Disclaimers, etc.: Don't own. Would like to. Very short chapter, but real life is bootin' me in the arse just now.

Mutt woke up just as the sun started peeking through the curtains of the room he was sharing with Susan at the moment and he looked over to see if his "little sister" was awake yet. He always woke up too early when Mommy put him to bed early. After he pulled open one of Susan's eyes, she smiled just a little bit as she held onto the stuffed animal he'd given her for dear life. Mutt put his hand on her forehead as he'd seen his mommy do countless times. She was sweaty but she wasn't hot any more.

"You feelin' better?" Mutt asked bouncing on her bed. "If Mommy says you can, we'll play outside an' I'll let you ride my trike. You can ride onna back when we go to school."

"I'm okay but my tummy's hungry," Susan answered.

"That's 'cause you din't eat dinner last night," Mutt deduced. "I'll get Mommy."

"No, that's okay," Susan replied. "Mommies get mad if you wake them up 'fore they're ready."

"Not mine!" Mutt defended. "My mommy never gets mad like that. C'mon, I'll show you."

Mutt took the little girl's hand and practically dragged her toward his parents' room where they were sleeping soundly. He left Susan at the door as he walked quietly up to his mother's side of the bed and patted her on the arm.

"Hreump?" was the muffled and unintelligible noise that escaped Marion's lips as she opened one bleary eye at her son. It took her a moment to remember that her son was no longer the independent young man he was but now again a small boy who relied on her for everything in his existence.

"Mommy, you awake?" Mutt asked quietly.

"I am now, Sweetie," Marion replied. "Is anything the matter?"

"Nuffin," Mutt said, "But we woke up and Suzy's better an' she's hungry. She din't wanna tell you 'cause she din't want you to be mad."

Indy started awake when he heard his son's voice. "Huh? What's wrong?" he asked rubbing his eyes.

"Nothing's wrong, dear," Marion replied. "The kids are awake."

"Hey, Buddy," Indy said, motioning his son over to his side of the bed. Mutt went over and stared at his father closely. "It's still early yet. Snuggle in with Mommy and me."

Mutt giggled as Indy lifted him into the bed between him and his wife. "But Daddy, Suzy needs food. She din't eat much dinner 'cause she wasn't feelin' good."

"Where is Susan?" Indy asked looking around as he spied the little blonde peeking around the doorway as she backed away at being seen. He sighed realizing that it was unlikely that she was used to any such familiarity and admittedly, his behavior hadn't been very encouraging for a shy, frightened child. "It's all right, Susan. You can come in."

The little girl stepped in carefully and approached the end of the bed where Marion reached down and scooped the little girl onto the bed with the rest of the family. Susan snuggled into Marion's arms with her Snoopy in tow. "Hi," she said, shyly as her stomach growled loudly.

"That does sound like a belly that's ready for breakfast," Marion said hugging her. "What would you like to have to eat?"

Susan shrugged. "Anything is okay," she replied. "I like oatmeal with cimmanin."

Indy looked confused before Marion translated for him, "You mean cinnamon, Sweetie. All right; oatmeal with cinnamon it is then."

Marion dragged herself out of bed and threw on her robe to make breakfast for the strange little family while Indy tucked the kids under the covers for a little while longer. He had a full day ahead with classes and the inevitable bevy of appointments.

"Hey, Daddy," Mutt said, cuddled into his father's chest. "I'm still goin' to school today?"

Indy groaned. With everything else that had happened; he'd forgotten about Mutt starting school. He obviously couldn't go in his current condition. He'd have to call the school and tell them that his son was unable to attend for the foreseeable future. "No, not today, Kiddo," Indy said. "You're still too little."

"I'm a big kid!" Mutt declared. "I taked care of Suzy an' everything."

"I know you did but when little kids go to high school; it makes the bigger kids nervous," Indy chuckled. "Besides, I think Mommy needs to take you both to get clothes and shoes."

"Aw Man… Shopping's for girls!" Mutt groaned. "What are you goin' to do?"

"I have to go to work, Son," Indy said. "You stay here and play with Susan and Mommy and I'll be home later."

Mutt's face fell when his father said that he had to leave. "But… I wanted to…" the boy began, tears welling up in his eyes. "We had fun yesterday an' I wanted to play with you again today. Can't you stay, Daddy?"

"Wish I could but the college will get mad if I stay away," Indy said. "I promise that we can play together when I get home, any game you want."

"Really?" Mutt sniffed. "You promise?"

"Yeah, Kid, I promise," Indy said, cuddling his little boy. He noticed that Susan had been very quiet and he looked over to see her sleeping on Marion's pillow and he chuckled. "Did you wake Susan up this morning, Mutt?"

"Nuh-uh, not really," Mutt said. "I only opened one of her eyes to see if she was awake. I couldn't sleep no more and was lonely. She smiled so I thought it was okay."

Indy sat up and grabbed his son up in his arms, laughing. "You're too funny, Kid," he said. "I guess you'll need a later bedtime to keep from getting up at the crack of dawn."

"I cracked it?" Mutt asked worried which caused his father to laugh even more.

"C'mon," Indy said. "Let's get you cleaned up and ready for breakfast. We'll let Susan sleep a little bit longer."

"Daddy," Mutt started as Indy dropped him on the countertop in the bathroom and wetting a washcloth. "I had a funny sort of dream last night about being big and riding the big bike in the garage."

"Did you really?" Indy said, wiping the boy's face. "Was it a fun dream?"

"Some of it, but not all of it," Mutt continued. "I dreamed that me an' Suzy were running away. The riding on the bike part was okay, but it was scary 'cause they had guns. You made them go 'way though."

Indy kissed the boy's head. "I'll always make the bad guys go away, Kid. I promise you that. Let's go harass Mommy about breakfast."

He picked his son up and swooped him around the room like an airplane. He then headed down the stairs and deposited the boy into a chair. He then wrapped his arms around Marion's waist and kissed her neck. "Good morning," he said. "We have one kid down and one to go. Susan zonked out on your side of the bed."

"Go get her so she can have some breakfast," Marion said as she turned around and returned his kiss. Mutt made some kind of gagging sound from his place at the table.

"One day, Kid, you won't object so much," Indy laughed heading back up the stairs. Marion set a bowl of oatmeal in front of Mutt and tied a dish towel around him just for safety.

"Mommy, I'm not that messy," Mutt complained, stirring the oatmeal around and taking a spoonful which promptly dribbled down the towel.

"We need to go out today," Marion replied. "Please just eat your breakfast and don't make a fuss."

Upstairs, Indy gently shook Susan to wake her up.

"It's time to eat," he said, pulling the covers from around her. "Marion is going to take you and Mutt to get new clothes today after you eat."

"Where'd the little lady go?" Susan asked, blearily. "May I have my lamp back?"

"I don't know where she went, Susan," Indy replied. "Your lamp is put away safe so that it doesn't get taken by the bad people who were here before. We don't want any more trouble from the likes of them, do we?"

"I bringed trouble?" she asked, her eyes wide with fear. "I sorry."

"No, it wasn't you, Kiddo," Indy said, washing her face with a warm cloth. "Don't worry about it. Let's go have breakfast and I promise I'll let you play with your lamp tonight when I'm home from work."

"Okay," Susan replied, remembering to grab her stuffed animal from the bed as they went downstairs. She sat Snoopy on the counter so he wouldn't get messy from breakfast but he could watch from a safe distance.

Before they were finished, Indy looked at his watch and stood up. "I'm running late," he said, kissing his wife on the cheek and ruffling his son's hair before giving Susan a pat on the shoulder. "See you guys tonight. Don't give Mommy a rough time, Mutt."

"All right," Marion said. "Who wants to have a bath first?"

"Not me!" Mutt announced as he played with his food, obviously finished but not wanting to give it up to get clean of all things.

"I have a baf?" Susan asked. She seemed uncertain but knew that Marion wouldn't hurt her. She hadn't so far, after all. "Can I have warm?"

"Of course you can, Sweetie," Marion replied. "If you are all done eating, you can have your bath first. Mutt, you may be second but you WILL have a bath this morning."

Mutt groaned as he watched his mother and Susan leave for the bathroom. Indy left the back door open and the enticement was too great to ignore. Mutt padded out to the yard where his tricycle was waiting for him to ride it. He knew that he couldn't take it far but surely just a little trip wouldn't hurt. Maybe he could just go the front sidewalk and that would be all right. Mutt climbed aboard his newly acquired wheels and started to the front of the house. The neighborhood was fairly quiet and he decided that Mommy would be busy with Susan for a while yet, so just going to the corner wouldn't be too bad. He'd be back before anyone could even miss him.

Before he got as far as the corner, Mutt noticed that a big black car pulled up back at the house and some men ran out and rushed inside. He pulled his trike into some bushes and watched as Marion was dragged out, carrying Susan who was wrapped in a towel. Panic took over his little body as he decided that he had to find Daddy so that he could make the men go away. His feet took off on the pedals going as fast as his tiny legs could manage until he found himself stopping in front of a beat cop.

"Where'd you come from, Little Sir?" the officer asked kneeling down in front of the crying boy.

"I hafta find Daddy!" Mutt wailed. "Some men got into the house and they took Mommy and Suzy. Please help me!"

"Okay, Son," the policeman said. "What's your daddy's name and where do you live?"

"Daddy is Henry Jones and I don't know my address yet. We just lived there since last week," Mutt said, his voice dissolving into distressed sobs. "Daddy went to work at the college today. I hafta go get Daddy!"

"All right, calm down," he replied. "We're going to go to the police station and I'll call your father."

The boy was hardly any calmer by the time they reached the station and the officer was able to get a hold of Indy, who was a little irritated at being pulled out of class because his son decided to get lost on his tricycle. When he reached the station, however, Mutt threw himself into his father's arms and bawled out his story in a long rambling tirade which made little sense.

Indy gathered the boy into his arms and sat him on his knee. "Slow down, Kiddo, now why weren't you in the house with Mommy?"

"My bike wanted me to take it for a ride," Mutt hiccupped. "An' before I could get back, the bad men came and they took Mommy an' Suzy. I couldn't 'tect them, Daddy. I was tryin' to find you but I couldn't."

"That's okay, Mutt," Indy soothed. "You found a policeman and got me and that's a good thing. We'll talk about you leaving and not telling Mommy later."

"Doctor Jones," one of the policemen said. "The house appears to have been ransacked and your wife and daughter aren't there. We should get you home, at least, in the event there's a ransom request. Officers will be with you in your home."

The house was in shambles. Indy knew what they were looking for, and knew that they wouldn't find it so easily. He sent Mutt up to his room to get dressed while he straightened up the living room. Xanae popped out and looked around.

"Who sent a hurricane through here?" she asked the doctor as he scowled at her.

"Those people who want you," he growled. "And they took Marion and Susan to boot."

"So what are you going to do to get them back?" she asked, innocently.

"I'd give 'em what they wanted if I didn't think they'd destroy the planet with you," he said. "As soon as they contact me, I'll decide what to do next. I need to find someone to look after Mutt though."

"No, Daddy," Mutt said from the stairs. "I wanna go wif you."

"You can't, Son," Indy said. "It's too dangerous."

"I don' care!" Mutt yelled. "I wanna save Mommy!"

"Mutt, you're too little and you're not going," Indy said firmly. He understood that the teenage Mutt was very close to his mother and would do anything to keep her safe, but in his current condition, there was no way that Junior was getting anywhere near this adventure.

"He might be a useful little runt," Xanae mused.

"No," Indy replied. "My son is not going to be in harm's way. My only concern is getting Marion and Susan back. Can't you do anything about it?

"Let's see what we can come up with," Xanae mused.

--

Marion beat on the steel door of the room where she and Susan were being held hostage. Susan had nothing but a towel on and the cold was starting to make the child shiver for all she was worth. Marion kept the child in her arms to share her body heat with the little girl, but it wasn't going to work as a long term solution. "You can't keep us in here, you sons of bitches! At least give me some clothes for her. She's sick!"

"Calm down, Mrs. Jones," a voice came in the room over an intercom. "If all goes to plan, you and little Miss March will be released soon."

"We're Joneses and my little girl is desperately ill," Marion insisted. "If I don't get her warmed up and some medicine in her soon, she could easily develop pneumonia and die. She's just a baby!"

The intercom shut off but a moment later, a flap in the bottom of the door opened and a tray was pushed through with clothes and a child's fever reducer on it. "Now be quiet," the voice came over the intercom again. "Your husband should cooperate and you'll be playing house again soon."

"I don't feel good," Susan croaked as she clung to Marion. "I scared."

"I know, Baby, but you wait. Indy will come for us," Marion soothed as she dressed the little girl in the provided jumpsuit. "You'll be home playing with Snoopy again soon."