Don't leave me...

Jareth opened his eyes slowly. Something didn't feel quite right. The bright light of morning streamed through the metal blinds that were in the windows of his room, making patterns on the wood floor. There was something lying on his chest and he looked down surprised to see Sarah curled up against him. She was sleeping, her long dark hair hanging in her face. He reached for her with his right hand when suddenly pain shot through him and he groaned softly. He glanced at his arm to see it was wrapped with towels and then he remembered the previous night and his accident. He felt something in the palm of his left hand and he didn't need the use of his eyes to sense the all too familiar crystal sphere that he had once given Sarah.

His left arm was numb from Sarah laying on it all night as she slept against him. Even in sleep she looked tired. He desperately tried to remember what had happened. He remembered her helping him upstairs and into the bed after he had come staggering into the house. The look of horror on her face had not gone unnoticed from him. And he remembered her wrapping his arm and the worried, frantic look on her face had been there as well. She had been so afraid.

Everything else seemed to be hazy to him. The pain had been so great that he had very nearly blacked out. That was when he felt something warm spread over him, lulling him to sleep and he willingly gave in. The crystal...

He glanced around the room that was basked in morning sunlight and saw his white shirt, covered in blood crumpled and ripped on the floor beside the bed. He stared at it slightly confused at first and then he remembered that Sarah had ripped it away from his injury and then had ripped the rest of the fabric from his body. She had placed blankets over him to keep him warm. There were basins, bloodied towels and cloth strewn carelessly all over the room, bottles of ointment on the small table by his bed. She had tried her hardest to tend to his needs.

She shifted in her sleep and he watched her. She was upset, angry or worried. Her brows were furrowed causing lines to appear on her forehead and she was clutching the blanket that was spread over him in one fist tightly.

"Sarah...Sarah" he called softly.

Her head shot up quickly, her eyes wide. "Jareth?" She looked up at him and he gave her a weak smile. Tears filled her eyes and her face fell forward into his neck as she began to sob.

Jareth reached for her with his left hand, the feeling beginning to return to his arm. He buried his bare hand into her soft hair and stroked it as she sobbed against him.

She rose from him slowly, tears still streaming down her cheeks, but the sobs had subsided. "I was so scared....I thought you were going to...going to die..." She choked out the last word, her hazel eyes were filled with worry and fear. He could only imagine the night she had gone through.

He reached up brushing her tears away with the back of his fingers. She reached for his hand with her own and held it tightly to her face. He was warm and alive...

Did he know how scared she had been? She had stayed up half the night watching over him, praying that he would see the light of another day and that she would see those eyes looking at her again. She wanted to feel the warmth of his embrace. Finally exhausted from worrying, crying and watching over him, she had unwillingly fallen asleep when she leaned against him.

"Not a chance." He whispered softly. "I'm immortal Sarah...."

Her eyes widened. She had forgotten. How completely stupid of her. She had forgotten that he had told her that he was immortal. Who else could live to be 634 years old?

"You forgot.." He noticed the look of shock on her face. He remembered telling her. They had been grocery shopping. He had joked with her that he had eaten enough chicken to last his immortal life. Perhaps she had not heard him or not understood? He gazed at her hoping to see relief on her features but he didn't see them. She was still concerned...

"Immortal or not Jareth, you scared the hell out of me!... You didn't look immortal last night. Not when you came staggering into the house after I opened the back door and certainly not when you were feverish and and...your arm. You were hurt..." She was trembling as she sat beside him on the bed.

His thumb smoothed over her soft skin. "I'm immortal Sarah... not invincible. I'm prone to illness, and injury just as you are. The only difference is that after I have suffered, I heal and move on. Illness and injury are not life threatening. They can be agonizing but they won't kill me."

"Well how the hell was I supposed to know that!" She roared. She turned from him, twirling her hair on her fingers. "God, Jareth. I was so scared. I really thought that you were going to die." Her voice was soft and the concern and fear were again present. She looked into his eyes and then her gaze fell to his injured arm. "What happened to you?"

"Never fly and decide to do your thinking at the same time..." He chuckled, trying to joke. She regarded him not at all amused and he sighed, continuing. "I needed to think, it was the reason I wanted to take a flight. I…I wasn't paying attention to where I was going and I crashed into a very sharp pole protruding from the side of a building by the lake."

'By the lake? The lake is far from here. How did you manage to get back to the house?"

"I was able to use some of my magic to hide the pain and I glided back. I crashed in the back yard and used the last of my strength to transform."

"I can't believe with all your magic...you can't..." her words faded.

"There are many things I can't do Sarah. I can't heal myself, I can't heal others." He looked at her longingly. * I can't make you love me... * .He stroked the skin of her face a moment longer and then sighed.

"When some of my strength returns I must return to my castle. My healer will be able to tend to this injury and when I have fully healed I shall come back to you."

"You're going to leave me?" She looked timid.

"Only for a few days. I will return quickly." He reached for her face, pushing back the hair that once again had fallen into her eyes.

She hated the idea that she wouldn't be able to see him for a few days but she didn't want him laid up in bed either. She wanted him to be at full strength and his arm healed so that when she told him what she felt for him he would hold her in his embrace tightly, never letting go.

"Are you hungry?"

"A little."

She pressed her lips to his forehead finding the skin cool. "Your fever broke."

"The crystal." He said simply.

"But the crystal you gave me was your own magic."

"Not exactly."

"What does that mean?"

"I cheated a little. I made the crystal from my magic as well as the magic of my healer. I knew I couldn't possibly keep your headaches from not returning, but I didn't want you to be in pain. My healer gladly sent me some of her magic to help."

Should she tell him that she had figured out why the headaches had gone? Did he know that it wasn't magic, not really. It was the stress that he had taken away that made the headaches fade. No longer did she worry about rushing home to get Ary from the bus, he was always there to get her. And dinner? She barely had to cook anymore with him around. She had gotten a promotion at work and Marcy and Stephanie had left her alone since her outburst. Everything had fallen into place when he had walked back into her life. No she wouldn't tell him that it wasn't the crystal's magic. When the time was right she would tell him that it was his magic...it was him...

"That's why the crystal healed you. It wasn't your magic."

"It didn't heal me, but it put me at ease. You were smart to remember it."

"I didn't even know if it was going to work, but nothing I had would have helped to take away the pain you were in."

"You saved me a great deal of pain...and I thank you for that."

She nodded and was silent for a moment. "Would you like some soup?"

"Yes."

She tried to smile and she placed a kiss on his forehead, disappearing from the room. Jareth let out a deep sigh after she had gone. It was growing more and more difficult for him to hide his feelings from her, to oppress his love and desire for her...especially when she touched him, or smiled at him. And her concern and fear for his well being was nearly his undoing...Yet he had told her they would remain friends. He loved her more then life itself and he would keep his word. Even if he had to suffer in silence.

She returned with the soup a short while later. She helped him to sit up, propping the pillows against the headboard so that he could rest his back against them. He attempted to eat on his own at first, but he was feeding the blankets of the bed more than he was feeding himself. He couldn't keep his hand steady enough to get the spoon into his mouth and the soup spilled everywhere.

"Here, let me." She said softly, taking the spoon into her hand. She sat beside him on the bed and stirred the soup. She lifted the spoon to his lips and he sipped it slowly. She repeated the process a few more times, mildly aware that his eyes were focused intently on her. She looked elsewhere... "When will you be strong enough to return to your castle?" She asked quietly lifting the spoon to his lips. He sipped the soup and swallowed.

"I should be well enough to travel tonight if I sleep for the remainder of the day."

"Ary will be coming home late this afternoon. She's going to be upset that you aren't here." She told him offering him another spoonful of soup.

"I will make sure to leave before she arrives. I don't want to alarm her with my condition. I trust that you will tell her what happened." He sipped the soup.

She nodded. "Yes, I'll tell her that you had an accident and needed to return home, but that you'll be back." She wasn't looking at him and that worried him.

He reached for her chin with his left hand, tilting her face up so that her eyes met his. "Make her understand Sarah, that I WILL return." She knew that he was trying to reassure her as well. He wanted her to know that he would return to her, unlike another in her life who had abandoned her and never returned.

"She'll understand." She fed him the rest of the soup and re-wrapped his arm. He wouldn't allow her to go to the store and buy bandaging so she used more towels. After she wrapped his arm, she left him to sleep. She left the door slightly ajar so that she could check on him. And she did nearly every 5 minutes during the first half hour. Finally 45 minutes later he was sleeping and soundly.

She was a mess inside. Her worry had subsided slightly when he reassured her that he would live, but she still trembled within. She didn't want him to leave her, even if it was only for a few days. She never wanted him to leave her.

It was later in the afternoon when she checked on him and she saw that he was standing, or swaying as he stepped into his boots. She could see that he was still very weak, although he would never admit that. Then he was trying to get into a fresh shirt and he was failing miserably. His arm was sore and hurt like hell and it was nearly useless to him. He grunted with frustration as the white shirt once again fell from his grasp to the floor. She watched him for a moment as he bent to pick it up and failed once again at trying to dress himself in it.

"Stupid arm..." he spit angrily.

She opened the door, not being able to stand watching him suffer any longer. He may be a creature of magic and power but he suffered too. He hadn't heard the door creak open and he stood with his back facing her, gazing angrily at his arm.

She picked up the shirt off the floor and stepped in front of him with it.

"Let me help you…" her voice was soft and his anger dissipated quickly. No one had ever seen him so vulnerable before and had she been someone else he would have let his fury erupt at her, but she was Sarah. She was the only one he would ever show his real self to, the only one he would ever allow to help him and the only one who would ever see him when he was vulnerable. Did she know that?

She slowly pulled the sleeve over his injured arm and walked around the back of him bringing the shirt to his other arm. He slipped it within the sleeve effortlessly.

"Now why couldn't I have done that?" he whispered. She smiled sweetly and pulled the shirt together in the front, reaching for the bottom buttons. But her eyes were not focused on the buttons, they were focused on the pale, smooth skin of his chest and abdomen. She had forced herself to concentrate on the task of feeding his soup to him earlier that day. But her eyes, had wandered to his bare chest more than once. A pale chest that had been devoid of all clothing. Only his necklace broke the continuity of the pale skin her eyes had roamed greedily over. And now she was staring at him again. He was a magnet that drew her eyes to him.

She quickly buttoned the bottom button of his shirt, her fingers lingering over the next button as she gazed at his skin. He was slender, but not too slender. Soft blonde hair faintly traced over his chest. He had some muscle tone, not too much, but not too little. Her fingers grazed over his skin as she carefully buttoned upward. She felt and heard him take a deep breath as she accidentally touched him. But had that last touch been an accident, or that one or the one that came after that...? Her heart was pounding in her chest. She wanted to take his clothes off, not put them on.

The last button was finally clasped and she stood just staring at him, her gaze rising slowly from the low neckline of his shirt, up his neck and throat to his chin, his nose and resting finally on his amazing eyes. His mismatched orbs were filled with longing and sadness and she felt her heart constrict. He didn't want to leave her either, she was sure of it.

There was the sudden sound of a car driving into the driveway and Sarah knew that it was Toby bringing Aryanna home. She fell against Jareth with a sob and he stroked her hair with his left hand.

"Please don't go...." She pleaded.

"I have to Sarah. And the sooner I leave, the sooner I can return." He stepped away from her abruptly, and began to fade from her eyes. If he lingered over saying goodbye to her, he would never leave.

"No!" she cried. "Jareth! Jareth, don't go...please!" But he was gone and she was alone within the room. She stood gazing at the place he once stood. "I love you..." she whispered with tears streaming down her cheeks. And then she collapsed to the floor among the bloodied towels and the tattered remains of his white poet's shirt. She reached for the shirt and buried her face into the silky fabric, sobbing.