Chapter Text
Louie paced back and forth frantically while his now de-aged uncle struggled to find his way out of the over-sized clothes. The image would have been adorable and maybe something worthy of slight blackmail material for the future if Louie wasn’t panicking about how badly a turn his plan took!
“Oh man, oh man, oh man...” He muttered to himself as he tried to think of what to do next. It was a horrible sudden reminder that he hadn’t really thought his plan through.
He was completely fine with there no being a fix when it was him who would be de-aged and needed to be taken care of. Now he was sort of realizing that his family would most likely embark on some sort of quest or adventure to find a way to cure him. After that, he’d probably be grounded for a month if not more!
“Halp! I needs halp! Dewwa!”
“Aw man...that would be too cute any other day.” Louie had to admit to himself. Snapping out of his panic slightly, he knelt and helped his uncle out of his adult clothes. “There...better?” He asked gently.
“Thank ‘ou.” Donald muttered but then wrapped his arms around himself. “No weally. Is cold.” Looking around he frowned before staring up at the other duck before him. “What yous name? Me’s Donal! ...have seen Dewwa? She wook lots wike me!” Donald said happily before he shivered a bit.
Louie grabbed his uncle’s blazer and used it to wrap the young duckling in, and then picked him up. “Hi Donald. I’m Louie. Uh...can you tell me how old you are?”
Donald wiggled in Louie’s hold as he tried to get his hands free and then he held up three fingers in one hand and another finger in the other. “Dewwa and Donal fouw!” But then he looked around and frowned at not seeing any trace of his sister. “Where Dewwa?”
“Uh...” Louie hesitated on how to answer. The way Donald was looking around, a slightly scared expression on his face brought back some memories of himself doing that. He used to do it a lot when they each finally got their own beds instead of sharing one. As much as he liked having his own thing, he was very used and very close to his brothers. Not to mention the night seemed scarier when he was on his own.
Even though he was aware of his uncle and mother being twins, he didn’t think too much of it. But he supposed it made sense that they would have the same strong bond as he and his brothers did.
Seeing more fear slip into his uncle’s face, Louie held him closer and rocked him a little. “Hey, it’s okay. Shh...you’re safe, I promise. I...I know this is scary, but it’s gonna be okay.”
He wasn’t sure if it was going to be okay. In fact, he couldn’t even fathom how much trouble he was going to be in if he was caught. That was a thought for later though, his uncle needed to feel secure. Sneaking out of the garage, by some miracle he’s able to make it to the houseboat. He places his uncle Donald on the hammock and starts to look through some of their old belongings that should be in storage.
“Aha!” He cheers when he finds an old suitcase. It was full of their old baby and toddler stuff. It took a bit of digging but he found Dewey’s old pair of PJs and got the younger duck into them. That at least solved the naked and cold problem.
Now to think of what to do next.
The responsible thing to do was to come clean and ask for help on how to fix this.
That was going to have to wait because Louie heard a stomach growl and it wasn’t his. Looking over he saw the toddler look at him with big, pleading eyes and rubbing his tummy. “Hungy...”
“Four-year-olds can eat solid food right?” He asked his uncle as if he knew. Though the toddler nodded, he pulled out his phone and double-checked on the web just in case.
Louie picked up the toddler and brought him into the kitchen area and sat him down on the floor so he could keep an eye on him. Looking around he debated on what was okay for the toddler to eat. His uncertainty made choosing hard, so in the end, he grabbed some tangerines. Since they were kids his uncle always had them on the houseboat. They were juicy and fresh and very easy to peel. He peeled two and that was enough for now. Louie could go back to panicking about what to do next.
“Louie?”
Louie’s head snapped towards the entrance when he heard his mom’s voice. “Oh crud!”
Donald giggled at Louie’s choice of word, and even though he was moments away from being in trouble...that was just really cute. He didn’t have time to hide his uncle, so he simply begged for him to stay put while he handled the situation.
“Donald? Did Louie stop by here? I could have sworn I saw him with a-Oh! Louie, there you are.” Della said when she was greeted by Louie at the stairs.
“Hi! Uh...what’s up?”
“It’s almost time for bed. The boys said you were having a talk with your uncle, but I thought I saw you running away from the house. Thought I’d check to see if everything was okay?” Della knew that she and Louie still had work to do before they were 100% on the same page. As much as she wanted to come back to her eggs and be accepted as their mother fully she was learning to accept that their mentalities were different. While she had them on her mind all the time she was on the moon, they and the rest of the world had assumed the worst. She had to be patient...not her best virtue, but at least her best practiced one on while away.
“Sure! Everything is a-okay! Dandy even, ya know?” Louie did his best to sound nonchalant and cool about the situation.
Della’s parental instincts immediately kicked in and her eyes narrowed in suspicion. “Where’s your Uncle Donald?”
“...he’s in here. Ya know, having a snack.” It wasn’t a lie.
“Well, I’m sure he wouldn’t mind if his sister came in and wished him goodnight,” Della said and tried to take a step down.
Louie blocked her from doing so by standing in her way with his arms stretched out, “No! You...you can’t! Uh, see thing is...uh....since Storkules Uncle Donald’s been really strict about who comes in and...and I think that’s just something we should respect, ya know?”
“Louie. What’s going on?” Della asked as she knelt down and tried to get a view inside.
“Nothing!” Louie tried to insist.
“Momma?”
Both Louie and Della stilled. Louie turned around and saw his toddler uncle at the foot of the stairs staring up at them. Louie was already scrambling to explain himself, tears of frustration and guilt forming as he knew he was in trouble and rightly so.
Whatever form of yelling he expected didn’t come however. Looking up at his mom, he saw a pained and still somehow soft expression as she made her way down the stairs and picked up toddler Donald.
The toddler in turn furrowed his brow as he got a better look at the woman who was holding him. He crossed his arms and huffed, “Twick! No momma!”
“I...no. I...Oh god, Donald.” She breathed and held the toddler close as she tried and failed to fight back tears.
Donald fussed and wiggled until Della had no choice but to set him down. He looked between Louie and Della and his bill began to quiver because he was scared! He didn’t know them! He didn’t know where he was! “I wan’ go home! To momma and daddy! An’ Dewwa! Now!”
“Hey, it’s okay little dude...” Louie tried to calm him down.
It seemed like his uncle’s anger issues stemmed way back. He could see a temper tantrum about to come on and he could guess it wasn’t going to be pretty.
But before he could explode, his mom knelt in front of toddler Donald and grabbed his hand. It confused both Louie and Donald for a second, and then Donald's face shifted to slightly more confusion and then wonder as his mom traced something in the palm of his uncle’s hand.
Toddler Donald looked up with wonder and confusion as he asked, “Dewwa?”
Della smiled sadly but nodded, “Yeah, Donnie...it’s me.”
Donald’s bill quivered a bit more, then he began to hit and punch at Della but it didn’t have the anger that had been building up before. “You meanie! You’s old! No fair, no fair, no fair!”
“Hey. Ow, okay...hey, look. It’s okay Donnie. It’s okay!” Della tried to soothe him.
Donald jumped back and glared at Della, eyes glistening with tears that streamed down his face. He stomped his feet and had his hands balled into fists at his sides, “It no kay! Dewwa gwow up wiffou’ Donal! Das no how posed go! We posed to go togatha! Das wha’ twins posed do!” Then he fell back on his butt and began to cry, “You’s leave me! Is no fair!”
Though she didn’t know how it came to be, she got the impression that Donald didn’t have the memories passing the age his body was at, at the moment. He didn’t mean to hurt her, he wasn’t aware of the events with the Spear of Selene. She’d been so focused on the pain she caused for leaving and the consequences of not being there for her sons, she hadn’t paid that much attention to the fact that she left Donald behind too.
Her twin.
She pulled him back into her arms, even as he struggled a bit. Eventually, he just clung to her and cried, and she joined him.
Louie felt very awkward, as if he was intruding in a moment he wasn’t invited to.
Before he could make his escape or excuse himself, Dewey alerted them of his presence, Huey and Webby not too far behind.
“Whoa, no way! Was there a fourth brother? And are those my old pjs!?”