Chapter 9

There had been no dramatics this time, the Kings bedchamber in the castle beyond the Goblin City had simply faded around her leaving Sarah in the familiar surroundings of her own living room. Her clothes had not reappeared, Sarah was still wrapped only in a blanket. She walked calmly and carefully, ignoring the pain from where the Goblin King had forced himself into her, to her bedroom to check on her son.

Still sleeping peacefully, Jay was in his crib once more. He looked unchanged and unaffected by his trip to the underground. "Well I'm glad that one of us can be happy." She whispered to him, reaching down and stroking one of his cheeks. Sarah then backed away from his crib and threw on a plain night shirt, dropping the soft blanket on the floor, before letting her tears flow again.

She crawled into bed and curled into a foetal position beneath the covers unable to think or move until sleep overcame her. Her tears soaking into the pillow as she slumbered.

Sir Didymus and Hoggle had felt the ripple of magic that signalled Sarahs departure from the Labyrinth. They had slowly travelled back to the dwarfs small home outside the labyrinth to retake their position by the mirror, Sir Didmus took the first watch letting Hoggle sleep. Both of Sarah's companions with weary not just from the days rushing back and forth. By the time they reached Hoggles home they were soaked through as the labyrinth suffered with torrential downpours of rain.

Sarah slept dreamlessly until Jay woke her, demanding to be fed. She found it easier to move now but she still felt numb, like she'd turned off part of herself so she could still function. She gave Jay his bottle of milk, holding him as he fed and humming a little under her breath. She put him back in his crib when he was finished and despite the early hour went to have a shower.

Finding, once the warm water hit her, that she felt incredibly dirty she scrubbed her skin until it was red. She pretended not to notice the tenderness between her legs and the red stain the water took as it ran down the drain for the first few minutes. She stayed under the stream far longer than normal, her skin pruned and despite the temperature she felt herself shivering.

When she stepped out of the water she wrapped herself in a soft white towelling robe and headed back to the bedroom still not feeling clean. She sat down in front of her mirror to look at herself, much like she had the first time she'd returned from the underground.

Sarah had to admit that she felt unbearably old at that moment. Even though her reflection had not changed drastically, the fifteen year old Sarah was still there in her reflection, the young actress knew that something inside had been broken. She ran a brush through her long hair, it was still damp from the shower, ignoring the bruises she saw on her wrists from where the goblin king had gripped them.

Jareth had yet to leave his bedroom, he simply sat on his bed holding the shirt that Sarah had worn, he could smell her scent on it. He had been berating himself for all the mistakes he had made, knowing that he had betrayed the woman he loved, a woman who had loved him in return.

Not understanding what to do, how to make things right, the Goblin King was finding it hard to function knowing what he had done. He roused himself enough to realise that something was knocking at the door.

"Come." he called not letting go of the crumpled linen of the shirt.

A small but neat Goblin poked his head around the door and then waddled into the room.

"What is it?" The king demanded not in the mood to be disturbed.

"Lady gone?" The creature asked.

"Yes, Sarah went home." His voice was flat.

"High Queen back. Wants to talk to Kingy." The little thing sounded sad at the loss of Sarah.

Jareth rose from the bed and walked past the Goblin down the stairs dreading meeting his Stepmother after what he had done. Why was she back so soon anyway? Usually years could go past between visits from his parents, not hours.

He walked into his throne room with a heavy heart. Titania was standing by his throne looking pensive

"Mother much as I enjoyed your visit yesterday, now is an even worse time." He walked over to stand near her, his hair looked limp. His clothes, usually immaculate, were dishevelled.

The High Queen didn't miss his appearance or the use of the word "mother", the Goblin King only made that slip when he was tired or feeling guilt about something. Her mind made the connection, "Oh my son, what did you do?" her voice was full of concern and a twinge of disappointment.

Her tone of voice affected him, making him feel like a child again, he couldn't stop the truth from spilling out. "I made a terrible mistake and now Sarah will never come back to me." Despite his efforts to stay strong, Jareth collapsed to his knees, a broken man. "I crossed a line and she will never forgive me." The once strong king had tears in his eyes.

Queen Titania stepped forward to comfort the man she had raised, cradling his head against her stomach. "She didn't tell you about Jay in time." Her heart sank.

"I didn't give her time to explain. She waited for me, she saved herself for me and I never thought to just talk to her." He wasn't making sense.

"Jareth you need to tell me what you did." She held his head back and looked down into his eyes.

"I forced her. I took her innocence." he choked out.

Titania released his head and took a few steps back, angry at the king who was still kneeling. "She loved you Jareth, real love, not glamour or ambition and you broke her heart after I warned you not to hurt her!"

Silence fell in the throne room.

Sarah had been sitting in front of her mirror for quite some time. The sun had risen through the gap in her curtains. Once again it was Jay who roused her. He had woken up and was burbling happily in his crib. Sarah wiped away the last of her tears and dressed and a baggy t-shirt and sweatpants. She then tried to start her day normally as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

She fed and changed little Jay before starting to make herself breakfast, glad it was a Sunday and she didn't have to go anywhere or do anything. She took her second cup of coffee with her to the living room and tried to watch TV while Jay was in his playpen.

"Why did you come back so soon?" Jareth asked at last, his mind finally trying to think straight.

"I heard a cry, not a physical one but the sound of a heart breaking. It rang out in the night." The High Queen sounded royally pissed off. "All Avalon heard it, it took a few hours but I finally recognized whose magic was behind it and I came straight here."

"Does my Father know what I've done?" Jareth could rise above his self loathing just enough to worry about King Oberon's reprisals.

"No. No one knows who or what or why, save me." She replied. "Even I didn't expect this Jareth. I thought that you'd perhaps rejected her, crushed the dream she still held onto, of you and her. I came to see if you were both alright to try and make peace if possible. I had been worried that she may have tapped into her power to strike out at you."

"No, even with the hate she must feel, she didn't do anything physically to try and hurt me."

"And magically?" When he gave no reply the High Queen took a few more steps back to look down with incredulity at him, "Then you don't know?"

The King sounded resigned as he finally gathered his strength and rose from the floor. "Know what?"

"Your mortal love is not so mortal as she seems, it was not your magic I felt it was hers. Somewhere in Sarah Williams ancestry there was a fae, its not uncommon with her Celtic roots. Coming to the underground has let her tap into them, despite her mortality."

He tried to take in the fact that Sarah might have more powers than the ones he had granted her. "And what of her adopted son?" Jareth remembered, with guilt at what he had assumed, the boy's compelling eyes

"I think his father was a full blooded fae, the magic he holds was very strong. The mother remembers very little about him, except the exotic way he smelled, like Christmas morning Sarah said, his "prowess" and that he was preternaturally beautiful. That is the almost universal description of a fae man."

"Oh Shit." He said under his breath, 'Jays father was fae' he remembered Sarah muttering, "that's what she said that made me..." His actions the night before now seemed completely alien to him and all the more repugnant. "Being with me must have made her put it together that's why she stopped, it broke the moment, and I then..." Jareth had to turn away from his Stepmother feeling physically sick.

There was nothing that Titania could say to help him so she let the silence continue.

"She has forbidden me from seeing her." He stated his voice soft. "As a favour to me, please could you visit her, make sure that she is safe, that she she won't do anything stupid. Don't say I sent you."

"Yes I will go to the woman you have broken." Titania couldn't help the bitterness in her voice or the needless cruelty of her statement, she had felt true affection for the young mortal and the babe.

The High Queen gave no farewell this time, she simply disappeared.

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Sarah was staring into space, little Jay sleeping in her arms, the TV blaring in the background unwatched. There were tears rolling down her cheeks again. No matter what she tried to do to distract herself she always came back to one simple fact, the love of her life had raped her. She didn't even notice when someone else appeared in her living room until they waved a hand in front of her face.

Blinking to clear the last of her tears she looked up into the concerned face of the High Queen of the Fae.