Title: Fleeting Caress
Author: Anisky
Summary: He comes to her sometimes. They guard their hearts too well, yet not at all. J/S
Rating: M (for real this time people)
Disclaimer: I don't own any of it! I'm a Peace Corps Volunteer, have no intellectual property rights for this two-year period. Anything I've made up is public domain, but I'd appreciate the courtesy of telling me if you use any of my (few) creations or archive this somewhere.

WARNING: Mild-to-Medium BDSM. If that bothers you, just a warning, it's only going to get worse as the story goes on, at least up until chapter 6 or 7 or so.

A/N: So, I meant for this story to be one chapter for every encounter. You know, Chapter 1 starting with "The first time he came to her was three months after...", Chapter 2 starting with "The second time he showed up...", Chapter 3 with "The third time the Goblin King visited Sarah...", and so on. As clearly this is all still the third time, I was planning on this being "Chapter 3, Part 2"... except then this got too long, too. I don't think I want to go to "Chapter 3, Part 3" after this, so this is now officially Chapter 4, and next chapter (still probably their third time) will be Chapter 5, etc. I suppose it's just as well, because what was supposed to be Chapter 4, and will now probably be Chapter 6 [of which I've already written quite a lot!], would have been hard to start that way anyway.

As per last chapter, I set this in about modern day, even though really it should take place in about the year 1990.

And again, this is unbetaed- if you are interested in betaing for me, PLEASE let me know! I hate posting so much unbetaed stuff, but finding a beta for any of my stuff has been tough lately.

A/N 2: Unfortunately, a lot of the research I'd have liked to do for this chapter is impossible with my incredibly slow and expensive (from my non-income perspective, anyway) internet. I pay by the megabyte and it takes forever, so... I did more glossing than I'd have otherwise liked to on the London thing. I've only ever been there four days, so... :(

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Chapter 4

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"Where should we go next?" Sarah asked. "Do you know London very well?"

"Do I know..." he trailed off, shaking his head in disbelief as they left the café. "I've been visiting this city since it was first founded, when the Romans came to Britain in what you call the first century."

"Okay, seriously, how old are you?" Sarah asked.

"Now that question is quite a bit more complex than you might imagine." His tone indicated that he was not about to explain.

"Fine. Well, maybe you knew London back in the Dark Ages," she said teasingly, "but I'm just not convinced that means you can give me a proper tour now."

His hand settled at her lower back again, and as they walked, he leaned in and whispered into her ear.

"I will show you London like no mortal has seen it," he murmured to her. "But I don't appreciate your attempting to manipulate me."

"I wasn't-" Sarah tried to protest, pulling away. He wrapped his arm around her waist, as they continued to walk, to keep her close. His lips were at her ear again.

"Yes, you were. Oh, it was mild, but it was there. So after you get your tour of London, I'm afraid I will have to punish you."

"What kind of punishment?" Sarah asked quietly, with a mix of trepidation and, she couldn't deny it, excitement.

"You'll just have to wait and see tonight, won't you?"

He kissed her ear softly, then pulled away, so they were a bit more appropriate for walking down a city street.

Despite his promises for the day and his threats for the night, there was only one thing Sarah could think.

There's going to be a tonight.

–

Sarah didn't know how her discovery of London under Jareth's guidance compared to the walking tour Laurie and her other friends were planning to take, but she couldn't deny that he was extremely knowledgeable. Plus she was having an absolutely marvelous time. No... she was having a perfect time.

"You've gone quiet again," Jareth said, as they strolled through a quaint little park.

"Have I?" Sarah asked. "I'm sorry. What were you saying?"

"I wasn't saying anything."

"So really, both of us have gone quiet," Sarah said teasingly.

Jareth inclined his head just a fraction, acknowledging her point, but with seeming reluctance.

"What were you thinking about?" Jareth asked.

Sarah hesitated.

"You don't wish to tell me?" the Goblin King asked, raising an eyebrow.

"It's not that," she said quickly. "I'm just thinking of the right words."

It was true and it wasn't. She couldn't tell him exactly what she was thinking... but there was really only the one detail that felt dangerous. She could misrepresent it easily enough, without even lying.

"I guess I was mostly pondering how odd this is, and how wonderful. I'm here, in London, in the company of the King of the Goblins," Sarah said, phrasing her words carefully. "If we went back in time a few years to my childhood, and we asked me what I wanted most, exploring the British Isles with ancient, magical beings would have been at the top of my list. It's a weird feeling, knowing that I'm living my childhood dream, right now. Especially one I believed impossible. It doesn't happen often, for us humans anyway."

"And does the reality live up to the dream?" Jareth inquired, voice light.

Sarah turned to grin at him. "If you were serious about what we'll be doing tonight, I daresay reality may well surpass the dream entirely."

He stopped walking, and turned to look at Sarah, eyebrows raised.

"Your punishment?" He asked, voice low, and tightly controlled.

Sarah blushed, and looked at the ground.

"You anticipate it so eagerly?" he demanded.

She blushed even harder, and scuffed her shoe against the grass, wishing the ground would open up an swallow her. "I guess I do," she mumbled, before she raised her eyes to look at his.

There were so many emotions contained in his unusual eyes, and Sarah couldn't begin to identify a fraction of them. Yet, though she couldn't say why, she felt comforted by what she saw. She smiled, tentatively.

"Hmmm. I'll need to be careful with you..." Jareth mused. "I threaten you with the stick only to discover that, to you, it's actually the carrot."

Sarah gave Jareth a weird look. "Carrot?" she asked, blankly.

He waved a hand. "A figure of speech. Punishment can't serve its purpose if you think of it as a reward."

Sarah studied him for a moment, and then she grinned and shook her head, slowly, a little smugly.

"You wouldn't be planning a 'punishment' if you really thought I'd dislike it," she told him, with a touch of triumph that she'd understood something he hadn't meant to tell her.

Jareth's gaze darkened, and he took a menacing step towards Sarah. She stood her ground, so they were nose to nose- or rather, as Jareth was over a foot taller than she was, nose to chest. She looked up at him.

"Are you sure about that?" he growled.

Sarah cocked her head, considered. "Yes," she said. Then she added, naughtily: "But you know, I think it'll be more fun for both of us if we forget I ever said so. Let's pretend... I'm scared, dreading what you might to do me... Let's pretend I'm wondering what gives you the right to punish me, and part of me is so angry, or timid, I want to bolt, but I'm so entranced by you that I can't back out, even if I want to..."

Whatever Jareth had been expecting from the girl in front of him, it clearly had not been that. His smug superiority seemed to evaporate as he froze, in surprise and confusion.

Sarah continued to look up at Jareth, who for several moments actually appeared stunned and unsure of what he should do or say. She got the feeling that he didn't want her to see him like this, clearly derailed and unable to think of what to say.

Well, tough, she thought, and she kept her gaze steadily on his face. He saw her unsure all the time, and besides, she was pretty sure she liked him even better for having seen this moment.

"Well," he said, struggling to regain his composure. "You've never been punished by me. Perhaps if you knew what's coming, you would be afraid, and the only reason you're not running away is that you don't know what's in store."

"Perhaps," Sarah said, with a grin, and she turned to continue their walk. He kept pace with her, as they walked more briskly than before.

They were again silent for a minute or two before Sarah broke the silence.

"You don't spend much time with humans, do you?" she asked.

"They run my Labyrinth more often than you might imagine," Jareth said, but Sarah shook her head.

"As Jareth, not as the Goblin King," she said. "With Labyrinth challengers, you pop in and out and try to trip people up. But you don't really spend time with humans. Am I right?"

"I suppose so," Jareth said, a bit blandly. "Why do you ask?"

Sarah shrugged. "Because you aren't used to being surprised," she said.

"No, I'm not," he agreed. "You were the first person to solve my Labyrinth in three centuries. It was quite a shock."

Sarah shook her head again. "I don't mean that," she tried to explain. "I mean just while you're talking, or rather, while someone else is talking. Tell me, how often do you have a conversation without already knowing just how it's going to go?"

"Whatever powers I have, I'm not precognitive. I don't know the future."

Sarah frowned. Was he deliberately avoiding her question? If so, should she just let it go?

"But how often does someone say something to you that you didn't expect them to say? Like, really had no idea it was coming?" Sarah persisted, unable to help herself.

Jareth sighed. "Not often," he told her stiffly.

"So, you don't talk to humans much," Sarah concluded.

"That happens with humans often?" He actually sounded curious.

"Yeah, of course, all the time," Sarah said. "You never know what someone's gonna say."

"Yes, I do," Jareth told her. "I always know."

"Not with me," Sarah pointed out.

"No," Jareth agreed. "Not with you."

"So... do you ever really have conversations?" Sarah asked, suddenly feeling very sad for him. Not pity, exactly, but acutely aware of how lonely his life must be.

"How would you define a conversation?"

"Well, you kn-" Sarah hastily cut herself off. 'You know' was quickly replacing 'It's not fair!' as the most inappropriate phrase to utter in the Goblin King's presence. "Talking to someone for the sake of talking, I guess. Letting the topic drift from one thing to another, without any purpose but to exchange ideas and entertain each other. I guess that's not the only way to have a conversation, but that's the kind I mean."

"Ah," he said. "Those running my Labyrinth rarely have their thoughts on entertainment and talking for talking's sake."

And there was nobody else he could talk to? Obviously goblins were out of the question, but Sarah had assumed that there must be other beings like Jareth. Why didn't he have friendships and relationships with them? Or, if there were no others like him... if he was something entirely unique... where did he come from?

If he really had nobody, she didn't understand why he didn't forge friendships with some of his more intelligent subjects. Granted, Ludo wasn't the most eloquent of creatures, and Sir Didymus's range of interests was rather limited, but Sarah still sometimes spent hours sitting in front of her mirror, talking to Hoggle.

If Sarah didn't have anybody to talk to, she definitely wouldn't disdain the company of one of the only people capable of carrying an interesting conversation, the way Jareth did to Hoggle.

Sarah didn't say any of these things. Instead, she said, "You know what I'd really like to do on this tour?"

"I think we've established that I don't," Jareth answered.

It could have been an awkward moment, but Sarah laughed, and to her relief Jareth began laughing as well. It was a laugh she hadn't really heard from him before- more spontaneous somehow, not quite self-deprecating, but definitely lacking the reserved and careful dignity she'd always heard whenever he'd laughed before. It was like he'd loosened his grip on something he'd been holding tightly for a very long time.

Now just to make him let it go altogether, she thought to herself.

Just then she realized she'd never noticed that, from that first night he'd come to her after the Labyrinth, he hadn't worn gloves. She fleetingly wondered what that was about, but the thought was gone nearly as soon as she had it.

"I'd like the two of us to get a drink together," Sarah said. "Grab a few beers or cocktails and chat. What do you think of that?"

"Chat," he repeated, though he no longer sounded so suspicious of the concept.

"It's a lot easier when you've had a couple of drinks," Sarah assured him.

His lips quirked. "I've no doubt. Very well, then. We'll have some drinks and... chat."

She grinned. "Do you know anywhere good to go? Somewhere quiet enough that we can actually talk. Not like that club last night."

"I know several nice establishments," Jareth assured her. "You mentioned beer and cocktails- is your heart set on those options? If not, there is a wine bar I like particularly. Though come to think of it I'm sure they serve cocktails as well."

"Wine sounds great," Sarah assured him. "A little classier than I'd been thinking, but I suppose when I look back on my memory of having a drink with the Goblin King, the words 'slumming it' shouldn't come to mind."

"Come, it's this way. It's around seven blocks away. Is that acceptable?"

"Sure. I'm enjoying the walk."

As they left the park and made their way down the sidewalk, Jareth asked, "Is that how you're thinking of this day? Collecting memories upon which to look back?"

"Hmm. It's definitely not the only way I'm thinking of this day. Believe me when I say I'm completely in the moment. I want to be here, present, completely. But yes, I'm also, oh..." Sarah paused, but she'd already said it, so she might as well own it. "Also conscious of the fact that I'll be running all this through my head for the next few years. Do you find that weird?"

"No," Jareth said simply. "I'll be doing the same."

"But then-" Sarah stopped.

"Then what?"

She shook her head. "Nothing," she said.

"You were about to say something," he pointed it out.

"Nothing important," Sarah insisted. "A question I realized I don't really want answered."

Jareth looked frustrated, but Sarah just couldn't ask him why, if he thought about his time with her anywhere near as much as she thought of her time with him, he waited years between his visits. It would be like... like asking him to come more often. If he'd wanted to see her on a more regular basis, he would show up more; but he didn't. That wasn't what this was, and if she tried to change things, maybe it would stop being anything at all.

But she didn't want him to look frustrated like that. She wanted Jareth to be free again, natural, like she'd seen a moment ago in his laugh, like she'd seen in brief flashes throughout today. Like she'd seen here and there last night, all too rarely but even more precious for that, when they'd both been so overwhelmed with pleasure and passion.

"It seems we've got a bit of a quandary here, then," Sarah said.

"Do we? Would you care to elaborate?"

"Well, if we're both going to be looking back on tonight a lot," she explained, "then we want to make sure that everything goes well, so that our memories will all be pleasant."

"Instead of the last time, when it ended with your rejecting me," Jareth agreed. There was no accusation in his voice; mostly it was pleasant, with a hint of rue.

"Sorry about that," Sarah said quietly.

"Don't be. You-" He paused, then stopped walking. "We're here. This is the wine bar."

Sarah looked up. It certainly looked fancy... or perhaps decadent was the right word. It was exactly the sort of place Sarah would have pictured the Goblin King lounging around. Through the high, narrow windows, she could see the the place was gorgeous, decked out in dark blues and blacks.

Jareth put his hand by the small of Sarah's back and guided her up the steps, then opened the door for her. Once inside, she could see that elaborate chandeliers, probably real crystal, cast a low light over the well-dressed patrons. The tables and chairs were dark wood, intricately carved, with velvet cushions. As soon as they entered, a woman dressed in a crisp white blouse and knee-length black skirt came to greet them. A name tag identified her as Amelia Harris.

"Mr. King, how good to see you again," she said pleasantly. "And who is this?"

"This is my good friend Sarah Williams," he answered, also pleasantly. "We would like a private booth, if one is available."

The woman looking Sarah up and down appraisingly. Sarah was glad that Jareth had created her clothes that day; she'd have felt under dressed in anything she'd brought with her for this trip.

"Welcome, Ms. Williams. A private booth, Mr. King? That's a new one for you. If you would just give us one moment, please."

The woman walked over to a secluded corner, and to Sarah's astonishment, a moment later a group of four somewhat disgruntled patrons emerged, carrying their wine glasses and two bottles, and followed her to a table nearer the center of the room. Amelia returned to the front of the establishment.

"Your booth is ready," she informed Jareth, and led the two of them to the recently-vacated booth.

"Wow, you really get the special treatment here, don't you?" Sarah said, sliding into the comfortable seat, which was one long arc that curved around a circular table. She ran her hands over the black fabric, which she was sure was real velvet.

Jareth just shrugged, and slid close to her in the seat. Apparently nothing about what had just happened seemed unusual to him.

"So what can I get you?" Amelia asked. Jareth ordered some obscure kind of vintage grape that Sarah had never heard of, and Amelia nodded in approval before she left.

"So where were we?" Jareth asked. "Oh, yes. I was about to do something very out of character and admit that you were right. If you weren't ready, you weren't ready. I'd much prefer you have the self-possession to send me away at the time, rather than let things go somewhere that would make you turn away from me forever."

"Is that what you thought happened?" Sarah asked. She shook her head. "There was never any danger of that."

"No?" He sounded curious and half-disbelieving.

"No," she said. "But I think I'd like to drink some wine before I elaborate."

Just then another server, this one a man, came to their booth. He placed two wine glasses on the table, then held out the bottle to Jareth so he could inspect the label. At Jareth's nod, the man uncorked the bottle and poured only the tiniest bit into each glass. He seemed to be waiting for something, but Jareth waived him away.

"We're only meant to have a small sip right now," Jareth explained. "This wine is meant to decant for half an hour before it's truly ready to drink."

Sarah groaned. She knew she was supposed to do some sort of swirling with her glass of wine, but instead she just drank the small bit straight.

"Tastes fine to me," she said, and Jareth laughed.

"Why don't we break the rules, just this once?" he suggested, as he took the bottle and poured each of them a much fuller glass, sneaking a mischievous look at Sarah. "Every single person here would be scandalized if they saw me doing this, but luckily, we are out of sight."

There was something so naughty in his expression as he offered her the wine glass, now nearly half filled with red wine.

I love him, she thought, unbidden. She'd already known that, but it had always been an angry, savage, despairing kind of love. There had always been something dirty around it. As she gazed at his face, at his his conspiratorial smile as they drank their wine the "wrong" way, loving him felt warm. It felt soft and full of laughter, or at least, like it could be, some of the time.

"Alright, Miss Williams, you've now had more than a glass of wine, and it's still a good fifteen minutes before you were supposed to have more than a drop," he told her. "I believe there was something you promised you'd tell me after you had some wine?"

"I don't remember promising anything," Sarah teased. At Jareth's low growl, she smiled. "Kidding! Okay. You'd said- you thought the reason I said I wasn't ready was because if I'd had sex with you that night, I wouldn't want to see you ever again. Right?"

"Close enough," Jareth agreed. He poured her another generous glass. "And you claimed that wasn't why you refused me."

"It wasn't," Sarah said. "It was the opposite."

Jareth finished his own glass and poured himself another. "Oh?" he asked, voice deceptively light.

"It never even crossed my mind I might run from you. I was afraid that if I gave my virginity to you, you, who had just demonstrated so deftly that he surpassed any mortal, I'd spend the rest of my life finding every man wanting."

So many emotions played across his face. She could only guess at some of them: she thought she saw desire... wistfulness... that he was trying not to feel what he was feeling. His fist clenched and he closed his eyes, briefly.

"I wish I'd known that," he said.

"Would it have changed anything?"

Jareth didn't answer. Instead, he said, "Odd how we can replay an event so many times, yet still misunderstand it completely."

"Maybe we can be... I don't know... we can try hard to be straight with each other this time," Sarah said, though as she said it she knew it was impossible. She took another sip of her wine. She was definitely feeling the effects, and she wondered if Jareth was too. Did Goblin Kings get drunk?

"Maybe."

"But that brings me to that quandary," Sarah said. "The one I mentioned just when we left the park, I forgot about it until now. If we're too determined to make this perfect memory, that we can play back without any... sadness, or bitterness, or whatever... then we'll probably just ruin it. If we try too hard to make everything perfect, then we'll just be tense and worried about it the whole time. So. What do we do?"

"Hmm. Good question. Do you have any ideas, besides... being 'straight' with each other?"

"Well, drinking helps." Sarah grinned. "Though it also increases the chance of saying something I regret, I'm just not as worried about that. Do Goblin Kings get drunk, by the way?"

He chuckled. "Yes, I do," he said, "though right now I'm certainly no further than tipsy. Any ideas for your quandary besides alcohol?"

"I think," Sarah said slowly, and she hesitated. "Off the top of my head, only one comes to mind, right now. And I'm not sure if it's possible. And I'm not sure if I should ask."

"Ask," he said commandingly, with some exasperation.

"How..." Sarah took a deep breath and let out her question as quickly as she could. "How long are you going to stay here with me?"

Jareth was silent for a moment, his face unreadable. "How long do you want me to stay?"

"Honestly?" Sarah asked. She pursed her lips and took a gulp of the wine, not caring that it was probably hundreds of dollars per bottle. "As long as possible."

He leaned back in the seat, and put an arm around her shoulders. "Is that so?"

"God, yes. I spent that entire brunch freaking out about whether you were going to disappear right after, or if you were going to stay the day, you know."

"No, I didn't know," he said, sounding amused and pleased. She thought there might be something else in his voice, too, but she was getting past tipsy by this point.

"Oh, God, I shouldn't have told you that, should I?" she cried, hiding her face in his shoulder. "I'm so embarrassed. I'm an idiot."

He chuckled, and she felt it vibrate against her cheek as she kept her hidden. "You're a bit of a lightweight, aren't you?" he said.

"Yeah." Her voice was muffled against his shoulder.

"Well, stop worrying. I'm enjoying this chance to get into your head. I'm fascinated to know what you were thinking throughout the day. So stop being embarrassed."

Sarah lifted her head. "I can't help it," she mumbled.

"That was an order," he told her, in a mock-warning tone.

She just stuck her tongue out at him. "I can't."

"Have some more wine," Jareth suggested with a laugh. Then he added, "I'm interested in all your thoughts. You shouldn't be embarrassed to tell me any of them."

"If only you'd return the favor," Sarah answered.

"I'll do my best," he said, "but you're right. I don't have much practice, I suppose. But in answer to your question... can you slip away from your friends for a few weeks?"

"A few weeks?" Sarah repeated, her face lighting up. "You mean it? You can stay a few weeks?"

"I might need to make a few brief trips to keep things in order, but yes, I believe I can manage it."

"That would be amazing!" Sarah smiled. "And it solves the quandary. I won't be so worried about doing something wrong, because I know there will be plenty of time... well, plenty compared to the last two times. So any slip-ups, we'll have the time to make them up."

Just then, Sarah's phone started ringing. She looked down at her purse then over at Jareth.

"Go ahead and answer it," he told her, as he leaned back and took a sip of his wine. "As you said, we have time now."

She fished her cell out of her purse, and was unsurprised to see LAURIE listed on the screen as the caller.

"Hi again, Laure," she said.

"Sarah!" Laurie said. "Wow, what a day! You missed a lot, girl."

"No, you know what, I don't think I did," Sarah answered.

"Oh my God, have you spent the whole day with that guy?" Laurie shrieked.

"Yep."

"And you're happy about it?"

"That doesn't begin to cover it."

Laurie let out a whistle. "You still with him now?"

"Yeah, we're at a wine bar. It's fantastic, you wouldn't believe! I don't know if I've ever been anywhere so fancy."

"Wow, so he's rich, too. Unless you're seriously digging into the bank right now?"

"We haven't discussed it, but I highly doubt I am. He's... it's hard to explain. But yes, sort of, to your first question. I think."

Jareth raised his eyebrows, and Sarah winced. It was tough talking to her best friend about him when he was sitting right there.

"One moment, Laurie, okay?" she said.

"No prob."

"Hey, Jareth, I'm going to go to the ladies' room to talk to Laurie."

"You wish to talk about me without my overhearing?" he inquired.

"In a word, yes. Deal with it. Where's the bathroom?"

He only looked a little put out as he pointed her in the right direction.

"Okay, I can talk again," Sarah said as she entered the bathroom. Or rather, she entered the sitting room outside the bathroom, with gorgeous chairs, a long mirror, and a myriad of moisturizing creams and any other number of beauty products. She saw down in one of the chairs. "He was looking far too interested when I was telling you about him."

Laurie laughed. "Fair enough. So are you going to join us at the hostel tonight?"

"Not a chance," Sarah said. "He's got this great hotel room..."

"Is that all a guy needed all this time, to get you to stick around?" Laurie said teasingly, making it clear she wasn 't serious. "Enough money to get you pretty things?"

"It helps," Sarah joked. "But no, seriously... now that I'm alone I guess I can say it... I've kind of had a thing for this guy for... years. He's... damn, I'm drunk, as I said, we're at a wine bar... he's the one I couldn't forgive all those other guys for not being. For not being him."

"Wow." Laurie was silent for a moment. "Are you just saying that because you've been drinking, or do you really mean it?"

"I'm only telling you because I've been drinking," Sarah said, "but believe me, I really mean it."

"So are you guys like... together now?"

Sarah sighed. "I don't think it's possible. I mean... for one thing, I don't really know how he feels. Like, we had an amazing time last night, and such a good time together today, but I have no idea if he feels anywhere near as strongly for me as I do for him. And also, well, he doesn't live in New York, and that's where I'm headed in the fall. So it's not like we can be... you know. Long term."

"Yeah, good point." Laurie sighed. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay. I get to be with him now. But, er, here's the thing. He's actually free for the next few weeks, and, well... so am I. So I hope you're not too mad, but..."

"But you're going to be doing your trip with him, not with me and the group?" Laurie finished.

Sarah was relieved. "Yeah. That exactly. I hope you're not too upset?"

"A little disappointed, maybe," Laurie admitted, "but if this guy is as big a deal to you as you say, then I think it's the right choice for you to spend what time you can with him."

"Thanks for understanding," Sarah said quietly.

"However," Laurie said sternly, "I have a stipulation. I want to meet him."

"Meet him?" Sarah squeaked.

"Yeah! It's only fair, if you're bailing on us to do your trip with some guy, I should at least get to see and talk to the guy once. Especially if he's as old a friend as you say."

"I'll mention it to him," Sarah said. "See what he says."

The friends bid goodbye, and Sarah found her way back to her booth.

"I was beginning to think you'd gotten lost," Jareth said lightly.

"Sorry," Sarah apologized, settling in next to Jareth and reaching for her wine.

"Gossiping about me?" he asked.

"Mostly. I mean, I had to explain to her why I was ditching her and my other high school friends on our Europe trip to spend the time with a guy she'd never even met. Best friends have to give a pretty good explanation for that kind of thing."

"So what did you tell her?" Jareth asked.

Sarah smirked. "Now, that would be telling. Why do you think I left the table?"

"I'll get it out of you tonight, minx," Jareth growled.

"Oooh, it'll be fun to have you try. Or, um, oh no! Please don't hurt me."

The Goblin King appeared torn between anger and laughter. He settled for narrowing his eyes threateningly.

"We'll see if you take my threats so lightly tomorrow," he warned her.

"Oh! By the way. Laurie wants to meet you. Would that be okay with you?"

He swirled his wine glass as he thought. "I suppose that can be arranged. Shall we meet her for dinner tomorrow?"

"I'll text her and ask." As Sarah took out her phone again, she shook her head. "Man, the two of you meeting... that will be weird. Talk about two worlds colliding."

The phone beeped a few minutes later, with Laurie agreeing to dinner and wanting to know where.

"I'm still deciding," Jareth said. "Tell her we'll let her know tomorrow."

As Sarah looked down at her cell phone again she saw that it was after ten o'clock. "It's getting late," she said, in a low, excited voice.

Jareth glanced at the clock on the wall. "I seem to remember you out much later than this last night. Is someone just eager to get back to the hotel room?" he teased.

Sarah shrugged casually and leaned back, staring idly at the wall instead of the man next to her as she sipped the last of the wine in her glass.

"Well, if you don't feel like heading back, we don't have to, of course," she said mildly. "We can certainly wait a few more hours before you try to prove to me how scared I should be of your punishment... before you see how loud you can make me scream... see whether I start pleading with you to have mercy, not to hurt me anymore, or if instead I end up begging you please, don't stop..."

Sarah glanced over at Jareth nonchalantly, only to see that he was savagely slamming several hundred dollar bills on the table. In a single motion both fluid and feral, he grasped her wrists roughly with one of his hands, while with the other he conjured a crystal and with a quick, staccato flick launched it into the air.

Sarah could hardly breathe, barely seeing the crystal as it shot tightly through the air, and as it hit its zenith, a familiar whirling sensation overtook her, and suddenly they were in the hotel room again.

This time, however, while Jareth appeared in the room upright- his right hand still gripping her wrists tightly- Sarah materialized in the same sitting position she'd had at the bar. Unfortunately, mere air had replaced her seat, and so she reeled backwards dizzily. The only thing that stopped her from falling on her butt was Jareth's hold on her.

Instead of helping her up, though, he swung her around by her wrists and, taking several quick steps backwards, jerked her forward so that she landed face-down on the carpeted floor. Before Sarah time to do much besides gasp, she felt his knee pressing into her back, pinning her to the floor. His hand pressed her head to the floor, but from the side of her head, so that instead of suffocating against the carpet her cheek was mashed against the ground.

"Well, hello, there," he said.

"Hi," Sarah said breathlessly.

"You know," he said casually, as he took his hand from her head so that he could gather her arms and tie them behind her back, with some kind of soft, yet firm rope, "I hadn't originally planned this to be a major punishment."

Instead of tying her wrists together, like she'd expected, he seemed to be tying together the whole length of her forearms, wrist to elbow, elbow to wrist.

"It was a minor infraction, after all." He finished with her arms. She tried to move them, but found them to be completely immobile. Next he straddled her bottom, and turned his attention to tying together her ankles. "I thought, a minor spanking, just my hand and your bare bottom for five minutes or so, and that would be the end of it."

Her ankles were now secure. Jareth grabbed her by her bound arms and jerked her to her feet, though with her ankles tied so tightly together she couldn't do much but wobble. He picked her up, and threw her on the bed, face up, so that her arms were squashed underneath her body.

"But you..." Jareth crawled up her, slowly, until he was right above her, his face inches from hers, his body covering her body. "You seemed so eager, so sure my punishment would be fun. And then you taunted me with it." He shook his head and clucked his tongue disapprovingly.

"I'm sorry," Sarah whispered.

Jareth pulled back from her, straddling her hips as he regarded her, then he shook his head as he tutted.

"You know what?" he said. "I don't think you are."

He conjured a crystal and threw it at her. Suddenly, all her clothing- including her bra, her panties, everything- were gone. The only thing that remained were the ropes around her arms and her ankles.

Sarah could feel his hardness pressing against her lower pelvis, just inches above her pussy, though he was still fully clothed. She squirmed and whimpered, trying to shift her hips so that the bulge pressing into her would go just a bit lower...

"Mmm, you really want it, don't you?" Jareth smiled nastily, as he crawled backwards, only letting the hardness beneath his pants brush against her wetness so softly and quickly she whimpered.

"Come back," she moaned.

He was sitting at the foot of the bed now, examining her naked body, arms uncomfortably crushed under her body, ankles bound. Her bare breasts were thrust upwards, both because she was forced to arch her back to accommodate her bound arms beneath her, and because of the unnatural angle of her arms and shoulders. Her skin was smooth and creamy, and she had just a small patch of hair between her legs.

Jareth took her ankles in his hand and pushed them forward, towards the rest of her body, with her knees facing outwards; so that as he forced her ankles ahead, her thighs were pressed open, exposing her soaking womanhood to the world.

"Well, look at that," he murmured, and took in a deep breath through his nose. "Mmm... I can smell you from here."

He took his pinky finger and brushed it against her pussy, and even at that light contact she moaned and tried to press herself against his finger; but after a moment it pulled it away, completely soaking wet.

"You are really turned on right now, aren't you, Sarah?" Jareth asked her in a low voice. "Answer me."

"Yes, Jareth."

"You want me very badly, don't you?"

She moaned. "Yes, I do."

"How badly?"

Sarah whimpered and thrust her hips upwards and around, squirming. "So badly, I want you so badly."

"Beg me," he said. "Beg me to fuck you."

"Please, Jareth, please fuck me."

He brushed his finger so close that it almost touched her womanhood, so close she could feel the heat of his fingers and the movement of the air around them... then he pulled it away at the last moment. Sarah let out a little strangled scream.

"You're going to have to beg harder than that."

"Please, Jareth, please, I'm begging you, I'll do anything, just fuck me, please please fuck me, I beg you."

"Hmm." Jareth looked Sarah up and down again for a moment, and licked the lone finger pinky finger he'd used to touch her. "No."

Sarah forced her head up to look at him. "What?" she cried, desperately.

"I... said... no," he told her again, tauntingly, and he pushed himself off of the bed.

"But- but-"

"Oh, and you're all tied up too," Jareth said, in mock concern. "So you can't even use your own fingers to satisfy yourself. You'll just have to lie there... dripping wet... wanting me so badly you'll beg and plead, and I still won't fuck you..."

Sarah just made an incoherent whimpering sound.

Jareth walked the few steps to the head of the bed, and leaned over, his lips so close to her. "Still so convinced you'll enjoy my punishment?" he whispered in her ear.

"Please..." she whispered back.

"No," he said, smugly. "As I mentioned before, I have some business that demands my attention. I'll be back in... oh, probably a few hours. Don't go anywhere." He threw his head back and laughed at his own joke.

With that, Jareth conjured a crystal, threw it into the air, and disappeared.

Sarah nearly growled in frustration. That bastard! Well, if he expected to find her still tied up in bed like this when he returned, he'd better have another think coming. She straightened her legs and, after several failed tries, managed to roll herself onto her stomach. Hot and bothered as she was, she tried her best to concentrate on the rope coiled around her arms, trying to feel her way to the knots so she could begin to free herself.

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A/N: Well, there was kind of some more explicit lemon for those of you who asked... even if it was evil and unfulfilling. Best I can do. Jareth can be so mean sometimes, can't he? ;-D
Hope I wasn't cheating too much by getting Jareth tipsy and Sarah drunk in order for them to be a little bit honest for once. These two just refuse to let down their guard!

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A great big thanks go out to all my reviewers, I love you guys so much! Special thanks to those of you who reviewed Chapter 3:
falling-alone: I have a really good feeling about this story, even though it gets a lot fewer reviews than Thrall (which I'm also planning to continue, it just doesn't seem to flow the way FC does). I think there's a really good chance that I'll keep going with this story a while... maybe even finish it! GeeAnnaB: I appreciate the offer... though it's hard to know if we'd be a match without some examples of what sorts of things you'd have changed as a beta or otherwise a comment about the story? But thank you so much for the review!
LadyNorth76: I've gotten this comment a couple of times. I'm reaaally sorry, I'm just not a fan of sex scenes (I've even written that in my profile, lol!). I'm not against them morally or anything, I just don't have much interest. I skip them when they're in other fic or books, so I can't imagine I'd be very good at writing them. As is already becoming apparent and will only be more so in the coming chapters, my interest in that kinda thing lies in a slightly different direction...
artseblis: I really appreciated this review. It's so great to see a reader actually responding to how the characters are feeling and to get some reassurance I'm getting the emotion across! Do you want to know one way or another how this will all end, or do you prefer being nervous?
Lakara Valentine: I tried PM-ing you about the beta thing, but didn't get a response. Anyway, thank you so much for the review! As to the sex scenes, same thing I said to LadyNorth76 above :(
Serenity-Hermione Angel: Glad you're enjoying it and that you're finding it realistic! I just hope it's remained so in this chapter.
L'douenna: Thank you for the proverb pat! And also I'm very happy to know that people are finding their emotions compelling. After reading looooots of Labyrinth fanfic, I've come to the conclusion that a good fic nearly always has two factors that are way too often lacking: Jareth as a multi-dimensional character who has insecurities and other feelings that aren't simply "I love Sarah / I hate Sarah", and a Sarah who is not a total pushover. Which is not to say she can't have her own insecurities and issues.
EmpressHimiko: Thank you! I plan to!
UndergroundDaydreams: I'm really glad to see you say that, because that's the main part I was unsure about and wanted to run by a beta. ESPECIALLY since it turned out that the formatting was messed up- there were supposed to be line breaks between their conversation snippets and what Sarah was thinking/feeling. What is it that FF.N has against line breaks, anyway?
HazlgrnLizzy: Thanks!