one day soon there'll be nothing left of you and me

Summary: Goldie goes back to Dawson.

Word count: 2109

Warnings: None

1897; White Agony Creek -> Dawson

Goldie opened her eyes slowly, staring up at the ceiling and feeling so tired and exhausted and sore. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She opened them up again and turned her head.

Scrooge was fast asleep. He looked so calm and peaceful that it was almost agitating, but Goldie found herself unable to look away.

She was still embarrassed about what had happened the day before. She’d been humiliatingly heartbroken over his rejection, only to have him take it back a few hours later. What a confusing man.

But their time together had been so much nicer than she ever could’ve expected. He confessed to being a virgin and she told him she could tell. She told him to let the lady lead, and he was completely willing and happy to do just that. He even admitted at one point that she was his first kiss, and Goldie felt her heart do a backflip over that for literally no reason.

He’d been a fast learner and he treated her so, so gently. Sad as it was, she’d never been treated so gently in her entire life. It wasn’t the best sex she’d ever had, but it was nice and he was so interested in what she wanted him to do and watching her work, and he even watched her as she finished herself off at the end. Goldie wondered if he’d been mentally taking notes.

Goldie turned away from his sleeping face and glared at the ceiling. She was getting way too emotional about one night of awkward sex with a handsome virgin. Well. No-longer-a-virgin. Either way, she knew she needed to get out of there and get back to Dawson. Hoping not to wake him, she slid out of the bed and walked to the kitchen to grab her dirty clothes from the day before.

Scrooge woke up as Goldie was finishing getting dressed. She buttoned the last button on her shirt and glanced up, briefly making eye contact before turning away and walking back towards the door.

He realized she was planning to go and quickly jumped up to grab his clothes and get dressed as well. “Wait, Goldie...you can’t go alone! I’ll...I'll take ye back to Dawson.”

Goldie looked at him over her shoulder and then back at the kitchen. The kitchen she’d probably never see again. “...so you want me to leave, then?”

Scrooge stared at her uncomfortably as he closed his belt. It almost felt like she was trying to trap him, but he didn’t know for sure. Sending someone away after having sex with them was probably bad form, but… “Well...don’t...don’t you want to leave?”

She didn’t turn to look at him, staring directly at the cabin door instead. “...obviously.”

They stood there in silence for a good twenty seconds. Neither one wanted to address the elephant in the room. They weren’t going to talk about what had happened and they both knew it and they were both completely disappointed with each other and themselves.

Scrooge finally moved to collect the few things he needed to go into town and buy supplies. Goldie just continued to stand there feeling annoyed with herself.

She wondered if wild animals had torn up her bag. With Scrooge’s help, she wouldn’t desperately need it to get back to town, but she’d miss the pair of pants she had in there.

While he was finishing up, Goldie decided to go outside and try to find her bag so it wouldn’t slow them down when they started moving. She wandered around for a minute - the footprints in the snow were a very specific reminder of everything that happened. Soapy’s footprints were so much larger than hers and Scrooge’s and it was odd to look at them side-by-side.

She finally spotted her bag and was happy to see it hadn’t been touched. It was freezing, of course, but a quick survey of the contents told her that nothing had made its way inside or out. Goldie smiled, happy that one thing was going right for her at least.

“Goldie?!” Scrooge shouted as he rushed out of the cabin.

Goldie turned around to stare at him, not expecting his scream. They made eye contact and he breathed a sigh of relief.

“I was, uh...getting my bag,” Goldie said, holding it up in front of her. “Left it out here yesterday.”

Scrooge blushed a bit and frowned, clearly embarrassed by his overreaction. He nodded and looked towards the path to Dawson. “Ready to leave?”

She stared at his profile and tried not to be amazed by the way the sunlight glowed around him every time he stood outside. “...yeah.”

---

Their journey back to Dawson was almost completely silent. The only time they spoke was when Goldie tripped and Scrooge caught her arm to help her back upright - bringing her face closer to his. They made eye contact for a second longer than they should’ve.

Goldie huffed and turned away from him, taking a few extra steps forward so she wouldn’t have to look at his face anymore. Scrooge just watched her walk and frowned.

He couldn’t stop thinking about what had happened between them. He couldn’t stop thinking about how when he thought she’d been really hurt, he’d killed Soapy and then she...she kissed him and did all sorts of things to him that he’d never experienced before. He felt his heart swell when he stared at the back of her head. He kept seeing flashing images of all her expressions and the way her hair had whipped around while she…

Scrooge blushed and stared down at his feet. He had to stop thinking about it. Goldie going back to Dawson was for the best, even if they had almost reached some kind of...agreement in their relationship. She would be too much of a distraction if they stayed together. Even if they just got together every once in a while, it’d be too distracting. How could he help his family or become the richest duck in the world if his mind kept wandering back to...last night?

He glanced up at her again and then glared down at the ground. First she was dangerous as a temptress. Then she was dangerous as a thief. Then she was dangerous as a troublemaker. And now...now she was dangerous as...as someone he could almost imagine as…

Scrooge shook his head. Thinking about the danger was making it even worse.

While Scrooge was going through his internal crisis, Goldie was having one of her own.

She’d spent years perfecting the art of sex without feelings. Of making men fall in love with her without ever learning their names. Of using her body and her charm to get what she wanted or needed without suffering any immediate consequences.

And all of that fell apart in one month. One stupid, stupid month that could’ve been easily avoided if she’d just ignored the cute Scottish miner and his cute stupid face and his rough but gentle hands, and she couldn’t believe she’d messed up so badly.

Scrooge McDuck was just another guy. He was some foreigner that barged his way into her life and decided to mess everything up for her! She was completely saddled with feelings and emotions and why did the sound of his voice make her cheeks turn pink? Why did the thought of his hands on her skin make her shiver?

He was just some guy.

Goldie glanced back at him while they were walking and saw him staring down at his feet. The sad look on his face both annoyed her and made her want to kiss him and she whipped her head away from him in agitation.

The hours of uncomfortable silence weighed on her shoulders. Everything just felt...heavy. Goldie knew she should say something to him about what happened. About his lack of trust and Soapy’s attack (and death?) and then...yeah. There was a lot to talk about and obviously neither one of them wanted to do it.

She felt herself almost speak to him at least two dozen times, and every time her brain cut her off with the thought ‘he doesn’t want to talk about it.’

So they’d had sex. Even though it was his first time, that didn’t mean it was a big deal. Maybe Scrooge didn’t think it was significant. Maybe she’d make a fool out of herself trying to turn it into something more than it was. Maybe she was already making a fool out of herself by spending all these hours thinking about him and his feelings.

Their eyes lit up at the glow of Dawson’s bustling nightlife in the distance. Only another hour and they’d reach town - Goldie could have her saloon and her bed and a real haircut to fix the mess she was currently stuck with...and Scrooge would be free of her.

She glanced over to see his little feet waddling faster, clearly excited to be rid of her.

---

It was the perfect time of night for making money when they arrived - somewhere around 9 PM. Goldie’s heart raced at the thought of seeing her bustling business filled with customers happy to see her. She probably looked and smelled like shit, but so did everyone in this town, so who would complain?

Scrooge was a few steps ahead of her. He stopped as they arrived at the Blackjack. Goldie stepped into place next to him and her breath caught in her throat.

It was dead.

There were no sounds coming from the saloon - no customers, no fighting, no singing, no music, no nothing. A light was on, so clearly they hadn’t closed for the night. From where they were standing it seemed that a month of the owner's absence had led to the depreciation of her only source of income.

Goldie’s stare quickly shifted into a glare as she turned to the man next to her, shoving him in the chest. “I can’t believe this!”

Scrooge almost lost his balance at her shove. He stared at her incredulously. “Huh?”

“My saloon is practically dead! If we hadn’t been dawdling around for weeks then I could’ve been back here sooner to save it!” Goldie looked down the road to see one of the other saloons in town with a pretty definite crowd outside. “Even the Horseshoe Saloon is doing better than my Blackjack! Damnit, Scrooge!”

His temper flared as Scrooge realized she was somehow blaming him for this, despite the fact that her absence was one hundred percent her own fault. He wanted to scream back at her, keep the fight going and call her a bunch of terrible names and remind her that she was the cause of her own misery, but... he just sighed and glared down at the snow again.

He didn’t want to fight her. Not after everything they’d gone through. Not after the night they’d had together. Scrooge really thought things had changed.

But Goldie and her stubbornness proved him wrong once again. He didn’t respond to her angry ramblings with anything more than a hardened glare before walking off towards the nearest general store to grab some supplies.

Goldie watched him go and felt tears prick at her eyes. She gasped at her own stupidity and rushed into her saloon and up the stairs, ignoring the cries of the few girls working when they noticed her.

Her room was dusty. Her things had clearly been gone through. Definitely some makeup and jewelry were stolen. And if she was being completely honest? She didn’t care. She didn’t care about any of that at the moment.

“...Goldie?” Snake-Hips said quietly from the other side of the door. “I-I’m glad to see you’re okay...you are okay, aren’t you?”

Goldie exhaled loudly and shook her head. “I’m fine! Just need to get some sleep!”

“Um...alright…” Snake-Hips answered. “Do you need anything…?”

“I need you to let the girls know that tomorrow we’re all working twice as hard to make sure the Horseshoe never has a bigger crowd than us ever again!”

There was a pause before Snake-Hips said, “yes, ma’am!” and scurried back downstairs.

Goldie took another deep breath, listening to make sure no one was there, and leaned against her door, sliding down until her butt hit the floor. Tears began to fall as she started to sob, feeling pathetic as she let out a hiccup.

She didn’t want Scrooge to hate her. She didn’t want to hate him. But those were probably the last words they’d ever say to each other and thanks to her, they were all terrible.

REAL HISTORY FACTS:
- The Horseshoe Saloon is a real Dawson City saloon from the gold rush! The Blackjack is not but it's fine

DUCK FRANCHISE REFERENCES:
- Scrooge decided that Goldie would be "too much of a distraction" is a Rosa reference also