I thought we needed a chill chapter to transition from the more serious, "redemption arc" chapters to the more family-centric ones. It took me a while to figure this one out but here we are. Enjoy!

"Gosalyn. Gos. Please. I'm your brother-in-law, doesn't that mean shit?"

"I thought you had it handled, Llewellyn."

"I did! This is different. That was me back then where all I wanted to do was shove my skeletons back into my closet. But I've had time to reflect on the harm that I did. I need to undo it. So I need your help. Your help, your dads' help, Huey's help- all hands on deck, really. I need to make sure that the people who worked under me for the Jailbird Initiative, and well, everything else… I need to know that they're going to be okay. The ones that are still alive, that is. I'm having flowers sent to the families of those who I didn't help in time, among other things."

"You can't save everyone, Louie."

"Shit, fuck, shit, I know that! I have already failed so many people, caused so many untimely deaths. I will spend my entire career henceforth making sure that doesn't happen again. So are you in or not?"

"Mo's not around is he?"

"Boyd took him to the eye doctor, why?"

"You're just swearing a lot for someone who pushes a "no swearing in front of kids" mentality."

"Oh. So. Are you in?"

"Let's do the damn thing."

"Are your kids not around?"

"My kids know the word damn and which parents they're not allowed to say it in front of."

"You know, I can respect that. Come over soon, okay? Bring the kids if you want. I'll invite Dewey and the turtles over too, and while the niblings are playing we'll get to work."

"Sounds like a plan. You're gonna owe me one, though."

"At this point, I owe you a lot."

"I take cash or credit."

"Noted."

Boyd was a little concerned. It was just like this time last year when Louie was overzealously apologizing to the people in his life- he'd sunk his claws into an idea and wouldn't let go. Apology tour part 2.

When Huey, Violet, Gosalyn, and the kids arrived, Louie greeted his niblings and Boyd pulled Huey aside, his brother-in-law immediately taking a sleepy Mo from his arms, since the two had become close over the past few months. Mo latched an arm around Huey's neck and dozed off again, his little sunglasses nearly falling off his face. Mo's recent trip to the eye doctor had confirmed the light sensitivity that Boyd had suspected and he was a little embarrassed that he hadn't clocked it sooner. But things were okay now. Well, mostly.

"I'm a little worried about Louie."

"Yeah? Is something wrong? Is he hiding stuff again? Like getting eloped?"

"You're never going to get over that, are you?"

"No. Anyway, you're worried about Louie? So he's hiding stuff again?"

"I- well. No, not exactly? But he's just been… It's hard to explain. Can we talk outside?"

"Of course."

They stepped into the summer air and Mo whined a little from the change of temperature.

"So what's up, Boyd?"

"He's just… Nonstop, again, I guess. He wants to do everything he possibly can to undo the mistakes he made, just short of time travel. He's not that irresponsible…" Boyd frowned, thinking about how he almost screwed with the timeline and their lives.

"Hey. You didn't actually do anything."

"Yeah. I shouldn't keep beating myself up about that, I know, but- Louie shouldn't keep beating himself about everything either. He works so hard, with Mo, with the pub and his other businesses, with physical therapy, and now with the former Jailbirds. He doesn't ever stop."

"I hate to break it to you, Boyd, but that's just how he is. Louie read too many boss bitch books in college and now he puts 110% of himself into everything he does."

"Don't swear in front of my child."

"Sorry." Huey shrugged, looking at Mo who was fast asleep.

"I just wish I could help him."

"I don't think there's any way to slow him down, Boyd. No way I know of at least. You're the only person who has ever gotten through to him, honestly. So either you think of something I haven't been able to think of in 32 years, or you help speed along his redemption arc."

"Yeah, okay. Let's get to work."

Dewey put his hand on his hip.

"So you called a secret meeting with all of the adults and stuck me with the babysitting?"

Louie studied his lap, "Dewey-"

"No, no, I see how it is."

"It's not like that!"

"No, I get it. You all know I'm the superior parent and you're right." Dewey took Mo into his arms, giving the cuddly little boy a good tight hug that made Mo feel all safe and happy.

Louie let out a sigh of relief.

"Yeah, Dewey. No jokes. You're a great dad. I trust you wholeheartedly with Mo."

Dewey smiled and gave Louie a proud little nod.

"Come on, kids! Who wants to play with Uncle Louie's stuff?"

Everyone wanted to play with Uncle Louie's stuff. Scarlett got the gaming system set up and soon a little kart race had been set up between Raphael, Scarlett, Emerald, and a Leo and Mikey tag team. Azure and DJ had raided the makeup bag in Louie's bathroom and Mo was using Dewey's chest as a track for his own race cars.

"Daddy! Look! We're underwater!" Leo squealed as he and Mikey raced through Dolphin Shoals, in dead last because Leo kept grabbing the remote at inopportune times.

Mo, for the first time, noticed what they were doing and his toy car dropped to the ground, in awe of the "cars" on the screen.

"Pretty…" Mo mumbled, watching his cousins race with rapt attention.

"That's really cool, Leo! You and Mikey are doing great!"

Mikey snorted at that.

"Do you and Mo wanna play the next round, dad? Leo and I will sit out. Not the next race, but when we start over?"

"Sure! I'll get Mo addicted to video games early as revenge for the time your Uncle stole my D.S. and sold it to the neighbor kid."

"What's a D.S.?" Raph asked, and Dewey felt very old.

"It was like a mini laptop but for video games. It was the coolest thing back in the day, you had to be there."

The video game addiction, apparently, was not to be, because Mo got bored of holding the joy-con pretty quickly and was soon demanding a story. Dewey would expect that kind of nerd behavior from one of Huey's kids, but Louie's boy? Crazy. Of course, Boyd was basically a supercomputer, so maybe it made a little bit more sense that Mo was such a bookworm. He let Mo run off and find a book and when he came back he read out loud in strong and silly voices to anyone who wanted to listen, mostly Mo and Leo, though Raph was definitely listening no matter how hard he tried to appear indifferent. This had been Raph's story once, after all.

"You're reading it wrong," Raph finally interjected a couple of pages in.

"Oh?" Dewey was a little surprised that Raph cared about that kind of thing.

"This isn't how you read it to me. Here, gimme."

Raph took both the book and the child, informing his audience, "We're starting over."

Mo looked delighted, instantly warming up to Raph. It had taken him much longer to warm up to Dewey and the other adults. Raphael just had an older brother's touch. Dewey snuck a picture while Mo snuck a cuddle.

And then Raph began to read The Lorax with passion and Dewey got, well, a little choked up. He was reading the book the way Dewey had read it to him when he was four and had just been adopted into the ever-expanding Duck family. He had just survived a tragedy and was confused and frightened but at night when Dewey read his favorite book and did the voices for him and his younger siblings everything was okay. And now he was trying to pass that peace, that security, that love on to Mo. Mo, who got scared and confused sometimes too, and who wasn't so different from the little kid Raph used to be.

When Louie came back out to check on Dewey and the kids, Raph and Mo were practically inseparable. Raph hopped up when he saw his uncle.

"Uncle Louie, Mo's gonna be in the wedding right?"

"Yeah, Mo's going to be our flower boy and Leo is going to be our ring bearer."

"And the triplets are ushers and Mikey and DJ are going to make sure people sign the guestbook, I know. Everyone has a job in the wedding but me."

"Sorry, Raph. I guess I didn't think you'd want to be a part of it…" Louie said sheepishly.

"Well, I do. And I know just the job, actually. If you trust me… I think I could watch Mo before and after the wedding."

"You want to do that? It'd be a lot of responsibility."

Raph shrugged, "Mo is cool. I get him." Louie nodded and then turned to Mo.

"You having a good time with Raph, Mo?"

Mo giggled and snuggled into Raphael's shoulder.

"Yeah!"

"Alright, Raphael. You're in charge of Mo during the wedding. I trust you "

Raphael lit up then.

"I just don't know," Louie mentioned, "why this is different than watching your siblings."

"Because I chose this," Raphael said simply, before letting Mo direct his attention away from Louie and back to the very important matter of books. Leo wasn't much of a reader, so it had been a long time since Raph had had an excuse to read the classics from his childhood, and he couldn't even pretend to be annoyed by it at this point.

Louie couldn't help staring at his nephew and son together. It really had been a long time since he saw that childlike excitement in Raph's eyes. He glanced at Dewey, who saw it too, and they exchanged a smile. Perhaps the oldest Duck and the youngest Duck would be good for each other.

And perhaps Louie needed to get back to work and make sure his legacy was taken care of.