Chapter 2: Red as a Rose

It was now Sarah's 18th birthday. She still remembered the Labyrinth and her encounter with Jareth a few months after that. She still was haunted by those few words that he uttered to her just before he left. We shall meet again. Despite the few years that have gone by since then, his promise to her that he would be back still remained unfulfilled. Her hope of him ever coming back started to vanish as time went on, but she still hope none the less. The times she was thinking about him, the thought of it almost tortured her. She would occasionally draw doodles or create poems on the margins of her school notebook about him. Even with all of the pain he had caused her, she still wanted to see him again. It was almost on a daily basis that she wished he would just show up out of nowhere.++

Sarah exhausted from the days' festivities went silently to her bedroom so she could get some muchly needed rest. It had been a very long day of celebrating with many relatives and opening what seamed to be an endless amount of present. She was glad that they were all done now and could get away from it all. Upon entering her room, she stripped down into her underwear and threw her jeans and sweater into her laundry basket. Relieved to be free from her constraining clothes, she stretched out her arms and gave a big yawn. It was nice to be able to move around a bit more. She shook out her arms. After this quick stress release, she strolled over to her closet and opened the sliding doors. She took out a thin pair of red cotton pyjama bottoms along with a matching red top. Just as she was pulling off the pieces from the clothes hanger, Sarah's cell phone rang. She dropped the pyjamas that she was holding onto her bed and picked up the phone that was sitting on her bedside table. She put the phone to her ear.

"Hello?"

"Hey Sarah!"

"Oh hey Mike. I didn't know it was you. How are things going with you?"

"I'm doing good. I just called to see how things went with the birthday girl"

"Well. The birthday girl is doing very good. I'm just a bit tired, that's all"

"A long day I take it?"

"Yeah." Sarah swung around and sat on her bed beside her pyjamas and took a big sigh. She could feel herself slowly getting more and more tired as time was passing by. She tried to keep up her energy despite that fact so she could continue talking to mike. It would be rude of her now just to hang up.

"I'm sorry that I couldn't make it to the party."

"Please don't stress yourself out about it. I understand that you couldn't make it."

"You know I won't stress myself out."

"Okay then. I'll just have to believe you"

"I have a present for you. I don't know when I will give it to you though, since the party is over"

"Will you be at school on Monday?"

"I will"

"Then I guess I have to wait until then to receive my present" she gave a short and quiet giggle. "I have to go to bed now. I hope to talk to you later."

"We'll then it's a plan. Talk to you later?"

"Yeah. Talk to you later. Bye."

"Bye" Sarah clicked her phone off.

She continued to hold a firm grip to her phone unconsciously. It was clear to everyone that she had a great liking towards him and she was happy that it was him who was calling her. She was finding it hard to start resisting these temptations now that she was older and Jareth wasn't in the picture. She reached over towards her night table and placed her phone on it. Looking down, she could see a pair of brown leather boots tapping on her wooden floor. She sat back up as her eyes followed a path up to look at this person in the face. It left her at no surprise to see that it was none other than Jareth himself standing before her. He held an expressionless face. Even with her wanting him to see him again, she still was surprised by his presence.

Sarah looked away in embarrassment, remembering that she was only in her undergarments. She could feel the heat rising to her cheeks as they began to turn red. How long was he standing there for? He stood there observing her soft, tender figure and her lush red lips. She could feel his gaze upon her even though she could not see his face. She sat there for a moment before quickly getting up and putting on her pyjamas in record time. Once done, she stood there in silence with her back facing towards him. She was too shy to look at him because she was afraid of what he might say. She looked down to where her pyjamas were laying before to notice a single red rose just laying there.

She picked it up gently into both of her hands and cradled to her body, almost forgetting that he was still standing there. He watched he intently as he could sense he reaction to the single red rose. She was in content shock when she turned around slowly to face him. His gaze towards her automatically attracted her eyes towards his. She looked deeply into them for a moment. Coming back to reality, Sarah said firmly"You have questions to answer for me Jareth"

"As do you my Lady. Who was this Mike you were talking with on the phone? You sounded intimate with him. I thought that you loved me, not him?" His eyebrows perked up in await to a response.

"Jareth. He's just a really good friend. Nothing is going to happen between me and him, so you have nothing to worry about."

"I hope not."

"Please trust me, like I trust you."

"Well it seems alot like you forgetting about me."

"Forgetting about you? I've thought about nothing else, besides you. If you call that forgetting, then sure, all of those dream and thoughts and those scribbles in my notebook means I forgot about you. I confess my lord." She turned to the side and Jareth could still easily see a tear run down her cheek.

"Sarah? Why are you crying?"

"Is it that hard to see? How else am I suppose to act? You're lack of presence has been torturing me over the last few years that you've been gone. Now that you are finally back, you accuse me of something that is not true. Maybe you should... you should just leave me alone."

"I'm sorry Sarah. I never meat to hurt you. Leaving is the last thing I would ever want to do."

"Jareth, please"

"If you really do trust me, then you should know how sorry I am. I was wrong and I am trying to apologize to you. Here. In person. Can you forgive me?" She turned all the way around so he could not see her face anymore. He took a step forward. "Please Sarah." He could hear Sarah give a sigh, but he wasn't entirely sure if it was good or bad thing.

"What will you do if I do accept your apology?"

"I will love you. I've also brought you a birthday gift as well."

Sarah turned back around with excitement and curiosity in her eyes. "What is it?"

"I can't tell you that. I must hear those words first"

Sarah turned back around to face him."Jareth. I Sarah accept you sincere apology"

"That's more like it. Here. It's a crystal. Nothing more. If you turn it this way and look into it, it will show you your dreams. But this is not a gift for an ordinary girl. Can you handle it?"

"Of course I can. I handled your Labyrinth didn't I"

"You did. Fair enough." He took a hand and placed it behind his back. When his hand came back into view, it was hold a glass-like sphere, but she knew it wasn't made from glass. It was the same one that he had when he was in the Labyrinth. He twirled it around before outreaching his arm to hand it over to her. "Then this is for you, birthday girl."

She took one hand off the rose that she was holding to receive the crystal from him. "You must take precious care of it though. Do I have a promise" Sarah nodded with contempt. "Thank You Jareth. I like it." She walked over to her makeup stand and laid the rose down on it before placing the crystal inside her plush jewelry box. She walked back over to her bed and sat down on the edge of it. Jareth soon followed and sat down beside her.

"So why did it take so long before you returned here?" She looked intensely into his eye, searching for any kind of answer, even before he said anything. He gave a sigh and looked up towards the ceiling, as to figure out how to explain it to her. "I needed to wait until you were fully blossomed."

"Why?"

"It's just that I couldn't bring myself to be with such a fragile and young body. I had to wait."

"You couldn't send me a message or something. Anything at all would have been nice"

He took her hand that was now sitting on her leg and brought it to his lips. He gently kissed it. "I am sorry. I should have though of something."

"It's alright. I forgive you on that account as well." She stared off into nothing, pondering.

"What is it Sarah?"

When she heard his voice, she automatically turned her head to face him. "Do you love me?"

"If course I do, or I wouldn't be here."

"Alright. That's all I need to know."

Sarah could feel the need for her eyelids to close as she started to feel herself get tired once again. She had forgotten how tired she actually was when Jareth had appeared. She fell over into Jareth's arms as her eyelids closed shut. He didn't mind much because he understood that humans where very easily tired out. He held her in his arms softly and started to comb his fingers through her hair. She didn't move or react when he did this. She was too far gone into sleep.

He carefully slipped out from under her and stood to his feet. He allowed her head to rest on one of her pillows. He tucked her feet onto the bed and pulled the blanket over her. She looked so peaceful when she sleep. Jareth smiled to himself and he took in her sleeping body. He sat back down on the edge of the bed and leaned forward to give her a light kiss on the forehead.

"Happy Birthday... my lovely rose. I hope you have sweet dreams." He sat there for a little while longer before walking over to her window. He transformed himself into the familiar white owl and flew out into the starry night. He didn't want to cause Sarah any more pain. It would only drive her farther away from him. He never wanted that to happen. It would make it almost impossible for him to make her his queen if she never wanted to be with him again, even if it mean taking it slow. He had to resist the urges inside of himself to do anything more.

OoOoOoO

Thanks you so much for reading yet another chapter of The Labyrinthian Charm. I couldn't believe how many people read the first chapter within only a day. This chapter was a bit longer and the romance is really starting to come along. I hope to get a little more into it within the next few chapters. :)