The ghosts that we knew

Epilogue

~We will run and scream

You will dance with me

They'll fulfill our dreams

And we'll be free

And we'll be who are

And they'll heal our scars

Sadness will be far away~

~Many years later~

Carolyn smiled as she stood in front of her fireplace looking at all the pictures of her life so far. The oldest, in the back, were of Riddick, Sam, John, baby Rhiannon and herself. Pictures of more children and different planets were strewn throughout.

After years of moving every few decades to a new world, planet, galaxy, they had finally stumbled upon a place where the people, if not quite immortal, aged at an extremely decelerated rate.

Sam had discovered its existence in her never-ending research on the C-24.

Tucked away from the rest of the universe, they had made their home here.

Through the advance in genetics and her own research, Sam and John had eventually gone on to have children, twelve of them in fact, which had merged and mixed with her own children.

Having a place that they never had to leave had been wonderful. The children that were here had the opportunity to marry and have their own children and it was a rare day that there were not a dozen or more happily yelling youngsters playing in the fields that separated their home from John and Sam's.

It was the children that weren't here that made Carolyn's heart ache the most. Of her own ten children, four had been gone for years. She despaired of ever seeing them again even though she and Riddick had left markers for them throughout the galaxy.

Three of them simply had their fathers rambling soul and always wanted to be going and doing and seeing, including her precious Rhiannon. Richard had named her well. No one could replace his first-born, his very own warrior princess.

Her sweet baby, Kingston, was Rhiannon's shadow and when she left he was not about to leave her side. Carolyn picked up a picture of the two off the mantel. It didn't matter that nearly half a century separated them in age, they were inseparable. Two peas in a pod, Richard always said.

Jason, who was as incorrigible as his father, was next to leave. He was also a romantic and she sometimes thought maybe they should not have read to him so many stories of the hero he was named after. But, they had always encouraged their children to do what they needed to do.

And then there was Charon. Carolyn could remember giving birth to him like it was yesterday as she moved down the mantel picking up another picture. Richard had been the first to hold him and had insisted on naming him. When Carolyn heard the name she had begged him to change it, knowing that nothing good could come from naming him that.

Riddick had looked at Charon solemnly before handing the child over to his distraught mother, kissing her on the head. "We're not going to be able to save all of them, Carolyn; we can only love them to the best of our ability."

And she had. Carolyn had loved all of her children fiercely and while it had taken her a bit longer she had finally seen in Charon that disquietness that Richard had seen since the beginning.

It had been horrible when he left, the things that he had said to her and his father. His siblings had been ready to beat him senseless but Riddick had stopped them in that quiet commanding voice of his, even as he held on to his heartbroken wife and watched his son walk out the door for the last time. To this day none of his brothers or sisters would mention his name.

She put that photo back in its place and picked up her favorite of she and Richard wrapped up in blankets and each other as they watched the sun rising over the peak of a mountaintop. She was anxious for him to be home. He had been gone for far too long this time around and she missed him desperately when he was away. "We have forever," he would always tell her as she clung to him on his return.

She heard a commotion outside with the children who were suddenly whooping and hollering. They usually only got like that when they had a visitor. Not wanting to let go of the picture in her hand, Carolyn walked to the front door and let herself out onto the wide porch. Her face broke out in a wide grin as she saw the light reflect off of Riddick's bald head and heard John's boisterous laugh as he swung one of his grandchildren up on his back. They were far enough away that Carolyn wasn't sure which generation of grandchild it was.

Setting the picture down on the railing, she cocked her head to the side as she studied the group coming up the long walk. Riddick was holding a child in his arms that didn't seem familiar to her and there was a large group of adults with the two men. They had taken with them an odd assortment of children, grandchildren and everything in between but no females and there were two women in this group.

When Riddick saw her on the porch, he lifted his arm in greeting and Carolyn placed a hand on her chest. She was never happier than when he was at home, safe and sound.

As the others with him looked in her direction, two of them broke away from the group running towards her shouting the name that only ten people had ever called her.

"Oh my God," Carolyn breathed bounding off the porch, running to meet them, her arms out stretched. She pulled her daughter to her with a sob, blindly reaching out for Kingston, who pulled both his mother and sister to him, enveloping both of them in his arms as they cried and tried to talk at the same time.

Riddick and John stood back a ways watching the happy reunion before John slapped Riddick on the back heading towards his own home, a flock of children following him like a pied piper.

Handing the child in his arms to her father, Riddick stepped up to his family, a grin on his face as Carolyn turned towards him. "Sorry I'm late, but I had a hard time finding the perfect gift."

Carolyn threw herself into his arms, kissing him as held her.

"Oh, please, not in front of the children," Kingston moaned.

"I mean really, don't you ever get tired of each other?" Rhiannon asked.

Riddick ended the kiss, looking down at Carolyn. "I tried to get rid of her once. I'll never make that mistake again," he said causing her to give him a beautiful smile, the one reserved just for him.

Chatter suddenly surrounded them as Carolyn was introduced to spouses and grandchildren and other grandchildren were sent to fetch their parents. As they all went inside the house, Riddick stopped to pick up a picture lying on the railing and smiled. It was his favorite picture of the two of them. Walking inside he put it back in its place on the mantel looking over the most important parts of his life so far before grabbing his wife's hand to drag her upstairs much to the amusement of their children.

The End.