One might think it was odd that a young woman sat in a circle of goblins, calmly dishing out cards to the ugly, green creatures. The young woman herself was not too bothered by the circumstances, in fact, she was quite grateful the repulsive group of goblins were no longer trashing her house.

Besides, Sarah reasoned, once you got over the looks and smell of the bunch, they were actually quite charming little things.

"Here's yous go, Lady." A small goblin said, offering her one of the many mini-muffins she had salvaged from her pantry. Not that she was a big fan of mini-muffins, but her step-mother bought them for her every year on her birthday. Not sure what else to do with fifty mini-muffins, Sarah usually stuffed them inside her cramped kitchen pantry or handed them out to greedy coworkers.

"Thank you, Yousif." Sarah smiled down at the goblin that sat beaming up at her. His big eyes shined up at hers as a child would to an idolized parent.

A goblin snickered then spoke up mockingly, "Whys don't yous tell her what your whole names is?"

Yousif frowned and looked down at his chubby, exposed feet.

"Go on!" Another goblin chimed in, covering it's mouth with a green, porky hand.

"I's dunno…" Yousif said hesitantly.

Sarah frowned.

"Yeahs, tells her!" They giggled.

The small goblin sighed, still looking down at his feet, he muttered his full name.

"Yousif Urpants…"

The room cackled with outrageous laughter.

Yousif scowled, and sharply turned his head to the other goblins in the circle, "Heys, what's so funny?"

They laughed harder, rolling onto their backs and holding their stomachs. "His - his name is - is 'Yousif Urpants' hah!" A goblin gasped out between its chortling.

Sarah sighed and shook her head.

"Well, I don't think it's funny," She reassured Yousif, putting a comforting hand on his shoulder.

When the goblins continued to laugh harder, Sarah spoke up in a scolding tone, "I think it's a great name."

The volume of the room decreased significantly, eyes watching Sarah carefully.

"You do?" Yousif said, once again beaming at her with reverence.

"Of course I do. It's - it's a very…" Sarah searched for the right words, "strong name."

The rest of the goblins were silent. They had never seen someone stick up for another goblin like that. The king would have laughed along with them instead of caring about the small goblin's feelings.

"Really?" Yousif asked.

"Yes," Sarah turned her head towards the others and continued with a scolding tone, "and it is very rude to make fun of it."

The circle bowed their heads silently.

"My, my, Sarah. Making perfect examples out of my subjects, already." The air behind Sarah stirred, blowing a few of her straight strands of hair out of place.

Abandoning the cards and the circle of goblins, Sarah stood up and turned towards the mockingly impressed goblin king behind her.

He stood before her with a brilliant smirk on his face, tilting his head to the side.

"Goblin King," Sarah acknowledged, "It's nice to see you again."

"Not really," A goblin named Ishairy murmured, resulting in a few snickers throughout the room.

Jareth ignored them, accustomed to a life with goblins.

"And you as well," he replied to Sarah, the corner of his mouth turned up. "However," the Goblin King sobered slightly, turning to the goblin portion of the crowd. "I do not recall giving the lot of you permission to wreck havoc upon the Lady Sarah's home."

The goblins shivered, bowing their heads in shame.

Sarah instantly felt sympathy for these odd little creatures. Remembering how shaken they had been that their king had banned them from the throne room. They had obviously ran on approval from their inferiors, and had been quite despondent when yelled at.

"It's okay, really." Sarah turned to reassure the Goblin King. Unconsciously, she reached out a hand to grab his attention. She quickly pulled away when she felt the cool, smooth leather on his gloved hand.

He raised an eyebrow at the sudden contact, surprised that Sarah had initiated it, and was pleased to see a warm blush appear on Sarah's cheeks.

He sent her a smug grin.

"Really, it is." Sarah cleared her throat, "They're not bothering me."

Jareth leaned closer to her.

"And am I bothering you, precious?" He whispered with a hint of something else. Letting Sarah know that his words had a double meaning. His breath tickled her neck, and Sarah's heart jumped at how close this man was to her. She could not believe that he was having this affect on her.

Get a hold of yourself, scolded her mind.

"Not yet…" Sarah tried to retort, but it came out as a whisper.

Jareth leaned closer into her, as if it was possible. She could feel his body heat on the exposed skin of her neck and hands. His very presence was overwhelming, and he knew it, too. "Very well," He promptly pulled away, his tone becoming indifferent, as if he had not been whispering in her ear seductively the second before.

The sudden space between them caused Sarah to blink, then she remembered she hadn't been breathing, and quickly took note of how lightheaded she felt.

"I shall stay then… To ensure your safety, of course."

He had stayed, though Sarah was not sure how much he had enjoyed it. The party was uneventful and full of immature jokes and games. Sarah found it a nice break from her adult life and her very opinionated co-workers.

Jareth had seemed to linger longer than the others at the end of the night, which surprised her, given the fact that he had frequently made disgusted faces at the antics of the goblins. Although, Sarah supposed, he was used to their behavior.

She tried not to blush and swoon at the charming way he had talked to her. What was it he had said? Sarah wondered. He had motioned to the goblins when they had been in the apex of chaos and said something along the lines of: You make their presence all the more tolerable.

Of course, she had stuttered out a mess of gibberish in response, and the goblins replied in some foreign language they had thought she was speaking.

"Psst, lady." A voice whispered into Sarah's ear.

She practically jumped out of the living room chair she had been sleepily slumping in a second before.

"Gus," She sighed at the guilty face he made for startling her. "I thought you went home?" Sarah rubbed her forehead with the palm of her hand, exhaustion finally taking over.

"I's came back. I's wait, you see, until kingy leave." He motioned proudly to himself, and Sarah simply shook her head. "I's wanted to tell you that I didn't tell him everything."

"What do you mean?"

"I's didn't tell him about the picture." Gus said, oblivious to the relief that winded itself through Sarah's body.

"You - You didn't?" Sarah frowned. Then why had the goblin king acted like he had something over her?

"Nope!" He puffed his chest out proudly, "You're secret is safe with me! And…" Gus turned sober, "Thank yous for letting us stay, lady. You make us happy again." With those last words, the goblin quietly patted Sarah's hand before disappearing in an unnecessary cloud of smoke that had Sarah coughing out her lungs.

"Thanks… for… that." Sarah said between coughs, and she could have sworn she heard a goblin chuckle.

Oh dear, I fear this chapter may be a little juvenile.

-In my defense I wrote it very late at night quite a while ago... Am I excused?

Just think of it like Sarah, as an escape from the adult life and very dull opinionated people.

So, Gus revealed that Jareth does not know about the picture Sarah had drawn of them. Does this mean she's out of the woods, or is there still some chance of Jareth finding out? Should she burn it before he sees it or should she keep it for 'sentimental' reasons?

Disclaimer: FYI - I actually don't own the Labyrinth. Not really. Not even a little bit..

Hope you guys had a very Merry Christmas and have a Happy New Year!