From: "Alorin Danya <alorindanya@h...>" <alorindanya@h...>
Date: Mon Jan 27, 2003 11:40 pm
Subject: "The Thief, the King, and the Son" Ch. 12/?


"The Thief, the King, and the Son" by Alorin Danya
Chapter 12: Calm Before the Storm

Everyone was seated and already filling their plates with food when
Sarah entered the dining room. She went to sit down in the same seat
she had previously occupied, but she noticed that Toby was now
sitting beside her instead of her son. She wasn't surprised to find
that Brendon had moved to sit on the other side of the table next to
Mr. Johnson, who at the moment was holding the bowl of macaroni for
the boy as he piled the stuff onto his plate. It wasn't often that
Breni attached himself to anyone who wasn't family, and though she
had her own demons with who Mr. Johnson resembled, she wasn't about
to make her son unhappy when he was obviously delighted to be near
the man.

Though she had her doubts, Mr. Johnson didn't act how she envisioned
the Goblin King would. Granted, she hardly knew his majesty at all,
but she imagined he would have dominated all conversation and have
imposed himself to be the center of attention; Mr. Johnson wasn't
anything like that. At least his ego was quieter. Yet the way he
had reacted when she had startled him completely scared her into
believing he was the Goblin King in that instant. Until he
apologized. The Goblin King Sarah remembered would never have
apologized for anything. She had to force herself to never
associate this man with the Goblin King. Mr. Johnson was giving and
humble, and he wasn't just tolerating Breni's attention; he seemed to
genuinely enjoy the boys company as well, a sparkle in his eyes as he
helped the child.

Mr. Johnson's mismatched eyes caught hers a moment, and in that brief
glance, the smile he had for Breni faded. She saw caution in his
gaze, as though he was afraid to meet her eyes but bold enough to do
it. But before she could figure out logically why this man who had
never acquainted her before this day looked at her as if she was a
threat, Brendon caught his attention once again.

Sarah made herself look away. Seeing those two together almost
seemed right. She shook her head. Yes, Brendon wanted a father,
but she wasn't willing to bring anyone into their lives, even if it
meant sacrificing his full happiness. Her happiness. They were
fine as they were; they didn't need anyone.

Sarah was relieved to be distracted from her thoughts when Toby
nudged her to take the bowl of green beans from him. She spooned a
very small amount onto her plate before absently passing the bowl
across to her aunt. She didn't move to eat anything but instead
grabbed the glass of wine Roy had poured for her, subconsciously
wanting to drown away her thoughts. Yet she couldn't bring herself
to drink it.

Irene was uncomfortable with the silence at the table. She usually
was when people weren't talking. Since the only conversation at the
moment was a chat between Joey and Toby over some game they each
wanted for Christmas, she was left to either observe the others or to
think of something for the adults to discuss. Observation won out
when her green eyes landed on her niece. The girl hadn't eaten a
thing, not that there was anything much on her plate to being with.
Sarah's eyes were staring into her wineglass as she sat, lost in her
thoughts. Irene didn't know what to do; too afraid to say anything
without some solid proof as to what Sarah could be thinking. Just
because Irene knew who Jareth was did not mean Sarah was willing to
admit to it. Sarah wasn't a quiet girl; if she had something to say,
she was bound to say it.

With some prompting.

"Sarah?" Her niece's head jumped up at hearing her name. "You haven't
eaten anything. Are you feeling okay?"

Sarah gave her aunt an uneasy smile before lowering her eyes to the
wine again. "I just have stuff on my mind."

"Anything you need to talk about?" Irene pressed, eyeing her niece.

Sarah looked into Irene's eyes a moment but had to look away. The
way Irene was staring at her made her uncomfortable. She knew her
aunt was constantly hungry for gossip, but Irene wanted information
Sarah wasn't willing to give, "I don't want to talk about it."

Irene nodded to Sarah but caught the eyes of her husband, who had
been listening since his brother-in-law wasn't much of a
conversationalist. Roy was definitely not happy with what he had
heard. Irene had to stop herself from feeling sheepish with the hard
stare her husband was giving her. She didn't understand it; he was
the one who had wanted to go all Gung Ho and tell Sarah what they
knew. Why should he get mad at her for wanting to do the same thing
in a nonchalant way? Irene rolled her eyes at him and passed the
bowl of green beans onto her son.

She leaned forward to see over the two boys next to her and see how
the Goblin King was getting along. Irene had been weary of letting
Brendon and Toby trade spaces, but the boy seemed so happy to be in
the presence of this man. She couldn't speak against their growing
companionship. Nothing could convince her she was wrong about them,
and their interaction at the dinner table just screamed of how they
were a part of each other.

Joey passed the bowl of green beans on to Brendon, but the little boy
pushed the bowl back, refusing to eat them. Irene took the bowl from
her son and leaned across him to spoon some beans onto her nephew's
plate, "Breni, these are good for you."

Brendon scrunched his nose, "They taste funny, Aunt Iri."

Irene smirked, "Vegetables are good for they eyes. They help you see
in the dark, when the spooks and goblins could be in the shadows."

Sarah finally brought the wine to her lips, thankful for the bite it
gave that somewhat cleared her head. She laughed inwardly, wondering
if she should start counting the references she heard or saw of
things that reminded her of that which she wanted to forget. If it
weren't for the fact that Irene said crazy stuff like that often, she
might have allowed herself to believe it to be more than a
coincidence. But it was the words that Sarah heard from her son,
however, that brought more clarity to her mind. The type of acute
awareness one gets when their concepts of something they believed to
be unchangeable, undeniable, are shattered.

"There aren't such things as goblins." Breni teased his aunt.

Mr. Johnson choked on the green beans he had just placed into his
mouth, causing everyone at the table to stare at him. Once they were
sure he was alright, Brendon laughed, "See, I told you they are
awful."

The man only grinned slightly, obviously embarrassed but trying not
to show it.

"Breni, you think there are no such things as goblins," Irene feigned
disbelief as she put down the bowl, trying to get everyone's
attention off the choking incident. "What makes you say that?"

Brendon shrugged, "They aren't real. They're just made up to scare
us."

Sarah felt alarmed at hearing this, although she didn't know
why, "Don't you believe in magic, Breni?"

"No." he answered confidently.

Joey piped in, nudging his cousin, "Probably doesn't believe in Santa
either."

"Everybody knows he isn't real." Brendon stated boldly, glaring into
his cousin's eyes.

"Ooo. He's finally becoming a big boy." Joey chided, babying the
words to bait Brendon.

"Joey, leave him alone!" Toby shouted across the table.

"Whoa! Guys! Pipe down." Roy interjected, "No arguing if you want to
go sleddin' after dinner."

"Really!!" Toby's eyes glowed at the thought.

Robert spoke up finally, his voice sounding tight in his sore
throat, "Roy, are you sure? It seems so cold out there."

Roy rolled his eyes at his brother-in-law, "You heard the radio.
It's only to get to 27 degrees. We'll bundle up."

Breni looked hopefully to his mother, "Can I go too? Please?"

Sarah wanted to come up with a reason to tell him no, feeling that
the cold would make him more prone to catching an illness, especially
with her father already showing signs of something. But she couldn't
deny his pleading eyes, "Only if you take your medicine before you
go."

Breni nodded enthusiastically and moved to hurriedly finish the food
on his plate, like the other two boys were already doing.

"Hey, Toby, slow down there. The snow's not going anywhere." Robert
laughed after his son quickly reached across the table for the bowl
of Macaroni, which was just in front of Mr. Johnson. Seeing Toby
nearly knock over Mr. Johnson's glass of wine, Robert looked
apologetically to the man, "Kid's these days, always in such a hurry."

Jareth smiled slightly, "I take it they enjoy freezing?"

Irene had begun gathering emptied plates while the men were yakking
on about something to do with holiday budgeting, which reminded Sarah
she still had to tell her father of her generous bonus. Joey and
Toby excused themselves from the table and ran out of the dining room
to find what snow gear they could. Breni moved to follow them, but
Sarah put a hand on his arm as he tried to pass her and made him
finish his plate before leaving.

"But I'm full…they're gonna leave without me." Breni whined.

"They are not going out there without an adult, and none of us are
ready, so they can wait. Now eat up and bring your plate to the sink
when you're done. I'll get your pills." Sarah said as she scooted
her chair back.

In the kitchen, Sarah opened the cabinet she kept the household
medicines and grabbed the Breni's pillbox, a slot for every day of
the week filled with his daily doses. She flipped open the lid for
Friday and emptied the four pills remaining into her hand. She
looked the pills as she did every day with a sadness, a wish in her
heart that her son didn't have to live dependant on them. Sarah
didn't turn as she heard someone enter, their hands apparently full
of dirtied dishes that clinked with every step.

She was not as surprised as she thought she would be at seeing it was
Mr. Johnson who was doing the good deed of cleaning the dishes. She
half-heartedly expected it; Fate somehow wanted him to be everywhere
she turned today. She watched as he placed the dishes in the sink
and began to run them under the faucet. After doing a few, he
searched for the dishwasher, opened it and began placing the dishes
inside. He must have sensed her watching him, because he turned to
her and said, "I thought I might help." As if he felt she needed an
explanation for his presence.

Sarah just turned and focused on putting the pillbox back. She
didn't ask for him to talk to her, but she felt guilty for having not
said anything. It would have been polite of her to say, `That's nice
of you,' or at least `Thanks.' But no. She had to let her natural
defense mood swing interfere and make her come across as bitchy prude
again. Sarah wished she had more self-control sometimes.

Brendon came rushing into the kitchen and stood next to Mr. Johnson,
holding out his plate, "Here's mine."

Mr. Johnson turned and looked at Brendon sadly for a moment, then
smiled gently as he took the dish from the child, "Thank you."

"Are you going to come sledding with us?" Breni asked him hopefully.

"I don't know."

Brendon glanced over to his mother, "You're coming, aren't you Mom?"

"Well, I'm not sure yet. I still have to clean up." She held out
her hand with his pills.

Breni took the medicine from her, and as his mother reached for a
glass out of the cabinet, he whined "Aw, can't Aunt Iri do it?"

Sarah shook her head as she walked to the sink to fill the glass with
water, "She is a guest. Guests don't do the messy work."

"Well, he is." Breni stated, pointing to Mr. Johnson before taking
the glass from his mother and downing the pills.

Sarah opened her mouth to argue, but couldn't think of a quick enough
answer. Why was Mr. Johnson doing the dishes when no one asked him
to?

Mr. Johnson shrugged at them, "I've seen Irene clean the dishes every
night and thought perhaps I might do it in her place."

"You WANTED to do the dishes?" the child seemed amazed.

"They are not going to clean themselves." Jareth chuckled.

"Isn't that what dishwashers are for? So you don't have to wash
them?" Breni asked.

Sarah shook her head and smiled; she'd often wondered herself why
people had the strange habit of washing dishes before using a
dishwasher. She grabbed her son's shoulders and playfully pushed
him towards the door. "Go on, get ready."

Brendon nodded and he bolted out of the dinning room as though this
was going to be the last snow he'd ever experience. "Don't run."
Sarah called out, and received a faint "Sorry," in reply. Again, his
enthusiasm at the simplest of things brought a smile to Sarah's
lips.

Sarah could feel Mr. Johnson looking at her again, but she wasn't as
uneasy about it as she had been before. She had to accept that he
was going to be around and there was no way she was going to be able
to avoid him; she might as well try to start being civil.

She turned to him and moved to help place the plates in the
dishwasher after he cleaned them by hand, but she still couldn't
force herself to look at him as she said, "You don't have to do
this."

"It's alright. I've found that doing the simplest things can help
clear the mind." He sighed silently, "I could use some of that at the
present."

"I know what you mean." Sarah laughed and continued to work, "So much
is going on at once, you know? Like tonight's dinner, NOT what I had
planned at all. We didn't get to make all we wanted, and with the
snow keeping everyone here tonight, I have to fix the guest room. And
who knows where we are going to put you…." Sarah stopped in mid
sentence. What was she doing, blabbing off like that with her
personal problems to a virtual stranger, "I'm sorry. You don't need
to hear about it."

Jareth stared at Sarah as she spoke to him, half heartedly glad she
was sharing part of herself with him, even if she was complaining.
The more he could get out of her, the more he could learn. "Don't let
my presence disrupt anything. I am sure the couch here can't be any
worse than your uncles."

Sarah narrowed her eyes, "They have you sleeping on the couch? That
awful, smelly thing? I'm amazed you could sleep at all."

Jareth smiled at how quickly she reacted with concern for him, "Well,
there isn't anywhere else they could put me. Their apartment is
barely large enough for the three of them."

"Yeah, but still…"

Jareth shrugged, "I can't say that I have had worse, but at least I
have a place to stay. I don't know where I'd be had Roy not found
me."

Roy found him? This peaked Sarah's interest, "So how DID you meet my
uncle? You don't seem like his crowd."

"Let's just say Fate had us cross paths." Jareth answered, hoping
that would be enough of an explanation for her. His mind was a bit
too jumbled to create some fable.

Luckily he didn't have to because the other three adults entered with
the rest of the tableware from the dining room. And unfortunately,
in all the activity of cleaning up, she let her uncle talk her into
going out with the boys sledding. Even her father encouraged her to
go.

Robert smiled at his daughter, "I don't think I've seen YOU build a
snowman since Brendon was borne."

"Yeah," Sarah said sadly, then a little more brightly she
said, "Well, It's never too late to relive your childhood, I guess."

Irene playfully hit her brother, "Yeah, you should go out with them."

Robert shook his head and headed out of the kitchen, "I really
shouldn't. I think I've caught something from work. I'd better not
chance letting it turn into something worse. Roy, you go. I think
I'm going to rest while you're out."

"Fine. It'll be me and Sarah then." Roy said, putting the dishes he
had collected onto the counter.

Sarah smiled as she reached to place more utensils in the washer.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw her uncle set the dishes down
and just stare at them. She could tell he did not like the idea of
having to clean. "Hey, Roy, why don't you go help the boys get
ready? Mr. Johnson and I can help Irene until you get back."

Roy brightened that he was off the hook and left before anyone could
change their mind. Irene switched on the kitchen radio to a station
that played Christmas music. She said to Jareth, "I hope you don't
mind, I like music while I work."

Sarah whispered loudly enough so Irene could hear it, "And she thinks
she can sing. We try not to encourage her."

Jareth just laughed.

Three more minutes of working together and an entire version of "The
Twelve Days of Christmas" being sung with some success by Irene, the
three of them were finished filling the dishwasher as full as they
could; the rest of the dishes that couldn't fit were left in the sink.

"Well, you two should get ready. I'm sure the boy's won't wait much
longer; they'll want to go out even without a sled." Irene said.

Sarah smiled to her aunt as she wiped her hands on a dishtowel. "I
just hope we can pull them back inside. This is the first good snow
we've had in a few years." She then turned to Mr. Johnson,
indicating for him to follow her, "Come on, I'll find some of Dad's
stuff. You definitely want to wear more than Roy's old coat."

Jareth walked with her, "How did you know it was Roy's coat?"

Sarah shrugged in embarrassment. "It's silly really; when I was
younger, I wanted it. It was the fashion back then, brown suede, but
I think that coat's just about seen it's last days."

Jareth chuckled, "I think it still has much use…at least I hope that
it does."

Sarah smiled at realizing how easy it was to be normal with Mr.
Johnson, if she let herself forget how every time she looked at him,
she was reminded of someone else. Sarah reached the hall closet and
found it already ravaged by the boys, who had left the door open and
various contents scattered on the floor. She grabbed her coat, then
after moving a few things out of the way, she bent down and reached
to the back of the closet. A moment later she pulled out a cardboard
box full of winter hats, gloves and scarves. She pushed the box over
to Mr. Johnson.

"Take your pick of anything that fits." She then straightened up,
stretching her back a bit, "Well, I'm going to go change. Can't
waste a good pair of slacks to the elements."

Mr. Johnson nodded mindlessly to her as he rummaged through the
contents of the box. Sarah left him and sprinted up the stairs two
at a time, then sprinted into her room, yanked off her slacks and got
a pair of jeans out of her closet. She made a very conscious effort
not to look at the contents of a particular box that were cluttered
on the closet floor as she struggled to quickly pull the jeans up.
Sarah didn't bother changing her sweater; it was warm and she didn't
care if it got damaged. She ran back downstairs and found Mr.
Johnson was still trying to find a pair of gloves that fit him.

She spoke so that he'd know she had returned, "No luck?"

He looked up to her and said flatly, "I'm not sure which pair would
be best suited."

Sarah shrugged and reached over him, pulling out her matching maroon
scarf and gloves, "I'll see if the guys have found the sled yet."

Sarah put the scarf around her neck and her gloves on just before she
opened the door to the garage. Sarah felt a little guilty when she
heard Merlin bark once and come over to her from his oversized
mattress that lay beside the tool cabinet. She wished he could stay
inside and not in the cold garage, but her father refused, claiming
the poor thing shed too much. She gave his ears a good rub before
shooing him to go lay back down. Roy was with the boys searching for
the sled amongst the clutter of the garage. Toby finally spotted the
sled behind piles of knickknacks and it took them a while to dig it
out.

But twenty minutes later, Sarah was being pelted with snowballs by
her brother and son as they waited their turn to ride the sled down
the only hill in the neighborhood. Try as she might to dodge the
attack, the snowballs stung as they struck her. But she wasn't
helpless; she had a snowball in each hand, ready to dish back what
she'd been given. Both Toby's and Brendon's eyes went wide at seeing
Sarah's mischievous grin when she turned around and threw a ball at
each of them…yet not hard enough to hurt them of course.

"Toby, come on!" Joey shouted from the top of the hill, where he was
stationed to give each rider a good push off. Mr. Johnson and Roy
were near the bottom of the hill, waiting for the boys to take their
turns, ready to stop the sled if it went too close to the street,
which was only a few yards from the end of the hill.

Sarah watched as her brother trudged himself through the two feet of
snow already covering the ground to the top of the hill. She looked
around the small hill, glad to see that no one else on the block was
going to take advantage of the snow. There was plenty of light
coming from the streetlamp at the bottom of the hill for them to play
safely; if it wasn't there, she certainly wouldn't have let them
choose this spot. There were other places around the neighborhood
she remembered sledding, but this had been her favorite since it was
close enough that when she got too cold, it only took three minutes
to get home. She heard her son sniffle beside her and had to hold
back a giggle as she looked at him. All she could see of Brendon
were his eyes and pink nose sticking out beyond the yellow scarf and
blue hat he wore.

"You okay Brenni?"

"Yeah, this is fun." He said thought the scarf, "Wanna make a
snowman?"

Sarah smiled and nodded as she got down on her knees and started to
pack a ball between her gloved hands. A moment later they heard Toby
give a whooping laugh as Joey gave him a push and he went speeding
down the hill. Fifteen seconds afterward he had come to a stop at
the bottom.

Joey yelled down to him, "Ha! Come back up here, I bet I can go
farther."

Jareth, who stood next to Roy after having been told they would have
to stop the boy's if there appeared to be any danger, watched as Toby
sat on the sled and came down the hill. The boy seemed totally
thrilled with the short excursion. It was so simple, so uninteresting.

Jareth looked to Roy in annoyance, and indicated to the sled with his
mittened hand, "That is all that is done?"

Roy, who was trying to dust the snow off his sleeves, despite the
fact that it was still snowing and they would get covered with snow
again, looked up, "What, you ain't never gone sledding before? Don't
you have snow where you're from?"

"No. It is far too warm."

"Well, you better not tell the truth to anyone else if you want to
keep this show goin' on. England is cold all the time."

Jareth growled lowly to himself at having to remember another fact
for his counterfeit life. Subconsciously, he looked towards Sarah,
feeling he had little chance of keeping up the charade, "Anything
else I should know, while we have a moment alone?"

A guilty look crossed Roy's face when he realized he had started to
aid Jareth again, "I'm not helping you lie to Sarah."

Jareth didn't look at him as he smiled softly, "Yet you've still said
nothing to her."

"You challenging me?" Roy asked seriously, pulling on Jareth's coat
sleeve, forcing him to look him in the eye, "Listen, I haven't said
anything `cause Iri won't have it…and I've been thinkin'." Roy eased
up, letting go of Jareth, "You haven't given any reason for us to
doubt your story, but we can't be blind. YOU can't be blind. Look
at them," Roy indicated with his eyes to Sarah and Brendon, who were
on their hands and knees, rolling a large ball of snow. "You've got
to accept the obvious."

He didn't want to, but try as he might, Jareth couldn't pull his eyes
off of them once he looked. What Jareth saw was a strong bond; a
friendship between mother and son. But he felt, more than he could
ever see, that the show of happiness hid a deep pain in both of
them. He couldn't shake the pang of guilt that dug into his soul as
he looked on them. Magic or not--and most likely not since the
presence of magic alluded him--he had a connection with them. Yet he
refused to allow himself to be bullied into believing anything. He
whispered, "I still need proof."

Roy shook his head at Jareth's persistent denial, "You'll get it soon
enough. Sarah hasn't caught on to you yet, but when she does, I
don't want to be around to see it. Sarah tends to clam up or burst
like a volcano when she's stressed, and believe you me, I don't think
she's going to clam up."

"What makes you say this? As far as I have seen, she hasn't shown
much retribution."

"Yeah, that's because you've only been around one measly day…." Roy
paused as he watched Joey take his turn on the sled. The boy reached
the bottom of the hill and came to a graceful stop. Then he focused
his attention back on Jareth, giving him a knowing smirk, "Let's just
say Sarah's had a fallout with someone else and it wasn't pretty."

"Sarah is violent?"

"Not so much physically, but mentally, she can pack a good punch."
Roy slyly badgered, "She set Linda in her place real good."

"Her mother? What happened?"

Roy held off his answer when he saw his nephew start to use the sled
as a surfboard, standing instead of sitting on it, "Toby, get down!"
Sarah too looked up and yelled at her brother to use the sled
properly. The boy did so with just a slight mumble.

Jareth felt impatient to know all he could about Sarah, her
temperament and reactions. He urged Roy again, "What happened
between them?"

"I don't know the facts or WHY Sarah did it, but Sarah's not spoken
to her mother in two years…although she still lets Linda have a part
in Breni's life. She IS his grandmother after all. But Sarah won't
have anything to do with her. And she got her good." Roy
laughed, "Linda's not been an angel when it's come to getting parts…
which is part of the reason Robert left her. Sarah found some photos
of her mom that she gave to the tabloids and tarnished some of
Linda's image."

"I do not understand."

"What's not to understand? Sarah's ruined Linda's dream."

"I have nothing here for her to ruin." Jareth pointed out.

Roy shrugged, "She'll find something."

Nothing about this conversation was changing Jareth's optimism, if
anything, it only made him want to flee--something he rarely stooped
to. "Perhaps finding the book should be priority."

"What happened to your sense of honor? Huh?" Roy growled, his fist
balling in their mittens.

Jareth stood his ground, knowing his reasons to be rational; "Nothing
has been proven yet."

"And Breni? That kid's been all over you and you can throw that away
so easily?"

Brendon was in Jareth's sight, but he had to turn his eyes away and
looked hard in Roy's eyes, "The child doesn't believe in magic."

"So what? I didn't even think magic existed until I met you." Roy
huffed, then said softer, "He used to believe, even kept a book of
his wishes. I guess he stopped believin' when none of them came
true. You shouldn't push him away just because he doesn't understand
life yet."

Jareth didn't look at Roy as he said, "It is best that I leave,
before…"

"Before you have to feel responsible?!" Roy shouted.

"No." Jareth hissed, "Whether or not I am the boy's father has no
baring on my decision. The longer I stay, the more chance there is
of my presence disturbing their established lives. It is obvious
Sarah doesn't want me here."

"Fine then. Find the damn book and run back to your kingdom." Roy
turned away, lowly stating, "I don't want you to even be a memory."

Jareth fought the compulsion to lower his head in sham. He should
not be feeling guilt. He didn't do anything wrong. EVERYTHING was
entirely speculation; but the heart is hard to fight, and his heart
was leading him more and more to admit to the possibilities. It
would be much easier, however, if he had some comfort and wasn't
being attacked on all sides.

Most impatient, vibrant children are often naive when it comes to
realizing that when adults are in deep thought, it might not be a
good idea to throw a snowball at them; Joey was one of them. It
wasn't just the fact that he hit Jareth with snow, no. It was that
the boy had perfected this particular ball, compacting it with his
hands, smoothing it to semi-circular perfection, making it feel like
a rock on impact. The look on Jareth's face at being struck went
beyond shock and could have turned into deadly hate had the king not
checked his composure and noticed that the boy had not only thrown a
ball at him, but he had also struck Roy and was currently pummeling
Toby with snowballs piled at his side. Toby and Roy were throwing
their own less perfect balls right back. The smiles on their faces
defied their cruel actions, but they still enjoyed themselves. Only
then did Jareth realize this strange behavior must be some sort of
game.

Sarah and Brendon were distracted from making the middle section of
their snowman when they heard the laughter and shouting going on by
the others. Brendon smiled and went to join in the fray without even
looking to his mother for permission. Sarah stood and couldn't help
but laugh at all the ruckus they were making. She noticed Mr.
Johnson stood to the side of the action, looking amused yet uncertain
if he could join in. Turning her focus away from Mr. Johnson, she
grinned as the three boys surrounded her uncle in their attack.

Things got a bit chaotic and so many snowballs were being tossed that
it was hard to see who was throwing at who; and things got so out of
hand that someone's snowball missed it's intended target and thudded
smack dab into Jareth's chest. A pair of guilty mismatched eyes met
a mismatched pair of bemused ones. At seeing that Jareth wasn't mad
at him, Brendon dared to hit him with another, taunting him to join
in the game. Jareth didn't turn down the invitation and sprung into
action, forming balls, throwing them at who ever he thought threw one
at him.

Sarah neared the group, though she had no intention of becoming
involved. But apparently her brother didn't know of her thoughts,
because as soon as Toby spotted her, he was throwing a snowball
straight at her. It made contact with her face, just below her right
eye. Toby froze in embarrassment and in partial caution since he
didn't know how his sister was going to react. He needn't worry,
though. Sarah smirked and quickly bent to make her own snowball.
Toby shot off and Sarah went after him, dodging around her uncle and
the others, following her brother's every move. As soon as she had a
clear shot, Sarah threw the snowball, hitting Toby square on his left
shoulder.

By now, the others had noticed Sarah had joined them. Joey didn't
bother attacking Sarah and focused his attention on his father and
Toby, while Jareth didn't care to place his target on any
individuals; as long as a ball was thrown at him, he would throw one
right back. That is until he realized Sarah had thrown one at him.
He almost froze, thinking her playful action towards him a mistake,
but she did it again and was even smiling as she did it. He
couldn't' help but to smile back at her and wonder what had changed
in her domineer towards him as he ran towards her, snowball in hand.
She smiled teasingly as she dodged behind her uncle. Sarah knew she
was in trouble now; Mr. Johnson chased her around everyone, quite
determined he wouldn't stop until the snowball he held contacted with
her body. Joey noticed she was trying to get away, and instead of
helping her, he grabbed her and held her arms behind her back.

Sarah fought against Joey and was surprised he wouldn't let her go.
Mr. Johnson was still a bit off, but she really didn't want him to
hit her. She was still scared of his blonde hair and his blue and
green eyes, even though she thought she was grownup enough to have
accepted it. Her voice shook as she said, "Joey, let me go."

"Give her a good one, J." Joey called out, ignoring his struggling
cousin. He gripped her arms tighter. It was a good thing he was
only a few inches shorter than her, or it would have been harder to
hold her still.

Jareth was still in pursuit; a grin on his face at seeing the object
of his chase was finally immobilized. Yet the look of terror in her
eyes as she shrieked to be let go stopped him dead in his tracks; she
had never shown she was afraid of him before. Joey ignored her plea
and instead laughed, and it angered Jareth the boy couldn't see she
was scared. He shouted for the boy to let her go. Joey released
her, a scowl on his face showing he didn't know why he was being
yelled at.

Sarah walked away from the chaos on shaky legs, over to the sled,
which she sat upon. She placed her elbows on her knees as she
breathed out hard, the mist from her breath rising to her eyes. She
didn't know why she had allowed herself to get frightened from a
simple game; Mr. Johnson probably thought she was a spoilsport now.
She huffed at herself; she shouldn't care what this stranger thought
of her. Beyond work, she probably will never see this man again
after tonight.

Brendon noticed his mother was with the sled, and having not had his
turn going down the hill, he grabbed a hold of the person he most
wanted to sled with, Mr. Johnson. The man was reluctant, but he
allowed Brendon to drag him along.

Sarah jerked her head up and groaned when she saw her son was pulling
Mr. Johnson over to her. She raised her eyes to the clouded sky,
sending her thoughts to some deity on how just once in a while she
would like to have a moment alone when she felt so stressed. She
stood up, rationalizing with herself that they only wanted the sled,
but when she moved to go away, her son stopped her.

"Can I go sledding now?"

Sarah smiled faintly, "Yeah. Can I ride with you?"

"Can't I do it alone?" Breni whined.

"You can. I just haven't gone since I was younger, and I didn't want
to go alone." She teased, trying to say something that would make him
believe she thought he was big enough, even though she didn't.

"Nah, I want to go alone." He stated.

Sarah's brows rose, but she didn't voice her objection. Even more
surprising was that Brendon didn't ask her to push him, he asked Mr.
Johnson. Mr. Johnson was silent, but he looked to Sarah for
permission; she gave a single nod. He helped Brendon pull the sled
to the top of the hill and helped the boy sit properly on the sled
before giving him a light push. The push wasn't very strong, so he
only went a few feet down the hill. Sarah couldn't help but to laugh
as he flailed his legs to the sides of the sled, trying to make it go
again.

Jareth smiled, again seeing the playful side of the ever-changing
emotional woman before him. At least she was consistent with her
behavior towards her son, always loving and motherly, stern when she
had to be but kind in her methods. And watching this boy delighted
the king, without letting any thoughts of his alleged parentage seep
in. Jareth had to admit, he wasn't sure if he had ever felt such
warm feelings for a child since…well, since he first met Sarah.

Brendon grabbed the sled and pulled it back to where he had started,
then marched to Jareth, "You've gotta push harder this time."

Jareth cocked his brow at the child's demand, "I'm not sure if that
is wise…"

"Here, I'll go with you." Sarah said, stepping to the sled, "It will
go faster with more weight."

Breni slumped his shoulders, disappointed but he flopped down onto
the sled anyway, "Okay."

Sarah hadn't remembered how fun it was to go sledding, and she was
glad her son didn't mind her tagging along. But the one on one time
with her son and Mr. Johnson didn't last for very long. Once Toby
and Joey saw sledding was happening again, they came over to have
turns too. And each time, Mr. Johnson pushed them without
complaint. Roy offered to take his place, but he refused. He
wouldn't even get on the sled, causing the older two boys to snicker
about him being a coward behind his back. Sarah laughed to herself
when Mr. Johnson threw snowballs at them when they weren't looking
because had heard them.

None of the guys noticed the weather had started to change, but Sarah
had. The wind was blowing harshly and the snow reflecting in the
light of the street lamp blew in drifts. The trees a few yards off
bent not only in the wind, but also from the heavy snow accumulating
on their branches. Sarah was just about to draw attention to this
fact when there was a loud popping sound in the distance and a second
later, the power on the entire block went out. The fun in the snow
abruptly ended with the darkness.

"Shoot!!" Joey was the first to react.

"Come on guys, back inside." Sarah shouted to them all.

"There's still enough light to play." Toby said hopefully, "It's
reflecting off the snow."

"Now." Roy emphasized.

The three grumbling boys followed the adults back to the house.


AN: Wow, if you've actually gotten to the end of the chapter…thanks
for sticking with me. I know this is WAY too set in the real world
for the moment, but I promise, you will see everything start to
change next chapter. YEAH!!! Magic will finally rear it's little
head. I want to thank with ALL my heart two wonderful people who
transformed this chapter from the CRAP that it originally was,
Nyllewell and StormChild. You all won't believe how boring this
chapter really was before they kicked it into shape. Thanks again
ladies.