I am exhausted from living up to your expectations of me.

"Excuse me," said Sarah venomously. She sprung up, pushing Jareth out of the way as she scrambled from her bed.

"Please explain to me how I had ANYTHING to do...with you getting married." She started off in a loud voice but ended her declaration in a fierce whisper. The last thing she wanted was witnesses when she murdered Jareth.

Jareth was also at his wits-end. She had no idea how complicated she had made his life since she called out to him those many years ago. Not a day had gone by since where she was not on his mind. He grabbed his hair in frustration, pulling on the ends as he paced back and forth in front of her indignant form.

"I let my guard down with you. Your witchy halfling magic completely destroyed me. You destroyed me. You conquered me...in more ways than one. I already told you...I became a laughing-stock; I was bested by what everyone thought was a human girl! I had to fight to keep possession of my Kingdom, my lands. My parents...they told me to appear at their holdings. I thought I would receive a tongue-lashing or at worst, be replaced by my younger brother."

"You have a brother," she shouted, but then covered her mouth with her own hand, pausing to listen for any sounds coming from the trio sleeping outside her door. It was quiet for a moment, then she heard Ludo's soft snoring.

"You have a brother," she declared the question again in a much softer but just as fierce tone. This is exactly why she is so very angry and hurt. She knows nothing about this man while he knows the very heart of her.

"His name is David and he is a dolt and really has nothing to do with this right now."

"You brought him up," she retorted back. Jareth sighed deeply, taking a moment then continuing.

"It was not a tongue lashing or being told I was being usurped by my brother...it was far worse. My parents decided to marry me off."

"To Sorella," said Sarah mockingly.

"Yes. To that blasted Sorceress. I should have known better but I was so very distracted by you at that point. I didn't know if I wanted to hunt you down and murder you or kidnap you and keep you. Up until that point, I didn't know I could be angry and adore someone in the same very heartbeat." He stopped his diatribe and stood before her. He took her little clenched fist, unfurling it and setting it on his chest. Sarah felt the rapid beat.of his heart, she tried to pull her hand away but he would not relent.

"You know you have my heart...don't you." She gasped at his words, fighting even harder to get away...his words were too much for her to bear.

"How can I have your heart when it belongs to another," she whispered viciously. He closed his eyes and before he finally let her go, she swore she felt his heart skip a beat. He did not try and argue her words but forged on with his story.

"I should have known better...when I was asked to appear before my parents on the Eve of All Owl's Night. It is a most sacred night amongst my people. It is the night that Fae celebrate their lineage, our blood right. Owl wine is made from the very blood of our forefather's...we drink it in honor and celebration each year. We celebrate new births, and deaths...," he couldn't seem to continue. So, Sarah finished for him.

"...and hand-clasping." He remained silent.

"Say it, Jareth." He put his head down, close to tears at her broken and edging on cold voice.

"And hand-clasping," he continued.

"I arrived at my family's holdings, whisked unceremoniously into the Great Hall and told that in just a few moments I would be hand-clasped to her. Sorella was to drink the Owl Wine with me and become part of our lineage, my lineage...forever and always. And as you have said several times, I am married to this Sorceress, a mean, terrible shrew of a woman with a cold and cruel heart."

"Cruel," asked Sarah.

"Sorella possesses the Serpent Sword of Elmerillian. It was forged by a Great Elf, the maker of nails - the White Wizard of Elfinmire who gave it as his only weapon to Loph. Loph was killed in a duel with Isk the Grey-legged Wanderer from the Murks. They thought it a useless old sword and hung it in the Great Hall of Unconventional and Useless Objects for years until Sorella's Father gave it to her as a plaything. It was discovered that if it was held by a woman, it has incredible power. Her Father used it to rule cruelly and now she uses it for the very same thing."

Sarah didn't know what to say, what to think. She had no idea that the play-acting at her favorite place with her beloved dog would lead to Belowground upheaval, Jareth's marriage, her Mother's death.

"Although she did help me get my Kingdom back to rights, I am still a laughing stock. Stella is a devastatingly beautiful creature. When I first saw her, she took my breath away. She reminded me so much of...," he shook his head, deciding to change tracks.

"Like I said, she is cruel. I have my Kingdom and as a Sorceress she vanquishes any and all threats to the Goblin City but she also sucks any man that looks her way. So I am known as King Cuckhold.

"Cuckhold?" Sarah barely whispered.

"Powerless to stop my wife from fucking her way through the Kingdom and beyond. If I stand up to her, she reminds me she can take everything away. My parents were so ashamed and disappointed in me. At least they speak to me now." He paced away from the soft light of the bedside lamp towards the darkness.

"There was a time I thought things may actually change but it was short-lived. After she lost the...," once again he changed his track of thought.

"It doesn't make any difference. I live in a he'll of my own creation." He walked back towards Sarah, standing so close very close to her.

"That's it, that's my story. It is a horrible one. I am so very sorry from keeping it from you. I should have told you sooner but seeing you again, having this time with you has been some of the best moments of my life. By telling you, I knew it would change things. By telling you of her makes it more real...I can't change anything." He bowed his head, taking the weight of their reality on his shoulders.

There was so much Sarah could say, wanted to say. There were so many questions she still had but the words died on her lips when she saw Jareth's face ravaged by all he had shared. Without really thinking about it, she took his face in her hands and kissed his lips. His eyes widened in surprise but darkened as she kissed him deeper. The air changed between them, the kisses became urgent, warm, then hot.

Sarah found herself on her tippy-toes, grasping his collar to pull him down to her to further the kiss. Setting her mind to it, she pushed his jacket off his shoulders and immediately began to unbutton his shirt. He unbuttoned it at his wrists and shrugged it off, standing there - wanting her to take the lead. She tentatively ran her hands down his chest and then around his waist bringing him closer. He brought his hands up to settle at the base of her neck. They slid across her shoulders and down her bare arms, sending a much different kind of shiver then before down her spine. He lifted the edge of her tank top and pulled it over her head and in another instant he unclasped her bra and let it fall down her arms and onto the floor. He pressed close to her once again, their chests touching. He groaned and she gasped with the contact.

As if sensing her own trepidation beginning to surface, she mentally pushed it down and boldly knuckled his belt.

"Sarah...," he breathed. "With the simplest touch, you will unman me completely."

"So," she responded.

He took her face into his hands and looked into her eyes. Whatever he saw there made him kiss her deeply and take control of the situation. Within moments, they stood pressed to each other again, this time without clothes.

Without hesitation they fell on to the bed together, arms and legs entangled. He kissed her throat and across her collar bone. He used his hands and fingers and tongue to make her feel good. It wasn't long before her breath hitched and he caught her cry in his mouth. He kissed her long and hard, a decision there was no going back from on the horizon.

He felt her hand travelling down...taking the longest breath of his life, he gently stilled her hand, kissing it and laying it on his chest. She looked up into his face.

"Jareth...," Sarah began. There was no way he could let her continue her train of thought.

"The first time I am inside of you, it will not be with those creatures on the other side of the wall." She laughed lightly against his shoulder.

"Besides, there are things we need to sort out." He felt her stiffen and try to disengage.

"Don't," he said, "don't retreat from me. Hold me tight." He gathered her up in his arms so she was half laying on him.

"I am going to have to return Belowground and I will take the nit-wits with me. I will be back very soon...we will figure this out together." It was quiet for a time, Sarah though maybe he had fallen asleep.

"I changed out the Owl Wine that night." Sarah picked up her head to peer at him in darkness.

"What?"

"I didn't drink the Owl Wine with her that night...I switched it out with Burgundy."

Sarah felt the sun on her face even before she opened her eyes to see it coming through her bedroom window. It took a second for everything that happened in the last twenty-four hours to come back to her but once it did, she scrambled to throw clothes on and open her bedroom door.

The apartment was quiet and empty. She walked into the middle of the great room hugging herself as she began to cry.

Song: Within You (Cover) - Haelstorm