Okay, this chapter is longer than the other two and, in my opinion, much better than the last one. Once again, thanks to my wonderful friend Billy for helping me out with this, I never would have finished this chapter without her suggestions, so she deserves some credit for that. :) Also, there is going to be singing in this chapter, and the song is a real song that some of you may recognize, seeing how I borrowed it from David Bowie. It's called "Beauty and The Beast," and I have it on one of my Spotify playlists, and I love it, though I only included the first two verses of it in here. If you don't know the rest of it, I would recommend looking it up because I really like it, I think it's really good.
Disclaimer: Nope, still not mine!
The only things Jareth took with him on the trip to Belle Haven was a bag stuffed full of clothes and his guitar. When they got into town, Kasey and Rory hugged each other, then Kasey went off on her own, saying she could make it home from there just fine. That just left Rory and Jareth. She grinned and told him to follow her, so he did. They walked for a while in relative silence. The town was almost exactly like Jareth remembered it from fifteen years ago. Then they walked past something that made Jareth stop in his tracks. When Rory realized he wasn't following her anymore, she stopped, looked over her shoulder, and went back over to where he was standing.
"Something wrong?" she asked.
"This is it," Jareth replied dazedly.
"This is what?"
"Our tree. It..."
He wandered off the sidewalk and into the grass, setting his bag and guitar down as he went to slowly circle the tree, looking it up and down. He stopped suddenly and flashed a brief smile as he touched a spot on the trunk. "Right here," he said. "This is where I carved our initials. Come and see."
Rory went to stand beside him and looked at the spot he indicated.
J.K.+S.W.
She smiled. "Wow," she said. "That's so cool. I've passed this tree a million times, I wonder how I've never noticed that before."
"You didn't know to look for it," Jareth said absently, lightly tracing over the letters with his fingertip.
They stood there for a few more moments or so, just staring at the carving, each with their own thoughts.
"You wanna go see her?" Rory asked finally.
Jareth took in a ragged breath and nodded.
"Lead the way," he said. He picked his things up and followed Rory down the street. They didn't go much father. It was only a few more blocks or so before Rory went up the porch steps of a house and banged on the screen door. "Mom!" she called. "Mom, you in there? It's me, I'm home, and I brought someone to see you! Mom, open up! Mom! Mom! Mom! Come on, Mom, open the door, I forgot my key in my room, I can't get in!"
The door on the opposite side of the screen door opened, revealing a woman with brown hair and green eyes and a strong resemblance to Rory. Jareth's breath caught in his throat when he saw her, the recognition immediate. It was definitely her. There was no denying it.
"Victoria Avery Williams!"
Sarah pushed open the screen door and came outside, pulling Rory into a tight embrace. "God, I was so worried about you!" she cried. "Do you have any idea the panic you and Kasey caused?! Is she back, too, where is she?!'
"She went home."
"Good! We were all terrified something had happened to the two of you! What the hell were you thinking, huh?! Don't answer that! Get inside, now! You are in such huge trouble, young lady, do you understand me?!"
"Mom, will you chill out for like two seconds?! Aren't you even gonna say hi to Jareth?"
"What are you talking abou—" Sarah began. She cut herself off,, however, when she saw Jareth standing there a bit awkwardly, his knuckles white around the handle of his guitar case. He was avoiding looking at her, and his lips were pursed tightly.
"...Jareth?" she managed finally.
"...Hello, Sarah," he replied.
There was a long pause, then Sarah turned to Rory.
"What did you do?" she asked.
"Kasey and I went to Los Angeles to find him," Rory explained.
"You did what?! Rory, are you out of your mind? You can't just—"
"Mom, will you calm down and just listen? Jareth came all the way here to see you. At least talk to him, will you? Or...something."
Sarah took a few deep breaths. "Okay," she said. "Okay, you're right, I'm sorry. You're still in trouble, though, you hear me? Now get your grounded little butt inside the house, go to your room, and stay there, I'll come talk to you in a bit, go."
Rory sighed heavily and hung her head. "Yes, ma'am," she said, and slipped past Sarah into the house. Sarah closed the door behind her daughter before turning to Jareth.
"I, um...I'm sorry you had to see that," she said.
"It's fine," Jareth replied. "I understand, you were worried about her."
"Um...I don't...I don't really know what to say, I mean...God, it's been so long..."
"I know, it...it's strange, isn't it? I was shocked when Rory told me you were her mother."
There was a bit of an awkward pause.
"So, you're still playing, I see," Sarah said, gesturing to the guitar.
"Hm? Oh, right. Yes, I, um...I was in a band until a few days ago. I, uh...I got myself kicked out by walking out in the middle of a rehearsal. That wasn't looked upon very kindly, so...one of the guys convinced the others to boot me for it."
"I'm sorry to hear that."
"Well, I mean...Tony was kind of a controlling prick, anyway, so it's not that big of a deal. What about you, what have you been up to?"
"Oh, well, I...I'm teaching an acting class, and I'm stage managing a show...being a mom. It, um...It gets really stressful. Rory's great, but she just drives me crazy sometimes."
"She seems very...willful," Jareth remarked.
"That's one way of putting it, yeah," Sarah said.
There was a slightly awkward pause.
"Um...I'm going to assume you need a place to stay while you're in town?" Sarah said finally.
"Yes," Jareth replied. "I was thinking I would probably just get a room at a motel or something."
"No, that's not necessary. We have an extra room that you're welcome to if you want it."
"I...Thank you. That's...That's very kind of you, Sarah, I appreciate it."
Sarah turned and opened the door, then stopped and looked back at him, flashing a smile.
"For what it's worth," she said, "it's good to see you again, Jareth."
"It's good to see you, too," he replied. "I've missed you, Sarah. More than you know."
She cast her gaze downward, but her smile remained. She turned and led him inside, taking him to a room near the back of the house.
"It's not much," she said, "but hopefully it'll work."
"It's fine, really," Jareth said. "I appreciate it."
"Well...I guess I'll let you get unpacked. Besides, I still have to go and have a talk with Rory."
Jareth watched her turn and head for the door, suddenly overcome with the desire to pour his heart out to her about how devestated he had been after having to leave her fifteen years ago.
"Sarah..."
She turned.
"Yes?"
And then, just as suddenly as he'd felt the need to tell her everything, he lost his nerve and found that he couldn't.
"Just...I have this song I'm trying to write, and...after you're done talking to Rory, I...I'd like your input on it. You know...just to get another opinion."
She smiled and nodded. "Alright," she said. "I'd be glad to help. Just let me get this over with first."
"Of course. Do what you have to, go be a mother."
And just like that, he was left alone in the room. He sighed heavily and set his things down on the bed, opening his bag and pulling out the notebook he'd stuffed into it at the last minute before he started taking his clothes out and putting them in the dresser. He paused for a moment and closed his eyes.
God...Sarah was even more beautiful than he remembered. And she still did things to him, things that, even now, he didn't fully understand. The feelings she stirred inside of him...It was unlike anything else. He hadn't been sure what to make of it fifteen years ago, and he wasn't sure what to make of it now, either. If he was being totally honest with himself (which he probably wasn't, as per old habits), it was actually a bit frightening. He knew he still had feelings for her. He just...wasn't quite sure what exactly those feelings were at the moment.
He bit his lower lip and shook his head to snap himself out of it, then continued with putting his clothes in the dresser. His mind wandered to the song he was writing, going into a bit of a trance and trying to come up with lyrics. If there was one thing he struggled with, it was rhyming. He hated having to mess with that part and didn't know how he ever managed, but somehow, he did. Personally, Jareth thought his songs were kind of crappy. He could barely ever finish any because he often ended up losing his motivation before he was even halfway through. He didn't know what had compelled him to ask Sarah to look at one of them. He knew she would probably find it shitty, but oh well, it was too late now. Maybe, if he was lucky, she wouldn't laugh at it. Well, at least not too much, anyway.
"God, Mom, will you just chill out?!"
Jareth couldn't help but chuckle a bit and shake his head slightly when he heard this from across the house. It had taken a couple days or so to get from Los Angeles to Belle Haven, and during that time, he had decided that he genuinely did like Rory and Kasey. Rory reminded him of her mother in a lot of ways, and not just because they looked alike; She had the same flair for the dramatic, for one, and the same general love of life. He also knew that they enjoyed the same type of literature, because at one point while they'd been on the trip, she had pulled a book out of her bag and started reading it, and it was one that Jareth remembered had been a favorite of Sarah's (in fact, he remembered watching the movie adaptation of it with her on multiple occasions, too), and when he'd asked Rory about it, she'd told him that her mom had introduced her to it and she'd just fallen in love with it.
It wasn't much longer before Sarah came back into the room with a tired expression on her face.
"Didn't go terribly well, I take it?" Jareth said.
"She's grounded for two weeks and pissed off at me for it," Sarah replied, then shrugged. "I can pretty much guarantee you, though, that she'll probably be over it and have accepted her fate by tomorrow morning. Anyway, what was this song you wanted me to hear?"
"Oh, right, um...well, it...It's not finished yet, I'm only about two verses in, but..."
"Well, I'd still love to hear it. And I'd be glad to give you whatever feedback I can come up with. If you want it, that is."
"I...Yes, that...that would be appreciated. Hang on, just let me...um..."
He opened his guitar case and pulled the guitar out, slipping the strap over his head and perching on the bed with it. He grabbed his notebook and flipped through it until he found the page he was looking for. Sarah came and sat on the bed with him, watching his fingers as he tuned the instrument.
"Hopefully you won't think it's too terribly shitty," he said
Sarah let out a light laugh. "I'm sure it's fine, Jareth," she replied.
"Right, well...um...here goes, then."
He started playing, his fingers moving nimbly across the strings, and after a moment, he looked at the lyrics scrawled in the notebook and started singing.
"Weaving down a byroad,
Singing the song;
That's my kind of highroad
Gone wrong;
My-my,
Smile at least,
You can't say no
To the Beauty and the Beast
"Something in the night,
Something in the day,
Nothing is wrong, but darling,
Something's in the way;
There's slaughter in the air,
Protest on the wind,
Someone else inside me,
Someone could get skinned, how?
My-my,
Someone fetch a priest,
You can't say no
To the Beauty and the Beast;
Darling"
He stopped abruptly and shrugged.
"That's all I have so far," he said. "So...what do you think? It's horrible, isn't it?"
"No," Sarah replied, shaking her head. "No, I...I actually really liked it. What's it called?"
"It doesn't have a title yet. I've been playing around with a few things, but I probably won't decide for sure until after it's completely finished. If it ever gets finished, that is."
"What do you mean?" she asked, furrowing her brow in confusion.
"I don't...I've gotten into this bad habit of not finishing most of my songs," he admitted.
"What? Why?"
"I don't know, I just...I lose the motivation."
"Jareth, you...you used to write such amazing songs. I mean...like...What was that one you had that you finished just before you moved away? 'Dreaming My Life' or something like that, right?"
"'If I'm Dreaming My Life,' you mean?"
"Yes, that's the one! That one was so good, how do you go from that to just...not finishing anything?"
"I don't know, I mean...I guess I just don't feel the music as much as I used to."
"Promise me something, Jareth," Sarah said, reaching out and putting a hand on his shoulder. "Promise me that before you leave Belle Haven, you'll finish a song and play it for me. Please?"
He only hesitated for one brief moment before nodding. "Alright," he said. "Alright, I promise. I'll work on the song I just played for you until I finish it, and before I leave, I'll play the whole thing for you, start to finish."
"No, you'll have to do better than that. I want you to..."
She trailed off, a thoughtful expression on her face, then smiled suddenly.
"I want you to do it the way we used to do it fifteen years ago," she said.
Jareth's mind raced for a moment or so before he remembered what she was talking about, and he couldn't prevent a smile from spreading across his own face when he did.
"I cross my heart," he said, "hope to die, and if I break my word, then may the rock gods and Elvis Presley himself curse me in my musical endeavors for all time."
He held both his fists out, and she bumped her own against them, both of them pulling their hands back and making explosion noises before dissolving into laughter.
"It really is good to see you again, Jareth," Sarah said as they recovered. "You have no idea."
"Oh, I don't know," he replied. "I may have some idea."
"Well, feel free to stay as long as you want. And if Rory bothers you, just let me know."
"She's not so bad. Reminds me a lot of another girl I once knew."
He flashed a lopsided grin at her, and she couldn't help but smile back.
"Jareth," she said, picking at a loose thread on her shirt, "listen. Rory...Rory has gone and convinced herself that you and I should go on...I'm not going to say 'date,' because...I don't know, I'm just not. But...she does, for some reason, think we need to go out and do something together, just the two of us...And now that I think about it, I guess that it would be a good chance for us to...you know...catch up and everything, so...do you maybe want to—"
He held a hand up.
"Say no more," he told her. "Coffee. Tomorrow. That work for you?"
"As long as you don't mind waiting until I get back from rehearsal."
"Rehearsal for what?"
"I'm stage managing a show, remember?"
"Oh, right. No, that's—that's fine, I don't mind waiting at all. I tend to sleep quite late, anyway, so that works."
"And this is—it's not a date, right?" Sarah said.
"Right," Jareth agreed. "Just friends getting coffee."
"Exactly. Yes, that's...that's exactly what it is."
There was a pause.
"Okay," Sarah said, "well...I guess...I guess I'll go start working on dinner."
"If it's alright with you, I might skip. It, um...It was a long trip, and..."
"Oh, yeah, no, of course. No, I understand. Um...How about this, I'll send Rory in here to let you know once it's ready, and if you're up for it, then feel free to join us, if not, that's fine."
Jareth gave a nod. "Alright, that works," he said. "Then...I guess I'll maybe see you later, and if not, then...I'll for sure see you tomorrow."
"Right. Okay. Um...Alright, I guess I'll go now. Oh, and Jareth, one more thing before I do?"
"Yes?"
She smiled at him.
"Welcome back."
The next day, Jareth and Sarah went to a local coffee shop together, just as they had agreed to.
"So," Sarah said as they sat down after getting their drinks, "tell me about this band of yours."
"What do you want to know about it?" he asked.
"Well, you can start by telling me its name," she replied.
"The Underground."
"What made you pick that?"
"I don't really know, honestly. I think we were a little drunk at the time we came up with it. Someone just...threw it out there, and we were all just sort of like, 'Yeah, sure, why the fuck not?' So we ended up naming ourselves The Underground."
"How many of you are there?"
"Four. Or at least, there were until I left. Now it's just Tony, Drew, and Cody."
"And I'm assuming you played guitar?"
"That would be correct. Cody and I also did backup vocals when they were needed."
"What did everyone else do?"
"Cody was our bass guitarist, Drew was on drums, and Tony was the lead singer. Tony is a very nit-picky individual, he, um...He was always on somebody's case for one thing or another."
"Such as?" Sarah asked, quirking an eyebrow.
"'Drew, you're banging the drums too loud!'" Jareth mocked. "'No, now you're hitting them too softly, nobody will be able to hear that! Jareth, Cody, you're both in the wrong octave! No, you're hitting that note too sharply! Now you're too flat!' You see what I mean? It was just absolutely endless with him, at least one of us was always doing something wrong, he simply could not be satisfied, no matter what any of us did to try and improve. But enough about Tony and his bullshit. What about this show of yours? What is it, anything I might be familiar with?"
"Well, I would certainly hope so since it was mandatory for English one year in high school," Sarah replied.
"Let me guess. Shakespeare?"
"Very good. Care to figure out which?"
"Romeo and Juliet."
"Wrong.
"Hamlet."
"Nope."
"A Midsummer Night's Dream."
"No, but you're on the right track with it being a comedy."
Jareth furrowed his brow as he frowned thoughtfully, going through a list of Shakespeare's work in his head and ruling out the ones that he knew weren't comedies, such as Macbeth and Twelfth Night. Finally, he shrugged. "I give up," he said, "which one?"
"As You Like It," Sarah replied.
"...Isn't that the one where—No, wait, that's Midsummer."
"It's the one that Mrs. Carlton liked to call 'Four Weddings and a Funeral,' even though nobody dies in it."
"...Oh, right! That one! Yes, I remember now. You're stage managing that, really?"
"Yes, and it's crazy."
"Are you at least enjoying yourself?"
"Oh, absolutely. It just...Like I said, it's crazy, that's all. When the mics aren't malfunctioning, there's a prop missing, or someone's forgetting their lines, or their choreography...I don't know if we'll be ready in time."
"Well, if I'm still in town on opening night, I'd love to come see it. You know, I'm actually a bit surprised you aren't in it." He laughed and shook his head. "God, I still remember you running around in those costumes of yours as a teenager."
"What, you mean the LARPing?"
"That's right, I'd forgotten that's what it's called! What does that stand for again?"
"Live action roleplay. Jesus Christ, did you have to bring that up? Looking back on it now, it's so embarrassing, I have no idea what was wrong with me. I realize now what an idiot I must have looked like."
"Actually...I didn't think it was that stupid," Jareth said.
"...You didn't?" Sarah asked, her eyes wide.
He shook his head. "No," he replied. "No, I...I thought it was actually really cool that you were confident enough to express yourself that way without giving a shit about what anyone else thought about it. And...if I'm being completely honest here, seeing you run around town in all your costumes and things, it was...it was kind of what drew me to you in the first place."
"So you didn't think it was completely nerdy?"
"No, not at all. I loved that you were so comfortable with who you were and unashamed of being yourself."
"I...Thank you, Jareth. That means a lot coming from you."
There was a pause, during which Jareth fiddled with the guitar pick around his neck.
"So," he said finally, "what...I mean...What exactly is the deal with Rory's dad? She sort of told me the basics, but...I'm curious."
Sarah looked down, suddenly fascinated by the surface of the table they were sitting at. "It...There is no 'deal,' really," she said. "It's nothing."
Jareth frowned. "I won't push you if you don't want to talk about it," he said quietly. "I just—"
"You remember that guy from our Spanish class, Brandon Miller? The one with a talent for pissing off Señora Montoya?"
There was a pause as Jareth let this sink in.
"Wait a minute," he said slowly. "You mean you actually dated that asshole? Sarah, what the hell were you thinking?"
"I don't know," she replied, shaking her head. "I mean...You were gone, and I was still not totally over that, he asked me if I wanted to go to homecoming with him, and I just...I didn't really think before I said yes, and next thing I know, he's telling people we're a couple, so I just...I don't know, for some reason, I never did or said anything to discourage that, and so..."
She shrugged.
"We were," she finished.
"But...how did Rory end up happening? That's what I don't understand," Jareth said.
Sarah let out a heavy sigh.
"We went to this party," she said, "and...I don't know, things just ended up...happening, and..."
"And he just...left you when you told him? Broke things off and started ignoring you, or...was there more to it?"
"He got really pissed off. Started yelling at me and shit, made me feel like it was my fault and I had brought it on myself. Told me that maybe if I wasn't such a little slut, I wouldn't be in that situation..."
Under the table, Jareth clenched his fist. He hated what he was hearing. Anyone who had the nerve to treat Sarah like that was, in his mind, a despicable human being who deserved whatever bad things ended up happening to them in life. He licked his lips to give them some moisture, doing his best to keep his cool and not let his anger show as Sarah continued speaking.
"Anyway," she was saying, "he, um...he dumped me, and yeah, started ignoring me, and when it got out that I was pregnant, he told his friends and parents that I had cheated on him and it wasn't his. And then, about...I don't know...a month before I was due, he and his family moved out of town, and I haven't seen or heard from him since, which is how I prefer it. I told Rory about him because I've never seen any point in lying to her or keeping it a secret, but she's never met the guy, and the one time she asked to see his picture when she was younger, it was out of my old yearbook."
Jareth pursed his lips, shaking his head.
"That fucking piece of shit," he said. "God, Sarah...I'm so sorry you had to go through that."
"It's in the past. I don't really think about it anymore, so..." She trailed off into a shrug, taking a sip of her coffee.
Jareth watched her for a moment, then slowly shook his head.
"What was wrong with us?" he said quietly.
Her green eyes flickered over to his face.
"What do you mean?" she asked.
He let out a soft laugh without any humor in it.
"Look at us," he said. "We used to be so damn close, and now just look at us. Why the hell didn't we stay in touch after I left, what was wrong with us that we didn't send each other letters or something? Stayed a part of each other's lives to some extent? Maybe then Rory and Kasey wouldn't have pulled that little stunt of theirs and we wouldn't be sitting here in a coffee shop telling each other about the messes our lives have become. We wouldn't need to because we'd already know. God, Sarah...We went wrong. We went terribly wrong with not staying in touch, and we both know it."
"I agree," she replied. "I completely agree, it was a mistake not to keep communication going after you moved. But...there's not anything we can do about it now, so...why dwell on it? What's the point of moping around and regretting it when we've been given the chance to rebuild what we had?"
Something flashed in his mismatched eyes, but it was gone too quickly for Sarah to identify it.
"You think that's what this is?" he asked.
"I think that's what we should look at it as," she said.
"...So...what does that mean for us?"
"...I think...I think it means that we might still have a chance."
"I...That actually...That's comforting in ways you might not know."
"So...what now?" Sarah asked.
Jareth considered his words carefully before speaking.
"I'm not entirely sure," he said finally, "but...if we could maybe move this up a step from friends getting coffee, then...I think that would be a good place to start."
She smiled at him, pushing some hair behind her ear.
"I'd like that," she said.
And for the first time in what felt like forever, Jareth felt like maybe, just maybe, things were finally starting look up for him.
Okay, so it's kind of funny, actually, my high school theatre teacher, "Four Weddings and a Funeral" really is what he likes to call As You Like It, so that's where I got that idea from, lol. Anyway, um...yeah, that's about it. So...I guess just...please review, because it keeps me motivated, and that means faster updates, which is always a good thing, right? Right.
SO REVIEW, OR ELSE JARETH WILL STICK YOU IN AN OUBLIETTE!