"Abu?"
The Muslim turned at the sound of his name softly spoken from the doorway of his room.
"Carolyn. Where have you been? Are you alright?" He rose from his desk, where he had been writing a letter, and met her in the middle of the room. She was different, he saw that right away. But what had changed since he'd seen her in the hallway not more than an hour before?
Carolyn took his hands and gripped them tightly. "I have to show you something." She trembled with barely-contained excitement.
Abu studied his friend's flushed face. "What is it?"
"It's a surprise," she giggled, squeezing his hands. "C'mon, c'mon..." She was practically bouncing up and down with eagerness.
"Carolyn." Abu squeezed back and looked hard at her. "Be still for a moment." She complied and stood with a mischievous little half-smile as he once again perused her features. He couldn't remember the last time he'd seen her smile this way.
He shook his head in amazement. When had he ever seen her look like this? It seemed a flame had been kindled deep inside, and was spilling out through her eyes, making them shine as they never had before.
But they have, Abu reminded himself solemnly. They did once, when *he* was alive...
Suddenly, Abu felt as if a giant hand had grabbed his heart and squeezed it almost to the bursting point. He concentrated on breathing normally as his mind began to whirl.
No, it cannot be...
Abu's sudden stunned expression gave him away, and Carolyn's smile widened in response. She gripped his hands more tightly, flicking her eyes back and forth over his face. Abu stared back, his mouth open to speak, but could think of nothing to say except that which could not possibly be true. Finally, with great difficulty, he made his lips form the words. His whisper was barely audible, even in the quiet room.
"He is...alive?" No name was needed - they both knew of whom he spoke.
Carolyn nodded and waited. There was more.
"Here?" Abu's eyebrows raised as he mouthed his one- word question.
Another nod from Carolyn, then her insistent tug on his hands as she urged him out of his room to follow her. They moved silently together down the length of the big balcony to Carolyn's room. She turned the handle and opened the door, pulling Abu in after her.
He stopped just inside the doorway to study the tall, broad male figure that turned from the window to face them as they entered. Carolyn closed the door, went to him and curled her hand around the man's muscular arm, smiling back at her friend.
"Come in, it's ok, Abu."
He stared at the big man beside Carolyn, taking in every detail of his appearance - his height, the way he stood, the shape of the clean-shaven head. But the eyes - those were different. Darker. Normal.
This couldn't be him.
"Hey, Imam. Been a while, huh?"
All doubt was removed when the man spoke - no one else had a voice like that.
"Mr. Riddick..." Abu's eyes welled up with tears of happiness as he rushed over to stand before his old friend. He took Riddick's hands in his own and pressed them to his forehead as he wept with silent joy. Suddenly, he opened his arms and flung them around Riddick, laughing and crying at the same time. "Allah be praised!"
Riddick gave Carolyn a nervous glance as he tentatively patted the the Muslim's shoulders. It was pretty clear he wasn't used to this kind of greeting, especially from a man.
"Good to see you too, buddy." Riddick gave Abu's shoulders a quick squeeze and pulled him off. "How ya been?"
"We were told you died during an escape attempt." Abu scanned Riddick's face, still holding him by the arms. "What happened?"
Riddick shook his head and sighed deeply. "It's a long story." Letting Abu go, he stepped over to the bed and sat down heavily on the edge of it.
"He cut a deal," said Carolyn, with a smile of admiration at Riddick. "They let us go and gave us this land because of that."
Abu looked confused. "But what did you do in return?" he asked. "Did they send you back to Slam City?"
Riddick's jaw tightened. He took a few breaths before answering. "I don't wanna talk about it. Not yet." His eyes went to Carolyn. "I just wanna...be here, that's all."
Abu wiped his eyes and nodded in understanding. "But will you tell us someday?"
"Maybe." Riddick's expression softened as he looked at Carolyn. "Just not now. I have better things to think about."
"Does Jack know you're here?"
"I haven't called her yet," said Carolyn, taking a seat beside Riddick and sliding her hand into his.
Abu paced a little before them, his steepled fingers tapping his lips as he thought. "We must be careful," he mused, stopping to give Carolyn a significant look. "We cannot forget how hard it was for her."
He moved his eyes to Riddick. "When we told her the news, she ran away and did not return for almost two days," he explained. "She did not fully accept the situation for a very long time, and often imagined you had truly escaped and would come back to us someday."
"Yeah, Carolyn told me." Riddick sighed and looked at the glowing woman sitting beside him. "Where is she, anyway?'
Carolyn pursed her lips. "Mmmm...I dunno..." she muttered thoughtfully. "She's been taking classes at the university, but they're on break for a couple of weeks right now. She could be anywhere, really. Prob'ly doing something with her friends." She looked back up at Abu. "I don't wanna tell her on the comm. Better to do it in person."
Abu nodded. "I agree." He paced a bit more, then stood still and continued. "She will be here for the harvest celebration tonight. We can tell her then."
"I need to get her room ready." Carolyn stood and touched Riddick's shoulder. "C'mon, you can help me."
As much Abu wanted to talk to Riddick, he could see that now was not the time for deep conversation with his long-lost friend. They would have their chance later. "If you will pardon me, I have a letter to finish," he said quietly. With a slight bow and a smiling glance at Riddick, he turned and headed back to his room.
Riddick followed Carolyn out onto the balcony and into the large room next door. It was bare of possessions, except for basic furniture draped in sheets and a few pictures on the wall. Riddick stepped up to look them over as Carolyn started opening windows. Two were of a smiling Carolyn, Jack and Abu sitting together on the front porch of the house. One was of Jack and Hannah, the foreman - their arms were around each other, and Jack's eyes were comically crossed as she held one of Hannah's black braids under her own nose to simulate a mustache. Another was Jack in a Stetson, seated on a large, shiny brown horse. The picture in the center, though, really got Riddick's attention.
It was his own face laughing back at him as he sat on the couch of the apartment they'd occupied for a short while in Mecca City, before the authorities caught up with them. He remembered Jack snapping the picture after surprising him with a squirt from one of the water pistols he'd bought that afternoon.
"Ha! Gotcha!" she'd yelled, running away giggling with her camera as Riddick followed, shooting jets of water at her back with his own pistol. The battle had raged all over the apartment, with Carolyn laughing and ducking out of the way, ending in the kitchen when they used up all their ammunition. When Jack tried to refill her pistol at the sink, Riddick grabbed it and took off through the living room. She caught up to him and leaped onto his back, locking her arms around his neck and laughing breathlessly as he pretended to be overwhelmed. He couldn't remember having that much fun since he was a kid.
"That's her favorite picture of you." Carolyn's arm went around Riddick's waist as she came over to stand beside him. "She has a copy of it at her place, too. Says it's the only one she ever got of you smiling."
He pulled her closer. "I'm not surprised. I didn't smile much then."
"You did for me." Carolyn leaned her head against his shoulder.
Riddick pressed his lips against the top of her head, his eyes still on the photos. "That's different," he said into her tousled hair. "You gave me a lot to smile about."
Carolyn kissed his arm and gave him a little squeeze before she moved away and finished opening windows. "She hasn't stayed in this room for about six months, but I keep it ready just in case." She nodded towards the furniture. "Wanna pull those sheets off for me? Do it slow, they're kinda dusty."
Riddick uncovered a desk and its chair, a small table with two more chairs, a couple of shelving units, and a big, old-fashioned oval floor mirror framed in dark, fine-grained wood. Carolyn helped him fold the sheets, then carefully uncover the bed, which matched the mirror.
"Didn't know Jack was into antiques," Riddick commented as they folded the big sheet together in the middle of the room.
Carolyn gave a tight, sad little smile. "She's not, really. She found these by accident in the Mecca City market district. Part of an estate sale." She nodded towards the mirror. "I didn't have to think twice about buyin' 'em. Go look on the back, near the top, and you'll see why."
Riddick did. In the spot she'd indicated was a small metal stick-on plate engraved in fancy script: "Paris P. Ogilvie, purveyor of fine antiquities and rare vintages." The dead man's contact information was listed underneath that.
"Damn..." Riddick shook his head. "Damn..." He hadn't thought about Paris in years, and suddenly he could practically see the guy standing in front of him, complete with cracked glasses, bandanna tied over his sweaty head, and wine bottle firmly in hand.
"He was an annoying little shit, but...well, it just seemed right to have something of his here, ya know? With the rest of us." Carolyn shrugged forlornly, holding the pile of folded sheets.
"Yeah." Riddick stood back and looked at himself in the mirror. He still wore his work clothes, and noticed a spot of blood from his cut hand on the front of his shirt. He ran his finger over it thoughtfully. "I need a shower."
"Not a problem." Carolyn was glad to switch gears and concentrate on something other than her worry about Jack's reaction to seeing Riddick alive. "You have a change of clothes with you?"
Riddick shook his head. "Nah. Left 'em in Telmar. I rented a room there."
"Well, that's not far - only about twenty kilometers." She walked slowly over to look at his image in the big mirror. "We could go there now and get *all* your things." Carolyn's nervous eyes darted to Riddick's reflected face, then back down to her armful of sheets as she swallowed hard. "If you want to, I mean. If you wanna stay here instead of Telmar."
Riddick turned and regarded her for a moment, his face softening as he watched Carolyn bite her lip and look up at him. She looked like a little girl, for chrissake. A scared little girl. She really thought he might choose not to stay with her.
"You know where I wanna be." Riddick reached over and tilted her chin up when she dropped her eyes again. "Look at me."
She did, still biting her lip, which was starting to tremble a bit.
"As long as I've been tryin' to get back here, you really think I'm gonna take off now?" He searched her face. After a moment, she shook her head no. Her eyes were wet again. "Hey, knock that shit off, willya?" Riddick thumbed away a couple of escaped tears that slid down her cheeks. "You're gonna get *my* waterworks started."
Carolyn smiled and gave a little laugh, reaching up to wipe away another tear. "We better get going, then, before anyone sees me like this." She sniffed and coughed a bit, drying her hand on her shirt.
"Good idea." Riddick stuck his head out of the room and peered around cautiously for more armed employees. "How we gettin' there?"
"I have a little two-seater. Should take us about eight minutes." Carolyn laid her pile of sheets on the floor outside Jack's door. "Key card's in my room."
It took them four, with Carolyn pushing the little shuttlecraft to its top speed. Riddick's room was in a tiny, but clean, boarding house in the center of the small rural community, its population temporarily swelled by the influx of seasonal workers. His belongings fit into one duffel bag, which in turn fit easily into the cargo compartment of Carolyn's vehicle. They re-entered her house through the back, as they'd left it, not wanting to attract any attention.
"So where's my room?" Riddick asked as they took the private staircase up from Carolyn's office.
She reached back and whacked his arm, hearing the playful tone in his voice. "Where d'you think, silly?"
Riddick grinned and tweaked Carolyn's butt as she moved up the stairs, making her jump. "So I get to sleep with the boss, huh?"
She laughed as they made their way to her room. Their room, now. Riddick dropped his bag on the floor by the small table and lowered himself wearily into a chair.
Carolyn sat down across from him and leaned forward, placing her elbows on the table and her chin in her hands. For a few minutes, she said nothing, just sat there and stared at him with a little smile.
He looked back, his own smile growing as her eyes traveled his face again and again. "What?"
She laughed and dropped her face into her hands, then looked back up at him. "I just...I dunno..." Another little laugh. "I just wanna keep looking to make sure you're really here." She grew suddenly serious. "It's like...I'm afraid if look away, you'll disappear. Like a dream."
Riddick's smile faded too, but his eyes didn't. "I know what you mean." He slid his open hand across the table, and Carolyn reached out and clasped it, squeezing hard and looking down at their intertwined fingers. She seemed to be wrestling with something in her mind.
He gave her hand a little shake. "Whatsamatter?"
Carolyn glanced up, then back down at their hands. It took her a moment to begin speaking. "I, uh - guess I should have mentioned this before we, uh..." She blushed, darting her eyes to the disarranged bed.
Riddick frowned and waited for her to continue.
She sighed deeply and bit her lip, steeling herself to continue. "I'm not on birth control." Her thumb moved repeatedly over the back of Riddick's hand. "I never got another hypo after the last one expired, the one I got before the Hunter-G took off." An uncomfortable shrug. "I mean, I didn't see the point, since I never..."
"Yeah...and?"
"Well..." Carolyn swallowed. "I just thought you should know that. I'll go and get checked tomorrow, and if I'm - you know...I can get it taken care of." Her nervous eyes went from the table to Riddick's eyes and back again. "Then I can get another hypo done."
"Why?"
Carolyn looked up, confused. "What do you mean, why?"
"I mean, " said Riddick, leaning forward and taking her hand in both of his, "Why d'you think you hafta do that? You think I'd be pissed if you got pregnant?"
"Well..." Carolyn swallowed again. "I mean...you just got back, you know? You need time to get used to things. You don't need to be tied down like that."
Riddick sighed and shook his head. "You just don't get it, do ya?"
"Get what?"
He leaned forward, pulling her closer so their heads almost touched. "You have any idea how hard I fought to get back to you?"
Carolyn just stared at him, wide-eyed, unsure what to say.
Riddick pressed her hand firmly between his. "Lemme lay it out for ya, okay?" He stared intently into her eyes. "You get that hypo only if *you* want it. 'Cause I won't ask you to." He waited, searching her stunned face. "Understand?"
Carolyn nodded wordlessly. Riddick let go of her hand and got up, planting a kiss on the top of her head. "I'm gonna take a shower." He lifted his duffel bag and carried it into the bathroom. From where she sat, Carolyn heard the sound of it unzipping, then the water being turned on.
In a daze, she got up and walked over to her bed, kicking off her boots before curling up on her side with a pillow clutched to her chest. She lay facing the half- open bathroom door and listening to Riddick's shower as her mind played his words over and over, hardly able to believe what she'd heard. They'd never talked about having kids when they first got to New Mecca. They hadn't talked about a lot of things, actually. When they weren't doing odd jobs for cash to support their little "family", they did their damndest to keep their minds busy, keep from dwelling on what had happened to them. Or on the fact that Riddick was in very real danger of being found. Which, of course, he eventually was.
Carolyn's thoughts drifted back to the nights she and Riddick had lain awake in their bed, holding each other silently, afraid to fall asleep and let the nightmares back in. Then there were the other nights, the ones ruled by passion instead of fear. Her eyes were closed now, and a smile touched her lips as she went back even further, back to the desert planet where they'd met. As she'd done in her dreams so many times, she saw Riddick again now as she'd seen him all those years ago, as she turned to face him in the small, hot interior of the skiff. Back when he'd been just a convict with an imposing presence.
"You scare me, Riddick," she'd said. "That's what you wanna hear, isn't it?" She'd stared him down defiantly as they stood mere inches apart. "Now can I just get back to work?" He'd stopped her when she tried to turn around, holding her still with one big hand clamped around her arm as he reached up with the other and slowly removed his goggles.
A sudden motion jerked her awake - Riddick was sitting beside her with a towel around his waist. "Sorry, didn't mean to wake you." He ran his hand tenderly over her hair. "You were smiling. Nice dream?"
Carolyn blinked and sighed, pulling the pillow closer to her chest. "You might say that," she yawned. "It was about our first time, in the skiff. Remember?"
"How could I forget?"
They looked at each other for a moment before she spoke again. "I always wondered..."
Riddick raised his eyebrows and gave her a quizzical look. She rolled onto her back, letting the pillow she held slide onto the bed.
"Why *did* you go in there? I mean...did you plan to do what you did?"
He shook his head. "Nope. Completely spur-o'-the- moment." He looked down and thought for a few seconds. "Guess I really just wanted to see what you were made of."
"So what made you kiss me?"
"What made you kiss me back?"
"Well, you know me," Carolyn yawned, stretching a bit. "I can't resist you rich, powerful tycoon types."
'Yeah, right." Riddick grinned down at her and tweaked her nose. "You need a nap. Want some company?"
"Hell, yeah." Carolyn scooted over and patted the bed beside her. Riddick pulled off his towel and let it drop to the floor as he stretched out beside her and pulled the covers over himself.
"Aren't you a little overdressed?" He grabbed the waistband of her jeans and gave it a tug. Carolyn sighed heavily and rolled off the bed to stand on the other side as she lazily removed her clothes, tossing them in a pile at her feet. She was just settling herself beneath the covers when she groaned and smacked the heel of her hand against her forehead.
"Dammit, I knew I forgot something." She sat up and looked around. "Where's my earcomm?"
"Over here." Riddick pointed to the little bedside table next to him, but made no effort to pick up the comm and hand it to her.
"Well?" She smiled down at him and waited.
"Well, what?" Riddick said, putting his hands behind his head and relaxing into his pillow. "Get it yourself."
Rolling her eyes, Carolyn leaned across him and stretched her arm to reach the little device, pressing her body against Riddick's in the process.
"Mmmm...that feels nice," he murmured as her breasts brushed his chest. He smiled up at her seductively as she sat up and put on the earcomm.
"I *knew* you had an ulterior motive," she smiled back. "Activate," she told the earcomm, and waited for the tones to sound, indicating its readiness. "Call Morrison."
"Morrison here," the Englishman's voice said after a few seconds. "Your wish is my command."
Carolyn laughed. "Then I wish you'd rub Billy down and turn him out. I won't be needing him anymore today."
"Right away, your worship," he replied, his tone comically formal. "You'll be pleased to know, by the by," he continued in a normal voice, "that his spouse will likely be giving birth this evening. She's been rather restless today, looks ready to burst."
"Good. How long you think it'll be?"
"Shouldn't be more than three or four hours, by the look of things."
Carolyn nodded. "Okay. I'm gonna take a nap, so my earcomm'll be off for a while. If you need me for anything, send Hannah up."
"Right. Sleep well, then."
"Thanks. End call and deactivate." Carolyn waited for the tones, then took off the earcomm and reached behind her to place it on the table by her side of the bed. With another deep sigh, she flopped back down and snuggled under the covers. Riddick had turned onto his side, and they lay facing each other.
"I've been lookin' forward to this," he said after a moment. He slid his hand over and grasped hers. "This'll be the first really good sleep I've had since I left."
Carolyn lifted his hand to her lips and kissed his fingers. "Same here."
Riddick smiled and gave her hand a squeeze before letting his eyes close. Carolyn lay watching him, listening as his breathing slowed, feeling his hand gradually relax in hers as sleep took him. His face looked so different now. It was easy to read the signs of a man who'd been through hell and back. He had a new scar, too, a thin line by the right side of his nose. Funny, she hadn't noticed that before.
His breathing was deep and even now. Carolyn thrilled at the sound, one she'd never thought to hear again. Its hypnotic rhythm finally sent her tired eyelids fluttering down, her last waking thought the sensation of Riddick's fingers intertwined with hers.