Once he put Susan in her bed, Indy went down to the living room where Mutt was snuggled next to his mother; not yet ready to let her out of his sight. He sat down on the other side of Mutt and put his arm around Marion's shoulders. Once they were all very comfortable on the sofa, Indy looked down at his young son.
"We need to have a talk about your disappearing act this morning, young man," Indy said, resting his free hand on Mutt's head. "With everything that's happened, we didn't addressed your leaving by yourself. I think you know that was naughty."
Mutt nodded. "I shoulda stayed to 'tect Mommy and Sue."
"You aren't ever to go off on your own without Mommy or me knowing where you are again," Indy said. "Otherwise, you'll be punished and then no one will be happy."
"I won't leave 'gain, Daddy," Mutt promised moving over onto his father's lap. "It was too scary."
"Good, I'm glad you've learned your lesson," Indy said. He looked over at his wife whose eyes were closed and she looked exhausted. He quietly moved his son off the couch and put Marion's feet up and covered her with a blanket. "Let's go find something for dinner. I'm starvin'."
"Me too," Mutt agreed. "What about Mom an' Sue? She didn't have dinner last night either."
"Don't worry, Kid," Indy said. "We won't let them starve. What do you think about getting hamburgers from the diner?"
"We can't leave Mom an Suzy alone," Mutt replied. "What if the bad men come back?"
"No more bad men are coming today," Indy replied. "I promise. Let's go get some food."
Indy picked Mutt up and took him out to the car. They drove down to the diner where Susan once worked; the sight of the brawl that started the Jones family on a path that none of them knew. Frank was in the kitchen and an older woman was working the counter. He sat Mutt on one of the spinning stools while he waited to order.
"You look pretty busy," he said once the woman whose name tag read Harriet took their order.
"Our regular girl isn't in," Harriet answered.
"Susan March, right?" Indy asked.
"Yes, that's right," the woman replied. "Do you know her?"
"She's a friend of the family," Indy told her. The cook came out of the back with their order a few minutes later.
"You know Suzy, then?" he asked. "Is she all right? She's never missed work and we haven't been able to get in touch with her. Their phone's shut off."
"She's pretty sick," Indy answered. "She hasn't been able to contact you because she's been so ill."
"She's that sick, huh?" Frank mused. He then pulled an envelope from the register. "This is her pay from last week. She says she needs money. You give this to her. You tell her when she is ready to come back, I will have work for her."
"Thanks, I'll let her know," Indy said, shoving the envelope into his pocket and covering Mutt's mouth before he gave anything away. He then gave Mutt a slow spin on the chair before paying the waitress. "Thanks. Let's go, Son."
Mutt hopped down and stumbled for a second before waving to the waitress. Once they were out of the diner, Mutt looked up at his father and asked, "Daddy, why didn't you tell them that Suzy's can't work there?"
"They wouldn't understand, Kid," Indy replied. "Some things are just too difficult to explain. Let's go home."
"But she's just a little kid," Mutt said. "Littler than me."
"You are the same age, Son," Indy said.
"Yeah, but I'm bigger than her," Mutt declared. "So I'm a big kid."
"Right," Indy replied. "You're a big kid."
They went home and woke Marion for dinner, which was a quiet affair and it took some time before Mutt was ready for sleep. Once the house was quiet, Indy put the radio on with some soft music for Marion and himself in the living room.
"May I have this dance, Mrs. Jones?" he asked, extending a hand. She rested her hand in his and nodded.
"Delighted, Doctor Jones," Marion replied. After a dance, they retired to the couch for a kiss but it was interrupted by a yawn. "I don't remember Mutt being this exhausting the first time around."
"I guess it's a matter of being younger and only having one last time," Indy said. "I'm getting used to having them both around though. It's nice to have the experience. If I'd only been able to help you the first time..."
"No use going over all that again, Jones," Marion said. "We can't turn back the clock."
"Well, we can't and the one who could can't do anything about it right now anyway," Indy replied with a grin picking her up and starting up the stairs. "Let's go to bed."
It was still dark outside when Susan woke. Mutt was sleeping in his bed and from the sounds of things; wasn't going to wake up soon. She took hold of her toy and carried him downstairs with her. Even the big people were still sleeping and she didn't want to wake them up since it was still nighttime.
There wasn't much to do when no one else was awake which left her with a lot of time to think about some very serious things. She thought about how the Joneses looked after her even though she wasn't their kid and how much trouble they went through because of the mean men. She liked Mutt, Marion and Doctor Jones. Being held and cuddled by Marion was soothing even if it was something the little girl wasn't used to. Deciding that she should to write a letter to her parents to tell them that she was going to stay with the Jones family if they let her, Susan went into the study and found a fresh piece of paper and a pencil. The whole letter would have gone much smoother if she knew how to write all of her alphabet clearly but she figured she knew enough to get her point started with a capital D since Daddy started with a D. She put in the other letters that she believed belonged and then moved on to M for Mother.
'So far; so good,' she decided.
Now to tell them she wasn't coming home. The girl composed a heartfelt letter largely comprised of the occasional word mixed in with mostly jumbled letters but it made perfect sense to her. By the time she was finished, the sun was up and she knew that it wouldn't be long before Mutt was awake to play with. He was a funny kid and she knew he would be a lot of fun to play with.
Indy went to look in on the kids and instant panic set in when he saw one of the tiny beds empty. He checked the bathroom and thankfully didn't find Susan there since, for a moment, he thought she might have tried to cool off in the bathtub. He then charged down the steps to look for any open doors and found Susan sitting at his desk. Whatever she was doing; she looked all business and completely intent on the paper she was looking over. Relief shot through his body as he sat across from her.
"What are you doing down here, Kid?" he asked. "Couldn't sleep any more?"
"I had a lot of stuff to think about," she explained seriously. "I didn't wanna wake Mutt up so I came here."
"You did, did you?" Indy replied with a smile. "What sort of stuff did you have to think about?"
"I wanna stay here wif' you an' Mutt an' Mrs. Jones. May I stay?" she asked, trying to remember her best manners. "I know I ain't a good kid but I will be. I won't get inna way an' I can help wif' stuff too." Indy picked the little girl up and sat her on his lap. She immediately stiffened in his arms and was prepared to be told that she couldn't stay when he hugged her.
"Look, Susan, I know I said some things that weren't very nice before. I'm sorry for that. You're a very good kid and I shouldn't have said you weren't. Marion and I want you to stay with us. We were really scared that you were so sick and we decided that we want you to be our little girl. You and Mutt are very special to us and we don't want to risk either one of you getting hurt again."
"So, it's okay if I stay here?" Susan asked again, sounding almost too hopeful.
"It's more than okay, Sweetheart," Indy answered as he looked down at the scribbles addressed to 'Daddy'. "What's with the paper?"
"I was writin' to Mother an' Daddy that I wanted to stay here an' I wasn't comin' back even if you said no," Susan replied. "I was gonna live in a forest by myself if I wasn't 'lowed to stay here."
Indy wondered if Susan, like Mutt, had some residual memories of her teenage self from what she said. He hugged her again. "You don't have to so don't worry about that," he said. "How long have you been down here thinking?"
"Since it was dark outside," she said. "I had a lot to think about."
"I see that," he replied, looking Susan's 'letter'. "Well, I know it's time for you to have your next dose of medicine so why don't we get that out of the way now?"
"But I'm not hot anymore," she answered. "I feel like I did 'fore."
"That doesn't mean that the germs are all gone, Susan," Indy explained, pulling the liquid penicillin out of the fridge and shaking it up. Once he got the dose into her mouth and she swallowed it; she made a face and shuddered . He gave her a drink of water to help wash away the taste. She made a face and shuddered.
"I think you were sick well before you came to stay with us and all of the stuff that happened since then didn't help. The doctor even said that he wasn't used to seeing a kid's tonsils that were as bad as yours. They might have to come out."
"How do they come out?" Susan asked.
"Well, the doctor goes in and..." he started but then realized that a detailed explanation was probably not going to help matters at this particular moment. "You know, I'm not really sure."
"But you're a doctor," Susan said, as he lifted her off the counter.
"Not a sick people doctor though," Indy answered, carrying her back upstairs and putting her in her bed. "There are different kinds."
"What kind of doctor are you?" she asked, not letting the matter go so easily.
"I'm an archeologist," he said. "That means I go to places and dig up old stuff. Now why don't you try to rest a little bit since you've had your medicine and you got all your thinking done, okay?"
"I gotta give my letter to the mailman to take," Susan remembered. "He gotta take it to Mother and Daddy."
"The mailman won't be here this early," Indy reassured her. "Tell you what, I'll take it with me and mail it later, all right?"
Susan put her tiny hand atop his. "Thank you for lettin' me stay, Doctor Jones."
"I wouldn't have it any other way, Susan," Indy said, planting a kiss on her forehead. "You stay in bed now, all right? Marion will come in and take your temperature soon to see if you should be out." Xanae appeared on the banister doing a miniature gymnastics routine outside of the nursery.
"Shall I change them back? I can do so now."
"Not just yet," Indy said. "I don't know if I'm ready for two teenagers."
Author's Note: Hi, Folks. I know I haven't updated this story in a long-assed time. The sad part is that this chapter has been written for ages. I just wasn't sure if I was satisfied with it or if I wanted to take another route and without regular internet access; writing and posting got pushed WAY down on the list of stuff to do. I apologize for being a lazy slug and hope that you enjoy this chapter. Thank you all for keeping this story on your alerts and for giving it a read. - W4F