Lifeline
Chapter 33
Riddick woke with a start, the sheet stuck to his body. He sighed, smoothing the escaped hairs away from Chikage's wet forehead, her face twisted into a pained expression. She groaned, shaking her head as he shook her, finally opening bleary eyes at him.
"You're burning up," he said gently.
"I'm fine," she moaned, shifting next to him.
"Let me see your hand," he pressed, already reaching for her. She put up no resistance as he unwound the gauze, clicking his tongue. "We have to get you to see Marie."
"Why?"
"Your cut's infected," he said, using the gauze to wipe away the green and yellow goo slowly oozing from the wound. She hissed, pulling her hand away to look at it.
"Dude, just shoot me up with some penicillin and soak it in hydrogen peroxide for a while," she mumbled, picking a crusty from the corner of the gash. He batted her fingers away from the infected cut, throwing the covers off. She shivered, but he was already searching for a pair of socks. "Riddick, I'll be fine," she insisted, reaching for the covers.
"Get your shoes on," he said, unfolding the socks and tossing them next to her, pulling his own on.
"Riddick, I'm fine," she repeated.
"Were you not listening to a fucking thing Marie told you?" he exploded. Her eyes widened at his outburst, and she tentatively reached for the socks. "Your immune system is weakened, remember? We have to get you to the clinic. Get your shoes on." She nodded, struggling to sit up. He reached out, helping her up, and she pushed him away weakly. He stared at her for a moment, his eyes lingering on her as he pulled a shirt over his head. As she laced up her boots, he crossed the hall to Jack's room, sitting on the bed next to her.
"What's going on?" Jack asked sleepily, rubbing her eyes.
"Chi has a fever. Her cut's infected," he said quietly, glancing back to their room.
"You're taking her to Marie?"
"Yeah. We're leaving right now." She nodded. "Do you want to come or stay here?"
"It'll be dangerous enough taking her when she's sick," Jack said, shaking her head. "I don't want to hold you up on top of that."
"It's gonna be a slow trip, Jack, and I won't be able to come back until Marie gets her treated and everything," Riddick said slowly. "You sure you want to stay here?"
"Well, since you put it that way…" Jack trailed off, sitting up.
"Don't forget your jacket," Riddick said, standing to return to his room. Chikage had fallen back onto her side, asleep again, and he sighed, scooping her into his arms as Jack emerged from her room, shoes, socks, and jacket in place, her pajamas still on. She shuffled to the cargo hold ladder, watching Riddick shift Chikage over his shoulder before descending, Jack following. She lowered the hatch, quickly catching up with Riddick after keying in the alarm. He moved as quickly as he dared with a limp woman in his arms and young girl in tow, and they reached the clinic within a half hour.
---
"Can I help you?" the clerk asked, brow arched.
"We need to see Marie. It's an emergency," Riddick said, almost breathlessly. Jack glanced up at him, noting the worried expression she'd so rarely seen on his face. Her brows furled.
"Do you have an appointment?"
"We don't need one," Jack snapped. "Just go find Marie." The woman's eyes narrowed. "DO IT!" Jack yelled, drawing the stares of the few other people in the waiting room.
"Jack," Riddick warned quietly. She only scowled up at him quickly before turning back to the clerk and raising her eyebrows. The woman nodded, hurrying away from the desk. Jack and Riddick didn't bother sitting, soon hearing Marie's shoes rapidly click down the hallway behind the door. It flew open, and her face twisted.
"Oh, dear," she whispered. "Come on, bring her in," she said quickly. "Thanks, Anna," she said, managing a quick nod to the still-scowling clerk. Riddick clicked his tongue at Jack as she continued staring the clerk down until her head wouldn't turn any further.
"What?" Jack asked quietly. "She was a bitch."
"She doesn't sleep much Jack," Marie said with a small smile. "She's just a little cranky."
"Well, I'm sorry, but when there's a woman passed out and ghost pale it's pretty fucking obvious it's an emergency," Jack huffed. "Actually, I'm not sorry."
"Jack." Riddick's voice held a combination of warning and amusement, and Jack shot him a glare. "Enough." They followed Marie down the rest of the hallway to the back examination room, where Riddick lowered Chikage to the cot and Marie immediately started an IV drip.
"Do you know what happened?"
"She cut her hand on a gutter. Got infected," Riddick said tightly. Marie glanced at him.
"A gutter?"
"Running from Company monkeys," he explained. Her eyebrow rose, but she didn't ask any more questions, now intently examining Chikage's swollen and angry laceration.
"Do you know how it got infected?"
"I'm guessing it was something on or in the gutter. I pulled some slivers of something out of the cut, but it's in a bag on the ship." He mentally kicked himself for not thinking of grabbing it, but Jack rummaged through her jacket pockets, mumbling to herself until her face lit up and the bag was produced. Marie looked at the contents of the bag and nodded, dropping it into her lab coat pocket before hooking Chi up to heart monitors and other devices.
"I'm going to go ahead and start her on an antibiotic. Let me know if anything happens. I'll just be across the hall in the lab."
"Anything like what?" Riddick asked suspiciously. "Like the sedative incident?" Marie blushed, cringing.
"This antibiotic doesn't sit well with a lot of people, but it's the most broad spectrum drug we have," she explained. "Make sure she stays on her side. Has she eaten recently?" Riddick shook his head. "It'll be dry heaves then. As soon as it starts, if it does, come get me. Don't wait. The longer you wait, the more damage she'll do to her throat and abdomen." Riddick drew a sharp breath, puffing his cheeks out as he released it. Jack collapsed into a chair with a heavy sigh. "I won't be long." And with that, she was gone.
"What do you think?" Jack asked quietly, hugging her knees to her chest. Riddick rubbed his head, his other hand shoved deep into a pocket. He shook his head, squeezing his eyes shut.
"I should have brought her here first. As soon as I found her," he said quietly.
"You didn't know it was infected, Riddick," she said. "How would you have known you needed to do that?"
"I should have anyway, just in case," he insisted.
"Well, she's here now, and that's all that matters," Jack pressed, shaking her head.
"But with her immune system all fucked up the way it is…" he trailed off with a sigh.
"Don't do that, Riddick," Jack said quietly. He glanced at her and nodded, collapsing into the other chair next to Jack. He stared at his hands in his lap, the worry still plastered all over his face. Jack's fingers closed around his and squeezed gently, and he looked up at her, managing a small smile before looking to the door as Marie returned.
"No heaves?" They both shook their heads. "Good. It's a common bacteria. Not a big deal. I'll keep her on the antibiotic she's on now and we'll just watch her. Did you give her anything before you left?"
"No," Riddick said, shaking his head. "I thought about giving her penicillin – it's all I have – but I didn't know if it would work and I didn't want to take any chances."
"Good. I'm going to stay here for about a half hour, if that's okay." Riddick shrugged. "If she doesn't have any reactions within the first half hour she'll be fine for the night." Jack nodded, forcing a smile up at Riddick as she squeezed his fingers again. This time, he squeezed back.
---
Riddick opened an eye to look at Chikage, who'd let out another weak whimper, only this time she shifted under the sheets. Another silver orb appeared in the darkness, quickly glancing at a snoring Jack before Riddick stood and crouched next to Chikage's bed. He reached out, tucking a wisp of hair behind her ear, watching her start and inhale sharply. She stretched, making a little gurgling sound before opening her eyes into little slits.
"Hey," he whispered, forcing a small smile as he lightly stroked her cheek. She blinked, mouthing the word back to him. "How you feelin'?" She shrugged, closing her eyes again. "Marie's got you on an antibiotic. Should take care of the infection," he continued. She nodded, opening her eyes again. "At least a little better?"
"Yeah, a little," she whispered. "But I'm hungry." Riddick chuckled, running his hand over her hair.
"That's a good sign," he said, a small smile still lingering. "I'm hoping she'll let us take you home later today. Give you some pills or something."
"Oh, I'm not a good pill taker," she said quickly, shaking her head. Riddick's eyebrow rose. "Strong gag reflex." A sly smile spread over his face, and her brows furled. "What?"
"Strong gag reflex my ass," he quipped. She finally realized what he was referring to and grinned.
"That's different." His eyebrow rose. "It is. That's voluntary, and takes quite a bit of will power, might I add."
"Ah." The conversation lulled, and her eyelids grew heavy again. Riddick kissed her forehead, smiling as her hand looped around his neck.
"Stay with me," she whispered. He removed her hand from his neck and stood, glancing quickly at Jack. "She's fine, Rick," Chi whispered, stifling a yawn. "She knows."
"Knows what?" he asked, crawling up the foot of the bed to lie behind her. She snuggled back against him as his arm settled over her. "Lift your head," he commanded quietly. She complied, and he slid his arm under her, cradling her head on his shoulder as he wrapped his arm around her chest, his hand resting on her rib cage.
"She knows about us, Rick," Chi said. Riddick tensed behind her, and she chuckled. "Chill out. It wasn't going to be a secret for long."
"Um…" Riddick paused, glancing over Chi's shoulder to make sure Jack was still asleep. "What does she think about it?"
"I don't know. I haven't talked to her about it," she answered with a shrug.
"So how do you know she knows?"
"She's not dumb. And she's definitely more observant than you think." Riddick smiled.
"I know how observant she is," he said quietly. "She thought to bring the bag of little slivers I pulled out of your hand and I didn't."
"You were preoccupied," she said with a shrug.
"Yeah, well…" he trailed off, letting the conversation stop. "Get some sleep," he whispered. She nodded, feeling his lips press against the back of her neck before she closed her eyes again. Neither saw Jack open her eyes for a moment and grin.
---
Jack chewed on her thumbnail, staring at Riddick nervously from the navigator's seat, while Chikage sat cross-legged in the floor, running her fingers over the scar forming on the palm of her hand as they listened to his side of the conversation.
"Yeah. Two days, Mason. I'll let you know. Right." He hung up and swiveled the chair around to face the two women.
"Well?" Jack said quickly. Chikage glanced up at him, her eyes quickly falling back to her hand.
"They granted the request for a hearing." Jack let out a whoop, launching out of her chair, but Riddick and Chikage remained still, now just staring at each other, and Jack's celebration halted suddenly.
"Isn't that a good thing?"
"Well, it means we have to make an appearance," Chikage said quietly.
"But I thought this Mason guy did the research. Found the evidence and everything," Jack said, confused.
"We still have to testify," Riddick said, glancing over at the teen. Jack heaved a sigh and plopped on the floor next to Chi.
"So what are you going to do?" Chikage and Riddick looked at each other for a moment.
"I don't know yet," Riddick said quietly. "That's something we all need to talk about, I guess." Jack nodded, glancing quickly at Chikage, who was still staring at her hand. "You okay, Chi?" Her eyes darted up to his, and she gave him a dismissive smile, waving the question away. His eyebrow rose, but he let it go for the time being. "So Jack. What do you think?"
"I want the bounty off your head, Riddick," she said quietly. "Whatever it takes. You and Chi both." He saw Chikage glance at Jack from the corner of her eye, but didn't point it out.
"You have any idea how risky this is Jack?" She thought for a moment, then nodded. "I mean, we only have temporary immunity during the hearing, meaning if they decide they don't agree, we're stuck in an IGC meeting room and they can call Company ahead of time to assemble a time to try to bring us in."
"Like you said," Jack said with a smile, "Try to bring you in." Riddick snickered, shaking his head, but the humor dissipated quickly. His smirk fell, and Jack's smile followed. "I want you to be free, Riddick," she said, raising her green eyes to his. "I want to be able to walk down a street with you and use your real name, not have to try to remember which one you decided to use that day. I want you to be able to do whatever you want and go wherever you want without having to look over your shoulder or rename your ship and change the certificates or go by a different name." Jack stopped suddenly, shaking her head.
"Chi?" She felt his eyes focus on her and shrugged. "You have to have some opinion, Chi," Riddick pressed gently.
"I want whatever you two want," she answered, her voice barely above a whisper, still strained from the antibiotics she'd just finished taking. His eyebrow twitched downward slightly, and he continued watching her for any sign of emotion.
"What do you want, Riddick?" Jack asked. He snapped his attention from Chikage, and shrugged.
"I don't know," he said seriously. "I think life might be a little boring without the bounty." Jack giggled, but Chi wasn't laughing. Her head rose, eyes meeting his. "But it'd be nice to be able to live without having to worry about who's gonna try to kill me next."
"You're being awfully ambiguous, Rick," Chi said quietly. "Make up your mind."
"And what about you?" Riddick fired back. Chi's brow arched.
"I told you. It doesn't matter to me. I want what you want."
"Um, should I go to the other room and let you guys talk?" Jack asked quietly. Riddick broke his gaze from Chikage and chuckled a little.
"No, Jack. I, uh…" he trailed off, glancing at Chikage. "I want to try this. I mean, hell. If I can get you and Imam out of a pack of hammerhead people eaters, I think I can get Chi out of a room filled with IGC pussies," he said with a shrug.
"Who's gonna get you out?" Jack asked quietly.
"What do you mean?" Her large eyes met his silver ones, and he blinked.
"Who's gonna be your Carolyn, like back with the hammerheads? She got you out," Jack said, a touch of hurt in her voice. Chi tried to find an answer on his face, but it was the statue expression again. He stared at Jack for a moment, then glanced at Chi and left the room. Jack sighed, shaking her head, finally resorting to staring out the window at the tarmac.
"Who's Carolyn?" Chikage asked quietly. Jack's lip trembled, and she didn't answer, only glanced at Chi as she ran from the room. Chikage heard Jack slam her door, just as the hatch started to lower. "What the fuck just happened?" she asked the empty room.