AN: So I had the idea "What if Cuke and the gang watched the Indiana Jones movies?" and you know, this became a thing. I really have no excuse. Humanized and as per the norm I own nothing.
Oh! And I took some liberties in the timeline of the movies. Let's assume Samson's Hairbrush took place in 2009 rather than 2005, and Noah's Umbrella happened just a few months later. This fic would take place present day-ish, give or take a few months
"Do you really expect me to believe Minnesota Cuke has never seen an Indiana Jones movie?"
He hadn't. In fact, Min was a little ticked off that this Indiana Jones guy, whoever he was, stole the formula for his awesome-sounding name. Nobody bothered to argue that he was born a year after Raiders of the Lost Ark came out.
But upon hearing that Minnesota had never seen an Indy movie, Marten and Rattan took it upon themselves to sit him down and have him marathon all four movies.
It only took him the first ten minutes to realize why they both insisted he watch the series. The similarities were uncanny. Of course, he and Indiana also had their share of differences, but the similarities vastly outweighed them. Cuke was glued to the edge of his seat, wondering what Jones was going to do next.
He found himself thoroughly enjoying himself, up until about the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark. The whole scene was a bit uncomfortable for him, but hearing Marion – "We never seem to get a break, do we?" – it hurt him more than he wanted it to. Of course, as soon as Marion was introduced images of the brilliant redhead flashed to the forefront of his mind, but that one line hit the closest to home.
He did his best not to let it show, however. As far as he could tell, Marten and Rattan were none the wiser. And Marion's absence in Temple of Doom and Last Crusade made sitting through the rest of the franchise a lot easier. He was doing pretty good in watching Crystal Skull, too, until the big plot twist.
Nauseous wasn't the right word for what he was feeling. It was a thousand times worse than nausea. Head both aching and spinning, he pulled himself up from the couch and mumbled something along the lines of "excuse me" before stumbling into his bedroom, blindly picking up items and tossing them onto his bed.
"No." she had whimpered it so quietly at first, he wasn't even sure he had heard her. Slipping out from under him, she shook her head, running a hand through her now unbraided hair, as she told him, her voice stronger now, "No. We can't do this, Min. You need to go."
"Jules…" he had started, moving towards her, a hand already on her shoulder. He fully intended on stopping if that was what Julia wanted, but he sure as hell wasn't about to leave.
Upon feeling his hand on her shoulder, she spun around to face him, tears already streaming down her face. "You really need to leave."
"Jules," he choked out quietly, "I'm not gonna leave you like this."
"We can't keep doing this…" she tried, voice and breathing labored from the heavy onslaught of tears. "…I had a scare last time." She finally admitted, voice quiet. "A false positive. Cuke…"
"Woah woah woah…." He interrupted, "Why is this the first I'm hearing of this?"
She continued, leaving his question at the wayside "…the whole time, the whole month of September, I didn't care that I was pregnant. I was so scared for that baby, Min. He wasn't going to have a dad…"
"Julia, I would've…"
"You never call, you never text, you never want anything to do with me unless you need information. Then I'm good for a short dose of affection before you go home…"
Swallowing back tears, he tried to reason "Julia, no, you have to understand. It's not like that…"
"That's why we can't keep doing this. That's why you need to leave, Minnesota."
She never called him by his full name. It threw him off, and he actually stumbled backwards, his ankle bashing against the arm of her couch "You don't mean that."
The redhead inhaled, one long, shaky breath, before finally looking him in the eyes again. "I want you to go now."
He nodded. It was all he could do, before picking up his things, and doing what she asked.
"Cuke?" Marten asked, peaking his head in the room. "Is everything okay?"
He was packing furiously, the scene replaying over and over in his mind. "Mutt was 20 years old, Marten." The archaeologist stated simply.
Marten wasn't entirely sure where Minnesota was going with that. "Yeah…."
"20 years, Marten!" he cried, his voice becoming high pitched, "Indiana had a son for 20 whole yeas and he missed out on all of it! Marion was raising him all by herself for 20 years!"
"She did marry Colin!" Marten tried, wondering why fictional characters were getting to his friend. "And Colin was probably a great dad! Y-ya know…until the war…"
Minnesota spun around immediately, eyes wide with fear. Marten had only ever seen Cuke truly afraid a handful of times. This was worrisome. "She wouldn't." Minnesota tried. "I know her, she wouldn't ever…"
"This isn't about Indiana Jones, is it?" Marten asked as delicately as he could.
Zipping his now-packed bag, he shook his head as he turned to look at his friend. "I have to see her, Marten. I have to go, and I have to find her, and I have to tell her that I'm sorry and that I'm never gonna leave her again and that I love her, that I love her so so so so so much…"
Nodding in understanding, Marten simply offered "Let me try to find you a cheap ticket."
(*)
"Cuke?" she asked, stifling a yawn. Not that the development was boring, by any means. Quite the opposite, as this was definitely the last thing she had been expecting. Standing in her pink housecoat at 7AM, she was honestly not even entirely sure she wasn't still sleeping.
He smiled, nodding. "Good morning, sleeping beauty. Is it alright if I come in?"
She opened the door, and waited for him to go in, shutting and locking the door behind her. "So, to what do I…" she paused to yawn "…owe the pleasure? What dangerous ports are you headed to this time?"
Cuke chuckled awkwardly, eyes on his hands, which were currently grasping tightly at his knees as he sat on her couch. "This is it. And it's honestly probably the scariest thing I've ever done."
Julia, still tired and now very confused, tilted her head as she simply stated "I don't understand."
"Julia Rhubarb," he started, before pausing. First, he cleared his throat. Secondly, he shut his eyes, taking a deep breath. Finally, he reached out, clasping the redhead's hands in his own. "I know that I've hurt you before. Some of the stuff I know about, and I'm sure I've hurt you in ways I'm not even aware of. But I honestly never ever ever want to hurt you ever again."
Swallowing, he brought himself to look at her. Her eyes were welled with tears. He hoped that was a good thing. "Min," she smiled, "That's all I ever-"
"I'm not done." He interjected. Perhaps a little too quickly, but he needed to get it out while he still had the nerve to. "I love you." He blurted out breathlessly. "And I just want you to know how sorry I am for ever hurting you. And I want to be with you, if you know, you're into that idea." He finished, a small smile on his face.
Julia sat in a stunned silence. It was all so much to take in. "You're being serious, aren't you?"
He nodded once more, dropping her hands to wrap his arms around her instead. "I brought enough things for a month and Marten can send over the rest. I want to be with you, Julia. More than anything else in the world. It just took a dumb movie for me to figure that out. I'm sorry it took so long."
Shaking her head, smiling ear to ear, she softly murmured "Don't apologize." before pinning him against the couch's armrest, kissing him for the first of many, many times that day. And it was still early.
