#dt ff

Della looked at him, betrayed expression on her face. Donald just giggled, trying to muffle the sound with his hand.

“You know I hate that! It’s bad enough that Scrooge uses it.” Della scoffed. “I don’t know how many times I need to tell him my name is Della.”

“I know, I know. But you know how he is, he is dumb!”

Della gasped like he had said a horrible word, then giggled mischievously. “He is an old dummy man!”

Donald giggled at that too. “He isn’t the smartest and richest duck in the world. He is just the oldest and dummiest duck in the world!”

Della snorted, hard. The twins started to giggle at their own antics, looking for better ways to insult Scrooge. So engrossed in their jokes that they didn’t realize the shadow that walked up to them.

“May I know to where are you heading, little masters?”

Both twins screamed, jumping into each other’s arms as fast as they could. Duckworth raised a brow, waiting for the twins to realize that he was no threat. When the twins stopped screaming and looked in front of them, Duckworth was just kneeled down, patiently waiting.

Della asked immediately, not letting go of his brother’s shirt. “M-Mr. D-Duckworth?”

“Yes, Della?”

Both twins sighed, relieved, letting go of each other, and started to look annoyed at him. Della, again, talked for them both. “You scared us! We thought we saw a ghost!”

Donald just nodded, agreeing with his sister. He still didn’t feel that comfortable talking in front of him, but it was better than talking with Scrooge. Even then, he would leave the talking to his sister for now.

“And I thought I heard two ducklings out of bed at ungodly hours, aren’t you supposed to be sleeping, children?”

They immediately came back to embarrassment.

“We were going for…” Della started, looking at her brother for help. Donald signed some suggestion but none of them sounded good. In the end, Della sighed. “We were going to the pool.”

“And why, if I can know, were you going there?”

“To relax?” Della suggested, as innocently as she could.

Donald sighed, finally talking and telling the truth. “Scrooge doesn’t let us do anything around the mansion. We just wanted to at least see the stars from there.”

Duckworth hummed, considering. He looked at the twins, and then got up and kept walking like they have not been there at all. The twins blinked, completely confused.

“Um, Mr. Duckworth?”

“Well, what a quiet night, I have seen nothing out of the ordinary while heading to bed,” Duckworth exclaimed innocently.

The twins looked at each other, smiling full on.

“Thanks, Mr. Duckworth!” Both ducklings shouted, the old dog just smiled, simply turning the corner and disappearing from their sight.

.

“Are you seeing what I am seeing?” Della asked after some time, sprawled in the ground, looking at the night sky that expanded in front of them.

“That’s mars, right?” Donald hummed, floating away in the pool.

Della chuckled. “Yeah, it is. I wanna go there. One day I’m gonna have a huuuuuge rocket that’s gonna be able to travel everywhere. But first I’ll go to the moon! I’m gonna be the first duckling on the moon!”

Donald just scoffed at her, the obsession his sister had with the moon seemed to know no limits. He didn’t respond for a while and then, shyly, he asked: “…Alone?”

Della blinked. “What do you mean alone?”

“I mean, without me?”

Della gasped and sat up, she saw her brother floating away on the pool, he had quite the sad face, and Della couldn’t let that happen. “You know I wouldn’t go without you, dork! It’s us against the world! Hey, ‘First ducklings on the moon’ sounds even better, right?”

Donald blinked. “And if I don’t want to go?”

Della stopped smiling, a quite sad face looking at him in surprise. “What? Why?”

Donald, then, smiled. “I’m kidding, Dumbella. Of course, I’m going with you.”

Della frowned and walked to the edge of the pool only to splash water to his face, Donald lost concentration and went down the water, not without a lot of fight, making Della laugh in the process. So busy she was at laughing at his brother’s struggle that she didn’t see him getting near her and taking her by the wrist, pulling her to the pool.

Della struggled until she got a hold of Donald’s shirt, he just laughed while she let go expletives at him. When she calmed down, Donald looked at the sky and signaled at it for her to see too.

“Hey, you know, the stars look even better from here.” Della looked up, they did look pretty cool from there. Donald smiled. “And it feels like you’re in space when you float on the pool too.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

“I still don’t know how to float,” Della admitted, embarrassed like Donald didn’t already know. Donald smiled at her.

“I’ll show you, dummy. Why am I here for?”

“To annoy me?”

“Well, yeah, for that too.” Della snorted at that. “But I mean to help, dork.”

Della nodded and with just a little of struggle, she was floating, Donald hands on her back, securing her from going down or, really, for her freaking out and drowning. Her eyes were closed, feeling nervous about the ordeal, she was going ahead with it. Donald tried for a moment to retract his hand but Della, as tense as she was, felt the tiny movement.

“Donald!”

“Hey, hey. It’s fine. I’m here.”

Della trembled, but Donald didn’t take his hands away from her back again.

The depths of the ocean, and the vastness of space. It sounded like two different things made from the same thing. A new world, dark but charmingly unknown, waiting to be explored but it was terrifying to do so. What if you got lost? Or drown? What if no one found your body?

But they thought they had nothing to fear, not if they were together. As they had always been.

Della took a breath, trying to calm the fast beating of her heart. Donald never let her go, his hands the only thing grounding her mind into not going into a scared fit. He started to hum a familiar melody, Della’s favorite song, and she felt her entire body relax like always. Donald’s humming had always been pretty delightful. Her breath evened, she felt like floating in a dream, Donald chuckled and she opened her eyes.

She gasped, a joy she had no feel before taking over like a wave.

The stars looked even more brightly than before, almost like they were right there, and with the feeling of floating on the water without limits, Della felt like she was out there in an unknown world, waiting to be explored by them.

Was this how people felt when they floated in space?

Donald was no more over her. Instead, she felt only a hand holding hers. Donald simply stated, “we’re both floating in space now. Well, in the pool but it works for now, right?”

“Yes!” Della felt her chest just a little tight and gripped his hand harder. She was completely excited at this, but at the same time, just a little scare.

Hesitantly, she said, “don’t let me go, ok?”

She didn’t want to float away from him. She didn’t want to do this without him.

“Never. It’s us against the world, remember?”

Della relaxed a bit, feeling just a little more secure, a little more stable. And enjoyed the feeling of being out of that world.

“Yeah, us against the world.”

.

Dewey blinked, curious as to why was his uncle floating away on the pool, looking at the night sky with such a lost expression. He looked like he wasn’t there at all like he was out of that world. Like he was with someone else that grabbed his attention.

“Watcha doing, Uncle Donald?”

Donald responded, dejectedly, not really thinking about what was he saying:

“Floating in space.”

She turned around to see Gosalyn snoring softly at her side, kind of sprawled on the bed, unconscious to the world and to Webby’s predicament.

At first, the idea of having a pajama party with Gosalyn had been amazing, but now that insomnia was haunting her, and her insistent thoughts pushed her to do something that would distract her from them, the idea looked pretty inconvenient.

It had been tolerable before the Shadow War but now…

Webby hummed softly to herself, looking for a way to get out of the bed without waking her.

Webby took a single breath and passed herself over Gosalyn, who kept sleeping soundly. It had been going fine until she fell to the floor. Piercing into the quiet room. Webby felt her beak tight still lying on the floor. Maybe jumping from the bed would have made less sound than trying to get out of the bed the boring way.

She looked back, Gosalyn didn’t even move. Webby got up, tipping toeing to the door. Then Gosalyn moved, and Webby paralyzed mid-step. Ten seconds of total silence passed, Gosalyn not moving anymore. Webby thought herself safe and sighed, loudly.

“Um, Webs?”

Yikes.

Gosalyn blinked, turning around to see Webby up weirdly in the middle of the room. “Hey, where are you going?”

Webby giggled involuntarily. “Going to the bathroom?”

Narrowing her eyes, Gosalyn looked at her suspiciously. She took the blanket and let it fell to the ground, she got up from the bed and walked to her.  “You seem a little too awake to be just that. Come on, Webby, what is it?”

“It’s just… I can’t sleep.” Webby confessed. It seemed futile lying to Gos.

“Oh.” Gosalyn frowned, deep in thought, seemed to think what she could do in that case. She looked at her, a question in her eyes. “Is it for…?”

Lena.

Is it for Lena?

“No!” Gosalyn almost jumped at the sudden denial, Webby looking like someone had asked her to kill somebody. Webby must have realized because in the nip of a second she was smiling, nervous and obviously uncomfortable. “I mean…no, I was just thinking about stuff, and well, I-.”

Gosalyn held her hands up, in look for peace. “Hey, it’s fine. No judging here.”

“Oh, I…” Webby took a breath, her hands behind her back, playing nervously with her own feathers. “I know it been months, and I’m better! Like I should be but…”

“Hey, really, it’s fine. When—” Gos took a breath, to give herself enough courage to continue— “my grandpa died, I spent a lot of time awake. Sometimes, I still do.”

Webby looked up. A sparkle that wasn’t there before appearing. “Really?”

“Yeah, really.” Webby smiled this time around, big and clear and happy to be comprehended. Gosalyn wondered if anyone had told Webby before that she wasn’t expected to overcome lost that easily. Gosalyn hummed, considering. “Moving around helps you?”

“Oh, yeah, sometimes. It depends, I guess.”

“Oh! Then, let’s try!” Gosalyn walked to the door with confidence, taking Webby’s wrist, feeling that bracelet she seemed to never get off between her fingers.

Webby gasped, letting herself be strung along. “Aren’t you tired?”

Gosalyn shrugged. “I’m more of a night person, anyways.”

.

Webby let out every tiny detail she had about the mansion, or about the McDuck Clan, or Scrooge McDuck himself. They kept walking around the mansion, Webby rambling and Gosalyn trying to remember the way they were taking, kind of impossible since it was so big it felt more like a maze.

A sudden question came to her. She had heard of it from time to time, but just bits and pieces, nothing concrete.

Gosalyn whispered into the night, careful to not wake anyone else.

“Hey, can you tell me things about Lena?”

“Oh!” Webby was actually surprised by the question.  “She is one of the coolest people I’ve ever met! There was this time when…”

Gosalyn paid her as much attention as she could, as hard as it was to keep up with Webby’s excited rambling.

She talked about her like some poetic wonderful appearance. So much that for a moment Gosalyn thought that maybe Webby had invented her out of loneliness. If she had not remembered that the boys talked about Lena too (albeit in a completely different way), maybe the feeling growing at her chest would have felt more insane than it actually did.

She didn’t know what made her grin more, the fact that Webby was so oblivious heart-struck by Lena or the fact that her own mind was thinking like in a whisper, you should be too.

It made her blush in a strange way to realize that Webby felt things for this girl that were stronger than she probably knew because there was a feeling equals parts green and pink growing in her chest.

She wanted Webby to talk about her like that, but at the same time, she wanted to talk about Lena in the same way Webby did.

It was a confusing feeling that her mind didn’t know how to deal with yet.

At least she was certain of one thing. She was strangely charmed by a person she didn’t know at all.

And for that, a little comment escaped her before she could stop it.

“I wish I could have met her. She sounds like she was amazing.”

Webby stopped in the middle of the hallway, and Gosalyn stopped too, feeling like she stepped on a mine. Webby stayed quiet for a moment, her hands on her chest and head a little down. It wasn’t until she heard a sob that Gosalyn actually felt like screw it up.

“This bracelet is…the last thing I have that reminds me of her.” Webby turned around, tears falling down like a river. Gosalyn felt her chest tight. “Gosalyn, do you think one day I could forget her like everybody else?”

That was it.

Gosalyn ran forward, opening her arms and hugging her as tight as she could, trying to protect her from an invisible threat. Webby cried on her chest, the hand with the bracelet between them.

“No one has or will forget about her, Webby. I-I promise. Not you, not anyone,” But she didn’t know if it was true. She had to try anyway. “She sounds like a too wonderful person to forget.”

“But everyone is just acting like- like it didn’t happen. Even I do! I-I-.”

“That’s not true. You’re still using the bracelet, right?” Webby sobbed and nodded against her chest, her grasp on the front of her pajamas tightening. Gosalyn patted her hair. “Then, that means you’re not acting like that, okay? Sometimes we don’t talk about things that hurt us with others, but that doesn’t mean we don’t care. We show it other ways. Sometimes, people should notice by themselves.”

Webby let out another sob and kept hugging her. Gosalyn didn’t know how to proceed from here. Should she tell Mrs. Beakley? Launchpad? The Boys? Uncle Donald? Mr. McDuck? Webby had been hurting this bad, and no one had seen it or do anything about it. Why? Webby couldn’t be that good at hiding herself from others, right?

Gosalyn hugged her a little tighter. Webby could protect herself, she knew that, but this was a little bigger than that.

She would try to resolve it in the morning, for now, maybe she could help with the first problem.

Gosalyn called Webby’s attention breaking the hug, without letting go of her completely, an understanding smile on her face. “Hey, when I couldn’t sleep, my grandpa used to sing to me a special lullaby, then dad started to do it too so now it’s even more special, he even wrote new lyrics for it. Maybe it can help you.”

Webby played with the loose threads of her bracelet. Tears still falling down. “But isn’t it especially for you?”

“Hey, if it helps, it doesn’t matter. And… I think—” she started to say, her voice shy, a soft blush under her feathers— “it would be even more special if I share it with you.”

Webby let out a little smile.

“I have never been sung a lullaby before,” she said hesitantly, now a little more at ease, cleaning her face.

“Yeah? Well, you will like this one. I promise.”

They sat down, supporting themselves at the nearest wall. Gosalyn rasped a little, she had to be quiet. She started to sign as low as she could, her voice still cracking in the same notes that it always did.

Rest your head, little girl blue, Come paint your dreams on your pillow.

Webby let her head rest on Gosalyn, finding comfort in her breathing and trying to tone hers to the rhythm of the lullaby.

I'll be near to chase away fear, So sleep now and dream 'til tomorrow,

Their hands met between them, and they threaded their fingers firmly. Gosalyn felt how some of the strands of the bracelet came between their sweaty palms. Like a safe reminder that they were not alone in that exact place in the big mansion, in a way.

I'll be near to chase away fear, So sleep now and dream 'til tomorrow.

“Hey, Gos…” her voice was at the verge of disappearing. Gosalyn took that as a good sign.

“Yeah?”

“I really want you to meet Lena. She’ll think you are amazing, just like I do.”

Gosalyn stopped breathing, feeling her heart picking a pace she wasn’t used to, her hand feeling hot where the strands touched her. The shoulder where Webby rested felt like that too. Gosalyn took a breath, trying to calm herself.

She felt Webby’s calm breathing making her go up and down, finally asleep. They were going to stay there, right? In the middle of the hallway. Gosalyn was completely lost in that mansion, too big for her to remember how to come back to Webby’s room on her own. And even if she remembered, she wasn’t so sure she could pick up Webby and not wake her up. She would feel terrible if she waked up after all the trouble they went to make her fall asleep.

She distracted herself with thoughts of the mansion, scared to acknowledge the real feeling of loss she was feeling in her mind.

Not even confronting Negaduck had ever made her feel like this.

She looked at the bracelet, then at Webby. She simply took a wild strand of hair out of her eyes, softly.

“Good night, Webby.”

Gosalyn looked at the bracelet one more time and sighed, a sad smile in the corner of her beak.

“Night, Lena. I hope we meet soon.”

[Mamá ♥: FENTON, HOW DID IT BURN? WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU? ARE YOU OKAY, MY BABY?]

[You: I’m okay!!!! it just....]

[You: burned]

[Mamá ♥: Explain. Now]

[You: the gizmosuit exploded and everything caught on fire. please dont be mad]

[Mamá ♥: ...]

[Mamá ♥: I’m buying you another]

[Mamá ♥: I’m also mad but I’m glad you’re okay]

[You: Gracias!!!!!]

[You: I’m also sorry :c]

[You: ALSO I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!]

[Mamá ♥: Stop exploding that damn thing, Fenton. For the love of God]

[ Mamá ♥: ...]

[Mamá ♥: I love you too, pollito ♥]

.

The first thing Fenton saw that morning, apart from hearing ‘las mañanitas del Rey David’ that his mom put the day of his birthday every year and the mandatory cheek kiss, was the binder. And, well, it wasn’t exactly the binder he was expecting in all honesty.

“Happy birthday, baby!” his mom shouted with all her morning energy, she signaled the binder with proudness. “Here it is, exactly what you wanted.”

Fenton blinked, looking at the thing in his hands. He looked at it and then at his mom, and then at it again. “Um, a binder? For papers?”

“Well, there are no papers in it,” his mom simply said. Was his imagination or was she fighting on a laugh? She took a sip of his coffee with complete innocence and stopped the song.

Fenton repeated again with a little more intention, “a binder? for papers?”

His mom took a sip of her coffee, casually sitting down in his bed, her legs crossed and completely unaffected by the question. “So? I bought one. Like you wanted.”

“Gracias… mamá.” The intention was what counted, right? His mom snorted and kissed him on the cheek. Fenton tried again, “are you sure you don’t have…anything else?

Gloria raised a brow, there was something in her smile that Fenton just couldn’t quite place. “No, not that I’m aware of. Do you want anything else for your birthday?”

“No, it’s alright,” he finally accepted. So maybe his mom got confused, it was okay.

Murmuring a ‘feliz cumpleaños, mijo’, Gloria kissed him again with a lot more force than before, taking his face into her hands. She smiled at hind fondly, and got up from the bed and walked towards the door.

“Enjoy the folder and the binder, pollito!” and then she closed the door behind her.

Fenton sighed and looked at the binder. He didn’t know if his mother had truly given him this binder because she got confused, wanted to give him a lesson or because she was messing with him. Knowing his mom, it could be anything. Maybe, he deserved this, for exploding the Gizmosuit yesterday. But she could be confused! He didn’t specify what binder he had burned and his mom sometimes struggled with English and-

Wait.

What had she said?

The sound of plastic inside the binder called his attention. His mom had said there was nothing in it, right? No, she said there were no papers in it.

Fenton opened the binder eagerly and gasped when he saw it.

A smile on his face and sparkles in his eyes appeared in an instant.

God, he loved and hated his mom so much right now.

.

“¡MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA—”

Ah, he finally opened it, Gloria thought, making more coffee at the kitchen, hearing Fenton’s fast approaching with a serene attitude and preparing herself for the impact.

“—AAAAAAMÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁ!”

And there was the impact.

Fenton jumped at her, completely disregarding the place he was in, almost making her fall on the floor if she had not been ready for it.

“Thanks! Thanks! I love you! I love you! ¡Te quiero tanto, mamá!” Fenton kissed her on the repeatedly and hugged her even harder. She just sighed, hugging him as well and smiling fondly at her careless son.

“Yeah, honey, I know.” Fenton separated from her, enough to see her laughing at him. “Lesson learned?”

“Um, that I should be more specific with what I said?”

“Fenton.”

Fenton nodded, hurriedly, his mom’s fury was one thing he never wanted to experience. At that point, it was worse than exploding into the Gizmosuit.

“I’m sorry, I’ll try to not explode the Gizmosuit next time and not get my clothes on fire. I’ll be more careful.”

“Oh, yeah,” his mom sarcastically replied, giving him his mug of coffee and taking a sip herself.

“What more I could ask? For you to try to not explode into that damn flying refrigerator on your birthday.”

It was the first thought that attacked Beakley when Cabrera undressed her.

Beakley sighed at the kiss at her neck and the hand that caressed it the right way.

“Gloria, you’re going to get sick.”

“Of course not, if it’s a virus. I have the most perfect immune system.” Beakley turned around enough to look at her in disbelief. Cabrera already felt a scold and Beakley hadn’t even opened her beak. She smiled, taking her hand to calm her down. “But, just in case, I will take something for it when I get home.”

Beakley nodded, satisfied with the answer. “Good.”

“Good,” Gloria parroted back with a wink, she walked off and opened a cabinet, took a set of pajamas and passed them to Beakley. “Here, do you need help for that too?”

Beakley grabbed them with a thankful smile but looked quite embarrassed. “I didn’t need help the first time. You asked to undress me.”

Cabrera smiled, harder, her pretty smile was at the edge of being smug and devilish. This woman was capable of a lot of things, making Beakley embarrassed was one of them. “And you could have said no but you accepted, in a word. Something that I truly, truly thank and feel extremely honored to have done.”

Beakley blushed immediately. “Gloria,” she tried to scold, but it only made Cabrera smile harder.

“What? It’s true! I mean, I would have wanted it to be in better circumstances but what can we do about that? What reminds me—” she started, sitting at a nearby chair with some elegance and that smirk— “that I have to tell you that you’re wonderful, Bentina. Inside and outside.”

Beakley rolled her eyes, the blushing not subsiding at all. She decided that replying would only make Cabrera show less mercy and started to put on her pajamas instead of giving gasoline to the fire.

She, Bentina Beakley, feeling hesitation because of a woman a whole lot smaller than her. Who knew?

She could feel Cabrera’s gaze on her body, but it didn’t feel invasive nor heavy. It felt like the gaze of a protector, who looked for you in case you hurt yourself. Cabrera looked at her worriedly, she almost could feel the tension on her body preparing her to jump at the slight of Beakley’s movements.

She finished putting the pajamas and sat on the edge of the bed with a sigh. Whatever sickness this was, it was making her really tired.

“Okay, time to sleep. Something else you want? Tea? Another blanket? More medicine?” Beakley covered herself with a blanket, Cabrera got up from the chair and helped her accommodated it. She stopped smiling for a moment and looked at her worriedly. “Please, don’t make me look for something out of this room, I’m gonna get lost in this big ass place.”

Beakley snorted at Cabrera’s horrified look while saying that.

“It’s okay, Gloria. Just a little rest and I’m going to be just fine.”

“I’m glad.” Cabrera took her hand and squeezed it, sitting on the bed just beside her. “I will wait with you until you fall asleep then.”

Beakley got hit by the smell again, she breathed in deeply. It was calming honestly.

Cabrera started to frown. “I still can’t believe you’re in this huge place alone. Would it kill McDuck to get you some help?”

Probably, Beakley thought to herself while she yawned. No one really knew who could have been holding a grudge against Scrooge McDuck and letting anyone into the Manor always came with the possibility of danger.

And well, she didn’t know how to break it to Cabrera —without scaring her or making her think that Beakley was crazy— that one couldn’t ever be completely alone with a kind of annoying ghost butler around the Manor.

“I have been doing this for years, Gloria. It’s okay. I can with the Manor.” She was actually feeling better, the worst of the gripe had subsided and she only felt tired now, she was completely ready to hit it off.

Gloria was still fuming about Scrooge.

“I know you can, but this is just…”  Cabrera trailed off, looking at something on the other side of the room. She blinked and then turned around to see her with a straight face, completely calm and collected. “I think I saw the door opening for itself, and last week I saw a broom. At first, I thought I was crazy but I’m just going to ask now since this is McDuck, is that normal around here?”

Or, Cabrera could take it extremely well and ask right away like she had seen worst things than that. “Unfortunately.”

Cabrera looked again at the door that had apparently been open. “Oh, that’s something, alright.”

Beakley sighed, hoping Duckworth wouldn’t do something stupid now. She really, truly, liked Cabrera, she didn’t want to scare her off. “Are you okay with it?”

Cabrera smiled at her, “Okay? Bentina, I’m thankful. I thought I was finally going senile and-.” An extra blanket came through the door, Cabrera blinked at it and followed it with her eyes in complete disbelief until it was in front of her, and she looked at the blanket for a moment before extending her hands. The blanket fell into them. “Ummmm, Thanks? Whoever you are."

“Oh, you’re very much welcome, milady,” Duckworth appeared out nowhere, bowing like a perfect gentleman, like that could stop Cabrera from screaming bloody murder, because she did, immediately.

“¡Santa Maria Bendita! What the-?”

“Duckworth!”

“What? The lovely lady said she wouldn’t like the get out of the room and I helped with that.”

There was a moment of silence.

“Duckworth.” Beakley felt herself growing redder by the minute but sounding even more menacing. Cabrera, who was by her side and had jumped to hug her after the scare, glared at him too. “How long have you been here?”

“Oh, well, a gentleman never tells, my dear. But quite enough, if I’m honest.”

That son of a-.

“Duckworth! You-.”

Duckworth did like he hadn’t heard her. “Oh my, that sounds like some ghost business I may have to attend. Don’t worry, Bentina, I won’t tell a soul.” Then, he turned to Cabrera. “Ms…?”

“Mrs. Gloria Cabrera,” she answered with just a little hesitation. For someone that just screamed bloody murder, she looked pretty calm.

“Mrs. Cabrera, of course. It has been a pleasure. I hope to talk to you soon.” And he disappeared just like he had appeared.

Cabrera got off of her slowly and took a deep breath. “Well, that was okay. You're not alone after all.” Beakley scoffed, Duckworth wasn't exactly company material she would like to talk about. Cabrera looked at Beakley with a nervous smile. “Ready to rest?”

“Definitely.”

“Good.” Cabrera took her hand again. “Is he really gone?”

“Do you really want an answer to that?”

Cabrera snorted and got into the bed with her with the extra blanket. With care, she let Beakley rest against her chest in a hug. The smell of lavender came back, calming Beakley immediately.

“No, no for now. Why would I want to break a good moment with that?”

Beakley, in all her bliss, couldn’t agree more.

“I’m happy to see you too, pollito. But be careful, ok? I’m tired, bebé.”

Gloria’s heart deflated a little when she saw the change from excited to sheepish in Fenton’s face. “Sorry, mami. ¿Bendición?”

Gloria gave him a reassuring smile and kissed his little forehead, to remind him that he hadn’t do something wrong. “Dios te bendiga, mi vida,” she murmured, loving voice pouring out of her only for her son. Fenton beamed, giggling, and kissed her back into her cheek.

At the door, the one Fenton had opened so eagerly, was an old greyish-red guacamaya, her chubby and hunched frame familiar to Gloria now after some time knowing her. The old lady smiled like she always seemed to do, she seemed charmed by the unfolding scene in front of her. “See, Fenton? Told you your mamá would be here soon enough.”

“¡Si! You were right, abuela Claudia!” Fenton beamed, turning around to see the other woman without leaving his mother embrace. Gloria smiled at her before getting up, letting go of the hug to ruffle her son’s feathers.

Claudia returned her smiled and said to her like a secret. “He was heavy asleep on the sofa but when he heard the knock, he was almost flying to the door. I swear I don’t know from where he gets that energy.”

Gloria snorted immediately, amused by her son’s behavior. “Oh, yeah?” Fenton blushed and looked embarrassed, that just made Gloria even happier. She ruffled his feathers a little more. “Well, go collect your things, so you can go home to sleep in our bed, ¿si, pollito?”

Fenton jumped to the door. “¡Si, mami!” And ran into the apartment, leaving the two women outside.

The two women followed him with their eyes until he was out of their sight, disappearing into the living room. The old guacamaya stopped smiling at that moment and turned around to see her, worried expression set on her face. She had said nothing yet but Gloria was already feeling guilty.

“Gloria, it’s 1 a.m on a Saturday. You’re never late. Do you know how worried that boy was? How worried I was? What happened? Why are you six hours late, mija?”

Gloria didn’t know how to say the whole truth, so she went with half of it. “I’m really sorry, Claudia. There was a lot of paperwork and I-.”

The old lady shouted, interrupting her with a frown. “I may be old and my sighting may be bad, mija, but I saw how you frowned when Fenton touched your shoulder. You looked in a lot of pain, you were lucky that nene wasn’t looking at your face.” Gloria looked down, embarrassed to be caught in the lie. Claudia sighed. “Well? That seems like a nasty injury, mind telling me how it got there, mija?”

Gloria grimaced, instinctively touching with caution her injured shoulder, recounting the events of the afternoon in her head.

It had been a stress-free day at the station, pure paperwork, a lot of it actually, but she was content with it. Until, of course, her boss asked her to accompany two of her superiors to some exclusive casino for really rich people. They had been a lot of suspicions of a specific client cheating that had arrived some days ago to the casino, they won too many times and the owner of the place was tired of it and wanted a stop to it, it was because he was making less money of course, not because he was worried about moral matters. Gloria accepted the job, since her boss wanted her specifically and because accepting could lead to a promotion. More experience on the field meant promotions and a bigger wage usually. Her partner winked at her and one of her friends in the station had wished her good luck.

When they arrived and did the interviews, she had expected resistance from some animals, she had expected commotion from the clients, maybe a fist fight with a difficult suspect. What she hadn’t expected was ending in an exchange of shots with the principal suspect. She hadn’t expected that the “lucky” client at the casino was a woman with sharp thinking and quick reflexes either.

She just wasn’t expecting to run again into…Goldie. Not after what happened some months ago.

She hadn’t expected her to fire either when the simple questions ended in those unfortunate circumstances. Her hand pressed her shoulder a little at the memory of the blonde duck firing the gun at her. Pain flared and her hand went down at her side.

It was the first time she had been shot. Not the first time confronting the possibility though. She had been trained to expect it at some point in her job, she had been trained to even avoid it when possible but for it to actually happen was a completely different matter.

First of all, it hurt like hell.

Second of all, the grip of death was pretty hard to forget, more than people realized.

Third of all, it was great to know that the station was the one that was going to pay for that medic bill and for the emergency surgery and not her. She almost finally died just thinking about the horrible bill she was going to face later.

It was almost funny how in the way to the hospital, even when she should have been worrying about how her shoulder was losing so much blood and how much it hurt, she just couldn’t stop thinking about her son. Too worried about him to really acknowledge when she was moved to finally do an emergency surgery or when the nurse gave her anesthesia and told her that everything was going to be okay. Total blackout, her son waiting for her the last thought on her mind. Next thing she knew, she was patched up and the doctor was telling her she needed to stop using her right arm for some months, she needed to check with him regularly too, and when that finished, she could start therapy for her arm. Oh, and she needed to go tomorrow with a therapist for the shooting, too.

She really, really didn’t want to worry Claudia nor her son with all that. “Hard day at work, Claudia. Please just let it be.”

The old red guacamaya sighed, looking at her with uneasiness. “Gloria, hija, please.”

Gloria looked at the side, indecisive. In the end, she sighed in defeat and told a simple truth. “I received a shot in the shoulder. Almost clean but it grazed the bone and it chipped it a little. Needed an emergency surgery. That’s why it took so long to come home.”

Gloria had not seen the old red guacamaya while saying that, so she came to halt when she saw the old guacamaya crying in front of her, she went to clean the tears off rapidly but Gloria had already seen it and the pang of guilt was already destroying her. “Oh, mi niña, you should be in the hospital, not here. I could take care of Fenton for the weekend and-.”

“No, you already do enough for me, Claudia. Especially with the other kids and… I could not ask you for more.” She said with resolution.

“At least you should let me go to your apartment to help. I could take care of the cooking and the cleaning until you can use your arm.”

Gloria denied again, this time with a soft smile. “Don’t worry.” She replied, her other arm moving freely to show her point, “my other arm is just fine. It can do double work, this only means I’m going to have extra strength in this one.”

Claudia laughed at the absurdity of Gloria’s statement. She smiled, glad to relax the old lady a little. “Ayayay, you are just too stubborn for your own good, mija.”

Gloria laughed. She went to say something but got delayed, seeing a sleepy and yawning Fenton walking to her, he was smiling but his eyes were half-lidded and he looked so tired. Fenton raised his little arms to her, an obvious request to be picked up, Gloria rolled her eyes and mumbled a “come here, baby” in spanish, lifting him up with her good arm. He put his head to her shoulder immediately and closed his eyes. Gloria kissed his cheek and caressed his head with her other hand. She looked at the old guacamaya again.

“Thanks, Claudia. I don’t know what I would do without you. Sorry if he caused any trouble. And for worrying you.”

The old red guacamaya scoffed, tiredly. “You are a strong Cuban woman, mija, like me. I know you will figure it out.” She winked at her. “And don’t worry, él es un amor. Said he was a good kid because otherwise, mamá would be sad. I don’t think that kid is capable of misbehaving now.”

Gloria smirked, proud of her Fenton, and insisted to Claudia. “Whatever favor you want, just tell me, okay?”

Claudia posed as she may be thinking “I do have one,” she said, smiling to her. Gloria made sure to pay attention. “I’m really hoping you buy that house and you get out of this barrio, mija. You two deserved it. Bet your family would be so proud of you.”

Gloria thought about them for a second and a melancholic smile broke through her beak. “That’s what I’m hoping for. But I mean a real favor, Claudia.”

“Making this old bird happy would be the greatest favor, Gloria. I want you two happy.”

“Fine, fine. Huh, and you say I’m stubborn.” Claudia just laughed. Gloria went to move Fenton a little, trying to wake him up. “Hey, cielo. We’re going. What do we say to Doña Claudia, pollito?”

Fenton opened his eyes, really tired but he smiled full force even with the little energy he had left, he turned around to see the old guacamaya and mumbled with affection. “Gracias, abuela Claudia. Chao. Bendición.”

The old guacamaya laughed heartedly. Her old eyes twinkled with incredible fondness and she kissed Fenton like he was really her own grandchild. “De nada, mi cielo. Dios te bendiga. Have a good night, you two.”