A Helping Hand

Disclaimer- No one belongs to me. I just make the story not the characters. Please review.

"There's gonna be a lot of questions from whoever finds us. Could even be a merc ship." Jack paused frowning. "So what do we tell them about you?" she asked the large muscular man to her left. He looked at her through his shined eyes and his brow furrowed in thought. His mind was still wondering through the events that had happened in the last few hours, but even so he still managed to give the 12-year-old on his right a compassionate look. "Tell them Riddick is dead. He died somewhere on that planet." He said in a deep, almost inaudible voice. In reality that really wasn't a lie. Riddick had died on that planet… or at least a part of him had. He was still strong and almost cold but he now had a heart. The kid had helped with that but Carolyn and done most of it. Carolyn.

Jack glanced at the Muslim holy man, Imam, who sat in the back of the skiff. He nodded as if he had expected the answer, and then went back to his prayers. Jack turned her attention back to Riddick who was mapping out a course that should take them to the shipping lanes. He looked horrible. His shirt was torn up in the back from where those monsters had attacked him, and Jack was surprised that Riddick's leg was still attached to his body. 'He did it for us.' She thought guiltily. Riddick rubbed his eyes and tried not to yawn. His leg was on fire and his back ached. "Ok kid gotta a job for you." Riddick said swiveling his chair so he faced her. Jack snapped to attention so fast Riddick thought she looked like a first year academy student. "You get the first watch while I steal some zees. Saving your and the holy mans butts is exhausting. All you have to do is look for any kind of ship and wake me if you see one. Ok?" Jack nodded enthusiastically. Riddick was trusting her!

The big man got up and limped to the back of the small ship and laid down on one of the cots that luckily happened to be there. Imam stood and walked over to Jack and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Will you be all right if I take some sleep, Jacqueline?" he asked in a thick accent. "Oh were to begin." Jack mumbled to herself. "First off I'm twelve not two." Jack said looking up at Imam. The no-nonsense tone in her voice made Riddick look up in interest. "Second," she continued, "my name is Jack. Not Jacqueline and not Jackie just Jack." Riddick smirked. He liked the kid despite himself. "All right then. Wake me if there is trouble." Imam turned toward a cot, smiling at Riddick who in turn plopped the rest of the way down on the bed and folded his hands behind his head. Both men where asleep in seconds.

Flashback

They had gone back for Jack and Imam together. Carolyn said she would die for them and he was stating to think that he would too, if it came to that. Jack had been beside herself to see him and he couldn't (no matter how hard he tried) help but be happy to see her. All four of them ran together on pure adrenaline and then they came to the valley. Water had collected in deeper places and the hammerhead monsters had gathered to drink. They had made their minds up to try to just run through the pack of animals.

At the hill that stood between them and the skiff they ran into problems. Jack slipped and started to slide back down the hill. Riddick had lunged for her and practically threw her over the slope. Carolyn and Imam followed Jack and Riddick told them to go ahead and he would catch up. Fry and Jack hesitated but Imam hurried them along. Riddick had slipped half way down the inclination and one of the monsters thought he would be and easy meal. It was wrong.

Once Riddick scrambled to his feet and up the hill, he shived the creature in the gut and watched it fall at his feet. Turning he ran toward the settlement that housed the skiff.

Twenty yards.

Fifteen yards.

Trouble.

A rather large monster landed in front of him, but thankfully it hadn't seen him just yet giving Riddick and idea. He ran right up to it until his nose was only centimeters away from the creatures face. Riddick's theory worked and because of its blind spot the hammerhead didn't see him. He followed it as it swayed and the rain masked his scent. Finally the monster became bored and turned to leave… just as another one landed behind Riddick shrieking, causing the first monster to turn and they both saw him. One of them lunged at him and clawed his back with one claw and grabbing his shoulder with the other. He yelled, even though he tried not to. He quickly pulled out his shiv and cut off the monsters claws. It shrieked in pain and Riddick put it out of its misery by beheading it but he wasn't quick enough to stop the other creature from sinking its razor sharp teeth in to his leg. He screamed again and just barely managed to kill that one too before he collapsed.

His breaths where short and heavy, and he considered not trying to get up at all when he heard his name being called. It was Fry. Weakly he climbed to his knees and crawled in the mud toward where the sound of Carolyn's voice called him. It took long, painful minutes to get to her but Riddick managed. He stood as best he could and nearly fell toward her, landing on trash bins that had long since been abandoned.

Fry gasped when she saw him and for a moment all she could do was stare at the terrible condition he was in but finally she came out of it. "Oh gosh! Come on," She said grabbing him by the shoulders, "lets get you out of here." Carolyn tried to get him to lean on her but she couldn't lift him and he fell to the ground. Ok gentleness wasn't working. "Come on Riddick!" She yelled. "Get up! Get up!" she lifted him with all her strength and got him to his feet. He leaned heavily on her with his head resting on hers. "I said I'd die for them not for you." She continued not meaning it. "Let's go!" They stumbled on a few feet together when Riddick started to slip out of her grasp.

Fry paused to help but she stopped and her breath inhaled quickly. Blood fell to the ground and mixed with the mud and rain. Carolyn and Riddick locked gazes. Riddick looked like a young child who didn't understand what was going on as she tried to give him one last reassuring smile. Then she was pulled harshly from his tight hold on her and into the blackness of night. Riddick fell down but with out stretched arms hoping she would come back. "Not for me." He whispered brokenly. "Not for me!" He yelled at the darkness already knowing he would never see her again. And Carolyn Fry died knowing she had fulfiller her purpose and saved three of the people she was responsible for.

End Flashback

"Not for me." Riddick whispered in his sleep. Jack turned her chair around and was about to ask him what he had said but she soon realized that he was still asleep, and smiled. Who knew a murderer could look so cute when he was asleep? She couldn't put her finger on why she looked up to him so much but she did. She remembered when he had left them in the cave. She had thought that he wasn't coming back and part of her was sure he wouldn't have if Fry hadn't have gone to get him but strangely she didn't mind. Riddick had to be like that; it was all he knew, but that didn't stop the twelve-year-old girl from thinking she could change him, help him. Maybe that was why she liked him.

Riddick groaned in his sleep and his face twisted. 'He's in pain.' She thought looking around the small cabin for a first aid kit. Jack groped around under the seats wishing she had Riddick's shine job when her hands found a metal box. When she pulled it out she nearly choked from all the dust on the box. 'I almost forgot that these people died twenty-two years ago.' Jack thought pushing the dust off the container to reveal a painted-on red cross. Bingo. Unfortunately the contents where not very desirable: one jar of disinfectant, a roll of bandages and a few rags. Well she'd take what she could get.

Silently she stood and walked to Riddick's cot and gently sat down. She knew he must have been tired when he didn't wake up. Jack decided it would be easiest to do his back first since that was what was facing her. She picked up one of the rags and poured the disinfectant on it. Gently she placed one hand on the mans good shoulder and wiped away the dried blood with the other. The disinfectant must have worked because Riddick made a strange face in his sleep because of the sting. Thankfully his back and shoulder weren't that bad and Jack was done in a few minutes but still couldn't bring herself to look away. Ever so carefully she ran her hand over the cuts on his back. She felt pure muscle as she did so but Jack could almost feel the weakness in Riddick's normally strong body.

Finally Jack remembered that she had a job to do and moved down to Riddick's leg and repeated the same process of wiping away the dried blood. When that was done and Jack had a clear look at the bite marks, she had a whole new respect for Riddick and his will power. His leg looked so bad! The girl knew that just rubbing on the cleanser alone wasn't going to cut it this time. She needed to bath it in the stuff. Carefully Jack lifted Riddick's leg and put one of the rags under it, but the movement caused Riddick to wake up and go into instant defense mode and before Jack knew it, she had a knife on her throat. "Jeeze kid, are you tryin' to get killed?" Riddick asked taking the knife away. "No. I'm tryin' to make sure you don't die of blood loss." She stated in her usual sassy way. Riddick chuckled and looked the girl up and down. "Do you know what your doing?" He asked skeptically. "You don't run away from home without being prepared for anything." Riddick gave an approving nod.

"This is going to hurt but it has to be done." Jack said regretfully. "Hey if I can live through gettin' it I can live through fixin' it." Slowly Jack poured on the medicine and knew it was working when she heard the wounds sizzle in response and saw Riddick gritting his teeth. When the sizzling had stopped, Jacked dabbed the leg dry with another rag and grabbed the roll of bandages from the box. Next she made Riddick prop his leg up and she began to tightly rap the wounds then, pulling a close pin from her pocket, she pinned it closed. "Thanks." Riddick said checking to make sure she had done the job right and was happy to see that she had. Jack smirked at the fact that he had to double-check his work. Riddick watched in astonishment as Jack looked over his injures again and let her hand linger on his leg. The concern on her face amazed him. No one had ever cared about him before. Why did she?

Jack lifted her hand to her mouth to cover a yawn. Riddick noticed that her eyes where drooping and had bags under them. "Well I've left my post long enough." She said standing. She didn't want to leave him that much was obvious. "Hey kid come back here and sit down." Riddick said, painfully moving further back on the bed to giver he room to sit. She turned at looked at him with surprise in her face but complied. "So why did you run away?" Riddick asked. Ok now she was officially confused. Jack sighed but finally spoke. "My parents where killed a year ago in a transport accident. They had to go to a neighboring planet for business but some idiot mechanic screwed up some wires which made the ship blow up when it tried to take off." "So you've been running for a year?" "Oh no. I lived in our house up until a few weeks ago. Some guy came to the house in a suit and found me livin' there. He said he was going to call someone from child services. I had no intention of stickin' around there so I ran. Found the Hunter Gratzner and you know the rest. It seems like it was decades ago." Jack concluded sadly. Riddick could see that she was trying hard not to cry. Good. She remembered his lessons. But she wasn't thinking about her parents either.

"What is it, kid?" Riddick asked. "Mmmm? Oh! Nothing." Jack said quickly. "Listen kid I'm going to find out sooner or later so lets make it sooner." "I just can't stop thinking about the crash." Jack confessed. "I mean all those people dead and some of them are dead because of me." Jack looked down just in time to miss seeing Riddick's eyes widen. "Jack none of what happened was you fault. Most of them needed to die. Especially Johns." Jack offered a weak smile. How was it that a kid could melt the heart of a convict? "Will the images over go away?" She asked in a small voice. "Come here." Riddick said pulling her into his strong arms. "I'll make them go." He whispered. "And I'll take care of you as best I can." He added but she had already fallen asleep on his arm. Riddick smirked and soon he too fell into a deep healing sleep.

The next morning Imam was the first to wake and was surprised to find that no one was in the cockpit. He looked over to Riddick's cot and his eyes widened considerably. Riddick lay on his side with one arm wrapped protectively around a bald, boyish looking girl. Both looked perfectly content and happy. Imam did not like the girl near this man but for today he decided not to interfere with fate or there happiness. The End.