By popular demand, I'm writing another Indy-and-Mutt story. I probably had a little too much fun with this first chapter...I admit it's a bit over-the-top. But then, so was Indy IV, so I think I deserve pardoning. :p

This is a sequel to my one-shot, "Compromise," but it can stand alone.

Once again (unfortunately), I do not own Indy, Mutt, Marion or Ox (osr Tarzan, for that matter).

If I got any facts on lucuma or Hercules wrong, I apologize. Let me know in a review how I can fix it!

THE JOURNEY HOME

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One: RUDE AWAKENING

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To say it had been a long day would be the grossest understatement of the century. So as Mutt settled down on the ground near his mother to wait out the night, he said simply, "I'm wiped."

Marion leaned toward him and smoothed his bangs out of his eyes. "Did you lose your comb, honey?"

Somehow it seemed to take less energy to rock his head back and forth than to utter that one syllable.

"No?"

"I'm just too tired," Mutt explained. For once he could fix his hair later.

Marion glanced over at Indy and Oxley before saying quietly, "Are you really mad at me?"

Mutt knew she was referring to the fact that she had lied to him about his parentage—his whole life. "I'm too tired," he admitted.

Marion sighed. "I'm sorry, sweetheart. I really am. I should have told you..."

"Mom, don't." Mutt felt around until he found one of her hands and hung on to it. "We can talk about it later, OK? Don't beat yourself up."

She gently planted a kiss on Mutt's forehead. "OK, try to sleep. I love you."

He wanted to say it back. After all, he did still love her. But he made due with squeezing her hand before she let go. The physical pain was bad enough. They could deal with the rest later.

Before he could nod off, Indy came over to say, "Don't do anything crazy during the night, like running off by yourself."

"You wish," Mutt said groggily. "Oh, I get it. You're afraid I'll tell people you got abducted by the aliens."

"I'm more afraid you'll try playing Tarzan again and break your neck."

"I'm telling you, it worked before—I was seriously swinging from tree to tree...you don't believe me, do you?"

"Physics is against you, kid. You said you went from one stationary, straight hanging vine to the next, down a mountainside and you just so happened to time it so that you could land on a moving vehicle?"

Mutt sighed. "Well, that last bit was luck, really. But yeah, that's what I did. And tomorrow, I'll show you."

"You'll do no such thing. I'm not done being a father yet."

"I know...you haven't even started yet!" Mutt sniped.

"Hilarious. Go to sleep."

"That's what I was trying to do..." Mutt's grumbling petered out and he stared up at the starry South American sky. As soon as the sun had set, the temperature seemed to drop dramatically. Mutt zipped up his jacket and shoved his hands in the pockets.

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When he awoke, Mutt felt much warmer. He turned his head slightly to find that his mother was curled up against his right side. That must mean that on the other side...

Please, let it be Ox, Mutt thought. He turned his head to the left. "Oh, no..." he moaned. "No, no, no..."

Suddenly, Indy snapped awake. "What?" he said, rather more loudly than necessary. "What's the matter?"

"You were touching me!" Mutt shouted. He rolled onto his side, pulled out his comb and began raking it through his hair. "What's the big idea, anyway?"

Indy shook his head as he turned his eyes heavenward. "You'll live, kid."

Marion and Oxley were now awake (who could sleep through that ruckus?).

"It got really cold last night," Marion said, as if that made everything OK.

"So you decided to slap me in the middle of a parent cootie sandwich?"

"Oh, for the love of..." Indy muttered.

"I happen to have zero cooties," Marion sniffed.

"Can we discuss this like adults?" Indy asked in a tone that suggested he was near the end of his patience. "In case you didn't notice, Ox is on the other side of me. This was not a spontaneous family moment. It was the desire to not freeze."

Mutt smiled maliciously. "There'd have been no danger of us freezing if we'd left yesterday like I said we should."

"We'd have been cold down there too...just not as."

"Anyway, if it wasn't a...a...family thing...how come you stuck me between you two?"

"Well, obviously, we couldn't put your mom next to anyone except you, or you'd have had a fit in the morning...which you had anyway...but that's beside the point. So, that took care of one end—the ends being colder than the middle, of course—and Ox and I argued about who would be the martyr and take the other end until—"

"Until I told them to shut up and settle down," Marion finished.

"And that's how the chips fell."

"Really." Mutt wasn't entirely convinced.

Oxley shook his head. "No, actually. I knocked your father down and that settled the matter."

"Come back to earth, Ox," Indy said. "You couldn't knock me down, even in our school days. Come to think of it, especially in our school days..."

Mutt was starting to feel a headache coming on. "Why's it so cold at night anyway? It's not like it's winter."

"Welcome to the southern hemisphere," Indy said. "Back home, it's spring. We were tilted toward the sun. Down here, summer is ending. We're tipped away from the sun. And being on a mountain doesn't help, of course."

"I knew that." He did, too. He just hadn't remembered. It was so annoying having a know-it-all teacher around. "So, do we have anything to eat?"

"Your monkey friends didn't bring you anything? I'm shocked."

"Oh, honestly," Oxley said, getting to his feet. "Let's not sit here griping at each other. Let's go find something."

And of course it was Oxley who did find something.

"What is it?" Mutt asked, studying the yellowish green-skinned fruit in his hand.

"It's lucuma," Oxley replied.

"Do you peel it?"

"Try."

Mutt found that the peel came away without too much difficulty and he tried a nibble of the dark yellow middle. "Hey...this is pretty good."

Oxley nodded. "I thought you'd like it."

"It's like...like...um...hmm."

"Like nothing you've had before?" Oxley suggested.

"Yeah."

"Fortunate we're here now, when they're ripe."

Mutt ate three of the small fruits before he felt reasonably satiated. The others ate several as well, while they walked through the jungle on their way down the mountain.

"You shouldn't have let me try this, Ox," Marion said. "When we get home, I'll be craving it."

"Great," Indy muttered. "Bring me the golden apples of the Hesperides."

Marion laughed.

For some reason, Mutt felt irritated. "Golden apples?"

"It's a Greek legend," Indy said.

"Thanks, that helps a lot."

"Tell him the story," said Marion, smiling at Indy.

"Oh, he doesn't want to hear it."

Mutt said nothing. Indy might be right...he wasn't sure he did want to hear it.

"Well, I do," Marion persisted.

Indy groaned. "All right. But only because I'm bored. Mutt, you've heard of Hercules, surely?"

"Yes. Strong cat. Wore a lion skin or something."

"Right. Well, there was this king, Eurystheus, who got to be king because his mom induced labor early—otherwise his relative Hercules would have been born first and gotten the crown.

"Ambitious mom," Mutt commented. "Tough break for the Herk."

"You might say that. Well, his bad luck streak wasn't over. He had a wife and three kids—"

"Oh yeah, real bad luck."

Indy sighed. "Will you let me tell the story?"

"Sure."

"And he went crazy one day... thanks to the goddess Hera, who hated him... and killed his whole family."

"Ouch."

"So when he came out of it he was miserable and went to the Oracle at Delphi to figure out how to redeem himself."

"And it told him to dream on, right?"

"It told him he'd have to perform twelve tasks for Eurystheus. The guy he hated more than ten-day-old Brussels sprouts."

"That must o' rattled his cage. So let me guess, the golden apples of the Whatsits was one of the tasks?"

"You got it."

"What's that got to do with Lucuma?"

Indy looked ready to quit, but Marion nudged him and gave him a smile.

"You want to hear about all twelve tasks, or just the apples?"

Mutt looked around at the dense jungle they were very slowly making their way through. "Something tells me we've got time for all twelve."

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Not the best stopping place, I admit. But "I'm wiped," as the kid said. :p Please leave a review if you'd like to see this continued. Or just to be nice.