Notes:

I don't think this is quite as good as the previous chapter. I wanted to write a little more, but eh.

Louie heard movement approaching the door and growled, anticipating his mother again. It wasn't. When he turned his head, he saw a smaller silhouette, one he recognized instantly. The tension eased out of him a little, though he remained sullen. With his arms folded across his chest, he glared at the doorway.

"Come to lecture me too? I know you took Mom's side. Is there something else in the JWG about how wrong I am?" Louie snapped.

"Of course not," Huey snapped back and sat beside his youngest brother on the bed. "I came in to check on you."

"Oh."

Louie sat up and the lower half of his beak quivered. He swiped at his face again and Huey put an arm about his shoulders. For a minute, they sat in companionable silence.

"And this is our room too," Huey said, turning his head to someone waiting in the hallway. He expected it to be Dewey, but when Huey beckoned, the figure didn't move. Louie frowned.

"Webby?" Louie called. The older girl eased her way into the room and joined them on the bed. It was getting crowded, but he thought he could cope. She looked cute in the flower child get-up.

"We were both worried about you," Huey said.

"And Dewey isn't?" Louie asked. "Lemme guess-he sided with Mom. Because he's a mama's boy."

"He's trying to talk to her," Huey said. "But not because he's defending her. He's defending you to her."

"Yeah, right," Louie muttered.

"He is," Huey insisted.

Webby didn't speak; she just put a hand on Louie's. He turned to look at her and he wanted to smile, he did, but only the corners of his beak turned up and that might've had more to do with his crying spell than actual cheer. Still, he was glad they were here. He didn't feel quite so alone.

"I'm sorry, you guys," Louie said. "I didn't mean to make you blink out of existence. I thought, if I could only steal lost artifacts, it wouldn't affect the time stream. I was trying to be careful and it all spiralled out of control."

He frowned. "Just like all my Louie, Inc. stuff blew up in my face. And now I don't even have that because Mom took it away."

"You'll figure something out," Huey said.

It was hard to think of that when he felt so betrayed. He glanced over at his eldest brother.

"You will," Huey said gently.

"Why did Mom have to ground me? You saw Mrs. B and Uncle Scrooge. They were willing to forgive and forget," Louie complained.

"But Granny and Uncle Scrooge aren't your parents," Webby pointed out. "And Della's been trying so hard to be your friend."

Louie snorted. "Some friend she is, grounding me."

"But she's not a friend. She's not supposed to be," Huey said.

Louie scoffed, uncertain what to say to that beyond what he had. He folded his arms across his chest again, taking his hand out of Webby's reach, and curled up into a ball again with his hoodie pulled low over his face. Huey sighed.

"We should leave him alone," Huey decided. "But we'll be back."

"Of course you will," Louie muttered, but it was without rancor. "You live here."

Webby squeezed his arm and he watched her go. When the two left, they closed the door behind him and left him in the darkness. He wasn't sure he bought Huey's story about Dewey trying to talk to their mom, but then again, Huey was an awful liar. He just didn't see why Dewey should expend the effort, especially with how often Louie tricked him.

He sighed. It would be a long time until he could reasonably expect to fall asleep and the night threatened to loom, never quite ripening. He sprawled out on the bed with his hand dangling off the mattress. He didn't have the energy to turn on the light, anyway. Or maybe he did and he didn't want to use it. It might've been a little bit of both.

Sighing, Louie let his thoughts flow away from him. The time tub had been a good idea, but, like typical Louie stuff, it'd blown up in his face. And now he was being punished for it twice, as if seeing his family blink out of existence wasn't bad enough. He'd lost his mom twice and the second time would've been his fault. And then he'd pushed her away, but that, she'd deserved. Hadn't she?

He didn't know. He wanted to shut off his brain for a while and he rolled over, staring up at Dewey's bunk. He kicked it and scoffed. There was no way Dewey was defending Louie. He was probably fawning over their mother again. Typical Dewey.

"You could always suspend the grounding until after the expedition," Dewey suggested and Della shook her head. She'd been rather quiet since returning from Louie's room and judging by Huey's and Webby's glum expressions, Louie had not been in the greatest of moods with them either.

"I can't," she said. "That would be going back on my word. He needs to learn that his actions have consequences, serious ones that could hurt his family."

"But he knows that," Dewey protested. "He does."

"Until he's proven it to me, I'm not un-grounding him. I'm sorry, Dewey. That's my final word."

Dewey sighed, nodding as he continued cleaning up. They were all chipping in, despite the fact it'd been Louie's mess. He shook his head at his siblings as he rejoined them.

"Yeah, we didn't have much luck either," Huey said.

"And now we have to keep this whole treasure hunting trip a secret from him," Webby said.

"Maybe he won't notice?" Dewey said.

"In what world would he not notice?" Huey objected.

"Uh, this one. This world right here," Dewey said and Huey shook his head.

"No, he'll notice," Huey said. "I'll leave him my tablet. Maybe he'll at least be able to watch TV while we're gone. It's the best I can do."

"Maybe," Webby said uncertainly.

"And he needs to learn that his actions have consequences," Huey said, unconsciously mirroring their mother.

Webby cast a forlorn look up at the boys' room. "I guess, but I feel kinda rotten about it."

"It'll only for a little while," Huey said. "Louie's a quick study. Maybe too quick."

Webby's gaze drifted to Della and they all remembered what Louie had spat at their mother. It'd have to work itself out somehow. They couldn't fight Louie's battles for him, whether they wanted to or not.

Della waited until they were all asleep before poking her head into the boys' room. Even in his sleep, Louie looked grumpy and upset. Guilt pricked at her. Maybe she'd deserved the tongue lashing, but he'd deserved to be grounded and she was standing by that.

He didn't deserve to accompany them on their trip, either. Maybe that would help hammer the lesson home. It was necessary and it had to be done-didn't mean she liked it. But parenting wasn't all fun and games. (And again, she needed to have a long talk with Donald when he came home).

She settled into the living room and set up her favorite video game. Maybe it would help her take her mind off things, at least for now. Tomorrow would sort itself out. She didn't think Louie would take forever to come around.

Unless he did. But, no, she was being ridiculous. She curled up on the couch. She was so glad to be home, even if home had produced its own new headaches. She couldn't believe that her brother and Uncle Scrooge hadn't been talking for ten years. Why hadn't Uncle Scrooge or one of the kids mentioned it before now?

It explained their odd reaction to her appearing on their doorstep and why Louie had hidden behind Webby.

Man, she was going to have a laundry list of things to talk to Donald about when he got home. She wished he was home already.