Riddick awoke to the alarm of the vid-phone. The first thing that came to his mind was that he wasn't alone in his bed. There were few times he had awoken to find himself with another person beside him and he could count them all on one hand. Two of which were with Jack. The first time was on the skiff; they had huddled together during their flight from T2 while the holy man slept the dreamless sleep of exhaustion and grief.
Jack had screamed between periods of agitated sleep that one night and he was so tired that the only thing that seemed to calm her was his bloodied battered arm around her. He chuckled to himself thinking what had been going through his mind. I'd wish she'd just shut the fuck up.
But he smiled remembering that once she laid her head on his chest and he ordered her to sleep, that he had felt oddly calm. That the warmth of her body and the complete trust she gave him changed something in him that he thought was never there to begin with.
Riddick also remembered that night many times since that night when his demons would come and he couldn't keep them at bay and that in that one harmless act, she had gotten farther than anyone else had been allowed. It was then when he realized that the kid he saved might have just saved him.
Only one man would be sending a message to him after the hasty one he had sent after their scrape in New London. He lifted his head trying to see if he was dreaming or if it was actually the message he'd been waiting for. He wanted the dream of being with Jack and Jack only to continue, but knew that reality would ultimately creep into his comfortable little world and tear it all down. He wanted control of that, and through Salim, he would have it.
Jack was curled against his side, her hand nestled against his chest sleeping peacefully. He looked down and also reminded himself with a smile that she was completely naked…perfectly satiated and finally his. That fact, if nothing else, made him smile, a broad shit eating grin that he dared anyone to try and knock off.
His mind recounted every detail from the night before. Vivid images and sounds flooded his brain causing him to stir in a way that could get him distracted from the task at hand. He needed to see this message, and he needed to figure out an answer. And for that, he needed Jack. But looking at her angelic form he didn't want to disturb her, so he had a problem.
His mind still remembered how she felt, how she tasted, and the sound of her voice, sending him into a mood he'd rarely felt, the mood of being satisfied and happy.
Life is good …he thought to himself. Only his groan of frustration woke her. "Sorry kid, we got a message."
"The last message nearly got you killed, ignore it." She offered snuggling against his pillow. "Come back to bed."
"Ah, normally that would be a good plan, but it's from Salim." He answered sitting up and putting his pants on. He turned as she shot up in the bed gathering the sheet around her looking incredibly sexy in that position. "Jack, as lovely as this visual is, we need to know what's going on."
Her glare was answer enough. She wanted nothing more to do with any of it. He told her that she'd never had to go back but he also knew that they would never stop running if they didn't finish it.
Jack looked at him with a face of desperation. "Jack." He started pulling her into his lap, sheet and all. "We can't run forever."
"NO! We can't go back. I can't go back Riddick. I won't go back." She said playing with the edges of the sheet shaking like a leaf. She rambled on giving every reason she could think of why they needed to stay away.
After she was done, still trembling, he began to speak, his voice low and full of feeling, "I'm not gonna let them hurt you. We have to finish this or we'll never be free. You want that don't you?"
"Of course I do." She scoffed. "But you have no idea what waits for us there. If they find out that I've returned they'll arrest me, give me to Faisal, he'll rape and sodomize me, beat me and have the right to kill me because I disobeyed the council, ran and had sex with you. I could take the beatings but I won't let him touch me the way you have. I'll slit my wrists first."
His breath stopped in his chest because he knew she would do it. "Jack," he nearly shouted, his voice determined. "You will not ever even think about doing that to yourself. You hear me? You WILL NOT start thinking that shit. "
He sat there and let her cry because he knew she understood. "I won't let him hurt you. No matter how bad it gets, and it may get bad, know he won't live another second if he touches you."
"Why can't we get what we want? Why is it so fucken hard just to live?" she asked as he laid her down and stroked her cheek.
"Because some mother fuckers like to make it that way." He told her holding her silently for a while.
"Riddick?" she asked a little while later, "what do you want?"
He laughed a sad cynical laugh. "You really want to know?"
"I do. I've always been curious, but since you're such a chatty guy I never hear anything but… oh Jack, right there baby…" she scoffed as his hand came close to smacking that favorite cheek of his.
"Seriously?" he began, "I've never known normal. Don't laugh. Since I came back, you treated me like a man, not a convict or a payday, and I've thought about things. With you, I could be myself, even when it frightened you, and I know it did. You never judged me. You aren't afraid of what I am. Part of me wants a job, a home, someone who'll stick around. Kids… I thought for a long time that I'd never have those things because I'm a fucking animal, but…"
"Things are different now." She said timidly realizing the magnitude of his confession.
"Yes, Jack. Things are different and I'm gonna do whatever takes to get that, with you." He told her kissing her forehead.
She started to cry, a joyous cry that made her heart nearly burst. He hadn't told her that he loved her but it was just as good.
"Oh, Riddick! I should be naked more often, if it gets you sentimental like this." She smirked as he wiped her tears and kissed her.
"That princess can be arranged." He whispered in her ear and the message, Salim, and the bounties on their heads were temporarily forgotten.
Hours and hours later, Jack carried the usual morning coffee, although it was sometime before dinner, as Riddick stared out into the blackness. His admission to her was so unexpected that he was unsure and wondered if he had gone too far, or if he had not been able to make his point.
Or if he was just out of his fucken mind…
"Can you read Arabic?" he asked looking at the message from Salim and tapping a boot on the footrest.
"Yes, I learned out of respect but mostly out of necessity." She told him standing at his side. He took the steaming cup, sipped it and closed his eyes.
"Tell me what it says."
"It's in code. Wait, let me get my laptop." She said scooting out off the bridge.
Riddick looked at the arrangement of numbers. It was a set of coordinates and a date, three weeks from now.
When she returned she decoded it to say:
"Mr. Riddick, the bounty has been raised to one million five. You must return. He will not stop until she is found. There will be no safe place for either of you.
You were spotted in New London. You were also seen in New Singapore. Nowhere is safe. We will be waiting for you. Jack will need to have new idents for you and her. The Carmichael's are on the hot list. There is danger here. Meet us in the spaceport on Hellion 2."
"Looks like trouble." He said. "Can you send a coded transmission back to him?"
"Yes, what do you want me to say?" she asked looking grave.
"Tell him that we'll find our own way back to New Mecca but to be ready when we come."
She typed the code and hit the transmit button walking away without another word. She didn't want to talk to him, she only wanted to run and he was not going to let her.
Sometime later, he walked into the mess, where she was organizing the food stores. "Jack." He said quietly.
"What?" she asked not turning around.
"You know we have to do this." He told her putting his arms on either side of the counter. "The last thing I want to do is make any mistakes. Running can only get us so far. We can't live like that...trust me, they'll find us. We need to go get them first."
"I shouldn't have insisted on going to the planet." She said feeling guilty.
He watched her turn her face away. He wasn't going to let her take the blame. He was the one who insisted. "No Jack. You're not doing this. No mercs, just Salim's people. If he saw us, then it's possible that someone else did too. We've got to go back. Then I'm taking that son of a bitch out and that will be the end of it."
"Then what?" she asked looking at him quiet and afraid. "What happens then?"
"What do you want Jack?" he asked almost afraid to hear her answer. He had an idea but never went down that road until now.
"Truly?" She said playing with his shirt. "You. Without mercs, or the threat of death and return to slam. No more people, no more paydays. I just want to live my life."
"Really?" he asked lifting her chin to look at him. The lights were low and his shined eyes reflected her so beautifully. "Am I important to you?"
Say the words Jack. I know you feel them."Yes and it's not because you saved me all those years ago."
"Jack." He said pulling her into his arms, holding her there his arms strong and protective. "I'm not gonna let them hurt you. And it's not because I owe you for being nice to me."
"It's because you love me isn't it?" Well damn if she didn't nail me good there.
She's right and now was as good a time as any to tell her. "Yes."
Shit, she's crying again. "Jack, it's gonna be okay. I won't let anything go wrong."
"You can't be sure. I know you'll try. It's nice to know that you care so much about me like I care about you. I mean, all the time you were away, I figured something was…aw shit. I can't do this." She says running out of the mess and down the hallway.
What the fuck just happened? I just confessed my love and this is what happens?
Hell No Jack. "JACK?" I say running down the hallway. Whenever she gets upset she runs.
"Go away." She tells me sitting on the floor in her room, not the one I share but the one she slept in for a few nights when she first got on board. It felt cold and empty.
"Jack, say something damn it." I bellow.
Right now she's looking away and I'm trying to figure out what the hell she's thinking. I mean I can understand giving it up to someone who kills people is kind of fucked, but hey this is Jack. But I don't think that that's what's bothering her.
"Riddick?" She says her face pale and sweaty. I never realized how much this shit was scaring her. I can't help that now. We have to go back and end it and I can't make that any better.
I can do what I do best. I can kill those mother fuckers and finally get my life.
"Yeah Jack?" I ask looking at her trying to convince her that I'm gonna make that dream happen.
"You're timing sucks." She says laughing from nerves.
"How's that?" I say stroking her neck and inhaling her scent and trying to distract her.
"Faisal is a very powerful man." She tells me as I walk her back towards our room.
"He's also a very dead man." I say as I gently guide her with my hand at the small of her back. "No one is touching what's mine and I think you know that."
"I'm a liability. He'll use you to hurt me then he'll just hurt me. He hasn't forgotten my little reminder." She tells me in the voice I know means she's pulling away.
No he won't Jack, I'm gonna kill him slow and easy. Then that bitch is next."Jack, I know you think that you're doing what's best by pulling back, but it ain't gonna work. I've had you, and I won't be going back to the way it was. You hear me? This," I say sitting her on my bed, our bed, "is not something I'm giving up."
"If you put it that way." She says trying to smile. I think I've made my point.
That's right Jack believe in us. "Salim," I tell her kissing her hands, those hands that I remember being so soft, "is going to help us. You know him better than I do. You tell me, can we trust him?"
She's leaning on her elbows and looking at me, starting to think about, "Yes."
"And," I tell her as my fingers start tracing the outline of her ribs, working my way up. "all of his men. I've got a plan and Salim and I worked on it before we left. I'm not gonna lie, it's dangerous. We'll workout every day getting strong enough and fast enough. Do you can handle that? I plan on ghosting Mohammed and getting that bounty off our heads for good."
She's thinking about it now wondering what I'm gonna do.
But, I'm not wanting her to think about that right now. "What are you saying Riddick?"
"I'm thinking it's time you," I tell her giving her a kiss on the soft part of her wrist, "and I, work on something a little more permanent."
"Really?" she says heavy lidded and aroused, cause I'm taking my time and making her that way.
"Yes, you're stuck with me princess."
"Good, I hate wondering, uh about mm that." She tells me arching against my body.
I know one thing is true, if I can keep her strong enough to believe that, then we can get through anything.