i'm so desperate for a home, but i can't stop myself from running

Summary: Goldie and Scrooge discover there's more to the world than what they know.

Word count: 7432

Warnings: None

September 1899; Juneau

Goldie spent months trying to find the right town or city to open her next business. She wanted to build another Blackjack and start an empire, but saloons weren't as popular in places without gold miners and based off of her dwindling sales up in Dawson, the gold rush was all but over. She'd been to towns all over the Northwest United States, but nothing felt right yet.

Laying on Scrooge's chest in a cheap tent in Juneau, though? That felt right.

Despite her business struggles, her relationship with Scrooge was better than it'd ever been. He wasn't mining anymore, instead focusing on opening and operating several businesses, some of which Goldie found fairly interesting. He had yet to look into a bar or hotel or restaurant, though, and she tried not to read too much into that.

They ran into each other every few weeks and usually had a meal or spent the night together. Or both. It was kind of like they were dating, just without any planning or expectations. But Goldie felt like it worked well for the time being.

That particular evening, Goldie was thinking about whether or not things could change. And that she might be alright with that. Dawson was dying, that she was sure of, but Scrooge apparently owned an entire town down in Calisota that he had a lot of plans for. Apparently he planned on building a home there and she wondered if he would ask her to move in.

He hadn’t asked her to come with him when he left Dawson, but things were different now. They weren’t fighting as much. He seemed happy to see her everytime they crossed paths. It was nice.

“...so what’s Duckburg like?” Goldie mumbled as she played with the feathers on his chest. They were always so soft.

Scrooge was reading through some paperwork while she spoke and didn’t answer her as he flipped to another page.

Goldie pouted. “Scrooge.”

“Hm?”

She sat up straight, letting the blanket fall around her waist and leaving her naked chest exposed. “Tell me about Duckburg.”

He didn’t react to her nakedness, crossing out something on one of the papers. “It’s a good plot of land. Big. Not too expensive.”

“I’m not surprised you got a good deal,” she added with a smile, leaning herself against his arm.

Scrooge didn’t react to her again, crossing something else out and flipping to another page. He just hummed in affirmation and Goldie backed away from him. She didn’t love being ignored. Especially not when she was naked and willing! What could be so attention-grabbing that he couldn’t spare her a single glance?

She crossed her arms and legs with a huff, staring at Scrooge and trying to think of ways to get him to pay attention to her. She wanted to pry a conversation about their future out of him, but he seemed very focused on his task at hand. Why did he even fool around with her if he was sooo busy?

Goldie waited another minute, a minute of watching him read and cross things out, before attempting another conversation topic. “Where are you headed after this?”

There was a few seconds of silence before he answered. “Glasgow.”

Her heart started beating faster at the very unlikely scenario of him asking her to come to Scotland with him. Scrooge had never given the impression that he viewed their arrangement like a real relationship, so it’d be a little odd to bring his on-and-off lover to meet the parents. “...oh?”

“Mhmm,” he hummed. “I havenae been back in years and now I have more than enough resources to rebuild my family’s castle.”

Goldie grabbed the blanket and wrapped it around her shoulders. Scrooge didn’t even react to the sudden lack of warmth on his lap. “I’ve heard lovely things about Glasgow.”

Scrooge flipped to another page and Goldie took this to mean he was still not really paying attention to her. “It’s home.”

“Sure,” she responded quietly. “I imagine your family will be happy to see you.”

Another few seconds with no response. Goldie was starting to get really annoyed with him.

“...mummy will be, at least.”

“Not daddy?”

“He’ll probably just ask questions,” Scrooge grumbled. “Why havenae I fixed the castle yet like I promised? Why arenae I married with bairns of my own? If I own an entire town, why didnae I invite them to come visit?”

Goldie’s eyes narrowed while Scrooge was talking. Did he really not see how inappropriate it was to say one of those things in front of her? Immediately after they had sex? Really?

“What about your sisters?” Goldie asked, trying to keep the conversation going. He was finally giving her some attention, at least, even if it was just to talk about himself some more.

Or so she thought. Scrooge didn’t respond this time, flipping back and forth between the same two pages. He must’ve caught an error and was trying to figure out which figure was correct. Which, of course, required his full concentration.

Goldie huffed. She didn’t understand why this couldn’t wait until later. After a moment of thought, she decided she knew exactly how to bring his focus back on her.

Slowly, sexily, Goldie crawled towards him and straddled his lap. She brought her hands up to the stack of papers in his hands and pushed them down so he’d be forced to look at her. “Let’s go for another round, Scroogey.”

He seemed to consider it for a brief moment, but Scrooge responded with a shake of his head. “I need to get this done, Goldie.”

She sank down on his legs and frowned deeply. What. The hell. She rolled back over to lay next to him and stared up at the tent ceiling, counting the holes. There were a lot more than she remembered. One...two...four...seven…

“You should buy a new tent.”

Scrooge responded with an angry scoff, dismissing the idea completely.

Goldie was running out of ideas to get him to talk to her. Mr. Busy McBusinessman had time to fuck her once and then no time for her after that. Fine. Maybe if she had a big successful business, she could talk about that. Too bad for her, Juneau was not looking like the right location for her next venture.

She thought about Juneau and what she knew about the place. Maybe she could say something about the town that would get him to stop finding pieces of paper more interesting than her. Juneau, Juneau, Juneau. It was cold. Lot of Natives lived in the area. There was a big church. It certainly felt like a town that was going to get big and stay big...unlike Dawson. But Goldie was starting to think she wasn’t as psychic about these things as she’d hoped, one of sever reasons why she wouldn't be opening a hotel here.

She closed her eyes and tried to remember anything interesting she heard townies talking about during the few days she’d been there. Anything, anything, anything…

“Treasure!”

Scrooge raised an eyebrow at Goldie. “What’s that?”

Seeing his attention was immediately hers, Goldie decided to run with what she had. “I overheard some locals talking about some kind of magical treasure on an island west of here.”

He rolled his eyes obnoxiously. “Magic and treasure is all a waste of time. Most of it’s fake stories for children and the rest isnae worth the effort to get.”

Goldie crossed her arms over her chest. Though his reaction was negative and annoying, it was the most animated he’d been in an hour. “Well...I’m gonna go find it.”

“Are you-?” Scrooge put the papers down on his lap and stared at her incredulously. “You cannae be serious. You’re gonnae get hurt or lost. Or both!”

It was Goldie’s turn to roll her eyes. “I remember reading books about a female treasure hunter when I was a teenager. If she could do it, then so can I!”

“Dinnae tell me you’re talking about Isabella Finch,” Scrooge said with a sigh. “Those books are fiction, Goldie.”

“No, they’re not.” Goldie was a bit surprised by his dismissal this time. “I mean, I’ve never met the woman, but she’s certainly a real treasure hunter.”

“She’s not,” Scrooge said again, picking his papers back up. “I loved those books when I was a lad, but that doesnae mean I’d put my life on the line to prove you wrong.”

Goldie glared at him. His attitude was reminding her of why they weren’t in a real relationship to begin with. “Good luck proving me wrong, when I’m gonna go prove I’m right!” She started to get dressed, happy she’d brought outfits that were appropriate for hiking.

“Goldie,” Scrooge groaned. “Dinnae do this. You’ll get hurt.”

She ignored him and grabbed her bag, crawling towards the tent entrance with a flip of her ponytail. “Too bad, sourdough! I’m already doing it!”

Scrooge watched with a frown as Goldie left the tent. He didn’t want to go after her. Treasure hunting was a waste of time and those books were absolutely fictional. There was no way they were real - the types of adventures Isabella Finch went on were ridiculous! Out of this world! Sea-monsters and giant automatons protecting magical treasures that could turn her invisible or grant her youth…? It just didn’t make sense.

He did love those books, though. If they were true (which they were not), it would mean the world was a lot more interesting than he realized. He tapped his fingers against the top of his stack of papers. Tap. Tap. Tap.

With a sigh, Scrooge started to get dressed and pack up his things. He wasn’t going to let Goldie go out there on her own.

---

Goldie knew that being inspired by an author of children’s books wasn’t the best reason to go out and hunt for mystical treasures, but Scrooge’s attitude got her fired up. She didn’t think it sounded so difficult, the people she’d overheard talked about some monster that was protecting an artifact on Xootsnoowu, an island just a few hours from the edge of Juneau.

It was a large island and apparently it was filled with a ridiculous amount of bears, according to the locals. But Goldie wasn’t worried. She’d spent plenty of time around bears when she first traveled to Dawson, and in her travels to other gold-digging towns over the past two years. She knew that so long as she didn’t bother the bears, they wouldn’t bother her.

That being said, Goldie double- and triple-checked that she had weapons on her before she left for the island. She also visited some of the Tlingits she’d overheard earlier to see if they had any more information to offer. They were absolutely terrified for her and recommended she not make the journey, but Goldie was insistent. So they drew her a little map of where the ‘monster’ was last seen to give her a helping hand.

Thanks to a little bribe, Goldie was able to get a local steamboat captain to take her to the island. She didn’t have an exact location for the treasure - or even what kind of treasure it was. But if it was something worth guarding, it had to be good. And ‘monster’ probably just meant extra large bear or something, so Goldie wasn’t particularly worried.

Though she was confident that Isabella Finch’s stories were true, she also knew there was a lot of exaggeration in them to keep kids interested. Sea-monsters and werewolves weren’t real, obviously. It was just local superstition to protect whatever the treasure was.

She reached the northeast shore of Xootsnoowu in only four hours and thanked the captain, asking him to come back in exactly five days time if she didn’t find another way back. He agreed with a tip of his hat and went off, leaving her alone on the water’s edge.

Behind her was a massive cropping of trees. This might not have been her best idea of all time...but then she thought about what Scrooge’s face would look like when she showed him the treasure. Whatever magic it possessed (or maybe just the monetary value of it) would be worth the work, she was sure of that.

So she pulled out a large knife and started into the brush. She knew this was going to be hours and hours and hours of walking. According to the steamboat captain, the island wasn’t very wide, but it was long. Based on the amount of time it took him to sail around it in the past, he estimated it was about sixty miles across. She could walk that distance in a day.

Goldie headed southwest. There were miles of mountains to her south, and after her experience with Moosehide she knew she’d rather go around than deal with it.

---

Fourteen hours of walking later and Goldie found herself deep in the forest - tired, sweaty, and still without any gold or treasure in her hands. She knew this was going to be hard work, but damn did she underestimate how bad it’d be. Maybe she should’ve waited for Scrooge after all. Maybe she should’ve just taken a goddamn nap.

As the sun was almost completely gone, Goldie found herself the perfect spot to sleep for the night. She’d come across several bears on her journey so far, but they were all calm and uninterested when they saw her. It wasn’t as if she had a choice on where to sleep, anyway. Based on the map drawn out by some local Tlingits (and assuming she’d been walking the right way this whole time), Goldie figured she only had another hour or two of walking until she reached the ‘monster’s’ last location.

She put together her little tent in record time and crawled inside, knowing this wasn’t going to be a comfortable night. But the thought of treasure and fame and money and Scrooge’s face kept her warm when a chilly wind blew by.

---

“Goldie.”

It was several hours later when Goldie thought she heard a familiar voice calling her name. Despite her sleepiness, she remembered that she was in the middle of an unpopulated forest, so she rolled over and tried to go back to sleep.

“A thaisce.”

Goldie opened her eyes and sat up suddenly, giving herself a moment to wake up and figure out what the hell that sound was.

“Come here.”

She stuck her head out of her tent and looked around. It was still pretty dark out. Goldie grabbed her lantern and turned it on, hoping it would give her a better view of the area.

“Who’s out there?” she called out nervously.

“Goldie…”

This time the voice was perfectly clear, and Goldie would’ve recognized that tenor anywhere. She stood up, glad she’d fallen asleep in her regular clothes and shoes. “...mom?”

“Come to me, Goldie.”

Goldie didn’t grab any of her supplies; she simply started walking in the direction of the voice with only her lantern to guide her. She didn’t understand what was going on - how was her mother here? And why did she sound so hollow? And why was she unable to stop herself from walking towards her? It was like she was in some sort of trance. And she knew she was in some sort of trance, but knowing that didn’t stop her from moving.

“That’s right. This way.”

She couldn’t keep track of how far she was walking or for how long. Goldie couldn’t stop walking. Even as the sun started to come up - barely, just the slightest hint of sunlight - she just turned off the lantern, put it down, and kept walking. She needed to see, to hear, to touch…

Every few minutes, Goldie felt a chill down her spine. It wasn’t coming from the wind. There wasn’t any wind. She wasn’t exactly sure where it was coming from. She just knew she had to keep walking.

As she reached the end of the forest, the beach came into view. Standing there, just on the water’s edge, was a silhouette that Goldie recognized all too well. The sun was up higher now, making her mother glow around the edges.

“Mother…” Goldie mumbled, walking towards her.

“Yes, Goldie.”

“How are you…” She picked up speed, desperately wanting to know what the hell was going on. Even as she got closer, her mother’s features didn’t lighten. She was cast in a shadow under the dawn’s light. “...why are you…”

Her mother reached out a shadowy hand, and Goldie was compelled to take it. She held out her hand hesitantly, shaking just the slightest bit, when…

“BARK! BARK! BARK! BARK!”

Goldie whipped her head around towards the sound of dogs, feeling like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. She gasped at the realization of what had happened, and turned back around just in time to see that the creature she’d thought was her mother had transformed. It looked like some sort of dark otter-like creature, with sharp claws and a vicious glare on its face.

She let out a quiet squawk and backed away quickly. She might have underestimated the warnings about a monster.

The dog barking got louder and the creature hissed before diving back into the water.

Definitely underestimated the warnings.

With tears pricking at her eyes and adrenaline telling her to get the hell away from there, Goldie ran at top speed towards the dogs. She could handle wild dogs better than she could handle a demon disguised as her mother that wanted to drown her or eat her or whatever.

Though not the safest way to move, Goldie couldn’t stop looking behind her while she ran. The barking sounds broke her trance, sure, but it couldn’t stop the monster from coming back, could it? It could be chasing her. It could be in the water right next to her as she’s running. It could-

“Oof!”

Goldie smacked into something and immediately fell back onto her butt. She was dizzy from the rush of anxiety and fear and kept her eyes closed as she tried to pull herself together.

“Goldie!”

She opened her eyes and looked up to find Scrooge McDuck holding out a hand. In his other hand was a doggy duo staring at her like they’d never seen a blonde before in their little lives. She took a few deep breaths before taking Scrooge’s hand and letting him pull her upright.

Still shaky, Goldie lost her balance and stumbled into his chest, too shocked and distracted to be embarrassed. Scrooge caught her arms and held her in front of him. “Are you alright?”

“Wh…” she started, taking another deep breath. “What are you doing here?”

Scrooge rolled his eyes. “I’m tryin’ to make sure you didnae get killed by the Kushtaka!”

Goldie froze, still breathing heavily. One of the dogs let out a little bark. “...the what?”

“The monster protectin’ this island!” he answered harshly, squeezing her arms tighter than he meant to. He let go of her and motioned to the water. “Did you do any research before jumpin’ into this?!”

“I...I mean…” She looked out at the water and then back at Scrooge. “I thought it was just...a myth.”

“The people who still live here said otherwise,” Scrooge grumbled. “If you’d just asked, then you wouldnae have almost died!”

Goldie blushed, though thanks to the cold, she was already red in the face. “I...the natives I talked to in Juneau didn’t mention anyone living here. I just thought it was...bears.”

“There’s a small village to the south,” Scrooge said as he glanced at the water again. “Aangóon. Some of Uncle Sam’s forces tried to burn it down about twenty years ago, but the survivors are still here.”

Goldie took a few steps away from Scrooge and wrapped her arms around herself, feeling uncharacteristically vulnerable. She wondered how much he’d seen or heard. There was no way she was going to ask.

Scrooge took her silence as an opportunity to continue. “Seems like the Kushtaka used to target locals, but now it focuses on revenge for the people that were killed. Attacks outsiders.”

She tugged at her ponytail and belatedly realized she hadn’t done anything with it since waking up. Goldie quickly pulled it out of its holder and tied it back up more neatly. “So...there’s no treasure, then? It’s just protecting the people?”

“There is a treasure. A gold treasure.”

She whipped her head around to stare at him and found Scrooge smiling smugly and holding a map that looked much better than the one she’d gotten in Juneau.

“Are you…”

“How about we find the treasure together, Goldie?”

---

“Is this the right one?” Goldie asked, pointing to the tree in front of her.

Scrooge came up from behind her and glanced up at the tree, then down at the map in his hands. “I think so. Tree with a face isn’t very specific, but they said it was makin’ an odd expression.”

“Odd is right.” Goldie crossed her arms over her chest. “Looks like someone reacting to a newborn. Or they’re really invested in someone's wedding.”

“I suppose,” he mumbled, comparing the drawing to the real thing a few more times before deciding they were at the right spot. “No one knew what to do after finding the tree. The key to get around or inside or whatever has been lost for generations.”

“Inside...the tree?” Goldie questioned. She walked around the tree, finding nothing spectacular about it other than how massive it was. “No key, no clues, nothing but the face?”

“Nothin’ but the face.”

They stared at the face silently for a few minutes - occasionally poking or prodding at the bark to see if anything would change. Even Scrooge’s little dogs tried to help by pissing on it, which promptly led Scrooge to tie their leash to another tree a bit further away.

Goldie stared at the expression for another minute, then turned to see exactly where the face was looking. The dirt and grass was patchy and awkward, but underneath it Goldie could clearly see the tree’s roots popping out of the ground and forming some sort of circle.

She hummed thoughtfully and looked over at Scrooge, who was still examining the other side of the tree.

“I have an idea,” Goldie said suddenly.

“Be my guest,” Scrooge answered with a huff. “I’m runnin’ out.”

Goldie walked over and grabbed Scrooge’s hand, ignoring his confused expression as she dragged him into the rooted circle with her. She glanced back at the tree’s face to make sure they were in the right spot.

“What are ye-?”

“Shhhh.” Goldie put a finger against his beak. “Let the lady lead, alright?”

Scrooge nodded nervously, but did as she asked.

After a moment, Goldie brought her hands up from his hands to his whiskers, gently caressing his arms and shoulders in the process. She wanted this to be as smooth and charming as possible. She proceeded to rub her thumbs against his cheeks and lightly tug on his whiskers, bringing him in for a kiss.

Scrooge’s hands instinctively went to her hips and he pulled her closer as their beaks pressed together. He didn’t know how this was related to Goldie’s plan, but he wasn’t objecting.

They’d been kissing for half a minute when Goldie pulled away - leaning forward for another small peck, and then she glanced over at the tree.

No change.

Goldie looked back at Scrooge’s face, happy to see a dreamy expression that paired nicely with the tree’s own. She leaned forward to kiss him briefly again and decided to try one last thing.

“...I love you, sourdough.”

Scrooge’s eyes went as wide as dinner plates as her words registered. His cheeks turned red and his grip on her hips loosened, though Goldie was still looking at him with her half-lidded, sultry eyes.

“I-I...you...I…” he stuttered, feeling extremely nervous. “I...I lo…”

Goldie cut him off with a squeak. “Scrooge, look! It worked!”

He followed her gaze and turned to the tree - a tree which no longer had a face on it. In fact, the entire side of the tree facing them had been replaced with some sort of...glowing, spinny light-door-thing. It looked very suspicious and scary and Scrooge wasn’t sure if this was cause for celebration.

“Come on!” Goldie shouted as she rushed towards the portal, grabbing Scrooge’s hand to make sure he came with.

He held onto her hand and stared at the portal, trying to focus, but his mind was elsewhere. She’d only said she loved him to get the magical tree to react. Of course that was why! It had nothing to do with real, genuine feelings. He was an idiot for thinking otherwise, even for just a moment. Thank God he hadn’t said it back, or he’d be in the most awkward, uncomfortable situation of his life.

The first thing the two ducks noticed when they walked through the portal was that it looked like they had just come out on the other side of the tree. They were still in a forest, everything looked pretty much the same. They stared out at the trees and tried to find something different.

Goldie turned around to say something to Scrooge and her jaw dropped at the sight behind them. Scrooge followed suit and had a similar reaction, letting go of her hand and walking around the tree to get a better view.

Though the trees on the east side of the portal tree looked the same, on the west side they were...strange. They were made up of purples and pinks instead of greens and browns, and had an odd, glowy outline that seemed to constantly move. It was hard to make heads or tails of what they were looking at, but it was clearly not of the Earth they knew.

“Look!” Goldie said, pointing to the side. There was a thin path that led through some of the pinkish trees. “Should we go?”

“I dinnae see what else to do,” Scrooge answered with a shrug. He was nervous, but also more excited than he’d been in a long time. If this was real: monsters and other worlds and magic treasures...then that meant so many other things were real. He had most of the Isabella Finch stories memorized from his youth, so this was giving him some ideas. He wondered if all the other legends he'd been told as a child were true, too.

Slowly, Goldie and Scrooge headed down the path. In about five minutes, they reached an orange cave. It was flanked with totem poles in a variety of colors and figures - all of them with normal-colored ravens at the top.

They stood side-by-side, observing, until finally Goldie shoved Scrooge in the back. “C’mon, Mr. Preparedness!” she said smugly, following behind him.

Scrooge scowled at her, but walked in anyway. He didn’t have a problem with entering the strange, crazy, terrifying, magical cave before her, but she didn’t have to rush him.

As they walked further in, the cave seemed to get brighter and brighter. The walls were lined with carvings and images - mostly of ravens, occasionally wolves or eagles. The raven was always defeating the other animals or feeding off of them or being served by them. It painted an interesting picture, though it wasn’t the most informative.

The light continued to get brighter as they carried on. “I’ve never needed a lantern that makes it dark before.”

“Wherever we are clearly doesn’t follow normal rules,” Scrooge commented back.

Another hundred feet into the cave and the light was as bright as they could stand, but the ducks could still make out something on top of an altar just a few feet in front of them. Scrooge lifted his foot onto the first step, but Goldie rushed past him and grabbed the item before he could get any further.

“It’s a robe!” Goldie shouted, lifting up the robe and draping it over her shoulders. “It looks like gold, doesn’t it?”

Scrooge climbed up towards her and reached out a hand, touching the fabric but unable to get a good look at it. “Goldie, I think the light is comin’ from this thing.”

“Well, yeah, no kidding.” She did a spin and held it closer. “It’s super cold, though.”

“Gold isn’t exactly a warm metal.”

Goldie rolled her eyes. “I just meant that it makes sense to hide it here instead of, y’know...wearing it. This wouldn’t keep anyone warm.”

“Hm,” Scrooge hummed. “Maybe they hid it because it’s so bright.”

“There’s gotta be a way to turn it off, don’t you think?”

“Maybe the locals will know.”

Goldie thought about that and looked down at the golden threaded ceremonial robe on her shoulders. She frowned and took it off, holding it in her hands instead.

“What’s wrong?”

“Is this...theirs?” Goldie wondered aloud. “It seems important. Or...I don’t know." She stared at the robe and thought about her terrifying experience just a few hours earlier. "What if it’s...cursed?”

Scrooge raised an eyebrow. “If it was all that important, then why would it be hidden somewhere they couldnae go?” He opened up the bag around his shoulder.

Goldie looked up at him and then down at the bag, folded the robe and then placed it inside. “That makes sense. But...we should still ask. I mean, what could we even do with this thing?”

“Sell it to a collector. Sell it to a museum. Take it apart and sell the gold! There’s plenty of possibilities, Goldie.”

She closed up the bag and frowned again. “We can’t take it apart. I’m sure you don’t know anything about making clothes, but that thing looks intricate. It probably took months. Or years! I don’t know. We should bring it to the people in that village you mentioned.”

“Ach, please,” Scrooge grumbled, throwing the bag over his shoulder. “What kind of treasure hunter asks nicely if they can take somethin’?”

Goldie huffed and shoved him in the chest. “This is different! This isn’t some magical stone or whatever. Somebody made this! Somebody’s mom or grandma or great-grandma-”

“...or daddy or grandpa or great-grandpa-”

“...put this together! It’s at least worth it to find out.”

Scrooge walked past Goldie, brushing against her arm and sighing. “Fine. We can ask. But if they want it, I’m not givin’ it to them for free!”

Goldie quickly caught up and they walked side-by-side out of the cave. “No, of course not. I’m sure the still-recovering village has plenty of money to spend on ancestral robes.”

He glared at her, but didn’t go back on what he said. Goldie supposed she wouldn’t have, either.

---

After a brief but heated conversation between the two adventurers and the villagers, Scrooge and Goldie agreed to hand over their ancestral golden robe...for forty bear-skin blankets.

Hauling the blankets was a struggle, but Goldie was just happy to be rid of the strange magical golden item.

"I just think we'd be cursed if we kept it," she explained as they dragged their blanket-filled bags towards the boat Scrooge had rented.

"Bah," Scrooge responded with a scowl. "If you wannae be rich, ye cannae be worried about a wee curse!"

Goldie rolled her eyes. "You wouldn't say that if that Kushtaka thing had tried to drown you."

"I wouldnae have let it happen in the first place." Scrooge nodded towards his little boat in the distance. "Unlike you, I was careful and got as much information as possible before divin' in head first."

She huffed and stopped in front of the boat, taking it in. "Did you pay money for this?"

"Barely a cent," he said happily, tossing the bags onto the boat with ease.

Goldie took note of that and wondered if he'd gotten stronger in the past year or two. He'd always been strong, but his muscles seemed...more defined.

She shook her head and tried to exit that line of thought. Despite all the fun she'd had in the past two hours, she hadn't forgotten the dismissive way Scrooge treated her just a day earlier. Him being handsome and cute and saving her and working alongside her didn't make that post-coital interaction any less frustrating.

The boat ride back to Juneau was going to take about 12 hours, so Goldie started sifting through the blankets. "These'll sell really well back on land. At least a hundred each, I'd say."

Scrooge nodded from the helm. "I'll be $4,000 richer!"

Goldie froze and slowly turned her head to stare at him. "I think you mean I'll be $4,000 richer."

He laughed obnoxiously and shook his head. "If I hadnae shown up, you'd be dead! The blankets are mine."

"And if I hadn't kissed your sweaty little face, you'd have nothing! You wouldn't have been able to get that portal open by jerking yourself off, y'know! They're mine!"

Scrooge turned his head and glared at her, blushing deeply at her crassness. "We didnae get them 'cause of the kiss! It opened when you said you…" He turned back towards the water. "...that ye loved me."

The two of them fell into a terribly awkward silence - Scrooge squeezed the steering wheel and Goldie stared down at the blanket in her hands.

"I suppose that's true," Goldie said after much too long of a beat.

They stayed in their respective spots for a few minutes. Scrooge was tapping his fingers nervously. Part of him really wanted to ask her if she'd meant it, even a little bit. Another part of him knew that was idiotic. She didn't mean it and she was so inappropriate and rude and what would it even mean for him if she had meant it? Nothing.

Goldie was stuck on that moment as well, but her focus was entirely on Scrooge's reaction. She wasn't sure if he was following along or not, but his nervous chattering just made her more confused. He'd made his feelings pretty clear: he enjoyed their romps, but he didn't want her to be a permanent fixture in his life. He never asked her to go anywhere with him. He never gave her any indication that he wanted a life with her. And she'd accepted that...for the time being. She had a budding hotel empire to worry about.

While she wrapped herself up in one of the blankets, Scrooge finally broke the silence.

"Fine. We split the blankets fifty-fifty."

Goldie pouted, but she couldn't exactly argue. What was she gonna do, pilfer more than a hundred pounds worth of bear skin? "Alright."

"Alright?"

"Yeah. $2,000 is nothing to scoff at."

Scrooge hummed and nodded. He wasn't happy; he absolutely felt like all the blankets should've been his to sell. But there was no convincing Goldie of that. Plus he was having strange, quasi-romantic feelings about her and he didn't want to make things more uncomfortable than they already were.

Goldie wasn't sure what to do. She wanted to bring up his little almost-confession, just to see how he'd react. If he was dismissive or unconcerned, she'd be sure he didn't mean anything by it. If he got embarrassed, that'd be something else entirely. Something...new. And a little scary. But not something she'd want to ignore.

They didn’t talk much during the rest of the journey back to Juneau. While Scrooge sailed, Goldie slept, and they switched at one point despite Scrooge's objections. As they reached town, Goldie wondered aloud if the sailor she'd gotten a ride from before would be surprised to see her.

"Maybe he'll want one of these blankets," Goldie mumbled with a smile as she hopped off Scrooge's mangy little boat.

Scrooge started to follow after, but he paused and frowned. He was feeling vulnerable and weird and he wanted to talk to her. His almost-confession earlier was weighing on his shoulders and had haunted his dreams the entire trip back and if he didn't say something now, he wasn't sure when he would get the chance.

"Goldie…"

She looked at him and tilted her head.

"I...I think we should...talk," Scrooge said quietly, looking away and blushing a bit.

Goldie took note of his reddened cheeks and realized that this was her chance to bring up their odd little moment earlier. "About what? You almost telling me you love me?" she asked with a smirk.

Not expecting that, Scrooge's eyes widened, his face turned even more tomato red, and he did the one thing that he always did when confronted with these types of situations: he shifted to anger.

"Of course you'd make fun of me, you bowfin bummer! You fakin’ fandan! I wasnae…I was bein' polite!" he yelled at her, pointing a finger towards her face. "What else am I s'posed to say to a wench who treats me like a toy she can just play with!"

Goldie frowned and blinked rapidly at him. She expected embarrassment and maybe him getting upset, but this amount of anger? Either he was hiding some really intense feelings, or he thought the idea of something serious with her was just that disgusting.

Either way, she wasn't interested in his attitude. "Alright, sourdough, sure! What do I care? You definitely weren't going to say 'I love you too, Goldie, marry me, come to Scotland with me, meet my family!' which saves me the trouble of having to publicly reject you and tell you that Scotland probably smells like shit!"

Scrooge sputtered, his anger spurned by her insults and her all-too-specific scenario that had passed through his head once or twice before. Especially back in '97, after their month together in Dawson...he'd spent weeks dreaming about what it'd be like to marry her and bring her home to meet his family.

And now she was spitting all over that fantasy.

He scoffed angrily and leaned forward to shove her in the chest. "Get away from me and my boat! I'm done with you, O'Gilt! Done with your thievin', lyin' ways! Dinnae bother me again!"

Goldie glared and shoved him right back. "Fine! Good luck saving your stupid ugly castle, you boneheaded grouser!"

"Bah!" Scrooge yelled, wanting so badly to shove her again. "You owe me $2 for bringin' you back here!"

"Two dollars?!" Goldie yelled back. "You'd better be kidding if you think I'm giving you a single cent!"

Scrooge stepped closer to her and held out his hand. "If you cannae pay me, then give me one of your bear skins."

Goldie had two choices in that moment. She could either shove her bag of bear skins in his face, tell him to take it all and never talk to her again and go fuck himself...or she could take his bear skins and run off while he screamed and whined and threatened her life.

She scowled and shoved him, reaching into his bag of skins and grabbing another one before running off in another direction. Scrooge lost his balance for a moment, then blinked a few times as he tried to figure out what just happened.

"Goldie!!!" he shouted. He opened up his bag of skins to make sure she only took one, but was met with an unwelcome surprise.

Inside his bag was maybe ten bear skin blankets and a large tarp from the boat.

He realized that Goldie must've swapped most of his into her own bag while he was sleeping and he scowled harshly. Scrooge stared at the corner of the road Goldie had turned down and felt his blood pressure rising.

He wanted to go after her. So, so badly. He wanted to grab her and punish her and take back what was rightfully his.

But he knew that if he did... he'd just be falling into another one of her traps.

So Scrooge decided, with a heavy heart and a heavier sigh, that he was going to accept this defeat and accept his less-than-satisfactory $1,000 worth of skins. Assuming he could sell the high quality blankets to people along his journey.

That money would help him head East, and from there he could earn some money to get his family out of Scotland and into Duckburg. While they visited his new home, he could fix up their old one.

Scrooge sighed. It was almost October. He wondered if he'd be home in time for New Year's.

---

Goldie was carrying the heaviest bag of blankets she'd ever held in her life and running as fast as she could through the streets of Juneau. No one really paid her much mind other than the Tlingit women who'd drawn her the little map earlier. Goldie stopped when she saw them and happily handed the women a bear-skin rug each, thanking them for their help.

She knew Scrooge wouldn't follow her this time. The fight they'd just had was particularly intense. She hadn't expected him to react so badly to her teasing and she didn't know how else to respond than by matching his anger. But even she knew that one was bad. He'd said plenty of times before that he never wanted to see her again, but this was the first time Goldie thought he actually meant it.

As the adrenaline wore off, Goldie found herself with her back against the wall of some building. She couldn't stop hyperventilating. This wasn't how she’d wanted this day to go. It wasn't how she’d wanted anything to go.

Pathetically, Goldie slid to the ground and let out a shaky sigh. She tried to keep her composure, but it only took the sight of a happy couple holding hands down the street for her to break down and start to cry.

This wasn't what she’d wanted at all.

---

Back in Dawson and $2,600 richer, Goldie discovered her little town had changed quite a bit during her trip. The saloon was completely dead, for one, and she didn't seem to have any employees left, for two.

She supposed that was what she’d expected to happen. It was the whole reason she'd started traveling in the first place. It certainly wasn't about seeing Scrooge. And thanks to everyone leaving, there was no one to fight Goldie on that fact.

With no one around to offer other suggestions, Goldie had pretty much settled on Seattle for the newest Blackjack location. She'd spent three weeks there a few months earlier - only one weekend with Scrooge - to check out the real estate and see if anything stood out to her. There were a few spots that looked promising, she just hoped the prices were better than they’d been back then.

Though she didn't want to give up on the Blackjack, Goldie knew she needed to move on from Dawson. There was no money and no people and no reason to stay.

At least she thought as much, until her second day back to town. She was cleaning up some of the dust and cobwebs that were covering her bar when the front door opened up.

"We're not open."

"Um, excuse me..."

Goldie turned towards the voice - it was the tiniest, saddest voice she'd ever heard - and was unsurprised to find a small duckling staring up at her.

"Do you...have any leftovers I could take? Please?"

Goldie blinked down at this child and squatted to be at her level. "What's wrong, hon? Where's your parents?"

The girl clenched her fists and shook her head. Goldie knew exactly what that meant.

She sighed and ran a hand through her hair, pissed that she had to have a conscience like some kind of sap. "C'mon, kid, sit down. I'll make you something to eat."

The smile that graced that child's face practically lit up the room, and Goldie struggled to contain a smile at how cute she was. "You got any friends that need to eat?"

The girl's eyes sparkled and she nodded exuberantly.

Goldie shrugged. "Why don't you round them all up and bring 'em here. We'll have a big dinner together."

With an adorable chirp, the girl ran out of the Blackjack and shouted some excited announcement to her fellow orphans.

Goldie leaned on the counter and thought about her completely paid-for buildings...one with a dozen empty rooms and the other with five more. She knew she'd never have the white picket fence family with Scrooge, but she thought this might be something nice.

Something worth her time.

DEFINITIONS:
- a thaisce: my darling
- bowfin: unpleasant
- bummer: worthless person
- fakin: phony
- fandan: idiot
- grouser: whiner

REAL HISTORY FACTS:
- Juneau was already a decent-sized city by 1900, but not compared to cities down in the rest of America (though Alaska wasn't a state til the 1950's, the US owned the land since the mid 1800s)
- Xootsnoowu is the native name for Admiralty Island, an island filled with bears. SO many bears. One of the highest concentrations of brown bears in the world. The island is mostly forest and bear
- The Kushtaka is a real legend of the Tlingit people and dogs are supposedly one of the things that can ward it off
- Aangoon is a real town on Xootsnoowu that had a conflict with some American soldiers. In that the soldiers tried to scam the natives, the natives took some of their men captive (treated them very nicely though, they just wanted the money they were owed) and then after getting their men back, the soldiers burned down the town. Thanks, American soldiers, for treating native communities as you always do
- This is not a real history fact but I referenced the Fable videogame series here lol
- The Tlingits had two main groups: the Raven and the Eagle. I won't get into a lot of detail but Tlingit culture is really interesting and I recommend reading about it. I'd never even heard of them til writing this fic.
- Ceremonial robes are a big important part of Tlingit culture
- Bear-skin blankets were a big trade item for the people of Aangoon
- $100 in 1899 would be like...$3000 today. I think Scrooge is really overestimating how much people will spend on these blankets, but tbh maybe he's right. These things are probably huge 'cause brown bears are pretty big
- $2 in 1899 would be around $70 today

DUCK FRANCHISE REFERENCES:
- As mentioned in Goldie's very first comic appearance, she took care of many Dawson City orphans after the town dried up