:D OMG. Reviews! Saismaat and texanlady, I freakin' love you guys. :) Other folks that don't review, they're the reason I have four chapters up in three days - be thankful!
Answer to Question BOTH of you caught: The reason I keep referring to Jack as a preteen, specifically when Riddick is thinking about her, is because he still would much rather think of her as a child than to come to terms with the fact that she's getting older and maybe his feelings do have some sort of basis.
And dude. Working an 8-5 shift on a boring, slow Thursday in a grocery store sucks. I'm working 10-7 tomorrow and another 8-5 on Saturday. D: Plus, my dumb ass volunteered to be on-call on Sunday too.
Actual plot will be coming around in the next chapter, up on... Saturday. If I remember. :P
When Jack woke up the next morning, she first became aware of a pair of large, warm hands resting against her abdomen. She next became aware of her own arousal as she found that those hands had crept lower in their sleep, most likely not even of his own volition. She swallowed thickly as the muscles in one hand twitched, shifting the curls of hair. Not knowing how, she was suddenly aware that Riddick was awake. She felt the muscles in his arms tense against her ribs, and he removed his hands from where they were. His arms paused in the air for a moment before he folded his arms around her shoulders and hugged her from behind.
She knew he could smell her arousal just as easily as he could smell her menstrual blood from ten feet away, and it made her blush, embarrassed. He ignored it, and instead rumbled into her ear, "Did you know that we've been together for a year now?" She loved his voice in the morning - deep, lazy, primal. "Just noticed that last night, as you were falling asleep. Few days past a year... Almost makes it our anniversary." He smiled against her hair, gave her a gentle squeeze.
It could've been the fact that she could quite distinctly feel how he felt this morning by what was pressing against her back, or it could've been his referring to them as actually being together, romantically, but Jack suddenly felt uncomfortable. Her back and thighs tensed, and he felt it. Automatically, he dropped his arms, allowed her to get to her feet. As soon as she wasn't touching him, she felt better. Colder, but more in-control. She beamed at him. "That is something," she agreed. "I'll have to make something special for breakfast..." She put one hand on the bed next to his thigh and tapped her chin in mock-thought. Her face brightened and she suggested, "Banana pancakes?"
He couldn't help but feel disappointed that she had pulled away so quickly, but her recovery of the situation was amazing. He smiled lazily and scratched his bare stomach. "My favorite," he said brightly. As if his scratching had made her realize that he had been shirtless the entire time, she blushed from the collarbone up to her cheekbones and left the room. It took everything in him not to laugh.
So early in the morning, still so close to sleep, he had almost enjoyed where his hands had been when he woke up. He mused about that thoughtfully, and blamed it on the fact that, despite vigorous and constant training (or maybe because of it), Jack was gaining curves. A woman's curves. He frowned. She wasn't a kid anymore... she was becoming an adult. He sighed, unsure of how to deal with this new idea.
Before he could pursue it further, he smelled her cutting up bananas... absently wondered when they got bananas, but didn't really care. She was making him breakfast, he would be coherent and awake enough to enjoy it. He washed his face and shaved, dressed himself, and sat at the table as she set out the plates. He smiled up at her and she handed him a cup of fruit juice. "Got your homework done last night?" he asked, and she nodded her head. She was still a little red. He smirked.
With a few more jokes and usual morning banter, Jack was back to being Jack. He saw her off to class and went to work himself. As he stepped into the shop, he laughed and shook his head. "Hey, Reggie, you're not gonna believe what I'm getting myself into now," he called towards the back room. The old man, the closest thing Riddick had to a friend on the Fury, leaned over the door frame, his face covered in a welding mask, and coughed at him. Riddick just laughed.
A woman came into the shop that day, and Riddick found her attractive. Not intoxicating like Jack, but attractive. When she picked up a crossbow and shouldered it like a pro, his curiosity was piqued. They talked about aerodynamics for an hour before Reggie stepped in and kicked her out because she wasn't going to buy anything. Riddick forgot about her before the week was out.
More months passed. Riddick bought a heating pad for Jack so they wouldn't have to do that again, even though she still spent nights in his bed. He learned to ignore the urge to cozy up to the other warm body in his bed, but oh, did he ever want to. If he never got anything else in his life, just once he'd like to pull Jack against his chest and lay there for as long as he liked. He usually pushed thoughts like that away, but one night after she was asleep and he couldn't do the same, sitting before the viewscreen, he indulged himself. He tilted his head back, thought about her... Those woman's curves.
Groaning, he reminded himself that she had only just turned fifteen three months ago. He scowled and looked sharply at the viewscreen. He was in desperate need of a distraction. He glanced at the door, but decided against leaving Jack alone. Instead, he went to bed and spent a restless night tossing and turning, trying to find her scent on his pillow and suffocating in it.
More months passed. Jack got a job at the food court and training was reserved for three days a week, dinner was later. One evening during a spar, Jack actually drew first blood. Riddick had frozen in surprise at first. He'd never thought she would get that good, never thought she would get that close. He thought about it, and she had been training with him for nearly two years now. Maybe she was just getting good. She definitely wasn't just learning from him anymore either. He had encouraged her to find more people to teach her, and was now using that against him. She stared at the blood on his cheekbone, absently wondering if the blood would anger him. She panted, unsure, and it showed in her eyes.
He touched his cheekbone, just to make sure that there was actually blood there, and he stared at his fingers. When was the last time someone had drawn his blood? Then he laughed, and yanked her into a hug. "You got first blood!" he said excitedly before releasing her. Jack grinned and crowed in triumph, lifting the shiv that he had made for her fifteenth birthday. "Come on, we gotta celebrate... Special dinner tonight," he told her, and nodded his head sharply.
He took her back to their rooms and they split into their separate bedrooms. "See if that dress still fits you, Jack!" he called through the bathroom.
"Hell no!" she protested. He had gotten her to wear it once, on her birthday dinner when he'd taken her to a more expensive restaurant on-board.
Riddick stuck his head out of the bathroom where he had been showering, and just gave her a Look. She scowled, but sighed and relented. What he said, went. Unfortunately, it did fit, maybe even better than it had fit her at fourteen. She had more curves to fill it out, as Devon had severely overestimated her size. Just goes to show that you can't trust a man to shop for a woman. She stepped into the bathroom, where Riddick was shaving and applying some cologne that she wasn't aware he even had. She pursed her lips at her reflection, turning one way and the other and scowling.
He laughed. "You look good, Jack," he promised her. She gave him an odd look before she went back into her room to find where she had put the earrings a friend of hers had bought her for her birthday. Every girl needs some jewelry, the other girl had said. She came back into the bathroom and leaned into the mirror to get them into the tiny holes in her ears. Riddick gave her a surprised look. She had worn those just once for a party. Still, he smiled.
Jack looked at him and made an exasperated sound. He blinked at her, and she used insistent hands to sit him on the cover of the toilet. He scowled as he realized she was playing nurse again. She did it all the time when she beat him up in sparring matches, because she didn't pull her punches, and she wasn't going easy on him. He didn't leave bruises. He rolled his eyes but let her do what she wanted, just because it made her put a hand on the side of his face to keep him in place, position his jaw just right so she could clearly see the nick on his cheekbone. He stared at her face that was set with such concentration that she didn't even notice him staring, and it was beautiful.
The dinner table conversation was mainly about her fighting style and skill, and how he would have to step it up a bit. They fell silent for a few minutes, eating. And then Jack posed a question to him, "What do you want in life?" It sounded so simple that Riddick was sure that it should've been a simple answer, but the truth was, he didn't have an answer. He sat back in his chair, determined to figure something out. He didn't want to wander aimlessly through life.
Finally, after thoughtfully tasting the wine they had brought him, he replied, "Freedom."
Jack blinked at him. "That sounds easy," she said, and frowned.
He shook his head. "Not for me," he told her flatly.
She was quiet for another minute or two before she asked him, "What else?" At first, he wanted to give her some smart-ass retort, just for asking questions. And then she tilted her head in the way that drove him nuts - curious, innocent, and beautiful all in one, as if she didn't have a clue what she was doing to him, of all the buttons she was pushing - both in his head and places he tried his best not to think about anymore.
"I want you to be happy," he said finally. He wasn't lying. He'd do pretty much anything to make her happy - short of putting on a tutu and performing in front of the entire Fury population. He had his limits... Still, he had veritably spoiled her in the last few years, mainly in efforts to off-set what he knew was a rocky childhood and a very shitty first impression of him. He was still amazed when she crawled into his bed and put her back to him, even after she had done it for over two years now, every so often.
Blushing, she looked down at her plate. He hadn't taught her to be bashful, she had come to him that way. Besides, having some humility went a long way. He grinned at her and shook his head. "You do make me happy, Riddick," she said quietly. They were quiet for another few minutes until Riddick made a hushed joke about the waiter's flippant tone of voice. Jack burst into laughter and they continued to talk normally for the rest of the night.
She didn't have a nightmare that night. For that, he was thankful. He sank into bed and wondered what life would be like if he hadn't gotten caught by Johns. Frowning, he rubbed his jaw and mumbled, "Maybe I do owe the bastard something." He glanced over his shoulder at her door, seeing it open. The lights were dim, but he knew she was asleep. She couldn't sleep in the dark, even with him just a room away. He wondered if she would ever get over her fear of the dark. He didn't know if he wanted her to. She would always need him this way.
One night after Jack's sixteenth birthday, she had made dinner rather than going to the food court to get it. She was bribing him, even brought him some whiskey with his dinner. His eyes narrowed at her across the table. Those woman's curves were even more intoxicating now that her hair added just more curves. She had grown it out. It was nearly past her shoulder blades now, a wave of chocolate that was soft enough that it made him want to disappear into a sea of it and never resurface. Death by hair. He didn't think he'd mind that.
She sat at the table and he picked up his fork, waiting until she took her first bite before he dug in. They had kept up the manners thing. A few bites in, she took a drink of juice before she broached the subject. "Riddick?" she began tentatively. He looked up at her to say that he was listening, and she swallowed thickly before continuing, "Um... Would it be okay if I... um... went on dates? Like, with guys?" She could hardly hold his gaze.
Riddick didn't know why he was so suddenly angry. No, he did. He was jealous. Of teenage boys. He kept his emotions from his face easily, but his grip tightened on his fork. "What for, Jack? You gonna get married?" he teased her, maybe he could get her out of it that way.
Scowling at him, Jack shook her head. "Hell no. I just... Sometimes I want some attention, y'know?" she said, and shrugged her shoulders.
How the hell could he deny that? He wanted the same goddamn thing. He stabbed a piece of meat and said, "Sure. I wanna meet the guys first, though." She nodded eagerly, that sounding like a good enough deal to her. She had expected him to flat-out say no and thus was willing to take whatever she could get.
Asking to meet the kids was probably the best and worst thing he had ever done to himself. While it gave him a reason to polish the knives he'd made in the living room and lay them all out on the table, gave him a reason to wear his goggles again, made him feel like he was one scary motherfucker again, it also paraded in front of him all of the things that Jack could have. The happiness that she could get to with any one of the idiots that she brought to the suite was obvious. She loved them all individually, but none of them ever seemed right to her. Every time she let another one go, she cried, and he held her, stroked her hair. Wished she wouldn't cry for idiots that she had chosen in the first place.
Never said it though. He just intimidated the little assholes, made sure they wouldn't touch her in ways she didn't want. Riddick knew that she could take care of herself - he had taught her, after all. Still, he wanted the fuckers to know that she was his, and if she got fucked with, they would be dead. They seemed to get the picture.
And then there was Ran. A little dark-skinned scrap that actually reminded Riddick a lot of himself, Ran was only part Furyan. He had dark hair and light-shining gray eyes, and judging from the way that Jack focused more attention on him than Riddick during their first meeting, Riddick knew that he was done for. She would be happy with this little asshole, and there was not a goddamn thing he could do about it, because she was still only seventeen.
All he could do was brood and wait for the day when Ran came to take her away from him.
Yay drama and sexual tension! :D Just so you guys know, I LOVE soap operas. I have a severe flair for the dramatic. Could you tell?
