The smell of a slightly grilled melted cheese sandwich and tomato soup floated through the air summoning a very concentrated Jack. She was scanning the web for any information about Minx. Although she was having a very difficult time finding anything that half resembled something of the truth.
Jack still didn't really trust her, although she seemed alright so far. Jack scrolled through the fiftieth page of information. If you could call it that. It was some stuff on her criminal record. It stated that she once performed a job for a government official, all under the table, Jack supposed. The list seemed to go on and on. Then she came upon something else, it was about Minx's supposed parents. Their death mostly. There was much speculation about their death. Some said it was an accident, the police on the other hand thought different. They said it was murder. Yet they had no suspects. Eventually the investigation was dropped, for lack of evidence, and things moved on.
"She's got a lot of dirt." Jack said quietly. She noticed Riddick was late for lunch, apart of her worried but another shrugged it off. He's probably fine. She reassured herself. Standing up, she went into the kitchen. Picking her food carefully out of the food processor, she set it down on the table. Then there was a loud chime. It was the mail port. Her hands jerked, causing some of the hot soup to spill onto her left hand. "OooooohShit!" She whined, running the cool water of the tap, and thrusting her hand under the calming spray.
A tear raced down her cheek, roughly she scraped it away. Letting out a frustrated huff, she dried her now light scarlet colored hand, and went over to the mail port. She bent and gazed through the clear glass. Seeing a medium sized parcel. The envelope was a bright tan color, it looked like it had bubble wrap inside. There was some faint writing on the front of it, a scrawl of cursive ending in her name, Minx.
Pulling on the slightly chilled metal handle, her palm got instantly sweaty. Partially because she knew she wasn't supposed to take anything out of that mail port. It was one of Riddick's rules, just incase it was a bomb or something. The glass hatch was heavy, it's weight pushed down as she tried to lift it up. Quickly she slid her hand inside, her fingertips nearing the smooth paper. "Jack?" She jumped almost dropping the glass hatch on her good hand.
She turned around to she a very displeased, and intent looking Riddick. His smooth and dark eminence filled the air around them. Snatching her hand out of the square cut out, and letting her hand fall to her side, she slowly and carefully eased the glass door back into it's rightful place. Closed. It finally shut with some effort on her part. Cutting her gaze back to Riddick she found that he was smirking.
"Caught with her hand in the cookie jar." He taunted calmly, the smirk fading all too rapidly for her own comfort. He paused and just looked at her, through that goggled stare. A moment turned into a few, then the few seemed to drag on for hours. He just stood there unmoving, his expression never changing. It was starting to get on her nerves. "Well?" She asked, not completely looking at him.
Finally he turned his head, and walked toward her. His movements more precise and slow then usual, if that was at all possible. He stopped as he stood right in front of her, close enough she forgot that she was even the slightest annoyed, or intimidated. It was utterly distracting. Jack looked up at him, and noticed his expression had softened considerably.
"Jack, I thought I made it clear that just reaching in there is dangerous. It could be a bomb, or contaminated. It's not safe. Remember?" He asked. Draping his hand over her shoulder. She inwardly jumped, as she tried to concentrate on the real situation at hand. "Yeah. But" She stopped at the look he gave her. "Alright," She said lightly, "Nuff said." She walked over to the kitchen table, pulling out her chair, she noticed Riddick was imputing something into the panel next to the mail port. It gave a chirp and a white light scanned across the package.
After it was apparently done, with whatever it was told to do, Riddick lifted the hatch with ease, and took the package out. He stood looking at it for a moment. His brow slightly furrowed. Turning his back he put it on the coffee table in the livingroom. With a look of impassiveness, he finally joined her in the kitchen. "Lights to 20%." He ordered, while peeling off his goggles. She studied him, her eyes watching his measured manner, and his deadpan expression.
After a moment of tying to tuff it out, her curiosity was slaying her. She put down the slightly munched brown crust, "Well?" She asked, for the second time today. He didn't look at her as he punched in what he wanted for lunch. He waited not answering her. She waited, giving him a moment, but when he didn't answer, she slumped back into her chair. Of all the times for him to slip into a long period of silence! She thought with a small eye roll.
"It's just something for Minx." He said blankly, drawing out her name, at the same time his tone changing slightly. Jack studied him for a moment, she could tell the wheels in that slightly stubbled head of his were turning. He was thinking something more, but what exactly, he was definitely not intending to tell her. She popped the slightly over toasted crust into her mouth and chewed roughly. He still treated her like a child. She was beginning to get annoyed.
The lunch went quietly, they hardly spoke to one another. Jack tried, but he just seemed preoccupied with something. Naturally she was wondering, what. He hadn't lapsed into this heavy of a silence in a while. Moments passed and she could tell he was deeply in thought. But again she vigorously wonderedabout what.
Her mind went into overdrive and she started to come up with some logical possibilities.
He could be thinking about how she had disobeyed him, and that he might be mad. But it was a small thing, and she hadn't even protested. Scratch that. Jack thought, moving on to her next thought. He could be thinking about that package that Minx had gotten just now. Thinking that was a definite possibility, she let her mind reel for a minute. Replaying the events from the moment he came through the door to when they had started eating. Humm.
Jack thought about what had happened, then what he had said. Her mind drew a blank. She finished her sandwich and moved to her soup. On her last spoon, she remembered that his tone hadn't changed that much until he said Minx's name. Maybe he doesn't like her. Or maybe
Her thoughts were interrupted by the whirring of the Video Phone in the livingroom. It even seemed to break Riddick from his semi-trance as well. They both got up, going into the livingroom. Sitting down, Jack pushed a couple of keys and the computer scanned the call, after a pause of and some cranking it gave them the info.
[Call clear: Caller on approved list: Imam: Location: Luna 7: Call waiting]
Jack hit the accept button, and Imam's face appeared on the screen. He was a bit thinner then when she last saw him. Boy, she'd never forget that day. It was the morning after they'd escaped T2, she was sore, tired, hungry. She was certain that she had felt every emotion there ever was. They were flying the damaged skiff toward his home on Luna 7.
Luna 7 was a religious planet. She remembered Imam's description vividly, "It's safe, solemn, and proper. Not a drop of firewater or shame." By firewater she supposed he meant liquor. "The days are warm and the nights are cold. We have two suns and three moons. It is beautiful, in a quiet sort of way. A person could spend their whole life on this planet and spend it at peace." She could tell he was proud. He seemed to be as eager as ever to set foot on that clean terrain, even more eager then he had been to get off T2. Which to Jack never made any sense.
She never saw the planet for herself, but she had said goodbye to Imam as they touched the ground. She could see fear and anger in his eyes, she guessed he was angry at Riddick, and feared for her. Why, she could give a good guess.
A life with an escaped and extremely wanted convict, was not right for a young girl such as her. She had her strong disagreements with that. She knew that Riddick would never let anything happen to her, she trusted him with her life, and Imam knew that. That was probably the only reason that Imam let her stay with Riddick.
He didn't say much to Riddick, neither did Riddick say anything to him. All Imam said was a very shot sentence. "Remember our deal. You promised." Imam turned to walk down the ramp, but he stopped and turned his head. Riddick and Imam just stood there, looking at eachother. Finally Riddick spoke. "You have my word Imam." His voice was sober, his expression blank. Whatever he had promised was obviously important, the fact that he actually called him Imam, was a first.
"Hello Jack." Imam's smooth and powerful voice broke her recollection. Blinking a couple of times, the screen came back into focus. "Hi, how are you?" She asked as casually as possible. The Imam on the screen smiled. "Serene. I am calling to see how your studies are going Jack." At this Jack inwardly cringed. It had been three days since she read a word, she was still on the first book, and she had four more to go.
"I'd been meaning to talk to you about that Imam. I still am on the 1st book." She reported hesitantly, looking down at her hands. She saw Imam shake his head slightly. "That is a problem Child. You are behind in our schooling, and it starts in only two months. Look get as much as you can out of them, and we'll take it from there. At least make an effort." He said calmly. She didn't feel threatened, or upset. So she just nodded, what was the point with arguing when she knew that she would end up doing it anyway.
"What is this school like?" She asked curiously, looking back to the plasma screen. "Well, it's an all girls school. Very much like a real abbey. You pray, do chores, sing, learn. Things among that sort. The girls here seem to like it well enough, you'll have little to no problems, I hope." He said with a sly smile. Fat chance! Jack promised quickly. For reason alone that the girls liked it, she knew she was going to have problems. She just hopped for her sanity that she could find some rebel group or something, at least maybe she could relate to those girls, but she doubted it.
"I have some thing to talk to Riddick about, in private." He said, his tone loosing it's lightness. She felt Riddick move up behind her. Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes, and nodded. Pushing the chair backwards and walking methodically out of the living room.
Once in her room she sat on the edge of her bed. Her hands gently twitching in her lap, She hung head slightly. This was not a good sign. The last time this happened she found out that she was leaving Riddick. That was how she got here. Aboard this ship, in this apartment, reaching the destination of Luna 7. She had to admit to herself that she was worried, this could only mean nothing good. What could it be this time? She wondered.
Laying back she looked blankly up at the ceiling. Various thoughts and memories came drifting into mind, taking her away from reality. Her visions were clouded, and most of them, she found, she couldn't tell what they really were. Closing her eyes she was immediately brought back to an earlier time in her life, a more certain one.
It was at the first orphanage that she was ever in. It was a pleasant place. One where the cutest and healthiest of children could be found. She saw her six year old self, standing at the bay window in the T.V/Play room. Everything was quiet around her. The white snow was falling onto the black cemented ground. She watched the lights of the city twinkle and shine against the night sky. After a while some lights just flickered away, and never came back, others replaced them.
She observed the two story fairytale homes across the street, where the other children had families, and their own rooms. The smell of smoke filled the air, as all the fireplaces on her side of the planet seemed to join in a symphony of perfectly timed puffs of white clouds.
It all looked so perfect. Then the church bell rung a slow melody of 'silent night'. She heard the faint sounds of the children's choir singing along, like so many angels. For it was Christmas eve, her favorite night of the year. She used to think that Santa Clause would come to the door step and bring her parents back to her, and every year he wouldn't come. But this Christmas she got her wish. A dutiful family had chosen her as their new daughter.
The memory faded as another took it's place. At first she didn't recognize it but after a moment it became clearer. It was approximately seven years from that beautiful Christmas eve, she was frantically packing her bag in her bedroom. Her dutiful parents had turned out to be, (at the time) the galaxies biggest black market acid and laser dealers, and the place was being raided by the police. Luckily for her, she had a close friend, Marsh, who would let her stay at her place for a while, just until she could figure out where the hell to go from here.
It was a chilling and misty night. The houses were gravely quiet, and so were the streets that led to them. These policemen had come on foot, strangely enough, and she had heard them rummaging around downstairs. She also caught faint whispers and muffled footsteps. She took one last look at her room.
It was simple with light sky blue walls. Her nightstands, desk, chair, and door were a glowing and pure white. Here eyes trailed absently back to her circular nightstand, on top of it was a very expensive red and green Tiffany lamp, and to the right of it's black wrought iron base was a brass framed portrait of her supposed family.
She had an older adopted sister. Her name was Danielle, surprisingly she treated Jack rather well. Her mother was beautiful, her name was Connie. She always was perfect. Her cooking was always exquisite, her clothes never wrinkled, and her make-up never smudged nor faded.
Dan, her father was rough around the edges. He was, by nature, an inert, and stiff man. He referred to his two daughters as 'Connie's hobby. And my most charming financial responsibility.' Her parents were civil towards eachother, almost cold. They treated her well, and gave her everything she needed, plus more. But it was all boring and meaningless to Jack. Things that they did didn't seem to matter to her. It all seemed like an act and sure enough it was. The family slowly crumpled, and all traces of ordinary blew away with time.
Her mother became distant and her father disappeared. He was there, but just wasn't around. Danielle married, moved off the planet, and they never heard from again. Now while both Jack's parents were away, their house was being raided and Jack was the only one who knew.
Shaking her head, she looked out of her window, then down. The alleyway was clear of any signs of life. And it was perfect to make her escape. There was a fire ladder, and she was only up on the second floor. Their house was smaller then every one else's on that block, so their second floor was most people's basements. Climbing in a cat like fashion toward the ground she looked around for any signs of policemen or any one else. When she found none she let her feet touch the concrete. Keeping her back flush against the wall she looked out onto the residential street. All was clear, turning on her heal she headed down the side walk. Away from her home, and away from her certainties.
Suddenly a gentle shaking brought her back to the present. She opened her eyes to have her vision filled with the sight of Riddick. Sighing lightly, she looked up at him through half lidded eyes. As usual his expression was unreadable. Sitting up she noticed her head grow heavy, and seem to spin slightly. Rubbing her eyes and stretching, she felt clammy and a little fuzzy. Shaking her head gingerly, she finally returned her gaze to Riddick.
She found him sitting patiently next to her on the bed. They had been through this sort of thing before. She'd be on her back and then he'd wake her, and she'd always feel the same after she had, had those memories, sick. Out of nowhere, he handed her a glass of water. Wordlessly she took it, and against her better judgement took a vast gulp.
Almost immediately, her body retaliated, causing her to cough. Riddick gave her a lopsided smirk, "You know better then that Jack." He half chided. His voice was softer then usual, she quickly noted, as she braced herself for some unpleasant news.
After her racking cough stopped, she looked at him. "Well?" She knew that she had said that at least three times today, but it just seemed to sum up all her many, many, many questions. Especially when it concerned Riddick, or her. He looked at her for a long moment, and let out a soundless breath. "We can talk about it later Jack, just get some rest." He said with some conviction.
But she shook her head, "No, Riddick. I wanna talk about it now. What did Imam have to say?" She asked firmly. He looked away slightly. She could tell he was trying to come up with something. Standing he pulled the chair away from her desk and sat. She kept her self sane by watching the five black plastic casters glide across the floor. Waiting, she observed her hands, pretending that they were fastening and new creatures.
"Imam called to tell me some news. He said that one of the suns were getting ready to fade, in about a month from now. That means after it fades a new one will start to form to take it's place. It's so hot that anything that tries to enter the planet through the sky will automatically burn up. That period lasts for about another month after wards." He said not taking his eyes away from her, while she had conveniently kept hers plastered on her right thumb.
She let out a quick breath, "So?" She pushed, she knew that this little astronomy lesson had something to do with her. "So, it means, that your going to have to go to Imam a month early." He said quietly. Jack's head snapped up. Her eyes suddenly full of anger.
"No, that means I can stay with you for another two months. Why are you so insistent on getting rid of me?" She asked in a hurt tone. She couldn't believe this! How could he do this, so easy to drop her off, give her away, have her out of his life. "No, Jack. I'm not so insistent on getting rid of you." He said softly, "I justwant you to have a normal life, a safe one. Where, you won't be risking it every minute by being with me." She saw his eyes they were open and focused.
She nodded, suddenly feeling tired. "I understand. You think your doing me such a great favor by dumping me off on him just so you can have a great life and forget all about me." She said her tone rising. "So you can find some woman, have a kid, and just forget about all the shit that has happened." She said. Riddick looked away. "Jacklisten to me.."
But she didn't listen. " No, you listen to me! I care about you, you're the only person I wanna be with. I don't want the life that your pushing me into. I don't wanna be sheltered. I want to be WITH YOU!!!" She said, tears streaming down her cheeks. She felt numb, she had no idea what she was doing. Weather she was sitting or standing, walking or still. She didn't even have an inkling weather she was breathing or not, all she could do was concentrate on the man that was before her.
The one she looked up tothe one thatshe loved. She noticed him pull her closer to him. "Jack, I'm doing all this for a reason. You know what that reason is?" He asked, her last rant of anger not seeming to phase him. She found herself sighing. "You want me to have a good life." She answered. He nodded. "Yeah, you deserve it. You don't deserve to be running from Mercs, or living from planet to planet, scared that if you get too familiar with the place that it could mean the end of you. That's not living Jack! It's surviving. I love you kid. I wanna see you do better then me." He said calmly. Her mind overloadedhe loves me Amazingly she understood. His words made the longing of wanting to be with him grow. He had her heart, her love and her trust. Damn, he had all of her.
They hadn't spoken for a long while, when she finally moved away from him. "I'm gonna read for a while Riddick." She said softly. "Go back to work." Riddick nodded. He seemed to understand. He left with out another word. She laid on her bed and opened her book. Called, Fly Away. It was about a girl and her dreams. She wanted to live the life she dreamed about. Jack seemed to relate to that exactly.
~~~~
Some time later she looked over at the clock. She noticed it was late night. She thought it was all a dream when she remembered Riddick had said he loved her. She was so thrilled to finally know that he felt the same way as she did. He had to know how she felt and she decided to get up the courage and tell him.
Getting out of bed she pulled on her pants and headed out her door. Walking down the dimly lit hall way she finally stopped outside his door. She held herself off from opening it just yet, closing her eyes she tried to think of how she would tell him.
She walks quietly into the room, and sees him lying on the bed. Calling his name she knows he would hear her. Slowly he opens his eyes. He looks worried for a moment but she would give him a slight smile. She tells him, that she loves him too, and feels the same. Then he would pull her into a lingering hug and
Before she could get carried away she shook herself back to reality, and pressed the open button on his door. Entering his room, she looked at him quietly sleeping. Moving closer she came to the side of his bed, it was now or never.
