Carving Out a Future

By: Dreamfall

Summary: Her crew doesn't know that Serenity's new passenger, a carpenter with an 'unusual upbringing', is a relic from the past. And Xander's not looking for trouble. Then again, neither are they. Not usually, leastwise. It just tends to come calling anyway. Gen. Canon couples mentioned, but definitely not the focus of the story.

Written for: NaNoWriMo and TTH100: Xander/Firefly

TTH100 prompt: 026-Money

Rating: FR13/PG13/T

Disclaimer: I own neither Firefly nor BtVS.

Spoilers: Takes place post Season 7 for Buffy, and post-Objects in Space (and post the comic books, for that matter), but pre-Serenity for Firefly.

Author's Note: This is the story I started in November for NaNoWriMo. I'm thirty or so chapters into it, but since there's going to be at least one hundred chapters (since it's for tth100, too), they're mostly pretty short. If you're coming from this from my HP fanfics-- it's very different. Way less dark. It's also an incredibly fun story to write, and I do intend to continue with it to its conclusion. And no, it's not taking any real time away from Cat, now that I'm not working obsessively on it, like I was in November. I'll be posting every couple/few days at least till I'm caught up with my livejournal (username dreamfall(underscore)nnwm). Hope you enjoy!

Review Response: Responses to any reviews will be posted in the same livejournal as my other review responses-- username dreamfall(underscore)ff.

Chapter Twelve
A New Toy

"We should leave."

"Ain't leavin' yet, Zoë," Mal stated, nothing in his tone suggesting that he'd answered her the same half a dozen times already. "Ten minutes yet to th'time I told him we were leavin'. 'Sides, he's paid a goodly sum of money to us, and I'm seein' no good reason why he shouldn't continue payin' that sum on a regular basis."

"He's hiding something, sir," she persisted, straightening a little into a more military posture.

Mal sighed and shook his head. "Never met a man wasn't."

"There's something off about him."

"Zoë, you haven't told me nothin' I ain't seen myself, but I got no sense that whatever's goin' on with him is gonna affect us in any way. And yer askin' me to give up enough money to keep us in fuel even if we don't get a job fer a while. Thought he made a peace with you, anyway, didn't he?"

Zoë didn't blink. "That was two days ago, through which he ain't contacted us in any way, and I'm all in favor of leavin' on the dot of noon like we said we would."

"Not noon yet," he repeated, jaw jutting out slightly. "I'm not makin' any decisions until then."

"Yes, sir," she she agreed, face expressionless.

The two stared at each other, continuing the argument without the words each knew the other would use. Before either broke away or spoke, the hollow ringing of feet on the ramp, and both turned together to see the subject of their discussion rush up, pulling a handle attached by a bar to what appeared to be a floating stack of lumber with a couple of good-sized crates balanced on top. Mal blinked. Zoë didn't.

"Sorry I'm running late!" Xander exclaimed, looking back and forth between them. "The lumberyard completely screwed up my order and I had to get it sorted out. Then this floaty thing -- and don't get me wrong: I love it -- but I find out it only goes at about the speed of a typical walk before getting a bit tippy, and having to reload the damn thing -- which I love," he added, patting the handle reassuringly, "would have slowed me down way more. So I'm really, really sorry!"

Mal chuckled and caught even Zoë fighting back a hint of an amused smile. He stepped forward, eying the wood curiously. "We were just wondering if we'd have to leave without you. How the hell is that floating?"

Xander grinned. "Floating disk! Just like from D&D -- it's the coolest thing. Look," he added, dropping to one knee to point under the stack.

Mal stared at him for a moment, trying to figure out how in guay the words he'd used fit together, then shrugged and dropped to look under the stack of wood. Beneath it, he saw a flat disk about four feet across and six inches thick, the air beneath it moving in waves, now that he looked closely. He reached out to put one cautious hand beneath it, and found it was shoved down with enough force that it came out from under the disk. "How's it work?" he asked.

"No clue," Xander said, still grinning. "I just know that it does stairs as long as the steps are at least eight inches deep, broken ground doesn't screw it up, it can carry up to a ton of weight, and it's the coolest toy ever."

"Toy?" Mal asked, shaking his head in amusement. "How much did this 'toy' run ya? I've never seen one before, and it seems like it'd be a useful sort of thing for a cargo ship."

Zoë cleared her throat. "Sir, it's noon, are we set to go?"

"No rush, is there, Zoë?"

"Wouldn't know, sir."

"Hey, Mal, did Xander -- wow!" Kaylee darted into the room already talking, then cut herself off as her attention was caught by the floating wood. "Is that a Traelian Levitation Disk? I've been wanting to see one of these since I first heard about 'em! One o' the shops let you use it for delivery? Mighty trustin' of 'em," she added, dropping to her knees and looking underneath it.

Before Xander could answer, Mal turned to his mechanic. "You've heard of these, Kaylee? How come we've never heard of 'em? Seems it'd be mighty useful on a cargo ship."

"Well, sure, cap'n," she said absently. "But there's not that many out yet, so only a couple of the really big ships have 'em. Which store let you borrow it?" she asked Xander. "Wouldn'ta thought any of them had one, much less let it out of their sight."

"None, I bought it. I thought it was neat."

The girl's jaw dropped and her attention left the disk in favor of its owner. "You bought it?" she asked, voice squeaking part way through.

"It seemed like a good thing to have," he said apologetically. "And I try not to steal. Should I not have? It's not gonna hurt the ship or anything, is it?"

She just stared at him, eyes wide.

"Kaylee? What's the excitement here?" Mal demanded.

"Three thousand creds," she said. "Best price I've seen ran about three thousand creds -- that's the excitement."

"Three thou-- tsai boo shr! Jien tah-duh guay," Mal exploded.

Zoë didn't speak, but her eyes narrowed and her posture straightened just a hint further as she watched Xander with distrust.

Kaylee finally looked away from Xander to give a hurt look to her captain. "You sayin' I don't know how prices on equipment run these days, cap'n? If you don't trust me to find fair prices, maybe you'd best--"

"That's not what I'm sayin', Kaylee. You meant platinum, right? Not creds?"

"Creds," she repeated. "It's new tech-- no heat, no chance of explosion, completely internal power source so there's no need for fuel cells or nothin'. They're guaranteein' 'em for up to two hundred fifty years, cap'n, they're incredible. And they're too new for the cost to've come down."

Mal spun on Xander. "And you picked this up as a new toy?"

He shrugged apologetically. "I'm sorry if it's a problem. I didn't need it or anything, but I thought it was neat and figured you guys could maybe get some use out of it when I didn't need it."

"So you just shelled out three thousand creds for it?"

"Thirty-five hundred," he admitted sheepishly. "Guess I should've looked around to see if it was a fair price first."

"For a toy?" he shouted.

"What's a toy?" Jayne asked, coming into the cargo hold. "And what's takin' so gorram long gettin' off the ground?"

"His new hover disk thing, which cost 'bout three times as much as our new gorram mule, is a toy, according to him."

Xander shrugged. "Well, not like a plastic dinosaur toy. But like a -- well-- like a wicked cool new--" he broke off, shook his head, and shrugged.

"'Wicked cool'?" Jayne repeated blankly.

The younger man sighed. "Totally incapable of describing it," he stated. "I just think it's neat."

"And you can spend that kinda money on anything you think's shiny?"

"I don't think that much is ... shiny," he offered, the hesitation before the last word barely noticeable.

Mal glanced around and caught Zoë's crossed arms and told-ya-so expression, and glared at her for an instant before turning back to their new tenant. "But anything you do, you just go an' pick up?"

"Does it matter?" Xander asked, smile fading a bit. "I won't buy anything that won't fit in my shuttle."

"But you can afford more'r less whatever the guay you want?"

"Why? Are you planning on raising my rent?"

"If I did could you pay it?"

"Whether I could or not, I wouldn't," he replied, last hint of his smile vanishing and leaving his expression more serious than Mal had ever seen it before. It made him see just a hint of how this kid could maybe be dangerous.

"And why's that?"

"Because when I make a deal, I expect it to be kept," he replied, voice icy.

Mal nodded sharply. "Good. How long'll it take you to get that pile o' wood to your shuttle? I wanna be off this moon in five. If it can't be settled there by then, you'd best leave it here and get it when we're out of atmosphere."

"Then that'll be best," Xander replied, the hardness in his eyes vanishing as his usual friendly smile took over his face again. "It doesn't move fast, and I'm not sure it'll be able to get up to the shuttle, wide as it is. I'll probably have to take the wood up separately." He touched a button on the handle, and the whole thing settled lightly to the ground. "Should I tie it down or anything?"

Zoë glared at him. "You suggestin' Wash's gonna shake us up when we take off?"

Xander blinked. "Woah, way to interpret the words. I've taken off with you once, and was unconscious at the time. I've taken off on other ships maybe half a dozen times, and each of them there's been a pretty good chance that a stack of wood wouldn't stay stacked without being tied down. And I'd really rather the wood not get damaged after the work it took to convince the seller that the coarse-grained--" he saw them all staring blankly at them and shrugged. "Right, you could care less about the wood. The point is, I really don't want it tipping, and I've never taken off with you while I'm conscious, which is why I was asking. I didn't mean to give offense."

"You won't need to tie it down," Mal stated. "Once we're outta atmo, you take it up to your shuttle. And next time, I'd be right grateful if you could find your way onto the ship in time to stow your gorram purchases."

Expression serious again, Xander nodded. "Sorry, Captain. I will."

Kaylee glared at Mal. "Like you've never wandered in half an hour after we was scheduled to leave?" She withered under the rare glare he threw at her. "Never mind-- I'm goin' to th' engine rooms."

"Everyone get settled. I want to be in the air," Mal stated, pushing the button to close the cargo bay doors and turning to stalk away, Zoë at his heels.

Xander blinked. "That was weird."

"Cap'n don't much trust rich men," Jayne said cheerfully, turning to head for his quarters. "Come t'think of it, don't know much of anyone does," he added before disappearing through the hatch.

Xander sighed and glanced again at the stack of wood on its disk. "Huh," he muttered, channeling an old friend.