i want you,
there's no lie

Summary: Goldie and Scrooge grab a flight to Nepal.

Word count: 3445

Warnings: None

1950; Nepal

It was three months well spent. Goldie got to visit those orphans she took in so long ago - who were all old now, and that gave her a lot of weird feelings - and let them know she was still alive. The ones who weren’t dumbstruck by how she looked younger than them were all shocked she even remembered who they were.

Which was fair. She’d never paid them as many thoughts as she should’ve. It was something she didn’t expect to regret, but her recent brush (brushes?) with death had left her wanting in the family department. Especially after seeing Scrooge all cute and bickery with his sisters.

After seeing him again, one of her other stops was to her sister’s last known address. Goldie wasn’t all that surprised to learn she was dead, and though she didn’t know for sure where her brother was, it was almost a guarantee that he was dead, too. Neither of them had been particularly healthy even when they were young.

So that checked visiting family off of her list. The closest things she had to it, anyway. Other than that, she’d wanted to check on her hotels: check, done, no significant problems. The managers she’d left in charge had been doing a perfectly fine job. More than perfectly fine, they kept her hotels afloat during a world war! Although one of her locations was near-bankrupt, Goldie was able to fix that up quickly. All-in-all, nothing spectacular; she saw no evidence of embezzling and no murder. Better than her days in Dawson, that was for sure!

After all that, Goldie realized she was pretty much done. Her friends from Dawson City were all dead and even if they weren’t, she had a feeling they weren’t thinking about her much in their final years. So she’d spent the last month before meeting Scrooge just trying to relax. She hadn’t taken such a significant amount of time for herself in a long time, but after everything she’d gone through recently...she needed it. Plus she was starting to feel a little bit sick. Which was weird for her, but she’d been through a lot lately. A little vomiting wasn’t that strange.

She didn’t mind so much, since she had time to recover. New Delhi was still a few weeks away, after all.

---

If Goldie and Scrooge really wanted a way to get their relationship back to normal...they chose the right way to do it. Their initial New Delhi reunion involved some food and conversation and sex, but then it was time to get back to what they both enjoyed most: getting that gold!

“So you’re completely sure you can get us to Kathmandu in under two hours?”

“Uhhhh...yep, yep! Yessirree I can definitely do that! Flying you two love birds over the mountaintops will be a breezy-breeze!”

Scrooge and Goldie looked at each other nervously for a moment before looking back at the man who would soon be their pilot. Goldie grimaced. “Look Captain, um…”

“Foghorn!”

“Captain Foghorn. This isn’t a romantic getaway here...it’s a treasure hunt. Do you get that?” Goldie asked, feeling herself getting frustrated. She’d only just gotten over the sickness she’d developed while on her little break - it was very bad, lots of headaches and vomiting - and being potentially flown around by this weirdo wasn’t making her feel better.

The captain blinked one of his eyes a few times before finally responding. “Of course, of course! Uhhh, yep, yep, it’s all the same to me! Safe flying, flying fast!” He waddled towards the cockpit and climbed in to start preparing.

Goldie looked over at her partner and adjusted her cap. “Are you kidding me with this guy? You’re insanely rich! Can’t you just get a new pilot who isn’t so...so…”

Scrooge raised an eyebrow at her.

“You know what I’m trying to say!” Goldie finished, exasperated.

“Look, Goldie, it’s not that I cannae afford better, it’s just that Captain Bounty specifically recommended him!” Scrooge shrugged. “I’ve been usin’ Bounty for years and he’s got a bit of a weird personality himself.” He motioned towards the plane, where Foghorn was in his seat upside-down and wiggling his legs over the side. “He’s got a pilot’s license, what else could you need?”

“Maybe a pilot who blinks with both eyes,” Goldie grumbled. She had a bad feeling about this. Maybe it was her recent sickness, maybe it was the years she’d spent running and hiding and wishing she could come home, but she didn’t feel like being so impatient for a treasure hunt that they couldn’t wait for a better, local pilot to come along was a problem.

Scrooge smiled - he couldn’t help but find her obstinance cute - and climbed up towards the passenger seat of the plane. He held out a hand for Goldie to grab onto.

She did, though not without shooting him a weak glare first.

Scrooge let her sit down first and then squeezed in next to her. The seat wasn’t exactly made for two, but they’d certainly been in more cramped situations before. “So long as we get there it’s all the same, right?”

Goldie rolled her eyes and wiggled her butt to find a bit of comfort in the cramped space. “Personally, I’d prefer that we get there in one piece.”

He stared at her for a moment, confusion and concern all over his face. “What’s got you so rattled, O’Gilt? Usually you love when our adventures have dangerous little hiccups.” Scrooge grabbed his goggles and placed them over his eyes. “Dinnae tell me you’re gettin’ too old for this.”

“Ha, ha,” Goldie responded with a sneer, but she couldn’t deny that he had a point. She was reacting to a little danger with more fear than she usually did. And she couldn’t turn it off! There was just a part of her brain that wouldn’t shut up and kept telling her to get out of that plane. But she wanted the gold! And she wanted to spend time with Scrooge! So what was going on?

The plane started up and Goldie, who wasn’t paying attention, gripped Scrooge’s arm like a lifeline. Something about Scrooge’s complete and absolute calm was making her anxiety even worse.

Scrooge smirked at her discomfort and reached over to place goggles over her eyes as well.

Goldie glared at the cocky look on his face. “The fact that you’re not even a little rattled makes me think you’re going senile, old man.”

His smirk turned into a frown at her comment and Goldie smiled in return, happy to be back on top. But Scrooge being taken down a peg wasn’t going to make this flight any easier for her. She hadn’t removed her hands from his arm and didn’t intend to unless something really crazy happened.

After a rocky take-off, they traveled in silence for a good half-hour. Goldie continued to hold onto his arm while Scrooge sat comfortably, one leg over the other. He was having an internal battle of his own, though it had nothing to do with the plane.

Goldie’s behavior was confusing him. She’d been through so many more dangerous situations with him and didn’t say a thing. Was something different this time? Perhaps a traumatizing event while she was traveling interdimensionally left her nervous. Or, and he didn’t want this to be true because he was really hoping they’d made some progress with the mutual confessions, she was tricking him somehow.

Her cons were usually more subtle or laid-back, so it wasn’t Scrooge’s first thought. Currently the way she was acting was almost embarrassing and that was extremely odd for Goldie O’Gilt. She was always cool as a cucumber.

Before their tryst in New Delhi, she did mention having been sick. Scrooge assumed it was a sickness born out of returning to their world and their world’s atmosphere...it wouldn’t be unreasonable to assume her body would need time to adjust. Maybe she was still dealing with that.

Those were definitely the only options. Goldie O’Gilt didn’t usually fear anything, so some extraneous factors must’ve been affecting her. Scrooge thought maybe some conversation could soothe her. Or maybe even coax the reason for her nervousness out of her. “Do you have any plans for your share of Pratap Malla’s treasure?”

Goldie turned towards him, trying not to focus on the deafening wind blowing around them. “Considering we don’t even know what kind of treasure it’ll be-”

Scrooge scoffed. “We know it’ll be gold!”

“...it’s hard to say.” Feeling a little better since the ride had started to smooth out, Goldie leaned towards her traveling buddy and laid her head on his shoulder. “If it’s enough, maybe I’ll build my own money bin and start saving up like you do.”

Scrooge blinked at Goldie’s sudden show of affection and took a deep breath before moving his arm up and around her shoulder. This was nice. He really hoped this was something they could do more often while on adventures. Not just sex and fighting but...little things. Little intimate things that made them really feel like a couple. His heart started beating faster at the thought of walking around Duckburg with Goldie on his arm, letting the whole world know they were together.

God, he’d missed being with her. Sixteen years was such a long time, and to spend more than half of it in mourning...Scrooge never wanted to let her go again. They needed to get better at keeping in contact. He’d make sure she had his phone number before they parted ways again. Or she could write him letters. But he’d also need an address to send letters to.

Or, well. Maybe Goldie could stay with him in Duckburg.

Without thinking, Scrooge moved his free hand to sit on top of Goldie’s, which were still clung to his arm. The thought of her moving in with him was making his heart beat even faster and he had a feeling Goldie could hear that.

Goldie, meanwhile, was stuck on her own nervousness.

She didn’t have any plans of backstabbing or betrayal, she just wanted to have some fun and get some gold and fool around. But her sickness over the past month was still stuck on her. Scrooge had mentioned something about her body just adjusting to normal air again, which seemed reasonable, but...she didn’t get sick until almost two months after coming back. Why would it take her body so long to react?

She didn’t get sick often. Almost never. Goldie O’Gilt took good care of herself - she ate well, bundled up when stuck in the cold, checked expiration dates, didn’t eat meat if she didn’t know where it came from. Everything her parents taught her. (Well, mostly what life experience taught her. But they gave her some good advice back in the day.)

So what else could’ve caused her sickness?

A little part of her, her mother’s voice inside her head, told her she was pregnant. But Goldie had been pregnant once before - a long, long time ago - and she didn’t get sick like that. Though that pregnancy didn’t last very long.

Maybe she really had just gotten sick. It happened, even to people who put a lot of care into their physical health.

Goldie sighed and closed her eyes - the ride had gotten smooth enough that she could take a nap if she really wanted to. And she did want to, so long as Scrooge was with her. Their pilot was still a weirdo that she would never want to be alone with.

It wasn’t long before the plane started to shake, and Goldie awoke with a tightening grip on Scrooge’s arm.

“Wh-what the-?!” Scrooge turned around to look at their pilot, who had very clearly fallen asleep at the wheel. “Wait, what?! Foghorn!”

“AH?!” The captain’s head shot up as Scrooge’s scream woke him and he gripped the controls roughly, bringing the plane back to normal. “Oop, oop, oopsies! Thanks for that, Mr. McDuckles!”

Scrooge continued to stare at him, his left eye twitching under his goggles. Did that actually just happen? He turned back to see Goldie looking angrier than he’d seen her in a very long time.

He smiled uncomfortably. “Now dinnae get too worked up about that-”

“Oh, no, you don’t!” Goldie said, pointing an angry finger in his chest. “We’re barely halfway there and he’s already almost killed us!”

The one good thing about the pilot being a fuckup was knowing she was right. Her gut instinct wasn’t some weird hormone-induced sickness coming back, it was just an accurately bad feeling. Goldie would be sure to trust her gut more often.

Scrooge was about to object and say something about how it was too late for them to change pilots anyway, when the plane started to shake again - this time followed by a slight dip towards the mountains below them. Goldie screeched and reached back to slap their pilot across the face. Scrooge felt no urge to stop her.

She lifted up Foghorn’s head and slapped him so hard that one of his eyeballs - the fake one, obviously - popped out and flew right at Scrooge. The multimillionaire caught it and had a disgusted look on his face when he realized what it was.

“WHA- WHA??” Foghorn looked down at Goldie’s angry face and started to sweat. He grabbed the controls again and laughed. “I-I don’t know how these things happen, I really surely don’t! But I’m all good now! Will never happen again!”

Scrooge stared at the object in his hand. “This...this is a marble.”

Goldie turned back towards him. “What?”

“It’s not a glass eye, it’s just...a marble.” He held it up between them. “Made for children.”

As if on cue, the plane started to dip again, and both Goldie and Scrooge turned towards Foghorn to see that he hadn’t fallen asleep again. Instead, it seemed he’d finally noticed the loss of his eye and was starting to freak out.

“This feels very very badly bad! I am not a happy man right now, nosiree! This does not feel good or nice! I’d like to be-”

Goldie grabbed his jacket collar and pulled him closer so she could roughly shove the marble back into his eye socket, then pushed his chest so he’d fall back into his seat. Before he could even react to the manhandling, she reached past him and grabbed two packs that were placed next to him.

“At least this idiot’s good for something,” Goldie grumbled, checking the bags quickly before moving back to her shared seat with Scrooge.

“Are those-?” he asked nervously.

“Mhmmm,” Goldie answered, handing one to him and putting the other one on. “We’re done here.”

Scrooge stared at the pack in his hands for a moment before looking at her, and felt himself get more nervous by the second now that she was standing up. “What do you mean, done-?!”

In the next second, Goldie had opened up the plane, grabbed Scrooge by his jacket and thrown him over the side, following suit a few moments later. They didn’t hear Captain Foghorn react as they fell, and Scrooge’s screams were drowned out by the bellowing winds around them. Goldie rolled her eyes and straightened herself out so she could glide closer to him.

With only a minute to spare, she grabbed Scrooge and his parachute pack (that he was still holding on to) and helped him get it around his arms properly. She even got it around his waist and under his crotch for extra protection, though the embarrassed look on his face made it a lot more fun.

“Goldie you- you backstabber! You’re goin’ to get me killed!” Scrooge shouted, though he knew she couldn’t hear a word of it.

Goldie smirked anyway, enjoying the sight of his whiskers flying around his face. She leaned closer to briefly kiss his beak before pulling the release for his parachute.

Scrooge flew up as the parachute launched and Goldie watched him for a minute to make sure he was alright. No holes, it seemed, so she looked off in the distance to see that Kathmandu wasn’t far out of sight. All she had to do was soar and then float as close to it as possible to get the treasure.

Scrooge was going to take a little while to catch up with her, but she could wait for him. After finding the gold, of course. Seeing his angry little face would make it extra funny.

Meanwhile, Scrooge was wiggling around angrily, unable to get free from the parachute straps and knowing that he shouldn’t try. Yes, the plane was a mess and the pilot was an incompetent dolt. But she could’ve talked to him before making such a crazy decision! He should’ve known better, though. Sure, it’d been sixteen years for him, but it’d only been two years for Goldie! Of course she was still the same person she was before. No discussion, no debate, just her way and that was the end of it. She could’ve at least given him proper warning.

Now he was going to be stuck in the middle of Nepal without food or supplies. And she released his parachute so early that he was going to be stuck in the air for at least a half-hour! He’d have to use his time in the air to try and make sure he landed on solid ground and not in the middle of the mountain range.

As always, Goldie was proving to be more trouble than not. To think, not an hour earlier he was fantasizing about marrying her, and not for the first time. His lovestruck state really must’ve been amplified by her absence because spending time with her was reminding him of why they never worked out before. She was too reckless and too uncommunicative.

Nervously, Scrooge looked over to see Goldie still falling in the distance. She hadn’t activated her parachute yet and he knew from experience that she was getting dangerously close to the ground. His heart started to race even faster as he watched and waited...until finally, just moments later, she activated her chute.

He breathed out a sigh of relief and closed his eyes. She obviously wanted to get to the treasure well before he did, and he didn’t need to check his pockets to know she’d taken the map with her already. Scrooge stared down at the ground and located Kathmandu in the distance so he could determine where he’d be walking and how long it would take. Definitely not long enough for Goldie to get in and out before he showed up, so they would be having a conversation before she could flee the country.

---

The entrance of the underground tunnel wasn’t difficult to find. Apparently a lot of locals knew about it, as it was accessible from the inside of the Hanuman Dhoka - right inside the main gate. And everyone was talking about the blonde woman they’d seen enter not even an hour before Scrooge arrived, so he knew he was in the right place.

Once underground, it didn’t take long to catch up with Goldie. She was moving some rocks around and making a decent amount of noise.

“O’Gilt.”

“Hey Scroogey,” Goldie said while continuing to move rocks, breathing heavily as she did so. “Glad you finally caught up.”

“You are incorrigible,” he said angrily. Scrooge walked over and grabbed one of Goldie’s arms, tugging her back so she would look him in the eye. “What if my parachute hadnae worked?”

She rolled her eyes and tugged on her arm, though Scrooge kept his grip. “I waited to make sure it worked. Otherwise I would’ve caught you, obviously.”

“And what if yours hadnae worked?”

“You’re Scrooge McDuck, you would’ve figured it out.”

He scoffed and let go of her arm, still mad. Goldie could tell he was going to be whiny, so she leaned forward and tucked her beak under his.

“C’mon, Scrooge, I did all this heavy lifting and now you don’t have to. Doesn’t that make you feel better?”

Though he wanted to say no, Scrooge couldn’t deny that he did like to see her doing hard work. As much as she tried to take the easy way out anytime she could, there were some situations where the only way was the hard way. It was nice to see Goldie accept that fact.

“I...suppose,” he grumbled. “But when we finally get to the treasure, I’m gettin’ first pick!”

Goldie laughed and pressed a quick kiss against his beak. “Whatever you say, sourdough.”

This chapter contains a rewrite of a previously written fic of mine, which you can find here if you're interested: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15243537

REAL HISTORY FACTS:
- King Pratap Malla was a Nepalese king in the 1600s.
- The Hanuman Dhoka is a group of structures at the Royal Palace of the Malla kings. They're very very cool looking.
- I just realized I didn't mention the Himalayas anytime during this chapter. It doesn't matter 'cause the geography is still right but that's the area they're flying over lol

DUCK FRANCHISE REFERENCES:
- Captain Foghorn was featured in DT87, mentioned in "The Golden Lagoon of White Agony Plains!", and briefly appeared in "Last Christmas!" He's much younger here than he was in his DT17 appearance, which was about thirty years later.
- "Captain Bounty" is a character from DT87.
- This adventure is referenced by Scrooge in "The Golden Lagoon of White Agony Plains!"