He would wait forever

By Lady Geek Chic

Summary: When Jareth first offered Sarah his heart she was too young to truly appreciate such a precious gift, ten years later she's ready to love him but can she break down the walls built after his defeat?

Disclaimer: Anything you recognise does not belong to me. If you don't recognise it from film, music video or novel then you can make the assumption I've created it from my own imagination but I don't claim to own that either.

Part Six

It did not take long for Sir Didymus to arrive at the door to Jareth's room after he heard an almighty crash. He hadn't expected to return so soon after delivering what promised to be yet another untouched tea tray, he also did not expect to find Sarah huddled on the floor sobbing her heart out. Standing by the sobbing woman he found that not for the first time his loyalties were divided. As a subject of His Majesty he should have immediately gone to ensure that Jareth was safe, as Sarah's friend he wanted to make sure she would be okay and perhaps find out how she came to the Underground. Torn Didymus could only stare at his friend before kneeling before her, "My lady, I need to make sure His Majesty is okay, please stay here I shall return soon."

Sarah sniffed and raised her head slightly to stare at the fox Knight with red rimmed eyes, "Okay."

Standing up Didymus turned to face the mahogany door that suddenly seemed more imposing than it ever had, raising a paw he rapped sharply on the door and turning the handle let himself into the room without waiting for a response. He knew this was a risky move as Jareth could take it in many ways, several of them unpleasant and the end result could be anything from a tongue lashing to a dunk in the bog of eternal stench. Personally the latter did not bother him as it seemed he was the only creature in the Underground who could not smell it, however other people could and he did not wish to offend his peers with poor hygiene.

"Your Majesty, are you well, I heard a noise."

Didymus squinted in the half light of the room, Jareth was huddled on an overstuffed arm chair, his blanket was on the floor and the room was a scene of chaos. Across one wall were several stains, it appeared Jareth had thrown several trays before tipping up a table. "Your Majesty why is Miss Williams here, what happened?"

"Don't tell me you didn't know she was here Fox!"

For the first time in his life Didymus contemplated lying, he had promised himself he would not interfere but he also knew to lie to his king was to risk a visit to the hangman.

"I knew she planned to visit, I did not know when."

"Lying to me are we Didymus?" Jareth asked conversationally, "I did not think you had it in you."

"Your Majesty I lie not, I knew Miss Williams wished to talk to you but I knew not when she planned her visit."

Jareth frowned and Didymus blinked one eye nervously, "Why now?"

"I believe it would be best if you asked her that."

Jareth raised an eyebrow and reaching down picked the blanket off the floor, draping it over his knees he shook his head wearily, "I offered her my heart once and she kicked it to the floor, I shall not make the same mistake twice." Twisting the blanket in his hands Jareth sighed and Didymus felt his heart twist for his melancholy monarch. "Now leave me Sir Knight, I am not feeling myself tonight."

Nodding Didymus began to leave the room, as he reached the door he turned and asked Jareth, "What of Lady Sarah, what would you have me do?"

"Make her comfortable Sir Didymus, she said the right words, undoing them is going to be more difficult than she realises."

"Yes Sire." Leaving Jareth Didymus wondered if not interfering was the right course of action after all.

It was several hours before Sarah had recovered enough to form any sort of coherent sentence, throughout it all Didymus had done his best to make her comfortable. His first act was to guide her down the corridor to a guest bedroom; he had sat her down on a sofa and wrapped a blanket around her shoulders. Then he sat and waited, the kitchens were on standby to make anything she should require when she was hungry and two maids in waiting were preparing to draw a bath and provide clean clothing. To Didymus it almost felt as if the entire castle were holding its breath waiting for her to do something so they could carry on living again. But then it had felt that way for a long time, ever since she had won back her brother and turned down Jareth's proposal of marriage.

"Didymus?"

"Yes My Lady?"

"What happened to him?"

The question surprised Didymus, he had assumed that Sarah had been upset over her own situation and Jareth's anger at her, that she was mourning the loss of what he had been was intriguing and Didymus took a moment to think before he answered.

"I'm afraid, My Lady that this is not a simple question to answer, as you know after the incident he went into seclusion and he did not come out, he has eaten very little during his time in seclusion, his Fae constitution means he won't die from malnourishment but his magic is dependent on his strength and this he maintains by eating."

"He looks so ill, are you sure he won't die?"

"No my lady he won't die, however if he does not eat and regain his strength his kingdom will not be able to flourish." Sarah frowned and Didymus held up a paw, "I shall explain everything in due course My Lady but first I must insist you are made comfortable." Standing he issued orders to the ladies in waiting who began work immediately.

Sarah found herself stripped of clothing and submerged in a bathtub filled with hot and bubbles that smelled sweet oh so relaxing, when she questioned one of the Fae maids she found that the bubbles were scented with chamomile to aid in relaxation. Taking a deep breath Sarah submerged herself fully letting her hair fan out in the water. Sitting up she couldn't help but giggle at the shocked expressions of the maids who said nothing but cleaned her hair using a sweet smelling shampoo and rinsed her off with copper jugs filled with water. Sitting in the bath tub which was situated in the middle of a wood panelled room she felt like she'd stepped back in time, there was no fancy shower or marble surfaces, no porcelain and tile, just wood and copper. Granted it was very fancy in its own way just nothing like she was used to. It had taken several minutes to convince Sarah to allow the maids to stay; they were just doing their jobs despite how self-conscious it made her feel but Didymus had assured her that this was how it was done for the King and honoured guests. Which was something Sarah had her doubts about, Jareth knew she was in the castle but would he really believe her to be an honoured guest and not just a nosy interloper?

Lying back against the side of the tub she closed her eyes and let the hot water ease her sore muscles, being flung into another world and landing on top of someone had left her feeling delicate it was a feeling she hoped would go away sooner rather than later.

"My Lady, are you going to sleep?" The question was asked so quietly it took Sarah nearly a full minute to register that they were talking to her, opening her eyes she found herself staring at a concerned maid.

"Huh? Oh, no…sorry I was just relaxing. I'll get out now thank you." The maid nodded and held a large towel up as Sarah stood determined not to feel too self-conscious in comparison to the maids who were both slender and oh so beautiful. Both were pale skinned and had pointed ears and arched eyebrows, it was obvious to Sarah they were sisters as they shared plump lips and large eyes but in hair colour they were as different as night and day. Though Didymus had introduced them as her maids she couldn't get over how elegantly they were dressed, both wore gowns of a silken fabric and their hair was styled in elegant up-do's that would have made a High School Prom goer looking underdressed. The maid with raven dark hair had it styled in a mass of curls pinned back with floral pins; her blonde sister's hair was sleeker though they obviously shared a fondness for floral hair pins.

The overall effect left Sarah feeling dowdy and out of shape, it wasn't that she was over-weight but she was tall and had a weight to match her height so she was left feeling clumsy and awkward, something she hadn't experienced since high school. Shaking off the insecurity she allowed the maids to wrap her in a towel and climbing out of the tub took an offered towel to dry her dripping hair. "Um, do I dry myself here or back in the room?"

The maids exchanged glances as if they were deciding who should talk and finally one offered a small smile before saying "You have a dressing room My Lady."

"Oh, is my backpack in there? That's where my spare clothing is."

Again they exchanged glances and the second maid spoke up, "More appropriate attire has been provided for you My Lady."

Oh. Well she supposed that made sense, she wanted to fit in and her regular clothing could be used when she went home. Whenever that would be, she was determined to not leave until she had the information she needed and had a long talk with Jareth. Drying her hair she idly wondered if Jareth would want to…date her, court her…what was the correct terminology…come to think of it what was the correct protocol for dating a king? Did she wait for him to make a move? Not that she wanted to date him, or maybe she did…did she? A part of her was screaming yes and had been since she turned him down ten years ago but she wasn't sure she was cut out to be a queen, didn't you need a lot of training to rule?

"My Lady if you would step through the door we can help you dress." Nodding Sarah followed the maids as they led her through a door she hadn't noticed; apparently wood panelling ensured that doors blended in with the walls. A thought went through her mind that she would hate to be in this room alone; the chance of her getting stuck and being lost forever was quite high.

Didymus hummed to himself as he went back to see the king, he hoped with Sarah's appearance in the castle he would be more inclined to eat or at least allow the maids in to clean. It was very rare that he allowed the maids in and quite often Didymus had found himself changing bed sheets and tidying away tea trays when Jareth allowed him to. It was not a dignified duty for a knight but neither was delivering food so he supposed it was just part of his duty in ensuring his king had some semblance of normality.

Tapping on the door he waited once more to be allowed in, it was not long before a voice called out, "Go away."

"Your Majesty, it is I, Sir Didymus."

"This does not further incline me to allow you in my presence." Didymus stepped back baffled at this harsh reception, he hadn't been so disdained since the incident, after which Jareth had forgiven him for his part in helping Sarah.

"I wished to inform you that Lady Sarah has been shown to a room; will you be joining her tonight for dinner?"

"No."

It was all very disconcerting, whilst he had not expected to find Jareth whistling a merry song as he dressed to impress he was completely astounded to find him in a worse state than before. When Jareth had told him he did not feel himself he had assumed that once he had gotten over the worst of the shock he would begin to feel more like the old Jareth, he had stayed in his room refusing to eat for ten years because she left; now he was sulking because she came back! The urge to give Jareth a right royal telling off was strong and Didymus bit his lip to stop himself from doing something that could lead to his being killed or worse stripped of his knighthood.

"I shall return in the morning then Your Majesty."

He waited long enough to hear a weary, "Whatever." before he made his way back along the corridor to find out when Sarah would be finished with her bath.

It seemed to Sarah that she was now facing a wall of fabric, the two maids were standing back politely allowing her time to choose a dress, after five minutes of indecisive staring one stepped forwards and politely offered to show her some dresses suitable for dinner.

"I think green would be a good colour on you My Lady, perhaps with gold trim on the bodice?"

"I'm not sure, is this suitable, it's very fancy."

The second maid stepped forwards and Sarah noted that both women glided rather than walked, "My Lady this is an ordinary dress for a simple dinner, now if you were to look at the far left of the rack you would see dresses suitable for a ball, at the far right are day dresses to be worn during the day and for accepting visitors."

Sarah looked the dresses on the left were indeed gorgeous the word opulent sprung to mind and she nodded weakly, she couldn't imagine wearing two dresses a day just to be seen as suitably dressed. "This is like something out of a Jane Austen novel."

"My Lady?" Sarah turned the dark haired maid was frowning delicately in confusion.

"I guess you won't have read any of the classics from my world?"

"Indeed we have My Lady, His Majesty has a large library including many novels and books from your world but I haven't heard of the lady you mentioned."

"Jane Austen, she wrote during England's Regency period, perhaps I will be able to convince Ja…I mean His Majesty to purchase her novels."

With an almost imperceptible shake of her dark head the maid only smiled and glanced at a watch she wore around her neck, "It is almost time to eat My Lady; you are the only guest in the castle so you will eat in your rooms if that suits you."

"I…guess so. If I'm alone why must I dress up?" The maids stared at her blankly and Sarah sighed, "Never mind."

End of Part Six

A/N: A day later and here you have chapter six. I hope this makes up for how long it took me to upload chapter five?

Please review and let me know what you think, I value each and every review I get. I'm also thrilled by author/story fav's etc (those seriously shock me, I'm not being coy here I'm genuinely thrilled and shocked when someone fav's me, you're all beautiful!)

The next chapter will be done ASAP; I have some free time for the next few days (thank you Easter) so will be able to spend time writing.

Thank you for all the kind comments, I hope everyone has a lovely Easter.