Three Weeks Ago:
Gabriel found his tongue first. "Fancy meeting you here."
Indy glared at the smirk, and took a deep breath. No good – his pounding heart didn't slow. "What the hell are you doing!"
"Checking up on the scientists."
"Checking up on the -" and then Indy registered the ship's logo, small but unmistakable, on the hunter's t-shirt. "You're part of the Le Suroit's crew?"
"Oui."
He glared into laughing golden eyes. Took another breath, letting his heart slow to a reasonable pace, and reached for the clothes spilling from the open duffel. He'd been in the middle of unpacking when a knock had sounded on his door. His startled jerk on being met with the face of a man he hadn't seen in years had made a mess of his bunk. "What's gone wrong this time?" he managed to keep his voice level.
A surreptitious glance revealed that one eyebrow had quirked; the other man's expression was otherwise blasé. "What makes you say that?"
The last shirt got shoved in a drawer, and the duffel was summarily stowed. Indy turned to face his – guest – and said evenly, "Well, you always manage to pop in when disaster's about to strike. Or after the smoke has cleared." To clean up.
A warm laugh coaxed the first smile from him. "It's good to see you," Gabriel said instead. "You've been well?"
"Yeah, I have." Surprisingly enough, it hadn't been as difficult as he'd thought to get used to the fact that he wasn't getting any older. "You?"
The hunter's hair was short, and at the best of times he would never be clean-shaven, but he looked well enough to Indy's eye. His own dark blond hair was a little longer than he preferred, but change was necessary enough. Add to that a pair of useless glasses, which altered his appearance more than he'd anticipated, and the bookish look was complete.
"Not bad," Gabriel answered easily. "Decided to come to sea for a change of pace." He stuck his hand out. "Gabe Bateman."
Indy snorted; the ritual was one they kept up, through various names and guises, whenever they managed to meet. "Indiana Johnson."
Wisely, the hunter kept any comment to himself. "Ready for the grand tour?"
Ducking out of the hatch was going to take a little getting used to. "Where are we going?"
"I need to collect the rest of the scientists," Gabriel answered, knocking on the door across from Indy's.
"Laurel Kiersted."
"You know her?"
Indy shook his head as they moved on, no answer coming from the door. "Read the nametag outside the door."
By the time they had reached the end of the starboard hall, four more men had joined them and they were missing only the one woman. The port side of the ship had all six occupants, and Gabriel was smoothly conversing with them.
Indy couldn't understand a damn word. Well, he wasn't getting any older. Might as well learn French.
"Welcome to the galley." Gabriel pushed the door open, easily switching to English. "Food is served three times a day, and you're welcome to help yourself in the meantime. Supply ship comes every ten days, and if you have any special requests you're more than welcome to make it known to the Cook, Delaflote. He's around here somewhere."
Laughter scattered through the group.
A shorter man, commanding and stern, approached. "Gabriel, là où -"
"Captain," the hunter interrupted. "The scientists."
"Most of the scientists," Indy corrected under his breath. The hunter quirked a brow his way, one that read I'll have my revenge – later.
"Ah, good." Even standing tall, the man's mane of brownish hair didn't scrape the bottom of Indy's chin. "Mesdames et messieurs, welcome to Le Suriot. I am the Captain, Jean Merle. My first mate, Gabriel Bateman. Who among you might be Henri Godenot?"
Heads moved, mouths following, but no one stepped forward.
Merle's tongue clicked, he exchanged a glance with Gabriel. "Then it appears we have a problem. The head of the scientists has not yet boarded, and we are due to cast off within the hour."
"There's another scientist missing as well," Gabriel said lowly. "Laurel Kiersted was not in her cabin."
"Ah." Displeasure turned Merle's features severe. The smaller man turned to the hunter and said, "We must try to contact them, and find the reason for this delay."
Dark hair nodded; Gabriel was almost at the door when it opened practically on top of him. A lanky, tanned figure with rumpled gray hair and beard sauntered through. Indy's eyes widened as he saw fleeting recognition in the new arrival's face. Dad?!
He missed whatever shock might have shown on the hunter's expression in his own surprise. By the time he got a good look, Gabriel was already shifting out of the way, opening the galley doorway wider.
"Sorry I'm late," the newest arrival announced. "The lady and I ran into some trouble with transportation to the harbor." Only then did Indy notice that his father was closely followed by a round, older woman whose curls were ruthlessly scraped into a ponytail, not that it did much good to tame the mass bunched behind her head.
"Monsieur Godenot?" And the short captain did well to be unsure; his father's English had a tint of England and the American southwest to it, rather than the distinctly French accent that tinted all the English sounds of the crew.
"Oui. Captain Merle?"
"Welcome aboard, sir," brown hair inclined, though Merle's voice was stiff. "We had become concerned at the delay. Is this Mrs. Kiersted?"
"Yes, thank you," the woman briskly shook the captain's hand, her stature even slighter than his despite the no-nonsense attitude in green eyes. Any vague wonderings Indy might have been harboring flew out the window, and then drowned for good measure.
"Good. Now that everyone is here, I have several things that must be said before we cast off," Merle motioned them toward seats. Indy caught his father's eyes and felt irritation scratch at his patience when Henry Jones, Sr., only blinked at seeing him. The small smile that flitted over his father's face did nothing to dispel his irritation. He knew I'd be here.
Shifting against uncomfortable plastic, the archaeologist noted that Gabriel had disappeared, and tuned back in to Merle's voice.
"- ship-to-shore communications once a week. All parts of the ship are open to you except the engine room and helm, unless there is an emergency. We will practice safety drills today once we have put out to sea, and everyone will know where life-jackets and proper escape routes are located. Any questions?"
There were a few; Indy stopped paying attention. He hadn't been out to sea in years, but the scent of brine on the wind was kindling his need to be on the open ocean once more. Water, in every direction, no land in sight . . .
Frightening and exhilarating all at once. Merle soon dismissed them to begin the process of pulling out of harbor. A crowd of scientists, all eager to meet the coordinator in person rather than through mail, had gathered around Henri Godenot. Indy would say hello later, in private. For now . . .
I wonder where Gabriel –
He found the hunter in the stern of the ship, a blond boy and black Labrador at his side. Indy blinked, then looked again. He'd seen rightly the first time. The boy had both arms around the hunter in an exuberant hug; the dog was pressed affectionately up against his legs as well.
While the first words were whipped away by the wind, the archaeologist could hear the rest of the sentence as he got closer. "- knew I was going to be here, didn't you?"
"I had an idea," the dark-haired man said calmly, but there was a smile behind it that the boy clearly saw. The dog barked, and Gabriel laughed, one hand rubbing behind floppy ears. "It's good to see you too, Ned."
"Mind introducing me?" Indy hated the way the kid jumped, suddenly, and the open smile was replaced by a polite one.
Gabriel's hand stayed on the kid's shoulder; Indy got his first good look at the teenager as the boy turned. Straw-blond hair a little overlong, falling into light blue eyes. The face was younger than the height hinted he might be. Indy revised his definition of the boy's age; he was barely fourteen, if that. The white t-shirt was surprisingly blank of any insignia or band logo, as he might have expected, and the jeans and sneakers were battered but mostly new. The Labrador was a young dog, health shining from clear eyes and thick coat.
"Indy," Gabriel said with a smile. The archaeologist noted that his hand never left the boy's shoulder. "This is my nephew."
Both eyebrows were scraping his hairline before he could stop them. Indy swallowed the squeak of Nephew? that wanted to come out. Nodded instead.
"Hi." This smile was friendly, if cautious. "My name's Ben. It's Neb backwards, short for Nebuchadnezzar. This is Ned. That's Den backwards, short for Denmark."
Ben. Ned. His brain finally connected the dots. Feeling like an idiot, Indy smiled. "I'm Indiana Jone – Johnson. I've heard a bit about you, Ben. It's nice to finally meet you."
"Indiana?" Curious blue eyes flicked from him to the hunter and back. "Indy?"
Wariness lapped at him like waves against the sides of Le Suroit. "Yep."
"I've heard about you too," Ben grinned.
"Oh, really?" Shooting a glance at the hunter, Indy wasn't reassured by the grin fighting its way from under Gabriel's control. Hazel eyes danced. "Nothing too bad, I hope."
The boy shook his head. "Nope."
"Oh. Well, that's good, then." Inordinately relieved, Indy felt the need to ask another question. "So, you're coming with us?"
"Yes." A proper answer, and the enthusiasm behind it had Ned prancing on four paws up to sniff his pants. Indy held out a hand and was rewarded by a soft lick. "I'm the cabin boy. We haven't been to sea in . . . awhile, and Ned'n'I were missing the ocean."
Something in the boy's manner spoke of long experience with ships and the sea, more experience than the tender years evident on his face would attest to. And there was that 'awhile'. He was definitely the boy Gabriel had mentioned on and off. "My Dad'll be glad to meet you," Indy said without thinking. He would.
After all, according to the hunter, the boy was older than both Joneses put together, though the being passing for a man that was leaning against the ship's rail had them all beat without a contest.
Blue eyes lit up. "I'd like to meet him too. He's Henri Godenot, isn't he?"
Indy tossed a pleading glance skyward. "Did everyone know before me?"
Ben giggled. The sound reminded him of Shorty's laugh, before the boy had grown. He was an old, old man now who thought Indiana Jones long dead, but Indy hadn't been able to keep himself from surreptitiously checking up on the grandfather he'd known as a ten-year-old.
"Apparently," the hunter's dry voice cut into his reverie.
But then Gabriel always seemed to know everything, so that didn't count.
Steps sounded behind them, and Ben's face went polite once more. Gabriel straightened a little, suddenly becoming the ship's first mate, and Indy knew it wasn't his father who approached.
Captain Merle slowed to a halt beside them, glancing at Ben with a kind smile before turning to Gabriel and saying something short and to the point in French. The hunter nodded, turning to them with a smile. "Well, I have duties I must attend to. Doctor Johnson, most of the scientists are gathered at the bow. Perhaps you would like to join them?"
Not a suggestion then. "Thank you for your time, Mr. Bateman," he returned the cordial politeness with his best attempts at manners.
As he walked along the port side towards the bow, he heard Gabriel confirm meeting Ben at dinner, and wondered what his father would make of the boy. Henry Jones Sr. would like to meet Ben just for seeing his years of experience with cultures they would never know, but his father had never been good with teenagers. Or children, for that matter. They were too recent for him. But they would get along, if Gabriel had anything to say about it.
Still, joining the rest of the scientists at the prow, he couldn't help but wonder.
