How to Break a Girl

Disclaimers: I don't claim to own Pitch Black – though I would like to own Vin Diesel
Tempted - Jack

It's been a while

Since I could hold my heard up high

And it's been a while

Since I first saw you…

And it's been a while

But all that shit seems to disappear

When I'm with you

(Staind "It's been a while")

She woke up in Riddick's arms, half sedated by lack of oxygen, half dazed by her blood loss. His grip around her tightened, just a bit so that she would know that he was awake and had registered that she was too.

His body was warm, strong and comforting and she allowed herself to feel safe for the first time since she could remember. She wanted to press her body as close to his as she could get, wanted to feel his breath on her neck and his hand on her body.

For some reason she could feel him pulling away, just a little, and his body tensed. Then she remembered that he could smell lust and she tried to get away, confused by her own feelings, but Riddick let out a groan and pulled her tighter into him. "Schh…" he hushed, and buried his nose in her long mane of hair. She let out a calm sigh, but swore silently to herself. So she had found Riddick, so he seemed to want her around, so fucking what? What now?

She knew there would be no happy ending; there just wasn't room for one in lives like theirs. Question was whether there would even be a happy middle. Course she'd never admit to it, but she knew Riddick had been right. She was becoming a woman, and as a woman she would be a liability to him.

She got up and walked feebly to the exit door. Riddick raised his head to look after her, but lay back down, when he was sure she could stand all right.

She opened the airtight doors and took the first breath of fresh air. She thought it might be day, because people seemed less busy, and she felt like running, stretching her legs and loosing her breath. She watched people as they were shopping useless things, talking about nothing and laughing about even less. They all seemed so normal, and she just couldn't relate.

Suddenly something caught her eyes. "Riddick?" She saw six men move her way, clad in dark, moving like soldiers, packing really big guns. "Riddick?" she said louder, but she wasn't sure he would hear her; her voice seemed to fail her.

One of the men stopped and took aim of her. She stepped backwards, tried to lock the doors, but too late. Shit. A dart hit her in the chest and she could feel her legs going weak. She hadn't heard Riddick, he stepped so lightly, but suddenly he was behind her and he put a hand on her head, like he'd always done when she was younger. She looked up at his face, and he noticed her dazed look, the dart and the men with less than a second between, and he wrapped an arm around her chest, pulled her inside the ship and hit the door lock even faster.

"Mercs!" He put her down on the bed and ran for the control room. She heard him turn on the system and swear because the power cells would need replacement soon.

She dragged herself out into the control room and leaned against the wall.

"Await permission for take-off. Await permission for take-off." Riddick didn't even frown. He reached up and crashed the speaker system.

"What did you do, Jack?" He whispered. She looked at him, confused.

"Me? You're the one with mercs in his fucking ass" She panted.

The merc ship was right behind them, which would mean that they would have had to have more crew members waiting at their ship, keeping it ready for take off, which would probably make them a ten-man crew.

Riddick had come to the same conclusion – only faster of course.

"Hardly any mercs know I'm alive." Riddick said. "No one would be stupid enough to form a ten-man crew and go looking for a guy who's dead." He looked over his shoulder and watched her closely. "What did you do? Something that would make me proud?"

Jack tried to smile, but could only achieve a pained grimace. It was hard too keep conscious. "Killed some guys. Tried to rape me." She looked down her chest and found the tiny dart. She pulled it out and let it drop to the floor. "Guess I forgot to clean up."

She drifted in and out of consciousness, and she wasn't sure any of her memories of the flight was real until suddenly Riddick grabbed her and pulled her to her feet. She became aware of the fact that the ship had stopped; the text on the panel said that they would need to replace the power cells.

She heard Riddick whisper in her ear: "Just keep quiet. Don't make a sound." He led her downstairs and into the darkest corner of the backroom. She could hear the mercs breaking open the door and starting a search of the main cabin and the control room. It was a matter of time. She was still sedated and there were ten of them. Maybe the mercs weren't ready for Riddick, which would give the two of them an advantage. They waited quietly, breathlessly.

Eamon:Oh, cliffhanger!

Noticed that I like to keep Riddick in "I" and Jack in "She"? I figured that Riddick was more of a "this is how I feel, and maybe you don't like it, but I'm gonna tell ya anyhow"-kinda guy. And Jack is more of a "Come hell or high waters, I'll keep how I feel to myself and deny it to my grave, even if I'm the one asking me"-kinda gal.

So that's how come it turned out that way. Riddick'll tell you all you need to know about him, and I will tell you all you need to know about Jack.

Copyright © 2006 by EamonSweetmay