Part Five: Free At Last

As Sarah stared into Jareth's eyes, speechless in the aftermath of their epic bout of lovemaking, she realized two things: One, his eyes were gorgeous, and two, she was no longer lying on the rough cobblestones.

When she was able to tear her gaze away from that of the Goblin King, she found her speechlessness continued as she discovered they had somehow been transported to a room with a roof and walls…and a bed, on which she was now lying.

So. A bedroom. Whose? When she turned her head to the side to study the room's details, she instantly knew: Not mine. His, perhaps?

"Well. Home at last."

That answered that question. Sarah remained limp on the bed as Jareth removed himself from above her body. She expected him to vanish in a shower of glitter or start gloating that she'd fallen for his plan, but instead he plopped down next to her with what sounded like a relieved sigh. "Thank the Spirits that's over with!"

That brought Sarah to her knees, hands on hips as she glared down on him. "Oh? Really? Sorry to have wasted your time, Your Majesty," she snarled, hurting and trying to fight back a sudden rush of tears. "You got what you wanted, the Labyrinth seems to think it got what it wanted, so just go ahead and banish me back to the Aboveground."

She started to push herself off the bed, only to be yanked back down. Hard. Until she sprawled across Jareth's still recumbent form, furious glare meeting furious glare.

"I meant," the Goblin King ground out through clenched teeth, "that I am relieved to be back in my castle, in my bedroom, with my magic restored and the woman I love by my side—er, on top of me," he amended with distinctly amused gleam in his eyes as his mood seemed to turn on the proverbial dime. He eased his death-grip on her wrist and ran the fingers of his free hand through her hair. At some point, she'd lost her scrunchie and the dark strands were free to fall in her eyes.

He'd said it. He'd said the "L" word. Sarah froze, not sure even now if she could believe it or not, but the expression on his face said it all. There was no mockery, no relief, nothing in his eyes or face to contradict the words he'd spoken.

"You mean that," Sarah breathed, still not quite able to make herself believe. "You love me. You love me?" she repeated, still questioning what was right before her eyes.

"I love you," Jareth confirmed. "I've loved you from the first, when you were too young to comprehend adult love or even your own feelings. I would have made you a queen when you were fifteen and I will make you a queen now." His eyebrow quirked upwards. "Of course, only if you feel the same way toward me. You understand, I could not bear to keep you as my bride if twas a sham on your par—mmph!"

His last words were smothered beneath a kiss as Sarah threw her arms around him and tried to show him exactly how she felt. When the kiss ended, both of them breathless and heated and he obviously ready to go again, she finally said the words, repeated them over and over in a kind of chant: "I love you, I love you, I lo—"

Then it was his turn to smother her words in a passionate kiss, his turn to put his arms around her, fingers entwined in her hair as he rolled them over so she was once again lying on the bed. Yes, a bed was definitely more comfortable than cobblestones, she had time to think before he eased himself into her for a fifth—fifth!—round of lovemaking that once again brought her to the edge of ecstasy and over the brink.

oOo

"A girl could get used to this, you know," Sarah said as they lazed in an oversized bathtub-hot tub-whirlpool a few hours later. Their epic bout had lasted for the bulk of the night, a record-breaking seven times. Well, record-breaking for her. She wasn't about to open that can of worms by comparing her past love life with that of a semi-immortal Goblin King.

"This girl had very well best get used to it," Jareth replied as he pressed a gentle kiss to her cheek. "Since I intend it to be the way you spend the rest of your life."

Sarah felt her cheeks grow warm but flashed him a sassy smile as she asked: "What, sitting in a sunken bath the size of an Olympic swimming pool? Talk about getting all pruny…"

"Spending the rest of your life in my arms," he growled in response. "And between my legs," he added, grinning his wicked grin as her flush grew and spread and the wetness between her own legs suddenly had very little to do with the hot, bubbly water in which they were currently immersed.

Before Jareth could make good on his obvious intent to once again subject her humble self to another bout of mind-blowing sex, the sound of a discreet cough at the bathing chamber's door caught their attention.

Sarah gasped and sank to her chin in the water. Not that it would do much good, since the water was as clear as glass, but still. It was the principle of the thing. She maneuvered herself so she was behind Jareth, but he foiled her attempts at modesty by displaying his own lack thereof—by rising to his feet, glaring regally at the unfortunate goblin who'd interrupted them and now stood on trembling legs with his face buried in his gnarled hands. "There'saproblemwiththeLabyrinth," he blurted out in one breath.

"What kind of a problem?" Jareth demanded, stepping completely out of the pool, dripping and naked and still managing to look every inch the enraged royal that he was. Sarah gaped at the sight of his tight ass and long legs before returning her gaze to the unwelcome intruder.

"It's…stopped," that poor soul stammered out as the Goblin King continued to glare at him.

"Stopped? Stopped what?" Jareth demanded after a moment, his glare turning to a look of puzzlement that Sarah shared.

"It's just…stopped," the creature repeated with a movement that might have been a shrug. Hard thing to tell his head was still buried in his hands. "That's what I was sent to tell you. The Sages request your presence."

Sarah had time to think that the little guy was remarkably well-spoken for one of Jareth's goblins when he gave a stiff little bow and scuttled out of the room backwards. She heard the sound of a door slamming shut and made her way out of the water. Apparently relaxation time was over.

As Sarah joined Jareth in dripping on the cool blue tile floor, he turned to her, his look of bemusement no doubt matching her own. "Did his words make sense to you?"

She shook her head. With that movement, she suddenly felt her hair and body become dry. In the next moment, both she and Jareth were suddenly reclothed, he in some very regal-looking finery reminiscent of what he'd worn in her peach dream, and she in a long, wine-red gown with long, tight sleeves and a very low neckline.

When she started to object, he placed a finger on her lips. "Shush, my dear. You're my queen now, you must learn to dress the part." Then he kissed her, distracting her from realizing that they'd vanished in a shower of glitter until they'd already arrived at their destination.

She'd thought the squalid little room filled with goblins and chickens (why chickens, some part of her still wondered, even after all these years) had been his throne room.

She'd been wrong. The room they materialized in was much more like the throne rooms she'd envisioned as a child and young woman, and seen depicted in TV shows and movies. Glittering with gold and silver, draped with silk and velvet, fine marble beneath their feet and gracing the columns that rose to dizzying heights above them.

The throne itself, however, was the same semi-circular stone thing he'd been sitting in the last time she visited. Stone, she realized with a flash of insight, that looked very much like the stone walls of the Labyrinth. It was draped with a layer of black satiny material that looked very nice once Jareth planted his royal butt on it. For Sarah he indicated a delicate white lacy-looking thing to his right that covered some kind of backless seat. She sat down, expecting to feel hard stone but instead pleasantly surprised at how cushy it was.

Jareth snapped his fingers and the empty room immediately filled with a crowd of chattering, shrieking goblins. With a disgusted "Wrong!" he snapped them again and the crowd vanished. The third time he snapped his fingers, a row of serious-looking men and women appeared. Well, Sarah supposed they were men and women; some of them weren't exactly human. At any rate, they all looked as old as Methuselah and clutched scrolls and books to their collective chests.

"Well?" Jareth snapped, glaring into each set of eyes one at a time. To their credit, not one dropped their gaze. "What is worth interrupting my wedding night?"

Wedding night? When had they had a wedding? Sarah knew her memory of certain parts of the past twenty-four or however many hours might be hazy, but she doubted she'd forget a wedding ceremony. Now, however, was not the time to bring it up, not with some kind of problem with the Labyrinth for Jareth to deal with.

"The Labyrinth, Sire," one of the human-looking guys murmured, pushing his glasses up his…beak? Nose? nervously. "It's stopped."

"So I've been informed," Jareth replied. "I would appreciate an explanation from one of you as to exactly what that might mean."

A second Sage spoke up. This one looked as human as Sarah's father. Or grandfather. Or great-grandfather. Human and really, really old. But his voice was strong and firm as he answered his king's question. "All activity has stopped, Your Majesty. The runner has been returned home with his unwanted sibling, the Cleaners have returned to their niches without being ordered to, and the Bog of Eternal Stench…" He paused as if unable to figure out what to say next. Or perhaps for drama.

Either way, Jareth thundered: "Has what?"

To which the old man blurted out: "Stopped. Stopped stinking," he added hastily as Jareth's face darkened.

Not that Sarah blamed him; she was getting kinda tired of the word "stopped" herself. Especially since it had stopped her from finding out what it would be like to make love while submerged in hot…bubbly..steamy…water… Mentally she slapped herself. Focus!

Jareth seemed to have no trouble doing so, although he definitely seemed to be having trouble with the concept of the Bog of Eternal Stench no longer…stenching. If that was even a word.

"When did all this happen?" he asked slowly as he sank back down onto his throne, head lowered as if in contemplation of his loosely-clasped hands.

"The moment you were returned to your chambers," one of the old ladies put in. She looked completely human if you ignored the fact that her skin was green and her hair appeared to have branches and twigs growing out of it. "We waited to confirm what we were hearing before, er, interrupting you."

"Couldn't you have waited another half-hour?" Jareth muttered beneath his breath, slanting an exasperated glance at Sarah, the only one who could possibly have heard him. She smothered a grin and waited to see what exactly all this meant. At least, she hoped it meant something, and not something bad, as she was beginning to fear. Had the Labyrinth somehow overextended itself when it stole her away and stopped up Jareth's magic?

Apparently he needed some time to think about it, because Jareth's next move was to rise to his feet and dismiss the Sages. "You will be informed when things have been set aright," he pronounced, and with a snap of his fingers he and Sarah once again found themselves alone.

He turned and offered his hands. She allowed him to pull her to her feet, then gasped as he immediately swept her into his arms for a passionate kiss. When the kiss ended with him nibbling on her neck, licking delicately at the bruise he'd given her earlier and that she belatedly remembered now that it was too late to cover it up in front of the Sages, she pushed him back. "Aren't you supposed to be doing something about the Labyrinth?" she asked, studying him for signs that he'd somehow lost his mind.

He sighed, a resigned sound. "I know what's wrong with it," he mumbled as he tried to press his lips against her neck again.

She shoved her hand up between them, not that she wanted to, but she wanted an explanation more. "Well?" she demanded. "What is it? Can you fix it?"

Another sigh, and Jareth dropped his hold on her, folding his hands behind his back and pacing down the three steps to the floor of the throne room. Which had suddenly shrunk in size and looked like its old, messy, self, minus goblins and chickens and all the regal trappings it had formerly sported. "No, I can't fix it," he finally said as he came to a stop and looked directly up at her. "Only you can."

"Me? What can I do?" Sarah asked, her voice squeaking with alarm.

"Tell it you forgive me and will stay here, with me, as my queen."

"I thought it figured that out when it let us out of that trap it had us in," Sarah said slowly, her mind whirling. Wow, how many shocks could one girl take in a twenty-four-or-so hour period? "Why the temper tantrum now?"

Jareth pursed his lips, looked to one side, and fidgeted uncomfortably. "It might still be a little perturbed with me for banishing your friends," he mumbled, still not meeting Sarah's gaze. "So if you could be so kind as to announce your forgiveness to me in a loud, firm tone, that might do the trick."

Sarah sat down abruptly. This time, the stone seat wasn't quite as cushy as before. "You banished them? I thought you just stopped them from seeing me!"

Jareth had the grace to look guilty. "The only way to do that was to banish them. Temporarily," he added as Sarah's expression darkened. He reached down, and when he held his hand back up, it held three crystal balls. "Look, they're perfectly fine. Even the gardener," he added with a sneer as he glanced into one of the balls where a miniature figure stood waving a fist at him. "See?" He held it up higher.

Sarah fairly flew down the steps in order to get a closer look. In one crystal a miniature Hoggle did, indeed, appear, wearing a scowl on his face that melted into a smile as he caught sight of Sarah. In the second crystal she saw Ludo, waving both arms at her, and in the third Sir Didymus and Ambrosius pranced about excitedly.

With an exclamation of distress, Sarah snatched the crystals from Jareth's hand. Without even thinking about what she was doing, she clutched them to her chest. "Let them go!" she shouted.

There was a sound like a thousand mirrors breaking, the room shook beneath their feet, and when Sarah blinked her friends stood before her. The crystals which had trapped them were gone, but she hardly took in that fact as she was engulfed in the best group hug she'd ever taken part in.

None of them noticed that Jareth had vanished.

oOo

It seemed like hours passed before Sarah once again appeared in Jareth's private chambers. When she did peek her head around the corner of the door, she was thankfully alone. However, he braced himself for her wrath; after all, he'd deliberately neglected to tell her about the banishment. When he'd done it, he'd wanted everyone who loved Sarah to feel as bereft and lonely as he had.

Now she was about to unleash her temper on him, no doubt, and a fine temper she had once it was roused. He almost smiled reminiscently at how her passions could be equally roused, but quashed it. Now was the time to be humble, to beg her forgiveness if that was what she demanded of him, to apologize to those louts she called friends if she demanded that. Anything to get her to stay with him, to get the Labyrinth to believe she was staying and thus go back to work. He'd get over the humiliation eventually, as long as she still loved him and would remain as his queen.

He doubted, however, that he'd ever get past the humiliation of having been the first and only Goblin King to preside over a complete work stoppage of the Labyrinth. Ever.

Sarah continued into the room until she stood directly in front of him. He was sitting on the low ottoman in front of the bedroom's oversized fireplace, and turned his back on it to face her.

"You stuck them in crystals," Sarah finally said when the silence had stretched longer than he felt comfortable with. He nodded a cautious agreement; there was no point in denying the obvious.

She turned and paced deliberately toward the bed, Jareth eyeing her warily the entire time. She stood with her head bowed, hands lightly resting on the sumptuous coverlet, her back to him, for moments that stretched like hours.

When she finally broke the silence he remained frozen in place, not sure he was hearing her correctly. "So? Can we get back to our honeymoon already?"

Sarah peeked over her shoulder and grinned at the expression of stunned incredulity on Jareth's face. Ha, she got him but good. He'd probably expected her to have a temper tantrum and there was a huge part of her that wanted to, but honestly, she knew how it would work out in the end. And when he demanded an explanation of her, she grinned even wider as she settled onto the edge of the bed, leaning back on her hands. "Look, Jareth, we both know how this is going to turn out. I yell at you, you tell me you're sorry but don't really mean it because you never liked my friends in the first place, right? So then we fight, I call you names, you get so worked up that all you want to do is shake me, you take me by the arms and I melt like a Hershey bar on a hot sidewalk in July and forgive you, so why not skip all the drama and go right for the make-up sex?"

He was on her in the blink of an eye, literally. Pressing her back onto the bed, leaning over her, peering doubtfully down at her…wait, doubtfully? He was supposed to be kissing her by now, what was the hold-up?

"Sarah, is this some kind of trick?" he demanded hoarsely as he stared searchingly into her eyes. "You truly have it in your heart to forgive me?"

She tried to shrug, hard to do in a prone position, but she thought she got her point across. "They didn't suffer, right? They said so. Then I explained to them about the Labyrinth trapping us both and that you called our time together our wedding night, and they all stopped bad-mouthing you and started apologizing to me and calling me their Queen—and when," she interrupted herself to demand, "exactly did we get married? Because I may have a few gaps in my memory of the past day or however long its been, but I definitely don't remember saying 'I do' to you or anyone else."

Jareth's smile was radiant as he answered her. "We were wed, my lady, as soon as you allowed me to join my body to yours. All the land knew of it, that the Goblin King had finally found his Queen, or so I've been told," he added wryly. "There will be a ceremony later, of course, a combination wedding and coronation, but that is a mere formality."

"Every girl's dream," Sarah said, not quite managing to make it sound like the sarcastic comment she wanted it to be. Because every little girl dreamed she was a princess at least once in her life, and Sarah had cherished such dreams long into adolescence. "So I guess that's it, then," she murmured, but Jareth shook his head, his expression instantly turning serious.

"Not quite. There's still the matter of the Labyrinth. It's still stopped," he reminded her.

"Oh, yeah, right. That," Sarah conceded as she stared up at him with a teasing smile. "How did you put it? Say I forgive you in a loud, firm voice?"

As she spoke, her hands had wandered from her waist to his, and from there to a certain point due south of his elaborate silver belt-buckle. The bulge beneath his form-fitting trousers was every bit as firm as she remembered it to be. Jareth sucked in a breath, begging her with her eyes to say the words that would set the world back in order, and after a deliberate pause, she did so. "Yes, Jareth," she said, in a loud, firm voice. "I forgive you for banishing my friends, especially now that they've been restored to their rightful places and you've agreed to compensate them for the unjust punishment you set upon them."

"Finally," Jareth muttered, then did a visible double-take as her final words sank in. "Sarah," he growled, but she merely smiled up at him sweetly, batted her eyelashes, and waited. "Fine," he agreed, still in a growly-bear voice. She brushed her fingers up and down his rapidly hardening shaft and the growl turned into a demand as he pressed himself against her and kissed her hard enough to leave a bruise.

Like she cared.

No, right now all she cared about was getting her clothes off, getting Jareth's clothes off, and making use of his sumptuous, oversized canopied bed. Maybe this time they'd even make it beneath the covers…no, not this time.

"Next time," she would have been heard to mutter if anyone had dared to be listening in on the Goblin King and Queen making love in their private chambers. And although the Labyrinth was discovered to be back to normal within minutes of Sarah entering said chambers, no one was stupid enough to interrupt them with the good news.

Not even Sir Didymus.

A/N: Apologies for the long delay. Unfortunately my grandfather passed away on April 28 after a brief illness. He was 95 and led a long, full life. I miss him, but I'm finally back writing again. Hope you enjoyed this story and that the ending was worth waiting for.

And now, as promised, here is a preview of my next Labyrinth story, "Forbidden Fruit". Just a taste of a much darker story.

Forbidden Fruit – A Labyrinth Love Story

She survived the Labyrinth, she defeated the Goblin King, she rescued her baby brother and made her way safely home again. She partied with her new friends for an hour before sending them back through the mirror and into their own realm, giving her exactly another fifteen minutes to revel in the feeling of being utterly in control of her own fate before her father and step-mother returned home, and she was plunged back into the cold reality of being a fifteen year-old girl in a mundane world.

However, she was a fifteen-year-old girl who'd received a unique perspective on life, and was determined to do her best with the life she had rather than mooning after something that might never be. Maybe one day she'd follow in her mother's footsteps and become a famous actress, but for right now she had a home and a family and most importantly, a baby brother who needed her to be there for him.

With all that on her mind, it was no wonder that another three months passed before she realized she'd returned from the Labyrinth with an unexpected—and unwelcome—souvenir.

It took two more months before she was willing to accept the unacceptable; to realize that what she'd thought had happened only a dream was, instead, terribly real.

She might even have gone on trying to deny what was happening to her, the way her body was changing, if she hadn't fainted in gym glass and been brought to the nurse's office.

And if the nurse hadn't said those six simple words that turned her world upside down: "How far along are you, Sarah?"