I'm so so so so so sorry that I didn't update sooner I just had a huge case of Writers Block. I didn't know where I was going to take the story next and even when I'd figured that out I didn't know how to get it there. I worked on another Labyrinth Fanfic for a little while, hoping that it get me back in the mood to finish this one, I will begin posting it when I've finished this one hopefully.

Thank you all those who reviewed it is appreciated and please feel free to do so again.

So here is the next chapter I hope you enjoy, sorry not a great deal happens.

I promise the next chapter will follow in the not too distant future.

Please review, even if it's just to tell me I ve made some error in spelling or grammar.

Enjoy.

Chapter 23

Sarah realised as she appeared in her apartment that refusing the food had been a mistake. Her morning sickness had returned and she had to run to the bathroom before she could check on Jay who she assumed had been replaced in his cot. She made a mental note to ask Titania next time she saw the High Queen whether the fae had a remedy for the malady.

When she'd finished empting her stomach into the toilet bowl and brushed her teeth she went to check on her son who, just as she thought, had reappeared in his crib still fast asleep. The next item on her agenda was to check what day it was, time in the underground rarely seemed to pass at the normal rate. According to the TV it was still Wednesday the same day she had pinned Eric against he bedroom wall, and despite what her stomach felt it was bedtime. She had two days to prepare herself for Jareth's visit. Only two days to fortify herself against the awkwardness his presence. She wasn't entirely sure how she would make it through small talk with the Goblin King, but for the sake of her unborn child she knew she would have to try.

It was just as much of a mine field to think about how she would tell her parents. Karen knew about how it had happened would she understand about Jareth remaining in her life. How would her Father take it? A man that he'd never met, that fairly obviously broke his daughter's heart, had knocked her up. Yes daddy will be a problem, Sarah thought to herself. She then had to laugh slightly as she thought about having to tell her agent Murray, he was gonna have kittens.

Sarah lay down on her bed, trying to will herself back to sleep despite having been awake for such a short period. She was now more confused than even about her feelings towards the Goblin King. When she had lost the memory of the last couple of months she had been ready to forgive him anything, to jump right back into their twisted, hot and heavy relationship. The feeling that she should didn't fade as fast as her memories had reinstated themselves. Feeling exhausted Sarah forced her mind to go blank, worrying could be tomorrows problem.

For Jareth the time until he could go and see Sarah was almost intolerable, having been so close to her again. Every time he had to let her go seemed harder than the last. Two days, he could wait two days, or at least that's what he told himself. He spent the first morning without Sarah in his throne room occasionally kicking goblins to vary his time but one morning was all he could stand doing nothing.

That afternoon he spent stalking through the Labyrinth, trying to lose himself in the turns and passageways but the maze would not cooperate with his wish to make time pass easily and the Goblin King found himself coming up against dead end after dead end.

"Even the Labyrinth don't like that you let her go." A familiar voice said from behind him.

"And who asked your opinion Hoghead?" The Goblin King asked still eyeing the stone wall in front of him.

"It's Hoggle." The dwarf muttered under his breath. "The Labyrinth don't like it when she leaves unhappy."

Whirling around to look at the aged face of his subject. "And just who do you mean by 'she'?"

"Sarah, she left unhappy again."

"Have you spoken with her?"

"No, not since she went back to the big city after she got better from her last trip." Hoggle sounded disappointed at that.

"Did she tell you..."

"What happened? Nah she didn't. She wouldn't tell me, seemed ashamed about the whole thing. Felt that she had done something wrong."

"Come now Hogsbreath, losing your head over a girl?" Jareth tried to imitate his usual demeanour.

"I ain't lost my head." He replied, "No more'n you anyway." He added quietly, moving away.

To Sarah Thursday passed with more ease than any day since her second trip to the Labyrinth. She didn't feel the struggle to rise like she usually did or the dread of spending the day alone with just her son for company. As much as she loved Jay he wasn't a good conversationalist or a good distraction from her own problems.

On Friday she managed to rise from her bed before her son woke. After empting the contents of her stomach, morning sickness was getting very old very fast, she went to check on her son. Standing over his crib she looked down at his perfect little face.

"Your uncle's coming to see me tomorrow." She spoke to the sleeping child. "Uncle Jareth, now isn't that a strange thought." Unconsciously she put a hand over her own stomach. "And your going to have a baby brother or sister, maybe even a father eventually."

"So you do intend to forgive my son, or do you have another man in mind?" The authoritarian tone of Oberon's voice was unmistakable.

"Your Majesty." Sarah acknowledged him but not his question. "Did you come to see me or your grandson?"

"Both perhaps." In truth in all the excitement he had forgotten the Jay was his grandchild. "May I hold him?"

"Sure." Sarah carefully lifted the sleeping babe form his crib. "I never asked for any of this." She seemed caught is some recollection or other, "It all started because I was a spoilt brat." She handed the toddler to his grandfather.

"My son was watching you long before you wished your brother away, I believe it started because he was a spoiled child. He saw you and he wanted you, he never thought of what you needed."

"But if I hadn't wished Toby away I wouldn't have had to..." She broke off, knowing she was rehashing old argument. "Surely as a King you understand the concept of duty over personal happiness."

"Yes I understand, my first priority is to my Kingdom what was yours?"

"I had a responsibility to my family. When I ran the Labyrinth I was trying to rectify the biggest mistake of my life and your son didn't make it easy. Did Jareth tell you what he said to me in that broken room?"

"He said he offered you everything you could ever want."

" 'I ask for so little.' he said, 'Just let me rule you, and you can have everything that you want. Just fear me, love me, do as I say, and I will be your slave.' " She quoted the words that had been imprinted on her memory for so long.

"My son always did have a flair for the dramatic."

"He said those words to a child who barely understood what he was offering and the part of me that did understand knew I couldn't trade Toby, nothing in the world is worth taking a child away from loving parents."

Oberon looked down at the sleeping boy in his arms, "Your childhood wasn't always happy was it?"

"My Mom left us, to pursue her dreams and a man who wasn't my father. Dad spoilt me rotten to make up for my mothers departure but that changed when he met Karen and then Toby arrived, he had less and less time for me. I couldn't understand why, I refused to believe he could just forget my Mom. After I came back from the Labyrinth I saw he didn't shut me out, I pushed him away."

"I can see why you couldn't accept your dreams at the cost of your family."

"Would he make a good father? A good husband if I could forgive him?" she asked trying to move the conversation along.

"Jareth adores children, it's one of the reasons I made him ruler of the Labyrinth."

"That isn't really an answer."

"Sarah Williams you have done something that no one has ever managed to do."

"Solving the Labyrinth wasn't that hard."

"No that isn't what I meant, you made my son grow up and act like the adult he should be. I am not condoning the actions that led to this change but you are a good influence on him."

"I'm not sure he's had such a good influence on me."

"What do you mean?"

"He made such an impression on a teenaged girl that she never had boyfriends or lovers, that she waited for him to come back into her life, that even now she's a woman she can't quite give up the feelings she has for him, despite what he did. It's not exactly healthy."

"My son loves you."

"And I love him but I'm not sure I can forget the past."

Jareth pretended he hadn't heard the dwarfs final comment and tried to restart his walk through the Labyrinth. His head was just beginning to clear when he came up against another dead end.

"I know you don't like the fact she's gone again. I don't like it that much myself." He said, talking to the ancient stones around him. "I promise I'm trying to get her back but I can't keep her here against her will, neither can you." He heard the walls shifting around him until he was boxed in. "And when she figures out how to move between the mists on her own? How will you stop her then?" Almost resentfully the walls rearranged themselves once more and Jareth found himself at an intersection of two paths.

"I'm not sure whether talking to yourself is that healthy son."

"Father, to what do I owe the pleasure." Jareth turned to face the High King. Oberon was holding a baby in his arms. "Is that who I think it is?"

"If you are referring to your nephew and hopefully your future step-son, yes this is little Jay." He took the boys hand in his own and made it wave at the Goblin King.

"Sarah let you take him?" Jareth's voice showed his incredulity.

"I asked whether I could spend some time with him, Sarah agreed, I thought she might like some time alone before your rendezvous tomorrow."

"Is she alright?" Jareth asked trying not to sound as nervous as he felt.

"Miss Williams is confused, she doesn't know what to think or do." His father answered honestly.

"But she is well?"

"I think she is suffering from morning sickness, apart from that she seems to be in good health."

"Morning sickness?" Jareth looked horrified

"Don't tell me that you need me to explain." Oberon was trying not to laugh.

The Goblin King quickly schooled his features. "I don't like the thought of Sarah being ill."

"She still loves you."

"But that isn't enough, not after what I've done."

"It's a start." Oberon insisted. "She needs you just as much as you need her."

"Do you intend on taking Jay back to Avalon with you?" He asked changing the subject.

"For a few hours at least."

"Be careful with him, he means a lot to her."

"Now I know he's family he means something to me too."

Knowing that his Father wouldn't understand he dropped the subject. "Say hello to your wife for me, and thank her again." Jareth said trying to dismiss his Father.

"Jareth don't let Sarah slip away." Oberon said as he slowly faded out.

The flag stones under the Goblin Kings feet added their opinion to that of the High Kings.

"Yes, Yes I already know what you think, now are you going to start behaving or do I have to start blasting through walls?"

By the time Oberon reappeared in Avalon Titania had already left her chambers and was walking in the rose gardens, she found her husband and grandchild waiting, seated under a rose covered pergola.

"I wondered where you'd escaped to." The High Queen commented as she approached, a wide smile on her face.

"I went to see both of them." He replied, jiggling Jay on his knee, causing the boy to gurgle happily.

"How are the unhappy couple?" The smile faded from her face as she sat down next to them.

"Unhappy. I found Jareth talking to the Labyrinth, and the mortal girl talking to her son."

"I told you both of them are lonely, stubborn, and frustrated, they are a good match."

Oberon chuckled. It was a low warm sound. "Frustrated?"

The smile returned to Titania's young face. "What is so funny about that?" When he gave no reply she moved on, "How long can we keep the little one?" she said taking one of the boys hands in her own.

"He must be back for his dinner."

"Have we time to present him to the court?"

"As what?" Oberon was reluctant to share their time with the boy.

"Our grandchild." She replied as if it was a ridiculous question.

"And what do we say about his parentage? Thalia does not deserve to have Eric's failings aired in public. Also she may decide to formally claim the boy despite the fact we told Eric we would never allow him to and since the mother gave him up Sarah has no legal claim over him in this realm."

"I just want him to have what is due to him." Titania looked into the boy's blue eyes, so like his Father's.

"When Jareth and Sarah get their act together Jareth will be able to adopt the boy and there is nothing Thalia or Eric will be able to do."

"I don't like having to play favourites amongst our children."

"We are not choosing sides, my love, we are trying to rectify the mistakes they have made."

Sarah spent her day pampering herself in preparation for Jareth' visit. Usually when she wasn't working she didn't take a huge amount of care with her appearance but she felt compelled to try and look her best for a man who would always be young and gorgeous. She had her hair trimmed and styled, a full body massage, a manicure and a pedicure.

Returning to her apartment to wait for Oberon to return her son she felt so relaxed, ready to face the anything the faery realms could throw at her. It was in fact Titania who returned Jay promptly in time for his dinner, as promised, and stayed to help Sarah feed him. They talked about largely inconsequential topics, avoiding mentioning Jareth completely, and then Titania left.

Saturday morning was spent playing with her son and slowly getting ready for Jareth's appearance. She tried to make herself look as casual as possible while still looking feminine and, hopefully, attractive. She wore a knee length dark green wool dress with long sleeves and a cowl neckline that hugged her curves and showed just a hint of her decolletage. Her long hair was left down and fell in graceful lines.

It was a little after two when the phone rang.

She answered it with a slightly breathless, "Hello?"

"Miss Williams," The familiar voice of the doorman replied, "There's a gentleman asking for you. He says his name is Jareth G. King."

"Please show him on up."

"Yes Miss Williams."

Sarah heard the line go dead and she put the phone back on it's cradle. She walked calmly to the frontdoor pausing only to give herself a quick once over in the hall mirror. Two minutes later there was a knock on the door she slowly counted to ten before she reached for the lock. She couldn't repress a small shiver as she pulled the door open.

As expected on the other side stood the Goblin King he was holding a single rose. It was an old English variety in a soft peach colour. When she tore her eyes from the rose and fully took in the Goblin Kings altered appearance she had to gasp.