Scrooge sat with Poe and the kids in the living room, listing to Poe tell stories about his and Magica's childhood to distract them from Huey's problem when Magica and Huey walked in.
"Poe! What are you telling them?" Magica demanded as she heard the sounds of laughter and Poe saying something about the family portrait taken when they were eight; Hexa and Castandra had decided it would be funny to play a prank on her and Poe which ended in them looking like they had been in a fight with a rainbow and lost. Not the finest moment to be sure; Magica's new favorite dress had been completely ruined that day and she looked like the saddest rainbow ever in that portrait as a result.
Poe chuckled. "Oh, I was just entertaining and distracting everyone with some highlights of days gone by." He responded lightheartedly. Magica scoffed as a few more chuckles sounded. "I wish I could have burnt that picture and turned Hexa and Castandra the sickliest shades of brown and green imaginable for that." She then gave her brother a warning look. "I hope that's the only embarrassing thing you've talked about." Poe just grinned. "Well it isn't like I have photos or anything, but I assure you I haven't gone and said anything about anything that happened when we were younger than six."
Scrooge snickered. "Well now you've got me curious; but we should put aside this conversation for later." He looked at Huey who was now calm and not attacking anyone. "Did you get that blasted ring off of him?" He asked hopefully. Magica shook her head and Huey held up his hand to show that the ring still held fast. "Unfortunately, no, I'm afraid not. The best I could do for now was to put a negation spell on it to temporarily relieve him of the curse." Scrooge nodded, the hope in his eyes diminished a bit. "Well, that's better than nothing I guess." "Don't look so disappointed, I have no plans of giving up; I intend to research that thing as best I can and find out how to remove it."
The look in her eyes as she spoke was the same determination that was ever-present every time they faced off over old number one; something about that look made Scrooge feel reassured; reassured because he knew very well that Magica DeSpell was the type that when she set her mind to something she would do everything she could to see it through; He knew that because of every time she tried to get his number one dime and because it was a trait they both possessed.
"Before I get back to work though I would like to know about dinner; and don't expect me to cook again." Magica's voice pulled Scrooge out of his thoughts and reminded him that she most likely hadn't eaten since before she came back with him after Poe had transported him to her hut to aske for help. In fact, now that he thought about none of them had had lunch due to everyone trying to help deal with Huey.
"That's actually a good question and I think I have a good answer; how about we just have some take-out tonight?" Scrooge asked. "Well, since Huey totaled the kitchen, I don't think there's much choice." Dewey said. The others nodded. "And I don't think Granny really wants to deal with cooking right now…" Webby added, since Mrs. Beakley was a little peeved at the state of the kitchen and most of the house on account of the ring.
Everyone discussed and reconciled what sounded good with what Scrooge was willing to pay for and it was decided that Scrooge would get dinner from a local diner that wasn't too expensive but still served good food. When Launchpad came in after being told by Mrs. Beakley to please just stay out of the way he offered to drive but Scrooge refused.
"Sorry Launchpad, but I've had enough crashes lately, I think I'll just walk and enjoy a little calm after the storm. Why don't you stay here and help keep an eye on the kids, just in case?" "You're gonna go by yourself? Aren't you gonna need help carrying all that food?" Launchpad asked. "That is true…" Scrooge said thoughtfully.
"Say, I have an idea; why don't you go with him sis? Get a little fresh air and make sure your order is right?" Poe said with a little laugh, a knowing grin on his face.
Magica could tell from her brother's expression what he was up to and just scowled at him. She might have argued but there were a few good reasons not to; Scrooge honestly couldn't be expected to carry everything back by himself, it wasn't a bad idea to make sure orders were right, she didn't want to let on anything to Scrooge and she was hungry and arguing would just mean it would take longer to get food; so she reluctantly agreed to go with Scrooge, making a mental note to slap her brother later not just for the sweeper but also to wipe that knowing grin off his face.
Around forty-five awkwardly silent minutes later Scrooge and Magica were entering the diner and placing their orders to go.
The diner was a retro train car style with booths on one side and a bar lined with bar stools on the other and kitchen behind a wall separating it from the dining area save for the window where the cook was passing food to the waitresses to serve to customers.
Magica sat on one of the stools and looked at the menu, contemplating testing her luck by way of asking Scrooge if she could add an ice cream to her order; the picture on the menu looked almost appetizing enough to see if the notorious penny-pincher would buy her an ice cream… again. As she thought about the ice cream, she remembered the night in the ice cream parlor and how he had told her that he'd figured her out, and her reaction which wasn't exactly graceful or convincing… maybe ice cream was a bad idea but it was too late.
"Excuse me, waitress," Scrooge called the waitress over who had take their orders a minute ago. "Yes Mr. McDuck? Did you need something else?" She asked, sounding more tired than pleasant. "If it's not too much trouble could I get an ice cream cone, sea salt ice cream if you've got it, and a hot fudge sundae while we're waiting?" He asked, handing the waitress the money for the ice cream. "Coming right up." She rang up the price on the cash register and gave Scrooge his change before disappearing into the kitchen for the ice cream.
Magica looked at him, a bit surprised as it was as if he'd read her mind. "What? Do you think I didn't see you looking at the picture on the menu?" He asked in response to her surprise. "Well, thank you. I wouldn't have expected it. I wasn't even going to ask." She murmured. "Eh, the ice cream does look good and I don't really want to hear any complaints about not getting you any if I'm going to have while we wait." The words were nonchalant and matter-of-fact but his tone and expression gave Scrooge away, he was doing a poor job of hiding his teasing. Magica couldn't help a quiet chuckle as the waitress returned with the ice cream.