. "Well?"

Jareth looked down at her apathetically. "Well what?"

"Our deal." Kelly stuck out her hands, palms up. "Give me back my brother."

"Yes," he crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back impassively, "I did say I'd offer him back to you, didn't I?" A crafty smirk touched his lips. "He's currently in my castle. I'll meet you there."

"What? That's not fair!" Kelly stamped her foot and shouted at the empty space in front of her where the Goblin King had just been standing. "Hoggle?" She looked around and shouted his name a few more times. "Where did that stubborn dwarf get to anyway?" She muttered as she trudged on toward the castle.

***

"You know," Hoggle announced clearly as they neared the goblin city, "It's none of my business and I know that, but it just seems to me that fights in families ought to get made up as fast as possible. Otherwise, it just goes on forever and then your family's not your family anymore. Ah, here we are!" He marched through the open gates into the city where some of the goblin citizens had begun to clean up the mess the fireys had left behind.

Sarah and Linda paused just before the gate. Behind them, a giant furry creature with a mouth like a plunger roared past them, making wheezing roaring sounds at a bright red screaming head that had been attached to a stick and dangled just in front of the monster's face.

"Oh." The Goblin Queen murmured, "I guess that solves one of our problems."

"I'm not going to ask." Linda shook her head and then looked her daughter in the eye. "I'm sorry, Sarah."

"What for?" Sarah crossed her arms and listened.

Linda sighed, resisting the temptation to roll her eyes. "I'm sorry that I let my past experience cloud my judgment, and I'm sorry that I didn't rely on what I know about you to help me understand the situation. You are a strong-willed, intelligent, independent young woman. I'm sorry I missed out on watching you grow up. I really am. I wish I had stayed more involved in your life."

"And what about Jareth?" Sarah demanded as patiently and calmly as she could manage.

"Sarah, he stole you away from me and made me go through that horrible Labyrinth!"

The Goblin Queen closed her eyes and took a very deep breath. "Alright, I'm going to explain to you how the Labyrinth works. When a human wishes for the Goblin King to take a baby away, whether they mean it or not, the goblins rush off to take the baby away. It's just wired into their brains somehow. Believe me, I've tried to stop them. It's not possible. Jareth goes after them to give the human a chance to get their baby back so that he isn't stuck babysitting too long. Now, the Labyrinth has rules, and rule number one is that wishes are binding. Rule number two is that love is always strongest. So, Jareth gives the human a chance to prove that their love for the baby is stronger than their wish for him to take the baby away by sending the human through the Labyrinth. Trust me, if he could just send every baby back to where it came from as fast as it got here, he would! It's not like he likes having babies around all the time."

"No, Sarah, you should have heard the way he talked about you!" Linda took a step forward, motioning vaguely with her hands. "He's been stalking you for your whole life because I made that stupid wish!"

"Okay," Sarah held up her hands to silence her mother. "First of all, none of this is your fault. Second of all," she took a deep breath, "you're not the only one who's wished a baby away."

Linda stared blankly at Sarah for a few seconds as she absorbed this new information. "Toby?"

Sarah nodded. "Even if you hadn't wished me away, I still would have met Jareth, and he still would have fallen in love with me, and I still would have fallen in love with him." She glanced at the city and started walking toward it as she continued. "Come on, I'll tell you the whole thing."