this will be our year, took a long time to come

Summary: Goldie and Scrooge spend some time with the kids.

Word count: 9384

Warnings: None

2020; Yucatán

“Did you know Chichén Itzá has some Toltec influence in the design of the main pyramid?”

“No. How and why would I know that?”

“I didn’t! But I love learning new facts!”

“I thought you might appreciate it, Webby.”

“But did you know that they sacrificed thousands of people here and carved their terrified faces on the Platform of Skulls as a reminder?”

“Um…I don’t know if they talk about that in the Woodchuck Guidebook…”

“They probably wanted to spare you the gory details, Hue.”

Goldie and Scrooge walked ahead of the squabbling trio of children, leading the way to a cave at the base of the ancient Mayan pyramid. They’d arrived in Yucatán that morning and were excited to finally be closer to their prize - though despite Goldie’s promises, she wasn’t entirely sure there’d be a treasure to enjoy.

Louie, Webby, and Huey were trailing behind and were very pumped for what was supposedly lying ahead. Louie, in particular, was excited about the gold. Huey seemed most excited about the history, while Webby was just happy to be out on an adventure.

Goldie was excited that Scrooge had finally said something to her about the pyramid photograph she’d left for him back in 2017. She'd thought for sure that he had forgotten or lost it (since it wasn’t with the ancient coin he moved to his old lockbox), but it turned out that his little sort-of daughter had stolen it, shoved it in a locket, and then placed that locket on some family tree she kept in her room. It was weird. But cute. And definitely made sense for someone with so much of Scrooge’s DNA. He could get intricately obsessed when he wanted to be.

So when Scrooge texted her about taking some of the kids on a little trip down south, Goldie was happy. It was happening more often now than ever before in her life - real, genuine happiness - and though a big part of Goldie was constantly afraid of it being ripped away from her at any moment, for now she was enjoying it.

“Remember, bairns, we’re just normal, regular tourists for right now,” Scrooge said with a wag of his finger. He was wearing his favorite outfit for jungle adventures - it had plenty of pockets, a nice green camouflage, and made him a lot less recognizable. “Goldie and I will assess the area while you three enjoy the sights.”

“Yeah, Uncle Scrooge, we remember,” Louie said with an eye roll. Though it seemed almost impossible, he had definitely gotten sassier when he turned thirteen. “Just act natural ‘til the sun goes down.”

Huey shoved his Woodchuck Guidebook back under his hat. “Wouldn’t it have just been easier for you to pay for the area to be shut down for a day? Your money is pretty much unlimited at this point.”

Goldie chuckled and elbowed Scrooge in the side, who let out an offended peh! “There’s no reason to waste my money on somethin’ like that when we can just use flashlights instead!”

“Your uncle certainly does love a challenge,” Goldie said with a smile. She was making fun of him, but she also really loved that about him. It was one of the cornerstones of their relationship, after all.

Webby stepped closer to the adults, standing next to Goldie as the five of them stared in awe at the beautiful structure. The sun was shining brightly behind it, giving the top of the pyramid a glowing halo effect. Webby felt an inescapable urge to grab Goldie’s hand, and reached out for it…

…only for Goldie to move her hand out of reach at the last second, laying it on Scrooge’s arm.

Was that on purpose? Or was it an ill-timed coincidence? Webby wasn’t sure, but the bad feeling in her gut stayed there nonetheless. She knew Goldie wasn’t her mother and had no interest in being a motherly figure to her - which was fine, she had Della and Penumbra and her granny and plenty of female role models - but she still wanted Goldie to like her. It took Webby a while to want that, since she'd genuinely disliked the woman for such a long time. But things had changed, and she saw how happy Goldie and Scrooge were together, and she wanted to be a part of that happiness.

Goldie was saying something to Scrooge and Huey was saying something to Louie when some tourists walked by and the five of them froze awkwardly, not wanting to continue talking about their future illegal activities where someone might hear. At that, they split up - Goldie and Scrooge going one way and the three teens going the other.

“I read that there’s a whole series of tunnels under Chichén Itzá,” Huey said. “I wonder if that’s how the locals dealt with the heat or avoided people they didn’t want to talk to.”

“I can identify with that impulse,” Louie muttered, shoving his hands into his hoodie. He had never regretted a fashion choice more than he was regretting this. It was halfway through October, but it was so hot he felt like his feathers would melt off.

Webby waltzed over to the informational plaque, reading the Spanish with ease. “Ooh, guys! This actually mentions the cave!”

The boys rushed over to see, but neither of them could understand the words on the plaque.

“It says that the cave was first discovered in 1966 by an archeologist named Victor Euphonia Pinto! He never fully excavated the cave and quickly closed it back up again without explanation.”

Louie frowned. “That’s kind of ominous.”

“What? You think he closed it back up for a bad reason?” Huey asked.

“Oooh, maybe there’s an evil demon down there and he didn’t want to let it loose!” Webby said with excitement, dancing around in a circle. “Then instead of just digging through dust for old artifacts, we could get into a really dangerous fight! See who’s truly the toughest duck here!”

Huey and Louie chuckled. “Webby, we all know you’re the toughest duck around.”

“Yeah, well…I don’t know if Goldie knows that.” Webby crossed her arms over her chest. “She still treats me like I’m a kid she got saddled with.”

Louie, who’d spent the most time with Goldie one-on-one and who was considered the Goldie Expert amongst the kids, shrugged. “I think she’s still not sure what your relationship is supposed to be.”

Webby sighed and rocked on her heels. “By now, I think she should have some idea.”

Louie elbowed his cousin, chuckling lightly. “It took her over a hundred years to figure out where she stands with Uncle Scrooge, I think you’ll have to give her a break, Webs.”

Webby smiled at that, comforted by Louie’s nonchalant attitude. “Yeah, you’re right. We’ll figure it out.”

A few hundred feet away from them, Scrooge and Goldie were walking arm-in-arm and pointing to random things around the pyramid to make themselves seem as touristy as possible. Goldie even took out her phone to get some nice selfies - though she made sure the view of the pyramid behind their heads was helpful to plan out their scheme.

“It’s reconnaissance, Goldie,” Scrooge said with an exasperated smile. “Not casin’ the joint. ”

“Semantics,” she responded happily. “I really don’t think we need all this prep work, though. I’ve been here at night before and it was completely dead.”

“Better to be overprepared than unprepared.”

“Yes, of course. I’ll make sure to embroider that on a pillow.”

They walked around together for another minute, surveying and checking out the area. There was nothing that would get in the way of their plans, Goldie pointed out, and she saw the cave entrance location was completely unprotected.

“I dinnae know what ye expected,” Scrooge said as they headed back towards the parking lot. “It’s just a little wire fence.”

“That's what I was saying before, Scroogey.”

After a moment of comfortable silence, Scrooge cleared his throat as he prepared to address an elephant. “I, um…I wanted to ask ye about Webby.”

“She can’t call me ‘Mom’.”

“Ha, ha. No, Goldie.” Scrooge stopped the both of them in their tracks and grabbed his partner’s hand to keep her attention. “I’d really like it if you two could try spendin’ some time together.”

“You act like I’m ignoring her.” Goldie frowned. “I just took her out for ice cream and girl talk two weeks ago.”

“I-I know, but…” He took a second to consider his words. “I know ye arenae interested in bein’ a mother to her, but since I am technically her father -”

“Which is why she still so lovingly calls you Uncle Scrooge.”

“...and since you are technically my wife, ” he continued with a glare.

Goldie held back her sarcastic comment for that descriptor and let him go on.

“...I need ye to try harder, dear.” Scrooge grabbed her other hand and held both her hands tightly. “I want her to love ye as much as I do.”

“That’d be a little creepy, don’t you think?”

“Goldie! I’m bein’ serious!”

She sighed and squeezed his hands back. “I know, alright? I’m working on it. Just because I bonded with Sharpie right away doesn’t mean it works the same for each of your kids. Pink’s gonna take some time.”

“I know,” Scrooge said with a sigh as they started walking again.

“It doesn’t help that she takes everything I say the wrong way. She definitely gets that from you .”

“Me? Now that’s the pot callin’ the kettle black!”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, Scrooge McDuck.”

—

When they regrouped, Webby was very obviously not looking at Goldie, and Goldie pretended not to notice. She took the wheel of their rented jeep, ignoring Scrooge’s complaints that he’d wanted to drive, and listened closely while Huey gave her directions to the hotel.

Things were going to get awkward after they checked in. Scrooge had set them up with a girl’s room and a boy’s room since none of the hotel rooms were big enough to comfortably fit all five of them. (Not comfortably by Goldie’s standards, of course. Scrooge would’ve been fine sleeping on the floor for a few thousand pesos less.)

Their rooms were right next to each other with a shared door, which made life easier. They all agreed to take an hour to unpack and relax, then they’d go eat dinner and get ready for the caper.

Goldie and Webby entered their shared room and Webby quickly bounded over to the bed closer to the window.

Goldie frowned, unsure if she should say to this child what she’d say to anyone else. “I…usually take that bed.”

Webby was unzipping her suitcase and paused. “Oh. Me, too. But we can switch!”

“Yeah…” Goldie felt the awkwardness in the room like a weight on her shoulders. “It’s just closer to the air conditioning and I like the cold, so…”

“No, yeah, that makes sense!” Webby said, tossing her suitcase from one bed to the other. “I’m not picky!”

“Right, thanks.”

The two of them unpacked relatively silently, wondering why they didn’t go with a kid room and an adult room instead of boys and girls. Webby was perfectly comfortable around the boys, apparently they had sleepovers all the time. But Scrooge had insisted that he didn’t trust the boys to stay away from the minibar, so he wanted them to be supervised. So he said. Goldie had a feeling he was actually trying to force her and Webby to spend more time together.

She’d been trying. Despite every urge not to, she really had . Forcing it on them was only going to make their relationship more awkward. Webby needed time to adjust and so did Goldie.

So it was going to be awkward. Goldie had survived years of torture, she could definitely survive a weekend hotel stay with a teenage girl whose biological father she was seeing. And married to. But the kid didn’t know that part and it was probably better to keep it that way.

—

After more awkwardness (including an especially awkward dinner), the five ducks headed back to Chichén Itzá. It was dark out, almost nine, and the further they got from the hotels and restaurants, the quieter and creepier it became. Webby and Scrooge seemed excited, but the other three just kept their heads up. You never knew what could come out at night.

They parked and exited the car, same as they had a few hours earlier, and started making their way to the pyramid. It didn’t look like anyone else was around, but they avoided using their flashlights just yet and let the light of the moon guide them.

“Um…” Huey said quietly. “Did you guys know that there’s actually a bunch of smaller pyramids inside the main pyramid? It’s like-”

“Shh!” Louie shushed angrily, elbowing his brother. “Why are you so bad at this?”

Huey pouted and opened his beak to talk back, then realized by doing so he’d just be proving his brother right. He sighed instead and they all continued to walk in silence. Though he really wanted to tell everyone about the Jaguar Gods and their origin stories. Webby probably knew about them already, but he still wanted to share.

Goldie hopped over the wire fence and motioned for everyone to follow her. She guided them over to the area that had the cave, though she quickly realized the entrance was smaller than expected. The kids could fit in, probably, but not her and Scrooge, and they weren’t about to toss the tykes in by themselves.

“The Treasure of the Jaguar Gods is in…there?” Louie asked quietly.

Goldie nodded, digging through her bottomless bag. “Should be.” She pulled out a big shovel, much to Louie’s surprise. “Just give me a few minutes to widen this.”

Scrooge stretched and watched, not sure how to help. Normally he’d take the shovel from her and make some comment about how she didn’t like to do hard work and he would do it faster and more efficiently, but lately he hadn’t felt the urge to deride her. Especially not around the kids.

She’d been trying, despite his comment otherwise earlier in the day. And he knew that. He just wanted her to try a little bit harder because he was feeling a strain on his relationship with Webby and knew that Goldie was partially to blame for it.

(The rest of the blame would probably go to…the circumstances that led to Webby’s existence.)

Part of him knew that he should back off. Goldie was known to disappear in a moment’s notice when she was feeling emotionally threatened, and though she’d been sticking around for days and weeks at a time…there was no guarantee that that would last.

She was like a ticking time bomb. He wanted to assume things were alright, but when he’d done that in the past, things went sour. It was better to brace himself for the possibility than be caught off-guard. Like he’d said to her earlier that day - better to be overprepared than unprepared.

As Goldie started digging, Huey was quietly reading aloud from his Woodchuck Guidebook while Webby and Louie were anxiously waiting for the opportunity to get some treasure.

Goldie lifted up a patch of dirt, feeling confident, when the two more excited teens got a little too close for her liking. She gave them a side glare that Louie noticed right away.

He frowned and tugged on Webby’s arm, pulling them a bit away from the older woman.

Unfortunately, they ended up in exactly the wrong spot. The dirt beneath them was dry and weak and cracked under the weight of two little ducklings. Neither even realized what was happening until they were falling through the ground and down into the cave below.

“Sharpie!”

“Webby!”

Scrooge, Goldie, and Huey shouted at the two ducks that fell, foregoing all their earlier warnings to stay quiet. They ran towards the broken ground to see Louie and Webby at least fifteen feet down laying on the dirt and rubbing their heads.

Scrooge rolled up his sleeves, getting ready to join them and make sure they were alright, until Goldie rushed past him and dove into the cave with the kids. She landed on her feet roughly, taking a moment to hold her hands over her knees.

“Are you two alright?” she asked Louie and Webby, who were staring at her like she had two heads. “What?”

Louie smirked, still brushing dirt off of his hoodie. “I can’t believe you dove in after us like that. So heroic.”

“It kind of was,” Webby added, combing dirt out of her hair with her fingers. “We’re fine, though.”

“Good.”

“Goldie! Is everyone okay?!” Scrooge shouted from above.

She responded with a thumbs up, though everyone could tell she was still focused on her knees. It seemed like the landing did a number on her.

“We’ll be down in a moment,” Scrooge added. “Huey’s just grabbin’ some rope and tools from the car.”

Uninterested in waiting, Goldie looked up to see Louie and Webby using their cell phone flashlights to search around the cave. There were plenty of artifacts around, though nothing was standing out as gold. It was always possible they’d stumbled into the wrong cavern or someone had gotten the golden treasure before them, but they’d continue looking just in case.

Louie found a little idol and picked it up without a moment’s hesitation. “This is a cool looking bat…”

“Drop it, Sharpie!” Goldie scolded, walking closer to him. “Bats and Mayan tombs are a really bad combo.”

“Why’s that?”

“Bats represent death!” Webby answered cheerfully. “Didn’t you read up on Mayan culture before we came here?”

“I think you know me well enough by now to answer that yourself.”

Goldie chuckled at Louie's response and they all continued to look around. Though she wondered about the artifact with bats all over it, because it was surrounded by several similar artifacts that were all untouched even though other objects around them had clearly been touched before.

"I wonder if the bats are why Victor Euphonia Pinto decided to close this place up and never come back!" Webby said suddenly.

"Wait, what?" Goldie asked, turning towards her.

"Oh, I assumed you knew about it! An archeologist named Pinto apparently came down here but then left and boarded it up and never published anything about it!"

"...no, I didn't know about that." Goldie suddenly felt a chill down her spine and glanced around the room suspiciously. "This might've been a bad idea.'

Just as she said that, all the lights of their phones suddenly shut off.

"That can't be good…" Louie mumbled, but Goldie noticed that he seemed further away from her than just a moment earlier.

"Sharpie?" she whispered, getting no response. "Pink- er, Webby?"

Still nothing.

Goldie looked around and realized the darkness around her was getting darker. She couldn't hear the kids, couldn't feel them around her, and she couldn't pinpoint the spot where they fell into the cave. Where was Scrooge? Wasn't there some moonlight before? Suddenly there was nothing.

Concerned, Goldie took a few deep breaths and tried to find a wall. She reached out and felt the damp stone in front of her, tapping her fingertips against it.

As she did this, a bright light appeared behind her and she quickly turned around to see what it was.

"...huh?"

It was Scrooge. But he had his eyes closed and he was wearing all white and he was, well…he was glowing. It was weird. It was mesmerizing. Almost hypnotizing.

"Scrooge…?" she mumbled quietly, walking closer to him.

As this was happening, Louie Duck finally got his phone light to work again. He shook his phone and quickly scanned the area around him, seeing Webby rubbing her eyes from the sudden light.

"Oop, sorry, Webs." Louie continued to scan. "Aunt Goldie? Are you…?"

He cut himself off when he came across Goldie walking slowly towards a beautiful (but absolutely terrifying) duck woman with long, black hair. She was dressed in a long white gown and was combing her long fingers through her hair. And though Goldie was walking towards her, she didn't look totally in control of herself.

"Aunt Goldie! Stop!" Louie yelled, rushing over to grab her hand. "Wake up! Come on!" He squeezed her hand and pulled on it roughly while trying not to look at the scary glowing woman.

His efforts weren't really helping, other than attracting Scrooge and Huey's attentions up above them. "What's goin' on down there?! Goldie?!"

Webby stood up and stared at the scene in front of her, fists clenched by her side. She'd been trained for situations like this all her life and she wouldn't let anything bad happen to her father's girlfriend. She ran over and screamed out as she jumped and kicked the demonic-looking woman in the face.

The demonic woman fell back with a screech. She held her face with one hand and dug the claws of her other hand into the wall.

Webby stood her ground with her fists up, ready to hit her again.

Goldie had fallen on her ass in the opposite direction of the woman, scared and confused. She barely noticed Louie doting over her and asking her questions, too busy trying to get her focus back on the real world.

Scrooge and Huey came down into the cave just as the scary woman hissed and slithered away, melting into her shadow and slinking into the cracks.

"What was that?!" Huey asked, immediately terrified.

"I…" Goldie started, but her mouth felt so dry. She could barely speak. She finally looked at Louie and let him help her into a standing position, though her legs still felt weak.

"I think that was Xtabay!" Webby said excitedly. "I can't believe I got to fight her! That was on my bucket list!"

Scrooge chuckled. "Good job, dear. But…are you alright, Goldie? You dinnae look well…"

Goldie shook her head. "Charming as always. I'm…I'll be fine. Just need to get over the shock, I think."

"It was weird," Louie said quietly. "Like you were in a trance."

"I was." Goldie shook her head again and put a hand against the wall. She started walking along the wall, trying to find somewhere to sit for a minute.

"Should we…leave, then? Get you some medical attention, maybe?" Huey asked, stepping closer to her. "What if Xtabay comes back?"

Scrooge shook his head as Goldie glared at the teenager. She responded with an annoyed, "Are you kidding? This is just a momentary setback. She won't come back now that we know who she is, so keep looking for the treasure!"

Huey frowned, unconvinced, and decided to keep an eye on Goldie despite her order otherwise. Normally he was a big fan of listening to adults, but he knew Goldie was troubled and didn't take care of herself the way she should. She was probably in worse shape than she realized. And the demon woman could definitely come back and just try to kill them all, he'd read about her before and she was powerful.

The other three went back to looking, though Louie glanced at Goldie out of the corner of his eye every few seconds.

Goldie continued her search for somewhere to sit and finally came across a low shelf carved into the rock. She reached over to see if there was enough space for her to sit, accidentally knocking something onto the ground.

Everyone jumped at the smash of ceramics on the ground, and Goldie grimaced. "Sorry, I was-"

As if she'd been cursed with terrible luck, Goldie was quickly surrounded by a cloud of dust that came out of the little jar she'd smashed. She didn't notice until it was too late and accidentally breathed some of it in, sending herself into a violent coughing fit.

"Aunt Goldie!" Huey said cautiously, a cloth mask already around his beak. "You've gotta be more careful!'

"Usually I am," she mumbled between coughs.

Scrooge, Webby, and Louie continued to search, but the three of them were feeling like this adventure was a bit of a bust.

"Maybe we should just go," Louie said.

"Don't be quitters! I'll be fine, come on. Scrooge, I know you're not about to pack it up just because I breathed in some disgusting cave dust!" Goldie said angrily.

"She's got a point, bairns. We've been through much worse together and still carried on!"

"It's not like we have a long journey back to the car," Goldie added. "I'll be fine. Find that gold!''

Though uncomfortable with it, Webby and Scrooge and Louie continued to search. Huey didn't care what she said and pulled a water bottle out from under his hat, handing it to her.

Goldie stared for a second, the large part of her that hated being helped wanting to brush him off. But she did need some water. "Thanks, Scout."

Huey nodded. "Are you sure you're alright?'

She took a long swig of water. "Don't ask me that again. If I say I'm fine, then I'm fine."

He was still unconvinced, but understood that Goldie wasn't going to concede.

"Ooh!' Webby shouted as she dug through some dirt on the opposite side of the cave from Goldie and Huey. "I think I see gold!"

Goldie smirked at Huey, who continued to frown. He wasn't interested in the treasure so much as the health of his pseudo-aunt (that he'd recently started to suspect was really his aunt through marriage, based on some conversations he'd overheard).

"Excellent, Webby!" Scrooge shouted, walking closer to her. "I knew ye could find it!"

As the two of them were trying to grab their treasure, Louie was struggling with his loyalty to Goldie against his loyalty to gold. He kept glancing between his aunt and his uncle, not sure who he should be standing by.

He felt like Scrooge was treating Goldie's experience as if it was nothing, but so was Goldie. Maybe he did that because they had an agreement about this sort of thing. But Louie had never signed any sort of agreement. He didn't think Goldie looked alright at all.

As Scrooge and Webby revealed a big pile of golden treasure hidden in a medium-sized wooden chest, Louie finally made the choice to join Huey in giving Goldie too much unwanted attention. He didn't care if she'd yell at him, he could see her legs wobbling.

"There, we got the treasure. Let's get out of here," Louie said. Goldie opened her mouth, definitely ready to scold him, but he cut her off with an annoyed, " I wanna leave, this isn't me treating you like an old lady. It's damp and gross down here so let's go."

Goldie frowned, unable to argue with that. She knew he was playing her, but she also knew she wanted to leave. Get some cold water, take a hot shower…mostly she wanted to go to sleep.

Huey put a hand on her arm and Goldie wanted to push him away, but a little part of her heart ached. She didn't want to be babied like this, but it was something she hadn't experienced in a long time. Scrooge used to treat her like that, but she took it as an insult. When Huey and Louie did it? She felt…loved.

It was scary.

So she nodded and started towards the rope that Huey and Scrooge had used to come down. She was feeling a little woozy still…hopefully the fresh air would clear her mind.

Scrooge watched as Webby collected the box of golden treasures, proud as could be. He felt a little bad about Goldie's hiccups on this adventure, but knew she'd be embarrassed and mad if he treated her the way the boys were. At least Webby knew that Goldie was too proud for that kind of treatment.

"Okay, Uncle Scrooge," Webby said quietly, still feeling a little awkward about how she should refer to her biological father. "I think we should go."

He considered suggesting they stay, see if there was any other golden treasure they were missing, but knew that Webby was right. They'd found what they came for and Goldie probably wanted to go get a drink and a shower. "Of course. I'll follow right after ye."

Webby smiled and skipped towards the exit, big heavy box balanced in her arms. She'd always been strong, but had started lifting weights while she studied and was stronger than ever now. She could easily hold the box with one hand while climbing the rope with her other.

Scrooge smiled and watched her go, happy that Goldie and the boys were already up top. Before he left, he decided to use his phone (Goldie had forced him to buy a smartphone and he had to admit, it was much more useful than his old flip phone) to light up the cave and do one last sweep.

His flashlight landed on the spot where Goldie had smashed a little jar, and he immediately noticed the broken pieces of limestone made up the shape of a bat.

Scrooge frowned deeply. That couldn't be a good sign.

—

Goldie didn't start showing symptoms until the next day when they were back in the air.

She'd been sluggish and tired and a little cranky since waking up that morning - unable to give any attention to the awkwardness between her and Webby because she was too busy trying to find the right combination of pills to ease her minor sufferings.

But when they were in the air again - probably about when they'd reached Texas airways - Goldie suddenly ran to the bathroom and puked.

It was loud and caught everyone's attention (except for Launchpad, who was happily shouting fun facts about Texas that were mostly not true - like that there were six horses for every one person in the state).

Scrooge walked over and knocked on the bathroom door. "Ah…Goldie, dear? Are you alright?"

She reached out and kicked at the door, scaring Scrooge. "Do I sound alright?!"

He frowned and glared at the offending door, fighting the urge to say something insulting. They'd moved past that (for the most part) and this definitely wouldn't be the right time to fall back into old habits.

Huey joined Scrooge, Woodchuck Guidebook in-hand. "Based on all of her symptoms, which started after the trance and got worse after she inhaled all that dust, I think Aunt Goldie might have been poisoned.”

Scrooge looked down at his nephew, trying not to seem nervous. It wasn’t like Goldie had never been poisoned before. “I, um…I think ye might be right, lad.”

Goldie groaned from the bathroom. “I didn’t-!” She paused to dry heave. “...swallow anything!”

“You inhaled a strange dust, though. After being attacked by a demon. I think we have a right to be concerned.”

Louie and Webby joined the other two standing in front of the bathroom, though they all knew Goldie would kill them if she saw this line of concerned family members waiting for her.

“Should I call Lena and Violet? They’ll be able to help.”

“I’m fine! Just need to puke it out!” Goldie yelled.

“Yeah, text them,” Louie said uncomfortably. “Tell them to meet us at the manor in two hours.”

Webby nodded and did just that, making sure to emphasize the urgency. Though Goldie didn’t want to admit she was sick and Scrooge was disturbingly calm about the whole situation, she thought it sounded pretty bad. Goldie hadn’t eaten much, so all this vomiting couldn’t have been good for her. And she’d been kind of woozy and disoriented all morning. Poisoning was the most reasonable explanation.

Even though she had a weird relationship with Goldie, she didn’t want the woman to die. Webby never wanted anyone to die, but especially not someone who was basically a member of her family.

—

By the time they reached McDuck Manor, Goldie was so disoriented that she was practically hallucinating. She’d vomited to the point of no return, there was clearly nothing left to vomit, and then chugged water for the rest of the trip. Scrooge and the kids suggested they go to the hospital, which she (of course) rejected.

Fortunately for them, Violet was sure to have a solution. She’d done her last big science fair project on causes, symptoms, and cures related to poison and brought home a blue ribbon for the assignment.

Violet and Lena were standing in the foyer when the group of adventurers entered the building. Violet had a huge bag of stuff with her, and Lena was there to help determine if there were any faster, magical solutions to the problem (and to see Webby, of course).

Scrooge was holding onto Goldie, who’d been leaning against him while she tried to walk. Even though she was barely able to comprehend the world around her, she still yelled at them when Scrooge asked Launchpad to carry her into the house. They were worried about her, but she was still fighting the effects of the poison, so they had time.

“So she inhaled dust and ash and other unknown substances from a broken jar in a Mayan cavern?” Violet asked, taking notes.

“Yes, exactly!” Huey answered. “It fell over and broke and there was a big cloud of dust, so she might’ve inhaled a lot, we’re not really sure.”

Violet nodded. “Sounds lucky that the rest of you didn’t also inhale it. Can you describe the jar for me?”

“Um…” Huey paused, suddenly very ashamed of himself. How could he not think to examine the jar?! How could they determine the nature of the poisoning without a photograph of the instrument? It was so amatuer! Imagine if he got bit by a tick and didn’t save the tick for analysis? What kind of Woodchuck was he?! No wonder Violet was still so far ahead of him. “I…”

“A bat.”

They both looked over at Scrooge, who was lightly shaking Goldie in his arms to make sure she was awake.

“The jar had a bat on it. Evil-lookin’.”

Goldie mumbled something and Louie suddenly looked even more nervous.

“A bat jar in a Mayan cave?” Violet repeated. “Then it’s a good thing you called me. I’ve got exactly what you need. Lena?”

Lena, who’d been chatting with Webby about what was going on, appeared at her sister’s side and pulled a big case out of one of their bags. “Yeah, yeah, I got it. Which one?”

“Antidote G, appropriately enough.”

Lena pulled out a syringe filled with a light yellow substance. Everyone in the room fell silent as she held it up, handing it slowly to Violet.

Scrooge suddenly fell to his knees as Goldie became unable to hold herself up any longer. He held onto her tightly and continued shaking her a bit. “Goldie, dear, come on - stay awake! You’ll be better in a few moments. Right?”

Violet walked over with the syringe. “Well, the antidote has some odd effects, but she won’t be dying anymore. My methods are tried and true.”

Goldie mumbled something about how she wasn’t dying. Everyone just ignored her.

As she positioned the syringe to Goldie’s arm, Scrooge asked, “How exactly did you manage to test all these antidotes?”

“Oh, Lena offered to be my guinea pig,” Violet said, digging the needle into Goldie’s feathery skin. “With her magical body, she could just expel the poison if my methods didn’t work, so we were able to do a lot of tests.”

“Lena got to experience so many poisoning symptoms! It was amazing!” Webby said, disturbingly gleeful. “A normal person would’ve been killed for sure!”

“You got that right, Pink.”

Violet pulled back the syringe and handed it to her sister, then held out a hand to Huey.

Huey was so concerned and confused that he simply reached out and grabbed her hand with his own.

Violet looked at him. “Hubert, I was hoping you would hand me one of the bandages you keep under your hat. I apologize for not specifying, but I thought it was obvious in the moment.”

“Oh!” Huey pulled his hand back, embarrassed, and quickly grabbed the bandaids. “Yeah, no, sorry, I’m just a mess right now!”

As they took care of this problem, Dewey and Beakley arrived from different areas of the house, obviously very concerned with whatever the hell was happening. Beakley was especially concerned about the muddy footprints that they’d left all over her newly-cleaned floor, while Dewey had been dealing with a serious case of FOMO all weekend and this discovery left him knowing he really did miss out on something exciting.

“Did you at least find treasure?” he asked Louie.

“Oh yeah. We didn’t really get a chance to look at it yet, but we’ve got a whole big box of gold idols ‘n stuff.”

“Cool, cool.”

“Yeah.”

“So Aunt Goldie’s not gonna die, right?”

“I hope not. Violet seemed really confident about it.”

Dewey nodded. “If Violet’s confident, then I am, too! She’s the smartest person we know so I’m sure she’s got it.”

Goldie was laying still on the floor, Scrooge and Webby and Violet hovered over her.

“So…what’s goin’ to happen? I was in such a hurry to get her better, but now I need to know what to expect,” Scrooge asked Violet pointedly.

She flipped through the little notebook in her hands. “Considering how far along the poison was, she’ll probably need several strong stimuli to wake up - strong smells or a slap to the face, you understand. She’ll still be disoriented for a while, and you should try to get her to eat and drink a lot, but there won’t be any more vomiting or struggling to breathe. Just some dizziness and…now, this could’ve just been a problem for Lena because of her magical body, but she might be compelled to spill her secrets.”

Scrooge looked confused. “Wait, what?”

“Yeah. When Lena was recovering from poisoning caused by inhaling substances from an ancient demonic artifact, she started telling me about her crushes and embarrassing things she’d done in public and all about her feelings regarding Magica De Spell…I’d thought it would be therapeutic for her, but she barely remembers any of it.”

“I did what?”

“But again, that could be due to her magical body.”

“Goldie’s body is also imbued with a significant amount of magic, though,” Scrooge said with no small amount of concern. “She’s had her body enhanced by magical youth water at least ten times, probably more.”

“Oh. Well.” Violet wrote something down. “Then this will be very interesting.” She turned to look at Mrs. Beakley, who was just observing everything, clearly uncomfortable. “If you could get her to the kitchen and get some food in her, that would help her recover faster.”

“Thank ye, Violet,” Scrooge said genuinely. “I’m glad Webby has ye in her life. Both of ye,” he added, looking up at Lena. “I’ll make sure Goldie sends her thanks when she’s all better.”

Scrooge started to lift Goldie up, but Beakley cut in and grabbed the blonde, throwing her over her shoulder like she weighed absolutely nothing at all. She marched towards the kitchen and Scrooge followed quickly.

All the kids sat in the foyer, watching while Violet and Lena cleaned up their case of syringes.

“So this is how you won the Duckburg County Science Fair last month?” Huey asked.

“Yes, it is. I heard you received third place, but I didn’t get to see your project. Do you still have it?”

“O-oh, um…yeah, but it’s really not-”

“I’d like to see it, if that’s alright.”

Huey rubbed the back of his head. “Okay, just don’t expect anything impressive.”

The two of them started up the stairs, and the other four shrugged and decided to join.

“So what have you been up to while we were gone?” Louie asked his brother.

Dewey fell into different poses while he answered. “A little of this, a little of these, a little bit of who-knows-what…you know me, I’ve always got something going on!”

—

Though Scrooge thought she would want to slap her awake, Beakley had a packet of smelling salts hidden in the kitchen and used them to wake Goldie back up. The woman remained disoriented, but quickly devoured any food they put in front of her.

So far, so good. Violet’s antidote seemed to be working as she said.

“How are ye feelin’, dear?” Scrooge asked while he watched her eat another sandwich.

“Been better, been worse,” Goldie answered between bites. “Having Bentina around always makes me feel safer, so that’s a plus.”

Beakley’s eyes widened, shocked at that confession, and Scrooge’s jaw almost dropped. Goldie would normally never say something like that, especially not right in front of Beakley. He wondered if he should try to get her alone so she wouldn’t say anything too embarrassing or incriminating, but…well, she was still eating.

“Is-...is that so?” Scrooge asked.

“Yeah. I know I spent a few decades being…” She cut herself off to continue eating. “...jealous of your relationship, but I’m glad she’s here.”

Bentina blinked rapidly, trying to take all this in. She hadn’t been shocked speechless in a long time. “Well…thank you for saying so, O’Gilt.”

Goldie shook her head. “You could thank me by bringing me another sandwich! I feel like I haven’t eaten in weeks!”

“That’s not surprisin’, considerin’ how long ye were in the airplane bathroom.” Scrooge leaned his arms on the table. He’d always kind of known that Goldie was suspicious of his relationship with Beakley, but he didn’t realize she’d had such a change of heart over the years (or maybe just over the last few months). His own relationship with Beakley was strained after all the problems caused by S.H.U.S.H. and F.O.W.L. and Bradford, but overall…he was also very glad she was such a big part of his life.

He couldn’t imagine how mortified Goldie would be if she knew what she’d just said.

Beakley placed one more ham and cheese sandwich in front of Goldie and sat down at the table across from her. “O’Gilt.”

“Mm?”

“How would you describe your relationship with Webbigail?”

Scrooge’s eyes went wide and his breath caught in his throat. Beakley really knew exactly what to ask at exactly the right time. But he was a little worried that he wouldn’t like Goldie’s answer. What if this was the end of their relationship improvement? If she said anything negative about Webby, well…he didn’t know what he could do but tell her to stay away.

He really hoped this went well.

Goldie, barely aware of what she was saying, simply shrugged. “I don’t really know how to describe it. She’s a sweet kid, but she’s pretty clearly not comfortable around me and I don’t want to push anything on her ‘til she’s ready. Even though Scrooge wants me to hurry up and be her new mommy , that’s really not in the cards here.”

Both mentally sound people looked at each other, surprised by how normal that response was. Nothing weird, nothing mean, nothing bad.

“How would you describe your relationship with her?” Goldie suddenly asked, looking right at Beakley.

The housekeeper frowned, decades of secret-keeping making her lock up her thoughts and toss away the key. Even though Goldie was being honest at this very moment, she was still Goldie O’Gilt and Beakley would never fully trust her. Beakley’s relationship with Webby was significant and strained (because of all the lies) and that was nobody’s business but her’s and Webby’s.

With no immediate response, Goldie was back to focusing on the sandwich. She probably didn't even remember asking anything.

"Goldie, dear…" Scrooge started, scooting her water closer to her. "Why dinnae ye finish up here and I'll take ye upstairs? I think ye could probably use a bath and a nap after all this."

"Mmm…" Goldie mumbled into her last few bites. "Dirty old man wants to get me in the tub, is that it?"

He blushed deeply and suddenly couldn't make eye contact with Beakley, who just rolled her eyes. "I-I, um, no, Goldie, I meant…um…I just think you're a wee more talkative than usual and you'd probably prefer to, ah…be alone."

She took a long drink of water and slammed it onto the table, letting out a loud ahhh! "Alone with you, you mean."

"...yes, I suppose." He looked over at Beakley for help, but she was already at the sink with Goldie's dirty dishes. Scrooge was on his own. "I dinnae want to leave ye alone completely just in case the antidote doesnae work properly…it was created by a child, after all…"

Goldie chuckled and swayed a bit as she tried to stand up. "You surround yourself with the world's most capable children. I'm sure I'll be fine."

They started up the stairs together, with Goldie constantly making comments about anything. The portraits on the walls, especially, she had a lot of comments about. Some of them weren't the nicest, but Scrooge was just happy to hear her voice. He had really underestimated the severity of her poisoning and was ashamed of himself for not forcing Goldie to a hospital right away.

She was going to be fine, so he knew not to stress about it. But he also wanted to be better. He'd spent so long with Goldie challenging him and keeping up with him - swooping in to rescue her was a recent development. And though she seemed to like it for the most part…sometimes it made her pull away. Like she was preparing herself for some sad inevitability.

Scrooge brought Goldie to his room and to his bed. He didn’t want to stress her out or anything, but he was also very curious about this heightened state she was in. He could ask her questions - things she’d never answered for him before - and she might not even remember his curiosity.

But would that be right? He knew she was in this state and it’d be wrong to take advantage.

Then again, Goldie had put him through a lot of shit over the years. Didn’t he deserve some explanation for some of her behavior?

Sure, he loved her, he loved being with her, he was happier than he’d ever been to have her as a part of his family and home, but…sometimes he’d get reminded of times when he thought they were good and then suddenly they weren’t. There was a big part of him that was constantly on-edge, waiting for her next betrayal. And a big part of that was him never knowing exactly how she was feeling.

“Goldie…”

“Yes?” she asked, laying on his bed and waving her limbs around on the comforter, almost like she was making snow angels.

“You’re, um…are you happy?” he asked quietly.

Goldie was quiet for a few seconds before sitting up on her elbows and staring at him. “Am I happy? What kind of question is that?”

“A…a normal one?”

“I don’t think so. I don’t know, Scrooge. Is it possible for me to really be happy? When I’m still having nightmares about shit that happened to me almost a century ago? When I frequently wonder when you or your family will get tired of me and ask me to leave for good?”

Scrooge stayed silent, not sure how to respond. He didn’t expect that.

“Overall, I think I’m pretty happy. Here. With you and Sharpie and the rest of your family. Sometimes it feels like the people here really genuinely care about me and that’s terrifying, but…it’s definitely nice. I like it. Just not sure what to do with it all the time.”

He walked over to the bed and sat down next to her. “Why is it terrifying for my family to care about ye, Goldie?”

“What do you mean?” she asked sincerely. “What about that isn’t terrifying? Having important people in my life, people who care about me and want me around…that means I have a responsibility to them. I know it’s been over twenty years, but I’m still not used to taking care of anyone else.”

“Twenty years since what?”

“Since I had to start paying attention! And then it got even worse with Louie, and now the other kids want to get to know me and want me to be their Aunt Goldie and it’s a lot, Scrooge. It’s a lot of pressure.”

He hesitantly put a hand on top of her’s, still wondering what happened twenty years ago but a bit more focused on the rest of what she said. “It doesnae have to be, Goldie. They’re happy with you bein’ you.”

“Well that’s definitely not true. Goldie O’Gilt is a thief and a scoundrel and swindler, remember? You spent a hundred years reminding me of that.”

Goldie chuckled, feeling very light about this conversation thanks to the fog in her brain, but Scrooge frowned deeply. She wasn’t wrong, he did remind her of her thievery a lot. But that was because she was a thief! And as a man of principle, he never stole (unless he was in a situation that made it necessary to right a villain’s wrong). But still.

“...you’re not only a thief, Goldie. You’re a lot more than that. And the kids can see that,” he said softly, squeezing her hand. “So can I.”

She got quiet and glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. “I know that. But you asked why it’s terrifying and that’s how it is. I know I’m not the woman I used to be, but I’m still not the woman you want me to be, either.”

“That’s not…that’s not true, Goldie! All I’ve ever wanted is just you bein’ you.”

“Oh yeah? Is that why you never call? Never write? You never ask me to come with you on trips or adventures. Half the time you want me and the other half you treat me like a burden,” Goldie said with an eye roll. “It’s no wonder I never know where we stand.”

Scrooge frowned. He always felt that he was just bouncing off of her, not the other way around. “I didnae think ye wanted me to call. When you run off in the mornin’ without sayin’ goodbye, it tells me you’d rather be left alone.”

She closed her eyes and sighed deeply. “It’s like we’re just going around in a circle forever. I want you to reach out so I leave, you don’t want to overwhelm me so you stay away.”

“It sounds ridiculous when ye put it that way.”

“‘Cause it is ridiculous!” Goldie ran her hands through her hair and groaned. “It’s no wonder I’m struggling so much with your family when I can never figure out if I’m wanted or not! Everyone here makes me feel like I’m trapped in a play without a script. I walked onto the wrong set and they’re all too polite to tell me to leave.”

“Goldie…” Scrooge could feel his heart breaking a little. He could’ve never known she felt like this, and if he had…he would’ve done everything he could to prevent it. “The kids love you. You’re a part of this family, dear.”

“Y’know…you should hear the way your daughter talks about me.” Goldie said suddenly, ignoring his attempt to convince her she was wrong. “She has the lowest expectations of me. Maybe even lower than Bentina’s. Who would’ve thought that was possible?”

“She does not,” Scrooge said roughly, grabbing Goldie’s other hand and turning her to look at him. “Goldie. Webby admires ye, she just doesnae understand ye very well. That’s why I asked ye to try harder with her, that’s all. It’s not ‘cause she doesnae like you!”

“It’s not like you understand me that well, either,” Goldie said quietly, tilting her head. “Which is mostly my own fault. I’ve never been confident enough in our relationship to fully invest myself in it, even though it’s all I’ve thought about for a hundred and twenty years.”

His eyes widened, shocked by that confession.

“I spent so many years thinking you were only interested in me because I offered you a challenge that the idea of domesticity was impossible. You’d get bored and I’d get bored and then we’d be out of each other’s lives for good. And then all these years would’ve been for nothing.” Goldie didn’t seem emotionally invested in what she was saying, almost like she was reading lines out of a book.

Scrooge, on the other hand, was very invested. And a bit upset.

“Goldie, we…we talked about this last year in Florida. I thought you understood my feelings,” he said sadly.

Goldie shook her head and shrugged. “Yeah, well…one good day and one good conversation can’t suddenly fix me. It can’t suddenly make me good at this.”

“I know that! I know. I’ve been givin’ ye plenty of space and plenty of time to adjust. But…” Scrooge squeezed her hands, not wanting to ever let go. “I love ye, dear, and I want ye around.”

“I know you do. I know. But I can’t help it, Scrooge. I’ve spent so long being stupid and anxious about where we stood that’s it gonna take me longer than you want it to.” She pulled her hands out of his grip, placing them in her lap. “We might have to have a lot of weird, emotional conversations on this stupid, comfy bed of yours. And I don’t want to have a bunch of stupid conversations, obviously. But I want to be better. For the kids. And you.”

Scrooge had a big smile on his face, feeling almost giddy. He had all these insecurities about whether or not Goldie would stick around, but she was just nervous. And emotionally traumatized from years of drama, of course. But still…she wanted to stay. That’s all he wanted to hear.

“I’m happy to wait, Goldie. I waited this long, after all.”

She rolled her eyes. “You didn’t have to.”

“You’re worth waitin’ for, dear.”

Goldie’s cheeks turned bright red and Scrooge wondered if she was embarrassed or feeling sick or maybe a little bit of both. She inhaled and exhaled deeply before leaning forward and pressing a small kiss to his beak.

She pulled back and looked straight into his eyes. “I love you.”

Scrooge smiled, blushing lightly. “I love ye, too.”

They stared for a few seconds, both wanting to say more and wanting to just make out and fuck out all their feelings, knowing the feeling of holding or being held by each other would be the perfect end to a weird, weird day.

Goldie kissed him again and Scrooge grabbed her arms, massaging gently. They fell onto the pillows and laid on top of the comforter, kissing and holding each other.

She pulled away and sighed, laying her head against his neck. “I don’t think we should fool around while I’m like this.”

Scrooge chuckled and brushed his fingers through her hair, pulling it free from her ponytail. “No, I dinnae think so, either.”

“I feel weird, still.”

“I know.” He played with her hair, smiling into her forehead. “I hope ye dinnae regret this conversation when you’re back to yourself again.”

“...I hope so, too.”

—

When Scrooge woke up a few hours later, Goldie was gone. He wondered if she was in the bathroom, or if she’d gone to get more to eat or talk to Louie or something, but when he checked his phone, he was greeted by the answer.

Need some time to myself. I’ll be back. XOXO

Scrooge sighed and laid his head back down on the bed.

He thought about the things they’d talked about earlier and pouted, considering his best choice of words. He wanted to get this right and make sure she understood exactly how he felt at that moment.

He decided that what she needed from him was the most honest description of his feelings and quickly typed a response, sending it before he could get nervous about scaring her off.

Miss you already. Come home soon.

After one hundred and twenty three years, she’d probably appreciate it.

REAL HISTORY FACTS:
- Everything written here about Chichén Itza is true! All of Huey's little facts especially
- Even the little fence is accurate I visited Chichen Itza with google maps. Scoured the area. You can get really close on there it's neat
- The archeologist Webby mentioned is based off the real archeologist who did discover a cave under Chichen Itza and did close it back up soon afterwards. Real thing. His name was Victor Segovia Pinto (Euphonia is a type of bird common to the Yucatan peninsula)
- Anytime I think of Goldie going by "mom" I'm reminded that Allison Janney (Goldie's voice actress) was doing a TV show called "Mom" at the same time as DuckTales. Fun facts
- Bats do represent death in Mayan culture. This is also a nice time for me to recommend the cartoon "Maya and the Three" go check it out, it's good
- The legends around Xtabay are interesting and a little varied. She's usually interpreted as a classic Enchants Men And Then Kills Them but I like to expand into more of a...enchants victims with their heart's desire, dulls their senses, lures them into a false sense of security...then kills them! Gotta love people stuck in trances. Anyway that's what I did here

DUCK FRANCHISE REFERENCES:
- Why does Webby still call Scrooge "Uncle Scrooge"? 'Cause in the Duckburg Life podcast, she does exactly that. I think after all she's been through, Webby deserves some status quo normalcy
- You might be thinking "why didn't Dewey come with on the adventure?" Because three kids is enough lol Chapter 50 includes so many characters doing so many things and it just reminds you of how this show has an endless number of characters