A REWRITTEN FAMILY HISTORY
When I write this flashback I just felt all the feels... I hope you enjoy this installment and hopefully you have some tissues on hand
Della Gearloose 'nee Duck counted back from a hundred as she let the shock of the landing impact wear off. She did it….she actually did it...after almost twelve long years she was finally home….at least she hoped she was home and the refurbished GPS system didn't deceive her.
Biting down on her bill she looked down to examine if there was any physical damage after all upon crashing down the last time she had fractured her leg so badly that it was easier to self amputate and devise a prosthetic out of scrap metal then to try mending the bone. Thankfully this go around the damage was minor, a cut here a bruise there.. nothing that the sparse remains of her first aid kit couldn't patch up.
"Here goes nothing," she said to herself opening the hatch and noticing she was in a wooded area that was far enough to keep from gathering a crowd but close enough that she noticed the skyline realizing that yes in fact she was home.
Sucking in a deep breath, one of the first not laced with the putrid aftertaste of black licorice age let her eyes gaze off in the distance towards her uncle's money bin. Sure, she knew deep down in her heart that the first place she needed to go was McDuck Manor however looking at the high rise a part of her wondered if her husband or rather widower she guessed still worked there as she began to think back to their final moment together.
April 2007:
A few hours earlier her brother Donald had scrambled into the room where she had been singing one last time to her eggs frantically sputtering that he had a bad feeling about things. He claimed it was twin telepathy however she knew that Donny disliked the sky almost as much as she disliked being on water and so she shook it off for a brief moment before scribbling out a heartfelt letter and placed it with her wedding rings inside an envelope.
Making her way to the place where the Spear was getting ready to launch out into orbit she spotted her husband already waiting. He was dressed in her favorite sky blue button up, his unkempt hair falling into his eyes and a proud smile spreading across his bill.
"I don't know what I'm more ecstatic about Dells, " he said upon her approach , "going down in the history books as the designer of the first privately constructed rocket or the fact that my wife will be the one at the helm?"
"Your accomplishments I'm sure," Della spoke with a smirk as she circled the young chicken her arms folded across her chest, "especially since you aren't even a rocket scientist."
Gyro raised his brow as he shook his head.
"I'm working on it," he spoke which was true as working on Scrooge's ambitious project had prompted him to amp up his higher education and begin the work in a second masters and who knew perhaps one day he'd finally go for his doctorate, "anyway, at least I'm not a glorified grease monkey."
Della had now been standing face to face with Gyro before taking a few steps toward him resting her head on his shoulder which was at the perfect height.
"But I'm your grease monkey."
"Always," Gyro said as he twisted his fingers through Della's hair, a smile still playing across his lips. "Anyway, I hope that one of our boys is as headstrong and resilient as you are so that you can see what I have to deal with."
"And I can only hope that one of them is just a know it all like you so that you can see how it feels to live with someone who corrects you all the time.
Sure it didn't matter whose genes the ducklings received, just that they hatched safely and healthy. Playfully playing with Gyro's suspender strap, Della tried to fight back tears and fears in the moment hoping that it wouldn't be her last one with her family.
"I want lots of video of when they hatch so that I can feel as if I'm there with you. And if something happens to me open this."
Handing him the envelope she placed a kiss onto his cheek before climbing into the rocket pod closing the hatch down and sucking in a deep breath as she mentally counted down to launch.
"Nothing Can Stop Della Gearloose."
But something had stopped her, somehow her GPS had led her off course causing her to crash on the moon but she did it, she finally did it as now she had made her way toward the mansion on Killmoter Hill she was about to see her family again. She just hoped that after over a decade they were just as happy to see her.
Sucking in a deep breath, she managed to approach the gate.
'Okay, Della this is it...you only have one chance to make a good first impression.'
The door soon opened as Della saw her Uncle Scrooge who honestly after all this time looked practically the same as he did all those years ago. She wanted to be big and bold however as she watched the older duck's hand tremble as he dropped a tea cup on the floor she couldn't help but just speak up in a weakened tone.
"Hi Uncle Scrooge…"
He looked as if he'd seen a ghost and she should know as they had plenty of ghost encounters in their adventures together.
"Della, Lass is it really you?"
Looking at the older man she couldn't help but nod as tears began to well up in her eyes.
"It's really me Uncle Scrooge….I came home."
There was a moment of silence as Scrooge gave his niece a once over before eyeing her prosthetic foot with a hint of pain in his eyes. She anticipated him asking her how when or how instead a small smile crossed his lips.
"Nice craftsmanship...he'll be proud."
It was in that moment when she knew that Gyro was very much still in the family fold and that made her happy. What made her even happier was when her uncle who wasn't the most physically affectionate reached out to pull her into an embrace. They were still in a moment when suddenly a girl who looked no older than eleven ran frantically into the room. She was wearing a pink skirt and lavender top, her white blonde hair pulled back in a bow. No, it couldn't be? She thought she was having three boys but then again she and Donald HAD hatched from the same egg and so it wasn't that impossible was it….that she had a little girl.
"Dad, what was that commotion, are you okay?"
'Dad?' she thought to herself….it had to be hers then right after all she looked about the same age as her boys should have been.
"I'm fine Webby," Scrooge said as he turned to the girl with a reassuring look, " spilled tea is nothing to cry over and it wasn't as if I was using the good tea set."
The young girl nodded her head about to turn back to head into the other room when soon her eyes locked with Della's and she let out a scream of delight as she ran toward her.
"Geez Louise! Mother Mary, Pete the dragon…..you're DELLA DUCK!"
Della nodded her head as she looked up toward her uncle for a brief moment thinking that now was as good a time as any to ask the question that had been plaguing her since she saw the girl.
"Mine?" she mouthed silently as Scrooge shook his head.
"Hi I'm Webby, huge fan...I've read about all your adventures from Dad's field journals and I've always dreamt of what it would be like meeting you in person...am I dreaming…"
The girl pinched herself before realizing that no she was wide awake and that Della was in fact standing right beside her.
"Can I text Dewey?"
'Dewey' Della thought now THAT was one of hers however deep down she kind of hoped that in her absence Gyro would of conceded and named him Turbo.
"Not right now lass, let your cousin breathe a bit before we gather around for a family reunion."
Webby nodded.
"But what about...I mean they are just in the next room and they are bound to cross paths sooner or later."
"Fine...but if Della gets overwhelmed you need to give her some room."
Webby nodded as she ran out of the room screaming 'Boys Boys'
Della could feel her heart race a bit thinking that the boys that the young girl was going to collect were the other two thirds of her triplets however soon her gaze turned back to her uncle a smile on her face as he led her toward the couch.
"You have a daughter," Della spoke with a smile.
"Aye, and a son," Scrooge said, "You'd be proud of our Louie, he's sharper than a tack and a wiz with numbers."
Della nodded as she couldn't wait to see what young men her boys were starting to become when suddenly her eyes fell on the wedding band on her uncle's finger and the portrait hanging on the wall.
"And a wife?" Della spoke her brow raised as she and Donald had grown up around the ongoing rivalry between Scrooge and Goldie O'Gilt and so to now see them married well it just raised a bunch of red flags, "What scheme is she running on you Uncle Scrooge."
"No scheme...Goldie brings out a fire in me I haven't felt in years."
Della rolled her eyes wondering if there was any way her uncle could be held under a love potion however the mystical was never Goldie's weapon of choice.
"So where is my dear aunt now?" Della asked, wondering how the woman would react to seeing her again.
"She is off on an excavation of ruins in South America."
Della nodded assuming it was part of some scheme as it was always a scheme with Goldie.
The door soon opened and Della had assumed it would be Webby there with her boys however instead she spotted a tall broad shouldered red headed duck dressed in an aviator jacket that gave her a chilling sense of deja vu. It couldn't have been Ripcord McQuack as it had been around fifteen years since she'd last seen her teacher so it must have been…
"Launchpad!" she said an air of delight in her voice as of all the people she expected to run into upon her return to earth her flight instructor's son fell far down that list.
"Della!" he replied with an equal amount of delight as he had a schoolboy crush on her when he'd been a teenager. A part of him wanting to pick her up and twirl her around in an embrace but from what he knew from the tabloids and his three years employed by the McDuck's, Della had been missing without a trace for the past eleven years and it was clear from her disheveled appearance that she must of gone through some sort of ordeal.
"So, should I be impressed or insulted that I've been replaced by a McQuack?"
"Well when Loopy and I finally got to man the cockpit for the first time mom would constantly compare us to you if it makes you feel any better."
Della simply nodded.
"Anyway, I'm going to head out …. and Della...we should get together sometime to catch up."
Della once again couldn't help but smile thinking she would like that...having a friend around to help her transition back into a form of normal.
Leaning back into a couch cushion, Della started to process everything she had heard in the short amount of time she'd been back….Webby...Goldie...Launchpad...and yet she still hadn't seen her boys. It was with that thought still lingering in her head that she watched as Webby stepped foot in the room followed as she promised by two young boys. The taller of the two was dressed in a faded grey tee shirt and a green leather jacket and if he hadn't been the same boy that was in the portrait on the wall she would have thought he'd been the son of her cousin Gladstone based on his color of choice and confident aura. The other boy was dressed in a Woodchuck uniform, the name 'Gearloose' embroidered on the pocket causing her to smile a bit thinking that this was the son that was raised by his father causing her to deduce that Dewey was Donald's and she had hoped to get to meet him sooner rather than later.
The boys both looked toward the woman who was now standing up from the couch taking a few steps toward their direction.
"That's your mom," Webby said with a smile on her bill as the one in the uniform began to approach.
"Hi, I'm Huey Gearloose, it's a pleasure to finally meet your acquaintance….mom."
He began to choke up a bit at the last word as he threw his arms around Della who had decided to kneel down to his level.
"Did your dad ever tell you I was a Woodchuck?"
"He did, I have an old photo of you in your uniform on my desk in his lab…..we need to compare notes on what merit badges we've earned."
"I'd like that very much."
Huey tightened his embrace for a moment as Della's eyes fell upon Louie who with another nudge from Webby moved a few steps closer toward Della crossing his arms over his chest.
"I know you want me to be all touchy feely," Louie replied, "But I already have a mother and don't need another one."
With these words Della felt crushed thinking that while the notion that her boys wouldn't take to her being back had always been a possibility she didn't think it would be a reality.
"Though I'm sure my cousin Della has some real wild stories to tell," Louie said, holding out his hand for Della to take which she did as son or cousin all she wanted was to have some kind of relationship in the boy's life.
"So, where have you been all these years?" Webby asked as Scrooge nodded.
"I'd like to know the same thing."
"The moon."
"That's impossible!" Scrooge exclaimed.
"I know," Huey said, "The average residency on a space station is six months and I don't think that there is one anchored toward the moon right now."
"No, I mean we had our satellite orbit the moon twice and there was no sign of the spear of selene reported."
Della had in fact seen one of the satellites however she was too busy fighting off a moon mite to draw attention to it and so she simply smiled.
"Whatever the case, I'm home now and I don't plan on going anywhere without family on my side. Anyway Uncle Scrooge, it's been a long long time since I took a warm shower and slept in a nice comfy bed."
He nodded.
"Your room is as you left it...minus anything your brother or Gyro might have taken as mementos."
Della then nodded as she was about to get up when a somewhat familiar face peeked their head into the room.
"Time for Dinner…" Beakley said as Della looked from the older woman to Scrooge and back and forth again.
"Agent 22 is your cook?" she thought to herself rolling her eyes as she headed upstairs.
