A/n: Over the top gangster and mafia voices, and why? Because apparently everyone talks like that around here… this is the Negaverse, get used to it, kiddo, cos this place ain't a British tea party!

Chapter 25

Mashinda Home

Nat gazed at the phone, she had to at least inform her parents about Lucy's existence, but then they'd want to see her, Nat looked down into her cup of coffee and heaved a sigh.

'What's up with you?' Launchpad asked gruffly looking at her from the refrigerator.

Nat looked at him with her eyes narrowed, they'd never really hit it off, Launchpad didn't like her for some reason, possibly it was just him being suspicious of her actual intentions with Negaduck, and Nat just found him irritating, but one thing she had to admit was that he knew Negaduck's reactions rather well. 'I am deciding on a suitable way in which to tell my parents about Lucy.'

Launchpad gave a brief pause of thought. 'Write them a letter.' He said with a shrug. 'Just be sure to send them a photo or two, parents would rather see the kid than just be told 'bout it over the phone.'

'And then they can place the photos in the picture gallery.' Nat said thoughtfully, she gave a nod. 'Good idea.'

'They've gota gallery?' He asked raising his eyebrow.

Nat nodded calmly. 'Ever since the family split up all those years ago.'

'Split up?' Launchpad asked.

'There was a disagreement between a brother and sister over her marrying a Morietti ages ago, and the family ended up taking sides and suddenly it was all out war and ever since the "victory of Mashinda" our family history has been documented so that they can force everyone to go through the massive lectures "to make sure that past mistakes are not repeated".'

'Seriously?' He scoffed.

Nat nodded. 'That was the abridged version of the story, I'm sure you don't particularly want to listen to the whole thing.'

'No, I don't.' He agreed, he was silent for a moment and then asked. 'So that's the reason why your father came all the way here?'

Nat suddenly found herself with a whole new level of respect for Launchpad, sure it was still only a small level but he wasn't a complete moron about everything as she'd first thought. 'That's what we're all forced to learn to do, practically char grill everyone's boyfriend or girlfriend, but for the most part it falls to the father to be very clear on who his children are in a relationship with.'

Launchpad looked deathly serious. 'Well, regardless of what they think of him Negaduck's not gonna let you leave him.'

'Yeah.'

'Seriously, Nat, you really ought to get comfy here cos you ain't going to be going anywhere.'

Nat stared at him. 'My father said something very similar to that.'

'Just outta curiosity, what did your folks think of him?'

'That he meets the standards test.'

'Well that's rather good, cos he's not ready for a war with your family.'

'Oh, I don't know, I think he could handle it, after all he pretty much takes everything else in his stride.'

Launchpad shook his head and gave a smirk.

'What?' Nat growled.

'You've got it for him real bad, don't you?'

Nat stood angrily and stepped up to him. 'You know, Launchpad, I kill people who make that sort of comment.'

He smirked unaffected by her threat. 'Well that's good for you, cos he's not going to let you just walk away from here.'

'Which means that you and I are going to be stuck together for a really long time.'

He shut the fridge door and quirked his eyebrow. 'So what're you suggestin'?' He asked.

'That we should at least try and be civil or this is going to be tedious for the both of us.'

He thought it over and gave a nod. 'Suppose being civil ain't so hard.'

'Glad you agree.' She turned and took her seat again, picking up her coffee and taking a large gulp of it, now all she had to do was write a letter… well it was better than a phone-call.

Nat frowned as she put the phone down ending the conversation with her mother, so at least they knew, the letter had done its job, only now they were insisting on seeing Lucy in person which had been the whole reason for their phone call, the arguments that she had come up with to try and get out of visiting them for a long while had been shot down with pin-point accuracy, and now she was having to tell Negaduck that with or without him she and Lucy had to go to Miami for a visit.

She set her resolve and turned on her heel heading into the lounge-room to inform him.

Negaduck was sitting on the couch watching TV, Gosalyn was sitting in one of the blue chairs reading a novel and Lucy was lying on the floor drawing on pieces of paper with Gosalyn's colouring in pencils, Nat mentally scoffed about how much this looked like a picture of a perfect family Saturday, the illusion was just so believable until you looked at it harder and understood that this was Lord Negaduck in the role of a father, his completely contrary ward was reading a fantasy story about a perfect world, and his daughter who was colouring in like a normal child was actually the one true heir to the Mashinda Mafia family's fortunes… yeah, the details you had to actually remember really did ruin the picture.

Negaduck looked to Nat as she entered the room and he visibly tensed, it was probably the determination in her gaze at him and the air of deathly seriousness she was conducting that was making him wary, he stood and walked over understanding without the need of words that she wanted to talk to him and it was a serious conversation. 'What's the matter?' He asked with a subtle growl in his voice warning her not to take her anger out on him.

Nat took a moment to find the beginning words to this inevitable argument. 'They want to see her.' She said keeping her voice blank though she was about ready to throw something.

'What?' He asked completely confused for a moment, he pieced it together quickly by the way Nat was gazing at Lucy in accusation. 'So when are they coming?' He asked.

'No, this time they want us to go there.' Nat said looking back to him.

'All the way to Miami?' He asked raising his eyebrow 'With a baby?'

Nat nodded. 'I told them that it would be a lot of hassle but they wouldn't take no for an answer.'

'And just how do they think that it's going to work?'

Nat shrugged. 'They don't care how I do it, so long as I do, so we're going, with or without you, Negs.'

He glared at her.

'Just figured you ought to know.' She said with a shrug.

His fists clenched, Nat couldn't help but smirk at how she had successfully got him feeling just like she was.

'Well thanks for the heads up.' He said sarcastically. 'So how long are you disappearing for?'

'That depends on how soon I can convince them to part with Lucy, they're a bit hard to detach from kids.' She looked at Lucy. 'Of course I could always leave her behind.' She could practically feel the anger building up in him, and she looked at him. 'What?'

Gosalyn scooped her little sister up and ducked through the laundry into the backyard as Nat and Negaduck started arguing, it wasn't a nice thing for a baby to have to overhear so Gosalyn made her way through the overgrown lawn to the back fence and sat down on the grass.

Lucy gazed around curiously and Gosalyn put her down. 'Now be careful, Lucy, some of these weeds are painful.'

Lucy felt around on the grass that she was sitting on and crawled over to the fence.

Using a broken piece of fence for support Lucy lifted herself up onto her unsteady feet.

Gosalyn watched her nervously, the fence wasn't in the best condition and Lucy was using it to support her full weight.

Lucy reached up to take hold of a grass stalk that was sticking in through the fence.

Gosalyn saw the fence post shaking and started to stand. 'Careful, Lucy.' She said getting the baby's attention.

Lucy looked around to Gosalyn and suddenly a loud bark came from the other side of the fence.

Gosalyn and Lucy jumped, Lucy lost balance and fell backwards looking at the fence in alarm as the dog on the other side started growling and barking viciously, she started crying.

Gosalyn stumbled up but before she could scoop Lucy up the fence post fell away.

The board fell onto Negaduck's leg and Gosalyn blinked in surprise at his sudden appearance.

Negaduck scooped Lucy up and forced the post off of his leg as he turned his attention to the dog that was barking even louder now that it could see in.

Negaduck stepped up closer to the fence and kicked the dog in the face, it backed away startled. 'Get out of it!' He snapped and the dog took off with a whimper.

Gosalyn frowned at the abuse and looked to Negaduck as he turned, he started walking back to the house. 'Are you coming too, kid? It's time for a trip to the Mashinda's.' He called back to her.

Gosalyn blinked, they were going to Miami? And she was invited to come too? 'I'm coming!' Gosalyn said running after him.

Gosalyn hadn't been in the NegaQuack for such a long while and she'd never really gone on a long trip before, so as she held onto Lucy they both eagerly peered out of the window as they headed directly to Miami.

Negaduck rolled his eyes, of course the place was over the top ritzy, the Mashinda family weren't quiet about their actual power, and the massive estate was overly well-kept to further state their difference from everyone else.

He landed the NegaQuack on the lawn and shot Nat an irritated look. 'You grew up here?'

'And I hated every moment of it.' She said bluntly.

He rose his eyebrow, if Nat had been every bit like Gosalyn that was a blunt lie, he cast a look over at the back-seat, Gosalyn was still holding Lucy, given the lack of trouble through the flight Lucy had certainly found something to keep her entertained.

He pressed the button for the hatch and stretched as he got out, he hadn't needed to go on a long flight for a while now, and he reluctantly had to admit that he'd missed it.

Gosalyn passed Lucy to him and clambered out of the NegaQuack herself.

He looked around, if Lucy found her way onto the ground here she'd be impossible to keep track of, he adjusted her and with Gosalyn in tow joined Nat on the walk up to the mansion.

The entrance hall was just the same as it had been all those years ago when she had left, large and spacious, shiny and well-kept, she once again returned to gazing at the dark oak wood the furniture was made out of, she'd always liked the furniture.

She adjusted Lucy in her arms and Lucy looked around, studying the entrance hall intently.

Nat wasn't happy about being back in the family home, but with Lucy's destructive nature it was going to be far more pleasant to have to have these visits.

Janet took Lucy from her. 'So this is my granddaughter?'

'No, I just decided to randomly bring someone else's child.' Nat said sarcastically, Negaduck shook his head as George and Janet shot Nat a stern look of disapproval, Nat just gave a shrug.

Janet smiled and passed Lucy to George, he grinned. 'I'll bet you're a little troublemaker.'

Nat and Negaduck exchanged a knowing look between them, troublemaker was putting it mildly.

'Ah, but where are our manners? Negaduck, Gosalyn, welcome to the Mashinda Family Estate.' George said looking at them both. 'Come on in, I'm sure it was a long flight from St Canard.'

Negaduck glanced around at the sound of an object clattering to the floor.

Everyone looked around to see Lucy holding the receiver of the phone and dialling in a random phone number.

Gosalyn made a move to go and stop her.

'Oh don't worry about that.' Janet said calmly. 'We haven't fixed the phone since when Natalie was little.' She smiled. 'She had a curious liking for making international phone-calls.'

'It's a very temperamental phone now.' George added calmly.

Lucy made a disgruntled noise and dropped the phone back on the receiver, Janet chuckled. 'Well she learnt a lot quicker than Natalie did.'

Nat shot her a glare.

Janet stood and walked over to Lucy. 'I'm sure you're bored, little one… Come on, we've got a lot of toys to play with upstairs.' Janet looked around to Gosalyn. 'Do you want to come, Gosalyn?'

Gosalyn shot Negaduck an uneasy look, judging his opinion of that idea and he gave a nod telling her that it was alright, she smiled and rushed over. 'That would be very nice, thank you.'

'Hmm…' Janet said gazing at Gosalyn. 'You know, I'm sure you're the same size Natalie was.'

Gosalyn considered herself.

'Wait here, I'm going to go and get you a present.'

'You don't need to-'

'Of course I don't!' Janet said patting Gosalyn's head. 'That's why I said it's a present.' Janet said with a smile and she left the room.

Gosalyn watched Lucy who was busily investigating the large collection of toys.

The playroom was large and had so many types of toys it nearly rivalled Quackerjack's warehouse.

'Can't you find anything you like, Lucy?' Gosalyn asked.

Lucy shook her head, grumbling a few words to herself and Gosalyn heard the word "skulls".

Gosalyn looked around the room as well, not one toy in the room, boys toys or otherwise had that distinct design on it, not one skull, not a flame painted on any of the cars, nothing, but just as nothing was dark it wasn't anything else either, they were between the ranges, Gosalyn gazed around trying to help Lucy out. 'I don't think you're going to find something like that here, Lucy.' Gosalyn said frowning at her, she picked up a wooden toy soldier and held it out to Lucy. 'Will this do?' Lucy folded her arms looking serious and mildly affronted. 'What's wrong with a toy soldier?' Gosalyn asked.

Lucy narrowed her gaze. 'Pita side, Gosloid.'

Gosalyn's eyebrow shot up and she had to smile, she looked at the toy, Lucy had deliberately chosen to call her "Gosloid" Negaduck's pointed way of telling her that she was very out of place in the world, it was their own personal way of agreeing that she wasn't a part of this cruel world, and Lucy used the term only when trying to get her to think about what Negaduck would say about something… a toy soldier, given the expression on Lucy's face she wanted nothing to do with law enforcement even if it was just a toy. Gosalyn put the solider back on the shelf and walked over to Lucy. 'Okay, I'm sorry.' She said. 'I didn't think about that.'

Lucy just shook her head.

Gosalyn nodded and picked Lucy up, she had never been quite one way or the other, certainly she didn't like going against their Dad but sometimes he needed to be stopped, Lucy however was clearly siding with him, loyal to the point she wouldn't even play with a toy soldier.

'What's the matter?' Janet asked entering the room with a large bag.

'Lucy can't find a toy she wants to play with.'

Janet gazed at the little girl. 'We've got practically every toy you can imagine, and you don't like any of them?' Lucy shook her head. 'However has Natalie found you toys?'

Gosalyn gave a slight frown and cleared her throat.

Janet straightened. 'She hasn't got any toys?'

Gosalyn shook her head.

'So what's the damage so far?' Nat asked entering the room.

'You haven't gotten her a single toy to play with?'

Nat rose her eyebrow. 'She always finds something to amuse herself.'

'That is not the point behind a toy, Natalie.'

Nat took Lucy from Gosalyn. 'Well honestly, Mum, how do you expect me to know how to buy toys for my daughter? The Mashinda family have such a stock-pile of toys that no one ever needs to buy a damn thing… and they wouldn't have it any other way.' She said calmly, she walked through the room, scanning all of the toys. 'And the family insists on giving them to the next generation that comes along, so honestly, I never saw a point in buying her a toy.'

She picked up a toy car and offered it to Lucy, Lucy shook her head.

'And she's very picky about things.' Nat added.

'Well, I know I can offer one of you something you'll like.'

Gosalyn looked to Janet who reached into the bag and pulled out a burnt orange dress.

Nat looked around and stared at her mother.

'These were Natalie's when she was your age.'

'Mum!'

'I thought you and Negs wanted her out of pink?'

Nat winced. 'She's got enough clothes as it is.'

'Oh honestly, a young girl can never have enough clothes.'

'Negs is going to flip.'

Janet gave a smile. 'Then you'll have to tell him that you never owned anything that was pink, you were interested in oranges and blues.'

Gosalyn smiled as she gazed at the dress. 'It's beautiful.'

'Would you like to try it on?'

Gosalyn's jaw dropped. 'Really?'

Janet nodded. 'Might as well be put to some use… I did tell you that Natalie was just like you when she was your age.'

Gosalyn considered Nat, who rolled her eyes and gave a nod regardless, Gosalyn smiled. 'I'm sure Dad would like me to wear a different colour on occasion.' She offered.

Nat shook her head and went back to finding Lucy a toy.

Negaduck shot Nat a look and barely repressed the snicker at imagining her in that dress.

She hit him and he let out a laugh. 'Oh grow up!' She snapped at him.

'Have you got some photos of her in that?' Negaduck asked.

'You wait, Lucy will be wearing them too.'

He lost his amusement and considered Nat and then looked at Lucy. 'Not on my watch.'

'Gosalyn's wearing them on your watch.'

He looked up at Gosalyn. 'Y-yeah…'

Nat gave a smile. 'I can hardly wait for the first time we see Lucy's hair in locks like that.'

Negaduck pulled a face and snatched Lucy from Nat. 'Don't you dare go doing it, Lucy.' He warned.

She was somewhat confused but as always she was delighted to be in her father's arms, it reassured him completely, no, she was his little girl, she'd never wear that sort of thing, not after her first word was "skulls".

'I thought you lot went to find her a toy to play with.' He said looking at Nat.

'She's as fussy as always.' Nat replied bluntly.

'Really?' He asked. 'She's never seemed fussy to me.'

'Yes, but she takes after her Dad.' Nat said bluntly. 'Not one toy is this way or that, they are all plain and simple.'

He rose his eyebrow.

'Why force a child to have a specific preference from such a young age?' George said simply.

Nat reached into the messenger bag and produced the skull-print pacifier. 'Because this is the only pacifier she has accepted up till this point.'

George gave a smile. 'She must really adore you, Negs.'

He nodded smiling despite the sickening sweetness to the idea.

'From the moment she laid eyes on him.'

'Can't blame her, I am incredibly handsome.'

Nat rose her eyebrow and shot him a look.

'Nat was the same way with George.' Janet said with a smile.

George gave a slight frown. 'Yes… do keep an eye on your things, Negs, or she just might run off with one of them.'

Negaduck rose his eyebrow gazing from Lucy to Nat for a moment. 'I'll keep that in mind.' He looked at Gosalyn gave a slight smile at the refreshing change of colour and put Lucy down on his lap, she sat quietly, looking up at him every so often with a smile, and she glanced around the room.

Negaduck noticed the subtle effect that her every adoring glance at him had on the Mashinda parents, he wrapped his arm around her and she beamed happily at him just as he had anticipated she would, the more she adored him the more secure his position was with the family got.

He remembered the rumoured amount of money she was worth, the Mashinda family had a fortune and Lucy was set to inherit it, and that by extension went to him, he could shower her in the attention she loved to get from him since this was only going to be an occasional thing, he'd done a lot more challenging things for money, this was just a matter of subduing his hatred of sappiness, he could handle it.

A/n: Wow, it's been a long while, hasn't it? This chapter was so difficult to write that it has become my least favourite chapter that I have ever written.