FOUR

"Jareth!" Sarah squealed as she ran to him underneath the bright June sun, her hip length auburn tresses flowing out behind her in a flaming array of silky color . She flung her small body into his arms and felt the slender strength of them lifting her off the ground , spinning her around and around while she gazed down in to those

wonderfully mis-matched eyes, one the lightest possible green and the other the lightest possible blue, and at his delightfully crooked smile.

"My God, I've missed you so much, little one." Jareth remarked as he hugged her tightly and settled back onto her feet. He slipped a slender arm around her equally slender waist and began to walk her toward the open door of the main house. "Tell me everything. Tell me all about him. " Jareth said sounding more like a long time girlfriend than famous rock star. With devilish glee in his eyes he gazed around the property. "Where is he?"

"Duncan's showering, he'll be down soon." Sarah remarked as she leaned her head against his shoulder while they walked. "I missed you too."

"Good. I'd hate to think you'd never once thought about me. " He said with a jovial British tone as he squeezed her briefly and then let go. "Tell me, who is this man whose swept you off of your feet so quickly?" Jareth had thought of little more than Duncan MacLeod and Sarah Cooper since receiving her e-mail just about a month ago. For a while there he had thought to go so far as to have an investigator dig into MacLeod’s background and decided against it at the last second. Were Sarah ever to find out about that there would be hell to pay.

"I think you're going to like Duncan. I hope you will anyway. " She said lightly and smiled for him as she turned herself around in his arms and waved at the driver to follow them.

Jareth held his right hand out by his side and silently motioned for the driver to stay where he was . Same Sarah, always trying to treat the help as being more than what they were. "I'm sure he's wonderful. If he captured your heart there must be something very special about him, Sarah."

"Yes, there is. You'll see." She smiled brightly as she lead him through the front door of the old mansion.  Sarah motioned toward the couch for him to sit and rest for a while. "Don't you want to let the driver in, it's hot out there. I'm sure he'd at least like some iced tea or something."

Jareth looked at her with an exasperated face. "Sarah, he's fine. He has everything he needs, don't worry about him. Come and sit with me."

Sarah sighed and smiled a shy smile as she reminded herself that not only had Jareth come to visit but he had brought part of his world with him. In that world people had their proper places and their proper assignments, they did their jobs and he paid them well for it. End of story. "What about you? You must be thirsty or hungry from the ride up here? What can I get for you?"

"I'd love a cup of coffee. Have any made?" Jareth took the Dunhill cigarette pack from his jacket pocket and then tossed the gray silk jacket in a heap on the couch behind himself. He watched as he smile turned into a disapproving frown. "You get the coffee, I'll hang up the jacket,deal?" Jareth's mis-matched eyes gleamed at her while he gave her just a hint of that slightly crooked smile.

Sarah blushed and turned her eyes away from him. "Deal." She said as she walked off toward the kitchen.

Jareth settled himself in to the green velvet covered couch after he properly hung up his jacket and lit the cigarette he'd been waiting for. He drew the smoke deep into his lungs and exhaled slowly as he continued to gaze around at Sarah's home. It was large and comfortable, most of all Sarah looked happy here and he began to question wether or not he should ask her to come on the tour with him again. Just as quickly as it came, he dismissed it. Of course he would ask her to go with him. Why else had he come here?

Her last e-mail had been very hopeful, she'd relayed to him that she had begun to play again, Jareth's heart had soared at that news. He had been beginning to think she was never going to pick up a guitar again in her entire life. That really would have been a pity.

"Good afternoon, you must be Jareth."

The voice came from near the top of the stairs and Jareth turned to look in that direction. There stood a man whom Jareth would have sworn on his life was the exact physical match for the man Sarah had described to him as her Fantasy Lover so many years ago as they rambled down highway 70 outside of Kansas. Jareth rose to greet him as he descended the last of the stairs. "Yes, you must be Duncan MacLeod." The two men shook hands. "Very good to meet you." Nice job, Sarah, he thought.

Duncan stood there with his hand locked inside the hand of the smaller man who stood in front of him. Duncan had expected the infamous Chris Lawless to be taller than he was. Expected him to be heavier than what he was. Expected him to be, well, larger than life, just as his stage image portrayed. But Jareth Blaylock appeared to be nothing that Chris Lawless was. That settled him a little. Duncan released Jareth's hand. "Good to meet you as well."

"Well, I didn't even get to make the introduction." Sarah sighed fakely as she set the fresh coffee and cups onto the cherry table. When she rose she crossed to Duncan's side and took his large hand in her smaller one. "But I'll do it anyway, Jareth this is my husband, Duncan MacLeod. Duncan I want you to meet my very dear friend Jareth Blaylock." Sarah stood on tip toes and kissed Duncan cheek. "Isn't he gorgeous?" She asked as she rolled her eyes to the sky.

"Yes, he is." Jareth smiled wide as he sat on the couch. “Duncan, tell me about yourself. What do you do for instance?"

"A little bit of this and a little bit of that."

"Don't let him fool you. He doesn't have to work, he's rich." Sarah remarked with a smile.

"Good job, Sarah." Jareth returned with a wide grin. "Good girl, go for the man with the spending dough."

Sarah laughed so hard she almost spilled her coffee, she looked up at Duncan to see that he did not understand. Before she could say anything...

"It's a line from one of her songs." Jareth clarified for him. " There ain't nothin' noble bout bein' poor. Nothin' noble bout countin' out change in the groc'ry store. So if you got em both girl, and they love you so, then go girl, for the man with the spending dough.'" Jareth sang the refrain to the blues tune Sarah had written long ago in his multiple grammy award winning voice. Sarah did not realize how much she'd missed collaborating with him until she heard her words coming from his mouth. Being alone here for so long there was no one to bounce songs off of or riffs. The team was here and they loved to do musical things with her but it wasn't like having him around, she taught the team but Jareth taught her. "Speaking of which, you told me you were playing again. I didn't come all this way for nothing." His mis-matched eyes narrowed on her.

Sarah swallowed hard as she held onto Duncan's hand. "Maybe later on. Tell me about Colleen and the baby."

Jareth shook his head slightly as he smiled. If she wanted to play Cat and Mouse he would let her get away with it for a few moments. His hand went to his hip pocket and he pulled out his leather billfold. "Glad you asked." He beamed at her while showing her the pictures he had brought with him.

"Oh, Duncan look." Sarah cooed as her finger tips ran across the image of the woman with the wavy dark hair and sparkling green eyes holding the newborn infant in her arms. Sarah could not wait until she was looking down at a picture just like this one only in hers she would be the one smiling so divinely and holding her newborn son. Soon, she told herself as she gazed down upon its glossy font, soon. Duncan glanced at the image over her shoulder but said nothing. "They're beautiful. You're very lucky." Sarah passed the billfold back to him.

"Don't I know it." Jareth tossed his blonde head back and laughed as he stuffed the billfold back into his pocket. "Angie's a very sweet baby, light of my life. I just adore every movement she makes."

"Isn't it going to be hard to be away from them?" Sarah asked she refilled the coffee cups. She couldn't image leaving Duncan behind for almost a full year, never mind their son. It would be excruciating to be apart from either of them very long.

"It's terrible already." Jareth groused as he tapped the ashes into the ashtray. "But,Colleen has promised to send me lots of video tapes and pictures. Even if I'm not there I won't miss too much. I hope." A sad smile crossed his thin lips. This was his life, he knew it and so did Colleen before she married him. Jareth was always away from home more than anything, either off on tour or locked in a studio. When he wasn't doing either of those you were likely to find him on the set of some wonderfully odd B grade movie playing the leading role. Chris Lawless was what the world demanded and Chris Lawless was what they got in spades. Jareth just wished Chris didn't intrude on his life so often. Such was the price of fame. "What about you two? Any babies on the way yet? Humm?" He asked as he shook the thoughts away from his mind.

"No, not just yet." Duncan answered with a smile.

"It must have been a real whirl wind romance. Was it?" Jareth asked as his eyes focused more on Duncan for the first time then Sarah. Jareth just had to find out what kind of man could sweep Sarah off her feet so completely and quickly that she would marry him before knowing him even a single month. Sarah was many things,wild and free were definitely among them as was headstrong but stupid and impetuous were not. Neither was she easily trusting.

Sarah turned her face upward to gaze upon Duncan, her smile widened on her glowing face as he gazed back at her. "Yes, it was." She agreed and then kissed him lightly on the mouth. "It's written in the stars."

"It must be." Duncan agreed quietly as his finger tips traced the outline of her face.

Jareth sat back and watched the scene while he finished his cigarette. Sarah was smitten with him that was for sure, and he appeared equally taken with her. "That's enough mushy stuff, you two. Give a lonely chap a break."

Duncan slung his arm around Sarah's shoulder and she nuzzled her head against it.

"Sorry," she said "can't help it."

"Try." Jareth said in a serious tone before his crooked smile became full blown on his

warmly handsome face. They all burst into laughter. When they had all quieted a bit Jareth spoke again. "You told me you were playing again." His eyes focused squarely on Sarah and he was aware that his stare was telling her all she needed to know. Jareth had learned long ago how to get his point across with only a few well chosen words and a good look from his mystic eyes, it was a trick he used to his best advantage at all times and he was very skilled at it.

"A little." Sarah confessed. "Just a little." Those eyes of his, how much she had missed them and how much she did not want to look at them right now. I came to hear you play, so play they said to her. "I don't know, JJ, it's been such a long time, really, I just..."

"Stop making excuses." Jareth subtly demanded in a soft tone. "Get your guitar and play for me."

Sarah looked up at her husband with large questioning eyes. "Go on," Duncan said quietly. "Get it." He kissed her forehead before she rose. Duncan watched her cross out of the main parlor on her way down the hall to the game room where her guitars were kept.

"You didn't like that, did you?" Jareth asked as he squashed the butt of his cigarette in the ashtray and reached for another one. He did not give Duncan time to answer. "You don't know her as well as I do. Sometimes it takes a strong but gentle hand to move Sarah. I meant no harm by it."

"I think I know her fairly well. I am her husband." Duncan retorted. “And no, I didn’t appreciate it.”

"Do you?" Jareth exhaled the smoke high into the air in only the way a true British man can. "Let's not argue about it, for Sarah's sake."

"Agreed." Duncan said grudgingly and then hoped the man was not going to stay very long. Another high handed male was not was Sarah needed in her life, of that much he was sure. "Probably best if we follow her," Duncan rose and showed him the way to the game room where Sarah had her equipment set up. She was just reaching for the

Ovation when the two men entered the room, their voices surprised her as she reached for the guitar and it fell from its stand in a terrible ear shattering tin clank of banging strings. Sarah turned to look at them standing there side by side. Duncan the larger of the two by far, was standing across the room in his well fitting black jeans and black T-shirt looking at her in his warm loving way. Jareth next to him, in his the light gray cotton shirt with deeper gray tie setting off those oddly wild eyes of his so perfectly looked upon her with anticipation. She knew that her two worlds were about to crash headlong into each other. Each with their respective Master driving the trains that neither of them would be willing to brake. There was so much she had not shared with him. So many things she had not told him. Things she had hoped to not only avoid but to totally void them altogether, just leave them out of the story of her life but with Jareth here that might not be possible. Sarah bent and retrieved the six string from the floor of the game room.

"Gentlemen going to shoot a game of pool while I play?" She asked nervously as she slung the strap around her neck.

Jareth walked over to her slowly, his stride showing purpose in what he was doing. He watched as Sarah's eyes grew wide, her head tilted shyly to the side to avoid his stare. Jareth stood in front of her raised one eye brow and took the guitar from her, he placed it back in its stand and took the Les Paul. "This one is better." He put the electric guitar in her hands and slung the strap around her neck. Jareth walked over to the monitors and speakers and began flipping switches one by one, he cabled the guitar through the small PA system she had and ran it through the eight track mixing board which was on the far end of the room. "G chord." He said absently as he stuck another cigarette in his mouth and lit it. Sarah fingered the chord just as he had asked, Jareth exhaled a large amount of smoke as he loosened the silk tie from around his neck and tossed it onto the pool table.

He glanced up briefly at Sarah while he began to roll up the sleeves of his Yves. St.Laurent shirt. "Lay that over the chair before she bitches at me, Duncan." Jareth said without looking at him. With the cigarette hanging loosely between his lips and his eyes squinted together to keep the smoke out of them, Jareth began the the business of turning nobs and adjusting slide buttons on the equipment. Back and forth across the room he went adjusting knobs on monitors and slide buttons on the mixing box, turning up speakers, turning down amplifiers and checking the vocal microphones. The monitors had an awful hum and if he pushed the speakers above four they let out a nasty crackle of feedback to go with the constant static hiss. "Lovely," he remarked, "one more time, G chord." Sarah struck the chord again and this time it was at least listenable, Jareth fiddled with nobs and buttons some more before giving up. "This equipment sucks, Sarah."

"Yeah, well, if I had your bank account...."

"Don't suppose you'd let me give you an early Yule gift?" He asked as he scratched head with one hand while puffing on the cigarette with the other.

"No, you'll just have to make do with what I've got." She quipped from her place across the room.

Jareth let out an audible but not understandable grumble as he bent over the sound equipment once again. A few more twists and turns and he pronounced that it was as good as it was going to get and told her to play for him.

Sarah stood across the room from where the men leaned themselves against the pool table, her auburn hair hanging lose and untamed past her waist complimented the red hues in the grains of the Les Paul which sat inside her small hands. She looked up at them once, then closed her eyes as her hand struck the G chord and she went into a cover of one of her favorite Chris Lawless songs, "Rebellious". Even though the equipment sucked Sarah's talent was not marred. Her fingers glided effortlessly across the frets up and down the neck of the guitar in a perfect copy of Chris' playing.

Duncan watched as Jareth made his way across the room to Sarah and plugged in the BC Rich. The two of them stood back to back singing the words to the old 70's anthem and rocking to and fro in perfect time while their fingers zipped and zagged across the frets and the strings below them. Sarah's long flowing sleeveless dress billowed and flowed about her legs as she rocked to the rhythm of the driving beat. In unison they turned and faced each other as the refrain came around, they their faces close together, voices singing into the same microphone. Their bodies held apart only by the guitars between them. Sarah's hips rock back and forth as her voice swelled with the crescendo of the song. Just before the song ended, Sarah stepped back behind him and allowed him to finish the last part of the last refrain in an acapella solo.

They had performed this before in just this manner many times. It was too perfectly timed to have been anything other than rehearsed. How long ago had that been? Three years at least. To him even though he'd never seen it before he would have sworn that Sarah had not missed a step nor forgotten a single word in all that time. He smiled at her when he saw her looking at him and clapped his hands. "Wonderful. Very good."

"Not bad at all, little one. Not bad at all." Jareth kissed her cheek and reached down to grab a handful of her firm butt. His smile grew wider when he felt her jump at his touch, he forced it to fade when he realized the new husband had caught the moment. "Come on, let's do another."

Duncan watched quietly from across the room as his wife and Chris Lawless ran through several old songs. It wasn’t long before they were lost in their own world, no longer aware that he was there at all. Sarah's attentions were solidly fixed on the rock star and his on her. Chris Lawless stood behind her and laid his hands on hers over the fret board showing her how to finger some intricate chord but from his view Duncan could see the approving looking in the man's eyes as he peered over her shoulder at her fingers on the fret board and her breasts just above them. Jareth said something, Sarah laughed as they began to play again.

"You know what we need?" Chris asked as he stuck the lit cigarette onto a protruding string.

"More practice?" Sarah taunted.

"A drummer." He said seriously as he ran a hand through his collar length blond hair.

Sarah set the Les Paul down and took a look of consideration as she ran her fingers through her hair which was becoming damp with sweat. She had wanted to ask him if he minded if she asked the team to come up and meet him all day but did not want to make him uncomfortable or feel obligated. But, Brett did play the drums. "Jareth, would it be all right if I called some of the team to come and hear us? I know they'd love to meet you. One of them plays drums." She said in an inviting tone.

Jareth tossed his head back and laughed. "Good deal. I want to meet these kids of yours anyway. Go and give them a ring." He reached over and kissed her cheek. "Tell them to bring their instruments. Anyone have better speakers?"

"You're spoiled, you know that JJ?" Sarah asked with a slight chiding tone as she lightly pushed him away.

"I'm a star..of course I'm spoiled." Jareth returned in the same tone. He watched Sarah leave the room on her way to the telephone before turning his attentions to Duncan.

Jareth unharnessed the heavy BC Rich and put it back in its stand as he lit another cigarette. "What did you think, MacLeod?"

Duncan eased himself down from his seat on the pool table and walked behind the bar where he prepared himself a double Johnny Walker Red on ice. "Want one?" He asked as he set the bottle back onto the bar.

"No, what else have you got? Any Guiness back there?" Jareth asked as he cracked his knuckles and then his neck.

Duncan looked under the bar where there was a wide assortment of beers and ales, most of the bottles and cans were covered in a healthy layer of dust. Sarah did not drink alcohol except for the occasional glass of wine with dinner, the alcohol here was strictly for guests and company. Sure enough stuck in the back was a six pack of Guiness, the brown bottles were covered with so much dust that Duncan had no idea how old they were. He retrieved the six pack and put it on top of the bar. "I don't know if you want to drink this."

Jareth picked up a bottle and blew the dust from it. "It's been properly aged I see." He quipped as slammed the top on to the edge of the bar popping the bottle cap off. Jareth eyed it queerly then took a sniff, decided it smelled all right then drank from the bottle. "Good enough." He said with a smile, "Let's have a glass." Jareth caught the beer stein Duncan slid down the bar to him and began pouring the dark amber liquid into it.

"So, what did you think?" Now he did look up at Duncan.

"You're very good." Was all Duncan said to him.

"Of course I am, we all know that. I've got an entire room of awards at home to prove it." Jareth groused openly. "Her, MacLeod. What did you think of her?" Jareth had done his own fair share of watching while he was playing with Sarah, it became very clear very quickly that Sarah's new husband had no idea of her true talent. Of how incredibly brilliant she really was. What a fucking shame it was she was hiding that talent away here at some musty old inn with a new husband who didn't even know her. In the end, Duncan MacLeod probably didn’t know one damn thing about the woman he was calling his wife. In a quiet moment he marveled to himself how much cunning it must have taken on Sarah’s part to keep MacLeod this far in the dark. The new husband didn’t strike him as a stupid man by any means. Unless today was the day he discovered Sarah had a past relationship with a rock and roll star, Duncan must have asked his fair share of questions, hadn’t he? What had she told him? Jareth held back the small smile which wanted to cross his lips, knowing her, if push came to shove, she simply didn’t tell him anything. Never had he known a woman with the capacity to clam up that Sarah possessed, once shut nothing could open those lips. Jareth had made it very clear that he intended to ask Sarah to go out tour with him,

Duncan was no longer confident that in the end she would refuse him. Not after seeing her with him for just the two short hours that he'd been here. Sarah and Jareth shared a bond and it was being rekindled every moment he stayed here, growing and becoming stronger. Duncan could almost see it between them, binding them together as the purple sash had done at their Handfasting. "What do you want?"

"You know what I want. Question is are you going to let her go or not?" Jareth snapped the ashes from his cigarette into the ashtray. “In the end, MacLeod, you hold the cards. What’s it to be?”

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

Once she replaced the phone into the cradle, Sarah was suddenly nervous about having them come here and meet Jareth. What if they didn’t like him? Worse yet, what if he didn’t like them? If, at the end of the night, he ended up telling her that she had wasted years of life and let her talent go to rust fussing over these children, what would she say to that? With a coming headache already attempting to cause her vision to blur and the butterflies in her stomach, she would like very much to have one of those cigarettes Jareth kept puffing on. Sarah stole a glance around herself and listened hard, they were still down in the game room.

Quietly she walked from behind the reservation desk across the parlor to where Jareth had hung his jacket and put her hand inside. It closed upon a large cardboard box, a fresh pack of Dunhill's. Sarah removed it from the pocket and unwrapped the shinning gold and red box, she inhaled the aroma of the fresh imported cigarettes, glanced around once more and stuffed one behind her ear as she replaced the pack into the pocket. She walked to the front door stopping at the desk to take a pack of matches with COOPER'S INN printed on them and stepped outside into the warm June sunshine.

Sarah struck the match against the exterior bricks and held the small flame to the tip of the cigarette, she inhaled deeply of its non-menthol flavor and shook out the match as she let it fall to the ground. She'd rather have one of her Newports with their full menthol flavor but the Dunhill was a nice change of pace.

Slowly she began to make her way down to where Jareth's limousine was parked. Nicotine making her head feel lighter and lighter with each drag she took she knocked on the driver's window and watched as it lowered itself. "Hi," she said amiably. "I'm Sarah. Are you hungry? Thirsty? Is there anything I can get for you?"

The burly man who was Jareth's chauffeur for the day stuck a chubby hand through the open window and smiled at her to reveal yellow teeth. "I'm John." He said with an obvious New York accent. "I'm all right. Mr. Lawless told me to watch out for you, said you'd be coming sooner or later to offer me something." He let out a jovial laugh. "I don't need anything, thanks anyway ma'am."

"Did he?" Sarah asked in a high tone as she drew from the cigarette. Jareth was still Jareth, still able to anticipate at least some of her moves on stage as well as off. It was good to have someone in your life who knew you so well, it kept you on your toes she thought. "Well, if you do want anything you're free to come into the house anytime you want. No matter what Mr. Lawless has to say on the matter." Sarah placed one hand on her hip and narrowed her doe eyes on the man in the driver's seat.

"Thank you, ma'am. That your husband coming?" John asked as he pointed through the windshield at the house in front of him.

Sarah glanced quickly over her shoulder...

Oh shit!

...there was Duncan slowly walking toward where she stood. She drew quickly from the cigarette before she tossed it on the ground directly in front of her and kicked it under the car with her barefoot. "Excuse me, John" she said as she held the smoke in her lungs, bent her head inside the car and exhaled. There was an open pack of tic-tacs on the seat next to him, Sarah popped the flip top and shoved two in her mouth which she promptly chomped to dust.

"Doesn't know you smoke, huh, ma'am?" John asked as he lightly waved the smoke away from his face with a laugh. "Don't worry I won't tell him."

"Sarah, what are you doing?" Duncan asked as he came near to her.

Her heart raced inside her chest and her cheeks flooded with color as she reached for the CD on the passenger's seat and eased herself back through the open window of the car. "Just getting this." She held it up in her hand so that he could see it before she turned around. Sarah passed John a guilty smile that only he could see before turning to face her husband.

"What is it?" Duncan asked as he took it from her hand and read the title, Phantom of the Opera. He looked at it and to Sarah and back again before passing it back to her.

Sarah took the case from his outstretched hand and read what was written there for the first time, damn Jareth and his love of the dramatic. But she forced out a smile for him as she stood there.

I can smell it on you. Duncan's battle charge as far as her smoking was concerned ran through her head.

Sarah took of the fact that Fate was being kind, she was standing down wind of him in the light summer breeze.

"What are you doing out here?" He asked as he took hold of her hand. "Jareth is waiting for you inside." Duncan did not favor the idea of returning her to the man inside the Inn but he was a guest who had come along way to see her. He was a friend of hers, or so he kept reminding himself. Didn't mean that Duncan had to like him or his high handed attitude toward Sarah and his low handed one toward their marriage.

Together they walked inside and then parted company with Sarah excusing herself to use the rest room. With no need of relieving herself, Sarah ran a brush through her hair in an attempt to free it of the smell of smoke and a quick brush across her teeth for the same reason.

"There you are, little one." Jareth said brightly as she exited the bathroom.

Lightly surprised to hear his voice she found herself saying, "I'm just on my way to fix something to eat." No she wasn’t, why lie to Jareth? She didn’t know.

" I've got something for that." He said devilishly as he looped his arm through hers and allowed her to lead him off in the direction of the kitchen. Jareth settled himself at the preparing table and took his cigarette pack from his shirt pocket from it he produced a joint which he lit before Sarah could object. He watched as her eyes grew wide at the sight of the marijuana cigarette, how her tongue flicked out ever so slightly and ran across her lower lip. Jareth drew deeply from the joint and passed it to her.

Sarah's heart raced more than it had when she was almost caught with the cigarette, it pounding fiercely inside her small chest as her eyes drooled over the temptation being offered her. Duncan wouldn't accept tobacco he'd never accept this! Slender shaking fingers reached out and took the joint from his hand as her eyes darted all around her.

"He's occupied." Jareth whispered. "Promise." He had left Duncan in the game room with the chore of sorting out the wires before anyone tripped over them. The way Jareth had just let them drop hither and yon he figured it would take him a good twenty minutes to get it all sorted out correctly, plenty of time to share a joint between friends.

Sarah held the hand rolled joint to her waiting lips and drew from it lightly at first. The crisp pine taste pervaded her mouth making it water and want more, its scent wafted deep into her nostrils as the smoke expanded in her lungs. Jareth was many things and cheap was not one of them, the sensi melia had a good head always the best for him. She exhaled slowly and then hit the joint deeper before passing it back to him.

“Been a while?” Jareth’s tone was quiet but not without an air of demand and knowing.

"He'll kill me." She said as she held the smoke in her lungs. "Don't tell him"

Jareth's odd eyes gleamed at her as he smiled a devilish grin at her as he hit off the joint. "Speaking of which, little one, what have you told him? Anything?" Jareth exhaled and passed the joint back to her.

"This and that, but he hasn't really asked." Sarah said quietly as she looked around once again and strained her hearing for any sounds before hitting the joint and passing it back. “I haven’t volunteered.”

"That's rich, Sarah." Jareth chided as his eyes narrowed on her. "You’re married to him, I think you've gone beyond that stage by now, don't you?"

Sarah hit the joint quickly but deeply before passing it back to him and rising from her seat. She began opening all the windows which were still closed in the old kitchen and then turned on the overhead fan. The pot was starting to kick in, her head felt as though it were filled with helium and might just disconnect itself from her shoulders at any moment, floating away in the bright sunshine like a mylar balloon carelessly let go on the Fourth of July. Her heart stopped racing, her pulse slowed as the breeze blew around her and the fresh air came rushing in to take away the heavenly aroma of the marijuana. Without conscious thought she reached for the can of Lysol and began spritzing the air with it before returning to the preparing table and finishing the joint with him.

As the euphoria of the pot took over her senses Sarah's eyes no longer darted about the room nor looked over her shoulder, her ears did not strain for sounds outside the room as she hit the joint for the last time.

"Want it?" Jareth asked as he held the still burning roach out to her in the palm of his hand.

Sarah looked at it for a second before grabbing it from his hand and popping the roach into her mouth. The head sizzled against her tongue for a second and she felt its warmth slide down her gullet and then extinguish as it slid into her intestines. She looked up at him with wide stoned eyes and smiled.

"Some things never change." Jareth said calmly as he took her hands inside his own and stared at her from across the table. From the other side of the table Sarah's glossy eyes sparkled at him, she could whisk the aroma out of the air and spray herself with perfume but those eyes were a dead give away. Jareth reached into his pants pocket and produced a small bottle of Visine. A rockers best friend outside a good pair of Ray-Bands. Sarah's hands turned the small plastic bottle around and around, Jareth giggled as he watched her and then rose from his seat. "Stoney." He chided softly as he took the bottle from her uncapped it and tilted her head back. "Are you happy, Sarah? Really happy with him?" He dropped two drops into each of her stoned and trusting doe eyes. "Better." Jareth slipped the bottle back into his pocket as he kissed the top of her head. "Why haven't you told him? Does he know about..." Jareth's voice trailed off as he stared down into those eyes of hers and his own memories of that night began to flood through his mind. Sarah had been brilliant that night, she had it all drawn together after being on the road with him. She had the look, the sound, the attitude, everything and the world was just out of finger tips reach for her. And then, she had shown up at his hotel room at three in the morning bloody from head to foot, her clothes nothing more than shredded rags. The shattered look in her eyes.

"Yes, he knows about that." Sarah as she let out a small smile. Jareth was still easy to read, he was right, some things never changed. "Don't think about it anymore."

Jareth's tried to smile as his hand traced the outline of her face to feel the silky warmth of her unbruised skin.

"Sarah," came Duncan's voice from down the hall way, "they're here."

"Show time," Sarah said softly as she rose on very stoned legs. Jareth slipped an arm around her waist to help her steady herself as she giggled at him. "It's been so long." Sarah remarked.

"Yes, too long." Jareth returned as he let her go and she lead them out of the kitchen back toward the main parlor.