"Sit down, please," Karen said, flustered by the stranger turning up on her doorstep at eight in the evening, "Can I get you something to drink?"

"No, thank you. That's very kind of you but I won't waste your time any further."

Karen glanced involuntarily at the stairs in case Toby came down to investigate.

"I need to talk to you about your husband," Jareth plunged in.

Karen stiffened. "My husband?" She narrowed her eyes. "Have we met before, Mr. Feren? I'm so terrible with faces, I never can remember." She tried to smile but her eyes were cold.

Karen was prepared to admit that her memory for faces and names was faulty. But she was not a fool, and she was certain she would have remembered this man sitting so straight-backed in her favourite seat. He was too arrogant not to leave an impression, staring out from those strange eyes as if the world amused him and bored him by turns. He was restless, too, and if he didn't stop eyeing her house like a real estate agent she was going to lose her temper.

Jareth thought the woman a formidable type. Robert certainly had picked a winning dominant. He didn't like her at all. "We have never met but I know your husband. Robert has been staying with me for these few weeks that he has been away."

She nodded and motioned to him to go on.

"I live overseas," Jareth lied easily.

"You sound British," Karen remarked.

He smiled and shrugged. "Our European accents get so confusing these days. Robert told me about the problems you have had with him. I thought I could help."

"Mr. Feren, I'm not sure how much of this concerns you but Robert left this house and hasn't chosen to contact us since then. I'm not sure I'll ever see him again at all," Karen pointed out. She smoothed a wrinkle out in her skirt with manicured fingers and set her jaw to a stubborn line.

"Robert was certain you would say that," Jareth observed, "That's why I've come to plead on his behalf." He sounded as though he were doing her a great favour.

Karen always bristled at backhanded favours. "I'm happy to listen to any explanation at this point," she agreed.

"Sarah was in some slight trouble," Jareth began, "A situation with a friend of mine- I won't bore you with the details. She is with this friend of mine and I demanded that Robert follow her to talk sense to her. This friend is not a nice person. Robert did. Then he returned to you and you threw him out. He is devastated and wants to make amends."

Karen blinked at the most unadorned lie she had ever heard. It had to be a lie. No one could believe that Sarah would ever get mixed up with undesirable men from Poland. She barely allowed herself to go on a date with undesirable men from her own country. She could believe Robert flying halfway around the world on someone else's demand.

"Why didn't he just tell me?" Karen sighed.

"Sarah asked him not to," Jareth replied promptly. He reached up to card his fingers through shortened blond hair, just to remind himself not to let the disguise drop at any time while he was in this house. Karen didn't need to see him as he really was.

"What a ridiculous thing to do!"

"Not at all. She's very embarrassed," Jareth said.

Karen thought about that and then a thought struck her. "She's not pregnant, is she?"

"No, even worse. She has decided to stay with this friend of mine." Jareth thought of Saxony. No, Saxony wasn't a very nice person. And Sarah had chosen.

"Wherever did she meet him? Toby never mentioned a foreign gentleman and Sarah tells Toby more than she tells anyone else." Karen shot another disquieted look up at the stairs. "How terrible could this man be?"

"Oh, not a bad person, but not very likable," Jareth said cheerfully, "He has a few skeletons in his closet but haven't we all."

"Do you?" Karen asked, much against her will.

Jareth's smile widened. "Certainly. Which explains why Robert has never introduced us. I have been to this town recently but he was very protective of you."

"Was he?" Karen softened a little. "He does strange things like that all the time, Mr. Feren."

"I'm sure as a token of his love."

"He says so." Karen wasn't about to confide in this stranger she didn't know. "Where is he now, please?"

"He should be back here tomorrow. Will you take him back?"

"I'll see him and he can explain all this rubbish first."

"He won't tell you what I have just told you," Jareth warned, "Sarah doesn't want you to know."

"Why not?" Karen exclaimed, "What does she imagine I'll do to her? I'm not her mother, for God's sake! I won't order her back home. Not that I like the idea. Sarah is too lovely a girl to fall into such a sad trap, but there's nothing I can say to her. I learned that lesson a long time ago. You sound as though you know both Robert and Sarah so I imagine you know Sarah's penchant for fairytales. She always pictured me as the wicked stepmother."

Jareth bit back a triumphant grin and thought admiringly of his daughter's candour. "How troubling," he said sympathetically.

"No. She was very good about being polite and listening. I believe we get on in our own way. But we're not close. Sarah won't listen to me."

"Perhaps she thinks you would keep Toby from her," Jareth suggested.

"I don't know why. Toby will chew my ears off if I tried. Robert is alright, isn't he?"

The half-smile faded somewhat. "He was very upset when you asked him to leave. He misses his family. An understandable situation, I believe."

Karen blushed and looked instantly younger.

Jareth suddenly wondered how old the woman really was. She didn't look far over thirty-five. An infant compared to Robert, and yet he had no doubts that this woman ruled the house. Not someone he liked, but one he could grudgingly respect.

He stood up abruptly, a cool smile on his lips. "I must leave now. Thank you for seeing me at such short notice."

"Thank you for taking so much trouble," Karen smiled. She shook his hand and led him to the door, waiting while he put on his jacket. "I'm still not entirely sure why you're here, though."

"I think I added to some tension between you and your husband. I thought it only right to help clear the air," Jareth told her, "Besides, I wanted to meet you."

Karen was hit with an unexpected self-consciousness at what those eyes were seeing. She smoothed her skirt again, though this time her fingers were less certain.

Surprisingly, her guest gave a soft laugh, and turned to go. "Don't mention this little meeting when you see your husband. He wouldn't be pleased to know I was here, or what I told you."

Karen shut the door on him and slumped with her back against it for a rare moment of absolute bewilderment. The entire situation seemed so surreal now that she could hardly believe it had happened.

Outside, on the sidewalk, Jareth got rid of the disguise he had affected, tired with its upkeep. He stretched and relaxed his shoulders for a moment, looking around at the quiet neighbourhood. Something trickled down his spine and he whirled around, caught in the porch light. No one was on the porch but instinct made him look up.

A pair of very blue, very round child's eyes were staring at him from an upstairs window. A pair of glasses were perched precariously on a crooked nose.

Jareth broke into a smile and waved.

A moment's hesitation and then Toby waved back.

Jareth disappeared.

He reappeared in the throne room of his Castle, falling into his chair and remembering the blond little infant he had sat on his knee. Unbidden that ridiculous song came to mind and he began to hum the tune, picturing Toby's smile. Very much like Robert, but with something missing.

The Goblin King rose from his seat and went looking for the subject of his thoughts, running him down to earth in the rooms set so strategically apart from the Castle.

Robert was packing.

Jareth only watched him for a moment, and just for a moment felt more than disappointment that he wouldn't see the room occupied again for a while. If ever. Because Robert had never said he would return. The option was always open. Jareth had the feeling it always would be, no matter if there were other contenders.

Robert picked up the feel of magic before very long and turned, not put out by the silent intruder at his back. "I was looking for you," he said distractedly, "Troy said one of the goblins had got his head stuck in a cannon again. Sarah's trying to get it out."

"Tell her to fire the cannon," Jareth said.

"That's a bit too permanent, don't you think?" Robert's smile faltered when he saw the calm façade fall. "You're upset. I can stay for a while more. There's no guarantee that Karen will even talk to me so it doesn't matter when I go back. Is that what you want?"

Jareth looked at him. "I thought it was what you wanted?"

"It is."

"Then by all means," Jareth agreed, "Go. Leave me to my melancholy."

Robert dropped the article of something-or-other into his case and snapped the case shut. He hefted it off the bed and put it on the floor. Then he shook his head, picked it up and dragged out of the bedroom into the living room. Dusting of his hands, he snagged Jareth by his sleeve and pulled him into the bedroom. He shut the door for good measure.

"I'm not leaving till tomorrow," he said tellingly.

"I get a goodbye this time," Jareth interpreted.

"A very long goodbye," Robert laughed, jerking his head to the window, "Come on."

They stood at the window and Jareth didn't find the view so rewarding as the glow of sun on his lover's shirt.

"Jareth, you won't interfere with Karen and me, will you?" Robert asked.

Jareth found the anxiety in green eyes very off-putting. "What do you mean?"

"If she takes me back. You won't try and play games with us, will you? Look for revenge?"

"I've known where you were for a number of years before this. I didn't try it then, I won't try it now," Jareth promised, "But I do expect you to come back eventually. Earth women I can stand. But no one else, Robert. I won't allow it."

It was hard to break the habits of a lifetime. Robert took it philosophically and felt he understood the fear lurking behind those dictatorial words.

"As you wish," he said submissively.