Notes: Thanks to Milsa (glad you like it), NightmareWeaver (keep reading, I'm happy you like to too), tamekabu (thanks for keep reading my story!), CallMeAdmiral (whee, as you can see I'm a fan of J/R, but it makes me very happy that if you don't usually like it and you like this one. Very happy.) and FitMama – mwahaha, ye get yer own note – thanks for the advice, there is a point in the near future where there is an ahem tense J/R moment, but in about four(ish) chapters, we have the joy of Riddick being confused. Yes, soft Riddick is like…um…well-worn leather, well, if you can think of something yer welcome to share it.

Chapter XIII: Jack 'n Liege at School

Liege had gone downstairs to look for food, knowing that Jack and Riddick would be preoccupied for quite some time. As she pawed through the cooler, memories of Jack ran rampant through her mind.

Liege and Jack walked down the hallway, discussing what they had learned in history class when a loud explosion was heard behind them.

They both pulled each other to the side, with the protection of the lockers that lined the hallways. Liege was at first very confused, because she couldn't tell if it was an attack or just a practical joke.

She briefly looked at Jack, hoping she wouldn't see any damage from sudden movement. Liege narrowed her eyes when she saw Jack covering a smile on her face.

Liege stood, pulling Jack up with her and not caring at Jack's exclamations, she dragged her into an empty classroom and shut the door behind her.

She turned to see Jack still laughing and Liege crossed her arms over her chest, giving an unforgiving stern glare.

"Jack. What did ye do?"

"Decided to mess things up a little bit. With all this 'hierarchy' it gets boring! Besides, no one was hurt!" She insisted, a smile still gracing her features.

"All the same…" Liege trailed off, knowing it would be useless. Soon she too was laughing, amused by Jack's antics. She followed Jack out of the classroom, sighing in content.

'And to think…this is Jack's first month at school.' Liege wondered to herself as she hoisted her bag over her head to rest on her shoulder.

Liege grinned at the memory as she closed the door to the cooler shut with a push of her hip. Carrying the various foodstuffs to the counter, she piled them there, hoping they would fall into some sort of organized chaos.

Righting a few items that had fallen on their side, she turned to look for a kitchen knife. After looking through drawers, cabinets and closets, she smacked herself when she saw it was directly in front of her.

Pulling out a knife, she put it back, seeing that the edges were seraded and she needed that to slice the bread. She went through this process several times before she found the one she wanted.

Holding it she moved to cut the bread and she was momentarily blinded by reflection of the light off the blade.

She, Jack, Rick and Falc sat in a classroom, listening to their teacher drone on and on about a mathematic theory that supposedly solved the problem of a great epidemic before it struck worldwide.

Falc, always the good student, sat taking notes next to Jack, who was having trouble not falling asleep. Liege, on the other hand, did have notes, but they were being pillaged by doodles and notes that she and Rick wrote back and forth to one another.

Liege stared at the board for a moment, trying to look interested as their teacher had their back turned, intent on writing the entire lecture on the board. She glanced down when she heard Rick's pen stop scratching on her page. Surpressing a snort, she moved her foot out in front of Rick's leg. He smirked as he watched the bad handwriting scrawl the board in front of them but his face suddenly twisted in pain when Liege swiftly kicked her steel-plated boot into his shin.

Jack woke instantly at the quiet commotion next to her and shook her herself awake, scolding herself for falling asleep. Sighing, she leaned over to continue copying down the lecture.

She glanced over at Liege and Rick's antics but ignored it, knowing it could get noisy if she got involved as well. Feeling a tap to her right, she looked at Falc who motioned with his pen towards her notebook.

Seeing a neatly folded note resting on the page, she smiled at Falc who went back to taking notes. Looking once more at Liege, who was grinning like a madman, she bent her head down and began to open the note.

"Ms. Jack, please tell me what you're doing." The monotone voice broke her small world.

"Sorry, sir, I was trying to fix my pen." She replied instantly, thanking whatever god was watching over her for such a quick reply.

"If it isn't working, borrow one. In this world where math could save an entire planet's life…well, we don't time to fix pens." He continued, ignoring the snickers in the class.

"Yes, sir. Sorry, sir."

"Quite alright. Now…where was I?" And he went back to his lecture.

Jack slipped the note in her bra strap where should would read it later and went back to taking notes. Liege on the other hand, was pissed at the treatment of her roommate.

Leaning down, the older girl unsheathed one of her blades from her boot-leg. Rick had gone back to being bored, rubbing his shin once in a while, but was immediately interested when he saw Liege holding one of her knives.

Looking up, Liege found the best sun-light source that was closest to her and silently moved her desk closer to that patch of light.

Rick moved over as well, but not noiselessly, so once again the teacher turned around and scolded him. He got out of it by saying he couldn't see the board due to the reflection of the sun. Nodding at the excuse, the teacher went back to writing on the board.

By this time, Liege had perfected her little trick and setting her blade at an angle, flashed it right where the teacher was writing. With this sudden interupption, his hand streaked down, causing a jagged line to be drawn. The class stifled giggles as he growled to himself and went to erase it.

Liege did this a few more times and by the end of class all the students were trying their best not to burst out in uncontrollable laughter.

Laughing to herself at the memory, Liege put the rest of the loaf back into its bag and moved it away from the rest of her little project.

She briefly remembered tackling Jack in the hallway to see the note Falc had written to her, but it ended up being a sweet note reassuring Jack that class was over soon.

Placing the ingredients onto her sandwich, she was upset to find that it was a tad too large and there was no way she could bite into it and still have her jaw intact. Growling, she took out a few 'unneccesary' elements to her sandwich and was pleased to find that it now just fit.

She left it on the cutting board and cleared and cleaned everything up and away before she lifted herself onto the counter and took up her sandwich. As she was biting into it, she thought to watch the news would be a good way to pass the lonely time.

"Vid screen on. News." She barely said, her words garbled in between her bites of sandwich.

She found herself strangely content when the most recent news update passed and there were no updates on Riddick. Not caring about the weather, she commanded the screen off, leaving her to her thoughts.

Liege was happy seeing Jack able to love someone and it didn't bother her in the least that it was Riddick. Not only that but if Jack was unable to take care of herself, she knew Riddick could. But was it love? Or just schoolgirl crush and adoration?

She tried to sort out the answers to these questions and each time came up with the fact that Jack did care deeply and truly for this mysterious man. Happy at that conclusion, Liege decided she would do everything in her power to keep them together.