I do not own Aliens.
I do have a past life. From a certain point of view. ;)
The Survivors of LV-426
Past Lives
"So tell me about yourself."
They're in the mess hall.
Cups of coffee cooling on the tables in front of them, tasteless food picked at, barely eaten.
"Any family to go home to?"
It's a conversational question, one that should be easy to answer.
It isn't.
She reaches out, takes the cigarette from his hand.
He gives it over easily.
She takes a drag, feels the burn work its way down her throat and into her lungs.
It's not good for you. She doesn't care.
And finally, . . .
"No."
. . . she replies.
It's simple.
"Ever been married?"
And it's not.
"Twice."
This seems to surprise him, she sees his eyebrows raise slightly.
Figures she may as well tell him the rest.
"My first husband didn't like me so he left. And the second one didn't like my daughter so I left."
That's the easy version.
"What about your daughter? Where is she?"
This is even more difficult.
"She died."
Ripley clears her throat.
"When I went for that last mission, she was eleven, almost the same age as Newt."
Keeps her voice steady.
"I had a contract, they promised me when the mission was done, I could take a sabbatical to spend more time with her."
She takes another drag, embraces the acidic burn.
"I didn't make it back for fifty-six years."
Hicks' expression is aghast though he seems to try to contain it.
"Jesus."
Ripley nods, doesn't speak.
"I'm sorry, Ellen."
She takes a moment to compose herself, make sure her voice doesn't fail her when she speaks.
"What about you?"
Passes the cigarette back to him, feels their fingers brush.
"Dwayne."
He gives her a look and she smiles wanly.
"Do you have any family to go home to?"
And now it's him who doesn't answer right away, doesn't meet her eyes.
"No "
She shrugs.
"Ever been married?"
She waits, he's earned the right.
"Yeah."
He answers, taking a long drag from their shared cigarette first.
"Private First Class Rachel Miller."
Studying it as he talks.
"The first time I saw her, she was driving her combat knife through the hand of another marine who had just groped her. He was screaming his head off and she was just staring at him with death in her eyes."
A smile briefly passes over his face before evaporating again.
"It was love at first sight. For me anyway."
And he takes another drag off the rapidly dwindling cigarette.
"We got married eight weeks later."
Ripley's eyebrows raise and her voice is hardly more than a whisper.
"Wow. That was fast."
He shrugs, seemingly lost in the past.
"Well, like I said."
There is silence between them for a few moments.
"You know how it is in the military."
And then he picks up his story again.
"Together, apart. Together, apart."
A hint of a soft smile.
"She was the one that painted the breastplate of my combat gear."
Ah yes. Ripley remembers.
A heart.
"Welded the metal."
Under actual lock and key.
She had noticed it, been intrigued by it.
Not very 'marine'.
Hadn't asked.
Hicks continues.
"I told her it was practically a target. She laughed and told me to learn to duck."
He pauses again.
She lets him.
"A year later, her unit was sent to check out a suspected pirated spacecraft on what they thought was an uninhabited moon."
He works his jaw, she waits for him to decide what he wants to tell her and what he doesn't.
"They were attacked, overwhelmed by some . . . unidentified lifeform. There were no survivors."
He takes a drag, removes it.
"That was, uh, five years ago."
Watches the tip glow.
"Oh Hicks. I'm so sorry."
"Yeah. Me too."
All apparent cannon, thanks to Xenopedia (like Wikipedia but more fun).
Except his wife painting and welding his chestplate. That one was me.
Anyway, thanks to RedHood001, DinahRay, and BlueSaffire for previously reviewing, wow!
:D
Last chapter tomorrow and then we'll see if there should be another. And what it might entail.