Colleen - yes, it had started to drag a little. Real life tends to do that too. I just couldn't have her suddenly agree to marry Jareth as soon as he pops back into her life. That storyline is just a little overdone. I realize that this one seems way drawn out. Oh, well, can't have everything I guess.

Hello everyone! Been a long time I know. Having a hard time finishing this. Thankfully the end is actually written…it's just getting there!!!! As always, unfortunately, don't own the Labyrinth. Ja ne! b00k

In search of new dreams

Sarah smiled against Jareth's lips, happy to feel that his aura was recovering from the damage he'd done to it earlier. She kissed him a little harder and smirked as she mentally promised she was ONLY trying to help feed his aura. A slightly embarrassed cough drew the couple's attention back to the real world and they looked up to see Aereth purposely staring at the air above their heads with a slight smile on her face. Both royals blushed at the interruption and pulled away from each other, though only a little.

"What is going on here?" a voice snapped from the door. The air seemed to crackle as everyone glanced at the mortal hospital doctor glaring into the room. With a weary sigh, Healer snapped his fingers to trap her attention solely on him and magically located all of the mortals who had clearly seen the Goblin King's injuries. With just a minor magical jolt, he removed the memory of the unusual patient from the majority of the people and then altered the rest to believe that the injuries were much more minor than they actually had been. While he was attending to the mortal realm, Aereth and Gareth shared a brief glace before Aereth moved opposite her brother and continued healing both Jareth and Sarah as they lay comfortably together. Thankfully, when the mortal doctors and nurses woke from their magical trance, they saw no need to interrupt the family moment.

Jareth smiled weakly at his triplets. He had naturally understood their unspoken communication and knew that they were at least starting to accept that Sarah would eventually become a part of their family. Although he had been trained to suppress his emotions since he was a child, he had struggled to be more expressive to a select few people since Sarah had denied his offer the first time they had met; that had been a part of the long list that her friends had given him when he had demanded they tell him what to do to win her heart. He had not done it very well at first, Sarah pointing out his reticence more than once since she had allowed him to court her, but he was trying. He was sometimes surprised by how much his family's opinion had started to matter to him, especially in regards to Sarah.

A hesitant knock on the door startled them and they all looked up to see Sarah's family standing in the doorway. Jareth flushed slightly and tried to pull further away from Sarah but she soothed him gently into immobility as her family came into the room. The three healthy Fae went back to their interrupted tasks once the last of the Fairy family was in the room and the door closed again.

"They said we could come in now," Karen explained gently.

"How is he?" Catherine added, fretting slightly even though she could see him awake and moving around. He smiled at them in what he hoped was a reassuring manner.

"He's fine. We caught him just in time," Gareth replied neutrally.

"He'd exhausted his energy reserves trying to heal the damage," Aereth explained softly and Jareth was once more bombarded with worried glances.

"I'm fine," Jareth insisted weakly as Toby wormed his way through all of the adults to the bedside so he could peer over the edge. "Hey, my fine lad, no frowns allowed here," Jareth teased him gently and Toby hesitantly smiled at the older man who he often looked up to as an older brother.

"There's plenty of room up here for my favorite little brother," Sarah said, patting the bed between her and Jareth. Before anyone could protest, Richard picked his son up and deposited him gently on the bed in between the two when Sarah moved over just enough to let him lay down. Richard hesitated a second before smoothing a piece of wild hair back from Jareth's face gently. Jareth smiled up at him, slightly surprised at how happy the gesture made him, while Sarah just beamed, tears threatening to fall in her happiness. As soon as he was safely settled on the bed, Toby handed one of the two globes still clutched against his small chest to Sarah and curled around the other against the Goblin King's side. Sarah's tears dried up instantly and she blushed to see that Toby had brought the wedding crystal entrusted to him some days before. She'd assumed when she saw him carrying two crystals that he had fetched the two he owned from the store. Seeing the wedding scene made her wonder briefly through her embarrassment which of the other two crystals was curled so protectively between the Goblin King and Fairy Prince.

"What is that?" Karen asked curiously, seeing the blush on Sarah's face as she viewed the crystal Toby had given her. Sarah started and hid the crystal quickly from sight, glaring at Jareth's smug grin.

Jareth's triplets chose that moment to break the healing trance as they felt their own magic reaching low limits and Jareth's strength reaching a less dangerous level. Healer made them sit in chairs at Jareth's bedside as soon as he felt their waning strength and Jareth thanked them quickly with a silent look. Ignoring their shocked looks, since he had not spoken to them in their way of communicating for some time and he knew that they were simply not used to hearing from him in such a manner, he focused back on Sarah. She smiled gently at him, apparently having recognized the look he had sent them or at least the emotions accompanying it, even if she couldn't understand quite everything that was said in that moment. He wondered briefly if she would be jealous of the bond he had decided to reawaken with his triplets that allowed him to speak to them with only a glance, but then realized that she would be happy for him to connect with his family again.

"It's Sarah's crystal that Jareth made for her. It shows what their wedding will look like," Toby mumbled against the Goblin King's side when neither of them had said anything for a moment and he felt his parents' suspicion spike. Sarah blushed again at the intent looks she received from Gareth and all three of her parents and the amused glances from Healer and Aereth.

"It's one of my dream crystals. It shows my dream," Jareth automatically said, trying to take their focus off of Sarah. He flushed as he realized what he had just said when the four adults and his triplets all transferred their attention to him. Sarah quickly sent the crystal to her desk in the Underground and buried her face in one of the pillows to avoid looking at them.

"We are done here. Now we must arrange for them to be returned to the Underground," Healer interrupted before anyone could comment. No one missed the grateful glance from the Goblin King before he settled back into his bed and closed his eyes in exaggerated weariness. Likewise, no one missed how Toby was drawn slightly closer by the injured Fae. Gareth and Aereth traded glances at their brother's gesture and declaration.

"Does Sarah have to go back Underground too?" Toby asked plaintively, turning slightly to look at his father still hovering over the trio.

"She should...," Healer began uncertainly, looking to the Fairy Queen.

"Yes Toby. Sarah uses too much Magik trying to keep an eye on Jareth when they are in different dimensions," Karen explained gently.

"Mooom," came Sarah's muffled protest from her pillow, her blush deepening so they could now see her neck flushed scarlet.

"As do I," Jareth added though he didn't open his eyes. Healer merely smiled, leaving the room to the royals as he attended to the release of his patients.

"Not helping," Sarah muttered grumpily as the door closed behind him and Jareth smirked without turning towards her. "And stop smirking," she hissed, turning her head only slightly.

"I can't imagine what you're talking about my Queen," Jareth said, somehow managing to put injured innocence in his voice around the smirk.

"Jareth," Sarah hissed, her skin turning brighter red as she glanced nervously up at her father's unresponsive face.

"I believe she said that she'd say yes WHEN you next asked her Jareth. You should not call her by that title until the marriage is actually performed," Aereth spoke tonelessly from her chair at their bedside, her scolding glance unheeded by her eldest brother. This news caused all the adults to look back at Sarah in slight surprise. She felt like hiding again but her gaze was arrested by Gareth's hard expression as he took the information in. His normally mellow red and orange eyes practically blazed down at the duo and Sarah shivered slightly under the intense stare.

Everyone froze as they felt his anger spike and Jareth finally opened weary eyes to look calmly up at his brother. Time seemed to stand still as they spoke through their bond. Aereth stayed out of the conversation though she paid careful attention in case she had to intervene. Finally, after what seemed millennia for the others but was really only a few moments, Gareth whirled around and disappeared back into the Underground. Jareth sighed in frustration and closed his eyes to the room.

"Jareth?" Toby asked uncertainly.

"Everything will be fine my lad," Jareth said wearily, gently stroking the boy's hair in distracted comfort.

"You shouldn't have said that," Aereth scolded him softly, reaching past Sarah and Toby to tap his hand in reproach. Toby looked worriedly between the two remaining triplets.

''What's said is said," Jareth replied with an even bigger smirk than before. His voice hardened as he continued. "And I meant every word Aereth. Even if you never understand or approve, Sarah and I will wed eventually." Sarah flushed but could not make herself try to deny his declaration. Aereth looked between the trio on the bed and the trio of adults watching her warily.

"I do not understand," Aereth finally pronounced softly. "Nor can I say if I ever will. However, I will not allow you to retreat from us again this time. You have chosen your path in search of new dreams and I will accept this. I do not wish to lose you again." This last confession was whispered with a blush at showing her feelings in front of others. She too had been trained from an early age to be removed from all others, including her brothers.

Jareth was silent a moment, his face unreadable as he felt everyone watch him and his sister. "Thank you," he finally whispered back, feeling the need to let not just her but the others know how much she meant to him.

"Gareth will accept what must be in time. You must let him know that you still wish us to remain by your side during this time or he may become more bitter," Aereth told her brother sternly.

"I will Aereth. I promise," Jareth said meekly and the others laughed to see the Goblin King meek before his sister. Sarah smiled finally and leaned over Toby to kiss Jareth on the cheek before lying back down and curling around her brother in comfort.

"Toby should go with you two back to the Underground. He will be able to continue his training with Gareth and they can remain with his sister as a chaperone while she stays in your Castle," Robert finally spoke, surprising the others in the room. He looked to Karen to see her opinion but knew she would not argue.

"I will go too," Catherine announced. "To watch Toby so he doesn't wear his sister out and get into too much trouble with the Goblins."