Text
Text +
Text ++

Chapter 20; Bittersweet

Riddick sat at the table hands in his lap still shaking.

"Hey" Sam said sitting down next to him. He looked up at her and she could feel the fear and sickness that was in his body. It shattered her heart.

"This is not your fault Riddick" she said to him.

"Fuck if it isn't Sam, she's bleeding internally. Do you know what the fuck that means!" he said angrily.

"Riddick I'm sorry" she said then she turned when she saw his eyes looking at something behind her.

"Dillion" she said quietly.

"Sam what's going on I heard screaming" he said.

"Baby Jack's very sick and there's going to be a lot of screaming, maybe you should go stay at the Morton's" she suggested.

"I think that might be best" Brianna said walking up behind him. Riddick's eyes shot to her.

"I want to talk to you alone" she said to him. He nodded and got up.

He walked towards her and as he passed Dillion he felt a surge of energy. He turned and faced the boy. Dillion's blue eyes iced over suddenly and an eerie voice came from his throat. "See what you've done, you should have let her with the Holy Man" he spoke.

"NO" Riddick shouted.

"Now she's going to die the same way I did, she'll be ripped apart. She feels her inside bleeding and separating, slowly she'll realize she's dying from the inside out. Then she'll know how it felt when you feed me to those fuckers! You have no idea what it's like to feel yourself being eaten alive" Dillion shouted in this new voice.

Riddick stared into those blue eyes. It was Johns, how or why didn't matter. He stared deeply into them trying to pierce through the core of him.

"I didn't do anything to you that you hadn't brought on yourself, if you hadn't died then you would have killed Carolyn just to save your worthless ass" he said evenly.

Dillons head flew back and wicked laughter escaped his throat. "She still died didn't she? Poor fucker, you seem to have the touch for bringing on death and destruction. She died even though I wasn't the one to kill her, now you'll lose that fucking girl. I'm inside her Riddick and I'll slowly tear her to shreds. She'll die the way she should have on that planet, if she'd fucking been straight with us we wouldn't have had a lot of that shit to deal with" he said.

"If she'd told you the truth you'd have left her at the ship or drug her ass out behind us to feed the animals, I think your death was poetic justice Johns. You died the way you were going to force upon someone else" Riddick said clenching his teeth.

Sam stood there in shock of the voice and words coming out of Dillion's mouth. She knew it was Johns. She didn't know what to do though, afraid of attacking him because she'd hurt Dillion but also afraid that he'd hurt someone again.

Dillion laughed again and turned his head to Sam "Hey beautiful, still as good as ever I see" he said.

Sam gritted her teeth "Johns leave, stay the fuck away from us"!

"Sorry but nope, I've got unfinished business with everyone here. I wonder how long it'll take folks to figure out Dillion's yours, then how soon after they'll figure out that genetically speaking he was gifted with some of your talents. It's amazing when a person has a naturally ability to feel things from other people and translate it to them, bet you wish you could find someone that Fry could tap into eh Riddick? That'd be a killer idea wouldn't it? Then maybe you could thank her for saving your pathetic life, or would you cut straight to fucking her since that's what I was pretty sure you were interested in"!

Riddick set his jaw line. "Still pretty pissed about that I see, I can understand how it'd piss you off that she'd get a case of the warm and fuzzies for me and call you 79 kilo's of gutless white meat. It is quite the blow to a man's ego Johns, but really this whole possession thing or whatever it is I think is a bit much. We all get rejected at some point I would have thought you could have bucked up and took it, but I see I expected to much even from someone such as yourself" Riddick said smugly.

"You're something else Riddick, still hold a torch for Fry this long? And to try and cover it up with smugness, your bullshit doesn't fly with me. I'm disappointed in you, after all my years of chasing you I was pretty sure Sam had gone psycho herself thinking you were human. After the murders I'd come across and the bodies or remains you'd leave behind you I knew she'd been wrong, but now I almost wonder if she'd been right. You're nothing but a fucking softy. Some female who was mentally fucked over already concerning men, risks her life for you and loses it and you go all sentimental on me" He spoke defiantly.

Riddick's eyes glazed over with hate when Johns mentioned Carolyn's problems with men. He has no fucking idea what she must have gone through and now he's mocking it Riddick thought.

"OH I know exactly what was wrong with her Riddick, those guys fucked her three ways from Sunday. They left her ripped open, bleeding and in convulsions. Evidently it took her three weeks in the hospital to recover from it, then four months in the Psyche Ward. It seems her mind took the largest blow of the fuck instead of her body. How the hell she ever developed the mildest attraction for you is beyond me, you're the type that would have enjoyed the pain she went through or even been the type to inflict it. It's true though we always seem to choose the ones who hurt us, guess it's better that she's dead. Reliving such a vivid past would have killed her anyway" Johns said defiantly.

Riddick was blinded by rage and internal hate for Johns. Sam saw his eyes glaze over and ran for Dillion shaking him.

"Dillion!" she said loud and evenly. "Dillion breathe, breathe deep, think of your mother, think of swimming at the creek last summer when you caught that huge fish" she spoke to him. Trying to make his mind pull up a memory, that was the key to breaking the link Johns had with his mind.

Brianna then scooped Dillion up and gently said "Dillion can you hear me, remember when you found the baby dear that was hurt and we brought him home. You wanted to help him so much you made me stay up all night giving it herbs and vitamins to keep him strong and finally just after dawn it's breathing evened out and it fell asleep. Remember baby, you were so happy you'd saved him. Do you remember it Dillion?" Brianna said tenderly. Dillion's eyes started to clear some.

"That's it Dillion, just keep remembering" Brianna said easing him out of the trance. He suddenly fell and Brianna carried him off into another room.

Sam faced Riddick, his eyes still blazed with hate and fresh rage.

"Riddick" she whispered. He was breathing hard nostrils flared. She grabbed his massive shoulders with her hands

"Riddick!" she shouted. His mind was to far gone into the mad fury of it.

She had to reach him somehow, she knew Johns had ripped open his wounds. Suddenly a shrill scream from Jacks room brought his mind crashing into the present. They both bolted for her room. She was thrashing in the bed screaming and blood was running from her chin

"NO!" she kept screaming.

Riddick grabbed her "Baby, what is it?" he asked.

"Stop it, make it stop. I hurt inside" she screamed.

"I hurt inside, it's ripping me apart, NO GET OFF OF ME YOU SON OF A BITCH!!" Jack screamed.

Riddick released her and backed away a bit.

"NO, stop stop please stop, just stop!" she screamed. Suddenly Riddick saw blood running down Jack's legs and he looked back to her face.

"I'll see you rot in hell for this" she said evenly with a forcefulness he'd only witnessed in one other person. He then noticed the traces around Jack's eyes and the way she was holding her mouth. Suddenly a shrill scream ripped from Jack's body and she collapsed on the bed.

"Carolyn" he whispered and then grabbed her.

Sam watched horrified. After she'd heard Riddick's whisper she realized what had happened. Carolyn Fry's rape was being relived and experienced through Jack. Riddick had Jack cradled to him and was rocking her still body back and forth. Sam saw a fear and crazed emotion in his eyes. She finally pulled Jack from him. She was asleep. Riddick allowed her to lay Jack back down. She reached for one of the damp clothes they'd had on Jack early. She wiped the blood away from Jack's mouth and throat. She pulled the sheet back some and started wiping the trails of blood off of Jack's ankles. She slowly worked her way up. When she pulled it up past Jacks knees it revealed deep crimson blood on her thighs. Riddick dove for the waste basket in the corner leaving the contents of his stomach in it. Sam allowed the tears to flow freely down her face as she tried to clean up Jack's thighs and abdomen. There were claw marks and tears in her young flesh.

"Will it go away?" Riddick asked quietly.

"Will what go away?" Sam asked.

"The marks, will the claw marks and wounds go away or will she be scarred with them?"

"They'll slowly go away. It's been found that the deeper a person feels what is going on mentally the more their body shows it physically. I'd say Jack felt this pretty deep, but once they come out of it they're mind and body both heal from it" she told him wiping her cheeks away.

"But Carolyn's didn't" he said with a shaky voice.

"No her's didn't" Sam whispered.

Riddick set his jaw and breathed in deeply. "Why is he talking through Dillion?"

"Normally for a psychic link to be made like that from someone who's dead there's an accessory, a middle man type who is doing what is almost channeling. I would say in this case though it's one of the natural phenomenons where Johns is using the closes avenue he could to get to you. Dillion obviously inherited some of what I had, which I had feared he may have and now Johns used him. Dillion has to learn to fight it though, a thought or feeling or spirit can't enter you unless you allow it to. That's why in the woods I kept screaming for him to fight it" she said.

She finished wiping off Jacks thighs and then placed the sheet and blankets back over her. Riddick ran a hand over Jack's face. "Why her, how did this happen?"

"I don't know, I don't think Carolyn would be reliving this through her. Someone channeled it or caused it, someone who knows what they're doing" she said.

"Who?"

"I don't know, I mean..." then Sam stopped short and she felt eyes on her. Riddick felt the tension rise in Sam and he turned the second he heard clapping.

"Very, very good Samantha. My am I ever impressed that you haven't lost your touch, or your good taste in men" the woman said looking Riddick over.

"Detra" Sam hissed.

"Yes it is I" the woman said walking towards them.

"Get out" Sam said standing.

"No I think I'll stay a while" she said.

Riddick in a quick movement grabbed Detra and pulled her to him. "Oh big boy you don't waste anytime or words do ya" she said grinning. He squeezed her tightly to him.

"Oh a man of few words, let your body talk instead I like that" she said.

Sam walked over and slapped Detra across the face. The bruise rose almost immediately in Detra's pale skin.

"You'll pay for that!" Detra spat at Sam.

"I'm sure I will but damn it felt good to slap your whore face" Sam shot back at her.

Riddick walked out of the room dragging the woman with him and Sam also in tow. Once they were out into the front room Riddick didn't release his grip but started questioning her.

"Who the hell are you?" he growled.

"I'm an old thorn in Sam's side, one She just can't seem to shake" she said gazing at Sam.

"More like a fucking razor blade that's slowly sweeping across my wrist" Sam said.

"Answer me damn it" Riddick said.

"My name is Detra and Sam and I go way back. We even worked together at the Bureau until Sam's untimely termination" she said grinning.

"Bitch!" Sam shrieked diving for her.

Riddick tensed at Sam's sudden rage. When she slammed her fists into the woman his body shook a bit from the impact.

"Sam" he said loudly. She stopped and stepped back. Detra rose her face back up. There was a trickle of blood running from her lip, she flicked out her tongue licking the wound clean. She rolled her tongue around in her mouth savoring the taste in it. Riddick was almost shocked at her behavior.

"Sweetier than honey, although I can't remember the last time it was my own blood I was tasting" she said lowly.

"Probably when I beat your ass" Sam growled.

Detra smiled "Yes but it was such a small to pay my dear. Let myself take the beating from such a weakling and then watch your precious career be taken from you and your life fall a part. Although I don't think the years since have been a total loss" she said looking sideways at Riddick.

Sam grinned "Still fucking dikes in leather Detra?" she asked.

Detra's eyes went frigid. She could have froze lava with the chill her purple eyes shot at Sam. Then she controlled the anger and smiled "Well, it keeps me from unfortunate accidents, ones that I see you're still dealing with" she said referring to Sam's son.

You're not gonna get to me this time Detra Sam thought. "Yes well even with some of the added burdens I'm sure you know there's nothing like some good penetration" Sam said.

Riddick was shocked with the conversation passing between the two. He still didn't know hardly anything more about this woman he held except for that he knew she could fight to get away and she wasn't. Evidently she was allowing herself to be held and to work Sam's nerves.

"Oh Sam your spats are well aimed but surely you know in this day and age of technology you don't have to have a man for penetration to happen" Detra said.

Sam smiled and walked towards her. Riddick started to back off until Sam raised her eyes to his letting him know she wasn't going to got at Detra again, at least not physically.

She brought her face just inches away from Detras and gazed into those purple eyes. She breathed in, deeply inhaling the womans scent. Deep and heavy, a trace of chamomile and jasmine rose from her skin. Sam ran her hand up the woman's arm slowly. Riddick's eyebrows shot up at the gesture. Detra's eyes closed as Sam's hand wondered up to her bicep. Sam slipped her fingers over the flimsy strap of Detra's tank top. Detra's breath drew in rigidly as her fingers slipped under the strap and rubbed the skin lovingly.

Sam smiled "Remember it D? Do you remember it?" Sam asked. Detra's eyelids fluttered a minute before calming.

"I know you do D, you remember it don't you?" Sam asked almost whispering.

"No" the word escaped Detra's mouth in a whisper.

"Yes you do" Sam said letting her hand drift deeper under the material. Sam rubbed her fingers into the scar that raised above Detra's breast.

"You were so open and willingly D, your eyes looked at me almost beggin me for it. You wanted the pain to go away, someone to take away your demons" Sam said softly leaning in closer to Detra's face.

Detra's face slowly let the guard fall. The lines around her eyes softened and her mouth no longer held the grim frown it had before.

"That's right D, you offered yourself to me" Sam whispered into her ear.

Riddick was about to say something when he felt Detra's body stiffen suddenly, a thousand emotions spilled from her pores and that's when the words he heard fall from Sam's caused him to almost shiver.

"Remember the softness D?" Sam said and then she dug her nails into the scar. "Then remember the pain as the knife drove into your chest. Remember it D?" she said again when Detra's body started to struggle against her.

"You can't still feel it can't you? The knife shredding through the flesh layer by sweet layer, the blood pouring from your body. Can you see it D? It's spilling all over you and the floor, smell it? Like roses on a spring day it intoxicates your nose bringing the senses to life" Sam said her lips almost touching Detra's ear. Detra growled in protest and writhed under Riddicks grip on her.

Sam laughed wickedly "You're mad because you know I'm right and because you're excited by it" Sam said.

"NO!", Detra roared.

"Yes little one, I own a piece of your soul and know this" Sam said digging her nails into the scar again

"If you don't take your whore ass out of my house and away from my family this..." Sam said ripping a part of the scar open "will be nothing compared to what I'll do to you!" Sam released Detra and stepped back.

Riddick released Detra, his eyes darting from her to Sam and back again. "You'll pay for it" Detra said.

"D I've been paying for it all my life. Get your worthless body out of my sight" Sam said evenly.

Detra shot a look at Riddick and then a look at Sam. "This is far from over" she said starting to leave.

"It'll never be over but I'm not afraid of your threats D" Sam threw at the retreating figure.

"Maybe you'll be a bit more testy when they start coming to you through Browning then" Detra said and then was gone.

Riddick turned and looked at Sam. She stood feet firmly planted into the floor and jaw set rigidly. "I hate that fucking whore!" she shouted and then stalked out the door after her. Riddick started to follow her and Sam stopped dead in her tracks.

"No" she said turning to face him. He stopped and looked at her.

"No Riddick this is for me to deal with. This is my situation, go inside and stay with Jack. She'll need you here when she wakes up, she'll probably still remember some things and be terribly confused. Don't follow me and don't look for me, I'll come back when I need to" she said then stalked off.

Riddick went back into the house confused and dejected. "It's a different story when the tables are turned on you isn't it" he heard someone say. His head shot up and Brianna was standing on the porch.

"You're the one who usually calls the shots, you're the cold and impersonal one and now someone is doing it to you. Startling realization isn't it Mr. Riddick" she said. His eyes widened when she called him by his correct name.

"Come inside, Jack's still asleep and I would like to talk to you" she said walking into the house. Riddick sat down with her.

"Don't worry I'm not gonna chew you out. I've known for a while who you were. Sam's life was wrapped around yours for many years I felt like I almost knew you after reading the papers and files she wrote on you. I also share her belief and faith in you. You're not the person they said you were. I know that from watching you with Jack. I don't want to know your life story, it's not my place. But you're safe here Riddick, you and her both" Brianna said.

Riddick went into Jack's room a while later. He and Brianna had talked for quite sometime. She was a wonderful woman, he understood why Sam was so convicted to keep her and Dillion safe. He sat on the bed and watched Jack while she slept. She shifted some and he laid a hand on her arm. She woke up with a start. Her eyes shot open, they had a wild look in them and they darted around the room with fear in them.

"Jack" Riddick said strongly. She looked to him trying to calm herself. He hugged her tight to him.

"What was it, I see so much" she cried to him.

"It's ok baby, it wasn't real. It wasn't really happening to you just let it go" he said trying to calm her tears and the ones threatening to fall from his eyes.

"But it felt so real, I know it had to be real. Visions and nightmares are never that harsh" she said the tears streaming down her cheeks.

"It was real for someone else Jack, you were just forced to relive her memories" he said quietly.

"Oh God it was Carolyn wasn't it? I know it was I could feel her" Jack said. Riddick looked at Jack trying to find the right words to tell her.

"It was wasn't it, it was her memories I felt" Jack said dropping her head to his chest. He felt her sobs and tears as they soaked his chest and he allowed his own tears fall. Tears for Jack and the pain she was forced to go through, tears for Carolyn for being forced to live through the experience and live with the aftermath and tears for not being able to do a damn thing about any of it.

"I felt hollow inside, I felt my heart being shattered into a million pieces and then I felt hollow. Like someone had stolen my soul from me and there was nothing, tortured silence and emptiness afterwards" Jack said quietly. "Why, why would someone do that to her?" Jack said her chin quivering.

"I don't know baby, there's bad people in the world and they wear a lot of masks and faces and they walk around us everyday" he said to her.

"And they locked you up and beat you saying you were a monster when people like that go free" she whispered and he hugged her tightly again.

A little while later Jack laid asleep against him while he dozed on and off. He heard the front door shut and heard Sam's voice speaking lowly. He closed his eyes trying to figure out what was going on. He understood nothing between Detra and Sam. Sam was making it pretty clear that was a topic that wasn't up for discussion either. He closed his eyes again wanting to rest a little longer before talking to her.

Sam returned from her walk. She'd taken care of what she needed to and now she had one other thing to take care of.

"Mother, promise me" she said.

"I don't understand Sam" her mother said again.

"You don't have to Mom but it has to be this way, I have to know no matter what you'll take care of Dillion and you won't try to find or contact me ok" she said.

"But Samantha" her mother started to say but Sam shook her head at her mother.

"There's no other way, I can't tell you everything Mom but I'll talk and be in contact when I can but I need to know you'll tell the truth that you'll take care of Dillion and keep Daniel and anyone else away from him" she said.

"You have my word" she said.

Sam took her mother's hand "One more thing Mom" she said.

"What" her mother asked looking at her.

"Don't ever tell him I'm his mother, never" Sam said with conviction.

Brianna nodded her head that she promised. "When I'm gone Jack and Riddick will be at a loss in a lot of ways at least with the courts and the trial that is" she spoke a little uncertainly.

"They'll be at a loss inside Sam. You can't leave without telling him, I won't allow you to do that to him. That man has been through to much and he has finally allowed himself to feel and open up for a moment in time. If you leave without warning it'll seal off any doors to his soul forever, I won't let it happen before me" she said.

"Mom..." Sam started to ask something but Brianna laid her hand on her daughters.

"I'll make them stay here Sam, they'll have a home here" she said. Riddick walked into the room and saw Sam looking rather sad and Brianna looked pretty down herself.

"Evening" he said letting his presence known to them.

"Good evening Riddick. How is Jack?" Brianna asked.

"She's resting again. I think if she could just sleep all the time and not wake up she'd heal a bit faster" he said. Brianna nodded and looked at Sam.

"Well I'm going to go sit in with Jack for a while, I could use the peace and it'd be good to keep her under close watch with everything that's happened" she said and then walked off.

"Hey" Sam said.

"Hey yourself" he said sitting down by her.

"Want to tell me what's going on?" he asked her.

"More than you know, but I can't tell you everything" she said to him. He looked at her questioningly. Sam took one of Riddick's hands and led him outside to sit on the porch.

"I have to leave in the morning" she said after they'd settled onto the front porch. He looked at her sharply.

"I have to Riddick there's no choice, I will be gone probably before anyone is up. I've told my mom and she knows nothing more than you just that I must go. I've made her promise to take of Dillion and to never tell him who I am to him. All he's to know is that I'm his older sister Sam who can hardly ever visit because of her job. I'm asking you now to never reveal to him anything else" she said.

"No one is to come looking for me or to try and find me. If I can be contacted or contact someone I'll let you guys know. You can stay here with my mom and Dillion, Jack and you both have become family to us and you'll always have a place here" she said.

"What is so important that you have to go?"

"I can't talk about Riddick", she said.

He turned his face from her. "Please, just please understand, I wouldn't go if I didn't have to. Don't shut me out Riddick not tonight" she begged.

He turned and looked at her face. It was so young and innocent looking right now. Her eyes watered with tears and truth. He knew she was telling him the honest truth that she had to go. He saw for the first time what closing herself off all these years had cost her, raw emotions and pain were very readable in her eyes.

He wrapped his arms around her hugging her tight. She raised her face to his and kissed his lips softly. Riddick responded opening his mouth to her. She pulled herself into his lap while their tongues played with one another. His hands drifted down her body lighting a fire with their path. She pulled her shirt back from her body and he return he did the same with his. She pressed her body to his needing to feel his skin against hers. She kissed him again and he could feel her urgency in it.

"Sam, we've got all night" he told her.

They slowly made love for hours. Kissing each other and covering their bodies with sweat. She reached for the draw string on Riddick's pants.

"Should we go inside" he asked.

"No ones watching" she told him.

She pulled the string and peeled the pants away from his body. He quickly freed her of her clothes. She laid her hands on his chest nudging him back. He laid back the porch cool on his fire hot skin. Sam looked down at him trying to memorize his body, ran her hands over his stomach and chest wanting to remember the way his skin felt forever. He reached for her bringing her down to him. He kissed her neck and jaw and finally her lips. There was an honesty and truth in her now, one he'd never found in anyone else. She moved her body slowly lowering herself on to him. She shuddered and so did he when her body and his melted into one. He then sat up not allowing their bodies to disconnect. He wrapped his arms around her and started bumping his hips into hers. She pressed her body into his until she felt like she could leave her own flesh and crawl into his. They clung onto each other as they moved as one in rhythm. Sam's mouth smothered Riddick's neck and shoulders while his hands massaged her back and buttocks slowly. She arched her head back feeling the first climax coming. His mouth latched onto her neck devouring it. He sunk his teeth deeply into her skin and she let out a moan. His moved his hands to her breasts slowly letting his hands run in circles over them. She thrust her body against his letting her head drop back.

Riddick could feel the ends of her hair brushing against his thighs and the sensation it created was amazing and he let a low groan escape his own lips. Sam grabbed his hips and drew him closer to her. He did the same with both of them slamming into one another the heat inside was becoming to much. Sam closed her eyes and her lungs emptied into the night sky then her body convulsed and she threw herself into Riddick shuddering from her pleasure. Riddick drove into her with a wild abandonment and Sam felt a new wave coming over her. She wrapped her legs around his waist and locked her arms around him. Their mouths found one another and they lost themselves in a long kiss. She suddenly tightened herself around him and he felt himself shaking. Her eyes opened and locked on his. For a moment Riddick saw a little girl there, a young woman who's heart was in the tears that started slipping from her eyes. Then suddenly her eyes shut again and she let her body show the quivers he was causing her. They kissed again and both were lost to their body's pleasure as they seemingly exploded.

A while later they laid there in silence chest to chest. He could feel her heart beating against his, at that moment he couldn't exactly tell where he ended and where she began. Something came to him suddenly.

"Flesh of my Flesh and bone of my bone" he whispered.

"What?" Sam asked.

"It's in the Bible about a man and a woman when joined together the man said she'll be flesh of my flesh and bone of bone, I finally understand that statement" he said looking at her.

In the early morning hours Sam's mind still played over those words Riddick spoke. They were more powerful than anything she'd ever heard before. She zipped up her bag and walked to the door.

"Ready" Detra asked?

"Yes" Sam answered.

She stopped and glanced back at her house one last time. She'd asked Riddick to sleep with Jack in her room. She couldn't have him there when she left. He promised her he'd do as he asked and then he said "You know if you ever need someone or something" and she nodded knowing she'd always be able to come to him.

She turned back around and Detra locked a pair of hand cuffs on her wrists.

"What the Hell" Sam said. Detra knocked her to the ground and chained her ankles.

"D we had a deal, you could have me and take me back for it and I'd go willingly there's no need for this" she shouted.

"Sorry Sam, deals off" Detra said and then nodded to the man that was standing off to the side.

"Daniel" Sam spat.

"Nice to see you Sam, alright boys come on", he said. Sam saw Browning come around the corner with two men in suits. She looked at Detra.

"Told you you'd pay for it all someday" Detra said. "Now you'll never see your brat again and he'll never see his either" Detra said smiling.

Sam went pale and felt sickness arise in her stomach. Jack, they're going to take Jack, that's what the men in the suits are doing here.

"NO!!" she screamed.

Riddick woke up hearing someone scream. "NO!" he heard come from out front again. He jumped up to see what was going on. He ran into Browning in the front room

"What are you doing here?" he asked tightly.

"Mr. Bryce new evidence has come to our knowledge and we no longer see fit for Jaqueline to be in your custody, she'll be placed with a family for the remainder of the year until her 18th birthday" he said.

Riddick started to go after him when he drew his gun. "Play nice Mr. Bryce or you won't even get to say good-bye" he said and Riddick backed down.

Riddick entered the room and woke Jack up. "Jack they're here to get you" he told her and she shook her head no.

"Jack I can't stop it, I don't know what's going on but you have to go with them. They'll place you with a family until you turn 18 in seven months and then you'll be free to go where ever you please. Jack I want you to play nice ok and as soon as you turn 18 you come back here to Brianna's, alright?" he asked her.

She nodded and then said "I can't leave you, you're my family".

"Baby I hate it too please just be strong for me ok, we've gotta make it through alright", he said hugging her.

"Mr. Bryce time to get a move on" Browning said opening the door.

"She's almost ready" Riddick growled. He turned back to Jack "I love you Jack, and I'll be waiting for you. You know that right?" he asked.

"Yes I do, I love you too dad" she said and cried again.

Jack and Riddick walked into the front room. Jack didn't hear a word the men spoke to her. Her eyes were locked on Riddick's and her hand was gripping his tightly.

"Time to go" the man said.

Riddick dropped to his knees and hugged Jack tight. "Don't forget anything I've taught you" he said and she nodded grimly. They walked outside and that's when Riddick saw Sam hand cuffed and restrained and being loaded into a Van.

"What the hell is she being taken for?" Riddick demanded and Jack's eyes shot to Sam.

"Samantha Jones was arrested and is being taken in for murder. There's really no case to it at all just the legality's to go through before she's locked up" Browning said to him.

"Who's murder?" Riddick asked.

"Now that's confidential" he said.

Sam's eyes locked on Riddick's for a moment before the van left. He saw so much in that brief glance. "Jack I love you", he said softly before she too was taken away.

Brianna laid a hand on Riddick's shoulder. "Whatever I touch becomes tragedy" he said.

"Gabe", Brianna said looking around quickly to see if anyone was still around.

"Gabe", she said again. He turned around and fell to his knees again. She hugged him and he wrapped his arms around her waist.

"I've lost everything" he said. Brianna held the man she'd barely known for a week and let him cry. Knowing all to well the emotions he felt.

"Goodbyes, no matter how prepared or not you are for them Gabe, are always bittersweet, it's a taste that no one wants to know" she said to him.

=====

The End

***This story has a completed sequel; The Keys to the Kingdom.***