Chapter 9

Bobby sat in the Navigation Bay, working on some astrogation charts for when they got down with their business in the Tangier system. The Chevron system just became part of Company domain so she plotted courses to that. When she was done she tried to go to the mess hall to get some breakfast but the smell of food made her nauseous so she headed back to her room. She got changed out of her jeans and T-shirt and back into her pajamas. That's weird, the buttons on her shirt that went across her chest were taut, well the T-shirt she had been wearing did fit a little snug around the chest too. Its like her boobs were growing even though she stopped growing when she turned 18.

Shrugging it off she lay down on her bed and started to read, the sounds of Sugarcult coming out of the speakers in her ceiling. She got up after a while and decided that maybe she was gaining some weight so she got changed and started to work on her bag in earnest, eager to lose those pounds. After all she hasn't really been working out lately, or walking around the ship, so the food that she's eaten lately was bound to add onto her weight.

Sweat was pouring off her body when she stopped and hopped into the shower, she scrubbed down and rinsed off. She dried off and got changed back into her jeans and T-shirt and went back to the mess hall, ordering up something light and sipping it at her usual table. She went to the holo-deck next and coded in a meadow. The doors opened and she stepped onto the grass, the door slid close behind her and she removed her shoes and socks, feeling the grass on her feet. Hologram or not, it felt damn real. She stayed there for a long time, watching the birds dart past and the wind move the tall grasses, the sun shined warmly on her face.

When Bobby got back to her room she suddenly felt sick and darted to the bathroom, vomiting up the soup she had had earlier. She got worried about her health but then she remembered that Owen, Malcolm and even her father had been complaining that they haven't been able to keep anything down. She probably caught what they have, its not like she leaves the ship and she is in close proximity with them everyday. And besides, once one person on this ship got sick, they all did.

Riddick stopped in that night and they lay on her bed in each other's arms.

"You feeling okay?" he asked and she shook her head.

"Not really, I probably just have the bug that's been going around. So maybe you shouldn't stay, I wouldn't want you to get it either." She cautioned but he waved it off.

"I'll stay, I can't get sick anyway."

"Why not?"

"I have no idea. I've never gotten sick in my entire life; not even when there was a pneumonia epidemic in one of the foster homes I had been in when I was just a kid. In fact, I was the only one that didn't get sick."

"That's nifty." She said and he shrugged.

"Yeah I guess. Well I'm sorry you don't feel well." He said and kissed her forehead. "Hm, no fever. Is there anything I can get you to make you feel better?"

"Could you read to me?" she requested and he looked at her.

"Read to you? Okay, I can do that." Riddick said and picked up her book off of her nightstand and opened it up to her spot.

The book was thin, covered in black canvas with the name stamped on the side in gold leaf, Shadow Spawn by H. Elizabeth.

"He walked into the bar from the pouring rain, droplets of water falling off the hood of his black cloak. He swung his leg over a stool, the cloak billowing out and splashing some people nearby. One of them, a large fat man with a dark beard grew angry and stood, approaching the stranger.

'Aren't you going to apologize boy?' he asked but the man stayed silent, sipping the whiskey that he had ordered. 'I'm talking to you boy.' He said and clapped a heavy hand on his shoulder. The man whipped around and drew a silver knife, settling the tip under the man's chin.

'You shouldn't have touched me, that was a wrong thing to do.' He said and the man held up his hands in surrender.

'Okay, okay take it easy.' He said and the knife withdrew in a swift move, going back into the shadows of the cloak. The man downed the rest of the whiskey and left as suddenly as he came, going back into the night from which he dwelled." Riddick read, pausing to add a comment. "This guy reminds me a lot of me." Bobby snorted.

"That's why I like it." She said and he smiled starting to read again.

A couple of hours later he put her bookmark in the page and closed the book, seeing that she had fallen asleep against his chest. He gently took his arm from around her and got off the bed, she woke with the movement.

"Your voice is very soothing." She said tiredly and he smiled, kissing her forehead.

"Go back to sleep Bobby." He said as he drew himself to his full height. She muttered two words before her eyes closed and she fell back to sleep, but he heard them just fine.

"Love you." When she wakes up she probably won't even remember she said it. He kissed her forehead again, muttering his own two words.

"I know."