Honey76: You wanted 'em to talk, riiiight? Here's your request. This chapter is all about Jack and Riddick talking. Well, that and Jack indulging in a little bondage fantasy… LOL!

Chapter Six: Fate's Finest Cruelty

Frontier Augustus

Jack finally exited the stage some two hours later, physically and emotionally exhausted. She had tried, like always, to pour all of her pent up energy into the music. All of her thwarted desire, misplaced love, anger, the urge to do violence, the need… All of it went into her music. Her only other outlet was when she trained with the members of security, and none of them had her skill.

And, while she may have been exhausted, she was still soaked with desire, the need for release. Tonight was one of the nights she wished she was the sorceress that the papers claimed her to be. She'd conjur Riddick up, lightly bound on her bed, and nude as the day he was born.

"Why didn't you come back to me in New Mecca, Riddick?" she'd query, toying with the zipper of her leather bodice. She always wore leather on stage, half decoration and half armor. "Couldn't you see that I wanted to shower with you? To know that your scent was all over me?"

He'd whimper, his erection obvious and fascinatingly thick. "Jack," he would whisper, drawing her name out into that two syllable state. It was obvious he had no excuse.

"No, Riddick. It's my turn. I get to cum this time, and you can be left wanting. The wanting is terrible, Riddick," she would inform, unzipping her boots and sliding them off. "I loved you, once, and it made the burning worse. The denial worse. Couldn't you see that I tried to please you?"

She stalked to her ship, continuing her mental dialogue.

She'd shimmy out of her pants, taking her thong underwear off. "Do you want me, Riddick?"

"Ye-ess," he'd hiss. "Jack."

"Jack."

Wait… That wasn't part of the dialogue. That wasn't part of the fantasy. That wasn't mind-Riddick's voice. Oh, fuck me running, she sighed in her head.

She looked up and into shined eyes. It was dark, but she could see his eyes, gleaming like an Earth full moon. Eyes that her son had inherited, so she'd seen them every day, breaking her heart every time. Alex was undeniably Riddick's. There wasn't much of Jack there at all.

"Hello, Richard."

She had to pray that Alex hadn't been on her ship yet, that he was still at Mario's. As long as Riddick didn't know of Alex's existence, she knew that he'd leave. After all, that was what he did best, fuck and run.

But it was nice to see her heart again. Even if she had to lose it.

x-x-x-x-x-x-

'Richard.'

She had first-named him. Was it like that now? Were they really dealing with each other as two adults, not convict-hero and rescued kid, Riddick and Jack?

Could she be hoping that he didn't know about Alex?

"Who the fuck taught my son to faint?" he snapped, testing the waters. When she paled and took the nearest seat, he knew. He trembled with suppressed rage.

He would kill for Jack, but he couldn't kill her.

How dare she?! the beast roared. She's our mate, he's our cub. They are ours and she has no right to deny us!

If it wasn't for you, you shithead, we wouldn't be in this mess, he roared back.

"Who says he's yours, Richard? Is he your's like I was? To be used when needed and told that he doesn't matter, is nothing to you, when it's convenient. Fuck you, Richard Bryan Riddick. Alex deserves better. I've given him better."

His voice went low and deadly, hoping to intimidate her slightly. It had never worked in the past, but, after eight years, maybe she had changed in that aspect. "Why didn't you contact me, tell me?"

Her eyes spat hurt fire. "So you could what? Tell me to 'get rid of the problem?' Isn't that what you told the whore on Hephaestus Station? I got pregnant less than six months after her. You couldn't have grown up enough to accept responsibility in that short amount of time. No, you're Riddick, irresponsibility personified. When things get tough, or a little rough, you run," she sneered, the contempt more than obvious.

"Audrey!" he drawled, warning her again.

"Fuck that, Richard. You wouldn't have been able to sit through cholic, chicken pox, and the hundred other normal childhood illnesses like an adult. You wouldn't be able to sit through a one hundred and four degree fever, biting your nails to your shoulders in worry, baby vomit on your shirt, and not lose control. You are not parent material. You're like a tiger, you have no affection for mate or offspring."

His hand snaked out, wrapping around her throat and shoving her against the wall. For all that she was right, she had no right to address him like that, to say all of those things without having gave him a chance.

"I've killed men for saying a hell of a lot less than what you've said, runnin' that fuckin' piehole of your's, Jack."

She looked at him in fearless disgust. "Proving my point."

Oh, I could strangle her. So stubborn, so hard-headed… so perfect, still so perfect.

He closed his eyes, almost in pain. Was this what they meant when they said that your heart could break? Could he really be becoming more human than animal? His hand was bruising her skin, he could see it happening, but he couldn't let her go.

He frowned when he smelled desire. Had she been wet when she came in the ship, or was his careless treatment of her the cause? He shook his head. No. Not Jack. Jack wouldn't be the kind to get off on this kind of shit.

"What happened to my Jack? The female mini-me that couldn't wait to travel the galaxy with her outlaw hero?"

She snorted, a very un-Victoria Blanchett action. "She got fucked, got pregnant and grew up real fast. In a quick fuckin' hurry. Knew that the so-called hero wouldn't fuckin' meet her half-way, so she tried to get lost in the big fuckin' galaxy, only to have the fucktard she was runnin' from find her eight fuckin' years too late," she snapped, sounding more and more like the old Jack with every word.

"Do you realize you just used the word 'fuck' six times?" he informed before scenting her. He could smell despair, grief, desire, her base scent of spiced vanilla… He could smell 'child' all over her and quickly realized that Alex wasn't the only child in her life.

But he couldn't smell another male on her. Not in an intimate fashion, anyway.

She relaxed slightly, eyes closing. He had to ask now. This might be the only chance he had.

"Why did you run from the kitchen, Jack?" The 'from me' was left unspoken.

She opened her eyes, the confusion evident. "I didn't run from the kitchen. I wanted to get the blood off of both of us in the shower."

He froze, smelling pure truth. That meant… He could have had his mate and his child for the past eight years.

The misunderstanding.

Fate's cruelest joke