ACIII - Ch 5 - Mornings of Gold

AMELIORATION CHRONICLES III - VALENTINE EVENINGS

CHAPTER 4 - Mornings of Gold
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Even traffic free, her drive home took nearly as long as the drive to Brad's yacht, as she lived on the opposite side of town from the docks. Sarah knew she was in deep kimchi with Jareth when she discovered an unoccupied apartment, and her numerous and increasingly, frenetic calls to him went unanswered.

By midnight Sarah went from highly concerned to deeply wigged out. Jareth had never ignored her before, even if she wanted him to. Did she want that now? And suddenly the thought of Jareth disregarding her stabbed deep into her heart and Sarah panicked. What if he'd tired of her already? What if he'd decided she was too much trouble after this morning and never came back?

"Oh, God, what've I done?" She whimpered and collapsed face first into her unmade bed. The sheets still smelled of Jareth, and she buried her face in his musky scent and whimpered again as a sharp pang hit her. The love of her life probably hated her right now, couldn't stand the thought of her, would rather mack on a cheese grater than ever see her again.

"I told you-"

"Not now, Tutu. Please just let me suffocate myself in peace!" Sarah said, her voice muffled in the sheets.

"But Sarah-"

Sarah rolled over and yelled to the ceiling, "Go away, you Pepto-Bismol colored, prancing pain. I really, really, don't need your sermons right now! I get it! I'm an idiot. I messed up the best thing in my life since ever, and if you'd please just allow me be miserable without your preaching ... for once!"

Tutu sighed, "Alright. I'll be here if you need me."

"Fine, whatever." Sarah rolled back over to her stomach, sniffing and tucking her head back under the Jareth scented sheets until she cried herself to sleep.

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In the dim light emitted by Jareth's crystal, the mortal man looked greatly aged and tired. His once coiffed hair was mussed, dark circles formed under his eyes and several bruises marred his handsome appearance. Jareth paced a circular route in the larger than average oubliette; his quick steps shadowed by Skittle.

"I do hope the accommodations are to your liking," Jareth snidely asked his guest, glancing in his direction.

Brad rattled the chains keeping his arms shackled to the wall, then responded sarcastically through his split lower lip, "Yeah, they're fantastic, better than the Hyatt."

The mortal's defiant reply froze Jareth's steps. No wonder Sarah liked this Bradley; he possessed spirit, too bad for the mortal. Jareth resumed pacing, his riding crop smacking against his leather clad thigh. They'd spent the last several hours in rigorous conversation, and so far Jareth had ascertained that Bradley knew Sarah through her place of business as a long-term, wealthy client. That Bradley considered Sarah a good lawyer and friend. Unfortunately, Bradley refused to divulge any other interesting, yet even inconsequential, tidbits of her life in connection to his, even after the application more persuasive methods of conversation. Meanwhile, Jareth never revealed his own relationship to Sarah.

"Your defiance, while commendable, will only lengthen your stay with me," Jareth stated, coming to stand directly before the chained man.

"Why should I tell you anything? What if you're trying to harm Sarah?" Brad asked courageously.

"I would never harm Sarah," Jareth said with bared teeth, his vehemence causing Brad to flinch. "As for you, your death is not ... assured ... if you cooperate."

"Who the hell are you? And what is it with you about Sarah?" Brad asked more incredulously than in fear.

Once Brad realized this wasn't a typical kidnapping, he feared this strange man might outright kill him. When the whole killing-of-Brad didn't happen, and instead the man strung him up—which was stupefying as one second he was kneeling, the next shackled—and interrogated him for hours about Sarah and their relationship, Brad gradually relaxed. Well, as much as anyone can relax suspended from manacles while being verbal threatened and physically tortured by some freaky magic dude.

This stranger still inspired anxiety and fear, but Brad detected a note of what he suspected was desperation in his voice, which confounded him. What did this person of unusual, obviously magical abilities have to be desperate about? And why was he so interested in Sarah? Brad resisted giving him any personal information about her for fear of his motivations, but as his physical methods of persuasion escalated Brad felt his resolve weakening. Torture on Sarah Williams's behalf wasn't exactly scheduled on his life agenda, so he wasn't sure how long he could hold out.

Quirking an eyebrow, Jareth approached the man displayed on the wall of his oubliette. "You need not concern yourself with my identity, but your future health is dubious if you continue to pursue a relationship with my Sarah," Jareth said through gritted teeth, hands clenched at his side.

"Wait ... your Sarah?" Brad replied aghast as the pieces clicked into place. "Does she know this?" Jareth sniffed disdainfully as he cocked his head to the side and back, but remained silent at Brad's inquisitive expression. "Oh my God," Brad continued. "You're him, aren't you? You're Jareth!" Brad's eyes widened; actually only one eye went agog as his other was in the process of swelling shut.

Jareth frowned at the mortal's quick intelligence; this wasn't going as well as he'd planned.

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Having left the mortal literally hanging out in his oubliette, Jareth returned to his private quarters to contemplate the lack of information he'd gleaned from Bradley Dwellington III. He claimed he and Sarah were merely friends, yet somehow this admission didn't reassure him as well as he'd thought it would.

Doubts lingered, and it was long passed time to seek out Sarah and determine why she called for him last night. He'd ignored her pleas and felt a certain amount of regret now. Jareth heaved a sigh pushing up from his chair.

His precious awaited him, likely with violent, possibly maiming intentions involving the more sensitive portions of his male anatomy. Best to be done with it and start with the enjoyable making up portion of the day. He much preferred the making up sex as she so named it, and in a relationship as volatile as theirs, they tended to experience a lot of making up sex.

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Jareth teleported directly to Sarah's bedroom just as dawn broke the horizon, knowing she still slumbered before her workday began, and what he found perplexed him. Sarah laying on top of her bed sheets, fully dressed in the same clothes she wore the night before and her face appeared strained and puffy. Approaching her bedside, he knelt on the floor, leaned over and caressed her long, tangled hair.

"Precious?" he whispered and placed a soft kiss on her forehead. Sarah's bloodshot eyes snapped open. She appeared to have cried, quite a bit. What happened to have caused her such distress?

"Jareth!" She threw her arms around him and pulled him tight into an awkward embrace. "Oh my God, you're back!" Her voice was muffled in the crook of his neck, and he felt tears moisten his shirt. His Sarah cried? Where he expected anger he discovered sorrow? Why?

"What has happened, Sarah?" he asked, pulling back from her to see her face twisted with emotion. She sat up wiping her runny nose as Jareth waited for her answer.

"You happened," she said as a fresh tear plunged from one eye, causing Jareth to cringe as he speculated upon her meaning, conflicted, then she continued. "I thought you'd left me, that you hated me."

"What?" Appalled at her assumption, he added, "Why? Why would you think that?" He stroked her hair and wiped her tears away.

"You didn't answer me last night. I called and called and you never came. You've never done that before." Her sobs started anew, her chest racking with their heaves and Jareth's guilt dug deep.

Having ignored his love, he'd caused her this pain because his business flaying her friend kept him distant from trusting her. What an ironic and ultimately sad state of affairs. He kissed her eyes, then her cheeks and finally her lips. "Oh, my love, I don't hate you. It's my fault. I had business last night, but I should've informed you. For that I apologize." He held back the full truth as reassured her, and Sarah's tears trickled to a stop.

"You don't hate me?" she asked rather meekly, and Jareth chuckled softly. This was so unlike his fiery Sarah; dare he believe she truly loved him?

"Don't be ridiculous, of course I don't hate you. I could never hate you, Sarah. You're my love, my life, and someday my queen."

"Queen," she huffed as she returned his kisses, "Jareth, I don't know about—"

"Hush ... later..." Jareth stopped her protest with a blinding kiss causing Sarah's coherency to falter, and she was perfectly content to give into his ministrations and forget the last several hours of misery.

She laughed aloud. "You really love me."

Jareth heard the astonishment in her voice, and read it in her eyes. Why would she doubt him? He bookended her face with his hands and met her eyes intently. "Don't ever doubt my love for you, Sarah. Ever," he stated firmly and clearly, making Sarah gasp.

"Oh, Jareth!" She flung herself back into his arms. "I love you so much! And I've wanted to show you how much, so I've got a surprise for you ... for Valentine's Day."

She loved him! She really and truly loved him! All thoughts of his would-be rival evaporated as Jareth focused solely on the glorious woman before him. "Valentine's Day? Really, Precious?" And he suddenly remembered he'd yet to figure out a gift for her.

"Yes, in fact, we need to go!" she announced brightly, launching from his embrace, and ran about quickly grabbing a few last personal items and tossing them into a pre-packed suitcase she withdrew from underneath her bed. Her excitement infected him, and he grinned watching her scramble.

"May I assist in some manner?" he asked, and she thrust her luggage at him.

"Can you carry this to my care while I lock up?"

"Sarah, I can teleport us wherever you need," he said as they exited her apartment, and Sarah gave it serious consideration before disagreeing.

"No, I want this to be a surprise." She smiled and patted his chest. "Let me handle everything for a change." Some part of Jareth warmed at her suggestion that she wanted to do so much for him without his magic. No one in his memory ever thought to put so much effort into doing anything for him; it usually was the reverse. His heart became helium once again knowing Sarah wanted to perform her own brand of magic for him and only him.

"Whatever you say, precious," he whispered in awe, quite sure she did not hear him in her mad rush to escape her home.

And they were off. Jareth secured her luggage in her car with a snap of his fingers,then sat himself in her front passenger seat. He didn't often drive vehicles or ride with Sarah due to lack of necessity, however her enthusiasm made it easy for his agreement.

The drive lasted just under an hour, which flew by for Jareth as he and Sarah held hands, verbally and physically teasing one another en route. His mood couldn't be more different than yesterday, and he mentally chastised himself for his overreaction. His Sarah loved him; his foolishness in doubting her only brought him pain. He mentally vowed improved behavior, so that Sarah never need know of his imprudence.

Then they arrived at the main entrance of the destination, and Jareth's stomach knotted. The yacht club ... OhGodsbelow ... What did Sarah plan for them? Sarah chattered inanely at him regarding her surprise as she drove through the parking lot, but Jareth only thought of the particular yacht he'd spied her on last night. What were the odds? Had that been her business?

"You are bloody well screwed,"his voice offered up from the recesses of his once joy-laded mind.

I believe you are correctJareth agreed, then asked aloud, wary, "Sarah, what exactly do you have planned?" His hand gripping her's tightly, and he detected a faint sheen of perspiration moisten his palm.

"Oh, Jareth, you're going to love it!" she said, parking her car, then pointing to the very yacht imprinted upon his nightmares. "My friend, Brad, owns that yacht, and he's loaning it to us for the next five days! Just you, me, and the crew with all the amenities. Isn't that amazingly generous?" she asked, and he groaned at the light in her eyes, knowing it would soon extinguish.

Sarah caught the strange drop in his mood. "What's wrong? Jareth?" Sarah leaned over the center console of her car as he slumped against his door, releasing her hand.

"You said your friend, Brad, is allowing us the use of his exceedingly expensive property for what I assume to be a romantic cruise for two?"

"Yes, exactly." She nodded, eyes narrowed. "Tell me what's wrong. You don't like sailing?" And a harsh laugh escaped him, making Sarah jump. "You're scaring me, Jareth. Tell me why you're acting like this."

He turned to her suddenly grasping her hands within his own, his intense eyes pinning her own. "I love you, Sarah, with all that I am; please remember that I would do anything to protect that."

Sarah smiled softly. "I love you, too."

Jareth nodded once, then snapped his fingers, teleporting them to the upper aft deck of Brad's yacht, and then Sarah understood why Jareth's disposition changed so noticeably upon arriving at the yacht.

"Brad?" Her friend lay crumpled on the wooden deck, his clothes wrinkled and his overall demeanor not at all lively. "Brad!" Sarah rushed to his side and lifted his head, finding his face covered in lacerations, bruises and one eye swollen shut. A tiny part of Jareth died watching Sarah flutter over her friend, but he said nothing. What could he say?

"Jareth, what did you do?" she asked, turning her to face him with accusing eyes as she cradled her friend.

Brad's one good eye opened and looked up at Sarah. "Sarah ... you're okay ..." Brad mumbled, then his eye closed, exhausted.

"I'm waiting, Jareth," Sarah repeated coldly.

Jareth crouched next to her, but refrained from touching, and revealed everything. He held nothing back, kept no secrets from her of the last 24 hours as he sought her forgiveness. Explaining his jealously, his stalking and his kidnapping of her friend, Jareath told her the why's as well as what's and how's and Sarah sat, calmly listening to his explanation.

She frowned and met his sincerely contrite gaze. "You think so little of me? I'm sorry my keeping a secret caused so much trouble between us, but will you never trust me?" she asked gently, and he wished she would rage at him, scream, strike, anything but this quiet questioning which terrified him. Her eyes dropped back down to her sleeping friend.

"It's not your fault for keeping a secret, Sarah; it's mine." She sharply looked up and met Jareth's eyes at his confession. He wanted to take her in his arms, as he had always desired since first seeing her so many years ago, but feared her reaction. He continued as his epiphany divulged itself to him. "I've never required of myself to trust anyone as I should trust you. It is ... unique to my experience." Jareth felt something in his chest twist as he felt the truth of his admission, a truth he'd never dare face before now.

Sarah sighed. "But if you truly love me, if you want to keep my love, our mutual trust is required. I won't be spied upon, and I won't allow my friends to be harmed because you refuse to control yourself." Sarah watched his Adam's apple bob as he swallowed, and his brow furrowed but he never broke her stare. "You have so much power, but just because you can do nearly anything you want doesn't mean you should."

"I understand," he managed to say with a thick voice.

"Do you? Do you really?" Her eyes flashed with the rage he'd wished for earlier. "I'm saying you'll not be welcome in my life if you ever ... EVER ... do anything like this again. Now do you understand, Jareth?"

He hung his head slightly before raising it again. "Yes, Sarah, I really do understand." Then he twisted his wrist conjuring a crystal, handing it to her.

Sarah hesitated a few seconds before accepting the sphere, which transformed into a necklace as it touched her palm. It became a silver chain supported a small half inch diameter crystal with something white suspended inside the glass. Before she could ask about the object, Jareth explained in a resigned tone.

"It is one of my own feathers from my owl aspect. I've endowed it with a spell of revealing."

"Spell of revealing?" she repeated, admiring the beautiful, tiny feather of the purest white protected in the perfect crystal.

"Yes, if any spell, including my own is worked in your presence or upon your person, it will glow."

"Why?" she asked, astounded at the magnitude of his gift. It meant he could no longer do any magic around her or directly at her without her knowledge, a sort of magic lie detector.

He smiled wanly. "Call it a belated Valentine's present, and my first step in regaining your trust."

"Thank you." Their eyes held for several moments, neither willing nor desiring to break the stare. Sarah started to lean towards him; he moved to meet her halfway.

"Who are you people? And where's my ... Oh my God ... Bradley?" A shrill female voice broke the mood, and Jareth and Sarah sprang apart with slightly guilt looks. "What happened? What'd you do to him?" Sarah recognized Belinda as she rushed onto the deck, brushing past Jareth and pushing Sarah away as she claimed Brad, his head laying comfortably in her lap.

"Brad, oh, Brad! Are you okay? What happened?" Belinda carefully stroked his face until he opened his eye, a look of adoration glowing within.

"Belinda?" Brad murmured, reaching on hand up to clasp hers. "What're doing here?"

"Oh, Brad, I couldn't stop thinking about you. I called, looking for you, and your staff told me you were staying here. Why is she here?" Belinda asked sharply, nodding towards Sarah  who now stood a few feet behind them and next to Jareth.

Brad squeezed Belinda's hand. "Don't worry, baby. She's just a friend."

"Did they do this to you?" Belinda asked harshly, and Jareth and Sarah tensed,.

"No, baby, no I got mugged last night but they helped me. They're both friends; don't you worry about them."

Belinda leaned down and kissed his forehead. "Well, I'm going to take care of you, honey, get you back on your feet."

"I'd love that. I love you, Belinda. Take me back to my apartment?" he asked like a wounded puppy, fluttering his one good eye.  

Belinda's jealously had gotten the better of her, and she came rushing back to fight for him. Unbelievably even his experience being tortured worked in his favor as Belinda wanted to nurse him back to health and he intended on taking advantage of every second of that! He wanted to be angry at Jareth, hell, he was angry at Jareth for being such a complete bastard, but...

"Of course! I love you, Brad. Now let's get you off this hard floor and out of those awful clothes and into a nice, soft bed. I'll even bathe you myself first. I'm going to take such good care of you, baby," she rambled, helping him sit, then stand as Jareth and Sarah guardedly watched the newly reunited couple.

Brad and Jareth shared an extended glare for a moment, which confused Belinda as neither spoke until Brad focused on Sarah. "Take care of my boat, Sarah, Jareth. I'd hate to regret this decision," Brad said with a pointed look back to Jareth, then Belinda guided Bradley from his own yacht, leaving the two of them standing about uncomfortably.

Sarah spoke trying hard to meet his eyes. "Well, that was..."

"Yes..." Jareth agreed.

"Do you still want to...?"

"Take the trip you planned?"

"Yeah."

"If you think you can accept my presence after my terrible behavior," he said remorsefully and glanced down to his black boots, using all his willpower not to shuffle them like an errant schoolboy under her gaze. She stepped closer until her body molded to his and draped her arms around his neck. Jareth held his breath as he enclosed his arms around her waist.

"I think I can do more than that." She smiled a devious, salacious little smile that set his blood pumping, then she rubbed her hips into his and other parts of his body pumped full of blood.

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The next morning Sarah woke to sunlight shining around the curtain edges of the main stateroom with Jareth wrapped snuggly to her. His head rested peacefully to her breast and his fluffy, poofy hair lightly tickled her skin, but no desire to move struck her. In fact, no thought other than her utter contentment suffused her.

Sarah glanced at her new pendant, which she currently wore and considered again the level of sacrifice and compromise Jareth finally achieved with his gift. Earlier that night he'd performed several spells on and around Sarah as an experiment to prove to her that it worked. It went a long way to proving his honest attempt to compromise and reform and, she profoundly appreciated both the gesture and gift. They just might figure out this relationship thing after all; she smiled.

"What are you thinking about so seriously?" he asked with a hint of trepidation, and her eyes left the pendant to meet his.

"Oh ... I was just remembering another one of your promises years ago."

"Really? Do tell?" he asked, a faint hint of anxiousness lining his face.

She nodded to the sunlight filtering in. "Didn't you once promise me mornings of gold?"

Jareth grinned, scooting upwards to kiss her.

"Every morning from this day forth, Precious, I promise, you shall have your mornings of gold."