The adventure was over. They'd found the lost city, they'd taken the treasure Mr. McDuck wanted, they'd made it safely back to the airplane, and, even with Launchpad's penchant for crashing, up in the air, they were all about as safe as could be.
So why couldn't Webby stop shaking?
She was curled up in a seat in the back of the plane, trying to process what had happened and calm herself down. They'd almost died. Mr. McDuck had almost been sucked up by some ball-pit level quicksand. Dewey had tripped and almost fallen into a pit of lava and just about took his brothers with him-if it weren't for Webby grabbing onto Louie's hoodie (and Mr. Duck then grabbing onto her, and Mr. McDuck onto him), the three of them would have been completely vaporized. And Mr. Duck, with his insistence on going first, had set off just about every booby trap in the city that still worked (and a few that didn't), and they'd almost killed him. And now they were all laughing and joking up front, and that was ok, but...didn't they realize they had almost died?
"How are you doing back here, kiddo?"
Webby looked up to find Mr. Duck standing in the aisle next to her.
"Oh, I'm fine, Mr. Duck," Webby said. "Just fine."
"Mind if I sit down?" Mr. Duck said.
"Oh, sure," said Webby, more than a little startled. Mr. Duck took the seat next to hers.
"That was some adventure," Mr. Duck said.
"Yeah," Webby said, her voice shaking.
"Definitely more dangerous than most."
"You said it."
"It's ok to be scared," Mr. Duck said.
"I wasn't scared!" Webby said.
"I was," said Mr. Duck. "Of course, this trip doesn't really compare to the time Uncle Scrooge wanted to find the Golden Apples of the Hesperides. I couldn't stop shaking for a week after that one."
Webby shoved her hands under her lap as tears welled in her eyes. Why did she suddenly feel like she was about to cry now, of all times, when Mr. Duck, the Donald Duck, was talking to her?
Donald looked thoughtful for a moment. "You know," he began, "I've been thinking. Mr. Duck is so...formal. Why don't you call me Uncle Donald instead?"
The tears that Webby had been fighting back suddenly spilled over. She launched herself at Mr.-Uncle Donald and wrapped her arms around him. Donald returned the hug, holding her the same why he used to hold the boys when they came to him in the middle of the night with nightmares. Donald had already known that his family had grown that day not-so-long-ago when he and the boys moved into McDuck Manor, but it was nice to make it a little more official.