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INDIANA JONES
xxvii. WHAT HAPPENED TO FRANKIE?

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PRESENT
STORYBROOKE

A KNOCK ON THE front door grasped Anna James' attention. Hopping off the couch in the living room, she shuffled toward the door and swung it open. A surprised expression appeared on her face when she saw Mr. Gold standing there. "Oh! Mr. Gold, hi," Anna greeted. "Uh, if you're here to collect the rent, I think Regina's still at her office."

Mr. Gold furrowed his eyebrows together. "Why does everyone ask me that?" he wondered.

"Well, because you—never mind," Anna stammered. "How can I help you? Do you want to come in?"

He shook his head. "I'd rather talk to you outside," he declared. Nodding her head slowly, Anna closed the door and walked outside onto the porch. The dim light that came from the moon shined down on them.

Once he began to explain what his troubles are, Anna raised her eyebrows and said, "A son? I, uh, didn't realize you had a-a son. How old is he? What do you mean you think you've found him?"

Mr. Gold sighed. "Let's just say there's someone acting the way I would expect him to act."

"So you—what, you recognize him?" Anna wondered. "Wouldn't he recognize you?"

"Maybe," Mr. Gold answered, "or perhaps I'm just seeing what I want to see. I don't know. There was conflict when we parted. I'm not sure he's ready for a tear-soaked reunion."

"So he went through all the trouble to find you, but now he's hanging back?" Anna asked. "Maybe he's, um... waiting for a welcoming or... I don't know... maybe a sign that all is forgiven."

"No, no, no. He's not—He's not the one that needs to be..." Mr. Gold trailed off. He paused. "I think he might still be very angry."

Anna leaned against the wall of the house as she responded with, "Mr. Gold, anger is a very normal thing. It's part of what makes us human."

"I think he might be here to kill me."

Eyes widening, Anna began to stutter. "Oh, right. Well, th-that's not, um, wow—okay, uh..."

"I let him go," Mr. Gold continued. "I've spent my entire life since trying to fix it, and now he's finally here, and I just don't know what to do."

Anna paused, thinking for a moment. "Well, I guess you should just... be honest," she advised. "Just tell him what you told me. I'm sure he'll understand... and you know, maybe not want to kill you. Ask for forgiveness. When you're face-to-face, you'll know exactly what to say. It's a lot easier than planning it out."

"Honesty's never been the best color on me," Mr. Gold admitted. "I'm sure you know that."

"It's the only way," Anna pointed out. A thought occurred to her. "Wait, Mr. Gold, you think that guy... August, was it? You think August is your son, don't you?" When Mr. Gold was silent, she continued. "Well, then... I guess I wish you luck."

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PAST
NEVERLAND

The more time Indiana Jones spent with the notorious Peter Pan, the stronger the bond between them grew. Though they didn't necessarily know too much about the other's past, they knew everything else about each other. For example, Indiana Jones would rather die than go hunting, which was ironic because that was the only thing Indiana knew how to do in order to survive in the woods.

At times, Indiana often forgot what her main mission was. She often forgot what she was supposed to be doing, which was getting back home. Now, she didn't mind if she never went back, even if that meant going insane, which leads to the next point. Indiana Jones felt like she was going crazy.

"I'm going crazy," Indiana breathed, staring up at the stars while laying in the grass beside Peter. The two were at Peter's Thinking Tree. It was Peter's safe place and he had finally brought Indiana to the tree. She could see from the corner of her eye that Peter had turned his head to look at her, but she kept her gaze on the stars. "You remember that Lost Boy, Frankie... right?"

Peter nodded. "How could I forget? I tried to get you to kill him, but your stubborn ass refused," Peter recalled. The sound of this got Indiana to crack a small smile at the memory. The two truly were morbid.

"And whose damn fault do you think that is, hm?" Indiana retorted.

After spending so much time with Peter, Indiana had begun to pick up a few of his traits, including having a horrible potty mouth. Indiana never swore in the past, with the exception of 'hell.' Now, she was throwing 'shit' into every other sentence.

"Anyway, I keep... hallucinating that he's still here. Sometimes he'll show up at the most random times... but I haven't seen "him" in a while now. Still, I wonder why I thought I kept seeing him everywhere."

She listened to the sound of Peter turning his head back to the sky. "To think you're so smart and beautiful, yet still so naïve..." he trailed off. "That hallucination was my Shadow."

Indiana suddenly flew forward, sitting upright and looking at Peter in shock. "What?"

"I sent him to learn more information about you. You really did trust "Frankie" faster than I thought you would," Peter continued with a chuckle.

"You're an ass," Indiana grumbled. "I can't believe you never told me!" She looked down at him, he glanced at her with a sliver of guilt in his eyes. He looked away, the sliver disappearing quickly. "Why do you always do that?"

"Do what?"

Indiana crossed her legs over one another as she said, "You look at me like you just killed my dog and you're too scared to tell me because you know it'll make me sad. You always look so guilty every time you tell me something new." She sighed and tilted her head back to look at the sky. "By the way, I'm not beautiful."

It was quiet, it almost sounded like a scoff, but Indiana heard it. Very quietly, Peter said, "You're crazy."

Indiana rolled her eyes. "If I'm crazy, then what does that make you?" she queried.

"Hm..." Peter hummed while sitting up. "...I don't know. What does that make me?"

Indiana looked back at him with a grin, their faces unusually close. "A psycho."

"You've got a mouth on you, don't you?" Peter responded with a whisper.

Indiana could feel the tension between them. She wasn't sure where it had suddenly come from, but it was there. Their faces were literally inches apart, but Indiana was frozen in her place.

"I wonder..." she barely heard Peter whisper.

What happened next was a blur to Indiana. As he ran his hand over her left cheek, he leant forward and planted a kiss on her lips. He could feel her pull away slightly, but then, she leaned into it. He knew that this was sudden. He wasn't quite sure where this came from, but there he was, kissing Indiana Jones. If she wanted to leave him after this, he wouldn't blame her.

But she didn't. She stayed still, and when he pulled away, she looked back at his lips. The tension that had suddenly grown between them was palpable.

Then, she whispered, "I think I want you to do that again."

Peter kissed her again, harder. He couldn't stop himself. He brought his head to hers and crushed his lips harder on hers. He felt her mouth open up to kiss him as Indiana relaxed, letting him kiss her more.

When the time came, they pulled away to breathe. The sound of them breathing was all they could focus on. Then, there was silence, and all Indiana could do was smile and say, "I'm going to bed. Goodnight, Peter."

He sighed quietly and leaned back on the grass once again with a small smile on his face. "Goodnight, love."

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AUTHOR'S NOTE:

me: queen of rushing character development

i mean, there will be more flashbacks to really show their relationship a bit more, but i've been dying to make them official

also, was anyone expecting what happened to frankie? i was thinking about making indiana blow up on him, but by this point in their friendship, she knows that this is something he would do. i was thinking about making the reveal a lot bigger, but it's not like pan to make it a huge deal. remember, he's an ass and would end up spitting it out in casual conversation haha

if you are confused, he got his shadow to pretend to be/look like Frankie so that Indiana would feel guilty  and be more willing to open up to him.

the scene i used for anna and rumple was in S1 episode 19, in case anyone was wondering. if you didn't put the pieces together, he went to anna for advise because he knew she and baelfire were buddies when they were kids :') cute