Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters.

Chapter 1

Stay With Me

Richard Riddick was a hard ass and he was a cocky son of a bitch, but he was a good man, deep down inside. Jack was the only one who even, rarely, got a glimpse of this man inside him. She loved him with everything she had, but she knew she could never just come out and tell him this. How was she supposed to say it? It sounded so stupid in her head, 'Hey, Riddick, I just thought you should know, I love you, man.' Right.

After their escape from that cursed planet, Jack and Riddick took Imam to New Mecca, where he was headed before the crash. Imam said his goodbye's and wished Jack the best in her pursuit of life. He told Riddick to always take care of the girl. And reminded them both that this was his home and he would always be there if ever they were in need of him.

"Mr. Riddick," Imam said turning his back to his two companions, "Allah be with you."

Riddick scoffed, "Right holy man."

When Imam was far enough away from the skiff, Riddick began powering it up. Jack sat silently in the navigator's seat to the right of Riddick. She watched his every move, trying to just breathe. She had no idea what Riddick was going to do with her. She figured he was going to be like everyone else she had encountered in her 13 years. He would just leave her on the nearest planet he could find. She had all but expected him to pawn her off on Imam. But to her surprise, he said nothing about it.

Riddick had the skiff completely powered up and told Jack to prepare for take off. The ship lifted off with a slight vibration. Jack closed her eyes as they exited the planets atmosphere, this sight always made her nauseous. Jack didn't want to say anything to Riddick for fear that she would piss him off. So she sat quietly day dreaming about him, trying not to think of the horrors they had gone through together a short five weeks ago. She fidgeted with her hands for a short time before unbuckling herself from her seat to go to the back of the cabin.

"Where you goin', kid?" Riddick asked as she walked behind his seat.

"Bathroom," she replied not looking back at him.

Riddick smiled to himself for a moment and thought, 'girls and the bathroom.' He had to think about what he was going to do with this girl. She was just a kid. He was an escaped convict, sure everyone now thought him dead, but what if someone found out. What if some merc son of a bitch stopped him and recognized him? What would become of the girl? Usually he wouldn't give a shit about some little thirteen year old girl but this one was different. She sparked some sort of change in him. At some point back on that planet, she made him lose a small part of what he was. As he had said, 'Riddick died some where back on that planet.'

Riddick decided to let the girl choose what she was going to do. He would give her a few options. For one, be left on some unknown planet and fend for her self. Two, Go back and stay with Imam, why didn't he mention this sooner… Or three, stay with him, be on the look out all the time. Always watching their backs. He sat for a while thinking about what he would do with a teenage girl, if she did decide to stay with him, which, he had a feeling she would do.

Jack left the bathroom; she had washed her face off and taken off her tattered brown striped shirt. She was worried about Riddick, he had been silent for most of the trip, didn't say much to her or Imam. She didn't know really how to talk to him. He was the reason for her getting on that damned ship any way. She had heard on the streets that Richard B. Riddick had been caught by some merc named Johns and was being transported from her planet to some slam somewhere. That's when she decided that she just had to be on that ship. Maybe she would catch a glimpse of the man that she had idolized since she ran away from her foster home. She wanted to be just like him, feared, respected, dangerous.

"So, kid," Riddick said as Jack sat back in her seat, "what you wanna do?"

"Huh?"

"The way I see it is you got a few options. I can take you to a planet of your choice, or back to the hoodoo man." He decided to omit the whole staying with him part.

Jack sat thinking about what to say for a few seconds, "Can't I stay with you?" She dared to ask.

Riddick looked at her, eyebrows raised, "Why would you want to do that? My life is no place for a young girl like you, kid."

"But I have no one else to go to." She fought to keep from getting choked up. She didn't want him to just leave her like everyone else had. She wanted to stay with him. He would keep her safe, she knew it.

"Well, kid, I don't know the first thing about taking care of a child. I have never had to worry about anyone else. If a merc comes I won't be able to keep you safe and watch my own ass. And I'm not going to be able to run if you are with me. You'll just slow me down." He was blunt to the point of sounding rude, to the young girl.

Tears welled up in Jack's eyes, "I won't get in the way, I promise. And everyone thinks you are dead. How will they find you?" Her voice cracked as she spoke and she turned her head to keep him from seeing her tears.

Riddick didn't answer. He could smell the salt in her tears; he didn't have to see her face to know she was crying. He knew he couldn't just leave her all alone. She kind of reminded him of himself as a young child. Jack wiped the tears from her face and looked at Riddick expecting some sort of answer. Riddick didn't return the look. 'Damn' he thought to himself.

"Alright, kid." Was his only reply.

He just told a thirteen year old girl she could stay with him, what was he thinking? He didn't know the first thing about kids, not to mention the whole lot less he knew about kid girls. He couldn't tell her 'no' even if he wanted to. There was something about this girl, something in her got to him. He was a mass murderer for the love of God; he wasn't supposed to fraternize with kids.

Thoughts swam around his head as he flew the skiff through the endless stars. 'What are you doing, old man?' 'This kid is going to be the death of you.' 'You can't play babysitter when you're running from the merc's and the bounty hunters.' The one that won his concentration was the one he had the hardest time dealing with, 'Keep the kid safe, she needs you.'

A/N: I wrote this a while back, but I thought it may be a good one to post here. Please let me know what you think. Sway