Israel
1947
(Weeks after the tomb cave in where Emily got her scars)
Indy climbed the stairs of the ancient city's outer wall and motioned Em to sit down with him. She plunked in his lap, leaning against his chest. Indy put his arms around her. "Look up... see all those stars?"
"Wow."
"There's a lot of them, right Em?"
"Yeah."
"Why don't you try counting them?"
She turned back to look at Indy, scrunching her slightly freckled nose... just like Marion. "Is this a plot to make me fall asleep?"
Indy grinned. "You're adorable, Em. But I know you better than that. You wouldn't fall for that."
Emily went back to staring at the stars. Indy leaned over her shoulder, explaining at a whisper. "While the Egyptian gods were supposed to be fighting over the sunrise... there was a man named Abram who got a visitor. And that visitor told him he was going to have more descendants than the stars. But Abram didn't have any kids... and his wife thought the visitor was crazy. But Abram had kids, eventually. And they live in this land right now. And some live all around the world. And a lot of those descendants think that Abram's visitor was God, who created the stars. And as the creator - he's in charge of making the sun shine and the moon come out. He knows every star out there and they all have names."
Indy smiled... reminding himself that he didn't have to believe it and that this was just a bedtime story. He could deal with the supernatural in bedtime stories. He didn't have to think about how the encounter with the Ark had changed him. He didn't have to consider how the Holy Grail had saved his father's life. And he didn't have to remember how his heart had changed suddenly since he'd become a father. That was the strangest supernatural miracle of all. He'd known his passions, his temper and his own mind. He'd been his own man - until -
Indy looked down at the little girl sitting in his arms... missing his older daughter, Annie and his wife Marion as well. Half his family wasn't enough. Not after all the mistakes he'd made.
Emily stared up at her father, not knowing the archaeologist's past. To her Indiana Jones was simply 'Dad.' "But how do you mistake God as a man? Aren't gods all powerful and shiny and stuff? Was Abraham just not seeing what was right in front of him? Like how you lost your glasses yesterday?"
"Sort of, Em." Indy smiled. "You know how bright the sun is, right?"
"Yeah?"
"What do you think happens if we get too close to the bright sun?"
"Our noses peel. That's why we gotta wear hats!" She bounced in his arms.
Indy grinned. The response was Emily... she was still his little girl, despite everything that she'd survived. "What if I told you that Abram's descendant Moses, when he got the 10 Commandments, had his whole face glowing?"
"Like a flame?" She held up the cigarette lighter, the little flame flickering.
"How bout we put that in a lamp?" Indy asked, reaching for a small dish like ancient bowl with a wick and some oil.
He guided Emily's hands to the wick. The flame caught and glowed warmly as they sat together. Emily stared at the flame, as Indy slipped the cigarette lighter back into his pocket.
"So Moses face glowed like this?" Emily asked staring at the ancient lamp, giving off a warm light. "I bet he wasn't afraid of the dark after that."
"Nope," Indy chuckled, noticing the swelling in her features was going down. His precious little artifact was healing, despite the tomb cave in and her mother taking her older sister and leaving them. The scars would be permanent, but they'd hopefully only be on her face - not her heart. He desperately wanted to avoid that. He had heart scars, and he wanted to protect this amazing combination of himself and Marion. She was all he had left.