Title: Coming Home
Rating: G
Pairing: Jack/Riddick
Summary: Riddick comes home after a long and possibly dangerous trip.
Feedback: Please. Shred away! I can't get better if I don't know what I'm doing wrong!
Notes: Encountered this as a writing challenge from Lady Elaine on Art of Vin Diesel. The challenge was as follows: Three hundred to five hundred words. Less than ten words thought and/or dialogue. Fandom: Pitch Black. Must be G to PG-no sex, extreme violence, or cursing. Write in third person, from Riddick's point of view. Richard B. Riddick does something completely ordinary and unremarkable.
I picked "coming home from work" which for Riddick perhaps isn't completely normal and unremarkable, but as normal as I think he gets.
Coming Home
The ship settled to ground on its supports, and Riddick powered down. The faint humming whine of the engines died away. He circled his head eliciting a pop from his neck that was loud in the now silent cockpit. He leaned back in the pilot's chair and sighed heavily.
"Finally."
The sound echoed hollowly in the emptiness of the ship bringing his voice back to him. With a resigned sigh, he levered his bulk out of the chair and headed down through the bowels of the ship to the exit hatch at the rear of the cargo bay. He hit a switch, and the ramp hissed slightly as the seal was broken and then lowered, ending with a muffled thud.
The light of the setting sun caused sparks in his vision in spite of the spectral goggles he wore. As he blinked to force his eyes to adjust to the new light level, he made out a pair of figures walking toward him, hand-in-hand.
The smaller one, a little girl perhaps four years old, broke away and began running toward him. Her dark pigtails trailed behind her like streamers as she pounded up the ramp and launched herself at him with an enthusiastic shout. "Daddy!"
"Audrey." A smile split his face. He caught her and spun her around, pressing a kiss against her smooth cheek. She giggled and squirmed as the three-day-old stubble of his beard rasped against her skin. He shifted the little girl to his left hip so he could hold her with one arm. Audrey nestled her head against his shoulder, sighing sweetly.
A moment later, her mother reached the top of the ramp. Riddick stepped toward her, raised his free hand and caressed the woman's cheek with his knuckles as he looked searchingly into her jade green eyes. His smile broadened at the emotion he saw there.
"Jack, I'm back," he said, unnecessarily, and her lips quirked into a smile that shone more warmly than the sun silhouetting her form.
"Never had a doubt," she assured him as she stepped closer and pulled him into a long kiss.