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. Xander says he's not looking for trouble. But, then, neither are they. Not usually, leastways. It just always comes calling anyway. Gen. Canon couples mentioned, but definitely not the focus of the story.

Written for: NaNoWriMo and TTH100: Xander/Firefly

TTH100 prompt: 015-Fire

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), 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 Twenty
Dining and Dancing

The meat was finally served as the sun was sinking and everyone was bathed red and yellow by the flickering light of the bonfire. Salad, potatoes, and a number of other dishes were brought forth in huge tubs, and Xander found himself thinking that he'd never had a better meal in his life. How much of that was due to all the time spent with nothing but protein bars was debatable, but he was pretty sure he would have found the meal impressive even if he'd been eating good food on a daily basis.

Xander took it easy on the wine that was going around, not comfortable enough in a strange environment to want to be anything but clear-headed, although there was no reason to believe that there was anything more than it seemed going on. If nothing else, given Wash's humorous tale of Mal's wedding, he wanted to be sure he didn't wake up with someone claiming him. Besides, he was outside in the dark, and even though he had seen no hint of a supernatural presence around, he hadn't exactly been here long. Finally, having eaten enough that he couldn't swallow another bite, Xander dropped to sit cross-legged on the ground before the log, leaning back against it with a happy sigh. "Food good," he grunted.

Sounds of agreement came from all around him, and he closed his eyes, enjoying the heat of the fire on his face, drowsing but not quite falling asleep. He came back to full alertness some time later when someone started to play a fiddle and was quickly joined by several more instruments, which, in turn, were almost immediately drowned out by the loud cheering of what seemed like the whole village. He opened one eye and found that a large space had been cleared to one side of the fire, marked off by four tall poles bearing torches to light the area, and several people playing instruments had arranged themselves at the far end of it and were starting to play. Most of the cheering villagers settled back down, but a few of the ones who hadn't completely gorged themselves grabbed partners and headed for the square.

Xander opened his other eye and turned a bit so he could watch more closely. The dancing didn't seem to be any one particular step. Mostly there were individual pairs, here and there a group joining together. There was a lot of shouting and laughter, both from the participants and the watchers, and they seemed to be having a lot of fun. The types of dancing were fairly standard, kind of like the country and western he'd seen now and then back home, but there were variations on the theme. And it was certainly nothing he couldn't handle, having had Anya insist on trying nearly every kind of dancing at least once, and most long enough to get reasonably proficient. He found himself nodding in time to the music, leaning sideways on the log as he watched the dancers.

A shadow made him duck instinctively, and he looked up to see River had jumped off the log and over him. She cast him a grin and then headed for the dance floor. She was incredible, he realized as she jumped and kicked, moving among them with an grace he'd only seen hinted at now and then on Serenity. He continued to watch her, captivated, until a hand on his shoulder made him look up to find Kaylee peering down at him.

"Dance with me!" she called.

"But I ate too much to dance," he mock-complained, shaking his head, though actually he'd sat long enough that he was feeling pretty good, if a little sleepy.

She grabbed his hands and pulled him up. "C'mon!" she called. "It'll be fun!"

He let her drag him onto the floor, and they were quickly swept up in the dance, which didn't release them until the musicians begged a break. Xander and Kaylee stumbled back to the others, flushed and sweating but laughing breathlessly.

"This is fantastic!" Kaylee called out as they approached the rest of the crew. "We should do this more often!"

Xander nodded agreement. "I haven't been dancing in ages," he said. "I've missed it." The others had more or less stayed put while they danced, and were looking on with varying degrees of amusement. Jayne had been drinking steadily since the first glass he was offered, and was now talking in a tone that he probably thought was soft to a buxom girl ensconced on his lap. Mal was looking out over the crowd with a strange smile on his face -- nostalgic, almost. Wash and Zoë were tied up in each other. And Simon, well, Simon was glaring at him as though he'd like to rip his heart out, Xander realized in amusement.

He gulped down some fruit juice, and shook his head. "Way too warm for this side of the log," he said, vaulting over it and collapsing on the other side, where he could feel the cool night air rather than the raging fire. He sat, resting, until the band started up again, and then, before Kaylee could grab him, moved down the log a bit, and rose up on the far side of Simon, who was watching Kaylee with an expression of melancholy. "Ask her to dance," he said.

Simon jumped in surprise, and turned to him angrily. "What?"

"I said, ask her to dance."

"Who?"

Xander rolled his eyes. "You obviously want to be with Kaylee, right now. She clearly wants to dance with you. Ask her to dance!"

"She's made it perfectly clear who she prefers to dance with," Simon said stiffly.

Groaning, Xander shook his head. "No, she made it clear who she's willing to ask. I'm easy. I'm a good friend, she knows I like to dance, and if I said I was too tired or something she'd know that it meant I was too tired, not that I didn't want to dance with her. You -- there's a chance you'd say no and then she'd spend the rest of the night miserable. She might not have thought it out that clearly, but that's what's going on. So ask her to dance," he added, as he saw Kaylee looking around, probably for him.

"You really think--" Simon asked, voice fading as he spoke.

"I've known and lived among more women than you've probably ever imagined," Xander stated. "She wants you to ask her to dance, and unless you're a coward or a prick, you'll go over there and do it!"

The doctor stiffened, affronted. "I--"

Xander shoved him, so he had to stand up or fall down in an undignified sprawl. The sudden movement drew Kaylee's eyes, and Xander ducked back a bit, putting Zoë and Wash between her and him, hissing, "Ask her!"

Simon, left with the choice of sitting back down with no clear explanation of why he got up or walking over to her, finally gave in to the inevitable and walked over. Xander moved to where he could see, confident that her eyes would now not be searching him out, and grinned like a Cheshire cat as he saw Kaylee's face light up as Simon bowed over her hand. Mentally patting himself on the back, he hopped back up onto the log as the two headed for the dance floor, hand-in-hand.

"That was good."

He looked over in surprise at the words, not having realized that Wash was paying any attention to anything but Zoë, and found the man looking at him seriously as his wife watched the dancing. "I'm sorry?" Xander said.

"That was a good thing you did," Wash repeated. Zoë turned to focus on the conversation. "He needed that shove. Not that I don't think he'll mess it up before it goes anywhere, but it was still a good move."

Xander shrugged. "Seemed like the least I could do." He hesitated a split second, watching them watching him, and then offered with a hint of a grin, "Are you gonna dance with your wife, Wash, or am I gonna have to do it for you?"

Both of them looked deeply startled, but not at all offended, he was pleased to see. It even surprised a laugh out of Zoë, and he realized that it was the first he'd heard. And that he'd rather like to hear more. It sounded like her trust -- slow, deep, and whole-hearted. She winked one chocolatey eye at him, and turned to her husband. "C'mon, husband-of-mine. We're dancing."

"As you command, dear," he said willingly, rising eagerly and heading for the dancers.

Xander sat out for a time, and then was dragged out by River for a set. He danced with a couple local girls, careful not to accept any tokens of affection from them or do any kinds of dances that he didn't see others doing around him. Eventually Kaylee and Simon let go of each other and he danced another set or two with her. Incredibly, he even did get one dance with Zoë as well, possibly a reward for his audacity in asking, or possibly just because Wash couldn't move his legs any more.

The sun was rising as Xander and the others stumbled back towards Serenity, and Xander was asleep the moment he'd made his way to his shuttle and collapsed across his bed.