Chapter 5

tabula rasa [ˈˌtäb(y)o͝olə ˈräzə]

NOUN

-an absence of preconceived ideas or predetermined goals; a clean slate.

-the human mind, especially at birth, viewed as having no innate ideas.

Quick Note: Hey Guys! I'm celebrating! After a month long battle with CoVid I am finally back at work! And I also finally finished my Epic story that I've been writing for over a year. Another Riddick & River fic (of course) but it's pretty done except some editing. All 428K words of it.

So as a treat (I hope you think it's a treat) I'm posting this four days early. I hope you enjoy.

Huge. River shuddered as Riddick crawled over the mattress towards her, silver eyes like a huge cat prowling forward to take his prey. He was so big…her throat went dry at the sight of him. This had to be an impossibility.

"Beautiful," He growled, putting his lips to hers briefly, tasting her mouth before moving to her throat and down to her breasts while his hands pressed her thighs back and that huge diǎo began to press against her. Heat… long slow pulls of his mouth on her nipples and his thumb rubbing her yīn dì while he slowly pushed forward.

"Unghh…" She couldn't take it, hot, sweet aching as he began to fill her. "So…so…" Inch by inch, she could feel him, sliding forward and slowly taking her body.

"So tight," Riddick groaned against her skin and kept going and going and going until she knew she couldn't take anymore and he wasn't done, so full…not finished, hot and good…pushing forward…

Stuffed full of him, gasping and moaning as impossibly, she stretched around him and he rubbed against…something… something that took so much time with anyone else and she moaned, a new surge of heat washing over her. "Rick…unghh… Rick," And all she wanted was more, more… "Please…"

When his hips met hers finally she couldn't move under his weight, could only lie beneath him, gasping in shocked bliss at the feel of him invading her body so deliciously. Silver eyes staring into hers, "Riddick," He corrected her in little more than a growl. "That is my name. Riddick. That's the name you scream when I make you come…" He didn't crush her, held his chest over hers balanced on his forearms and groaned as he looked down at her. "So tight… so hot and wet around me…" His mouth brushed over hers again and his hips rolled, moving his diǎo her and she mewled in desperation.

"Ohhh… Rick… Riddick…" She tilted her hips to meet his and shuddered as he hit that spot inside her again. "Please… please…that…there…more… I…I…"

"That's what you need," He didn't need telling twice, immediately repeating the movement, over and over, pulling out slightly and surging forward again in a way that jolted her with pleasure like an electric shock through her body. "That's it," His voice, crooning to her, almost purring as he coaxed pleasure out of her. "Feel so good."

"I… unghh…Rick…Rick… Riddick," River felt her moan turn into a scream as the orgasm slammed into her like a collision with a brick wall.

"Oh damn…" That gorgeous voice choked with sensation and he groaned. "I'm…gonna…"

"Please…" She caught his face in her hands and his eyes met hers. "For you…please…for you… what… unghh…" Another streak of pleasure turning speech to a moan. "Rick…Riddick…what…what do you want?"

He groaned and began to slam his hips to hers, harder than before, and she shuddered as somehow, she took him and bliss began to roll through her body again. A hot uncontrollable wave. His hips were meeting hers so hard she could feel her breasts bounce with each thrust. Harder, harder, and oh Buddha she was going to split in two, die from how good this felt, screaming his name as she fell again. Felt him shudder and slam into her once more, roaring his climax as he filled her.

Trembling, shivering beneath him as his body slowly softened inside her, the mouth that had pleasured her so thoroughly, nuzzling her neck. Body still held over hers by his forearms, even in completion he didn't crush her, and she moaned softly as she felt him slowly leaving her body.

"You all right," He pressed a kiss to her pulse and she sighed softly at the sweetness of it.

"Hmm…" River nodded, using her hand to wipe away the tears she'd only just realized were dripping from her eyes. She felt more than saw his alarm and his body stiffened.

"I hurt you," Half question half statement, he rolled off her body and laid beside her, hand on her belly.

"No…" She shook her head. "Just… never felt so much." River felt his fingertips trace the track of tears over her cheekbone and opened her eyes to look at that starkly handsome face, raw and masculine like no one else she'd met. "Made me feel so..."

"Don't think I ever had such a tiny woman," He admitted quietly. "Really worried you wouldn't be able to take me…and then…all that fire you've got in you."

"Didn't think I could when I saw you," River chuckled softly. "Large all over."

He grinned and kissed her, "You wanna make something to eat and I'll unpack your Blackbox for you? I got a little cabinet you can use to keep it on. If I recall correctly you attach your sourcebox to it?"

"Would appreciate that," She smiled. "Put it near the bed? I can sit on the bed with my portable sourcebox and work off of it."

"You got it," He kissed her again and began to get up, scooping up his clothing and handing her the clothes he'd pulled off her. He was the most unselfconscious male she'd ever seen. Companions were always conscious of appearance, every movement calculated. Simon had been awkward, Jayne crude (not that he cared), Wash had never been unclothed around her. Mal had a degree of Riddick's lack of concern but not when River was around.

When he threw her camisole at her, she grinned and snatched it out of the air.

Riddick pulled one of the extra bedside tables out of the second passenger dorm and muscled it into River's room. The Blackbox fit on it pretty well and her cords would reach from the box to the bed so she could do whatever work she was planning on in comfort.

He could smell something with chicken protein being cooked and hear her moving around in the galley. He'd just gotten everything set up when she called that the meal was ready. He grinned when he saw the wok, chicken fried rice and chicken with peapods. Either he was being rewarded or she was buttering him up for something.

"So, what're you planning that you need the Blackbox," He wondered as he set the table and River began to dish out the food.

"Blue Sun," She frowned thoughtfully. "Tired of being chased. Can't run forever."

"You'd be surprised," Riddick shrugged. "You think you can shut them down or kill enough of them that they'll stop?"

"Not planning on killing 'enough'," River shook her head. "Plans within plans." She shrugged. "Also planning on finding Serenity. Need to finish things."

That could take some time, and in the meantime, there was a job to do. "Should be within range of the job in half a day," He spoke after he sipped his tea. "Drop it off on Persephone and then we need to head out to Verbena, drop off cargo there, pick something up for Greenleaf. That work all right for you?"

He wasn't going to take for granted that she would want to keep fucking him until she left but he definitely planned to enjoy it as long as she did.

Six weeks and seven jobs later he still couldn't get enough of her and River showed no signs of getting bored with him. He'd been leery of pressing her for anything, leaving it to her to make any advance. Damned if he'd ever push a girl into something she didn't want just because he was horny. And those manners of hers, courteous and graceful, they didn't give anything away. She was almost shy about pressing a kiss to his mouth in the evenings, as if worried he'd turn her down.

But four weeks into, whatever they were doing, he'd come up behind her in the galley and put his hands on her hips. She'd moaned and tilted her head back to look up at him, "Don't have to wait for me to ask you." Turning in his arms and pulling herself up to sit on the counter, kissing him hungrily, "Just ask for what you want Rick. If I don't want it, I'm a big girl, figuratively speaking, and I can tell you no."

Well he'd fucked her on the galley counter at that point and she'd nearly clawed his back through the shirt he'd been wearing.

If he wasn't careful he'd get attached to her and that would be disastrous given why he figured she wanted to find her old boat. Every time he thought about inviting her to stay, to live with him, share his room and turn the old one into an office he remembered their conversation the first time they'd been together. 'Plannin' to seduce your old Captain? Not at the moment.'

Hell, if she wanted to practice on him he wasn't going to turn her down. He'd caught himself kissing her the first time they were together and realized she was the first woman he trusted wasn't trying to roll him. Not for any particular reason, but just because his instincts told him so. At least she wasn't quite so…formal…(still more formal than he wanted) though she still had all those manners and graces she'd started with.

Riddick's arm over her waist, eyes half closed, watching her as she panted in the aftermath. Not what she'd expected to happen. They'd landed out on Helion Prime, bringing supplies from Hera. New Mecca was still rebuilding from the Necro attack, even so long afterward. To be fair, it seemed like the entire planet was rebuilding.

Riddick hadn't rolled out the cycle for this trip. Instead once they'd had their main cargo unloaded at the docks and the shipment they were taking back loaded on he'd moved the ship to the area outside the city and began loading bags of dry goods, staples and protein into the back of the mule. Made to seat four people, with a roof that could be raised against the weather, it had a substantial cargo area.

"Got some supplies I need to take into the city proper," He told her. "Shouldn't take me more than a couple hours."

"Like some company?" He hadn't looked happy…in fact his face seemed to have lost any expression of positive emotion. Maybe he wouldn't want her to go with but she could at least offer.

"Just gotta make sure these get to the right people," He'd shaken his head. "Likely be in a piss poor mood when I get back too. Fair warning."

"Won't be the first time I've dealt with someone nào qíng xù," River shook her head. "Suspect it won't be the last."

That had gotten a half smile out of him before he'd gotten behind the wheel and drove out of the ship. She'd gone up to the galley to get beef protein marinating in spices and did some work before going back down to the cargo bay and beginning one of her katas. Helion Prime had very warm temperatures but the breeze felt good so the heat wasn't unbearable.

It was far less than three hours when Riddick returned and, as he'd predicted, his mood made piss poor look positively sunny. He'd parked the mule, braced himself against the hull of the ship as if debating the merits of punching the metal, and pushed off it as if to not tempt himself.

Anger… it practically boiled off his skin. A child, a woman, dark skin, family? River frowned and approached him. Sex wouldn't do anything for his anger or the restless energy filling him. Well, maybe sex would help him but she had no guarantee she'd be able to comfortably have sex with Riddick when he was angry. It wasn't anything they'd tried when he was irritated previously, so absolutely furious didn't seem like the right mood to experiment with.

"Like to spar?" She offered, and if she sounded uncertain it was only because she couldn't tell how he'd react to the suggestion.

"Spar?" He'd turned to look at her, eyes lighting with interest.

"Test each other's skills?" She tilted her head. "Plenty of space here, soft ground."

"Yeah…sounds good," Riddick was looking at her, likely evaluating her expertise at hand to hand. Considering they'd both attended Academies the Parliament had a hand in… "Yeah…this'll be fun."

He hadn't been wrong. While he'd seen her practice before, her evaluation of Riddick's abilities fell far short. Exercise, demonstrations of physical strength and the ease with which he did everything physical failed to inform regarding grace, speed and adaptability.

A minute spent testing each other, strikes, blocking, kicks, ducking and they were each sufficiently satisfied that they sped up in slow increments. Every time she blocked one of his blows, he seemed a little less tense. Whenever he diverted a kick, his lips spread in a smile.

She'd been right, this was a good way to relax him. It wasn't even a full minute and a half before they were fighting, no holds barred, no need to pull punches. Block, kick, strike, duck, spin, kick, block, block, duck, strike…there was no rhythm to it and at the same time fighting Riddick felt like a dance. Deadly and beautiful and exhilarating.

River found herself grinning as he took one of her kicks to the stomach in order to grab her ankle. Using it to swing her around only gave her momentum to twist in his grasp and leverage her freedom, rolling to a halt a few feet away.

Up on her knees, ready to charge back into the fight, she found herself completely unprepared for what Riddick did next.

A hard grip on her wrist, yanking her up and his arm banded around her waist, holding her to his chest while his lips bent to hers and took her mouth. Hard, demanding hunger for her, groaning into her mouth as he kissed her. So much more than a kiss, his tongue invading, pushing past her lips to explore her mouth and force her tongue to duel with his.

His hand moved from her waist to her pì gu, squeezing and pressing her against his very hard erect diǎo and River couldn't prevent the moan from rising in her throat. Everything in him concentrated on her, the firm muscle of her body, soft breasts, silky skin, how tight she'd felt around him. How much he wanted to put her on the ground and fill her over and over.

The hand on her wrist had dropped to her thigh, sliding up the back of her leg to tease her, using the seam of her cargos to pull the material tight so it would rub her yīn dì.

All this in seemingly half a moment, so all she could do was wrap her arms around his neck and surrender, moaning her shockingly abrupt need into his mouth. The cargo area of the mule, empty and open, pressing to her back, warm metal somehow cold compared to Riddick's heat.

Her shirt torn open, bra pushed up, ohhh Buddha that hot mouth on her breasts. Slow, deep, hard pulls of his mouth on her nipples, until she was arching her back for more and more. A strong hand pulling her pants open, thrust down her panties to feel her, wet, hot and achingly empty and Riddick groaned against her breast.

Those fingers, wide, blunt tipped and pressing up into her, thumb rubbing her clit relentlessly, pushing her towards a sudden white-hot orgasm and she cried out, his name maybe, inarticulate with pleasure. A knife, shiv, cutting away her clothes, the lace of her bra simply torn through, bare skin to the breeze and Riddick pulled her so her knees dangled over the edge of the mule and spread her wide.

That wicked smile, she knew that smile, he wasn't going to stop, dropping to his knees in the dust and fixing his mouth to her clit. Genius but she didn't have the words for what his mouth did to her. Strong and soft, sucking on her yīn dì like he had her nipples, both hands reaching up to palm and tug on her breasts while her thighs draped over his shoulders.

And all she could do was take it, her hands clutching at his skull, skin slightly rough with the day's growth of hair. Trained assassin, she could kill as easily as breathing, break his neck with her thighs, but she was helpless under those lips, arch to his mouth and moan, beg, cry his name as his tongue stroked at her, flicking lightly before that delicious suction of his lips began again and she screamed his name as she fell so violently, feeling her body nearly gush in reaction.

"Oh…wǒ cào yeah," He groaned against her and stood, his body loomed over hers, unzipping his pants and pulling out his cock. "Gotta have you now River…" He pulled her closer and without any other word began to push inside her.

"Ohh…god… Buddha…" Every time. Every time he had her, it was like the first time, feeling her body stretch around his diǎo. That wonderful feeling of knowing she couldn't take it, she'd split in two, break around him and be filled so completely. Every time when he reached that special sweet spot just for him, she arched and begged, became mindless as he kept going. "Please… Riddick…"

"Yeah," He grasped her hips in his hands and pulled her closer, pushing deeper and deeper until she felt him come to the end of her. "I damn well do please…"

So deep, full, she couldn't…and each time he proved she could, this time no different as he began to move, hard fast strokes as she writhed and wept with pleasure, coming with a scream around him and felt him fall inside her hot, sticky seed boiling in her belly.

He hadn't been done with her, not by a long shot. Hard again almost immediately, nearly rolling her eyes back in her head at the feel of him growing stiff and full inside her, he'd carried her, impaled on his jī ba, up the stairs to his bed. The sensation of him, unbelievably good, stretching her body around his, she'd screamed his name into his shoulder as she came again.

She felt his groan and abrupt curse, for a moment his thoughts flew to the mule and open cargo bay doors. His bed, pressing her down on it and an admonishing growl to stay exactly where he'd put her, trembling with pleasure and surprisingly growing need. "Stay right here and remember my place for me."

She could only nod her agreement, looking up at him with lust hazed eyes. She didn't have it in her to argue, or even move, at the moment.

He had run, she heard his boots pound the decks, the roar of the mule, slam of the cargo bay doors.

Empty without him, sensation chasing over her skin, impossible to replicate with her own hands, try as she might. Not big enough, not hard enough, skin too cool to be satisfying.

The bridge, taking them into the Black again and he came striding back into his room, a pleased smile on his face as he saw her there exactly as he'd left her.

Soft, slender fingers teasing and tugging her nipples, rubbing her yīn dì and arching up to the phantom echoes of his caresses, aching for him, his weight over her body. Moaning her need as his eyes met her skin like the heat of the sun.

He stripped in the twilight of the room, another surge of lust rising as he watched her hands on her own flesh. Riddick pulled her boots off her feet and skimmed his hands up her legs to her thighs, "Such a beautiful woman, keeping warm for me… Now, where was I?"

What followed took hours. Left bruises from his mouth on her neck where he'd sucked fiercely out of some need she couldn't know. The scrape of his teeth on her nipples, hands firm and sure, as he pulled her astride him and dragged her up and down his diǎo until every stroke felt like a small climax.

Over and over, she'd stopped counting how many times he'd made her fall, how often he'd come in her, until she was a sticky sweaty mess and he wasn't much better. Now those beautiful eyes watched her, almost warily as she tried to regulate her breathing.

"So…" She turned her head to look at him. "You like how I fight."

That grin of his, wicked, appreciative, warm, "You want me to prove it to you again? I'll go another round."

River couldn't help laughing softly as he drew her closer and began to kiss her again. "Insatiable," She teased.

"Maybe I just can't get enough of watching you go over," He smirked at her. "And the feel of you is…incredible."

"Short recovery period, and cleanup," She murmured, rubbing her lips against his. "And then…yes… prove it to me."

And he would. She had no doubt.

"We have any jobs that'll take us to the Core," River asked as she cooked. Something with pork protein it smelt like.

"Can find something that'll take us to Persephone, then… maybe Osiris? You want to visit home, let your folks know you're not disgracing the family name," He looked up from the ships books and added "Much," with a wink that made her grin.

"Blue Sun is based on Osiris," She told him quietly. "Persephone will put me in range to get my plans in motion. And if we visit Osiris, they might be watching my parents. I can take a transport to Osiris and meet you back on Persephone in two weeks?"

"I can take you to Osiris if that's what you need," Riddick frowned. "What's the problem?"

"Don't want The Cutter to end up landlocked because of me," Dark eyes looked at him, worried for him and his boat.

"Your parents have a private shuttle pad? Suitable for those fancy yachts?" So, let's use logic to get around this.

"Yes…several…" She nodded.

"Your parents likely to landlock me," He raised an eyebrow at her.

"No," She shook her head. "But you don't want to go to a Core world, it's bright and…annoying."

"I did some checking," Riddick shrugged. "Officially, Richard B Riddick is dead. And the Alliance seems to have a vested interest in making sure my name stays dead. Grow my hair and beard out and I can pass as a fairly scruffy Border transport Captain."

"You'll hate it," She warned him. "I mean…really hate it. My parents are…inquisitive. We'd have to stay at least a week and a half."

"River, believe it or not, I know how to behave on a Core world. I keep my hair and beard neatly trimmed, dress right. Trained as an Operative remember," He tugged her close and kissed her gently. "If we stop on Persephone and I pick up some clothes and retina masking specs I'll be fine with your parents."

"Retina masking specs?" She frowned and he chuckled.

"All this time and you thought I just had weird eyes?" He hadn't realized she'd never seen him in full dark. He stood and turned off the lights, taking a deep breath before he turned back to her. He'd hate if she was afraid now. Most people were. "I'm Furyan River. Alpha Furyans have these eyes."

Her smile…beautiful. That wondering expression as she stared at his face and reached for him. "Beautiful," She smiled as he came back to her and put his hands on her hips. "I thought you'd just had your eyes altered surgically."

"That's what most folks think," He bent and kissed her. "But they make specs that're special for eyes like mine because of that surgery. They even have contacts. I could get some of those. They last for months apparently."

"Will you let me pay for them?" She asked softly, "Since you're coming to Osiris for me?"

"Means that much to you, all right," Riddick shrugged. "But I can pay for my own clothing."

"If you insist," Her arms wrapped around his neck and she pulled herself up to kiss him.

"I insist," He grinned and put the lights back on.

She fell asleep as they left Persephone, after he'd made her scream his name three times and come at least two more. Nothing he liked more than hearing his name on her lips. He had no idea what she had planned for Osiris, something that was going to fuck with Blue Sun, that was for certain.

Felt odd to pull his old persona, that Operative training, back on. He'd so rarely had to use it since breaking that old programming. Military straight, neatly trimmed hair and beard, impeccable posture and diction. Quiet, polite and every inch a predator. No guns allowed on Core worlds but his knives were nearly as numerous as bullets. He emerged from his room and headed for the bridge to land them at the co-ordinates given.

Palatial estate, elegant and laid out so any entrance could be defended if need be. Private security patrolled the grounds, discrete but obvious to any experienced eye. "You ready for this," He emerged from the bridge and waited at River's door.

She emerged in flowing trousers and an elegant, fitted jacket, heeled boots and her hair wound into an intricate knot at the base of her neck. A sword rode her back though she'd left the axe behind. She grinned at him, her mouth shiny with some sort of gloss and her eyes had an outline of something making them look even bigger. "You look very handsome. Even with the hair and beard," She touched his jaw.

He chuckled. River hadn't cared for how the beard felt against her thighs. He couldn't grow it long enough to soften without looking too much like a rim rat. And trimmed short it felt like the worst whisker burn on her tender skin. He offered her his arm and escorted her down to the cargo bay, hitting the controls to open the ramp and guiding her down as if he hadn't seen and felt her having an orgasm on the back of his bike, body pressed up against his. "Just tell me they're expecting you."

"Waved them from Persephone and told them I wished to visit for at least a week, that my Captain was willing to allow a week and a half if needed to complete my business." River smiled and took a deep breath, guiding him forward. "And if you want me to keep a straight face, don't think of the last time you took me for a bike ride. Please."

Got it, no thoughts about River on the bike.

Mr. Gabriel Tam and Regan Tam were polite, gracious hosts who showed him every courtesy as they made leading inquiries regarding his history. They also apologized for their daughter who apparently had so much business she was gone for whole days at a time. And when she was on the estate she only visited his room on the ship to fuck him, sleep in her room for a few hours and shower so that the sweat and blood didn't show when she went into the main house.

"River, what are you doing," Riddick finally caught her by the waist as she began to climb out of bed. "And more importantly why won't you let me help?"

She sighed, "Hostile takeover."

All right, he'd been reading the news waves, or what passed for news, and the financial reports and he knew what that meant. "Seems like you're taking it a bit more literally than the usual business transaction."

"Well…" She shrugged. "The board members are…resistant. And some are members of Parliament or have Parliament in their pockets."

"What are you actually trying to accomplish," He traced a fingertip over the slice across her ribs.

"The destruction of Blue Sun as a corporation," River half smiled. "Collecting names too."

"Names," He raised an eyebrow. He'd demanded names from her once, fury filling him at the thought that they'd mutilated her. It twisted something in him, nearly started the Wrath up, to hear that the Academy had just decided to take away that basic right. And she'd brushed it off at the time. "You've got those names I wanted?"

"I do," She grinned at him. "I have a list for you. If you're still interested."

"Am I still interested," Riddick gave her a hard kiss on the mouth. "Is Deadwood full of dust?"

"Never been," She grinned.

"Trust me gorgeous, it's fulla dust." He laughed quietly. "Guess you'd better get to your bed in the house. Your parents aren't idiots."

"No, but so long as I'm discreet they can pretend I'm still a 'good' daughter," River shrugged and began to get up, pulling on her clothing.

"Right," He rubbed at the beard. "I might shave this off. It's irritating and I could do some longer sideburns that leave my mouth free so I can put it where I want it."

"I'll look forward to that," She smiled and kissed him before handing him a slip of paper. Five names on it.

River wound her hair back into the elaborate knot favored by young ladies of Osiris this season and slid her stilettos through it to hold the knot in place. She had information to gather and had to look the part. The work on Osiris was nearly done. Riddick had taken his list and cut a swath through the science department of Blue Sun. It had only taken him about three days. She'd heard him speaking with her father and butter wouldn't melt.

"Mr.…Richard?" Gabriel Tam had caught Riddick in the garden, practicing with his knives, shirtless and wearing only a pair of karategi pants.

"Just Richard Mr. Tam," Riddick had paused in his routine, bowed to the statue of Buddha he had been practicing before and sheathed his knives. His nostrils had flared and a corner of his mouth quirked up for a half second before his face straightened to impassivity. "I don't use a last name anymore. Technically speaking I don't have a name." For a man who valued the truth so highly Riddick lied very, very well.

"Oh," That bald admission put her father on his heels for a moment.

"Not since the Strikeforce Academy," Riddick added as explanation.

"Ah, I see," Gabriel Tam knew something about Strikeforce, the same thing most Alliance citizens knew. Strikeforce took soldiers of 'good' family and turned them into the elite, some were rumored to be agents, Operatives, of the Parliament even. Little did the good citizens of the Alliance know, Strikeforce didn't care about ancestry, they wanted killers. They could teach courtesy, social niceties, traditions, what they couldn't teach was that killer instinct.

"I hope you do," Riddick had smiled, cold and cruel. After a moment of scaring her father half to death her lover's smile warmed. "I do want to commend you though. In the months I've traveled with her, River has been…an extraordinary companion. Witty, kind, and extremely perceptive; she is a worthy opponent."

"Opponent?" Her father hadn't understood and it was obvious.

"She assured me that you were aware," Riddick was really going to twist the knife. "River said she went to the Academy at fourteen. You and Mrs. Tam did agree to her attendance?"

"Oh, yes, the Academy, government sponsored, very…" Gabriel Tam paused the similarity in terms connecting in his mind finally.

"As I said, commendable," Riddick nodded gravely. "Most men, their patriotism would quail at the thought of giving up their daughter to the Parliament and Blue Sun." She'd been able to hear the horrified gibbering of her father's mind as Riddick spoke. "Until her brother took her she was the Academy's top pupil."

"And what does she do…for you…Richard?" Good grief her father feared she'd been turned into some sort of mindless killing machine and whore. What an imagination.

"I met River on Persephone, a mutual acquaintance referred her to me," Riddick half smiled. "I knew who she was immediately of course. She's rather unmistakable."

"Oh," Her father's voice was faint.

"Yes," Her lover's voice had grown fond. Cool and collected but fond. "You see she had all the skills to do whatever might be required of her, but she lacked…direction. Imagine a journeyman, brilliant, talented and skilled who's never taken her masters' exams." He spread his hands, "I gave her direction. And she excelled. She might exceed me someday. Perhaps today."

"But…she left without a word beyond a note, waves, no explanation," Her father sounded as if someone was tearing out his heart. He'd always loved her, she knew that, even if he did find her to be uncomfortable company. He hadn't wanted to believe anyone would ever hurt her. Fear had made him blind. Fear for her, fear of what might happen to him, to his life, if he pushed about the Academy. Now he was beginning to be afraid of her.

"Of course," Riddick flicked that concern away with a flip of his fingers. "She wouldn't say anything that might put you in danger from the enemies of the Parliament. It was decided that the two of us paired well. And a man and woman traveling together are far less conspicuous than either alone."

"Then the two of you are not…" Oh now he was worried Riddick was taking advantage of her. Such an imagination. How could her father be afraid of her and simultaneously think she wasn't capable of defending herself against Riddick? She would never understand the male mind.

"What we are, or are not, is none of your concern Mr. Tam," Riddick stared him, cold as he'd been in the beginning of the conversation. "You gave her up to the Academy. According to the information I've obtained when her brother believed she was being harmed you dismissed his concerns. That she has returned to visit and reassure you as to her well-being is due to her excellent service."

River took a deep breath and decided to intervene before her father had a stress induced stroke, walking around the corner and smiling at the two of them as if she'd never heard a word, "Father, I see you're getting to know Richard."

"I… Yes, yes, I am," Her father nodded. "It's always good to meet someone so important to my daughter. Simon mentioned you had made several friends aboard the transport ship the two of you traveled with a couple years ago."

"I did," River smiled. "They were instrumental in helping me adjust." She looked at Riddick almost hopefully, "Perhaps we could demonstrate for my father? How much I've learned?"

"River," Riddick smiled a bit regretfully. "You know how much I enjoy sparring with you. But I think your father has been alarmed enough for one day."

"Ah well," She'd shaken her head. "Perhaps another time. Father, will you walk with me? I wanted your opinion on a possible investment."

She'd gotten her father away from Riddick and bumped straight into Simon, coming to visit for dinner. Thankfully Riddick had sufficiently frightened her father with the possibility of his daughter being an agent of the Parliament that nothing Simon said could compel him to comment on River's comings and goings.

Now she only had one more task to complete and she could leave for other planets and the Blue Sun board of directors that lived there. She didn't know how Riddick would feel about that. She might have to leave The Cutter for a while.

Author's Note: So…these two tend to fall into bed a lot. They both seem to be using sex as a kind of bandage, a way to be close because neither of them is communicating what they actually want and need. Honestly they kind of started running away with the story and it wasn't easy to get them to concentrate on 'business'.

I am kind of enjoying having Riddick mess with Gabriel Tam. Riddick has a history of playing mind games and Gabriel seemed like the perfect target. We'll see Regan and Simon more in the next chapter though.

Fair warning, in case you hadn't figured it out already, this isn't a hugely plot heavy story. We've got some objectives these two want to achieve but the story arc is more about their personal relationship.

Chinese Translations:

diǎo (cock)

yīn dì (clitoris)

nào qíng xù (to be in a bad mood)

pì gu (butt)

wǒ cào (holy fuck / lit. 'I fuck')

jī ba (dick / penis)