A Rewritten Family History:

writing this chapter hit me in the feels...

Gyro smiled at the barista who worked at the local herbalist as she handed him his usual tea. Taking a sip he let out a sigh. A small part of him wanted to call Dewey and Huey's principals telling them there was a family emergency followed by texting Donald telling him they needed to talk however the bigger part of him thought it wasn't his place to tell Donald the information he heard last night and it didn't do his sons any good to sit at home all day when they could be furthering their education. Exhaling another sigh, he closed his eyes and thought of the scene that occurred the night before.

Last Night:

Duckworth had gone corporal to let him and Dewey inside the manor where they were met with the family whose conversations fell silent at his sight.

"Oh my god, Dewey…" Webby said as the girl ran to her cousin tossing her arms around the blue clad triplet causing the chickens heart to race as he looked on.

"Donald?" He simply mouthed fearing the worst as his son ran up towards him, eyes bloodshot from crying.

"It's mom," Huey said, throwing his arms around his father in a tight embrace, "she's come home."

Looking to Scrooge for some confirmation the older duck nodded.

"Aye, she is an extraordinary lass."

Gyro simply nodded as Dewey crossed his arms in annoyance.

"Awe Phooy, why didn't you text me Webbs? You know meeting her has been our dream."

"I know and I told her as much when I met her but dad…."

"Didn't want to overwhelm her," Scrooge spoke looking from the two kids back to the scientist walking him across the room away from the children before lowering his voice. "She didn't say too much about her time….away….but I could tell just from her eyes that she's been through an ordeal and so I was going to wait on telling you and Donald."

"HOW LONG," Gyro said, his voice raised louder than normal.

"A day….two tops."

Taking a deep breath and mentally counting to ten Gyro was glad that his anger didn't have a hairpin trigger like his brother in law.

"Well when can I see her?"

"Like I said, she's been through a lot and there is still the whole matter of her being legally deceased but if you were to come over tomorrow maybe she'll feel up for visitors."

'Visitors,' he thought to himself as he checked himself out in his car mirror as he turned onto the path that lead up the hill, 'I am...er was her husband'

Parking the car, he made his way toward the front door. It all felt too surreal and he wondered if perhaps last night was just a hallucination caused by his intern creating a chemical mishap.

Knocking on the door he was met by Duckworth phasing through giving him a look before disappearing. The next ten minutes felt like a lifetime as he assumed the ghost butler had informed Della of his presence and that she had said she wasn't ready. Feeling defeated he was about to turn back around when the creaking sounds of the door rang out and he spotted her wrapped up in his old Tuxedo jacket as if it were a security blanket draped over her leggings and yellow t-shirt. A stark contrast to the night he gave it to her.

April 2002:

Exiting the museum he still couldn't get over just how different Della looked dressed in her gown. Before he thought she was kind of cute in an annoying sort of way however the way the floor length gown she'd been wearing glistened in the moonlight like a pool of sapphires it kind of took his breath away.

"You were right Della, tonight was kind of fun."

He watched as a smirk crossed her bill as she crossed her arms.

"Could you say it again?" Della chuckled as a car showed up to take them back toward the manor.

Shaking his head he opened the door to let her in and soon they were on their way across town.

"You surprised me tonight Gearloose, I didn't know you were such an amazing dancer."

He could feel himself blushing a bit before nodding.

"This stays between us but when I was finishing up my masters as a pre-teen my parents had me take cotillion in the hopes it would improve my social skills so that people would take me serious when networking."

Della couldn't help but chuckle a bit as he crossed his arms wondering if he shouldn't have made such a personal confession as his companion soon spoke up.

"I wasn't laughing at you, it's just … well… Duckworth talked Uncle Scrooge into making me take cotillion as I never had a proper female influence in my life and he thought it would help me act more ladylike."

It was then the young chicken let out a chuckle wondering if he had grown up in Duckburg if perhaps they would have danced together before.

Reaching the gates of the McDuck property the duo exited the car and turned toward the path up the hill.

"Here, take this your uncle would kill me if you fought a chill."

"The worse he would do was fire you," she snapped back, "though if Donny were here and not away at school…"

Slipping on the jacket Gyro couldn't help but internally chuckle at how cliche he was acting as they continued to make small talk until they reached the door of the manor. Now if he was being cliche this would be the moment when they would share a goodnight kiss and it seemed as if Della was thinking the same thing as soon their beaks moved inches apart only to be stopped by the lights coming on and a voice calling out from the inside.

Back in the present this time he acted on his impulses and met her with a wordless kiss. He was the tinman and finally he had found his heart.

Pulling back however he was met with a crushing slap to the jaw. Sure, Scrooge had said that she seemed to have gone through an ordeal so maybe a kiss wasn't the best course of action.

"I'm sorry for being forward, it's just I…"

"BLACK LICORICE! Seriously Gearloose, BLACK FLIPPING LICORICE!"

He couldn't help but laugh at her outburst. Seriously this was all about the oxy chew that he presumed had kept her alive these past years.

"I didn't pick the flavor to spite you….anise was just a key ingredient in getting the chemical compound just right."

"And those linear notes in the manual referring to me as Dumbella?"

He smirked.

"Now that was to spite you but I figured at the end of the day we'd both laugh at it."

There was a slight pause before Della began to let out a chuckle making Gyro realize how much he had missed her laugh as he watched her eyes begin to give him a proper once over.

"I love the new look by the way."

"Thanks," he said running a hand through his now gelled back hair, "a few years ago after I officially earned my Doctorate, your cousin Gladstone convinced me to reinvent myself to start the next chapter of my life."

The makeover hadn't been that extreme at least when first laid out in front of him. Trading his suspenders for a tailored vest, adding a bit of get to his unruly curls, changing the shape of his glasses frames...and yet somehow he'd gone from frazzled genius to hot doctor seemingly overnight.

"Doctor Gearloose," Della spoke...her voice saying those words causing the chickens heart to flutter once more, "I definitely can get used to the sound of that."

He watched as she came closer again her arms wrapped around his shoulders pulling him in for another brief embrace. It was as she pulled back that he'd finally gotten a good look at her. Before he was just focused on the way she'd been wearing his jacket a memento of years gone by, how unusually long her hair had been hanging, the dark circles under her otherwise bright and brilliant eyes however his gaze finally fell downward causing him to glance at her leg for the first time.

"You're uncle was right when he told me you've been through an ordeal."

He didn't know what to expect from her reaction to his words.

Met with a nod and a lingering moment of silence Della soon spoke again.

"I pinned it upon my initial crash...and my woodchuck survival instincts took over and I figured as an engineer I was more adapted to amputate and craft a serviceable prosthetic out of scrap metal then I was to try to reset the bones."

Gyro listened to her words. It was brave of her to be able to do what she had done. That was his girl...resilient...fearless..

"For a mechanic with limited means you did great."

Della nodded.

"Thanks, though I was kind of hoping to come to the lab sometime so you could use your robotics expertise to improve on the design."

"How about now?" he asked cautiously optimistic as he selfishly wanted to spend as much time with Della as he could though in reality he knew she had been gone for eleven years and had only been 'home' for less than twenty four hours and he'd take things as slow and as steady as she had wanted to though... if she were to go to the lab then perhaps….

"Sure...Uncle Scrooge has insisted the rest of the family keep their distance to let me rest but frankly being alone in this house with Duckworth who is now a ghost or demon or whatever is kind of erie."

He rolled his eyes and was honestly surprised that Scrooge wasn't watching her like a hawk though he supposed that he was busy waving his cane at a team of lawyers right about now trying to figure out what he needed to do to declare his niece alive.