Graduation Day

The wind was blowing her hair in her face and into her mouth. Dammit! I should have put it up like Danielle said. Her wavy hair now fell down to the middle of her back and usually was braided or in a ponytail.

"Kyra!" She waved back at them once she spotted their faces in the crowd. The wind kicked up and she had to hold onto her mortar board to keep it from flying off of her head. She ran to them; Iman, Lajjun, Ziza, Grant and Danielle. Grant and Danielle now had four month old twins; Sam and Celine. Kyra loved them and Ziza like they were her own brother and sisters.

Danielle hugged her. "Oh Kyra! I just can't tell you how proud we are of you."

Iman grinned at her. "You've done well child, incredibly well."

"Thank you. I just can't believe I have this in my hand now. Seven years ago, even four years ago I wouldn't have imagined it."

Grant took her diploma from her hands and opened it for the rest of them. "You'll have to hang it up in your first office. Let's go celebrate!"

Later that afternoon, Grant and Danielle were about to leave Iman's house after her party and she stopped them. "Hey. Can I talk to you guys? Somewhere private?" These two people had come to mean the world to her. Iman and Lajjun were great, but Grant and Danielle had been more like her parents were before her father had died. She decided that she wanted them to know about her…all about her. They deserved to know who she was.

"Sure, let's go to the gym. We have the babysitter until tonight." Grant put his arm around her shoulders.

It had taken Kyra years to gather the courage and less than an hour to tell them about her past. Danielle had had tears in her eyes practically the entire time.

"I knew you were a strong young woman, but I had no idea. I just cannot believe everything that you've gone through. Yet you're still here and look what you've done!"

Grant spoke next. "Now I understand why you were so angry. That Janus creep aside, Riddick really did a number on you didn't he?"

"First, I wouldn't be here if it weren't for you two. Iman and Lajjun have given me a home and stability, but you two? You've been like parents to me that I haven't had since I was a child. About Riddick. Yes, he did a number on me when he left me. He'd been gone around six months by the time I followed Jarrod here to kick his ass. My anger was still fresh for him and from what Janus had done as well. It still hurts…that he left me. Even after four years, it hurts and when I think about it too much I still get upset because I feel like he could've at least come back for me after I gave him his freedom with a new identity. I've accepted what he did though. I know that he wanted to do right by me and he did. I have a future now and I get it that this wouldn't be my situation had I stayed with him."

Grant paused before asking her this question. "I have to ask but don't deck me. If he came back today and offered to take you with him. Would you go?"

She hesitated. "God Grant what a question. If he came back today…I would want him to see how well I've done. I know he would be happy for me because that's what he wanted me to do; to make a life for myself." She paused. "If he asked me to go with him?" She closed her eyes and sighed, then opened them not looking at either of them. "Part of me wants nothing to do with him and is still bitter. Part of me would like to at least let him see me and then have him be on his way. Then the last part of me would not hesitate to pack my bags and leave with him as horrible as that sounds. I know it's difficult to hear that from me knowing everything that he's done in his past. But he wasn't like that with me and I hope you can understand. We had a special connection between us and I still feel it. I loved him for who he was. I accepted him for who he was. Pretty pathetic huh?"

Danielle took her hands. "You're right. We haven't had your experiences and we don't know him at all so it is difficult for us to completely understand your feelings. But we know you and I don't think you're pathetic at all to feel that you're still connected to him. We just don't want it to prevent you from finding love and happiness with someone else when the time comes."

"I've learned that I have a lot more love in me than I thought. I don't keep my eyes closed to possibilities. I promise you both that I'll never let him or anyone drag me in a direction I don't want to go. I love my life and I don't plan on letting anyone take this away from me. Including him."

Riddick

Riddick had kept in touch with Iman the entire time he had been gone. He had wanted to make sure that Jack had been doing well. Iman wasn't able to tell him much and he had a feeling Jack was responsible for it.

"Time gets away…she's eighteen..shit, she'll be nineteen before too long." The temptation to go back and see her was growing. He had been thinking about it more and more lately. Remembering how she looked the night of her fourteenth birthday. What a shock that had been. A good shock but nothing he had expected. He had been imagining more and more what she had turned out to look like, what she was doing, how she was.

"Probably got that same short hair…couldn't see her in anything else. Bet long hair on her would be nice though, too. That mouth probably hasn't slowed down any." He grinned at himself thinking about how many times she had gotten the better of him. Jack had been a significant part of his life and of him. He still believed that what he did was best for her, but things had not been the same since. He had started thinking about her after she turned eighteen, but the closer it got to her nineteenth birthday, his thoughts went to her more and more often.

He was drinking a beer, kicked back in the captain's chair with his feet propped up. "What would you want to do with me Jack if you saw me? Kiss me on the head like you used to do or just plain kick my ass?" He looked over his itinerary for his next few runs. "Hell with it. Never gonna know sitting here on my ass wondering. I must be fucking crazy."