Author's Note: I should have called this chapter Attack of the Plot Bunnies. I was all ready to wrap it up, but the bunnies had other ideas. So I now find myself having to go off on a tangent to appease them, which accounts for the delay in getting this chapter out. I'm now furiously reworking the ending to reflect the new developments which occur in this chapter. Barring any more leporid incursions, I should have the final chapter posted by the end of the week.

Jareth sat in his study feeling uneasy. He was supposed to be getting ready for a date with Sarah, but the Labyrinth was up to something. It almost felt like the magical crackling of energy just before a summons, but it was different. He materialized a crystal and attempted to form an image to see if he could get some indication of what was happening. What he saw surprised him. It was something he should not be able to see - a human from the above world, and it was not Sarah.

It was a young man, and he looked troubled. Jareth adjusted the view in the crystal and furrowed his brow in puzzlement as he recognized the youth's surroundings. It was the park where he had first noticed Sarah.

"Oh Sarah," the youth sighed, "of all the times I've wished I could ask your advice, I've never needed it as much as I do now."

And with those words, Jareth felt the familiar magical surge which accompanied a summons. The words were not right, in fact it was not even a proper wish, but it seemed the Labyrinth was willing to bend the rules to please its future queen.

Toby had grown into a fine young man. At 22, he was just a year older than Sarah had been when she had been disowned by her father and stepmother, yet his prospects could not be more different. He had just received his bachelor's degree in criminal justice and had been accepted at several prestigious law schools. He now had only to decide which one he wanted to attend.

He was standing on the bridge over the pond, looking forlornly into the water when he was suddenly startled by the sudden appearance of a strange looking man with wild hair and outlandish attire. "Who are you?"

"You don't remember?" Jareth asked. "We've met before."

"Oh, my God. You're him. You're the Goblin King!" Toby cried as the distant, almost echo-like memory came flooding back. He tried to remember the stories Sarah had told him when he was a boy, whether a visit from the Goblin King was a good or a bad thing, but it had been so long ago, and his parents had done such a thorough job of removing all traces of Sarah's existence from his life that he simply did not know. "Why are you here?"

"You made a wish, and I am in the happy position of being to fulfill two wishes by granting yours."

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Kimmie felt a flood of pity for Jareth as she watched her mother pacing. Jareth was nearly 45 minutes late, and despite that fact that Sarah had absolutely nothing else to do, Kimmie knew Jareth would be in for it when he finally arrived. When, not if, because she also had no doubt that he would arrive. It had been clear to her from the beginning that he was head over heels in love with her mother.

After Jareth's second visit, Sarah had told her the truth about him and how they had met. Had it not been for the fact that her mother was the most sensible, grounded person Kimmie knew, she would have seriously wondered about her mother's mental state. As it was, she did not fully accept the truth until Sarah and Jareth arranged a visit to the Labyrinth and Kimmie was able to see that magical land for herself, and interact with its unusual array of residents, including Sarah's three friends who had been the object of an argument between Sarah and Jareth the day Kimmie met him.

Kimmie looked at the clock again. Her anxiety grew as she wondered how Jareth would sweet talk his way out of this. Punctuality was very important to Sarah. She was perfectly willing to accept a ballpark time as long as it was stated in advance. Just never give her a specific time and fail to abide by it, as Jareth had done now.

The doorbell finally rang at precisely 6:20. Kimmie winced as she noted the expression on her mother's face as she went to get the door. She was positively seething, and had her rant ready to go, but it died on her lips as she opened the door and found a very bewildered looking young man standing there. The two gaped at each other for several seconds, before the young man tentatively stepped forward. "Sarah?" he asked as he studied her, obviously trying to pull up a memory.

Sarah cautiously stepped back in response. "Who wants to know?" she replied defensively. Just then, Jareth stepped forward from behind the younger man, smiling broadly. Confused by the appearance of the stranger, Sarah momentarily forgot her anger. She and the young man looked at Jareth, and the youth spoke again.

"Well, I guess I made a wish a little while ago, and the Goblin King here, he sort of appeared and said he'd grant it. You are Sarah Williams, right?"

Sarah felt bewildered, and had Jareth not been present, she would have been in an absolute panic at having a strange young man suddenly appearing in her apartment. "Jareth, what's going on?"

In response, the young man stepped toward her again and said, "I'm Toby."

At these words, Sarah felt the world crash around her. She looked at him, and knew he was speaking the truth. "Toby?" She wanted to hold him, to kiss his cheek, to stroke his hair, but she was rooted to the spot where she stood. She suddenly became aware of tears running down her cheeks, and all she could do was repeat the one word. "Toby!"

Kimmie quietly came over to Jareth and whispered to him, "Is that really my Uncle Toby?"

Jareth continued smiling as he replied, "It is indeed." He had not taken his eyes off the two half-siblings as they stood, still staring at each other incredulously.

Jareth's words suddenly registered with Toby. He glanced at Kimmie, and returned his attention to Sarah. "Uncle Toby? I'm an uncle?"

"Yes," Sarah burst out, as she motioned for Kimmie to come nearer. As soon as she was within reach, Sarah took them both in her arms for a group hug. After they parted, Sarah took Toby's hands in hers and took a good look at him. "Look at you! You're all grown up."

"And you have a family," Toby replied, appraising Kimmie. She looked a bit like he remembered Sarah. He suddenly became serious as he looked again at Sarah. "Why did you leave us?"

"My mom didn't leave," Kimmie answered defensively. "She was disowned!"

"Oh, Kimmie," Sarah replied, "don't speak so harshly to him. He was a little boy when it happened and barely remembers." Sarah took Toby by the hand and led him to the living room, where the three members of the Williams family sat down so they could have a proper family reunion.

Sarah quickly brought Toby up to speed on the events that had transpired which led to her removal from the Williams household.

"Jeez, Sarah! I have a degree, and I don't think I could get by on my own, with a baby, without help!" At first, Toby had refused to believe his parents could be as cold hearted as Sarah had described, but everything she said made sense. Nothing remained in his parents' house which would indicate that Sarah had ever lived there or even been part of the family. They never spoke of her, and the one time they did agree answer a couple of questions when he was old enough, he had been told that she was just a willful young woman who one day just up and left, dropping out of college and never bothering to tell anyone where she could be found. He had always thought it odd that they had never questioned the circumstances of her disappearance and called the police to try to find her. Now he knew why. Sarah's disappearance had been their doing, not hers.

At this point in the conversation, they suddenly became aware of a delightful aroma coming from the dining room. Sarah suddenly realized that she was famished. Jareth then stepped into the living room and invited them all to please join him at the dining table. He had been busy while Toby and Sarah got reacquainted. The spread which he had caused to materialize was worthy of any 5-star restaurant.

"Oh, Jareth, this is lovely!" Sarah exclaimed appreciatively as she led her little family to dinner. "Thank you."

"You're very welcome. I figured it was the least I could do since I sort of ruined our planned dinner for this evening." he replied as he helped her into her seat.

"Dinner?" Toby almost choked. "Do you normally just go out to dinner with people?" He had been trying to puzzle out just how Jareth had appeared to him tonight, rather than any other time he had randomly said "I wish" or for that matter, why he didn't appear to other people, and he was beginning to suspect it may have very little to do with him and everything to do with Sarah.

"No, Toby, I don't normally just go out to dinner with people. I am courting your sister, and as part of my courtship, I taker her out whenever I can spare a few hours away from my duties."

Toby, already overwhelmed with the evening's events, found this one more tidbit of information, extraordinary as it was, quite unremarkable. "Huh," was all he was able to reply in acknowledgement of this fact.

Having nothing further to say, they all ate in silence for several minutes before Kimmie's natural curiosity got the best of her.

"Uncle Toby," she began, "you said you made a wish when you first got here. What was it?"

Toby had been so thoroughly surprised and then excited by the evenings' proceedings, he had completely forgotten the precipitating event, namely that he had made a wish. He suddenly remembered that he had a life quite apart from Sarah and Kimmie, a very real one involving two very domineering parents who he now realized were not to be trifled with.

After hearing what Sarah had been through, his own problems seemed insignificant and he felt foolish for calling upon the mighty Goblin King to come to his aid, albeit unknowingly. "It's nothing important," he finally said.

Sarah looked at him, and with a mother's intuition knew he was lying. "Toby, all hope I ever had of being a big sister to you was taken away from me. I wasn't there for you growing up, but I'd love the chance to be there for you now. If there's anything, anything at all I can help you with, please know that it would be my absolute pleasure to do anything I can, no matter how small."

Toby smiled as he realized his big sister had just made him feel like a wicked little boy who had been caught doing something naughty. She had had been forcibly separated from her family, and now that she had a chance to reclaim a relationship with him, her only brother, he was rebuffing her, in effect keeping the separation intact.

"Okay. But it really isn't that big a deal. It's just that I'm supposed to be going to grad school next year. Mom and dad want me to go to law school, and I've been accepted to Harvard Law, but. . . ."

"But you don't want to be a lawyer, right?" Sarah asked.

"How did you know?" Toby asked incredulously.

"Dad tried really, really hard to get me interested in law, but he and your mom gave up when they realized I really didn't have the grades to justify trying to send me to law school. Besides which, I can't think of anything more boring than working in a law firm. Yet, ironically enough, as a legal assistant, that's just what I do."

Toby sat glumly absorbing every new bit of information the evening had provided him. "For days I've tried to work up the nerve to talk to them. I kept telling myself, what's the worst that could happen? Now after hearing your story, I know what the worst is, and don't know if the tradeoff is worth it."

"Toby, you can't compare your situation to mine. They've already lost one child. They're not likely to do it again, especially since you're all they have left. And even if they do, you won't be alone. I don't have much, but I'll happily share whatever I have to help you out."

"So tell us, Toby, just what is it you want to do?" Jareth asked.

"I want to teach."

Kimmie scrunched up her nose at hearing this. "What, like history or chemistry?"

Toby looked at her and smiled. "No. No offense, but I don't think I could stand working with teenagers. I'd like to work with little kids, maybe in kindergarten when everything is new and wondrous to them."

"Wow," Sarah replied. "That's going to go over well with dad. He had a particular dislike for teachers -"

" - I know," Toby interrupted. "He always said 'those who can, do; those who can't teach.' You'll probably alienate yourself further from them if you take me in while I work on getting a credential."

"Well, it's not like I've had any sort of a relationship with them anyway. At least this way I get to have my brother back."

"And I get an uncle!" Kimmie added eagerly.

Sarah felt a lump form in her throat as she realized how momentous this was for Kimmie. Although they both relished having Jareth in their lives, Toby was family, something which Kimmie had never had. As soon as Kimmie was old enough to understand, Sarah had explained to her why she had no other family. It had was a testament to how well adjusted Kimmie was that she had never felt responsible for the schism. That, and the fact that Sarah had absolutely no regrets about anything which led to her having Kimmie. In fact, the bond between mother and daughter was so strong that Kimmie could only feel resentment toward her grandparents for treating Sarah the way they had.

Despite the fact that neither of them had ever felt they lacked anything, Sarah reflected how life had improved substantially in the last year since Jareth came into their lives. She was palpably happier. Not that she'd been unhappy before, she had just always been so preoccupied with making sure she could make ends meet that she'd never had time to realize she was lonely.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Toby, who had been contemplating the exceptional circumstances which brought him here. He had thought the Goblin King was a product of Sarah's imagination, yet here he was in the flesh, apparently dating her. "How did you two meet?"

Sarah tensed at hearing this question. She looked up at Jareth who matched her panicked gaze. She then looked at Toby. "How did we meet?" she repeated, stalling while she figured out how to answer without hurting his feelings or worse, offending him.

Jareth, feeling as put out by the question as Sarah was, also fumbled stupidly. "How did we meet, precious thing?"

It was Kimmie who tried to salvage the situation, and offered the following explanation: "When mom was about my age, she accidentally wished away something very, very valuable to her, and Jareth, being very obliging at granting wishes, took it. Mom immediately regretted it, and Jareth offered her a chance to win it back."

Sarah was both amazed and grateful that Kimmie's cool head had been able to come up with a truthful explanation which did not involve revealing Toby's role in her running of the Labyrinth.

"Yes," Jareth affirmed after a few seconds. "That's exactly how it happened."

Toby stared at the three of them suspiciously. There had to be more to the story, because things just didn't add up. "Well then, why did Sarah have to go it alone when Kimmie was born? If you care so much about her, why didn't you help her?"

"I would gladly have done anything to make her life easier, but she banished me from her life after completing the Labyrinth challenge."

Toby looked at Sarah. "You banished him? Why? You make friends with a magical being who goes around granting wishes, and rather than take advantage of it, you banish him?"

"Yes, Sarah," Jareth continued. "I've always wondered at your reasoning, particularly in light of the fact that I did offer you your dreams."

"My dreams? Are you joking? Did you seriously expect me to accept my dreams in exchange for Toby?

"Most people are only too happy to accept them after they wish someone away," Jareth replied matter-of-factly.

Kimmie groaned at hearing her mother and Jareth reveal too much information as they began yet another spat. This particular argument, however, was interrupted by an outburst from Toby.

"ME? You wished me away? WHY!?"

"Toby, I'm so sorry!" Sarah blurted out apologetically as she realized her mistake. "I never meant for you to know. Yes, I did wish you away, and I'll forever be ashamed of it. But I was a horrible, spoiled and selfish teenager. "

"I'll certainly vouch for that!" Jareth interjected. Sarah shot him a venomous glare, but at the moment she was more interested in trying to smooth things over with her brother than picking a fight, so she said nothing. Jareth, realizing how narrowly he had just avoided yet another major blow-up with Sarah, he did his best to try to defuse the situation. "When your sister realized what she had done, she fought valiantly for your return. Besides, it had not been done maliciously. She never really meant it when she spoke the words that summoned me."

It took a moment for Jareth's meaning to sink in. She then looked at him in disbelief, Toby momentarily forgotten. "Hold on! If you knew I didn't mean it, then what was the point of your demented little challenge! I could have died!"

"By the gods, Sarah, you know the power of words! Meaning is irrelevant when you correctly invoke a spell. And besides, you were never in any real danger."

"Not in any real danger? Need I remind you of the cleaners? And the fierys tried to remove my head!"

Toby's injured pride was forgotten as he realized what discord he had caused. After all, everything had all turned out all right. Sarah had fought for him, and he was returned, unhurt and with no memory of the event. He looked at Kimmie and mouthed the words, "I'm sorry," but she just rolled her eyes.

"Relax, you'd be surprised at how often they do this," she said, seemingly unaffected by the icy glares Sarah and Jareth were exchanging. "They argue, and just when you think they're about to come to blows, one of them apologizes and everything is fine. Until the next time."

"Well, I'm certainly not apologizing this time!" Sarah declared standoffishly.

"But Sarah, darling, we never would have met if I hadn't answered your call," Jareth cooed seductively.

Sarah glared at him, momentarily unsure whether she really was better off with him in her life. She sighed, resigned to the fact that she was truly in love with this infuriating, handsome, irksome, kind, annoying, loving man. "You're right. Even if I'd never heard of you, I'd still be here, disowned and alone with Kimmie. And I'd still have no brother. So thank you. For everything."

Jareth looked at her tenderly. "You know I would do anything for you, love."

With dinner finished and the evening wearing on, Toby hesitantly looked at Jareth and spoke. "It's getting late, and I should probably be getting home. . . ."

"Of course," Jareth replied. "My services are at your disposal."

"So soon?" Sarah asked sadly.

Toby hesitated. "I'm sorry. But I until I've had it out with mom and dad, I still answer to them."

As the four rose to say their goodbyes, Kimmie spoke first. "Uncle Toby, we will see you again, won't we?" Her voice was tinged with sadness, revealing a fear that he might not deem this a relationship worth pursuing.

"Of course we'll see each other again. Losing touch with Sarah was never my choice, and now that I have my big sister back, I don't plan on losing her again, or my niece." He gave Kimmie a hug and turned to Sarah fighting valiantly against the tears that were stinging his eyes. "They not only cheated me out of having you in my life as I grew up, they cheated me out of being around Kimmie. She's practically grown up, and I've just met her."

He pulled out his cell phone to enter Sarah's contact information before leaving. Sarah gave him her address and home telephone number, and she in turn wrote down his cell phone number, email, and the address of a close friend of his where his mail would not be intercepted and disposed of.

Kimmie entered all this information into the cell phone she had received as a gift from Jareth on her last birthday. Sarah doggedly refused to allow herself to be spoiled by Jareth. If she couldn't afford it, they didn't need it. And despite her protestations that he should not spoil Kimmie either, he felt the need to indulge someone. Kimmie was far easier to spoil, as she generally did want the trinkets he offered.

After all the exchanges of information were made, Sarah turned to Toby and gave him a fierce hug. "Whatever you decide, I'll stand by you. You won't be alone." Toby nodded gratefully and kissed her cheek. She then turned to Jareth and gave him an equally enthusiastic embrace. "I don't even know how to begin to thank you." She chastely kissed his cheek and then whispered to him suggestively, "but if you come back later tonight, I'm willing to do whatever I can to show you how grateful I am."

Jareth took her hand and pressed it to his lips. "I'll never refuse an offer to spend more time with you, but as much as I would like to take credit for everything, I would have remained powerless if Toby hadn't made a wish." And if the Labyrinth hadn't been willing to be so accommodating, he mentally added.

Their farewells to the ladies done, Jareth and Toby disappeared in a flurry of glitter.