Chapter Text
Donald woke up to crying. He usually woke up to crying these days, it wasn't unusual. That didn't mean he liked being woken up at 3:00 in the morning by three crying ducklings, though. He grumbled. They were a little over a year old, shouldn't they have grown out of the crying phase by now? Maybe he was encouraging them by always responding to them, he wasn't sure. He'd read a bunch of parenting books, but still felt out of his depth.
He wasn't supposed to be the one dealing with this, that should've been Della's job. But Della's corpse was floating through space somewhere, so that left just him to deal with her kids.
A particularly loud shriek shook Donald out of his spiraling thoughts.
Right. Three crying ducklings. He should probably deal with that.
Donald got out of his hammock and made his way over to the haphazard nursery he'd cobbled together. The three ducklings were wailing like banshees (Donald would know, he'd fought a few) in the small crib he'd found on the beach and manged to fixed up.
Donald grabbed on of the babies (red pj's: Huey, if he remembered right. He'd have to check the chart again) and began rocking him. The one in blue (Dewey. He knew this because blue and dew rhymed) let out a wail at the injustice of not getting picked up as well. Donald quickly shifted Huey to one side and picked up Dewey, who calmed right down as soon as he was in Donald's arms.
By his count, that only left Louie, who-
Wasn't crying. Nope, he was just babbling gibberish to nobody.
Huh. Weird.
Well, Donald knew better than to look a gift horse in the mouth. He continued to rock Huey and Dewey, who quickly calmed down and fell asleep. He hadn't even had to bust out the song, this time. Nice.
He turned to look at Louie, who was still holding a conversation with the air. He looked like he was enjoying himself. He was still pretty loud, though.
Donald put Huey and Dewey back down and smoothed the feathers on Louie's head to get his attention. "Louie," He cooed. "Come on, it's night-night time."
Louie looked up and babbled to him.
Donald smiled. "Oh, are you not sleepy?"
Louie rocked himself and spouted more gibberish. It was adorable, Donald would've recorded it if he had the camera on him.
Donald rubbed Louie's head. "Well I'm sure that's a good point, but your brothers are tired." And so am I. "Can you go night-night for me?"
Louie frowned at him and continued babbling louder. Donald sighed and went to grab him. Louie suddenly snapped his head to the left and stopped babbling. He looked into space, as though he was paying attention to somebody else, then curled up with his brothers and went to sleep. Donald looked around, and saw nobody else in the room. He went to the window (which was on the side opposite that Louie had been looking), and saw nobody there either.
Okay, that was definitely creepy. Had something died and started haunting the houseboat? That wouldn't be fun, he hadn't exorcised a specter since before the Navy. Regardless, it had helped him get the kids to sleep (never mind that it was probably the reason they'd been up in the first place).
Eh, he could deal with it in the morning. Right now he was tired. Donald slowly crept out of the nursery and turned back to get one last look at the kids. They were sleeping peacefully again.
He stopped at the door and sighed. "Um, thanks, whoever you are." He went back to his room and got back into his hammock. He couldn't remember if he'd sold the ghost hunting kit last week, or the yeti hunting kit. Even if he had, would it be that bad? The ghost (If that's what it was) was apparently good with kids, at least. Would it be that bad to have some extra help? Donald's thoughts drifted off as he fell asleep.
And when he woke up in the morning, the encounter at 3:00 had been completely forgotten.
----0----
Louie stuck his tongue out in concentration. This next move would be the most important thing of his entire life. He grabbed the block on the floor, and lifted it up towards the others...
When suddenly Dewey crashed into his block tower, and it crashed to the ground.
"Haha!" Dewey laughed. "Boom!"
"No!" Louie shrieked in outrage. "No boom!" He hucked his block at Dewey.
Before Dewey could retaliate, Huey got between them. "No! Stop! No more!"
"He hurt me!" Dewey cried.
Louie was about to defend himself when he heard the door open. "Boys, stop fighting." Their Unca appeared in the room, glaring at them.
The triplets stopped fighting and turned meekly towards him. "Yes, Unca Donald," They all said simultaneously.
Unca Donald smiled. "Thank you. I want you three to meet someone, so can you be on your best behavior?"
They looked at each other. Could they be?
"Boys?" Donald prompted them.
They nodded as they came to a silent agreement with each other. The triplets turned to Donald as one and lifted their arms into the air.
Donald laughed. "Really? Bribing me for uppies? You kiddos are getting too old for this." But he picked them up anyways, removing the block Huey was chewing on from his mouth. Donald took them down the stairs and to the living room, where an old lady was sitting. "Alright boys, this is Agnes. She'll be babysitting you today."
The old lady smiled. "Oh, are these the little sweeties? Hello, little boys."
"Alright," Donald set them on the ground. "Now can you boys show her what we practiced and introduce yourselves to her?"
"Wass' In-tow-doose?" Dewey asked him.
Donald gave him a patient smile. "It's when you say hi to somebody, and tell them your name."
"Oh! Okay!" Dewey turned to the lady, eager to show her what he knew. "Hi! I'm Dewey!"
"I'm Huey!" Huey waddled up to her and shook her hand.
Louie clung to his Unca Donald's legs. He didn't like this woman. Donald gently rubbed his head. "Louie?" He asked. "Can you introduce yourself too?"
"...I'm Louie." Louie muttered after a moment.
The lady smiled at them. "Oh, what wonderful names! I'm Agnes,"
"We knew dat." Louie said.
"Well, just because you know somebody doesn't mean you can't introduce yourself to them." She smiled sweetly.
"Oh," Louie said. He didn't know that.
"Alright, well I need to go to work, I'll see you boys tonight!" Donald ruffled Louie's head feathers and put him with his brothers. "Make sure they stay out of the kitchen, and keep them inside, alright?" Donald addressed the lady.
"Yes, yes, I understand." Agnes nodded her head. Donald, content with the state of things, headed out to work. Louie frowned. He hated it when he left.
---
It didn't take long for Agnes to fall asleep. Louie had hoped that that would mean free reign for he and his brothers, but she'd unfortunately had the foresight to place them in the playpen before she fell asleep. With nothing better to do, Huey and Dewey had fallen asleep soon after as well. Louie, however, couldn't get to sleep. He would've loved to (nap-time was his favorite time), but he didn't feel safe without his Unca Donald around.
Or his friend. She'd been around for as long as he could remember, but everyone else ignored her. Louie was the only one who didn't, and he didn't get why. She was nice, and funny, and really kind. Though she'd leave sometimes, like Unca Donald. Unlike Unca Donald, however, she'd never talk about where she went. She didn't tell him a lot of things, really. Did she even have a name? Louie didn't remember her telling him it.
But that wasn't his fault, she'd never introduced herself!
Well, Louie hadn't either, come to think of it. As he was thinking this, a gust of wind turned his head. His friend had come, and she was floating near Huey and Dewey! Louie eagerly waddled over to her. She floated down so that her face was level with his. "Hey Lou-bear, how ya doing?" She said softly.
Louie squealed and shoved his hands into her face. She was the only person he knew who had a face you could stick your hands in. Everyone else always made a big fuss about it.
His friend laughed. He liked her laugh. "Do you enjoy my lack of a corporeal form?" He didn't what any of those words meant, but he liked the way she said them. He should know her name.
Louie plopped down. Maybe if he introduced himself, she'd do the same? "Hi!" He waved at her. "I'm Louie!"
She cocked her head. "Uh, yeah, I know that already, sweetie."
Okay, maybe she didn't get it. That was fine, he could be patient for her. "Hi, I'm Louie." He said slower.
"Um. Okay?"
Louie frowned. Now she was just being silly. "Hi. I'm. Louie." He pointed at her. "Now you."
Realization dawned on his friend's face. "Oh, are you introducing yourself to me?"
Louie nodded fiercely. She finally got it! "Uh huh! Now you."
"Okay." His friend took a deep breath. "Hello," She started. "I'm... Mom."
"Mom?" Louie echoed.
She smiled sadly. She was good at making happy actions look sad. He didn't think much of it. "Yeah, Mom."
Louie smiled. He finally had her name! "Hi Mom!"
"Hi Louie," She breathed, her milky white eyes shinier than usual. She took a deep breath and shook her head. "Well, now that introductions are out of the way, how are you!"
"Bored," Louie sighed.
Mom laughed. "Oh yeah? Why don't you sleep?"
Louie grumbled. "Can't," He said simply.
Mom looked around at everyone else who was sleeping. She turned back to him. "Would you like the song?" She asked.
Louie brightened. "Yeah! Yeah!" He cried.
Mom smirked. "What's the magic wo~ord?"
"Pleeeeease?"
"Okay, well get comfortable. It only works if you're lying down."
Louie snuggled up to his brothers, and Mom began to sing. He loved the song.
(Eventually, he told Unca Donald about her. Louie didn't understand why he got sad when he mentioned her name)