Hi all. I have been cruel up until now, but I can be generous... :-) Here's a fast update, since I'm away on business travel for a few days, and I perceive from all your reviews that you can't wait until Friday...

Sarah couldn't breathe, couldn't move, just stared at Jareth's limp form in front of her, and then as the realization that he was gone hit her, she raised her head and screamed in misery and despair, shaking him and begging him to wake up, while tears blurred her sight.

A warm hand on her shoulder startled her, but when she saw Hoggle kneeling beside her, obviously much better, she threw himself at him and clung to him to get comfort.

"It can't be happening, Hoggle, it can't!" she cried and sobbed uncontrollably, but instead of comforting her, the dwarf put his hands on her shoulders and shook her slightly, forcing her to focus on him.

"Sarah, stop it," he said gently. "Listen to me."

She looked into his clear blue eyes and tried to stifle the sobs, and he shook her again and then turned her around to look at Jareth's outstretched form.

"In the Labyrinth, nothing is ever as it seems," he said urgently. "Ye're queen now, Sarah. He gave ye his power – the power he just used to save me. Ye are Queen!"

Hoggle's words penetrated her grief-stricken mind, and she understood instantly what he was trying to say. A cold determination washed through her and she sat up straight and nodded, forcing back the tears as she pushed herself over to Jareth and examined the wound on his leg. It still trickled blood, mingled with an ugly yellow liquid that must be the snake's venom. With no one to guide her and no time to lose, she gripped the pendant around her neck and whispered a short prayer, and then she placed her hands just above his wound and concentrated deeply, just like she had seen Jareth do first on her own wound and just now on Hoggle's. If Jareth had such healing powers as King, then so must she have.

"Bring out the venom, clean the blood," she whispered to herself and stared hard at the bite marks, "bring out the venom, clean the blood…"

At first nothing happened, but then slowly the yellow liquid started to run faster, soaking his breeches and pooling on the floor. There was a ripping sound behind her, and then Hoggle stepped next to her with his torn sleeve in hand, using it to wipe away the poison before it reached her. She nodded in thanks, but never stopped her chanting, and after a long minute, the yellow liquid was slowly replaced by healthy red blood, until finally there was no trace of poison anymore.

Sarah took a deep breath and refocused. "Close the wound, heal him, make him well. Close the wound, heal him, make him well."

Under her hands, the gaping wounds little by little became smaller and smaller, until the bleeding stopped entirely and only two red marks were left on his skin. She looked up at Jareth's face in hope, but he was still not moving and trembling she reached out for his neck trying to find a pulse. For a moment she didn't feel anything and cold despair filled at the thought of having been too late… but then she found it - very weak and irregular, but it was there. Sarah let out a choked sob in relief and then looked back at Hoggle in worry.

"What else can I do?" she asked urgently. "Do you think it worked?"

The dwarf gave her a brief reassuring nod and examined Jareth again. "Good work, me girl, but he's still weak. I think ye need to take care of the two large wounds as well to give his body a chance to take over – then his own magic should do the rest."

Sarah repeated the healing on the claw marks on his thigh and shoulder, stopping the bleeding and cleaning it at the same time to prevent infection, and then sat back on her heels and burst into tears again, this time in relief and exhaustion. Hoggle patted her awkwardly on her back and murmured a reassurance, but with the danger past, she could not stop crying. After a moment, he went to the door and shouted down the hallway after a goblin, and shortly after, a goblin peeked through the door and slipped into the room and several more followed. They were all quiet and subdued at the sight of Jareth lying unconscious on the floor, and when the first one spotted the pendant around Sarah's neck, it gasped and started whispering furiously with the others. As one, they bowed deeply to her, a sight that should have been almost comical, but failed to stop her tears.

"Your Majesty," the largest one of them said and bowed again. "We are at your service. What can we do for you?"

Well, what could they do, she thought wearily, but then looked at Jareth. He couldn't just lie there on the floor, he needed to rest properly. She gestured hesitantly towards him. "Can you help us carry him to the bed?"

She had hardly finished the sentence, before all the goblins ran to Jareth and very gently lifted him up, so they could deposit him in the middle of her large bed. He didn't wake or make a sound, and Sarah got to her feet to and went to the bed, sitting down beside him and trying to compose herself. In the meantime, Hoggle had gone to the wash room and now he came back with a clean wet towel and gently brought it to her neck, and she started at the flash of pain it sent through her.

"He cut ye, that filthy bastard," Hoggle said with fury in his voice and softly dabbed on her chin and throat, and she saw it come away stained in blood. "Ye can't heal yerself now, so let me just clean it up so it doesn't scar."

When he was done, she wanted nothing more than to just lie down besides Jareth, but Cederick was still there sprawled on the floor and her skin crawled at the thought of being in the same room as him.

"Goblins," she said loudly and pointed at him, "please get rid of… that for me! Throw it in the Bog or burn it or something, just make sure I never have to look at it again! And could you clean up the mess?"

The goblins rushed to do her bidding, and she sighed and finally stretched out on the bed next to Jareth. His skin was cold to the touch and his breathing laboured, but just the fact that he was breathing reassured her and she lifted a hand and softly stroked his forehead and temples.

"I'll go make sure they do it right," Hoggle said gruffly and turned to leave. "Ye stay here and get some rest, ye hear me?"

"Hoggle?" Sarah lifted her head and smiled tiredly at him. "Thank you – you're my best friend, you know."

He flushed and shook his head, muttering under his breath, as he disappeared out the door, and she turned back to Jareth and rested her head on his shoulder. He smelled of blood and magic and sulphur, and she huddled closer to him, needing to feel his heart beating. Something sharp nudged her in the arm, and she remembered the pendant and lifted it up to study it. Close-up, it didn't look like a half-moon, but rather like two giant claws offset against each other and topped by an eternity symbol. The edges were sharp and the metal rather crude and heavy, but when she held it, she could feel the power inside it, almost like a living entity. She sighed and put it on the pillow so it wasn't in the way, but dared not take it off. She had never seen Jareth without it, and she wasn't taking any chances of what would happen if it wasn't worn.

Pulling up the bed sheets up to cover and warm both of them, since there was no window anymore, she slowly closed her eyes and relaxed, and a moment later, she was fast asleep.

When she drifted into consciousness again, warm strong arms held her and she felt safe and protected. With a satisfied sigh, she opened her eyes against the brilliant morning sunlight in the room, and then gasped in wonder as she realized it was streaming in through a completely whole window, exactly identical to the one that Jareth had broken yesterday. There were no signs of the struggle either – Cederick was gone as well as all the glass shards. Shaking her head in amazement, she quickly turned her attention back to the man who had his arms around her in his sleep – he was still pale, but seemed to be breathing normally, and his clothes were clean and whole. She hoped it wouldn't be long before he woke up, but though she wanted to stay with him, she felt too restless and impatient to just stay in the room, so she carefully extracted herself from his embrace and climbed out of bed.

Outside her room she went directly to the kitchen, and not until she saw Hoggle sitting at the table did she realise that she had actually been looking for him and known exactly where he was. Without the tracker crystal to help her. She wondered what other new magic she would accidentally be using before she could return the powers to Jareth – there was no doubt in her mind that she wanted him to have them back, and better sooner than later.

"Sarah." The dwarf jumped up and went to give her a big hug. She returned it warmly and kissed him on the forehead.

"Thank you again for all your help yesterday," she said with a smile and he reddened and turned away.

"Oh, that's nothing," he said dismissively. "How's that king of yers doing anyway?"

"My king, Hoggle?"

He shook his head and threw up his hands in mock frustration. "Yes, yers. I give up. He would have given his kingdom for yer safety, so maybe he does actually deserve ye."

"But we're not…" she stopped and flushed. Maybe they were. Jareth had actually said he loved her – but what did she feel for him?

She sat down at the table, where Hoggle brought her tea and joined her in comfortable silence, while she tried to think rationally about Jareth. She would miss him if he wasn't here. No – she remembered the agony she'd been through yesterday – she would be devastated if he wasn't here. She needed him – not just for company and to talk to, since she could use Hoggle for that – no, she needed Jareth and wanted him with every fibre of her being. She blushed at the thought. How could she not have realized that before? How could she have been too afraid to recognize that she… loved him? And it had almost been too late, she had almost lost him.

She looked up at Hoggle who was watching her with a grin. "How did you know? I didn't even know? I have to tell him!"

"Tell me what?" a familiar velvety voice said behind her.