I saw an old challenge about Jareth and Sarah trading places, Her the Goblin Queen and Him the mortal. While I saw a lot of artwork depicting the switch, I couldn't find any stories about it (if you know of any lemme know ). The more I searched for a story, the more I started to think about how it could go, and tada! Here's my version. This is my very first story (ever) and after reading so many amazing works on here, I can only hope my small offering is up to par.

Disclamer: I own nothing, everything belongs to their respective owners.

Jareth stood quietly next to the open door; eyes squeezed shut, one hand clenching the knob, the other slowly rising to pinch the bridge of his nose. He shook his head slowly and let loose a heavy sigh. He opened his eyes and stared at the bedraggled girl standing in front of him. Her hair hung wet and limp, covering the blue eyes that were nervously darting between his own and the floor. Her once pale pink dress was dripping water and mud in a neat circle all around her as nervous fingers twisted around an untied sash.

"I was just checking on Hoppy," she said, pointing behind her to the old rabbit hutch in the corner of the back yard. Jareth nodded silently. "…Hoppy doesn't like the rain, so I was making sure she was okay." The child paused, pushing the hair back out of her eyes to look up at Jareth, "and I kinda fell…into the mud…"

"You fell." Jareth replied flatly. "It looks more like you bathed in it," he thought to himself looking her over once more. She shifted nervously under his gaze, and he found himself staring at her once white shoes. Each little shuffle seemed to force more mud out of the shoe to ooze onto the floor.

"Well, I was running," she began.

"And why, pray tell, were you running?" Jareth interrupted, raising a brow.

She stared up at him for a moment with a confused look, as if questioning his sanity. "So I wouldn't get wet of course."

"Ah," Jareth nodded, closing his eyes and raking a hand through his hair, "of course." He motioned her further inside and shut the door against the rain that was now starting to come in. He turned to face her, hands on his hips. "I leave you alone for two minutes – "

"Seven." She quietly interrupted.

"…Seven?" Jareth questioned, bringing up a hand to cover his eyes.

"Yep, " she said, pointing to the clock hanging on the kitchen wall. "I counted."

"Of course you did" he sighed, rubbing his eyes. "well, I dare say this is a new record for you Tabby. You managed to completely ruin a new outfit within ten minutes of wearing it." He gave his sister a tired smile as he walked behind her. "No sense in crying, what's done is done," he said quietly, seeing the tears beginning to form. "Let's get you out of this filthy thing, can't have you tracking mud all over the house."

Jareth sent Tabby upstairs for a bath and began to clean up as best he could. He picked up the dress and shoes and holding them at arms length quickly dropped them into the sink. He contemplated throwing the whole mess out, but grimaced when he remembered how much they had cost in the first place. He rolled his eyes and shook his head, giving a quick laugh. Here he was on a Friday night trying to figure out the best way to get a mud caked dress clean, while his friends were most likely bar hopping and living it up. Jareth sighed, and hung his head, suddenly feeling so much older than twenty-eight.

Jareth moved slowly up the stairs and down the hall. A quick glance in the bathroom had confirmed that the bath was over. Looking at the nasty ring left in the tub he sent up a silent prayer that Tabby had emerged somewhat clean, and headed towards her room. Jareth knocked softly on the partly opened door and entered. Tabby glanced up from her seat on the bed, hairbrush in hand, viciously attacking her tangled hair.

"You won't have a hair left on that pretty head of yours if you keep that up," he teased, sitting next to her on the bed, taking the brush. He soon had her hair soft and smooth, and his fingers flew as they nimbly braided the pale blonde hair and secured it with a band.

"Read me a story?" Tabby asked, jumping up from the bed and skipping over to the bookcase. Jareth nodded his reply as he returned her brush to the dresser top and stood waiting for her to make her selection. He let his eyes roam the books, wondering what it would be tonight. "That one about fairies perhaps? Maybe the princess one? The bunny family goes to the fair?" He sighed, his mind wandering back to what his friends were likely up to. It's not fair he thought to himself, pasting on a smile as Tabby handed him her book.

He stared down at the small book in his hand as Tabby scrambled into bed, drawing her blankets and stuffed animals close. He let his finger trace over the gold lettering. The Labyrinth. It had been his mother's favorite book. She had read him the story countless times when he was younger, and he never got tired of hearing it. He hadn't seen the book in ages, had almost completely forgotten about it to be honest. "Where did you find this?" he asked, glancing at her as he settled on the edge of the bed.

"Waaaaaaaay in the back, behind the other books," she replied with a grin. Jareth frowned slightly. He didn't remember leaving it there, but then again, he couldn't quite remember the last time he had seen it either. "I must have put it there with other books when I was cleaning," he mused.

"Are you sure you want to read this book? There's no pictures to look at," he questioned, flipping through the pages.

"Yep," she grinned, wiggling down deeper beneath the covers.

Jareth quietly closed the book and stood up. He had gotten a third of the way through the book before she had finally drifted off. He gently laid the book down on the dresser top and moved to the door, switching the lights off. He was just about to close the door when she called out to him.

"What is it Tabby?" he asked quietly, looking over at the bed.

"Wouldn't it be neat to see goblins?" she asked, smiling sleepily.

Jareth chuckled, "perhaps," he said nodding.

"I think it would be fun. We could play all kinds of games," she said with a yawn, before rolling over and falling fast asleep.

Jareth softly closed the door and headed back downstairs. "She wants to play with goblins," he muttered to himself with a grin. He walked over to the sink and lifted a piece of the soaking dress out of the water to survey the damage. He let it sink back down and said quietly "I love you dearly Tabby, but there are times I wish the goblins really would come and take you away." He flicked his finger at the ruined shoes. "Right now," he whispered.

So ends Chapter 1, yay! Hope it wasn't too disappointing. Critiques welcomed :-)