Author's note: So, Jack is alive and well (kinda), and is not Kira :p How is Riddick going to react when he finds out? And how is Johns going to react now he knows Mara's secret? Please review so I know how I'm doing, whether to carry on etc.

Author's Note 2: Sorry for the delay, RL has been total hectic and my muse ran off on holiday for a while :-/ Once my website is back up and running, the MA version of this chapter will be available there for the full Johns experience ;-)

Chapter Warnings: Mentions of rape, incest and sex.

Richard B. Riddick, the most infamous and notorious criminal in the known universe, sat in the pilot seat of his ship and stared at the screen before him. Ever since being left for dead by the Necromongers on the backwater planet with the mud demons, and then escaping with the help of Elder Johns, he had kept a close eye on mercenary communications. It had taken him less than a day to break the codes for the secure channels and tap into the private communications being sent directly to Johns. He kept tabs on him, making sure be available to help if his assistance was required. He wasn't a man to leave a debt unpaid, and unfortunately he owed Johns a pretty big debt. After all, the merc had not only come back for him and saved his life, but had kept his word and allowed Riddick to take the spare ship and leave. It was how he had come to learn of Johns new assignment, and it was the details of that which he was currently staring at in disbelief. He knew it wasn't possible, but the face was unmistakable, especially with the shaved head. There were two things he couldn't get his head around; the first was that the girl in the communication looked similar to Kyra but definitely wasn't her and the other was that as Kyra was dead, who the hell was the girl on his screen? What he couldn't deny though, was that the picture of the young woman on his screen was definitely an older version of his little Jack and he didn't know how that was possible. The only things he knew for sure was that Johns was hunting the girl and that he had to find out if the girl really was Jack. With a sigh, he set a course into the ship's computer and settled back, wondering with a smirk if he was going to see Dahl again when he ran into Johns and his crew.

###

Mara stepped out of Johns' quarters and closed the door behind her, giving Jack the privacy she needed to clean herself up. The look on her boss' face was one she had hoped never to see, but one which was inevitable given what he must have overheard.

"We need to talk," he said quietly. "As my quarters are occupied, shall we go to yours, so we can discuss this in private?"

"OK," she agreed. She watched him punch in a code that locked his door, securing Jack from escaping but also from harm. He indicated that she should go first and she cursed silently, knowing she was in big trouble. When Johns got angry or frustrated, he shouted but when he was furious, he spoke quietly as he had done to her a moment ago. She keyed open her door and stepped inside, flattening herself against the door to give him room to enter the tiny cabin. His arm brushed hers as he passed and she shivered at the spark of electricity that shot through her from his touch. She closed the door behind him and moved to her bunk, slumping onto the hard surface in defeat and burying her head in her hands.

###

Johns stood by the door of Mara's cabin and keyed a code into the pad to lock the door. He wasn't about to allow her to leave until he had the answers he wanted.

"Dahl," he said into the comm in his ear. "Mara and I need to have a discussion about a few things, and it may take some time. Why don't you and Luna go find something to eat?"

"Sure, Boss," she agreed with a smirk in her voice. "Whatever you say." He shook his head, knowing that tone from his second in command and well aware that she thought he had finally decided to make a move on Mara. The truth was, he had been ready to make a move on her, as soon as they had finished this particular job. But now, he wasn't sure what he did and didn't know.

"So, tell me," he told her, taking the ear piece out and placing it in his pocket. He leant back against the wall, arms crossed, and waited for her to begin her story.

###

Mara sat on her bunk, feeling her entire world crumbling around her. She wasn't sure where to begin, or how much he had overheard, so she took a deep breath and decided to start at the beginning.

"I was born Kerry Lucy Stanson," she began, her voice wavering with emotion. "My mother was Antonia Mara and my father was Colonel Jason Stanson." She paused when he drew in a deep breath, looking up at him in surprise. The look on his face said he knew her father's name, and that probably meant he knew what had happened to him. "She died in childbirth and he died in the battle against the Necromongers after the destruction of Furya."

"I remember the attack, I was part of that squadron," he supplied, gesturing for her to continue.

"I was raised in a home for military orphans," she continued, her voice stronger now. "When I was 13 I was collected from the home and taken to the house of an important figure on Earth. His wife had died in childbirth and he was left with a baby daughter. I was hired to be nanny to the girl."

"Why didn't he hire a professional nanny?" he asked, although he had a sinking feeling he knew the answer to that question.

"He liked his female employees young," she told him, a catch in her voice. "I'd been there less than six months the first time he punished me for a transgression."

"Punished you?" the question came.

"Yes," she went on. "He beat me for burning the dinner one night. Over the next year, the beatings continued, getting more violent with each encounter. I was barely 15 when he finally stepped over the mark and stepped up his abuse."

"What happened?" he asked, needing to know the answer but not wanting to hear it either.

"After he had beaten me again, I slumped against his desk, barely conscious," she said, her voice lacking emotion, as if she were simply reciting something which had happened to someone else. "He grabbed my neck and pinned me to the desk, yanked down my trousers and raped me. Needless to say, I screamed my head off and that just turned him on all the more. After that, the only nights I had where I wasn't violently raped by him, was when he was away on business."

"Good God," he breathed, horrified by her tale.

"I spent the next ten years suffering at his hands," she told him, a single tear running down her face. "During that time, I fell pregnant four times. The first three times, his assistant gave me something to abort the foetus without his master knowing. The fourth time, he found out and beat me nearly to death. I miscarried but the damage he did had me laid up in hospital for weeks. It was then that he started abusing his daughter."

"Our prisoner?"

"Yes," she confirmed. "Jack, as she prefers to be known now, was only 12 when it happened. I got out of hospital to find she'd run away and I immediately knew why. I left the same day and went after her, determined to find her. My plan was to find her and then she and I would disappear, starting a new life together away from her father."

"So why the name change?" he wanted to know.

"When I left," she told him. "I wanted nothing to interfere with my plans. I'd been hiding credits away in a secret account, using my mother's maiden name. As soon as I walked out of that house, I became Lucy Mara. Had I found my charge, she would have become my little sister, Audrey Mara."

"I'm so sorry, Mara," he said, kneeling in front of her on the floor.

"Thank you," she replied sadly. "But I know the drill. I lied to you, which means you can't trust me, which means I can't be part of your crew."

"Usually, that would be the case," he agreed. "But you've never actually lied to me, have you? The name you go by is yours, just not entirely the one you were given at birth. I know your military history is real, I checked it out before I hired you. And I've never asked you about your childhood, so you've never had to keep that truth from me."

"But you still can't trust me, can you?" she asked, a tear falling onto her hands.

"You've just told me something incredibly personal and intimate," he replied, covering her hands with his. Neither of them missed the flash of heat that shot through them both at the contact. "You could have lied to me, covered up the truth, but you didn't. You trusted me enough to tell me the truth, as horrific as it is. How can I not trust you after that?"

"Really?" she sighed. She wanted to pull her hands away, to break the contact that was affecting her so much, but she couldn't.

"Yeah," he nodded. "So have you ever...?" He stopped mid-sentence as she shook her head, answering his question without him having to ask it. "So, all you've ever known is the hurt he inflicted on you?"

"Yeah," she told him honestly. "I've seen porn, talked to other women so I know it can be good. Hell, Dahl and I were only talking about how good it can be a few days ago, but I've never wanted to find out for myself before, until I met you." She looked at him, her heart and soul in her eyes as she waited for his reaction to her confession.

"Do you trust me?" he asked, rising to his feet and pulling her up with him, so they were face to face. He smiled when she nodded nervously, placing his hand on the side of her face and stroking gently. He closed the distance between them, wrapping one arm around her waist but leaving her an escape route if she felt she needed one. He lowered his lips to hers, waiting for her to respond before he went any further. She kissed him back as if she had never been kissed before which, he realised, she hadn't been. He stepped back, breaking their kiss and smirking at the disappointed growl she gave. Going slowly, so as not to frighten her, he gently slid her vest top up, pulling it off over her head and throwing it carelessly to the floor. With practised ease, he undid the back strap of her bra and it joined her top. He knelt down to undo her boots and felt her trembling as she steadied herself against him. Her trousers and panties soon joined the other clothing on the floor and he stopped then, admiring the naked woman stood before him. She raised her chin defiantly, a challenge in her eyes in response to his frank and admiring appraisal of her.

.

Appearing braver than she felt, she returned the undressing favour and soon both mercs stood naked in her quarters. She swallowed nervously, unsure of what she was doing now that she was up close and personal with her boss. Timidly at first, then growing more confident, she began exploring his muscular body. She didn't care that the man before her was old enough to be her father; he had spent so much time in Cryo-sleep that, physically, he was at least fifteen years younger than his chronological age. She silently noted each moan of pleasure he gave, storing them away so she would know in future what he liked. His chiselled physique would make a man half his age jealous. There wasn't a spare ounce of fat on him, he was all muscle. She circled around him, tracing the scars that crisscrossed his body and feeling him shiver at her touch, oblivious to the fact that it was taking every ounce of his self-control for him not to pin her to the wall and bury himself inside her. Her hand slid down his chest and over his belly, coming to rest lightly on his cock.

.

He drew in a deep breath, wondering how the hell he was going to control himself when she was touching him the way she was. He was adamant that he would make sure she was completely ready before he took her, and that he'd stop if she asked him to. He let her explore his body, hiding a smile as she became more confident in her caresses. He gasped as she stroked his cock gently, slipping her other hand down to caress his balls. He'd been with his fair share of women, before and after his late wife, but none had ever been as innocent, and yet sexy, as the one touching him now. He'd never particularly enjoyed being the first lover for anyone before, but the thought of being so for her was strangely appealing.

"Do you trust me?" he asked her, somehow managing to keep his voice steady.

"Yes," she breathed, her voice wavering with desire.

"Good, because I've been wanting to do this for so long," he murmured, gathering her into his arms and kissing her firmly. She responded eagerly, stroking his back as he moved them towards her bunk. In one smooth movement he lifted her into his arms and laid her gently onto her bunk, moving to lay beside her so she didn't feel trapped. "I promise, I won't hurt you," he told her, waiting for her nod. He lowered his lips to hers, passion and more racing through him as he spent the night showing her exactly how enjoyable sex was supposed to be.

###

Finally clean, after so long on the run, Jack slipped into trousers and t-shirt that Mara had given her, sighing in pleasure at the feel of clean clothes against her damaged skin. The snorted in amusement at how loose the clothes were on her, another vivid reminder of her lack of nourishment since her escape. She snuggled down onto Johns' bunk, the familiar scent of her friend filling her nose as she brought the t-shirt up to her face. She knew that this crew must have been acting on orders to capture her, but she wasn't scared of having to go back. She knew that, if need be, she and Mara could disappear and never be found, but she wanted to see if Mara's boss was as kind as she'd said he was. As she drifted off to sleep, secure in the knowledge that she was safe from harm for the moment, she failed to see the name tag on the locker above her head that identified her captor as having the same name as the man who had wanted to kill her as a child...