Keeping Faith 5

Jack awoke to a warm sensation tingling her body and she snuggled closer to the source of heat. Just as she was about to fall back asleep, a thought struck her. Only living and breathing sources of heat had heartbeats and she was on this ship with only one other person. This person named Richard B. Riddick, known to the universe as Riddick. The two polar thoughts connected almost instantly and Jack's eyes snapped open and she jerked her head up to see two amused, but slightly curious platinum eyes observing her.

"Took you long enough." His growling voice was even deeper in the morning, most likely because of a much-needed sleep. Her once confused stare turned into a fierce glare as the events from last night came to mind, completely uncalled for. "Look, Jack," he said, shifting, which brought Jack to attention that she was nestled between his legs and leaning completely on his chest. "I said it just to…"

"Drive me crazy?" She supplied, the anger lacing her voice.

"Sounds right." He replied, taking her waist in his hands and turning her over so they were properly facing each other. Jack cursed mentally as her body betrayed her by flaming in all the wrongs places and 'subconsciously' resting her hands on his arms.

"Listen to me." He ordered, causing her line of sight that was presently looking at the ribs in his white wife beater up to his eyes that glowed with a sort of ferocious loyalty. Yet behind that concern for the future simmered and Jack saw all of this. "I know you're a responsible…woman now and you can take care of yourself, but if you think you'll be looking after me then maybe you shouldn't go."

"Are you fucking kidding me!" Jack yelled, sitting straight up, raking her sharp nails down his arms as she pulled back into a crouch. Her knees fell to the bed as she straightened her back, causing her hair to fall into her face. "Maybe you didn't notice, but I can't be fully functioning without you around. And don't give me this shit, Riddick, I know you can protect yourself. So you invite me on but now you're trying to get rid of me? Hell, I don't know what twisted game you're playing but if this is how it's gonna be, I'll be better off dying in some hospital bed." Her voice cut like shattered glass and died off in the end, speaking as if that future was the known truth. Her eyes held a betrayed look whose core was an unfathomable wrath.

"Don't you say that, Jack!" He shouted, suddenly in the same position as her, grabbing her shoulders and gripping them as if they were bars to a prison or cage. "I know perfectly fucking well you aren't who you should be when I'm not around and I think I have enough experiences to know I can watch my back just fine. I said that cause you might drop your watch on yourself to keep extra defense on me. You do that and you're dead. Jack, I can't have you dead."

"And what the hell is that supposed to mean?" She shot back, her eyes glaring angrily into his as he looked down on her, his grip on her shoulders loosening.

Without warning, one of his hands slid down her back and the other to the back of her neck and as if it were natural, he pulled her body flush against his. Jack's hands found their place without hesitation as his lips found hers. The kiss seemed slow but passions flew through it, turning it into a feral bonding as Riddick lowered her body to the bed. From afar it looked as if basic human needs were forgotten and discarded in the ardor as Jack refused to let him part from her. Finally the exchange of feelings and emotions was complete and with reluctance was the kiss ended. Neither barely moved as both floated down from their highs, breathing also barely labored.

Jack came to senses first and continuing to let instinct control, nuzzled the side of his face as she had seen countless mated predators do, caged in a world too far away from their desired wild domain. She whispered his name into his ear, caressing the base of his neck with her fingers, marveling at the impressions he had left on her emotionally. Soon he too fell back into reality, only to find that he was in the arms of Jack. Feeling that some Herculean weight had been lifted from his shoulders, Riddick relaxed his body against Jack's, tucking his head beneath her chin. It was a rare moment of complete truth and solitude that they could only experience hardly eve. So unbeknownst to both, they treasured this small snip of eternity in their minds, recalling it in times of grief and despair.

It wasn't long before their Godless Garden of Eden was disturbed and they were forced to leave the port. Yet they worked together like clockwork, each continuing where the other left off, not a second lost.

Jack lay curled next to Riddick, who was awake and contemplating the future, once again. He made a mental note not to do this often, since it resulted in half-finished plans and general stress. It was clear Jack was going to be his second half aboard Fury's Haven, so he counted on the fact he wasn't going to be alone if the mercs struck. They had been in the port of Imam's city for almost a week now and Riddick knew they should leave, but for some reason didn't have the heart to tell Jack she was abandoning her one real home. He could almost smell the mercs on his trail and without thinking, growled deeply at their imaginary presence. Jack instantly woke, balancing herself by placing a hand on his chest and one on the bed.

"What? What happened?" She asked, never panicking but always needing to know the present situation.

"Nothing, go back to sleep." He rumbled, his hands clasped behind his head as he smirked and raised an eyebrow at Jack. Letting out a snort of air as she saw this, she slowly settled down again, barely giving thought to why he might have growled in the first place. But Riddick wasn't up and in arms, so she figured everything was actually alright. But minutes later her breathing wasn't evening and Riddick was slightly intrigued.

"Really, go back to sleep, everything's ok." He said, looking down at her tense form.

"No, everything's not ok. We've got to go now." She informed him, sitting up and rolling out of bed. Jack stood and watched his expression turn from skeptical to guarded. "Riddick, I'm not kidding. Get up, we've got to get out of here!"

"Christ, Jack, what's wrong with you?" He asked, sitting up and watching her dress. He didn't flinch as she threw his pants and shirt at him, but did twitch when her annoyed glare was thrown his way.

"Nothing, but believe me, please, something's gonna go wrong. I can feel it and we need to get out of here as soon as humanly," she gestured the ship around her, "and mechanically possible."

"Don't know what's up with you, but if you think-"

"I'll meet you on the main deck." She cut him off, leaving the room as she tied her hair back. With an undignified snort, Riddick quickly dressed and walked to the cockpit, where Jack was in copilot's seat, checking something on her screen.

"Just to prove it to you, I pulled this up." She said, moving the screen so he could see it. It was a scrolling list of future stops for mercs and six ships were highlighted in red. They were all coming in from different places, but they were all landing in the port that Fury's Haven was docked in now.

"Itineraries." Riddick ordered the computer and the plan from each ship popped up onto the screen. All held information about tracking him and his ship. As he read the next bit of supplied information, he spoke to Jack.

"Get us permission to leave."

"On it." Jack replied and set to work contacting the port. Riddick clenched his jaw as he read that these six merc ships were planning, well, had planned to work together to take down him and his ship. It was extremely rare that merc teams worked together, since their greed always split the relationship before it could even start. Yet it seemed these six teams had already signed agreements on how to split the bounty.

"We've got green, your ship, take us out." Jack said, not looking up from the controls, where she was checking that all systems were good to go. She jumped as she felt Riddick's hand on her arm. Looking up at him, she felt his fiery stare pierce her like a spear made of burning embers.

"You ready for this?" He asked, one hand still on her arm and the other on the controls. Fully facing him, Jack briefly kissed him and caressed his cheek with her knuckles. She sat back in her chair, her hands holding the arms of the chair in a relaxed manner. As she turned to him to answer, a smirk that would become known as Death's Grin to her victims lit her face.

"I think I've kept faith long enough."

FIN

Note: For being a story that was supposed to end four chapters ago, I think this went pretty damn well. Before I thank you all personally, I would like to show some sort of appreciation for all of you who forced (and by forced, I mean guilt-tripped) me into continuing the story. This is a good ending and I will not continue it from here. I'll be going back to Tricks of Fate, which may or may not be longer then this.

Thanks to these reviewers, who, without them, these past four chapters wouldn't have existed:

TotallyRiddickObsessed – did you read my first chapter of Tricks of Fate? That's my next project/story. Thanks for reviewing.

sara – You. This is the last chapter and reaches over and plucks cookie from your hand I'll be taking that, thank you very much.

NightmareWeaver – Oh, my friend, I barely got through 8.15-9.30 with only two large cups of regular coffee. Black with sugar, of course. Ooh! Another cookie! Good update, I assume you got my review.

FluidDegree – don't we all wish we had someone who would crawl through air ventilation to comfort us? Thanks! Glad you liked it, thanks for reviewing. Please keep an eye out for the continuation of Tricks of Fate.

SueBe – We got that little mix up fixed and thanks for reviewing. And thanks for being so good about that last chapter issue. Hope you review another story of mine soon.