Disclaimer: I do not own Ducktales.
Fenton Crackshell-Cabrera, the brave hero Gizmoduck, the guy who'd faced down against Magica De Spell and people from the moon - was frozen in fear.
In front of him stood the most beautiful, most amazing woman he'd ever seen. And, best of all, she wasn't a supervillain who was going to stab him in the back (at least, he didn't think she was). There was, however, one problem...She was looking for Gryo.
"Hey - did you hear me?" Della Duck said, holding Fenton's shoulders and shaking him. "Where is Gyro Gearloose?!"
"I-I - that is I think -" Della's constant shaking was making it hard for Fenton to finish a sentence. "Um - do you think you could, possibly, stop shaking me?"
With a frustrated sigh, Della let go of Fenton and clenched her fists tightly together. From the close distance between them he noticed her breath smelled like black licorice.
"When I get my hands on that hair brained idiot…" Della muttered, folding her arms and looking around the lab. Fenton rubbed the back of his head, not sure if he should tell her that Gyro was working with Manny working on a hairbrush that dried your hair as well as straightened it.
"If you don't mind me asking - why do you want to see Dr. Gearloose?" Fenton asked, hoping that by asking he didn't put her into another fit of rage.
"He made black licorice flavored oxy-chew." Della growled out, pulling out an old pack of special oxy-chew gum. Eyes wide, Fenton took the package from her.
"I read about this invention in Dr. Gearloose's paper - but I had no idea that he'd actually made it! This could revolutionize the space industry!"
"As long as the astronauts don't mind black licorice - blech!" Della made a gagging noise and shook her head. "I'm still trying to brush the taste of it off my tongue."
"How long have you been using oxy-chew?" Fenton asked, putting the package of gum in his pocket. Della gave him a look that said: 'really?' He blinked and shrugged his shoulders. "What?"
"You do know who I am, don't you?" She asked, her hands now on her hips. Fenton took a moment to process the question. Did he know who this woman was? Of course he knew - Webby made sure to tell him everything she knew about the McDuck family whenever she got the chance.
"If memory serves, you're Della Duck," Fenton said. "Huey, Dewey, and Louie's mom, Donald Duck's sister, and Scrooge grand-niece. Weren't you on the moon for a few years?"
"Ten years, actually," Della said, folding her arms. "Thus why I needed the oxy-chew."
"Ten years - wow! That's amazing!"
"Not really…" Della said, wondering who the heck this duck was and why he was so upbeat about everything. "I mean, sure it was fun once I found the moon people but...for the first nine and a half years I was totally alone with only myself."
"Oh - well I suppose it would be lonely with only oneself…" Fenton said, rubbing the back of his head. He really wasn't good at conversations with anyone - especially not women. He glanced back at Della, and offered her an apologetic smile. "I don't think we've been properly introduced. I'm Fenton Crackshell-Cabrera."
"Della Duck," Della said, sticking out her hand. With a more natural smile, Fenton reached over and shook it. "Nice to meet you, Fenton."
"The pleasure's all mine," Fenton said, noticing for the first time Della's prosthetic leg. "Did you make that yourself?"
"What, this?" Della asked, looking down at her leg. She reached down and disattached it from her leg stub and held it up. "I made it from scrap metal from The Spear of Selene after I crashed...my real leg kind of got pinned..."
"Ingenious design," Fenton said, leaning in towards the leg. He put his hands under it and looked back at Della. "May I…?"
"Sure," Della said, placing the leg in his hands. "Just be careful with the knee joint - every now and then the spring gets tangled up."
"This is amazing…" Fenton said, looking over the leg. It's design was simple, yet effective. Not to mention the careful configuration for artificial nerve endings some of the best he'd ever seen. "I'd love to take this apart and see how it works. Maybe I could even fix the joint..."
"Yeah, well, as much fun as that would be, I knee-d my leg to get around," Della said, snapping her fingers and pointing at him. Fenton stared at her a moment, the joke sinking in.
"Need it…? Oh - you mean knee as in knee - oh I get it!" He said, letting out a laugh. Della smiled and nodded, putting a hand on hip and nodding.
"I am the master of puns," She said, forgetting Fenton held her prosthetic and leaning to the side. With a yelp of surprise she started falling to the ground. Swiftly, before she had a chance to hit the ground - Fenton dashed forwards to catch her. For an instant, their beaks came with in inches of one another - and this time not because Della was yelling for Gearloose.
"Need a leg up?" He asked with a smile, bringing her back upright and handing her her leg. With a nervous laugh, Della took her prosthetic and reattached it.
"Thanks," She said, testing out her leg to be sure it was fully attached before she stood on it. Fenton smiled and wondered if now would be a bad time to ask her on a date. As he wondered what he should do, and Della looked back at him, thinking how cute he looked with his hair brushed back like it was...
They were still looking at one another when Gyro decided to make his entrance.
"Intern!" He exclaimed with his usual coldness. "Fire extinguisher! Now!"
"Oh - yes, sir Dr. Gearloose!" Fenton said, blinking out of his reverie. "Um - sorry Ms. Della but I think there's an emergency -"
"Crackshell - where's that fire extinguisher?!" Gyro shouted, sounding a little more frantic. Della turned towards where the yelling came from, and decided that she could wait on chewing him out later. After all, she wasn't in as foul a mood as she had been when she came over….in fact, she was feeling rather happy.
"Here you go sir!" Fenton said, digging out an extinguisher and racing into the room. "Blathering blatherskite - what happened to Manny?!"
"Do you need any help in there?" Della called, for once unsure if she should jump in to help or not.
"You idiot - you said the code word when someone else is in the lab!" Gryo's voice exclaimed.
"I'm okay Ms. Duck - umf - and, um, maybe we could talk later - oof - maybe over coffee?" Fenton said, as the sound of something hit him. Raising an eyebrow, Della weighed her options. She could stay and wait to chew Gyro out while simultaneously talking with Fenton...or she could get out of here now and talk with just Fenton later. Based on these options...she found she'd rather wait and just talk to Fenton later.
"Coffee sounds great," Della said, a feeling of excitement coming over her. Could Fenton have just asked her on a date? "I'll meet you at McDuck Manor at 5."
"Sounds - good!" Fenton's straining voice called from the other room. With a smile, Della went for the elevator. Before the doors closed, however she stopped the doors and stuck her head out.
"Is this a formal or informal coffee thing?" She asked. She heard a crash from the other room, and then what sounded like something or someone crashing into a large, heavy metal object.
"Semi-formal," Fenton said, sounding like he'd been hit by a bus. Della stuck her metal foot between the elevator doors and peeked around them.
"Are you sure you don't need any help -"
"We're fine!" Gyro exclaimed, poking his head out of the doorway, a fire extinguisher in his hands. "Now leave before I have you thrown out!"
"Okay - fine - I'm leaving!" Della said, stepping back into the elevator, and then pressing the button for the surface. Before the doors closed, she could barely hear Fenton say: "See you at five!"
With a smile, Della wondered what sort of clothing a semi-formal, maybe-maybe-not a date would require...certainly it wouldn't be her usual pilot's jacket, blue scarf, and shorts. Maybe...a nice dress or a t-shirt and a skirt? She was going to have to go shopping for this.
"I'll see you at five, Fenton Crackshell-Cabrera," Della said to herself, smiling wide. "And I can't wait to have coffee with you."