this time i'm mistaken for handing you a heart worth breaking

Summary: Scrooge invites Goldie to the first annual McDuck Enterprises Christmas party.

Word count: 4404

Warnings: None

1980; Dawson -> Duckburg

They didn’t spend too much time together in the next few years. Occasionally they’d get together for a short adventure or run into each other for an inexplicable coincidence, but most of their interactions in the late 1970’s were over the phone.

The phone calls were nice. Once every other month she’d call him or he’d call her and Scrooge would talk about his life and who tried to kill him most recently while Goldie would talk about the latest treasure she’d stolen - it was always one that Scrooge hadn’t gone after yet. Just to remind him that he could’ve come along if he wasn’t so busy.

But he was busy. He’d just merged McDuck Industries and McDuck Manufacturing to create McDuck Enterprises: one operation to cover everything that happened under the name McDuck. It was a huge undertaking and cost a lot of money, but it also led to significant layoffs so it would save him money in the long-run. According to him, anyway.

Goldie was no stranger to layoffs. Though no longer the face of her hotel franchise, she was still on the Board of Directors and paid close attention to what was happening. They’d had to close down the Singaporean hotel because of a huge flood, and just before that they had to downsize one of their Spain locations after a huge fire. There was plenty of money to rebuild, of course, but it was a losing battle. Those two hadn’t been particularly profitable, anyway.

Of course, her Dawson location wasn’t the most profitable, either, but she would never get rid of it. Dawson was more of a home to her than Saint John ever was. She felt…comfortable there. And though she always had somewhere to stay wherever there was a Blackjack Hotel, there was only one place that really felt like home.

It was August of 1980 when Goldie visited her Dawson hotel once again. She still slept in the same room that she always did - though it’d been significantly renovated since 1900. The whole place was clean and internally updated - lots of power outlets for her hair dryer and lamps and alarm clock - but the outside kept its classic look. Why mess with perfection?

“Miss O’Gilt? You got something in the mail,” her front desk girl told her that cloudy Friday afternoon, holding a black envelope in her hand.

“Just put it in the pile.”

“But it’s, um…from Scrooge McDuck.”

Her attention fully caught, Goldie walked over and grabbed the letter out of her hands. She stared at the handwritten cover curiously, turned around, and walked away. A handwritten letter from Scrooge could mean a lot of things. A lot, a lot. But most of the options that came to mind made her think she’d need a drink before reading. She kept walking til she found herself in her currently empty bar.

Though she usually didn’t drink before five, Goldie quickly poured herself a glass and gulped down her whiskey while she stared at the envelope some more. She grumbled as she looked at it, wondering if it was going to send her on an emotional rollercoaster or if she could just be normal about Scrooge for once in her life.

She took a deep breath and tore it open, pulling out a square black piece of paper. It had a date, time, location…

It was an invitation. To a party.

Scrooge was throwing a Christmas party?

Goldie almost laughed. He hated Christmas. Well, he hated how Christmas started and how it was celebrated. He only ever reacted to the holiday with negativity, and suddenly he was throwing a party? He also hated parties.

She looked over the invitation again and took note that it was for McDuck Enterprises. She guessed that his shareholders or whatever were the ones who suggested the party. Or something like that.

It wasn’t until December, obviously, but if this was some big swanky party with all his business associates and family and friends, it made sense to send out the invites early.

She was surprised to get one, though. Scrooge talked to her about his businesses, but he never made any indication that he wanted to introduce her to all of it. To his friends, to his coworkers, to his investors or shareholders or anyone. She’d briefly met some important people at their first wedding in ‘53, but most of the guests at that event were just random neighbors or friends of Ludwig’s. And she only met them because of her unfortunate circumstances at the time.

Had Scrooge ever actually introduced her to a friend or family member as his…girlfriend?

Goldie couldn’t think of a single purposeful instance. She’d met his sisters by coincidence. Ludwig by convenience. Twenty-Two by accident. His butlers knew about her but she was never really introduced to them.

So what did the invitation mean, exactly? That he wanted to tell people about her? That he wanted to include her in his schmoozing - maybe even introduce her as his…wife or girlfriend or partner or something? It seemed unlikely, but Goldie felt her face flush from more than just the booze.

She moved to put the invitation back in the envelope when she noticed a small piece of white paper still inside. She grabbed it and gently tugged it out, too curious to let there be an accidental tear.

It was a short handwritten note. From Scrooge. For her. Just a little thing, but it made her heart beat very very fast.

Goldie -

This party will be a lot more fun if you come. Please consider it.

- Scrooge

Goldie stared at his words for several minutes, desperately trying to find a way to interpret it negatively. She didn’t want to, but she felt the need to go through everything. It was easy to take things negatively when someone was as paranoid as Goldie O’Gilt.

1. He was being too forward. But…she liked that. She wanted him to be more forward.

2. ‘Fun’ could mean he just wanted to have sex. But…she liked sex. She liked having sex with him. Not a problem.

Plus, he specifically said the party would be more fun. He wanted to see her. He wanted her to show up to this huge, important work party he was throwing. He sent her a little invitation and wrote a note to make sure she knew that she wasn’t just on some list. He wanted her there.

Goldie was annoyed at the pink on her cheeks. Why did he have such an effect on her? It was annoying.

She’d have to confront him about it.

In December.

At the party.

---

Scrooge was busy. He liked being busy. But he was also old and tired and sometimes he just wanted to have a good time instead of wasting away at the office!

Throwing a party for McDuck Enterprises was his own idea, but it was Duckworth’s idea to make it really, really big. To invite everyone he knew. Every scientist, every spy, every accountant and businessperson…

Even every thief.

(Well, okay, just one thief. He didn’t want a house full of thieves, that’d be insane.)

With Quackmore finally retired and enjoying his time away from Duckburg, Duckworth had taken over as Scrooge’s head butler (and only butler, for the moment) and was both enthusiastic and exceptional at the position. He worked hard, never complained - just cleaned and cooked and planned and organized as he’d been doing for years.

They did get catering for the party, though. Scrooge knew he couldn’t force one man to cook for that many people…not without some significant overtime pay, anyway.

He had no idea if Goldie would come to the party or not. It was a long flight for just one evening - though he assumed she would probably stay for the night or the weekend - and they hadn’t spoken over the phone since July, so he hadn’t had the opportunity to ask.

But there were so many people coming; he got almost one hundred RSVPs! Scrooge was very happy he’d built himself such a huge home. Catering was expensive and decorating was annoying, but overall it was nice to be able to throw the party in his foyer. It would be classy. Lots of champagne available. Someone playing the piano. Dancing. Everything a fancy, classy party needed to keep people entertained.

So although he really wanted to see Goldie and really hoped she took his note seriously, he had plenty of things going on during the evening that he could focus on instead. The night wasn’t about him and Goldie, after all. It was about his new company! It was about how he just kept getting richer and richer and richer and he was happy to discover that once he reached a certain level of wealth, there was no going back. He couldn’t suddenly become poor because McDuck Enterprises made so much money every five minutes that he’d have to buy a yacht every week to balance it out.

He smiled at Duckworth at the clock struck six. The invitation said the party would start at 6:30, which meant people would start arriving soon. He was excited to see all his friends and coworkers in a relaxed social setting for once. Everyone could drink some nice drinks, eat some nice food, and remember that Scrooge was a good, kind person who just happened to be the richest duck in the world.

---

Goldie knew she was going to be late. It was intentional - fashionably late was the best way to arrive at a nice party.

She’d arrived in Duckburg a few nights before, wanting to be totally relaxed and prepared for potentially taking a new step with Scrooge. It was hard to say what was going to happen with them, but she had her heart set on being introduced as his wife or girlfriend or…well, he could share their whole backstory if he wanted to. Just so long as he introduced her to his friends with a smile on his face.

Goldie went dress shopping the day before the party. She’d never really invested in those off-the-shoulder style dresses, but this party felt like the right opportunity to try something new. And when she overheard one of the sales girls say something about her being ‘too old for such a young dress,’ Goldie immediately bought it. And stole a pair of earrings to go with.

She got her hair done at a nice salon in the city, flowy and wavy and pretty with her bangs swept to the side. The combination of hair, earrings, and dress were perfect for the party. She really hoped Scrooge’s jaw would drop when he saw her.

It was around 7:15 when Goldie finally made her way to McDuck Manor. She’d grabbed a quick cab ride there and gave the driver a surprisingly generous tip as she looked at the building.

There were lights, music, lots of people chatting and laughing. It was certainly a successful party. How many people could say the first party they ever threw went so well? Just another thing to add to the list of Scrooge McDuck’s successes.

She ascended the stairs slowly, feeling a little nervous for absolutely no reason. It wasn’t a ball where she’d be introduced as she entered, she’d just waltz in and find Scrooge and they’d hang out. Probably not for too long since he had to talk to all his other guests, but long enough. Maybe he’d introduce her to some people he knew in the hotel business. Or other treasure hunters. She didn’t really know what kind of people he might’ve invited.

Almost as soon as Goldie opened the door, she was greeted by the familiar butler that’d been working for Scrooge for almost his entire life.

“Welcome, Miss O’Gilt. May I take your coat?”

Goldie didn’t know Duckworth that well - she remembered meeting him sometime in the late 50s, though she had an extremely foggy memory of maybe meeting him sometime before that. With the number of times she’d woken up in Scrooge’s bed barely remembering the previous night, it wasn’t outside the realm of possibility.

“Thanks,” Goldie said with a wink as she tossed her white faux-fur coat into the butler’s arms. He rolled his eyes and walked off (presumably towards the coat closet), while Goldie started scanning the crowd for her favorite duck.

“Goldie O’Gilt.”

Goldie didn’t see him before she was greeted by a familiar voice and a familiar scowl. She turned around to find Scrooge standing right next to her, leaning on his cane and looking oddly angry to see her.

“How’s it going, moneybags?”

Scrooge broke his angry facade with the hint of a smile before going back to his trademark frown. “What’re ye here to steal, O’Gilt?”

She rolled her eyes playfully and leaned forward, making sure to show off how the dress emphasized certain assets of hers that she took a lot of pride in. “Oh, please, Scrooge. I wouldn’t steal at a party.”

He raised an eyebrow.

“Unless it was something I really wanted, or…”

Scrooge huffed out a laugh and shook his head, smiling happily. “I wasnae sure if you were comin’.”

Goldie shrugged, as if she hadn’t planned her whole week around the event. “I didn’t have any other Christmas plans, and this sounded like fun.”

“Come on,” Scrooge murmured happily, reaching out and grabbing her hand. “Let’s go upstairs for a spell, aye?”

She nodded and squeezed his hand back as they went right up the front stairs. She didn’t even get a chance to ask if there was anyone else she knew at the party before Scrooge’s beak was pressed gently against hers…but she wasn’t complaining.

Goldie wrapped an arm around the back of his head so they could kiss deeper. With her back against the wall of the upstairs hallway, they couldn’t be too loud as they made their way towards Scrooge’s bedroom.

She anticipated they’d get to the bedroom at some point during the night, but Goldie didn’t realize it’d be so soon. He really was excited to see her, apparently.

---

---

Goldie sighed happily, sprawled out on Scrooge’s bed. Getting her hair done was definitely a waste of time, she realized. She’d just have to stuff it into a bun before heading back downstairs.

Scrooge was leaning over her and smiling very smugly. Goldie found it annoying in a sexy kind of way. He kissed her gently and she brought her hands up to his whiskers so she could hold him down for a longer, deeper kiss.

When she finally let him go, Scrooge gave her another quick peck and then scooted off the bed to grab his jacket and belt. “I should get back to the party.”

Goldie chuckled and sat up, Scrooge’s blanket wrapped around her waist but her chest completely exposed. “So soon?”

He stared at her for a moment, but a noise from downstairs caught his attention. “Yes, dear, I have guests to attend to.”

“Fine,” Goldie started to get up. “Give me a minute to get ready again.”

“No rush,” Scrooge said as he headed towards the door. “Ye dinnae have to stay for long if ye dinnae want to.”

As the door gently closed behind him, Goldie just sat there and stared. Once again, Scrooge left her with more questions than answers.

What did that mean? Did he invite her just for a pre-party romp? A break from the crowd?

She was clear about one thing, though. He had no plans to introduce her to anyone.

Goldie sighed and stood up to adjust her dress. She wasn’t going to make a scene, as much as she wanted to. Scrooge probably wasn’t trying to be an asshole. She just made herself feel like an idiot with made up expectations. Why would Scrooge introduce her to everyone as his wife or girlfriend or whatever? They only saw each other once or twice a year. He probably invited everyone he knew to this party. Wanted to make it a huge success, just like his big new company would inevitably be.

She got dressed and quickly tied her now-messed-up hair into a bun. Her nice flippy bangs were still in good shape, at least.

Earrings in, shoes on, makeup fixed…Goldie took another look in the mirror in front of her and frowned. She kept expecting more from their relationship and she didn’t know why. She hadn’t exactly given him reason to want or expect more from her, either. She saw him with another woman for ten minutes and started acting rude. She was reminded of his distrust in her and bolted into the night without a word. She reacted badly to a lot of things.

So this time she wouldn’t react badly. She would meet him on the floor, grab some food, take in a dance or two, and leave early with an excuse.

Probably talk to him on the phone in a few months. Maybe go treasure hunting together. That’d be fine. Low expectations. Same old, same old. That’d be enough for them.

---

Scrooge was feeling pretty good.

He was excited because the party was going so well - pretty much everyone who’d RSVP’d had arrived and they all seemed to be having a good time. Even Goldie, who he thought would ignore his invitation, showed up dressed to the nines. He knew she wouldn’t like his boring business associates and she wouldn’t want to interact with the people from S.H.U.S.H. that she’d betrayed years earlier, so he expected her to leave after grabbing some food. Maybe she would come back after the party ended and they could spend some more time together.

Either way, he was excited that she showed up. Maybe he’d send her personal invitations more often.

After saying a few ‘hello’s and ‘how’s the food?’s to his guests, Scrooge made his way out the front door to cool off with some fresh air.

Immediately after he did that, he was greeted by a strange, but not unwelcome sight.

“Young me,” the older Scrooge said, tipping his hat.

“Old me,” he said casually, doing the same.

Not wanting to confuse people or mess up the timestream, Scrooge opted to leave the party. Maybe he could go around the back of the house and climb up to spend more time with Goldie before she left.

He smiled, happy that someone else could take care of all the smalltalk he didn’t want to deal with, and ran around to the back. He didn’t have the right supplies with him, but he was Scrooge McDuck! He could find his way back to his room without anyone seeing.

---

Last Christmas!: 7:41 - 8:27

---

Goldie headed down the stairs slowly, keeping an eye out for the familiar bowler hat and turtleneck. The party had gotten larger and louder since they went upstairs and in the sea of attendees, Goldie didn’t see Scrooge anywhere.

She might’ve just missed him, of course, but her eyes were drawn to a friendly crowd surrounding a familiar woman dancing around happily and having the time of her life. Of course Bentina was here, and friends with every single one of Scrooge’s friends, and mingling and dancing with everyone because why wouldn’t she be? They were friends in a completely normal way. Not like Scrooge and herself.

Goldie scoffed and continued down the stairs, looking every which way casually to see if she could find Scrooge. Still not seeing his little bowler hat, she opted to ignore all her earlier thoughts about not being dramatic or making a scene and just going with the flow.

(Well, she still wouldn’t make a scene. What would be the point if Scrooge wasn’t even there to witness it?)

She sauntered over to the piano and grabbed a dumb, mostly-used candleabra to stuff in her bottomless purse. Scrooge would definitely notice it was missing, since he always noticed whenever a few cents were gone from his pockets or a picture was tilted slightly to the side.

As Goldie made her way to the front door, she noticed Duckworth standing by and staring at her with a raised eyebrow.

“What?”

“Leaving already?”

“Did you honestly expect me to stay?” she said grumpily, pushing past him to the door.

Duckworth barely moved to the side and frowned a little bit more than usual. “I never quite know what to expect from you, Miss O’Gilt.”

“Yeah, well…” Goldie grumbled as she opened the door. “...that’s how I like it.”

She attempted to slam the door behind her, but Duckworth blocked it with his foot so he could keep it from garnering attention. He watched her walk away for a moment, curious about her attitude, and then shut the door completely. Maybe he’d get the chance to ask Mr. McDuck about that later.

---

Scrooge made it up to his room from the back of the manor by sneaking into the kitchen and gathering enough makeshift tools to anchor himself up the outside wall. He really needed to invest in a staircase in the back for situations like these.

Unfortunately, it took him long enough that Goldie was gone. She’d left the bed a mess and even forgot her tights, though Scrooge didn’t mind. He picked them up and popped them into a drawer he’d been dedicating to Goldie’s things. Her clothes, little trinkets she left behind, and of course…the lockbox from the Klondike. It was good to keep it all together.

He sighed dreamily and laid down on his bed. His future self being at the party was odd, but not the weirdest thing in the world. He’d met his older self before, though that was on an adventure in Siberia. His older self saved his life and then informed him that he’d need to come back and save his younger self in fifty years or so. Sure, fine. Made sense.

This was more casual. He had some odd characters with him, too - probably people that he’d meet sooner or later.

He’d met older Goldie, too, in the past. And often wondered when she came from. She was every bit as beautiful with silver hair, and it was nice to know that so long as Goldie kept her hair gold…they would still be together. In some way or another. It was comforting to know that, even if they probably still weren’t together together since the older Goldie said she’d stolen from him.

Scrooge rolled over in his bed and thought about taking a nap. He’d had a long day and was tired of all the mingling and partying. He hadn’t had the opportunity to just lay down and take a nap in years.

So he did.

And a very short amount of time later, couldn’t have been more than five or six minutes, he was woken by an explosion.

At first Scrooge wasn’t sure if it was real or in his dreams, but then he felt the chill of the outside air reaching his bedroom and heard people filing out of his home. That couldn’t have been good. What the hell was his older self doing?

“Curse me kilts, what’s goin’-?!” Scrooge screeched as he tried to jump out of bed. Unfortunately for him, he got tangled up in the messy sheets and comforter that Goldie left behind and found himself face-planting on the floor. He groaned and took a minute to get up, then untangled himself and rushed downstairs.

He reached the top of the stairs and was greeted by a painful sight: Beagle Boys stealing his things, almost all the guests gone from his home, and there was a giant hole in his wall!

“Wh-...what happened?!” he screamed, scaring the hell out of the last Beagle Boy in line to leave.

Beakley, who hadn’t left, walked over to the bottom of the stairs and crossed her arms over her chest. “What happened is that you invited a thief into your home and then you were stolen from.”

“Huh?” Scrooge glared at her. “I didnae invite the Beagle Boys, Twenty-Two, they’re just layabouts from the city dump!”

“Who?” Beakley looked confused. “I assumed they were working with your girlfriend, since I noticed O’Gilt leave the party just before the explosion.”

Scrooge grumbled under his breath, realizing that he’d just missed Goldie by a hair. He wondered if his older self spoke to her before letting this happen. “Goldie didnae have anythin’ to do with that. She was just here to spend some time with me.”

“Uh huh,” Beakley responded, completely unconvinced. “A thief is a thief.”

“Curse me kilts, Bentina, will ye knock it off?” Scrooge glared at her. “The Beagles and Goldie are nothin’ alike! And she…she’s important to me! So I need ye to back off about her, alright?”

She blinked down at him, surprised by his outburst. Scrooge had never spoken to her like that before and she definitely didn’t like it. But she respected it. “Alright. I’ll back off.”

“...thank ye,” Scrooge said quietly, looking around and assessing the damage. “Cripes, this is goin’ to be a lot of paperwork with my insurance company.”

Beakley looked over at Duckworth, who raised an eyebrow at her. She glared back at him. They’d met briefly once before and it didn’t go well. Scrooge had assumed they would get along because of their ties to London and, well…they did not.

“Would you like me to call the police, Mr. McDuck?”

“Yes, Duckworth, thank you,” Scrooge grumbled. He sat on his bottom stair and laid back against the stairs above it. “I hate Christmas. Never doin’ this again.”

Beakley hesitated for a second before taking a seat next to him. “If it makes you feel better, it was a very good party up until the break-in.”

Scrooge chuckled. “I should’ve known better than to throw a party this time of the year. This holiday is cursed for me.”

“Why’s that?”

He shrugged. “Bad history. Betrayed by someone I trusted.”

“O’Gilt again?”

Scrooge shook his head and sighed. “Goldie loves to stab me in the back, but at least she knows the value of a dollar. She’s not goin’ to waste my time with business propositions only to back out after I’ve spent time and money gatherin’ resources!”

She watched with a curious expression as he ranted for a minute, knowing full well that she was missing some important context. “Alright, McDuck, whatever you say.”

REAL HISTORY FACTS:
- In 1978 there was a terrible flood in Singapore. 20 in of rain in a day! Crazy stuff
- The fire in Spain Goldie referred to is the Los Alfaques disaster. A lot of tourists died so though the fire/explosion only impacted a small area, there was a decrease in tourism for a bit to that area

DUCK FRANCHISE REFERENCES:
- Obviously this chapter takes place during the season two episode Last Christmas! That's one of my favorite episodes, I think. It's just a good one.
- So I want to elaborate on McDuck Enterprises. I'm interpreting Enterprises as a merger of McDuck Industries and McDuck Manufacturing (and probably some other McDuck companies but it's fine) because we know canonically Scrooge had several adventuring and business operations prior to 1980, despite the fact that Last Christmas! heavily implied that McDuck Enterprises was Scrooge's first business. Which makes absolutely no sense so I choose to ignore it or assume they were all exaggerating. Idk. He had a mining company in 1960 so how could his first business be at least 10 years later? Nonsense.
- I chose 1980 for the Christmas party because Bradford has aged SO MUCH since 1968. Gonna assume all the time he's been spending with Heron has stressed him out to the point where he lost all his hair