A/N: new chappie! enjoy!

Chapter 9: A Fake Message

"Go back to the ship, Riddick!" Deirdra hissed from under her hood as they shuffled through the bustling streets of the planet Cicero. "He's not gonna listen to me if you're with me!"

"We'll make him listen," Riddick shot back under his on hood, his goggles over his eyes. "I ain't lettin' you go alone."

"I can handle myself," she said, glancing at the palm of her hand where she'd written Doctor Harko Thompson's address and looked around the streets again.

"That's not what I'm worried about," Riddick corrected and took this opportunity to grip her arm and shove her into an alley to talk to her. She'd been telling him to go back to the ship since they'd left, and he hadn't said anything. He couldn't keep dodging her demand anymore, and he was getting irritated having to hear her tell him what to do.

"We don't have time for this!" Deirdra hissed when he shoved her against the wall of a building in the alley. He only ripped his goggles off and stared her in the eye.

"If we get separated, it'll be easier to pick us off!" Riddick growled. "If you get taken-! Do I really have to say it?"

"Riddick, trust me, I'll be fine," Deirdra assured him. "Just go back-"

"No! Quit telling me what to do!"

"Fine!" Deirdra snapped again and looked around in thought.

She had to keep him from going into that office with her. If he found out what she was planning, he'd ghost the doctor on the spot and slap her around a bit before giving her a good tongue lashing. She sighed in appeared defeat and placed her hands on his chest, looking into his eyes again.

"How about you stay outside the door?" she suggested.

"No," he replied flatly and she slumped forward a bit.

"You can't even compromise?" she questioned in irritation.

"Hell no!" he snarled back. "If I did that every time you asked, you'd be dead by now!"

"Don't you dare bring up that time we went hunting together for the first time!" she snapped, holding up a threatening index finger.

"Then shut up and let's go find this damn doctor so we can deliver your damn message!" Riddick growled and put his goggles back on then grabbed the hand she'd written his address on. Memorizing it he dragged her out of the alley and down the street.

She gave a slight sigh as she stumbled after him. He didn't like this place, she could tell. He hadn't liked the idea of going there in the first place and he really hated it when they had landed. It was too bright. To tell the truth, she hadn't liked it too much either, but she could live with it. Riddick couldn't and she knew it. Too much light would burn him. She couldn't help but chuckle at that thought. Like he was one of those creatures on that planet he'd told her about.

He stopped suddenly and she slammed into him as they did. He shoved her toward a door and she whirled around to give him a dirty look before turning to the door again. She sighed when she realized they were in front of Dr. Harko Thompson's home and lifted her hand to knock on the door. Hesitating, and wishing, again, that Riddick hadn't come with her, she knocked three times then stepped back to stand next to Riddick.

"This better not be a trap," he growled at her, gripping her wrist. "If it is, I'm goin' back to Ursa Luna just so I can kill that doctor friend of yours!"

"Oh, knock it off," she snapped and before Riddick could reply the door opened a crack and they saw a man peek a brown eyes from the crack.

"Who are you?" he asked in a deep, threatening voice.

"My name is Deirdra," Deirdra replied, ignoring Riddick's grip on her wrist. "I'm a friend of Doctor Xenos. May we come in?"

"Who is he?" the man in the house replied, nodding at Riddick. Deirdra glanced at him and was about to reply but Riddick jumped in.

"Someone you don't wanna irritate-"

"Please," Deirdra cut in before Riddick could call the man a name. "Could we come in? I have a message from Xenos for you."

"Then leave your message and go," Harko replied, not opening the door an inch. Deirdra panicked, thinking frantically. She had to get in there without Riddick hovering over her like a watch dog. Using her free hand she slapped Riddick's hand from her wrist and stepped toward the door, looking around.

"If I leave him out here, will you let me in, at least?" she whispered, praying Riddick couldn't hear. She watched the man's eye glance at Riddick then look back at her and he nodded. "Give me a moment."

She turned back to Riddick and faced him as he kept his eyes on the door and she stepped close to him to whisper.

"He'll let me in if you stay out here," she reported and Riddick turned his goggle covered eyes to her.

"Why do you have to go in at all?" he snapped. "Just tell him what you need to and we'll get the hell outta here!"

"What Xenos told me…can't be heard by anyone else but him!" Deirdra replied, thinking quickly. "If I tell him out here there's a chance someone might overhear it!"

"You better not be lying to me, Girl!" he snarled, gripping her arm tightly. "If I find out you are and it gets us in some sort of trouble, I'll-!"

"Just stay out here!" Deirdra snapped, cutting off his threat. "You'll hear if something goes wrong and you can storm through the door and play Hero!"

"Don't get cute!" Riddick snapped back, his grip on her arm getting tighter, but she ignored it. "I'm not leaving you alone with him!"

Deirdra knew she wasn't going to get anywhere like this, she'd just have to take him by surprise. She slid her free arm around his neck to pull herself closer as her lips planted to his. It had the exact affect she'd hoped to get from him. His grip on her arm loosened in surprise and just for a small thrill she flicked her tongue inside his mouth before pulling away quickly and hurrying inside the house, Harko opening the door for her.

Riddick stared at the door and shock which quickly turned to anger and he roared in irritation but didn't attempt to break down the door. He didn't want to admit it, but she was right. He would hear it if anything were to happen. He stepped to the door and leaned back against the wall beside it, arms crossed, his hood pulled down a little farther over his face to hide his goggles.

Harko jumped when he heard Riddick roar outside and Deirdra only rolled her eyes as she turned to the man with a reassuring smile as he ran a hand through his short auburn hair, his brown eyes staring at the door.

"Don't worry, Doctor," she smiled, tapping his shoulder to get his attention. "If he was going to barge in here and take me away he would have done it by now."

"Who is that?" he asked again and Deirdra's heart raced in panic.

"No one of consequence," she managed to reply. "Just a friend of mine." She headed to a table on the other side of the room and Harko followed, glancing at the door every once in while. "Now, first things first, Doctor, I have to apologize."

"Apologize?" he echoed. "For what?"

"For lying to you," she answered without hesitation and he stopped dead in the center of the small room as she leaned back on the desk. "I don't have a message from Xenos, but I am a friend of his. He actually referred me to you." She picked up a knick-knack off of his desk and examined it. "I need a procedure done. He said you were one of the few doctors who did this type of procedure."

"What is it?" Harko wondered, choosing not to be angry with her for lying to him. She didn't look like a woman to mess with by the knife he saw on her hip when the cloak fell away as she leaned on the desk.

"I need you to shine my eyes, Doctor," she replied, still examining the thing in her hand that she didn't really know what to make of.

"That isn't a cheap surgery, Miss Deirdra," he replied, remembering her name.

"I'm good for it," Deirdra said, placing the thing in her hands back on the desk and looking up at him. "It'll have to done as soon as possible, and the man I'm with has no idea that I'm doing this. I'd like to keep it that way."

"Doctor patient confidentiality is not something I take lightly," Harko assured her. "May I ask why you are doing this?"

Deirdra's eyes shifted slightly before she replied, "I'd rather not tell you about that. It's personal."

"Fair enough," Harko nodded then stepped closer to her. She instinctively rested her hand on her knife as he came closer. Noticing this he said, "I'll need to examine your eyes to make sure they are healthy enough for the procedure."

Deirdra nodded and he stepped around the desk to grab a tool from his desk to examine her eyes with. He looked in each of her eyes with the thing as she kept her hand near her knife. She was sure Xenos would only make friends with the most trustworthy of people, but until she knew more about this doctor, she would remain wary. Harko then held a finger in front of her and instructed her to follow it. She obeyed and he waved it from side to side then brought it to her nose to make her cross her eyes.

"Alright," he said and she shook her head to relax her eyes. "Do you see the door clearly enough?"

"Yeah," she shrugged.

"Your vision isn't normally fuzzy?" he wondered.

"No," she replied and he nodded.

"Very well," he said and headed to his desk again. Deirdra stood and turned to face him as he sat at his desk. "Your eyes seem to be healthy. When would you like this to be done?"

"Tonight," she replied without hesitation and Harko stared wide eyes at her in disbelief. "I told you, I need it done as soon as possible."

"I'm sorry," he chuckled. "I'm afraid the best I can do is tomorrow morning. And you'll need to stay a while after that for your eyes to heal."

"No can do, Doc," she replied, leaning forward on the desk. "I need to be in and out. I can't dilly-dally. Can't you give me something after the procedure to make the healing process speed up? Turn hours or days into minutes or seconds?"

"This isn't something you can fix with drugs," Harko replied, slight irritation in his tone. "You won't be able to see for at least a week. A few days if you heal quickly."

Deirdra sighed and shook her head and rubbed her chin in thought, hugging one arm to her side. Harko sat in the chair behind his desk, waiting for her to give in but she seemed to brighten up and she snapped her fingers in triumph.

"Did Xenos happen to trade stuff with you?" she asked. "Maybe you gave him food and he gave you some sort of root used for medical purposes?"

Harko's eyes widened again. So she did know Xenos. He had his doubts on that, but his reason for not questioning her about it came back to the knife on her hip.

"As a matter of fact, he did leave some sort of root, but he never really told me what it was," he answered, rummaging through one of the drawers in his desk.

"It's called Thacool," she explained. "You snap it in half and the sap inside it heals any wound within twenty-four hours." She threw back her cloak and set her leg on the desk, making him jump and stare at her in shock. "I had a huge gash right here…" She trailed a finger up her shin where a scar should have been. "Xenos put this stuff on it when it was still pretty fresh and within a day it was gone…not even a scar as you can see."

"How did you get a gash on your leg?" Harko wondered, rummaging through his desk again as she set her leg down.

"This creature called a Cantoray," she replied quickly, sensing he was trying to figure out if she was lying. "That's how I met Xenos. We were on Planet Furya."

"You and your friend?" Harko wondered and Deirdra nodded when he glanced at her. He stood and turned to the cabinet behind him, rummaging through jars to find the root she spoke of.

"If you use that on my eyes after the procedure, I'll only need to stay at least a day for my eyes to heal," she explained. "I'll need a bandage over them though."

"Here it is," Harko announced and turned to her holding a jar with a familiar root inside of it.

"That's the Thacool root," she confirmed. "How much will it be, Doc?"

"We'll discuss payment if the procedure is successful," Harko said, sitting at his desk and rummaging through one of the drawers again.

"If?" Deirdra echoed and he looked up at her. "You're not even sure if you can do it?"

"It's been quite a while since I've done an Eye Shine," he replied, resuming his rummage. "I don't want to have to go through the hassle of a refund if it doesn't-"

Deirdra slammed her hands on the desk to lean forward and stare at him, making Harko jump and sit back in his chair. Her chocolate brown eyes shone with anger, her jaw set as such, her breathing short. It was if he was staring at some sort of predatory creature.

"Listen here, Doc," she seethed. "I don't wanna smell any 'If' coming off this procedure, you get me? I want a guarantee that this will work. I had to do a lot of lying to my friend out there to get here, and I don't want that to be for nothing. So do whatever the hell you have to do to shake off that however-long rust from your hands and do this procedure right tomorrow morning or so help me, I'll slit your throat as quick as you can blink, are we clear?"

Harko nodded vigorously and Deirdra nodded shortly as she shoved off the table.

"I'll be here tomorrow morning…alone," she said. "I suggest you get working on that rust."

She pulled the hood of her cloak back over her head and walked to the door as Harko stayed in his seat, staring after her in shock and disbelief. His hands started trembling and he sighed when she walked out and shut the door behind her.

"She's Furian, alright," he breathed, running a still trembling hand through his hair.

"Well?" Riddick wondered as Deirdra shut the door behind her and turned to him. "Can we get outta here now?"

"Not quite," she replied hesitantly, the menacing air around her disappearing. Riddick gripped her arm hard before she passed him and pulled her to face him.

"Don't give me that!" he snapped. "What now? He invite you to a dinner party or some shit?"

"Very funny!" she snapped back, gripping his wrist to get him to let go of her arm but his hand didn't budge. "I think we should stay here for a while is all."

"How long a while?" Riddick hissed, not really interested in the answer. "A couple of days? Maybe long enough for some Merc to find us again? Lemme guess, it was his idea that we stay, right? Probably callin' up a Merc right now tellin' 'em Riddick's on this rock because you and your stupid trusting sensitivities told him who I was!"

"You think I'm that stupid?" she hissed back, hitting a fist onto his arm to get him to let her go. His hand still didn't move from her arm. "I told him you were a friend of mine! No one of consequence! I only gave him my name!"

"Right, because no one knows the name of the girl I'm traveling around with, right?" Riddick replied sarcastically. "Why do you wanna stay here so badly? Better yet, why the hell did we have to deliver that guy's stupid message anyway? It could've been a trap!"

"Would you get your death grip off my arm?" Deirdra spat, still pounding on his arm.

"Only after you answer my question!" he shot back and Deirdra glanced around, noticing that passers-by were looking at them in worry.

"Let go of me, unless you want one of these people to call the somebody to get you off of me!" she hissed and he looked around a moment then let go of her as he growled low in his throat. She let out a sigh and coiled an arm around his to make them look like a happy couple not having any kind of disagreement as they headed down the streets to get to their ship.

Once there and inside Riddick tore off his cloak and goggles as Deirdra took off her cloak as well and he marched toward her as she stood at the open cockpit. He grabbed her shoulder and spun her around to face him, staring his shined eyes at her in more anger than he could express and she only stared back at him, expressionless.

"What the hell did you wanna come here for?" he asked again through clenched teeth. "You were in there for a while just to deliver a message. What else were you talking about? And if you lie to me I'll slap you around a bit before dumping you here to live, got it?"

Deirdra felt a dagger pierce her heart with his words, but there was another dagger that had been digging into her chest that dulled the pain of the second. The Dagger of Guilt was slowly shoving itself deeper and deeper into her heart with each lie she told, and she was about to lie again. She turned away from him to give herself a moment to think. She hated doing this, and wondered why she wanted to shine her eyes in the first place.

To be less of a burden to him, she remembered. I can accept that he doesn't want children, but I cannot accept being a burden to him.

"I…" she tried, but the syllable was lost when she couldn't think of what to finish it with.

She considered telling him the truth, but that would blow all of her plans to hell, not to mention earn her a tongue lashing then the silent treatment for at least a week from Riddick. She knew if he found out she'd lied to him he wouldn't hurt her. He couldn't do it back in the cave on UV 5 when he had more reason to and she was sure he wouldn't do it now or ever, for that matter. He might dump her there though, and that was what scared her. He could do that.

"Well?" he prompted, and grabbed her arm to turn her toward him again. "Speak, dammit!"

"I-I…" she trailed off again, casting her eyes down so he couldn't read her. She should have known better when he gripped her chin and brought her gaze up to his roughly.

"Tell me, now!" he growled and she shut her eyes to think quickly.

I can accept that he doesn't want children...

That thought gave her the perfect answer and her eyes shot open to stare into his shining eyes.

"I-I'm…pregnant."

She couldn't believe she was actually sinking this low just to get what she wanted, but it seemed she was convincing when she had said it so timidly because Riddick's eyes widened and he yanked his hand from her chin as if her skin burned him.

"W-What?" he breathed and she knew he was panicking.

"That's why it took me so long," she continued, turning to face the cockpit window. "I was asking him if he could…give me an abortion."

Oh, this is so low, Dee, she told herself. Couldn't you have come up with something else?

"Abortion?" Riddick echoed and once again turned her to face him. "What the hell for?"

Deirdra frowned at him in genuine confusion then said, "I…I thought you didn't want children?"

"I thought you did?" he replied. "What are you getting rid of it for?"

"B-Because…it's dangerous, isn't it, trekking a baby across space? Especially since you and I are wanted criminals!"

Riddick didn't reply as he only stared at her, his shining eyes still wide and she could see a dim glimmer of disappointment in those beautiful pools of silver. Realization suddenly hit her and her own eyes widened as her frown disappeared.

"You…" she breathed and his eyes instantly became unreadable as he moved her away from the pilot's seat to sit in it himself. She whirled around to stare her still wide eyes at him but he only sat in the pilot's chair, tapping the screens in front of him for who knows what.

"It's your body," he suddenly said and she frowned at him in wonder. "When are you gonna…?"

He trailed off, but Deirdra knew what he was asking and said, "Tomorrow morning. I'm not sure how long it'll take, and I'll need to stay there a little while to recover. I probably won't be back until the next day." She stepped up to him and placed her hand on his shoulder, making him freeze and turn his head enough to see her in his peripheral. "You don't have to come if you don't want to."

"Whatever," he replied, shrugging her hand away and Deirdra recoiled, staring at him with wide eyes. Guilt dug its dagger into her heart a little more. He must have been considering changing his mind about children and then she went and told him she was pregnant and that she was getting rid of it. If the lie were true she would be able to tell him it wasn't too late, that she could tell Harko to forget it and they'd be on their way, but that wasn't the case.

She suddenly found herself reconsidering getting her eyes shined. It wasn't too late for that either. She could go to Harko, tell him to forget it and come back and risk Riddick's wrath in telling him the truth. She hadn't paid for the procedure anyway, no one would be losing anything, except that she might be left there, but she would rather have that than Riddick get depressed over their "almost child."

You've gotten yourself into some deep shit now, Dee, she told herself. What're you gonna do now, idiot?

A/N: yeah, Dee got stupid, dint she? lol! reviews?