Hidey ho! This chapter is named sobecause everyone has an OOC moment or two. This isn't one of my better chapters I don't think. It's short.I might redo this one just for shits, or maybe just remove it altogether. Maybe I'm wrong. PLEASE REVIEW AND LET ME KNOW! I think it's dumb, let me know what you think.

Also, I would like to take a moment to thank everyone who helped me and backed me up with my little ahem dilemma last week, njrd and xXxevilgrinxXx especially for all the great advice. Thank you SO much guys –BIG HUGS-. I would like to once again reiterate that all the plot ideas and quite a few of the characters in this story have come from nowhere but my own brain, and any similarities to other's works are purely coincidental. Do I have to start adding that on to my disclaimer? Speaking of which…

Disclaimer: Don't own, didn't plagiarize, don't sue.

On with the show! ();o)


Jonas lay awake for quite some time waiting for the sun to come up, pondering how he'd actually managed to get back to the cabin the night before. He remembered the lounge, and talking with Kyra and what was covered during said talk, and many, many, many shots. After that things got a little fuzzy. He thought he remembered a fight, but it was more like a dream than something he'd actually been a part of.

In fact, he wasn't sure if it had been his subconscious or the booze but his dreams were riddled with images of Sariah from his childhood; of the schoolyard mayhem they had caused that nearly got them both expelled and the many other ingenuous adventures they'd shared. She had been the Alpha and Omega for him once, the only person he'd ever entrusted his secret to. The only one wanted by his side, more so than any boy he knew. They were so sure they would never be apart, that things would be perfect forever. Naive. A romance had only just begun to bud between them when their town had been massacred and he often found himself wondering what could have been. He had grown into his own since then. He'd been only fifteen when he left and had gone through more shit since than most people his age, present company excluded of course.

He wondered if he would recognize her, although her raven hair andviolet-blueeyes would be hard to miss, not to mention other features that had been well on their way when he left.

He flipped on the vid screen to distract himself from his melancholy train of thought, hoping to catch some news, and hoping at the same time not to find the three of them as a headline. He would hate to have to tell Riddick that Soli didn't keep his end of the bargain. Even more, he would hate to see Soli after Riddick had hunted him down because he didn't keep his end of the bargain. He knew full well he hadn't seen the brunt of the bigger man's wrath, and wasn't particularly eager to.

A knock at the cabin door brought him back to his surroundings and when he opened the door a white haired man in a suit with two carts of silver domes greeted him.

"Room service, sir." The server's snooty air was almost enough to make Jonas burst into laughter but he stifled it, concentrating on the trays behind the man.

"What's all this? I didn't order room service." Jonas was astonished, to say the least.

"A Senator's breakfast comes with the cabin, sir." Jonas brought the carts in and, overwhelmed by the smells emanating from them, unintentionally closed the door on the man's tip accepting hand. Jonas didn't have any cash anyway.

It had been far too long since he'd eaten anything but ration packs and dehydrated space food. His mouth watered as he lifted one lid to find a rainbow on a plate. Various melons and berries and other colorful assorted fruits on delicate wooden skewers arranged on the platter. Lifting another silver dome revealed sausage and bacon and some other sort of breakfast meat he wasn't familiar with. 'Whatever, it smells good,' he thought with his stomach speaking up that it was tired of being empty. There were scrambled and soft-boiled eggs (oddly colored as they were, he was hungry enough not to care), biscuits and gravy, some sort of hash, a pono (second cousin to the llama) cheese and grain meal dish, and fresh baked sweet breads. He glanced at the two bedroom doors, wondering if he should wait for his companions or not. There were three carafes, presumably holding juice, milk and coffee; perhaps he would start there. Just then Kyra's door opened.

"Morning sunshine, I- oh," Jonas looked a bit startled, "Riddick, I thought you were Kyra. I, uh," he stammered, "There's food." He pointed to the carts as though Riddick could possibly miss the huge spread in the middle of the room. 'Wow, how much did I miss last night?' Jonas wondered silently.

Riddick grunted. The smell of good food would always rouse him, no matter how tired he was or how much sleep he'd had. Decent, well-prepared meals for him were few and far between so he took full advantage of each one. He sat at the opposite end of the couch staring at the trays of food.

"You want some coffee?" Jonas asked, nodding to one of the carafes on the cart, "You look like you could use it."

"Is there tea?" Riddick asked gruffly. Jonas shook his head, a little stunned; he'd never pictured Richard Riddick as a tea man. 'They're just full of surprises, aren't they? Kyra's a lush, and Riddick likes tea.' The thought amused him a great deal.

"What did you do, buy out the whole kitchen?" Riddick's question brought him back.

"They beat me to it, actually. The food comes with the room. However, since today may or may not go so well I'd say a good breakfast is definitely in order, whether I bought it or not," he replied spryly.

"What do you mean 'may or may not go so well'?" Riddick asked suspiciously, shifting his eyes from the carts to Jonas.

"I just mean that they could be really happy to see me and throw me a party or a parade or something… or my return may not be taken so well, given the current state of the local government. After hearing the things that Soli told me and the red flags I'll probably raise, I may not exactly be the first person they want coming back, ya know?" Riddick nodded knowing the feeling well. Jonas changed the subject as Riddick poured himself a cup of juice, "So do you have a brother or something?" he asked, sipping his coffee, 'Sweet nectar of life.'

"No, why?" Riddick asked, puzzled at Jonas' question.

"Well, just after I woke up, I thought I heard you yell the name Jack in your sleep. I thought…" Jonas let his words trail off as he saw Riddick's shined eyes grow dull at hearing the name. He thought for a moment before replying.

"Jack," Riddick spoke the name quietly, like it was a curse. For him it almost was. He took a deep breath. "She was a kid I saved once, took her off his fucked up planet we crashed on during a cross system run. I left her alone to live a peaceful life with a holy man and she never forgave me." Though Riddick's face held no emotion, Jonas saw sadness veiled deep in his eyes. He was mystified that two people, two women, could have this sort of effect on such a man. Then he thought of what Kyra had told him on the Gash: "He saved my life, got me and a holy man named Imam off this nightmare rock we crash landed on."

Suddenly, it clicked.

"If you don't mind my asking, how did she go from Jack to Kyra?" Riddick's eyes shot up from the floor.

"I mind," he growled. Riddick's tone told Jonas that pushing the issue would only get him hurt, so he let it go.

They sat in silence for a bit, picking at the food here and there.

"So where are we?" Riddick asked between bites of sausage.

"Well, at sunup we had just passed the Melono Access Channel, so we've got maybe three hours." Jonas spoke around a bite of eggs.

"I take it Melono is a place you know?"

"Yeah, but they didn't have an access channel when I left, so-" a sound from inside Kyra's room grabbed both men's attention. The door opened and Kyra stepped out, bleary eyed and a little pale.

"What is that smell? And who the hell let a freighter roll over my head last night?" She stumbled into the bathroom where the faucet turned on and they could hear her splashing water on her face. She emerged with her eyes a little more open, but she still looked a little under the weather.

"Hungover much?" Jonas chuckled a little, "Don't feel bad, I would be too if I were you, but I don't get hangovers." Kyra only stuck her tongue out at Jonas, and then her eyes shifted to the man at the other end of the couch, who still hadn't even spoken one word to her.

"Good morning Riddick," she said quietly walking up to one of the carts and taking a sweet roll. He only grunted in response and Jonas watched her face fall. 'Here we go again,' he thought. "So we're back to this shit again, huh? Well fuck you too." She threw a sweater and boots on and rushed out the door, slamming it hard behind her. Jonas just sat looking between the door and Riddick, waiting for some response from the man. There was none. He simply continued chewing as though she'd never come out of her bedroom.

"Aren't you going after her?" Jonas asked. Riddick looked over, and once again his face held no expression and Jonas let his frustration momentarily get the better of him. "Alright, that's it. I don't usually get involved with shit like this, but I also consider it my responsibility as a friend to tell my friends when they're being stupid. Don't take this the wrong way, but you're being really really stupid. She loves you, why can't you see that? She loves you, and whether you want to admit it or not there's not another woman in this whole universe better suited for you than her. For god sake let go of your pride or your history or whatever the fuck it is that's keeping the two of you apart! Go after her!" Jonas' eyes went wide as he suddenly realized that these could very possibly be his last moments in this life because of his big fat mouth. Riddick only sat, a little dumbfounded at Jonas' outburst. He knew Jonas was right, but acting was harder than knowing. Jonas saw the dilemma in the other man's eyes.

"Look, I'll make this easy for you. We have about three hours until we reach the port at Lazarus, I'm going to finish my breakfast and then I'm going to go jump in the shower. Please don't be here when I get out."


Kyra stood on the deck of the large ferry staring into the silty gray water rolling beneath it. Every once in a while she could watch a tear fall and be swallowed by the river, lost forever in a gulf of coldness. The thought crossed her mind that she was a tear, being swallowed by Riddick's inner river.

'Silly,' she thought sullenly, 'Riddick doesn't have an inner river, he has an inner black hole.'

Like an idiot she thought she would wake up that morning and he would be the same open and unguarded man she had found the night before. She went over the conversation she'd expected in her mind:

She would wake up and find him staring at her with those beautiful shined eyes, watching her sleep. He would touch her face, and when she went to speak, he would shush her and kiss her softly.

"Oh Kyra, thank you for making me open up. I've never had someone know me the way you do." They would kiss again and end up making sweet love all morning.

"Stupid stupid stupid," she banged her head on the guardrail of the deck, hoping to knock some sense into herself. She should have known better. There was no fucking way Richard B. Riddick would stay vulnerable and she had only set herself up for disappointment by thinking that he would. Last night was fluke, a moment of weakness for him that would probably never be repeated. She may as well just forget it ever happened. A woman's nasally voice crackled over the intercom above Kyra's head.

"Attention passengers. Two hours to the Lazarus port. That's two hours to Lazarus port. Thank you."

Kyra took a deep breath of cool river air and tried to gather her thoughts. She really didn't want to go back to the cabin and face Riddick, not yet at least. Not until she got a grip on herself. She sucked up her tears and at the same moment caught movement out of the corner of her eye.

'Shit, think of the devil,' she thought. She hadn't counted on him coming to find her. He stood beside her silently, leaning on the rail and looking out on the river. After a moment Kyra finally spoke.

"I'm sorry… for how I acted last night. I shouldn't have… I mean, I just-" Riddick cut her off, looking down.

"Don't. Don't apologize. There's been too much between us for you to apologize." He thought about adding 'Most of it's my fault, anyway', but didn't. There was another strained silence between them.

"So where does that leave us?" Kyra asked hesitantly, looking up at him with big, doll-like eyes. Riddick looked at her thoughtfully. Those eyes were so familiar yet felt strange at the same time. They held secrets and were deep enough that it might take forever for him to know them completely. She was changing him; he could feel it starting to show in his actions toward her more and more. He had the urge then to kiss her, if only to make her understand without words. He didn't. He wouldn't.

"We're okay," he said quietly, looking away and battling the urge to… hug her? As if she'd read his mind, she threw her arms around him, squeezing him, savoring the feel of him in her arms. He was solid, like a boulder that she could cling to if needed. After the surprise wore off, he stroked her back, as if to reassure her that what he'd said was true.

'Good enough for now, I guess,' she thought. They let go and stared back out at the river. Riddick sighed deeply, knowing deep down that things were definitely going to be different from now on. Especially in him.

"Come on, I want to go eat a real breakfast. That is of course if you two pigs didn't eat it all." She jabbed at him playfully. "Last one to the cabin licks the other's boots!" She yelled as she sprinted down the deck. Riddick shook his head and grinned, waiting a moment before following. She would need the head start.


Ok, here's where you do your part! Review please!