Part 2 of the ducktales au (Iām thinking about calling it the parental della au), so Donald gets a call of della saying the triplets are hatching (both silently agree the triplets being hatched is more important than their fight) and high tails it there as quickly as possible in his boat. He arrives just in time to see Louie hatch, and cries for like an hour after saying how beautiful they are and refusing to let his nephews out his sight.
He stays and no one even mentions the fight instead waaay to focused on the chicks. But even after a few days Donald notices things, scrooge is great with the chicks gently holding them and looking at them with more love than Donald seen in anything thatās not money related, however della just seems⦠not quite right around them. She clearly loves them and is excited having them triplets hatch but sheās just not maternal at all, e.g instead of cradling them she seems to hold them under her arm almost like a package, scrooge and Donald can almost instinctively tell them apart but della canāt and honestly doesnāt seem bothered. Instead of being excited for things like their first words or the cute matching outfits she could get them seemingly almost skipping ahead talking to them like they can understand her about the fun adventures and places theyāll explore, and sheās seems perfectly fine letting the housekeeper do things like change their diapers, rock them to sleep and remind her itās feeding time for her instead. Sheās not a mom, and Donald knows it.
A few weeks pass just enough time for them to get into some sort of routine with 3 babies and dellas behaviour continuous, so Donald rather than just confront her about it like last time tries to almost bring out her parental attitude e.g:
āya know I read that changing a babies diaper actually reinforces a parental bond since it helps the chicks see you as a caregiverā āhave you smelt their diapers donaldā
āwhy donāt we get them different coloured same outfits, theyād look so cute and the material on this ones so soft I bet theyād be really comfyā āoh my gosh Donald look at this one itās got planes on it! Iāll have little baby pilots :)ā
āDELLA WHAT THE HELL WHY IS THEIR AN ANCIENT AZTEC AMULET IN THEIR GRIB!ā ārelax Donald scrooge says itās not cursed and they loved how shiny it wasā
Enough is enough and Donald finally confronts her, sheās confused at first, then angry thinking theyād both gotten over that silly argument and Donald had come to his senses and stopped worrying much. Donald doesnāt exactly accuse her of being a bad parent, more a neglectful one. Dellas not used to being told sheās bad at anything scrooge clearly has a soft spot for her and sheās naturally talented and hardworking at most things, plus sheās pretty deep in denial about being a parent and just canāt understand where Donalds coming from.
They fight, worse than last time Donald desperately trying to explain how he doesnāt want what happened to him for the boys and how they should have a chance to grow up normal and happy. And della not having any off it pointing out all the things sheās done for her kids (rather basic stuff like cleaning, dressing and putting to sleep etc) and how much fun they had on their adventures with uncle scrooge and what a great experience it was for her, and how she wants it for her kids.
Uncle scrooge manages to catch them in the middle of the fight, and takes della side. How dare Donald call her a bad parent sure the housekeeper helps out sometimes but sheās a new single parent of course she needs help and she obviously loves them like any mother. Also how ungrateful can he get, scrooge took them in and let explore the world with him, and all he can focus on is the dangerous parts!
Donald actually second guesses himself seeing scrooge and della react like that. They were some (rare) fun parts their adventures and della has only been a parent a few weeks maybe itāll just takes her a little longer to really become a mom? One of the babies starts crying, then of course the other 2. Both scrooge and della are blocking the door in order to face him and he waits for at least one of them to go to the crying triplets. They remain standing their staring or glaring in scroogeā s case waiting for a response, and instead he hears the housekeeper gently shushing them.
He looks them completely earnestly and says āplease, please just keep them safeā before pushing his way past them, out the mansion and to his house boat, where he sails away with tears in his eyes. Knowing thatās thereās no way heāll change della and scrooge s minds and that he just abandoned his nephews to a similar fate as his.
Part 3: we learn how a different upbringing has affected the triplets personality and their relationships :)