Hey all, I'll probably only post one more chapter before running off on my
7 week holiday (which I must say, I feel like I've well and truly earned
after the way my year has gone.) after I get back from that, I should be
able to post a lot more as I won't stop writing just because I'm away. If I
get the chance to randomly post a chapter while I'm away I will but don't
know how likely that will be.
Thanks all for your reviews.
Kayla
Chapter 9: Busted Up.
Jack looked at herself critically in the bathroom mirror and was disgusted by what she saw in the reflection of her own face. She looked like she had gone from brawling to having a roll about in the hayloft of some unknown barn with some unknown guy. She had a nice spilt lit, a bruise on her left cheekbone and a cut through the corresponding eyebrow, otherwise her muscles just ached and she was plain tried.
At one point the washcloth in her hand had been white, now it was brown and red, dyed with antiseptic and blood from the cuts she had had to re-open to clean. Danny's comment had made her mad, seething mad and John's words and actions had hurt worse then the punches that Danny had landed. John was her friend; Danny just pissed her off because of his blatant lack of knowledge. Those thoughts were about the only thing stopping her from feeling the sting of the antiseptic.
"Nasty fucking shit." She winced as she put the washcloth over her eyebrow again, dabbing lightly.
"Yeah, something like that." Her eyes looked past her own reflection to see the young teen that Sam had called Candace standing in the doorway observing her. "Came to see who won and since the guy looked worse, I take it you won in some twisted sorta way. You know he had to get someone else to clean the nasty as hell cut on his face?"
"Stitches?" She found herself asking.
"Yep." Jack smirked when she heard the answer. The idea that he had been that damaged by her couldn't help but send shivers of unexpected pleasure up her spine. The guy was a royal arse and she didn't feel at all sorry for him.
"You're a slippery little devil so I've hear." Jack soaked her cloth in the brown antiseptic liquid in the basin in front of her. The kid shrugged and boldly moved deeper into the room but not close enough to be easily reached and she was still in a direct line with the door.
"Depends on who's trying to catch me and why." She shrugged. "You learn to be weary of people if you're me or smart."
"I'm Jack. Who are you?" Jack asked wringing out the cloth before dipping it back in the liquid again.
"Candace Dalton. My mom's a crack whore and I'm practically dumped anyway cause I can't get back to my dad." It was more then Jack had asked for but she didn't mind if the kid wanted to talk to her. She could remember times when she was that age and had no one to talk to. At least the girl wasn't Riddick and his stupid questions and stony silences or Sam and the lecture that she was going to get later when she least expected it.
"Parents aren't all that kid." Jack said shrugging knowingly.
"Your folks kick you out?" There was almost curiosity on the girl's face but it was guarded, highly guarded and by what other defence mechanisms the girl was hiding, Jack wasn't sure.
"Nope." She shook her head and reached into her med-kit for cream to put on the scratch marks on her neck. "Died on me. Thought it would be fun to bail on me probably."
"So a bit bitter eh?" Candace said and Jack shot her an annoyed glance though, she was more annoyed with herself for her own slip up then with the girl. "So what? The big guy is your brother?"
"Not even close." She winced as the cream stung but she looked back in the mirror but not at her own reflection. It was easier to look at the girl through the mirror then it would be to turn around and give her, her full attention. That and the simple movement of turning around would probably spook the kid and she wouldn't come back again. "Riddick is Riddick, no more and no less..."
"Riddick?" The girl actually had recognition on her face.
"Yeah like I said, Riddick is no more and no less then Riddick."
"He's a whole bloody lot more then just Riddick, he's a fucking murderer who split from slam!" Candace gave her a funny look. It was a look of horror and interest, mingled with fear but anticipation. It was like the kid wanted to meet Riddick but at the same time wasn't sure if she really did want to meet him. "You have no idea how hard it is to get out of a place like that. Only top security prisoners go to slam and you don't get out, there's no probation. He's a fucking legend in that fucking place."
"How would you know that?" Jack turned her head very slowly and looked straight at the girl. Something didn't fit there.
"Dad was a merc." The kid shrugged nonchalantly as if that information wouldn't be a big deal to Jack. Jack's guard flew up. She had been indirectly hunted by too many mercs since she was fifteen to want anything to do with more of them and if the kid was mixed up with mercs she wasn't sure that her being around was such a good idea. "What do you love him or something?"
"Where the heck did that question come from?"
"Well it's kinda obvious, well at least it looks that way. Don't tell me you haven't noticed it? I mean, the way he hovers all over you like you can't look after yourself. Only ever half a step behind you and all that shit." Candace answered her. "It makes it look like you're either his sister or his lover so which is it?"
"Neither."
"I don't believe that for a second. You're always looking over your shoulder to make sure he's there."
"Yeah, I guess I am but for no other reason then I live with the knowledge that he could be gone at any moment. He only sticks around for as long as he wants to or until whatever job it is he has is finished. If I don't watch out, he'll be gone without me even knowing about it."
"Why do you care?"
"You're just trying to get me to tell you that I love him aren't you?"
"Well you would be telling the truth then wouldn't you?"
"Get over it. There is no truth where you're digging."
"If you say so." Candace gave her a knowing smile and Jack frowned.
"You know how I got my shiner, you wanna tell me how you got yours? It's only fare." She masked her shock and displeasure with a question.
"My mom took a swipe at me after I mouthed off at one of those hostess whores, she knocked the wind out of me good this time." Candace shrugged and her eyes swept Jack from top to bottom. It was a look of assessment; she was working out just how much of a danger that Jack would be to her. "I wasn't fast enough this time. Usually I can dodge the worst of them."
"So you've met one of the three Cs?" Jack motioned for her to take a seat but she shook her head.
"Yeah, mom's trying to dump me. Best way she can think of to get back at my dad, not that she's really all that good a mom or anything. He probably already thinks that I'm dead. I mean, who wouldn't if they were him, I disappeared months ago and mom with me. He saw her beat the shit out of me, no doubt he thinks that she killed me in a fit of rage by now."
"Don't worry about it kid. These things work themselves out."
"Yeah, well, bye and all that shit." Then she was gone.
"Sweet and simple, a regular little Betty-Sue." Jack said before turning around to get back to patching herself up. Only she wasn't given the chance. Riddick walked in and closed the door after him. She groaned mentally, she didn't want to have to deal with him at that moment in time.
However, Riddick said nothing. He just took the cloth out of her hands and motioned for her to take a seat in the chair. She sat and with a simple word he dimmed the lights dramatically so he could take off his goggles. He rinsed the cloth he had taken from her and pulled up a seat in front of her, sitting down himself. He let one of his hands grip the back of her head and brought the hand with the cloth up to her lip. She winced and tried to pull away but his grip was too firm.
He shook his head as he lightly ran the cloth over the split in her lip and then across the cut on her eyebrow checking them for something but she wasn't sure what and it stung like hell. She hadn't been pressing the damn cloth so hard against the wounds and they were cleaning up just fine. What was this guy about, did he feed off pain or something?
She reached up to touch her lip with one hand but he grabbed it and forced her to put in back in her lap before she could touch it. She made a small noise of frustration at the back of her throat but he wasn't listening, a look of concentration was etched onto his face. He inspected the scratch marks on her neck but thankfully left them alone as he turned away from her and put the cloth back in the basin and bringing the med-kit between them.
Jack sighed as she watched him pull a couple of butterfly closure bandages out of the box and pulled away slightly. "Sit still." Riddick said and carefully put them over the cut on her eyebrow. He inspected his handiwork and then sat back in his chair and looked at her, his arms folded across his chest. "Any other damage that I should know about?"
"My wrist hurts a bit but that's all besides scrapped knuckles. I'll wrap it later." She shrugged and he gave her another scrutinising look. She pursed her lips and looked at him evenly. "It's not broken or anything and neither am I so stop fussing. I've been hurt worse before now."
"Yeah and you don't tend to tell me or anyone else."
"Well it's my problem."
"Enough of the attitude Jack."
It wasn't that he thought she would deliberately lie to him and she knew it. It was more that she had never been the best patient and that she was good at hiding things, the truth of a situation mainly. She would almost let herself bleed to death rather then see a doctor. Last time she had got hurt and failed to tell him about it, she had called it omitting the truth. Well it hadn't impressed him much but she hated doctors and stitches and just about anything medical.
She knew that he was thinking about the time she had gotten caught but a random guy walking down the ally that led to where her and Riddick were staying and got herself slashed across the back. She knew without him having to tell her, that was after he had found out, that she was rather lucky that that was all that he'd given her. She was a good bit quicker and more agile then most men and she had made good her escape.
She had managed to hide the damage for a good week before she had got into a fight with a girl in a bar and re-opened the wound. Riddick had chosen the moment when they were walking out of the door to touch the small of her back in a directive way and the blood became extremely obvious through her white t-shirt. She had never been so embarrassed in her whole life.
"You know that I don't have a problem with who and what I am Jack." He said finally.
"I don't have a problem with who or what you are either Riddick. I never have, you should know that." She shook her head and looked down at the floor. "It was about more then you, the fight, what happened in the Control Centre. It was about Kelly and trust and about who I am. But it doesn't matter, I should have been expecting it anyway. I was in a way, I just..." Her voice faded away and she had to make a conscious effort not to bite her lip.
"These people were you friends, it matters to you."
"Well it shouldn't. I know how people react to these sorts of things. I've seen it before. It shouldn't matter."
"Well it obviously does."
"What if I don't want to talk about it?"
"Then you don't have to. Maybe you should go take a shower and then get some sleep."
"Yeah," She shrugged. "I guess." She stood up and pushed her chair out of the way as she turned around and walked through the door that led into the bathroom.
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How had he managed to miss the transformation that seemed to have taken place in Jack? One minute it seemed she was the idolising kid, then the wildcat he had done his best to train and all of a sudden, she was a hurting and brooding young women who didn't seem to trust anyone or that now, because of him, no one else seemed to trust. And that thought did not make him feel good. He had never wanted to hurt her, it had never been his intention.
She hadn't said anything to him after she walked back into the main room towel drying her hair and dressed in a white tank top and boxer shorts. She had changed a lot. She had kept her hair short for a long time after letting it grow back but now it was down to her shoulder blades with a slight curl in the ends. Her skin was tanned a light golden brown and she had managed quite innocently to wear the right clothes to show off her well- proportioned curves.
Jack was quite the women under her tough act.
Riddick sat back in his chair and watched her as she moved around the room, picking up a comb and binding for her hair and quickly brushing and pleating it. She had gotten herself a couple nice bruises, one over her shoulder by her tattoo and one that he could just see on her hip when she stretched exposing a thin strip of her flat stomach.
"Get your mind out of the gutter Riddick." His thoughts warned him. "That's Jack and you have to sleep in the same bed as her so get over it."
"What side of the bed do you want Riddick? Wall or edge?" She asked finally tossing the towel in a small bin in the corner of the room. He hadn't exactly expected the Captain to give them a double room when he had asked that the room be big enough for two, he had expected a bunk room or something but at least the fact that there was only one bed wasn't phasing Jack.
"Edge."
"K." Jack turned down the blankets and slipped her long legs into the bed and rolled over so that her back was to him and she was facing the wall on the far side. He knew that she wasn't asleep, knew that she hadn't even closed her eyes just laid blinking in the darkness, hugging her pillow to her.
He stood up and rolled his neck feeling satisfied with the popping noises that his vertebra were making. Jack cringed but he ignored it as he sat down on the edge of the bed and taking his wife beater and pants off, his boots already discarded on the floor. He tucked his shiv under his pillow before getting in the bed himself.
Riddick lay with one arm raised over his head, his hand cradling the back of his neck, his silvery eyes picking out the shapes in the darkened room like it was still light. Jack shivered next to him and sucked in a deep breath moving a little closer to him. He didn't stop her, instead he rolled over onto his side and slid her a little closer so that her back was pressed up against his front.
"Tell me about Kelly." Riddick breathed against her neck and felt her relax slightly against him.
"I'm her girl. I did some really stupid shit after Bret died and she made sure that she took the blame for it all. It's all my fault, everything that she had to go through was my fault and she didn't blame me for it." Jack said, her own head resting on her elbow. "She's not tall, a strawberry blonde but she can't walk anymore. Not much more to tell. She's basically what's left of my family, her, Johnny and Damien."
"You were going to get married to her brother?"
"He had asked me. I hadn't said yes or no." She answered and stifled a yawn with the back of her hand. "I don't know what I would have said if things had worked out differently."
"Who are Johnny and Damien?"
"Jonathan Marks is Kelly's husband. I don't know how long they were married for before I showed up but they are very well suited to each other." He could hear a smile in her voice. "Johnny is like a big brother, that's the role he has assumed in my life, he's kind and generous and tough. Looking at them... they love each other so much, it's almost enough to make you sick." She ran her fingers through the end of her pleat. "Or break your heart." She said. "It'll be interesting to see what you two make of each other if you ever meet."
"Eh?"
"Well, Johnny's full of noble intentions. You guys are different in a lot of way but also very similar. You're both stubborn and strong, don't mind using violence if you have to either to save your own skin or make sure that the people close to you are safe. He doesn't take well to new people, especially threatening looking new people."
"I look threatening?" He let mock surprise filter into his voice. Sometimes he wondered what it was about him that she had latched on to that was enough to make him less frightening for her. In fact, to her it seemed he wasn't threatening or frightening at all. It was one of those things that he didn't understand.
"You're a lot more threatening then I like to let you think you are. You think that John got all weak-kneed because of your rap sheet? It'll be something of a stand off between you and Jonathan, I wouldn't be surprised." She let herself chuckle lightly. "And Damien is their adopted son. Kelly picked him up somewhere just before Bret died." She shuddered thinking about it. "I don't think I want to talk anymore."
"Then don't. Go to sleep Jack."
"Maybe." She replied and let her arm rest next to his arm that was wrapped around her middle.
They laid in silence after that but it was a good hour or two before Jack stopped fighting sleep and let her eyes flutter closed. Her breathing evened out and she started making the silly little noises that she had used to make when she was content. The corners of his mouth twitched into a smile. It seemed that not a lot had changed with her in that regard.
She made noises in her sleep, it made it easy to tell what kinda dreams she was having. As long as she was happy and nothing in her sleep bothered her she sounded slightly like a cat purring after having got it's back rubbed, when she was scared or upset she whimpered or made little groaning noises like someone was stabbing her with tiny needles.
The first few times that he had heard those noises it had startled him, set him on edge but after a while not hearing them worried him. For a moment he caught himself wondering about her relationship with Bret. Obviously the guy had loved her enough to try and protect her with his life but she hadn't mentioned the marriage proposal. Jack was not a girl that he could personally see as anybody's wife. She was too independent and a plain tough ass.
She rolled over onto her side so that she was facing him, her mouth puckered into a little frown, her cheeks flushed. He could feel her hand wedged up against his abs and her long legs pressed up against his. Her breath was hot on his neck and she made another one of those stupid purring noises. He knew it was purely innocent; she was cold and moving toward him because he was warm.
Had Bret been privy to all of her little quirks? Just thinking about it, he had to ask himself one small question.
Why the hell did he care so much anyway?
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Jack woke with a start, a start that made her jerk. Her eyes flew open, her head was pounding and she was in a blind panic but she didn't know why. There was something wrong. She knew it, something was wrong!
She threw back the covers, pushing Riddick out of her way and jumping to the floor pulling a pair of blue jeans on and grabbing her blade before running out of the room without thinking twice and before he could do anything about it.
She could hear her own bare feet slapping off the metal floor, she could feel the cold and the string but she kept running, she checked out the main flight deck, the control room the cockpit, ran in on Sam and John and managed not to wake the Captain. She flew along the passenger deck, looking in all of the cryo tubes, her eyes darting around in the dark but seeing nothing but the grey shapes that she knew should be there.
Nothing seemed to be out of place but something was still nagging at her. Something she couldn't explain.
A hand flew out of the darkness and grabbed her arm pulling her off balance and she slammed hard into the floor, her blade flying out of her hand and landing too far away for her to reach it easily even if she could have at that moment. The hand never left her arm as she lay on the ground writhing as she fought to breath, as she fought the pain shooting from her shoulder.
Gods, why did she keep letting herself get hurt?
"Danger will be brought onboard." A voice said so softly that she wasn't sure that she had heard it or if it was just the blood pounding in her ears as she closed her eyes tightly and another hand moved her head so that she would be looking at a wall if she opened her eyes again.
The sound of pounding feet from down the hall seemed to spook whoever had grabbed her and they split and just in time. Riddick was suddenly standing over her, his goggles pushed up onto his forehead, his quicksilver eyes flashed around the hallway and he looked down at her. He reached down to pick her to her feet but her voice stopped him.
"Don't touch me. Just don't." She said through clenched teeth, the voice and it's message completely forgotten.
"What the hell?" He said kneeling on one knee, his shiv held in one hand and his eyes moving around. "Come on, we gotta get you up."
"Don't touch me Riddick." She groaned. "Don't you dare fucking touch me, I've fucking busted myself up."
"What happened?"
"Don't know." She answered shaking her head and gritting her teeth to hold back a cry of pain as she flipped herself from her side onto her back. She closed her eyes, squeezing her eyelids tightly trying to block out the pain trying to think about something else. "Get Sam." She whispered.
"I'm not going anywhere and I'm not getting anyone." He growled.
"I should have expected that answer." She said opening her eyes again and using her good arm to reach over and prod her shoulder. "I don't think it's broken. Might be dislocated but it's not broken."
"You sure?"
"Broken feels different."
"Well at least that's something." He said helping her to sit up. "What the hell was wrong with you?"
"I dunno. I can't remember anything specific, just a feeling that something wasn't right." She winced as his fingers prodded her shoulder feeling the damage for himself.
"That's the shit you pull when you have a feeling?"
"Don't you dare get up on a high horse Mr. Paranoia-vigilance-is-everything- Jumpy!" Jack turned her head and glared at him as he put sudden pressure on her shoulder and there was a nasty popping noise. Her mouth was open in silent scream and pain was written all over her face but she clenched her teeth, only letting a sort of pain filled sob out of her throat.
"Dislocated." He shrugged and picked her up like she weighed nothing at all.
"There are some times when I really hate you Riddick." Were her words before she rested her head against his shoulder and then passed out.
Thanks all for your reviews.
Kayla
Chapter 9: Busted Up.
Jack looked at herself critically in the bathroom mirror and was disgusted by what she saw in the reflection of her own face. She looked like she had gone from brawling to having a roll about in the hayloft of some unknown barn with some unknown guy. She had a nice spilt lit, a bruise on her left cheekbone and a cut through the corresponding eyebrow, otherwise her muscles just ached and she was plain tried.
At one point the washcloth in her hand had been white, now it was brown and red, dyed with antiseptic and blood from the cuts she had had to re-open to clean. Danny's comment had made her mad, seething mad and John's words and actions had hurt worse then the punches that Danny had landed. John was her friend; Danny just pissed her off because of his blatant lack of knowledge. Those thoughts were about the only thing stopping her from feeling the sting of the antiseptic.
"Nasty fucking shit." She winced as she put the washcloth over her eyebrow again, dabbing lightly.
"Yeah, something like that." Her eyes looked past her own reflection to see the young teen that Sam had called Candace standing in the doorway observing her. "Came to see who won and since the guy looked worse, I take it you won in some twisted sorta way. You know he had to get someone else to clean the nasty as hell cut on his face?"
"Stitches?" She found herself asking.
"Yep." Jack smirked when she heard the answer. The idea that he had been that damaged by her couldn't help but send shivers of unexpected pleasure up her spine. The guy was a royal arse and she didn't feel at all sorry for him.
"You're a slippery little devil so I've hear." Jack soaked her cloth in the brown antiseptic liquid in the basin in front of her. The kid shrugged and boldly moved deeper into the room but not close enough to be easily reached and she was still in a direct line with the door.
"Depends on who's trying to catch me and why." She shrugged. "You learn to be weary of people if you're me or smart."
"I'm Jack. Who are you?" Jack asked wringing out the cloth before dipping it back in the liquid again.
"Candace Dalton. My mom's a crack whore and I'm practically dumped anyway cause I can't get back to my dad." It was more then Jack had asked for but she didn't mind if the kid wanted to talk to her. She could remember times when she was that age and had no one to talk to. At least the girl wasn't Riddick and his stupid questions and stony silences or Sam and the lecture that she was going to get later when she least expected it.
"Parents aren't all that kid." Jack said shrugging knowingly.
"Your folks kick you out?" There was almost curiosity on the girl's face but it was guarded, highly guarded and by what other defence mechanisms the girl was hiding, Jack wasn't sure.
"Nope." She shook her head and reached into her med-kit for cream to put on the scratch marks on her neck. "Died on me. Thought it would be fun to bail on me probably."
"So a bit bitter eh?" Candace said and Jack shot her an annoyed glance though, she was more annoyed with herself for her own slip up then with the girl. "So what? The big guy is your brother?"
"Not even close." She winced as the cream stung but she looked back in the mirror but not at her own reflection. It was easier to look at the girl through the mirror then it would be to turn around and give her, her full attention. That and the simple movement of turning around would probably spook the kid and she wouldn't come back again. "Riddick is Riddick, no more and no less..."
"Riddick?" The girl actually had recognition on her face.
"Yeah like I said, Riddick is no more and no less then Riddick."
"He's a whole bloody lot more then just Riddick, he's a fucking murderer who split from slam!" Candace gave her a funny look. It was a look of horror and interest, mingled with fear but anticipation. It was like the kid wanted to meet Riddick but at the same time wasn't sure if she really did want to meet him. "You have no idea how hard it is to get out of a place like that. Only top security prisoners go to slam and you don't get out, there's no probation. He's a fucking legend in that fucking place."
"How would you know that?" Jack turned her head very slowly and looked straight at the girl. Something didn't fit there.
"Dad was a merc." The kid shrugged nonchalantly as if that information wouldn't be a big deal to Jack. Jack's guard flew up. She had been indirectly hunted by too many mercs since she was fifteen to want anything to do with more of them and if the kid was mixed up with mercs she wasn't sure that her being around was such a good idea. "What do you love him or something?"
"Where the heck did that question come from?"
"Well it's kinda obvious, well at least it looks that way. Don't tell me you haven't noticed it? I mean, the way he hovers all over you like you can't look after yourself. Only ever half a step behind you and all that shit." Candace answered her. "It makes it look like you're either his sister or his lover so which is it?"
"Neither."
"I don't believe that for a second. You're always looking over your shoulder to make sure he's there."
"Yeah, I guess I am but for no other reason then I live with the knowledge that he could be gone at any moment. He only sticks around for as long as he wants to or until whatever job it is he has is finished. If I don't watch out, he'll be gone without me even knowing about it."
"Why do you care?"
"You're just trying to get me to tell you that I love him aren't you?"
"Well you would be telling the truth then wouldn't you?"
"Get over it. There is no truth where you're digging."
"If you say so." Candace gave her a knowing smile and Jack frowned.
"You know how I got my shiner, you wanna tell me how you got yours? It's only fare." She masked her shock and displeasure with a question.
"My mom took a swipe at me after I mouthed off at one of those hostess whores, she knocked the wind out of me good this time." Candace shrugged and her eyes swept Jack from top to bottom. It was a look of assessment; she was working out just how much of a danger that Jack would be to her. "I wasn't fast enough this time. Usually I can dodge the worst of them."
"So you've met one of the three Cs?" Jack motioned for her to take a seat but she shook her head.
"Yeah, mom's trying to dump me. Best way she can think of to get back at my dad, not that she's really all that good a mom or anything. He probably already thinks that I'm dead. I mean, who wouldn't if they were him, I disappeared months ago and mom with me. He saw her beat the shit out of me, no doubt he thinks that she killed me in a fit of rage by now."
"Don't worry about it kid. These things work themselves out."
"Yeah, well, bye and all that shit." Then she was gone.
"Sweet and simple, a regular little Betty-Sue." Jack said before turning around to get back to patching herself up. Only she wasn't given the chance. Riddick walked in and closed the door after him. She groaned mentally, she didn't want to have to deal with him at that moment in time.
However, Riddick said nothing. He just took the cloth out of her hands and motioned for her to take a seat in the chair. She sat and with a simple word he dimmed the lights dramatically so he could take off his goggles. He rinsed the cloth he had taken from her and pulled up a seat in front of her, sitting down himself. He let one of his hands grip the back of her head and brought the hand with the cloth up to her lip. She winced and tried to pull away but his grip was too firm.
He shook his head as he lightly ran the cloth over the split in her lip and then across the cut on her eyebrow checking them for something but she wasn't sure what and it stung like hell. She hadn't been pressing the damn cloth so hard against the wounds and they were cleaning up just fine. What was this guy about, did he feed off pain or something?
She reached up to touch her lip with one hand but he grabbed it and forced her to put in back in her lap before she could touch it. She made a small noise of frustration at the back of her throat but he wasn't listening, a look of concentration was etched onto his face. He inspected the scratch marks on her neck but thankfully left them alone as he turned away from her and put the cloth back in the basin and bringing the med-kit between them.
Jack sighed as she watched him pull a couple of butterfly closure bandages out of the box and pulled away slightly. "Sit still." Riddick said and carefully put them over the cut on her eyebrow. He inspected his handiwork and then sat back in his chair and looked at her, his arms folded across his chest. "Any other damage that I should know about?"
"My wrist hurts a bit but that's all besides scrapped knuckles. I'll wrap it later." She shrugged and he gave her another scrutinising look. She pursed her lips and looked at him evenly. "It's not broken or anything and neither am I so stop fussing. I've been hurt worse before now."
"Yeah and you don't tend to tell me or anyone else."
"Well it's my problem."
"Enough of the attitude Jack."
It wasn't that he thought she would deliberately lie to him and she knew it. It was more that she had never been the best patient and that she was good at hiding things, the truth of a situation mainly. She would almost let herself bleed to death rather then see a doctor. Last time she had got hurt and failed to tell him about it, she had called it omitting the truth. Well it hadn't impressed him much but she hated doctors and stitches and just about anything medical.
She knew that he was thinking about the time she had gotten caught but a random guy walking down the ally that led to where her and Riddick were staying and got herself slashed across the back. She knew without him having to tell her, that was after he had found out, that she was rather lucky that that was all that he'd given her. She was a good bit quicker and more agile then most men and she had made good her escape.
She had managed to hide the damage for a good week before she had got into a fight with a girl in a bar and re-opened the wound. Riddick had chosen the moment when they were walking out of the door to touch the small of her back in a directive way and the blood became extremely obvious through her white t-shirt. She had never been so embarrassed in her whole life.
"You know that I don't have a problem with who and what I am Jack." He said finally.
"I don't have a problem with who or what you are either Riddick. I never have, you should know that." She shook her head and looked down at the floor. "It was about more then you, the fight, what happened in the Control Centre. It was about Kelly and trust and about who I am. But it doesn't matter, I should have been expecting it anyway. I was in a way, I just..." Her voice faded away and she had to make a conscious effort not to bite her lip.
"These people were you friends, it matters to you."
"Well it shouldn't. I know how people react to these sorts of things. I've seen it before. It shouldn't matter."
"Well it obviously does."
"What if I don't want to talk about it?"
"Then you don't have to. Maybe you should go take a shower and then get some sleep."
"Yeah," She shrugged. "I guess." She stood up and pushed her chair out of the way as she turned around and walked through the door that led into the bathroom.
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How had he managed to miss the transformation that seemed to have taken place in Jack? One minute it seemed she was the idolising kid, then the wildcat he had done his best to train and all of a sudden, she was a hurting and brooding young women who didn't seem to trust anyone or that now, because of him, no one else seemed to trust. And that thought did not make him feel good. He had never wanted to hurt her, it had never been his intention.
She hadn't said anything to him after she walked back into the main room towel drying her hair and dressed in a white tank top and boxer shorts. She had changed a lot. She had kept her hair short for a long time after letting it grow back but now it was down to her shoulder blades with a slight curl in the ends. Her skin was tanned a light golden brown and she had managed quite innocently to wear the right clothes to show off her well- proportioned curves.
Jack was quite the women under her tough act.
Riddick sat back in his chair and watched her as she moved around the room, picking up a comb and binding for her hair and quickly brushing and pleating it. She had gotten herself a couple nice bruises, one over her shoulder by her tattoo and one that he could just see on her hip when she stretched exposing a thin strip of her flat stomach.
"Get your mind out of the gutter Riddick." His thoughts warned him. "That's Jack and you have to sleep in the same bed as her so get over it."
"What side of the bed do you want Riddick? Wall or edge?" She asked finally tossing the towel in a small bin in the corner of the room. He hadn't exactly expected the Captain to give them a double room when he had asked that the room be big enough for two, he had expected a bunk room or something but at least the fact that there was only one bed wasn't phasing Jack.
"Edge."
"K." Jack turned down the blankets and slipped her long legs into the bed and rolled over so that her back was to him and she was facing the wall on the far side. He knew that she wasn't asleep, knew that she hadn't even closed her eyes just laid blinking in the darkness, hugging her pillow to her.
He stood up and rolled his neck feeling satisfied with the popping noises that his vertebra were making. Jack cringed but he ignored it as he sat down on the edge of the bed and taking his wife beater and pants off, his boots already discarded on the floor. He tucked his shiv under his pillow before getting in the bed himself.
Riddick lay with one arm raised over his head, his hand cradling the back of his neck, his silvery eyes picking out the shapes in the darkened room like it was still light. Jack shivered next to him and sucked in a deep breath moving a little closer to him. He didn't stop her, instead he rolled over onto his side and slid her a little closer so that her back was pressed up against his front.
"Tell me about Kelly." Riddick breathed against her neck and felt her relax slightly against him.
"I'm her girl. I did some really stupid shit after Bret died and she made sure that she took the blame for it all. It's all my fault, everything that she had to go through was my fault and she didn't blame me for it." Jack said, her own head resting on her elbow. "She's not tall, a strawberry blonde but she can't walk anymore. Not much more to tell. She's basically what's left of my family, her, Johnny and Damien."
"You were going to get married to her brother?"
"He had asked me. I hadn't said yes or no." She answered and stifled a yawn with the back of her hand. "I don't know what I would have said if things had worked out differently."
"Who are Johnny and Damien?"
"Jonathan Marks is Kelly's husband. I don't know how long they were married for before I showed up but they are very well suited to each other." He could hear a smile in her voice. "Johnny is like a big brother, that's the role he has assumed in my life, he's kind and generous and tough. Looking at them... they love each other so much, it's almost enough to make you sick." She ran her fingers through the end of her pleat. "Or break your heart." She said. "It'll be interesting to see what you two make of each other if you ever meet."
"Eh?"
"Well, Johnny's full of noble intentions. You guys are different in a lot of way but also very similar. You're both stubborn and strong, don't mind using violence if you have to either to save your own skin or make sure that the people close to you are safe. He doesn't take well to new people, especially threatening looking new people."
"I look threatening?" He let mock surprise filter into his voice. Sometimes he wondered what it was about him that she had latched on to that was enough to make him less frightening for her. In fact, to her it seemed he wasn't threatening or frightening at all. It was one of those things that he didn't understand.
"You're a lot more threatening then I like to let you think you are. You think that John got all weak-kneed because of your rap sheet? It'll be something of a stand off between you and Jonathan, I wouldn't be surprised." She let herself chuckle lightly. "And Damien is their adopted son. Kelly picked him up somewhere just before Bret died." She shuddered thinking about it. "I don't think I want to talk anymore."
"Then don't. Go to sleep Jack."
"Maybe." She replied and let her arm rest next to his arm that was wrapped around her middle.
They laid in silence after that but it was a good hour or two before Jack stopped fighting sleep and let her eyes flutter closed. Her breathing evened out and she started making the silly little noises that she had used to make when she was content. The corners of his mouth twitched into a smile. It seemed that not a lot had changed with her in that regard.
She made noises in her sleep, it made it easy to tell what kinda dreams she was having. As long as she was happy and nothing in her sleep bothered her she sounded slightly like a cat purring after having got it's back rubbed, when she was scared or upset she whimpered or made little groaning noises like someone was stabbing her with tiny needles.
The first few times that he had heard those noises it had startled him, set him on edge but after a while not hearing them worried him. For a moment he caught himself wondering about her relationship with Bret. Obviously the guy had loved her enough to try and protect her with his life but she hadn't mentioned the marriage proposal. Jack was not a girl that he could personally see as anybody's wife. She was too independent and a plain tough ass.
She rolled over onto her side so that she was facing him, her mouth puckered into a little frown, her cheeks flushed. He could feel her hand wedged up against his abs and her long legs pressed up against his. Her breath was hot on his neck and she made another one of those stupid purring noises. He knew it was purely innocent; she was cold and moving toward him because he was warm.
Had Bret been privy to all of her little quirks? Just thinking about it, he had to ask himself one small question.
Why the hell did he care so much anyway?
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Jack woke with a start, a start that made her jerk. Her eyes flew open, her head was pounding and she was in a blind panic but she didn't know why. There was something wrong. She knew it, something was wrong!
She threw back the covers, pushing Riddick out of her way and jumping to the floor pulling a pair of blue jeans on and grabbing her blade before running out of the room without thinking twice and before he could do anything about it.
She could hear her own bare feet slapping off the metal floor, she could feel the cold and the string but she kept running, she checked out the main flight deck, the control room the cockpit, ran in on Sam and John and managed not to wake the Captain. She flew along the passenger deck, looking in all of the cryo tubes, her eyes darting around in the dark but seeing nothing but the grey shapes that she knew should be there.
Nothing seemed to be out of place but something was still nagging at her. Something she couldn't explain.
A hand flew out of the darkness and grabbed her arm pulling her off balance and she slammed hard into the floor, her blade flying out of her hand and landing too far away for her to reach it easily even if she could have at that moment. The hand never left her arm as she lay on the ground writhing as she fought to breath, as she fought the pain shooting from her shoulder.
Gods, why did she keep letting herself get hurt?
"Danger will be brought onboard." A voice said so softly that she wasn't sure that she had heard it or if it was just the blood pounding in her ears as she closed her eyes tightly and another hand moved her head so that she would be looking at a wall if she opened her eyes again.
The sound of pounding feet from down the hall seemed to spook whoever had grabbed her and they split and just in time. Riddick was suddenly standing over her, his goggles pushed up onto his forehead, his quicksilver eyes flashed around the hallway and he looked down at her. He reached down to pick her to her feet but her voice stopped him.
"Don't touch me. Just don't." She said through clenched teeth, the voice and it's message completely forgotten.
"What the hell?" He said kneeling on one knee, his shiv held in one hand and his eyes moving around. "Come on, we gotta get you up."
"Don't touch me Riddick." She groaned. "Don't you dare fucking touch me, I've fucking busted myself up."
"What happened?"
"Don't know." She answered shaking her head and gritting her teeth to hold back a cry of pain as she flipped herself from her side onto her back. She closed her eyes, squeezing her eyelids tightly trying to block out the pain trying to think about something else. "Get Sam." She whispered.
"I'm not going anywhere and I'm not getting anyone." He growled.
"I should have expected that answer." She said opening her eyes again and using her good arm to reach over and prod her shoulder. "I don't think it's broken. Might be dislocated but it's not broken."
"You sure?"
"Broken feels different."
"Well at least that's something." He said helping her to sit up. "What the hell was wrong with you?"
"I dunno. I can't remember anything specific, just a feeling that something wasn't right." She winced as his fingers prodded her shoulder feeling the damage for himself.
"That's the shit you pull when you have a feeling?"
"Don't you dare get up on a high horse Mr. Paranoia-vigilance-is-everything- Jumpy!" Jack turned her head and glared at him as he put sudden pressure on her shoulder and there was a nasty popping noise. Her mouth was open in silent scream and pain was written all over her face but she clenched her teeth, only letting a sort of pain filled sob out of her throat.
"Dislocated." He shrugged and picked her up like she weighed nothing at all.
"There are some times when I really hate you Riddick." Were her words before she rested her head against his shoulder and then passed out.