Ch. 16

And it's been awhile

Since I could hold my head up high

And it's been awhile

Since I said I'm sorry

"It's Been a While" Staind

The deck beneath him smelled of old blood and fresh sex. He'd woken up in a lot of places, from crashed spaceships to ledges over lava vents, but this was a first for him. His head rang. It felt like someone had pulled his mind in a million directions at once before letting go so everything slammed back together again.

Groaning, he levered himself over to his back. He stared at the ceiling above for a moment before deciding he might be able to sit up. It was like he had those fucking power cells tied to him again, two on his chest and two on his back and damn if he couldn't seem to catch a full breath.

He braced himself against the chair lying next to him and looked around. River lay sprawled half under the table. Her breathing was deep and even; her heartbeat slow, but steady. He shook his head as he pulled himself to his knees, moved the chair aside, and reached for her. It took a little work to get her into his arms and even more to make it to his feet without toppling over, but somehow he managed. A mental probe revealed a swirl of thoughts, images, and even colors that he had no names for. His animal rumbled and nosed at her a bit before climbing into the tree. The man shrugged. Apparently, there was nothing wrong that a decent amount of sleep wouldn't cure. Riddick wondered when the last time either of them had really slept for more than a couple hours, and couldn't put his finger on it. Just as well, then. They were coming up on Persephone. The longer she could go without consciously worrying about what would happen there, the better. He hoped she'd found good news in the river.

Staggering only slightly, he made his way out of the galley and down the hall. A bump on the doorpad with his elbow opened their bunk. He managed to lay her on the bed just as his legs started to give off warning signals. Her landing was a little less than gentle, but she didn't wake. Instead she turned over, muttering a little, and pawed at the blankets. Thoroughly awake now, he knew that he needed to get away before he woke her and stepped into the nest of scorpions again. Or a nest of something else much more enjoyable, but probably just as bad for the both of them in the long run. Either way, she needed sleep. Pulling the covers up around her, he headed out of the bunk and back down the hall.

He got the galley cleaned up, dishes washed and put away, and the chair back in its spot at the table. A scrap of lace she'd forgotten when she put her clothes back on earlier got folded and placed on the seat of one of the chairs. He could smell her on it, apples and rain, vanilla, remnants of sex. For just a moment, he considered the idea of hiding it so she couldn't wash it. But the man overrode the animal. He figured that if he followed through on the idea and she found out, she'd invest in steel laced garter belts. Or something equally ridiculous and difficult to get off.

The bridge came next. He scanned the screens and flashing light indicators. ETA timers ticked down in the corner of the center screen; one for time till atmo, the other time till landing. The rest of the lights were all green where they needed to be, and he couldn't see any of the particular flat greys of red. He took a minute to re-familiarize himself with the controls, doing a mental recitation of what was what. He didn't touch anything, though. The autopilot on this boat was a bit finicky. He wasn't interested in waking River to tell her he'd broken it. A portable cortex screen was propped between the top of the console and the bulkhead. Riddick grabbed it before wandering out. The man knew better than to fiddle. The animal was bored and looking for some practice. Safer to get out of there altogether.

He found himself in the cargo bay, only the lights of Kyra's coffin to disturb his eyes. Cortex forgotten, he went to sit on one of the crates. Eventually he realized that he was, once again, listening for a heartbeat that didn't exist anymore. When had it happened, he wondered? When had he turned from a man who ran from everything, to a man who ran towards something, and then to a man who stayed?

He couldn't really complain. Not about where he was now. He was free of the mercs who'd been hunting him, free of the Necros and their halfhearted devotion to him. Free of his whole damned set of solar systems.

Instead, he'd attached himself to a woman whose bounty was worth more than his, in a new solar system where they were probably putting a price on his head even as he breathed. Heart, body, and soul, he'd tied himself to a woman who had in turn anchored herself so deeply into him that pulling her mind completely out of his was enough to nearly kill her.

How the bond even possible? What would happen if he tried to withdraw his mind from hers? Would he die too? It wasn't a theory he cared to test. He was still trying to figure out how he'd gone from planning to kill her to inviting her into his mind and heart.

In retrospect, it'd started long before he found the Hound. It began with Caroline. With Imam.

With Jack.

The first person he could remember running towards instead of away from. Back to get her from the cave. Into Crematoria to get her out. Back to the Necromongers and the fight with Zhylaw. He knew it hadn't the Purifier's words that drove him to go back to Helion Prime. Furyan he may have been, and Necros may have decimated his home planet. But he didn't give a flying fuck about avenging a people he'd never heard of till a nosey Elemental put out a bounty on his head.

It was Kyra. Jack. Whoever and whatever she'd been before, she was his to protect. And like pretty much everything else in his life that mattered, he'd done a shit job of it.

Would he still be here? If Jack hadn't been on that ship, would he have let Caroline yell and cry and struggle until he agreed to go back?

If he'd stayed with her on Helion, would he have been able to protect her any better than he had Imam when the Necros came? If he'd even tried to explain what he was doing, leaving so he could draw the mercs away, would it have changed the end result? Would she have still come looking, ended up in that prison?

He couldn't find it in himself to hold it against her, even now. It pissed him off that she'd signed on with mercs, but he could see the childish logic of it. She'd always had more hope than was good for her. He couldn't blame her for taking the Necro ship when she'd thought he was dead. Fuck, he'd thought he was dead, too. Dead from the Necro guns, dead of the charge that blew its way out of his body. Dead and ashes as the sun rose. Didn't matter, really. She'd seen a chance at life. And he'd lost her. Again.

A small hand slid up his arm as apples and rain made themselves known to his nose. He listened as she stepped up onto the crate behind him, and settled her legs on either side of his, cool even through the fabric. Her heartbeat was steady, her breath even. She rested her cheek against his back as she reached around him to take his hands in hers.

"Lives are streams in the river," she said. "Moving from the headwaters of birth down to the ocean. Meeting with others, carving their channels. Hers met with yours, altered your course. Brought you to me." River's voice was hardly above a whisper. Riddick couldn't tell if he was hearing it more with his ears or his mind. "It is a thing I'm grateful for. Sad that she died, but grateful to have found you. My Riddick."

She gave his hands one last squeeze and stood. He rumbled, not wanting her to go, but she merely moved around front, taking his hands again and pulling him to his feet. "She is deserving of a final rest. Of a place of protection and safety, even in death. She whispers in the ocean, but I cannot speak to her there. I am the delta and the river. My own channel cuts through, while the waters of all flow through me."

She took a deep breath and bit her lip, a hint of lemons drifting off her. "For her, I will risk my family's wrath. But for you," now it was steel in his nose and fire in her eyes, "for the Riddick, I will fight them if need be." Then she grinned and started pulling, backing towards the bridge.

His jaguar reminded him that it also led to their bunk. She laughed in his head. Not a giggle, a true laugh, full of life and hope. ::But my recent trip through the river has left me with more hope than worry. ETA to atmo is six hours.:: She raised herself up to kiss him, long and hard. She kept them when he tried to wrap her in his arms. Lips trailed from his, down his jaw to his throat. She backed him up against the wall, and the jaguar rumbled in satisfaction as she lifted his arms to the sides and pinned them to the metal with her own.

She gave an extra shove to keep them there before trailing fingers of fire up his shoulders and down his sides. He groaned, tried to drop his head to hers, and got it pushed back against the wall for his trouble. She pressed up against him, every bit of her touching every bit of him that she could manage. His skin lit up everywhere her body met his. His chest burned, and she pulled his head down to kiss him over the lip print on his forehead. ::I will always be grateful that you were brought to her, no matter the how. No matter the why. And if my family tries to take you from me, they will find out exactly how unpredictable I can be.:: Her lips on his again, and her fingers working their way under his shirt. ::For you are my match and I am his. And ni tama de tianxia suoyou de ren duo gaisi if they think they can take that from us.::

He couldn't take it anymore. He lunged, gathering her in his arms and pulling her up so her legs hooked around his hips. She gasped as he took over the kiss, her tongue meeting his in a small war inside their mouths as he put her back against the wall. He braced her there, pinning her with his hips as he dragged his mouth from hers and down to her shoulder.

Her fingers scrabbled at his chest, trying to tear the shirt off his body. His animal rumbled. The man wondered why he even bothered putting on clothes. River laughed in his head at the thought, slipping a hand down past her leg to yank a blade from its sheath along his thigh. ::You ruin her clothes,:: she whispered as she bit his bottom lip and sucked. ::I will ruin yours.::

That said, she slipped the knife up under his shirt, and he felt the cool kiss of metal as it ran up his stomach. She didn't break skin, but the cloth parted like water before the blade. He nearly impaled himself as instinct overran reason and he did his best to melt her with the heat of his body. She got the knife out of the way just in time, going for the shoulder seams next.

He let her get one shoulder before rearing back to snatch at the hand that held the blade. She let him catch hold of her wrist, but refused to give up the knife. Growling into his throat, she yanked at the back of his shirt with her other hand, managing to get it most of the way off. He shook his arm free as she nibbled her way down his neck and chest. Her mind shifted inside his like a drape of silk falling over his head. Cool, smooth, settling in folds and billows; she enveloped him. Vanilla and that strange, spiced musk rose in the air around them. Weapon and animal, girl and man came together and melded as he pinned first one wrist, then the other to the wall above her head, knife still clutched in her fingers, he set his free hand to making a very detailed exploration of her breasts. She groaned, her eyes fluttering shut. He could feel the damp through multiple layers of clothing as she pressed her center to his shaft.

::She sees a value in skirts now.:: Her voice in his head was just the barest of whispers, but the two halves of his self moved as one in response. He stole them from her limp fingers as she writhed against him, putting only half effort into getting free. He was careful, so very careful, as he ran the blade up first one side of her pants, and then the other, knee to hip. Then a yank to cut through the upper hemline and the drawstring.

Her heartbeat fairly sang in his ears. He'd never thought a body could put off as much heat as hers was. He stared at her a moment as she panted against the wall; watching the shift and play of light as it pulsed over her body in time with his own heartbeat. Her legs clenched, hitching themselves higher up around his waist. He nearly gasped at the feel of her against him. His grip on her hands loosened. Before he knew what was happening, she pushed him just far enough away that she could snake an arm down between them to work the snap of his pants, then slipped a hand inside to take careful hold of his swollen dick.

He did gasp then, and grabbed for her, pulling her up along his body so she could shove his pants down with her feet. She curled up and over, burying his face in her breasts as her arms wrapped around his head. For a moment, he was content to lose his breath to her, surrounded by softness and vanilla. The girl-weapon shifted in his head, reaching for the man with animal eyes and claws on his fingers. She smelled wet and welcoming, and he rumbled deep in his chest as the instinct and the rational pulled her close.

Her pants had come off somehow, either through all the moving or by his grabbing, he wasn't sure; but they hung in tatters from her ankles, as his pooled around him. She lowered herself by strength of legs alone, rubbing against him, smearing her scent down his chest before recentering herself against him. Riddick growled, captured her mouth in his, and shifted in return. She fought, just a little, as he pinned her wrists back to the wall, lifted her hips with the other, and lunged.

That earned him a gasping cry in the ear as he slid home. She surrounded him; wet, hot, and slick. She bucked, and again as she discovered the leverage the wall gave her, clutching at him with her legs to pull him closer. He met and matched her, one hand on her hip, mouth all over her skin.

Vanilla and musk in his nose, body on fire where it touched hers. Hands through fur and over blades that threatened but never cut, they rode each other up the current of the river, sure and swift, and then back down through the rapids of conscious thought; losing their voices in turn as they fell over the edge and into the mists below.

~HHYFN~

River couldn't help it. She laughed. Riddick was growling again. Something about engine rooms made for space midgets and not adult men. He was doing his job, though, switching the engine over from pulse to jet as they broke through the lower level of atmo and into the sky above Persephone.

He growled at her in his head, but she ignored him. There were too many ships and shuttles and obstacles in her way to worry about the oversensitive temper of the man serving as engineer at the moment. She was glad he was in the engine room and not in the bridge when he replied, but she wouldn't answer him. The mental fingers he ran down her ribcage in revenge were enough to make her hands clench and her eyes glaze for a moment

She growled at him before side-slipping the ship to avoid a particularly idiotic pilot. "Daxiang baozhashi de laduzi," she snapped over the open comms used for planetside hailing between vessels. "Learn to fly."

A chorus of curses and threats answered her, but she'd found her berth. Taken up with sending orders down to Riddick and trying not to let the backwash of the hundan above her shove them into the ground at a less than desirable rate. She didn't have time to worry about people who should really just learn to fly. Riddick's curses layered over those of her fellow pilots. She dropped a mental handful of dust on the jaguar's nose before ignoring him altogether.

It took a few minutes to haggle out the docking fees with port control. Another few to set the lock protocols so that even if someone into the ship while they were out, there wouldn't be an ice planet's chance in Hell they could get it flying. That was her own bit of trickery, worked out of an idea from Wash, long before Miranda burned its way out of her brain. If he could change the start sequence of the shuttles so Mal and Zoe couldn't leave without him, why not do it with a ship?

It had worked on Serenity, and Captain Daddy had been simultaneously relieved and worried that if they ever lost her, no one would remember how to reset them. She figured that they must have, or else it had been a very exciting four months, four days and sixteen hours. She hoped Serenity wasn't too badly damaged. She hoped Kaylee had convinced him to keep her in the repair needed for following a cold scent trail all over the 'Verse. She hadn't looked for those details when she swam the river the day before.

A beep alerted her to the fact that everything in the bridge was locked down. Riddick's frustrated grumble in her mind told her that he'd finished up in the engine room as well. Sighing, River picked up the pack by her feet and headed out. He'd be looking for a fight. It was best not to give him one in such a crowded place.

The space station had almost been safer. Less room to roam, nobody there without purpose, and except for vendors, very few who stayed long. The population of the Eavesdown Docks was just as fluid as the skyplex, but there were far more who lurked just to lurk; and others who just plain lived among the dust and the stench, looking for any coin they could steal, grift or beg.

Captain Daddy warned her when she first started coming with them to Badger's, never to meet the eyes of anyone and never to assume a beggar was a beggar. The tired girl on a stack of crates could just as well be a lookout for a ring of pickpockets. River'd given him a look, but nodded. She'd be able to scan for trouble on an individual basis, but the throng as a whole was too disorienting to not take his wisdom to heart. Somehow, she had no doubt that Riddick wouldn't need that sort of advice.

The jaguar, still irritable, sought to overwhelm her senses with the smell of leather, steel, sweat and the leftovers of sex that he'd refused to clean off night before. Riddick dropped from the ceiling above the engine room hatch, head tilted to one side as he looked for her reaction. She gifted him with a snort and a push of irritation, the pain of his fresh bruises and his appreciation of the way her planetside clothes clung to her body.

He laughed and slung an arm over the shoulder she wasn't using to carry her pack. She let him, let him replace her wariness and fear with warmth and confidence. She'd told him this morning, over the last of the fresh fruit, what she'd found when she'd flowed with the currents and listened to her crew. The knowledge gave her some small hope of the day not ending in bloodshed on either side, but the needles still hovered on the edges of her vision.

Riddick caught her hand and turned her to face him as she reached for the airlock release. She stared up into the goggles he'd put back on sometime between breakfast and couldn't help the wave of regret that he'd had to cover up his eyes again. That amused him. The man poked none-to-subtly at her mind to try to see exactly what she had to say about those eyes. But she'd locked those thoughts up in walls, only to be let out when she was good and ready. Her match he may be, but he'd still have to earn her opinion of his eyes.

He humphed in her mind and pulled their collective attention back to the present. ::One step at a time, remember?:: He hummed against her forehead as his mental voice slid over her like warm chocolate. ::I'm the best there is at escaping.::

She snorted, but allowed the calm he offered to slip through her veins. Pride dictated her answer, but the jaguar gaped out a grin even before she sent it to him. ::Better to not get caught at all.::

Riddick shook his head and palmed the button that would open the airlock doors. River felt him brace himself for the stench he knew must be outside. She, in turn, threw up a few more walls between her mind and those waiting. She'd had no real relief since they landed, but it never hurt to put a little more distance between herself and the masses. It was only when Riddick grunted and rubbed his temples that she realized she'd blocked him out as well.

She ran a hand down the jaguar's back in apology, taking Riddick's hand and squeezing. The look he shot her was unreadable, but his fingers laced through hers as the jaguar offered its tree to be her anchor. She'd just settled herself on a limb when the dust and sunlight and smell of the Docks hit them both full in the face. Riddick's nostrils flared. He frowned.

She gave his hand an extra squeeze before stepping forward. "Time to go. Errands to run, fresh fruit to find. Badgers to placate."

Riddick snorted and stepped up next to her as she headed down the ramp, freeing his hand to sling the arm back over her shoulder before he let her lace fingers with his again. "Let's get this over with," he rumbled.

~HHYFN~

Author's Note: It's been a little bit since I posted. Sorry! Life and writing that pays has gotten in the way. We're making progress, I swear! Once this section of the story is done, though, I'm going to have to pause and get more ready for you. But I won't give up!

I didn't mean to write this lemon, but it sort of grew out of events. Riddick and Kyra's relationship still needed to be dealt with, even though he's hooked himself into River's mind. And for all these two are acting like horny teens, Riddick's been the one initiating so far. Hence, a detour down Lemon Lane.

It's not going to stop any time soon either, so buckle up!

Also, I know I'm not explaining everything in great detail. Remember, these two are in each other's heads, putting together the pieces of their conversations based not only on what's being said but what's NOT being said. Its intuition mated to intellect. Not only that, but I am seeing information that will be explained or revealed later. I'm a great believer in reading between the lines and drawing conclusions from context. I don't like to read things that spell out every little detail, and I don't like writing them either.

And lastly, I don't own them. Not even a little. Boohoo!

Translations:

Ni tama de tianxia suoyou de ren duo gaisi - fuck everyone in the universe to death

Daxiang baozhashi de laduzi - The explosive diarrhea of an elephant

hundan - bastard