To all those shippers everywhere, I will not disappoint in this chappie. Two in one day as promised!!
Dedicated to Dreamingchild, Rose, Riddick's Sita, Prancergirl002 and a ( ) and all those ladies who just live for fluffie goodness!!!
I am not worthy you all make my day. Sighs... Break out the tissues girls, its a fluffy chappy.
Anne stood between Kalifa and Akbar, like a pawn on a chessboard. Her blonde hair and the dark clothing she wore was a deep contrast to the light from the night sky and the dim lights that still burned in the courtyard.
"Step away from the woman." Kalifa said, scimitar in hand, with such force that Anne almost didn't recognize him. His dark features and penetrating eyes bored into her and then passed to Akbar who stood, drunk and unruly before them.
"This whore isn't worth the trouble." He said lunging towards her when he was thrust back violently slamming against the wall.
Anne stood her hand exposed the smoke from the pulse rifle still rising. "Murderess!" she heard a shout coming from behind her and a small body dove at her.
Kalifa pulled off Farah from her and knocked her down, drawing blood from her nose and mouth. Her screams echoed so loudly that Salim winced at the sound of her voice.
"Whore! Viper, all of you are whores!" she screamed holding her face and screaming. "First the Adeni, now you!"
"Live in shame Farah, for you're nothing but garbage to me." Kalifa said taking Anne by the hand, looking into her unveiled face with such love, and then looking back with revulsion at his ex-wife. "You lay with filth, you are filth."
The he shot a look at one of the dead guards, the one she had slept with, taunted him with and he smiled enraging her further.
She got up, a short dagger in her hand andran at him, an ear splitting scream coming from her mouth when another pulse weapon went off throwing her to the ground.
"I told you kill them all." Riddick boomed carrying Jack who was bleeding and unconscious a pulse pistol in his hand. Farah dropped to the ground, smoldering against the tiles vacant eyed staring up at the black sky. "We don't have time for this shit."
Anne ran to Jack, removing her abaya and wrapping her as Riddick carried her towards the back doors. "Get to the ship. Split up if you have to I don't care, but get what you've got to and get moving, I'm not staying around." He said looking at everyone.
And in a blink, he was gone.
I shouldn't have left her. Damn it. Now look at her, she's fucken hamburger. And it's my fault.
"Riddick?" Sasha pipes in and I swear it's Jack whispering in my fucken ear.
"Yeah Doc?" I reply, yeah I'm talkin to a god damn machine.
"Jack is fading, move your ass." She orders, and I'm running down the darkened street.
She won't die. That shit is NOT happening.
"Riddick, I've got my mainframe prepping for a hot transfer, I'm going to need you to be strong."
"I'm strong Doc, been through worse." I tell her, but not like this.
I can't lose her now. Not when we're clear. "Are they all dead?" she asks and my mind drifts a bit to hear Jack. My Jack, my sweet Jack.
"Yeah. Ghosted them all, just like I said." I tell her and look up and see my ship in view. "We're coming in, two minutes Doc, be ready."
"I am and don't worry, I'll take good care of them." She tells me and I'm suddenly confused but I can't give a shit about that now because I'm running up the gang plank with her in my arms.
Anne, Kalifa and Salim ran behind Riddick but had a harder time keeping up the pace. When they reached the ship, they saw him and Jack disappear up the gang plank and Salim hit the emergency hatch closing the ship up for immediate launch.
From the long hallway that ran the entire span of the ship, Annebooked towards the noise, towhat she assumed was the medical suite.
"Doc, scan her and hurry up." He shouted as she ran in, dressed in her pilgrim's skirt and blouse. His pained eyes darted between the blue light and her, both impatient and worried.
"Scan commencing Riddick." Jack's sultry voice announced as he stood panting.
Jack laid on the table, tattered and bleeding. Riddick's hand, the one stopping the puncture from bleeding freely, moved away from her for just long enough for the blue diagnostic light to pass.
He replaced his hand feeling the blood ooze between his fingers and bit his lip.
Fuck Jack,. You can't quit on me now. Not when we're safe…
"Riddick. I can help. You need to prep for launch. Get us airborne so we can get away."
"I'm NOT leaving her." he bellowed, his silver eyes squinting in the harsh light. He dared her to fuck with him. I've killed people for less than that...
"You're not doing her any good by getting caught. There will be tribunal members swarming that place before long. Hurry." She implored as Salim and Kalifa found their way towards them.
He debated moving. She was right and he hated that fact. Then looked at the vid screen and saw her vitals, weak but stable. "Once we're clear, I'm coming back." He growled, not caring how she took it.
"Fine, by then I should know more. Please, hurry." She said moving to where he stood. "I promise you, I will take good care of her."
Kalifa stood in the doorway, staring at Jack who lay bloody and still on the table. His heart broke remembering how he found his sister Yasmine, much in the same condition, but dead, not alive like Jack. He prayed for strength and hope, but faltered when Anne began to move what was left of the garments.
"You, come with me. Secure every hatch you find. Salim, make sure we're not still attached to the landing bay. We're gonna need to get the hell out of here without a sound." He barked walking passed them and putting on his goggles. "The shit's gonna hit the fan and I want to get the fuck out of here as soon as possible."
Anne walked to the console and plugged mini Sasha in to big Sasha's mainframe. "Sasha this is the update you need. Give me the run down, worst off first."
"Anne, she had major blood loss from puncture wound above right clavicle. Her blood pressure is weak and her pulse erratic. We need to replace that blood loss now. No puncture of lung tissue. Jack had me synthesize several units of whole blood. Please infuse immediately."
Anne ran an IV line directly into her forearm and ran it fast and heavy. "Okay, next."
"Put a sterile pressure dressing on that wound until we access the other injuries." She crooned, as Anne went back to the cabinets and got what she needed.
"Next, remove all the bloodied clothes so I can do a detailed scan of her lacerations. Then run a bag of ringers so I can have you push meds in to alleviate pain and restore some of the electrolytes she lost being dehydrated and drugged."
When that was done Anne paled. She had been cut and pummeled so hard that her body looked like a rag doll left out in the elements and savaged by dogs.
"Scan complete." Sasha stated as Anne looked up at the vid screen. "First degree lacerations to left and right thighs, five stitches each, laceration to left lower lip, two stitches, administer, antibiotics to prevent infection. (On view screen) Ribs 7, 8, and 9 cracked and rib 10 is broken on the left side. Once she's cleaned up we'll need to tape them up. Vaginal tearing due to forced manipulation. They attempted to rape her didn't they Anne?"
"Yes, Ziza examined her with her fist and the others, manhandled her but I am not sure if they succeeded." She answered suddenly ashamed.
"Anne, please send Riddick in when he's airborne. There's something he needs to know about Jack."
"What's that Doc?" he said in a loud forceful voice. Oh Jesus. JACK!
His breathe caught in his throat when he looked down at her bloodied battered body. Hehad beencalm and calculating up until that point, and broke down when he saw what they had done to his beloved Jack. His hand came up to his mouth and he bit down hard on ittrying to stave off the pain in his throat at the sight of her.
"Riddick, Jack will be fine." Sasha commanded. "Remember that most of it can be stitched and the blood removed. She'll look better in a few hours. This is mostly bluster. Once she's clean you'll see."
"That's good to know. How bad is it?" But his face told Anne he didn't believe her.
"Riddick, she's got a stab wound to her shoulder, lacerations to her legs, broken ribs, a cut on her face, vaginal tearing from the abuse and torture and residual amounts of the paralytic in her system but that's not what I'm worried about."
"What are you worried about?" he asked as Anne began the delicate task of cleaning and stitching her wounds.
"Riddick, there's no way to say this delicately.Jack's pregnant." She said and the room was deathly silent. "Six weeks by the look of it."
Pregnant. In his whole life he had not expected that to happen. "You sure?"
"Yes. DNA samples from when you were injured compared to that of the fetus date conception some time after your recovery after New London. I told you to be nice to my Jack."
He shook his head and laughed. "I was nice to your Jack." That's how she ended upthat way in the first place. "What's the condition of the baby?"
"Stable for now, but trauma this severe can result in a miscarriage. Jack's very weak."
"You mean she could lose the baby." he said flat and emotionless. "Did she know?"
"It's a possibility. She may has suspected but I doubt she actually knew. She'd never put herself in that much danger if she did. But Riddick, the human body can withstand a great deal. She's strong, just not now."
He just stared completely speechless. He knew that she'd not had her monthly since they had been reunited but he remembered her saying she was never really regular. He stared at the vitals, beeping in front of him, a tiny blip, blip, blip right beside Jack's. His baby, the baby he and Jack made.
It was more than he could fathom.
Anne had finished with Jack's legs and bandaged her up, placing a sheet to cover her then a blanket to prevent shock. Silently, she continued with Riddick helping her lift Jack as they wrapped her ribs and put an oxygen tube around her face. "Talk to her, she'll hear you." she told him trying to make him feel better. "Lights, twenty percent. You can remove your goggles now."
Jack. Baby, I need you to hear me. I want you to fight. We're free now. There's no more mercs, no more payday on our heads, we're on our way to someplace warm, and I need you.
Don't leave me. I just started to feel like a fucken human and not a convict, please hang on. Stay with me.
I love you. Please don't go.
Riddick sat by her for over four hours, listening to the steady beeps and whirls of the machines that gave her oxygen, blood and nutrients. He held her hand stroking it and watching her in the near darkness of the room.
Over and over he said that mantra, the one he'd heard in his head when he was on his back, the one he swore she told him, long before they got together.
"Riddick?" A voice asked from the doorway.
"Yeah?" he asked his voice hoarse and tired.
"You really need to get that looked at. You're still bleeding." Anne said walking towards him.
He looked down and saw his flank, the one that had been cut by Faisal during his fight over Jack. He'd been numb to the pain only focusing on Jack and sat up suddenly realizing that he'd been sitting with a wet shirt for hours.
"Sure. Do we need to turn her on?" he said as he watched the simultaneous screens showing Jack, and his baby getting more stable and stronger.
"No, let's clean you up. You're gonna need stitches. You want a local?" she asked putting gloves on and taking out a suture kit.
"No. Pain I can deal with. Just do it. I need to get back to Jack." He told her his voice tired and weary.
He removed his shirt and allowed another woman to touch him. The antiseptic wash was cold and he shuddered when it hit his skin. "Sorry. Just a little jumpy."
They both laughed, the first time since they got airborne and out into the blackness of space.
"No problem. She was very brave, even when they tortured her. She never gave up hope, not once. She had faith in you. She believes in you." she said in a melodic calm voice.
"Yeah. I know." He said as he sat on the stool and raised his arm above his head to allow her to stitch. "She always has. Can't figure out why, but it's nice to know someone actually gives a shit."
She pierced his flesh and repaired the laceration with twenty small stitches. When she was done, she gave him a bandage and he thanked her walking back over to the stool beside Jack and continuing his silent vigil, just as she had so many weeks ago.
Silently praying to Imam's god that he wouldn't have to live his life free without her.