I miss you...

The sound of two car doors slamming shut brought Sarah out of her pity party. She sighed deeply and rushed to the bathroom to splash some cold water on her face to hide the fact that she had been crying. She rushed back to Jareth's room to toss the towels down the laundry shoot and to clean up the basins and return the medicine to the cabinet.

"He's only going for a few days" she told herself as she glanced at the empty room. "It's not like he's never coming back." But despite trying to reassure herself she still felt worry in the pit of her stomach. She changed quickly after realizing that she was in the same clothes as the night before. She didn't want to alarm Toby. He was very protective of her as it was and she didn't want him to worry.

She rushed down the stairs just as Toby and Aryanna were walking in the front door. Toby set her backpack and Lancelot down on the floor.

"Mommy!!" The little girl raced to her mother hugging her tightly.

"There's my big girl. Did you have fun at Toby's?"

"Of course I did !"

"I'm afraid I can't hang around with you and chat, Cheryl needs to be at her mom's by 4 and it's nearly that now. Call me and let me know about next weekend." Toby told her.

"Will do Tobe." Sarah waved as he stepped out the door, closing it behind him. She breathed a sigh of relief that he had not noticed she'd been crying and had not asked about Jareth.

"Where's Jareth mommy?" The question hung in the air for a moment.

Sarah's heart sank as her daughter glanced around the house. She kneeled before her daughter and put her hands on her shoulders. "I have to tell you something and I need you to handle it like a big girl, ok?" Ary nodded. "Jareth got into an accident and he had to go back home."

"Is he ok? Is he coming back?"

"Yes he's ok, he just needed someone back at his castle to take care of him. He said that he would come back in a few days."

Ary pouted. "He didn't even say good bye to me."

Sarah smiled and pulled her daughter to her. "You only say good bye to someone when you leave and don't intend to come back. Jareth is coming back." Sarah pulled back and Ary nodded.

"But who is going to help me study for my spelling test? And who is going to get me off the bus in the afternoon?"

"I will sweetie. Just like I used to before Jareth came." Sarah pushed her daughters long dark hair behind her ears.

"Ok Mommy."

"That's my girl. Now why don't you go put Lancelot in your room and put your bag on your bed and I'll start dinner. Then maybe we could watch a movie together. How does that sound?"

"Sounds like fun."

Sarah placed a kiss on her head and Ary began to drag her things top the stairs. She turned as she reached the bottom step.

"Who's going to make you smile Mommy and laugh?"

Sarah was startled by the question but she forced herself to take it in stride. "You will sweetie. Like you always have." Aryanna seemed content with the answer for now and she trudged up the stairs with her things. Sarah sighed. It was going to be a long next few days.

Jareth materialized in his chambers and immediately called for the healer. The pain in his arm was unbearable as his magic was wearing off. He's used almost all his strength to hide his pain from Sarah and to return to his castle. Pain and injury were a new thing to him. He had lived a sheltered life in his castle for hundreds of years. What most people knew to be life experiences were nothing more then stories to him. But the pain in his arm was very real.

He felt terrible about leaving Sarah, but he couldn't deal with the pain any longer. It was too much for him. And he needed the feel of magic around him. He had been in the mortal world for too long. Yet he wanted to return to it and quickly. He wanted to see Sarah again. Her cries still echoed in his ears. She had not wanted him to go.

He paced the length of his chambers, his boots clicking on the stone floor. He was still weak and his steps were unbalanced but he didn't care. All he cared about was for the pain to be gone so that he could return to Sarah.

There was a light tap on the door. "Come in!"

He expected the healer to enter as the large oak door opened, but in her place was one of his Goblin Guards. "Yer Highness" he bowed.

"What is it? Where is the healer I sent for?" He barked angrily.

"Begging yer pardon yer highness but she is in the Gardens. She will arrive as soon as she can."

"I want her here now! Go fetch her!" He cried angrily. The Goblin King was back in full force.

"Yes yer Highness." And the goblin was gone.

Jareth collapsed on the end of his bed. Anger, now there was an emotion he had not felt in a very long time. Ever since he had been with Sarah and Aryanna he had not felt it. He had been carefree, calm, and completely under Sarah's spell.

He sighed. By the bog, he wanted her. He had never wanted something so badly in all of his life. He knew he was good looking. The women always swooned over him at the masked balls held every so often within the Underground. But they always fell at his feet. He didn't want more slaves. He didn't want women to throw themselves down for him. Of course he had not minded that when he was younger, but now...everything had changed since Sarah. He had learned to love. He snorted. His father warned him that it would happen. And it had. The emotion had taken such a hold on him that sometimes he couldn't breathe properly.

He looked at the mirror on the opposite side of the room. He longed to see Sarah. To see if she was all right and what she was doing, but he didn't have the strength to conjure her image. He wouldn't have the strength for several more days. The next few days would be agony without her. How had he allowed himself to fall so far for her? To fall so deeply? She was a mere mortal and he was...he was...sigh... totally in love with her... She was all he could think about. He sighed, closing his eyes and calling her image into his mind. He could see her laughing and smiling at the restaurant. He remembered how she moved close to him to dance. She was beautiful in the colored lights as they danced. And she was still so strong. Despite the fact that tears filled her eyes easily at times, the fact that she had not given up on life itself amazed him. He always knew that she was strong. He let out a long-winded sigh. By the bog he loved her...Would she ever love him in return?

There was another knock at the door and Jareth's eyes shot open.

He got to his feet quickly, ignoring the dizziness that threatened him. "Enter!" he called loudly.

"Your majessssty."

"Ah, Megmora. About time you showed up."

His healer stepped into the room. To most she was a hideous creature with her scaly green skin, sharp teeth, yellow eyes, long tail and the plain dress she wore looked out of place on her... She may not have been blessed with beauty but she was blessed with the power to heal. Her kind were not beautiful by mortal and even most immortal beings standards. Only those who loved fairytales found dragons to be amazing creatures. Megmora was only half dragon, her other half unknown. It was rare for a dragon to breed outside of their species but her mother had. Megmora had been cast from the land of the dragons due to her being a half-breed and her mother Lytica had asked the Goblin King to look over her daughter. And he had. She was wonderful to have around with her healing powers which he could add to his own and her no nonsense way with the goblins. Had he a council she would have been his advisor. She possessed the knowledge of the last 17 generations on her mother's side. She knew much more about the world then he ever would.

"My King hassss ussse for my healing?" The surprise was evident in her voice. The Goblin King rarely called on her to heal himself.

"Yes Megmora."

The half dragon stepped around her King closing her eyes as she circled him. "I sssensee great pain... Pain that hasss occurred while within the mortal world."

 "Yes Megmora. I need to be healed and quickly."

"Quickly can not be done...Thisss injury issss too ssseriousss for quickly. Thisss isss not a ssscratch, but a deep gasssh."

"Then do what you can for now. I must be healed within a few days."

She gestured for him to sit on the bed and he did so. She didn't even have to touch him to work her healing powers on him. He felt the warmth of her magic and the pain in his arm lessened.

 "The presssence of a mortal woman issss all around you.... One who issss familiar. One who hassss traveled the Labyrinth before..."

By the Bog he hated her intuition. "Yes." He said mildly aware of the arrogance in his voice.

"Sssshe isss the one."

"One what?" He snapped.

Megmora smiled. But did not reply.

"One what?" He repeated. He hated when she played mind games with him. That was his job, not hers.

"The one..who sssstole your heart." Her yellow eyes were shinning.  She knew of Sarah's powerful hold over him.

Jareth jerked away from her, the motion breaking the magic she fed him. He didn't enjoy that she could read him like a book. Megmora said nothing further on the matter and attended the wound.

"That isss the bessst I can do for now."

"You shall return in the morning and continue the healing. I want to be fully healed in 4 days."

Megmora nodded and bowed. Without a word she left the Goblin King alone.

"Is it that obvious??" he asked aloud after she had gone. His voiced echoed off the cold stone walls. "Does everyone know that I love her?"

No not everyone knew. Megmora was gifted. She knew more than most. His goblins didn't care about such things and they had never caught him staring longingly out the window thinking of her. They were too stupid to notice such things and for that he was glad. He let out a sigh. His arm was still tingly from the effects of Megmora's magic. Already he felt stronger. He glanced at the mirror again. He might be able to see her now, but if he used the small amount of strength he had, he would have to start all over again with the healing process. He didn't want to spend any unnecessary time away from Sarah and Ary. He would use no magic until he was at full strength.

Sleep eluded Sarah and for what felt like the hundredth time she glanced at the clock. Good grief. Only 3 o’clock. She still had a few hours to go before it was time to get up. She couldn't sleep, all she could think about was Jareth. He had been gone only for the evening and she missed him like crazy. She and Ary had eaten dinner together like old times and had sat down with a huge bowl of popcorn to watch a movie. She enjoyed the time spent with her daughter but she knew deep down inside that she wished Jareth could have been with them. She knew Ary felt the same way. Jareth had been a part of their lives for a month now and it felt so strange for him not to be cooking in front of the stove or to be bidding Ary or herself good night. She wanted to see him again so badly.

She had over reacted terribly when he had left, pleading with him not to go. Crying her heart out after he had gone. And even though he told her he would return, a horrible fear still gripped her. What if he didn't return? She shuddered to think about it, but it was a completely realistic and possible scenario. And what then? What would happen then? She knew what. Her heart would be broken again and this time there would be no putting the pieces back together. She had not loved a man since Adam. The pain of what he had done to her and their daughter had been too much to bear. There were times when she believed she would never love another man again, that she didn't want to love another man. Then there were other times when she and Ary were out running errands and she would see a couple together that she would long for a man in her life.

She hadn't been held, touched, comforted and loved in 8 years. That was a terribly long time to be alone. She wasn't completely alone. She had Ary, Toby and Cheryl was like a sister to her, but they couldn't fill the empty void that only a man could fill. A man who loved her and whom she loved in return. Jareth had started filling that void and she longed for him to fill it completely. Those lonely 8 years would have been worth it, if she could have him in her life.

She had fallen for him easily. And how could she not? He was so wonderful with her daughter. Ary loved him already. And he was so careful with herself and he made sure she didn't do things that she would regret. He had been a complete gentleman. Who would have thought that Jareth, the arrogant Goblin King who had once stolen her brother would have been the man she would have fallen so deeply in love with? Who would have thought that he would be the one she wanted to spend the rest of her life with? Lord she missed him...

She rolled over looking at the clock. 3:25. God how she wanted time to fly.