Chapter Six

That night Anna and Riddick got ready for bed and she got changed into her pajamas while he was in the bathroom. They climbed into bed and lay with their backs to each other.

"Sweet dreams Anna." She heard him say.

"Sweet dreams Richard." She said and she fell asleep almost instantly.

When she woke she found herself facing him; their legs hooked together and faces an inch apart. She looked down at his bare chest and positioned a hand over it. Could she dare? She gently laid her hand on it and felt his heart beat into her palm. He stirred and she withdrew her hand quickly checking to see if he was awake, he wasn't, his eyelids fluttering as he experienced REM sleep.

He was back on that planet. Leading the survivors to safety, only when he stopped and looked back he didn't see Jack, Imam and everyone else, all he saw was Anna, holding a liquor bottle torch and looking at him.

"Richard?" she asked right before he saw arm spikes of one of the creatures come through her chest. He darted forward and grabbed her arms to try to save her, but she was pulled out of his grasp and dragged away into the night.

"Anna!" he yelled out and kept yelling it out into the living night.

"Richard!" Anna yelled and he came awake with a start, she gathered him into her arms and held him while he shook.

"It was just a dream, it was just a dream." He chanted over and over again as she stroked his head and neck.

"I'm guessing it was about me, you kept yelling my name until I managed to wake you up." she said and for his own sanity he pulled away checking her upper chest and shoulders for holes, and found none. He allowed her to hold him again while he continued to shake, strong tremors running through his body every now and then. "Do you want to tell me about it?" she asked and he shook his head against her shoulder, wrapping his arms around her waist

"It was terrible." He said and she made shushing noises while she continued to run her hand down the back of his head and neck. "You died and I couldn't save you."

"I thought you didn't want to tell me about it."

"I changed my mind."

"Okay, go on."

"I was back on T2, and on that planet there were these creatures that came out every 22 years."

"I read the survivor reports and saw the drawings the girl Jack had done based on what 'the third survivor' had described to her." Anna said and he nodded.

"Like I said I was back on the planet, I thought I was leading the survivors of the crash to the skiff, but when I looked back all I saw was you holding a liquor bottle torch. You said my name right before you were speared in the chest by one of the creatures arm spikes from behind. I tried to save you but you were pulled out of my grasp. You died and I couldn't save you." Riddick said and she looked at him.

"Its okay, I'm okay, I'm not dead and you are far away from the planet." She said and he nodded. "I remember when we were little, and every time I would have a nightmare I would run into your room and you would comfort me even though you were just as young as I was, amazing how much the roles changed isn't it?"

"No kidding." He said and she smiled.

"You think you could go back to sleep?"

"For quite some time I venture." Riddick said yawning widely and lay back down. She held him until he was asleep and got up going into the bathroom to shower.

When Anna got back into her bedroom, he wasn't there. She went down to the kitchen, but he wasn't there either. She went up to the cockpit and did an internal bio scan, finding herself in the cockpit but Riddick wasn't even on the ship.

"What the fuck?" she asked herself. Thinking of something she did an external bio scan and found him outside the ship in an observation suit connected to the ship by a hose that fed the suit oxygen, he sitting on the hull. She opened the comm to the radio in the suit's helmet. "Richard?"

"Yes?" his voice came from the speaker.

"What are you doing?" she asked and there was dead air for a second.

"Looking at space, come out here's its beautiful." He said and she smiled slightly.

"I'll be there soon." She said.

"Okay." she shut down the comms and went to the observation air lock, putting on the second suit. She went out the air lock, sealing it behind her and sat on the hull next to Riddick.

"I was right wasn't I?" she heard his voice come through the radio. She looked out into space and watched a comet go past in the distance.

"Yes you were right." Anna said.

"She finally admits it." She could hear the grin in his voice.

"Oh shut up." she said and heard him laugh through the earphones. "How long have you been sitting out here?"

"Since you left the bed."

"I made sure that you were asleep when I got up."

"I woke up when I felt you leave."

"You felt me leave?"

"The weight on the bed shifted."

"Oh. Come on let's go inside." She said and there was dead air.

"Okay." Riddick said after a long while and they stood, going into the air lock and sealing it. They took off the suits and stored them in the decontamination locker to kill any space faring viruses and bacteria.

They got something to eat and were back up in the room, lying on the bed. She was typing on her laptop and he was reading. After a while his curiosity got the better of him, that and the rapid clicking of the keys was starting to get annoying.

"What are you writing?" Riddick asked and she looked at him.

"Every time I get an assignment I write a book about it as I go on in the mission, I don't use my real name or the convicts, so far the books are best sellers."

"Ah...so what's your name in these books?"

"Jessica Forbes." She said and he smirked.

"What's my name in this book?"

"Roget Owens, but everyone calls you Owens." She said smiling and he groaned.

"Roget Owens? You couldn't have thought of a better name for me?" he asked and she laughed.

"And miss the agonized look on your face? Absolutely not!" she said and he groaned again. "You enjoying that book?"

"Yes." he said and tilted it back up again so he could continue reading.

"You know it's a romance novel don't you?" she asked and he looked up.

"I do now." he said and closed it tossing it to the end of the bed. "No wonder the title was Hearts of Fire." He said with his head in his hands and she laughed again continuing to type. "Why oh why, do you have a romance novel?"

"Jacobs gave it to me, he said its what normal women read." She said.

"No offence, but Jacobs sounds like a real idiot."

"He's sweet though."

"And what does he do?"

"He goes to junk stores, buys stuff, fixes it up then sells it on Ebay."

"Ah...so he's a scavenger."

"Yup, makes a lot of money doing it too."

"Do you love him?" Riddick asked and Anna looked at him, shocked.

"Why would you ask something like that?"

"It's a reasonable question, do you love him?" he asked and she closed the screen on her laptop, pushing it off her lap.

"I don't know, I mean I care a lot about him, but he's too innocent."

"He's a civilian."

"To the max." Anna said and he nodded as if he understood.

"Then why are you still with him?"

"Because I care about him, and he loves me."

"But you don't love him." he made it a statement, not a question.

"Not really."

"What about me?" Riddick asked.

"What about you?" she asked pulling her laptop back on her lap.

"How do you feel about me?" he asked and she looked at him.