Notes: It's been a good while. I'm sorry. I've been busy and tired. Anyway, please enjoy and review.

Chapter VII: The Big News

Sarah felt rather disoriented from the sudden transportation. Indeed, when she felt solid ground under her feet after being forced into a cloud of glitter, she nearly fell. If not for Jareth's grasp on her, Sarah knew that she would have fallen. She was quick to steady herself and managed to wrench free of her husband. It would seem that, whether she wanted to or not, she would have to get used to being magically transported around. It was something new for her to deal with. She hadn't remembered feeling like this when Jareth had first let her into the labyrinth twenty years ago. Perhaps he had opened a magical portal to allow her inside the first time.

Now firmly on the ground, Sarah inspected her surroundings. She was in Jareth's castle. She knew that much. But this was not a room that she had seen before. Then again, Jareth's words to her implied that there was a lot of the labyrinth she hadn't seen yet, much less all the rooms of his castle.

The room she found herself in was beautiful and perfect for the one it had been intended for. The walls were covered with painted animals and mystical creatures, the furniture was built to be easily reached by a child, and the canopied bed while big, was not overwhelming. And there sitting on top of the rich purple and silver covers of the bed was the designated owner of the room, Titania. Seated next to the five year old was her sister, Faye. Both of Sarah and Jareth's daughters were concentrating on a picture book.

"The end." Titania read out loud, earning the admiration of her sister.

"Wow!" Faye said, obviously still amazed at Titania's ability to read. Sure her parents could read, but they were adults. Adults were expected to read in her young mind. But children around her age were rather brilliant if they could read like her sister could.

Faye had not yet learned to read, being too young, but she liked to hear stories told to her and loved to look at the pictures in picture books. Titania had only being reading a short time herself, having gotten lessons for about a year now after her pre-school teacher had called Sarah and Jareth up to do so as Titania demonstrated that she was a bit more advanced than her fellow classmates. Now that Sarah knew the truth, she wondered if it was the fae blood coursing in Titania's veins made her slightly more advanced than other children her age. Would Faye also be like that in time?

Sarah was distracted from the scene when she heard the sound of clapping. She looked back to see Jareth applauding his daughter for finishing the children's book.

"Yes, well done, sweetheart." He praised his daughter.

Both Titania and Faye looked up from the book to see their parents.

"Mama! Papa!" They exclaimed, happy that their parents were there.

Jareth walked over to his children and moved to sit down on the bed with the girls. Titania put down the book and she and her sister began to bombard their father with requests.

"I'm hungry!" Faye whined. "Can we eat? I was good. I took a nap."

"Can we see the goblins, Papa? Can we?" Titania voiced her hope of what could happen now that she and her sister had both taken their naps. Besides from what her young eyes could see, surely their mother was even better now that she had taken that breath of fresh air.

"We will." Jareth promised.

It surprised Sarah how much patience the Goblin King afforded their daughters. He hadn't seemed to be that patient when she had challenged him all those years ago. Then again, having a reputation of taking babies to turn into goblins, dealing with said goblins, and even his five years of fatherhood was enough to give him some amount of patience for young children. As for teenagers, that was a different story. But when they had been a happy family in the Aboveground, Jareth had always been patient with their daughters, loving them dearly. It was becoming harder for Sarah to take an easy route and separate the man she knew as her husband from the Goblin King. They were both the same person, well, fae.

"But first, your mother and I have something very important to tell you." He told them.

The girls did their best to be serious, sitting straight and looking at their father. Jareth gestured for Sarah to come over.

What kind of play was Jareth making, Sarah wondered? Still, whatever happened between her and him, their daughters had a right to know about what would be happening to their family in several months. It wouldn't be a secret for long.

Sarah let out a breath and walked over to the bed where her family was sitting. She stood in front of them, feeling somehow nervous. The news was still fresh and she wasn't exactly sure how her daughters were take it. Jareth's reaction had been expected, delighted and giving him another reason to keep her here, but as for Titania and Faye, it was a mystery.

She remembered when they had told Titania just under four years ago when she had been pregnant with Faye. Titania had been two then, gaining up on three years. Her oldest daughter had been old enough to walk and talk and understand a bit, even if she didn't understand how on earth a baby had gotten into her mother's belly. Titania had cried then, afraid that she would somehow be forgotten when her little sister arrived. But of course she was proven wrong, for her parents loved her and her sister equally.

Sarah ran her hand through her dark hair. While her daughters didn't fully comprehend why their mother did this, they had seen the general gesture enough times to know that something was troubling their mother.

"Mama?" Titania asked.

Sarah released her hand from her hair and put on a smile for her daughters as a signal that she was alright. She put moved her hand to her belly.

"Titania, Faye, in several months, you will both be big sisters. Your father and I are having a baby, your little sister or brother." She finally managed to say.

She had only said sister first because of the track record she had with Jareth. They had two daughters. While this pregnancy could result in a son, it also had a high chance of them having another daughter. "But I promise that we will still love you. We could never forget about you, my loves."

Faye blinked, processing the news. Titania had a look of worry on her face that disappeared with her mother's reassurance that they would still be loved no matter what. It had been what she had been told when her mother had been pregnant with Faye and her parents had kept their word. Why should this time be any different?

"Can we pick a name?" Titania asked.

"Name?" Sarah repeated. They would need a name for the baby, but they still had a while. Yet, she knew of a name if the child was a boy that she and Jareth had both agreed on before the return of the memories. And it was surely a name that Jareth would take great joy in knowing that it was given to his own son. "Why don't we wait a bit before choosing a name, alright?" She attempted to put off that conversation.

"They can't have my room. It's mine!" Faye hissed. The room she had in her father's castle was perfect for her. It did not need a stinky baby in it.

"No one's going to take your room." The mother attempted to calm her youngest daughter. "They'll have their own room."

Despite Sarah's words, Faye was not swayed to be calm. In fact, she simply got more angry and upset, which in turn made Titania angry and upset. The baby could not take either of their rooms and they were not to touch Titania's plushie collection or Faye's rock collection, and so on. This was not fair!

The Goblin Queen found herself rubbing her temples, developing a headache from her children's shouting and demands. Nothing she was doing would calm them.

The Goblin King stood up from the bed and seemed to tower over his daughters.

"That's enough!" He snapped at them. It wasn't a yell, but it was a warning and a great exercise of Jareth's patience.

"I wish the goblins would take the baby away, right now!" Faye dared to wish.

Sarah's heart froze. What would happen? Her daughter had made a wish, the same stupid wish she had all those years ago and…

Glitter surrounded the mother and she disappeared, only to reappear a moment later in her husband's arms. Sarah didn't have time to say anything or even get herself out of Jareth's arms, for a moment later the ground around them shook quite harshly before settling down, like some kind of quick, magical earthquake.

She looked at Jareth, whose expression was now shocked and confused. It was almost as if he knew something about the earthquake.

"It's changed." He whispered, worry and panic in his voice. Both of those were feelings Sarah had never thought that the great Goblin King Jareth would ever have.

"What's changed?" Sarah inquired, afraid of the answer.

The words he spoke were soft, barely audible, spoken as if Jareth could not believe it was even possible. But Sarah heard them and she understood his shock:

"My labyrinth."

The labyrinth had changed. As to what, none of them knew.