DISCLAIMER - I don't own Sarah or Jareth or the Labyrinth (unfortunately) they belong to Jim Henson & Co, and I'm definitely not making a profit from this.
All other NPC's are a figment of my own imagination.

Trudging back to the gallery she unconsciously ran her fingers over her scar again and again; it had gone from itching to a constant ache, a reminder she didn't need. Around the silver line with the pinpricks of shining sand when she caught it in the right light the rest of her palm was looking redder and redder, and if she looked closely she could see the faintest red lines running out across her hand from the scar. It frightened her.
She jumped as Anita appeared next to her in the doorway Martin opened and smiled guiltily.
"You need to take some Valium or something." Anita said handing her a sheaf of papers to sign. "You look done in. What happened last night?"
"They turned up after midnight, he told Cassandra she was welcome to stay then gave her the birthday present he had bought for me telling her I was too fat to wear it. I guess they spent the rest of the night shagging in the spare room." Sarah shrugged leaving Anita speechless at the bottom of the stairs as she made her way up to the office.
"He is such a bastard." Anita muttered to Martin who had also heard Sarahs comments.
"Give them enough rope.." He remarked turning away also to open the door for a delivery man.
Sat in the coffee room upstairs Ollie was laughing at something Cassandra was telling him, her hand on his arm as they giggled together. Trying desperately to ignore them Sarah headed straight into her office and slammed the door. Pausing briefly to drop the papers on her overflowing desk she walked over to the window, opening it to try and get some fresh air feeling sick. The door slammed behind her and she flinched again turning away to see who it was.

"What the fuck is up with you?" He said walking up to her, his hands on his hips.
"I'm sorry?" She frowned backing up a little.
"Get over whatever tantrum it is you are having and act like you should be doing. Cassandra thinks you are cramping her style with your muttering and slamming doors and I agree with her. If you are going to act like this tonight you can sod off home and let the rest of us run it." He said spitefully. He glared at her as she stood in shock, not saying anything.
"Go and put some bloody makeup on as well, you look like shit. How am I supposed to …" He was interrupted by Chris walking in with a cup of coffee for Sarah and another batch of flyers for upcoming releases she had to pass off. Sarah let out the breath she had been holding and thanked Chris for the coffee, sitting down at the large table to look through the flyer proofs with him, ignoring Ollie who glared daggers at Chris and stalked out, slamming the door again behind him.
Chris sat there as he watched Sarah dissolve, shaking her head as tears fell unheeded.
"I'm so sorry." She whispered to him after she'd gotten a hold of herself gratefully taking the tissue he offered her to wipe her face. Her hand throbbed in pain along with the headache she had developed. "Please don't tell the others."
"I think they all heard regardless. Cassandra was laughing the bitch. Don't worry my love, its not for too long then you can tell both of them to shove it." He watched as her eyes dulled in pain and loss at his words. "Keep smiling precious one! It will be alright on the night." He grinned and again watched her eyes flicker at his words. Chris loved a mystery, and Sarah was a mystery and a half.
"Come, everything is all spick and span and we are only waiting on Catsknickers to decide where she wants those last pieces of 'art' come and have a drink."
Sarah grimaced at Chris's name for Cassandra but meekly followed him from her office smiling softly as he linked her arm through his as they walked down the glass stairs.
"You know... If I wasn't hopelessly in love with your goblin king I'd demand you marry me." Chris laughed as Sarah choked at his outrageous statement punching him in the arm.
"Behave yourself." She grinned "You don't need a goblin king to make you a queen."
"Entirely my point darling. I'd be the perfect accessory." Sarah laughed, she couldn't help it, the thought of Jareth and Chris being partners was perfectly insane given Jareth's ego and opinion of himself, not to mention he would have a royal hissy fit if Chris stole his leather pants. The vision of a semi naked goblin king demanding his pants back made her blush.
"Ho ho! What is this? What on earth have you been saying to make Sarah blush like that?" Anita grinned from behind the main information counter in the corner.
"If I gave away all my secrets however would I be able to surprise you?" Chris said walking on past her into the main gallery space making sure he avoided the spiky installation. Sarah stopped and rolled her eyes at Anita.
"Don't give him the benefit of seeing you upset. Here go stick some of these in and put some of this on." Anita whispered rummaging in her bag before passing over a small bottle of eye drops and a tube of lip gloss.

Sarah sighed and made her way to the ladies hating having to look at her pale face and reddened eyes in the mirror. Ducking down she turned the cold water tap on before dunking her hands in and covering her face. The freezing water made her gasp but at least refreshed her. Struggling to put the eye drops in she almost blinded herself as she looked back in the mirror to see him standing behind her. Choking back an oath and grabbing a paper towel to mop up her streaming eye she turned and glared at him with the other one.
"Must you always appear in the ladies?" she watched incredulous as Jareth turned and looked around their surroundings before shrugging. "To what do I owe the unpleasure your majesty?" she sighed in the silence.
"Our conversation is not finished."
"No it's not, but it's also not going to take place here and now. I have too much to do to be worrying about having an argument with you."
"Who said there would be arguing?" Sarah took the paper towel from her face and stared at him blankly as he spoke. "Fair enough, I concede that there may be arguing."
"Is that everything?" She asked exasperated.
"I have a gift for you."
"No. No gifts, no bargains, no promises, no crystal dreams Jareth. I..."
"No, no bargains. This gift has a price, but for a girl like you it is a small thing indeed." He smirked, ignoring the way she whispered his name.
"How can a gift be a gift if it has a price?"
"Everything has a price precious. You of all people should know that. Would you like it?"
"Do I look that stupid? You have my dreams already what is the price this time?" She shut her mouth before she blurted out something utterly ridiculous and watched him frown.
"I will not offer this again. Take it or leave it."
"What is the price?" Something inside her screamed at her to run and hide, to ask no questions and make no bargains. By asking the price she had agreed to the gift. Jareth stood in front of her and grinned then in the blink of an eye captured her face in his hands, before she could pull away he leant down and kissed her. It was a soft, lazy, teasing kiss that left her breathless as he broke away, a satisfied smirk replacing the grin. Leaning back against the door and folding his arms he waited for her to gather her scattered wits.
"Was that the gift or the price?" She eventually whispered not looking at him.
"That is for you to decide. Good day precious." When she looked up he was gone.
"Of all the infuriating..." She turned back to the mirror and leaning closer to it applied the lip-gloss over her still tingling lips before realising that her red swollen eyes were no longer red and swollen. Forest green eyes regarded her from the mirror, flecks of gold making them shine, and where his fingers had touched her cheeks a soft blush made her skin glow. She walked out of the loos at a loss for words, his capriciousness leaving her confused. She didn't even notice Ollie staring at her like she was a different person.

Anita giggled at her as Sarah handed back the eye drops and gloss.
"I should get more of this stuff if that's the effect it has!"
"I'm going out for an hour. Is it ok if I drag Chris with me? I need a dress or something for tonight." Sarah asked, suddenly feeling pretty for the first time in months. She knew it was just a glamour, and that like all magic it would fade in time, but she was not going to waste this gift.
"Sure take your time I'll hold the fort. Ollie can get his arse in gear and help if it gets busy." Anita grinned shooing Sarah away.
Walking over into the beautiful gallery space always made her smile, the clean white walls and perfectly positioned windows and lighting in the neoclassical designed room was perfect for displaying artwork between the onyx black columns standing against the walls. At the far end above the pair of tall windows was a freeze of trompe l'oeil decoration work a friend from university had painted for her when she had first purchased the building with the help of her mother's legacy. Standing under the windows stood Cassandra berating Chris for dropping a pile of exhibition catalogues on her toe in a voice any fishwife would be proud of. Chris merely shrugged and walked away from her in mid flow back towards Sarah who flicked her hair out her face, in a long standing code sign for 'help me please'.
"We are going out for an hour, get your coat you've pulled." She said as he sidled up to her. "Get mine whilst you are up there would you?"
"Oh goodie. I'll be right back." He said trotting off.
"What the fuck are you doing going out now? There's still the rest of Cassandra's paintings to hang!" Ollie spat from behind her. Taking a deep breath Sarah turned and smiled sweetly.
"And as she is your client I shall leave organising where she wants them in your capable hands. You wouldn't want your girlfriend to look anything other than her best tonight would you?'
"Why can't you wear one of your other dresses? Or don't they fit any more?"
"When I need clothing advice from you I'll ask. In the mean time your boss would like you to do what you are paid for." She told him flatly.
"I'm not sure what the hell you are up to Sarah but it's not going to wash. Whatever this thing is end it. Don't forget who you are talking to. Without me you are nothing." He whispered pulling her closer and digging his fingers into the soft flesh inside her arm and wrapping his other hand around her neck in what looked like to all intents and purposes like an embrace making her wince in pain.
"Why can't you for once just act like you honestly cared for me? Why do you have to make me feel like shit when you bring other women into my home? Our home? What happened to all your promises?" She whispered as he released her arm but kept her held close. She looked up into brown eyes she had once been so sure she loved and saw nothing but contempt in them.
"You got boring." He replied maliciously before capturing her lips in a crushing kiss. Before she could do anything he had bitten the inside of her lip drawing blood. "That's for giving me attitude, we'll talk about it more later. In private." He snarled in her ear finally releasing her.
Feeling numb she smiled at him and kissed his cheek leaving a blood stained glossy patch before waving to Cassandra who stood still fuming at the other end of the room. She could be a bitch too, and all the while in her head all she could hear was Jareth's mocking voice.
Damn you Jareth, and damn me too. She cried in her mind keeping her smile firmly fixed on her face as she collected Chris and her coat before walking out into the wind.

In another world a king swore vengeance on a mortal man, scattering objects from his desk across the polished floor in a wrath his subjects had not seen for many a year. They fled in fear from his anger and cowered as the heart of the labyrinth twisted and screamed in agony.

Hours or days later the same King stood in the dark world that was his labyrinth, the sky lit by lightning regarding a stain on a stone at the foot of a set of steps. The large stone had cracked clean in half, and from the crack grew a rose bush. The rose bush had grown at a staggering rate, appearing almost instantly the moment he had left this place. It grew up the wall with green questing fingers and had subsequently flowered glowing white roses which made the delicate vines droop from their weight. Around the section of wall, and the rose bush lay chaos. The Labyrinth in this quarter had been flattened into rubble. Jareth leaned against the remaining section of wall, his hair tangling with the thorns in the capricious wind and breathed in the scent of roses.
The very existence of this plant troubled him greatly, as did the now dry blood stain from where it grew. In his head he reviewed laws, edicts, rules. Blood was a token, a gift, taken by force or given freely. It meant power, and this blood was different. It was mortal not fae, it should not have anything other than the most faintest traces, yet this blood was hers, and she held more power than he had ever seen in a mortal for a millennia. She had sat here for hours, cut by something from the labyrinth, bleeding directly onto the very labyrinth itself, and stone remembered. He waved a hand negligently and around the broken steps and section of wall grew a courtyard walled in white grey stone, no doors or passageways. Better to keep it hidden for now he muttered to himself before stepping away into nothingness. The walls and passageways continued to grow from the destruction, the labyrinth recreating itself as it always did. The roses remained silent, shining faintly and growing in the unnatural light.