TITLE: TREASURE
AUTHOR: adoriblebeast
RATING: PG-13
SPOILERS: None

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Andromeda or any of its Characters. This is purely for fun. I make no profit from it.
ARCHIVE: Yes. Please contact me first.

SUMMARY: An important chapter in Harpers early years. This story is set about four months before Harper looses his parents.

"Come on, Jess, hurry up! " whispered Brendan frantically.

He looked over his shoulder to make sure no one was following them. "If you slow us down, we'll get caught!"

"Let's just leave her and get going!" hissed Seamus.

Pulling a cloth-covered package from her worn and dirty jacket, Jessye whispered harshly, "Ha! If you leave me behind I won't give you this, and you need it!"

In a singsong voice she added, "And I'll tell your mom what you're do-o-o-o-ing!"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever! Just try to keep up shorty!" he said, giving Jess a push to get her going.

"Hey! Who are you calling short?" Jess said as they all started running again.

As the three ran on, they dodged between boarded up buildings and piles of rubble, trying to keep to the shadows. The waxing moon gave off enough light to see by, but it also made them more visible to any Dragans who might be out looking for some fun.

As they reached their destination, all three kids searched the shadows to make sure no one was watching them. They entered an old building that had collapsed-who- knew-how-many years ago, through a small hole that was not easy to see even when you were right on top of it.

As they crawled through the small tunnel, Brendan, who at seventeen was the oldest and the largest of the three, kept getting stuck. Luckily, at fifteen, Seamus was small for his age and fit with just a little wiggle room. Jessye, of course, was only twelve--and built like a walking stick--so she had no trouble.

Pushing and pulling whenever Brendan got stuck, they slowly made their way in the dark.

As they emerged into an open space Brendan whispered,

"Ok cuzzo, let's cover the hole so we can turn on some lights."

As the hand lights came on and lit up the room, Jessye let out a small gasp.

" Oh, wow! Shay, you weren't kidding when you said you found a treasure!"

As she reached for one of the items lining the shelves, Seamus swatted her hand.

"Not so fast!" he exclaimed.

"Ow! You don't have to be so mean!" she said, rubbing her stinging hand.

"When I'm bigger I'm going to be totally hot and you'll be sorry you weren't nicer to me, Shamus Zelazny Harper! Just you wait and see!"

Looking over at Jessyes knotted brown curls, undeveloped frame, and dirty face, Seamus scoffed, "Yeah, right. In your dreams."

"Cut it out you two and keep it down!"

Seething, she handed the package to Seamus.

" Here, the parts in exchange for being in on the action."

"Alright! Its all up to you now cuzz." Brendan said, slapping Seamus on the shoulder. "Lets see if you can get it to work."

"Please, Bren! Have faith in "The Harper"! All I needed were the right parts. I am a genius, you know."

Looking over the components to see if they had suffered damage since Jessye had shown them to him, Seamus shook his head in wonder.

"I still don't know how you could find this stuff in such good condition, Jessye. Where did you get them?"

"That's for me to know and you not to find out!"

"Come on Jess!" whined Seamus.

"Trust me, it's safer if you don't know. Just be glad I'm a better scrounger than you, Seamus Harper, or we wouldn't be able to use your treasure."

As Shamus moved to a work bench he had set up on a previous visit, Jessye and Brendan started wandering the room, picking up the items on the shelves one by one, looking at the pictures on fronts and reading the writing on the backs. They placed promising ones on the workbench.

"How long are we planning to keep this to ourselves? You know what this stuff is worth in trade goods? " Jessye asked.

Seamus snorted in disgust. " If we can get it home before someone jumps us andtakes it all away. We can't make a dozen trips and not get caught. We are going to need help to get it all out of here without the Dragans noticing. We'll have to share it. I think we deserve to use them first and enjoy them. Of course,"

he grinned evilly, patting the machine he had been working on,

"Without this, they're freakin' useless. As long as we can hold onto this baby, we can still make a killing."

Closing the casing on the antique machine, he said,

"All right, this baby is ready!"

Looking at his friends and smiling, he asked, "Have you both made a choice?"

Jessye and Brendan each pulled a box from the piles on the workbench.

Smiling, Brendan said, "I've got mine!"

"Me too!" Jessye said, as she clutched her box tightly to her chest.

Pulling a box out from a shelf under the bench, Seamus said, "Good, I chose mine last time I was here? Ok, what's it going to be tonight, boys and girls?"

Holding up his box, Brendan smiled, "I have Young Frankenstein!"

Jessye held up her box for the others to see. "Black Beauty!

It has a real live horse in it!!"

"Well? What's yours, cuzzo?" asked Brendan.

With a delighted grin Seamus held up his box.

"Austin Powers; International Man of Mystery!"