Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Donald Duck was dead.

When the first anniversary had snuck up on the family, everyone took notice. It was the first anniversary of him going missing and never returning to their lives again. The family had patiently awaited a month for him to return from his cruise he had never gone on, to have him finally reunited with his sister. But, then the Moon Invasion happened.

They had been so caught up for the four days it happened, that they completely forgot that Donald should have returned ages ago. Della had tried to run off with the boys during the fight, hoping to hide them away so that they could live to see another day. Of course, they saw right through her, and they ended up crash landing on a sandbar in the middle of the ocean when they fought for control of the Sunchaser. She supposed she should have been surprised when Gladstone and Fethry showed up on the back of a huge shrimp, after the event but she really wasn’t in the end.

“We were just in the area, when we noticed your plane and saw the crash.” Gladstone answered to her inquiry about how they had appeared in the middle of nowhere.

She raised a disbelieving eyebrow at the words. Gladstone finally sighed, before clearing up everything. “More like I was scooping the area for hot beach destinations.”

That seemed to be more believable, and they quickly headed back to Duckburg in order to finally return to the battle at home. Back to rescue their Uncle Scrooge from a terrible fate.

After the fight against the Moon Invasion, the Moon people began to be incorporated into the city of Duckburg and nearby St. Carnard with the help of Della Duck. The two cities were bursting from the seams with the new citizens that now inhabited the space. On the same day they had decided to do so, Penny and Della finally had a proper conversation with one another for the first time in months.

“Penny!” Della cried out through the crowd of their new friends.

Penny turned away from one of her alien friends. A surprising smile graced her features, as the duck approached. Della found the smile to be infectious, excited that her roommate was able to be here. “Della Duck!”

Della reached out, as though wanting to hug in a greeting, before she hesitated. Penny rolled her eyes, pulling her into a hug of her own accord. “I don’t hate you, you know.”

Della hugged her back firmly, smiling wide. “I knew it!”

“Oh, shut up...” The alien pulled away, putting her at arm’s distance. Her eyebrows suddenly furrowed as she stared at her friend. Della had never seen such an expression on her face. “I believe I owe you an apology.”

“What for?”

“I...I didn’t realize that he...he was planning on taking over your planet before it was too late...” She looked haunted, deep in thought. “I’ve known Lunaris for 16 years and I never knew he planned on doing any of that...”

She received a smile in return, watching the tears well in her friends eyes. “I’m really glad you’re not a war hungry monster, too.”

“What? You’re not furious at me?”

“Of course not! I’m just glad you weren’t trying to also kill me!”

Penny glanced away in a panic. “Uhhhhh....”

“Whose this now?” Scrooge approached them, raising any eyebrow at the close pair.

“Oh, Uncle Scrooge, this is Penny! We were roommates on the moon!”

Penny looked back up, studying the older duck, nodding curtly. “You must be the great Scrooge McDuck. Della told us all many tales about your adventures....to be honest though, I had thought she had made many of them up.”

“You did?!” Della cried out in shock. “Why would I even lie to you about that?”

Penny glanced away. “I...may have been jealous of the way you seemed to win over the people of my planet and thought that your stories were a manipulation in doing so.”

Scrooge raised an eyebrow at that. “I believe I should leave you two to catch up.”

“Wait, sir,” Penny found herself reaching out to the older duck, hesitating to touch his hands, before she clasped them behind her back instead. “I simply wish to apologize for all the damages and to...to offer my condolences for your loss.”

“My wh-?” Scrooge seemed bewildered by the words and Della frowned in confusion as well. Before he could finish his sentence though, the children had gathered around them in visible excitement.

“Ohhhhh! You must be Penny!” Webby approached the alien excitedly. “I’m Webby!”

Penny stared at the hand offered, frowning. Della leaned over to her, whispering. “You grab her hand and shake it.”

She flushed at the words, grabbing Webby’s offered digit. “I knew that...Greetings, Webby, I am Penumbra, from Planet Moon.”

The young duck squinted at her. “The moon isn’t a planet.”

“That’s what I said!” Della agreed and Penny pulled away her hand with a angry frown. “Oh, don’t be like that!”

Penny noticed the triplets approaching her as well, looking on in awe at her presence. She was startled when they all began to ask several questions at once. She backed up slightly in a mild panic at the onslaught and thankfully Webby interrupted them a brief moment later. “Hold on, you guys!”

They paused, staring at her with raised eyebrows, before Webby continued. “I want to ask questions, too!”

Della simply laughed as Penny was continued to be bombarded ruthlessly by the four ducks.
*

Later, when things had calmed, the people of the moon were awaiting Penny to take them to the open apartments they were invited to occupy. The warrior had embraced Della tightly, pulling away after a moment. “I want to offer condolences for your loss as well.”

Della’s smile dropped and she titled her head to the side. “My loss? What are you talking about?”

“I know it’s hard to talk about it now, but...I will listen if you would like me to. It’s the least I can do for you after what my people and I have done.” She pulled away with a curt nod.

The duck looked at her in continued confusion. “Whatever you’re talking about, weirdo.”

“This...’weirdo’...is that how you process grief?”

“Uhhhh...I guess?”

“Well then, I hope you recover well, weirdo.” With that, Penny turned to her people, heading towards town with her head held high, leaving a very lost Della behind. Later on, the pilot would realize what a fool she had been.
*

The week after the aliens of the moon were sent off to their new living quarters paid surprisingly by Scoorge McDuck, things began to return to normal. Or at least as normal as Duckburg could get with an entire new colony amongst their population. They were all certain that the government or some type of organization was going to show up one of these days in response to that event, but they never did. Ms. Beakley shrugged mysteriously when they pondered aloud about it, speaking in a low tone. “Maybe another organization has already taken care of it...”

None of them were sure what that meant, but afterwards Uncle Scrooge told them as well that wasn’t a worry anymore for them. They weren’t sure how he was so confident in that knowledge, but he kept his mouth zipped shut no matter how hard they pushed the subject. They finally decided to move on from that. By this point two weeks had passed and things were slowly coming together. Until something obvious was noticed.

“How come Uncle Donald isn’t back yet?” Huey asked at dinner one day, looking concerned as he voiced the thought in his great-uncle’s direction.

“Well, he’s still on the cruise, lad.” Scrooge answered, flipping to the next page of the newspaper.

“Ummm, it’s been a month and a half now.” Huey answered immediately.

Scrooge lowered the newspaper, frowning. “Noooo, it’s...”

Louie was counting on his fingers, mumbling to himself in an attempt to confirm said theory. His eyes widened and seemed to come to the same conclusion the other two were beginning to get to. Dewey suddenly pounded his hands onto the dining room table, screaming in realization. “Oh my god!”

Della had been frozen in place, lunch forgotten, eyes wide as she realized they hadn’t seen him since she had returned. Louie pulled his hoodie over his head, shaking as Dewey yelled. Huey started to talk a million miles an hour, unable to slow down enough for them to understand. A moment later, Scrooge bellowed into the dining room. “QUIET!”

Everyone paused in their panic, staring at the head of the table. A moment later, Ms. Beakley peaked her head into the dining room. “Is something the matter?”

“Donald is missing.” Della finally breathed out, as the women partly in the room raised an eyebrow at the panic filled room.

“It would seem so.” Scrooge replied. His eyebrows furrowed as he folded up the newspaper.

Ms. Beakley stepped into the room, staring at the anxious faces surrounding her at the dining table. “Andddd, does anyone have an idea as where he would be?”

“Well, uh...the the last time we saw him he was heading out for the cruise. Launchpad said he dropped him off at the bus stop.”

“Then, why don’t we start from there. Mr. McDuck, do you have the cruise line’s phone number?”

“Well, no. I can go find out what it is though.”

“That would be a grand idea,” She turned to boys, whom had finally calmed down a bit by this point. “And boys, when was the last time you heard from your uncle?”

“Actually Bentina, I was the last one to hear from him. He called from a number that I didn’t recognize and said he was going to be back in a month.” Scrooge explained to her, pulling out his phone to scroll through the numbers.

“It would probably be wise if you were to call that number back then.”

Scrooge pressed the phone number from that day awhile back that Donald had called him from, listening to the dial tone. Della frowned, shaking her head. “I can’t believe I didn’t even notice he hadn’t returned. I haven’t seen him for almost eleven years!”

Dewey was beside her chair in an instant, grabbing her hand reassuringly. “Don’t feel bad, Mom! None of us did.”

“Well, I actually did fir-“ Huey began, only for Dewey to elbow him in the ribs. “Ow! Uh, I mean, that’s alright, Mom. None of us did either.”

Della smiled briefly at the boy’s comfort. Scrooge scowled, hanging up his phone with a pained look. “It was just a bunch of static! Couldn’t hear a bloody thing!”

“Well, that’s certainly odd. Perhaps you should call the cruise line as the next step.” Ms. Beakley mused, frowning at what was spoken.

Scrooge grumbled to himself as he looked through his phone. “I’m sure the lad just decided to extend his vacation. He’s been a wee bit stressed lately.”

“Has anyone even told him that I’m back?” Della questioned, frowning at Scrooge’s carelessness.

“I tried to in my postcard, but it was just sent back.” Huey answered.

“What? Why was it returned?”

“I don’t know. I just assumed it would be difficult to get since he’s in the middle of the ocean. He doesn’t have his phone out there, so I just assumed that he would call one of us when he had the chance. Uncle Scrooge said he did, so I wasn’t too worried, but now I kinda am.” Huey confessed, fiddling with his hands.

“Oh, Uncle Donald is probably fine...right, Mom?” Dewey looked to her and she found herself gulping in fear at the open expression she was given. It was at moments like these that she wasn’t quite sure what a good response to a child would be.

“What do you mean he never showed up?!” Scrooge yelled into the phone. “He was in a bus heading to the port you were docked at!”

Della felt fear swell up in her chest at the words. Donald had been gone for a month and half and hadn’t even made it to the cruise ship. She turned to Louie, who had taken to rocking and forth in his chair, face hidden by his hoodie. She could hear the worried whimpers he released, unsure on how to comfort him. Huey was mumbling to himself, flipping through his Woodchuck hand guide. Dewey was chewing on his finger nails, shaking slightly.

For the first time since Della returned home, she left her children in a distressed state without comforting them.
*

As time passed, Della found herself becoming distant from her family, worried constantly about her missing brother. She had been so focused on bonding with her children, she realized she hadn’t taken the time to allow herself to accumulate to her new environment. That’s when she started to realize maybe she wasn’t doing as well as she thought.

As Scrooge hired detective after detective to look for leads in the disappearance, she became more and more tense. It had only been another month since they had all noticed the disappearance and everyone was on edge. Scrooge seemed to be employing the same tactic of avoiding his family, clearly running himself ragged each time any of them did see them. Was this how he as when she was missing?

Her young boys were now in junior high, gone most the day, and when they did come home she couldn’t find it in herself to actually interact with them. She had forgotten their uncle, the man who raised them, and felt as though she had been terrible to do so. How could they even stand to look at her?

She tried to keep herself quiet when she would wake up in a cold sweat, dreaming about Donald’s body being found in a gutter on the streets.

It came to a point one day, when Penny had knocked upon their door. Della needed someone to confide in that wasn’t her family or she feared she might lose her mind. The pilot wasn’t sure how many dreams about Donald being dead she could take.

Duckworth had predictably been the first one to arrive there, while Della popped into the entry way as she was called. The butler disappeared into the ceiling as Della smiled wearily at her friend. Penny appeared concerned at her clearly exhausted state she presented. “Della, you don’t appear well.”

Della pulled her into a hug, visibly shaking as she did so. “I-I’m so glad you’re here. I’ve needed a friend.”

She was startled by the tears she felt on her shoulder. She had came to visit her friend, concerned on how the loss of her brother was being taken and Penny now wished she had come to visit sooner. “Oh, Della...your...your brother was the bravest man I have ever had the honor of meeting.”

Her friend tensed up in their embrace, suddenly pulling away with a start. Her eyes were wide, tears streaming down her face. “Why...why are you saying that?”

Penny frowned at her reaction, speaking slowly. “Because of his sacrifice for your planet.”

“W-What?”

“Did...did you receive his warning message?”

“A warning? No, what are you talking about? He’s been missing for almost three months now!”

The warrior stared at her in shock. “You don’t know.”

“K-Know what?”

“He was...he was on the moon and he...he tried to warn you of the invasion and I tried...I tried to help him and he got in one of our prototypes....Della, oh, Della. I’ve seen the footage, no one could have survived being in one of them...”

Della’s eyes mirrored the realization she had inside to Penny and she released a scream of anguish, falling to her knees.
*

As time passed on, long after the family collapsing in on itself, the pent up frustrations being released at the funeral, Scrooge had finally come to his senses that Donald really was gone. It had been a trying year for them all, the triplets especially having to accept the fact that the duck who raised them was most certainly dead.

Scrooge had lasted longer than all of them, the money bin’s savings once again beginning to dwindle. Della knew this couldn’t continue on, as it was beginning to affect the entire family. She had been the one to intervene this time however, finally convincing the duck that there was no chance he had survived. “But...Della, you did, so surely...”

“Uncle Scrooge, Penny said that it would have burnt up on rentry.” That was the first time she had spoke the words out loud and she realized she didn’t truly accept it until this moment as well. She witnessed him sob, burying his face into her shoulder as he finally accepted Donald’s fate.

The boys had cried themselves hoarse too many times, obviously shaken up by losing one of the people they cared most about. Even Webby was visibly distraught by the loss. It seemed that many had suffered over Donald Duck.

Della really did try her best to pull herself together, but she found it increasingly difficult to do so. All the years she had spent on the moon, she had one goal she constantly strived towards. She needed to get home to her family. The pilot had sworn she would do it no matter the costs and finally had done so. But, now she found herself aimless.

Della tried to find a job since nearly the beginning, knowing she needed to do something to provide income for her children in-between their adventures. It had been hard before, since she wasn’t very good at doing normal everyday activities that it seemed other people were capable off. Now that she was grieving over the loss of her brother it seemed near impossible that she would be able to do so.

She was running herself ragged with adventures that clearly everyone was insisting on going on to distract themselves. She barely slept at night and always insisted she was fine each time her Uncle asked about how she felt when it was clear she wasn’t well. The bags underneath her eyes seemed to stand as a constant reminder: you forgot about your brother and now you must be tormented at every turn by his memory.

The day Huey had come to her for help, wasn’t a good one. She had failed another interview-the first in over a month-and she hadn’t slept a wink last night. When her son had come running into her room that night though, Della had to fight the urge to yell at him for being so noisy. She halted herself when she realized his face was clearly panicked. “Huey? Sweetie, what’s wrong?”

“It’s Louie! Something’s wrong!” He cried, wringing his hands anxiously, before running back out of the room.

She didn’t hesitate to go after him, her own personal problems thrust to the side in order to go after her son. When she burst into the boy’s room, she expected screaming, chaos, some type of medical emergency. Della was greeted with a fairly calm room though.

Dewey sat on the bottom bunk, next to a bundle underneath a blanket. He was resting his hand on top of the bundle-Louie-while Huey hovered nearby, clearly distressed. As she approached, she was startled to see tears in Dewey’s eyes. He looked up at her with a pained expression, that tugged at her heartstrings. “What’s going on?”

“I don’t know!” Dewey whimpered back at her.

“He’s not responding to us at all! He’s been lying there all day!” Huey pitched in, voice sped up by his fear.

“Louie? Baby, what’s wrong?” She grabbed at his shoulder, shaking him gently. He didn’t respond and she carefully peeled back the blanket that covered him. “Baby?”

He was staring at the wall blankly, as though he couldn’t hear a word she was saying. She immediately knew something bad was happening to her baby boy. “Louie, please, you’re scaring me.”

“What’s wrong with him, Mom?” Dewey’s face has crumpled and he was openly crying.

“I’m going to get Uncle Scrooge!” Huey sprinted from the room.

“I’m not sure, honey....” She responded, before delicately picking up her unresponsive son, cradling him in her wings. “Are you hurt?”

His eyes flickered, staring up at her face finally. She thought he couldn’t respond, but now she believed he didn’t want to. Dewey leaned towards Louie, sobbing now. “L-Louie, what’s wrong?”

His brother finally shrugged, before burying his face into his mother’s jacket. A moment later they heard him begin to weep, Louie’s whole frame shaking violently as he did so. Della shushed him, rocking back and forth. She squeezed her eyes shut, worried about her son.
*

After being taken to the emergency room, the doctors gave him a clean bill of health, though they did suggest that he should eat more. Louie had been uncharacteristically apologetic the entire time he was there. It seemed as though he thought he were a burden to his family. The doctor told Della and Scrooge when they were alone with the professional in a quiet voice that perhaps Louie should see a therapist.

The very next day they did just that. Della had decided that perhaps taking him alone would be best, despite the protests from the rest of the family. Louie insisted he didn’t need to go in the first place, but she knew that was wrong. It seemed as though pretending to be alright ran in the family. Which was how she found herself Tuesday morning, taking Louie to a specialist’s office when he should have been in school.

When the therapist had called the pair into the room, the man greeted them, and introduced himself. Louie hesitantly replied, clearly anxious about the whole exchange. Della promised him everything would be fine. “It’s going to be ok...do you want me to stay?”

He seemed to be debating it, eyebrows furrowed together, before he responded with a ‘no’. Watching the therapist closing the door, shutting her out was probably the hardest thing she had ever done.

By the time an hour had passed, the therapist had let her son back out of the room, and asked to speak to her alone. She smiled at her son, watching his frightened young face. The therapist turned to him briefly, speaking gently. “Just a reminder, Louie, I won’t be able to tell exact details to your mother, but I do have to speak about our next course of action.”

He nodded rapidly and Della gulped down the angry feeling at the words. She couldn’t do anything about that unfortunately. When she had finally been brought into the room, the doctor smiled at her pleasantly, as though they weren’t talking about her son’s emotional state. “Ms. Duck-“

“Please, just call me Della.”

“Della, I just have to remind you that I am not allowed to disclose exact details about what Llewellyn spoke to me about, unless he was a danger to himself. I can assure you he is most definitely not.”

Della felt some of the tension leave her body. “That’s...that’s good...what’s wrong with him though?”

“I’m going to be frank: your son is not mentally well at the moment. I believe Llewellyn has depression, worsening due to what happened to your brother recently.”

“What? Depression?”

“Yes. Not to be confused with being depressed though.”

“There’s a difference?”

“There is. Being depressed is often linked up with an exact event, such as a death of a loved one. Having depression is typically a lifetime disease that unfortunately plagues the mind. While I’m not allowed to exactly disclose what was told to me, I can tell you right now this was definitely something he had before the event. Llewellyn told me certain details that has suggested this to me. I’m still not going to officially have that be my diagnosis this early on, I believe your son should continue our sessions.”

She frowned. “Can’t you just, I don’t know, give him some medicine that will make him better? I know a lot of depressed people do that.”

“There is no cure all to depression, Della. While medicine can achieve hormonal balance for patients, it is definitely not able to completely heal that. It’s a mental illness and typically they are there for life. Again, I’m not completely certain he has it yet, so this might not be a worry, but I wanted to disclose this just so you would be prepared in the event that he did have it.”

The pilot sat back, taking in the information as she thought about this. The therapist narrowed his eyes, clearing his thoart. “Might I make a suggestion?”

“What?”

“I believe it would be wise if your family would attend a few therapy sessions together. Families that share similar grief from an event tend to heal better together with the assistance of a professional to sort out their emotions.”

She scoffed. “Therapy? Us? I don’t even think I could convince my Uncle to get into the same room as you. He’s a bit skeptical about this type of stuff.”

“It seems like you are as well.”

Della stared at him, before rubbing her hand across her eyes. “Ok, I might be a little bit. But, therapy has never been the McDuck way. I don’t know anyone in our family line that has done it.”

“Well, maybe this could be a new McDuck tradition. Therapy can be good for your mental health. I have all types of families that have visited with me and most of them have come out better after being openly able to communicate with their family.”

Della seemed to be pondering this, biting her lip. The therapist was studying her and she felt as though she were being judged. “What? Do you have something else to say?”

“Your son knows about your nightmares,” She was surprised, unaware that he did. “While I can’t force you attend therapy, I feel as thought it would benefit you as well.”

The pilot felt uncomfortable as the subject was pointed in her direction, squirming in discomfort in the seat. “I, uh, I’ll think about it...”
*

“Therapy? Like Uncle Donald?” Dewey asked her when she had brought up the subject at breakfast one morning.

She nearly spat out her coffee at the words, cup sloshing her drink as she slammed it down. “Since when did Donald go to therapy?!”

“Since about ten years ago, lass,” Scrooge responded, watching her carefully. “It actually did him a lot of good from what I saw.”

“And you were okay with him doing that? You? Scrooge McDuck, the man that once said that psychologists were just a bunch of nutcases?”

Della and Dewey stared at him, while he appeared quite flustered. “Well, maybe I was...”

They leaned forward expectedly for his next words. He refused to make eye contact as he mumbled. “...I was wrong...”

“Sorry, could you repeat that?” She egged him on, watching him become unhinged a bit.

“I was wrong!” He spoke up, crossing his wings across his chest. “There! Are you happy?!”

“I am!” The young duck raised his hand, sticking out his tongue when he received a glare from the older duck.

“What was Donald going to therapy for though?”

“His anger, obviously.” Dewey replied to her, his voice sassy.

“Oh, hush!” She waved her hand at her son and then looked back at Scrooge. “Was that it though? Anything else?”

“How would I know, Della? I wasn’t allowed to hear anything, not that Donald wanted to tell me any details.”

She tried not to let it hurt how she knew she would never find out why now. “Wellll...what do you think about all of us doing it?”

“I’ll think about it.” Was the dismissive response, as he used his newspaper to hide his face once more.

“Mom, I’m interested!”

Thank god at least someone was onboard. Now, she just had to convince the other two to allow a group therapy session. Della found a smirk spread across her lips as she thought of an idea, one she knew Scrooge couldn’t resist. “Uncle Scrooge...I have a wager for you.”

Scrooge lowered the newspaper slightly, eyes peering over. “Oh?”

“If I can convince Huey and Louie to both go to family therapy too, you have to go to them also.”

Scrooge seemed to be thinking about it, just as she had. She knew it would easy to get Huey onboard, but the challenge would be Louie. He was the one clearly affected by this the most. Not to mention she was never able to completely understand her son. She loved him to pieces and tried to, but he seemed to be so secretive all the time. When she had asked the other two, they claimed he had been always been like that. Della just couldn’t understand why, even after months together.

“...one session, but only if you can convince Louie to let this happen.” He finally decided, returning to his reading with a nod.
*

In the end it had been easier than expected to convince Louie to allow it, though he seemed pretty hesitant about the answer he had given. She had done it though. Or more accurately her other children had. It seemed as though they knew all the right words to say. When she had told Scrooge about what had happened, she found herself laughing hard enough that she was wheezing by the end of it because of the look on his face. While it rarely seemed to happen, she had beat Scrooge in a bet.

And so, in the end they had all ended up in the therapist’s session together, the very same one that Louie had been seeing once a week. They had all tensely listened to the therapist introduce himself to everyone and then flipping open his notebook to write a quick note inside. A moment later, he looked at Scrooge. “Mr. McDuck, I believe I should start with you. You are the head of the household, are you not?”

His wings were crossed over his chest, a clear sign he was closed off. He responded though, but it wasn’t much. “Aye, that I am.”

“And you raised both Della and Donald.”

“Aye.”

“Would you say that you were successful in doing so?”

He frowned. “What are you trying to imply?”

Della frowned, rolling her eyes, while the boys watched on in anticipation. “I’m not implying anything, I just thought gaining background on your relationship with your niece and nephew would be helpful for me to understand your relationship with them.”

“Well, I believe I did!”

The therapist turned to Della, nodding at her. “Would you agree, Della?”

She was startled by the question. “Uhhh, yeah, I guess so.”

“And what would you say about your brother?”

“I don’t know? I think so, but I’m not him.”

“I’m sure that Donald would say the same thing! May we move on!” Scrooge groused.

The therapist stared at him for a moment, before speaking. “Mr. McDuck, in order for a successful therapy session to happen, you must cooperate with me. Therapy is a two way street.”

“This is seems like a waste of my money, if you ask me.”

“If you find that to be so, you may end contact with me at anytime. I’m not quite certain your family is on the same page though.”

“Uncle Scrooge, we all want this.”

Huey nodded and Dewey spoke up. “I definitely do.”

“What about Louie? He clearly doesn’t want to do this!” Scrooge waved his hand in his direction, the boy shrinking down slightly at the sudden attention.

“Louie, is that true?” The therapist asked.

Louie shrugged. “Uhhh...I mean I want to...but, it’s kinda weird isn’t it? Like is us all sharing our problems going to fix anything?”

“I believe it could, if everyone decided to participate. Since it’s clearly difficult for me to direct this session, maybe we could have someone decide to pick a topic that they’re comfortable speaking about.”

There was an awkward pause, with all of the family not speaking. Della gulped, looking around at the others, before bravely blurting out for the room to hear. “I was stuck on the moon alone for ten years.”

They all stared at her with wide eyes. The therapist nodded at her statement. “Louie mentioned you were gone for most of his life. Were you an astronaut?”

“Ummm, no...I was just...a pilot that had big dreams.”

“Would you be comfortable discussing how you ended up there?”

Della felt a cold sweat break out on her skin as the others stared at her, clearly interested in her story. She gulped. “Um, Uncle Scrooge built the ship for me...it was supposed to be a surprise, but I noticed and I, uh...decided to get into it....and, uh, I, uh...”

“Della, before you proceed, I would like to introduce something to everyone,” He stood up, heading over to the bookshelf behind his desk to pull out a book. He flipped through it, before presenting a chart to them.

“What’s that?” Huey curiously asked.

“It’s a mental distress chart. It is on a scale of 1-10, that describes how you are feeling at the moment. I will periodically ask each of you when you’re speaking about difficult subjects how you are at the moment. If any of you say 7 or above we will immediately stop speaking about the subject. Is that alright?”

He received confirmations, before he readdressed Della about the story. “Della, right now when you’re trying to describe this, what number are you at?”

“...an 8.” She responded after a moment, finding her hands trembling.

Scrooge appeared surprised by her number and the therapist nodded. “I believe we should speak about something else at the moment then. Any volunteers?”

Huey raised his hand right away, much to the surprise of the others. “Uhhhh...I’m kinda having a hard time with my grades, when I keep thinking about my Uncle Donald all the time.”

“Really, sweetie?” Della asked, concerned.

Huey nodded, biting his lip as the therapist answered. “Thank you for sharing that with your family, Huey. That’s perfectly normal to struggle when you’ve lost a loved one. Sometimes it consumes your every waking moment when you keep thinking about how much you miss them.”

“I...I know that, but sometimes I can’t stop thinking about it and then I kinda get...”

“Worked up?”

“Yes. It’s like the more I try to stop thinking about it, more I keep thinking about it.”

“That’s an intrusive thought. Those can be pretty difficult to push away. We can definitely discuss that in further detail at a later time. I believe by the end of this session everyone in the family should share something though. Who else would like to speak?”

Dewey rocked back and forth in his chair, before rapidly blurting. “I think I like guys!”

Della’s eyes widened at the words, as did Scrooge’s. The only one that didn’t seem too surprised was Huey. “Guys, lad?”

Dewey regretted the words immediately, hands covering his mouth. The therapist smiled at him though. “Thank you for sharing that Dewey. I’m sure your family supports that.”

Scrooge appeared guiltily, before looking at his grand-nephew to speak. “I, uh, don’t have a problem with that, lad, I was just surprised.”

Dewey seemed to relax slightly at the words, before he continued. “Uhhh, it’s not just guys though...I think I like girls to.”

“That’s perfectly alright as well. Sexuality is fluid for many people. While I’m not going to pressure you to identify it, I do know that giving it a name can be helpful. Let me know if you would like to discuss that it greater detail.”

“Louie, how about you? What would you like to share with your family?”

Louie slouched down in his seat, before speaking quietly. “I’ve been pretty depressed since Uncle Donald went missing.”

None of them seemed surprised, nodding somberly at their family member. Scrooge suddenly felt all eyes on him, avoiding eye contact as he was addressed next. “Mr. McDuck, would you like to share anything? It doesn’t have to be significant.”

“...I’ve never been to the Bermuda Triangle.”
*

By the end of the session, the general consensus was for them all to attend together again. None of them spoke again the entire car ride back home, though Launchpad talked up a storm as usual. When they were dropped off at the manor, the boys headed up to their rooms, leaving behind Della and Scrooge.

In the entry way, Scrooge spoke to her. “I think...I think those sessions are good for you and the boys.”

“...I think they might be, too...” She stared at her uncle, watching his weary eyes. “I think that...they would be good for you, too....I know you said you would only go to one, but I think it would help if you went to more.”

“I don’t need any help.”

“We all do,” She firmly replied, before blurting out the next half. “I can’t sleep.”

“...I noticed.”

“I know; everyone has. Huey keeps asking me what’s wrong and I don’t know how to tell him that I keep thinking about Donald.”

“...I’ve been...having a hard time sleeping as well.” Scrooge finally confessed, staring down at the floor. Della found a slight smile on her face at the confession. While it wasn’t much, the first step had been done.