"Della, do you have any idea what those boys are up to?"

Della rubbed her arm and leaned against the kitchen counter as her Uncle Scrooge paced around the living room scolding her like she was a kid again. A kid with her own kids who were supposed to be out becoming functioning adults, at least by Scrooge's standards… and not even the most responsible one of the three seemed to be doing that for her. She sighed. "Well-"

"Launchpad said they were with him in L.A.!" Scrooge threw his hands in the air. "I thought this blasted roadtrip of theirs didn't have a destination. Pfft, that seems unlikely seeing as they would have had to drive through the night to get there. I thought something was strange when they left in such a hurry. What are those boys up to?"

"Why do they have to be up to anything?" Della scratched the back of her neck and cringe-smiled when Scrooge glared her way. "Whaaaat?! They're good kids. I'm sure everything is fine." She attempted to swallow back the impending panic that had been festering inside her since they left.

"Trust me, Della. I know when something is afoot. Those boys are up to something and I intend to find out what." Uncle Scrooge stamped his cane into the kitchen tile. "When's the last time you talked with them?"

Della bit her lip and glanced away. What could she tell him? That she hadn't been able to get ahold of her boys since they left the driveway? That Louie had clearly "seen" all of her texts but wouldn't respond? That Dewey's phone had stopped going to voicemail completely? For the last several days, she continued to convince herself that there was nothing to worry about, that they were old enough to handle themselves and that she was being a paranoid mom.

Maybe they're just having so much fun together that Louie keeps forgetting to text me back. Maybe Dewey's phone died and he left his charger here or his voicemail box is full. That has to be it. He's too disorganized to clean it out.

"Deeeella?"

She heaved a sigh and stared down as she traced the shapes in the tile with her robotic foot. "Fine! I have no idea where they are or what they're up to. They haven't responded to a single text or answered a single call from me or Donald since they left."

"What? That's preposterous! Louie is always on his phone and constantly texting. For goodness sakes, he's always sending me these jiffy things with moving pictures. I can't understand it for the life of me! There's no way they wouldn't send you a single message."

She lifted her head and flushed when she saw the look of frustration on his face. Ugh, even after they're grown, I'm still a bad parent. "I know, I know… but maybe it's a good thing. They could be having so much fun together that checking in with me has just slipped their minds. That could totally be what's happened! There's nothing to be worried about." She hoped saying it outloud would make it true in her own spirit but it only seemed to stir up more concern.
"Or they could have been eaten by a mermanticore! Who knows what's happened to them? I'm going to get to the bottom of this." Scrooge pulled out his flip phone. "Huey should answer if he sees it's me. The last time I called him, he answered on the first ring and was sent into some sort of panic, thinking I was in the hospital or something. Gave me quite the chuckle." He squinted, tapped a few buttons, and held it to his ear.

bzzzzzt. bzzzzzzzt. bzzzzzzzzzzt.

Uncle Scrooge blinked and pulled the phone away from his ear. "What the-"

Della rolled her eyes and pulled the red phone out of her pocket as it buzzed. "Trust me. I tried that one already. He was mad enough at all of us that he left his phone here." She tossed it onto the table.

Scrooge snapped his phone closed and rubbed his chin. "Hmm… that or he left it here on purpose. Perhaps a magic imp captured Huey and became a triplet imposter in order to kidnap the other two. Ah hah! That would explain why he's been asking so strange lately."

Della groaned and dragged her hand down her face, sitting on one of the barstools at the counter. "Huey was not replaced by a magical imp, Uncle Scrooge." That's almost as crazy as Donald's theory. Middle-aged mutant samurai lizards… yeah, like that's a thing! "I don't understand what is going on with Huey either but, whatever it is, it's been coming for years and I didn't even notice." She slammed her fist down on the cold granite. I was too caught up in everything else to see it. With Dewey, I could see every problem that arose and keep up with this energy enough to address them… he's practically my mini-me. With Louie, everything always had an angle and I could learn to meet his angles. But Huey? The hardness melted from her body and she sagged forward, resting her chin in her folded arms. "He was always so, well, easy. He fixed far more problems than he ever caused, and he knew how to handle his brothers better than I did… and still does, honestly."

She stared at her uncle's hands as they rested on top of his cane. "You and I both know that I was still a kid in both heart and mind when I came back. When I found my place in the family again, it seemed like Huey was raising me more than I was raising him. And now all this? It's like between keeping track of Dewey and policing Louie, I lost track of understanding Huey." Della buried her beak in her arms, squeezing her eyes shut. A few tears soaked her sleeves. How could I let that happen? After all those years on the moon… I promised myself and them that I'd be there for each of them.

Scrooge came around the counter and set a hand on her shoulder. "Ah, Della darl'n, you shouldn't be so hard on yourself. You're a great mum. No parent is ever perfect. Trust me, I struggled through Webby's teen years as much as the next parent. Things happen, but it doesn't mean you're a bad mum. Each of those boys has their own journey to go through and I know you prepared them as best you could."

But not well enough. Compared to her uncle, she botched the whole parenting thing. Webby graduated highschool two years early and went right into college, only to be hired by S.H.U.S.H a year later, following in her grandmother's footsteps. Scrooge and Beakley had succeeded where her and Donald only seemed to confuse the boys more.

She rubbed her temples and groaned. "You don't get it, Uncle Scrooge, I feel like I've only uprooted their lives. I haven't fixed anything." Her head raised and her mouth went flying. "Huey can't stand to be in the same room as me for more than a few minutes anymore and he refuses to tell me how he's feeling, besides the occasional "Duke" flair up. Even in that, Donald handles him better than I do. Dewey going off to flight school makes me so proud, but I've never seen him more scared or stressed, and he can't get his head out of those flight books. And Louie? Oh Louie. I don't even know where to begin there." She slowed down and glanced at her uncle with his shocked but sympathetic look. "Heh… heh..eeehhhh."

Della spun around and hopped off the stool, walking over to the window. "The fact of the matter is… Donald was doing great with them." She watched as her brother prepared the cutest picnic in the backyard for him and Daisy. "As soon as I took over, that's when things started to fall apart. That wasn't fair to them." She felt his hand rest on her shoulder again.

"Life isn't always fair. Family isn't always fair. But that doesn't mean that those family relationships aren't worth having… or pursuing. The boys needed you back. I saw them before you came back and I watched them after and I can confidently say that you've done them more good than you ever could harm." He pulled her into a hug.

At first she pulled back but it only took a moment before she fell into his arms and squeezed him tight. But sometimes it feels like I was never meant to be a mom.

As if he could hear her thoughts, Uncle Scrooge patted her back. "Darl'n, continuing to blame yourself won't make it better." His accent rolled and rumbled his chest. "What you need to do is talk to your boys. There'll be no fixing things until you're together."

Della took a deep breath and lifted her head off of his shoulder to look him in the eyes. "But what if they don't want to talk to me? Huey's mad, Dewey only says what I want to hear, and Louie hardly says a word about anything anymore."

Her uncle smiled and touched her cheek. "I can't promise that they'll say anything. But they need to hear your heart… the same one you expressed to me now. Especially since the three of them will be spread apart this year. They need you more than ever, Della."

Della's eyes welled with tears. "What if I'm not good enough?"

Scrooge shook his head, his smile only widening. "Not good enough! Why, Della Duck, the conqueror of the moon? The champion of the Burmuda Triangle? The slayer of the great Gilded Man? Preposterous! Della, you are far greater than you know. You are enough, and you're just what those boys need."

Della scrubbed at her tears with her sleeve and sniffed. "Oof, sure, list off all those things while I'm crying." She smirked slightly, trying to stay tough like the Della Duck she was in each instance he referenced.

Scrooge let out a breath and rested his hands on his cane. "That's better. Now, what do you say we go on a little adventure, eh? Just like old times?"