It's Only Forever, Not Long at All

I felt a pair of hands wrap around of me. I sighed, letting my weight rest against him. "Do you regret staying with me, Sarah?"
I shook my head slightly. "I'm just starting to feel the effects of forever, I guess."
Jareth nodded. "You miss your brother, don't you?"
Toby. It had been centuries since I had seen him, and I hadn't aged a day. I had told myself Toby would be better off if I stayed with the Goblin King. "I haven't thought of Toby in a very long time," I lied.
Twisting me in his arms, Jareth looked down at me. "Don't lie to me, Sarah," he said sternly.
My head drooped against him, and I felt very tired. "Does it ever go away?"
"I don't know, my love, I don't know," he said, kissing my head.
"It's forever, isn't it? Just like everything here," I asked, my voice taking on a bitter edge.
"Sarah, do you really want to have to leave your children one day? Have to leave me?" he asked.
"That's not what I mean," I protested, turning away from him.
"You just think it would mean more if we had a limited time together?" he suggested.
I looked back at him. He looked similar to the day I first met him, just more casual. His tunic was untucked, his riding pants and boots were pristine, but did not carry the same menace as his typical formal dress. He had a bit of red in his hair, and wore a ruby around his neck, a similar one on his finger for his wedding ring. "Jareth," I started.
He shook his head. "You were raised a mortal, I know, this is still a hard lifestyle for you, but aren't you happy?"
I looked at him, then looked out into the courtyard, where several of our children were playing. The youngest, barely more than a toddler really, was already reading and writing. She looked a lot like Jareth. My oldest son was riding a horse, a gift from his father. I thought back on giving birth to Toby. I had only been in the Goblin City for about a decade then, and Jareth and I had only been married for eight years. "They all look like you more than they look like me," I mentioned, avoiding his question.
"I guess the genetics for beauty are recessive," he answered, laying a hand on my shoulder.
I shook my head, laying my cheek against his hand. "What's really wrong, Sarah?"
"Jareth, I love you, our kids, the life we have, but I still wonder. I wonder what it would be like if I had went back," I confessed.
He sighed. "You know I cannot take you back."
"I don't want to go back. I just want to see what would have happened," I replied.
"Sarah," he cautioned.
"Jareth, please," I whispered.
His expression was torn, but finally he summoned a crystal to him and placed it in my hands. I stared intently at the image of a woman who must have been me.
She was holding a book with the name Sarah Williams on it, and I realized with a jolt that it was a hefty novel I would have written. "That book is about here, isn't it?"
"It is," Jareth confirmed.
A man approached her and kissed her sweetly, and I noticed he looked an awful lot like Jareth. "I've seen enough," I told him, tossing the crystal only for it to pop in the air like a bubble.
"Did you see what you wished to see?" Jareth asked.
"Yes," I breathed, pressing my lips against his.
"What did you see?" he asked when we pulled away.
I looked into his stormy gray eyes and saw the traces of green that highlighted our children's eyes. "Us," I answered, smiling, kissing him sweetly.