"Damn!" Jareth cursed, running to the bucket of cold water and dunking his hand inside. This was the third time he burned his hand.
"Brother?" Ruben rounded the corner, chuckling at seeing his elder brother.
"Your advisor told me that you would be here. I scarcely believed him. The kitchens of all places?"
"Yes, the kitchens," Jareth snapped. The last thing he needed was for his brother to judge him. "I am baking."
"Baking?"
"Macarons, to be precise."
"Macarons?"
"Are you going to continue to repeat my words like some sort of useless parrot?"
Jareth applied some ointment on his hand. "If only I could use Sarah's oven," he complained to himself.
Ruben peeked over Jareth's shoulder, seeing the burned batch of what was supposed to be macarons.
"Why are you baking macarons?"
"For the Thanksgiving dinner with Sarah. To surprise her. You do remember that you're invited, don't you?"
He folded his arms accusingly.
Ruben clicked his tongue and rolled his eyes. "Save your breath, Jareth. Of course I remember, it's why I'm here."
"Could you clarify?"
Ruben sat in a chair, waving his arms for emphasis. "I'm coming with you, aren't I?"
Jareth paused, raising an eyebrow.
"Not with Mother, Father, and Ava? That plan of yours sounds so final without even discussing it with me, the person you are evidently planning on going with."
"You didn't hear?" Ruben draped a lazy leg over his armchair, knowingly drawing ire from his brother by displaying Jareth's signature move.
"Stop acting so smug about some information you apparently know already. Just tell me."
"Ava is in trouble, and the parents are dealing with it."
He plucked a small cube of sugar and popped it in his mouth. "And I'd rather not go with a bickering entourage."
Jareth groaned, massaging his temple. "What did she do this time?"
He wasn't sure if he wanted to know, but he was going to find out eventually. Might as well learn about it now.
"Had an explosive argument with Aunt Reatana when she looked down on Ava's new… fling? Lover? Who knows. She did it at Cousin Horolin's wedding, and Father had to profusely apologize for it."
Jareth groaned but quickly stopped it. He couldn't be too upset. After all, he would've been livid if someone said something nasty about Sarah. The difference was that he, as king, would be held accountable much more than his sister ever would.
At this point, Jareth was too immersed in his own concerns for Sarah to concentrate on family drama.
He flipped through the pages of the recipe. "Hmm."
"No witty response, Brother?" Ruben egged him on.
"I have things to do, if that wasn't obvious already," Jareth waved dismissively at him. "Leave me be."
Instead of listening to him, Ruben joined Jareth by his side.
"Perhaps, I can help?"
"You? Cook?" he scoffed. "Weren't you the one who found it odd for me to bake not two seconds ago?"
"Just let me try, you fool. I'm bored."
"Fine. Only because you're irritating me. If you burn this kitchen down, I'm making you pay for it."
"And you said you didn't need my help, didn't you, Brother?"
Ruben's flashy smile made Jareth want to punch his perfect teeth out of his skull. He loathed to admit that somehow, his brother had an actual knack for cooking while he struggled greatly.
On top of that, the young prince would not stop boasting.
"Shut up and mind your manners," the Goblin King retorted.
He wanted this Thanksgiving to go perfectly. He needed to show his future-in-laws that he meant his love for Sarah and wanted to continue their good impressions on him for whenever he made the decision to reveal his true identity.
Ruben stared unblinkingly at his older brother. Jareth's teeth were grinding, he could tell. His shoulders were tense and eyes intensely staring at Sarah's front door. What was going on with him?
"You seem quite agitated. More than your usual, irritating self, I mean."
"I just want this dinner to go well," Jareth said shortly. "This is an important holiday for Sarah and her family."
"Jareth," Ruben slowed his voice, lowering his tone, "I only mean to tease you. It will be fine. None of us will jeopardize your relationship with her or your relationship with her parents. We know how much she means to you."
Jareth's harrowed voice when he saw Sarah gravely injured from nearly a year ago still haunted Ruben. The violence of his vengeance still made Ruben's stomach turn.
He almost pitied anyone who tried to take Sarah from his brother.
Almost.
Jareth breathed in a cleansing sigh and knocked on the door, remembering to not ring it or it'll wake her parents as they flew in quite late last night from their delayed flight.
Toby answered the door, his hair in disarray and still in pajamas. He rubbed his eyes and leaned over to get a better look at Ruben.
"Mornin', guys. Wasn't expecting to see you yet, Ruben. Sarah's gonna freak at seeing you so early."
"Why's that?" Ruben inquired, coming into the house with Jareth as Toby closed the door
"Because she's trying to make things as presentable as she can for you, Ava, and your parents. Not gonna lie, she's a bit of a nightmare wrapped in jittery stress."
"I'll see to her."
Jareth handed the macarons to Ruben.
True to Toby's description, Sarah had her hair up in a bandana with the most frantic movements he'd ever seen on her.
Ingredients galore were set out on the counter along with various cooking appliances, such as measuring cups and bowls.
"Precious?" he called when she didn't seem to see him there.
She jumped slightly as he came to hug her from behind, planting a kiss under her ear.
"Jareth! You're here early. Twenty minutes early to be precise."
"I wanted to be with you, Love."
He kissed her again, the scent of her hair immediately calming him. "I missed you."
Sarah put her hands on his arms with a smile. "I missed you too. I'm glad you're here."
She turned in his arms to properly embrace him. Finding his lips, she sighed in bliss as Jareth's hand tangled with her hair.
"I hope you two aren't planning anything untoward near the food."
Sarah squeaked in surprise, while Jareth scolded his brother.
"Must you continue to aggravate me?"
Ruben casually sat at the counter, leaning against the wall as if he was observing some zoo exhibit.
"I'm your brother. It's what siblings do."
"What's he doing here?" Sarah hissed angrily in Jareth's ear. "He isn't supposed to come until later! Now he'll be bored waiting until dinner."
"You worry too much," Jareth said pointedly.
"Whispering sweet nothings to each other?"
Ruben dipped a finger in the powdered sugar, enjoying egging them on.
Sarah extracted herself from Jareth. Strolling over to Ruben, she sat in the chair next to him and folded her arms.
"Hi, Ruben. If you recall, this is my house, and I can kiss my man whenever the hell I want."
Jareth smirked. Now this was the fire he so loved in his lady.
Ruben winked at Jareth, showing approval. He always liked how Sarah spoke her mind. There was no doubt that this was a trait Jareth fiercely loved too.
"Would you like some water or anything else to drink?"
Sarah went to fetch a glass for him.
"Water would be lovely. I appreciate it, thank you," Ruben replied gratefully, taking the drink.
Toby strolled in and, likewise, sat himself at the counter with droopy eyes.
"I'm so tired. I'm gonna go back to bed."
"No you won't, Mister," Sarah chastised him. "Mom and Dad aren't going to cook with us since they're exhausted."
"Stop acting like you're such a considerate person," Toby rolled his eyes. "You're just saying that because of Mom's anal attitude and how she likes to micromanage everyone."
Sarah couldn't really deny that. Karen was a wonderful person, and she loved her stepmother very much, but there was no denying that the woman was bossy in the worst of ways. She absolutely had a selfish reason.
"Shut up."
Ruben pushed himself in between the squabbling Williams siblings.
"What can I do to help?"
Sarah shook her head, making a sweeping motion with her hand to the couch. "Make yourself comfortable. You're our guest."
"No," Jareth said firmly, "Ruben will help us. He chose to be here early, and he will make himself useful. Sarah, you must accept the help you need when it is offered."
"Not to worry, Sarah," Ruben said reassuringly as he held out the box of macarons. "You can trust my cooking. I made these last night."
"You mean we made them," Jareth emphasized the "we" with a brotherly smack to the back of Ruben's head. "Must you take credit for everything?"
Sarah opened the box and gasped in delight.
"Macarons? These look amazing! Thank you for bringing them."
"Did you not hear that I said that it was a team effort?"
Jareth was in disbelief when she set them aside. "It was my idea to make it when he barged in the kitchen yesterday."
Sarah walked back over to him. She put a hand on his cheek and turned his face, so she could kiss his other cheek.
"Yes, I know, Love. I meant that compliment for the both of you. I know how hard you must have worked for this on top of making sure your royal duties were done. Thank you for being so thoughtful."
Just like that, Jareth's whole demeanor changed. His smile grew carefree, and he seemed to be skipping when she complimented him.
Knowing that she made him feel so light the same way he did for her made Sarah even more happy that she accepted his proposal.
Ruben made a gagging motion to Toby, earning another swat from his brother.
Sarah pretended to not see the swat.
"Now," she started, pulling away from Jareth, "first, I need help with the turkey. Good thing I have three strong men here to help me."
After a few disasters, such as Ruben nearly cutting the tip of his fingers, Toby dropping a cup of flour, Sarah burning herself from the stove, and Jareth nearly dropping the turkey as they were trying to brine it, it was time to make everything look nice and neat.
"I'm surprised Mom and Dad are still asleep to be honest," Toby remarked. "Those two usually get up so early. Typical old people."
Sarah couldn't help but snort. Her brother was quite full of snark today.
"Well, waiting in the airport because of delays for nearly a whole day would do that to you."
She placed some dirty dishes in the sink for Toby to clean.
"I'm surprised that it's Ben who's not up yet."
"Would you like for me to check on him?" Jareth asked. "Or would you like me to continue cleaning?"
"You can stay here." She untied her apron and let her hair down. "I have to shower anyway."
Jareth's lecherous smile grew as he picked her up, making her squeal.
"In that case, let me join you."
"You two are nasty!" Toby called as Jareth led her up the hallway, the two giggling with mischief.
They stopped by Ben's room first. When they stepped inside, it was obvious why he stayed inside and didn't come out to join them.
"Hi!" Ben called, showing off his scattered toys to the goblins. "I'm being a good host."
"Hi Kingy! Hi Queenie!" Evie, one of the goblins, greeted. She was especially enamored with a dinosaur.
"What are you building?"
Jareth liked the large lego tower Ben was building. There was a moat, archers, spears, dinosaurs, canons, slingshots with pizzas, and more.
"Some impressive artillery. What is your military strategy?"
"Jareth," Sarah felt bad stopping him from bonding with Ben, but they really didn't have a lot of time before her parents would wake and the rest of Jareth's family would show. "We have to go soon."
"It's okay," Ben said good-naturedly. "I can show you later."
"And show me, you shall," Jareth agreed.
He took a careful glance at the goblins.
"Evie, Blaggerspout, Iglepus, Pickle, Oaty, I have an assignment for you lot."
"Oh, boy!" Blaggerspout pushed the other goblins and came to the front, bowing to Jareth. "At your service, Kingy!"
"Me too!" Pickle saluted.
"Me three!" Blaggerspout spouted with such an exaggerated bow that he fell over.
"Oooh, an important mission!" Iglepus clapped.
"Count me in, Kingy!" Evie declared.
Jareth nodded once, very serious.
"Good. Now, tonight, Lady Sarah and I are having an important dinner here. Very important; I cannot stress it enough."
He was going to close the portal anyway, but thought that it would make the goblins more agreeable that way.
The goblins hung onto every word.
"Why not at the castle if it's important?" Evie asked.
"Yeah, why not?" Iglepus folded his arms.
He scrunched his eyebrows and frowned in an attempt to look intimidating.
Of course, Evie would ask such a smart question. Jareth couldn't decide if he was proud or irritated. Naturally, he did not show his true emotions and spoke lightly.
"Good question, Evie. I will tell you later. For now, just know that this is of the utmost importance. You must remind the other goblins not to come here tonight. I shall reward you all."
"With what? Snacks?" Bloggerspout could not resist food.
The Goblin King made a dramatic pause.
"I'll consider it."
Once the goblins and closing of the portals were taken care of, Sarah made sure that Ben would get dressed.
"As soon as you're done, go meet Uncle Toby in the kitchen."
"Okay!" He pulled out a shirt. "Can I wear my Spider-man shirt?"
"Again, your obsession with a man who has spider-powers is unfathomable to me," Jareth commented.
Sarah elbowed him a little.
Ben wasn't the least bit offended.
"Ha, you're funny! If spiders scare you, I can wear a different shirt."
Jareth appeared thoroughly offended.
"Who says I'm scared? I'm just repulsed by them."
Sarah rolled her eyes.
The shirt Ben chose had an image of a young man with pointy ears with a rather serious expression. He was playing an ocarina. Strapped to his back was a sword and shield.
"Well," Jareth grinned, impressed. "He looks like a lad that could be a part of my world. He even has ears like mine. Unsure of that strange, floppy green hat however."
"His name is Link, and he's a hero!" Ben declared. "Can I wear it?"
"Go ahead, Sweetheart," Sarah approved. "I'll go take my shower. See you later."
"Bye!" Ben waved.
Sarah made a rather exaggerated sigh when Jareth followed her to the shower. "Jareth, I'd love to, but we don't have a lot of time to be showering together-"
She stopped in her tracks, blushing as he put his hand on the doorframe, leaning into her.
His other hand came to hold her chin, his thumb brushing her bottom lip.
"We haven't been alone since the night we got engaged."
Sarah didn't move. Couldn't move.
Didn't want to move.
He may not have set any spell on her that would prevent her from doing so, but he didn't need to. His charisma was stronger than hypnosis.
"We… we need to-to-"
"To make love in the shower? I quite agree."
He put his hands on the wall, kissing her deeply. Sarah couldn't control herself as she kissed him back, her body reacting naturally as he gently pressed onto her.
"Jareth…" she moaned his name, his lips finding her neck.
"Yes?" he moaned back, his hands sliding all over her body now.
"But… time."
She was trying to be the reasonable one, but how could she when his touch made her crazy?
Her hands found his chest, half aching to drag him in and half trying to steady herself from falling to the ground in pure pleasure.
"My precious Sarah," he crooned, his hands on her pants, but he didn't make a move to remove them quite yet.
A kiss on her collarbone.
"I am the Goblin King. I have time in abundance. Let me adjust it for you."
"Isn't it frivolous?" she questioned. "I don't want you to abuse that power."
"Sarah, the power is mine to use. That means, I am the one expending the energy to use it. I am not using it to harm anyone, and it is one of the few benefits of my position as king."
He pulled back slightly to meet her eyes.
"Let me fulfill my promise in giving you your dreams, my future bride."
Heavy was the crown upon his head. Jareth felt it was only fair that he had the ability to use at least some of his powers for his own enjoyment.
Sarah ran out of reasons to say no. Besides, she never wanted to say no in the first place.
"Okay…"
After being refreshed in more ways than one, the two strolled down the hallway to find that Robert and Karen weren't in their rooms, but taking a shower.
"See?" Jareth argued. "Even your parents are doing it."
"Ugh, I don't need that image in my head," Sarah replied with a vomiting motion.
"Admit it, wasn't it nice?" he winked. "The day you, me, and Ben can finally live together will be a very nice one."
He put his arm proudly around her waist.
Sarah admitted that, yes, she would very much like that.
No more trying to figure out their schedules. No more disappointments of not seeing each other for a week. Now, even if they were busy, they would still see each other and share a bed every night as husband and wife.
"That was fast," Toby commented. "You were gone for five minutes flat."
Jareth gazed at Sarah lecherously while she blushed profusely.
Ruben immediately caught on.
"All right, no need to flaunt, you two."
Sarah made a "you-better-shut-up-because-it's-not-a-kid-friendly-conversation face", her eyes darting to Ben, who was coloring.
"What are you up to?" she addressed her son.
"We need decorations." He held up a drawing of a turkey. "It's not enough."
"Not even with the leaves and pumpkins?" Sarah gestured to the festive table.
"Nah. We need a turkey too."
He sounded so serious talking about turkeys that Sarah couldn't help but laugh inwardly.
"May I?" Jareth joined him, sitting down to color himself. "Such a soothing activity."
"Toby, go get dressed," Sarah ordered, realizing that he was still in pajamas.
He rolled his eyes.
"You're not my mom. You can't tell me what to do," he stuck his tongue out at her. "Bossy."
Sarah glared at him. He was acting almost as bad as her when she was a teenager.
"Hi everyone!"
Robert and Karen greeted from the hallway, both nicely dressed.
"Ruben is already here, I see. How are you doing, Son?"
Robert clasped a firm handshake and clapped his shoulder.
"Very well, Sir, and yourself?" Ruben returned his warm greeting.
"Toby! Get some actual clothes on!" Karen adjusted her earrings. "It's bad enough Jareth's brother is already here. Don't be dressed like this when his parents arrive!"
Sarah stuck her tongue out at him from behind Ben's head.
"I'm not your mom, but she is."
"Spoil sport." He got up. "It's not like his parents would actually care."
"They may not, but I do, actually," Jareth added to the conversation.
He wanted everyone to dress nicely today for when he and Sarah would announce their big news. The only exception was Ben in his T-shirt, as he was still a child.
"They're aristocrats! Nobles!" Karen flitted about, straightening decorations. "We have to be presentable to them. They know the queen!"
"Who cares about that?" Robert rolled his eyes.
"They're just people, and we should care about them just as we would any normal person. We're Americans. Why should we care about a bunch of land-owning British people when we fought a whole war to separate ourselves from them? No offense," he nodded at Jareth.
"None taken," Jareth reassured him.
They never claimed his family came from England: they just never corrected Robert and Karen on the fact. It was easier for them to believe this for now.
The irony of Karen believing that they simply knew "the queen" while knowing full well that not only was he the Goblin King, but great-nephew to the current High Queen was hilarious.
Jareth was doing a much better job at hiding his amusement than Sarah. He raised a finger to Ruben, signaling for his silence.
"Dad, let's keep politics to a minimum," Sarah pleaded.
Her one consolation was that at least they wouldn't be having Thanksgiving dinner with her former in-laws. Carol in particular was a nightmare.
"I'm so sorry we didn't help, Sarah," Karen apologized. "I so wanted to make my pumpkin pie too."
"It's okay, Karen, don't worry about it," Sarah reassured her. "We had four adults cooking. I am sad that we won't have your infamous homemade pumpkin pie this year and that you can't share with Jareth and his family. Maybe next time."
Karen gratefully patted her hand.
"You flatter me, Dear!"
Meanwhile, Underground
"So, NO GOING TO QUEENIE'S HOUSE!" Evie declared, standing on top of Kingy's throne.
She took his commands quite seriously. She was not about to let him down.
"Awww," the rest of the goblins complained.
"Kingy says there will be a reward if we are good!"
"YEAH!" they yelled in unison.
"Will there be snacks?" one goblin wondered.
"What about no Bog duties?" Another chimed in.
"More chickens?"
"An ice-skating rink!"
"SNACK SNACK SNACKS FOREVERRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!"
It got louder and louder to the point where Samuel, Jareth's secretary, appeared in the doorway.
"Is everything all right here?"
"SNACKS FOREVERRRRRRRRR!" Blaggerspout shouted.
Evie shoved him away.
"I was telling them about Kingy's orders to not go Above. He says he has important dinner."
Samuel scratched his head, remembering this. He hoped they understood and would listen because he did not want to wrangle them up.
The goblins were still arguing, pushing each other over, and were generally being chaotic.
Samual facepalmed.
"I need a raise. No, forget that. I have all the money I need. What I need are reinforcements and more days off. I must discuss this with His Majesty."
He walked off to continue his duties before he could be confronted with more crazy goblins.
As they kept shoving each other, throwing each other, hugging chickens, and drinking ale, a few goblins were suddenly catapulted by an unseen force.
Staring to the direction of the origin of the "invisible catapult", the goblins found a lopsided but functional portal appearing.
Right into Ben's room.
"So, Queenie's house? For snacks?" a misunderstood goblin piped up.
Evie froze in panic.
"Uh, Evie? This is bad." Blaggerspout shook her.
Once the goblins realized what was happening, they celebrated.
"SNACKS AT QUEENIE'S HOUSE!"
The chanting grew louder and louder, until every goblin heard that they were to go to Queenie's house.
Blaggerspout shook Evie. "Umm. Evie?"
"Bog damn it," she swore.