Billionaire, Businessman, Adventurer, these were all words that were synonymous with Scrooge McDuck who in the moment was walking across the main foyer of his mansion taking in a rare moment of silence as he looked over toward the portrait that hung on the wall while he began to think of some other choice words that could be used to describe him.
Father...sure, he had raised his sister Hortence's twins from the time they'd been eight however to Donald and Della he'd always been Uncle Scrooge never dad and honestly he'd been okay with that as while an heir would of been nice having a child of his own wasn't something that was in the cards that was until his dear niece vanished and requested that he raise one of her triplets and that's how his son Louie came into his life, as for his daughter , well it was a more lengthy and complex story:
Betina Beakley AKA Agent 22 had recently stepped down from her field position of the secret underground organization SHUSH transitioning into a mentorship role when one of her protogee's died in the line of duty leaving behind her three month old daughter. Beakley took in the girl, convincing the social worker who had been a liaison for the organization to let her say she'd been the child's grandmother as a means to keep her out of the system. The I's were dotted and the T's were crossed and for the next three years until Beakley's retirement she and the girl lived on an agency base. Though retirement wasn't what the agent had thought it would be as Scrooge who had dealings with the agent years ago knew she'd be a great tutor and governess for Louie and so he called on her to collect a favor. For the next few years Beakley taught Louie and Webby everything from normal scholastic subjects like reading, writing, math...to more complex things like combat skills and weaponry. Through the years he had seen how the young girl who was just a few months younger than his Louie got along. They were like two peas in a pod acting very much like siblings and so a few years after coming into his home he had asked Beakley if it would be fine by her if he filed a motion to formally adopt Webby.
The silence of the moment was briefly broken by the clanging of medals causing the older man to chuckle a bit to himself.
"Either Beakley is giving them a fencing lesson or they are breaking the rule of unsupervised sword play in the house," he thought as his eyes drifted from the two children in the portrait in the woman who looked to have been giving him a look that was both loving yet challenging…
May 2014:
Putting up appearances at the occasionally stuffy cocktail party was one of the necessary evils of being the richest duck in the world and that night was no exception when suddenly a voice filled the air from the space behind him sending a chill down his spine.
"Heya Scroogie," the unmistakable voice of Goldie O'Gilt, his long time adversary and on again off again flame purred.
Turning around he spotted her just as breathtaking as ever however she was like a siren always drawing him in only to stab him in the back.
"If it isn't Glittering Goldie, so should I alert the guests at this shindig to guard their pockets."
Goldie simply rolled her eyes, sure, she had already cased the coat room for baubles left behind but she wasn't going to give the man the satisfaction of knowing that fact and instead she placed a hand gently on his shoulder.
"I never thought I'd see you again after all I hear you've packed up your adventuring boots and retired."
Scrooge couldn't help but let out a laugh.
"Retired! Who would spread such false information, I bet it was Glomgold….HA I'll only be retired when I'm dead and with the miracles of modern science that won't happen for a very very VERY long time."
"Relax…" Goldie began however Scrooge wasn't finished with his outburst.
"I am Scrooge McDuck… I am sharper than the sharpies, smarter than the smarties, tougher than the toughies. In fact I've been keeping a dossier of places I want to explore and treasures I want to unearth. I am just keeping to the business side of things until my kids get a wee bit older that's all."
At that Goldie was taken by surprise.
"Kids?" she asked with a raised brow, "and you didn't ask me to mother your heirs I'm crushed."
There was a pause for a moment as Scrooge let out a slight chuckle at the thought.
"Louie is technically my nephew and Webby was the ward of a friend who was practically a sister to him anyway so I just thought why not make it official"
Goldie nodded in understanding knowing all about the incident that had occurred seven years ago and where the subject of Della had been concerned to not press Scrooge on the subject.
There was a slight pause before Goldie finally managed to speak up.
"Dance with me Scroogie," she said, not allowing for the billionaire to finish before dragging him onto the dance floor like old times.
For all the ups and down they had in their tumultuous relationship the cunning con woman always managed to cause his old ticker to skip a beat.
They had been lost in a moment before her voice broke him out of the spell she had momentarily held over him.
"I can see it in your eyes that you really can't wait another year or two or three to scratch your adventurous itch and well, I have a lead on something good."
Scrooge raised his brow, a hint of intrigue in his expression as he nodded for the blonde to go on.
"Two weeks...hire yourself a sitter for two weeks and I promise to make it worth your while, plus you're a much more palatable partner in crime then gold Flintie."
"That man is a sociopath, I mean you're a dirty rotten thief but at least you have class."
"So you're in?"
…
FOUR WEEKS LATER:
Scrooge had been sitting behind his office desk, Goldie in a plush chair across from him while the head of his advisory board Bradford Buzzard stood in the doorway.
"What do you mean it's legally binding," Scrooge exclaimed looking between the two beings in the room.
"I mean that whomever you hired to perform the ceremony was actually ordained," Bradford said.
Glaring at Goldie, he crossed his arms.
"Was this part of the plan all along Goldie? To swindle me into being your husband so you could rob me of my fortune? Were you in cahoots with Glomgold so that he could overthrow me as the richest duck?"
"No, no, and heck no, I was just as surprised as you when Bradford called me to come to the bin for this meeting."
Scrooge tried to read her tells and could sense that she was telling the truth.
"Well, the good news is you didn't consummate things right?" Bradford asked as the duo looked between one another...thankfully nothing more intimate than kissing had occurred as they conned their mark into gaining the treasures they had set out to seek. "Splendid...so the two of you annul the marriage and…"
Goldie shook her head.
"IF we annul this I want compensation for my troubles."
"As to be expected," Bradford said.
"Half of Scrooge's earnings."
Bradford looked slack jawed as Scrooge stood up from his seat at her words thinking perhaps her poker face was better than he thought.
"Curse me Kilts, you're a mad woman!"
"Well, we could always stay married," she spoke with a raised brow.
Yes, she was definitely mad Scrooge thought as he looked toward her curious to see just where she was heading with this.
"I mean think about it, you could go off on adventures while I teach 'sharpie' and 'spitfire' basic life skills."
Scrooge rolled his eyes thinking that she had met the kids one time before they headed out on their adventure and she already had nicknames for them. He wanted to snap back saying that he was sure the children had already been taught card counting and slight of hand from Beakley however instead he somehow found himself shrugging back his shoulders as he slinked back into his chair.
"And what will that cost me?" he asked as Bradford flashed him a glare.
"Well, I'm glad you asked Scroogie, I will sign a post nup saying that after a year of marriage if we dissolve things for any reason I get half of any communal earnings we've gained, a 30% stake in McDuck Enterprises and visitation rights with your kids."
"What about less than a year?" Scrooge asked bracing himself as he gently bit down on his beak.
"Well then the offer would be back to half of your net worth…."
Looking from Goldie to Bradford he watched his advisor stick up a single finger with a nod before he looked back toward Goldie.
"One Year…."
Husband….he thought that title would be a brand on him for just one year, 365 long and unbearable days however as he looked from the portrait to the band on his finger he couldn't believe things had lasted almost five years.
The sound of the front door opening took him fully out of his deep thoughts as he saw two figures entering the foyer both dressed in Woodchuck uniforms.
"Hey Uncle Scrooge," the younger of the duo said with a wave as he adjusted the backpack that hung over his shoulder with his other hand, "Where's Louie and Webby?"
The sounds of swords clanging had seemingly stopped causing the older man to simply shrug.
"If I had to guess they are in the den."
Huey nodded.
"Now then lad, try not to get into any mischief and get your homework done."
"Yes Uncle Scrooge."
And as quick as he had entered the mansion he had left the room leaving Scrooge with the other duck. Launchpad McQuack, his nephew's long time scout leader who had been hired by his wife two years ago as a valet. At the time people, and by people his son had suspected the then 29 year old had simply been hired by his step mom as a hot young side piece however she actually hired him as he was proficient in piloting many vehicles even if he had a penchant for crashing.
"Afternoon Mr. McD," Launchpad said with a smile, "I'm going to go change out of my uniform and then go polish up the Limo."
Scrooge raised his brow knowing of the man's history with the various vehicles that he handled.
"Do I even want to know?"
"Just a bit of dust that's all."
Truthfully he had managed to drive through a fairly deep mud puddle however Scrooge didn't need to know this fact as he exited the room, whistling the tune to his favorite shows theme song as he went.
Alone again, Scrooge looked back toward the portrait on the wall yet again, a smile crossing his beak. before he headed toward his home office to look over some paperwork.
He didn't know how much time had passed when suddenly there was the sound of someone at the door. It was rare that solicitors made their way up Killmoter Hill to bother him and so he had only assumed that Gyro had come to pick up Huey early.
"Launchpad! Beakley!," a few moments passed and it was clear that nobody was heading to open the door and the sounds of knocking continued to fill the air. "Duckworth!," he soon called hoping that his recently deceased butler would go carporial to greet their guest. Still nothing. For a moment he thought to call the kids however on the slimmest chance that it wasn't Gyro at the door he didn't want them in the line of fire and so he headed back through the foyer towards the main entrance of the manor.
