Yes, it's late, but I temporarily lost my muse. Thanks to DarkMoonFox, as always.
WARNINGS FOR MENTIONS OF CHILD ABUSE.
Not going to apologize for the content in this, I had a bad day at work where I delt with a mother who did the same thing as the baby in this one.
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Sarah wasn't sure what to expect when Amantial departed from the Goblin Kingdom to get her ball ready and invitations sent out, leaving Sarah alone in the castle with only Jareth and the goblins for company. Being rudely interrupted from her book by a sudden teleportation to the throne room where Jareth handed her a crying baby surely was not on the list of what she assumed would happen. As she immediately started to make soothing sounds and gently bounce the baby, she gave the Goblin King a glare.
"Why am I holding a baby, Jareth?"
"He's crying and I have to go deal with his mother and…he's crying!" Jareth said with an exasperated tone and a jerked hand in the baby's direction.
"Well, why is he crying?" Sarah questioned, swaying a little in an attempt to stop the crying.
"No idea. I've sang, I've danced, tried to play with him, tried to feed him! He just keeps bawling!" Jareth looked frazzled and Sarah grinned at the thought of the mighty Goblin King being bested by a baby. Nodding, she waved him away and started to pace around, finally going to sit on the throne when Jareth poofed away in his usual glittering cloud of magic. She didn't blame the goblins for not being in the same room as the baby, for even she was starting to wince at the loud crying that echoed through the room. Taking a chance that it might be a diaper issue, Sarah started to unwrap the baby, but froze at the sight of small, fingertip shaped bruises on the little boy's arm. There was an instant feeling of fury as Sarah stood back up and marched out of the room with the baby still cradled in her arms, looking for any goblin she could find. She finally managed to corner one, and demanded loudly to be told where to find a doctor. The little goblin shook under the force of her glare and stuttered out useless words while Sarah got more irritated. Leaving the goblin to its terror, she went back to the throne room and continued to make soothing sounds while sitting in the throne again, holding the infant as carefully as possible. He had just started to calm down when Jareth appeared in front of them, looking infinitely pleased that the crying had all but stopped. Sarah's narrowed eyes flicked up to Jareth, who blinked in surprise at her expression.
"I don't care what she does, do not let that woman get to the castle. Drop her in an oubliette, throw the cleaners at her. She can't have this baby back. And I need you to go find a doctor or something, the baby's hurt."
Jareth looked completely shocked at the thought of someone hurting a baby and nodded before leaving Sarah and the infant alone again. She gently held him close and started to sing the first lullaby that came to mind, her lips forming a sad smile as the baby stared up at her. She managed to get through one song and started up another when the double doors were pushed open and two people strode in. At first Sarah had thought it was the Runner, but when she caught sight of Jareth, she relaxed again. He had a tall man with him, who immediately crossed the room and placed one pale hand on the infant's head, a glowing blue surrounding his hand. Sarah stayed perfectly still as she stared at the highly focused man in front of her, noting the elongated ears and the non-human purple color of his eyes that matched perfectly with his lilac hair. She waited until he pulled away to look over at Jareth, who actually looked worried and was staring at the baby intently.
"The infant will be fine now, as long as he is placed in good hands," the elf-like man said with a bow in Sarah's direction. "I trust you will take care for now, your Majesty?"
Sarah glanced over at Jareth, waiting for him to respond to the healer before she realized the comment had been made towards her. She quickly stood up and moved away from the throne, her eyes wide. "I'm not, I mean, I had to sit so that I didn't bump the baby and hurt him. It was the only place to sit."
The healer looked between Sarah and Jareth with a frown before he nodded and bowed his head in Jareth's direction. The Goblin King nodded back and tossed an old looking coin to the man before moving to sit on his throne, posture tense and completely different from his usual lounging. Sarah watched nervously as the man looked between her and Jareth again before he turned and left the castle. Jareth waved a hand and the front doors shut with a quiet noise, then he turned his head to look at Sarah.
She winced and bit into her lower lip before blurting out, "I'm sorry, I just needed to sit so that I wouldn't jostle him, and the floor is dirty and I didn't want him near it all."
The Goblin King held up a hand to stop her from saying anything else and smiled faintly, "The throne of a kingdom is not supposed to be sat upon by anyone other than its ruler. However, as your reasons were good, I doubt the Nymph will say anything to anyone."
"And the baby's mom?"
"I'll go deal with her now," Jareth said and pushed himself to his feet. He glanced around the room before conjuring a crystal and tossing it to the floor a few feet away from his throne, where it turned into a comfortable looking armchair. He sent a smirk in Sarah's direction before disappearing with his glittering cloud, causing her to roll her eyes.
"He thinks he's fabulous," she murmured to the baby in her arms as she went to settle on the chair, not caring that the infant was actually asleep by now, his hurts completely erased. "But he's actually a big softie at heart and I saw that he actually cared about you."
She of course got no response, but didn't mind as she brushed a kiss over the baby's forehead.
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Jareth walked calmly through his Labyrinth, though fury shone in mismatched eyes as he laid the same trap over and over, anywhere he thought that the Runner might pass by. It wasn't fair by any means and dangerously close to breaking the rules of the Labyrinth, but Jareth didn't particularly care much. Even had Sarah not asked him to keep the Running girl from reaching the castle, he would have laid the worst traps he could think of, though no punishment he could come up with was good enough for someone who would harm a child. It didn't take long for a loud, high scream to ring through the Labyrinth's walls, indicating a trap being set off. The Goblin King smiled cruelly and turned on his heel, disappearing in the blink of an eye to where the girl was. He clad himself in dark clothing with armour that depicted frightening goblins on it to meet the girl, who seemed to be cowering in a corner with a huge black dog standing over her, growling and showing its teeth. It seemed that the girl was afraid of dogs and his nightmare webbing had conjured up one the size of a horse to terrorize her. Jareth watched with cold amusement as the girl shook in terror at the nightmare and let it growl at her for longer than he should have, enjoying the sniffling mess she had become. Waiting until he came dangerously close once again to breaking the rules of the Labyrinth, Jareth finally snapped his fingers and watched as the dog disappeared into the wind like smoke. The girl looked up at him, almost as scared of the imposing figure of the Goblin King as she was of the conjured dog.
"Please, I want to go home. I give up on this. Keep the baby," she whispered, causing a sneer to twist Jareth's lips. He created a crystal in an instant and threw it at the girl, whose hands came up to cover her face on instinct. She needn't bothered, as the second the crystal touched her, it shattered into a burst of magic that sent her back to her bedroom at her house. Satisfied with himself, Jareth used his magic to go back to the throne room instantly; not bothering to take down the nightmare spells in the Labyrinth, where he smiled faintly at the image of Sarah snuggling a baby. Sarah herself caught sight of his smile and gave one of her own in return.
"The Runner gave up," Jareth told her while moving to sit in his throne, adopting his usual lounging position.
"What about the baby?" Sarah asked, unconsciously holding the infant tighter to her chest. "Will you turn him into a goblin?"
Jareth raised an upturned eyebrow and was about to ask where she got that idea when he remembered her little red Labyrinth book. Shaking his head, he flashed a smirk at her. "Contrary to the story, I don't actually turn the wished away babies into Goblins. I give them to fae couples who can't have any children of their own."
"Why can't they?" Sarah questioned, her brows furrowing.
"A lot of fae are infertile. If they don't have enough magic, they can't have a child of their own. So I provide them with a baby to love and care for while also providing an unwanted, wished away child with loving parents," Jareth told her, one hand conjuring a crystal and rolling it around.
"The children, aren't they mortal though?"
"If they are young enough and raised around magic, live in a land filled with magic, they naturally start to absorb it themselves. They become fae and eventually have families of their own, or ask for wished away children to raise. It's all very organized here. We don't have humans running around, with the exception of a few cases like yourself."
Sarah nodded and stood up, the baby cradled carefully in her arms. "Until you find parents for him, we'll be in the library."
Jareth waved a hand in her direction and waited until she left the room to conjure up a large mirror that he placed one hand against after pulling off a glove. He focused his magic on connecting with a mirror that was open to him for reasons like this in the Kingdom of Centaurs. He settled in his throne for the long wait he knew was coming, having experienced this situation many times over. Not only would someone have to answer his mirror call, but they would also have to contact fae in the kingdom that had petitioned Jareth for a Wished Away.
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It was hours before Jareth brought the fae couple to the library with him, where he found Sarah reading a book about magic aloud to the Wished Away child, who seemed to be enjoying the sound of her voice. She cut off mid-sentence when she noticed that Jareth and the two fae had come into the room and placed the book aside before bowing her head respectively. Jareth had to hide a smile at her actions and gestured to the young fae to proceed him to the couch where Sarah had been sitting. She stood up and hugged the baby one last time before slowly handing him over to the woman who would become his mother. Sarah seemed pleased by the instant cooing over the baby that the couple started up, along with their thank you's, and smiled over at Jareth, who could only smirk in return. It wouldn't do for rumours of the Goblin King smiling to start spreading around the Underground.
Jareth led the new family back to the mirror portal they had arrived through and ran ungloved fingers over the baby's head, infusing him with the smallest it of magic that would slowly grow before he wished the family happiness and sent them on their way. He made sure to carefully close up the portal before going back to the library and dropping down on the seat next to Sarah, leaning against her slightly to see what she was reading.
"Healing magic?" Jareth questioned as Sarah gave him an unamused glance out of the corner of her eye.
"Yes, I think it would be useful, if one had magic. And did no one ever tell you it's rude to read over someone's shoulder?"
"Can't say they have," Jareth commented and leaned further against Sarah, just to irk her a bit more.
Sarah shut the book and gave him a long suffering look before stating, "I want to take one of my visits Aboveground, if you don't mind."
The Goblin King quickly pulled away from her and held up his hands as if in surrender. "No need to do that Sarah, I promise to back off."
"That's not why I want to," she said and reached out to gently push his hands down. "I like it here, a lot, but the magic everywhere is giving me some really bad headaches. I think a little time spent back Above might do me some good. I'll come back in time for the ball, I promise."
"Sarah, your home in the Above is still occupied by the man you were dating. And your father abandoned you here, so it would not be good to stay with him. Until we can find a place for you. It would be better to stay down here," Jareth tried to reason with her, not wanting to have to send her Above just days after she had gotten back to the Underground.
"I'll stay with my friend and you can come get me if I'm needed or when my time is up. Just give me a few days away from all this… this world is a little intense all at once."
Jareth made a face, but nodded, reluctantly agreeing to send her Above for a while. Her being gone for days almost made the happy hug he received worth it. Almost, but not quite. As he hugged her back, just a shade too tightly for propriety's sake, the Goblin King smiled.
"I'll send you back in the morning, it's much too late Above right now," he murmured quietly into her dark hair,
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