Chapter Nine: The Lost Egg!

Della took a deep breath, allowing a small smile across her lips. She has now been back home for a few weeks. Her children were all well and healthy, her brother away on a cruise and her secret husband thankfully absent. She had also gained enough strength back to use a simple spell to dispatch the pain in her stump whenever she would put her weight on it. Not that her uncle knew that was what she was doing. Crossing the threshold, she headed to the long entryway, with a mind to go for a walk before it got much darker.

Glancing down, she froze upon seeing that Webby, along with her new friend Violet, were standing around a blue mist...a familiar blue mist. Della shoved the memories of the last time she had seen the blue mist and stepped behind a suit of armor to keep the children from seeing her.

The mist disappeared, revealing a young duck that looked like she actively disobeyed her legal guardians. Webby gasped, then squealed loudly, tackling her in a hug. "Lena! You're back!"

Violet somehow got pulled into the hug as well, a tiny smile crossing her features. Della felt a smile tug on her beak, Lena De Spell was back and safe too now. "It's good to be back Webby…"

Webby suddenly snapped her head up, staring intently at the suit of armor that Della was hiding behind. "Della! Come on down! I want to introduce you to my besties! Both of them!" Webby hugged her friends one more time.

Della swallowed back a laugh at the irony that Webby considered Lena her best friend. "Comin'!" She moved quickly, jogging down the stairs to greet the two girls.

Violet stuck a hand out, awe dancing in her eyes. "You are the recently returned Della Duck, are you not?"

"Yeah...that's me." Della shook her hand, before looking over at Lena, one thought flashing across her mind. Lena certainly had grown a lot since the last time they had met.

Lena nodded to her, but didn't say a word. Webby bounced up and down where she stood, looking between the two girls. "Come on! We still have a sleepover to get going with!" With that said, she ran off, Violet right on her heels.

"She goes by Webby Vanderquack." Lena gave Della a look, worry creasing her brow.

Della sighed, turning away from the younger girl. "I know. Honestly, we didn't expect Mrs. Bleakley to keep the last name the same. She was supposed to change it to Bleakley."

Lena reached over, giving her a hand a quick squeeze. "Don't worry. I've been keeping a close eye on her. I don't think they know she's here yet."

"My boys..?" Della couldn't help it, she just had to know.

"Safe. They've been using your maiden name this entire time. How long till they find all of you and your lives are in danger again, Della?"

"I have no idea…"

~Two Days Later~

Della snapped the old scrapbook shut quickly as Dewey ran past the living room where she was flipping through it. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she realized that if she didn't want her children to know, then she really ought not flip through it in a public place. The privacy of her bedroom would be much better. Only after going years without family, she desperately wanted to be in the center of everything that they did.

A moment later, Scrooge came down, ushering Webby and Dewey in front of him, looking highly exasperated. "Look...you need to stop looking for mysteries! There is no fourth egg Dewey, I should know. Della brought you all home all at once." Looking up, he flashed a smile at Della, "Isn't that right Della?"

"Who thinks there's a fourth one?" Della could feel her heart rate picking up speed, panic nearly enveloping her.

Scrooge jabbed a finger at Dewey, his voice a bit more gruff than usual. "He thinks this mustard stain is a fourth egg."

Dewey handed her the old photo that he was holding, allowing her to see that indeed there was a mustard stain on the photo. "See? There's a fourth one!"

Della sighed as she lowered the picture, sitting it on top of her scrapbook. "Sorry to burst your bubble kiddo, but Uncle Scrooge is right. That is just a mustard stain." She calmed her heart down as she handed the photo back, glad that it was the one taken after she gave the fourth, her only daughter, away.

Scrooge peered at the scrapbook in her lap, one eyebrow inching upwards. "What's in that book? I don't recognize it."

Della snagged the book up hurriedly, shoving it behind her back so that her family won't see it. "That old thing? Had it for years. Super boring in fact… I'm just going to go put it away now…" With that said, she bolted out of the room. That was a close call….

…

Louie dragged his brothers and Webby to the large bedroom that was their mother's. "Come on...there's bound to be something in here that tells us who our father is!"

"Invasion of privacy...that's what this is!" Huey muttered for the upteenth time, struggling against Louie's tight grip.

Louie rolled his eyes, before shoving the door open. "Just help look for clues will quick!"

The four ducklings piled into the room, and immediately noted the scrapbook that was sitting on the bed. Dewey walked over, picking the book up reverently. "Mom was looking at this earlier...but she acted like she didn't want anyone to know that she had it. Think there's a photo of Dad in here?"

"Could be… let's look real quick!" Webby plopped down on the bed next to Dewey.

A minute later, the four of them were pouring over mostly innocent pictures of Della traveling the world by herself. "This is boring… I mean, I'm pretty sure that Uncle Donald has most of these in his Della Keepsake book…"

Huey flipped the page...and promptly froze. "Umm...guys?" He pointed to a picture...one that was eerily similar to the one that they've seen a hundred times of a proud Della standing with Scrooge and Donald, three eggs nestled in a nest in front of her. Only it was taken in a hotel room somewhere, and there were four eggs in the nest. Della had a huge smile on her face, even bigger than the one in the photo that they were used to, arms wrapped around a man that they didn't recognize. His own arms were wrapped around her, his face flushed with excitement. Mitch himself was hovering just at the edge of the photo, arms crossed with a look that screamed pure, undiluted joy.

"We need to have a word with Mitch…" "Uncle Scrooge!" Dewey ripped the picture out of the book, already sprinting for the door. The others dropped the book on the bed and gave chase. Apparently there truly was a fourth egg….

A/N: Done! Hmm, yes. This chapter I tried to make it as obvious as possible that there is a fourth egg, and who it is. If you still don't know... I have no idea how much more blunt I can get. Also changed my mind about skipping to after the Moonvasion. I figured these out, and it helps move the plot line along. Della still doesn't know that her kids have already figured out what type of spells that they specialize in is...and they now know that Mitch knows who their father is! Ok, he mentioned knowing their father way back when they first met him...but this is the first time that they realized that he literally knows who he is.

Scrooge is going to have some words with his niece about hiding the fact that there had been a fourth egg from him...and worriedly ask what happened to it since something must have happened!

Review!

SkyTalon