Work Text:
When Scrooge agreed to take in Jet and Turbo he didn't think too much about it, it was clear Donald had his hands full and he wanted to help in any way he could. Plus, they were Della's... and he wanted every piece of Della he could have right now, selfish as that sounded. But once Donald left he realized he had no idea how to take care of eggs, or infants, or anything that was younger than the age of ten.
It would be a challenge, but he was Scrooge McDuck and he never backed down from a challenge.
The days until their eggs hatched were quiet: Beakley was busy with her own bairn and anytime Donald came over they did anything but talk. But Scrooge was used to silence, silence was all he had for months after the Spear of Selene. He wasn't sure he was ready for that to change. He wasn't sure he wanted it to stay the same.
The silence ended eventually for better or worse, he needed things for the twins and he didn't know what all they were. Donald ended up being more competent in that store than he did. Donald was made for this, Scrooge wasn't.
But the moment they hatched it was like none of that even mattered. This was just a new kind of adventure, and that was something he was made for.
The first night was hard, the first week even harder, and more than once he had the selfish thought that he shouldn't have taken this on. The first month went by and he found there was nothing else he'd rather be doing. The next month went by and he could hardly believe he had had those selfish thoughts at all. He got the call that the Money Bin was losing profits fast and it all crashed down.
It wasn't more important than the boys, nothing ever would be, but Scrooge knew if he became too vulnerable it would put them in danger. And that wasn't an option. He set up an area for them in his office and promptly got back to work. The area was moved to the living room when they got a little bigger. He stayed in his office.
Finding out he missed their first words put some things in perspective, what was the point of protecting them if he never got to see them? He hired a secretary and entrusted them with the little things. He would never lose sight of what was most important again.
Taking in the twins changed a lot of things for him, he couldn't recall the last time he had spent this much time with his family- as bad as that sounded. He loved his family dearly, and absolutely adored Donald and... Della, but there was a distance there that Hubert and Dewey broke through somehow. It made it easier to make the sacrifices he knew he had to make. It made it easier to talk about things he really didn't want to talk about.
Back before the twins were born he and Donald agreed not to tell them everything about what happened to Della, there was no reason for them to think she didn't want them or have questions they would probably never get the answers to, but that didn't mean they could never talk about her. And if the twins did have questions, well he would just do his best to answer them. Still, he didn't want them to waste all their time wondering about someone who wasn't there, especially since someone was.
He didn't like thinking about his darling niece like that but as far as he was concerned the twins were more his than hers.
But when exactly he started thinking that way he wasn't sure.
He knew he never felt that way about Donald and Della- they were Hortense and Quackmore's kids and he was completely fine with that, but with Huey and Dewey it was almost like it was meant to happen. Not that he believed in that sort of stuff. No, he knew it had something to do with the age he took each pair of twins in at. Even if they were unfortunately similar circumstances Huey and Dewey didn't know their parents and that made it easier. Sometimes too easier.
The decision to take them (and Webby) on their first adventure wasn't something he made easily but he figured if he could start them out early he could better prepare them for any danger that came their way. He could protect them this time. And they were so excited about it, their energy was infectious! They reminded him so much of Donald and Della and for once there was no hurt in his heart because of it.
So of course it wouldn't last.
Ack, what was he thinking?! They were only six! Of course they weren't ready for this! He had never felt so horrible about one of his decisions... besides that one time. And there was the hurt. But, he was Scrooge McDuck and he could bounce back from this! He just had to make more careful decisions when it came to the kids in the future. There were other ways to make sure nothing like that blasted spear ever happened again.
He couldn't protect them from everything -that was the only thing he kept dwelling on. He knew Bentina was right, but that didn't make it easy to come to terms with. The thought of the twins getting hurt, in any way, was one he couldn't stomach. But that didn't change the fact that they would eventually, that they had already, and there wasn't anything he could do to change that. It made him feel helpless in a way he never had before. It made him feel a lot of things he had never felt before, and he didn't know how to deal with them. Feelings, those weren't his forte. But he would figure them out, he had to, he couldn't pull in on himself again- not now. He had to figure out how to process his feelings so he could help the twins process theirs. He had to show them they could come to him with anything.
And they had so far, but they were getting older and he knew from experience they would stop being as open as the years passed. Unless, he curbed that now.
That meant considering something he never had before. Therapy. He knew Donald had been going for years now and the difference still astounded Scrooge, not that he wasn't fine before or that he would've been a bad father by any means, but there was something there that wasn't there before. It was like he finally felt heard. It was all Scrooge wanted for him, really, no matter how little he may have said it. And it was because of that that Scrooge thought about therapy, and made an appointment.
He mostly talked about the twins, something that was happening more and more over the years, and how he wanted to make sure they knew they could come to him when they needed to. The session went well, better than he thought it would, and he came out of it feeling better about things than he had in a while.
He scheduled another appointment.
He kept up with therapy for a while, but then he got too busy and went less and less until he stopped going altogether. But it was fine, by that point he had a good grasp on things, learned how to healthily process his emotions and how to help the twins with theirs. Which is all he really wanted from the whole experience. So it wasn't a loss in his eyes.
The only thing that was a loss was the time going by, it felt like the boys were growing up too quickly. Like just yesterday they were mere babes and now they were almost eight, soon they would be teenagers. Teenagers! But, he couldn't think that far ahead, he just had to focus on the here and now. It was easier said than done. He didn't know how Donald and Bentina did it.
But then again they had always been better at this whole thing than him.
He was learning, everyday he was learning, and he knew they were too, but it felt like they had unlocked something he hadn't. Something that was keeping him from being the best guardian he could be. And he wasn't going to take that sitting down, he was Scrooge McDuck! He solved mysteries, and this one might have been the most important of them all.
It involved the twins- it was definitely the most important of them all.
His first thought was to talk to Donald and Bentina, but when he did they gave him a funny look and tried not to laugh. So that was a bust. It was clearly something obvious as well and it was killing him that he couldn't figure it out. It was like... something wasn't right. Off. And he didn't know how to fix it.
His next thought was just to talk to the twins, but he didn't want to let them know something was wrong. And he knew, he knew! That he just got done with a program that told him to do the exact opposite, but this was different! This was something they weren't supposed to know about. Ever, if he could help it. No, it looked like he was on his own for this one. Oh well, it wasn't like it was the first time. But it was the first time when he was this close with his family, and that might just make the difference.
And normally Scrooge was not this introspective, but, well, some things required it. But why? Why were Huey and Dewey in a different category for him? Why had they been since before they had been born? Why was this the one thing he could not wrap his head around?
What was he not getting?
It was all he thought about until the twins got sick.
It started with Dewey, he always got into stuff he wasn't supposed to, and since the twins were inseparable it wasn't long before Huey got sick as well. He tended to them, because of course he did, and tried his best not to get sick as well. He hadn't in years, he wouldn't break that record, especially not when they were.
Taking care of sick twins was pretty easy all things considered. Maybe it was just because he had experience with it but they never gave him too much trouble. Not that he would mind if they did. No, they were just content to stay in their bed, they always got cuddly when they weren't feeling well, and watch TV or sleep. The only times they really needed him were when they needed food or water. That didn't stop him from staying by their sides during the whole ordeal every time though. He would do it whenever they needed him to, that was what parents-
Oh. He found what was off.
Of course, it made so much sense! No wonder Donald and Bentina wanted to laugh at him! Of course, of course he was their parent. How could he not see it before? He had done everything a parent was supposed to do, yet he never put that label to it. Was it his way of honoring Della?
Della...
His darling niece, who, as much as he hated the thought, was probably dead. He wasn't trying to replace her, but he was there for the twins in a way she couldn't be. Not that he blamed her, he was six years past that. But the fact was that the twins needed someone and he stepped up, he always stepped up. Still, maybe he would let her have this one.
If he was only a parent by name in his mind that was okay. The boys hadn't talked to him about it, so he was left to assume they just saw him as their Uncle. Which was completely fine! Whatever made them comfortable, and if having him as their Uncle and Della as their Mom who wasn't around was what made them comfortable, then that's how it would stay. (It never occurred to him that the reason they never said anything was because they thought he didn't want them to call them that- not until years later.) He would just call himself their parent in his mind, he would give himself that at least.
The twins got better but nothing really changed with his relationship with them. And why would it? He may have called himself their guardian or Uncle but he had always been their parent. But changing that title... it gave him a warmth that nothing else did. It felt right. More right than anything had ever felt before.
Sometimes he couldn't believe how much he loved those two.
Sometimes he couldn't believe that he lived without them for so long. Something had been missing his whole life, and he didn't know it until a few years ago. He thought all he would ever need was his family and his treasures. But even as his family grew, even as he amassed riches, he was still missing something. And he never noticed until he had it...
Scrooge never wanted to be a Dad. But he wouldn’t trade it for the world.