"The Thief, The King, and The Son"
By Alorin Danya
Chapter 9: Enemies and Allies

Donna tapped on the door as she walked into Sarah's office, "Sarah,
your 11 o'clock…Sarah?"

Sarah's head was buried in her arms as she sobbed on the desk.
Donna, who was Sarah's closest friend despite being a coworker and
twelve years older, immediately went to her, "Hey, girl, what
happened? Did your uncle say something?"

Sarah sobbed into the papers, her voice muffled, "It wasn't him."

"The other guy? You knew him?"

Sarah raised her head and looked at the woman, sniffling, "No, but he
looked like…"

Sarah laid her head back down and cried even harder, her tears
smudging the ink on the papers below her. God how that man looked
like her sons father. She hated that it made the feelings she'd kept
from herself resurface. She hated that she missed Jareth even though
he screwed up her life. No matter how much hate she held, she had
never lost her love.

"Sarah, Jerome can take your appointments. Why don't you go home."
Donna said, laying a hand on her shoulder.

Sarah sat up and reached for a tissue, nodding as she said, "I do
have to clean the house. Toby made a mess of my room this morning.
Then I have to clean everything else and cook because Roy's coming
over and…"

"See, your day's booked already. You haven't taken a vacation in
over a year. Next week is Christmas, why don't you take the next
three weeks off?"

Sarah looked at her with strained eyes, "Oh no, I couldn't. Mr.
Thompson…"

"Thinks you've been really stressed out. He's the one who suggested
it." Donna's dark eyes smiled, "A paid vacation shouldn't be turned
down."

Sarah was apprehensive, but hoped Donna wasn't lying, "Paid? Really?"

"Yeah. Spend the time with your family. Go someplace exotic." Donna
grinned, cocking her head to the side ever so slightly and looking
nonchalantly to the ceiling, "If this single Nubian Princess got an
offer like that from her boss, she'd go some place where she could
find some nice guy who has a little cash…" Donna looked down and
noticed Sarah's pained eyes and quickly changed topic,
shrugging, "Well, there's always Disney World."

Sarah brightened a little, "The boys would love Florida. But you
know I can't afford that, even with a paid vacation."

Donna gave Sarah a hopeful glance, "You could always ask your moth…"

"Oh no." Sarah interjected, picking up the mess she had made, "I am
not asking her for anything else. Did you know she hasn't called in
three months? Three whole months, and it's Christmas!"

"Not for another six days. Girl, you gotta go lighter on her. She's
in, where, Australia now filming that Western?"

Sarah huffed, tossing the used tissues into the trashcan beside her
desk, "At her age you'd think they wouldn't let her play parts like
that. She is forty-two, not some young filly."

"Well for an old mare, she sure looks good," Donna joked. "Would it
hurt to call her? Come on, she might be able to get you a good deal
somewhere. You haven't been anywhere since you started working here.
I should know; I keep the records."

Sarah sighed. She didn't know how Donna could be so light hearted all
the time, "Maybe I'll give her a call."

Donna patted her shoulder, "Good. Now, finish whipping your tears
and go on home."

Sarah rearranged her desk the best she could after Donna left. She
had yet to actually file Mr. Johnson's paperwork and call the
accounting firm to let them know he would arrive on Monday morning.
His handwriting was smudged by her tears but was still legible she
noticed as she dialed up the firm, telling them all the information
they needed to know about this migrant from England. With that call
placed, her job was finished for the day. She put on her coat, slung
her purse over her shoulder, and walked out of her private office,
carrying Mr. Johnson's folder to place on Donna's desk.

Donna looked up from her work and smiled when she saw it was
Sarah, "Have a nice break. Just don't get so busy that you forget to
come to my Christmas party on Tuesday…unless you really do get
together with your mother."

Sarah nodded, then turned away, "Only if there's a blue moon," Sarah
mumbled under her breath as she headed for the door.

"Oh, Sarah, hold on." Donna said, "Mr. Thompson wanted you to see
him before you left."

Sarah turned around and looked towards Mr. Thompson's closed office
door. She walked slowly to it, curious as to what he could want and
hoping that he wasn't going to make her vacation a permanent one. At
hearing Donna announce her to Mr. Thompson, she grimaced. She had
pissed him off the previous day when she held her ground on keeping
Mr. Murphy on their hire list. Maybe she shouldn't have been so
fervent about being fair to all people, despite their handicaps.
Once she reached the door, she took a reassuring breath and briskly
knocked twice.

"Yes, Miss Williams, come in."

Sarah opened the door and entered, trying to look sure of herself, "I
heard you wanted to speak with me, sir."

Mr. Thompson removed his thick eyeglasses from his nose, resting them
on top of his balding head, "I understand you have taken my offer for
a vacation." At her nod, he continued, "That is all well and good.
You deserve it, although you need to understand your position a more
closely. As an agency that provides our clients with valuable
assistance, we must provide the finest quality workers possible. You
have worked here long enough to know people who come to us looking
for jobs are not vagabonds; they are normal people down on their luck
who want to improve their situation. You have done a great service
for this company with every able body you appoint to supply our
client's needs. But lately, as with Mr. Murphy, these clients have
been complaining about those employees, which were appointed by you.
Certain disabilities…"

"They don't even give them a chance!" Sarah argued.

"Certain disabilities," Mr. Thompson continued with
emphasis, "interfere with the expectations of the client, no matter
how capable the employee. Now, I'm giving you this time off to relax
your mind so that maybe you can remember what your purpose with us
is. If, Miss Williams, I see an improvement on your decisions when
you return, I will say no more on the subject. However, if you
continue to let your heart and not your rational mind guide you, I
have no choice but to find a replacement."

Sarah turned away, not able to look at the man's suddenly ugly face
at the moment.

"I have to keep the integrity of my company in mind. If you are to
remain here, you must improve or be cast aside. That's just how it
must be."

Sarah glanced back at Mr. Thompson, who's elbows were now on the
desk, his fingers interlocked as he rested his chin on his hands,
completely waiting for her usual retort. But Sarah was both too
angered and too scared to say anything; her job, her lively hood was
being threatened.

Mr. Thompson raised his gray brows in surprise when she remained
silent, "I do value your presence here, Miss Williams. Your youth
has revitalized the staff. But sacrifices have to be made in order
to keep our client's satisfied."

Mr. Thompson then did something Sarah didn't expect, he picked up an
envelope and handed it to her. She reached for it timidly, afraid
that what he was handing her was the evidence he had already started
to fire her. He urged her to take it and open it. She nearly cried
when she saw what was inside, a check for two thousand dollars.

"As I said, I have decided nothing. You have done good work, so I'm
giving you your bonus now. Take your son somewhere that you will
feel rejuvenated. Once you return, I'm sure things will go
smoothly."

*

"This library," Irene told Jareth as they walked inside, "isn't the
best, but at least it's free."

The building was only one story tall, probably no larger than a high
school library, and though it had a plethora of books, they weren't
very scholarly. One could find more Romance and Science Fiction
novels than anything else in the place. Irene explained to Jareth
as well as she could how to search for books and told him that if he
needed help, the librarians were supposed to assist. But, she told
him he would probably find more by looking on the Internet than
searching through any book. After finding a male librarian to show
him how to work the computer, she left. Jareth was a bit annoyed
that he had to acquaint himself with another mortal; he didn't know
what he might say that would seem out of place and give away his
foreignness.

"Mr. Johnson, are you familiar with the Internet?" the librarian,
Curt by his nametag, asked as Jareth sat at the console.

Jareth shook his head, "No, we do not have that in England."

"Right," the young man said, his nasal tone showing his obvious
disbelief, "Well, I will show you anyway."

Jareth was very uncomfortable as the man invaded his space, standing
behind Jareth as he leaned over him so he could show him how to use
the keyboard and mouse. Jareth learned them slowly, to the
librarian's annoyance, but he learned them. As for the Internet,
Curt showed him a few key sites like Google, Ask Jeeves, and
Webster's Dictionary in case there were words he didn't know and then
left Jareth to search on his own.

First thing he did was look up what PMS was, since Irene refused to
say anything more about it. He soon enough understood why. Human
female reproduction processes were extremely unlike that of the Fae.
Physically their anatomy was nearly indistinguishable, but much more
pain was involved with humans. Fae females missed out on the
menstrual cycle, being ever fertile. No wonder Sarah was so
temperamental if that was what she was going through. He ended up
reading far more in depth on the subject than he should have for just
a simple inquiry. And he didn't just read about PMS; he went as far
into human reproduction as he could…although the computer wouldn't
let him view certain sites and would instead pop up a screen
informing him there was Adult Content. Of course there was Adult
Content. He didn't expect there to be anything on children in
information regarding creating other humans.

Frustrated, he moved on to a different subject to search, mainly this
festivity called Christmas. He found much conflicting information.
Some sites said people decorated trees, hung lights, sang songs, and
left out cookies and milk so some over weight man in a bright red
costume would give them presents. Some sites were dedicated to what
they believed was the incarnation of some god who they revered. Then
other places combined the two. It was all so confusing to figure out
what was right that he abandoned that subject too.

Then he thought of something he was quite interested in researching;
Roy had said there were no kings in this world. Jareth was curious
as to how this land governed itself. This America, though it had no
monarchy, showed little evidence that laws were enforced in any way
if there was a system of government. What would a kingdom be if
there weren't set regulations for its subjects to follow or a means
to implement them? Going again to Google.com, he typed in the word
America and over thirty-seven million sites with information on the
subject were available. Jareth was astounded; no wonder Roy told him
it had taken him thirteen years to learn about this country's history
with so much to learn. But Jareth didn't have nor want the luxury of
time.

He saw a female with a nametag, and assuming she was a librarian, he
motioned for her assistance, "I want to learn more on America. Do you
have suggestions on how I might achieve this?"

"Sure." The girl, who appeared to be no older than Miss Williams,
smiled, "You know, your accent is incredible. Are you from England?"

Jareth frowned at her, not interested in wasting his time in
fruitless conversation, "Yes," He glanced at her nametag, "Mary. Now
where must I look?"

Mary's smile disappeared and she put on a professional face, pushing
her curly auburn hair over her shoulder, "Are you looking for
anything specific? History, culture, society? Or are you just
wanting a general overview?"

"Perhaps I should search more generally. There seems to be much
information."

"Yeah, I suppose they don't teach you much about us over there since
we won the war." Mary smiled again, thinking her statement
amusing. "Let's try americaslibrary.gov. I know, it looks a bit
juvenile, but it's got relevant information."

She left Jareth to explore on his own. He discovered this country
had a vast history of struggles and changing governments, yet for
this world it was a relatively young establishment. And it all
started, for the most part, because people sought religious freedom
from the country `Jareth Johnson' was from. There was a great war
between England and America, and when freedom from the monarchy was
obtained, the country named its lands the United States. The two
nations fought for territory for decades to follow, but eventually
the mother country stopped trying to regain control. This made
Jareth curious. If the two countries fought for so long, why was his
presence tolerated so openly? If he was from a kingdom that was once
an enemy to this nation, wouldn't they want to exile him? Surely if
they were warring peoples once they would still be at each other's
throats. People certainly remained enemies in his world, even after
millennia had passed. True, the United States had been independent
for over two hundred years, but that certainly wasn't enough time for
amnesty, was it? Perhaps it was, for the two countries never fought
against each other again and even became allies.

This country of the United States was formed with a government of
elected officials. The populace actually had a voice in what
happened within their nation. What a concept. Instead of having one
ruler dominate the method of actions, the citizens voted on who
should lead them and by majority rule, the elected individual only
had four years before another vote was taken for a new official. If
his kingdom was governed in such a manner, he knew everything would
fall apart; goblins could hardly think for themselves, let alone
agree to decide how to run their own society. Yet perhaps it could
be done with more intelligent beings; it apparently was working in
the United States if they had lasted this long. But he found that
the citizens of this strong nation didn't always agree.

He read that this great country nearly divided itself in Civil War;
it was a battle that began with those wanting to separate and those
wanting to keep `One Nation Under God, Indivisible,' then spurred
towards the end as a battle to end slavery. This country had
actually ended slavery. It was a very difficult transition that took
decades to mend, but eventually the rest of the motto of this
country, `with liberty and justice for all,' became a reality. If
such a thing ever happened in the Underground, it would be radical;
the Fae had lived so long with humans as slaves, they would
absolutely reject their freedom. Humans grew the food and humans
knew the crafts to build and create things magic could not. The Fae
wouldn't know how to survive without the luxuries human bondage had
supplied for them.

Jareth was quite intrigued to read more of this country's changes and
development, but he found that his eyes were very drowsy, his back
ached from sitting so long, and his stomach was extremely empty. He
had no idea how long he had been looking at the computer screen.
Being mortal was certainly more difficult than he had originally
assessed. He didn't know how their species survived having to spend
so much time regulating their own bodies. And now being just like
them intimidated him, especially since he had no idea where to go to
find sustenance or how to contact Irene to let her know he was done
researching for the day. Well, she said the librarians were there to
help.

Finding his way to the main checkout desk, Jareth sought the
assistance of Curt again. The young man did his best to ignore
Jareth but finally gave in. "Yes, Mr. Johnson, was it? What can I
help you with?"

Jareth tried not to smirk at the young man. What he would give to
have his magic and teach that boy some manners, "I need to contact
the woman who brought me here."

"Why don't you just call her?" Curt rolled his eyes.

"I would if I knew how." Jareth growled back.

Curt went to the phone on the desk and slammed a large telephone book
next to it, "Look up her number in here, last name first. If she's
married, check under her husband's name. Kay?"

Jareth just nodded. After looking through nearly two pages of just
the last name of Carlson and dialing three wrong numbers, he finally
got a hold of Irene.

"Hey, J. You done there?"

"Yes. I do believe my concept of life on Earth has been thoroughly
destroyed."

"Yep, things are sure fascinating here." Irene voiced
sarcastically, "But hey, I had another girl show up for me to dye her
hair, so I won't be able to make it for at least an hour."

Jareth was not happy, "Irene, I have not eaten for hours. What am I
to do about food?"

"Oh my gosh, it's nearly three. Dang, and Roy isn't back yet. Well,
okay, I'll come get you. I don't really have to start the chemicals
yet. Just, give me fifteen. I'll be there."

Jareth hung up and as soon as he did, Curt grabbed the phone book
back with his nose in the air. Jareth cocked his brow at the man's
rudeness but decided to not waste his breath reprimanding him.

* * *

Sarah drove down the street with a slight smile on her face. She was
honestly surprised that it really had been Mr. Thompson's idea for
her to take a vacation. She had thought Donna was only trying to
cheer her up, but the man had already made up the check to pay her
for the days she would be gone and more. He signed it right in
front of her and let her go home. Two thousand dollars would sure
help out for a merrier Christmas. It was great that she could get
the next three weeks off, but she knew there was no way for her
father to get those same weeks off on such short notice, so a trip
anywhere was off because there was no way she was going to take the
boys to another state alone. But that didn't mean they couldn't find
something interesting to do in town.

As soon as she was home, she let Merlin outside, put her coat in the
hall closet and threw off her stained blouse, running to the basement
to put it in the wash as quickly as she could, for the air was cold
against her bare skin. Luckily no one else was home. She laughed to
herself as she ran up to her room to put on sweats, wondering what
her son and brother would think if he saw her going round in nothing
but her underwear. Her room was worse then she first thought. Toby
had thrown many books off her shelves, her vanity drawers were all
open and their contents all across the room, but the worst of the
damage were those things thrown out of her closet. She picked up
everything and just threw it all in her closet; her room could wait
since the rest of the house needed to be cleaned before her relatives
came over.

But one item did not want to be ignored. It had been sitting just
below of her vanity chair when she picked it up. She tossed it to
her closet like all the other objects, but unlike the others, it
missed its target and instead hit the closet door, causing the door
to be slammed shut. Sarah was startled at the noise and looked down
to see the cause. Why out of all the objects in her room did this
one have to catch her attention, especially after the way her morning
had gone? She barely noticed that her hand trembled as she reached
down and picked up the book. She hadn't seen it since her cousin
gave it back to her three years ago, after he confessed to taking
it.

Sarah had been so mad at Joey and swore he could never read the book
again. He was just as stubborn as she was and wanted to know what
was so bad about reading a book. At the time he tried to return the
book, though, it had been Thanksgiving at their grandparents and the
whole family--great uncles, aunts, and cousins twice removed--heard
her lecture him. They wouldn't let her alone without telling them
the story of the Labyrinth. She had little choice but to give in;
she was in enough trouble in the eyes of her relatives for having an
illegitimate child, better to not gain the label of bitchy prude
too. She detached herself emotionally the best she could and told
the tale like a monolog; to her horror her family had loved the
performance.

After she got away from the compliments of how compelling the
characterization of her heroine as she battled `through danger's
untold and hardships unnumbered,' she found the laundry room and
cried alone in the darkness. She was mad at herself for letting
them make her do it and angry at remembering those things her family
would never hear leave her lips; the way her heart had fluttered
every time the Goblin King neared her, the way his hands gently
roamed over her skin as he made love to her the first time, or how
much it hurt when he tore her flesh, drank from her soul, ripped her
life from her.

It had been Joey who found her, purely by coincidence. He apparently
was trying to find a hiding place for a game and not wanting to find
his cousin drenched by her own tears of self-pity. For a boy of
nine, he didn't have to take the responsibility of comforting her,
could have found an adult to ease her grief; but he was her cousin
and was like her a curious soul. With his prompting, Sarah explained
to him what had really happened, how she had wished Toby away and
journeyed the Labyrinth to save him; yet, she told Joey only the
things regarding her brother and nothing more of what the Goblin King
had done. Joey told her that the story he read was not what she
experienced. Sarah didn't understand how the pages could have
changed, so she dared to read the book again, finding that nothing
was different from when she originally read. Yet Joey read aloud his
story, which was so varied from her own that she threw the book into
the garbage, cursing it for being bewitched. She remembered the
Goblin King had told her that the book reveled things, but she didn't
know it was magic too.

Despite hating anything related with the Goblin King, she hadn't been
able to rid herself of the things of his world. She didn't know why,
but she felt that she still needed them. She retrieved the book from
the trash after Joey had left and placed it with all the other
objects her mother had given her when she got home. Though she kept
the things, she had no intention of ever looking at them again, so
she tucked the box as far back into her closet as she could put it.
But that hadn't stopped Toby from finding it that morning.

Sarah wondered if she should get rid of the things for good, destroy
the objects that reminded her of the Labyrinth and her dut…no, she
couldn't even think of that. It was not her responsibility. There
was no way she would ever go back.

Sarah left her room and shut the door behind her, heading downstairs
to clean up the living room first. Living with all men, especially
two very obnoxious little boys, made cleaning the house a chore.
Toys were here, there and everywhere, books were on tables and not on
shelves, downstairs rooms hadn't been dusted in weeks…this was no
simple task for one person to do, but she was up for it. She was
glad to be alone, and yet the solitude made her mind wander. Sarah in
no way wanted to break down again, so she cranked on the soft rock
station on her radio and sang at the top of her lungs when she knew
the song…and even when she didn't. She was done with everything she
could think of by 2:30, so she called her dad at work and told him
she would pick up the boys from school.

Toby and Brendon were quite excited that their cousin Joey was coming
for dinner. They begged her to let them rent a movie and some video
games, knowing for sure Joey would bring over his Nintendo 64. Sarah
couldn't refuse them after they promised they would help her make
dinner, even though she knew that would probably never happen.

Her father was already there when they arrived home. He knew his
sister was coming over for dinner, but like usual, he had forgotten
to do anything Sarah had asked; mainly the simple task of boiling
eggs. She tried to politely remind him he was needed in the kitchen,
but he turned the blame for his forgetfulness around to her for not
having told him when he left that morning.

Sarah had to become mother of the house after Karen's death, but she
found it difficult for her father to follow anything she asked of
him. It wasn't that he didn't do things around the house or didn't
talk to her; he just had a hard time letting her be an adult and
treating her like she was one. Here she was a mother, not only for
her own son but for her brother too, and her father still treated her
like an adolescent who needed to be told what to do and how to do
it. He only became that way after Karen died, as if he felt he was
too passive a parent before, which he was, but that had only been
because if he ever tried to talk to Sarah, she wouldn't listen or
would yell back. Her spirit was broken by her pregnancy and then
Karen's death two years later. Sarah had been lost and had needed
harsh guidance through it, and Robert had been her anchor. But she
was fine now and understood how much of a brat she had once been, but
she hadn't been that way for five years now and he still treated her
like she could shatter any minute.

"You put the good china out." Robert said, coming into the
kitchen, "Roy and Irene are kinda clumsy. Are you sure you should…"

"Dad, please. We haven't seen them in months and I want this to be
special."

He nodded reluctantly, "There's an extra place set. Are they
bringing a friend?"

"Yes." Sarah answered calmly.

"Anyone I know?"

"No."

"They aren't bringing one of Roy's cheap drinking buddies are they?"

Sarah smiled; her uncle certainly had a reputation, "No. He's from
England. He's nice, charming in fact, polite, receptive, and he…"

"Sounds like someone made a good impression on you." Robert smirked

Sarah paused from checking the brisket in the oven; had Mr. Johnson
made an impression on her? Perhaps he had; at least he wasn't whom
she expected. "I was just comparing him to someone else who falls
short."

The doorbell rang at that exact moment and Sarah's eyes went wide as
she looked to the clock in desperation--they were over an hour
early, "Oh no. Nothing's ready yet!"

She heard Toby and Brendon hurriedly run from upstairs to the front
door and open it, receiving joyful greetings and hugs from their aunt
and uncle. Then she heard Roy introduce them to Mr. Johnson. So he
had come. Sarah suddenly didn't feel like showing her face. She had
behaved so irrationally that morning to him and he probably took her
for a fool.

"Dad, you go out and keep them busy."

Robert nodded and left, but a few seconds later, Irene came in, a
casserole dish in her hands.

"Hey, your early." Sarah said, but smiled.

"Yeah, I know. I just had a late appointment--woman wanted her hair
dyed black with blue tent and that just can't be rushed. So I didn't
get the potatoes started, thought I'd do them here."

Mr. Johnson came into the kitchen at that moment, carrying a brown
grocery bag. Sarah couldn't help but follow him as he entered; the
forest green sweater and jeans he was wearing fit his form nicely.
When she noticed her train of thought, Sarah immediately turned back
to her work and intently focused on beating the boiled egg yokes in
the bowl, trying to ignore Mr. Johnson's presence. She was
embarrassed with herself; since when had she started to notice how a
guy looked?

"Just set that on the table, J." Irene said, taking off her winter
coat and placing it on the back of a kitchen chair.

"Sarah, is there anything I can do?" Mr. Johnson asked.

Sarah jerked her head up at hearing his voice so near to her ear--but
no, he was standing four feet away from her. She cleared her
throat, "Know how to do deviled eggs?"

"I will once you've shown me."

Sarah let her eyes focus on his and she started to breathe harder;
her eyes wouldn't let her mind know this wasn't her Jareth. They
insisted that it had to be him. She wanted him to be the Goblin King
so badly, but whether it was to hold him or to kill him she didn't
know. The smarter part of her knew this man couldn't be because he
didn't know her. But he looked at her like he wanted to know her.

"Sarah, hun, where is your real butter?" Irene asked from the
refrigerator, "I can only find the margarine."

"What? Oh," Sarah asked, snapping away from Mr. Johnson's eyes and
stepping around him. She opened the door flap that was supposed to
hold the butter, making sure that Irene hadn't just messed it, but
the compartment was empty, "I guess we're out."

"Well, I can't do this right without real butter. I'll just send Roy
out to get it." Irene left the room to find her husband.

Sarah stood a moment at the fridge, falsely looking for something.
She could feel Mr. Johnson looking at her and was afraid to look at
him, afraid that she might do something rude to him again if he did
anything that remotely resembled something the Goblin King would say
or do.

"Should I open the back door and let the cold air in or are you
trying to let the refrigerator cool the room?"

Sarah closed her eyes as she shut the fridge door and smiled; he was
teasing her. The Goblin King had never made her laugh and she liked
the way Mr. Johnson's voice was playful and kind. She turned to
him, "Sorry. Now, the eggs." She walked back around him and to the
counter, "See the mustard bottle? Squirt a little, about a spoonful,
into the bowl, then add the mayonnaise, um, four spoonfuls. Then,"
She walked over to a cabinet and pulled down some plates, "Put the
egg halves on these and spoon the fluff in here." She cocked her head
at him, "Got all that?"

He smiled, "Quite simple."

"Great. I'll still be here if you have any problems."

She walked to the stove and stirred the boiling macaroni. Her boy
loved the stuff and it wouldn't be a complete meal without mac and
cheese. The noodles were done, so she carried the pot to the sink to
strain out the water, then went back to the stove with it to add
Velveeta and margarine. She was startled when Irene came rushing
back in.

"Well, Roy's gone and took Robert with him." Irene said, grabbing her
coat off the chair, "The boys are too busy with that game. I'm gonna
go out back for a cigarette."

Sarah looked out the window above the sink, "You sure you won't be
too cold? It's starting to snow pretty heavily."

"Hey, it's snow." Irene said as if it didn't matter to her, then shut
the backdoor behind her.

Sarah glanced over to Mr. Johnson, who had already begun to spoon the
fluff into the eggs, "Are you doing alright over there?"

He smiled, "Piece of cake."

Those words made Sarah's heart jump so high into her throat that she
thought she might faint. Why did he have to go and say a thing like
that? She tried to grab hold of the counter but missed and stumbled
backwards. Mr. Johnson rushed forward to catch her before she fell
against the stove. Sarah's ears rang as she head spun and she
squeezed her eyes shut to make it all go away. Maybe she wouldn't
have felt so lightheaded if she hadn't of skipped out on lunch that
afternoon. Only when she felt Mr. Johnson run his hand across her
cheek, his thumb brushing her hair away from her eyes, did she gain
the strength to compose herself. She opened her eyes, reluctantly
finding his mismatched ones staring straight back at her. She
motioned for him to let her stand up straight and pushed him to stay
at an arms length.

"Sarah, are you aright?" Mr. Johnson asked with wide, concerned eyes.

"I…" She stammered, her voice not cooperating, "I'm fine."

Mr. Johnson looked as though he had never seen a woman faint before,
his brow was sharp with concern, making the scar over his left eye
longer. It looked to Sarah as though it needed bandaged, even if it
was a few days old. She stopped herself from lifting up her hand to
touch it and closed her still spinning eyes.

"Hey! You said I could do it."

Sarah opened her eyes at the whine from her son, "What Breni? Why
aren't you playing with Joey."

"He and Toby said I wasn't big enough to play." The boy pointed to
the bowl Mr. Johnson had been working on, "You said I could fill the
eggs."

Once he was sure Sarah was well enough to stand on her own, Mr.
Johnson left her, "Well, they are not all finished. Why don't you
come and do the rest." He offered as he grabbed a chair and placed it
against the counter.

Without hesitation the boy jumped up and stood with the spoon already
plunging into the fluff. Sarah watched as Mr. Johnson held the chair
steadily and smiled at the mess her son made. He turned his head to
her after a moment and she mouthed `Thank You' to him for making her
son happy. He bowed his head slightly and smiled to her before
turning back to assist the boy.

Irene came back inside not three minutes after she had left, "I
should have listened to you. Hope the guys get here before too long
or the roads might be bad." After taking her coat off, Irene placed
her hands on her hips and stared at Sarah, "Are you going to wear
those dirty sweats to dinner?"

Sarah looked down at herself and laughed, "I am kind of a mess,
aren't I?"

Irene nodded, "Just tell me what's goin' on here and I'll take
kitchen duty. Make these men slave for me."

Brendon giggled at his aunt's remark. Mr. Johnson just stared.

Sarah ran upstairs after explaining everything to Irene. She didn't
waste time with washing her hair--it would take too long to dry, so
she just made it into a French twist before she stepped into the hot
water. After her quick shower she ran down the hall in her towel to
her room and after putting on her undergarments, tried to pick out
something festive to wear. She hadn't bought new clothes for herself
in three years, so what she had was somewhat retro and it was hard
for her to choose a decent combination.

She nearly jumped when she heard a knock on her door. It was
thankfully Irene's voice that carried through the door, "I don't see
any cranberry sauce, hun. Were you not wanting any?"

"There's some in the cabinet under the toaster." Sarah said loudly
back.

"What? I couldn't hear you." Irene said into the door.

"Come in," Sarah said reluctantly, securing her towel around herself
as the woman entered, "I said it is probably in the cabinet under the
toaster."

Irene stepped further into the room, looking around, "Uh huh."

Sarah smirked at her knowingly, "That's not what you really wanted to
know, is it?"

"No." Irene smiled and sat on Sarah's bed.

Sarah returned her eyes to the quest for clothes, "Well, what is it?
I don't feel like beating around the bush."

"Roy told me of how you reacted today with Jareth. You scared that
man; he almost didn't come over tonight."

Sarah slumped her shoulders and head in guilt, but she couldn't bring
herself to say anything. What could she possibly say that would still
make her sound sane?

"Roy has never seen you so angry, Sarah. Why did you do that to
Jareth?"

`Because of who I thought he was at first,' but Sarah couldn't tell
her that. If she did then she'd have to admit to who Brendon's
father was and they'd all send her to an institution. She met
Irene's eyes with defiance and shook her head, telling her she
wouldn't talk about it.

"Sarah, he thinks you hate him, and he doesn't even know you."

"I didn't mean to yell at him." Sarah said quietly.

"Will you apologize to him?"

Sarah shrugged, "I wasn't going to bring it up."

"Well do you hate him?"

"Irene, it wasn't him I hated. He is a great man--you saw how he was
with Breni."

"Yes, I did. He's a knack with children." Irene said with an emphasis.

Sarah turned to her with a shocked grin, "Are you trying to set us
up?"

Her aunt tried to look innocent, "Well, your son needs a father. And
you need to find happiness."

Sarah frowned and shook her head, "I made a promise to myself never
to love anyone else, to never get hurt again. Besides, who wants
someone else's son?"

"Let him decide that," Irene said, "Give Jareth a chance, huh. I've
only known him three days and if Roy wasn't around, I would be all
over that man." She caught Sarah's blushing, "I knew you were
attracted to him. I was watching you two from the window. I really
think you two would be cute together."

"Oh you do? Well, it is he and not you who is going to have to
approach me and he's going to have to prove to me very hard that
Brendon comes first in everything." She said, slowly pulling down a
long sleeved, evergreen blouse that used to be Karen's with a sadness
behind her eyes, "You're not the first to tell me Brendon needs a
father--he even wants one himself." She let the towel fall to the
ground as she put on the blouse and buttoned it up, the fierce
movements of her fingers relaying the frustration of her
thoughts, "Did you know the other day Breni yelled out in his class
that he wished he knew his father?"

Irene looked at her strangely, her green eyes wide, "He…he made a
wish?"

"Yes."

"When?"

"Two days ago." Sarah moved to her pant drawer, "His teacher was
upset and thought Brendon was reacting that way because I was seeing
someone."

"Have you been?"

"Of course not," Sarah snapped impulsively, then sighed as she found
a pair of black slacks, "I just can't Iri--I'm scared."

Irene had a far off look in her eyes as she stood, "I'd better get
that cranberry sauce."

Sarah nodded, slipping into the slacks, "Have the veggies been fixed
yet?"

"I left Breni and…Jareth." Irene put her hand to her head, as if
checking herself for a fever, then headed for the door.

"Iri, are you alright?" Sarah asked at her aunt's change in demeanor.

"Yeah, I just need a cigarette." Iri said, but she turned to Sarah at
the last minute, "Sarah, before I forget to tell you this. Your
uncle and I haven't had the best marriage, but we've made it work.
Love is always scary. Unwanted things happen, but you can't run from
them."