Start of Something Beautiful

Title: The Start of Something Beautiful
Author: Jinni (jinni@tthfanfic.com)
Rated: FR15
Disclaimer: All things BtVS and Firefly belong to Joss Whedon, et al.
Prompt: 12 – The Start
Word Count: 492
Characters: Kaylee/Xander
Notes: Sort of a Prequel to "Dreams", though not all of these drabbles will be related.

~*~*~

It all started pretty typically for any fiasco involving a Scooby, Xander thought with a smile, stroking his fingers through Kaylee’s hair as she slept, curled up against his side.

He had gotten scratched by a demon.

“Xander,” Giles had said as he took off his glasses and rubbed at his eyes sort of tired-like. “Did I not warn you –“

And he had warned him. Them. All of them. Really, he had. Three or four times, with a fifth done via cell phone when they reached the demon’s lair just right inside the edge of town, in a little cave-like place.

Do. Not. Let. It. Scratch. You.

Because the little bit of research that the G-man had been able to scrounge together before he sent them out that night said that the demon’s claws had some kind of toxin in them. Not just any toxin, either. This was one mojo-enhanced and played with the mind. It made you want something that you couldn’t have. Made you crave that one dream that your heart had always secretly wanted and knew it could never, ever get. Day after day, it wore you down until… you went nuts from longing.

But he’d felt fine. A little battered and bruised – and, oh yeah, there was that huge honkin’ scratch on his arm – but other than that he was a-ok. The rest of the group had hovered around him, watching him worriedly while Giles sat over a book and Willow silently prayed. (She didn’t say she was praying, but he could see it in her eyes.)

Still – nothing.

So he went home and took a shower, patched up his arm and tumbled into bed.

That night he had dreamed of her for the first time.

His goddess.

Blondish-brownish hair with little bits of red. Round cheeks with a devilish looking mouth that was like one of those angels on a painting. She had a smudge of something dark on her cheek, wore dirty-looking coveralls, and the wrench in her hand said she was working on something far more mechanical than he had talent for.

She had made something go flip-flop in his stomach. Anya, he had told himself. You love Anya.

But it hadn’t worked. There was just something about this girl –

“You ‘bout done there, little Kaylee?”

“Just ‘bout Cap’n,” she grinned at some man that Xander hadn’t been able to see.

Kaylee. His goddess’s name was Kaylee.

He had woken that first morning with a grin on his face, the feeling that something beautiful had started somewhere in the vicinity of his heart – right up until he remembered the demon…the curse of the demon’s claws…and the fact that he knew then what he’d never have.

Except…he’d gotten her. As crazy as it was, here she was at his side.

But that was a story for another night’s thought.

~*~End Ficlet~*~