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Huey was happy that their mom came back. He was thrilled, really, he was over the moon (pun not intended). And he was nervous, of course, but that was just how he was. This was completely new territory, and he’d never done well with that – with dealing with things that he didn’t have all of the facts for. He didn’t like when things weren’t easily explained, but this was his mom, and he was prepared to try.
Louie… was not.
Huey didn’t notice that anything was off with his youngest brother until they were all gathered in the dining room. He should’ve noticed earlier, really. Normally he would be better than this at reading his siblings, but he’d been thoroughly distracted for the whole day. Your mom coming back from the dead could do that, he supposed, but he still felt like he’d failed at being a brother.
(“Hey, look, don’t get me wrong, of course I’m happy to have mom back.”
“But?”
“But, I dunno. It’s probably my fault. I’ve gone so long without a mom, I guess I don’t really know how to have one?”)
Louie had been painfully unsure, and stuck in his head so much that he apparently felt like it was his fault that he had mixed feelings. It probably didn’t help that everyone else seemed to be adjusting just fine. Dewey especially was absolutely thrilled, and his pure elation had a way of taking up all the attention in the room and leaving no space for anything else. Louie wouldn’t have wanted to put a damper on everyone’s excitement, and so he hadn’t said a single thing about how he was feeling. It was only when he’d been directly asked that Louie brought it up, and Huey was kicking himself for not having attempted a conversation about it sooner. It’s not like they’d been sleeping last night; they could’ve talked then.
But Huey had been stuck in his own thoughts. Him and Louie were similar like that; they got caught up in their own head way too often and far too easily. The difference this time was that while Huey had been working out the logistics of how Della had gotten home and the effects her extended stay on the moon would’ve had on her body, Louie had been thinking about how conflicted he was and how alone he felt in his uncertainty.
Louie didn’t do well with conflict, and he didn’t trust new people quickly. He was cautious, and careful, and he took things slowly. He hated being pushed into things blindly, and feeling like he didn’t have any choices scared him. Huey knew this, and he knew that Louie was sensitive, but that he would feel like he had to make an exception in his boundaries for his mom, and speed up his process and take it all in stride because that’s what family did.
And when he couldn’t seem to swing it, Louie would blame himself.
All the warning signs for an overwhelmed Louie had been there, and Huey had missed it. How could he call himself an older brother – and be proud of that fact – if he wasn’t even there when Louie needed it? If he didn’t even notice when something was wrong?
He’d been ready to talk to Louie about it right there in the dining room, after Uncle Scrooge had gone off looking for Della, but before he could bring it up and apologize for his obliviousness, a giant robotic monster awakened and burst out of their garage. Normal stuff, really, but incredibly inconvenient.
They’d all run outside, and Mrs. Beakley was knocked out, and Mom got up on top of the thing, and Huey and his brothers had pulled out their airhorns for lack of any better ideas. Then Louie had come up with a plan, and they’d executed it, and then Louie almost died. Huey had run over from the houseboat to stand next to Dewey, and he knew that he was too far away to make it to Louie in time to save him.
Huey grabbed onto Dewey’s arm in a tight grip, feeling the tension beneath his shaking hand as they watched the Gilded Man stumble and begin to fall.
Louie looked so small in front of it, his head tilted upwards as he stood frozen in place. Huey could just barely make out his wide eyes and terrified expression as the huge foot of the robot went hurtling towards him at an alarming speed. Huey couldn’t breathe; he felt like he was living in slow motion. Dewey was breathing rapidly and unevenly beside him, like maybe he was living life too quickly to process.
Della got there before the monster’s foot did, and she slammed into Louie at a high velocity, shoving him out of the way just in time for the foot to hit the ground. Huey’s heart gave a painful lurch as the ground below them shook violently, and he struggled to stay on his feet – for multiple reasons.
The Gilded Man fell to its knees, and then lifted a single large hand and aimed it right at his mom and little brother, as if it hadn’t caused enough damage already. The hand came down, and the robot shut down, and clouds of dust billowed in the air and obscured their vision.
There was no noise except the faint sound of his rapidly beating heart in his ears as he stared in horror at the scene before them, Dewey right next to him as silent as he’d ever been. The dust settled.
And there was Louie, sitting beneath the curled hand of the fallen robot, their mother kneeling in front of him, and he was alive; he was okay. Huey took a moment to analyze if his shaky legs would be able to carry him over there well enough, and upon concluding that they probably would, he ran as fast as possible towards the wreckage.
Louie and their mom crawled slowly out from beneath the hand, looking a little dirty and shaken but otherwise alright.
Huey held himself back from crashing into Louie at full speed, but only barely. He threw his arms around Louie’s shoulders as soon as he was close enough to do so, twisting his trembling hands into the back of his brother’s hoodie and closing his eyes tightly as he just took a moment to breathe. Dewey was there a half-second later, wrapping his arms around both of them and nuzzling his head against theirs happily. Huey heard Louie exhale quietly and relax, resting his head briefly on Huey’s shoulder before they all pulled away.
Della was looking at them fondly when he turned to look, a soft smile on her face and something vaguely nostalgic shining in her eyes. Dewey hugged her next, without hesitation, and Huey joined in soon after, sighing as the rest of the tension left his body.
It occurred to him that neither him nor Dewey had gone to hug Della first. They’d been worried, of course, they’d been terrified, but still they’d immediately gone to hug Louie. Huey couldn’t bring himself to regret it, and he wasn’t going to read too much into it, anyways. Della had been back for ten hours, but Louie had been his brother for ten years. Of course he was going to crush his little brother in a hug after almost losing him, and that didn’t mean that he didn’t care about losing Della, because he would honestly be devastated, but the feelings were just stronger and more intense when it came to Louie. And that was okay.
He and Dewey let go of their mom and backed up to stand next to Louie as Scrooge came over carrying Della’s detached leg, seemingly very happy and extremely proud of his niece. Della looked at each of them in turn, called them by their names, and promised that she’d try her best to figure out how to be a mom.
And for now, that was good enough.