Chapter Seven

"Well? Come on Merc, tell me how you feel about me." Riddick teased and she looked back down at her keyboard.

"You're a friend." She said and saw him perk an eyebrow out of the corner if her eye.

"Just a friend? What about what happened in the cargo hold?"

"What about it?"

"If that piece of junk hadn't set off the sensors then we would've kissed."

"Left over feelings, nothing more nothing less." Anna said and he touched the back of her neck quickly.

"You're blushing."

"I thought you couldn't see color."

"I can't, but the back of your neck is really warm and I remember whenever you blushed back when we were teens the back of your neck became red."

"You're too damn observant." She said and he smirked.

"I know, I do it just to piss you off."

"I noticed." She said and she felt the blush dissipate. She looked at him and found him looking at her a certain way and the blush was back full force. "Don't do that!" she said pushing her laptop off her lap and getting off the bed, she left the room to sound of him cackling. Shaking her head and muttering obscenities in different languages, she sat down in the pilots' chair in the cockpit and looked out into space. After a while she heard him come up from behind her and lean against the chair with his elbow on the headrest. She looked up at him and saw that he had his goggles on, she looked back out and even though she couldn't see it she felt him looking at her. "Richard, I'm not comfortable with you lurking over my shoulder." He stayed there so she got up and he straightened, blocking her path. "Could you move please?" Riddick, instead of moving, put an arm around her waist and pulled her against him making a small surprised noise come out of her mouth. She put a hand to his hard chest. "Please don't..."

"Don't what? This?" he asked right before he kissed her, she pressed against his mouth and wrapped her arms around his neck. When they broke apart they were both breathless.

"We shouldn't be doing this." she panted. "I have a boyfriend."

"I don't care." Riddick said kissed her again. His arms still around her waist, he lifted her off her feet and walked forward sitting down in the pilots' chair with her straddling his lap. He unzipped her flight jumpsuit and...

"Wake up Anna." She jerked out of her dream when she heard Riddick's voice above her, she looked up to see him, what else, leaning against the chair with his elbow on the headrest wearing his goggles. "If you were still tired you shoulda said something."

"No, I'm not tired." Anna said but her body and mind wasn't convinced by evidence of the large yawn she tried to stifle as soon as the last word was out of her mouth. He smirked.

"Yeah, right. Come on." He said and took her hand pulling her out of the chair. "You can't sleep here, your neck and back will kill you as soon as you wake up."

"The voice of experience?"

"Absolutely." Riddick said as he led her back to her room. He set her laptop on the floor gently, placing it just under the bed and laid her down. He covered her up with the blanket and she snuggled into them, closing her eyes. "Sleep well honey." He whispered and gently placed his lips to her forehead, but she was already under. He touched her face gently and ran his thumb along her bottom lip before he straightened.

So beautiful. He thought as he gazed down at her. Riddick lay behind her and stared at her hair for the longest time. She rolled over in her sleep to face him and he flicked a piece of hair off her forehead. A blush crept up her neck and cheeks and he wondered, with a small smile, what she was dreaming about.

"Richard..." she said and he perked an eyebrow. He leaned in close and dropped his voice as low it could go.

"Anna..." he whispered and she smiled.

"Oh god Richard." She said and her eyes snapped open, her eyes widened and she jumped back slightly seeing him so close to her. "What're you...I didn't talk in my sleep did I?"

"No." he said backing away a little.

No need to embarrass the girl...erm...woman. Dear god she is a woman isn't she? He thought and got off the bed.

"How long was I asleep?" Anna asked sitting up on the edge of the bed with her back to him.

"About an hour or so." He said and she stood.

"I'm just gonna go and um..." she motioned to the door. "Take a shower." "Okay." Riddick said and she turned to leave. "Anna." She turned to look at him.

"Yes?" she asked.

"Uh...have a nice shower." Riddick said and she shrugged.

"There's a better chance than not that I will." she said and left, leaving the door open behind her. When she was gone he flopped down on the bed with his knees hanging off the edge and put the heels of his hands over his eyes.

So fucking stupid. He thought and lay there until he heard the shower turn off. What the FUCK am I doing to do? Riddick heard the door open behind him and leapt up, resisting the urge to drop his jaw. Her hair was slicked back, her skin was still flushed from the heat of the water and she was in a towel. He was jerked out of his daze when there was action in his pants.

"I'll leave you to get dressed." He said and left the room quickly.

When he was gone, Anna shrugged and got dressed in a fresh flight jumpsuit.

I don't understand him. She thought and dried her hair, grabbing a brush out of her dresser and brushing her hair back. She left the room to find him in the pilots' chair, his goggles hanging off the arm. She leaned against the chair and he looked up at her.

"Hi." He said and looked back out.

"Hi." Anna said and sighed walking around the chair and sitting in his lap, her knees hooked over the arm. He looked at her in surprise.

"What are you doing?" Riddick asked.

"Baking a cake, what's it look like I'm doing? I'm sitting in your lap."

"Why though?"

"I don't know exactly. It just felt right." She said and he looked away. "What's up with you?"

"What do you mean?"

"You've been acting all squirrelly ever since I woke up."

"Squirrelly?"

"Just answer my question."

"What was it again?" Riddick asked avoiding it.

"Richard." Anna said sternly and he sighed.

"I don't know, it's just that I've realized that when we first got back together that I've been seeing you as a teenager. But just now, back in your room I mean, I saw you as a woman. And it scared me a little."

"Why would that scare you?"

"Because when you were a teen you were super cute, and now you're...you're..."

"I'm?"

"Beautiful, we've missed out on so much in each others lives, I missed you becoming a woman and I'm scared that I'm going to do something that will kill our friendship." Riddick said and she took his face in her hands.

"Richard, there is nothing that you could do that would ever make us not be friends. You could kill me and the last thought going through my head would be that you are my friend. I love you Richard, you know that right?"

"Yes, and I love you too, you were always there for me no matter what I did. But now, you are this beautiful woman that I just want to have and I'm just scared that I'm going to hurt you somehow." Riddick said looking away and she swerved her head so she could catch his eye again.

"You know what? I've been seeing you as this teenager too, I mean its only logical since that was how I last saw you, and you're right we have missed a lot of things in each others lives. I missed you becoming a man, a hot one at that. I mean back when we were fifteen you were skinny and had that scraggly brown hair."

(A/N: yes I know that if Vin Diesel grew his hair out he would have a fro, but if you've ever seen The Chronicles of Riddick, in the beginning Riddick has longish light brown hair, so that's where I got it from.)

"But now look at you. You're heads shaven." Anna said and ran a hand over his shaven head. "You're no longer skinny, aesthetically you're amazing. And combined with your twisted sense of humor and that personality of yours, you're perfect." She said but he shook his head.

"No I'm not, I've done things that I couldn't even tell you about and..." Riddick said but she silenced him by placing her fingers on his lips.

"You're perfect, even with all your faults." She said and removed her fingers, laying a hesitant kiss on his forehead.