AN: It might be a while before I get the next chapter up. I have midterms and stuff starting next week again, so my spare time will be limited. Thanks to everyone who's reviewed. It really is great motivation!
Jack had all of her bags and whatnot sitting by the door, ready to be packed into Riddick's car by four on Friday afternoon. However, she had to wait impatiently until five thirty for him to get home from work.
It was just the beginning of the big night, the start of the 'camping trip' she'd so diligently planned for. Everything hinged on that one evening, and Jack decided to take a nap on the couch in the living room in preparation. She doubted she'd be getting much sleep that night.
Rick woke her after he'd gotten home and eaten something. It was time to go.
They packed up the car in near-silence. Jack was lost in her thoughts and she figured Riddick probably was as well. It had, after all, been a rather long and trying week; for her at least. The waiting and agonizing over details of her plan had been exhausting. Never mind that if she was making a mistake she would in all likelihood be thrown to the curb, and in the process, she'd lose her hero forever. One way or the other, he'd be gone.
Cold feet, Jack?
I know what he would want...
Do you? Are you sure he doesn't want to be this way forever? Maybe he's just faking it. Maybe he is like Dom and his body breaks down the drug before it can ever touch his brain. Maybe he's only playing dumb because he wants a life like this.
I can't believe that...
She wouldn't believe that. Besides, if it was an act, if this was indeed the lifestyle he'd chosen for himself, she would find out soon enough.
Shella returned home just as the two of them were about to leave, getting out her car just as Jack was about to get into Riddick's.
"Ricky, dear," she clucked at Riddick like a mother hen, while arranging the strap of her purse to its regular position on her right shoulder.
Jack cringed, leaning heavily on the car door she'd just opened. Just when they were so close to getting away!
As was typical, Riddick smiled at her openly, his face completely unguarded and his expression genuine. "Yeah, baby?" he answered playfully, closing his trunk after having put in a cooler full of Hydrite on top of various duffle bags and packs.
On high heels Shella was almost as tall as her ex-convict boyfriend, and she made a point of strutting her stuff on them as she crossed the distance between them, kissing him thoroughly. The show, Jack assumed, was mostly for her benefit. Just one of a hundred small strikes that 'Shelly dearest' had pulled in her campaign to run Jack off. Little did she know that her petty attempt to mark Riddick as her territory that Friday afternoon only fueled her rival's zeal to steal him back as soon as possible; laying any doubts in her mind about her chosen course of action to rest.
Of course, it hadn't been easy to get Shella to agree to a camping trip in the first place. She'd whined and moaned until Jack was almost sure that Rick would give in to her and call the excursion off. However, under Dom's tutelage, Jack quickly learned that with direct and unavoidable statements, she could bend Shella's will to her own to a degree. The Seka she was dosing the woman with had definitely begun to take effect, and was turning out to have been a brilliant move on Jack's part in their little chess game.
"I'm having some friends over for dinner, so I want you home by Sunday evening. Okay, Rick?" the tall blonde asked, but from Jack's perspective it sounded more like an order than a question.
Riddick smirked almost evilly. "Don't worry, we'll be home by noon, I promise," he replied, kissing her again, much to Shelly's obvious pleasure.
Jack rolled her eyes, beating down her urge to tell the two of them to get a room. Cause she knew if they did get a room...there was no way she'd be able to pry Riddick out of the house until the next morning. Maybe not even until the next afternoon.
Right, right. Enjoy him while you can, Shella. Cause after today, you ain't never gonna have him again. He might never be mine, but if I can help it, he sure as hell ain't gonna be yours either.
"All right, that's enough. Break it up before I gag," she insisted coolly after another minute of watching the two of them exchanging spit.
Reluctantly they separated, Rick turning to get in the driver's seat of his car, and Shella turning to walk slowly up the walk to the front door, her killer high heels clicking rhythmically against the pavement.
"Hey, Shella," Jack called after her.
The blonde witch turned, casting a mostly-disinterested look over her shoulder.
It took a moment for Jack to realize that the expected reply of, 'what?' was not going to pass the woman's blood red lips; so she pressed on without waiting for it. "Go to the bars tonight, you'll have fun meeting new people," she continued at last, winking at the witch before hopping into the car beside Riddick and slamming the door quickly.
She felt like laughing, but held it in. The purpose of her final comment would be lost on Rick, and if she could help it, he would never discover its true nature. It wouldn't be easy to explain away her attempts at brainwashing his girlfriend when he was entirely Riddick again.
Assuming he would even care, once he's all Riddick again.
She smirked to herself, turning on the radio and finding an old hard rock song as Rick pulled out of the driveway, waving good-bye one last time to his 'lady love.'
Reclining a bit, and preparing to continue the nap she'd previously been interrupted from during the long drive, Jack sighed contentedly. She'd had dreams recently, about Riddick waving good-bye to Shella forever...
When he reached over, turning up the rock song she was listening to instead of changing the station to some of that new age crap Old Horny had gotten him hooked on, she couldn't help but smile at him. After all, who ever said that dreams couldn't come true?
He woke her when they got to the motel they would be staying at, shaking her shoulder gently. Jack got up stiffly, reluctantly, checking the time as she followed him inside to check-in and get their key cards. It was after eight in the evening, and by the time the two of them reached their room, Jack could see that Rick was noticeably tired.
"So," he said, beginning to unpack a few of his things and hang them up in the small closet. "What time is this thing starting tonight?"
Jack turned on the TV, picking a bed and flopping down on it after picking a bottle of Hydrite out of Riddick's cooler. "Ah, we don't have to go tonight. The fun stuff doesn't start until tomorrow morning anyway. Tonight they'll probably make us sit in a circle around a camp fire, say our names, and tell the whole group something about ourselves that we'd rather not. You know, sort of like anger management," she cracked sarcastically, hoping that he was still in a good enough mood to joke with.
Riddick smirked, just a bit. "Ha ha, Jack. Very funny. Toss me that bottle so I can have a drink," he said. Jack tossed the bottle over, having not even opened it yet. Rick caught it easily, and took a long draw of the drugged substance before throwing it back to her, then picked up some sweats and a t-shirt and locked himself in the bathroom to change out of his work clothes.
When he was gone, Jack almost reluctantly got to her feet, taking the Tupperware bottle she was holding plus all the Hydrite left in Riddick's cooler and dumping it slowly down the sink's drain. After a minute or two of pouring she heard a definite thud in the bathroom, and she sighed sadly.
For better or for worse, phase two of her plan was complete.
Jack turned on the water in the sink to wash away the final remnant of the red fluid, wishing that she'd had the foresight to bring a bottle of booze.
She had a feeling she was going to need it before the weekend was over.
