Welcome back, dear readers!

Here is some more from the verse where Indiana Jones takes in Daniel after the death of his parents. This takes part about two years after Danny came to live with Indy.

Enjoy!

Indy scrubbed his hands over his face tiredly. Man, grading essays from "Archaeology 101" definitely began bordering on torture when you had been at it for hours.

He thought back ruefully to a time a few years prior. He'd just pack up his things, and be off on another wild hunt for mystical artefacts when life in academia became too boring.

But he had a kid to think about now, he couldn't just leave on a moment's notice. Chairman Snedly had been absolutely thrilled that he'd "settled down", and planned digs now carefully months in advance.

And though Indy sometimes wistfully thought of the times where he could just up and leave whenever fancy took him, he wouldn't trade Danny for the world.

Indy had always loved his godson, but he hadn't seen much of him in the first years of his life, due to both Indy and the Jacksons being on different dig sites most of the time. It had only been in the last two years after he took in Danny that they'd grown really close.

To his absolute delight, Danny had been really excited when he'd brought up the question of adoption half a year after the boy came to live with him. So now he was not only the guardian but officially the father of his little archaeologist in the making, and he couldn't have been more proud.

Speaking of his boy, he'd better check up on him. Daniel had a habit of staying up late reading whenever he could get away with it. Not that Indy discouraged Danny from widening his horizons, but he still was a growing boy who needed his sleep.

A glance to the grandfather clock told him it was half past nine. Not too bad, he only had about a fifth of the essays left. With a little luck he could be finished before midnight.

He got up and stretched, trying to get the kinks out of his back. While he was up, he would brew a fresh pot of coffee, he decided.

He didn't turn on the light in the corridor while he walked to Daniel's room. As he had suspected, a faint shimmer of light from under the door gave his son away.

Indy shook his head in amusement, and softly knocked on the door. He didn't want to startle Danny by just barging in.

The light switched off immediately. Indy heard some hasty rustling of covers, then silence.

"Nice try, kiddo," Indy chuckled when he opened the door, and heard very unconvincing snores come out from under the blankets.

A tousled head slowly emerged from beneath the covers, and Danny blinked owlishly at Indy.

The senior archaeologist in the house sat down on the side of his little counterpart's bed with a fond smile. "Danny, if you're going to stay up reading after your bedtime, can you at least do it at your desk instead of under the covers? I don't want you damaging your eyes."

"You're not cross?" Danny asked with an endearing mixture of shyness and curiosity.

Indy reached forward, and ruffled Daniel's hair. "Nope, I'm not. Though you are definitely taking a nap after school tomorrow, munchkin."

"Awwww, dad!" Danny protested at once, feeling much too mature for naps with his ten years.

The title never failed to cause a warm feeling spreading in Indy. Daniel with his wonderful ability to love abundantly had seen no problem whatsoever in adding a "dad" to the "baba and mama" he had already had. Sure, he'd tried the "You're not my father!" line once early on when he had landed himself in some trouble. But Indy had just calmly explained "No, but I'm the person your parents named as the one to raise you, my boy. And that also means I won't let you go running wild." - and that had been that. Indy had been near tears when Daniel called him "dad" for the first time.

The professor gave Danny a kiss to the nose, which caused him to giggle.

"Well, you can either sleep at bedtime, or you'll make it up with naps. That's the deal, Dannyboy. Now, d'you want to read some more, or are you ready to get some shut-eye?"

As if in answer, a huge yawn broke out on Daniel's face which caused Indy to laugh softly and tuck in Daniel for the second time that night. "I see. Goodnight, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite!"

"But there aren't bedbugs here, right?" Danny asked a little anxiously. He had grown up knowing the threat of sand fleas, though they were much more prominent south of the Sahara, where the Doctors Jackson had seldom ventured.

Indy reassured him at once. "No, there aren't any bed bugs here, nor any other bugs intent on biting little boys. You're quite safe."

"'Kay" Danny mumbled, his eyes already drooping. "Love you, dad."

Indy gave him a kiss to the forehead. "I love you too, kiddo."

He stayed and held watch until his child was sleeping soundly, treasuring these quiet moments with all his heart.

Then he quietly got up, and, after a last look on the peacefully sleeping boy on the bed, softly closed the door.

Then Indy went to the kitchen, feeling oddly relaxed and ready to tackle the rest of the essays now.

And now it's time for sleepy fanfiction authors to go to sleep as well, haha!

But I wanted to get this out to you before tomorrow, I hope you had fun.

Thanks for reading, and also favouriting and following! Reviews with and without ideas, are, as always, most welcome. :)