A Hangover To Remember

A Labyrinth Oneshot.
A drunken night out for Sarah leads to her waking up to the mother of all hangovers and the last person she wanted to see her in such a state. Oneshot. JarethxSarah.

A Hangover To Remember

           Admittedly, Sarah Williams hadn't intended to drink as much as she did. But what college student goes out for a few drinks with a couple of friends and doesn't let the night run away with them? The fact that Sarah did it with a smile on her face and a student's budget- on a Thursday night nonetheless- only made it all the better.
           By the time she'd found her way back to her dorm and her own room, she had already apparently lost the ability to climb stairs properly and had stumbled all the way there. Leaning on her door, Sarah fumbled through her set of keys for a while. She eventually found the right one and virtually fell into her room as the door opened.
           Flicking on the light, she giggled to herself as she haphazardly dropped the heels that she'd been carrying since she'd entered the building. She tiptoed into her dorm room in an attempt at being quiet and failed completely when she walked into a table, knocking a couple of books onto the floor.
           "Shhh," she hissed at the table, putting a finger to her lips. "I'm trying to be quiet."
           Though Sarah had forgotten that she didn't really have to be that quiet, because her roommate was out of town visiting her family. Still, it was late, and she didn't feel like waking any of her neighbours up- the walls were quite thin, after all.
           Going into her room, Sarah stripped out of her clothes and threw them in a pile on the floor. Now down to her underwear, she rummaged around in a drawer for a large shirt to sleep in. Eventually she found one and threw it over her head quickly. Satisfied that it would do, she walked back to the kitchen, almost tripping over the clothes she'd just taken off.
           It is a known fact in student life that after drunken escapade, 'munchies' must be taken care of, therefore Sarah's next thought was to make herself something to eat. She withdrew a pizza from the freezer and shoved it into the oven, not bothering to set a timer. By her logic, it would be done whenever she thought it was done.
           While she was waiting for it to cook, Sarah grabbed a glass and filled it with water. She made a face as some splashed over the edge of the glass and onto the floor.
"Woops," she said to herself.
           I'll clean that up in the morning, she thought dismissively. As it turned out, Sarah was going to have a lot to clean up in the morning because she then proceeded to pour most of a full bottle of ketchup over her pizza- and when it splashed over her shirt and onto the floor a little, she didn't even notice.
           Sarah just ate half of her pizza and left the other half on the kitchen counter. Then, without bothering to take her makeup off, she switched the light off and threw herself down on her bed. The last thought she had before she fell asleep was what a good, spontaneous night she had just had- and how much she would wish she'd just stayed in when morning came.

~~~

           Sarah woke up looking at a ceiling she'd never seen before and found herself in a bed that she didn't remember getting into. She blinked. Where the hell did I go? she wondered, trying to place her surroundings with some memory of the night before. Sarah had heard of drunk people turning up in random places, like dumpsters and LA, but she could have sworn she'd walked herself back to her apartment.
           But where the hell am I now? she sat up quickly and instantly regretted it. The room that she didn't recognise instantly started spinning and her head began to throb. She groaned and put a hand on her head. Mother of all hangovers... she thought as she resisted the urge to throw up the contents of her stomach.
           When she felt that the impulse was successfully under control, Sarah carefully looked around the room, trying to remember something about last night and how she could possibly have gotten herself there when she distinctly remembered returning home.
           Then she started taking in details of the room. A massive four-poster bed covered in silk sheets, stone, sandy-coloured walls, almost medieval decor... Of course, she thought. It was so obvious that she could barely believe it had taken her so long to figure it out.
           "I'm in the Underground..." Sarah whispered.
           "Took you long enough."
           The male voice to her left startled her and she turned her head quickly- an action that immediately caused her to feel dizzy and a little sick again. But that didn't stop her from getting a good look at the blond fae that she'd met all those years ago standing at her bedside. Jareth just shook his head disapprovingly at her self-inflicted, alcohol-induced illness.
"Drink this," he instructed, offering her a glass of water that he'd conjured from nowhere.
           She reached out slowly and took it. Despite the fact that she knew she ought to be wary of accepting food and drink from the Goblin King, Sarah was neither at her fullest mental capacity or in a position to argue, so she drained the glass he'd given her.
"What happened to your shirt?" he asked curiously.
           Sarah looked down and saw the dried ketchup splatter that covered the shirt she'd chosen to sleep in.
           "The pizza exploded," she replied in an attempt to explain the mess she was in.
           He raised a brow.
She frowned as she tried to correct herself, "I mean, ketchup. The ketchup bottle exploded... I don't- I just don't even know."
           He shook his head and took the empty glass back from her.
           "Lay down now, Sarah. You'll feel better."
           Grudgingly, she did, and grudgingly, she'd have to admit that she did feel slightly better lying down. But, in Sarah's opinion, a hangover was the least of her problems right then.
           "How the hell did I get here?" she grumbled.
           To that, Jareth smirked.
           "You wished yourself here."
           She frowned. Consciously, she knew that she'd do no such thing.
By way of explanation, Jareth added, "You sleep talk when you've been drinking, Sarah. In fact, you sleep talk a lot anyway."
           Her mouth fell open. Consciously, she'd never have wished herself here... but unconsciously? Oh brilliant, she thought, barely restraining herself from slapping a hand to her forehead- and only doing so because of the pain she knew she'd get if she did.
           "Do you often watch me sleep?" Sarah asked, trying to distract the Goblin King from the fact that she clearly dreamt of the Underground.
           "Obviously," he answered matter-of-factly.
           "No, that's it Jareth, you try and hide those stalkerish tendencies," she replied sarcastically, rolling her eyes at the absurdity of what he'd admitted to.
           "How else would I know that you still think of me?"
           That shut Sarah up.
           "I do not," she tried to hedge; tried to lie.
           He laughed. The sound was humoured and might have been pleasant to hear, but it was far too loud for Sarah's current situation. She winced a little until he stopped.
           "We both know that that is lie, Sarah; though I admire the attempts you make at hiding it," he winked.
           She scowled.
           "Look, I don't know what you think that I've been saying-"
           "Oh, just that you murmur my name, over and over; that you miss me- that you want to-"
           Sensing where that sentence was going, Sarah quickly interrupted him with, "The ramblings of a drunk- or sleeping- person don't mean anything, Jareth."
           He smirked.
           "Actually, I think you'll find that you're the kind of drunk that only gets more honest."
           She frowned. That was not a good path for conversation to turn to, and Sarah knew that she was not at her best to have that particular discussion so she tried to deflect.
           "Look, I've not seen you for years Jareth, and I'm seriously hungover. I am not having this conversation right now," she said, her tone one of finality.
           Jareth shrugged it off easily.
           "Sleep it off, Sarah. We will speak when you are more yourself."
           Then he was gone in a poof of glitter, and, with a roll of her eyes, Sarah drifted quickly back to sleep as if their interlude had never happened.

~~~

           When she woke up, she was in her own bed, in the position she knew she'd been in when she'd wandered home. Sarah felt considerably better than she had before, until  she remembered that 'before' had been in the Underground. Was that a dream? she wondered. Must have been... What a strange subconscious I have.
           Sarah rolled out of bed, momentarily ignoring her dream of the Underground, and stepped over the pile of discarded clothes that she'd dropped on the floor the previous night. Her first port of call was a warm shower, since she distinctly felt the need to wash away the remnants of her hangover. After she'd wrapped herself in a towel, she cleaned her teeth meticulously- she'd always hated after-alcohol morning breath.
           Continuing through her morning routine of post-drunkenness, Sarah proceeded to make herself some toast, which she knew was probably the only thing that she could stomach right then. She strolled leisurely back into her room holding her towel up with one hand, and a plate of toast in the other. But she stopped dead as soon as she set foot through her door.
           The sight of a rather smug-looking Goblin King, sat cross-legged atop of her bed was enough to have her dropping her plate and turning quickly so that her back was to him. She cringed to herself as the plate hit the floor, but was relieved when it didn't smash. That was the least of her concerns however. In the brief moment since she'd turned around, a number of thoughts ran through Sarah's head, the most dominant of which was, 'I wish I'd picked a bigger towel'.
           "Jareth! What the actual-"
           "I told you that we would speak later," the Goblin King smirked.
           She frowned to herself. So it wasn't a dream.
           "And you had to pick me wandering around in a towel with a mouthful of toast as a moment to show up?"
           He smirked again, staring at her back.
           "Well it certainly makes things interesting, doesn't it? Just think of the possibilities Sarah, you in nothing but a towel, me on your bed. Sounds like a dream one might have had..." he said wistfully.
           Sarah looked around incredulously at him; an expression to which he just beamed in response to. She remembered the dream he'd spoken of and it made her blush for a second. I guess he has been watching me sleep, and hearing me sleep talk...
           It was a sobering thought. Jareth should never have been able to know her subconscious thoughts, but she'd been unwittingly feeding them to him in her sleep. Sarah wanted to bang her head against a wall, but she resisted. She had to deal with the Goblin King in her bed before she did anything else.
           "Right, you," she said, looking back at Jareth again.
"Get out- into the sitting room. And we'll talk when I'm wearing clothes."
           Jareth chuckled and left the room as instructed, though he took his time as he grew close to her. She didn't fail to notice the way he looked over her as he passed and she rolled her eyes at him.
"Pervert," she said as she shut the door.
           "Only when it's worth looking," he replied from the other room.
           She tutted to herself exasperatedly and quickly threw some clothes on. This was clearly not going to be the pyjama, no makeup, hangover day that she'd hoped it would be.

~~~

           When she emerged from her room, she found Jareth stretched out over the sofa her roommate had bought, one leg hanging suggestively over the arm of the chair. Sarah frowned. If only he wasn't wearing those bloody, skin-tight trousers... she thought, trying to keep her eyes anywhere but near them. She just stood and stared at him for a moment, acting as unimpressed as she could.
           "Aren't you going to sit, Sarah?"
           "Nope. I'd rather stand where I can see you," she replied.
           He smirked a little.
           "As you wish. I have no problems with you seeing me whenever you want."
           Ignoring the last part, Sarah asked, "Speaking of wishes, why on Earth would you grant one of an unconscious drunk person?"
           He shrugged nonchalantly.
"Jareth."
           At that, he swung his leg to the floor and leant forward. Things are about to get interesting, he thought.
           "I'll tell you what, Sarah; I'll promise to answer a question of yours truthfully if you'll promise to answer one of mine in the same way, and so on."
           She thought it over. That made sense. Plus, Sarah couldn't really see any other way of getting her answers from the Goblin King.
"Do we have a deal?"
           "What happens if I don't answer?"
           "You break the bargain, and face the punishment," he replied with a smile.
           Punishment? Sarah didn't like the sound of that. But she wanted her answers from Jareth, and this appeared to be her only way to get them.
           "Deal."
           Jareth grinned.
           "I brought you Underground because you finally granted me the opportunity to see you again."
           She frowned.
           "Why would you want to see me?"
           He shook his head.
           "My turn," he replied, with a devilish grin. "Do you still think about me?"
           Crap. She hadn't thought this bargain over carefully enough. The thing that annoyed her most about his question was that he already knew the answer, he just wanted to force her to admit it. But she had to answer or she'd never get her own answers from him- and she'd have to face whatever he meant by 'punishment'.
"Yes," she whispered.
           Damn, that was humiliating to admit, she thought, feeling her cheeks colour slightly. Jareth just grinned broadly back at her.
           "I wanted to see you because I miss you," he said, answering her earlier question. "What do you think about when you're thinking about me?"
           Her eyes widened.
"And I want an honest, detailed answer, Sarah."
           I can't tell him that, she thought. Her dreams of him hadn't all been PG-13, after all. In fact, a lot of them hadn't been... Aw fuck. He probably already knows anyway. That didn't stop Sarah from trying to give the most innocuous answer possible though.
           "Just the usual. Meeting, talking, dancing, drinking..." she trailed off.
           "Anything else?"
           "AHA! That's another question Goblin King!" Sarah grinned.
           She'd managed to catch him out before she could finish and she was extremely pleased with herself. That had not been a question she'd wanted to reply to. But, unfazed, Jareth just shrugged.
           "Ask me another and you answer that one next."
           Her momentary happiness faded. She'd bought herself a little time at least. But that meant that whatever she asked next had to be thought through very carefully. She only had this one opportunity before she had to answer Jareth's probing question.
           After a while, Sarah knew she had it, and she asked, "What do you want me to say that I think about when I think of you?"
           At that, Jareth stood up, and she eyed him cautiously.
           "Me?" he started carefully. "I want you to say that you think of the proposal that I made years ago, and that you think of answering differently."
           She sucked in a sharp breath and he stepped closer to her as he continued.
"I want you to say that you think of what a life with me would have been like- what it would be like."
           He was right in front of her then, staring at her with those mismatched eyes.
"I want you to say that you want me in every way that I want you."
           His hand went up to caress her cheek. She was mesmerised by his words. Admittedly, she'd never thought that he would feel that way about her. She'd always thought that she'd ruined everything when she'd rejected him for her brother's sake. She'd always thought that her dreams would only ever be dreams...
           Jareth's head bent slightly. His lips were so close to hers that she could feel his warm breath tickling them.
"I want you to say that you love me the way that I love you," he whispered.
           Then he kissed her, his hands winding into her still-drying dark hair. And Sarah kissed him back, her lips moving against his. She opened her mouth to allow his tongue entrance as he tilted her head and deepened their kiss. It felt like an age before Jareth pulled back and looked at her.
"Well?"
           And with that one word, her resolve crumbled. She'd been trying to deny it for years, but with Jareth admitting that he loved her like that and then kissing her, she couldn't lie any longer.
           "I do," she whispered. "I really do."
           He grinned.
           "Then what are we still doing here?" Jareth replied.
           She smiled a little, not quite believing what she was about to say. Not quite believing what was happening.
           "I wish the Goblin King would take me to the Underground right now."