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Goldie had never been fond of adventures that involved so much work; she abided by the law of short-term plans and long-term profits. It came with its own set of scrapes, but she often managed to escape them.
The duckling seated in front of her, on the contrary, was a planner at heart, and spent hours and hours just trying to find the best solution, all the while saying that ‘the perfect scheme is practically impossible'. It was a little ridiculous at times, and sometimes she wished they could go with the flow instead.
But not always.
She found it pretty adorable when Louie would scrunch up his face while thinking, and a now familiar tinge of pride when the boy would ask about her opinion on the 'revised and nearly flawless scheme'.
And even if the schemes, of course, were never 'nearly flawless’, this was where the lady's expertise usually came in, saving them from imminent danger. Louie was improving too.
(“And you say that planning is Shortie’s work,” Goldie had laughed, ruffling the boy’s hair fondly. Louie huffed at her in response.
‘Shortie’ had become Huey’s name ever since the oldest triplet kept complaining that Dewey had grown an inch taller than him. Louie was still the shortest of the three, but he didn’t seem to care.
“It’s ‘scheming’, Aunt Goldie. Planning’s boring.”
“Schemes are always plans but plans aren’t always schemes, Sharpie.”
“Ugh you’re talking like Uncle Donald,” Louie grumbled, stretching his arms out in front of him, and Goldie smirked. Because if Louie was changing the topic, he knew she was right.)
But this time, they had managed to come out of a gala unscathed, with the loot on their hands, and she noticed he was grinning. Like a cheshire cat .
“We made it!” the boy laughed, falling back onto his mattress. “See Aunt Goldie? I did it!” And then he cackled maniacally, or so he thought, for Goldie could clearly hear him chortling like a toddler.
She felt a little pride bubble up when he began to recall the events of the day excitedly, telling her about each and every success.
“I did it! I made a nearly flawless scheme!” he giggled again, and Goldie chuckled.
“Well, yeah, you did. I’m proud of you kiddo.”
Louie suddenly sat up on hearing this, beamed at her from ear-to-ear and then fell back onto his bunk. Goldie shook her head fondly at his behaviour.
“Now get some sleep. This train reaches Duckburg in 5 hours and I’m not handling a half-asleep teenager all the way to McDuck Manor.”
"But I'm not sleepy ," Louie pouted, and Goldie climbed onto her bunk after tucking him in.
Putting her purse beside her, she snorted. "Well I'm sleepy. And if you're going to be asleep tomo-" she yawned here, "tomorrow, I'm sure your mother would love to pick you up from the train station with 3 suspicious bags."
"Pfft yeah right, I know you're just as eager to meet Uncle Scrooge as he is to meet you."
"Goodnight Llewellyn."
Louie snickered here, and turned towards the wall, eyes still wide open.
There was a silence of about a minute before the green-clad duckling spoke again.
"Hey Aunt Goldie?"
"I'm pretty sure the people beside our bunks want to sleep as much as I do, kiddo."
"Can we divide it 50-50?"
"We already decided I was getting two thirds. Now sleep."
"Ugh please?"
"No. And I'm tired so sleep."
"Is it 'cause of your old bones?" Louie teased, but no-one responded. He sat up and looked towards her. "Aunt Goldie?"
Silence.
Either that meant she was asleep, or she was faking it. So Louie mumbled something under his breath and shut his eyes, eventually giving in to his drowsiness.
They reached McDuck Manor quite early in the morning. She showed him a secret path to a corridor close to Scrooge's bedroom, and Louie would have been impressed if it weren't for his absolute confusion.
"Okay, Sharpie, now slide this wall to the side."
Louie did as he was told, carefully sliding it across the floor. And when he saw the first ray of sunlight through the other end, his face lit up.
"It works!" he gasped, and Goldie could already see the gears turning in his head as he analysed the uses of this new discovery.
"Of course it does," she muttered under her breath, "Now shut it or Benny will kick us out."
"My mouth or the wall?"
"Both."
There was a brief pause as Louie slid the wall back to its original position. He tucked his hands in his pockets.
"...Who's Benny?"
"Bentina. The nickname annoyed her the last time I was here so it stuck."
"Oh."
Walking in silence, the only sound being their padded footsteps, the two of them travelled with their bags towards Scrooge's room. They met Duckworth on the way, but the butler and the con artist were always quite amiable, so their presence was kept confidential.
When they finally reached Scrooge's chamber, the man was already waiting at the door. Louie waved at him, showcasing a bag as if it were a new display at a museum.
Goldie rolled her eyes.
"I see you got the loot," Scrooge said, patting the boy on the head.
"And it was all 'cause of my scheme, right Aunt Goldie?" And when neither of them heard a response, Louie crossed his arms, and Scrooge let out a good-natured chuckle.
"She could've at least admitted it was my scheme before she left," the boy whined.
"Aye, that's Goldie for you. Now get along and meet the others, they've been wondering where you've been," his uncle told him, and the boy huffed indignantly. And soon, Louie was on his way towards the other end of the manor, his eyes fixed on the screen of his phone.
"I'll talk to him later," Scrooge laughed to himself, and then leaned against the door. He didn't even bother to look behind him when he said, "Lass, I know you're in my room."
"Shut up and wipe that grin off your face." Goldie stepped up behind him, lightly whacking him on the head.
Scrooge turned around to meet her eyes. "You're proud of him," he said softly, "You told him that, right?"
"I did." Her cheeks tinted a shade of pink when he tucked a loose strand of her hair. "He knows all the basic laws of cons now."
"I'm not sure if I should be happy or upset that the richest duck in the world's nephew is turning into a professional conman."
"Happy." Goldie's firm answer startled Scrooge, for he had been merely joking, and he looked at her questioningly. She let out a sigh. "He wants to make Louie's Kids a real thing."
"So you and the lad have been playing Robin Hood this entire time? I would have funded it for him!"
"He wants to do it on his own, Scrooge, without people thinking he's doing it because he can afford it." On his confused expression of 'why didn't you tell me about this?', she continued.
"Louie told me not to tell you, and yesterday he said he was going to inform you about this. I'm just telling you what to expect so you don't end up accidentally screaming at him."
"I wouldn't scream at h-" her glare silenced him, and he ducked sheepishly. "Fine, I would."
Placing her hand on his arm, her smile was one of so many emotions Scrooge could probably never comprehend.
"Goldie?"
"Hmm?"
"Thank you." Goldie nodded once in response, resting her head on his shoulder, and they fell into a comfortable silence.
It was going to be okay.
The con artist left soon enough without greeting the rest of the family, for she had matters to attend to back in Dawson. But for some reason, the cheshire grin on Louie's face never got wiped away.
Donald suspected it had to do something with the previous day's escapade. But he never said anything, except that he would wait and find out.
"Maybe it's because he's happy to be home?" Della offered an explanation, but even she didn't believe herself.
The reason was found out within a few hours, and the twins crouched near the door, eavesdropping on Louie's conversation. Goldie's voice was muffled by the speaker, but they managed to overhear a little of it.
And then they exchanged grins, proud and amused, because all they knew was that somehow, Louie had snagged the entire loot from behind Goldie's back. And while she scolded the boy for pulling her own trick on her, Louie chortled gleefully.
"I won," he whispered when he put down the receiver.
Sure, he was still working towards making ‘Louie’s Kids’ a reality until he could legally work, but sometimes, you can have several objectives at once. Because the scheme had never really been looting the rich people at the gala, or grabbing the treasure from the Castle of the Kings in the first place.
It had been to con one of the greatest con artists he knew; the person who he fondly called ‘Aunt Goldie’.
That was really why he had convinced her to go on the trips; not only because he could improve his own plans through different perspectives, but also to study the way his aunt worked. To be able to understand how to play her own game against her. He would get an earful the next time they would meet, but it would be worth it.
A grin split across his face. Realisation dawned upon his features.
Because he had pulled the perfect scheme.