I still don't own the rights to Riddick or Vaako... and I'm still terribly sad about it.

A warning to the minions lurking... The Overlord is watching, paddle in hand.

Those who don't know who the Overlord is should check out Ooman by Blacktalon117. If you see the description and think "there's no way they pull this off" then you will have thought exactly what I did and there in lies the brilliance of that story.

Thanks for the support and inspiration, now lets keep this party train rolling...

Chapter 8

He had no honor. Vaako had known the moment those words left Riddick's mouth they'd be bouncing around in his head for a long time to come. They just added a whole new dimension to the complication sitting in front of him.

She'd looked so fuckin lost sitting there, staring out into the distance... If he'd had a heart he would have said it was breaking watching those dark eyes cloud over, lost to everything and everyone.

Those eyes had become his favorite fascination. Expressive without even tryin... He wouldn't have believed it if he hadn't seen it, but they changed colors like a barometer for her moods. And going by the dark hue she was sporting, wherever she'd retreated to in her mind this time, he'd bet his left nut it wasn't full of puppies and rainbows. Dark eyes, dark memories... Not for the first time Vaako wondered what color her eyes would be if she were actually happy.

Without giving himself a second to think about the why's of what he was doin, Vaako scooped her up into his arms. Why, he'd learned, was a messy question with messy answers better left alone unless you wanted to tear down every defense you'd come to depend on. It wasn't like she couldn't make the walk back to their quarters on her own. So the way he was cradling her ever so gently against his chest… epitome of messy.

Feeling like the pussy Riddick kept calling him; he blocked the thoughts before they could fully form. He wasn't prepared to admit he even wanted her in his arms and wanting didn't come close to what he was feeling. He needed it after the shit that had just gone down, needed her weight to ground him. Needed her warmth seeping into him to remind him she was alive... Or was it to remind him that he was, cause he'd been cold and dead inside for the longest time.

The trip to his quarters didn't take nearly as long as he would have liked, making him realize what a selfish prick he really was. She was bleeding and he wanted to keep her in his arms a little while longer. Just a moment… just enough time to soak it all in and imprint it on his memory. Depositing her on the couch he had to tamp down on the disappointment rushing through him as he let her go. Messy, messy. It was just one messy-ass, goat fuck of a situation.

He'd kept his word over the weeks and hadn't touched her once since that night. But doin and thinking were two separate beasts weren't they? So he'd replayed that moment in his mind over and over, remembering the feel of her skin and that brief flash of warmth. Wishing it had lasted longer, wishing he'd never given in to the impulse in the first place. The restraint and the want making his hand twitch in remembrance every time he thought about it.

Unfortunately, Riddick seemed to be some kind of mind reader. Freaky was the only word to describe the way that man seemed to notice everything, even those fucking hand twitches. Shrewd silver eyes tracking his movements carefully, that predatory smirk hovering close to the surface every time Aurora passed a little too close to Vaako. It was like the man was waiting for something.

Deciding now was as good a time as any to get a look at what the damage was, Vaako dropped down on his haunches in front of her. Reaching up, his hand hovered above hers. Thinking about that fateful trip to the Med Bay he decided nice and easy was the way to go. Keeping his tone calm and even, he called her name so she wouldn't snap out of the twisted memories and come up fighting again.

Dark eyes locked on him as soon as her name registered and he was relieved to see that murky distant look dissipating. But by the confusion in her eyes it was clear she still wasn't all there.

"I need to see how deep it is." Vaako murmured softly, still careful with the slow and easy routine.

Aurora just tilted her head like she wasn't following a word of it.

Sighing, he decided to just shut up and do. Looking down, he closed the distance remaining between their hands, wrapping his fingers around her wrist, tugging gently to pull her hand clear. The hiss of Aurora's indrawn breath dragged his eyes back to her face like a magnet.

Apparently the pain of removing the pressure she'd been applying did a reboot on her system because her eyes were once again sharp and focused, and staring straight at him. Sharp and focused, but still just two deep dark wells… made a man wonder if it wouldn't have been better if she'd stayed in la-la land till he was done.

Just as he reached forward to inspect the damage, an imperious pounding sounded against his door. Only one person would have the nerve to knock like it was a demand, so with a sigh of resignation he replaced her hand and stood to answer.

As soon as the door opened, The Lord Marshal brushed past Vaako speaking as he went. "You know, for the advanced people you make yourselves out to be your medical equipment is shit." Riddick had been a little shocked to see what the offerings had been. Maybe in retrospect he shouldn't have been, all things considered. Those cold Necro bastards weren't supposed to feel much pain and hell; he'd patched himself up with far less. He just didn't like having to patch her up like this. The similarity she bore to his Jack meant she deserved better. That piss poor Med Bay was going to get an overhaul immediately. There was no fucking way if he got Jack back he'd settle for this shit if she ever got injured. Needle and thread for Christ's sake. Girl had plenty of scars and now she'd have another.

"How are your sewing skills?" he asked Vaako causally as he continue into the room leaving Vaako standing by the door, that dumbfounded expression firmly back on his face.

"Sewing skills my Lord?" Vaako asked weakly.

Apparently dumfounded hadn't just made its way on to Vaako's face, it was leeching out of his voice. Taking a moment Riddick gestured to where Aurora sat on the couch. "That's going to need to be stitched up and since we can't take her to the Med Bay and have them do it, I'm gonna ask you again. How are your sewing skills?"

"I don't sew." The man finally answered.

Grunting at Vaako's response, Riddick finished making his way to Aurora, placing the supplies he'd brought with him down beside her. Guess we're in luck I'm such a good little sewer then, he thought sardonically. All those years on the run patching up his own shit were going to come in handy. Doctors were an exposure he'd never had the luxury of. Ironic he was lording it over a floating fortress, thousands of soldiers at his beck and call, relatively safe for the first time in years, and he still had shit medical supplies to work with.

Pulling his shiv, he reached for her and got a kick out of the way Dumb Ass started across the room like he was going to pull a little slice and dice of his own on the girl. Looking up at his First and flashing him a big innocent 'what,' he had to work hard to suppress the grin fighting to get free as Vaako stumbled to a halt. That man had some serious protective instincts when it came to the girl. His refusal to cop to any of it was entertaining as hell, but if the man didn't get his head out of his ass soon, Riddick was going to have to help with the removal process. Knowing Vaako it would take more than a gentle nudge to get the asshole movin in the right direction. Yeah... who's the bigger asshole, the blind man or the hypocrite? Riddick thought wearily. God, he just wanted Jack back... just wanted her, and that was all he could cop to at the moment. He had no idea what he'd do with her if he ever managed to get her back.

Riddick wasn't sure what he felt toward Vaako. He was loath to use the word friendship because he didn't do friends. Easier to say he owed the guy for Jack, and beating some sense into the man to make him see reason was just paying off a debt... and having a little fun while he was at it.

Sliding the blade under the collar of the gown he sliced through the material easily. Looking at Aurora's pale face and blue lips he considered what he knew about the girl. He was willing to bet it was a far cry more than Vaako did. That man was too blinded by his own guilt and hatred over Miss. Priss to see anyone clearly. The girl might be a killer but she was no murderer. The quiet moments when she thought no one was looking had given him his first clue. It was always the same. Those haunting eyes that reminded him so much of Jack would turn inward and they never seemed to like what they saw. If he had to take a stab at it, he'd say he was looking at self loathing in it's purist form.

She had wanted to fail that day in the throne room. She had wanted to die. It'd taken him awhile to figure it out, and priding himself on his observation skills he'd felt like a dick for missing it. But watching that soul deep self loathing day after day gave it away. Those eyes hadn't just been warning him in the throne room. They'd been begging him to release her and in a way he had. But only from that bitch of an Envoy, not from the thoughts plaguing her every second of everyday.

Today's little fiasco hadn't been about fulfilling her death wish. It was pure instinct driving her. Sure some of it was tied to her past, but with the way her eyes followed Vaako day after day he knew it was more than that. The girl probably didn't understand her motivations and Vaako would remain clueless till he grew a set and faced his past, but Riddick had the advantage of distance. She was just like his Jack, innocence stolen and tainted. Different circumstances but the outcome was the same. Somehow without realizing it he'd picked up another stray.

What a fucked up trio we make, Riddick thought in disgust. Each torturing themself with a past they couldn't change. Logically there was no reason to dwell. You move on, you deal, you put it behind you where it belongs and you never bring it back out unless it's to remind yourself not to make the same fucked up mistake again. But Jack wasn't a past he could let go of. He didn't even know how to try and wasn't that some fucked up shit? So Riddick embraced the pain, pulling it deep cause aching over what had happened to Jack almost made him feel human again. That was the funny thing about pain. Sometimes it was the only thing that let you know you were still alive.

Pulling the rent material aside, he chuckled at the rumble that echoed through the room. Apparently Dumb Ass wasn't just protective, he was territorial. Riddick could respect that. If their positions were reversed he'd be palming his shiv. But he was here to play nurse not cop a feel, so Vaako could just settle his ass down. Whether Vaako was willing to admit it or not Aurora was taken and Riddick had always been a firm believer in the old saying you don't shit where you eat.

"Alright ladies lets get this show on the road" Riddick quipped reaching for the syringe sitting on top of the rest of the medical supplies.

Aurora's eyes had retreated inward again after she'd seen what he was carrying so he directed his next question to Vaako. "Local or a local mixed with a sedative?"

"You brought both?" The man asked incredulous.

"I like to come prepared." Riddick responded with a shrug.

Something had told him sedating her might be in everyones best interest. Just cause he was such a domestic with a needle didn't mean he needed her ruining all his hard work if she got back with the program before he was done and tore the stitches. Didn't take a genius to realize she was was stuck in that fucked up past of her's.

Clearing his throat, Vaako moved closer until he was hovering right over Riddick's shoulder. "Using the sedative would be best."

What do you know, great minds think alike, Riddick thought sliding the needle he was holding deep into her vein and depressing the plunger. Other than a slight jerk of the arm he was holding she didn't let on she knew what was doin. Watching her muscles ease as she slid back against the couch, eyes going half mast, he didn't reach for the supplies till that tormented look left her. Nothing better than floating on a big cloud of 'don't give a fuck' to make the medicine go down.

Flushing the wound, he squeezed some of the ointment he'd found inside it and started in with the needle. Making tiny precise stitches. He'd seen the scars on her arms and had figured she'd have them elsewhere... and he'd been right. Just never suspected how right, so if it took him all damn night he was gonna do this carefully.

Scars meant you had survived. Besides, what better reminder was there not to fuck up the same way twice than one carved into you skin? But this wasn't a fuck up, and while it might be a sign of survival, he doubted she'd see it that way. The chances of her wearing any scar with pride were about as good as Jack embracing her child hood... Not fuckin likely, so minimize was the word of the day.

The whole time he worked Vaako said nothing, just hovered over him like a mother hen. Riddick found himself wishing he'd brought two syringes of 'fuck it juice' just so the guy would sit down. That towering over the shoulder routine Vaako was pulling was irritating as hell. Tying off the last of the stitches he snipped the end, slathered more ointment on liberally and bandaged her up.

Standing with a stretch, the snap-crackle-pop his spine pulled was a relief. His job was done. She was all fixed up... but still broken. Wasn't that one of life's little ironies?

Eyeing the ripped to shit initiates gown and the dried blood contrasting against pale skin, he figured Vaako was gonna need more than a little beat down in the gym to get his mind right. She wouldn't be able to stand let alone wash herself and Vaako wouldn't be able to leave her like that. Riddick was pretty good at putting one and two together and arriving at three which meant a lot of touching. Something his First went out of his way to avoid. Looking at his watch he gave it an hour tops before the man showed up in the gym. Vaako would clean her up, tuck her in and get the hell away from her like his ass was on fire and she was the match.

Life, when it came right down to it, was just a string of days spent stumbling around looking for that little slice of happy. The problem wasn't that life was unfair. If you were looking for fair, you were on a fools errand and too stupid to deserve happiness anyway. It was the fact that when happy finally does come, instead of embracing it, nine times out of ten some inner demon pushes the self-destruct button blowing you and happy straight to Hell. Realizing what you had only after it's gone? That's what made life fucked up.

Making his way back to the stasis pod holding his own little slice of Happy, he found himself wondering how he was going to keep Vaako from pushing that little red button. Aurora was alive and Jack was dead... Vaako needed to wake the hell up.