I own nothing.
III
"Unca Donald, do we have a mom?"
Donald nearly tripped over his own feet. He had been tucking the boys in for the night, making sure the three six year olds were set for a good night's rest. After the initial shock wore off, he considered that he really shouldn't have been surprised; he'd known they'd ask one day. That didn't mean he was ready to have that conversation.
"Um…" he started, "can I ask where that question came from?"
Dewey turned over in the bed to face Donald, "It's just, all the other kids in class have moms and dads. We only have a dad."
"He's not a dad," Huey said. He hadn't said much the entire night. Donald had been slightly worried before; now he was even more so. Huey lay still on the other side of the bed, his back facing Donald and his brothers. "He's an unca—um, uncle. We don't have a mom or a dad."
Louie turned his wide eyes to Donald. Louie was closest to him, and so was also able to reach out to Donald's arm. "But you're like a dad, so it counts, right?"
Donald was a bit overwhelmed. He addressed the easiest question first, "Uh, yes. Legally, technically, I'm your dad…that is, I adopted you."
"But why'd you have to?"
Donald sighed. Why, indeed? "Boys, your mom was…well, is my sister. She, uh…"
Huey spoke up again. This time his voice was small. Sad. "She didn't want us, right, Unca Donald?"
Don's heart broke a bit. "I'm sure she cared. In her own way…" he sighed again, "Boys, your mother was never really a good planner. She didn't plan on having kids and when she had you she couldn't think through any decisions well enough to raise you right. I'm sure she gave you to me because she thought it would give you a good life." Never mind the fact that she didn't like kids, or the idea of settling down. The boys would never, never need to know that.
"So she didn't want us."
"Huey, you—"
"She didn't love us enough to want to plan better—"
"I love you."
There was a small silence after that. Donald looked to Louie, who nodded a bit, and then circled to the other side of the bed to sit at Huey's feet. "I'm sorry you three don't have a mom. I wish I could fix things so that you could, but I can't. But I'm doing the best I can, okay? You know that I love you boys. So much."
Dewey and Louie were sitting up in bed by now, carefully watching their brother. Before long though, Huey sat up and buried his face in Donald's chest. His brothers were quick to join in, and soon all three of them were surrounded by their uncle's arms.
"We love you too, Unca Donald."
"Could you stay with us, Unca Donald?"
Donald grinned a bit, and maneuvered so that he was laying on the bed, Huey to his left and Louie and Dewey to is right. The three boys cuddled close to him and settled back down. Don didn't think he'd be going anywhere tonight.
Taking a calming breath, he did what he could to recall the words to the song he sang to the boys when they were younger. They came easily.
Come all you young sailor men, listen to me
I'll sing you a song of the fish in the sea
And it's windy weather, boys, stormy weather, boys
When the wind blows, we're all together boys;
Blow ye winds westerly, blow ye winds, blow
Jolly sou'wester, boys, steady she goes…
III
A/n: I have this head canon that, when Don would resort to singing to the boys when they were little to calm them down, he'd sing shanties rather than your run-of-the-mill lullabies. I honestly doubt he'd know anything else, and you know, he's a sailor. This particular one is from Assassins Creed, called Fish in the Sea, although the lyrics themselves are much older than that. I thought it fit nicely :)
