Chapter Text
Jareth was in the kitchen, examining a skin sample when he heard Sarah coming up the stairs. Before she entered the kitchen, Jareth spoke. "Clearly you have news. If it is about the Leeds triple murder, it was the gardener. Nobody noticed the earring."
Sarah stood next to Jareth and gently touched his shoulder. "It's about Irene Adler."
Jareth looked up at Sarah. She was holding a file and a plastic bag that had Irene Adler's phone. "Oh? Has something happened? Has she come back to annoy us some more?"
Sarah avoided eye contact. "No, she's... I just bumped into Mycroft downstairs. He had to take a call."
"Sarah, is Irene back in London?" Jareth asked.
Sarah said, "No. She's... she's in... Jareth, she's dead. She was captured by a terrorist cell in Karachi two months ago "
Jareth did not say anything. Sarah kissed Jareth's left cheek. "I'm sorry, Jareth."
Jareth leaned forward and went back to his microscope. "It was not as if you were responsible, Sarah. Are you not keeping those files?"
"Uh, no. I was just gonna take it back to Mycroft." She held out the file. "Do you want to..."
"No."
"Jareth, if you need..."
"I will have the camera phone, though," Jareth said, holding out hand.
"There's nothing on it any more. It's been stripped."
"I know, but I... I would still have it."
"It's evidence, Jareth. I've got to give this back to Mycroft. You can't keep it."
Jareth looked up. "Please."
Sarah looked at him and there was a look on her face that Jareth had not seen before and he could not identify. She handed the phone to him without any more argument.
"Thank you," Jareth said.
"I'll just go to take this back," Sarah said. "Did she ever text you again, after... everything?"
"Once, a few months ago."
"What did she say?"
"Goodbye, Jareth."
Sarah left quietly. Once Jareth heard Sarah reach the bottom steps, he went to the living room to grab his phone. He looked through the texts Irene had sent him. Jareth paused at the last one for a moment. He switched to another set of texts on his phone.
"Got some chatter on you-know-who. SH."
"And?"
"Not good. SH."
"You want to help? SH."
"No."
"Oh. SH."
"You should. SH."
"Why?"
"Because that's the way it's done. SH."
"You still there? SH."
"Yes."
"You will help? SH."
"Not exactly."
"What do you mean by that? SH."
"Oh. SH."
"You want me to help. SH."
"Yes."
"On flight. SH."
"Back. Package acquired. SH."
Jareth slipped his phone back into his pocket. He gave a goblin grin. "Sarah is right. Maybe I do have a knight-complex."
&%&%&%
"Jareth... what happened to your hair?" Sarah asked when she returned from her morning run. Jareth was standing in the middle of the living room, his hair considerably shorter.
"Um... well... I felt the need for a change," Jareth said. He patted his shortened hair, still trying to grasp how short his hair was. "Does it look like a hack job? Mrs. Hudson was over the moon when I told her she could cut it and..."
Sarah walked over to where Jareth stood and playfully ruffled his hair. "I can still mess with it. I like it. You almost look respectable. The glitter is still there so I don't think that will ever be an issue."
Jareth smiled slightly. "Thank you, Sarah."
Sarah smiled back. "I need to shower. I would rather not smell like a bunch of goblins for the rest of the day."
Jareth moved so he could watch Sarah enter the bathroom while being as close to the entrance of 221b as possible. A bucket of glitter dumped onto Sarah's head when she opened the bathroom door.
"JARETH YOU BLEACH GLITTER BOMB! I WILL END YOU!" Sarah shouted.
Jareth was already out of the apartment and halfway down Baker Street.
Respectable. HA!