a/n: This is without benefit of any proofreading. Please forgive my errors. Also, I don't own any of these characters.

Elizabeth's muffled words were followed by a thumping and then a sliding, scraping noise, like she was dragging something quite heavy along the back seat of the ATV.

Then the light burst into the bag which held his head. She looked down at him.

"David, I found Ms. Vickers," her eyes flickered back to the back seat. "I think she's still alive. Her suit is still giving off life signs."

"Elizabeth," He said. Then he paused, for he didn't know how to explain this to her in a way that didn't highlight the lack of humanity in his position. "I cannot prevent you from leaving Ms. Vickers here but I feel I must tell you…"

"Leave her here?" Elizabeth's voice grew shrill. "David, I can't… Why would I…How could I leave her here?" She was quite shaken and he realized that he had done exactly what he didn't want to do. He had alienated her. She thought him inhumane to suggest that she leave Ms. Vickers behind.

"If you want to continue to the Engineer's planet," he spoke again carefully. "Ms. Vickers will not allow it and I won't be able to disregard her orders." Understanding dawned on her face and she nodded slowly.

"I…see what you are saying but the fact remains. I cannot leave her here." Elizabeth squared her shoulders and a resolute look dropped onto her face. She zipped the bag up again and he was thrown back into darkness. He felt the dipping motion of her climbing back into the vehicle and they began to move again.

The bumpy ride continued without another pause until Elizabeth reached the location of the next closest ship. He directed her in opening the doors and she drove the ATV as far as she could into the ship before reaching a door that was too small to allow it.

"This is the bridge, right?" she asked him, gesturing towards the open doorway into a room very similar to the one the Engineer had inhabited. The cryochambers were empty on this one.

"I believe so, yes," he said. Dr. Shaw dragged his body off of the vehicle and into the chamber, settling him into a seat much like the one he had sat in so proudly just an hour before in front of his creator and Dr. Shaw. She placed his head next to him and then dragged Ms. Vickers's body in as gingerly as she could, giving the woman's size advantage.

Elizabeth slumped down onto the floor and regarded the two bodies in front of her, wincing and clutching her abdomen.

"Dr. Shaw, you're injured," David said. "If I can suggest…if you put me back together I can see to both Ms. Vickers's and your own injuries."

Elizabeth regarded him sharply and then pressed her lips together as if biting back her words. A look of intense weariness dropped across her face.

"I don't suppose extracting a promise from you would mean anything?" she said. David wanted to respond sharply. Her words had hit him with surprising force. He wanted her to trust him but she didn't. He counseled himself that a hasty response could hurt any hope he had of earning her trust back.

"I have no wish to injure you, Dr. Shaw," he said. She regarded him another long moment and then sighed.

"Very well," she said, pulling herself back up to her feet slowly. "Where do I start?"

"As eager as I am to be repaired, I think that it would be wise to get this ship launched first," David reminded her. Her offspring and the last Engineer were still out there and he had no way of knowing what had become of them.

"I wouldn't worry about the Engineer," she said, biting her lip in discomfort, her eyes growing dark. "But you're right. We should get off this planet."

He directed her to the controls, giving her directions that she followed with shaky hands, all the while her glance flickering with concern to Ms. Vickers's body. David couldn't detect physical signs of respiration from the angle he was at but he could see the flicker of lights on the edge of her helmet that indicated she was breathing and her heart was beating. He thought about how he had seen the same signals grow dim and fail on her father, just an hour ago now. Had she somehow survived the crashing of her lifeboat and the Engineer's ship impact with Prometheus? Dr. Shaw had survived it so it was feasible that Ms. Vickers had as well, he supposed.

Elizabeth got the ship launched and coded a trajectory in the general direction of Earth. He would have to fine-tune it when he had full use of all his faculties.

She stepped in front of him wearily; sweat covering her brow despite the cool temperature in the ship. She had taken off her gloves and her helmet when they had determined that the air was hospitable. Her posture was slumped. Given what she had experienced, David wondered if she would be able to sustain the effort it was going to take to put him at least partially back together.

"I have to do this now," she said. He couldn't tell whether it was a question or a statement.

"Yes," he said. His voice sounded more metallic somehow. He guessed that it was missing the resonance that being attached to a body gave. His voice was issuing from a tiny speaker without the echo that being attached to an approximately eighty-kilogram body. She didn't seem to notice. It was a small thing, he supposed.

"If Ms. Vickers is indeed still alive and able to be helped, it would be better to do so sooner rather than later," he continued. She nodded.

"You'll have to attach only the main three lines for now. They should be easy to access through my spinal column. It's the equivalent of your spinal cord." She nodded again, her eyes showing understanding. As intuitive and spiritual as Dr. Shaw was she was also a scientist and the facts seemed comforting to her.

"There is some polymer tape in my tool belt. It will work to attach the ends."

Elizabeth retrieved the tape and sat down next to his body. She picked up his head and held it in her lap. David watched her face as she focused on the job.

Her face took on a determination typical of someone completing a complicated job but there was something else. Elizabeth, her attention given to putting him back together, had the tenderness and peaceful countenance of a Madonna.

She attached the three main lines and then looked to him for direction.

"You should be able to line up the grooves in my spine with those in my neck."

"Won't they have been damaged?" she asked. Sincere curiosity lit her features.

"I was made to be…transported in sections if necessary." He felt uncomfortable telling her this. It seemed to accentuate the fact that he was a machine.

She held his head to the top of his spine and considered the place where he would be reattached. He could already run internal diagnostics with his lines connected and he was now capable of some movement but he didn't want to startle her.

"Elizabeth," he said, watching her face carefully. "If you place the vertebrae together I can snap them into place." She looked at him quickly, alarmed.

"I…Ok," she said, pausing for a moment before taking the final step and placing his head next to his spine. David raised his hands carefully, slowly, watching her face the whole time. He grasped the top of his head and pulled it into place. There was a loud crack and it was done.

She kept her bloodshot eyes on him as he removed his hands from his head and slowly ran them down to where his skin had been torn at his shoulders. It would hold together sufficiently for now while he attended to more important matters.

Slowly he propped himself up. He paused. "Elizabeth," he said quietly. "I'm going to get up and attend to Ms. Vickers now. Are you in much pain?" His eyes flickered down to her abdomen.

She followed his glance as if forgetting her ailment. Then she shook her head.

"No," she said, just as quietly. "I'm just tired." He nodded.

He got up slowly, keeping his eyes fixed on her. He only broke eye contact when he stepped into the dark hallway to retrieve a blanket from the ATV. He walked back and handed it to her carefully. She nodded her thanks.

He moved gingerly over to where Ms. Vickers lay and glanced down at her body.

It occurred to David that he hadn't had a human look into his eyes for such an extended period of time since they did diagnostics on his ocular functioning. An emotionless, clinical observation it had been, like checking a telescope. No connection, no acknowledgement of him as a sentient being.

He missed the contact already. He felt compelled to look into Dr. Shaw's eyes again but when he looked back over at her she had fallen asleep.

a/n: Honestly, I am embarrassed. I had NO idea it had been so long since I updated this. It's just that my team won the World Series (Go Giants!) and October is very eventful for me. A thousand apologies and I will update in a much more timely fashion from now on! Thanks for reading and for all your kind reviews! xoxo M