Mornings of Gold (a Jareth and Sarah fanfiction)

Chapter Fourteen

"So, how are you enjoying life in the city?"

Sarah shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. I mean, one day I'll want to stay here the rest of my life, and then I'll wake up the next morning filled with loathing."

"Maybe you're just too indecisive," Jareth suggested.

It was a wonderfully sunny day, and Jareth had been strolling through the park when he'd bumped into Sarah, who'd had the same idea. Now they walked together discussing various subjects, the latest of which being Sarah's attitude towards her new home.

"Maybe I am," she sighed. "It makes sense, I suppose. I'm notorious for not making up my mind," she added with a small smile.

"Don't I know it," Jareth grinned.

Sarah stopped and turned to him. "Can I ask you something?"

"You may."

"Why do we keep crossing each other's paths like this? It's happened too many times to be a coincidence."

Jareth thought for a moment. He looked her in the eyes and replied, "It's cosmic coincidence, then."

Sarah blinked. "What?"

"Well," he began, "this is my theory. We are two souls in the Universe, which is vast and enigmatic and does not listen to the pleading of mortals. It does not consciously decide what is to become of us. But sometimes there are coincidences. For example, you and I continuing to meet each other in a huge city inhabited by millions of people. These coincidences are not decided by the Universe – in fact, they are not 'decided' at all. They are simply errors from the dawn of creation that have been written into the stars and left to occur when their time comes.

"We are not the only ones, though. There is an infinity of these cosmic coincidences out there in space. They could be waiting for their time to come, they could be long-since past, or they could be happening right now. That is why our time together is so precious, yet so confusingly began: because it is just an error in time that is preparing to be wiped from existence. That is why we must take every chance we can get: because we are just cosmic coincidences."

He took a breath and waited for Sarah's response. When she just stared at him, he ducked his head and worried the hairs at the base of his neck with his fingers. "I-it's nothing but a theory," he mumbled, "there's not much science or proof in it. It's a terrible idea, anyway."

"No, no," Sarah protested. "That was... that was incredible, Jareth." She reached out and placed a hand on his shoulder, causing him to look up an meet her gaze. "That was beautiful," she told him. "People underrate you so much because of your power and your loneliness, but you're so intelligent. You're..." she searched for the word, "misunderstood."

Jareth could feel himself blushing. "Whoever said I'm lonely?" he blustered, trying to ignore Sarah's concern for him.

She rolled her eyes. "You did. And you need to quit putting on this 'untouchable' act. You have feelings, I've seen them. Don't hide them so much."

Jareth opened his mouth to argue, but she pointed her finger at him. "I won't hear another word of it."

He crossed his arms and pouted, feeling like a three-year-old. "Do you want to continue walking?" he muttered, changing the subject.

Sarah looked around herself. "I don't know. It seems like too nice a day to just waste it on walking, don't you think? And I have to take Toby out at 6, so I want to do something fun with my day before it's all gone."