Chapter 16: Advancements

Needless to say the next three months were a whirlwind for both Fenton and Drake. Drake made a full recovery, thanks to generosity of Scrooge McDuck, an act of kindness partly inspired after learning some of the reasons why DW had decided to decline his pay (Which o' course lad is now fully reinstated…).

It was at that point that Drake had had enough dallying. "That's it. We're moving up the wedding date."

"What?" Fenton shook his head, "Drake, you're still barely mobile. You were basically struck by lightning!"

"Yeah, and if we keep waiting something else shitty is going to happen. We're getting married. Now."

And so they did. And for the next few weeks things were well.

***DT***

That is, until Fenton got an unexpected knock at the apartment door.

"What do you mean, he's mine?!" Fenton shook, equally terrified and stunned.

"I mean it's yours. You're the only guy I was with in the last year." Gandra crossed her arms, showing him the egg.

Jesucristo, no, de ninguna manera, no tuve sexo con ella. "Yeah, but need I remind you, WE DIDN'T HAVE SEX!"

"Actually we did. Remember after Ernesto's bachelor party? You called me and said you wanted to try, so we did. It sucked, so we agreed to never do it again." Gandra gestured toward the stroller, "This is the result."

Fenton paled, no, he didn't remember. He couldn't remember anything from that weekend. "Gandra, I'm married. Happily married to the man of my dreams."

"And that's great. I'm single and don't want a kid. In my line of work it's a liability, anyway." She pulled out a few papers from her bag. "You've got two options. Either get a paternity test and I'll sign over my paternal rights, giving you custody, or I'm getting rid of it."

"Excuse me?" Fenton blinked, taken aback by the bluntness. If there was even a chance that this was his kid there was no way in hell he was letting her just 'get rid of it'.

"I can't afford a kid and I certainly don't want one." She looked down on the egg. "Honestly, I half considered just dumping it at a hospital but I figured you had the right to know."

"No vas a hacer eso." Fenton could feel his blood nearly boiling. "I'll take the test, just try and keep him safe until then."

***DT***

It was a match.

***DT***

It was Thursday when Fenton got the results back. He wasn't entirely sure how to feel. He was amazed to be a father, but terrified of all the implications it held. He did know one thing, he had to tell Drake. After dinner Fenton pulled him aside, asking Gos to give them some privacy. She obliged, realizing that there was something a bit too serious about Fenton's tone and deciding that she shouldn't try the usual attempts at getting a bribe to butt out.

"Fen, what's wrong? You barely touched dinner and now you're all riled up." Drake smoothed his husband's arm feathers.

"Drake, I need you to promise me something."

"What?"

"Promise me you won't leave me." Fenton was choking back tears.

Drake tilted his head, "What happened? Why would I leave you?" He tried to joke, "What, get a bit hot and bothered by that weatherduck on channel 7 again? I don't mind a little competition from time to time; I know he has a nice ass."

Fenton shook his head, trying to get his thoughts and throat both to work. "No, Drake… I, I have a son."

"What?" Drake flatly replied, trying to understand as the words seemed to linger in the room.

"When I was with Gandra it turned out we had some drunken fling-I can't even remember it-but the paternity test shows he's mine."

Drake inhaled, trying to figure out what to say. "So, what are we going to do?" Drake asked.

Fenton looked over at him, eyes watering. "We?"

"Well, of course, 'we'." He replied. "We're married after all; we work together raising Gos and we fight crime together, why wouldn't this be a 'we' thing?"

Fenton was amazed at the sincerity and warmth in Drake's voice. What did I ever do to deserve him? "Th-thank you." He latched onto Drake's shoulders and tightly embraced him, smelling him and trying his best not to break into tears. After a moment he found his voice again and slowly detached from his husband. "Gandra doesn't want him. She said she'd sign over full paternal rights and custody."

"You were afraid I'd be upset that you had a drunken fling before we met that accidentally produced a kid?"

Fenton nodded.

Drake rolled his eyes, "Fen, you have no idea how many stupid decisions I've made over the years when I was drunk-thankfully all of them were with men so there wasn't any pregnancy risk-but I did have a few HIV scares. I get what it's like to regret something." He paused, looking at the scientist's face, "But I have a feeling this isn't a regret."

"No." Fenton whispered, unsure of his answer.

A light-bulb turned on for Drake, "But you were afraid I'd reject him because he wasn't mine."

Fenton shrugged, slightly ashamed of his assumption.

Drake sighed and pulled his husband back into a hug, "Fen, I promise you, I will never love him any less than if he were my own-because guess what? As far as I'm concerned he is." He smiled, "And given your knack for excellence in making things, he'll probably turn out to be some sort of genius rocket engineer or whatever…"

Fenton smiled.

"So, I guess we'll have to break the news to Gos she's going to be a big sister. How old is he anyway?"

"Not hatched yet." Fenton replied.

"Really?" Drake counted on his fingers. "Wow, we really did get married fast."

"Well, under threat of another near death experience it made sense."

***DT***

The papers were signed and soon the as-of-yet-unnamed egg was given in full custody to Mr. Fenton Crackshell-Cabrera and Mr. Drake Mallard. Gos was thrilled at the prospect.

"It's gonna be awesome! I never had a brother before!" She was almost bouncing up and down.

"Well, either way, your new brother needs a name." Drake replied, steadying the girl.

"He doesn't have a name? I thought you were supposed to name kids as soon as they were laid? Mrs. Gandry at school hasn't had her daughter hatch yet but she's always talking about 'her little Jessica'." Gos tilted her head slightly as she looked at the football sized egg.

"You don't have to, but most parents do. That's the nice thing about us birds, we get a chance to bond with our kids before they even hatch, mammals have to wait until they're out in the world, and by then it's a lot more work." Fenton remarked.

"So, what're you gonna name him?" She asked, looking up at her fathers.

Fenton glanced at Drake, who looked back at him. They'd both talked a bit about names, but hadn't come to a decision yet. Fenton wanted to name him after someone in his family who'd passed, but given the tendency of the Cabreras to have ridiculously long names (Fenton's full name was so long it didn't technically fit on his ID-Fenton Armando Miguel Julio Martin Crackshell-Cabrera), that had been nixed. Drake had wanted to name him after someone from the original Darkwing series-ever the fanboy-but Fenton had eventually convinced him otherwise. Which meant that at the moment neither really had a solid idea.

After a silent conversation between the two Drake nodded for Fenton to talk, "We actually thought you should have the honors."

"Really?"

"Really." Drake replied.

Gos was quiet for nearly a minute, staring at the small egg as she tried to think of names. Eventually a small smile appeared on her face, "What about Edgar?"

"Edgar?" Fenton and Drake both asked in unison.

"Yeah, y'know since he's an egg." She turned to the egg, "An Egg-are you. An Edgar, you. See, it's like a pun. Because he's an egg."

Fenton shot a look at Drake, "She gets that from you." He paused, "But I like it."

"Alright, Edgar Cabrera-Mallard, welcome to the family!"