When Sarah rolled her eyes upward in dread, she was slightly relieved to see that Jareth was currently passing for human. But it was also weird as hell to see him in a suit, with normal hair and brows. For a moment she could only blink in surprise, while he grinned wolfishly at her.

"Well, hello there," Amy said, and Sarah was forced to introduce him around as he took the seat next to her. Inhumanly graceful, but it seemed only she saw that. The rest just watched with eager eyes, overjoyed at this new revelation. Sarah wondered briefly just how solemn and staid they'd thought her, to be so excited by evidence of spontaneity. But then, Jareth was the king of everything she'd tried to deny in herself.

"I wasn't expecting you," she told him, with a smile that she hoped conveyed the need to pretend normality a little longer. "How on earth did you even find me?"

"I finished up my morning's business sooner than even I expected," Jareth replied smoothly. "As for how I found you, the same as it ever was, Sarah: serendipity."

"Ah, yeah. Unfortunately, your timing was a little off this time. I'm sorry; I don't have a long enough lunch break to let you schmooze with my friends," she said, sighing inwardly. Was it too much to ask for one day, just one day back in her real life before magic came calling?

By the gleam in his eye, yes, it was too much. Before Jareth could reply, Amy spoke up. "Come on back to the office, if you have time. Sarah always takes a late lunch, it's only a couple hours before she leaves. We can finish the interrogation there."

That got laughter from the rest, and a chuckle from Jareth. "Would that I could," he replied. "Someday perhaps, but I have business this afternoon that requires my attention. Besides, Sarah would not appreciate the distraction of having to police me."

"Aww, she doesn't trust you to run loose yet?" Amy laughed, making it clear she was only a joking.

"Not for more than ten seconds at a time," Sarah snarked back, arching her brows at him. Clearly, not a single of them had enough intuition to acknowledge anything more than a good-looking man. If they had the slightest of the chaos said man could cause, was causing… "He's not completely housebroken."

"Nor are you completely tamed to my hand, my fierce little falcon," Jareth purred back. That earned him a glare than only widened his grin. "To be honest, my Sarah, I do not think you can be tamed … nor am I exerting particular effort toward that goal."

Yeah, good luck on that, Goblin King. Gonna have a while trying to obtain that. "Yes, well, I just want you domesticated enough for polite company – which this pack of heathens I call coworkers is decidedly not," she shot back, not even resisting the urge to smirk at him appropriately.

"You forget, Sarah my love, I am accustomed to much more proper company than is to be found in your country," Jareth teased. "As well as decidedly heathenish companions. The mark of character is that it does not change substantially no matter what its surroundings – and your character, Sarah, is beyond all reproach. You are ever yourself."

Okay, they were starting skim a little too close to the truth of their situation. Time to break this up before she slipped and said something that would give them away. There hadn't been enough time yet for her to firm up her cover-story and they were winging this a little too much. And not to mention, the ties of real life beckoned. "Enough flattery," she finally said, as the girls exchanged raised-eyebrow looks. She managed to shoo him off, Jareth bowing to the table as he left, and scarfed down the last of her sandwich while internally coming to grips with the fact that the formerly-separate sides of her life had just collided with no warning. It was too late to choke now.

Once they headed back to work, though, the commentary started. "Holy hell, that accent," Amy remarked. "I don't know how you manage not to just melt into the seat."

"That's the difference, Amy, I know him. You get used to it." Not even partly true, but it was better than admitting that he got to her.

"And all that 'Sarah my love' stuff," Emily added. "Hot damn, he even talks like a freakin' Disney prince!"

Sarah couldn't help a snort of utter disbelief. Of all of the comparisons they could make, that was the most hilariously painful. Perish the thought! "Not hardly!" she retorted. "You guys have to understand that you're only seeing him at his most charming. Disney wouldn't touch him with a ten foot pole; they'd likely run screaming in the opposite direction, really." Maybe the gist of their tale would have a curiosity to him, when what was said was first said, but could never have been ever said about the Goblin King himself. Everyone's Uncle Walt would surely have been horrified at the association. She couldn't resist a laugh at the thought.

"Yeah, Disney doesn't tend to show great big hickies," Kathy teased.

"Shut up," Sarah muttered, blushing as she combed her hand through the length of her hair, unconsciously hiding the mark from view. Especially now, she was all too aware of aspects of his history – and hers – that were well above a PG-13 rating and had been for some time. Another very un-Disney thing. "Anyway, all of that charm isn't always so charming, especially when he's using it to be a snarky bastard. Something that Jareth practically has a degree in. In fact, he can be an absolute reprobate about most things."

"I get the feeling you like that about him, don't you, Sarah?" Amy said musingly. "You like that he won't fall at your feet. And I bet he likes that you won't swoon. Okay, the pieces are falling into place here. Yeah, okay, for the first minute I wondered how the hell that ever happened, but now I get it."

That made Sarah stare at her for a moment, a little startled to hear someone say it out loud. It had been the draw from the first, she admitted to herself, from that very first meeting. Something that had made both of them notice one another in a more real way than they had seen anyone else in their lives. A challenge neither could resist. A little self-conscious smile of acceptance flitted across her lips, making her shake her head in amusement. "Yeah, well. Good for you," Sarah murmured, not looking over at her friend. The smile crept back, Sarah chuckling quietly at herself, at them. "It took me, us, a little longer to figure that out. Years, even."

"He's a catch," Amy told her. "And so are you. I'm glad for you, Sarah."

"I wonder a little, but we'll see what happens," she said, glancing up at Amy with bright eyes, before adding under her breath, "Yeah, he's not doing not too bad for a guy who used to give me major evil kidnapper-creep vibes, back in the day." She had to laugh at herself for even saying it, and fortunately Amy seemed to take it as a joke.

…

The rest of the day was such a flurry of paperwork that she managed to bury herself in her work enough to avoid the questions she knew they were all dying to ask about how long she'd known Jareth and how they'd met. The way everyone kept watching her, a question in their eyes made it clear that they had better get their story in order very, very soon. At last Sarah headed home, catching the subway, exhausted from more than just work.

This is how it's going to be, she thought, staring out the window at the tunnels rushing past. You're going to live a lie, to everyone you know. Sarah Williams, social worker by day, Goblin Queen by night and on weekends.

It was worth it, though. She couldn't walk away from her duty, from her work Aboveground, but she also couldn't deny her calling to the Underground. For now, the best compromise was living two lives.

Two lives that intersected in unexpected ways – Jareth was lounging outside her apartment door. That startled her, but she didn't allow herself to show it. There hadn't been time after lunch to consider why he'd chosen that moment or what he had done after. All of this had been far sooner than she had expected. Especially since someone had promised her time to adjust.

Stopping herself a few feet from where he stood, Sarah crossed her arms to look at him with one fine black brow raised, her tone chiding. "So, that little performance was unexpected, Your Majesty. I seem to remember someone telling me, just before the curse was broken, that travel between the realms was difficult."

"Difficult, but not impossible," he replied. "You wished I were there, and so I was. I do hope I didn't cause you too much difficulty."

Her first reaction was to protest, starting to frown at the implication that she had done so, then remembered. Look, guys. I really wish I could introduce Jareth to you, but it's just not in the cards, all right? Dammit, the man was actually right. Once again, she was reminded that she really had to be more careful with the way she worded her thoughts. Sarah smirked at him as she unlocked the door.

If she was honest with him, his wholly-unexpected appearance to the girls at the restaurant had scared the hell out of her for a moment, but she wouldn't admit that. "Except for the part that the fae king just strolled up to us with no prior warning, maybe just a little," Sarah murmured over her shoulder, pitching her voice lower as she opened the door. "You and I gonna need to agree on a cover story, you know. So we don't accidentally tell people over here different versions of how we met, and stuff. God knows we're not going to tell them anything approaching the truth. "

"Indeed we do," Jareth said, and as they both stepped inside the apartment, his glamour melted away, exchanging the handsome passing-for-mortal man for the magnificent king. Glancing back at the whisper of magic she felt slip past her, Sarah couldn't help catching her breath, and he moved toward her with a wicked predatory smile. "I had other ideas in mind for the immediate future, my Sarah."

Oh my God, here we go again. I have to learn to not let him distract me like this. At some point. Maybe. Sarah slowly backed away from him, but she was smiling knowingly… and backing toward the hall that led to her bedroom. "I see. So that discussion is on hold for the moment, hmm? So, the King of the Goblins can't bear to be away from me for even a full day. Jareth, really. I had expected for you to head back to Umardelin after that; instead, I find you hanging around my door, waiting for me to arrive. Hmm … I have to tell you, Jareth. Seems like I hold the power here."

"Yours is the power every woman has held since the dawn of time," he replied in husky voice. "But you will find, my Sarah, my Sarai, my champion and queen … that I do have power over you. Now, power you granted me, power whose exercise you adore."

"You really are awfully sure of yourself after just one night outside of dreams," Sarah laughed, but the fine hairs on the nape of her neck were standing up as his strange eyes shone with opalescence. "Your arrogance is showing, Your Highness."

"My will is as strong," Jareth laughed back, and swept her gladly into his arms. "And my love for you as great as yours is for me."

She laced her arms around his neck and sighed. "I would argue with you, but…"

"You cannot," Jareth said, and kissed her to silence the inevitable protest. "You may have power over me, sweet Sarah, but not enough to deny this."

Sarah looked him boldly in the eyes, the gleam in her own fiery. Her smile was as fierce as it was enraptured. There was no denying the hold he had on her, the fact that he had, as he always had, her heart; that, now, was inescapable as the tide. But she would never, ever yield to him completely. Nor did she want that of him. Never had there been a moment in her life that had equaled this tumble of conflicting emotions she felt when he was with her, be it locked in sweetness or in battle. Oh, if he thought she would ever willingly relent that, was he ever in for a surprise.

I have fought my way here to the Castle, beyond the Goblin City, to take back the future that I had stolen...

"Truly, Jareth? Bet me."

Author's Note: And that, ladies and gentlemen, concludes Draw Your Swords. I hope you've enjoyed it! Thank you all for reading, favoriting, and reviewing.

We are working on further installments in this 'verse, though it will be more like a series of short stories than a novel. There are quite a few things already in progress, so hopefully it won't be too long a wait. :)