A/N: On with the show...
Jareth sipped his wine leisurely as he watched Sarah talk animatedly with her friends.
His surprise had worked better than he'd expected.
It had taken less than a second for her to release his arm, sprint towards her friends and envelop them all in a group hug.
After a few minutes of gushing about how much she'd missed them, she had pulled away from the group and turned to face him again.
Her eyes had been filled with such awe and happiness, it made his chest swell.
"You invited them to dinner? For me?"
"Surprise, precious."
She had surprised him then, by running to him and throwing her arms around his neck, thanking him repeatedly.
He had felt her stiffen when he returned her embrace by gently placing his hands on her waist.
She had immediately stepped back, putting her arms behind her and averting her beet-red face.
Jareth smirked to himself for about the hundredth time since that moment. He loved seeing how he affected her!
It encouraged him.
Dinner had gone smoothly as well. Jareth sat at the head of the polished wood table with Sarah on his left and Sir Didymus on his right.
Since he was too large for the chairs, Ludo sat on the floor beside the knight with Hoggle directly across from him.
Gookie, who had joined them at her mistress's insistence after serving the food, had taken a seat beside the dwarf.
As per the king's request, the chicken was served rotisserie style instead of raw, along with boiled potatoes and bread rolls for sides.
Sarah had cleaned her plate ravenously.
Everyone was more or less finished with their meal by now. Ludo picked at his teeth with a discarded chicken bone from Sir Didymus's plate and Gookie was chewing on the last bread roll with her mouth open, but they were both still engrossed in another one of Sarah's anecdotes.
Jareth furrowed his eyebrows slightly.
That was the only thing amiss about the evening.
Sarah seemed to have been making a point to keep talking about practically everything but the reason as to why she was in the Labyrinth again.
Poor Hoggle must have tried to ask her about that at least three times, but she had either dodged the question or changed the subject entirely.
She hadn't even mentioned her niece and nephew.
"So Sarah, how's that little brother a yours?" Hoggle asked after Sarah had concluded her story.
"Oh, uh, Toby's great. He'll be graduating high-school soon." She said vaguely, suddenly staring at her empty plate.
"Yes Toby's doing quite well." Jareth supplied. "Sixteen and already a father of two."
Sir Didymus coughed on his mouthful of wine.
Sarah's head whipped up in Jareth's direction, her expression horrified.
"Err, well that's…uh…" Hoggle fumbled.
Ludo held up two fingers to his face.
Gookie scratched the back of her neck nervously.
"Quite impressive isn't it?" Jareth went on, oblivious to the awkward atmosphere around him. "I always knew he was a lively little chap, but I didn't think the magic would mature him that fast. He actually had twins, a boy and a girl, and they look just-"
"Wait, wait!" Sarah cut in. "What did you just say? About the magic?"
"I said I didn't think the magic would mature him as fast as it did. When a human spends time in the Underground, the magic stays with them for a while when they return home." He explained. "It's perfectly harmless. It can increase the speed of mental, emotional, and sexual maturity."
"Perfectly harmless?" Sarah choked out a humorless laugh. "Perfectly HARMLESS?!"
She smacked her hands on the table, eyes burning.
"Do you have any idea how inconvenient Toby's 'sexual maturity' has been?! He had his whole future in front of him! He was going to go to college! He was going to be on the football team and the student council! He can't do anything of those things now because of the twins!"
Jareth stared at her in stunned silence.
"Their mother was kicked out of her house by her parents! My dad was so stressed out, he had a heart attack! You call that perfectly harmless?! And it's all your fault! You and your stupid magic!"
He swiftly rose from his chair.
"My fault? How is all that my fault?" He demanded indignantly.
"If you hadn't taken Toby from me, your magic wouldn't have affected him and he'd be a normal kid right now with normal responsibilities and opportunities!" Sarah shouted, standing as well.
He was now furious.
After all this time, she still blamed him for everything? She still saw him as the villain? His face twisted with rage.
"Well, it appears that my magic didn't affect your maturity."
Sarah's face was bewildered.
"I seem to recall you begging me to take your baby brother." He growled.
She shook her head stubbornly
"Goblin King! Goblin King wherever you may be, take this child of mine far away from me!" He quoted with a sneer.
"I told you I didn't mean it!" The woman snapped.
"And that makes me a monster in your eyes?! Because I held you to your word and didn't yield to your fickle whims?! Jareth shouted vehemently. "After all these years, you still refuse to accept the fact that you were the cause behind what happened between us because it's much easier to condemn the enemy you created in your mind, isn't it?"
"That's not-"
"You thought you were so far above reproach, you read the story of the Labyrinth to your infant niece and nephew, knowing full well what power that book contained."
"No!" Sarah protested, tears welling in her eyes.
"You even tried to give me the same pathetic excuse as last time! What do you think I am, Sarah? Your little puppet?"
"I don't-"
"Poor little Madeline almost became a goblin because both she and her brother possessed a power you yourself admitted they were too young to understand, and yet, you shared it with them regardless!"
"Stop! Please stop!" She begged covering her ears.
""Well you've finally paid the price for your ignorance, haven't you?! So the next time you want to point the finger at me, I recommend that you take a long, hard look in the mirror first, precious!" He thundered.
Sarah stared at him in anguish for a full two seconds before the tears overflowed and started sliding down her cheeks. She fled from the dining room without another word.
"GET OUT OF MY SIGHT!" The Goblin King bellowed at the four remaining creatures staring at him apprehensively.
With a wild roar, he sent the dining room table crashing across the room with his inhuman strength.
Hoggle, Gookie, Didymus and Ludo bolted in terror.
Jareth stood motionless, chest heaving angrily as he tried desperately to reign in his notoriously short temper.
After a moment, he sunk back down into his chair, bowing his head and fisting his hair in his hands. His heart clenched painfully at the image of Sarah's tear-stained face.
I'm such a fool. She'll never see me as anything but a devil. A horrible trickster who wantonly steals children from their beds.
His shoulders began to shake.
"Oh, Sarah. Why do you torment me?" He whispered out loud, his voice weak. "I've loved you for so long. When will you see?"
A/N: Nobody panic! All that drama between them had to come out some time and better sooner than later, right? This chapter was pretty tough to write but I promise I'll update soon, because I hate it when Jareth and Sarah fight. Btw, I'm so glad you guys like Gookie! Please review, I love when you do!