A/N: new chappie! enjoy!

Chapter 6: New Place, Old Face

She gasped when the sound of metal on metal clangs echoed through the cell and she sat straight up in the bed.

"Rise and shine, sweetheart!" the guard grinned smugly through the bars.

A low growl came from a corner near the bars and they both shot their gaze toward it to see Riddick leaning on the wall, arms crossed, goggles over his eyes. He turned his head toward the guard who straightened and swallowed as Deirdra slid to sit on the edge of the bed.

"Call her sweetheart again and I'll bury my shiv in your throat," he threatened and the guard glanced at the two. Deirdra only shrugged but he said nothing as he walked off. Riddick slowly turned his gaze to hers.

"Didn't Zain take away your shivs before we left the ship?" she wondered, standing and walking toward him.

"Yeah," he shrugged. "But he doesn't know that."

Deirdra scoffed and stood in front of him. He could see in her eyes she wanted a kiss, but as soon as he thought it, the cell door opened. Deirdra jumped as she frowned at it then looked across the way. All the cell doors were opening.

"Breakfast!" a voice shouted and she saw the inmates coming out of their cells. Riddick grabbed Deirdra's arm and dragged her toward the back of the cell and ripped off his goggles to look her in the eye.

"You stick close to me, understand?" he growled. If he could, he would have kept her in the cell, but the best way to protect her was to keep her with him until he could know how this place worked.

"Don't leave my side for anything, got it?" he reiterated.

Deirdra gave a little smirk and took his goggles from his hands to slide them back onto his head and over his eyes.

"I'll be alright, babe," she murmured and tried to walk past him but he grabbed her arm, hard. She stared at him with wide eyes as he pulled her back, his jaw set and she was sure his gaze would have melted her if the goggles hadn't been over his eyes.

"You've never been in slam before," he reminded her in a low voice. "I have. It's not safe. You can't trust anyone here. Anyone could try to screw you up at any moment just 'cause they feel like it."

"But…the guards-"

"Them too," he interrupted. "As long as you're in the books, you're not dead. They could ghost you too, if they wanted. Don't let them catch you in a corner. They get you in a corner, don't let them try to frisk you. They force you to be still so they can, you do whatever you can to get away from them, understand?"

"This isn't Crematoria," she reminded him, gently. She winced when his grip on her arm tightened. "I'm not Kyra, or Jack, or whatever her name was. I won't trust anyone, not even the guards, but if things go wrong-"

"Things won't go wrong as long as you stick with me and do what I tell you," he seethed through clenched teeth. She realized then that bringing up his past had not been a wise choice. "I know full damn well that you're not Jack, and I know this shithole ain't Crematoria. Hell, this might be paradise compared to that, but it's a slam all the same. You listen to me, stick close to me, and we'll get out of here. Got it?"

Deirdra swallowed and nodded and Riddick shoved her arm out of his grasp. He headed out of the cell and she didn't hesitate to follow, nearly stepping on his heels. The prisoners were all ushered into a line leading down a hallway that led to the eating area. Riddick kept his eyes open for anyone he might know, though he doubted any of the people he knew were still alive. Most of them were enemies and the few acquaintances that he had were too stupid to still be alive.

Keeping herself latched to Riddick's arm, Deirdra chanced to look around as well. She felt like a child in an unfamiliar place. Scared and not wanting to be alone at any time. Riddick had been right. She'd never been in slam before, and frankly, she didn't like it. The people around her smelled horrible. As if they hadn't bathed the whole time they'd been locked up and probably hadn't. She didn't want to end up like these prisoners they were shuffling through. She was so glad that Riddick had a plan to get out of there. He always had a plan.

"Excuse me…"

She jumped with a start at the voice and Riddick stiffened as they both whirled around to see who was talking to them. His gray eyes were wide in disbelief and his brown hair was greasy and hung limply on his head, but Deirdra recognized him nonetheless.

"Doctor Xenos?" she breathed in her own disbelief.

"It is you," he sighed with a slight smile. "I had always wondered what happened to you after you went after Riddick on Furya."

"Who the hell are you?" Riddick snapped and Xenos looked up at the man with wide eyes again.

"Riddick, don't you remember?" Deirdra wondered. "This is the doctor who heeled my leg on Furya!"

"I see it worked well," Xenos smiled, gesturing to her leg. "I don't see a scar."

"Yes, just as you said," Deirdra smiled, hugging Riddick's arm. He didn't say a word as he studied the man through his goggles. He remembered him. He remembered that sudden burst of anger he hadn't understood when the doctor had been touching her leg, applying medicine and bandaging it. He understood what that was now, and he knew exactly what it was as he saw Deirdra smile at Xenos. Jealousy.

"Keep moving, you scum!" a guard walking by barked at them and Deirdra and Xenos jumped with a start as they moved through the line. Deirdra quickly looked over her shoulder at Xenos.

"We'll talk later," she assured him and he nodded. Breakfast was protein waffles, powdered eggs, and milk that looked like it had been curdled months before they decided to serve it.

"This is a banquet compared to some of the other slams serve," Riddick assured her as they were ushered back toward the main part of the slam again, where their cell was. The doors to the cells were still open and Deirdra guessed it would stay that way all day. Riddick hurried them toward their cell and they sat to eat their food.

"I don't trust that doctor," he blurted, shoving food into his mouth. "Stay away from him."

Deirdra stared at him in disbelief then said, "He heeled my leg, remember? If it hadn't been for him, I'd have a huge scar on my leg!"

"It's not like he saved your life," he retorted. "I did that. Several times, if you care."

"If I care?" Deirdra echoed with a frown but he only continued eating. Realization dawned on her and she smiled as she lulled her head back with a laugh. As she came back she met Riddick's set jawed expression. "You're jealous! Oh, my god! I can't believe it! You're jealous!"

"So what?" he shrugged, trying not to make it a big deal. "Ain't I allowed to be? You're with me."

"Exactly," she retorted with a smirk. "I'm with you. So there's no need to be jealous of him."

Riddick said nothing else as he turned back to his food and Deirdra smiled, starting at her own and deciding to change the subject.

"I wonder what he's doing here," she voiced after taking a bite of food.

"Who cares?" Riddick blurted, polishing off his eggs and leaving the crappy milk.

"I do," she explained. "There were no ships on Furya that we saw. How did he get off of that planet?"

"Another ship landed and he stole it," Riddick theorized, grabbing one of her waffles and stuffing it in his mouth.

"But why?" she kept on. "Why leave his people? He seemed to love being there, from what I could tell."

"He got tired of it," Riddick shrugged, taking her milk to toss it outside the cell.

"I don't think so," she continued in thought.

"Look, I don't give a shit," he admitted, eating the rest of the waffle in his hand. "Just finish eating so we can take a walk and scope this place out for a get away!"

Deirdra sighed and rolled her eyes as she started eating and when she was finished he grabbed her hand and they stepped out of the cell together. The inmates were everywhere, talking and playing games they'd made up…most of them involving physical strength more than intelligence. She clamped her hands onto his arm as he headed down the grated walkway and looked around the place from behind his goggles, making mental notes of everything he saw.

Cameras. Those wouldn't be hard to take out. Guards. Way too easy to take care of. He noted a few of the guards heading in and out of a door next to the hall they'd gone through to get breakfast. That interested him. What was behind that door? Camera room? Supply closet, maybe? In this place, the possibilities were almost endless.

As they passed some inmates, they stared at Riddick and some backed away and out of his reach. They all knew who he was, and they didn't want to end up on his list of "Stupid Shits Who Were Fun to Ghost." Only one was brave enough to go up to them, and it was the one that Riddick wished would stay away.

"Doctor Xenos," Deirdra smiled as he approached and she inched closer to him but still held on to Riddick's arm. "How did you end up here?"

The doctor's face went long and she knew right away something had happened. Riddick continued walking and Xenos followed, walking next to Deirdra.

"After you took the Necromonger ship, they walked through the graveyard," he explained. "They found us. The one that was leading them…I suppose the new Lord Marshal…asked where you were going. We admitted we didn't know. They didn't believe us. He started to threaten the little ones, telling us that he'd kill them if we didn't tell him where you were headed…"

The doctor's voice trailed off but he didn't need to say anymore. Deirdra knew what had happened. Her eyes watered with tears as Xenos gazed at the floor forlornly and she stopped, making Riddick shoot his gaze at her. Xenos stopped as well and looked up at her.

"I'm sorry, Doctor," she breathed then sniffled. "I truly am. I thought for sure that they would just go after us and leave you alone."

"No, you couldn't have known, Deirdra," Xenos replied, touching her shoulder. Riddick resisted the urge to let out a low, threatening growl at him for touching her. "It's not your fault."

"How did you survive?" she wondered.

"I lied," he continued. "I convinced them that I wanted to be a Necromonger, but as soon as they took me into the ship, I stole a smaller one from them. I've been drifting ever since. Because I had one of their ships, after the report that the Necromongers had all been killed on Maunder Eight, they found me on Maunder Prime. I had been in the wrong place at the wrong time and they assumed I was the one who'd blown up Necropolis."

Deirdra looked up at Riddick and Xenos caught the action then nodded at Riddick.

"I suspected it had been you who'd done it," he told Riddick. "Just know, I'm not upset for being put in here because of your crime."

"Does it look like I give a shit if you are or not?" Riddick retorted.

"Riddick!" Deirdra scolded.

"No, you look like you don't really give a shit about anything," Xenos shot back, taking Deirdra by surprise but Riddick only smirked at the man's bite.

"I care about a couple things," he assured Xenos and Deirdra frowned at him in confusion but said nothing.

"Remind me not to mess with whatever it is you care about," Xenos smirked back and Deirdra couldn't understand this behavior from either one of them, really.

"Alright," Riddick nodded. "Don't mess with her and we'll be fine."

Deirdra's eyes shot wide at Riddick and Xenos' smirk grew a bit wider then he nodded.

"Fair enough," he agreed, knowing exactly what he was talking about then glanced around and inched closer to them. "After lunch, I'll meet you at your cell. I have some information you might find interesting."

"Why don't you just tell us now?" Riddick wondered irritably but Xenos said nothing, he let the guard coming out of the intriguing door speak for him.

"Alright you scum! Back to your cells!" he barked, slamming his rod against the wall several times. Deirdra clapped her hands over her ears as the inmates began trudging back to their cells and the three went their separate ways but not before Riddick pointed out which cell was his and Deirdra's.

They headed to the cell and Riddick shoved Deirdra in quickly before he stepped in himself and the door shut behind them. He turned to her and didn't hesitate to yank her back toward him by the wrist and kiss her passionately. She moaned in approval and when they pulled away she lifted his goggles onto his forehead with a smile.

"What was that for?" she wondered, still smiling.

"Because I didn't get any last night," he growled back and kissed her again. She realized that this was how they were going to spend their free time until they got out of this hell-hole, and she'd love every minute of it.

A/N: reviews?