A/N: So, I've found that Louie is definitely my favorite of the triplets. He's the youngest, he's sensitive, he's insecure, and he tries so hard while, at the same time, does his best to not try at all. I just have to write a story focused on him. And I threw in Donald and Scrooge because I love them both, and there absolutely needs to be more feels in this series between uncles and nephews.

Just a few short months ago Scrooge McDuck had thought that he was perfectly content with his life, and maybe he had been, but he certainly hadn't been happy. Before, Scrooge had just gone through mundane day after mundane day, with nothing ever changing. Not only was that a boring way to live, but it had also been extremely lonely.

Now Scrooge didn't know if he would ever have the luxury of knowing what it would feel like to be bored or alone again, and he wouldn't have it any other way. Scrooge hadn't realized just how much he had missed having his family around, having somebody to share experiences and adventures with. Now, there was always somebody around, and every day had become an adventure, whether they went searching for treasure or not.

The children would play countless games of buried treasure or dart guns of death, and they still never seemed to run out of energy. It was absolutely exhilarating, just to be around them. The children put the spark right back into Scrooge's life, and he hadn't even realized that it had been missing.

For ten years Scrooge had believed that family was the worst thing in the world, and now he couldn't imagine his life without them. It was funny how life worked out like that sometimes.

Even though the children could be a handful sometimes, Scrooge didn't regret having them around for one moment. They were all excitable children, but Scrooge knew that none of them were really troublemakers (at least, not on purpose). They were actually some of the hardest working, most resourceful kids that Scrooge had met in a long time.

As intelligent as Scrooge's great nephews were, they were some pretty incredible schemers. Half the time the boys' schemes were insane, overwhelming, and sometimes even dangerous. The other half the time though Scrooge found their schemes to be exciting in the right way, and even absolutely enjoyable. So when Scrooge saw the boys in one of his studies, talking about something, and he knew that there was no way to just tell which kind of scheme they were up to this time, he thought it would be best if he just asked them upfront.

"Now, what are you lads up to?" Scrooge asked as he let himself into the study. Huey and Dewey were sitting on the floor, with a handful of notebooks between them. Louie was in the room as well, but the way that he was leaning against the far wall, scowling and rolling his eyes at every idea that his brothers exchanged told Scrooge that he wasn't actually a part of what Huey and Dewey were doing. What surprised Scrooge most about what he saw in the room was that Donald was in there as well, sitting calmly in one of the chairs and reading a book.

Donald was strict and protective when it came to his boys. Unlike Scrooge, Donald didn't approve of any of the boys' schemes. Yet here he was, perfectly calm even though it still looked like the boys were up to something. Just what kind of scheme had they come up with this time that Donald would actually approve of it?

"We're exchanging internship strategies." Huey said proudly.

"You know, since our last internship was kinda-" Dewey blew a raspberry and made a thumbs down sign with his hand.

"Internship?" Scrooge blinked in shock. "When did you boys get an internship?"

"Last week." Huey said, though Scrooge could see that his smile was a little forced at this point. "I mean, we were only there a day before that fraud Mark Beaks fired us, but it's still something...right?" Scrooge could feel Donald's cold glare at the back of his neck, but it wasn't necessary. Scrooge would have assured the lad anyways.

"Of course it's something." Scrooge said sincerely. "Children your age rarely think about such things, let alone are successful in getting an internship. I am very impressed." And he was, regardless of how briefly they had had it, or who their employer had been.

"Tch." Louie scoffed. Scrooge raised an eyebrow at him, but the hoodie wearing lad wasn't looking at him. He was too busy glaring at the wall, a clear look of annoyance in his eyes. Scrooge knew that Louie wasn't as driven as his brothers, so it made sense why he wouldn't be as interested in internships as them, but that didn't excuse his disrespectfulness.

Huey frowned slightly at his brother. "You know, there are all kinds of internship opportunities, not just in business. I'm sure we can find something that you'd be interested in doing."

"Not interested." Louie said stiffly.

"But-" Huey looked almost desperately at his notebooks.

"I said I'm not interested!" Louie all but shouted. Huey stiffened and drew back on himself.

"Louie…" Donald said in a warning voice.

"Whatever." Louie scowled and shoved his hands in his pockets. He pushed away from the wall and sulked out of the room. Donald and Scrooge shared a glance. They both felt like they were missing something, but neither of them had any idea what it was. What they did know though was that one of them should probably speak to Louie, while the other should make sure that Huey was okay, because he could get pretty sensitive about what he was passionate about.

After sharing an intense look with Donald Scrooge sighed and turned right around to leave the room. Donald knew better than he did how to deal with Huey if he was truly upset. And Scrooge had plenty of experience with those who felt frustrated about something completely unrelated, and were prone to taking it out on others (It happened to Donald and Gyro all the time).

Scrooge went into the hall to find Louie sitting on the ground, leaning against the wall. Louie had his hood pulled up over his head, and Scrooge immediately knew that he was probably in for more than he had signed up for. On that first day that Scrooge was supposed to keep an eye on the boys, Donald had given him a lengthy list on how to take care of them. Some of the items on the list related to the boy's personal likes and dislikes (Louie didn't like hot dogs. Dewey loved cookies. Things like that). Some of the items on the list had to do with specific situations (Don't break Huey, don't challenge Dewey to do anything,) What Scrooge was concerned about at that moment though was rule number thirty five. 'If Louie is actually wearing his hood, then something is wrong.'

"What do you want?" Louie asked without looking up.

"To talk." Scrooge said simply. "I hope you're planning on apologizing to your brother."

"Why should I?" Louie asked as he visibly stiffened.

Scrooge sighed. He wasn't very good at dealing with children like this. "I understand that you aren't interested in internships, but that doesn't mean it's okay for you to take it out on Huey just because he is."

"That's not what happened." Louie said quietly.

"Then what was it?" Scrooge asked, because he really wouldn't know unless Louie explained it to him.

"You wouldn't understand." Louie crossed folded his arms over his legs and buried his head between his knees.

"You don't know that." Scrooge tried to say, but Louie wouldn't listen to him.

"Yeah, I do." The boy said stubbornly. "None of you would get it, because you all do it."

"...Do what?" Scrooge asked, feeling even more lost than before.

"You all get obsessed with being successful." Louie said the word with an almost disgusted tone, and Scrooge had no idea what to make of it. "You guys even got Dewey interested in it, and I don't...I don't get it." Louie sighed and hugged his arms tighter over his legs. "I don't get why I'm the only person who actually cares about keeping our family together."

Scrooge blinked and wondered if he had heard that right. "Lad, there's a huge difference between wanting to be successful in life and letting our family fall apart." Scrooge didn't even see how there was a connection between those two things at all.

"Not in our family there's not." Louie muttered.

"What are you talking about?" Scrooge finally asked, because the more that Louie tried to explain things, the more nonsensical it sounded. What in the world could have given Louie the impression that success is what would ruin their family?

Louie lifted his head slightly and glared at Scrooge. "How can you not get it? In this family, if somebody is successful at anything, everybody else resents him for it. That's how it's always been, and that's how it always will be."

Scrooge furrowed his brow in concern, and slight confusion. "Louie, nobody in this family resents anybody else."

Louie just rolled his eyes. "You and Uncle Donald both hate Gladstone because of his luck."

"...I wouldn't exactly say that we hate him." Scrooge tried to say. It was just that neither he nor Donald appreciated how Gladstone was constantly stumbling onto good fortune. It felt like just a kick to the shin for anybody who worked hard, especially if they worked hard and still didn't have much success.

"And you and Uncle Donald hated each other for ten years." Louie said, and Scrooge felt his feathers bristle at the reminder.

"We did not hate each other." Scrooge said. "We simply...had our differences."

"Yeah, about how rich you were." Louie had gotten more confident in his accusations at this point and had pulled his face entirely away from his legs.

"It had nothing to do with how rich I was." Scrooge said sternly. He just didn't understand why Louie seemed to think that everything in the world revolved around money.

"Then why?" Louie pulled himself to his feet and stared at Scrooge angrily, though there was also a fair bit of desperation in his eyes. "What else could have happened between you two?"

"I…" Scrooge wasn't sure what to say. He and Donald had agreed to not tell the boys the truth about what had happened to Della, even though it had been the event that had lead to their fallout. The boys couldn't know about their mother though, which meant that they couldn't know about what had happened between their uncles.

Louie interpreted Scrooge's reluctance to speak as a confession of guilt. The boy scowled and crossed his arms. "I knew it." He muttered.

"Now, hold on." Scrooge didn't know what he could say to convince Louie that his or Gladstone's success had nothing to do with their family's tendency to hold grudges with each other. But he did know what he could say to reassure the boy. "Whatever you think is going on with our family, you don't have to let it affect you boys."

Louie blinked. "Are you kidding me? It already has." Louie gestured back towards the study. "That internship that Huey and Dewey got? It was only available to one of them, and they competed with each other for a whole day over it."

"There's nothing wrong with a little healthy competition." Scrooge said, but Louie wouldn't listen to him.

"It wasn't a healthy competition." The harshness in Louie's eyes slipped away and Scrooge was able to see the raw sadness and fear that he had been hiding behind his anger. "They were fighting over it. If it weren't for the fact that Mark Beaks was a total fraud and jerk, they'd probably still be fighting over it."

That doesn't necessarily prove anything." Scrooge said, though he was beginning to have his doubts.

"It proves everything." Louie shoved his hands back into his pockets, hung his head, and hunched his shoulders. "It proves that everybody in this family is a scheming, selfish liar who only cares about himself." Louie didn't wait for Scrooge to say anything else. He just ran off down the hall towards his room, officially putting an end to the conversation.

Scrooge sighed in frustration. This was why he had fallen out with his family for ten years. Emotions were complicated, and their family did have a tendency to let their frustrations get the better of them. Scrooge didn't even completely understand his own frustrations and feelings, so how could he be expected to understand those of a child that he had only known for a couple of months?

Donald was much more suited to handling this situation.

Scrooge sighed and went back inside his study. He was relieved to see that Huey seemed to be just fine. At least they would only have to deal with one boy who was getting upset over nothing.

Donald frowned when he saw Scrooge return to the study by himself. "Where's Louie?" And there was that judgemental tone that Scrooge hated. The tone that said clearly said 'I knew you wouldn't be able to handle these boys'. Donald used that tone much more often than Scrooge liked.

"He ran off." Scrooge said. "I think that we both need to explain a few things to him."

Donald's harsh glare softened slightly and his eyes became filled with concern. "What's wrong?"

Scrooge sighed and shook his head. "Louie seems to be under the impression that success in this family only serves to pull our family apart."

Huey and Dewey looked at each other in confusion at his words. "What did we do to give him that idea?" Huey asked the question that Scrooge had been wondering about himself.

Donald was the only one who didn't look confused, only concerned. "I think a better question is, what didn't we do?" Donald sighed and made his way towards the door. "I'll go talk to him."

Scrooge waited awkwardly in the study with Huey and Dewey for a moment, feeling unsure of what to do. He felt as though this was something that both he and Donald should speak to Louie about, but Scrooge wasn't sure what he could say to convince the boy that his fears weren't going to become a reality. Scrooge had been trying to get to know the boys better, but he knew perfectly well that he didn't connect with them emotionally the way that he probably should. Scrooge didn't understand complicated emotions, especially not the irrational kind that children seemed to have frequently. How would he know what to say? And what if he said something to just make things worse?

"Uncle Scrooge?" Dewey's voice was quieter than Scrooge had ever heard from the normally hyper boy. "Did we screw up?"

"What? No!" Scrooge felt his gut turn up in guilt. Without even realising it he and Donald had not only caused one of their nephews to feel like he couldn't make anything of himself without causing his family to hate him, but they had also allowed their other two boys to think for even a second that it was their fault.

Scrooge may not know the boys as well as Donald did, but he knew enough to recognize that Louie had a fair amount of control over his emotions. It wasn't like him to get upset the way that he had a few moments ago. Fear was one emotion that Louie probably had the hardest time hiding, but this wasn't just fear, it was combined with anger and sadness, and those feelings had to have been built up over time. Dewey and Huey's little interning incident had probably reinforced the idea in Louie's head, but it hadn't been the incident that had put it there in the first place, and they likely wouldn't even have behaved the way they did if they hadn't learned from example.

That was all on Scrooge and Donald.

"Look, you lads may have made poor choices during your internship," Scrooge said, and they would be having words about that later. "But whatever idea your brother's got in that head of his is definitely not your fault."

"It's not your fault either." Huey said, and he even spoke with that 'older brother' voice of his. Scrooge certainly didn't agree with Huey's words. Maybe he wasn't at fault any more than the boys were, but he was the adult in the situation, they were just children. As the adult it was Scrooge's job to be the responsible one, to be a good example.

Scrooge hadn't felt like such a failure when it came to being an example for easily influential children since Della had disappeared.

He hadn't known how to handle the situation back then, so, as much as he regretted it now, he had backed off and done nothing. Scrooge didn't know what to do about this situation either, but he wasn't about to make the same mistake that he had ten years before.

He needed to talk to Louie.

Scrooge didn't explain where he was going to Huey and Dewey, they were smart lads, and they were probably expecting him to talk to their brother anyways. Scrooge just made his way back into the hallway towards Louie's room. He was disappointed, though not all that surprised, to see that Donald was still in the hall, trying to speak to Louie through the likely locked door.

"Are you having any luck?" Scrooge asked as he joined his nephew. Donald lowered his head in disappointment and shook his head.

"I've never had much luck talking to Louie." Donald said in a quiet voice that was filled with guilt. "I don't know why, but he doesn't seem to want to talk to me."

Maybe Donald didn't understand why, but Scrooge thought that he did. Louie cared a lot about what others thought of him, all the boys did, though in different ways. Huey was an intelligent boy, and he wanted to be recognized for it. Dewey had the love for adventure that Scrooge himself had always had, and he wanted to be treated the same way as any other explorer was, even though he was still just a child. As for Louie, he put on an act of not caring about anything, and he didn't want anybody, especially not those closest to him, to realize just how much he did care. Louie didn't want to be seen as weak because of his emotions.

Scrooge only recognized it because he often felt similarly.

Donald had never been like that, and he had never been very good at understanding why people felt the need to hide their emotions. Donald had always worn his heart on his sleeve, just like Huey and Dewey. He didn't know how to deal with somebody who felt the need to hide how they felt, even though three of his closest family members had been like that. Scrooge did his best to mask his emotions, Louie did as well, though he wasn't as good at it as he probably hoped he was.

And Della had been much the same.

"You mind if I have a go?" Scrooge asked. Donald shrugged and gestured for him to go ahead, though it was clear that he didn't think it would do much good. Scrooge tried not to let Donald's lack of confidence in him get to him, even though he wasn't feeling very confident in what he could contribute either. Whether he liked it or not, Scrooge just hadn't known the boys as long as Donald had...although, even after ten years of caring for them, Donald still didn't know what to say to Louie.

Scrooge wasn't very good at the sentimental, reassuring little speeches that he knew were appropriate when it came to family issues, but considering it was probably those kinds of words that Donald had tried to use with Louie, and failed, maybe Scrooge wouldn't need it. He was good with business matters, and Scrooge was just lucky enough to know for a fact that he had previously succeeded in teaching Louie a valuable life lesson that not only related to business and work, but, in his experience, be applied to family just as easily.

Scrooge could only hope that his great nephew would understand what he was going to say.

"Louie," Scrooge called through the door. He kept his voice even and normal. For all he knew, Louie would just get even more upset if his tone made it clear that he was there to comfort him. "Can ye open the door, lad? We need to talk."

There was a loud, exaggerated groan from the other side of the door. "Great, now you're here too." Scrooge could tell from the sound of Louie's voice that he was rolling his eyes. Where had he learned his disrespectful behavior from? Or was it just another one of facades? Scrooge wished that he knew. "Why don't you guys go pay attention to something that you actually care about."

Donald let out a slightly wounded sound, but Scrooge just felt annoyed. "You're going to have to try harder than that to convince us that you actually think that we don't care." Scrooge thought he knew what was going on. Based on what Louie had said earlier, that boy was scared that his family would stop caring about him someday. He was scared, and upset, and was probably just trying to convince himself that they didn't care even then, just so it wouldn't hurt more if they did indeed decide that they didn't care for him (which wasn't likely to happen, even Louie had to know that, but he was upset, so Scrooge thought that he could excuse the irrational behavior just this once).

"...What do you want?" Louie asked in a quiet, tired voice. They hadn't even started their conversation and he already wanted it to be over. Scrooge could relate to that, as he felt that way about most human interaction.

"Just to talk." Scrooge promised. He didn't hesitate before continuing. "Louie, do you remember that day when I brought you in to work with me?"

"Like I could forget." Louie scoffed. "...what about it?"

"Do you remember what lesson I wanted you to learn that day?" Scrooge asked.

"The importance of a hard day's work." Louie said boredly, like he was just repeating what he thought Scrooge wanted to hear. That hadn't been the answer that Scrooge had wanted though, so he waited for Louie to continue. "And...and that money, no matter how little or how much, is more valuable when it's actually earned." Louie said this in a quieter, more unsure voice.

"Precisely." Scrooge smiled. "And do you think that that only applies to money?"

"...I guess not?" Louie muttered so quietly that it was barely understandable.

"Louie, I'm not going to pretend that our family is perfect," Scrooge knew all too well just how flawed their family was. He had hurt family members too many times to count. Those same family members had hurt him just as many times. But they were still family, and they still cared for each other. "We all make mistakes here, nobody is denying that, and maybe we just make the same mistake over and over again, and that's something that we need to work on, but-"

"-but anything worth having needs to be gained through hard work and effort." Louie finished for him. The boy didn't sound entirely convinced, but he didn't sound as against the idea as he had a few moments before, so Scrooge figured that it was a step in the right direction. "But what if things go wrong again?"

"Then we'll just have to help each other figure out how to make it right again." Donald looked at Scrooge. "That's what family does."

Louie was quiet for a few moments, hopefully as he considered their words. "...promise?"

Scrooge breathed a sigh of relief. "Promise." He was just glad that this issue had been brought up while Louie was still so young. Children had an easier time believing things that they wanted to be true than stubborn adults who didn't want to take the chance at the risk of it backfiring on them.

"Promise." Donald swore. "Can you open the door now?"

There was silence for another few moments before they heard the sound of the door unlocking. Louie slowly began to open the door, but Donald, who wasn't a very patient duck, threw it open and quickly drew the boy in to a hug.

"Gah, Uncle Donald!" Louie complained as he tried in vain to pull out of his uncle's grip. "I knew you would do this."

"It's what ye get, lad." Scrooge wasn't one for hugs, but he did pull Louie's hood off of his head so that he could ruffle his feathers. "And for future reference, if ye want to avoid having outbursts like this, it's best to talk about your feelings before they build up like a raging volcano." Scrooge knew that he should probably do better at following his own advice, but as the saying went, 'do as I say and not as I do'.

"Yeah, I'll think about it." Louie slumped in defeat as he realized that he wasn't going to be getting out of his uncle's embrace any time soon. Scrooge soon began to feel uncomfortable himself, prolonged displays of affection tended to do that to him, so he excused himself and went to find the other boys. He had done as much as he could do at the moment for Louie, now he just needed to make sure that Huey and Dewey knew that everything was alright now before they came up with one of their elaborate schemes to make Louie feel better. They could be a real handful sometimes, the whole lot of them.

But they were worth every second of effort, and Scrooge wouldn't have them any other way.

A/N: I've actually been writing this thing one again off again for the past few months, ever since the internship episode. I don't know why it took me so long to get back into it, but at least I finished writing it, and that's what counts...right?