A few days later and her condition was beginning to improve rapidly. The infection was just about gone, her fever was down, and she'd stopped thrashing about when she slept. Jareth took another drink then kissed her again. 'Come on love, you're almost through this,' he thought to himself. Sarah struggled for air as a cool refreshing liquid rushed down her throat. Then, as if by magic, remembered how to swallow. Minor relief shot like a wave through her; her head ached less. She wanted more of it, relief from the misery she was trapped in, and she would fight for it. She exhaled and felt more of the water rolling down her throat. It was helping pull her from her paralyzed state. She licked her lips restlessly and arched her neck, searching for more.

"Sarah? Can you hear me?" That voice again, his voice, the one she believed only still existed in her dreams. She struggled through the raspy gravel of her voice to speak, "…Jareth?" It only came out as a whisper, but to his ears it was still as precious as silver bells. Her head throbbed as she blinked her eyes open and into focus. His grip tightened around her, watching carefully as she took in her surroundings before looking him over directly. He watched her glowing emerald eyes take in his entire face; she reached her hand up to touch him. Jareth's wrapped around hers holding it to his face.

"Am I dreaming?" she mused as her fingertips flitted across his eyelids. He smiled and kissed her palm,

"I certainly hope not love," he said as he reached over for the water glass. Leaning up she took a sip from it, then rested back in his arms, feeling more tired than she ever had in her life. Jareth didn't miss that and turned to lay her down in bed again.

"You should sleep more, then-,"he looked to see her hand gripped onto his shirt and her eyes seemed worried. "Sarah?" he inquired curiously. She hardly hesitated a moment,

"Please, don't leave me." He was about to tell her he'd be in just the next room when he saw the frightened look in her eyes. Sarah's hand tightened slightly.

"As you wish darling," he whispered quietly and kissed her head before moving so he was next to her. He leaned back against the headboard; Sarah curled up to his chest like a little girl. He absently ran his hand through her long chocolate brown hair, musing to himself.

'Why did she seem so frightened earlier? At the same time, why is she not upset or afraid of me?' Her hand tightened again, something happening in her dreams. He smirked, now curious to what she was dreaming about and materialized a crystal in his hand and held it over her head. But what he expected to see, and what he saw were two entirely opposite things.

Sarah's Dream-

Laughing and smiling Sarah passed from person to person, chatting and laughing as gaily as everyone else. She sipped something from her hand and walked over to the front door, grabbing her coat as she joined her family to leave.

"It was a splendid party! I can't wait to see you in the next year!" her step-mother called back to the hostess as they made their way through the snow towards their car. Toby began crying from the cold as they all hurried to get in and buckle up.

"Ready to head home everyone?" her dad asked as he pulled away from the lively commotion. Sarah leaned against the cool window watching the snow fall as they drove on towards home. Her thoughts drifted to the Labyrinth, wondering if it ever did snow, or if they celebrated Christmas at all. She snapped back to reality when she heard her parents arguing about a finance of some sort and it was becoming quite loud. Toby squirmed in his car seat, the noise disturbing him from his winter slumber. Her dad was becoming agitated and the car was speeding up.

"I don't care if you have to take more hours we need more money around this house!" her step-mom yelled, and in the next instant the car was spinning and jarring in the wrong direction. The squealing of the breaks, shattering glass, and the car horn all blaring through her nightmare. Sarah's thoughts froze in place and in the next moment her head smacked against the glass window, knocking her out, but the screams of her family still echoing in the dark.

Sarah tossed about and opened her eyes, confused with where she was at first.

"Are you alright?" Jareth's voice asked from behind her, his eyes clouded with worry. She sighed and nodded.

"Yeah, just a nightmare is all," she said and yawned, the yawn covering the real fear in her voice. That nightmare took a lot of energy out of her.

"Anything I can do to help?" he asked. She shook her head and buried her head into his shirt, engrossing herself in his scent to try and erase her fears. Gently he wrapped his arms around her.

"What happened in it?" he asked stroking his hand across cheek, trying to see if she'd tell him about it on her own. Her eyes looked at him with a sorrowful gaze and she asked a offset question.

"Do you celebrate Christmas down here?"

His eyes narrowed in confusion. She stretched her stiff muscles once before reburying her face into his chest. They let the silence play out between them for a few minutes before she spoke again. She played with the cloth of his shirt, rubbing it absently through her fingers while she remembered back through that night.

"They died on Christmas eve night. We were driving home from a friend's party when they started arguing. No one noticed how fast we were actually driving…no one expected black ice to be on the ground either," her voice trailed off. He heard her breath shudder and realized she was crying. In an instant he pulled her up into his arms so she was cradled against his chest.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked about it," he said pressing his face into her hair, relishing in the peach scent from her shampoo. Sarah's face fit perfectly between Jareth's neck and shoulder, making it easy to relax. Jareth looked down on her face to see she'd fallen asleep inside his strong secure hold to rest peacefully for the remaining hours of night.

Hope you guys like it! I have quite a few Ch.(s) done already so I'm posting them all at once.
Please review! I know I didn't put in any lingering stuff from when she first left and I'm pretty sure Sarah's coming off as a bit of a weakling. THIS IS ONLY FOR THE BEGINNING. She's still coming out of her depression about her family so I'm tying that it. She gets better as it goes. :3 Please, give it time.