Habits

Lab Day!

I had just gotten off my shift, at the late hour of 10pm, and Uncle Donald and the kids were out adventuring. Which meant I had to walk home. Yay.

It was late, and dark, so I wasn't too keen on the option. But I wasn't going to willing ask Mrs. Beakley to leave the mansion, no matter how tempted I was. I'll be 18 in like two months, I have to get used to walking home alone. In the dark. With no defence. And long hair, that makes me an easy target.

I ended up not having to worry too much, though, because the moment I got two blocks away from the store, I heard the sounds of police sirens right behind me.

I stopped, and turned around, seeing none other than M'Má Cabrera, in her police car. She exited the car, with a stern, yet loving expression.

"Marina Duck," She greeted, "A bit late for you to be walking home alone, eh, mija?"

I smiled a bit. "Hi, M'ma. No one in my family was able to get me tonight, and the busses don't run this late," I explained.

She nodded. "Lo sé, mija, but it's not safe for you to be walking home this late, especially with how far you are from the mansion."

I shrugged. "No se puede hacer nada, M'Má."

She paused for a moment, before grabbing my arm and pulling me back to the car. "Here. You'll come home with me, and you can take the bus back home in the morning."

I sputtered. "M'Má, I'm perfectly fine with walking-"

"¡Ridículo!" She denied in only the way that M'Má Cabrera could, "You're coming home with me," She pushed me over to the passenger side, and walked over to the driver's side.

I paused, before getting in. One night couldn't hurt.

"But- What about Mrs. Beakley? And Duckworth?" I weakly defended.

"You have a phone, no?" I nodded. "Send a message to Beakley. And Duckworth is dead." She started the car, and that was that.

~~~

We arrived at her house close to 20 minutes later. There was a light coming on from Fenton's room, which was unsurprising. He stayed up more often, as of late. It didn't matter what hour of the day it was, I could almost always get ahold of him. Which was comforting, but concerning.

"Aye, Fenton...," M'Má sighed, locking the car doors. "I swear, that boy has to be told to go to bed, no matter what. Can you believe that? A grown man," She rolled her eyes.

I lightly chuckled. Fenton was honestly pretty young, in my opinion. "His, uh, internship must be pretty vexing."

"Not to mention his Gizmoducking around," She muttered.

I widened my eyes.

She noticed, and laughed. "Don't look at me like that, mija. I'm a detective, and his mother. It was hard not to figure out," She explained.

I nodded. "That makes sense. Oh! Don't tell him I'm here. I wanna surprise him," I explained.

She shrugged, but nodded, unlocking the door.

"Fenton!" She called, "I'm home!"

"Hola, M'Má," He called from his room, "I'll be out in a minute!"

I smiled. Perfect.

M'Má put her stuff on the floor before sitting on the couch and putting on what I'm going to guess was another Telanovela. You'd think being the most competent detective in Duckburg would be full of enough drama, but M'Má loves her Telenovelas.

I walked past the living room to Fenton's room, before pushing open the door.

Fenton yelped in response. "Ah! M- Oh," He calmed down, seeing it was me. I realized he was working on the Gizmoduck armor, sitting at his desk. "Hi, Marí," He smiled.