let 'em wonder how we got this far

Summary: Some secrets are revealed.

Word count: 4299

Warnings: None

1997; Duckburg

Scrooge and Goldie hadn’t had a moment alone in two years.

After she abandoned him and his niece and nephew in Ibexandria, he didn’t want to spend much time with her. It was one thing to abandon him - Scrooge McDuck, the smartest, sharpest, toughest man in the world! - but to abandon two children? It was downright cruel.

He knew the kids would eventually need to understand that the world is harsh and people are inherently mean - but Scrooge had hoped to spare them for a few more years. They’d already dealt with the untimely loss of their aunt and uncle, they didn’t need Goldie to go breaking their hearts like she always did to him.

But really, why did he expect any different? Goldie was Goldie. He shouldn’t expect her to change just because he had children in his life now.

Though his relationship with Goldie was rocky even before he reconnected with his family, Scrooge noticed a distinct lack of attention from Goldie since ‘95. She used to call more often. Break into his bedroom every month or two. Suddenly there was next to nothing, and he didn’t have to think hard to understand it was because of the kids.

He always suspected that she didn’t like kids, but he didn’t realize to what extent. If she was willing to give up on their hundred-year relationship just because of them, well…that was on her. He’d be crushed, but his heart was frequently crushed even when she was around. He’d get over it just as he always did.

At least now he had the twins. Two kids that loved him fiercely and enjoyed going on adventures and treasure hunting with him! Some of their cousins came along on occasion, too, but the only ones who decorated their own bedrooms were Donald and Della. They’d become the most consistent part of his life (not counting Duckworth) and he was happy to have them around.

Though they asked too many questions. But that was true of all children.

Goldie was certainly a unique curiosity in his life, so Scrooge wasn’t surprised to find the twins digging through his old photo albums and trying to learn more about her. He shooed them away without answers and pretended not to hear. The less they knew about her, the less they’d get attached to her, the less their little hearts would break when she stole their wallets and left them behind.

—

“It feels like we spend more time with Uncle Scrooge than we do with Mom and Dad,” Donald mused out loud, strumming at his guitar absentmindedly. “Should we just start going to school here?”

“You wanna move schools?” Della asked. “There’s no way the bus’ll pick us up all the way over here, we’ll have to transfer to Duckburg High!”

Donald gasped at his sister. “Duckburg High? But they’re a bunch of snobs!”

“Ehh, isn’t Duckburg Academy also full of snobs?”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” Donald attempted to play a little tune and got frustrated when his fingers slipped. “Hey, y’know, it’s been exactly two years since we met Uncle Scrooge’s girlfriend for the first time.”

Della looked up from her journal and frowned. “You mean his ex-girlfriend?”

“Whatever. I wonder if she’ll show up today like she did a year ago.”

“Why would you want her to? She’s just gonna steal from us!” Della tossed her pencil at her brother, smacking him in the forehead. “Just like last time and the time before that and every single time we’ve seen her!”

“Ow!”

“Do you like seeing Uncle Scrooge sad and heartbroken? Huh?”

“Ugh, stop it, Dumbella!” Donald growled. “I was just wondering! I didn’t say anything else!”

“Whatever, you totally thought she was cool,” she said with a sneer. “You probably thought she was so pretty and cool and kick-butt and how it was cool to see a lady treasure hunter out there with all the guys and how she could’ve been a role model and someone to look up to but then she just ended up being a thief and that’s totally lame and not cool at all!”

Donald stared at her while Della steamed. “Um…are you-?”

“It’s not cool, Donald!” Della shouted. “Even though, like, thieves use grappling hooks and break into safes and it looks cool and it sounds cool, but when you look at Uncle Scrooge’s face and see how sad he is afterwards, you know it’s not cool!”

Her brother stared sadly and then looked down at the guitar in his hands. “I guess you’re right.”

“Yeah.”

“...still, though,” Donald added quietly, “...it is kind of cool.”

Della sighed. “Yeah. Yeah, it is.”

—

It was just a few hours later that Donald and Della were knocked off their beds by a shout coming from their uncle’s room. They ran down the hallway at breakneck speed, only to be stopped in their tracks by Duckworth.

“Wha-?! What’s going on?” Della shouted, Donald bouncing with energy behind her.

“Your uncle was just caught off guard by a guest. Nothing to concern yourselves about.”

The twins looked at each other and then glared up at the butler simultaneously. “Is it Goldie?!”

The butler frowned and glanced towards Scrooge’s door for a second, trying to hear if there was anything going on in the room. And also trying to decide how much privacy the two of them needed. “...yes,” he said finally.

Della squinted at the door. “What if she tries to kill him?!”

“That’s very unlikely.”

She danced around in a circle, making a spectacle of her accusations. “But how do you KNOW for SURE? A thief could totally also be a killer! It’s not that much of a stretch!”

Duckworth felt that it was a bit of a stretch, but he didn’t really want to argue with two children.

Or…one child.

“Wait, where is…?” He turned around to find Donald at Scrooge’s door, slowly opening it up. Though internally, Duckworth was shouting NO! and reaching over to grab the child, externally he watched the duckling turn the knob and wondered if the sight would be punishment enough for his misbehavior.

The door opened and they all heard a loud “DONALD?!” followed by a thud. Donald didn’t look disgusted, though he didn’t look happy either.

Inside the room, the three of them found Scrooge blushing and sweating on the edge of his bed and Goldie laying on the floor with her fall the obvious source of the thud. Duckworth ignored his boss’ distress and focused on Goldie. “Are you alright, Miss O’Gilt?”

Goldie huffed and sat up slowly. “I’m fine. My ass broke the fall.”

The two teenagers giggled at hearing Goldie use a swear word, and the two adult men around them didn’t feel like shushing anyone at the moment. Duckworth took the situation as his cue to leave - unable to do anything about Donald and Della anymore, it was time for him to go to bed.

Della shook her head to get out all the giggles and stepped into the room with an accusatory finger pointed at Goldie. “What is she doing here?!”

“Yeah, and why’d you scream?” Donald added, falling in line next to his sister.

The two older ducks looked at each other and then back to the kids.

“I came to visit and accidentally scared the shit out of your uncle,” Goldie answered, raising an eyebrow at how that made the kids giggle again. Did no one swear around them at all? How was that possible with Hortense as their mother? She must’ve really censored herself. “And then you opened the door while I was very sincerely apologizing.”

Scrooge rolled his eyes. “I didnae mean to wake ye, kids,” he said softly. “You can go back to bed.”

“How can we go back to bed? There’s a thief in your house!” Della shouted, waving her hand around.

“You’re not gonna steal from us, are you…?” Donald asked quietly, hopeful that he and his sister didn’t need to watch their stuff extra carefully. His guitar was expensive - a whole $100! He couldn’t risk losing it to someone with slippery hands.

“Ugh.” Goldie shook her head, pulling her hair tie out and retying her ponytail. “Is this really a conversation we need to have every time I’m here? Sometimes I just come around because I can.”

“That is so suspicious,” Della growled, putting her hand down. “Why would you just come here for no reason?”

Scrooge and Goldie glanced at each other. He raised an eyebrow and smiled, to which Goldie glared and shook her head. Then Scrooge gave her a half-hearted shrug and looked back to the curious teenagers. “There’s actually two reasons Goldie’s here, kids.”

“Oh?”

He ignored Goldie’s retorts of ‘this is not their business’ and continued to talk. “Last week was Goldie’s birthday.”

Donald and Della, the latter whose mood suddenly changed, looked at Goldie with excited sparkles in their eyes. “Are we throwing you a birthday party?!” Della asked.

“I can play the music!” Donald offered.

Goldie rolled her eyes. “No, I’m not having a party. I’m too old to celebrate my birthday.”

“You can say that again,” Donald said, elbowing his sister as they both giggled.

“Charming.”

“But it’s not just Goldie’s birthday!” Scrooge said suddenly, bringing everyone’s attention back to him. “This is a very important year, kids. Do ye know why?”

The twins looked at each other, then back to Scrooge, then over at Goldie (who was glaring at Scrooge), then back to Scrooge again. Della shrugged, but Donald had an idea. “Is it…your anniversary?”

Goldie laughed, just once, and Scrooge glared at her with a light blush on his cheeks. “S-sort of! It was almost one hundred years ago that Goldie and I met for the very first time.”

“Way to make a girl feel ancient on her birthday.”

“It’s not your birthday anymore, lass.”

Donald and Della looked more confused than ever by this news, not paying any attention at all to the old people in front of them. One hundred years ago? Was Uncle Scrooge exaggerating like usual? Had they misheard? They knew he was old, but that seemed…older than old. And also impossible.

“Wait, were you actually born in 1867?” Donald asked his uncle.

Scrooge looked confused right back at them. “Of course.”

“But…” Della counted on her fingers. “That’d mean you’re, like, 130 years old!”

Goldie mumbled something about how the conversation wasn’t making her feel any better about her age and Scrooge just chuckled. “I’m surprised you two are so surprised. You’ve seen the types of adventures I go on, it’s not such a shock that I’ve extended my life a bit, is it?”

They looked at each other again. He had a point.

“Still…anniversary or birthday or whatever’s going on!” Della shouted. “I still don’t think she can be trusted!”

Goldie groaned. “Oh, come on, your little cousins don’t seem as bothered by me as you do. Can’t you be more like them?”

“Well, Gladstone’s an idiot,” Donald grumbled. “And Fethry likes everyone. So that’s not really saying anything.”

“Lovely to hear.”

“Donald, Della!” Scrooge said, trying to cut the conversation short. “It’s time you two headed back to bed, alright?”

Della glared at him and Donald pouted. “Are you sure?” he asked, flipping his bangs back. “Cause we could stay here with you.”

“That could not be more unnecessary,” Goldie mumbled, situating herself back on the edge of Scrooge’s bed. She plopped herself down next to him and leaned her side against his back, feeling very comfortable despite how annoying the situation was.

“I’ll be fine, kids,” Scrooge said with a smile. He kept glancing back at Goldie and every time he did, the little blush on his cheeks got darker. “Goldie and I just need to…talk, is all.”

Unsatisfied, Donald and Della finally left the room, quietly shutting the door behind them. They were stuck between wanting to stay and figure out what was going on…and being terrified to stay in case their uncle was about to do something gross and nasty and potentially traumatizing. Neither twin had forgotten that the first time they ever met Goldie, they were almost witnesses to some truly disgusting things.

“We’ll bug her at breakfast, Della,” Donald said quietly, patting his sister on the shoulder. “Duckworth’s so good at making pancakes, there’s no way she’ll be able to leave!”

Della laughed and elbowed him in the stomach. “Maybe you’re right!”

—

Back in his bedroom, Scrooge and Goldie were cautiously hoping they were alone, though even with their limited interactions Goldie knew that the kids were probably hiding behind the door and listening in to hear what was going on.

She felt like that was a pretty terrible idea. If she had her way that evening, then she and Scrooge would be making a lot of noise soon enough. But he wanted to wait a few minutes, just in case.

No problem. He told the kids that they needed to talk? Well…she could talk. She could try, anyway. Scrooge and her used to carry on with light conversation for hours without an issue.

Of course, that was before he had a family and kids and whatever. She knew he still loved gold and adventure, but…there were all these other important things now, too.

“I didnae expect ye to be so nice to them,” Scrooge said with a chuckle. “Nice for you, anyway.”

Goldie rolled her eyes. “I’m not a monster, Scrooge. They’re just kids.”

“Yes, well…” Scrooge waved his hands around, trying to find his words. “You’ve never liked kids much. I imagine ye dinnae have much experience with them, either.”

“You think in my one hundred and twenty nine years of living, I’ve never spent a significant amount of time with a child? Really?” Goldie rolled her eyes.

He huffed. “Well you’ve never mentioned as much to me, so how would I know?” Scrooge said, standing up and taking a few steps away from his bed. He cracked his back and glared at the door. “I dinnae even know if you have nieces or nephews of your own.”

Goldie sighed and laid back on his bed, her hands locked behind her head. “None that I know of. Just the ghosts of a lot of orphans,” she mumbled, not really thinking about if Scrooge could hear her or not.

He could, and he turned around with a curious look on his face. “What do ye mean, orphans?”

Her eyes widened in realization. She hadn’t intended to tell him about the orphans ever, especially not at such a random moment. She’d just been thinking too hard and let words tumble out of her mouth. Damn Scrooge and his stupid bed for making her feel comfortable enough to let that happen. “Ah…well…”

She wondered what he would think if she told him the truth. Would he make fun of her, call her soft? Would he start to think of her as motherly and kind? Probably absolutely nothing would change. But she got paranoid about these sorts of things. Rarely did she try just being honest with him, so maybe she’d give it a go.

“...after the Gold Rush ended, there were a lot of kids in Dawson without parents. So I let them stay at the Blackjack.” Goldie didn’t look at him as she spoke, focused on the little piece of string coming off his comforter. “It wasn’t a big deal. But it was a decent number of kids.”

There was a silence in the air that lasted for longer than she expected, making Goldie finally look up. Scrooge was staring at her and his expression was an odd mixture of suspicion and what she distinctly noted as anger. Not exactly the reaction she expected.

“Are…are ye serious?” he asked finally.

“Um…yes? Like I said, it wasn’t a big deal.”

“Not a big-?!” Scrooge’s face turned completely to anger and he pinched the bridge of his beak. “Why would ye keep that a secret from me for all this time?!”

Goldie glared back at him. “It wasn’t a secret. I just didn’t think it was any of your business.”

“Ach,” Scrooge scoffed, turning to glare at his door again. “You’re so full of it, Goldie! You kept this from me for no reason! I could’ve helped! I could’ve…we could’ve done something for those kids together!”

“Why are you so mad?” Goldie asked angrily, standing up to meet his eyes. “You’re acting like a child. So what if the Dawson orphans didn’t get a chance to worship you like everyone else?”

“Worship-?! You-!” Scrooge turned around and pointed a finger into her chest, offended. “It’s not about that, you secretive scoundrel! It’s that ye never tell me anythin’! I call you the love of my life but I feel like I know nothin’ about the real you!”

Goldie slapped his hand away from her and frowned deeply, not even remotely charmed by his little mid-argument confession. “I don’t owe you my life story!”

Scrooge glared at her, eyes wide and mad. “What is this, Goldie?! How can ye claim to want to be with me but ye won’t share any part of yourself with me? How can ye be a part of my life when I’m not a part of yours?”

“I-!” Goldie cut herself off, not sure how to respond. She’d made it clear to him on several occasions that she wanted to be with him in a real way, but something always happened to tear down her confidence and make her back off. The idea that it was entirely her fault, though…that his lack of interest in her life and her lack of interest in telling him about her life was the only reason for their problems? That was downright insulting.

“Maybe you’re right, Scrooge!” Goldie finally said with a sneer, shoving past him towards the door. “All this time has been a complete waste. You and I wasted each other’s best years with lies and secrets and unkept promises.” She turned around and glared at him. “Maybe next life we’ll do better!”

They locked eyes, both angry and upset, but Scrooge’s expression faltered and fell into something much sadder. As his gaze fell to the floor and he started to look like he was at a funeral, Goldie felt herself lose her edge as well. It was hard to keep it up one-sided.

Scrooge sighed and closed the space between them, grabbing one of her hands. “It wasnae a waste to me, Goldie.”

She looked up from their hands to his eyes and felt her heart beating faster in her chest. “...no, no…it wasn’t for me, either,” Goldie mumbled, looking away from his gaze.

“Then…” Scrooge used his free hand to cup her cheek and pull her face towards his, forcing their eyes to lock again. “...why would ye say it was?”

Humiliatingly, embarrassingly, pathetically, Goldie felt her eyes tear up at that moment. Something about the way he sounded so tired and broken as he asked - like he knew just as much as she did that this fight was pointless and dumb. Her efforts to steer the conversation away from a legitimate problem into a vague complaint about their entire relationship did nothing to solve any problems or answer any questions. It just made them both upset.

“I-...” she started to say, but stopped as she felt a tear fall from her eye.

Scrooge had seen her cry before, she was sure of that, but only in particularly volatile situations. Or when she was in a significant amount of pain. But this wasn’t like that. This was her being so emotionally vulnerable that she couldn’t take it anymore and her heart was leaking out of her like some kind of stupid sap.

His thumb wiped gently against her cheek. “G-Goldie…”

The way he softly said her name made her heart beat even louder and faster than before, and in that moment Goldie realized…

…she had to leave.

Before he could say anything, Goldie shoved Scrooge, ripping herself away from him and out the bedroom door. She hurried down the stairs before Scrooge could try to stop her. And he would, she had no doubt that he would try to stop her and talk to her about their relationship and their vulnerabilities and she just couldn’t do that. Not now. Maybe not ever.

Especially not when he had kids to worry about.

“Goldie!” she heard him shout from upstairs, but she’d already reached the door. He could try to chase her if he wanted, but she was faster than him. And she had a strong motivation to get out as fast as possible.

“Are you alright, Miss O’Gilt?”

Goldie turned her head, surprised to see Duckworth standing not far from the front door and staring at her rather than assisting his boss upstairs, who must’ve finally gotten untangled from his blankets because she could hear his shouts get louder as he opened his bedroom door.

“Why do you always ask me that?” Goldie said to him with a glare.

“Well…” Duckworth said softly, not sure what exactly was going on. “...because you always look upset when you leave here.”

Goldie let out a short, mean laugh and shook her head, opening the door in front of her. “You’d think I’d learn something from that, huh?”

She bolted outside and slammed the door shut behind her, not caring if she woke the kids. She didn’t have the energy to be in that house for another second.

–-

Duckworth stared at where Goldie had been standing before he was distracted by the sound of Mr. McDuck’s labored breathing as he rushed down the stairs into the foyer. He raised an eyebrow at the sight of Scrooge tangled in his own comforter, trying to kick it off as he was coming down the stairs.

“Goldie! Don’t-!” Scrooge shouted, but then he noticed the door was shut and she was nowhere to be seen. He looked devastated. “...do ye think I could catch her?”

Duckworth walked over and picked up the blanket from the floor, folding it nicely in his arms. “She only left a few moments ago, but she moves quickly, Mr. McDuck.”

“Especially when she doesnae want to talk to me,” Scrooge grumbled, kicking at the rug. “I dinnae know what to do, Duckworth! Things were always rocky between us, but the kids have just made things worse. Even more complicated. I cannae keep exposin’ them to her lunacy!”

“Hmm,” Duckworth hummed, glancing up the stairs to see familiar young eyes staring down from between the banisters. “Donald and Della are almost fourteen years old already, and they’ve encountered Miss O’Gilt a handful of times in the last two years.”

“What’s your point?”

“My point is, they’ve been exposed to her…’lunacy’ plenty of times and are old enough to form their own opinions about her.” Duckworth held back a sigh, though every passing second he felt more like he was overdue for a vacation. “They might even like her, despite her efforts to avoid that.”

Scrooge stared at his front door, wondering if he should try to go after her anyway. “They dinnae trust her, though.”

“You don’t trust her, either,” Duckworth pointed out. “But you certainly like her company.”

The master of the house blushed a bit and scratched his cheek. “That’s…true.”

“Give her time, Mr. McDuck.” Duckworth cracked the front door open and looked out to see if Goldie was anywhere nearby still, but she was long gone. He shut the door quietly and glanced up the staircase to see if the kids were still listening, which they were. “She doesn’t adjust to change as well as you do.”

Scrooge caught a bit of sarcasm in his butler’s voice, but chose to ignore it. He wasn’t great with change either, but he was certainly better than Goldie. Those kids melted his heart faster than he ever could’ve expected and he loved that they spent their vacations and weekends and holidays with him. If he’d told himself a few years ago that he’d spend so much with teenagers, he never would’ve believed it.

He sighed and headed back up the stairs, barely noticing the pitter patter of little feet rushing back to their rooms. What did he expect? He was yelling Goldie’s name all over the house, of course it’d catch their attention. It was embarrassing, though, for them to see him like that. He didn’t want to set a bad example when it came to relationships - they were near the age that kids started dating, after all.

(Not him as a kid, but…normal kids.)

But Duckworth was right. Goldie would probably never acknowledge it, but she was a part of their lives and they had to decide for themselves if they wanted to have a relationship with her. If she’d even allow it, of course. She barely allowed Scrooge to have a relationship with her.

…that wasn’t quite right, either. Their relationship wasn’t strained simply because of Goldie, though she definitely put in the work to make things more difficult. Scrooge didn’t know how to describe his and Goldie’s…thing. He couldn’t call her his wife or his girlfriend without questions and he couldn’t exactly call her his ex-girlfriend when they still saw each other every once in a while. Maybe ex- something else. Ex-partner. Ex-rival. Ex-everything. But also…still everything.

Scrooge sat down on his bed uncomfortably and looked around, not surprised to see that Goldie had left her jacket. She was always leaving clothes behind.

He picked it up, folded it messily, and popped it into the drawer he’d dedicated to her things. He wondered if she knew about it and sighed, crawling into bed.

After tonight, he wasn’t sure when he’d see Goldie again.

DUCK FRANCHISE REFERENCES:
- The “untimely loss of their aunt and uncle” is a reference to Gladstone’s parents, who died when he was young. I decided to have them die when he was a preteen ‘cause why not what’s it matter
- Goldie meeting Gladstone and Fethry is a reference to one of my other fics which you can read right here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30381390