Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

So. Some context for why Della felt so damn scared about talking to her kids about herself might've been in order. See, Della had never really... told people the truth about who she was before. Ever, honestly.

Every time, the truth just sort of- came out, in one way or another.

Her parents were the ones who helped her figure out that she was trans (they never knew she was bi), Scrooge found out when he caught her with Selene that one time, Donald had pretty much always known. Pretty much every single one of the most important relationships in her life had figured out who she was without any say on her part. And she’d gotten used to that. So actually being the person to mention it first? Yeah, that was neither something she was used to, or something she felt like she could do.

That wasn’t the only reason, of course, but it was a pretty big one.

The only thing keeping her from panicking was that she'd already come to the decision that she was just going to tell her kids that she was bi. Nothing more than that, she'd- wait for another day to talk about being trans.

Why the hesitance?

Well, fuck if she knew. All she could really rationalize was that it proooobably (read: definitely) had something to do with how her being trans had been taken in foster care. It... yeah, it hadn't been great.

Now were her kids as bad as everyone in foster care? No, of course not. They were leagues better in every way, shape, and form.

Did that matter to her brain? Apparent-fucking-ly not, no.

She was sure that the hesitance in her step was apparent to Donald. Even if she was using an umbrella for support, she also leaned a little bit too much on him too as they entered the manor. Della didn't say anything, though, just breathed in and out loudly through her nostrils.

"It's okay," Donald assured her, rubbing her back. "They're not gonna hate you."

“Haha, why would you say that??” Della asked, unable to keep the tired -and slightly manic- edge out of her voice. “I didn’t say anything about being afraid of my own children, did I?”

Donald just gave her a dry look. “...So, did you forget about the whole conversation we had last night, or are we just pretending it didn’t happen?”

“Pretending, please.”

Her brother just rolled his eyes. “Dells. I promise you, I didn’t raise them that badly.”

“Okay, but like what if-”

“Even if they don’t entirely get it -which, sidenote, is extremely unlikely-” Donald cut her off, looking her in the eyes. “They’ll still be perfectly respectful. They’re good kids, Della.”

Della pressed her eyelids tightly shut and shook her head. “I know, I know. You’re a good parent, Donnie. I know that you know the kids.” She knew that. She knew that, but it was just… difficult to admit it to herself. To let herself believe that she could have good things in life. “...And maybe if I’d been around for them when they’d grown up, I’d know them too.”

"You are around for them growing up." Her brother said. "They're still kids, Della. You still have time to be their parent, to help out- and trust me, I could really use the help." He shuddered. "They've caused so many problems as tweens and pre-teens, I cannot fathom the hell they're gonna bring when they're teenagers."

"Oh, hormones, they make life so interesting." Della agreed, straightening herself up as best as she could. "Okay, sorry. I'm stalling at this point. Let's just - keep going. If I stop to talk at every step, we'll reach the living room way after eight AM."

Donald nodded, pulling her along.

"...And you're absolutely certain you don't wanna also talk to them about being trans?" He asked, for the hundredth time.

"Donnie I am barely holding it together as it is, if you want me to die of a panic attack, trust me: there are easier ways." Della warned, and the smart mouth retort was enough to make her stand straight and lift her head up, so she no longer resembled a prisoner being walked to the firing line.

Donald sighed heavily. "Yeah, okay, just... yeah no, okay. That's- okay." He repeated a few times, shaking his head.

“Why do you keep asking, anyways?” Della asked. “What’s the big deal?”

“It’s nothing.” Donald said, though it looked like it was killing him to say. “It’s… yeah, it’s nothing.”

If he was going to say anything else, he seemingly thought better of it, instead returning to just dragging Della along. Ah, whatever. She could grill him on whatever the fuck had his brain in a twist later.

She had to admit, walking through the mansion this early in the morning was... different. She hadn't done so since she was a kid. And, sure, maybe that was a little weird for someone who had gone back to living here full-time for nearly a year, but-well, she usually spent most mornings stuffed up in her room.

...And occasionally some afternoons stuffed up in her room.

........And evenings and nights as well sometimes.

Yeah, okay, she wasn't great about getting out all the time. Maybe that was another reason she didn't feel the most positive about talking to her kids: she needed to get into better practice of doing so.

But that was something to think about later, right now she could watch how the early morning light shining on the paintings made them look different. Wince at how the sun would bounce off the suits of armor and directly into her eyes. Enjoy the calming stillness of the air, the way that everything just seemed- stopped, in time. Like every other worry in her life could disappear for just a moment, a moment while the sun still shone in that quiet way, a moment that would return evermore.

...Wait, was she a morning person?

Fuck, she might've been a morning person.

She could hear the kids before they entered the living room: there was a set of webbed feet pacing on the carpet (Huey- he tended to 'orbit' when he was waiting for something, like she did), the sound of a game being played, probably on a handheld device based on the tininess, (Dewey- he got bored easily and needed something to keep himself busy) and the sound of faint snoring, (Louie- he was usually asleep by this time, this was his 'napping while on the road to school' time) all accompanied by the sounds of an early-morning cartoon playing on the TV.

Huey was the first person to notice when they finally arrived. He stopped orbiting around Dewey (who was indeed on the floor with his eyes glued to a video game on his phone) and looked up to her.

"Mom, you made it!" He said. "I almost thought you weren't going to show up, it's eight oh five."

"Hey Hue, Dew, Lou." Della said, smiling before looking around. "Wait, where's Webby?"

"She's probably still doing the sudoku puzzles in the newspaper, why?" Huey asked. "You want me to go get her?"

"Wait, what's happening?" Dewey asked, looking up from his game.

"Mom's here." Huey said, motioning to her. "With... Uncle Donald, apparently."

"Oh. Wait, it's that kind of talk?" Dewey sat up, blinking and rubbing his eyes as they adjusted. "The one where we need both of them?"

"It's - uh - no, it's just a uh -" Della resisted the urge to snap her fingers as the words finally popped into place. "It's a family talk. It's why I wanted Webby here too, since she's pretty much - well, family."

"Oh that's even worse." Louie said, yawning as he woke up from his nap. "Who got in trouble this time? It wasn't me."

"Nobody's in trouble." Donald said. 'For once.' Della could hear him whisper under his breath.

Dewey placed his phone down. "Are we finding out that we're moving across the country? Or that one of was adopted?"

Huey began to leave, before doing a double take and looking back at his brother. "Dewford. We're identical triplets."

"...Wellllll," Louie wiggled his hand.

Huey sighed. "We're practically identical triplets.”

“And yet, if you were secretly the clone of some ancient nerd, it wouldn’t surprise me.” Dewey said. Huey just rolled his eyes and zipped off to find Webby instead of answering.

Della gripped the umbrella tighter as her son darted away - the fact that she was now in the same room with her sons, who she loved, had apparently made panic flood every part of her body. It took a lot of effort for her, but she managed to avoid shaking, focusing on breathing in and out before talking again.

"So, uh. How did you guys sleep? You get anything to eat yet?" She asked in what she hoped was a relaxed tone of voice - these were things mothers asked their children, why did it sound so stilted coming out of her mouth?

"I mean- we slept." Louie said with a shrug. "And ate. It was pancakes, you missed it. ...Speaking of which, Mrs. Beakley is probably gonna hunt you down once we're done here."

“Oh. Great.” Even more pain to look forward to.

Donald moved over to the couch, fishing for the remote to turn the TV off before getting his hand slapped away by Louie.

"Hey! I'm still watching that."

Donald just looked at him. "....No you're not. You were asleep right before we came in here."

"Yeah, and?"

"And Dewey's playing a video game at the moment." Donald said. "Huey was pacing. And you're telling me you were all watching a cartoon, too?"

Both of Della's kids gave various noises of assent, and Donald sighed. "I swear, you three can be the weirdest kids I know sometimes."

"Well, you raised us, so who do you really have to blame for that?"

Della snickered. She felt a soft pang in her heart as she watched Donald interact so easily with the kids, sure, (if she hadn’t left, maybe that would’ve been her instead) but it was dwarfed by the warmth it brought at the same time. Seeing her children just be children - it helped.

"I don't understand what the issue is Don, I mean, I usually blast music while playing Legend of LegendQuest,  or working on the Cloudslayer, and it never distracts me." She pointed out. She gently eased herself into the nearby armchair, but kept the umbrella in her hands, so she would have something to fiddle with.

Donald rolled his eyes. "That's because you're always distracted. And somehow it gets even worse when you do stuff without music."

"Ooh, cool umbrella!" Dewey interrupted. He flopped over onto his belly and rolled over to her, poking said umbrella a few times. "You know, I've been thinking about getting a swagger stick." He said. "What do you think, would I look cool with one?"

"No, you wouldn't." Louie answered before Della could say anything. "You would look like you were holding a stick and had no idea what to do with it, because you'd be constantly fidgeting. Hey, is that why it took you a so long to rebuild the spear?" He asked, both extremely blunt and out of the blue. "'Cuz you had literally nothing for background noise?"

"Louie!" Donald squawked. Louie just looked up at him.

"What? I'm genuinely curious."

Della managed to actually laugh at that one, putting her hand to her head. “No, no, I had a TV, that helped a bit.”

Donald blinked, shooting her a confused look. “You had a TV? On the moon? ”

“Yeah, well, technically I made a TV on the moon by repurposing video transponders to pick up broadcasts on the 54 to 806 Megahertz RF frequency band.” Della nodded. “I mean- it didn’t always work, it generally only played stuff about half the time I could get it to turn on.” She admitted. “And during those times that it was futzing up and everything, it… it would take me longer to do anything… huh.” Maybe that had been one of the reasons everything took so long. Who knew?

“Huh. Well, at least you weren’t entirely without entertainment, at least.” Her brother mentioned, trying to look at the positives. Della nodded. He was right, she’d had a few creature comforts while up there. She may have been desperate to get back home, of course, but even she knew that if you forwent any and all normalcy and comfort, you’d got crazy. And then she would’ve gotten nothing done.

"Yeah. And even then, that’s not really why it took so long.” She said, chuckling slightly to herself. “It's funny - I needed gold to power the rocket, right? So I spent years combing the moon for gold and I never saw any, and then when I'd just given up on ever getting home, Penny turns up and shows me that the moonlanders have so much gold they just use it as tissue paper and throw it in the garbage, which is also gold." The shorter sibling sat up a little. "I mean, it pissed me off so much in the moment, but looking back at it now, it's like the perfect example of dramatic irony."

Louie blinked. "...Wait, how much gold did you say was on the moon again?"

“ No, ” Della, Donald, and Dewey all stated forcefully at the same time.

Louie held up his hands, looking taken aback by how quickly they’d responded. “What? I didn’t say anything! I just asked one innocent little question, it’s not like I was considering going up into space to take some of the gold they left behind for myself!”

"Ah buh buh buh you're never going into space, remember?" Della said, wagging her finger at him. 

“I never said I was going to!” Louie huffed, crossing his arms. “ Jeez. ”

“And we’re keeping it that way.” Donald stated firmly. “No more space, period. We’re done with that.”

“Oh, but what if I wanted to be an astronaut?” Dewey asked. Della couldn’t help but feel a bit of warmth in her chest at the idea of her son also falling in love with the stars, but it really wasn’t worth it.

“Trust me, kiddo, just stick to astronomy. Or find a god or goddess of the stars and fu- become their friend.” She said, wincing slightly at the close save. “It’s like, practically the same thing.”

“There are only two hard limits we have for you guys.” Donald said, holding up his fingers. “One is the military, the other is space. Your mother and I have gone through them both, so trust us when we say: they are not worth it. ”

"Plus, what's the point of getting treasure if all you have to do is just pick it up off the ground?" Della added. "I mean, just look at Gladstone."

"How can you say that with a straight face?" Louie asked, gobsmacked. "I just- that would be my dream, man!"

"And that is exactly why it's not happening." Donald repeated, pinching the bridge of his beak.

"You really need to read up the myth of Icarus." Huey mentioned as he returned, a smiling Webby in tow. "Seriously. I think it's rather fitting here."

"Some guy got wings, got told 'don't fly up high' said 'bet' and fell to his death. I fail to see what that has to do with me."

"...Yeah. And that’s the problem.”

"Okay okay okay enough about Louie and Della being parallels of Icarus, everyone else but them already sees that!" Webby said quickly, hopping over the back of the couch and landing next to Louie, bouncing him up and down. "Is it Duck Family Mystery Time?"

"Oh, I knew it!" Dewey said, sitting up immediately. "This is about Phooey, isn't it?"

Della frowned bemusedly. “What? No, why would we have a talk about - phooey’s just what our dad would say when he didn’t want to say ‘fuck,’ which is where we picked it up.”

Webby immediately flushed bright pink, gasping quietly - her sons meanwhile are much less phased by the curse word, even as Donald sighed into his hands. “Della.”

“Okay, sorry, just-” Della waved her umbrella in the air. “They’re fucking teenagers, practically! They know what swears are by now.”

“That’s no excuse not to set a good example!”

“From the way you two talk, I wouldn’t have thought either of our grandparents kept from swearing in front of you.” Louie admitted dryly.

"Yeah, and besides, that's not what Phooey is!" Dewey said, looking back and forth between Donald and Della. "Phooey's the fourth triplet!"

Della snorted. "I would remember if I laid another egg, Dewey."

Dewey still looked unconvinced. He rubbed his chin suspiciously, narrowing his eyes at Della. "I don't know, the math's not adding up..."

"That's because triplets means three , not four , Dewford." Huey said, smacking his brother upside the head. "Anyways, I don't mean to nudge, but what is it that we need to talk about? We're on a bit of a schedule here."

"No we are not." Louie rectified.

"We should be on a schedule."

"Oh, yeah." Della cleared her throat, looking up to the ceiling before back to her brother, eyebrows arched to ask 'Maybe we should put it off?'.

Donald leveled a very unimpressed look at her, and even if she didn't know her brother she could read ' We are in. The room. We are not putting this off.' from that. He even added a quick slice to his throat to say 'If you try to back out I will kill you. Does that help?'

"Oh, I know what this talk is about." Louie suddenly said, raising his hand high in the air like he was at school. "It's about how Mom and Uncle Donald are secretly psychic, and seeing as how we're hitting puberty we're going to need to be on the lookout for these new psychic powers as well. Quick, Dewey, what am I thinking of?"

"That the dash-dash double jump move doesn’t work as well when you’re over encumbered - or, uuhhh - cheese!"

"...Why would I be thinking of cheese?"

"Well, I don't know, I am!"

"No, no, it's -" Della rubbed the side of her face, a rolling boil of emotions simmering behind her tongue. "I just wanted to say, first of all, that I love you - each and every one of you." She started, trying not to wince. "No matter what you do, or who you grow up to be, I will always love you." Della shifted her attention to Webby. "And that goes for you too. You may not be directly related to the boys, but I... think you qualify as their sister."

Webby let out a tiny whine at that, eyes very quickly filling up with tears. "Ohhhhhhhhh..."

Louie frowned.  "Yeah, we- we know that. Why are you - repeating that?" He asked, sitting up straight. "Is everything okay? No one's dying, are they?"

It was faint, but Della could hear Dewey's breath hitch because he was positioned right at her feet. "Mom?" He asked, looking up. "Are you... are you dying?"

"What? No! No, no, no. Nobody's dying." Della waved her arms, and winced internally. Of course that's how they would take that statement, why did she never think about what her words would sound like before saying things?

"IS UNCLE DONALD DYING?!?" Huey immediately shouted, terrified.

"Wh- no!" Donald said. "I- she just said that nobody is dying!"

"...Oh." Huey sat back down, flushing slightly. "I- I missed that part. Sorry."

"Well, nobody’s dying right now, at least.” Della couldn’t help but add. "... I mean eventually -"

"Della."

With visible effort, Della managed to arrest that sentence before it got any further and quickly resumed speaking.

"I just want you to know that I will always love you, but you don't have to love me." She continued. "If I do - something, anything, that makes me not worth loving, you drop me like a hot potato." Della insisted. "Because even if someone loves you that doesn't mean you have to love them back."

"What? What are you saying? Mom, what happened? Why would we hate you?" Dewey asked, looking up at her with tears in his eyes.

Donald looked at her and put his hand to his beak. ' Okay, it's a good start- maybe a little bit less on the dramatic declarations of love? Specifically, the whole- 'you can hate me' part? Please?'

Yeah, okay, this wasn’t going great, and she knew it. All she could feel was that tightening sensation in her heart, her pulse pounding in her ears, all while her brain tried way too hard to convince her that her family was going to hate her. Seriously, that wasn’t fun, brain. You could stop anytime , now.

"I'm gonna stop loving you if you don't tell us what you're talking about." Louie said, earning a glare from his brothers and Webby that he ignored. "What happened? Did you kill someone? Do we need to lie to the police or something? Are you going to jail for tax fraud?"

"No, but I've been lying to you. Again." Della admitted, twisting the umbrella back and forth in her hands. "And I'm sorry. The truth is -" She trailed off, the umbrella coming to a halt in her hands. "I'm - I -" 

Goddamnit, why wasn't there a book with instructions on how to reveal secrets to your family without traumatizing them? There were books on when to wear pants.

Okay, okay, maybe she couldn’t say it outright. That was fine, that was fine! She could just approach the problem from a different angle, that’d work out just fine. It’d be fine. 

Everything would be fine.

Saying it in her head like fifteen times definitely meant that it’d be perfectly, one-hundred percent, fine. Obviously.

"You kids know Selene, and how she's my friend?" Della asked rhetorically before continuing. "She's one of my best friends, you see, and before I was - stuck on the moon - we were a lot closer."

The others looked at each other, confused.

"Oh! Did you take the offer?" Huey asked, looking very relieved as he asked. "I thought that Zeus took the wreath with him- are you going to become a god now?"

"Oooh, what are you gonna the god of?" Webby asked immediately. "The sky? Like Zeus was?"

"Ah, nah. I can barely handle the responsibilities I have as it is, no way I could be a deity - though if I was asked to pick a domain I probably would go with sky, but a different sort of bent than Zeus' thunder and lighting, maybe more like Nut, and I know what you're going to say, and her name meant something a lot different in Ancient Egypt  -" 

Getting off track here, focus.

"Della." Donald gave her a look. "You good?"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah -" Della responded, taking another deep breath. Maybe it wasn’t the entire truth, but- whatever. She was powering through. "But you know, Selene wasn't my only friend, if you can believe me having more than one besides Penny." She braided her fingers together.

The kids blinked. “Uh. O-kay?” Webby said, confusion clear in her voice.

"I actually used to be pretty popular in Duckburg, though being related to Scrooge always made that more complicated, especially when I started hanging out with a Beagle girl, but there were lots of other people around the world, some I met on adventures, but some were just, you know, regular people I'd meet in a hotel or a bar or something. Oh, this one time, at pilot school -"

"Della, what-" Donald looked entirely confused, raising his shoulders to say 'What on earth are you doing?'

‘I have no idea, words are just coming out of my mouth, help me.’ Della signaled by rubbing her knuckles together, barely even pausing to take a breath.

They all looked confused, honestly; everyone was staring at her with their heads tilted and eyebrows creased - everyone except Louie, at least.

"OOHHHHHHhhh, it's this conversation!" Louie shouted, an exhaustedrelief in his voice as he sagged like a sack of loose potatoes into the couch. "You fucking asshole , I was freaking out so bad! I thought you were dying or something!"

"Hey, language!" Donald shouted immediately, whatever he'd been about to say to help forgotten in order to tell Louie off. "That's no way to talk to your mother!"

"Wait, what is she talking about?!" Dewey asked, turning over to look at Louie. "You know what she's getting at?"

"No, I know nothing. Absolutely nothing at all." Louie insisted in the same tired voice, waving Dewey away. "Pay no attention to me, I have no prior knowledge whatsoever."

"Whhaaaat is going on?!" Huey asked, grabbing his cap and twisting it in his grip. "I- do you have a problem with your friends? Have you been lying about- no that doesn't- I don't know what you're- oh my gosh,"

Webby frowned, eyes piercing Della's. All that managed to do was add to the feeling of tightness, that the commotion everyone was kicking up was causing her. And it really didn't help that she remembered that Webby really didn't like secrets being kept from her. 

"You keep saying 'friends' weirdly. Like you mean something other than-" She blinked. "...oh. Oh. "

"It's - well - I had a lot of friends who were women, just like your great aunt Matilda, she used to be friends with Virginia Wolf, you know?" She pointed out, the words coming faster as she tried to speak over the confusion. "And, and, and you know, Goldie O'Gilt was friends with her too? So it's not like I'm the only one who has a lot of women friends, and it's not weird why are you saying it's weird, I like women a normal amount -"

"Wait, what?" Webby looked at her with her mouth agape.

"I don't know anyth- wait, what?! " Louie shot up suddenly. " Goldie? And Aunt Matilda?!"

"Oh yeah, Goldie is super popular and very friendly, so she has a lot of friends, though when she got close to Grandpa and Grandma it was mostly just to piss off Scrooge-"

"WHAT?!"

"Wait, Goldie knew Grandpa Fergus and Grandma Downy?" Dewey asked, thoroughly confused.

"And anyway I shouldn't really be gossiping about other people behind their backs because it's very rude, you kids know that it's rude, right?" She continued on at breakneck speed. Oh god she was a horrible person, why couldn’t she just say the fucking words?! "You should never share secrets about other people like I just did, especially about if they're dating a moon goddess and their uncle just doesn't understand that it's not just a phase -"

The sharp sound of a cane being slammed against the ground shook everything in the room to a halt.

"What in Dismal Downs is going on here?" Scrooge asked from behind her. When had he come in? He stepped over the threshold, looking at everyone before focusing on Della. "Lass- it is eight o'clock in the morning! Some of us are trying ta get some planning done before work!"

"Uncle Scrooge, thank god.” Della said, sagging with relief. “Okay, yeah, okay, I’ll shut up now. I’ll just tell the kids I’m bisexual tomorrow or something.” 

Today had been a wash, that’s just- that’s just how it went sometimes. She could try again tomorrow- maybe prepare some flash cards. Or maybe she could just record it on a tape and let the kids put it in the VHS player or something.

…Wait.

She’d said that out loud.

Realization flitted across Della’s face. She pulled her cap down over her eyes and let out a soft whine. “Ah, phooey.”

Everything was quiet for a moment, and for a brief second it was almost like being back on the moon. No atmosphere, no sound, no awkward tension, just - her.

Then Donald sagged in his chair and sighed heavily. "For pity's sake , Della."

"WHAT?!" Dewey bounced up. "Wait, what was that? You're- I- what?"

"Oohhhhhh my gosh oh my gosh oh my goshhhhhh-" Webby seemed on the brink of hyperventilating, wide-eyed and staring off into space.

"Wait, you're- then you were trying to-" Huey's eyes widened. " Hang on, so you're saying that Goldie-"

"Right, okay, everybody just stop talking for one moment." Donald ordered. Everyone -thankfully- stopped, allowing him to stand and hoist Della to her feet. He thrust her into their uncle's arms. "Okay- you take her for just a moment. Talk to her. Now." He said.

"Now hold yer horses, laddie, why should I-"

" Now. "

"Right, talking to Della, got it." Scrooge nodded dutifully, talking Della by the arm and leading her out of the room. She could just hear Donald turning to the kids and asking them to wait for a moment to let everything cool down.

Fuck. She’d fucked everything up. Good old Dumbass Dumbella Duck struck again! Screwing everything up since the dawn of time! Fucking fuck fuckity fuck fuck fuck .

Scrooge pulled her back into the foyer, stopping near the staircase. He coughed. "...So. What -exactly- were ye trying ta do, back there?"

Della buried her head in her elbow and sat down at the end of the banister. "I don't know. I was trying - to tell the kids - that - you know? But it wouldn't come out!"

Scrooge nodded. “...Aye. Ae can see that.” He said. He grunted as he knelt down in front of her. "Lass. Take a deep breath. Count ta ten. What was the problem?"

The smaller Duck took a deep shaky breath.

One. Okay, just- take stock for a second.

Two. She was alive. The world hadn’t ended.

Three. She couldn’t hear the kids. They were probably listening dutifully to Donald.

Four. Scrooge was here now. That made things better.

Five. She could hear birds chirping. That was nice.

Six. Her brain was finally starting to calm down again.

Seven… Eight… Nine…

She held her breath for ten seconds, then finally breathed out. Ugh, she still felt like shit.

Better shit, but still shit. She looked up to her uncle with red-rimmed eyes.

“...I don’t want them to hate me.” She admitted quietly. “And I know, I know. I know , I know they’re better than that, I know they would never hate me for being queer, but- I just got them back, Uncle Scrooge.”

Scrooge seemed a little awkward, like he wasn't entirely sure what to do. But he did pat her shoulder. "Ah. Well- why do ye think they'd hate ye?" He tried. "If ye're thinking that, Ae mean- ye must have some reasons floating in yer noggin'."

"Take your pick." Della said, hand going out as she counted off on her fingers. "Foster care, getting arrested, Penelope pretending she didn't know me, the fact that I was born in the nineteen thirties?"

And oh, there was so much more she could go into if she wanted. So many people, so many friendships, she’d lost for just- being herself. But if she went into everything, she’d probably just ruin the facsimile of calm she’d finally managed to get herself to, so- well, Scrooge would probably get it by just that.

"Hmmm." Her uncle nodded."Aye, Ae suppose that would make things rather difficult. Though at least they've never had ta deal with any of that." He mentioned.

She paused. He understood? That… wow, yeah, no, that made her feel a little better, she had to admit.

"Yeah... but here I am almost reduced to hysterics trying to talk to my kids about it, and what are they going to take away from that?” She asked. Maybe they wouldn’t hate her, that much she was starting to be able to admit. But she could still mess them up by accident. “That maybe they should be ashamed."

"Ehhhh..." Scrooge wiggled his hand in the air. "Ae mean- maybe , but Ae donnae know. They're smart kids. They understand the whole..." He gestured at her. "'You' thing. They're probably more likely ta just think ye're being yer usual weird self."

Della snorted. “Gee, thanks.”

Scrooge winced.  "Ah- Ae donnae mean that in a bad way, o' course." He quickly rectified, sitting down with an 'oomph.' "Ye're you . Being a little weird is what makes ye special, it's what makes ye Della. Ae mean, aye, it's a right shame that not everybody can understand ye, but yer efforts ta make people understand are admirable."

"You heard what I was saying back there, right?" She asked, raising her eyebrows and then realizing she'd pulled her cap too far down to show that expression. She pushed it back up to where it normally sat. "Imagine I raised my eyebrows really archly when I said that."

"Aye, Ae did hear ye. And Ae'm pretending not tae have until we finish talking. Ye should be grateful fer that." Scrooge said dryly. He shifted so that he was sitting next to her. "Why do ye want ta tell them, anyways? If this is such a difficult thing for ye, why not just keep it a secret? If there was ever a secret ta keep, it'd be this one."

"Louie." She said softly, shoulders sagging. "I'm trying to do this for him."

"...And that's it?" Scrooge asked, eyebrow raised. "No other reasons, lass?"

"I dunno, it might be nice to actually bring a date over to the mansion without having to open a window for them to sneak in." Della answered, rubbing her nostrils. It was a nice thought, she had to admit: bringing her dates over to meet her kids, her family. Seeing if they would love them like she did.

And even past that, she just wanted them to know, she realized. She didn’t like the idea that she was keeping this part of herself secret anymore. It was just so fucking tiring, all the time. She wanted to make things work out for once.

 "I... I really really want to believe that things are different now. That my kids don't have to grow up with all the same baggage I did, but another part of me says I'm just setting them up for a fall."

Scrooge shrugged. "Well, lass- things are different. Fer starters, they've got a lot more family than ye and Donald did." He mentioned. "They've got a lot more people looking out fer them. They may not be as world-weary as ye two were at their age, but that's -and it pains me ta say this, but Ae believe it's right- that's actually a good thing. They didnae get any pre-baked hatred about certain peoples and certain ways of life coded intae their brains. They're going ta grow up with some baggage, aye, but they know better than ta carry it alone, lass."

"But what if they meet someone like Marie?" She asked, shaking slightly. "What if I just get them hurt because I filled their heads with nonsense?"

Gently, Scrooge took her cheek and guided her to look at him, eyes serious. "Then they'll have you , lass." He said. "You'll be there ta protect them. And if not ye- then Donald. Or me. Or Beakley. Or Fenton, or Gyro, or Gandra or Manny or Matilda or Goldie or Fergus or Downy or Panchito or José or Selene or Storkules or even Daisy- they're nae alone, lass. They'll never be alone, not fer as long as they're wanting." He assured her. "And even if none o' the people Ae've named -heaven forbid- are there fer them when they get hurt, they'll be there afterwards. Ta help, ta soothe, ta let them heal."

Della looked down at her knee. "Did you ever tell grandpa and grandma about... being you? Or did they just find out?"

Scrooge snorted. " Heavens no. Ae didnae even know what Ae was back then, and once Ae did find out Ae just hoped they'd never mention it. Never would've told them a damn thing, if Ae could've helped it."But ye're nae telling yer parents." He mentioned. "Ye're telling yer kids. And -while Ae may not have told them - who did Ae tell that Ae was bisexual?"

"...Me and Donnie." She finally looked up. "Weren't you afraid of what might happen?"

"Oh, of course nae." He scoffed, before looking at her. "Ah. Ae mean. ...Yessssss. Ae definitely , without a doubt, was terrified of- talking about my sexuality. Obviously."

"Yeah, well, I guess being the richest Duck in the world boosted your confidence." Della finally said, before punching her uncle on the shoulder lightly.

"It was more the fact that Ae'd caught ye and Selene giving each other hickeys moments before, but sure."

The younger Duck snorted, wet and nasally but no longer actively running down her bill.

"Okay, okay, okay, I've never been very good at being subtle." She admitted before letting out another long breath. "Which is why that happened back there, I guess. I've gotta forget the subtext and just go for the text-text."

"Aye. Well- donnae get too graphic with it." Scrooge warned her. "Ae donnae think ye need ta regale yer children with explicit stories. Donald is already much too close ta getting a heart attack as is.”

Della chuckled lightly. “Yeah, wouldn’t want to do that to him. I don’t wanna deal with the kids alone when they become teenagers.”

 “Mmm. Well, now that that’s over with…” He readjusted himself, and the air in the room suddenly grew colder, like a snap freeze had taken over the foyer. "Correct me if Ae'm wrong, but did Ae hear ye telling the kids that Goldie has cuckolded me with my parents? "

"Aaaah - yeah anyway I should - go and - talk to my kids before I fall apart again." Della said quickly, reaching around for the umbrella and pushing herself back into a standing position. "Let's talk about this never, okay?" She called out as she picked up the pace to a rapid hobble to get back into the foyer before her uncle could get another word in.

Thankfully Scrooge didn't chase after her, and as she got back to the living room, things sounded like they'd calmed down a little.

"Okay, good, you're back." Donald said as he noticed her, wiping sweat from his forehead. "We've all agreed that we're gonna pretend that none of that was said, if you'd like to take a do-over." He offered.

"Yep, this is all totally new to me." Huey added, sitting politely on the couch. "I- definitely didn't hear or piece together anything. At all. You just- were late, that's all."

"Yep, totally!" Dewey nodded. "...Mostly because it's the only way we're gonna be able to keep Webby from fainting again, but hey."

"I didn't faint," Webby said. "I just got a little lightheaded because I stopped breathing from the excitement. That's all."

"We will be asking about - all of that - later, though." Louie mentioned. "Because like- I don't even have words, honestly."

"Well. Ah. I guess I shouldn't waste any more time then." Della agreed, moving slower on the carpet. She brushed past the chair she'd been seated in before to step in front of the couch more directly. "Hi kids. I'm bi."

…Wow. Really?

That’s it? That’s all she had to do? This whole time?

No fireworks went off, the world didn’t end, nobody started screaming. The kids just all nodded in unison, looking like they'd had a bit of a talk on how to react.

"Okay, alright." Huey said. He started to let out a sigh before aborting it halfway. "Why- uhm. Why couldn't you have just said that in the first place?"

"You do not know what it was like during the eighties." She warned, gently easing backward until she could lean up against the coffee table. "Or nineties. The early two thousands weren’t that great either." Della lifted the umbrella up to gesticulate. "It was bad ."

"It was not fun." Donald agreed.

Huey nodded, seemingly content with that answer. "Okay. That- I understand that. I mean, I've done a little bit of research into the topic," He admitted, and maybe Della was being a little hopeful, but she clocked that and almost immediately filed it away for later. "And, yeah, things have really gotten a lot better since the twenty-tens, really."

The others were trying to be silent and respectful, but Dewey was very obviously vibrating with questions in his seat.

"...Okay, Dew. I'm going to have to disappoint you. Selene is not your mom. Other mom." She said, trying to pre-emptively head this line of questioning off.

Dewey visibly deflated. "Aw, dangit. But you two looked so close in that orb she gave us!" He said.

"Yeah yeah yeah no, you two did date though, right?" Webby asked immediately, vibrating with equal intensity to Dewey's previous vibrations, as if she was feeding off of his lost power.

"...Yeah. Okay, you got me. I picked the name Spear of Selene for a reason, after all." Della admitted, aware that her face was burning red-hot. "She was the first person I was ever actually in a serious relationship with."

Webby squealed excitedly, arms flapping like mad. Della could practically see the stars in her eyes. "You- you dated- you a goddess- you dated a woman -"

"Why did the woman part come second?" Louie asked.

Donald cleared his throat for attention. "Okay. And what do you all have to say about this new reveal?" He asked.

They quieted down with an 'oh, right,' before Huey spoke up.

"Uh- well I just wanted to say that I support you, regardless of your sexual orientation." He said.

"Yeah yeah yeah, totally." Dewey nodded up and down. "We could never hate you for that! We could never hate you at all!"

They then both looked to Louie, who just shrugged. 

"Oh right, yeah." He looked to Della. "I'm sorry to say, but I don't think I can ever forgive you for this." He said in a monotone, ignoring his siblings' gasps of outrage. "Because as you know, I'm a raging homophobe, and you liking women? Yuck. And I really thought we were getting somewhere, too."

“Ah, a blood feud it is then.” Della nodded, just as mock serious as him. She couldn’t help but smirk, however, reaching out to take his hand in hers and squeeze. “Thank you for being patient. I’m sorry it took me so long.”

"Yeah, yeah." Louie looked away, though he didn't let go of her. "Thanks for doing it eventually."

"Louie!" Webby looked on the verge of tears. "You- I you-"

Louie's eyes widened. "Oh, right. Sorry Webs, I was messing with her?" He admitted. "Guess that was a little insensitive to you, my bad."

"Oh- oh, oh thank goodness- I-I mean, what?" Webby blinked, immediately sitting up straight and finding a sudden interest in her nails. "I have absolutely no idea why that would be worse for me than it would be for all of you guys. Yep. No reason other than common decency for why I wouldn't be comfortable hearing you say those things, no siree Bob."

Della nodded seriously. "Obviously." She agreed. "And everyone in this family would have been more than willing to beat the tar out of any potential homophobe."

"Yep, not that it's needed, though!" Webby agreed, nodding her head. "Because you are definitely the only person here who isn't completely, one hundred-percent straight. Yep. Definitely."

Everyone fell silent for a few moments, just kind of staring at her.

Louie coughed. "Right, well I'm-"

"OKAY I LIED I'M GAY." Webby immediately caved. "I LIKE GIRLS. MORE THAN THE AVERAGE AMOUNT."

The triplets just looked at each other for a moment before nodding slowly.

"...Obviously?" Huey tried.

"Yeah, I mean you have a crush on Lena, right?" Dewey asked.

"I knew that as I saw your sword collection." Louie admitted.

Webby squealed and pressed a pillow into her blushing face. "I- You- I mmmmhhhmhmmmmyyyyeaahh it really is that obvious isn't it?" She asked meekly.

"You want us to keep it a secret? Nothing has to leave this room if you don't want it to." Della offered Webby.

"Yes- no- I dunno- is it really that obvious?"

"No, they're just being dramatic." Donald assured her, rubbing her shoulder as he took a spot on the arm of the couch.

"No we're not." Dewey stated bluntly. "It's about as obvious as the fact that Louie's gay."

"Yeah it's- hang on, what?" Louie paused and looked at Dewey. "You- excuse you."

"What?"

"I- I mean like-" Louie just blinked. "I feel I've done a much better job of hiding it."

Huey wiggled his hand in the air. "I mean- you're not bad at it, but like-"

"There's only so many ways that you can excuse the fireman calendar, dude." Dewey mentioned.

"...Okay that's fair."

“I’m sorry, what fireman calendar?” Donald asked, one eyebrow arched.

“It’s nothing bad .” Louie replied, blushing as he pulled his hood up around his face.

"I mean, you could just be interested in supporting the local firehouse." Della offered as a weak alternative before continuing. "But I'm really glad you two feel comfortable enough to tell us this. I'm sorry about - making my coming out so dramatic."

"Is there any other way in this family?" Huey asked sardonically.

"Yeah, I'd say that was less dramatic than your return, but only by a little bit." Dewey nodded in agreement. Then both he and Huey turned to look at Louie expectantly.

"...What?"

"Well?" Dewey asked. "Mom and Webby both officially said it."

"Yeah!" Webby agreed, sitting up straight finally -only a little bit of blushing mess still on her face- looking at Louie. "We both got our time in the spotlight, don't you want it as well?"

Louie just looked at them for a long moment before turning back to Della. "So Aunt Goldie's bi too, huh?" He asked.

"Ohmygosh that's right!" Webby said with a gasp, before gasping even louder. "OH OH OH! And Aunt Matilda likes women too! Right? I got that right, right?" She looked at Della with a hopeful grin.

"Yes, that's right.” Della nodded. She felt a little guilty for coming out for them, but - well, she knew them. And if they were here, she could pretty much guarantee that they would’ve both smacked her upside the head for not saying so sooner. “I probably shouldn't have mentioned any of that... but it's not like the two of them hide it. Goldie's always been a shameless flirt, and your great aunt was actually pretty influential in the UK gay liberation movement." She paused before looking at her brother, a smirk playing across her bill. "Speaking of which - Donnie, is there anything you want to share with us?"

Donald pretended he didn't hear her, examining a speck of paint on the far wall. It took a moment, but all four of the kids' eyes widened as they turned to look at him.

"No..." Huey straightened up.

"Wait, really?" Dewey asked, mouth agape. Webby was making a noise that somehow transcended the normal range of hearing, just barely able to be heard if you listened closely.

"You have anything you wanna tell us, Uncle Donald?" Louie asked, blinking slowly. "Stuff you could've told us -oh I don't know- any time in the past thirteen years?"

"...Yes, I do." Donald said finally, looking back. "It's that I have a better excuse than your mother: I was in the Navy. Don't ask, Don't tell. All that stuff was drilled into me even harder."

"Mmmmmmm, I don't know, the navy seems like it's kind of famous for three things, and one of them is rum and the other is the lash." Della teased, leaning towards her brother till her beak was resting on his shoulder.

"Well I never claimed anyone else was good at following that rule."

The others all launched themselves in unison at the adults, and almost immediately the pandemonium was back.

"YOU'RE QUEER TOO?"

"Why didn't you say anything?"

“You’ve known us for thirteen years, man! Why did I learn that from her?”

"Do you like men? Are you gonna stop dating Daisy now?"

"Did you date Panchito or José? Because you definitely dated one of them, don't even try to hide it!"

"Why didn't we ever know?"

Donald held up his hand, leaning back as everyone crowded in on him. "Ack- okay: Yes, because I wanted to give you guys a good life and it never came up -and maybe I have some issues of my own I need to work through," He admitted, ticking off his fingers. "I've known you for longer than that, because I knew you when you were eggs, I'm bisexual, so I'm going to continue to date Daisy- and both."

"BOTH???" All the kids yelled in unison.

"You can do that?" Huey asked.

"You were cheating on them?" Dewey asked, gobsmacked.

"No, of course not, it-" Donald sighed, looking to his sister. "Della?"

"Yes, oh brother of mine?"

"Would you kindly get your children off of me, so I can collect myself and better answer their questions?"

“Hmm, I don’t know,” Della drawled, leaning on him with her kids. “You did raise them for thirteen years.”

“Della.”

“So I think that they’re really your kids, you know?” She continued with a grin. “So really, I think it’s up to you to get them off of you.”

“You birthed them.”

“And you raised them. Your point?”

Donald simply stared at her as he was slowly smothered in a pile of feathery bodies, and Della felt good.

This was good. She felt good.

They knew about her, and they didn’t hate her. They still cared for her and loved her, they hadn’t even been troubled for a second. (Well, okay, they had, but that was entirely her own fault.)

They loved her- not just the idea of her, but her. Hell, maybe she could tell them she was trans! She wanted to. It was another big part of who she was, after all.

…But - later. She’d give it a few weeks, maybe. Hopefully she wouldn’t be as worried as she had been this time, but- a few weeks might help her get her story straight, at least.

But that didn’t matter right now, all that mattered was that she had her family, and her family had her, and she could be happy. They knew, and they still loved her, and she could be happy.

—0—

“Why did you tell Mom before you told us?” Huey asked for what felt like the millionth time. Louie just sighed as he flopped into his bed, nestling under his sheets.

“Obviously because you already knew.” He said, staring up at the bunk bed over him. “Didn’t think I needed to say anything, you know?”

He frowned as Dewey’s face popped in over his. “Okay, I might not be the brains of the group, but you made it pretty clear this morning that you had no idea that we knew!”

Well, drat. He knew that wouldn’t work, but still. A guy could hope.

“I was going to.” He said, sitting back up and sticking his tongue out at Dewey. He rolled his eyes at both of their dubious expressions. “I was! …When I eventually got a boyfriend.”

Both Huey and Dewey groaned at that. “But then we wouldn’t have known until we were in our eighties!” Dewey protested.

“Hey!”

“Well - okay, Dewey, that’s not fair.” Huey admitted, jotting down some notes in his JWG. “We’d be waiting until our forties to know anything.”

“Oh, you two think you’re sooooo funny, don’t you?” Louie asked sardonically, narrowing his eyes at them. “Fine. If you’re gonna be like that, then I won’t tell you why I told mom first.”

The effects were immediate. Huey’s head immediately turned from his book and Dewey was unable to hide his curiosity.

“Well okay, hang on, let's not be hasty now,” Huey tried.

“Yeah, no, we’re brothers!” Dewey agreed, bouncing onto Louie’s bed. “You’re supposed to tell us everything, so c’mon dude!”

Louie turned on his side, pulling his blankets up and looking away to hide his smirk. “Nope. Not spilling any secrets for two people who don’t think I’ll ever find love.”

He grinned as he heard the two of them sigh.

“Louie…” Huey approached the bed, climbing onto it as well. “Fine. You’ll- probably find love eventually.”

“Eventually?”

“Before you’re forty.” He corrected.

“Yeah, totally.” Dewey nodded. “I mean, granted, it’ll probably be a giant man-eating plant that drains the life out of everyone it touches, but I’m sure you two would get along great.”

Louie scoffed. “Excuse you,” He sat up, pointing a finger at Dewey. “ He would be a giant man-eating plant that drains the life out of everyone he touches. Because gay.”

Dewey rolled his eyes. “Yeah, okay, okay. Now c’mon!” He said, bouncing up and down on the bed. “Tell us why you told mom first!”

Louie adjusted his seat on the bed, perfectly happy to keep his brothers in suspense for a little bit longer. “I didn’t mean to tell her,” He finally admitted. “It just kinda slipped out.”

“Like how mom let it slip?”

He snorted. Yeah, right. “No, I’m a master at talking. It may have slipped out, but it was still super smooth, like - like butter.”

“Uh huh, I’m sure.” Huey said.

“Shut up, Hubert.” Louie punched him lightly on the arm. “It- you know, I’d had a night where I wasn’t able to get much sleep, so I was watching some stuff, mostly cooking videos. I- ended up making myself hungry, so I went down to the kitchen to make some food, and then - mom showed up as well.”

“And then when she asked you why you were cooking food past midnight, you just said ‘I’m gay, deal with it?’” Dewey guessed sarcastically, earning a light smack as well.

“No. We- talked.” He admitted quietly. “About stuff. And things.”

“Wait, you gotta have a late night talk with mom?” Dewey interrupted, looking offended. “And you didn’t say anything?”

“I’m sorry, did I just hear the person who went back in time and spent Christmas Eve with Mom and Uncle Donald complain about someone else talking to Mom?”

Dewey shut his mouth at that, looking appropriately abashed. 

“That’s what I thought.” Louie said. “And it wasn’t like we talked about anything big, it was - just stuff.” He tried. He decided to omit the fact that they’d had more late-night talks afterwards - this was just about the first one. “The topic drifted here and there a little bit, and eventually it faded for a bit, and then she just said she was bi out of the blue-”

“Wait, are you serious?!” Huey cut him off, mouth agape. “Mom told you she was bi before she told the rest of us? Why?”

Louie threw his hands in the air. “I don’t know, Hubert! I- she was using me as a trial run, had spoken to Goldie, could sense a kinship, maybe? I don’t know, she just- did.”

Dewey blinked. “...And how did you take it.”

“I took it fine!” He insisted. “I mean it’s definitely not what she was worried about. …Considering I mentioned that I’d thought she was a lesbian originally.”

Both of his brothers looked at each other. “Seriously?” Huey cocked his head as they got more comfortable on Louie’s bed. “I mean- I didn’t see any signs.”

Louie just gave him a look. “...Really? She lets Penumbra sling her around like a sack of potatoes.”

“So? She lets a lot of people do that.”

“Name them.”

“Well there’s Penumbra, obviously, but also Selene, and that viking lady Goosedottir, and Beakley, and M’ma Cabrera, and oh yeah no okay I see the pattern now.” Huey admitted, taking his book back out of his hat to write down said pattern, if Louie had to guess.

(‘Why Della Duck was Bisexual.’ Wouldn’t that be a kicker of a rule in the Junior Woodchuck Guidebook?)

“And that’s when you told her you were gay.” Dewey tried.

Louie rolled his eyes. “Yes, Dewey. That’s when it came out. Absolute shocker, I know. ...Also apparently our family is really fucking gay.”

“Huh.” Huey thought about that for a moment, before nodding. “Yeah, no, that makes sense. Didn’t catch Uncle Donald, though.”

“Yeah, no, right???” Dewey twisted in place to shake Huey’s shoulders. “How did we miss that? We literally lived with the guy!”

“We also missed that he was an adventurer.” Louie pointed out. He settled down into his bed, getting more comfortable. If they were on this topic now, then they probably wouldn’t ask about the elephant in the room. “Like seriously, we missed so much about him.”

“We still should’ve seen it when we went on that trip with José and Panchito, though.” Dewey pointed out.

“...Yeah, no, you’re right. We should’ve seen it then.”

Huey was silent for a few moments, brow furrowed. He eventually raised his hand and looked at Louie. “So, question.”

Ah, yep. Here it was. He should’ve known that he wouldn’t escape it. “...Yes, brother of mine?”

“If you told her that you were gay, did you also mention that you were trans?” He asked.

Louie just chortled. “Ah hah, yes. You mean, ask me if I told the one person whose opinion I’ve been absolutely terrified of hearing that I was trans? Is that what you’re asking me, Hubert?”

Huey sighed. “I mean, from the way you say it, it just sounds like it would’ve been a pretty good moment to-”

“Yeah I know!” Louie buried his face under his covers, letting out a seething whine. “I know that that would’ve been the moment! But by the time I actually remembered that I wanted to talk about it, the moment passed, and all the stupid anxiety came and it’s just- gah!”

“Ooookay, yeah.” Huey nodded, gently rubbing Louie’s shoulder. He had to admit that it felt - okay. It helped calm him down, at least. “Gonna chalk that one up to anxiety, then.”

“Man.” Dewey fell onto his back, kicking his legs. “How many times have you tried to talk about it with her, again?”

“Shut up, Dewford.”

“I mean now that she’s come out as bi, it should be easier, right?” He asked.

Louie sighed. “You would think, but also.” He jabbed a thumb at his exposed forehead. “Brain. It be stupid sometimes.”

Huey hummed. “Well, hey - maybe she already knows?” He pointed out. “I mean, she does have our medical information. Maybe she just wants to be polite and is waiting for you to say something first.”

Mom? Waiting? Yeah right. He loved her, but that woman was the most impatient person he knew, and he’d lived with Dewey his whole life. He scoffed. “Uh huh, sure. I’ll believe that- if you can answer me one thing.” He said, sitting up. “When’s the last time that she hinted at something casually? Because you know that if she knew, she’d be trying to hint at the fact that she was perfectly fine with it.”

“Well… hmm…” Huey, frowned, trying to think.

“And who gave her our medical information, if you can recall?”

“Scrooge did.”

“Now do you think that he sat down with her and went over it with her?”

Huey looked up at him. “Are you saying that you honestly don’t believe that mom knows you’re trans?”

“Well, it certainly wouldn’t surprise me!” Louie said, falling back and pulling the covers over his head.

“Okay, so she doesn’t know. Somehow.” Dewey hummed, tilting his head from side to side. “How’re you gonna tell her?”

Louie sighed. “...Why do I have to? Maybe I don’t wanna tell her.”

He didn’t even have to look to feel the glares that his brothers were giving him.

“Look, it’s- it’s difficult, alright? I’ve been trying, I really have, but I just- I don’t wanna mess things up.”

“Lou, c’mon.” Huey reached over to him. “If she was transphobic, Uncle Donald would’ve kicked her ass the moment she came back.”

“Mmph.”

“She won’t hate you.”

“Mmmmmmmmmmph.”

When it was clear that Louie wasn’t going to come back out of his blanket shield, Huey sighed. “She’s probably gonna find out eventually, Louie.”

“...I know.”

Huey nodded. “Right, well. If you ever want help telling her, just let us know.” He said as he got off Louie’s bed.

“Yeah! We’ll definitely help!” Dewey agreed, clambering up from Louie’s bed to his own without using the ladder. “But I doubt you’ll need it, I’m sure mom would support the idea absolutely.”

Louie groaned. “I know.” Unfortunately, simply ‘knowing’ wasn’t helping matters.

Maybe he’d talk to Goldie about it. Get her opinion on things. She knew his mother, after all.

…Yeah, yeah. He’d talk to Goldie about it.

After Christmas, though.