Lifeline

Chapter 29

Chikage barely heard the door open and close, knowing Riddick had returned from wherever it was he ended up going, but she kept her breathing deep and even, even as he slid back under the covers next to her. When his arm didn't slide around her as she expected, she turned onto her back, opening her eyes to look at him. He stared up at the ceiling, buzzing with tension as he just lay there on his back, arms crossed behind his head.

"I knew you weren't asleep," he said quietly, the tug of a tiny smile at the corners of her lips drawing her attention for a moment.

"You know something you're not telling and it's pissing me off," she said, her voice still husky from the sedatives she was now on and tolerating. He glanced at her quickly from the corner of his eye, but didn't say anything as his eyes returned to the tiles on the ceiling. She sighed, careful not to tangle herself in her IV line as she flopped on her side, resting her head on his shoulder as she threw her leg between his. "Talk."

"Marie ratted us out," he said quietly. She started, sitting up slightly.

"What?"

"Well, kind of," he corrected with a shrug. "She told an IGC clerk to start working on our cases."

"Our cases," she said slowly, not understanding. He sighed, shifting his position so he could draw an arm around her and pull her back to his side. She settled against him, but didn't relax much.

"One of the IGC clerks is going to try to get us in to testify. Both of them think it'll get us both exonerated just because of what we know about the Black Ops experimentations on the operatives. Kind of like a reprieve in exchange for information they can use."

"And what do you think?"

"I don't know," he said after a moment of thought. "I don't understand it," he admitted. "I mean, if Marie admits to anything about her involvement she'll be up shit creek, even if they don't decide to cut us loose."

"So she's risking her own neck for a minute chance that she can feel better about herself for making right what she did to you."

"Me and dozens of others, from what she said," he said with a small nod. "I don't get it." Chikage sighed, letting an arm snake around his middle to tuck under the shoulder she wasn't using as a pillow. His fingers trailed lazily up and down her arm as he pondered some more. "People don't do things like that." She shifted to stare up at him, but he avoided her gaze, still staring up at the ceiling. "People are innately selfish. They don't sacrifice themselves for a chance – a minute one at that – at helping someone they've wronged in the past."

"Just because you don't have a conscience doesn't mean no one does," she said quietly, receiving a small chuckle.

"I have a conscience," he insisted, the smile remaining. "Might not be the same as what most people think is normal, but I have one." He glanced down at her finally. "You need to quit believing all that shit you read in the psych books about me." She smiled, shrugging slightly.

"So what now?" she asked quietly.

"What do you mean?"

"This thing with the IGC," she said. "What do you want to do?"

"I don't know yet." She nodded, shifting against his side to press closer to him. He'd become a sort of security blanket to her as of late. She woke when he left her, unable to sleep until he was back at her side or at the very least in the room with her. It was an odd dependency, one completely atypical of her, and it made her uncomfortable. Perhaps this was why Jack was so attached to him. He was a magnet. She'd compared him to a drug, but he was more like the moon, controlling everything around him just by his presence, as the moon controls the tides. "What do you think?" he asked after a while, just as she started to drift off.

"I think we should talk to this clerk guy and see what's up before we decide." He nodded. "Try to get a read on him. Find out how legit it might be."

"Okay," Riddick agreed, nodding slightly as he turned to look at her, running his fingers through the chucks of hair that had escaped her tight braiding. Her eyes closed sleepily, taking a long time to open again. "Get some sleep," he whispered, pressing his lips to her forehead. "We'll talk more about it tomorrow," she nodded, stifling a yawn before nuzzling against him further. He stifled a laugh, glancing up at the adjoining door as it slowly creaked open. Jack peeked through the crack, and he motioned for her to come in.

"How is she?" Jack asked quietly, not venturing too far into the room.

"She's sleeping," Riddick said. "And you're not because…?" She sighed, dropping into the chair still next to the bed.

"I heard you leave and wondered what was going on. I couldn't go back to sleep," she admitted, rubbing her head.

"Well, get your ass up here then," Riddick said playfully. "We got plenty of room." Jack's eyebrow rose as she lifted her head to look at him. "Look, Jack," he sighed, "I know you've had trouble sleeping for a long time. And I know you think of me as your knight in tarnished armor." A twisted smile crept across her lips. "Maybe it'll be easier if you sleep in here with us tonight. We'll probably ship out tomorrow, depending on what the doc says about Chi." She nodded, quickly scrambling onto the bed behind Riddick as he shifted onto his back, one arm wrapped around Chi and the other around Jack. Chikage mumbled something in her sleep, prompting a quiet giggle from Jack, and the room fell silent.

---

Marie paused outside the door, leaning over to peek in through the window. The sight that greeted her brought a touched smile to her lips, and she shook her head slightly. No, Richard was definitely different. This wasn't the man who had laid on her table and tested restraints every five minutes as needles were inserted into his arms, who growled past the bit between his teeth every time she came near him the first few days after the transfusion as he became accustomed to the changes within him. She turned the knob, knowing it would wake Richard. His eyes followed her as she sat on the stool just inside the door, next to the counter. She waited in silence as he roused Chikage, leaving Jack asleep against his other side.

"What's the word?" Chi asked groggily, rubbing the sleep from her eyes as she sat up slightly. Marie took a breath and let it out in a slow sigh.

"You got lucky, that's what," she said quietly. "Blood tests came back normal, with the exception of a few immunity issues. Nothing major. The TX977 is probably to blame."

"Meaning what?"

"Meaning your immune system is slightly weakened. I wouldn't worry too much about it with the extensive vaccinations you've received though. Those are good for life, so barring any new and potentially serious infections, you should be fine, and even those would probably be highly treatable if caught early enough." Chikage nodded for her to continue. "Body scans were normal," she said with a shrug. "The only thing you need to watch is your immune system, and that's minor."

"So we're good to go then," Riddick said, glancing down at Jack as his voice awakened her slightly.

"I'll start Chikage on a drug to flush out the sedative instead of making you wait for it to wear off, and then you'll be free to go," she said, standing and turning toward the door.

"And our records?" Riddick asked quickly, watching Marie pause, looking over her shoulder at him quickly before turning back to the group.

"I'd like to hang on to them until you decide what you want to do about the IGC. If you decide to go, you'll need it as evidence." He nodded, stretching out an arm toward her.

"I'll take them with me." She nodded, placing Chikage's folders in his hand.

"Yours and Jack's are both still in my office. I'll go get them and bring Chikage's medication." Riddick nodded, his eyes lingering on Marie for a moment before she turned away from him. He shook Jack gently, waking her fully.

"Go get dressed and get your stuff together," he said. "Quickly."

"What's going on?"

"We're getting out of here as soon as Marie flushes the tranquilizers out of Chikage's system." She nodded slowly, rumpling her hair further as she scrambled out of bed and padded back to her room.

---

Chikage had never been so glad to be back on a ship in her entire life. Something about that clinic, actually all hospitals and doctors' offices, gave her a serious case of the willies. She collapsed onto the bed she shared with Riddick, the sheets still disheveled from the day they'd left for the clinic without bothering to make the bed. She buried her face in the pillow he'd used and inhaled deeply, a small smile forming on her lips as she pulled the sheets over her head. She heard Riddick pounding away upstairs on the punching bag and smiled, but it quickly turned into a yawn, and she finally let undrugged sleep take over.

Riddick growled and let off another wicked punch, the pleasing burn in his arms letting up slightly. He sighed, gripping the bag as he leaned his forehead against it, his breath heaving. A trickle of sweat traveled down his right temple, and he wiped it away with his shoulder, giving the bag one final swift knock before stalking to the door and wrenching it open, smiling apologetically as Jack started, nearly dropping the book in her lap.

"How goes it?" he asked, almost breathlessly. She shrugged, writing something on the notebook next to her.

"Okay, I guess."

"What is it today?"

"Math," she said flatly, placing the notebook on top of the book in her lap as she continued writing.

"Want some help?" She glanced up at him quickly, shaking her head. He shrugged, crossing the room to the stairwell doorway. "We're gonna take off in a few hours," he said, continuing down the stairs as he talked up towards her. "Would you mind locking shit down before we go?"

"Got it," she called back to him. He nodded, ducking into the bathroom. After twisting the knob on the shower to get the water going, he peeled his sweat-soaked clothing from his body, stepping under the spray with a contented sigh. Beads of water collected on his eyelashes, and he blinked it away, finally resorting to keeping his eyes closed as the water ran over him. He leaned back against the wall, letting his head loll back against the metal as his thoughts wandered. He wasn't sure yet whether the bad feeling he had about this IGC thing was legitimate or because he'd trained himself not to trust anyone. He had, after all, trusted Chikage to help him get Jack back, and Marie to check both Chikage and him, even Jack, out at the clinic. A heavy sigh, and he reached for the soap.

Chikage was still asleep when he got out of the shower, and he stood in the doorway, a towel wrapped around his waist, just watching her. He shook his head, a tiny smile lingering, and shut the door behind him. She started when the door clicked, shifting slightly in bed as she inhaled sharply.

"I didn't mean to wake you," he said quietly, sitting on the edge of the bed as he dug through a drawer.

"S'okay," she mumbled through a yawn. "When are we leaving?"

"As soon as I get dressed and up to the cockpit," he said, glancing over his shoulder at her. She nodded, reaching out to run her hand over his shoulder and down his back. He stopped rifling through the drawer at her touch, muscles tensing.

"You okay?" she asked gently, sitting up to rest her forehead against his arm.

"Yeah," he said, as though her concern were entirely misplaced. She frowned, and he returned to shuffling through his drawer. "Just thinking about that damn IGC thing." She nodded, placing a light kiss on his skin. "I don't know what to do."

"We go in armed to the teeth," she said simply, punctuating her statement with a gentle bite, smiling as his breath caught. "Guns, knives, shivs, everything," she continued, dropping her voice nearly to a whisper as she trailed kisses down his arm to the inside of his elbow, catching the sensitive skin there tightly between her teeth. "I'll wear those ankle loaders." A quiet rumble vibrated through his chest, and she risked a glance up at him, smiling evilly as he stared down at her, watching her movements with twinkling eyes. She scooted a little closer to him, running her hand around his belly to his side before settling in his lap, her legs wrapping around his waist as she straddled him. His hands slid up her legs, under her pajama pants as her fingers lightly traced the contours of his face. She let a small smile play on her lips as he pulled her closer, burying his face in the crook of her neck, inhaling deeply. "There's something I've always wanted to do to you that you've never given me the chance to before," she whispered. He lifted his head, eyebrow quirked up, and she dropped a kiss on the arch quickly before crushing her lips to his, sinking her teeth into his bottom lip as she forced him backwards, his legs still hanging over the edge of the bed.

She held a corner of the towel around his waist as he scooted fully on the bed, watching as more skin was exposed slowly with a hungry growl. She started at his ankles, sliding her hands up his legs ahead of the slow kisses she trailed, alternating sides. Her eyes lifted to his face as he propped himself up on his elbows, staring down at her darkly, his chest already heaving with hurried breaths. As her kisses led up to the insides of his thighs, she reached behind her, pulling the elastic from the bottom of her braid and letting it fall loose, pausing in her teasing to pull her hair completely free, shaking it out as he fell around her shoulders. She ran her fingers through it, pulling it away from her face as she returned to her pleasant torture, hearing the hitch in his breathing as she worked higher, and she paused to grin up at him before disappearing behind a curtain of brown waves. He gasped at the first contact, his fingers twining in the sheets as her tongue swirled around him, the gasp turning into a gravelly moan, his head falling back as her lips closed around him, slowly sliding down his length. She got about halfway and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath through her nose and exhaling as she forced the muscles in her throat to relax before taking the rest of him in. Her nose touched the skin of his stomach and she inhaled once again through her nose, squeezing her eyes shut as her gag reflex threatened to quick in, but she pushed it away, flattening her tongue against his skin as she slowly withdrew, smiling at the whimper he granted her.

He half expected her to pull away and take a break to breathe, but she repeated the action several times, until his whole body trembled, before she let up and returned to her slow, torturous exploration of him. He threaded his fingers through her hair, smoothing it away from her face, falling back against the pillows as she stared up at him, smiling as she ran her tongue up the length of him. The sight was just too much for him to handle; that she enjoyed doing this to him enough to smile and twinkle her eyes up at him in the process. At every change of direction, he let out some kind of sound, which only served to spur her on. She glanced up at him – his back arched, lip caught between his teeth, arms flexing as his hands pulled at the sheets – and let out a moan of her own, immediately feeling him grasp her shoulders and try to push her away, she shook her head, prompting another groan.

"Chi, if you don't stop right now…" he trailed off with a strangled grunt, and she continued, smirking as he whimpered. His eyes flew open as he felt her thumb press tightly against the base of her current toy, but they scrunched shut again as the waves crashed over him. Another groan left him as he realized he wasn't letting anything go as long as she pressed her thumb into him, and finally the tremors stopped, leaving him even more frustrated than before she even started. "What the fuck?" he finally gasped, watching her sit up and run her fingers over her lips. She only smiled, tossing the towel over him as she left the room. He let out a growl as he fell back against the pillows, shaking his head.

---

Chikage tried to bite back the smile as he stomped up the stairs, flopping into the pilot's chair with a sigh. Jack's eyebrow rose at his demeanor, but he avoided both pairs of eyes as the engines started up and he started toward the end of the port. She let her eyes close for a second, instantly regretting her decision to do that to him, but she reached out for the comm unit, watching his eyes flick over to her quickly.

"Tower, this is the Black Angel requesting permission for takeoff."

"Permission granted. Proceed to runway 15 and await clearance, over." She replaced the hand unit and glanced at him from the corner of her eye. Evidently he was more flustered than she'd figured he would be. Either that or he was so used to using private landing strips he'd forgotten. "Black Angel, you are cleared for takeoff. Safe travel." She clicked the comm off and relaxed back into her chair as he taxied onto the runway. Jack let out a yelp at the fraction of a second of weightlessness before the ship's gravitational spiral started in, and Chikage smiled, but it fell at the sight of Riddick's deep scowl. She bit her lip and turned back to the window.

"I'm gonna go back up to the library," Jack announced. Chikage glanced over her shoulder as Jack unbuckled her harness.

"How's the math going?" she asked, watching the teen stand and stretch.

"It's easy right now," Jack answered with a shrug. "I'm about halfway through the book now."

"Sweet," Chikage said, smiling brightly. "Like I said, the faster you get to it, the faster you get it over with." Jack shrugged again, disappearing down the stairs. Chikage sighed, leaning back in her chair.

"You call that motivation?" Riddick asked with a gruff snicker. She glared over at him. "She's up there busting her ass and all you can come up with is a lame 'I told you so'? Christ." Chikage sighed, shaking her head as she focused on her keyboard, still tucked under the ship's console unused during takeoff. Her fingers closed on the buckles of her harness and she released them, also stretching as she stood. She glared down at him as she walked toward the doorway, his voice making her pause and grin. "You do realize I'm gonna get even, right?"