"Sky's Eclipse"
Chapter 56
By Aiijuin

*Disclaimer =Labyrinth (c) Henson, Lucas, Jones, Froud; Gröeg (c) Brian Froud, Winkin', Blinkin' & Nod (c) Mothergoose Nursery Rhymes. Torok is from 1986 movie Troll, but has been changed around to meet my story expectations.
Be warned: Although this is a Sarah/Jareth romance story, it is also a profoundly dark fairytale!
Rated M+(Adult Scenarios, Abrasive Language, Innuendos, Sensuality)
**NOTE: Story numbering is behind by 1 chapter, because there is a prelude, which is not considered a chapter. Fanfiction . net automatically assigns numbers to the chapters by default, which I have not control over. Thank you!

Chapter 56: The Timid Crow

Sarah came down the stairs the next morning from her room that Gröeg had reserved for her, just before he and Jareth had begun their journey to the Isle Beyond Time. Her abdomen had shrunken down this morning, so her unborn baby must have been sleeping at last. She was still dressed in her bathrobe and pajamas with a pair of fluffy red slippers on her feet.

She glanced to her right as she reached the bottom of the staircase and saw Gavin talking to an unknown black-haired man in the study. The room was still utterly disheveled with massive books lying everywhere. Even her favorite chair was covered with books now. Sarah was going to walk towards the kitchen area and leave Gavin and his guest undisturbed, but Gröeg greeted her loudly and gave her position away. Gavin and the man turned their heads towards the foyer and saw Sarah peering in with a curious smile. Gavin grinned back and waved her into the study.

Sarah was reluctant to be introduced to anyone while dressed in pajamas and a bathrobe. She hadn't even washed her face or brushed her hair and teeth yet… However, the dark-haired man and Gavin met her halfway through the room. Gavin asked, "Good morning, my Dear. How are you feeling this morning?"

"Fine," Sarah blushed.

Gavin kissed her hand and patted it lightly. She felt a little uncomfortable at the open display of public affection in front of a total stranger. The man smiled weakly as he kept his eyes fixed on her. Sarah interrupted Gavin's flirting by saying, "I didn't know you had a guest."

The man wiggled his fingers shyly as a gesture of 'hello'. Gavin shook his head and replied, "Oh, Albert's not a guest, my Dear. He's an employee of my company."

The employee looked timidly towards the ground and said softly, "Um…Yes."

Gavin rapped Albert roughly on the shoulder and he nearly toppled forward. He turned several shades of red after he regained his balance. Luckily, for the young man's sake, Gavin's cellphone rang and he walked off to a corner of the room to answer it. Sarah turned to the dark-haired man and placed her hand lightly on his shoulder. He looked up as she smiled and began, "Well, it's wonderful to meet you, Albert."

'Albert' replied weakly with a crisp accent similar to Gavin's, "Actually, my name is 'Arther', Arther J. Crowe, Jr. to be more exact. It's 'Arther' with an 'E' of course, and not a 'U', because I think my parents were terrible spellers actually."

Sarah laughed and replied, "Actually, Mr. Crowe, since you're a 'Junior', then I think the spelling error falls upon your grandparents."

Arther nodded slowly until he realized that she was correct. He laughed nervously and twiddled his fingers as his eyes traveled back to the floor bashfully. Sarah could see that Arther was not a big talker in general. She decided to break the silence by asking, "Are you a lawyer, Mr. Crowe."

Arther blushed and answered with a innocent smile, "Goodness, no. I'm a paralegal."

"A 'paralegal'?" Sarah raised her eyebrows.

Crowe nodded and continued, "Yes. My father is an important, foreign Barrister, of sorts, and he wanted me to follow in law, I suppose. Yet, I've never been a very good public speaker, so I decided to become a paralegal instead. They work silently from behind the courtroom, and complete the research for the layers, like Mr. King, so they can fully concentrate on winning the court case."

"Have you been with Mr. King's firm for very long?" Sarah asked.

Crowe made a sound through his nose and started biting on his thumb-tip. He paused for a moment and finally responded, "No. I've only started a year ago, or so. Uh, I do enjoy working for Mr. King, though. I just wish he would get my name correct. You see, he's not very good at remembering names."

Sarah tried to prod Arther to talk more about himself, but he began to bite his fingernails instead. She looked at his left hand, and could see that there was no wedding band around his third ring finger. She wondered why a woman hadn't nabbed him yet, since he was extraordinarily handsome. He looked about twenty-five years old and his skin was like perfect ivory porcelain. He had the brightest eyes that Sarah couldn't help staring at. Arther's hair was cut close to his head in neat layers and he wore a gel that made it glisten and shine as if it were wet. He wore a perfectly pressed white, button-down, oxford shirt and a cornflower-blue, silk tie. He had navy blue dress pants and a suit coat to match. Arther's teeth were also perfect and white, when she could actually see them, and he had an adorable dimple in his left cheek as he grinned.

Gavin's phone call had finally ended, and he walked back towards Arther again. He tapped the young man on his arm and scolded, "Oh, please take your fingers out of your mouth, Albert! You know how much I hate when you chomp on your nails."

"Y-Y-Yes, sir," Arther stuttered, but didn't bother to correct Gavin's inability to remember his name.

Sarah jumped in, "Actually, it's Arther, Gavin. His name, I mean."

Gavin shot Sarah an annoyed look. She noticed it immediately and decided to leave the room before she started an argument with Mr. King. Arther called to her as she was leaving, "Uh, it was wonderful meeting you again, Miss Williams."

Sarah turned around and asked, "Oh, have we met before, Arther?"

Crowe's eyes fell back to the floor and he quietly replied, "Yes, Miss Williams. I was at Mr. King's Black-Tie gala dinner a while back. You were sitting right next to me and that chap who passed out in his salad was on your other side."

Sarah vaguely recalled the night that Mike Pierce had groped her under the banquet table. She shook her head and apologized, "I'm sorry, Mr. Crowe. I was very drunk that night and I didn't realize that you were sitting next to me."

Arther's face brightened up and a smile flashed widely across his face. He turned bright red and answered in almost a whisper, "Yes. I know. I can't say I blame you for drinking so much after what I saw that man doing to you under the table…"

Gavin's face stiffened up and now Sarah was flushed. She looked away while saying, "Um, yeah. Uh…okay… I think I'm going to get some breakfast now. I'm pretty hungry and being pregnant doesn't make it any better."

Arther straightened up and asked, "Oh! You're having a baby?"

Sarah patted her slightly protruding tummy and nodded. The paralegal finished, "Congratulations! That's wonderful! Such an exciting event for you… I can't wait to have a child myself someday…."

Gavin was getting impatient and finally interrupted, "Yes, yes, but first you actually need a woman to make one of those… Not today, however! I need you to thoroughly look through these books and see if you can't find this symbol anywhere."

Gavin handed Arther a piece of paper and the paralegal looked at it with a tilted head. Crowe asked, "Oh, is this a foreign language, Mr. King?"

Gavin replied with raised eyebrows, "Something like that… It's the Ancient Script. The universal language of long ago. Now, do hurry. We have at least forty different volumes of these books to search through today before sundown. I hope that you don't mind working overtime tonight."

"No, Mr. King," Arther respectfully answered as Sarah waved goodbye and ducked quickly out of the room.

Something about the relationship between Arther and Gavin had reminded her of the abusive situation that she had been in while she was working under Mike Pierce in New York City. Sarah realized that Arther J. Crowe, Jr. probably didn't want to be in law at all, but unfortunate life circumstances had probably forced him to take this position. She thought back to her college years when the whole world seemed hopeful and full of potential. After graduation, reality had set in and she was stuck with college loans and a dream that was unobtainable. Sarah realized that in eight more years, Mr. Crowe would probably be just like her: Single, Lonely, and Desperate.