Disclaimer: I don't own Indiana Jones.

Summary (V. Basic): An old friend in need of help turns up on Indy's door…

WARNINGS: WILL BE SLASH LATER ON!!!!! Oh and there's gonna be violence but hey, it's Indiana Jones so when isn't there violence?

Anything Goes (Re-Write)

Chapter One

1935

"No Indy!" twelve-year-old Short Round cried out, interrupting Indy as he explained his plan. The three of them would go to America by plane and once there he would return to his job and Short Round would stay with Willie…"I stay with you!"

"I'm unreliable kid," Indy explained softly, reaching out to touch Shorty's shoulder, "You need someone reliable in your life after everything that's happened.. So that's why you're going with Willie."

"You think I'm reliable?" Willie asked critically, "And just who said I want to look after the kid? My agents got me an audition for a big show, big money involved, I don't need a kid to look after as well…"

"See? She no want me! I stay with you! We be great team!" Shorty shouted, gesturing expressively with his hands, a big smile on his face.

"No! You are staying with Willie and that's final!" Indy snapped, his patience finally worn out after dealing with the two of them. He loved Short Round but he was not the fatherly type, he couldn't look after the boy, definitely couldn't raise the boy…but he couldn't abandon him to his old life either. Indy wanted to know that he was safe and loved by someone. And so the plan had been born.

"You don't want me?" Tears built up rapidly in Shorty's eyes as he backed away from Indy. Willie's arms stretched out like she automatically wanted to hug the poor boy but he moved away from her too, "No one wants me…"

"No I do! It's just…" Indy began but Shorty let out a heartbroken yell,

"You don't want me!"

The tears fell as Shorty turned and ran away from them both, sobbing, heading anywhere as long as it got him away from them. Willie turned to Indy and slapped him around the face,

"Now look what you've done! Oh!"

She followed Shorty quickly, calling out for him to stop and to talk to her. Indy heard her tell him she would love for him to live with her. Well good, that was what he wanted; he wanted Shorty safe and loved…

So why did it hurt so much to be all alone once more?

1957

"Excuse me," he said politely to the group of students laughing together on the steps of the prestigious school, "I'm looking for Dr Jones?" His looks told the students he was Asian but apart from when he said the renowned Professors name his accent was very much American. "It is very urgent that I find him…" he trailed off with a wince, pressing a hand to a growing red stain on his side.

"Er…take a right at the end of the hall," one of the student finally answered, "Then take the second turn on the left and it's the fifth classroom on the right."

"Thank you," the man said softly to the boy, reaching up and wiping away a trickle of blood that fell from his lips as he spoke that time.

The students watched, rather worried and he hurried up the steps and limped into the school, holding his right side even tighter than before. What had happened to him? And why did he want to speak to the Archaeology Professor of all people?

He followed the instructions as quickly as his wounded and tired body could manage, his breath starting to come in sharp gasps from the pain. Finally after what seemed like an age he found himself at a door marked 'Archaeology' and peering through the glass he found himself staring at a familiar figure, talking animatedly about the Ancient Egyptians. He hadn't changed much…

Taking a deep breath he straightened his clothes, wiped the blood of his mouth and chin with the cuff of his shirt and tried to hide the bloodstain on his shirt with his hand. With his free hand he knocked on the door and opening it when his old friend called out for him to 'Come in!'.

"Can I help you?" Dr Indiana Jones asked softly as he and everyone in his class stared at the man in the doorway. He looked awfully despite his obvious attempts to hide that from them. The man didn't speak as Indy looked him up and down, judging the man to be about thirty and wearing someone else's clothes for these were far too big for his slight frame. But it was when the man gave a gasp of pain and ducked his head in pain that Indy realised just who he was staring at, realised it when he saw the familiar baseball cap…"Shorty?!"

"Hello Dr Jones," the man smiled weakly across the room at him, the way he said his name only confirming it to the Professor that this was indeed his little friend from Shanghai. Well, not so little any more. He'd grown…a lot. "I…" he trailed off, wincing once more and when he removed his hand from his side everyone saw the red bloodstain. "I sorry for…" he trailed off again, his skin going even paler. He swayed on the spot, the blood loss and the utter exhaustion catching up with him.

"Shorty?" Indy asked worriedly, taking a step towards him.

"Help…"

His eyes rolled up into his head and his body went limp, falling forwards towards the ground. Indy surprised even himself with how fast he moved, getting to the crumpling body in time to catch him before he hit the floor. Slowly, gently he lower him to the ground, cradling his upper body in his arms. He looked up at his stunned class, looked back down at his unconscious friend and then back up at the stunned faces of his students.

"Er…class dismissed."

~ * ~ * ~

"Marion? Honey?" Indy called out as he struggled through the front door, Shorty's unconscious body slung over his shoulder. The kid had grown up into a well-built man but all that muscle was heavy and Indy was not as young as he once was.

"Indy? What…?" Marion asked as she walked down the stairs, gasping when she saw the wounded man her husband was carrying, "Who is that?"

"An…old friend. Help me get him on the couch," Indy ordered gently and between them they managed to get him laid down on the couch, Marion carefully putting a cushion underneath the man's head.

"What happened to him?" she asked.

"I don't know, he turned up at my classroom like this and then passed out," Indy explained. His fingers made quick work of undoing the small shirt buttons and when he pushed it aside he revealed a gun shot wound to Shorty's right side, a glancing wound from a shot gun. "Marion…"

"I'll get the first aid kit," she said quickly, rising and rushing into the kitchen. She returning with an old duffel bag filled with every sort of medical supply Indy had ever thought he might need. That duffel bag had come in handy many a time.

Between them they cleaned the wound, removing the little pellets still lodged in the unconscious mans side before bandaging the wound tightly. Thankfully the wound wasn't that deep. They carefully checked the rest of his limp body for wounds and found many bruises and cuts all over him, all of which Marion cleaned and treated while Indy tried to get hold of Willie in New York.

"She's not answering," he sighed.

"Who?" Marion asked as she adjusted the pillow under the still unconscious man, making it more comfortable for him…or so she hoped.

"Willie," Indy sighed, lowering himself into his favourite chair.

"And Willie is?" Marion asked.

"His mum," Indy nodded to the man, "She adopted him in '39, just before the war. I haven't seen either of them since before that."

"Leave them too, did you?" Marion asked, her voice a little tight.

"Yes," Indy muttered, his leaving Marion was till a sore subject between the two of them. He still felt guilty, she still felt betrayed. But they were getting over it. "It was for the best."

"For them or for you?" Marion asked.

"Them," Indy answered with a sigh, "I met Willie and Shorty in '35. You remember what I was like back then." Marion snorted, nodding. "Exactly. He was a twelve year old boy, he did not need me as a father figure."

"So you left them," Marion answered.

"I left."

"Mum! I'm home!" Mutt yelled from the hall, the front door slamming loudly.

"Shoes off!" Marion replied out of habit. They heard Mutt grumble as he obeyed and then their son, filthy from fixing motorbikes at the garage entered the front room, the only clean bit of him the white socks on his feet.

"Who's this?" Mutt asked, noticing the stranger being cleaned up by Marion.

"Short Round, he's an…old friend," Indy said again.

"Your kidding," Mutt snorted. Indy shot him a sharp glare, "You're not kidding. Wow. What a name…"

"Compared with Mutt…" Indy began.

"What happened to him?" Mutt interrupted, hating it when his dad hypocritically went on about his chosen name when they all know he borrowed his name from the dog he had as a kid.

"I don't know," Indy admitted quietly, looking down at Shorty once more, lying on the sofa battered and bruised, his skin pale, dark circles under his eyes…

"How do you know him?" Mutt asked, a little suspiciously. Who was this guy? He could be a murderer for all they knew…

"He picked my pocket," Indy chuckled, smiling fondly across at the man, "Have I ever told you two about the time I was in India and I stopped the rise of the Thugee Cult?" he asked. Marion and Mutt shook their heads, almost perfectly in sync. "Well I had just completed an…assignment for a less than trustworthy man in Singapore…"

A/N I felt a need to re-write this first chapter before I could continue it. Mostly I just re-arranged it and added a few more details in. Hope none of you who read the original are disappointed.