Remembering - Chapter 6

"Li'l Red Riding Hood"

Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs

Chapter 6:

The nurse had the doctor's signoff on the paperwork for Jareth's release done faster than Sarah would have ever thought possible. They had removed Jareth's IV, had him dressed in a pair of sweatpants, a sweatshirt, and a pair of inexpensive tennis shoes (Sarah wondered where these all had came from, as they were obviously not Goblin King wear), and had him wheeled out of the hospital to her car in no time flat.

That's go to be a record, Sarah thought wryly, as she helped Jareth tackle the seatbelt in the car, then pulled out of the hospital parking garage. She turned the radio on, hoping to help soothe her racing mind.

"Owooooooo!" she shivered as a man's voice belted out a wolf howl over the radio. "What big eyes you have, the kind of eyes that drive wolves mad," Sarah relaxed a bit as she recognized the song. Sam the Sham. Gotta love him.

"What full lips you have, they're sure to lure someone bad. So until you get to Grandma's place, I think you ought to walk with me and be saaaafe.. I'm gonna keep my sheep suit on, until I'm sure that you've been shown, that I can be trusted, walkin with you alone. Owooooo!"

Sarah flicked the radio off. She normally loved that song, but the lyrics were striking a bit too close to home for her at the moment. She was still uneasy about inviting a man into her home who could turn out to be the wolf as easily as he could the sheep. She pushed the thought from her mind.

There was so much she was going to have to do now that Jareth would be staying with her; she had to make up a place for him on the couch to sleep, go grocery shopping since there wasn't much in the pantry or the fridge at the moment, she'd have to go clothes shopping with him so he had more than this one pair of things to wear..

Oh, God, am I going to have to take him shopping for underwear? She thought suddenly, wondering what sort of things he normally wore under those skin-tight pants he seemed to favor in the past. She snuck a glance over at him, sitting in the passenger seat, looking out the window. He looked so odd, dressed in sweatpants, wearing tennis shoes, with his hair pulled back into a ponytail for now.

"Are you sure this is okay?" Jareth asked her quietly.

"Hmm?" She pulled her mind out of picturing him in either boxers or briefs and made herself focus on the present. "Is what okay?"

"Staying with you," he told her. "I don't want to be a burden. Perhaps I should go to that shelter the woman spoke of-"

"No, Jareth, it's not that simple. If someone's not around to help you, the city will put you back in another type of hospital. They'll basically lock you up. I can't let them do that," she told him.

"Oh," he said. "Is that what they do with people here? Lock them up if they cannot care for themselves?" he asked.

"No, we have different types of places that people can normally get help from if they need it. You're.. your case is just special, I guess. We don't get people wandering around who don't know who they are, or how to function in society."

Jareth stared out the window, and Sarah could sense that he felt very out of place. She leaned over and grabbed his hand, giving it a squeeze.

"It'll be okay," she told him. "I promise."

He looked back at Sarah and nodded, then returned to looking out the window.

At least he doesn't look as frightened as he did the first day I saw him, she thought.

"Well, here we are," Sarah told him, pulling into a parking spot outside of Walmart.

"You live here?" Jareth asked, sounding slightly awed.

"What? No," Sarah smiled. "We've got to get you some more clothes, and groceries, then we'll head home."

"Oh."

After she showed him how to pull the lever to open the door, they got out of the car and walked towards the entrance, the sky overhead already turning a stormy gray color.

Sarah took a cart inside, and with Jareth following along, immediately headed for the men's clothing department.

As she browsed the clothes, trying to find some things suitable for Jareth, she noticed a few people pointing and staring, but she was not sure if that was because people recognized them from the news, or if it was because of Jareth's behavior. Curious why they were staring, she turned around to find Jareth, shirtless, trying on a new shirt in the middle of the store.

"Jareth!" she hissed, blushing as the people snickered. "What are you doing- put your clothes back on!"

"I thought we were here to try on clothes," he said as he buttoned up the new shirt he had on. "Do you want me to take it back off?" he offered, starting to undo the top buttons.

"No- just-" Sarah turned him around to face the dressing rooms. "Go in there, and try these other shirts on. If they fit, and you like them, put them in one pile. Put everything else in another pile. Put your old shirt back on when you come out, okay?"

Jareth nodded, and went into the dressing room carrying several shirts.

It's like having a child, Sarah thought as she ran one hand through her hair. You can't turn your back for a second! She tried not to blush as she remembered how exquisite his bare body had looked. And you only saw half of it!

Sarah found a few pairs of pants that she thought would fit Jareth, and passed them to him above the door so he could try them on also. A little while later, he reemerged with several pants and shirts that fit well, he said.

"Here, I wanted to see if this fit you, too," she said, and held up a heavy-weight jacket she had found on clearance. It was actually leather, so she hoped it would help to keep him warmer. She held it up as he shrugged his arms into it.

"Does it fit okay?" she asked, and he nodded. It looked really good on him. Black and leather seemed to be one of the many looks he pulled off well.

Hell, he could probably pull off any look.

They continued on to pick up some socks for him, and she helped him to find a new pair of better shoes. When they finally got to the underwear area, Sarah blushed madly, and just grabbed a few pairs of boxers and a couple packages of briefs, and tossed them into the cart.

"Don't I need to try those on?" Jareth asked, pointing.

"You can just try them on later at home," Sarah said, and they kept moving towards the grocery half of the store.

They stood in front of the produce area and stopped, as Sarah remembered from the hospital how picky Jareth apparently was when it came to food.

"Jareth, do you remember any foods you like to eat? Besides lasagna?"

He shook his head.

"Okay," Sarah sighed. "I guess if you see anything let me know, otherwise we'll try making a lot of different things to start out with to see what you do like."

They went through the produce section slowly, since neither of them really knew what they were after. Sarah noticed Jareth grab some fruit- a few apples and peaches- and add them to the cart while muttering something about remembering those. Sarah picked up some assorted vegetables, figuring she could make a roast for dinner at some point. She smiled a little when Jareth returned to her carrying a single banana, a curious expression on his face as he carefully added it to his collection of apples and peaches. She guessed he had never seen one before.

They turned down the meat aisle and after passing rows and rows of cuts of meat in Styrofoam trays, Jareth's eyes lit up when he saw the packaged Cornish game hens.

"Chicken!" he exclaimed and grabbed one. "I remember these," he offered. "They weren't this small though," he frowned as he inspected them further.

"Okay, a little further up there are some bigger chickens." Sarah said, thinking too of how expensive the Cornish ones were. "Let's get one of those." Jareth nodded, so they added one to the cart.

They went through the middle of the store and picked up some things Sarah knew they would need; toilet paper, bread, milk, some juice, a can of chicken broth, and eggs.  She passed a tempting-looking display of baked desserts, and put a pound cake and a tub of whipped cream in the cart also.

As they passed the housewares department on the way to the registers, Sarah saw a display of electric blankets, on sale because winter was over and no one wanted to buy them any more. She looked over at Jareth, who was actually shivering in the light air conditioning the store already had going in preparation for summer. She flinched at the price of the blanket, even on sale, but added one to her cart, knowing Jareth would probably need it.

As cold as he seems to get, should I give him the bed so I can pile him up with covers? They would slide right off the couch.

Hoping they had gotten everything they would need, they made their way to the registers and unloaded everything to pay. Sarah browsed the impulse items at the register and quickly tossed in a toothbrush for him as well.

Jareth, once again, was intrigued by Sarah's debit card, so she let him swipe it through the machine. The cashier stared at them as if they were both crazy as Sarah helped Jareth punch in her pin numbers, but she didn't care; they loaded up their bags and headed back out to the car. Thunder rumbled in the distance as they piled the plastic bags into her trunk and then left.

*****

By the time they arrived at her apartment, it had started pouring, and lightning flashed and thunder boomed overhead. They quickly got out of the car, grabbed all their bags from the trunk, and ran in through the main door of the apartment building.

"Phew! I thought we might get washed away," Sarah joked to Jareth as they turned and headed up the set of stairs to the second story. He didn't seem very happy, he looked rather like a drowned cat, with his soaking hair all plastered to his face. Once they got to her apartment, she dug her keys out of her purse and unlocked the door. She flipped the light switch by the door and ran inside to set the groceries down on the kitchen counter, then came back and took the ones Jareth had carried in.

"Well, here it is," she told him as she quickly put away the cold groceries. "It's not much, but it works for me." She stacked up the clothes they had just bought on the counter, then threw away all the plastic bags that littered the counter, and hung up their coats by the door. "Let me give you the grand tour," she said, and led him through the small, one-bedroom apartment.

"Look, I've got to get in the shower for work tomorrow, then I can get your new clothes in the washer and make something for dinner," she said as she finished putting away the remaining groceries. "Will you be okay for a few minutes on your own?" Jareth nodded. "Here, I'll turn on some tv for you," she said, picking up the remote. "Use this button if you want to watch a different channel," she showed him, then went to her bedroom to get clothes for after her shower, and disappeared into the bathroom.

Sarah started the shower, undressed, then stood in the hot water, trying to let the heat melt some of her stress away, but it just wasn't helping. What was she going to do? What was she supposed to do with Jareth while she was at work? Could she trust him alone in her apartment? What if he tried to cook something and burned the whole place down? Could he even handle a microwave on his own? She had no idea.

What still worried her more, was what if he suddenly regained all of his memory? What happened if she woke up and the Goblin King was suddenly standing in her room, wanting revenge for a child snatched out of his grasp? For one less goblin to add to his horde?

Sarah sighed. She could only do what she was doing now- take it one day at a time, and do the best she could. For as long as Jareth was how he currently was- completely helpless in this strange world- she could not simply abandon him to be locked away forever in some mental asylum. She owed him that much.

Realizing how much time she had wasted just standing in the shower, Sarah quickly washed her hair and got clean, and shut the water off.

*****