Ripley made her way through the Sulaco's corridors, looking for Hicks. She'd left Newt in the gym, with strict instructions that she was to call before heading anywhere else and now she was curious about the last member of their little gang of survivors.

The marine had been quiet since the drugs had worn off enough for him to regain consciousness, but then from what she'd seen of him, that wasn't unusual. When his teammates had been mouthing off he'd been mostly silent, watching her during the briefing with unnerving intensity.

Once Bishop had been powered down to self-repair what he could, Ripley hadn't been keen to go straight back into stasis and Newt had complained about being hungry so the three human survivors had eaten together in the disquieting emptiness of the mess.

Sometime after Newt's third retelling of Ripley's encounter with the queen alien Hicks had shifted the kid off his lap and onto the bench, murmured something about reporting in and disappeared.

At first, Ripley had been happy to give him his space, but he'd been gone too long now; the painkillers would wear off entirely and she could only imagine how bad the pain must be for him to have let Bishop knock him out the first time. She suspected she'd have more of a fight on her hands.

As she reached the comroom his voice drifted out into the corridor, low and gravelly as though with sleep.

'...all colonial marines dispatched to LV-426 to be KIA. Repeat: all marines dispatched to LV-426 were KIA. Sulaco out.' Hicks thumbed the button to end the recording and sat back in his chair.

Watching from the doorway, Ripley saw him sigh and scrub his good hand through his already dishevelled hair, pushing himself back further in the seat and resting a booted foot on the console. She heard the click of his lighter and watched the smoke from his cigarette float towards the ceiling before being sucked away into a duct.

'Wondered where you had gotten to,' she said, moving into the comroom.

'Where's Newt?' he asked, seemingly ignoring her comment.

'Discovering the joys of bath time.' He looked up at her, a question in his visible eye. 'We found the therapy tub.'

He nodded and turned his attention to the controls in front of him, tapping out a few commands to send his message on its way.

Ripley turned and leaned against the console, sweeping her eyes over him. He was still wearing the remnants of his ruined BDUs and the bandages Bishop had wrapped him in were starting to show spots of blood across his chest. He should really be in a cryotube already if he was going to heal properly.

'How's the pain?'

'It's not bad.'

She managed not to roll her eyes through sheer force of will. 'Hicks -'

'I'll live,' he said, stubbing out his cigarette.

'So what now?' she asked, abandoning that line of conversation for now.

He gave a one-shoulder shrug. 'We hit the freezers, the Sulaco takes us back to HQ. You go home, I guess.'

Shutting down the thought that she hadn't had a home in almost sixty years she focused on the unspoken part of his outline of the future. 'And what happens to you?'

'That'll be up to the brass, ' he said, his jaw clenching. 'Most likely I'll be re-assed to another unit, depending on…' he trailed off, waving a hand at his eye.

'So soon?'

He looked up at her from under his eyelashes, green eye flashing something before he looked down and away again.

'What?' she asked when it became apparent he wasn't going to speak.

'I never thanked you, ' he said.

'For what?'

'Getting us out of there.'

'That's ok,' she smiled. 'I never thanked you either.' When he didn't return her smile she sighed. 'Look, Dwayne, it know it's a lot to process but it's over. We won.'

He stood, wincing slightly as the bandage on his chest pulled at his skin. She watched him curiously as he moved towards her, coming to a stop so close to her that she had to tilt her head back to maintain eye contact, despite her height.

'We won?' he asked softly.

'We did.'

Hicks raised his right hand to her face, running calloused fingers down her cheek. 'Didn't feel like winning.'

'I know,' Ripley said, her voice just as soft. She slid her hand up his chest and around his neck, fingers playing in his hair. 'But we're alive. You, me and Newt. We're alive.' When he didn't look convinced she pulled gently, tugging his mouth down toward hers.

Suddenly he seemed to be everywhere, pressing her back into the console even as he looped his good arm around her, holding her in place against him as her tongue swept into his mouth.

He'd cleaned his teeth, she could tell, but his hair was still thick with smoke and sweat, dirty blond strands catching at her fingers as she threaded them through it. Under the toothpaste and cigarettes, she could taste the coffee he'd drunk in the mess and something else. A too-sweet metallic taste that made her grab at him, drawing him closer until they almost overbalanced.

Instinctively he reached out his left hand to catch himself - to catch them both - hissing when pain shot through him. Hicks stepped back slightly, the dazed expression in his eyes making her smile even as she watched it clear.

'Guess I'm a bit delicate,' he said quietly, the eye she could see dancing with amusement.

She tilted her head to the side. 'I'll be gentle.'

'Ripley?' The disembodied voice came from the comm speaker, making Ripley jump and effectively shattering the moment.

Hicks smirked at her and reached behind her, thumbing the switch and nodding for her to talk.

'I'm here, Newt.'

'Can you come get me? I'm bored.'

'Affirmative,' Hicks said, grinning when Newt's laughter fed back through the speaker.

Ripley pushed away from the console and went to move past him but he took her wrist gently, stalling her. 'We're not done here, Ellen.'

She looked over at him, sweeping her gaze up and down him appreciatively. 'No, ' she said, keeping her voice just as low. 'We're not.'

/\/\/

In the end, the shower had pushed him too far and the pain had gotten the better of him. Newt had watched closely as she slathered him in burn gel and redressed the wounds. Finally, Ripley had given him another shot before helping him into his cryotube, raising an eyebrow at him in amusement at his annoyed look.

'See you on the other side,' Hicks murmured, drowsiness slurring his words. She brushed her thumb over the back of his hand but he was already asleep, his face relaxed.

Newt watched as Ripley closed Bishop and Hicks' pods before allowing Ripley to lead her to her own.

'Are we gonna sleep all the way home?'

'All the way,' Ripley confirmed.

'Can I dream?'

Ripley smiled, brushing the girl's newly clean hair back. 'Yes, honey, I think we both can.'

/\/\/

The Sulaco drifted through space, the much-reduced crew sleeping deep within. Unbeknownst to the passengers, an alarm split the silence, followed by the Sulaco's voice. 'Stasis interrupted. Fire in cryogenic compartment. Repeat: Fire in cryogenic compartment. All personnel report to emergency escape vehicles.'