Chapter Text
Mariah really had needed that night of stress relief. The three of them sat down together a few days later, and discussed what could be done to help her. In the end, she turned down their offer to adopt Sebastian, but Sarah could tell she appreciated the offer.
That gave Jareth the chance he needed to tell her the other options he’d arranged. He again reminded her that if she found herself needing a break, she should call them. This time, without wishing away one of the tots. She’d given a bit of a watery giggle and nodded her head. When Jareth told her that there would be goblins assisting her, she’d tried to refuse, and he gave her a look that was as cross as the ones he gave Sarah when she was being imprudent.
Sarah stifled a giggle at seeing it, knowing that Mariah was going to learn, just as she’d learned.
“Mariah, you have three children, and a husband in school. I’m offering you assistance you need to keep your sanity and your health. Now, if you’d prefer, I could just show up every day and put you down for a nap whether you like it or not, and if you don’t think I will, ask Sarah.”
Mariah looked at her with wide-eyes, and Sarah shrugged.
“I did tell everyone he was a bully.”
“You like that I’m a bully, love,” he reminded her, and she gave a grin and nodded in agreement.
“I do.”
In the end, Mariah accepted the help that was offered, and she was better for it. Sebastian eased through his colicky period, and Emily got her feet under her. Matthew started doing his best to help his mom, however he was able as a toddler.
When Toby and Mariah finally took advantage of their cruise, Sarah and Jareth took all three of the children to her apartment. During that particular event, Sarah decided each of the children would have made excellent goblins. Matthew and Emily tore around the apartment after the few goblins that had come to help them with the littles after the first night. Sebastian scooted around after them, himself, with bright eyes filled with mischief.
All the exercise they were getting with their rowdiness was resulting in all of them sleeping through the night, without the aid of magic - including Sarah and Jareth, and the goblins.
During that time, Nuada and Boann came to visit them in the Above, and found themselves besieged by infants and toddlers. They seemed bewildered by it, since neither Sarah nor their son had children yet, so Sarah explained the situation. The two seemed very pleased with Jareth for what he’d done, which led to Jareth looking somewhat embarrassed by it all when he arrived after dealing with something in the Goblin Kingdom. Nuada had suggested that he and Jareth should take the kids elsewhere, so Sarah could study with Boann in peace. Jareth agreed, and all the children and goblins left with them.
Sarah had blissful silence that afternoon, while she poured over the books Boann had brought with her. Boann made sure she took care of herself while she studied, and kept coffee in Sarah’s mug. That was how Sarah had learned that Jareth’s mother was the one who taught him to make coffee.
Apparently, Nuada was just as picky about it as she was.
There were a few more quiet afternoons like that, including one where Boann and Nuada took the children and goblins, and pushed Jareth and Sarah towards the bedroom for a nap. Sarah had just grinned, because she was starting to learn who had taught Jareth to be such a bully.
Toby and Mariah returned to pick up the littles after their cruise with tans and smiles on their faces. Their children cried until they realized it was their parents returning to them. Jareth had taken them all out to dinner, before they loaded onto the airplane to head home. Before they’d left, Sarah and Jareth had discovered that Matt was picking up some of his future uncle’s habits of bullying people. More than once, when Matt thought his mom was doing too much or needed to rest, he’d poke his father, and throw a fit until his dad stopped whatever his mother was doing.
Mariah didn’t know if she wanted to laugh about that or not, but Sarah could already tell that Toby would spend the next semester with at least one child on his shoulder.
As Yule grew closer, the wedding planning reached its peak, and Irene was on the phone with them almost daily to make certain they approved of everything before she or Robert went through with paying for anything. Jareth had shown her mother a picture of a gorgeous gown that he’d ‘seen in the window of a bridal shop’. That gown was the one that was chosen, and when Sarah got her fitting, she was unsurprised to find it fit her perfectly. It had the look of goblin craftsmanship, with stitches so fine you almost couldn’t see the hems.
Seen in the window her ass, she’d thought, while admiring the gown during her fitting - which she made sure Jareth didn’t get to be part of. He’d probably had the goblins working on this gown for months, to make certain it was perfect.
Now, the day of the affair, Irene had insisted that he wasn’t allowed into the room that Sarah was getting ready for the ceremony in. He’d knocked multiple times, and each time, Irene or Mariah would go to the door and shoo him away, though Sarah suspected Mariah was enjoying his annoyance with the situation. Sarah could imagine it, and wondered if it would net her a spanking, later.
The ceremony wasn’t very big. Her family and Jareth’s were in attendance, and they’d sent a courtesy invitation to Lord Diarmuid and Georgine, who were apparently tiptoeing around a proper courtship. The two were trying to keep it quiet, escorting one another to events, but Sarah recognized the looks Diarmuid was giving Georgine from when her brother had first met Mariah in high school.
They’d decidedly not invited Oberon and Titania, since they weren’t family. They’d get an invitation for the “official wedding” in the Underground, to avoid stepping on their toes. Jareth had already told her that by the law of the courts, they were married, and she was the queen. The show he’d made of Samhain had ensured everyone knew that. Between the gown, and them both going to collect a wished away child, no one had any doubt that she was queen by choice of the king and the land itself.
Still, they were both aware of the political benefits of them having an official ceremony in the Underground.
The wedding gown was a stunning off the shoulder, a-line gown with a heart-shaped neckline. There was fine bright-white embroidery all over the gown that made the gown look like it glowed. The back laced up with silk ribbons in a way that reminded her of the gown she’d won at Yule last year. For a moment, she took the time to wonder what he’d have planned for her, this year.
Irene had styled her hair, and Mariah helped her with her makeup, to ensure that she didn’t get any on her gown when she put it on. Sarah, meanwhile, was still weighing the pros and cons of telling her family the truth of who and what she was, now. She wasn’t certain they’d like the truth if she told them. Still, this wasn’t a little thing. It was a big, confusing thing, and she wasn’t certain that they’d understand.
Never mind realizing that she’d have to explain that she’d wished her younger brother away eighteen years ago.
She slipped in the chandelier earrings that Jareth had gotten her for the previous christmas, and listened to her sister in law and step mother gasp at the necklace he’d given her the night before for her to wear at the ceremony. She looked at herself in the mirror as she set the necklace in place, trying to ignore the shaking in her hands.
Boann came in before the ceremony, looking terribly amused about something as she came over towards the vanity, dressed in a pretty pale blue sheath dress.
“Jareth looks ready to chew through stone,” she said, straightening her pillbox hat in the mirror a bit, her eyes meeting Sarah’s and shining with entertainment. “I don’t think he’s ever been made to wait like this before in his entire life.”
Irene looked at her, confused and curious. “He didn’t realize he’d have to wait for his bride?”
“He’s not the most patient of men,” Boann laughed, shaking her head. “He gets that from his father, who is doing his best to keep him from pacing a hole in the carpet. His current annoyance may be in part the fault of your brother, Sarah.”
“What’s Toby doing to annoy him, this time?” Sarah wondered, looking at Boann in the mirror, lifting a brow. The twitch at the corner of her soon to be mother-in-law’s lips made her almost regret asking.
“He’s spent the last half hour grilling Jareth when you two are going to start...what was his phrasing...Ahh, yes. I believe the exact wording was ‘popping out crotch goblins’.”
Sarah sputtered, covering her mouth with one hand. She could just imagine what was going through her lover’s head, right then, and none of it boded well for Toby. Irene looked at Boann in surprise, and then frowned.
“I will be discussing that with him when I get out there.”
Mariah stood, straightening the dark purple dress she wore, giving Sarah a grin before hoisting Emily up to her shoulder. “I’d better get out there, before Toby really irritates him, then. I can imagine what will happen if it continues, and I don’t want to lose that open ended babysitting offer.”
Mariah gave her a kiss on the cheek, and then hurried out of the room.
Boann looked amused and sat on the chair that Mariah had just vacated. “You look lovely, Sarah. Jareth picked your jewelry, didn’t he?”
Sarah smiled and nodded, looking up into the mirror while Irene fussed a few more of her curls into place before she carefully set the comb that her veil was attached to into her hair.
“He did. He said the necklace was his grandmother’s.”
“Something old, something new, I think you need something borrowed and blue, still,” Boann said, with a sparkle in her eyes. She pulled a box seemingly out of nowhere, and opened it, showing a tiara that had pale blue stones accented by diamonds in it. “I wore this at my own wedding, to Jareth’s father. Jareth and your mother handled most of this, so if it pleases you, Nuada and I would like to offer this to you for the ceremony.”
Irene looked surprised, and a pleased blush at the acknowledgement covered her mother’s face. “It is lovely, Sarah. And it will look perfect. The blue matches the forget-me-nots in your bouquet.”
Sarah smiled at her mother and at Boann, accepting the box, and nodding her head as she took it. She took a steadying breath as her mother took it, and realized none of this all was complicated at all. She’d been the one overthinking and overcomplicating it. As the tiara was set on her head, she took a deep breath and looked at Boann, reaching and setting a hand on hers. “Boann, could you give me and my mom a minute? I have something I need to tell her.”
Interest lit her mother-in-law’s face and then there was a flash of understanding in her pale blue eyes, before a smile curved her lips. She stood and gave her a kiss on each of her cheeks, then she looked at Irene, something else in her eyes. “This is definitely a story worth hearing. I’ll see you both after the ceremony.”
She then gave Irene a kiss on the cheeks, as well, and then headed towards the door. Once she was gone, Sarah turned on the stool she sat on, taking Irene’s hands and giving them a squeeze.
“You really like Jareth?”
“Of course I do! I’ve said already, it’s a rare thing when you find a man who will not only take care of you, but can make sure you take care of yourself, too. He supports your dreams, and that’s just...that’s beautiful, sweetheart.”
“Mom, Jareth isn’t who I’ve been saying he is, all this time,” Sarah admitted, heaving a sigh and trying to think of how to explain this. She could see confusion and worry on her step mother’s face and squeezed her hands again. “Not like that - he is my fiance, but up until the twentieth of last year, I hadn’t seen or spoken with him since I was fifteen. This story is going to require you suspend belief until I’m completely finished, but I promise that nothing I tell you now is stretching the truth or a lie. Just plain truth. So I ask you to just listen until I’m finished.”
Irene sat in the chair that Mariah had vacated, expression concerned and bewildered. “Sarah, is something the matter?”
“No, it’s nothing like that.” She shook her head and took a deep breath. “Mom, this is the story of how your daughter did something terrible when she was young and stupid, and how that dumb mistake helped her find the man of her dreams as an adult.”
With that, Sarah took a deep breath and told Irene everything. How she’d wished Toby away when she was a teenager, and won him back. How she had changed for the better after that night. How she’d been lying about having a boyfriend because she didn’t want to disappoint them. Wishing herself away to the goblins before the holiday, and how Jareth came back into her life. How she hadn’t really been dating Jareth last Christmas, how that had changed, after the holiday. How she’d fallen in love with him. The story spilled over her lips until she reached where they sat, and silence filled the room after the flow of words stopped, Sarah still holding Irene’s hands tightly.
“Sarah, this all sounds crazy,” Irene said, finally, looking at her, looking like she was still trying to process everything.
“I know. But you and daddy deserve to know the truth, to know everything. I’ll tell him, too. I wasn’t certain I was going to, but you both should know the truth. I’m sorry it took me so long to tell you. And I swear I’ll find a way to prove it to all of you, that it is true.”
She felt the magic bind that promise as sure as she’d felt the tug from the last few wished away children from the Above.
“Then Jareth’s parents -”
“They’re glamoured fae, here supporting their son, the same way you’re supporting me. Diarmuid and Georgine, too.” She gave Irene a smile, squeezing her hands. A knock at the door drew her attention, and she recognized the knock as her father’s. She lifted her gaze, looking at the clock. She stood, pulling her mother to her feet and hugging her tight. “Come on, it’s time.”
Her mother nodded, moving towards the door with her, still looking somewhat bewildered. Her father watched Irene walk past him with a dazed expression and he frowned a bit. Before he could ask if Irene was alright, Sarah stepped out and her father got the first full look at her. She saw his eyes mist up for a moment.
“Ahh, sweetheart, you look lovely. Come on, let’s get you to that man who’s taking you away from me?”
She smiled, nodding and took her father’s arm. As they walked together, she told him the same story she’d told Irene. He tried to interrupt her several times, but she just squeezed his arm and kept talking until they reached the procession. He had problems taking his place next to her mother, but Irene looked more steady by that point, and knew that she’d keep her dad in the moment.
When the procession started, Sarah fell into step at the back, with no one at her side to ‘give’ her away. She didn’t need anyone to hand her off to the man she loved, and she’d made that decision when the planning had first started. She’d given herself to him, already, heart and body and soul, and this was just ceremony. She and Jareth both knew that.
When she entered, she kept her head lowered for a moment, lifting her gaze to look at Jareth, finding him at the front of the room, dressed in a handsomely cut black tuxedo, with a white vest and bowtie. Her heart stumbled in her chest and landed in a heap, as it still did whenever she looked at him. She hoped her heart never stopped doing it, never grew jaded of how handsome he was. He turned, and when he looked at her, she had the pleasure of seeing that gut-punched look on his face. Silently, she thanked her mother for making sure he didn’t see her in the dress until right now. She’d missed that look, and the last few parties in his realm, she hadn’t gotten to see it.
When she reached his side, she wasn’t certain either of them were really listening to the officiant, since they were both lost in each other’s eyes.
Neither of them snapped out of it, until it came time for them to speak their vows, which the officiant had to snap between their faces in order to get their attention. Jareth gave her a bit of a grin, and he took her hands, and he thought for a moment, taking a deep breath.
“In all my life, I never dreamed that I could ever be as happy as you have made me. In you, I have found a friend, a lover, a partner to share my life with. From something that began as a mere convenience, you have tangled me up in your life and your heart, and I can no longer imagine my life without you in it. I fell in love with your heart, with your drive, and with your refusal to settle for anything less than your dreams. So, for you, I will promise you that my heart will only ever belong to you. I will support you in your every endeavor, to honor you and respect you. I will laugh and cry with you and never take you for granted. I will cherish you for the rest of our days together. And when you need it, I’ll bully you, too.”
Sarah gave a teary-eyed laugh, biting her lower lip as he put her ring on his finger. Once it was in place, his hand lifted, brushing a tear from her eyes, and she took a steadying breath.
“What a road we took to get here,” she managed, turning her hands and taking his, holding them tight. “I was so afraid of falling in love with you. I never thought you could feel even a fraction for me that I felt for you. You bully me to take care of myself in ways that I didn’t think about before. And it makes me want to take care of you in all the same ways. You say you can’t imagine life without me, and I say you don’t have to. From today on, I will always be part of it. I love you, Jareth. And I’ll do everything I can to support you, for the rest of our lives.”
She put the plain gold band on his hand, and they kept staring into each other's eyes and almost missed their permission to kiss each other. Jareth, however, wouldn’t ever miss an invitation like that, and his arm went around her waist, pulling her close and kissing her so deep she bent back over his arm. She lifted her hands, holding onto the back of his neck and laughing into the kiss as he straightened them back up. When she turned towards the gallery, she saw them standing and clapping, rose petals being thrown by Mariah and Boann. The officiant took leave, and Sarah glanced at Jareth, a smile that she knew looked rich in mischief pulling at her lips.
“Jareth, do you think you’re up for some heavy lifting?” She asked, watching as their families started moving towards them.
“What did you have in mind, Sarah-mine?” Jareth asked, pulling her closer to him.
She leaned close, putting her lips near his ear to tell him her idea. He straightened and looked at her in surprise, before a delighted smile curved his lips. He glanced towards the gallery and his lips curved into the sort of smile that would have made her nervous a year ago. With a wave of his hand, a crystal rolled appeared, rolling up to the tips of his fingers, and he tossed it into the air towards the center of the room, where it burst into a shower of glitter.
Everyone still in the room was transported to the Castle Beyond the Goblin City. They were met with fanfare as excited goblins blew into trumpets, and threw confetti and glitter into the air. Her family looked around in surprise at the creatures scrambling around the room. Mariah, however, laughed, giving a turn as she realized where she was again. Several goblins rushed towards her, taking the children off to play. Toby, who hadn’t heard the story, yet, looked completely confused, and she took his hand. Sarah watched as Mariah pulled him away from the others, and knew that she was going to tell him a story that had only been told three times before.
Sarah and Jareth stayed where they stood, and watched as Robert and Irene approached them with nerves in their eyes. Robert looked at his daughter and new son in law, seeing them both without the glamour magic hiding what they were. She saw his throat bob as he swallowed, and took a steadying breath. When he spoke, he pinned Jareth with a serious look, a bit of a frown pulling on his lips.
“You’ll take care of her?”
“Always,” Jareth said, giving Robert a sincere smile. “I swear it, I’ll even shake on it, if you’d like, though that might be redundant.”
“You made a bargain with him last Christmas, Dad,” Sarah said, smiling at her father. “That he shouldn’t leave me when I panicked and tried to push him away. And he has been keeping that promise, this whole time.”
“And she did panic.” Jareth said, his lips twitching. “Once or twice.”
“I did, didn’t I,” Robert said, after a moment, remembering when he’d made that agreement with Jareth. “Well, I’ll still be holding you to that, then.”
Irene had been quiet, looking at Jareth without the glamour hiding what he was. What they were. Jareth just gave her a charming smile, and a bow.
“Not what you expected, am I?”
“You’re an actual king. And Sarah -”
“Is my queen.”
Tears misted Irene’s eyes and Sarah moved towards her, clasping her hands. Her mother didn’t look at her.
“Are we losing her?” Robert seemed to realize that worry just as Irene said it, and he stepped towards them, concern on his face, again.
Sarah looked at Jareth for a long moment and he gave her leave to answer.
“No, I promise.” She said, smiling for them.
Jareth came to stand at her side, setting his hand at her waist. “She and I both value the peace that we have in the Above. As you may have noticed, things are far from peaceful, here. We’re working on an arrangement where we can still do our work here as well as be a part of your lives. Sarah loves you both. She would never be happy with me, if having me meant she had to let you all go.”
“Alright, then,” Irene managed after a moment, nodding her head. “We’ll be holding both of you to that, too.”
Sarah gave them both a smile and a hug, before another voice was heard over the rest of the noise.
“You wished me away to the goblins?!” Toby was about arms length from them, his expression somewhere between pissed off and amused. Mariah stood behind him, giggling.
Sarah and Jareth turned towards him, and Sarah felt a mischievous grin pull at her lips.
“You’re lucky I only did it once, given all the bullshit you’ve given me over the last nineteen years.”
“You so deserved every damn canned snake I ever gave you,” he said, eyes sparkling.
Sarah just laughed.
“We still have a lot of questions,” her mother said, taking her hands.
She and Jareth nodded, since this was something they’d expected. However, before the questions could start, Jareth’s parents came forward and detached her parents from them, leading them to a different part of the room. Sarah suspected that her parents would bombard them with some of their questions and hoped that would save them from a few of them. Lord Diarmuid came forward with Georgine, both of them looking in good spirits, and they gave Mariah a curious look, before recognition covered their faces.
“You were at Jareth’s Samhain celebration!” Georgine said in surprise. “I didn’t realize you were related to Sarah!”
Mariah saw the suspicion on Toby’s face when he looked at her, and before any of their questions started, Lord Diarmuid and Georgine moved them away from Sarah and Jareth.
When they stood alone again, Sarah turned to look up at her husband, a shining smile on her face. “I love you.”
“Well, it’d be awkward if you didn’t,” Jareth teased, lightly. His eyes shone, and he leaned close, kissing her softly on the lips. “I’ll never get tired of hearing it, however. I love you, too, Sarah-mine.”
They stayed that way for a long moment before Jareth checked the watch that was in his pocket, and straightened, a look of mischief on his face.
“You’re looking like you’re ready to throw water on a bag of cats,” Sarah said, arching a brow at him.
“Do I?” He asked, grinning at her. “I was just thinking that there were a few people missing from this whole affair?”
She looked at him, perplexed, and he rolled another crystal up onto his fingertips, a grin on his face as she looked into it, and her eyes widened as he tossed it into the air. When it came down, she saw Hoggle, Didymus and Ludo in the middle of the room, looking like he’d pulled them from whatever they’d been doing. All three of them seemed to realize where they were and turned towards Sarah and Jareth. She drew a sharp breath, looking up at Jareth in surprise. He just smiled at her, warmth in his eyes.
“Go on, love. I’m not going anywhere. Take some time and reunite properly with your friends. You’ve been missed, just as you’ve missed them. I’ll be here when the day is done.”
Tears wet her eyes and she gave him a thorough kiss, then lifted her skirts, rushing towards her oldest, dearest friends, wrapping her arms around each of them tight. While she did, she knew her husband remained where he stood, watching her, and waiting for when he could have her attention once again.