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It had been four years since Della... since she left. Donald hadn't really had the proper time to grieve, he knew she was more than likely dead, but at this point he was numb to it. What he wasn't numb to was the heart ache every time he saw the boys. And having to look after them caused it to be a constant ache.
Especially when they called him dad.
Don't get him wrong, he had tried over and over again to get them to stop, to call him uncle Donald, but they just never listened. He wasn't sure if it was just four year olds not understanding, or doing it on purpose to make his heart ache. He had never wanted to take the title of parent from Della, but she also wasn't here to assure her kids that she did, in fact, want them.
Furthermore, he knew what Della's absence could cause in the boys. Knew a thing or two about abandonment issues himself. First his parents and now his sister. He could recognise that it wasn't healthy, what he did, walking out on his uncle Scrooge and stopping all contact with his friends. Yet what would have stopped them from doing the same as Della had, leaving him all by himself and breaking his heart further.
No, it was easier for him to cut them out now instead of wait for the inevitable. Because who would want to stick around him if his own twin didn't.
He sighed, stopping that train of thought and getting back to the task he had started before his mind decided to wander. As he put the last of the dishes in the dish rack and dried his hands. It was never a good thing when he went down that line of thought, so he had to stop himself now, before he spiral even more.
Sudden loud foot falls could be heard racing through the boat. Donald sighed again as he put the tea towel away and turned to face his - the kids.
"Dad!" Dewey shouted as he raced straight into his leg. "Look what I did!"
He wanted to reprimand Dewey for the name but didn't have it in him to be mad at Dewey's enthusiasm. Dewey was jumping up and down holding a piece of paper. Donald couldn't quite make it out as Dewey continuous movement made it difficult to make sense of anything on the paper. He saw the other two kids walk up much calmer behind Dewey with there own pieces of papers and smiles on their faces. Obviously they were proud of whatever they had done.
Donald knelt down to their level, a smile gracing his mouth as he held out his hand for the paper. Dewey practically shoved it into Donald's face and Donald carefully brought it down and looked at it. It was a simple drawing of the four of them, just stick figures that were colour coordinated. But what surprised him most were the very roughly drawn letters above each stick figure. The words weren't that legible but Donald was so proud.
He may have had tears in his eyes.
Donald looked to the other two and their papers and saw they were holding up similar drawing. Huey's lettering was much more legible and Louie's art work was much neater. Nevertheless, he was so proud of all three boys.
"Oh, boys, these are wonderful." He said as he took the others work and moved over to the fridge. The boys followed, smiling as they went and helped pick magnets off the fridge for Donald to use to hold their artwork up.
He admired their work all together, taking a step back to really appreciate it, then crouched down again to give them all a big hug. Which they gladly accepted.
Later when the kid had gone to bed and he was cleaning up a bit before heading to bed himself, he looked at the pictures his boys had drawn.
He couldn't stop the tears from streaming down his face. Or the horrible sobs from making their way up his throat. Though he did try to keep himself as quiet as possible, not wanting to wake his boys.
The boys had drawn their family, and as much as he loved the drawings, he knew that something was missing. That someone was missing. A couple of someones were missing. And he wasn't sure if they would ever be in the pictures the boys drew. If they would ever be in the boys lives at all. And that killed him a little in the inside.
Because he was never meant to be a parent, but he loved his boys so much and not being able to give them everything, it hurt.
Still, he would try. With everything he had he would try to do best by his boys.