Disclaimer: I own nothing; the entire Riddick universe belongs not unto me.
Love, War and Booze
New Years Special
Riddick took the steps two at a time, figuring the workout would be better instead of taking the elevator up to the apartment. He grabbed the top end of the banister and swung himself around to the next flight of steps. His breathing wasn't labored at all by the time he reached the right floor, nineteen levels up from the ground. He opened the door and walked down the hallway, letting the door close behind him as he fingered the right key for the door. Just as he moved to insert the key into the lock, he looked up when he heard someone yell from within. Not bothering with the key, he slammed his shoulder against the door and smashed the door in, startling the occupant within the apartment living room.
"You yelled." He stated.
"Well yeah I yelled! I'm fucking pissed off!"
Sighing, he turned around and fixed the door back onto its hinges and shut the lock it behind him. Turning back to the angry apartment mate, he raised his eyebrow.
"What the hell could piss you off like that, Jack? It's not even that right time of the month." He asked, walking forward and standing right in front of her, their chests just touching as he looked directly down at her. She glared back up at him.
"The New Year's Eve party I was going to tomorrow night was cancelled." She explained, a fire blazing a path in her eyes.
"A party. You're angry about a party." He said, not quite believing her. Then an idea dawned on him and he mistook the jealousy he felt for protective anger. "Some guy that you're going to be missing at this party?"
"What's it to you?" She shot back.
"I'm your guardian, I should know."
"Maybe I'd let you know if you tried to even know a little more about me," she snapped back, stepping away and into her room, her cell phone in hand.
"Like what?" He called out to her and she turned, her hand resting on the doorframe to her room.
"Hm, like, my friends, my school, my grades, my social life, my favorite things to do, you know, stuff a guardian would know." She bitingly replied before walking into her room and closing the door behind her.
"Least she didn't slam it…" Riddick mumbled, roughly dragging his hand over his shaved head. As if the gods wanted to mock him, Jack opened the door again and said, "I heard that," and slammed the door so hard the structure shuddered with the force.
Riddick walked to their couch and fell down into it, growling as he realized that what Jack said was true. He figured that being in the same space she was in was good enough for her, but he also knew that it shouldn't surprise him that she wanted just a little more. He was her idolized knight that was supposed to care and be there for her, but it wasn't totally his fault. If Jack hadn't grown up, he wouldn't be avoiding interaction so much. How the hell was he supposed to have known that she would instantly turn into this sex goddess when she was nineteen? He nearly groaned when he remembered something from just this morning.
"Oy! Riddick! Is there coffee?" Jack called out from her room and he replied that there was. His back was to her as she walked out of her room, so he had the pleasure of realizing that she was clad in a small towel through his peripheral vision.
"Think some clothes should be in order, Jack." He grumbled, reaching over her hands to get to the sugar. With practiced ease she poured the mug of coffee into a thermos, twisting on the top when she finished. After that she reached over his hands to put the mug in the sink and he got a more then decent view of down the front of her towel.
"Fuel comes first, then the other stuff." She replied, setting down her thermos to fix her wet hair that was falling out of its bun.
As she reached up, Riddick just had to glance at her and nearly went painfully hard when he saw her toned body with a few small water droplets accenting it in all the wrong places for his imagination. He almost bit his lip as he saw how her towel that was so neatly wrapped around her, begin to come loose about her chest. Luckily for him, she dropped her arms from above her hair and held onto her towel with one hand as she picked up her thermos.
"See you later," she said before walking past him and back into her room, the door clicking shut.
Now he needed a shower, and a cold one at that.
Between that and being distant from Jack, he knew he had to make it up to her somehow. Glancing at her door, he was suddenly hit with an idea. Just because some lame-ass kid in her class wasn't going to have a party didn't mean that he couldn't have one. And a private one at that.
Jack growled as she got up from her bed and sat down at her desk, opening her laptop. So she had finally told Riddick how she was feeling about him not really knowing her, but that was barely scratching the surface. She calmed down as she checked her mail, quietly typing a few replies as her thoughts spread themselves out.
Sure he was her guardian and he knew that she idolized him to the point of being some sort of demigod, but there was no snowball's chance in hell that he knew how she actually felt. Not so long ago that had changed into something deeper that she wasn't too keen on exploring. She knew that if she really wanted to go further, she couldn't do it alone; Riddick had to be part of it.
At first she let it go, knowing he wouldn't want to even think about being with her that way. But the feeling kept crept into her blood every time she passed too close to him, setting it on fire. Biting her tongue, Jack closed her laptop and stood up. This was getting ridiculous, this craving she had.
Riddick started when Jack walked out of her room and stood in front of the couch, glaring down at him. She had a determination in her stance and he wasn't sure he liked it.
"You alright, Jack?"
"Just fine, thanks for asking. You're doing nothing important right?" She asked and he was surprised.
"Depends."
"Good, get off your ass and go get me some hazelnut spread, commonly known to the normal world as Nutella." She demanded and he sat up.
"Come again."
"I've been craving it. Now get up!"
"No!" He wanted to punch himself for nearly whining like that.
"Yes! Riddick! Pleeeeeeeease! It's dark out; no one's going to see you." She reasoned and he looked at her as if she'd grown another head.
"That's not the point, the point is-"
"What? What is the point of you not doing one little thing I would like? Just one thing, after all this time of lonely dinners, empty nights and cold conversations I think you doing me this one favor couldn't hurt." Jack replied, sounding hurt, and Riddick knew he didn't have a choice; she was queen of guilt tripping.
"Fine." He stood suddenly and she backed up, startled by his unexpected movement. He swiftly walked past her and grabbed his keys off the counter, the door slamming behind him as he walked out. Grinning, she walked to the fridge and opened it to find a drink.
"The doors are abused in this apartment, that's for sure."
Riddick nearly snarled at the bright lights in the food store, but it was reduced to a low grumble. All the same, it scared the sales clerk, making him pick up his charts and the like and scurry off. Just as he turned the corner, he yelped when he felt the back of his shirt being pulled back, obviously in a tight grip. He swallowed as he turned and nearly whimpered when he saw Riddick's black goggles staring down at him.
"May I…help…you?" He squeaked out, his body visibly shaking.
"Hazelnut spread." He growled out and let the clerk go, who blinked nervously at him.
"This…way…sir." He mumbled and hurried off, not surprised by the silent figure that followed him, his stride easily taking over his own quick footsteps. They turned into an aisle and the clerk stopped a little way down and gestured to a wall of spreads, jams and jellies.
"Nutella." Riddick growled and the clerk hurried to find it, checking the shelves and sections. Finding a container, he held it up and Riddick swiped his hand and before the clerk could even blink the convict was stalking down the aisle, Nutella in hand.
"I knew I should've worked in the vid rental store…" the clerk mumbled, gathering up his charts again and going back to his aisle.
Jack was lounging on the couch, flipping through the channels, growling when she couldn't find anything interesting.
"Watched that…seen that…boring…stupid…ew! Cooking channel! Maybe I should store that for Riddick. Ha, imagine that, the cooking convict," Jack spoke quietly to herself as she decided that she could be putting this time to better use.
As in napping.
Shutting off the screen, she tossed the clicker to the table and snuggled back into the couch. Grabbing the pillow behind her head, she curled her back into the back cushions of the couch and held the pillow in front of her. Breathing deeply, she calmed when she smelled Riddick, go figure the couch would smell like him. She closed her eyes and held the pillow tighter against her chest, contentedly humming.
"GO! JACK! GET OUT OF HERE!" Riddick yelled at Jack, who resembled a startled fawn with blood splattered across her. Shaking herself out of her fright, she focused on him and was suddenly afraid to see him bleeding from more the one gunshot wound and barley able to stand.
"You fucking wish!" She snarled beneath her breath, and turned to face their attackers. They had landed on this port and didn't realize that they were surrounded until the last moment. Riddick knew they had to fight, more of a chance for Jack to survive. He had taken the first few hits and Jack was trying to help but just as one of their attackers grabbed at her, Riddick slashed him open and there was blood all over her.
With a surprisingly loud battle cry, Jack launched herself at an attacker, knocking him down and wrenching his gun away from him. Without two thoughts, she shot him twice. She ducked as shots were fired her way and managed to grab two other guns the man was holding. Running away from the ship, the men followed her as she rolled behind another ship's landing legs. Relieved to get them away from Riddick, she was even happier when she found that both of the guns were loaded. Tucking the two in her belt, she crouched down and fired at the men, taking out the two closest.
"Come on, bitches." She smirked and ran forward, dragging one of the bodies with her. She quickly looted it and almost laughed when she found a grenade on the man's body. "Dead men don't' fight."
She found a smokescreen bomb and pulling the pin, threw that right in the middle of the group. When they began to cough, she pulled the pin of the bomb and tossed that and held her hands over her ears, feeling the bomb explode. Jack cursed when the force of the explosion sent her flying, pieces of weaponry and steel following her. She rolled to the ground and wrapped her arms over her head, waiting until the explosion finished.
When it was quiet, she stood immediately and ran to Riddick, satisfied to see their attackers dead. He had his eyes closed as he leaned against their ship, his breathing shallow.
"C'mon Riddick, don't do this to me. Not now." She ordered, pulling of his arms over her shoulders and lifting his body up. "Lose some weight before you die, alright?" She was relieved to hear a chuckle from next to her.
She dragged him up the ramp and slammed her fist on the closing door mechanism and made sure it locked. Jack just got him to the med bay and used all her strength to lift him up to the operating table.
"Sorry about this, big guy." She said softly, strapping him onto the table. "I'll be back as soon as I can, promise." She said, dimming the lights almost completely as she tapped in instructions for the med bay computer. It whirred to life as she left, jogging to the main control room.
She threw herself into the chair and started up the engines. At this point, she didn't give a damn for takeoff permission and rolled them out, harshly pulling the accelerator lever. The takeoff was surprisingly smooth as she flew them out of the port and into space, setting a fast course for somewhere far away. Locking the controls, she got out of her seat and ran back to the med bay, ordering the machines to stop and the lights a little higher.
"You awake?" She asked, unbuckling the straps and letting them fall to the sides. Jack was rewarded with two silver eyes blinking at her. "Good." As she prepared to remove the bullet, Riddick mumbled something and she glanced up. "Didn't catch that."
"Natural born killer and survivor." He said louder and Jack grinned at him.
"Damn straight, whatdja do without me?" She asked to no one. As Riddick laid his head back, he realized that the second Jack saw that he was threatened and couldn't protect himself, her innocent skin was shredded and the beast tore through, permanently in place. He nodded to himself as he braced for the pain, but knew that things were going to change after this.
Riddick was about to slam the door open when he heard even breathing from inside the apartment and decided that the longer Jack wasn't awake to argue with him, the better, so he quietly slipped in. He placed the bag with the Nutella on the counter and walked over to the couch to see Jack curled up, his head pillow tightly gripped in her arms. There was no way he couldn't smile at this, it was just too sickeningly adorable not to. Then again, she looked peaceful and cute while she slept, but when she woke, everyone was victim to her charm or hate. Opting for the chair, he sat down and breathed deeply, his eyes flickering over Jack's form.
"Jackie…what the hell am I going to do about you?" He said softly, pushing himself up into standing and he walked back in their apartment, probably to his room.
Jack had heard what he said and the moment his door closed, her eyes snapped open and she sat up. She was about to go confront him about what he had said but spied the Nutella on the counter and decided it could be put away for another argument. She walked over and pulled herself up onto the counter, noisily going through the bag for the Nutella. Once found, she sighed when she realized that the bread was on the other side of the kitchen and she was too lazy to get off her perch and get it.
Once she had prayed that Riddick wouldn't decide to walk in, she opened the drawers beneath her and rolled her eyes when she found a shiv, two handguns, extra ammunition and duct tape. Oh the things one found in Riddick's kitchen. Taking the duct tape, she was planning an elaborate scheme when she felt his presence enter the room.
"Jack, I don't know what you eat with that stuff, but I don't think its duct tape." He said and almost showed his surprise when Jack grinned back at him.
"Great to see you, wanna get me the bread?" She asked and Riddick raised an eyebrow.
"Please?"
"Fine." He grumbled and walked to the other side of their small kitchen and tossed the loaf of bread behind him, inwardly satisfied to hear Jack single handedly catch it. Turning around, he watched Jack unscrew the top of the container and undo the tie on the bag of bread. This wasn't going to be any animal documentary, but it might prove to be interesting.
"So," Jack started conversation, spreading the Nutella on her piece of bread, "what are you doing tomorrow night?"
"Me? Ha, how many parties do you think I'm invited to?" He asked her and relaxed a bit when she laughed.
"Forgot about that, pero yo no se, Senor Riddick," she briefly added some Spanish, knowing it would annoy him, "I'd rather have you at a party then some loser trying to get down my pants."
Riddick decided to ignore that and went to the fridge, kicking it closed after he got a beer. He opened it on the counter and took a sip, wondering why Jack would've said that if it was some guy that she was missing at that party.
"Even if I'm not there, trust me, no sane man will go near you." Riddick suddenly said, wondering where the fuck that came from. Jack looked the same way and didn't realize she was driving Riddick crazy as she licked some of the spread off her fingers.
"Right, guess that means I won't be going out tomorrow night?" She asked and knew that question was pointless.
"Not if I can help it." 'And you can bet I will be.' He added on in thought. Riddick had to restrain his beast with nearly everything he had as Jack thoughtfully licked the knife. She had closed up the jar and set it aside, along with the bread, and was now enjoying licking the knife.
"And I doubt you'll be letting me have some alcohol." She said and Riddick gave a short nod.
"Imam put you in my care-"
"Don't know why." Jack cut in.
"And in my care you'll stay, so I should-"
"Respect he wishes and keep me away from that 'vile drink that ruins even the best of men.' Yeah, I've heard it." Jack said, making a little noise as she saw that she had missed some of the spread on the knife. Just as she brought the knife up to her mouth, she saw Riddick suddenly in front of her and almost yelped when he knocked her hands away and grabbing her shoulders, kissed her hard.
Between shock and joy, she dropped the knife and immediately slipped her arms around his neck to pull him closer. But as she did this he backed away.
"Rid-"
"Fuck, fucking hell, how could…" he was out the door in seconds and Jack barely heard him run down the steps. He had left her in shock, her eyes wide and bright as she touched her lips with her fingertips. Shaking it off, she got off the counter and nearly ran to her room, slamming the door shut.
Needles to say, the night passed terribly and by four in the morning, Jack was near frozen at the balcony edge, her eyes nervously flitting back and forth over the view. Where was he?
"C'mon Riddick…c'mon, come back, get back here…" she whispered, not wanting to believe he might've taken off from their port a half hour after he left the apartment.
Time continued to pass and Jack woke to warmth hitting her still-standing body. The sun was rising. Biting in the inside of her lip, she went back inside, firmly shutting the door behind her. Jack near collapsed on the couch and she was asleep as she pulled the same pillow to her chest and curled up.
"Christ Riddick…where are you?" Jack spoke to herself as she crouched on the roof of their apartment. It was another eleven floors up, but she had perfect view of the city and nothing escaped her hawk-like gaze.
Riddick had gone out the night before, saying he would be back in less then an hour and he still had yet to return. It had been three hours. Standing, she hurried back down to the apartment and straight to her room where she lifted the mattress to her bed and kicked open the box beneath it, revealing a whole stash of weapons.
Picking out her favorites, she checked her ammo and slipped on a shoulder holster and a belt of ammo, the belt crossing diagonally across her chest. Adjusting to make sure everything fell correctly, Jack shouldered on a short black jacket and walked out onto the balcony. Just as she had been taught, she secured the rope and pulling it taught, threw it over the edge of the railing. She watched it fall and, making sure the sliding door was locked, jumped over the railing and slid down the rope, thankful she had put on gloves at the last minute.
At the bottom of the rope, she dropped to the ground and check around her, thankful that it was late enough to be dark, but early enough for people to be home. She flicked the rope and with a wave that went up to the top, the cable flung off and fell to the ground, where Jack picked it up and bound it around her waist.
"If I were Riddick…where would I go?" Jack asked herself and thinking of a few places, she broke into a fast jog, constantly checking around her.
Riddick slipped into the apartment and shut the door behind him with his foot, his hands occupied with bags. Checking to see that the door was locked, he went to his room and stashed the bags, trying not to think of Jack and what he had done earlier. Against his better judgment, he went to check on her in her room. Easing open the door, he walked into the room and looked at the bed, cursing softly when he saw it was empty. Walking back into the hallway, he went down it to the living room and his heart rate calmed when he saw her form on the couch.
Sitting heavily down in the chair nearby, he watched Jack and knew she wasn't dreaming, but remembering something. He wished he knew what it was. He watched her for a few minutes, wondering whether to pick her up and put her to bed or let her sleep on the couch. He should at least tell her he was back, but he didn't quite know how.
Standing, he walked over to her and crouched, pushing back a stray strand of hair from her face.
"Jack, it's me. Don't know if you can hear me, but I'm back." He said before standing. Riddick was about to walk back to his room when he stopped and shouldered off his jacket and draped it over Jack, who had the immediate reaction of freezing, sniffing the object, then pulling it closer around her, recognizing it as Riddick's.
The next day passed quietly, if not in complete silence. Riddick had left a note for Jack, telling her he'd be out the entire day, basically saying that she should stay put. She had woken up a few hours after he left, sunlight hitting her face, making her wince in her sleep and slowly wake. A smile lit her face when she realized that it was indeed Riddick's jacket over her.
She slowly made herself some breakfast before going to take a shower. It was going to be a long day, but it was definitely significant for her and Riddick, especially him. Another year will have passed which marked another year of surviving, another year of staying beneath the radar of the mercs and another year of Riddick not abandoning Jack. Sighing at this, she put her dishes in the sink and went to take a shower.
Jack could hear the partygoers nineteen levels up from the ground and turned up her music louder, doing her best to ignore the fact that she was not down there, getting pissed drunk and enjoying herself. She tried her best to also ignore the voice in her head that said 'honestly, you would enjoy yourself by getting pissed drunk and not having control of your surroundings?' Jack wrote that off as Riddick's training emerging from wherever she locked it up into.
Just as she cracked her knuckles to get to work writing a paper due in a few weeks, her door opened to reveal Riddick. Taking off her earphones, she cautiously turned her head to watch his movements.
"It's nearly eleven; shouldn't you be out finding a brothel to celebrate in?" Jack asked, her biting tone more than evident. She was convinced that Riddick didn't mean what he had done at all.
"Christ, Jack, give a man a break, will you?" Riddick asked, closing the door and sitting down on her bed.
Jack turned around in her chair and watched him. Part of her desperately wanted to say that in his form she saw guilt and something else that was deeper, and being too hopeful, saying that something else was that four letter word that both of them hated.
"Depends." She replied, blinking at him slowly.
"Least let me make it up to you?" He asked and she shot him a glare.
"Don't know how you plan on doing that." She turned back to her work and didn't jump when she felt his hands on her shoulders.
"Please." He nearly whispered the word, but it got Jack to look up and lean her head against his toned stomach. She searched his eyes and he let her, his goggles were off but he didn't feel fear and was secretly content to know that she didn't feel any fear either.
"Shoot." She said and stood up, following him as he walked out of her door and into the living room. He motioned for her to sit down and she chose the couch, instinctively grabbing his pillow and holding it to her chest. He disappeared into his room for a moment and returned with two bags. As he began to unload them, her eyes widened.
"Uh…Riddick…what happened to respecting Imam's wishes?" She asked, watching the bottles of hard liquor line up on the coffee table.
"What the holy man doesn't know won't hurt him." Riddick replied and she grinned.
"This'll be quite the party between the two of us."
"Meant to be, Jack; meant to be." Riddick said and sat down on the chair next to the couch. "Ok, not sure how to start this sort of thing."
Jack laughed before grabbing a bottle of vodka and breaking the seal.
"Wanna do this the classy way with shot glasses or just chug it straight from the bottle?" She asked and laughed again at Riddick's surprised face.
"Something's telling me this ain't your first time, Jack." Riddick growled and Jack stood, bottle in hand.
"Sure as hell ain't my first time, but I'll tell you a secret, k?"
He merely grunted in response.
"No matter how drunk I get, I've never let any guy get in my pants. You know why?"
He looked up quickly, his mind jumping to whimsical conclusions.
"No."
"Ha, you'll have to wait until I'm drunk enough to tell you!" She laughed and Riddick rolled his eyes. He began to wonder if this was a good idea.
----Some time later----
"Will you look at that! It's ten of twelve! Ten minutes of this year left! Rid-" She stopped in mid sentence when she lifted up the bottle and saw that it was empty.
"Jack, c'mon, we both know you aren't as drunk as your acting!" Riddick said, a little more emphasis then usual. He wasn't near tipsy but the alcohol loosened him up a bit. Like giving his beast a massage, but different. He smirked when he saw her sober up.
"Way to take the fun out of it." She said and reached for another bottle.
"You've drank an entire bottle of vodka, Jack Daniels and now you're reaching for absinthe and you aren't buzzed. Jack, that isn't a good thing." Riddick noted and Jack snorted. A few minutes passed in silence, Jack breaking the seal on the absinthe.
"About five minutes left. Any last minute promises or something?" Jack asked, tipping her head towards the clock on the TV.
She flinched when Riddick suddenly sat on the other end of the couch, taking the bottle away from her and setting it on the table.
"Yeah, actually. I do. Lay down." He ordered and Jack looked at him seriously.
"Riddick. What. The. Fuck."
"Please, c'mon Jack. Three minutes."
"Fine." She nervously lay down but as she did Riddick leaned forward and wrapped one strong arm around her waist and pulled her on top of his lap. His other hand slid up her chest, up her neck and into her hair and she shivered as his fingers spread out across her skull, as if holding her. Jack loosely linked her hands behind his neck and rested her forehead against his, her breathing suddenly hitched.
"Riddick?" Her voice was almost a whisper.
"Yeah?" She wasn't surprised by the desire she heard in his tone.
"The alcohol, I…this…tomorrow…" she wasn't sure what to say, but she feared that this would be thrown away and forgotten in the next year.
"Jack," he pulled them completely together and spoke against her lips, his breath mingling with hers. "I'm sober enough never to regret this."
As he said that he began to slowly kiss her and she immediately responded, wrapping her legs around his waist and deepening the kiss by opening her mouth to him. With the most care he had ever given a human, he gently lay her down on the couch, his mouth never leaving hers. Just as they broke apart for air they heard a cheer from outside.
"Happy New Year, Jack." He said softly and she pulled him down for another kiss.
"Damn straight this is going to be a happy year," she growled into his ear after they had broken apart again, making him laugh.
END.
This was a one-shot by the way.