"We're entering here?" Nicola smiled at his question. She hadn't told him that his room had been commandeered. She hadn't thought about it really. She unlocked the door.
"Sorry. It's Jackie's room now. Has been for two years. When she was old enough to walk, and bored or mad at me, I used to find her in here. Once she could climb up on the bed herself, I'd find her curled up in here some nights. Didn't like the nursery, or something. Didn't matter if I told her not to do it. She's stubborn. I eventually gave up." She smirked, and pushed the door wide, letting him precede her.
If he was expecting a return to a childish pink wonderland, he was surprised. The only audible comment was his grunt. "It's the same," he muttered as his eyes swept the room. All dark wood and austerity. Well, there were a few toys on the floor, shoes smaller than his fist scattered on the rug, some scribbled drawings tacked up three feet off the floor, some picture books by the chairs... Nicola watched him, his posture wasn't exactly awkward, it amused her.
"Mama!" A little blond streak shot from behind the chairs and attached itself to her legs. "Ama said you had a surprise for me and Meddia wouldn't tell me and we were reading and..." The little girl paused, turning excited blue eyes on the person at her back.
"Jacqueline, darling, this is your father." She untangled herself from her daughter's hug and put her hand on the girl's head. Jacqueline stuck the tip of her left thumb in her mouth, something she did when she wasn't sure how to react. "Riddick, this is Jacqueline. Jackie, honey, be polite and say hello." Jackie looked up, way up, at the big man. Her brow knit, she was assessing him. She pulled her thumb out of her mouth, wiped it on her shirt.
"Hello," she said finally, extending her right hand. Then turned back to her mother. "Am I supposed to shake his hand or hug him?" She sounded perplexed, and a little annoyed. She didn't like making mistakes, especially with grown-ups. Nicola tried not to smile at her daughter's seriousness.
Riddick, unexpectedly, crouched in front of her, palming his goggles and reaching for her stiffly held arm. He shook her tiny palm and waited out the look she had for his unusual eyes.
"Whoa! Pretty!" She started to reach out to touch his face but snatched her hand back, looking away. "Sorry. Not polite. Meddia says I get too grabby." She looked petulant. Riddick rose, eyes going to the chairs, where an older woman in a sari and head cover stood quietly, unobtrusively, trying not to ruin the family moment.
"Riddick this is Meddia Setya. " The older woman bowed. Riddick nodded. "Meddia is Jacqueline's sitter when I'm away. " The little girl had wandered back to her mother's leg, but was still glancing at Riddick sideways. "Meddia, thank you, as always. You can go." The woman bowed again and left.
"So darling, nothing else to say? Suddenly shy? Want to show him your room?" She ruffed the girl's dark blond curls.
"Mooooooom," she whined into her leg. "He's a warlord. He doesn't care about my room." Nicola tried not to laugh, especially at the pained look Riddick gave her. The little girl paused, sighed and turned around resolutely. "It's your room first. So if you're staying, we don't have to share. If you're staying." She stared straight into his eyes.
"Jacqueline Taras Riddick! That is no way to speak..." She was interrupted by a knock on the door.
"Ziza!" Jackie shrieked and ran for the door. A tall, dark-skinned, teenage girl opened the door, wearing the unbuttoned grays of the Capitol Guard uniform. Jackie flung herself into the girl's arms. "Ziza! Guess what?! Mommy told me she had a present and it's Daddy and you know who he is right? He's..."
"Riddick. Yes, little one, we've met." She smoothed back her frizzy hair as she maneuvered the hyper girl to her hip and offered a hand.
Riddick eyed her a moment before briefly taking her hand.
"Ziza said you saved her in the Necro war. Not like everyone, you were at her house, and you knew her dad and..." Jackie was patting the girl's dark hair and babbling.
"Imam?" Riddick stepped closer, scrutinizing her face.
"Yes. Abu al-Walid. My father." The girl held his gaze. "My mother Lajjun offers you her thanks. Mine as well. She's remarried now, doesn't like to think on the past." She smiled sadly. Riddick just nodded, stepping back.
"Ziza goes with me to dance class," Jackie said, hugging her neck and jumping down. "Ziza teaches dancing." The little girl ran for the bed, grabbing a pink duffel and slipping on her shoes.
"Looks like that's not all she does," Riddick commented, taking in the young woman's uniform again.
"With the population down, we're allowed to enlist at 15. I've been Capitol Guard for nearly a year now." Ziza supplied as the little girl skipped up and took her hand. "Taking Jackie to class is on my way. "
"And we gotta go." Jackie was pulling her to the door. "It's my turn to pick the music and Keelie always tries to take my place, even though you're the teacher. And cmon!" The little girl was practically horizontal in her dragging.
"I guess so..." The older girl smiled at Nicola, then glanced back at Riddick. "I'm sure we'll meet again." She allowed the straining child to pull her out the door. Riddick stood staring at the closed door, even after they left. Nicola cocked her head.
"Sorry. I guess I should have told you. I forgot it was Thulatha.* We met Ziza as Jackie's dance teacher last year. It's a good outlet for her energy." She shrugged. "Ziza approached me after the first class, said she knew who I was, where I lived, and that she could escort Jackie to class if I liked, since she worked in the capitol. A few weeks later she told me how she knew you." Nicola bent to pick up her daughter's discarded coat, abandoned toys. "Small world, I guess." Riddick grunted, watching her move about the room, picking up books, stowing clothes in the dresser.
"You gave Jack my name. Think that's wise?" Nicola looked up, eyebrow raised.
"Does it bother you? I didn't think about it when the doctor signed off on the birth certificate. My last name will haunt her just as much in this town. And as I've said, she's very much your daughter. Look at this room. She wouldn't let me do anything to it. Insisted this is how she like it." She swept up some color sticks and paper on the floor, returning them to the desk. Riddick's eyes fell on a display of knives on the wall by the desk, hung up out of reach for little hands, but the bottom edge of the handles were covered in tiny fingerprints. Nicola either didn't notice, or didn't care.
"She's interesting." He ran fingers over the blades on the wall. Nicola watched him a second, then shook her head.
"I don't know what I expected. I didn't think about your room, her room, sleeping arrangements. I guess I didn't really think any of this out, despite my planning." She shrugged.
"You did fine. She's fine." He turned back to her. "You have time. Speaking of... she's gonna be gone for a bit now, huh?"
"Yes..."
"Cuz there's something I've been wanting to do, dreaming about really, for the past three years..."
"Riddick... what are you...?"
He strode across the room and threw her over his shoulder, kicking open the door to her suite. "There are exactly two things I missed from civilized living," He said as he walked. Straight to the bathroom, where he set her on her feet again "Hot water and sex. Planning on remedying them both right now."
"Strip," he added, kicking off his own boots. "Don't make me do it for you."
"Well, thanks for not shredding my clothes, I guess," she muttered, shoving aside her shoes and starting with her earrings. She was slow to remove her clothes, mostly on purpose, watching him adjust the spray, amusing herself with the view. Very wet, very naked, and in her shower. She smiled to herself, for a while she thought she'd never see the day... He caught her looking and grinned.
"Get your ass in here, this isn't a spectator sport. My back isn't going to wash itself."
"You never say please, do you?" Nicola muttered as she stepped into the large cubicle behind him, slapping him playfully on the butt. Riddick shrugged, busy smelling the soap. He made a face before handing it over.
"This is all you got, huh? Girly ass, shit?" Nicola smacked him again.
"You're in a woman's room, using her shower, attempting, I might add, to woo her affections, and you insult my soap? Sorry this isn't Spa New Mecca. And you sir, may be just talking yourself out of a 'happy ending.'" That got his attention. He turned and pulled her to him.
"Bluffing anyway, you're just cute when you yell. And I'm not waiting for a happy ending." He picked her up bodily and pressed her against the retaining wall, attacking her neck. Well, she thought as she closed her eyes and wrapped her legs around him, he hasn't forgotten where I'm sensitive. Hands moved over her skin, far too knowing. But there was something to be said for the water, she thought, the sensation of being enveloped, moving, even standing still. The tactile sensations of spray and flow, when her body was already so awake... she felt... fluid, molten, aqueous. And a good thing too, someone was ready... He raised his face to hers again, breathing hard, lips just brushing hers, eyes, half veiled, questioning. But he'll never ask, she thought ruefully as she locked her hands behind his neck, loosening her legs around his waist.
He balanced her weigh in his hands, sliding into her slowly. Smooth and hot, just another current in her liquefied world. It felt glorious and by his deep rumble, Riddick apparently agreed. He held her there a second, savoring a moment of his joined fantasy - water and woman. The look on his face was worth it, something akin to rapture softening the hard lines of his face, eyes closed, lips open, the water glittering in translucent sheen over his dark skin. Just a frozen moment, beautiful, unguarded, an unexpected gift that made the hellishly stupid risk of getting him back worth it. He was hers again, for a while, and he could have her however he wanted her.
Which he did, twice more in the bedroom, before Ziza returned with a very tired Jackie. "She took me to the park, Mama," the little girl yawned, rubbing her eyes. "We had ice cream, and she let me push her on the merry go round and go on the slide as many times as I wanted, the big one and... I'm sleepy." Ziza smiled at Nicola and winked, accepting the silent 'thank you' over the stumbling girl's head. Nicola thanked the gods for the other woman's intuitive handling of the situation, she would thank her properly another time.
Jackie was so preoccupied with her bedtime routine she didn't even comment on her mother being ready for bed as well. She just hugged her mother and crawled into bed. Didn't demand a story or a good night kiss or anything. Ah well,she thought as she turned out the lights and shut the door to her bedroom, at least one of us will get a good night's sleep tonight. Somehow she doubted the Taurin tiger in her bed was satiated yet for the night, and really, she didn't mind.
* It's an approximation for the Arabic word for "Thursday."
Needless to say, Jack didn't have to give up her room, Riddick seemed well ensconced in her bed, picking up the routine they'd left off at when she was pregnant. And yes, Jack, as she insisted on being called now, thanks to her father dropping the nickname, seemed fine with the arrangement as well. There wasn't much for her to notice, really, as Riddick was usually up and gone by the time Nicola woke and set about the routine of getting Jack up and ready for school. Jack had nothing to compare Riddick's comings and goings to, so she accepted it as her mother did. Any concern Nicola had for his acceptance of his daughter was laid to rest the night of her first nightmare since their return.
Jack came into their room around 24:00, chewing on her thumb and sniffling. Nicola had the lights down, but wasn't really asleep, but it was Riddick who noticed her first.
"What is it?" His voice was even, neither inviting nor annoyed.
"I had the bad dream." Jack said around her thumb, sniffing loudly. She stood at the end of the bed, looking at him. "Mama lets me sleep here when the scary lady comes." Riddick sat up, startling Nicola.
"Come here. Tell me." His voice was still calm, but his eyes were narrowed. Jack looked at him warily, took her thumb out of her mouth and scrubbed her eyes with the fist. Then she climbed on the bed between them, leaning against his leg. Nicola put her hand on her daughter's head soothingly.
"She talks funny, and she's mad. And it's all red and fires and dead people's houses."
"Cemetery," Nicola commented, watching Riddick.
"And it makes my head hurt and she won't go away, and sometimes she pushes me and it hurts and.."
Riddick reached down and lifted her pajama top. Nicola started to grab his hand, but then she saw it... the flickering purple blue of a large handprint, luminous in the darkness, covering her daughter's chest.
"Oh my gods, honey-love!" She gathered Jack in her arms, rocking the small child against her. "I didn't think to check you. I thought it was a dream. Oh honey, I'm so sorry." She looked through tearing eyes at Riddick. "What the hell is that thing?! What's going on with my daughter?"
"Shirah." He muttered, watching them. "Spirit guide, or so she says. Jack is seeing Furya. Fucking bitch, going after my daughter. She's got the mark." Jack pushed away from Nicola, crawling back to Riddick.
"You dream too?" She looked him straight in the face, guileless of his temper. She pressed a tiny hand to his chest. "She did that to you too?"
"Mmm," he affirmed. "Hurts, don't it?" Jack nodded, shoulders dropping, thumb going back to her mouth. The silver eyes studied her pained expression. "Universe is a tough place, kitten, and I can't make that stop. All I can tell you is you're my daughter, and you can handle it." She gave him a quizzical look. He ruffled her hair, looking serious. "You can handle it, can't you?" The thumb dropped and her mouth set. She sighed heavily and finally nodded.
"Honey, if you want something for the pain..." Nicola was still somewhat dumbstruck. Jack looked at her and shook her head.
'It's not so bad, mama. It stops after a bit." She looked at her father again, apparently drawing strength from whatever it was that passed between them. "I'm gonna go back to my room." And she hopped down and was gone.
"I didn't know..." Nicola whispered at the closed door. The guilt was overwhelming. "I thought it was a dream, just some horrible nightmare she kept having... The doctors told me it was normal, just to let her get back to sleep. She said it hurt, dammit. I didn't listen. Doctors said it was psychosomatic, children don't know the difference. My baby..." she buried her face in the pillow, crying softly.
"You couldn't know."
"You did!"
"I have the same dream. Though not for a while. Figured it was over once I went to Furya. Guess it doesn't end with me. Didn't think the bitch had someone new to bother. We're gonna have words, one way or another." He paused, waiting for Nicola to regain her composure.
"You think the other ones are having dreams?" Nicola shook her head.
"Doubt it. The doctors I take her to see the other girls as well. They're only a little older, but if this was a pattern, they would have recognized it, Jack would have been the last, the youngest of the first bunch..." Riddick nodded, only half listening. "You're plotting."
"Hmm. Yeah. Gonna see about borrowing a ship from Houston tomorrow. I've got someone to talk to. Don't expect me back for a few days."
At least Kij didn't let him go alone. It worked out, in it's own way. There was a regular supply run shuttling gear and manpower to Furya for the archaeological and resettlement projects, as well as the necessary military presence for protection. Scientific and exploratory missions to catalog the natural resources and wildlife that had survived the 40 year old purge of the planet. It wasn't hard for Riddick to secure passage with Gen. Houston's request behind it.
Nicola didn't know what to expect on his return, and he was as stoic as ever about the journey. The only thing he volunteered was when he gifted Jack with a small necklace, a gri-gri bag, full of what she didn't know. Riddick said it came from the sorcerer he'd visited before, the elemental, Eldar. "He said it should block the dreams, at least till she's older." Jack really didn't care what it was for, it was a present from her father, and that's all that mattered. She never took it off. And whether it worked in some magical way, or served as a placebo to the little girl, Jack didn't complain again about the nightmare.
It didn't keep Nicola from finding her curled up in her bed next to Riddick, nights when she was out late. Riddick had assumed some of the late night babysitting responsibilities on his own, dismissing Meddia in the evenings and allowing Jack to follow him about the apartment. Granted, it was usually her bedtime anyway by the time he came back, but finding her snuggled against his leg while he was shining his blades in bed was a memorable moment.
Nicola had given him a look, and he'd shrugged. Then he reached out and grabbed Jack by the scruff of her nightgown, lifting her up, limp in sleep- but her little hands remained firmly clutching his pant leg. She was not going anywhere. Stubborn, like her father. At least he wasn't sharpening the blades over her head.
And so it went for a year. Riddick easing back into her life, their life, like he'd always been there. Twice a week, he'd pick up Jack at dance class in the evenings. Nicola couldn't imagine he was very interested in watching 5 year olds attempt world dance, and she could tell by the somewhat easy manner he developed around Ziza that they'd developed some bond of their own. Much like he had with Kij. Not exactly friendship, more a mutual admiration and easy working relationship. Neither woman wanted or needed anything from him, and accepted the limitations of who he was with more ease than average. That both women were good role models for Jack and had her father's approval only gratified Nicola more.
Still, there were times she felt jealous of his connection with them. It came out in strange ways, like the night after an emergency security briefing. There had been raids again, this time with significant losses, along the Furyan shipping lane. The damn dead zone between Proxima and Kaz-Kaiya. The Offworld Intelligence had identified the threat - strangely enough through intel Riddick provided Kij with, encounters from his missing four years. OIB Chief Carringworth had identified the "pirates" - it was a fanatical religious armada - thankfully still small and poorly run. An offshoot of a presumed dead Carthodox religion out of the Neibaum system; presumed dead because the Necromongers had annihilated them long ago. That these same gypsy-scavengers had managed to capture Riddick five years ago on his way back from Furya... Nicola had never known. Kij caught her bewildered look across the conference table at the revelation. She had quashed it quickly, but Kij had also seen the sudden betrayal in her eyes. When the meeting adjourned, Houston pulled her friend aside.
"He didn't tell you, did he?"
"No. He doesn't tell me anything. Apparently I'm the only one." She kept her voice low, controlled, waiting for the others to leave. She gathered her hard copy off the table, tapping it in a perfect pile, even and neat.
"Nicola... I don't think he told anyone else, and what he told me was strictly for intelligence purposes." Nicola didn't look up, focused on the papers in her hands.
"And I'm the Minister of Defense, apparently that doesn't rank, too political or something." Kij sighed, running hands through her short blond hair.
"We both work with men dear. They communicate differently. And what he went through was probably pretty traumatic..."
"Gee, I wouldn't know." Nicola glanced at her sideways. "Doesn't tell me shit."
"And it's easier to debrief if you stick to facts - detach it."
"Thank you Mrs. married to a psychiatrist."
"Nicola... " Kij put her hands on the table. "You went through a war under command. You should understand, the structure is there for a reason. You were lucky you weren't captured and POWed. Those Necros did some nasty shit to their 'converts.' The Carthodox weren't that sophisticated, they were looking for slave labor. When Riddick proved a problem, they sold him off on Colsack. Good thing they didn't know they had the former Lord Marshall on board... even if he did run their rivals into the ground. But that's really all I know. Facts." Nicola slumped in her chair, dropping the stack of papers.
"At least he gave you that."
"Hon, as your friend, I think I know why he didn't tell you. He may not even know it himself, but he's trying to spare you from parts of his life that you'll reject."
"I know what he is, dammit! I don't fucking care. My father was a fucking criminal..." Kij held up a hand.
"And you're reacting exactly the way he doesn't want. Or what he'll perceive... "
"What? Pissed off?"
"No. With pity. And if you think about it, probably a certain amount of fear." She shook her head. "He despises both. And he can't or won't take either in anyone he's close to."
"Is this your observation, or Dr. Houston's?"
"Both. I worry about you, hon. You handle him better than I ever would. Better than I think anyone ever expected. And his loyalty to you and Jack is incredible. But it's all such... strange territory. The Doc and I can't even begin to frame it." Nicola shut her eyes and sighed.
"If there's one thing I accept, Kij, it's reality. People come and go, and you can't control it. That I spent time and effort to get that bastard back for myself and my daughter... sometimes I wonder.
I did want to know he didn't leave me on purpose, I'll admit that. But I also was not going to let him get away with being some sort of warlord folk hero in my daughter's imagination. He's an insufferable prick..."
"With a really big dick... I hear." Kij interjected.
"Bitch!"
"Hey, that's GENERAL bitch to you!"
"Yes, you are a general bitch. Just shut up."
"Fine Miss Defensive Minister." Nicola rolled her eyes and got up.
"Thank god there are no boys around to hear us..."
