In The Cold

Synopsis: [KotCS] Mutt and Indy get into a fight over Mutt's most recent 'incident' at school. When Mutt runs away, whose will is stronger; father or son's?

Author's Notes: This is set about six months after KotCS.

Disclaimer: I obviously do not own Indiana Jones, any of the related characters or any of Spielberg's and Lucas' intelligence.

Characters: Mutt Williams, Indiana Jones, Marion Ravenwood.

Words: 1, 464

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Indiana Jones couldn't believe what had just happened. He just stood there, staring at the closed front door, brain clicking over at a million miles an hour and yet doing nothing at all. Mutt's statement, "and sorry for not being good enough for you to love," kept playing over in his mind. There had been no sarcasm in his son's voice when he'd said that - just brutal, painful honesty.

Was that what Mutt truly thought? That he was unloved by him? That Marion thought of him as a failure? He sighed shakily and ran a hand across his face. Mutt ran a hand through his hair, Indy recalled. God, was Mutt so upset that he didn't even care what his hair looked like? And when was the last time he'd driven his motorbike to school, or driven it hands down for that matter? He felt guilt eat away at his insides - okay, maybe being a dad wasn't as easy as he'd first thought.

The sudden ringing of the telephone grabbed his attention. With shock, and a large amount of unease, he knew who it would be. He swallowed nervously before picking up the receiver.

"Hello, Doctor Jones speaking."

"Do you just sit by that phone Indy? I swear, everytime it rings you pick it up."

"Well maybe because I'm always closest."

A small laugh came down the line before Marion started talking again.

"I know I rang this morning and you're probably eating dinner-" Indy looked over at the bare table sheepishly "-but I just wanted to say hello to Mutt. I missed him this morning."

"Uh…honey-"

"I know he's probably busy with that damn bike of his but-"

"He's not here," Indy interrupted, placing his life on the line.

"Well where is he then?" Marion's voice was now laced with confusion.

There was nothing left but to tell her everything now. If she found out he'd kept this from her, well… some things were just better left unknown.

"We had a…disagreement…and he ran away. I'm not sure where he is."

Indy held his breath as oppressive silence met his ears. He counted down slowly in his head. Two…one…zero.

"INDIANA JONES!" Marion yelled. "You go and find my son this instant! I don't want to hear a word out of you until he's home safe!"

And with that Marion hung up.

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Mutt kicked a broken beer bottle across the sidewalk dejectedly. His head was hanging down and he'd shoved his hands into his jeans' pockets to stop himself from constantly reaching for his comb. The rain pouring down made it impossible for his hair to stay in its usual pompadour. Instead, he simply let his curls hang down limply, water dripping off them as the rain continued its onslaught. He didn't mind that he was soaked, - in actual fact he hadn't even noticed - he was just concentrating on getting as far away from home as possible.

Finally noticing that his feet were aching, he turned into a nearby alley and sat down on an upturned trashcan. It was a slight consolation to him that his day couldn't get any worse. There wasn't exactly anything else that the world could throw at him. He shook his head - like a dog drying itself after a bath - and sent droplets flying.

Then, as if the world had heard his earlier thoughts, his situation managed to become worse. He heard a voice call out to him from a couple of feet away.

"Hey you son-of-a-bitch!"

Looking up dully he saw Trent's pals standing around him, all seeming to be itching for a fight.

"You're gonna pay for what you did to Trent," one of them said.

Was his name Elliot or Robbie? In Mutt's opinion - not that anyone wanted it - they all looked, sounded, acted and even smelt the same. They were living proof that evolution was fake; no monkey, ape or chimpanzee could be that dumb and still survive.

"You got anything to say?" Someone else sneered, practically daring him to answer.

'Yeah, just piss off,' he thought, but he couldn't be bothered to open his mouth.

"Aw what's the matter mongrel?"

'Oh you are just overflowing with intelligence,' Mutt thought sarcastically.

"I heard mommy left you to get laid. Is Professor Oxley gonna be your new dad?"

That was enough to snap Mutt out of his depressed state. He launched himself at the guy who had dared to insult his mom, grinning maniacally when his fist connected with a jaw with a sharp crack. Almost as soon as the grin reached his face he realised that he was seriously out-numbered and, more than likely, totally over-powered. One down didn't mean much when there where still three more coming at you - especially if the one you just knocked down got up again.

Mutt took a subconscious step back as the four guys crowded around him, taking steps closer and closer. He stumbled back into the alley wall as a fist made contact with his head. It took a few moments for Mutt's vision to re-align itself and for the white spots to fade away.

He'd just recovered from the first blow when the domino effect started - that was, as soon as someone got a hit in everyone else suddenly wanted to join. Within minutes Mutt found it difficult to locate a part of him that didn't feel like it was either on fire or throbbing like hell.

Then, through the stinging rain, he heard a foreign yet familiar voice amidst all the others. And then the torture stopped, accompanied by the sound of footsteps running away. Mutt breathed a sigh of relief and let his body slide down the alley wall, sitting down on the concrete. Wet concrete, he realised with a grimace.

And then there was someone crouching down in front of him. He looked up blankly, head still fuzzy from the bashing he'd just received. As soon as he realised what he was seeing he blinked again just to make sure he wasn't imagining it. Indy was crouching in front of him, eyes full of worry, concern and a tinge of anger that wasn't - thankfully - aimed at him.

"You okay kid?" Indy asked, putting a hand on his arm.

"I'm fine," Mutt answered, running on auto-pilot. His head turned away, facing the depths of the alley. He was in for it now, he was sure.

"Who were they?"

Mutt didn't answer, still staring down the alley. Indy sighed, reaching out his other hand and using it to turn Mutt's head back towards him. The flinch Mutt gave when Indy's hand made contact with him drove a knife straight into Indy's heart. Was Mutt truly that afraid of him? Did he think that Indiana was going to strike him?

"Mutt," he called kindly.

Mutt was visibly taken aback by the warm tone in his voice - 'I'm not gonna get it?' - and looked up at him, studying his father intently.

"Who were those guys?" Indy asked again, gentler this time.

"Just some people from school," Mutt replied with a shrug.

That made Indy raise an eyebrow - this was the first he'd ever heard of such instances. Mutt noticed and shifted uncomfortably on the ground. The last thing he needed, and wanted, right now was his parents finding out about what happened at school. He was old enough to deal with bullies.

He'd taken on the KGB, been over waterfalls, been bitten by a huge scorpion and had seen aliens for God's sake. School should have been a breeze. It was probably the fact that it wasn't that threw Mutt so much. In many ways, it was almost harder than the whole ordeal with the crystal skull. At least he hadn't been alone back then.

A brief shake brought him out of his thoughts and he saw his dad standing over him. As he met his father's eyes, Indy looked away guiltily, recognising most of the emotions flooding his son's eyes and being unable to face them knowing that he was probably the cause of them all.

"I was thinking…" Indy cleared his throat nervously, looking anywhere but into Mutt's eyes. "I was thinking that maybe there are two sides to every story. Let's get a burger and you can tell me okay? What do you say to that huh kid?"

Mutt smiled a small smile.

"That sounds good," he answered in that incredibly honest tone he had that left you in no doubt that he was telling the truth. Indy smiled in return and held out a hand to his son.

"This way up."

Mutt's smile actually reached his eyes this time and he grabbed his dad's hand, allowing himself to be hauled up.

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A/N: Oh my God, I was just overcome with reviews! Thank you so much to everyone who took time out of their busy days to review my story! I hope this chapter lives up to your expectations though I doubt it. The first chapter was definitely better but I'm hoping to make up for it in chapter 3. Reviews are still welcome, as are ideas.

Also, because Indiana Jones is basically set in America I tried to use American terms (I am Australian after all) such as asphalt, sidewalk and trashcan instead of the Australian bitumen, footpath and bin. Hopefully, Americans do actually use these words. If they don't, please tell me.