Then: Jareth and Sarah, a labyrinth fanfic

News About Upcoming Story:
*Think of this as a prequel/sequel for my upcoming Labyrinth fanfic that the idea has been in my head since junior high and I just started to actually write it down a bit before I started 'Wonders' that completely turns the mythology of the movie on its' ear, hopefully in a cool way though. But I will not be posting that fanfic until I finish it because it's slow going and if I start posting it there's no guarantee that I would finish it at this point and that would suck. It changes things behind the scenes in a way that I've never seen another author write about before and I've been reading fanfic before it even had its' own name, so hopefully it'll be as good as I hope it will be, but since the story isn't done yet I don't really know except for the plans to the happy ending in my head.

AN: This is a story that I've been meaning to write even before my muses made me write 'Wonders' and then life got in the way, but hopefully it turned out okay after all that. Let me know what you think.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything having to do with Labyrinth, that's all the Henson's. I do not own the song Then by Brad Paisley either, just this idea that came when I heard it for the first time several months ago.

Then –

Jareth remembered the first time he saw her. She was much younger then, of course, but he was fascinated at first sight. He had never seen someone so young with such a wealth of creative energy just flowing from them like magic, and she was a human at that. There was just something about this human that caught his eye and he couldn't seem to take his eyes off of her even then.

I remember, trying not to stare the night that I first met you
You had me mesmerized

It didn't take very long for this fascination with her to turn into more than just a casual thing. There had been other humans that he had watched from time to time. But once his initial interest in them passed he would eventually forget them and move on with his seemingly endless life. But this girl, this little human seemed to transcend more than just a simple interest. He became completely enamored of this little girl and her seeming obsession with the world that he called his home even though she thought it was a world of make-believe. Every day that he watched her grow and watched her life from the outside he started to feel more than he ever thought he would for anyone outside his family. And that fact that it was a little human was something that he didn't really know how to handle.

And three weeks later, in the front porch light
taking forty-five minutes to kiss goodnight
I hadn't told you yet
but I thought I loved you then

And in the end she came to mean more to him than he had ever thought possible. She had been the one to turn his world upside down and he was trying his best to keep it from falling apart. She had a fae king on his knees and she didn't even know he existed yet. But Jareth was not one to sit on the sidelines and had put a plan into action to make sure that he wasn't going to just be watching her life from the outside, he was going to be part of it whether his Sarah knew it yet or not.

And now you're my whole life
now you're my whole world
I just can't believe the way I feel about you, girl
Like a river meets the sea,
stronger than it's ever been.
We've come so far since that day
And I thought I loved you then

Jareth remembered when he actually got to meet her face to face for the first time. He was absolutely overjoyed and as smug as he usually was back then, which was a lot. At the same time he was completely freaking out and was wondering when the hell her step-mother had a baby and how he didn't know about it. Apparently he had not been paying attention to everything as closely as he should have been. That child ruined everything and he knew even then that all of his planning was not going to turn out the way it had in his dreams.

And I remember, taking you back to right where I first met you,
You were so surprised
There were people around, but I didn't care
Got down on one knee right there once again,
I thought I loved you then

Things have changed so much since that first day, since she had run his Labyrinth, desperate to save Toby and get them both home safe. The strange and wonderful circumstances thirteen years later that allowed them to meet again would never be completely understandable to him, but he would be forever grateful to them for bringing her back into his life. When he was able to finally express his love to her, and get her to understand that he wasn't a cruel and unreasonable dictator, but that that was the affect of being backed into a corner during a crucial part of his plan to win her over and had to realize that that first try would not end the way he wanted it to. When he found out that she loved him too and was able to finally ask her to be his wife, his mate once more in a way she understood, that was the happiest he thought he had ever been up to that point in his life. Being married to the girl of his dreams, and watching her grow in her new role in life he knew that nothing could be better than this.

Jareth felt a swelling of masculine pride and what had to be pure joy everytime he looked at his wife and mate now; his Sarah. To watch her belly get bigger and rounder as their child grew inside. It had to be one of the best things that had ever happened in his extremely long life. He also had discovered that pregnancy is a new magic all its' own that somehow even made his gorgeous Sarah more beautiful everyday. He knew women that would kill if you could bottle that kind of magic, but that was all the basics of nature right there and he was more than happy to witness such a thing, to just look on in awe. He had never been happier in his life, and just thinking about having his own family with Sarah and their unborn child, he knew it was only going to keep getting better.

I could just see you, with a baby on the way
And I could just see you, when your hair is turning gray
What I can't see is how I'm ever gonna love you more
But I've said that before

It had been a century since his own wish had finally come true and he had gotten the girl, his Sarah. Marrying her and starting a family with her had been the happiest he had ever been up to that point in his life. He had made sure that he would not lose her in the blink of an eye that a human lifespan was to him and his people. She had willingly become one of them, and even though she had retained everything that made her Sarah, she also gained the attributes of his people, now her people. Even after all of this time she still looked exactly as she did the day he made her his mate. It was her eyes; those beautiful brown eyes could still make him stop in his tracks from just one look from them. She fully knew of her power over him now, and after all of these blissful years he was more than happy to let her do with him what she would. For as long as he had her in his life he knew that even the bad days would be extremely more satisfying than even a second without her. She and the children were his whole world now and he was the happiest he had ever been, and knew that if you ask him next century he would say the exact same thing, but that wasn't a bad problem to have. He was excruciatingly happy and life was very good.

And now you're my whole life
now you're my whole world
I just can't believe the way I feel about you, girl
We'll look back someday, at this moment that we're in
And I'll look at you and say
And I thought I loved you then
And I thought I loved you then

The End