A/N: Guys, I am so sorry for the long wait. I had severe writer's block and have also been going through some medical stuff. But I'm back now, although the fall semester is about to start and I have 3 classes for study, so I'll have to find time to update. Until then, here we go...
Webby noticed something on the floor. "Grammy, what's that?" she asked.
"What's what, dear?" Mrs. Beakley asked.
"That," Webby pointed.
Mrs. Beakley looked to where Webby was pointing; next to the coat rack was a crumpled-up piece of paper. It must've fallen from Della's pocket.
"Stay here," Mrs. Beakley told Webby, then she went over to investigate. Picking up the paper, she smoothed it out as much as she could and saw that it was a year-old newspaper article. What she read made her eyes widen. The title of the article read Abused Children Move in with Rich Uncle. Beneath the title was a picture of the boys and next to that was a picture of the mansion. Reading on, she found out that the boys had been victims of abuse and neglect at the hands of their mother. No wonder they were so nervous to tell everyone what was going on!
"Duckworth," Mrs. Beakley called, "get the limo!"
"Grammy," asked Webby, "where're we going?"
"To prove your uncle's innocence," Mrs. Beakley answered, and with that she grabbed her granddaughter's hand and they were out the door.
The doors of the jail cell shut behind Scrooge with a loud bang.
"You can't keep me here," Scrooge exclaimed, "I need to get back to my kids!"
"Why?" asked the arresting officer. "So you can beat them again?"
"I never never put my hands on them!" Scrooge was exasperated; why wouldn't anyone believe him?
"Oh sure," mocked the officer, "the bruises just happened to magically appear".
"Of course not," Scrooge huffed, "I don't know how they got there, but it wasn't me who put them there".
"He's telling the truth!" said a voice—it was Mrs. Beakley.
"Mrs. Beakley!" Scrooge felt really relieved to see her.
"May I help you, ma'am?" the officer asked her.
"Please," said Mrs. Beakley, "you have to let Mr. McDuck out of there. He's innocent!"
"What makes you so sure?" the officer wanted to know.
"Well for one, I work for him," said Mrs. Beakley, "and two, my granddaughter and I found this". She dropped the newspaper article down on the desk.
Huey, Dewey, and Louie sat on their beds in their bedroom of their mother's home; although they each had their own bed with sheets and a dresser, it wasn't their room. Their room was back at the mansion with clothes, comic books, games, and toys all over the floor; and maybe a school book or two.
"Guys," Dewey broke the silence, "I don't like this".
"None of us do, Dewey," said Huey, "but Uncle Scrooge is in jail and Uncle Donald is far out at sea. Where can we go?"
Louie let out a long sigh. "This is all my fault," he said.
Huey and Dewey cast their brother a glance.
"What?" Huey didn't think he heard quite right.
"What are you talking about, Louie?" Dewey asked.
"If I hadn't gone to say good night to Mom that night, I wouldn't have found out that she was still doing drugs," Louie explained. "Then Uncle Scrooge wouldn't be in jail and we'd still be with him".
Huey and Dewey exchanged concerned glances; then went over to console their brother.
"Louie, don't blame yourself," Huey reassured him.
"Yeah," Dewey added, "it's not your fault you discovered the drugs".
Louie didn't answer; that's when Huey pulled him in close.
"We'll be out of here and back with Uncle Scrooge soon," Huey said, "you'll see".
But Louie wasn't so sure.
The officer skimmed down the newspaper. "What exactly are you showing me?"
"Oh for Pete's sake, read the title!" Mrs. Beakley spat.
The officer looked at the paper again. "Ma'am," he said, "this paper is over a year old".
"What does that matter?" Mrs. Beakley wanted to know. "The point is, Mr. McDuck has been taking care of those boys for a year and has never once laid a hand on them!"
"Well you're going to need more than a newspaper article to prove that," the officer told her.
"What is it with this judicial system?" Mrs. Beakley demanded.
"You didn't even scope my house or ask questions," Scrooge added. "You just slapped the handcuffs on me and dragged me out".
Huey and Dewey had continued to console their brother when they heard the front door open then slam shut.
"Della!" someone with a deep, booming voice called.
The boys exchanged glances; then, climbing off the bed, walked over to the door. Cautiously, Huey opened it and they all peeked out; they saw a rather slender man, who was probably a little taller than their mother. His name was Richard, but Della called him Rick.
Rick grabbed a beer from the refrigerator. "Della!" he called again and took a swig of beer.
When the boys saw (or at least thought they saw) him turn toward their room, they slammed the door shut. Almost immediately afterward, they could hear his footsteps approaching. The door swung open, knocking all three of them to the floor.
Rick stood in the doorway, eyeing the boys; and they eyed him.
"Who are you?" Rick wanted to know.
The boys were too afraid to answer.
"Well?" Rick boomed.
Just then, Della walked up. "Oh, hey baby," she greeted him.
"Two questions," said Rick, "where were you and who are these kids?"
"To answer your first question, I was in the bathroom," answered Della, "and two, remember I told you I had some—company that was going to be staying with us for awhile?"
"You never said it was going to be kids," Rick didn't sound happy. "You know I hate kids".
"Just make it look good," Della told him. "I was given custody of them for a week then I have a custody hearing. Now do you have it? I haven't been able to sniff anything for weeks".
Heaving a hesitated sigh, Rick pulled out a plastic baggie of heroin; snatching it from him, Della took it and walked off.
Rick shot another glare at the boys, making them freeze. He approached them and squatted down to their level.
For a minute, they all just sat there, staring at each other; but then, Rick suddenly grabbed all three of them by their collars.
"Listen up, you little pieces of scum!" Rick growled. "If you're going to live here, follow one simple rule: stay out of my way, got it?"
The boys nodded and Rick let go of their collars.
A/N: OK, I'm sure a lot of you know, DuckTales has been rebooted and premiered with a one-hour special yesterday (for 24 hours). It looks like they may have their own theory of what happened to Della and our questions and theories may finally be answered. Now since this story is based on the 1987 series, I'm going to keep on with this and get to it's sequel (eventually) and I may even write some stories based on the 2017 series (I just don't know what I am going to write yet).
The initial start of the 2017 series will be on September 23rd.
This chapter may be revised in the future (just a few tweaks), but let me know what you thought so far (NO FLAMES). Hopefully the next chapter won't take so long and I'll see you next time :).
