A/N: STOP! This story contains MAJOR spoilers for 'The Last Adventure', the big finale of Season 3 and of DuckTales 2017 entirely. Naturally, I strongly urge you not to read this until you've watched it. So many secrets that Frank, Matt and the team planted were finally unearthed and will be used here. But even if you click on this fanfic something like 5 or 10 years from now, I still urge you not to spoil the adventure for yourself by reading this before watching the finale. Seriously, go watch it. Go watch ALL of the episodes while you're at it, I'm begging you. In fact, just grab some popcorn and go watch all the episodes AGAIN. You'd be amazed by how many things you missed the first time around and how much weight each plot point and dialogue now bears.

As noted with the date stamp, at the time I've started writing this, I had watched the epic 3-part finale just a few hours prior. By now, there's a plethora of fanfics written by other talented authors that tackle topics and themes regarding the finale. Any similarity to them found within this story is purely coincidental. I kinda had to expect this, but I felt it was worth addressing.

All right, fair warning aside. Read on. There's a lengthy A/N at the end.

Happy Birthday Webby

March 15, 2021 – April 19, 2021

Part 1 – Changes in April

All was silent in McDuck Manor as the stars glowed in the nighttime sky. Despite it being only around 9pm, the family's inhabitants were sound asleep. You'd be exhausted too if you fell seven miles from the hold of a cargo plane following an epic rescue mission that surmounted to the most climatic battle and standoff for the future of your family's adventuring lifestyle.

With F.O.W.L. eliminated for good, May and June safely welcomed in the family, Bradford living his new life as Magica's mindless companion, and the knowledge that they were free to continue their grand adventures…the future for Clan McDuck, both new and old, was looking very bright indeed.

Even when it was dark outside.

Webby pushed the warm padding of her sleeping bag off her torso as she sat upright. She was in her sleeping quarters, which was the attic space of her room. Glancing around, she could make out the still and silent forms of Lena and Violet, also in sleeping bags. And now looking towards her bed, she could see May and June, snoozing peacefully in some of her spare pajamas under the warm cozy blanket. Crawling out, she tip-toed her way towards them. Upon reaching the bed, she simply stopped and gazed at her new companions.

They were sleeping exactly as they had been when she had first laid eyes on them; after breaking into F.O.W.L.'s secret lair and busting into the lab, Webby had been expecting a mob of eggheads for her to take down or a deranged F.O.W.L. agent. Or perhaps an evil monster, ideally of mystical origins that she could square off one-to-one. Or maybe even a super weapon that she could hopefully karate-chop a piece off to keep as a souvenir for her ever-growing collection of smashed fragments from every discovery and evil plot her family had encountered in the last three years. But never in her life had she expected to find two girl ducks suspended in glowing containment tubes. That was just too weird.

"They're my sisters," Webby murmured quietly.

That was definitely weirdest of all.

Her mind then flash-backed to a couple hours ago, when everyone had quietly agreed to go to bed early tonight:

Scrooge ruffled Webby's hair fondly. "All right, lasses, time to get some much-needed shut-eye. This adventure has taken a toll on all of us! Need to build up our energy for the escapades of tomorrow."

June suddenly looked worried. "But where do we sleep? We don't have our tubes anymore."

Webby fixed the pair a confused look. "Your tubes?"

May nodded. "Yeah, you know, our test tubes. That's where Heron always stored us at night. Even when she sedated us so she could run tests."

This piece of news sent Webby's nerves on high-alert. "Wait, wait, wait…you mean you've never slept in a bed before?"

"Nope!" June said with an innocent smile.

That more or less was how Webby practically forced them to take her bed tonight and try it out for the first time in their lives. Granted, May and June were technically only a couple of months old and rapidly aged up 12 years to match Webby, but the point was loud and clear to Webby: everyone needed to sleep in a bed. So tonight, they would have hers. Scrooge had already promised to arrange for a couple of the mansion's spare beds to be transferred into the bedroom for each daughter in the morning.

Even now, Webby carefully watched her two new sisters sleeping soundly; two bodies lying perfectly straight and rigid, no doubt the result of having to sleep in their experimental containment units every night. The thought of that was unbearable to her.

Webby sighed. She was very tired, having faced a matter of life and death once again, not unlike many of the family's numerous adventures and expeditions past, but this one was different. There was so much going on in her head, besides the fact that now she was the oldest sister of a triplet clan of her own. Within a day, no less. On her birthday.

With so much information and revelations swimming in her mind and the unwillingness to sleep until she had sorted them out thoroughly, she climbed quietly down her ladder and slipped unnoticed through the door, closing it behind her.

Now out of her room, her feet guided her down the dark, lonely hallways of the mansion. She wandered aimlessly, letting her webbed feet step along the carpeted floorboards. With no particular target destination in mind, she simply followed the movement of walking down the passageways and corridors of Scrooge's massive house with only jewel-encrusted furniture, ancient artifacts, and towering paintings on the walls watching her every step.

Webby knew McDuck Manor like the back of her tail feathers. She had lived here for over 10 years before meeting Donald Duck and the nephews. But it hadn't just been her house. It had quite literally been her entire world. The only one she knew. She had over four floors to explore, secret passageways, a massive library, spare rooms, bathrooms, basement, lounges, pantry, swimming pool, courtyard, closets, garage of forgotten treasures, ventilation shafts, and the world's longest driveway. She knew it all inside and out. There wasn't a room or dark corner here that she hadn't uncovered and documented in her long years growing up alone. She had read every book in the library at least three times. Every brick in the building had been counted by her personally. Every dust bunny that she had saved from being sucked by the vacuum cleaner had a name.

And yet…not a single day had gone by when she hadn't taken a break from her research on the McDuck family history or her training exercises with her Granny to just sit at one of the many windows with her trusty binoculars and gaze out to the stunning view that the mansion was graced with. She would spend hours just peering out to the outside world. There had always been so much to see. Teenagers talking on their cellphones; children giggling at a local playground that she had always wanted to visit; buses full of people commuting to work; people jogging or walking their dog; the sailors piloting their sailboats out on the open water; random citizens enjoying takeout hamburgers that she had always dreamed of eating one for herself; groups of kids hanging out together, each one of them clearly so happy to be surrounded by friends…

Webby would see it all, but they would not see her. She shared the same planet as they did, but the world beyond the mansion had lay too far away for her to reach. Same city, same country, same planet, same universe…different worlds. She had longed make her identity known to the world out there, but knew that this dream wouldn't be easy. Granny had always said that everything she could ever need was right here, served to her on a silver platter. And while this seemed to be true, (she ate like a queen every day and could view 900 channels on a fancy TV whenever she wanted), Webby had always known that there was more to life than this. She just didn't know what that was. But she didn't want to upset her grandmother, whom she loved dearly and had always strived to please. Still, she had never been able to shake off that certain desire for more. Maybe just one friend.

And it was during one of her many moments of just wistfully peering out her window did she spot a beat-up station wagon pulling up to the mansion gates. Some ducks got out, one tall and three smaller. The station wagon drove away. And when Scrooge McDuck's limo arrived to the front doors, the three small ducks, who looked to be her age now that they were closer in view, stepped inside and entered her world.

"Webby?"

A quiet voice broke her thoughts. Her instincts launched into defense mode as she whipped around to face her enemy, hands at the ready before registering the familiarity of the voice that had startled her.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hey, it's only me," Dewey gasped hastily. Even after three years of living with her, he still hadn't found the right approach to avoid triggering her fiery battle instincts.

Webby blinked and quickly lowered her hands, recognizing the blue pajama-clad triplet with his familiar hairstyle. "Dewey? What are you doing up?" she asked quietly.

Dewey also dropped his startled rigidness. "Louie won't stop moaning about losing his inheritance to you and your sisters," he explained with a smirk. "I left Huey to deal with him since I did my share of patting his back already. Now I need some peace and quiet."

In Webby's mind, Dewey was the last triplet who would seek out peace and quiet, but she knew Dewey would never lie to her. Besides, she was glad it was him who had run into her.

"You okay, Webs?" Dewey was asking. "You're looking a little…un-Webbyish."

Webby looked at him and couldn't help but feel her heart glow. Dewey was without a doubt the most arrogant and self-centered person she knew in her family, but he always had a big chunk of compassion inside him that never faded or disappeared. On the contrary, it radiated kindness and genuine care for those he looked out for. She still remembered the day following their first adventure to Atlantis, when it was Dewey who had invited her to come with him and the boys to Funso's for the first time. She would never forget that.

Without a word, she took hold of his arm and pulled him gently down the hallway, feeling the strong urge to talk to him alone. Talking with Dewey would surely put her mind at ease. It always had before.

Dewey didn't need to ask where they were going; the bond he shared with Webby was too deep for him to have to say anything. If she had an objective on her mind, all he could do at this point was follow her.

They walked down the hallways together, turning every so often at random corners and junctions. There wasn't a single sound except the quiet patter of their webbed feet upon the carpet. Truth be told, Webby wasn't completely sure where she was leading her friend. But her mind told her to keep moving.

"So why are you up?" Dewey finally asked her as she let go of his arm.

Webby glanced over at him. "Oh, you know," she replied loftily, "I was just thinking."

"About what?"

"Pointless stuff," she said with an easy shrug. "Stuff I wish I could sort out. I can never sleep when I have brainstorms."

Dewey observed her for a moment before looking ahead. "You still baffled over Uncle Scrooge being your dad, discovering that you have twin sisters, and finding out you were created by F.O.W.L. to take Scrooge down once and for all?" he asked her nonchalantly.

Webby looked across at him with a raised eyebrow. "What gave it away?"

"Lucky guess," he answered smoothly. Then he took on a gentler tone. "But it's less of a guess as to why you're having trouble sleeping."

They stopped walking as Dewey said this. In the brief time that they had been casually wandering the mansion floorplan, they had ended up at the center of one of the indoor balconies that overlooked the second floor directly below. No longer shielded by towering walls decorated with paintings and tapestries, the two friends faced a wide-open area where the third and second floor shared the same giant room, and a huge window permitted tonight's full moon to shine its gentle blue light indoors. Webby and Dewey could now see each other in the soft luminance.

"This is a lot to take in, Webs. Of course you're feeling overwhelmed," Dewey said as a matter-of-factly.

Webby said nothing; she just rubbed her pink pajama-sleeved arms and looked away.

"You're not mad at Beakley, are you?" Dewey asked her cautiously. "Louie told me that you didn't exactly take too lightly to her lying to you at Mervana. And now, you found out she kinda lied to you for all your life."

Webby looked back at him. "No. No, I'm not mad at Granny. She lied to me so she could protect me. It makes sense now why she kept me in the mansion for all my life. She wanted to keep me from the people who made me."

Dewey watched her face carefully in the moonlight. "So what's eating you?"

She rubbed the back of her hands in response. "I guess I'm still getting over the shock," she admitted, not hesitating in the slightest in opening up to the boy. "I mean, this morning I woke up in this place and felt for sure I knew who I was…my place in this family…"

"…and in less than 24 hours, we're back here, and I find out that I've been a F.O.W.L. creation all along…Uncle Scrooge is my dad…Granny isn't my actual granny…I have sisters…and you're my cousin."

Her eyes turned down at the rugged floor. "We've been going on adventures for years, Dewey. And not all the time, but sometimes, things change when they're over and we come back home. We stopped an evil sorceress from ruling with a shadow army. We faced off against a moon invasion. I even managed to bring Lena back from the Shadow Realm."

Webby swallowed hard. "But ever since our last adventure…this time everything's really changed. Looking back at it now…I'm not sure if I can get used to it all. I don't want things to be too weird. Or too different. Or…"

Then she felt Dewey's hand land down on her shoulder. "Who says anything has to be different?"

She stopped babbling and looked up to meet his eyes.

"Webby, things may have changed, but nothing has to be different…" Dewey said, "…because nothing's different about you."

"What do you mean?"

Dewey smiled as he shrugged. "Well, let's break it down. You're still the awesome action girl you were when I first met you. You're still the crazed adventurer I've always wanted for a best friend. You've still got that wild adventurous blood in your veins and the sweet kick-butt moves to match. You're the teammate I need to keep me from getting killed on every adventure we go on. And you're still the sister I never knew that I needed."

Webby blushed a little as Dewey said these things.

"This is gonna sound all cheesy and stuff," Dewey went on, "but it's true. You're still Webby. Sure, Uncle Scrooge is your dad, Mrs. Beakley isn't technically your grandmother…but that doesn't change your relationship with them, does it? You still love them the same way, right?"

The girl took a moment to consider his words. "Well…yeah. Of course I do."

Dewey nodded encouragingly. "Uncle Scrooge has always loved you. He's protective and supportive. Always making sure you, me, and the guys are in good hands. So I doubt any of that will change. You practically were already his daughter. And Beakley isn't going to be any different either. She raised you and loved you as her granddaughter…I think that'll stay the same too."

Webby couldn't help but smile now, fond memories of her Granny and Uncle Scrooge now flooding her mind. She gazed at Dewey in the light. Behind him, the hallway leading to this open space was completely pitch-black, effectively highlighting all his features before her.

"I for one know that things on my end will be the same," he added.

She blinked with interest when he said that. "They will?" she asked, though less out of confusion, instead wanting to hear more.

"Totally," he answered, sounding confident. "Webby, ever since you agreed to help me find the truth about my Mom, you've practically been my sister. And I know that Huey and Louie see you as that too. We found out today that you're technically our cousin…but that changes nothing at all to me. You were family long before today, and always will be."

Webby mulled over his words. "So what you're saying is…since I was family before, I'm not any more family to you now?"

"Actually," Dewey corrected her, "what I'm saying is that just because you found out you're technically even more family now doesn't mean you were any less family before."

His honest words slowly drifted through her mind; Webby flicked her soft curtain of hair absent-mindedly. "Before you guys showed up…I had always wanted a family," she murmured as memories of her lonely years growing up in the mansion on her own began to return. She looked across the airy landing to peer out the window, just like she had countless times before in years past. But this time, she was simply gazing up at the moon. "I had my Granny and my – my Quacky Patch doll. But doing all my research on Uncle Scrooge's huge family always gave me a longing to belong to something like that. And then came the day when you three walked through the front door."

Dewey joined her to stare up at the moon, the very rock where his mother had been surviving for over 10 years. "Life on the houseboat with Uncle Donald wasn't much different than yours all cooped up in a mansion, you know," he told her. "We were a family, but we never got to go out or do anything. Donald kept us in one place with an iron wing, just like Beakley did with you. Worst of all, we never knew how big our family really was."

He then looked over at her, admiring her flawless side-profile in the moonlight. Even though Webby's hair was a bit disheveled, Dewey thought she looked quite endearing.

"Speaking of which…I'll let you in on a little over-Dew information. Everyone knows that Uncle Donald is our uncle. But…my brothers and me, deep down, we've pretty much seen him as our dad. 'Cuz he raised us like he was just that. And he loved us like his own kids. We knew he wasn't technically, but he basically was one to us."

Webby turned her head to look at him and smiled. She remembered when she and Dewey had gone undercover to find a new mystery for themselves…and had discovered the reason for Donald's extreme outbursts of anger. It had genuinely warmed Webby's heart when they had found out that his unstable canon blasts was nothing more than the resulting flower of his deeply protective instincts that were rooted to defend the boys and everyone else whom he loved from harm's way. A sense of fierce protectiveness that was not quite unlike that of her Granny.

Dewey shuffled his feet and fumbled with his fingers. "What I'm really getting at here, Webby is…it's not who you're officially related to by blood that makes you who you are in this family or even a part of it. It's…"

"By love?" Webby interrupted with a wider smile, remembering what she had explained to May earlier.

Dewey stopped. "Well, yeah, sure. But what I was going to say is that it's what you do that counts. You gotta earn your spot to be in this family…and look at how you did that…"

He took hold of Webby's hand.

"You helped me find the mom I had been missing all my life. You helped me bring my uncles back together. You kept our family from falling apart when me and my brothers wanted to abandon it. You jumped blindly off that building to save me back in Instanbird. You've saved us countless times on all our daring missions. You give us hope and strength when we think we're all out of it."

Dewey gazed carefully at Webby's now misty-eyed stare upon him. "You did all that, Webby," he told her, voice heavy with meaning. "It's thanks to you that I learned to appreciate my family in the way I do now. It just couldn't be possible without you. Our family would still be broken apart if you weren't just being 'Webby-normal'. And that's why you're more family to me than you realize."

As the warmth of Dewey's hand spread to her insides, Webby felt at a loss of words. Instead, her mind instantly zonked back to several hours ago, when she had hung suspended from the dungeon ceiling at the Library of Alexandria behind the boys, who hadn't realized that she was there too. Dewey had delivered a rousing declaration towards May and June who had tied them all up:

Webby is still out there! Your worst nightmare! Stalking her prey in the night. You will NEVER take her out!

It was true that Dewey thought very highly of himself, but she had forgotten how highly he regarded her.

A light tug at her hand pulled Webby out of her thoughts as Dewey suddenly got down on one knee before her, still grasping her hand in his. Webby's eyes widened in surprise; for the briefest, fleeting moment, she thought Dewey was about to propose to her –

"You always belonged with us, Webs, whether we knew you were Uncle Scrooge's daughter or not. And that will never change."

Silence fell between the kids. Webby felt a new sensation flowing inside as she gazed down at her friend and her remaining hand found its way to her heart. "Dewey…"

Dewey rubbed the back of his neck nervously as he got back up, letting go of her hand. "I know, I know," he muttered, "this whole speech sounds totally OOC for me…mushy and cliché, but I mean it. I really hope you get what I'm trying to…"

He was silenced when out of the blue, Webby wrapped her arms around him to bring them both into a tight embrace. It wasn't the violent tackles she often launched upon him while giggling uncontrollably, no, this was one of her gentle hugs. She hadn't given him this kind in quite a while.

"Quiet," she murmured. "You got it just right."

Stunned for just a moment, Dewey blinked as he slowly brought his own arms around her back to complete the hold.

"The thing I love most about you, Dewey," she whispered in to his shoulder as tears began to trickle down her face, "you're daring, fearless, confident, and completely obsessed with being a superstar…but you're so sweet when it matters the most."

The blue triplet blushed lightly. "Well…I do what I can," he mumbled. "I know I don't really like to show it, but…I'm a sensitive guy. I'm still here for you, you know?"

Webby smiled as she clung to him tighter. One more collection of memories was now replaying before her closed eyes. They were memories of Dewey becoming intensely emotional as the pair had worked hard to piece together the mystery of his missing mother, with her wanting to uncover more secrets of Scrooge McDuck's disconnected family and him being so desperate for answers of the past. With her help, he had found his family.

And now, he had returned the favour.

"Dewey," she cooed tearfully, "thank you. Thank you for helping me find my family. Thank you for being my family. Just...just...thank you."

Dewey smiled, a bit of his confidence shining through. "Hey, what can I say? That's just how I Dewey-it. And besides…"

He pulled Webby back gently so he could look her directly in the eye. "You risked your life so many times to help me find my family," he said resolutely. "The least I could do was risk my life today to help you find yours."

Webby's beak trembled as she smiled giddily. Dewey always looked cute when he set aside his self-fulfilling pride for a truthful, sincere face instead. Next thing she knew, her head was snuggled warmly beneath his chin, burying her face into his chest.

"You know how you're always trying to prove yourself to the world, Dewey?"

He looked down at her from her new position on him. "Yeah?"

"Well, you've definitely proven yourself to me this time. You're many things. My cousin…my brother…my best friend…my hero," she whispered. "All I can say is that the day Uncle Donald drove up to the mansion gates looking for someone to babysit you was the best day of my life."

Her words were muffled into his shirt, but Dewey heard them loud and clear. He knew that Webby was fully aware that he strived to be many things in this world…yet knowing what he was to Webby was plenty enough. "It was the best day of my life too," he told her.

He gently looped his arms around her again, the two kids embracing on that balcony with only a big shiny moon as their sole witness. The waves of warm energy that defined their bond gently swirled within them, silently settling Webby's mind at long last.

"Happy birthday, Webby," Dewey whispered.

She smiled, pressing herself closer to his heart, just listening to its rhythmic steady beat. "Hey. What month is it?"

"It's…April. Why?"

"No reason."

A little later, they finally reached the hallway leading to Webby's room. Dewey's arm had rested comfortably around her shoulders as he walked her back.

"I know I said earlier that nothing's really all that different," he said to her. "But I think the only exception is that you have sisters now."

Webby giggled as she thought about May and June, who were currently asleep in her bed. "Yeah, that's true. But that means more teammates who can share our adventures."

Dewey nodded. "But that also means you're a big sister now. I mean, you've always been a big sister to us…but now you have actual sisters to look after. You're an oldest triplet. Something I've always wanted to be."

She had to take a moment to ponder about this. Even if things were unchanged around here, meaning that her relationship with Scrooge, her Granny, and the boys would remain the same, there was no doubt that at least some things were going to need adjusting now that there were two new members to the family.

"Do you think I can be a good oldest sister?" she asked Dewey, sounding a little nervous.

He waved his hand breezily. "Don't sweat it. You'll be fine. But if you really want advice, you might be better off getting tips from Huey."

"But you're an older sibling to Louie."

Dewey shrugged as they finally stopped in front of her door. "I guess so. Louie's kinda independent though. It's really rare when he actually needs me as a big brother and not just as a player in his schemes."

Looking at her, he could tell that Webby was still a little hesitant. Not wanting her to worry any more tonight, Dewey gave her shoulders a gentle squeeze with the arm that still wrapped protectively around her.

"Listen, don't worry. You're not in this alone. We'll help you take care of May and June," he said. "They're technically only a couple of months old, so they're definitely gonna need some help finding their place in this family. But so did you, remember? That's why we'll all chip in to help them adjust to real living, just like we helped you. It's what family does. They'll be eating hamburgers before you know it."

Webby smiled as his words of reassurance melted into the fabric of her mind. With two sisters of her own to look out for now, she was surely going to need all the help she could get. Luckily, she knew that this help was to be found right here.

"Thanks, Dewey."

She leaned in and kissed his cheek gently, making them both blush. Dewey wanted to say something cool and slick in response, something only he could come up with…but nothing seemed really appropriate for the moment.

So he finally settled with: "You're welcome."

They shared one last smile before Dewey turned to go. Webby watched him for a second before putting her hand on the door handle. But halfway down the hall, Dewey stopped.

"Hey, Webs? You know how you've been cataloging and archiving us all in your journals and stuff?"

Webby grinned proudly. "Yep! Alphabetized and reorganized weekly."

Dewey scratched the back of his neck. "For my section, you might wanna ditch the mention of Don Karnage being my arch-enemy."

His random request surprised Webby. "Why? Did you guys make up and decide to be friends from now on?" she asked hopefully.

Dewey winced and looked away. "Not…exactly. Just burn any mention of him. It's useless to us now. I'll tell you why tomorrow, 'kay?"

Feeling plain confused now, Webby watched as Dewey turned on his heel and disappeared down the hallway, looking oddly uneasy. She stood there for a silent minute, then opened her door, all the while wondering why exactly Dewey would want information about the legendary sky pirate to be removed from her files. Being personal enemies with the terror of the skies was something she always thought he was quite proud of.