Disclaimer: I owe nothing that is in anyway related to the Labyrinth or its actors, producers, or directors. They in turn, do not own me.

Chapter One- or, The night the lights went out.

Sarah sat yawning at her keyboard for the fifth night in a row. Each of the previous nights, she had forced herself to carry her coffee to her computer and sit, waiting for it. It had always happened that way before. It always came to her when she was quiet and still. Sometimes it would be subtle. Shyly peeking around corners, waiting to be gently coaxed into the light. Sometimes it would hit her like a freight train and the frenzy would begin. But it always happened this way.

This time it was being a real bitch. A real elusive bitch. It. That was the way she referred to her inspiration. Not tangible, nothing she could see, but most writers that she knew wanted to take credit for their stories. Wanted to go into detail about how terribly clever they were for manipulating the plot in some way or for creating a particularly shocking reveal. Sarah had never felt that way about it. Her inspiration, her stories, found her. They came to her, either in pieces or in whole, but already formed. There was no story boarding, no puzzling out of plot or sequence. Sarah often thought that it was as if, the stories happened- and then came to Sarah to have themselves told.

Her cell phone twittered merrily away on her desk, startling her out of- well, nothing really. She picked the phone up, silenced it and smacked it smartly back down.

"Well Peanut, I don't think it is coming tonight. I'm gonna turn in. Hungry?" Even as she spoke, she rolled her eyes. When had she become one of those batty women who spoke to their cats?

When you moved out on your own and gave up polite society to be a closeted author.

Is talking to myself less batty than talking to my cat?

The cat in question had already turned tail and was patiently waiting by her food bowl. Sarah filled the bowl with the last remainders of kibble at the bottom of the bag and winced… if she didn't write something soon, she'd have to feed the poor cat lunch meat and pasta salad again. Not that the little black and white fiend didn't regularly supplement her own diet with such things anyway.

Looking around her spare apartment, it was impossible for Sarah not too see all the things that could be improved upon. She had a laundry list somewhere, of things to be done, but with the exception of "Write laundry list", they all required a great deal more extra money than she had brought in with the sale of her last book.

That wasn't even accounting for her agent. Larry Showater was the only reason that she was a published author. He was determined and single minded which made him a great agent, but he was also greedy, pushy and shady of morality and character. Add those together with the fact that her deadline for new material had been two weeks ago, and the 13 flashing "missed calls" and pile of mail on her counter started to make sense.

Considering that her moment of inspiration wasn't coming tonight, she decided that the best course of action was a preemptory retreat so she dumped her cold coffee in the sink, flipped the kitchen light off and headed to her bedroom.

Her bed beckoned her, promising comfort and the brief respite from hopelessness that sleep offered. Anxious to give in to its siren call, she yanked the clip out of her dark hair, ran a brush through it a couple of times and then tied it out of the way. Since she had been home all day, her clothes didn't amount to much more than yoga pants and a tank top, but she shed them in favor of her faded gray nightshirt.

It was almost painful to make herself walk the 20 feet to her bathroom to brush her teeth, but she did it anyway. And that was her first big mistake. In the days to come, Sarah would wish, very emphatically, that she had simply gone to sleep with coffee breath.

A/N: And there you have it. An entire chapter in which NOTHING occurs. No snogging, leather pants, fluffy hair and not even a hint of Eau de Bog. ::Goes to check:: This was a Labyrinth fic, right? Do not be fooled my fluffy hamsters, for a dark story waits, with a dark purpose. :-D