It was Sarah's first time in New Orleans, in retrospect the week of Mardi Gras was not the best time for her to visit but the situation was beyond her control.

When trying to plan ahead, and ask for vacation time from work, this particular week happened to be the only days for a while that her boss would agree too. She had loved investigative reporting but these days the freelance travel assignments she took were much more pleasant.

Oh, and if she happened to tour the city and write a blog on the paper's website about her experience, that would be great, too. So really, she was working on vacation.

Still, it was better than not going, and she'd wanted to go very badly.

She'd started to rethink her decision by the fifth time she'd been hit in the head by a pair of errant beads while trying to make it to her hotel with rolling suitcase in tow.

The back of her white blouse was also completely soaked through thanks to many spilled drinks, most of them so full of sugar and dyes she was in danger of looking and smelling like a damp Care Bear.

If one more drunk 20 year old college guy asked to see her tits, offering her yet MORE cheap plastic, but amazingly aerodynamic, beads, she might just start throwing punches.

Offer me a latte and a foot rub and maybe you'd have a deal, bud.

She'd come with the express intention of seeing the history of the infamous city.

Exploring the French Quarter. Listening to fantastic music. Gaining ten pounds on creole cooking alone. So far she felt like an extra in a Girls Gone Wild video.

A blonde co-ed blocking her path wavered on her feet for a moment, blinked at Sarah blearily, and then lifted her shirt expectantly.

Sarah sighed, removed the latest pair of beads that had tangled in her hair, and handed them over.

The blonde beamed at her and then disappeared unsteadily back into the crowd.

It wasn't even officially Mardi Gras yet. If this was the dress rehearsal she was in for hell of an opening night.

With a wry smile, Sarah looked down just in time to avoid some street vomit.

Come on feet.

As Sarah made her way to the hotel she could feel the magic of New Orleans in the air.

The throngs of revellers eventually petered out enough to afford Sarah the space to appreciate the architecture in the French Quarter.

The Big Easy was aptly named. If New York was the city that never sleeps, New Orleans was the city that never wakes.

Like an unending dream filled with every possibility. Reality and fantasy blurred to tantalize the senses. Seduction in every corner.

Sarah took a deep breath, savouring the heady aroma of something distinctly Cajun cooking from a nearby restaurant. Her stomach grumbled accordingly.

Another block and she gratefully stopped at the door of her historic, and quite infamous hotel, too a breath and admired the building's architecture.

Sarah was thrilled to be staying at the Omni Royal Orleans Hotel. It was a place with tons of history, while also boasting a luxurious salon ballroom, and was built on the original sight of the Saint Louis Hotel.

The Saint Louis Hotel had burned down in 1915, The Omni having been erected years later. It was known as a place to see and be seen. The Omni was a haunt of entertainers and politicians alike.

She went to the desk to check in and receive her key. "Welcome, Miss Williams." The smiling clerk said as she signed her name on the register. "I hope you enjoy your stay."

"Oh I'm sure I will. The hotel is beautiful. I'm sure you get all sorts of interesting guests."

The clerk nodded. "You have no idea, how interesting. We have a few regulars in for the celebration already in our suites. Should make for quite the Mardi Gras!"

Sarah grabbed her key and turned to head to her room.

A lightning bolt went through her.

There, 20 feet away, was a familiar form.

He was in profile, not paying attention to her at all, talking to another man. Smiling, tipping his head back as he laughed at something the other said.

She was frozen in place. "What the hell, it can't be..."

The 2 men had been waiting for the elevator, and as she watched it finally arrived, opened and they got on.

Just as the doors closed, he looked up and saw her.

His eyes widened in recognition as he saw her there, but the last thing she saw was the beginning of that familiar feral grin of the one and only Goblin King.

She shuddered and took the stairs to her room, trying to figure out what the hell just happened and why in all the world's would *he* be here, in New Orleans, at the exact same time as her.

She could almost pretend it hadn't happened at all. That she'd been so caught up in the magic of it all she'd imagined him. A flight of fancy in the city of fantasy.

The hotel was notoriously haunted - unsurprising in a city with so much living that even the dead forgot to leave. But clearly more than just ghosts lurked in the hotel. It was impossible to deny those eyes. That crooked grin.

Ghosts were suddenly the least of her worries.

Sarah felt a desperate need for a shower. Perhaps it would clear her head. Remove thoughts of a certain Goblin King.

No way was it him. No way. She thought.

From a dark corner she heard a familiar voice...

"Oh couldn't it be ? Not possibly? Not in one of the most magical places in your country? No...it isn't possible..." Jareth stepped forward from the shadows. His eyes caught hers.

Sarah shifted her weight as she considered how best to manage a figment of her imagination refusing to stay a figment.

She was thinking of something pithy to say - after all she always found the right words - but before she could speak the sound of garish plastic beads clattering to the floor stole her thunder.

She must have had a stray pair tag along, probably stuck to her sugary mess of her shirt.

Mother fucker..

The Goblin King glanced down and then back up, one brow rising and his lips twitching like he very much wanted to laugh.

Clearly he was familiar with the custom.

Sarah froze and then tossed a shoulder and affected a shrug. "When in Rome..."

Jareth grinned just a touch too widely, his hands folded into the pockets of his finely cut three piece suit. He managed to look completely out of place and like he belonged all the same.

Sarah fumbled with the key and the backed into her room, needing a shower and time to regroup. To process what was now impossible to deny. A new shirt was definitely required.

"Running away already?" he chided wryly, but made no move to stop her.

Before the door closed he pointedly eyed the number and then winked at her. "Room 313. Welcome to New Orleans, Sarah."

In a poof of glitter Jareth disappeared, an evil chuckle echoing in his wake.

" Holy shit." Sarah said shaking her head.

Setting her suitcase on the bed she searched for a new change of clothes. Then headed for the bathroom for a hot shower.

As Sarah was showering she had this feeling that something or someone was watching her.

For a brief minute she thought she could feel a faint tug on her long flowing hair ... Then a light cool breath to the back of her neck.

She looked around and say nothing and no one.

"Damn it! This has to be a figment of my imagination, I'm just keyed up ! There's no way in hell he's here, it must be my mind playing tricks on me like when I was in the Labyaaa..."

Sarah quickly snapped her mouth closed preventing the last of the word to escape her mouth.

A look of worry but intrigue suddenly crossed Sarah's face then she let out a slight sigh.

Man, I really need to go get some food she thought as she grabbed the shower door.

After she showered and dressed in clean clothes, she left her her room and went in search of a meal.

Across the street was a restaurant and she figured it would be a good place to start.