Sarah slowly opened her eyes, the muscles in her body aching slightly as she looked around. She lay on her back with the covers resting on top of her, staring at the beautifully detailed ceiling full of swirls and diamonds. Did it work? Did she save Serboa?

"Oh, good Sleeping Beauty, you're awake. I almost called Jareth to give you true love's kiss so you could finally wake up, but it's okay — you did it on your own."

Her head snapped to the side to see Serboa in a chair next to the bed, then she bolted upright to give him a hug. She didn't even care that the pain of doing so was unbearable, she was just happy to see that he was healed. "Serboa! You're okay….! How long have I been out?"

"Four and a half days. Why do you even want to know? You're awake now, and that's what matters."

"It's just you've been fully healed for that long and I wasn't awake to see it. The only time I saw you without any injuries was for a short time after Bjorg healed your leg, and before Jocelyn messed you up all over again."

"Oh, shut up," he snapped as she pulled away to lay back down, though he was grinning. She giggled lightly.

Autumn came bounding in and hopped on top of her, thankfully placing her weight on either side of Sarah, licking her face. To think that she was such a creature as would kill somebody with ease — who had an evil heart — and Sarah felt glad not to have let her kill Jocelyn. Even with all that she'd put them through, Sarah wouldn't stoop to her level… though Autumn had seemed rather disappointed with that.

Jareth seemed to read her mind as he walked in the door. "Autumn could have taken care of her, and we would have nothing more to worry about."

"We already have nothing more to worry about. I have her magic, and I won't be stooping to her level for any reason."

Autumn hopped off of her to give Jareth some room. He lay down next to her, surprising her slightly until she remembered that not only would this be her room but it was his as well.

There had to be some sort of ceremony for this besides the ring, right? "So…" she ventured, "when is the coronation?"

"Whenever you'd like," he said, lacing his fingers with hers.

"I want to do it as soon as I'm healed."

He raised his eyebrows at her. "In a rush?"

"I'm not going too long without doing it… then it'll be set in stone. I'll be a major part of this world, and I can help with everything. It'll feel real the sooner I do it."

"Will it really?" he asked, squeezing her hand softly. "It took me a while to realize that I was no longer king of the Labyrinth. And that was when I got chained up."

She giggled, "The chains were the moot point. You don't think a coronation will do that for me?"

"Depends," he replied with a small smile.

Two goblins walked in, one with a plate full of food and the other with a small table Sarah could prop on the bed. Jareth sat up and turned to her.

"You'll have to sit up to eat."

"I wanted to sit up anyways —"

"Ah, she can do it herself, Jareth!" Serboa said with a wave of his hand. "She sat up with ease just to hug me."

"I was happy to bear the pain in order to hug your frail little body," she replied.

"Hey!" he said indignantly. "I'm not frail!"

"You've been hurt a lot, though, you have to admit —"

"Because I keep on being turned into the target dummy," he grumbled. "And besides, what makes you think I need you to put yourself in excruciating pain just to acknowledge that I'm all right?"

Jareth chuckled as he brought his hands up under Sarah's underarms and gently lifted her into a sitting position, leaning her back against the bedframe. The pain stabbed at her body, caused her to groan under the pressure. It soon passed as a pillow was set behind her, and she relaxed her muscles against it. It was a good thing her arms were still functional… poor Serboa. "I am so sorry you went through this pain," she told the goblin seriously.

He humphed indignantly.

The table was set up over her lap after Jareth helped Sarah cross her legs, and the food placed in front of her. "Wow," she said softly as she looked it over. The goblins had made a pile of maybe four pancakes with strawberries and maple syrup covering them, as well as scrambled eggs and hash browns. "Not only did I not realize you guys know how to make the exact same kind of food down here as above ground, but do you think I'm going to be able to eat all of this?"

"I figured. That's why I'm eating, too," Jareth said, sitting cross-legged in front of her with a fork in hand. "We're not that different from above ground." He went for the hash browns.

Sarah grinned as she brought her fork down to block his. "Hey, that's my food. You can have the leftovers."

"Whatever happened to 'sharing is caring?'"

"You'll have to fork fight me first." Sarah laughed as she started tapping her fork on his.

Jareth… well, he looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "What is the point of this tomfoolery? Are we reducing ourselves to mere children?"

Snorting, Sarah shook her head and used a fork and knife to cut up her pancakes. "Never mind, Jareth. You can eat… spoilsport."

Sarah woke up a few days later and stretched with very little soreness. 'Awesome, I'm all better,' she thought, eagerly throwing the blankets off and moving her legs so they dangled off the side of the bed, swinging slightly. Then she stood, letting her feet adjust to the weight it hadn't carried for about a week before pacing around the room to look at everything. There wasn't much to look at, that was certain, but there were cabinets.

She opened one of the cabinets to find rows and rows of crystal balls. She wasn't even sure how many were in there, but she wondered if they were here all along and if Jocelyn either hadn't found them or didn't think anything of them if she did.

Jareth had offered one to her when they first met. Had he really meant it, besides what he did with a crystal ball just one week before — turning it into the ring she had brought three years ago?

"I've brought you a gift," Jareth said, switching the crystal ball from hand to hand in smooth motions.

"What is it?" Sarah asked nervously, watching it with her eyes.

"It's a crystal," he replied, matter-of-factly, "nothing more, but if you turn it this way and look into it, it will show you your dreams." He turned it over in his hands, holding it gently. "But this isn't a gift for an ordinary girl who takes care of a screaming baby. Do you want it?" He asked, holding it out. "Then forget the baby."

She lightly shook her head, "I can't. I appreciate what you're offering, but I want my brother back. He must be scared -"

"Sarah," the Goblin King cut her off impatiently, the crystal turning into a snake that wrapped around his hand. He lightly untied it and held it deftly in his hands, looking at it. "Don't defy me." He quickly looked at her, and tossed it in her face.

Sarah gave a small chuckle at the memory - if not for how much she freaked out about a snake being thrown into her face, but how it seemed that Jareth had already seen her as no normal teenage girl. Had it been a ring then, or some other dream of hers?... The dream would have been a life of her father noticing her, her mother coming back and not being left alone at home to watch Toby. So that meant that her dream well over a week ago really had become to want to marry Jareth, and he just took advantage of that hidden wish.

"Do I hear someone's brain putting things together?" a voice asked.

Sarah turned to see Jareth leaning on the door frame, a smirk on his face. She returned a small smile, and looked back at the collection. "You knew all along that you wanted to be with me."

"You are a remarkably smart girl. I had noticed you all along, especially because you were reciting that book so often in the spot where I usually spread my wings in peace and quiet… since it was away from the city and from the duties of my kingdom."

"It's amazing how everything comes to be. I wonder… why do you have so many?"

"I can use more than one at a time," he said. She could hear his footsteps coming up behind her. "I could have used it, too, because though Jocelyn believed I hardly had any powers my crystals are my greatest weapons. They can be turned into anything I need. But, I had trust in you that you would be able to handle it. That you would find out the power of your ring, and use it. We're both stronger than Jocelyn, which she didn't take into account. I could have shown her what power I really had," he wrapped his arms around her, burying his face into her hair, "but I'll be saving that for when we really need it."

Her mouth was open in surprise at the power of the crystals, and she stared at them openly. Then she brought the back of her left hand up to her face to stare at the ring. How could such inanimate objects wield such power?

"Your ring, you know, already held some type of power which was needed for me to place any kind of magic into it. I was lucky to find out from the wiseman a few days after you beat me that you had given him the ring in exchange for information. Where did you get it from?"

"It was my mom's… my last remembrance of her after she left me and my dad. Wha-what kind of power was in it?"

"It offered you protection. It still does, I can't take it out. Not that I would want to."

It did? she thought back. I was never injured before the Labyrinth. And when the cleaners came after Hoggle and I, we were lucky enough to push the loose wall in when it was being so difficult against our meagerly combined strengths. After that, I gave it away and everything had already felt harder to handle. Keeping myself from getting my head taken off before Hoggle found and saved me, saving myself and Hoggle from falling into the Bog of Eternal Stench, and navigating the Escher Room without a hitch.

"Hey," Jareth said softly, taking her chin and turning her head to face him. He kept a tight hold around her waist. "Today is not the day to be worrying about it. The goblins have a dress ready for the coronation, and then you and I can spend some alone time together as husband and wife. Whatever you desire."

A warm feeling entered the pit of her stomach, and yet it also twisted itself into knots.

He smiled, "Don't be nervous. I'll make your life wonderful."

"I don't doubt that at all. It's just my dad and Toby —"

"They'll be fine," he said soothingly. "We can keep watch over them by checking in every so often to see that they're safe. We can be their guardians."

"Yeah… I like that…."

"Then that's all we need to worry about, next to this kingdom and each other. Are you happy?"

"Yes. Are you?"

"Immensely so," he replied, bringing his lips down to hers for a kiss.

Life with Jareth won't be so bad — it'll be wonderful even…. It's only forever. Not long at all.