As each car crested the hill the black stretch limousine came into their view. It's smoked windows and high gloss paint gleaming the bright sun. All the vehicles slowed down as they past it and made their way over to the right side of the drive way where they parked half on the lawn and half on the gravel. The doors opened one by one and the occupants climbed out.

"Who do you suppose is here?" Mike asked Marie as he began to take Annabell out of her car seat.

"Oh, God! Mike! Do you really have to ask?" She said in an excited voice as she took the toddler from his hold. "It's Chris Lawless, I'll bet anything on it."

"Ya think?" Brett asked as he climbed into the bed of the pick up and began to unharness the four pieces of the drum kit that he had brought with him. "Shit, should have brought the whole thing if that's the case."

Tony with his long gangly legs jumped into the back of the truck to lend Brett a hand. "What's he doing here?"

"I dunno...friend of Sarah's. Who cares? We're going to meet and play with Chris Lawless." Marie swooned. "This is just too much."

"Me-Ma! Me-Ma!" Annabelle said as she began excitedly jumping up and down in her mother's arms.
All looked up to see Sarah wandering across the lawn to where they were gathered. Marie put her daughter down and watched as she quickly toddled her way over to her Aunt. "Hey you. My little love." Sarah cooed as she swung the little girl high into the air and then hugged her tightly. "So I guess you all know who's here?" She asked as she settled Annabell on her hip.

"Is he really?" Mike asked as he helped unload the drum kit.

"Yes, sir, he really is." Sarah beamed as she began to dance with the baby at her side. "Come on, come on. Don't keep a rock star waiting." She laughed as she lead them all into the Inn.

Once inside Sarah made all the proper introductions and watched as each of their faces lit up with that wonderful star struck expression as Jareth shook hands with all of them and warmly greeted each. Marie's eyes nearly fell out of their sockets when Jareth kissed her cheek. Within moments of their meeting Jareth was helping to carry the drum kit down the hall to the game room and Sarah was alone with Duncan in the main parlor.

"You all right?" He asked as he sat in the high backed chair by the stone hearth and exhaled mightily. On the few occasions they had lightly glossed over her life in Los Angles and her relationship with Chris Lawless, Sarah had offered polite but general information about life on the road and singing for her supper. Never had she gone into any detail about the man she had spent so much time with and Duncan had been left to draw his own conclusions in that area. He had tried very hard to take the two juxtapositions of the woman he knew as Sarah Cooper and the man he knew as Chris Lawless and make them mesh together in some way. They never did, not in his imagingings anyway. In working theory it looked as though all went together quite well. As he sat there and looked at her smelling the faint aroma of marijuana in the air, it was his turn to wonder what he really did know about the woman he had taken as his wife.

"Fine, Duncan." Sarah smiled for him as she came and sat at his feet. "What about you? Is this all just too much for you?"

"No." Duncan absently reached out his hand and began to caress the hair on top of her head as his eyes stared off into space. The aroma of marijuana grew stronger now that she was sitting next to him. Had she smoked the joint with him? Or just been in the room when he had indulged himself? "You two seem to get along very well."

Sarah cuddled her head against his knee as she let out a low sigh. "We're old friends. I know he takes some getting used to. Jareth's not crass to be cruel, it's just the way he is sometimes. Just his personality." She tried to explain. The two men were so opposite each other, Duncan with his nobility and civility and Jareth with his reckless ways which often lead to sheer abandonment of all sense of sanity. They would never understand each other never mind like each other and Sarah could see herself easily becoming her version of Switzerland during World War II, trying to stay out of it but caught right smack dab in the middle no matter what. "He just wants what he wants when he wants it. He's been getting things exactly that way for so long now, sometimes...sometimes...he just...forgets.”

"Is that what it is? He forgets? Rather convienient wouldn't you think?" Duncan turned himself in the chair so that Sarah had to raise her head. As she did his head found its way under her chin and tilted her face to look at him. "I don't want to fight about this. So, I don't like him. So what?" He said gently. "It's your home. He's your guest. I'll behave myself."

Sarah rose from her place at his feet and settled herself on his lap. Her soft full lips came down and met his while her hair slipped from her shoulder to shroud them in a place only they were able to enter. Her moist tongue probed the inside of Duncan's mouth, found his, and twisted around in a graceful dance before her lips parted from his. "Thank you," she whispered as she laid her head against his shoulder.

Duncan smiled as he found himself thinking that he could behave himself a lot if there were more kisses like that in it for him. There was another thing, the taste of pot was strong on her lips and tongue, he had his answer, she had smoked the joint with him. He wrapped her in both arms and held her tight for a moment while he reminded himself that Jareth was not staying for long, all he had to get through was the rest of the evening with him. He could do that.

****************************

"Hey, you're pretty good at this." Mike remarked as he watched the man known to them as Chris Lawless begin the task of resorting cables and rehooking everything up.

"Surprise you?" Chris asked without looking up. "I roadied my own shit for years you know. Had a fucking VW Bus that kept breaking down every five miles too."

Nervous laughter was let out by all in the room. They were too young to remember Chris Lawless from his early days, no they were only old enough to actually remember him from the music he'd put out in the 80's and on ward. While he did not doubt they had, occasionally, heard his stuff from the 70's back, they knew nothing of that Chris Lawless. To them, Chris Lawless had always been a bigger than life character with attitude...usually bad...and style...usually impeccable. "Laugh now, go on." He quipped as he popped a cigarette into his mouth and lit it. Absently he handed the overflowing ashtray to Marie who emptied for him and then handed it back. "It's true. I wasn't always famous and I certainly was not always rich."

"You, Jareth?" Duncan asked in a snide tone that he tried to hide. "Not always rich and famous? Say it's not true."

Jareth stared at him from behind Chris Lawless's eyes as he wound up the heavy black cord with his hands and the smoke from his cigarette clouded his face. Carefully he placed the coiled up cord onto the top of the Marshall stack and removed the cigarette from his mouth. His mis-matched eyes stared coolly at Duncan. "No," he said simply, "not always."

Duncan crossed the room to sit at the bar behind Jareth. "How poor were you?"

Unlike Duncan MacLeod, everything about Chris Lawless' life was up for public display. You could walk into any book store any where on the face of the Earth and pick one of at least a dozen unauthorized biographies which had been written about him. Some were true, some were utter garbage written by people he hadn't seen since 1965. But, if the man wanted the insider’s point of view then, Chris decided, he should have it.
"I grew up in a two room, two floor walk up, MacLeod in the lower end of Brixton. My father was an alcoholic who never held a steady job in his life. My mother took in laundry and cleaned people's houses for money. My brother quit school and went to work in the tube factory at fifteen to help pay the bills. He committed suicide some years after that. My sister ran away from home at fourteen and no one saw her for the next ten years. And me? I quit school at sixteen, took a job making deliveries and working in a pub at night. I left home six months later." Here he inserted a careful pause, taking the time for a drag from his cigarette and careful note that there was not another sound in the room and all eyes were solidly fixed upon him. "My mother died two months before my third single came out, Outer World, everyone know that one?" He asked with mock sincerity and looked around himself for a moment. Outer World was probably the only song these kids did know from his early days. It was a rock and roll classic. "Four days after it's release it went gold and I became a star." Carefully he took a last drag from his cigarette before crushing it out in the ashtray. "Yes, I was poor. And you, MacLeod? Tell us about your life." Chris Lawless invited as he settled his slender body onto the EV speaker.

"It's not as dramatic as yours I'm afraid." Duncan returned and became aware of the tension between them. Clever man, Duncan thought as he sat there and stared at Jareth. He had baited Jareth and Jareth had taken it and then been kind enough to return the favor. There was something alien about him, Duncan thought that maybe it was those weird eyes of his but that wasn't it. He exuded a chameleon like quality, one moment an average guy, the next a rich sophisticated British gentleman, the next a spoiled rock and roll star. Duncan could almost see the geers change inside the man's head but what frightened him most was just how easily and quickly those gears changed and slid into place. Seamlessly. Almost effortlessly. Here before him, was not the British gentleman he had met scant hours ago but the Rock Star he had expected to. Slowly Duncan's eyes scanned to others in the room, all of their eyes were on them and none of them so much as moved.

"Come on, MacLeod, don't be shy." Chris encouraged in low voice, his true British accent adding to the hypnotic glow of the cool stare in his unearthly eyes. "There must be something to tell. You're not American, let's start there."

"I was born in Scotland."

"Your pipes haven't seen Mother Scotland in a long time. Where else? What do you do?"

"Cloud-man!" Annabelle cried as she toddled over to where Duncan sat at the bar. "Cloud-man!" She looked up at him with her big blue eyes and curly red hair, she held out her arms to him. Duncan bent and picked her up as her chubby little arms wrapped around his neck and she hugged him. Annabelle unclasped her arms and turned herself to sit down on his lap.

"I've lived in a lot of places and I've done a lot of things." Duncan stated flatly as he looked at Jareth from behind little Annabelle. "Let's just leave it at that."

"That's boring." Chris retorted.

Annabelle giggled and jumped up and down in Duncan's lap. "He auk-a fun-nee too." She squealed. "Like you, Cloud-man."

"Yes, I talk like him." Duncan said to Annabelle.

"Maybe to her untrained ears." Jareth groused and knew the game was over for now. Duncan MacLeod was going to use the baby as a magic shield by refusing to continue in front of her. So be it. Chris raised himself from the speaker and went about the business of reconnecting the cables and making sound checks. Slowly conversation between him and the team began again as they all set about their respective tasks in making the set up work. Soon the moment was glossed over nicely but it was not forgotten by any of them.

With the tense moment over, Sarah opened the windows in the game room to free it from the stale smell of Jareth's cigarettes and took the Southern Comfort she had been thinking about since early in the afternoon from behind the bar. Sarah set out three crystal glasses and filled them with ice and the amber liquid. She passed one to Duncan who sat at the bar watching as and the team once again went through the ritual of tuning guitars and doing sound checks. This one went more quickly, thankfully. He looked at the three glasses which she had poured and then reminded himself that she was a full grown adult, if she wanted to have a drink she could and he shouldn't say anything about it. Not right now anyway.

"Jareth," Sarah called as she moved the glass which she held causing the ice inside to clink against the glass. "Want one?"

Jareth smiled and crossed the room to where Duncan sat and Sarah stood, he accepted the glass her slender hand offered with a smile. "Better than that Guiness back there, I hope." He chuckled.

"Oh, Gods! You didn't drink that crap, did you?"

"Yep." Jareth pointed to the trash can behind her and the empty Guiness bottles which lay on top. "Wasn't too bad once you got past the dust."

"You let him drink that?" Sarah accused Duncan.

"He's an adult. Aren't you, Jareth?" Duncan raised the amber liquid to his full lips and downed half the double in one swallow.

"Quite right, MacLeod. Quite right." He knocked the whole glass back. "Let's have another, love." He watched as Sarah refilled his glass and handed it back to him. He downed half of it one gulp and then the second half. Jareth glanced down at his Rolex, 7:15. Was it that late already? It seemed as though he’d just walked through the door at a little after noon. "Come on, little one, not much time left." He said as he grabbed her hand. "I've got an eleven o'clock flight back to New York." Chris lead her out from behind the bar and over to the makeshift stage.

"You gonna play, Sarah?" Tony asked happily as he handed Brett the sticks.

"Do I have a choice?" She asked as she batted her eyes at Jareth. It was the first good look she’d gotten at him since the little row between Duncan and he earlier, the first time she was able to see that Jareth was waging a row of his own, trying to stay more in control than Chris. This was Chris’ territory and Jareth was bound to lose once the music started up.

"Not really." He returned with a smile. "Don't any of the rest of you play an instrument?"

"I play a little keyboard." Tony admitted.

"I can finger fuck that bass." Mike added in as he pointed to the battered Jackson.

" I sing." Said Marie.

"They all sing." Sarah corrected as she harnessed the Les Paul. "Go on Tony, give the old Casio a shot. Mike, you can finger fuck the Jackson. Marie hook up the other mic, you can do back up vocals." Sarah grabbed her long hair in one hand and freed it from the strap while Marie plugged in the other microphone and set it in the stand. Marie gave her a nervous look and Sarah smiled sweetly in return, it's ok don't worry, said that smile and Marie's eyes were grateful for it. "So, what do we want to play?"

"Why don't you do that Godawful old tune, you love so much to get us started." Chris advised as he strapped the Rich over his slender shoulder.

"Godawful old tune?" Sarah planted her hands on her hips. "Humph!"

"Well, it's slow and easy to get into. A good warm up.”

"Fine," Sarah muttered and began to play Turn the page an old Van Morrison tune made famous by Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band. They played a choppy but acceptable version of the song, but when the song ended Sarah looked up to see that her old friend Jareth was no longer with them, Chris Lawless had finally come to pay his own visit. She didn't think it was anything that anyone else in the room would notice, until he opened his mouth, but she could see it in the way he was holding himself, so high and proud. The set of his jaw, tight and concentrated. The wild gleam in those unearthly eyes. Without looking up because he was becoming lost in his own world, Chris strummed the strings of the Rich and lead them through a cover of Born to run.

Duncan sat at the bar as he had done most of the day and just watched them. The woman up there rock and rolling, drinking and smoking marijuana with the Rock Star was not the same woman he had married, he didn't know who she was but he knew she did not belong locked up here behind the wrought iron gates of Cooper's Inn. She belonged on the stages of the world right next to her old buddy Chris Lawless. How could he possibly ask her to refuse him when he asked her to go with him later tonight? How could he ask her to hide that talent and drive away from the rest of the world? Telling himself that it was the right thing to do seemed little solace. Duncan refilled his glass and noticed that the other two on the bar were empty, when had Sarah finished off the glass which had been almost full the last time he looked at it? The song was ending now, Duncan looked away from the glass and up at his wife who had more color in her cheeks then he had ever seen. She was glowing and lighting up all that surrounded her.

"Let's do one of mine now. You might know it, you might not." Chris said as he tuned the Rich down a half step. "It's pretty easy, you shouldn't have any trouble with it." Chris' fingers began to go from F sharp to E back and forth again in rapid succession while his fingers deftly picked the notes on the strings below.

Sarah held her breath and waited. In the split instant between the rapid succession of his flying fingers on the fret board and the time he hit the note Sarah was dreading she had time to think of just how quickly things can change. One minute you're rock and rolling along bopping your fingers and feeling fine the next slamming into the wall. Such was life with Chris Lawless.

Chris' long fingers bent the fourth string as he stomped the reverb pedal with his foot and held it.

Sarah's eyes pleaded with him not to continue on with the song. Chris smiled deep at her and went headlong into a rendition of a song which had never been released as a single but had become a club favorite when she was on the road with him and later it became a concert staple of his. Absently Sarah's fingers picked up the lead line with her own guitar.

Chris Lawless stepped up to the microphone and began to sing in his clear baritone voice while his hands worked the guitar.

"With your long red hair, skin so fair. You drive me wild, girl. Under the moon you dance and twirl. Make me burn with desire. Take you down girl, you'll feel the heat of my fire. Sweet, Sweet sexy Sarah."

With great effort Sarah raised her eyes from her fingers on the string to look at Duncan whose jaw was clench so tight it looked as though his teeth might crack from the pressure.

"Stoner girl, blotter on your lips. Wild child, running in the noon day sun. Chanting free, building the power within me. Sweet, Sweet sexy Sarah. Mystery woman, cast your spells in the night. Come to my bed I'll show you magickal delights. Fly high above me, tether my hand. Descent upon me I'm at your command. Sweet, sweet, sexy Sarah."

Sarah stepped forward while Chris stepped back, her body covered in sweat, the flimsy cotton dress clinging to her every curve. The long copper tress which flowed from the top of her head moved in one large wet mass. Graceful fingers flew up and down the neck of the guitar and picked skillfully at each individual string as she went into the lead solo. She did not take her eyes from her husband but neither did she stop playing.

If Duncan MacLeod thought he held a clue about his wife's past he was realizing he had completely missed the plot line of the mystery and picked up the wrong clues. To Sarah Duncan looked as thought an atomic bomb had just exploded inside his head. Sarah felt guilty and she felt regretful as she played the hard notes of the solo which Chris had written and she had perfected so many years ago in the back of a converted Greyhound bus as they bounded down I-70 through Kansas. But she played and she did not stop. Sarah had always been embarassed by the song Chris had written for her, had pleaded with him many times to cal it "Sweet sexy Susan" anything but Sarah. Chris had insisted and when he insisted he always got his way.

Always.

The lead solo ended and Sarah stepped back to allow Chris to come forward again. Brett silenced the drums. Tony and Mike stopped playing. Chris took his hands off the guitar. Sarah held one note on hers.

"Sorceress, you've cast your spell," Chris spoke lyrically into the mic, "tell me now, are you taking me to heave or through the gates of hell?" Chris sucked in air through his front teeth in a reverse hissing sound as he rolled his hips and thrust the microphone forward. Brett the cymbal once. The song ended. All was silent.

"Thanks a lot,Chris." Sarah hissed in ear as she reached for the glass of mint tea which had spiked with just a little bit...well a lotta bit..of Southern Comfort.

"You needed a push. I gave you one. Be happy, love." He whispered in her ear as his unearthly eyes locked to her.

"Not that big."

Chris rose to his full height and planted his hands on his slender hips while he stared at her. "Yes, that big." He said firmly.

Sarah felt herself being pushed off balance as Marie tripped over one of the cords and tried to grasp Sarah for balance. "It's you!" She said with excitement as she recaptured her footing. "I've listened to that song for years, I never knew you were Sarah. Why didn't you tell us?"

"That's even her playing on the album." Chris remarked as he began to process of re-tuning the Rich. "You really need new keys on this thing, little one."

"Really? You played on that album?" Mike asked as he downed the last of the only beer Sarah had allowed him and placed the Ovation in its stand.

"Just that song, not the whole album." Sarah clarified as she unharnessed the Les Paul and took another long drink of her mint tea.

"Yep, just that one." Chris groused as he perched on top of the Marshall with the guitar on his lap, he lit another cigarette and then began to tune the instrument again. "Sarah wouldn't come to London to record the album with me...hell no." He groused. "I begged her, pleaded with her to come." He snickered. "Didn't anyone wonder why Sweet sexy Sarah is the only song on that album done in live version?" Chris looked around at all of them while he puffed the cigarette with one hand and tuned the guitar with the other. Yes, now that he'd brought it up, they were thinking about it that much he could see. "I'd never have anyone but Sarah play on that song. I ended up going out and buying a bootleg tape of my own live performances just so I could use it on the album. Damn good thing I own the record company, huh?" His wild eyes narrowed on Sarah. "Even in concert that's you playing, little one. Carlos is just fingers the strings."

"You sampled me?" Sarah asked in shocked disgust. Yes, he always got his own fucking way but this was going too far.

"It's legal." Chris reminded her. "You wouldn't do as I asked so I had to find a way around you." Chris hopped off of the Marshall. "One or two more, it's getting late and we have things to talk about." He held the Rich out to her with one hand and opened his other for her to give him the Les Paul. Sarah's arms clasped around the body of the guitar. "I'm not going to drop it. Hand it over. It's your turn." He said brusquely as his fingers folded and unfolded in the Universal Gimmie That signal. "Come on, girl give it up." Chris demanded in a low voice. "We all want to hear her do something original, do we not?" He asked everyone and they all agreed that they did. Such a treat to have Sarah do an original tune and with Chris Lawless!

Quietly Sarah unharnessed the Les Paul and exchanged it for the Rich in his hands, she strapped it over her shoulder and downed the rest of her iced tea. "Still thirsty, hold on a minute." She said quietly as she crossed the room to the bar and where Duncan sat.

"You don't have to do this if you're not ready." He said as he took her small hand inside his own large one. Duncan noticed that not only was her palm sweaty her fingers were already forming callouses on them from playing so hard.

Sarah smiled and kissed the hand which held her own. "I can take care of him. Don't worry." She said sweetly and then poured Southern Comfort into the iced tea glass, she knocked it down in one shot. "Almost over, Duncan. He'll be leaving soon." She leaned her body across the bar and kissed him with her liquor covered lips. "I promise." Sarah departed and crossed the room back to where the others were waiting for her.

"Ready now?" Chris asked.

"Ready." She leaned behind him as she went for a pick. "Wouldn't mind another one of those joints of yours later on." She whispered in his ear. Chris laughed heartily, his eyes scanned Duncan knowing that he had not heard her. Duncan was looking at him with more just simple disdain in his eyes.

"Ok," Sarah said as she ran her fingers down the strings of the Rich, "this is a little blusey. You two keep a four-four beat," she said to Brett and Mike. "You do this," she leaned over the keyboards and pounded out the succession from C to G to D and back to C on the keyboards. "Ready? One, two, one, two, three, four." Sarah counted off and then began to play the rhythm part of her "Spending Dough" song. Sarah stepped up to the microphone and began to sing after the third bar was played. "Hey you! I see the look in your eyes. You're looking for your Lancelot. Someone to win you the big carnival prize. Looking for your hero? Well that takes a lot. So many frogs, hopping into the pot. Listen to me, easy to love a poor man. Better to love one with quarters to put in the slot.

"Ain't nothin' noble' bout being poor. Ain't nothin' noble bout countin' out change in the grocery store. If you got em both and they love you so, then go girl, for the man with the spending dough."

Chris watched from the corner of his eye as Sarah slipped effortlessly into the song that just a moment ago she did not want to perform. Her voice lowered an octave from its normal soprano sounded smokey and sultry. Her small but very well curved hips rocked and swayed to the old time blues beat. She didn't even look down at the strings as she went through with the rhythm of the song with her fingers.

"When dem kids is screaming, you don't want to be a dreamin' bout life on some distant shore. Some woulda, coulda, shoulda beens knocking on your door. Poor men, ain't nothing wrong with dem a little cash wouldn't cure. You listen to me girl, cause in your old age, you wants to be sure. The man in jeans is all good and well, but you need a man who can make more than just his front pockets swell." Sarah moaned.

Chris stepped forward and played the lead blues riffs on the old Les Paul, he had not forgotten a single note to the song that he and Sarah had played so many nights under the hot lights. He glanced up at Duncan and was surprised to see that the man was smiling a genuine smile for the first time since he had arrived this afternoon. Chris played skillfully the riffs Sarah had written and kept one eye on Duncan, maybe he was coming around. Maybe he would not give his wife a hassle when she told him that she wanted to go off and play the stages of the world. Chris stepped back and Sarah stepped forward, she went through the refrain twice more and the song ended in a clear cut.

"Very good, little one!" Chris said as he wrapped his slender arms around her. "See, you are ready."

"No," Sarah said quietly, "I'm not."

"Ready for what?" Mike asked.

"To go off on tour with me." Chris answered but did not take his eyes from Sarah.

"Oh, are you really going, Sarah?" Marie asked as her eyes lit up.

"No, I'm really not. You know it, Chris."

"Hump. We'll talk later. One more and then I think it's time to pack it in." Chris stated and was met with groans of disappointment. "Sorry, ladies and gents. I have to start work tomorrow."

Sarah wiped the sweat from her eyes, both happy and sorrowful that the little impromptu jam session was coming to an end. She hadn't played this hard since the last night she played with Chris and she was tiring. The night was not over, Chris would ask her again before he left and when he did he would be more insistent. Duncan would have many questions of his own once Chris Lawless departed. Sarah was not looking forward to either event.

"Put it down, little one." Chris said as he placed his hand on the Rich and his eyes shinned at her. Sarah knew what he wanted. "Come on, put it down." He said coyly as he handed her the Ovation. Chris picked up the twelve string and they both sat back to back on top of the Marshall stack. The members of the team sat on the carpet in front of them. "Ready? One two, two three, four." Chris counted off quietly and Sarah began to pluck the strings on the Ovation. Unlike the hard electric music which had been bellowing and echoing throughout the mansion all evening making the walls and the floors shake, the soothing sounds of the acoustic filled only the single room and all around them was quiet. Chris joined in with the full tones of the twelve string. His signature song, the song which ended every Chris Lawless concert since the beginning of time was heard coming from the two guitars. The wind is wild was one of only a handful of ballads that Chris had ever done, and was, arguably, the song he was most famous for. No one covered it in all of the twenty years he'd been playing it. They went through the song flawlessly sitting on top of the speaker, Sarah leaning her head back against his shoulder strumming and singing harmony. If they were actually performing this in concert on the last verse the rest of the band would pick up and Chris would waltz with her while he sang the last of the haunting ballad to her. But there was no one here to take over the song. The last verse came and a wave of sadness washed over Sarah as she wondered if she would ever get to play with him again.

Chris put down the guitar, stood and held out his hand to her. Sarah strummed hers for a few moments longer. "Dance with me, little one." He whispered. Sarah put down the guitar and took the hand being offered to her. Chris held her body close to his as he sang the last lines and they danced across the game room.

"Only when you touch me does my life begin. Say you love me, say it’s true. Oh my darling, cling to me. Don't you know, you're life itself?" Chris crooned and then dipped Sarah in a graceful embrace. If they had been on the stage at that moment the bright spot light which would have been upon them would have flickered out as he held her there frozen in time for that split moment. They were not on stage and there was no spotlight tonight. That didn't stop the team and Duncan from clapping wildly. Mike and Tony put their fingers in their mouths and whistled loudly while Annabelle jumped up and down on her mother's lap clapping her chubby little hands together.

"You still dance divinely, little one." Chris remarked as he brought her back up to a standing position and then let her go. He saw there were tears in her eyes. Sarah curtsied low for him while she held lightly to his hand.

"Thank you," Sarah whispered as she rose and embraced him in her arms. "I love you," she whispered in his ear and felt him smile as he whispered that he loved her too. Sarah felt Duncan's large strong hands on her shoulders and she broke off her embrace with Chris. Sarah turned slowly to Duncan hoping that she would not see disappointment or jealousy in his eyes and was grateful when she saw neither reflected there. He was smiling genuinely at her and it lit up his warm hazel eyes.

Duncan embraced her tightly and kissed her cheek. "Wonderful, Sarah. Both of you." He said as he looked at Chris. "All of you." He corrected himself as he gazed around at the members of Sarah's team. "Truly wonderful. Bravo." Duncan kissed her again as he slung an arm around her shoulders.

"Thank you, Duncan." Chris said congenially as he held out his hand to him. "You've got a hell of a wife, you know."

"Yes, I know." Duncan agreed.

Marie and the others were rising from their place on the carpet, little Annabelle was rubbing at her sleepy eyes with her chubby little fists trying to wipe the sleep out of them. "It is late," Marie said, "we should be going now."

"I hope you all had fun." Jareth said good naturedly. "I know I did. You have a very talented bunch of kids here, little one."

"They are pretty great, aren't they?"

"Quite so."

The team began to gather the items they had brought with them, Brett and Tony began the task of taking down the drum kit. "Why don't you leave that," Sarah said, "you can come back for it tomorrow."

"Ok," Brett said, glad that he wasn't going to have mess with moving the cumbersome kit tonight.

"There's fresh coffee in the kitchen gentleman. I'll see them out and then join you."

"Wait." Chris called. "Before you all regret it later, Sarah where's your Polaroid?"

"Ever the consummate star." Sarah chided lightly. "Hold on. Why don't you sign autographs while I go fetch it."

"All right. Who's got some paper?" Four pieces of paper and three pens were immediately thrust before him.

Sarah returned a few moments later with the camera in her hand and snapped pictures for all of them to take back so they could prove they really did jam with Chris Lawless.

"How bout some for us?' Chris asked as Marie climbed off of his lap. "Come on, come sit here, little one." He patted his hand against his knee. Sarah sat on it and Brett clicked off several shots for them.

"All right," Sarah said finally, "Out, shoo...all of you come on."

Good nights and thank yous were to bid to Chris Lawless by all members of Sarah's team before they left the game room with Sarah close behind them.

"You look tired," Duncan remarked as he finished the last of Southern Comfort still in his glass.

"I am. Not as young as I used to be, MacLeod. Rock and roll takes it's toll on an old man like me no matter how much practice I've had at it."

Duncan look at the Rock Star and for the first time noticed the lines around his eyes and mouth, and the fact that his roots did not quite match the rest of the color of his hair. It wasn't anything that most people would notice, but with him sitting there next to Duncan and being so much shorter than he was, Duncan realized the man colored his hair to keep the grays out. Rock and roll was a young man's game he imagined and Jareth was well into his fifties. Still, when he was singing with Sarah Duncan could have sworn that Jareth was just as young and fresh as he had been all those years ago when the Brits had invaded American Rock and Roll. "I guess it does." Duncan said quietly as he cleared the glasses from the bar.

"What about you, MacLeod? How much older are you than Sarah?" Chris asked as he began to roll down the sleeves of his shirt and button the cuffs. "Hand me that tie, will you?" Duncan reached behind himself and took the dark gray silk tie from the back of the barstool and handed it to him. "Thanks, mate." Some what haphazardly he looped it around his neck and snugged it.

"Sarah is a few years younger than I am." Duncan said in answer to the mans' question.

"I'd say she is. Don't get me wrong, you look good for a man of...what are you? Forty?" He asked without expecting an answer as he glanced at Duncan. "Sarah will be young no matter how old she lives to be." Chris lit a cigarette and inhaled mightily of the smoke allowing it to completely fill his aging lungs. "I still intend to take her with me." He said flatly as he exhaled the great puff of grey smoke. "I haven't given up on that."

"Maybe you should."

"Coffee, gentlemen?" Sarah asked politely as she poked her head into the game room after saying good night to the team. "You two getting along?" She asked as she took note of the looks on their faces.

"We're fine, little one. Not to worry." Chris said brightly as his unearthly eyes stared coldly at Duncan, then turned and softened when they looked up her. "Love some coffee." He rose and made his way out of the game room, grasping Sarah's hand firmly in his own and leading her swiftly away with him. "He's so stuffy, what are you doing with him?" Chris whispered sharply in her ear as they walked down the hallway toward the kitchen.

"I love him. Can't you be happy for that?" She sighed.

"I can see that you do. Does he love you? Does he even know you? It's quite clear that he and I know two different Sarah Cooper's."

Sarah tucked her hair behind her ear with her free hand and lightly licked her lips before answering him. "I've changed since then. I'm not the same woman you knew."

"Rot!" He exclaimed. "Bloody fucking, bullshit."

"It's not..."

"I know you. I will always know you. And that is a load of bullshit. Look, I know what being raped did to you. I know how it scared your soul." He whispered. "I'm sorry for it. Sarah, don't let it claim you. Don't let it make you hide yourself away up here for the rest of your life as his little mosey house frau. And why? Just because it's safe. The Sarah I knew never took the safe way out of or into anything."

“Maybe she should have.” Sarah said as they entered the kitchen, she didn't even look at him as she took the ceramic mugs down from the shelf and began to fill them with the steaming brew. Damn him and his ability to peer into her thoughts and pick just the right one to pull out and expose when she least wanted to do so.

"How did the Scotsman bewitch the witch so well?" Chris demanded in a low voice as he took the cup from her hand. "What did he do? What did he say? Tell me, I'd really love to know." He looked deep into her eyes as he sipped from the cup she had offered him and then held up his hand. "I know...Trust me....that's what he said to you, isn't it? This time you bought it, you actually fucking bought it! Why?"

"Because he was sincere. He told me that he would never hurt me." Sarah eyes' dampened and begged him not to continue this line of questioning. Her pleas were ignored.

"Did he? You know he can't keep that promise. No man can. Weren't you the one who taught me not to speak in terms of "never" because you don't know what tomorrow will bring? Wasn't that you?"

"Yes," her eyes swelled further and she looked away from him.

"When did he say all of those pretty words to you? Before or after you told him?"

"After." She whispered as the tears began to fall. Sarah was quite aware of where Jareth and Chris were going with this line of interrogation but she did not want to hear it. Did want her one of her inner most fears voiced for the world to hear.

"You tell him your sad tale. And then what? Did he tell you that it didn't matter? Did he tell you that he loved you anyway? He would never do anything like that to you, not to sweet little Sarah. Tell you that he wanted you? He would care for you?" His voice dropped lower. "Protect you?" He shook his blonde head from side to side very slowly. "Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. Sarah, how could you be so stupid?" He sighed deeply. "Duncan MacLeod told you everything you wanted to hear and you bought it. Hook. Line. And sinker." The disgust was very apparent in his voice. "Well, I suppose the fact that he has money bodes well. Tell me you didn't sign a fucking pre-nup." He squashed what was left of his burning cigarette into the ashtray. "What does he want from you, little one? Maybe I can get you out of this."

"No," Sarah strongly as she wiped a slender hand over her cheek to clear away the tears which were falling. "I don't want to get out. I love him. Don't you understand that?"

"We've been over that already." He reminded as he sipped again from the coffee. "I believe we were talking about his motives."

"What about them?" Duncan asked as he walked into the kitchen. He had stood outside the door long enough, had listened to most of their conversation and he did not need to eavesdrop any longer. Was this man actually going to walk into his home after not seeing Sarah in almost four years and blow his marriage apart? In less than a full day? Chris Lawless had a lot of balls if he thought he was going to get away with that, no matter what Sarah have to say about him.

Sarah's face turned ashen as she stared at Chris with her back to Duncan. She drew in a quick breath and took her hands from the coffee cup in front of her. Very carefully, so as to look totally natural, she raised them to her face and wiped away the last of the tears she had been crying while demanding that she not make any new ones. Sarah rose on unsteady legs, still with her back to her husband and proceeded to pour him a cup of fresh coffee. She heard Duncan walking behind her but she had taken her hair from the pony tail while she was outside and it hid him from her view. His presence was strong behind her, he had stopped there but he was saying nothing. Sarah's heart skipped a beat. She knew she looked awful, while her face was dry she could feel her eyes were puffy and her hands were shaking.

Go and sit down, go and sit down, go and sit down. She whispered over and over in her mind a she very slowly poured the coffee and wished he liked to have something in it. Having run out of time and things to do, Sarah slowly turned around to face him. She drew a breath which she hoped would bring some color to her cold cheeks as she reached deep inside of herself for a believable smile to show him. Not finding one she turned and did not look at him as she handed him the cup.

Duncan kissed the top of her head while he sighed and held her tight for a moment. His warm hand closed around his and he lead her to the table where they sat with Jareth. "Now, what about my motives?"

"What are they?" Jareth shot without hesitation.

"I love her, isn't that motive enough?"

"Let's talk about old times, Sarah. Let's sit here and relive our Glory Days for a little while. I'm sure Duncan's heard plenty of these stories, haven't you Duncan? But there may be one or two that I can add." Chris' head turned in Duncan's direction as he raised an eyebrow at him. "What do you say? Up for a round, Sarah?" There was no cheekiness or sarcasm in his voice. "You tell him about Seattle? What we did to that fucking hotel room?" He let out a haughty little laugh but never took his eyes from Duncan. "You tell him about going through Arizona totally strung out on peyote? Tell him, you showed us that trick? Tell him about the beach and the cliff?"

"That's enough, Chris. Shut up." Sarah shot at him.

"Ohh, going to get your Irish up with me, little one?" Chris shook his head. "You don't want to do that. I am behaving myself here, am I not? Think about it."

Yes, he was behaving himself. In his own twisted way he was behaving himself. The events he was eluding to were by far the tamest ones, there were other tales Chris could hint at which Sarah would never be able to explain to Duncan or make him understand. Sarah politely nodded her head at Chris in answer to his question but she said nothing to him, afraid that whatever she said it was going to be the wrong thing and he was just waiting for her open up something that he could explode for them.

"I don't care about any of this." Duncan said strongly but sat still in his place.

"Don't you?" Chris shot at him. "I think you do." His voice dared Duncan to say otherwise. "Come on, Duncan. She is your wife. These are things you should know, are they not?"

"If Sarah wants me to know, she will tell me. It's not your place." Duncan reminded him.

"Maybe not. Maybe not. But it appears some one has got to do it. Might as well be me."

"Why?" Sarah asked quietly. "What do you hope to gain from this, Chris?" Sarah knew full well that Chris Lawless never did anything unless there was something in it for him.

"You know what I want."

"You think that if you put enough doubt in his mind that he’ll what....leave me? Will that make you happy? If I toss my marriage out the window and go off on tour with you?" Sarah rose defiantly to her feet as she stared through him. "I don't think so."

"Quite right." Chris agreed easily as he understood that his job here was close to being done. Sarah had been polite enough to confirm for him that he had accomplished his objective, the seeds of doubt were firmly planted. From here they would grow. Now it was time to lay on his special brand of charm. "Sit down, little one." Chris commanded in a soothing tone and watched as Sarah sat at his command. His eyes caught upon the glare he was getting from Duncan and he smiled. Chris held his slender hand out across the table to Sarah who laid her own in its palm without even thinking about it. Chris grasped it lightly and began to rise. He held her slender hand lightly in his own as he wound his way around the table and stopped by her side, his eyes never leaving Duncan's stare. "I’m sorry," came his whisper as he took her hair between his fingers. Chris bent slightly and whispered directly in her ear. "What a mess. Hey, little one?"

Sarah's eyes closed at the feel of his breath in her ear sent a hot shiver through her body. Her slender throat pulled and heaved looking for any sense of moisture but there was none.

“I only want the best for you. I always have. You know that don’t you? Come with me." He commanded in an easy voice as he reached around and held a hand out to Sarah. The Sarah who just a moment ago had been on her feet about to rip him a new asshole. With no hesitation or reservation she reached for it and allowed Chris to lead her out of the kitchen. Sarah turned back to look at Duncan with large questioning eyes as she held her free hand out to him. Duncan took it in his own and they exited the kitchen in a straight line, hand in hand, as though they were over grown pre-school children. "Go on, sit." Chris said as they entered the main parlor and he flicked on the lights.

Duncan sat himself on the couch and Sarah settled herself at his feet. She rested her head on his knee and turned to look at him. "I don't know what he's doing." She confessed as she watched Jareth fetched his jacket. "But Chris is gone now, I think. He'll be politer now."

There was no time to ask her to explain as the rock star was beginning to make his way back across the room, but if he was gleaning things correctly, Sarah was attempting to tell him that Jareth had a split personality. Duncan thought that would explain a few things if it were true. How ironic that the stage persona he had created so many years ago would rise up to over take it's master, its' creator and become dominate. He sat back and watched the man work the last of his magic for the night.

"It's no secret that I want you to come with me," Jareth said as he sat on the other end of the couch with a small envelope in his hands. "I know you're ready, Sarah. Let's face facts, once the two of you start squeezing out babies you're never going to get this chance again."

Sarah smiled slightly knowing that Jareth had no idea of just how true his words were. "Jareth, I can't." Sarah protested from her place on the floor.

"I have come a long way, little one, the least you can do is hear me out before you refuse my offer.” Disapproval clear in his voice. “First off, I'm ready to offer you a quarter of a million dollars to accompany me. While your husband may be a rich man, you are not a rich woman, little one. Be good to have some of your own spending dough, don't you think?"

Yes, that would be good. Sarah was quickly using up what little money she had of her own. Soon she would grow more and more dependent upon Duncan in the area of financial concerns. Sarah opened her mouth to politely decline his offer but Jareth held up his hand.

" Hold on, I said, hear me out. What's holding you back?" He asked with a sly smile.

"Well, for one I don't want to leave my husband. We just got married." Sarah looked up at Duncan above her and smiled for him as she held his hand in her own.

"Ah, yes. Well, then, here you go." Jareth handed her something from the envelope that he held.

Sarah took it and looked at the pictures of the converted Greyhound bus. It was a shinning electric blue with matching electric purple trim and had a large muriel of pegasus painted on the sides and rear. She knew this little conveyance had cost him at least seventy five thousand dollars.

"A bus built for two...and no more...I promise." Jareth said with glee in his voice. "All the amenities. Kitchen, bath, queen sized bed." He tempted. "So, Duncan will come with you...if he wants to. There's no reason he can't."

"I can't, Jareth. I'd love to." She stammered as she looked at the pictures. "The schedule is so hard. I haven't done anything like that in so long..."

"Ah, yes. I know. Along with your own private bus fully stocked with all the pampering frilly things that you love so much. I happened to work out the schedule so that it isn't so grueling this time. It works out to only about three shows a week. And, I've managed to work in a two week vacation." Jareth stopped for a moment as he fished inside the envelope and stared at her, not wanting to miss the expression which was about burst forth on her face. "In Greece."

Sarah's eyes lit up, color flushed into her cheeks, her mouth hung open and her heart raced. Greece? Did he say Greece? Sarah bit her lip as she took the first class plane tickets and hotel pamphlet he was offering her.

"All expenses paid. Five star hotel suite for the two of you. Two solid weeks off to spend lazing around the Med."

Sarah's teeth clenched harder on her lower lip as she looked up at him from her place on the floor.

Jareth pulled the last rabbit out of his hat. "And, if the schedule is still too hard for you after that, I let you walk away. No hard feelings. I won't whine about it or beg you to stay. Come for the first leg...please."

Duncan sat on the couch and watched his wife pace around the room while she chewed on her lower lip and the moment he did not want to come finally arrived.

"What do you think, Duncan?" Sarah asked. "Would you go with me? It's not easy, life on the road, it's hard."

"I think you should do what you like." Was all he said and regretted it instantly. He had taken the easy way out and left the decision in her hands. If he told her it was all right with him that she go he would be lying and if he told her that it was not all right he would be controlling. Best to leave it up to her. She was thinking about it hard and he could see why. Jareth had managed to anticipate her every objection and come up with an answer for it beforehand. The real pearl he had dug out of his magic bag was the two week lay over in Greece, Sarah's holy land. Duncan had not missed the way her eyes had lit up nor the way her hands shook when she took the papers from him nor the lilt in her voice. Duncan remembered Sarah telling him that she had never traveled over seas and he imaged that this was more than a mere dream come true for her, it was a fantasy laid at her feet. She was being offered the chance to go out and conquer the world and to do it all in high style. For Sarah, a woman whom a mere three months ago was three hundred and seventy five thousand dollars in debt that must seem impossible.

Sarah stood behind Duncan and rested one hand on his shoulder, her finger tips played with ends of his midnight hair as she looked at Jareth who sat across from both of them. This morning she had promised Duncan that she would say no to Jareth but now that the moment had come, no was the last thing she wanted to say. Everything inside of her loudly voiced their votes for yes. If things were different, if she wasn't who she really was, if she had more time, if she didn't love Duncan so much, if she were stronger, or any one of a thousand ifs', she would say yes in a less than a heart beat. Sarah smiled sadly at Jareth and shook her head at him from behind her husband. "I can't. You know I can't." Sarah's voice cracked loudly but she continued. "You're so generous, Jareth. Too generous. You've gone to so much trouble for me, I'm so sorry. But I can't do this. That part of my life is over."

"Little one, listen to me."

"No, you listen. Just this once. You listen."

"I've always listened to you." Jareth said in a low voice. "Always."

"I know you have," Sarah shook her head and sighed, "that's not what I meant. I can't start my marriage off like this. It's not fair to either of us. I can't be a wife and be back-up in your band at the same time.."

"Back up? Back up?" Jareth rose to his feet and began to cross the room, he stopped when he saw the look in MacLeod's eye, the moment had become tense and he doubted the man would let him within arms reach of his wife. "Is that what you think I want? Sarah, I don't want you to play lead guitar for me. I want you to open the damn show."

Duncan felt Sarah's nails sink into his shoulder at Jareth's words.

The word started deep inside of her, Sarah felt it rising up her slender throat, listened to it dance upon her tongue for just a moment and swore she actually swore it dangling from her lips before she was able to pull it back. Her head swum and the room began to spin, she held on to Duncan to keep herself standing.

I want you to open the damn show...open the damn show...open the damn show

"Excuse me, please." She whispered quickly and hastily made her way out of the room back down the hall toward the kitchen leaving the men alone once again.

Duncan began to rise and go after his wife.

"Sit down, MacLeod." Jareth said in a firm but gentle tone. "She doesn't need you running after her."

"What do you know about what she needs? You're the one who's upset her so much." Duncan shot as he continued to stand.

"Am I? She's upset because she thinks you'll be angry if she says yes. Will you be?"

"Sarah and I have discussed it and no, I don't like the idea but I wouldn't stop her or stand in her way."

"Wouldn't you? Wouldn't you do just about anything to keep her here...all to yourself? I know I would if I were you." Jareth pulled the cigarettes from his pocket and lit one. "Once upon a time she used to sit at my feet like that you know. But not anymore, you're the new dominate alpha male."

"The new what?"

"Dominate alpha male." Jareth reiterated slowly. "You are the master, MacLeod and she will follow you wherever you go and do exactly as you tell her to." Jareth dropped his voice low as he stared at Duncan. "Be exactly what you want her to be." Jareth could see by the look in his eyes that Duncan did not especially like the sound of what he was telling him. "It's why she sits at your feet, she's showing you her submissiveness."

Duncan sat silent and dumbfounded. Was he right? Could that be true? Duncan thought about it, the first time Sarah had sat at his feet was the night they were married. He had built a fire in the hearth here in the main parlor and she had curled up at his feet by its warmth. Sarah had been sitting there ever since.

"You really don't know a damn thing about the woman you've married. Lucky for her, I do." Jareth rose from his seat. "Just sit there and think about what kind of master you intend to be to her. I'll go and talk to her."

Jareth made his way to the kitchen but it was empty. He noticed the back door stood open and he stepped outside. At first he saw no signs of her but then he saw the wisps of smoke coming from the other side of the building and he made his way around the corner to where Sarah was greedily smoking one of her Newports. He squashed his own cigarette out on the ground and took a second joint from his cigarette pack which he lit and offered to her. Sarah tossed her own cigarette down and took the joint from his hand. "Little one," he began as he took her small hand in his own and stared deeply into her eyes, "I'm sorry. Truly I am. I thought you would be happy."

"An offer I couldn't refuse." She cracked in her best Marlon Brando voice as she exhaled the marijuana smoke and then hit the joint again before passing it back to him.

"Something like that I suppose." He smiled for her. "All this time, did you really think I was asking you to come and take Carlo's part? Just to play backup for me?" He shook his head. "Were you really that surprised by it?"

Sarah drew the smoke into her lungs and allowed it to fill them completely before she exhaled and answered him. "Yes." She held his hand tighter in her own. "I am overwhelmed that you have so much faith in me, JJ. But I could never open for you. I'm not that good and I'm certainly not ready. I haven't played in front of anyone for years, I just recently started to play for Duncan. Tonight was the first time since LA that I played with anyone. I'm not that polished anymore."

"You never were. That's your charm." He reminded her. "You are that good. You could open for me or anyone starting tomorrow and you would be brilliant. As for ready, you told me you had that problem under control. Were you lying to me?" Jareth hit the joint and passed it back to her.

"No," Sarah said simply, "I wasn't lying." Not exactly. She glanced down at the ground and sighed, "well, let's say the monkey doesn't ride me so hard anymore."

"Which monkey would that be?" Duncan asked as he rounded the corner. He had stood there and listened to their conversation while inhaling second hand marijuana smoke. Sarah froze with the joint raised to her lips and stared at him, slowly she lowered it and passed it back to Jareth. "Go ahead and smoke it, little one." Duncan said as his eyes stared through her, "don't stop on my account."

"It's just a joint, MacLeod. Don't go ballistic." Jareth said to him and tried to lighten the moment a little but Sarah's hand had clamped down on his own in a death grip upon being caught smoking the joint and she would not let go."My fault, I brought it with me.

""Did you force her to smoke it?" Duncan returned in a stern tone. "Now, one of you tell me, what monkey?"

Sarah looked long and hard at Jareth, for the first time tonight she wanted him to open his mouth and let the secret out. It would save her from having to do it herself but Jareth was not going to volunteer the information to Duncan, he was going to leave that up to her. Sarah reached across him, took the joint from his other hand, hit it hard and held the smoke until she was sure she was going to choke on it. But she did not choke, instead her head felt light and the high of the marijuana began to truly kick in. Better to do this stoned than straight she imagined.

"I wanted to smoke the joint." Sarah looked down at it and noticed that it was nothing more than a smoldering roach. She popped it into her mouth and swallowed it. "I'm sorry if it upset you. I won't do it again "

"Happy?" Jareth asked Duncan snidely.

"No." Duncan return in an icy tone, "she still hasn't answered me."

Sarah's hand released Jareth's as she moved away from the wall of the house. "Listen to me, both of you." Sarah held her hands out at her sides so that one was pointed directly at each of them. "I'm not going to be party to your little territorial war anymore. I love you both immensely and I don't know what I'd do without either one of you." She turned and looked at Duncan. "There are things in my life which do not concern you, they happened before I met you and they do not bare on our relationship. Does any of that sound familiar to you?" She did not wait for Duncan to answer as she turned to look at Jareth. "And you can't just come in here blowing up a storm and expect that I'm going to follow you anymore. No matter how unrefusable the offer is. My life has changed. Everything is different now." Sarah stopped and drew a breath of the fresh night air, she wasn't sure she was actually making any sense, she was too stoned to know the difference, but it sounded right and it felt right. "I'm not asking you to be friends. Gods know you won't ever have to spend much time together. But stop trying to lay claim on my life. You have your part in it." She nodded at Jareth. "And you have yours." She said as her gaze turned to Duncan. "Beyond that, I can't offer either of you anything more." Sarah lowered her arms as she once again turned her stare to Jareth. "I'm not going with you and that's all there is to say on that subject."

"You belong out there with me." Jareth protested. "Don't give up on your dreams, not for him. Not for anyone, Sarah. Don't quit on me."

"I'm not quitting." She shot coolly at him. "That was a low blow, even for you. I may have changed, Jareth but I am still not a quitter."

"If you say so, little one." Jareth intoned from his place against the wall.

"Why do you insist on calling her that?" Duncan demanded. "It's insulting."

"Do you finding it insulting?" Jareth asked her.

"You know I don't."

"Well, she does't have a problem with it..."

"You have your answer." Duncan said to him. "I think you should take it and go now."

"Stop it!" Sarah shouted. "Just fucking stop it! Both of you!" She stopped and drew breath. In her mind she saw those two freight trains running at full speed on the same track, headed straight toward each other. So far tonight, she had managed to throw the switch before they could actually impact, though a few times there it did appear as though there had been a brief kissing of the paint jobs. Sarah did not have the energy to continue the game any longer. "There is room for both of you." She whispered. "You're both just going to have to accept what I can offer you or walk away." Sarah walked back through the kitchen door into the house.

The two men stood outside under the night sky and were silent for along time. Jareth thought that he had pushed things to far to fast tonight, he had not realized just how much Sarah had changed since their time together. Nor had he had any inkling of how jealous he would be of the man who was now calling himself her husband and sharing her bed. That jealousy had lead him to say somethings tonight which Sarah would have to deal with for a long time after he left. For that, Jareth was truly sorry. It was abundantly clear to him now that Sarah honestly never wanted her husband to know about any of that. What he did not fully understand was why but he thought he had an idea. Jareth raised his head and looked at the man across from him, stuffy and boring as he appeared to be, he was Sarah's husband and Jareth should have kept a tighter reign on Chris tonight. "I guess she told us." Jareth said finally as slunk away from the wall and made his way over to Duncan. "We are acting like a couple of school boys."

It was true, they were. They had both behaved badly today and pushed Sarah to edge of being completely fed up with both of them. Duncan had not understood just how different she had been before they had met until today...until Chris Lawless had walked off the face of an album cover and into their lives. "Yes," he said through gritted teeth. "I guess it's time we stopped."

"Quite right, MacLeod. Quite right." With an uneasy silence between them the two men made their way back inside to find Sarah sitting in the family room listening to the radio and drinking brandy.

"Sarah," Duncan began as he walked into the room. "I...both of us..." he looked up at jareth and then down at his wife again. "We're sorry. We've behaved very badly, we didn't mean to put you in the middle of it all."

"I know," Sarah said quietly but she did not turn to look at either of them. "I forgive both of you."

"Little one," Jareth said as he crossed the room and knelt at her feet, "look at me." Jareth waited until her eyes turned toward him before he began speaking again. "You have changed. You have a new life, a new husband. I didn't mean to disrupt it all so much, I only wanted to come and see you." He took her small hands inside his own. "But you know, anytime you hear the call of the road..."

Sarah smiled broadly for him and tussled the top of his blond head. "Just call you." She winked at him. "I will. Leaving me?" She asked.

"Afraid so." Jareth said regretfully as he rose, Sarah rose with him. Jareth encircled her small body in his slender arms and held her close. "I am sorry for all the trouble I've caused. You should have warned him about me."

"I tried, but, tornadoes are hard to predict. It's all right, JJ. I can do damage control from here." Sarah clung tightly to him for a very long moment. "I missed you so much. I miss you again already." She whispered in his ear.

"I know, love." He whispered back and then her go. "Don't cry." Gently he brushed the tears away from her porcelain cheeks. "Chin up, little one. You haven't seen the last of me." Jareth smiled his slightly crooked smile for her, this one he had not pulled from his Stage Pocket, his unearthly eyes shined at her.

"Better not." Sarah sniffed back the tears which wanted to come forward. He had brought a hell of tumult with him this time but he had accomplished the job that Sarah had known needed to be done but could not bring herself to do. In his own Rock Star way, he had actually done her a very large favor. Growth would come from the Conflict with Duncan which was going to follow and her changing and becoming would take another step towards Being. Gods bless Jareth (and Chris) he changed everything he touched, put his own unique signature on it somewhere, before setting it free again. While his changings were often either crass, crude or outright brutal they almost always turned out for the best in the end.

"Duncan," Jareth turned and held his hand out him, "we got off on the wrong foot and I am sorry. But she's right, we won't actually see each other often and I'm sure we can both do better next time around."

Duncan looked at Sarah and saw the hope in her eyes, please give him one more chance, they begged. Duncan took the slender and aging rock and roll stars hand in his own and shook it firmly. "There were a few surprises in this evening for me, I handled them badly." Duncan admitted. "Next time, I'm sure it will be better." He let go of Jareth's hand, knowing that he was never going to have to lay eyes on the man again. As he gazed into Sarah's eyes he saw that she still did not understand that one day, soon, they were going to have to leave the Inn and she would have to leave her life (both of her lives) behind. That meant leaving Jareth Blaylock, whom Duncan thought he really could come to at least tolerate, and Chris Lawless, whom Duncan hoped feverently to never to be subjected to again, behind as well. Duncan watched as Sarah slipped her arm through Jareth's and began to lead him from the family room to the main parlor where his jacket was. Duncan saw them both as far as the front door and then let them say their goodbyes in private.

"If he ever gives you any trouble, little one, you know where you can find me. No matter where I am I always manage to check my e-mail regularly. Understand?" Jareth asked as he held her close while they walked down the driveway to where his limousine waited for him.

"Don't worry, Duncan won't hurt me."

"Umm..I know that's what you believe." Jareth patted her hand and kissed the top of her head as they walked. "Let's hope so, hey. You've had enough of those men in your life."

John his door and stepped out as they neared the limousine, he opened the rear driver's side door for Jareth and waited there until it was time to close it again.

"Quite enough." Sarah agreed quietly as she felt Jareth let go of her. Jareth walked around the other side of the door and stood there looking at her. With tears beginning to spill from her eyes and her heart in her throat Sarah wanted nothing more than to dive into the back of the limousine with him and be spirited away to play all the stages of the world. But that would not happen. In just a few moments she would be standing out here alone, barefoot under the light of the moon watching his tail lights pull out of her drive way and waving good bye. The part of her life which she had fought so hard and so long for, her dreams, would go with him. She would never be able to reclaim them for herself. "I love you,." Sarah whispered as she tossed her arms around his neck, her tears freed themselves from her does eyes and the warm skin of his neck. "Please be safe. Don't go too crazy. Come back and see me again some day."

Jareth held her as tightly to him as he could with the car door between them and felt the wetness of her tears on his skin as his own began to fall into her hair. "I love you too, little one." Hesitantly he let her go and climbed into the car. John stepped out from his quite and unobtrusive place and quietly shut the door as returned to his place behind the wheel. Jareth rolled down the window. "I almost forgot." He said as he tried to nonchalantly wipe a tear away from his eyes. "I got this for you." He handed a package through the window to her and watched as she took it from his hands and unwrapped it. "It's a..."

"Dream catcher." Sarah held the Native American craft out in front of her and her eyes took in the intricate criss-cross pattern in the middle of the hoop and the seven eagle feathers hanging blow. "It's beautiful." There was something oddly familiar about it as well. "Is it?" She asked absently.

"The same one from that roadside stand outside of Gray Mountain Arizona?" He asked as he smiled for her. "You bet it is. You remember that day? I lost my wallet and you had no money. You wanted that thing so much." Jareth shook his head. "I went back and bought it for you a few months later. I was going to give it to you but..." his voice trailed off, Jareth never liked to actually mention the fact that Sarah had been raped, he tried only to allude to it. "I hung onto it for you. Wanted to give it to you myself." Jareth smiled his crooked smile for her. "Happy birthday, Sarah."

"Thank you," Sarah bent her small body into the window and hugged him for the last time. "Bye, Jareth."

"Ta, little one." He rolled up the window, the car started and he rolled off into the night.
Sarah stood on the front lawn watching the tail lights of the limousine until they were well out of her sight.