Rites of Passage by Betty Bokor
Jareth/Sarah. When Sarah is called to save the King, her life takes a whole new course, again.
Spoilers: The movie, the book, and some of the Return series.
Disclaimer: The Labyrinth original characters belong to The Jim Henson Company and Lucasfilms Ltd. This was written strictly for the purpose of entertainment. No attempt at copyright infringement has been made.

Rites of Passage

Chapter 27

Sarah had just finished her assessment of Jareth when Lady Anwen walked into the room. She saw her son giving orders with a stern voice to a large goblin by his side and smiled.

"At least you haven't changed," she said with amusement and relief.

"Mother," Jareth started, "you must know that Sarah has requested to be my Queen and her wish has been granted."

The Queen was surprised that he would bring up that subject so soon, without even talking about what he had just been through, but she thought she understood him. "First, let me tell you how happy I am that you're back with us," she told him as she approached to give him a kiss on the forehead. "Uhm... You still have a fever."

"Yes, he does, 39º. I just gave him this medicine to treat it. I don't want to give him too much, but it's easier to deal with it now that he's awake," Sarah interjected, still in professional mode.

"I know you're taking good care of him, Sarah," she smiled. "And I'm very pleased that you've become my son's queen."

Sarah nodded shyly.

"Good," Jareth said in a neutral voice. "I was sure you had felt it... The baby, I mean. You probably can infer the rest," he added. Then he reclined deep into his pillows and closed his eyes.

"You must still be very tired, so you need to rest. I'll make sure you don't get too many visitors. And, Sarah, you need to rest, too. I'll take it from here. Keene will be back soon; you need to take some time for you and the baby."

Sarah nodded and started collecting her medical equipment. Then, she touched Jareth's forehead one more time, mumbled, "Better", and left the room.

Soon, the High King was there, followed by Jareth's close friends. they all celebrated his recovery and promptly left him alone to rest. Keene promised to return with more medicines and only Hagan remained in the room.

"Your mother just told me about the girl... and the child," he said. "She had been keeping that secret from all of us, including me," he added with a hint of hurt in his voice, "but, I suppose, it was Sarah's business and she couldn't... she shouldn't have talked about it."

"I agree," Jareth replied.

"So, are you happy? I understand these are not the best circumstances, the girl is human... but, the child is yours and he −or she− is our heir. That must make you happy."

"Indeed."

"Now, you must marry her."

"She is my wife already. She requested to be so and I conceded it. Mother must have told you."

"I mean, you must marry her aboveground, by her own laws or customs. It's been thousands of years since one of us married one of them and the times have changed. You have to assert your paternity of the child in every realm. What if something happened to the mother during childbirth... or after? She's still very human. She hasn't been in our world long enough to have been affected. You don't want to have to fight her family for the right to rear the child."

Jareth had not thought of that; he would have to talk to Sarah about it.

"And when are you announcing it to the others? The High Court needs to be informed. I don't imagine there could be objections, but we have to be ready in case there are."

"She has not been appointed Queen of the Goblins −at least not at this time− and if I were to reign over all the kingdoms, she would just be my wife."

"I've seen how she behaves with all your subjects; she has won them already; it's only you who hasn't deemed her good enough to be their queen. And you will reign over all the kingdoms. You're my sole heir now, at least until your child is born, and I don't see any reason why you wouldn't be the next High King. If nothing else, you have proven yourself during this war. There wouldn't be peace without you." He looked at his son, who still seemed unconvinced. "And no matter what you decide, if you're High King, she cannot be anything but the Queen."

Jareth sighed, uncomfortable. He was not sure why he still had doubts about Sarah, but it was not something he could review right then. Though he was feeling a lot better than in the tunnels, he was still not himself. He needed rest and probably more help from his father, Sarah, and Keene.

After leaving Jareth's room, Lady Anwen went straight to Sarah's. She had not looked alright when she had left the room herself.

She approached the door and knocked softly. "Sarah, is Anwen. May I talk to you?"

She heard some movement behind the door and then it opened. Sarah had red eyes and it was evident that she had been crying. The Queen felt sorry. She rushed inside, closed the door behind her and hugged her.

Sarah could not stop herself and burst into tears. Soon, she tried to regain control.

"I'm sorry… I'm really sorry," she said as she wiped the tears. "It must be the pregnancy."

"There must also be a good reason why you're crying, my child."

Sarah shook her head. "No, no… No reason at all."

"Sarah," Lady Anwen said as she guided her to the sitting area of the room. "The last three months have been very eventful in your life… In our lives. Much has changed. You have clearly developed a deep relationship with Jareth and, now, you're pregnant, and married in a world that is not yours. Those are big changes in your life and I guess you haven't had a chance to discuss this −and your feelings about it− with anyone aboveground, have you?"

Sarah shook her head again. "It's fine. I'll be fine. It's just a little too much, too suddenly… And he didn't seem-" she stopped mid-sentence. "No; it's okay. I'm going to be fine. Don't worry about me."

"He didn't seem what? Jareth? What did he do?" She sighed; "All the same." She added softly. "What did he do, Sarah?" she insisted.

"Nothing really. He just didn't seem happy or even surprised… He often talked about how not having children was something he deeply regretted and now it's like…" She thought about it. "Maybe it's because I'm not one of yours."

"Oh, Sarah!" the Queen sat by her side on the sofa and hugged her. "You're one of us, now more than ever. And don't worry about that. Perhaps he doesn't feel well yet. He probably knows you're too good for him…" She smiled. "After he's feeling better, you'll get a chance to talk about everything. You'll see he's excited about the baby and about you. You just need to wait a little, give him some time to recover. He's talked a lot about you lately, but he's had a tough time these past months; he's taken charge of many of his father's responsibilities and he has fought for his beliefs. He has a very different vision about the Kingdom, the Court, and, especially, the war than Hagan. He proved himself right about that last one, but it has taken a great toll on him. I'm sure he appreciates that you're here and that you agreed to be his wife."

"More, he agreed than me."

"Nonsense. You could have stayed aboveground and not helped us. You could have kept silent about the baby and we'd never have known. I've seen how much you care about him; he wouldn't be alive if it weren't for you. We had given up at that point. He knows all this and, I assure you, he was truly hoping you'd ask."

Sarah felt a little relieved. They talk for a short while longer and then the Queen left her to rest.

"Are you awake, son?" Lady Anwen asked as she entered Jareth's room. "Where's everybody?"

"I sent all of them out. They look more tired than I feel."

She smiled. "Are you feeling better?"

"Somewhat," he smiled back.

"Can we talk for a minute?"

"About what?"

"Sarah."

"What is there to talk about?"

She looked at him showing annoyance at his stubbornness. She got a chair and sat by his bed. "Listen, Jareth. You're probably right about most all the changes you want to make in this kingdom. You were right about how to end the war. You may be right about many other things, but there's one thing you're wrong about and that's how you're treating Sarah. She's suffering because of you."

"What do you mean? What have I done to her? I agreed to make her my Queen, didn't I?"

"Aren't you happy about her carrying your child? You told me she's your soul mate. Shouldn't you be ecstatic that you got the chance to spend your life with her? Don't you love her?"

He looked down. "Mother, it's more complicated than that."

A.N. I think there are only two chapters to go and we are done. Thank you to those few who are still here!