Some Rooms in the Mansion
SUMMARY: Della's gone and Donald never wants to see him again. The only thing he can do now is clean their stuff out of the mansion.
NOTES: My original idea for this was for it to be from Della's perspective and featured HDL, but after several rewrites that turned into this and I think this turned out pretty well.
Months after Della disappeared and those stupid vultures cut his funding to rescue her, Scrooge began cleaning out her and Donald's old bedroom. Donald had actually moved out a year prior and into a houseboat, but the twins still shared a room whenever he spent the night visiting. The duck had taken most of his things when he originally moved out, but old band posters still hung on the walls and a couple of dirty clothes still remained on the floor. He asked Mrs. Beakley to do Donald's laundry before putting his stuff in boxes and moving them into the attic.
Della's side of the room was harder to clean. On one hand he still had hope that she would return home. He dreamed about her landing the Spear of Selene back on Earth and coming home. She'd see all her things no longer in the room and be a bit peeved at first before laughing it off and helping to move everything back where it once was. She would even insist on putting Donald's stuff back.
Sadly, he may never get to see that day happen. Della is lost in in space, nowhere to be found and possibly dead, and Donald never wanted to speak to him again because of that. It was best to just clean out their old bedroom and hope for the best.
The other room that needed to be done with was… the nursery.
When Della laid her eggs the first thing she did was find an empty room in the mansion and start designing a place for her children. She bought paint, toys, blankets, pillows, books - whatever could possibly be found in an infant's nursery could now be found in that specific room in the mansion.
The nursery itself ended up looking quite nice. Three of the walls were painted red, blue, and green, with the last one being covered in shelves that became lined with books, toys, and family photographs. One of them was a family photo of the eggs with Santa and Scrooge couldn't help but cough up a laugh at it. The disappointing excuse for a polar bear was holding his niece's eggs, she and Donald were smiling at the camera and standing next to that ho-ho-hooligan, and there Scrooge was grimacing and glaring off in the corner at the poor dog being paid to dress like that good for nothing chimney-chaser. It was one of his favorite holiday memories and the only positive thing he would associate that man.
He put the frame down and looked around the rest of the room. Stuffed toys and soft, colorful rugs covered the hardwood floor, glow in the dark stars painted the ceiling with miniature planes, a lamp, and fake birds and dragons falling from it. There was an toy chest that he knew to be filled with blocks, cars, rattles, boats, and balls. Scrooge remembered telling Della that giving her kids that many toys will spoil them rotten, but Della didn't care and he and Donald helped pay for them anyway.
Furniture consisted of a wooden rocking chair, a child-size table surrounded by three chairs, some bean bag chairs (Donald's two friends insisted), and three handmade cribs with the triplet's names painted on. "Hubert" said the red crib, named after the author of Della's current literary obsession. "Dewford Deuteronomy" said the blue one, named for the hero of an old adventure novel Scrooge gave the twins when they were little. "Llewellyn", said the green crib, after a dear friend of Della's in St. Canard.
The triplets were already hatched by now and if it weren't for Donald having an internet account and constantly posting pictures on it he wouldn't even know what his grandnephews looked like. "Stay away from my nephews and never contact me again," Donald had yelled the last time they saw each other.
He regretted their last meeting and his decision to build the rocket, but he respected his nephew's wishes. Eventually Donald would forgive him, he'd get to meet his grandnephews, and they could put this whole thing behind them. Eventually he'd make back the money he lost in his search for Della and when he did he would spend it all again to bring his niece home. Eventually his family would move back into his home and they would all be together with him, Mrs. Beakley, her newborn granddaughter Webbigail, and Duckworth.
Eventually things would be back to normal.
Eventually he would have a family to go on adventures with again.
...Eventually.
Sighing, Scrooge decided to just lock and board up the room instead of emptying it. No matter how much he wanted to, the memories of all the hard work that went into making the nursery, the family photos lining the walls, and the beady eyes of the stuffed bears facing the billionaire just wouldn't let him. He'd have Beakley call a carpenter in the morning to board up the door and window and then the room will never be spoken of again.
He noticed the music box he commissioned so long ago on a shelf and turned it on, listening to it play one more time before leaving.
Happy Holidays! :)