Who is Julie McDuck?!

Lullabies

"Oh...okay," Scrooge said into the phone, scratching the back of his neck. "Thank ye, Matilda. Bye."

He hung up, letting out a sigh before turning to Della and Donald. The latter was balancing Julie on his lap.

"Any luck?" Della asked hopefully, sitting up straight.

"Not much," her uncle said, collapsing onto the couch. "Matilda said that the wee bairn's mother has...passed on, and she doesn't know where her father is. She thought I'd be the best person to take care of her."

"Well, she has a point. You took care of us when we were kids," Donald agreed, holding little Julie's hands so that she could stand in his lap.

"Yeah, but we were eleven," Della pointed out, turning her gaze towards her newest cousin. "The poor little thing doesn't even know her mom and dad, Donald."

"Donal'," Julie babbled, patting his beak.

Scrooge chuckled. "Yep, she's a McDuck, alright. Fast learner, too," he confirmed, gently taking the duckling from his nephew's hold. He turned to Donald. "Lad, can ye get the crib out from the garage?"

Donald obeyed and Scrooge turned his attention to his great-niece in his arms. The duckling was blurry-eyed and clutching onto his coat as if it were a lifeline. He rubbed her back, wondering why she was so attached to him.

And then he saw the tears dotting the corners of Julie's eyes. He held the little girl closer still, and noticed that her short bangs (which looked a lot like Della's) were covering her face. He brushed them back, now revealing her eyes.

They were his eyes.

While Matilda and Hortense had the signature blue eyes of their father, Scrooge had a bit of green that circled his pupils as well from his mother. Della and Donald both had their mother's eyes, so he thought that his other sister's kids would have the same.

And now, looking into the eyes of his great-niece, she had the same blue eyes with the exact same green tint around her pupils.

Shaking himself out of his thoughts, Scrooge took note of the situation at hand and began to shush the little duckling in his arms. He took out a handkerchief from his coat pocket and wiped away the tears from her eyes.

Julie whined and batted her uncle's hands away. He kissed her forehead and the girl cooed happily before letting out a squeaky little yawn.

It was then that Scrooge noticed that she was still soaking wet from the rain she was left in. "Let's get you into something warm," he said, trekking up the stairs.

He turned into a near-empty room and looked around. There wasn't a lot in the room; just a dresser, a rocking chair, and a crib.

And who should be there, filling the dresser with clothes and sweeping the floor but Donald and Della. Scrooge cleared his throat and the twins jumped.

"What're yew two doin'?"

"Just getting the room ready," Della said, as if it were no big deal. She knelt down to her baby cousin's level. "Someone needs a place to sleep, doesn't she?" she cooed, ruffling Julie's hair.

"Here," Donald said, handing Scrooge a pair of purple footie pajamas. His uncle smirked.

"Yer cousin here's going ta make a great dad one of these days," he whispered to Julie.

"I heard that!" Donald shouted, his cheeks bright red. Scrooge just continued to smile as he helped Julie out of her wet clothes.

Scrooge could feel his face pale. He hadn't noticed how thin the babe was because the onesie she'd been in was oversized. But now, he saw that she was so skinny that he could see her ribs. He felt his anger burn.

Did Matilda even feed the poor lass?!

He was shot back into reality with the confused look his great-niece was giving him as she played with her little webbed feet.

"Uh, everything's alright, darlin'," he chuckled nervously, zipping the front of the footie pajamas up. "Nothing's wrong."

Julie gave him a look that said I don't know if I believe you, but okay as her uncle picked her up and balanced her on his hip. Donald held out a bottle to him.

"You might need this, considering how thin she is," Donald sighed, petting Julie's head and making her giggle. So he'd noticed, too.

Scrooge took a seat in the rocking chair and held the nipple of the bottle up to Julie's tiny beak. She looked at him for a second with her head cocked in confusion, as if to say, Is this for me?

Scrooge laughed. "Yes, it's for yew, wee lassie."

As if that acted as a sense of clarification, Julie started to suck down the formula at a steady pace, all while gazing up at her great-uncle with those big eyes. When she was finished and burped, she snuggled her head into Scrooge's chest and her eyelids began to close.

Scrooge felt his heart do something that it hadn't done since he'd met Donald and Della. He looked around, making sure no one was around and started at sing:

Dreams to sell, fine dreams to sell.

Angus is here with dreams to sell.

Hush now wee bairnie and sleep without fear,

For Angus will bring you a dream, my dear.

As soon as he saw that Julie was on the brink of sleep, Scrooge put her in the crib and tucked her under the soft purple blanket. Then he spun the mobile above the crib. It had a star, moon, coin, and a little horse on it.

Julie's eyes tried to follow the mobile but soon she was asleep. Scrooge smiled, kissed her on her forehead again, and walked to the doorway before gazing back at the sleeping duckling one last time.

"Goodnight, Julianna."