Hesitantly, Indiana went up to the door of the house, biting her lower lip. She had not seen this place or been near it in almost six long years, longer than she had ever anticipated.

She had not called ahead to make sure that the individuals living within the house would be there and would know she was back, maybe she should have. She was just so afraid that Duran might have thought that she was dead or something and would have thought it was a cruel prank call by someone.

“Come on,” she chastised herself, “you've evaded capture, fought mercenaries, you can handle this.”

Tentatively, she knocked on the door, then rang the doorbell. This was her first and most important stop in her return to normal life again tour that she was making so that all of her friends and family that she had had to avoid over the past several years for their own safety knew that she was alive and well and was back for good.

Whether or not they accepted her back into their lives was a whole other thing.

Which is why she was grateful that the FBI and CIA had filled her in on the state of her family, at the very least whether or not her husband Duran had remarried at all.

Much to her relief, he hadn’t.

This fact, however, didn’t set her mind at ease much as she had no idea if he would be mad at her for being gone.

The wait at the door seemed to stretch on for an age, an agonizingly long age that made Indiana only worry more. She wondered if maybe he hadn’t heard her knock or ring the doorbell because he was busy doing something, so she rang the bell again and knocked one more time in the hopes of someone coming to the door.

From where she stood at the doorstep, she could clearly hear her husband call out, “All right, all right. I'm coming."

Goodness, it was wonderful beyond words to hear his voice again after all that time apart. When the door opened, she saw him with a smile spread across his handsome face which hadn’t changed much at all over the years as he said, "Yes..?" his voice trailing off as soon as he saw her and she watched as he caught his breath.

She smiled at him sheepishly, to be greeted by the sight of her husband was more than she had ever expected. The overwhelming amount of emotions that welled up at seeing him again was more than she could possibly bear and she felt herself become close to tears. "Duran, " she began, "I...gosh how I've missed you." She wanted to just fall into his arms and never leave them, but was afraid to.

Her heart broke more than a little as she watched Duran’s reaction to seeing her again. He blinked, he blinked a great deal, obviously not trusting the sight before him. When Indiana had spoken, he stepped forward, wordlessly pulling her to him to get her into a giant bear hug. "I thought...I thought that I'd never see you again." He whispered, tears rolling down his cheeks and onto her fur as he held her close.

She breathed in deeply, wanting to take it all in and enjoy the moment. Oh how she had missed him! How she had missed everyone!

Indiana found herself crying as well as she held Duran close, it felt like forever since she had last held him in her arms. "I thought that I might never see you again too, but holding on to the hope that I would get to be with you and the children again is what kept me going all this time," she told him as she continued their long embrace.

She felt Duran tighten his grip around her slightly and she could tell that he was probably afraid to let go of her, just as she was afraid to let go of him.

"What- what happened?" He asked her hesitantly, his voice breaking in a way which broke her heart.

Indiana swallowed hard, she knew she was going to have to tell him what happened sooner or later, but she had honestly hoped that it would have been later as she would have infinitely preferred to stay there holding onto Duran on the front step for forever.

“Do you mind if I come in sweetheart? I want to be seated when I tell this story, as you should too,” she said, knowing her tale was not one to tell standing outside.

"Of course not,” he replied, “this is your home too."

Reluctantly, he let her go as he stepped to the side so that she could enter the house.

Stepping inside the house again after being gone for so long was absolutely surreal, once the feeling subsided, Indiana discovered that not much had actually changed. It seemed to her that Duran had kept everything much the same as it was when she had left.

She sat down in the nearest chair and waited for him to sit down. When he had, she swallowed hard and then began the story. "I was on one of my digs, as you know, searching for evidence of an extinct bird. Then, one day, I caught one of the members of the dig packing what appeared to be drugs in the crates along with the fossils, I confronted him and fired him immediately. I thought that was the end of it, but that night I was kidnapped by some brutes, a cartel I would later come to find out, they demanded that I return some sort of item they called the Idol of Narntalla. I realized that this Idol was what I had caught the man putting in the crate. They kept me locked up in a dungeon for three days, which would have surely been much longer if during that time I hadn’t managed to work on my escape. When I did escape, I did some research, I found out that they were a cartel that was smuggling stolen antique items out of the country. I went to the authorities, who tried to help me as best as they could, but were unable to keep me safe. I was on the run, knowing that my life could very well be in danger. I've been on the run and in hiding all this time until all of the members of the cartel had been caught and put behind bars. I didn’t want to come home or contact any of you for fear that the cartel was listening and would target you.”

Having at last finished her quick retelling of what had happened, Indiana watched as her husband Durango narrowed his gaze at the news of her capture. She had expected him to interject or something, but he had instead stayed quiet until she had completed her recounting of everything that had happened. Then, he got up and squatted down in from of her, "you're safe now," he said to her gently, putting his hand on hers and staring into her bright green eyes lovingly.

Indiana smiled, then hugged Duran, “I can’t tell you how nice it is to finally be back home with you.”

She felt like she never wanted to break free from the hug.

She could hear him taking in a deep breath and filling his nose with her scent. "You don't have to tell me," he whispered in her ear, "I know. I feel the same way."

She felt his grip on her tighten, holding her closer when a young female voice called from the other room.

"Dad, where'd you put the iced tea? It's not in the pantry..." Indiana looked over to where she heard the voice and recognized it as belong to one of her children. Her daughter, Allamaraine, Raine for short, most specifically. She had been calling out as she had walked through the kitchen and toward the living room in search of Duran, when Raine had turned the corner to go into the living room, Indiana’s breath hitched as saw her daughter again for the first time in a very long time. It seemed as if Raine had the exact same reaction to the sight of her mother as she had immediately stopped in her tracks upon seeing her dad embracing Indiana, Indiana could see Raine as she stared blankly for a moment at her.

Tears began welling up in Raine’s eyes and she caught her breath, "Mom?"

She gasped, leaning forward slightly, trying to see Indiana’s face past Duran who was no doubt obscuring Indiana from her daughter’s line of sight. Indiana could see though the hope that swelled within her daughter’s teal eyes.

“Raine?”

Indiana was surprised at how much her daughter had grown up in the years that she had been gone, she had turned into a full-fledged adult and she couldn’t be more proud of the way that she had turned out. Duran had clearly done a fine job of raising their children without her, something which made Indiana very sad. She had missed so much of her family’s lives, important milestones. All because Indiana’s life had been ruined by some stupid cartel that she had caught using her dig as a means by which to smuggle their ill-gotten relics out of the country.

She was glad that they had all been captured and were now safely behind bars, but it still pained her to know that it had cost her so many precious, important moments within her family that she could and would never be able to have back. They had been stolen from her like the relics had been stolen from the museums.

“I thought I’d never see you again mom,” Raine said, staying where she was at the entrance to the living room. She seemed guarded and wary, Indiana couldn’t blame her for being hesitant.

“I thought that I’d never get to see you again too Raine,” Indiana replied, reluctantly letting go of her husband to stand up and head over to her daughter. She wanted to embrace her daughter, but she was terrified that it would not be well received.

Her concerns appeared to have been unfounded for Raine quickly came over and embraced her, surprising Indiana and nearly knocking her over, but she regained her standing and returned her daughter’s embrace.

“It’s so wonderful to see you again dear, I missed you so much,” Indiana said, crying as she held her not-so-little little girl.

She could feel Raine crying against her too and she tried her best to comfort her and make sure she knew that she was alright and she wasn’t going to be leaving any time too soon… or possibly ever again.

Eventually, Raine broke from the long embrace to look at Indiana and begin to bombard her with a plethora of questions: “What happened? Where have you been all this time? Why didn’t you call?”

“I’m sorry, I wanted to call and tell you and your father what was going on, but I was terrified to contact anyone for fear that the people who were after me would trace the call, come and find you and kidnap you, then use you against me in order to get me to come out from hiding. I couldn’t possibly have bared that,” Indiana told her after retelling the story one more time.

Indiana was beginning to think that she should have just called the whole family together so that she would have only have had to tell the story about what happened to her and where she had been over the past six years just one time instead of having to tell it multiple times.

She was probably going to have to get used to it because there were other children of theirs whom she had not yet visited to let them know that she was alive and well as well as back and here to stay.

“Anyway, enough about me, how have you been Raine dear,” Indiana asked, wanting to catch up with her daughter and know what had happened over the years for her.

Her daughter launched into telling Indiana all about how school had gone, about her job, and about her boyfriend. Hearing it all made Indiana swell with pride for her beautiful daughter, she had turned out nicely and she couldn’t be more proud of the young woman that her daughter had become.

By the time that her daughter had finished talking, she noticed that someone new had entered the living room as well. It was a little green boy with brown markings and the most fascinating eyes she had ever seen, he signaled to her in what she could only assume was sign language, which made her wish that she had learned ASL at some point in her life.

Indiana looked over at her husband Duran, “Who is this cute little guy sweetheart? Did you adopt someone while I was away?”

She chuckled good humoredly, trying to hind the concern that maybe the child was his from a remarriage or something that she didn’t know about.

“That’s Tanaka, I adopted him a few years ago while I went out looking for you,” Duran replied, smiling at the boy who beamed back at Duran.

She watched as Duran came over to the boy and knelt down beside him before explaining to him that she was his mother.

“You looked for me?”

This news came as a shock to her, she hadn’t expected her husband to have been out looking for her. She thought for sure that this was something which the government agencies which she had helped to apprehend the cartel would have thought to mention to her at some point along the way.

Had she known, she would have reached out to him if nothing more than to beg him to stop looking for her so he didn’t end up in her situation.

The young boy, after a time, ran over and embraced her and she smiled down at him, patting his head gently. She then turned her attention to Duran.

“After this, there’s someone else I need to go see and talk to, but you’re probably not going to like it Duran.”

“Oh? And who is that” he inquired, brows raised in curiosity.

“Our son Kai,” she replied, her heart breaking a little at his expression. She knew they’d had a falling out with their oldest son because of his...lifestyle choices to put it delicately. To put it not quite so delicately, his less than legal line of work as a thief.

“Why do you need see and talk to him? Not that I mind, but I’m just surprised.”

“Because...he helped me,” she hated seeing his expression, the realization that there was one member of the family who had known she was alive, who she had confided in and that it hadn’t been him.

“He did? How?’

“He helped me learn how to live on the run, he made me a fake identity and taught me important tricks to cover my tracks and to stay safe. I owe him a great deal for all that he did, including the hardest thing that I had to ask him to do. Not to tell you or anyone else in the family that he had seen me. For your own protection.”

Duran nodded in understanding, but Indiana could tell this news was more than a little heartbreaking for him. That she had trusted their thieving son more than she had trusted him with the knowledge that she was alive.

“I’m sorry Duran, but I couldn’t bear the thought of you or anyone else getting hurt, I knew that Kai would be more than capable of taking care of himself as well as live life on the run himself since he was already doing that.”

“I know, I understand,” he replied before pulling her in for another hug, “I’ll take you to go see him.”

They all piled into the car and Duran drove her and their other children with them to the house that they had last known their son Kai had lived at.

Along the way, Indiana had inquired after their other son, James, and where he was. Which was when she was told that he was MIA after one particular mission that he had gone on for the military and no one had seen or heard from him since. This news greatly upset Indiana, that there was one family member whom she had failed to protect. Now she began to worry even more for the rest of her family.

Eventually, they had arrived at the beat up looking apartment which Indiana had found their son Kai in when she had contacted him about helping her go on the run. Duran and her exchanged worried glances in regard to the unsavory neighborhood which they found themselves in and resolved themselves to keep their wits about them just in case.

They got out of the car and then locked it before heading over to the building, going through the double doors and going up the stairs to the apartment which Indiana had found Kai in. The name plack still read the same fake name that she had seen him using last time, so she couldn’t help but be optimistic that Kai was still living there.

She knocked on the door several times and then waited patiently as well as nervously for whoever lived inside to open up the door and talk to her.

She could hear the sound of a chain being removed and locks being unlocked, so she knew someone was at least inside and was going to answer the door.

At last, the door opened and she was surprised and relieved to see her son Kai there. His tough facade melted away as he embraced her briefly.

“I’m so glad that you made it out alright mom,” he told her.

“I’m glad that I did too Kai, I can not possibly thank you enough for all that you did to help me out, I know it must have been rough on you not to let anyone else know I was alive and well,” she replied.

He shrugged, “Not like anyone really talks to me anyway, it really wasn’t that big a deal.”

“It is to me,” she replied, “I want you to come home more often dear. Please don’t be a stranger anymore. I want you to be around for holidays and other special occasions. If you’re up for that. If you could forgive us for shunning you for your career choices.”

“I’m fine with it, in fact I’d love it,” Kai replied.

Indiana didn’t bother to look at her husband to make sure that he was fine with this decision, she knew that he’d be willing to settle their differences, though he might not admit it, he was probably grateful to Kai for helping her out.

Indiana really hoped that now that she was back that she’d be able to help bring her family closer together than it had been before.