Here's the next Chp. Took longer than I meant it too, but here it is. Next one should be soon. Hope you like it, and thanks SO much for the review so far, i love em.


REMEMBERING

"Jack...hey, Jack"

Jack woke up to someone lightly shaking her and sleepily opened her eyes. "What?"

"I gotta go, ok?"

"Where?" She sat up quickly and got a dizzy feeling for a few seconds.

"Got to pick up a job. It shouldn't take too long"

"Ok...right. See ya"

"Yea, see you"

He turned and left while Jack pulled on a zip-up hoodie. She got it on and padded out to the kitchen, figuring Riddick would take maybe a couple hours.

He took murder for hire jobs. Most of the assignments were done for people who didn't want to bother getting their hands dirty with the jobs, so they paid good money for someone else to do it and keep their mouth shut. Riddick was the best and everyone knew it. Of course, his alias was Brian, taken from his middle name, and no one knew who he really was. His 'name' got around though, and he wasn't generally short of jobs.

Jack got a big bowl of cereal and ate it in the living room while she watched some of the news. It was almost 10:00 and she was surprised that she'd slept in so late. She was a habitual 'early-bird' and hardly slept in at all.

She set her dish on the end table when she finished and sprawled out on the couch. Her limbs were sore a little as she stretched them, but it felt good. Unbidden thoughts sprung to mind and she was stuck remembering. She closed her eyes and allowed herself to doze off, still thinking about when 'it' started.

A young Jack sat all alone in her small childhood home. She didn't want to be alone; she wanted her dad. Her mom had died the week before, and now it seemed that her dad was hardly around. She didn't know why and she didn't know where he was. He was just...gone. No explanations or apologies; just gone.

She heard a key in the door and she was momentarily happy, knowing it was her dad. When the door swung open, however, he stumbled in, clutching a bottle and smelling funny. She didn't really understand what was wrong, but she knew it wasn't right. This had certainly never happened before.

"Jacqueline, where's your mother!" he practically yelled at her.

What? Why would he say that? He knew where she was, and he knew what happened. How could he say that to her?

"I said, WHERE IS SHE!" he bellowed

"Dad...she...you know what happened..." she mumbled, tears brimming her eyes. Why was he asking?

"Where the hell is she!" He crossed the room in long strides and grabbed her arms, hauling her up from the couch.

"Ow, dad, that hurts," she cried, trying to get away.

"Shut up...where is she!" he screamed, not able to think clearly in his drunken haze.

"She...dad, she died. Last week. Don't you remember?"

"NO!" he threw her to the floor effortlessly and shook his head. "No...she isn't"

"Yes dad, the funeral was last weekend..."

"Shut up...shut up...what did you do!" He screamed, pulling her back up and slamming her back against the wall. "WHAT. DID. YOU. DO!"

"No," Jack sat up straight on the couch, breathing heavily. "He's gone, damn it, and it's over," she assured herself and got up to take a shower.

All during the shower she silently assured herself that it was, indeed, over. She hadn't seen or heard from in years. Hell, he could be dead for all she knew, not that she'd care if he were. In fact, she'd be very much relieved to find out that he was. A part of her was always scared that he'd just show up one day. It was unreasonable, she knew, but she thought about it sometimes.

That was the reason, she realized, that she couldn't get past it all that well. What if the past came back to her present? In all honesty, that's what she was scared of. Deep down, she was scared of her dad randomly showing up. As much as she doubted that it would every happen, there was always the lingering 'what if,' because you never really know. Just the thought of her dad still got her panicky.

"Jack, I'm home," Riddick voice drifted into the bathroom with a soft knock on the door that made her jump.

Either she'd been in the shower a long time or she'd fallen asleep longer than she'd realized. She didn't care which was the reason, and quickly got out and pulled on some tear-away pants and white 3/4 length shirt with blue sleeves. She combed through her straight hair quickly and then left the bathroom.

"Hey, you didn't have to come out on my account," Riddick said, looking up when she walked into the kitchen.

"Way to flatter yourself, but I was done"

"Oh"

He nodded and looked down at the small folder he had and flipped through it. Jack knew it was some information on his new target. He always checked out the guy he was supposed to hit, and had even turned down a job once or twice.

"Who's it this time?" Jack asked, pouring herself the rest of the coffee that was left in the pot.

Riddick shrugged at first and was quiet for a while. He didn't exactly like discussing this part of his life with Jack, but didn't hide it from her. She knew what he did and she embraced that part of him as well, which was one of the many great things about her.

"Vincent Hern. Sounds like he double crossed the guy who hired me...and it seems that he likes little kids too...world won't miss him then..." Riddick read something for a few minutes before closing the folder. "So, what're you doing today?"

"Absolutely nothing...maybe I'll rent some movies or something, but I feel like staying in. Just one of them days, ya know?"

"Yea...I think I'll just hang inside with you and take care of this," he nodded to the folder, "tonight. 'The Boss' said he's predictable as hell and goes to the same small bar every Wednesday and Friday night at 10:30 and stays for a half hour. Comes and goes alone, but usually does some drug dealing while he's there. This is gonna be easy"

"Too easy?" Jack asked. Even though she knew there was no reason to really be scared for him, she usually was. There was always the possibility things could go wrong. Things almost had a few times,so she was always a little nervous.

"No. Not too easy. Just easy because the idiot has a routine," he assured her levely, looking her in the eye.

"Ok" Jack nodded and downed the last of the coffee.

"So, renting movies?"

"Yea"

"Well go ahead. I think I'm gonna shower or something...don't take too long"

"Yes sir," she threw him a solute and got up from the table and headed for the door.

"You should be marching, soldier," he tossed at her with a smirk.

"Screw you," she flipped him the bird over her shoulder and left.


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