By Sullen Gurl
Pairing: Riddick/Fry
Summary: He was afraid she'd know his greatest fear.
Rating: PG-13 for swearing, some nakedness, and a little bit of foreplay.
Disclaimer: Pitch Black and all its characters don't belong to me. If they did, that movie would've had a completely different ending.
Author's Notes: Unbeta-ed, so proceed at your own risk.
Feedback: Is what keeps me writing, and is what I feed my Muse with.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
He kept his arms around her waist, and it took all of his strength and willpower to remain on his feet. The rain poured down heavily on them, and he was constantly slipping on the muddy ground. But he would feel her arms tighten around him to lift him back up.
"I said I'd die for them, not you. So let's go." Her voice sounded distant amidst the blood pounding in his ears.
They were making progress, but the excruciating pain in his leg and the burning in his lungs caused him to stumble. She caught him, allowing him to rest his full weight on her slender frame, when in an instant, an even stronger force pushed back against both of them. Even with all the noise around them, he distinctly heard the sickening bone-crunching sound.
She threw her head back, her eyes instantly finding his. Her face initially registered shock, and then the lines on her face gradually relaxed. Even as she bestowed upon him a beatific smile, Riddick had no idea what had just happened. Had he been stabbed? Had she?
One second they were clinging to each other as time seemed to stand still; the next, she was snatched from his arms and up and away into the night sky. He caught a glimpse of her lifeless limbs flopping in the air before he fell helplessly to the ground.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Riddick bolted upright, gasping for air.
He looked around. It was pitch black. As he tried desperately to figure out where he was and what was happening, he felt the cool touch of her hand on his bare back.
"Riddick?" her voice came, groggy from sleep.
He remembered, and he breathed a shaky sigh of relief. He was home, and Carolyn was alive.
He reached out for her in the dark and rubbed her thigh with his slightly unsteady hand.
"I'm okay, go back to sleep," he told her, his breathing still heavy and ragged, the images and sensations from his nightmare fresh in his mind. Carolyn's warm breath on his face before she was yanked from his arms, the acrid smell of blood and fear …
He heard the sheets rustle beside him and felt the bed undulate as she sat up and moved close to him.
"Bad dream?"
He'd had two or three nightmares in the past month, all of which were of Fry dying in various unpleasant ways back on that planet where the Hunter-Gratzner crash-landed many months ago. He never did tell her what they were about. He was afraid that if he told her he had nightmares of losing her, she'd know his greatest fear. Fry, although clearly worried, never pressed him. But she would always hold him, comfort him, reassure him that they were fine.
He rested his elbows on his knees and held his head in his hands, willing his breathing and his heartbeat to resume their normal cadence. Fry planted a soft kiss on his shoulder, her left hand stroking his broad back.
"Want to talk about it?" she asked quietly.
"No," came his clipped response. He immediately regretted his tone.
"Okay," she said, moving even closer to him until her naked breast was pressed against his side. Her hand now moved to rub his neck and shoulders, hoping to ease the tension there. "It's okay."
Riddick felt himself relax at the soothing sound of her voice and under her hand's ministrations. He knew that by not talking he was shutting her out, and yet she was always so understanding and so accepting of him. And every time, it made his heart constrict with some emotion unfamiliar to him.
He finally turned to her. He cradled her face in his large hands and stroked her cheeks with his thumbs. It was dark, but he knew she could see the silvery glow of his shined eyes. He smiled at the sight of her tousled blonde hair and the sleepy look on her face.
"Why are you so good to me?" he asked, the wonder in his voice unmistakable even to his own ears. Even back on that planet many months ago, she was the only one who treated him like a human being. She saved his life, for fuck's sake.
It was Fry's turn to smile.Instead of replying, she grabbed the back of his neck and kissed him. Deeply. It was all the answer she could give him, and all the answer he needed.
Without breaking their kiss, Riddick took hold of the sheet that had been covering them and flung it aside. It fluttered to the floor, joining the clothes that they had eagerly divested of each other only a few hours earlier. He pressed her back down on the bed, letting his weight settle comfortably on top of her. Her thighs instinctively fell open to cradle his hips. When they finally broke apart for air, he saw that she still had that smile on her face.
As was wont to happen after every one of his nightmares, Riddick felt the urge to remind himself that she was alive and with him, and that they were safe. He never wanted to lose her.
He proceeded to trail wet open-mouthed kisses from below her ear to the valley between her breasts. He would take it slow with her this time, unlike earlier in the evening when the sex had been urgent and primal. He felt her small hands move from his shoulders to the back of his shaved head. When his mouth traveled even lower, he heard her sigh his name in pleasure. Right then and there, all thoughts of monsters and dreams of death vanished. At that moment, there was only her and him, and how good they were together.
THE END.