Title: For the Love of Sanity

Rating: R mostly for language

Genre: Drama/ a little comedy to break it up

AN: Sorry it took so long! This summer was really hectic. I am getting ready to study at abroad

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the concepts or characters from PB

Part 17

Anissa's breath hitched as another contract hit her like a wave. Her hand clutched around her father's as she rode this contracting through. She decided to have a natural birth just as she did when Brianna was born… the newer drugs on the market were showing to be more harmful and she wouldn't risk the life of her baby in order for a couple of hours of a pseudo comfort. She clenched her teeth as another contracting came; tightening the clutch she had on her father's hand; shaking from the force of it… then it passed leaving her weak once again.

"Can I push yet!" Anissa screamed at the doctor who came into to check on her progress. After the doctor lifted her hospital gown she reemerged.

"I am sorry, not yet Ms. McBride, you are only five inches dilated and you have to be eight before you can began pushing" Anissa groaned at the doctor's words not liking them at all.

"I know this sucks, but you are strong, just a little longer… I will tell the nurse to bring you more ice, it will help with the clenching of your teeth." The doctor exited the room leaving Anissa and Imam alone. Her father had been so good; never complaining every time she mangled his hand. She was thankful for him.

"Where are the girls?" she finally remembered

"They are with Molk and Zeneb; I called them when you went into labor, they came as soon as the ambulance arrived."

"Ok, good" she was so caught up in the shock of labor that their 'Baby Plan' left her mind as soon as she had her first contraction. She was glad she had her father. She had woken up in the middle of the night to get something to drink and that was when her water broke in the middle of the kitchen. She screamed for her father and he came running and went right into action… he was amazing.

"Dad" Anissa said

"Yes child?" he replied drying her brow with a pink wash cloth.

"I love you" she said looking at him seriously

"I love you to Anissa" she said wondering why the sudden display, though it was much welcomed.

"No matter what happens, I am glad that you came back into my life"

"Of course" he said quietly kissing her forehead. He wondered if the pain was making her delusional but he was pulled out of his thoughts as her grip tighten signaling another contraction.

Riddick leaned against the headboard of the bed as he slowly took a drag from the cigarette he had been nursing. He had just finished fucking Janice thinking that she would help him relieve the tension that was coursing through his veins, but it did nothing to satiate him. In fact it made it quite worse. He knew Anissa was having the baby right now… his baby; Jack had called him on his cell as soon as the ambulance had arrived at the house. He recalled the conversation…

The phone rang waking him from his partial slumber. He pushed Janice's naked body off of him as he hovered over the phone trying to get a clear look at who was calling. Jack's excited eyes stared back at him.

"What's up kid?" he growled into the receiving end of the phone.

"It's Anissa! She went into labor, she's gonna have the baby!" Jack could barely contain her excitement at the thought of a little brother or sister coming into the world

"That's great kid" he said after a pause not really knowing how to react. Jack wasn't a stupid kid. She was anything but; growing up a hard life had taught her a few things… especially how to grow up fast. She knew with out a doubt that Riddick was the father of Anissa's baby even though all the adults constantly deflected the questions her or Brianna ask regarding the father of the unborn child. She also had enough street smarts to know exactly where Riddick was right now; taking in his swollen lips and the bruise like mark that adorned his neck.

"You are gonna be some father, Riddick" she said sarcastically in a deadpanned voice over the phone. She was use to adults letting her down… that was her whole life up until this point, but it was unfair for an innocent baby to be screwed over before it could even comprehend that it was being cheated. At least Jack was well aware.

"Don't lecture me kid!" Riddick said more forcefully than he had ever spoken to Jack before. He felt a pang of guilt as he watched her eyes darken on the hologram.

"I don't recall lecturing, Riddick, maybe that was your conscious speaking" she broke the connection before he could say anything more to her. She felt ashamed to admit to herself that she used to see him as her hero.

Riddick was pulled back to the present as Janice began rubbing at his inner thigh trying to get him hard again. He slapped her hand away in disgust and was met by an annoyed grunt. He got up from the bed and went over to the window which looked out onto the city. He hated himself right now. He was a coward and he didn't see any other way around it. He decided that he was going to stop lying to himself and start seeing himself for what he really was. A yellow-bellied fuck just like Anissa had said.

He was so sure that he would do right by her! After the night she told him of her pregnancy and he held her hand while she cried. He was so sure, but that same old Riddick came back. Tempting him like always…convincing him that she would be better off without him…without his influence on this child. So he stayed away.

Then the day they met in downtown Gazze… her calling him out for what he was in broad daylight in front of all those witnesses. He was pissed off. Then he returned to the apartment with Janice, who was nursing a fractures nose. He let his stupid pride get in the way of what he was supposed to do, and let Janice's lies spin him into a dream world where nothing was his fault.

Now here he was too much of a coward to apologize with his tail between his legs to the woman that was having his child… to the only woman that he truly cared about in his whole entire fucked up being…

Anissa screamed as another contraction engulfed her. They were coming a lot more frequently now. Another screamed ripped from her causing the doctor and two nurses to run into the room.

"Am I dilated enough yet, Doctor!?" Anissa was on the verge of sanity as she questioned the doctor who lifted her hospital gown and confirmed that she in fact was and began yelling out orders to the nurses.

"Ok Ms. McBride we are going to get ready to push. I am going to count down to three and you are going to push when I tell you; then keep pushing for a count of three, ok?" Anissa nodded looking at the doctor.

"Ok… One…Two… Three… Push!" the doctor yelled. One of the nurses grabbed the hand that Imam wasn't holding. The doctor counted for another three counts and signaled Anissa to stop pushing. "You are doing great! When you are ready we are going to count down to another big push!" this continued on for about another hour until the sound of screaming cries filled the air "It's a Girl!" the nurse to Anissa's right whispered in her ear. But all Anissa could hear was the beating of her own heart and the blood rushing into her ears. The world seemed to slow down as she looked from the nurse's smiling face into her father's eyes. She felt nothing, only exhaustion as she her eyelids grew heavy; then she saw him, Riddick, he did come! He was caressing her face whispering something she couldn't hear… and then she was no longer tired.

"I am here!" Diana yelled running down the hall with the celebratory champagne bottle in her hand. Her make up was smeared and she still wore a black cocktail dress over a pair of sweat pants, her oversized purse slung over her shoulder.

"I am sorry I'm late! Where is the baby? is it a boy or a girl?" She said eyeing Imam wondering why he wasn't as happy as she expected him to be. Then he looked up; his tear streaked face coming to meet her confused one.

"She is a little girl" He whispered in despair as he started into Diana's eyes.

"Anissa? Where is she?" every fiber of her being told her that she didn't want to know that answer to her question. The look he gave her was more than enough, but still she needed to hear him…

"The doctor said it was an aneurism… They said that there was no way of detecting it… a silent killer…" A crash could be heard through out the maternity ward as the champagne bottle slipped from Diana's hand and she slipped to the floor crying for her best friend and the baby who didn't even know she was robbed…

The phone rang pulling Riddick from the window to the night table where his phone sat. He saw the Holy Man staring back at him and answered.

"Hello?"

"Her name is Sanity Carla McBride" Imam said in a deadpanned voice without any of the greetings that always accompanied a call from the Holy Man "She is seven pounds six ounces and she is healthy" Imam's voice cracked as he said the last line.

"That is great Holy Man" Riddick said this sincerely "so Anissa? She is doing fine? Resting?"

"She is resting forever" Imam whispered into the receiver

"What are you talking about Holy Man?"

'She is dead Mr. Riddick…My daughter is dead and you know the last thing that came out of her mouth was…" Imam fought the tears "The last thing that came out of her mouth was your name" Imam said this with so much disgust as he ended the connection. Riddick stood there looking at the phone not knowing what to do with himself. His chest was so tight. He clutched it as he lowered himself back unto the bed. His hands were shaking and his breath was labored. Janice rolled over and put her hands on his back.

"Come on baby, let's have another go" she begged him and then he saw red. He grabbed her and threw her against the wall and started choking the life out of her as she tried to claw at his arm. After a bit she got the ghost and he threw her on the bed. He left the room returning with a butcher knife and closed the door behind him… Richard B. Riddick rose from the dead.

The End

AN: I hope I didn't disappoint you all. I just couldn't see this ending on a good note no matter how I spun it. I just want to thank all of you loyal readers fro sticking with me through the many months. I am glad to have a full fic under my belt and hopefully plenty more in the future.