A/N: And now, the sequel practically no one was waiting for! This continues directly from the first chapter. If it's been a while, you'll probably want to reread that, first.

A Single Disgruntled Return: Part 2

Sarah opened the box in her lap and immediately slammed the lid back down, her face aflame. Jareth caught sight of what she was trying to hide, his mouth tilting up into a smirk.

Of course it had been the present from him. He conjured them as soon as Karen had stepped out of the room earlier. Her parents' and Toby's presents from the Goblin King had been completely innocuous. Hers, however…

"What did you get, Sarah?" Her dad asked. "Hold it up for the camcorder!"

There was no way in hell that was going to happen.

"It was a cops and robbers game," said Toby, knowledgeably.

She could feel the blush working its way across her face. That was it. Sarah officially wanted to crawl into an oubliette and never be seen or heard from again.

Her stepmother seemed to get the gist faster than her father, providing misdirection Sarah was thankful for.

"Now, Toby! How about you open up that big red present over there?"

No longer the center of attention, Sarah turned back to the bane of her Christmas morning.

Jareth smiled beatifically, curling a lock of her hair around his pointer finger. The woman leaned back into the king, her own smile rather more strained.

"The next time we're alone, I'm going to strangle you," she whispered, cheerfully.

"I would expect nothing less, Precious." He winked. And then he continued, louder, "My darling, you shouldn't have!"

Sarah was confused for an instant, until Jareth pulled out a present supposedly from her. She hoped it was something useless, like a Santa hat. But from what little she knew of the king, it would probably be something extravagant and glittery.

But ten seconds later, lo and behold, the king indeed revealed a Santa hat, though it was much nicer and more luxurious than she had imagined. Albeit no less glittery.

Jareth eyed her knowingly, and Sarah snapped her mouth shut, incredulous. Christmas morning with her folks was not the time to be making inquiries into the extent of the Goblin King's powers, and if those powers extended into telepathy. If they did- well, Sarah Williams was in trouble.

Jareth fitted the thing on his head.

To Sarah's disappointment he did not look quite as ridiculous as she had hoped. Of course he looked incongruous with her family in comparison, but it worked for him. And that was totally not fair. And on that note-

"I'm gonna run these presents upstairs. Be back in a sec," Sarah said. She spied him as she left, preening for her family.

The young woman fumed as she all but stomped up the stairs. Jareth had insinuated himself into her family traditions, ingratiating himself to her family. Forget spreading pictures of the Goblin King's shame. This was war. And she was losing. She was going to kill the Goblin King; it was the only reasonable solution.

But for all her bluster, the stupid, pretty box with the stupid, pretty, red bow sat at the top of the pile presents she left in her room.

"So, Sarah, how was that charity ball at work last week?" Karen asked once they were all seated and served around the breakfast table.

"Fine," Sarah replied, as she jabbed at her sausage with more force than intended.

The woman's next question was directed at Sarah's faux beau.

For his part, Jareth was loving every minute of the attention, concocting the story of how they met. The young woman found that she could not even call him out on it because he kept injecting kernels of truth.

She faintly realized that she was massacring her breakfast more than eating it. Unfortunately, she was not the only one to take note.

"Sarah, what did that pancake ever do to you?" Robert asked.

She wasn't sure why but that was the straw that made the sleep-deprived, twenty-something crack. Sarah shoved her chair back and stormed off, undoubtedly channeling the dramatics of her fifteen-year-old self.

She had successfully huddled up in her long cold bed and was screaming into her pillow when Jareth found her some minutes later.

She took one look at him standing in her doorway, arms akimbo, still wearing the stupid festive hat, and buried her face back into her pillow and screamed louder.

"Are you quite finished, now, Precious?"

"Are you gone yet, 'cause if you're not, the answer is 'no,'" she mumbled.

"Now, now, your lovely stepmother graciously extended an invitation for me to stay the week."

Sarah had missed that part of the conversation.

"To leave now would be ungracious, and with the predicted record snowfall, well-"

She lifted her face to glare at him. "What predicted record snowfall?"

Sarah turned to the window, and on cue, fat white flakes began to drift down. Of course. They really needed to have a talk about those powers of his; however, such a talk was derailed when her sight was drawn to the presents at the end of her bed.

"And I can't believe you gave me that," she pointed to the discarded box at the top, "in front of my parents." Sarah threw her head back against the headboard, mortified.

The king retrieved the box from where Sarah had slung it earlier. Opening it, he withdrew a set of golden manacles.

"Mmm, they already knew what we were up to." Jareth grinned, flashing sharp teeth.

Before Sarah could respond with an appropriately scathing retort, she heard her father calling her from downstairs.

"Sarah?"

"Yeah, Dad?" Sarah shouted.

"Gran called. We don't want her driving in the snow by herself, so we're going to get her. Can you pull the cinnamon rolls out of the oven in five?"

Jareth must have made up some sort of story, as there was no comment on her mercurial mood.

"Sure thing." She agreed.

"Your aunt an uncle will be here by eleven, if we're not back by then."

"Kay."

"And you two behave!" She heard her step-mother throw in.

A moment later the garage door shut behind them and Sarah was left alone with a man who was rapidly becoming her archenemy.

She dodged the king and set up shop in the kitchen. The last thing she needed was to forget about the confections and end up with a house full of smoke.

Jareth poofed into existence three feet away.

"Holy! Can you not do that? Please?" Sarah exclaimed, clutching her chest.

The king shrugged. "You'll get used to it."

She stared at him an instant more before deciding that debate just wasn't worth the effort. She would need coffee if she was going to survive the day, much less the week, in his presence. Getting rid of him at this point was unlikely at best.

He took a seat in one of the dining room chairs. Of course, he did not sit the normal way around; instead, he straddled the back, jangling the handcuffs-that-she-endeavored-to-pretend-didn't-exist enticingly. She did quite well at ignoring him for the time it took to start the coffee maker. That is, until he started talking.

"Now, about that game of 'cops and robbers,'" Jareth started, "I'll be the dashing officer, and you can be my vigilante queen."

Unable to handle a moment more of his taunting, Sarah lunged forward, intent on grabbing the dangling cuffs and throwing them out. Succeeding in grasping the metal, she only glimpsed the novel look of shock on Jareth's face as the kitchen was consumed in a shower of golden, sparkling glitter that disappeared as it hit the ground.

When the magic cleared, Jareth's shock turned to smug glee.

"Oh, dear. I do not believe this was the correct set for entertaining, either."

He leaned back in a stretch causing Sarah to tumble forward and crash into him and the chair.

"What the hell?!"

The chain was gone, but a gold band rested on Sarah's left wrist; its mate was on Jareth's right.

Comprehension dawned.

"Oh, no, please, no. Tell me that you did not-" She could not finish the thought out loud- She was chained, literally, to the Goblin King. The idea was not worth bearing.

Sarah's mind was racing with possibilities that were embarrassing and horrific in equal measure.

"I am not taking a shower with you," she blurted.

"It's rather telling, my dear, that your mind immediately tries to envision such scenarios. For all your complaints against me, I think the lady doth protest too much."

"Or maybe I don't want a stranger to see me naked, even if he is a hot-" Sarah threw her hands over her mouth. "Eep!"

"The situation is not necessarily as you perceive it."

"Well maybe you could do some explaining on why you slapped magic handcuff on the both of us!" She shouted.

"I did no such thing," Jareth sniffed dismissively. "You accepted the present of your own volition."

Sarah paled. How could she have been so foolish? She had just wanted him to stop being a smarmy ass and taunting her with his apparent bondage fetish.

She walked toward her own chair, or rather, she tried. A tug at her wrist reminded her of her current limitations, and she let loose a strangled scream of frustration.

"Get up and come over here, I want to sit down," she demanded, rubbing her forehead with her free hand.

"My darling girl, I never thought you would be so forward."

"Shut up, Jareth."

He surprisingly obliged, dragging his own chair along. For that Sarah was ever so slightly thankful as she plunked down gracelessly.

"So, lay it out for me, Goblin King. Am I doomed to forever be stuck within three feet of you?"

"'Doomed' is such a pessimistic way to put it. I thought you were the eternal optimist."

"Optimism went out the window when someone woke me up at four o'clock this morning. Now, you, handcuffs, fix it."

"I don't know how." The king shrugged, projecting an unconcerned air being indefinitely stuck together.

"Excuse me?" If he didn't know- He had to know! A King that could reorder time and call up localized blizzards at a whim should be able to fix things like this, no problem!

"I had no idea what would be in that box. The magic was based on your dreams, after all. Not to say that I'm not pleased-"

"If you say this was my fault, so help me-" Sarah let the threat hang. Partially for effect, and partially because she had no real means to threaten the imperious eldritch creature that had taken over her Christmas and somehow accidentally-but-probably-on-purpose chained them together.

"Now, now. Magic is fickle." He made a show of contemplating her, "Though, one could say that you brought this on yourself."

He would turn her words from earlier around on her. She narrowed her eyes at him.

"Come now, Precious." Jareth jangled the invisible chain that bound them together. "If we cannot find a way to remove them, it's only forever."

Sarah had the unsettling feeling that no amount of WD-40 would get her out of this mess.

A/N: And that's all (for now and the foreseeable future but maybe, maybe next year I'll write a smidge more if I find inspiration), folks!