A/N: BRUH! I'm dead. The newest episode literally has me dead. I'm writing this from beyond the grave.

Well, not really. I'm actually writing this at 6 AM. Help. I worked all night and I'm so sleepy but... THAT PREVIEW... I needed to write this and this was the first opprotunity I had.

Fun fact: The last... eh... portion? Of the chapter originally wasn't planned. The more recent episodes kind of changed that.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Eleven years.

Eleven years since he'd come across Della's plans for the Spear of Selene.

Eleven years since she stole the rocket and left them all behind.

Eleven years he had looked for her, sacrificing countless others and nearly going bankrupt in the process.

Scrooge had a long time to come to terms with his mistakes. He accepted long ago that he was at fault for this, even if it was just by building the rocket in the first place and refusing to tell Donald. He was extremely grateful that fate brought his nephews back into his life once more, and that he was given the chance to reconcile and bond with them. He fixed wounds both old, reopened, and new, and somehow at the end of it all, he still felt that at any moment, they could turn on him.

That incident in the Sunchaser atop the peak had opened his eyes. Perhaps if he had been honest from the start, they wouldn't be all in this mess. Della would still be here, his relationship with Donald wouldn't be broken, the kids wouldn't have spent half their life not realizing they were related to the richest duck in the world, and, as if none of that weren't enough, Magica would have never been freed. He still had a lot of amending to do, and he wanted to do right by his family now that he was given the chance once more. That meant apologizing, and telling the boys whatever they asked.

He just wanted his family back, and here he was, given a third chance he knew he likely didn't deserve.

He sat now in the hidden section of the library. It was a place of solitude, and one he visited nearly every day since Della disappeared. In the days after the forced ending of his ventures to find her, if one asked where Scrooge McDuck happened to be, the library was the simple answer.

Ms. Quakfaster usually let him be. Generally when Scrooge came by, he wanted to be left alone, and she was more than happy to leave him so.

"Mr. McDuck, you know... if you ever need anything..." she began, words failing her for the millionth time.

"Thank ye, Emily," was all Scrooge would say.

She would leave him alone after that. Not out of malice, just by knowing it was better this way.

He looked up to the portrait of his neice, a thin layer of dust covering it. He hadn't been here since right before Donald and the triplets came back into his life, and the realization struck him hard.

"Oh Della," he murmured, shaking his head. "What is there left to say? Nae a day goes by that Ah dinnae think of ye. Ah was very lucky Donald came back, and with him yer wee ones. Not only that, but even after Ah messed up, kept what happened a secret and dinnae tell the boys until me hand was forced, they came back again!"

He felt tears prick at his eyes.

"Is it enough, though? Do Ah really deserve them for causing all of this? Ah wish you could see them, Della. Huey's the smartest, always has a trick or two up his sleeve. Louie, he's always trying to laze around, but his ability to see patterns is impeccable! And Dewey, he's just like..."

He paused, his voice caught in his throat.

"He's just like Donald and ye were at that age... Della... If Ah'd only known... Ah never would have built that ship. Ah never would have let ye find out about it."

Scrooge turned away from the portrait, as if too ashamed to let it see him vulnerable.

XvX

Della awoke clutching the picture.

She'd been working on the rocket again when she'd decided to rest. Seems this time around, her body decided now would be a good time to nap. Fair enough, considering how hard it was to tell time and also rebuild the ship. Deciding nap time was over, she stretched and yawned, bringing the picture to her vision once more.

"I'm trying, boys," she murmured sadly to the crudely but lovingly drawn children on the formerly blank back of the picture. "Really. I'm so sorry I can't be there for you."

She turned the picture over.

"Any of you."

She flopped back down, groaning. Her gaze turned to the blue orb hanging in the star-filled sky, and she felt a mix of emotions build in her chest. She held the picture close to her, and curled around it. She felt tears stain the feathers on her face, and she shuddered. Suddenly she could pinpoint the exact emotions she was feeling.

Anger. Sadness. Loneliness. Despair.

Guilt.

"I'm so sorry..." she sniffled, running her hand across the scribbles. "I just... I wanted the cosmos for you. Look where it got me..."

After a brief few moments, Della sat up once more. Her eyes opened, and if one were to gaze into them, they could see the steely resolve that only a mother desperate to see her family again could muster.

"Nothing will stand in my way. I'll get back to you boys, I promise."

The crashing noise made her jump, and she looked to the surface of the moon where a part of her ship had fallen to.

"I... somehow. I'll make it. I swear, or my name isn't Della Duck!"