Disclaimer: I do not, nor will I ever own Riddick or anything associated with said series.

Epilogue

It took just over a year and a half for Lyra to finally break down and accept Riddick's proposal. She'd actually made the decision months earlier, but had held off so that Hilde could win the bet the Tanker's crew had going on how long it would take her to give in.

They were married a short time later on Furya by none other than Yuri, who'd shocked the hell out of everyone by announcing he was in fact an ordained minister. There was no white gown or large bouquets of flowers, just an odd group of mercs who'd been instructed not to dress for the occasion, much to the twins' chagrin.

After that it was back to business as usual, both ships parting ways in search of their next big bounty.

Of course it didn't take long for Lyra to start talking about having a family, and wouldn't you know it no more than a year had passed before the couple found themselves blessed with a beautiful baby girl.

Kyla Selena Holden, they'd decided to keep Lyra's last name as Riddick's was still known the 'verse over, had thick black hair and big dark eyes just like her mother, and her father's mean right hook. By the time she was two and a half she was roughhousing with Dawn and Dusk and playing tag with Shade. At four she was learning how to fight and the basics of piloting. And by the time she was almost six she could hit a bull's-eye with a knife at ten feet.

She was her parents pride and joy.

ooooo

"I don't understand why we have to meet up with them now," Riddick complained as he tossed a giggling Kyla up into the air over and over again. "We just saw them a few months ago."

Lyra rolled her eyes. Even after all this time he still whined whenever she brought up visiting with her old crew. "You know they like to celebrate her birthday with her," she said with a hint of exasperation. "It's basically tradition."

"We're gonna be seeing Grandpa Markum again?" Kyla's asked excitedly as Riddick set her on her feet.

"Yes we are sweetie," Lyra said, smiling down at her precious daughter. Sinking to her knees in front of her, she glanced up at Riddick and added, "Why don't you have your daddy help you pack up your travel bag before we land. You're going to need it if we stay the night."

"Hurray, a sleepover!" she cried happily, bouncing up and down enthusiastically. "Come on daddy, let's go!" Snatching his hand, she proceeded to drag him down the hall towards the galley where they'd had a small room built for her.

Laughing at the glare he sent her way before he disappeared out of sight, Lyra took a seat. They'd be reaching Protol Station shortly.

A half hour later, after the ship was safely tucked away inside one of the spaceports large hangers, the three of them made the short trek to the much larger Tanker which was parked in one of the bays on the other side of the compound.

Ken and Sam, as expected, were pacing around at the base of the ramp when they arrived and pounced on Kyla the moment they saw her. "You've gotten so big!" Sam said as he twirled the little girl around.

"She sure has," Ken agreed, making a big show of measuring her height.

"I bet you've outgrown the last batch of clothes we sent with you, huh." Not waiting for an answer, Sam took Kyla's hand and began leading her up the ramp and into the ship. "Well don't you worry; your Uncles have been hard at work creating new masterpieces for you."

Ken nodded his head as he grabbed Kyla's other hand. "They are absolutely adorable if I do say so myself. Trust me when I say you'll be the envy of every other six year old out there."

Watching as the trio disappeared out of sight, Riddick ran a hand over his face with a groan. "If the twins keep this up we'll have to buy another ship just to carry her clothes," he grumbled as he followed them inside.

Lyra simply shook her head and smiled. He might complain now, but once the outfits were safely onboard their ship he'd be asking Kyla to show off each and every one. At least now their daughter was old enough to dress herself so she no longer had to wait twenty minutes while the man tried to figure out the perfect clothes to dress her in for the day. For a guy who wore basically the same thing every day he sure was particular when it came to what was put on his baby girl.

When they stepped into the cargo hold there was no one in sight so Lyra headed straight for the mess hall where she was fairly certain she'd find the rest of the crew preparing things for the birthday girl. Sure enough, when she pushed open the door she was greeted by a flurry of activity.

Hilde and Lenny were putting the finishing touches on a white cake with colorful frosting balloons covering it. Well, they were arguing over where the candles should go and which colors they should use from the box. Cane was setting the table, or at least trying to. He kept having to dodge waving arms and the occasional candle projectile which was making his job rather difficult. Yuri was hanging streamers from the ceiling in pinks, blues, and greens, and Markum was tying off the last of the balloons to the corners of the small table that housed a collection of gifts.

"Oh, Lyra, you're here," Markum called out from his spot at the other side of the room. Glancing around her he frowned when the only other person he saw at the doorway was Riddick. "The twins already commandeered her didn't they?" Seeing her nod, he shook his head. "Seeing as sending Richard after my granddaughter would be like sending a sheep into a lion's den, how about you go and wrangle up the kids for me before they disappear into that other dimension those boys call a closet."

Usually Riddick would complain about being compared to something as pathetic as a sheep, but in this case Markum was absolutely right. Not one to deny his daughter anything, he knew that if he stepped foot into the twins' domain he wouldn't walk out of there with at least some kind of makeover and he had no desire to do anything of that nature ever again.

"Alright, I'll be back shortly," Lyra said as she turned on her heel and headed back down the hall.

"Well don't just stand there man," Markum said once she was gone. "Get your ass in here and help us get things ready!"

Catching a roll of blue streamer that Yuri had thrown at his head, Riddick walked into the room and spent the next ten minutes being ordered about. Apparently his decorating skills left a lot to be desired and they didn't want him screwing up their perfect party display.

Lyra came strolling back into the room holding the hand of a bouncing Kyla just as Lenny was lighting the candles on the cake and she smiled as she watched her daughter's eyes light up.

"Happy birthday Kyla!"

Blowing out the candles, Kyla grinned as she took in all the decorations. "It's even better than last year!"

"We aim to please," Markum laughed, holding out his arms in invitation.

When Kyla ran to give the older man a hug, Lyra moved over to the side of the room to join Riddick. "So how'd it go?" she asked. "Will I be spending the next week listening to your exaggerated death threats again?"

Wrapping an arm around her waist, Riddick pulled her back against his chest and rested his chin on the top of her head as he watched their little girl be passed around the room for hugs. "No, not a week, they're only up to about two days at this point."

Chuckling at his annoyed tone, she leaned into him and grinned. "I knew they'd grow on you eventually."

"Yeah, like some kind of fungus," he grumbled, but they both knew it was mostly for show. Sure the crew still picked on him from time to time, but they'd all gotten closer over the years and Riddick even found himself going to a few of them for advice on occasion.

Reaching up to pat his cheek, Lyra looked down when she saw a dark haired blur rushing towards her.

"Auntie Hilde said I could open my present from her whenever I wanted," Kyla said in a rush. "Is that alright? Can we do presents now? Pretty, pretty please?"

"Don't you want to have some cake first? I know how much you love Uncle Cane's cooking." Seeing her face scrunch up in thought, Lyra pulled herself out of Riddick's grasp and led her daughter to the table. "Tell you what, how about you have a couple bites of cake and then you can start on your gifts."

Taking one last look at the table of brightly colored packages, Kyla sat down with a nod. "I guess I can do that."

"Well alright then, let's get this cake cut!" Sam cheered. He reached for the knife only to have his hand slapped aside by Cane.

"Why don't you let the adults handle this," Cane said, laughing at the pout that formed on Sam's face.

"Kyla, Uncle Cane's being mean to me! Come help me beat him up!" His outburst fell on deaf ears though because the little girl was too busy devouring her chocolate cake to pay any attention. Crossing his arms, Sam plopped down in the seat next to Ken. Grabbing the next slice of cake, he shrugged and muttered, "Well, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em."

It didn't take long for most of the cake to disappear, not with the twins going back for seconds and thirds, and Kyla was on her feet and headed toward her presents within a few short minutes. Standing in front of the table, she glanced from one brightly colored package to another before finally settling on the biggest.

"That's from us," Ken said, pointing at the large pink box covered in burgundy ribbons.

Riddick's muttered, "Like there was any doubt," earned him a sharp glare which he simply raised an eyebrow at. Those two weren't stupid enough to piss him off, not after seeing what he'd done to their precious clothes. Lenny's prototype sticky bomb hadn't been completely successful, it was meant to send out a large amount of some kind of super glue and only wound up with a minor blast radius, but it had done more than enough damage to get the point across that he was not someone to mess with.

Tearing off the top of the box, Kyla squealed in delight as she pulled out a blue satin dress with matching shoes. "I love it! Thank you Uncle Ken and Uncle Sam!"

Sam Looked at Lyra pointedly. "At least someone appreciates our hard work."

Ignoring him, Lyra took the dress and folded it back into the box before moving it off to the side. "Alright, which one are you going to open next sweetie?"

"Open mine," Hilde said from her spot next to Markum at the table. "It's the red box with a white bow."

Yanking the paper off, Kyla cocked her head to the side as she read the outside of the box. "Is this like yours?" she asked finally. Seeing her nod, the little girl beamed and held up the box for her mother to see. "Look mommy, Auntie Hilde got me a real microscope, just like the one she uses in her office!"

Lyra smiled. "Well make sure you tell her thank you."

"Thank you Auntie Hilde!"

"You're welcome baby girl."

Setting the box down, Kyla moved on to her next gift which was wrapped in dark blue paper without any adornments. When she looked up questioningly, Yuri raised his hand to indicate that it was from him. Making quick work of the paper, Kyla held up the black cylinder in confusion. "Um . . ."

"It's a high powered scope," Yuri explained. "I figured it was about time for you to start your firearm training. Now I know your parents are pretty decent shots, but I thought you might want to learn from someone who's been doing it their whole life."

Kyla's eyes widened and she looked to her mom and dad for confirmation. "Can I really?"

Riddick nodded his head. He and Lyra had discussed it at length and had agreed that it was better for her to learn from Yuri seeing as it was his specialty and all. "You won't be allowed to actually fire a weapon until you're a bit older, but there's plenty of stuff he can teach you in the meantime."

"That's awesome, thanks Uncle Yuri!"

Handing off the scope to her mother, Kyla reached out and grabbed her next gift, which wasn't wrapped up at all. "This one's from you isn't it Uncle Lenny?" she asked, holding up what looked like a jumbled mess of metal and wires. Seeing his nod, she scratched the side of her head as she tried to figure out just what exactly it was. ". . . um . . . ?"

"It's an interactive map of the known universe," Lenny said as he stood up and walked over to take the thing from Kyla's hand. "You place this over your head like so," he continued, moving the parts around until it resembled a sort of high tech helmet and placed it over her head, making sure to cover the girl's eyes before placing a small controller in her hand. "Then you press this button here and . . . presto, space exploration without leaving the safety of your room."

". . . whoa, this is so cool!" Moving her fingers over the remote furiously, Kyla suddenly pulled the helmet up off her head and grinned broadly. "Mommy, mommy, it even has Furya!"

Reaching out, Lyra took the helmet off her daughter's head before it could be damaged by all her jumping around. "Is that so," she replied with a knowing smile. Lenny had run the addition of the planet into the program by her several months ago. While usually tight lipped about the coordinates of Furya, she wanted her daughter to always know where her people came from so she'd agreed to it without hesitation.

Setting it down on the table next to her other opened gifts, along with the controller once she managed to pry it from the little girl's fingers, she picked up the last package on the table. "How about you tell your Uncle Lenny thank you and open up the last of your presents."

"Thanks Uncle Lenny!" she chirped before taking the poorly wrapped box from her mother's hands. Peeling back the white paper with cute little bears on it, Kyla pulled out a black pouch with her initials sewn on the front. "My own set of throwing knives!" she said as she slipped one of the small blades out of the pouch and held it out so everyone could see.

"Now you've got something decent to practice with," Cane said with a grin.

Kyla beamed back at him. "Thank you Uncle Cane!" Tucking the blade back into the pouch, she paused and then began searching around the table.

"What are you looking for kiddo?" Riddick asked curiously as he watched her poke her head under the table.

"Grandpa Markum's present," Kyla replied with a frown. "I can't find it anywhere."

Markum stood up and reached into a metal crate that was sitting against the far wall. "That's because my gift can't really be wrapped up," he said, his voice slightly muffled. When he stood up and turned around, a charcoal colored ball of fluff in his arms, Riddick groaned at the same time Kyla squealed in delight.

"How cute!"

"Not another damn animal," Riddick said with a shake of his head when Kyla took off to examine the creature. "Don't we have enough furballs onboard already?"

"I was actually the one who recommended he get her a pet," Lyra admitted.

Rolling his eyes, he muttered, "Of course you were," under his breath.

Standing up on her toes, Lyra leaned over and whispered into his ear, "I thought it might make things easier for her, what with a new baby on the way and all," before kissing him soundly on the lips.

It took nearly a full minute for what she'd said to fully sink in but when it did Riddick picked her up and spun her around happily. "I'm gonna be a daddy again!"

There were cheers from every corner of the room as the crew of the Tanker congratulated the couple. Even Kyla seemed to be thrilled with the news; she'd immediately sat down with the twins and started discussing possible baby names.

As she looked around the room and saw everyone talking and laughing together, Lyra couldn't help but think how lucky she was. She had a wonderful husband, a darling daughter, and in a few months time would be welcoming not one, but two more bundles of joy into the world.

Life couldn't be better.