HELLO BEAUTIFUL

Ch 20

Shazza was awake too, and Riddick watched her silently as she held Jack. The young girl had stayed with them the whole night and now her back was curled against Shazza’s chest. She had held her like that for much of the night, and he kept his arms around both of them. Jack didn’t sleep well at first but she slept soundly now, safe with them. He had lain in bed too long already, and it was difficult when he wanted Shazza so much. He whispered ‘coffee’ and brushed a strand of her hair away from her face in place of a kiss. It was the first time he had actually stayed in bed until she awoke, he thought, and here he was with Jack in between them.

Shazza looked down at the girl in her arms, and knew she wouldn’t be able to get out of bed anytime soon, not unless she was willing to wake Jack. Which she wasn’t. Shazza found that she loved to be held by Riddick but as she held the young girl she found that it satisfied a deeper urge, one she had seldom allowed herself the luxury to think about.

Shazza looked up from Jack’s stubbled head to find that he still looked at her; a deeper look that went right to her heart. He could be so quiet. She never once forgot just how intelligent he was, there was nothing stupid about Riddick, but there were times when he could look at her and it was as if he could see what she thought. She knew he didn’t but it didn’t change the intensity with which he looked at her. She wondered how often such insights about others had saved his life.

There was so much he didn’t know about her, but it was hard to ask. He didn’t need to be a genius to know that it could be a touchy subject. His voice was a whisper that barely stirred the air. “Did you have children, Shazza?”

He regretted the question the moment it was out but it was too late to take it back now. The ghost of an old pain flickered in her eyes, before they fluttered closed. He could tell she held her breath; just for a moment, before she let it out in a long quiet sigh. He was surprised by the hurt he felt, that he had maybe hurt her with his question.

“No.” Shazza’s lips brushed over Jack’s stubbled head before she looked back up at him again. His hurt was plain to be seen; he hadn’t meant to hurt her. She wouldn’t let him know how much it had affected her. “Almost, a long time ago. I lost it though.” She had to close her eyes again, as the pain of it echoed again in her heart. In the skiff, as they spoke one night while Jack slept, she had told Riddick about her husband and about the beatings, and why she had run, so he knew that, but she had never told him how bad it had got. “It got worse when I got pregnant. A lot worse. When I lost the baby I was told that I would never have another. He left me sterile.”

Her eyes were closed, not tight, but in resignation. The terse sentences had been pulled out of her; it was a hurt that wouldn’t go, not completely. She opened her eyes again at the touch of his hand on her jaw; his thumb brushed across her cheek in a way that had become so personal for her, for them both. He said more with a touch than he could with words. Riddick’s lips parted, as though he thought of several things to say and couldn’t think of anything that fit. In the end he touched her lips with his fingertips and then rested his hand against Jack’s shoulder.

He didn’t know what else to say, so he whispered ‘coffee’ again and slid out of bed without waking Jack.
—

Theo had already made coffee when Riddick made his way to the galley, and he poured a cup and went outside to sit in the grass outside the ship. It wasn’t until he saw that Theo sat in the pale sunshine of the morning with his back against the hull that he realized he had come out here to look for him. The two men nodded to each other but were otherwise silent as Riddick sat beside Theo.

“We have a couple of generators; I don’t know about other fuel though. The electrical systems could be repaired once she got out of orbit; they were knocked out, but not burnt out.” Theo’s voice was distant as he spoke in answer to a question Riddick hadn’t asked yet. If it was anyone else, Riddick would have passed it off as small talk, to ease the silence. It was Theo however, and Riddick had come to know that he never said anything that he hadn’t thought about.

“What do you think the chances are of us getting the ship off the planet?” Riddick hadn’t stressed the ‘us’ part, but he didn’t have to. He watched Theo as he asked, and knew that Theo heard it anyway.

“We could probably do it.” Theo took another swallow of his coffee and stared out across the windblown grass. “I won’t be leaving though.”

Riddick didn’t say anything; he thought about the lack of shelter, and all of the other uncertainties, but he didn’t say them out loud. Theo was a smart man; he had to have thought that through already. Riddick waited. Theo would finish, when he was ready to.

“I’ve dreamt about this place my whole life Riddick. Have you ever had something you wanted so badl…” Theo stopped before he finished; of course Riddick would have felt that way, he had seen the way he looked at Shazza.

The two men thought of the same thing, of Shazza. Riddick didn’t answer, he just nodded. It was strange to think that he could stay here, with Shazza and Jack, even with Theo. It was always safer to run, but how much longer could he really do that? And how much longer did he want to. If he ran it would mean that he would lose Shazza and Jack at some point, he couldn’t condemn them to a life on the run. He thought of the both of them, curled up on his bed, and was shaken by the thought that if they had managed to escape somewhere right away that he might have run, that he might have left them. He couldn’t even imagine that thought anymore, he couldn’t imagine being apart from them. They sat in silence for a while longer before Riddick spoke. “Those generators would come in handy; we need lights, heat. I wouldn’t mind having something hot to eat today.” He chuckled and looked over at Theo as he said it and the two men knew the deal was struck; they would stay.

Theo would have stayed, no matter what; he would die here if it came to that, but he was glad that Riddick, that all of them, would stay. It was strange to look over at Riddick, a man that still was able to terrify him, and feel such a strong friendship with him. He would miss Shazza, and especially Jack, if Riddick left, for there was no doubt in his mind that Riddick would never leave them.

Theo’s heart tugged at the thought of Jack. Of course he didn’t know the particulars of her history, but once he knew that she was a young girl and not a boy, he knew without the need to ask that she had seen trouble and hurt. That Riddick was so fiercely protective of her impressed that upon him, as well as simply impressed him. He would kill for her; Theo knew that without a doubt, and he thought it possible that he would even die for her.

Theo had secured the ship after Riddick and Shazza had gone outside the night before, and he had bolted upright as the sound of the girl’s scream had echoed faintly in the hallway; he had left his door open, to listen for Riddick and Shazza’s return. He had stood outside the door to her quarters and wanted to run in, but heard Riddick and Shazza comfort her. He hadn’t heard all they had said of course, but the terror in her scream had torn at him. Theo didn’t look at Riddick as he spoke, he wasn’t sure if it was a wise idea to talk about the girl at all but it was something that needed to be said, if they were all to stay together here. “You know I would never hurt Jack.”

The air grew still in the silence between them. Riddick had watched Theo around Jack, and he knew, instinctively, that it was the truth. He trusted his instincts above everything else, but it had been difficult to accept what his instincts told him in this case. He didn’t want to trust, especially when it came to Jack. He couldn’t explain it; he had never felt like that before and it left him quiet and thoughtful.

“Is she going to be all right, Riddick?” Theo rested his coffee cup in the soft earth thrown up around the ship and fiddled with a piece of grass.

Riddick watched the muscles in Theo’s jaw twitch, and knew that it was hard for him to ask about Jack. He knew he hadn’t made that any easier, but it was clear that Theo cared about Jack as well. It was clear in the way he dealt with the girl, and the way he risked being killed to keep her from a fall on the rocks yesterday. If he didn’t care, he wouldn’t risk his very life just to ask about her. “If she has people that care about her and take care of her, yeah, she’ll be all right. Jack’s a lot stronger than she looks.” This last was said with a touch of pride.

They shared a brief look, and nodded again; a subtle move that had them both agree to a question neither had asked. In the way of men everywhere they had made a pact, to protect Jack from all harm. Riddick didn’t like to share, but if there was one more set of eyes to keep Jack safe, he would accept that.

Riddick hid his smile when Shazza and Jack came outside, and fought the urge to stand and walk over to them. He held his hand out and rested it on the ground beside him, an invitation to join him. Shazza sat down beside him and he grinned in spite of himself when she leaned in to kiss him quickly, before she handed him another cup of coffee. Jack wouldn’t sit down but seemed to nearly bounce in place. Her crazy grin lit up her whole face. She looked from one to the other, as if she could will them to stand and be as excited as she was. All she could think of, once she had managed to get back to sleep, was the ship, the Moorglade. Now that morning was finally here she wanted to go and see it again. Like Theo, she had her own small fears that the ship would vanish in the night.

Riddick watched her nervous energy and tried not to let his amusement, his relief show. After last night it just made him happy to see her happy. He faked a yawn and pushed her over the edge. Jack launched herself at him and started to laugh before she even got to him. She tried to pull him up and he caught something about wanting to go and see ‘her’ again. Riddick looked over at Theo, he had Jack calling the ship a ‘she’ now. “I don’t know Jack, we’ve got lots of stuff we need to do here…”

Theo played along and started to talk about the generators again. Shazza bit her lip, as she watched the two men tease Jack. She knew that Theo wanted to see that ship again himself, and one look at Riddick told her he would deny Jack nothing. “All right Jack, I give up,” Riddick muttered as he relented. “Let’s grab some weapons and we’ll go.”

Riddick stood outside, after the others had gone inside for weapons and a few other supplies, like rope and flashlights and a few energy bars if they needed them. His hand came up of its own volition and rested on his cheek where Jack had kissed him quickly before she jumped up again, her arms flung around his neck to squeeze him when he “gave in”. He had made it a point in his life to hide so much of what he felt, but if there was anyone there to see him smile, they would have said that he was happy.

Copyright © October 2006 xxxevilgrinxxx