The Trash Queen meets the Goblin King

Everything returned to normal when Jareth re-entered Sarah and Aryanna's lives. Sarah began to receive a little note on her desk each day from Jareth, telling her that he loved her and always telling her something to make her smile. Whether that be that she was beautiful or a personal joke between them. Ary and Jareth fell back into the habit of making and having dinner ready for Sarah when she came home from work. Jareth helped Ary study for her spelling tests and he and Sarah took turns tucking her into bed and telling her a bed time story. After Ary had gone to sleep Sarah and Jareth used the time to sit and relax. Sometimes they would snuggle on the couch together watching a movie or they would sit at the kitchen table over coffee and tea talking. One thing was certain since Jareth had returned, they were all much happier.

The weekend couldn't come fast enough for Sarah. She was dying to know what Jareth had planned for their first date. He had not said much about it during the week although she had been dying to ask. All he had told her was that he had a day planned for them on Saturday and that he was taking her out at night. Sarah felt like a teenager all over again going on a first date. She had no idea what to expect from Jareth. He always found a way to surprise her. She was sure that she would not be disappointed.

She noticed that he seemed to be getting antsy as the days passed. It appeared that they both could not wait until it was Saturday.

Friday seemed to be the longest day in existence for them both. Work dragged by for Sarah even though she had 3 reports to type up and errands to run for Jake. He had been demanding this week at work with the main branch of the company expected to visit the following week and he wanted everything perfect. But he didn't only make more work for his employees. He also took a large chunk of work. Sarah respected that.

Sarah was hoping that dinner would be special with just her and Jareth being home. Toby had picked up Ary from school and he had called Sarah to make sure that she was going to be ok being alone with Jareth in the house. He was such a worry wart, but Sarah loved him for it. Dinner was casual, and normal, just like if Ary had been there with them. Except that Jareth was exceptionally quiet. Sarah didn't ask him what was wrong, for she was sure she might upset him even more. She thought that he looked nervous and she wondered if it was because he was afraid what he had planned the following day would not be up to her expectations. She gave him a reassuring kiss before they bid each other good night.

Neither of them slept very well...

Jareth was up early the next morning. He started doing the chores for Sarah. Putting the previous night's dishes away, hanging the laundry and then he remembered the trash. He emptied the barrels around the house, while Sarah was sleeping and he dragged two large trash bags outside along with the recyclable bin to the curb. He heard some clatter next door and saw that Linda was preparing to bring out her trash as well. She had not seen him yet and he had a wicked idea.

Linda started dragging her trash bags to the end of her driveway as well as her recyclable bin. She started tying up her bags with a twist tie. She had just reached the last bag when a tin can from her recyclable bin somehow ended up on her lawn. She bent over to pick it up and put it back when a crushed milk jug also landed on the lawn. She stopped staring for a moment at the two items with confusion. How the hell had they just upped and out of the bin on their own? Now that didn't make sense. She decided to ignore the two items on her lawn and went back to the task of tying up the last trash bag.

She was nearly finished when a plastic container lifted out of the bin and hung in mid air. She stopped and watched it, expecting it to fall onto the lawn with the other things. Did it fall onto the lawn? No it came at her and assaulted her, whacking her in the arm. She lost her balance but didn't fall.

"What the hell is going on around here?" She heard a strange sound that sounded like plastic ripping. She turned and watched in horror as her garbage bags began to swell and then shrink as if they were breathing. Then one by one they erupted like volcanoes, spewing trash all over her front yard.

"Is this someone's idea of a practical joke??" she cried out. She nearly wanted to cry when she saw her beautiful green lawn littered with trash. She heard a soft male chuckle and she spun around to face a man. He was leaning causally against her mailbox, dressed completely in black with a long flowing cape and a spiky mane of blond hair that fell in different lengths around his pale face.

"YOU!!!!" Linda cried out. Despite the change in outfit she recognized him as the man who was staying with the Williams girl next door. She rushed at him and slipped on a banana peel, falling onto her knees at his feet.

"As well you should bow before the King." He told her, putting his hands on his slender hips.

"This is your doing...you... you!!!!" she cried out. She clenched the grass of her lawn into her hands tightly.

"Allow me to introduce myself." He gave her a mock bow. "I am the Goblin King, ruler of the Underground and the Castle beyond the Goblin City." Linda opened her mouth to say something but stopped when she saw a large, empty, plastic butter container float above her head. It hung in mid air for a moment and then the Goblin King took it into his leather encased hands. He then took the container and placed it on Linda's head.

"And you... I know very well who you are. You are the Trash Queen." He smirked.

Linda jumped to her feet quickly, which wasn't an easy task for her as she was overweight. "How dare you come here and use your voo doo magic on me!! How dare you litter my front yard with trash!!"

Jareth looked amused for a moment and then he tugged at the gloves on his hands. "You got what you deserved." He told her. He then became serious. "You should not have messed with the Goblin King." he spit. "He doesn't enjoy being insulted by a silly mortal woman who needs to stop eating so much junk food." He gestured at all the empty candy and potato chip wrappers that by now were blowing around everywhere and then tiled his head at her, watching her mouth open into an O. She snapped it shut, her face turning bright red. "Yes." He nodded. "Trash Queen is a very appropriate title."

Linda's face was bright red and she suddenly screamed, very loud. "How dare you!! Did your little girlfriend put you up to this because she's still pissed at me??"

"My 'girlfriend' had nothing to do with this."

"I knew it! I knew she was seeing you! I knew it! I should have known that she would have started seeing a freak! No normal man would ever date her. She's weird and that's why her boyfriend left her. She was the one who got what she deserved. Left pregnant and alone. That's what you get for playing horizontal poker before you get married! She was brought up better then that and she got exactly what she deserved. The little whore!"

Anger raged through the Goblin King. He reached out grabbing Linda by the collar of her shirt. "If I hear you say anything derogetory, I take that back. If I hear you say ANYTHING about Sarah again, some trash on your front yard will be the least of your troubles." Linda trembled beneath his intense gaze. "Do you understand me?" Linda nodded and he released her. She went sprawling backwards landing on her bottom on the lawn, her 'crown' still in place.

The squeal of brakes could be heard in the distance. The Goblin King cocked his head to the side and gave her a cocky grin. "You have better hurry and clean this up if you want them to take the trash away."

Linda growled as she turned her head to look down the street. The garbage truck was starting to collect trash. She spun angrily back to look at the Goblin King. But he wasn't there. She let out a horrible, shrill scream.

 Jareth chuckled as he rematerialized in the living room. His laughing faded quickly however when he heard sobbing. He followed the sound to find Sarah sobbing against a chair in the den at the end of the hall. He felt his heart constrict. She was awake and she had no doubt heard what Linda said about her.

"Sarah..." he whispered softly. She refused to look at him and instead turned away burying her face into the cushions of the chair. "Sarah." He called again.

"Just go away.." she whispered softly. He approached her, the floor creaking as he neared. "Please just go away!" she cried at him.

He wasn't about to give up that easily. "Sarah are you going to let an annoying witch like her bother you?"

Sarah began to sob more and Jareth was at her side an instant later. He pried her off the chair and she fell into his arms. He held her tightly to him. "Please Sarah. Don't let her get to you. That's what she wants, don't you see that? You must not let her win." She continued to sob.

"Sarah, it's the past. Let it go." He said firmly.

"I can't!" she cried wrenching herself from his grasp. She ignored the look of hurt that flashed across his handsome face as she shoved him away from her. "She told everyone what happened! Everyone!" She spun at him, tears spilling from her eyes, raw anger and hurt in her voice.

"Do you have any idea how hard it was to live with a life growing inside of me that other people constantly whispered about? Every time I went to the store or out into town people were whispering how I had a child growing with in me and I wasn't married."

"Sarah, it happens. This is a modern era."

"Yeah it does happen. But not in this town. This place is small and everyone always does things the correct way or they are shunned. I was brought up the right way. No love making until you get married, certainly no kids until you get married. My dad drilled that into me. Do you have any idea how horrible it was to face my father at first?! He never looked at me the same way again! He forgave me when Ary was born but he never looked at me the same..." She began to sob again and Jareth reached for her, but she pulled away.

"And Karen..." she sobbed. "She didn't like me as it was, and this was perfect for her to use to turn my father against me. Toby was the only one who was there for me. He was the one who helped me face each and everyday. I hated the baby Adam left me with at first. It was his unwillingness to wait until we were married and my stupidity for giving in that let it happen. It took me a year to realize that Ary was the greatest mistake I ever made."

"Then why are you letting this bother you? You love your daughter. She's beautiful, smart. She is everything I would assume one would hope for in a child. So she was a....miscalculation. Do you love her any less for that?"

"Of course not!" she cried out. "It's myself that I don't love. It's myself that I can't forgive!"

"Sarah...you're being too harsh on yourself." This was not how he wanted to spend his day with her.

"Too harsh on myself? Jareth, you weren't there when I had to confess to my dad that I was pregnant. You didn't see the look on his face that is forever burned in my mind. And look what I did to you! You loved me and I hurt you."

"Sarah, don't you dare bring me into this. It was expected that you would win and leave me. I knew that you had a strong will. I knew you would chose to return with your brother. It was my own foolish naivete that condemned me to suffer. It was not you."

"It was me! I really am cruel. Look what I did to my father and to you! How can you love me?" She was sobbing uncontrollably.

"Sarah, that's enough!" he told her angrily. He pulled her to him and instantly she stopped sobbing. He had never been rough with her before and for an instant he frightened her. He saw the look in her eyes and he lessened his hold on her, but didn't release her.

"Don't you dare start doubting yourself or what I feel for you. Don't you dare let that horrible woman get to you. I love you for everything that you are. I accept the good and the bad about you willingly. No one is perfect. Not you, not me, not your father, not Toby and certainly not the horrible woman next door." He pulled her to him and wrapped his arms around her. "You are an incredible woman, who still possesses that strong will, despite what you may think." He locked his eyes with her.

"Sarah I am not perfect either. I have things that I am not proud of from the days of my youth. But I moved on and I moved on because of you." She gave him a confused stare. "Sarah because of you, I learned how to love. I left behind some of the arrogance, the cruelty that I had been hiding behind. You saved me from destroying myself. If I had not met you, my ways would have destroyed me." He sighed deeply as she rested her head against him.

"This is not how I expected today to go." He sighed. He gently ran his fingers over her back, along the soft silk of the nightgown she wore. Only at that moment did he notice she was dressed in it.

He felt her clutch the fabric of his shirt within her fists and lean closer to him. "I'm sorry." She whispered.

"You've repressed the past too long Sarah."

"I know...I thought that I had rid myself of it...but...all that crying I did. It meant nothing."

"And now?" he inquired.

She placed a kiss on the soft skin of his chest. "Now I feel better that I finally let someone hold me and tell me that things were ok. I think that's what I needed..."

He smiled and placed a kiss on the top of her head. "May I still take you out? May I bring you out on our first date?" She nodded against him. "Good. Let me take your mind off of the past. We have the future to work towards."

She nodded pulling away from him. "What should I wear?" She asked hastily wiping the tears from her eyes.

He smiled at her readiness to leave the past behind her. "Wear something casual for now."

"For now? Does that mean that I have to change later?"

"Very perceptive." He purred. "But no more questions. Get dressed and I will fix you some breakfast." She nodded and turned to leave the den. Jareth stepped in front of her at the last moment and reached for her face, tilting her chin up with his fingers. He placed a soft kiss on her lips and when he pulled back he smiled. "I love you Sarah. Don't ever forget that."

She smiled, her eyes tearing up again. This time because of joy and not grief. She wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. "I love you too." She whispered into his soft hair. He smiled as he held her. Finally she released him and made her way up stairs. Jareth sighed and cast a dark glance out the window. The Trash Queen would meet the Goblin King again...and very soon.