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INDIANA JONES
xlviii. FIRST DATES

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PRESENT
STORYBROOKE

SITTING IN THE BED of Prince Charming's truck, Indiana Jones tightly hugged her knees to her chest while staring out into the distance as the Charming family sat on the inside of the vehicle. They were driving out to the fields to finally reveal to Emma Swan the Magic Beans that Anton and the Dwarves had been working so hard on.

It wasn't a long drive, but it sure felt like it. Indiana had been getting that same strange feeling of being watched for a few days as of now, maybe about a week or two.

She hated it.

All of Indiana's life, she'd been the "watcher." She would stalk her prey, like a lion with a gazelle. Now, the roles were switched. Indiana knew nothing was there, yet she couldn't feel as though Pan's Shadow was watching her. At the same time, Indiana felt like the Shadow was merely a figment of her imagination. Then again, that was how she felt about Frankie, as well.

What it was, Indiana Jones preferred to choose to believe that the Shadow was watching her. She could have sworn that the Shadow was sitting in the truck with her, staring at her. The brunette sat there, gazing at it. It merely stared back at her, thus making the drive to the fields feel much longer than usual.

The ocean-eyed girl was so focused on the Shadow that she didn't even realize that the truck had stopped. Indiana was finally snapped out of her thoughts when she heard David's voice calling out to her, saying, "Indiana? You okay?"

Indiana snapped her head back at David, not realizing how fearful she looked. "Indiana, what's wrong?" David asked again. Indiana looked back ahead of her silently, but the Shadow had disappeared. "Is it the Shadow again? Indiana, you know it's not real."

"David, it is," Indiana argued with a suddenly shaky voice. "It was right there. It was right there. You have to believe me. Please, David, please."

Prince Charming was the only person Indiana had really spoken to about the Shadow, seeing as he was the only person Indiana felt she could really trust with this information now that she and Snow were going through... well, a thing. "It's just a figment of your imagination," David continued, offering her hand. "It's okay. You're safe."

Indiana looked down at the Prince's hand before reluctantly taking it. By the time David had ushered the brunette out of the truck, Emma and Snow were walking through the barrier that camouflaged the fields. David and Indiana quickly joined them.

Anton and Emma were hugging once they caught up with the mother-daughter duo. "Are you here to help? It's not quite harvest time yet," Anton told the blonde.

Emma took a step back with realization written on her face. "Beans. You're growing Magic Beans," Emma comprehended. "That's what you were up to when I was in New York? Why didn't you tell me?"

David chuckled and said, "We are telling you. We kept it a secret to protect the crop. Mother Superior—she cloaked the area. That way, Anton can do what he does best."

"Actually, you haven't seen me play darts," Anton piped up, making Indiana arch an eyebrow. "But, uh, yeah, I do this pretty good."

"Um, Anton, don't take this the wrong way, but w-w-why... why are you so...?" Emma stuttered, trailing off.

"Small? Cora," Anton explained easily. "She and Regina brought some magic to make me human-sized. Kind of like it."

Grumpy had walked over as he explained this. "Enough lollygagging! Back to it," Grumpy declared, making a clicking sound with his shears.

"Wow," Anton chuckled. "Dwarves really like to work. It's great to see you, Emma."

Emma laughed, "You too." She took a step forward, staring at the beans before realizing a second thing. Her smile faded when she noticed this. "You want to use the beans to make a portal..." She turned around to face the trio. "...to go back to the Enchanted Forest. That's the real reason you didn't tell me. What about Ogres and destruction and danger?"

"We can fix all that," David declared. "We did it before. We can do it again."

"We can start over, Emma," Snow added.

"So you've changed your mind. You wanna go now, too," Emma noticed.

"Not my mind. My heart," Snow corrected. "After what I did to Cora, I think restoring our land is the best way to mend it."

"It'll be good for all of us, the whole family," David said. "Henry, Indiana... and you."

"We're from there. You're from there," Snow mentioned.

"No. This world is... my home," Emma pointed out.

"And it's been nothing but cruel to you," David replied as Indiana cautiously began to look around for any Shadows lurking around. "If we go back, I think you might be able to have your happy ending."

➖➖➖

PAST
NEVERLAND

Indiana Jones was working on her target practice one day. It was a quiet afternoon. Nothing out of the ordinary was occurring or planned for that day. If anything, it was just a simple afternoon.

Gripping the hilt of her weapon in her head, Indiana licked her lips and furrowed her eyebrows ever so slightly. A drop of sweat trickled down the side of her face for the millionth time that hot day. Just as the brunette was about to chuck the knife at a messily painted target, a green cloud appeared before her.

Immediately recognizing the cloud, Indiana's eyes widened until she noticed Peter Pan holding the knife by the hilt. The sharp end of it was just centimeters from stabbing his body, but nonetheless, he had magically caught it.

"Bloody hell, Peter!" Indiana exclaimed. "You just about ruined my shot!"

"It's lovely to see you, too, dear," Peter sarcastically mentioned to her. He tossed the weapon over his shoulder, causing it to land somewhere behind him. Then, he walked over to the brunette and placed his hands on her hips. "So... I had something to ask of you."

"If this is about me dressing up as a Turkey for the Lost Boys to hunt, then the answer is still no," Indiana replied, looking up at him slightly with a smile on her face. Peter shook his head. "Then what is it? This isn't about me nearly impaling you just now, is it? Because, contrariwise, that's your fault."

Chuckling, he shook his head. "We've been together for quite a while, haven't we?" Peter wondered. Indiana hummed in response. "But we've never... really... we've never... uh... What I'm trying to say—no, ask is... Well..."

Indiana raised her eyebrows. "Is the Peter Pan speechless? Nervous?" Indiana listed in amusement. She giggled. "Peter, are you trying to court me?"

"Well, when you put it like that..." he continued to trail off.

Indiana laughed and stepped away from him. "Alright, how about we play a game?" Indiana queried.

Peter crossed his arms over his chest. "I'm pretty sure I'm rubbing off on you," he admitted, getting another giggle out of Indiana. No one could make Indiana Jones giggle like a schoolgirl quite like Peter Pan.

She bent down and picked up another knife. "If I miss, then I'll go on a date with you," Indiana offered. "Deal, or no deal?"

Peter arched an eyebrow. "But you never miss," Peter pointed out. "That's cheating. Cheaters never win!"

"I know," Indiana replied. "It's bad form, after all."

Then, she flung the weapon in the general direction of the target. It just barely skimmed the top of the target before flying past it. Nonetheless, it still missed.

"Huh, well what do you know..." Indiana said. "I missed."

Peter raised an eyebrow at her. "Then it's settled."

"I'll see you tonight, then," Indiana agreed. He nodded with a smile on his face before disappearing.

Too bad he would never know that Indiana Jones missed on purpose.

➖➖➖

PRESENT
STORYBROOKE

"Is this seat taken?" Rumplestiltskin's voice called from the side of Grumpy from within Granny's Diner. The Dwarf, who had been speaking pleasantly with Indiana Jones, merely glanced at the Dark One. "You might wanna run along. I need to chat with the Bandit."

When Grumpy didn't move a muscle, Indiana cocked a small smile. "Don't worry, Grumps," Indiana assured the Dwarf. "I've got this under control."

"As well as myself," David's voice piped out.

"That's okay," Rumplestiltskin said. "I was actually looking for you, as well."

Indiana immediately spun around as Grumpy left the brunette. She narrowed her eyes at David and began to speak to him with a hushed voice. "Really? Are you stalking me now or something?" Indiana asked lowly. "I told you. I'm fine. You don't need to babysit me."

"I know," David replied, stopping the girl from rambling even more. Rumplestiltskin shot them a confused glance, but they ignored him. "But I'm worried about you. Are you sure we shouldn't tell Snow?"

"No!" Indiana exclaimed before clearing her throat and going back to her hushed voice. "If she finds out that I'm distracted by some imaginary ghost thing, then she'll infer that I'm losing my mind... again. I'm going to become good, David. She just can't know about this tiny, little bump in the road. Got it?"

David sighed and nodded his head. Together, the two turned around and David said, "What do you want to chat about, Gold?"

"Regina," Rumplestiltskin began, brushing off the side conversation the two had. "She, uh, helped jog Belle's memory."

"That's a good thing... right?" Indiana queried in confusion.

"No, no. Wrong memories," Rumplestiltskin interrupted. "She now thinks she's a scantily clad barfly named Lacey. She has a false life, as you did under the curse, only hers apparently involves a lot more alcohol."

"What do you want with us, then?" David wondered.

"I wanna know how you did it, even when both your heads were filled with false memories, David Nolan still won Mary Margaret's heart and Indiana Jones still won over her brother when she didn't even recognize him," Rumplestiltskin continued.

Indiana arched an eyebrow. "How do you even remember that?"

"You want us to help you?" David added on in surprise.

"Well, I'm certainly not here for the overpraised lasagna," Rumplestiltskin retorted, earning a cold look from Granny.

Lowering his voice, David matter-of-factly said, "You got my wife to murder someone."

"Someone who would have killed all of you," Rumplestiltskin argued. "Look, if you don't wanna help, that's fine. But if you do, for the first time ever, I'm gonna owe you a favor."

David and Indiana exchanged glances. They seemed to be having a conversation through facial expressions and arched eyebrows. Nonetheless, David eventually sighed.

"Alright, when Regina cursed Mary Margaret and me, there was still a sliver of Snow and Charming," Charming began. "The real us inside."

"And so how do I bring back the real Belle?" Rumplestiltskin queried.

"When I went under that forgetting potion, I was still me," Indiana added. "All you have to do is quite simple. Show her the Alligator she fell in love with."

Rumplestiltskin nodded before they all made plans to find "Lacey" at the pub. The Dark One walked out of the Diner while Indiana went to follow him. Her arm was suddenly grabbed by David, causing her to spin around.

"Are you sure this is a good idea? I mean... helping the Dark One?" David questioned, unsure.

Indiana shrugged. "I don't know, but he already owes me one favor," Indiana began. "Besides, think of this as the beginning of my redemption. How bad could this go?"

As Indiana walked out of the Diner, David pinched the bridge of his nose. "Bad. Really bad," he muttered before following the brunette outside.

➖➖➖

Inarticulate and slurred conversations entered Indiana Jones' ears like a high-pitched ringing. She wasn't sure what was worse: the high-pitched giggles of drunken lasses or the stench of sweat mixed with the aroma of alcohol. The Rabbit Hole was unlike any pub she had ever been to.

As soon as the trio of unlikely acquaintances (I mean, who would've thought that the Dark One, Indiana Jones, and Prince Charming were willingly walking into a pub together?), they immediately noticed Lacey drinking with an unfamiliar man.

"You might want to wait outside," Rumplestiltskin snarled under his breath with tensed muscles.

Indiana took a step forward quickly, holding him back. "That's not a good idea, lad," Indiana told him as the man speaking to Lacey got up and left.

"Come on," David ushered.

He led them to the actual bar. Rumplestiltskin took a seat beside Lacey while David and Indiana sat down a few chairs away from them. A bartender walked over to them.

"Can I get you anything?" the man wondered, causing David to shake his head.

"No, we're—" David began to say.

"I was talking to the lady, actually," the bartender interrupted. Indiana felt herself wanting to gag.

"Um, rum would suffice," Indiana said.

"She's fine. We're fine," David immediately said after her, causing Indiana to shoot him a glare. He gave her a scolding look. "Do drinking problems run in the family or something?"

Indiana rolled her eyes as the bartender suddenly asked, "Hang on. Did you really make the decision to take your daughter to a pub?"

Hearing this caused Indiana's eyes to widen while David choked on his spit. The bartender shook his head, rubbing his temples before walking away. By the time they had actually reverted their attention back to Rumplestiltskin and "Lacey", the girl had begun to ask him about Van Halen and Hagar. None of the three knew what that was, but nonetheless, Rumplestiltskin looked like an idiot.

"What the hell are you doing?" David whispered as Belle walked over to the jukebox.

"We have nothing in common!" Rumplestiltskin fired back.

"That doesn't matter! You just need a way in!" Indiana scolded. "God, I can't believe I'm giving the Dark One dating advice." She sighed. "Never mind. Just... go ask her out!"

Rumplestiltskin sighed and walked away to do just that.

"He's a hot mess," Indiana opinionated.

"Oh yeah," David agreed. "But Belle fell for him before and that was a miracle. We just need another one."

Their prayers seemed to be answered when they overheard Lacey say, "Tonight. Granny's. 8:00." Then, she walked away.

Indiana grinned and high-fived David excitedly before freezing up. She pointed her index finger at him. "Never speak of this," she hissed. David rolled his eyes as they walked over to Mr. Gold.

"Not bad, Don Juan," David declared.

"Don Juan was nothing before he made his deal with me," Rumplestiltskin mentioned.

"Regardless, you got her to go out with you," David said. "Congrats."

"Indeed. Now, I just need her to fall in love with me," Rumplestiltskin agreed.

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PAST
NEVERLAND

It was a dream come true for Peter Pan.

He wasn't sure how he did it or what exactly he did, but his first actual date went really well. In fact, it went way better than he ever thought, which was strange because well, people like Peter Pan didn't get the girl. [a/n: THE FLASH REFERENCE WHAT'S GOOD]

A few hours after their date, they went back to the camp where the Lost Boys were childishly waiting for the juicy details. Felix pulled Peter to the side. "So I take it your date went well?" Felix queried.

Peter raised an eyebrow. "What makes you say that, Felix?" Peter queried.

"I haven't seen you smile like that in a long time... actually, come to think of it," Felix paused. "I haven't seen you smile like that ever."

Peter rolled is eyes, looking over at Indiana, who was blushing as the Lost Boys poked and prodded her. They all wanted to know how it went, considering Peter had told them to stay put at the camp for the night until they returned. His smile grew even more.

"I suppose so," Peter said. "Now all I need is for her to fall in love with me."

Felix was quiet for a moment.

"Something tells me that you don't need to worry about that."