Chapter 11: Combat, Crown Royal and Confessions

After about an hour of vigorous weightlifting, blade fights, punching bags and sparing with each other, they collapsed on the floor. She had landed a lucky kick to his knees knocking his legs out from under him, but he brought her down with him. They laid there for a sec almost not wanting to get up and then she realized where she was and almost fell over again just trying to get off of him. She saw the confusion in his eyes as she practically ran for the door but she couldn't stop she just ran right into the bathroom and began crying, hopefully drowning out the sound with the running water. This was all just too hard…it had to come out.

Riddick laid on the floor for a few seconds. What the fuck was that? They fought all the time, and more than once she had gotten the better of him. There had been several times that both of them had ended up with bruises, scratches and even a couple broken bones…why the fuck had she acted like that when they fell? He didn't have a hard on, luckily, so that couldn't have set her off. He got up and walked to the door, watching the closed door of the bathroom. She was trying to hide the sounds of her crying but his ears could defiantly tell the difference. Something was really wrong, and for once in his life he had no way to fix it.

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She emerged from the bathroom a full 2 hours later, looking like a prune. She walked to the kitchen intent on polishing of that bottle of vodka she had opened this morning. As she entered the kitchen he was sitting there with 2 empty bottles of Crown Royal on the counter and a bottle of Jack Daniels in his hand. She wanted to die. She was the cause of his stress. This couldn't go on.

She grabbed the vodka off the shelf and drained it, relishing the burn as it traveled down her throat. He stared at her numbly, he didn't care if she got drunk, maybe it would help her, even if just for tonight.

She calmly sat down across from him. This had to end. Tears threatened to flow but she forced them back. He watched her eyes water and then she spoke.

"Riddick…that guy…I was talking about earlier…he's…" She took a deep breath.

"It's you."

She said it in a whisper so low, she wasn't sure even he had heard it, but when she looked up, she could see it in his eyes…he had heard her. She waited for what was to come next, whatever it was. Maybe she could go stay with Imam, no she knew better, she had no life without Riddick. What came next she never would have imagined.

"I love you too Jack…I think I always have."