#MERRY CHRISTMAS EVE!!! NEW DW TOMORROW :') | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

rebellingstagnationblog · 6 years

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“Little Drummer Boy” by Josh Groban (Day 26 of 31)

For @viridianrebooted ( @viridianvenus ) because I couldn’t resist writing more young Gosalyn and Drake.

On a scale of Christmas in the hospital to literally any other Christmas with Gosalyn, this one ranked just above the hospital year.

Because he’d had to spend Christmas. In a hospital.

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Drake flopped onto his side with a snarl, grabbed his thin hospital sheet, and tugged the material over his shoulder.

Or he would have if his wrist wasn’t broken. And his head wasn’t killing him. And if his back wasn’t spasming.

But he did manage to pull the sheet over his chest. It didn’t quite reach to where he liked it to rest under his beak, but he’d pulled it up. Indignantly.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Mallard. I wish we could discharge you, but the fact that your head hasn’t stopped hurting may be a sign of something more serious. It’s only one night of observation—”

“Yeah, on Christmas Eve.”

The doctor smiled in sympathy. “If it makes you feel any better, I’ll be here, too.”

“It doesn’t,” Drake muttered.

“Well.” The doctor shrugged. “I’ll leave you, then. We need you to rest as much as you can, so I’ll be turning out all the lights in here and I’ll need you to keep the TV off.”

“What am I supposed to do?” Drake groused, glaring up at the doctor. “Just lie here in the dark alone on Christmas Eve?”

“Our nurses are down the hall and will check on you every few hours to make sure you’re all right.”

Drake crossed his good arm over his chest and glared straight ahead.

“If you need anything, push the call button on your bed. Try to rest, Mr. Mallard. I’ll see you in the morning.” With that, the doctor left, softly shutting the door behind him after shutting the lights off.

Drake continued to stare ahead at the blank wall with one framed photo of a seaside mounted in the exact center. Not that he could see the seaside now with all the lights off, but he could make out the dark outline of the frame and he knew it was there. Taunting him. Like it somehow knew water that had been Drake’s downfall.

Not a villain.

Not some selfless act of heroism.

Just an accident where Drake had slipped on ice, broken his wrist, threw out his back, and smacked his head so hard on the pavement that the doctor wanted to keep him in the hospital overnight.

Of all the ways to go.

And now he wouldn’t even be home for Christmas. Gosalyn and Launchpad would have to celebrate without him. Not that Gos would have many gifts to open. That’s where Drake had been, finishing up his shopping. Christmas had snuck up on him this year; between fighting off all the villains over the past few weeks and decorating for the holiday and working with S.H.U.S.H. on some new crime fighting tactics, he’d just run out of time.

Cue rushing around on Christmas Eve, slipping on a patch of ice outside the mall and falling backwards. He’d thrown out his hand to break his fall and was aware of a sharp pain in that wrist as he’d made contact with the ground before blacking out.

Christmas was stupid.

He hated it. There was no point to it. All it brought on was stress and worry and a crazy amount of pressure to out-do yourself from last year.

The last reason might just be a Drake thing, though. He’d always been competitive, especially with himself.

A soft knock on his door made Drake tear his eyes off the shadow of the painting and look at the intruder.

It was Launchpad, smiling and looking sheepish as he ducked into the room. “Visitin’ hours are almost over, but I wanted to see ya all the same. How ya feelin’?” He glanced back down the hall then closed the door behind him.

“Peachy,” Drake grumbled, burrowing down further under his sheet. “I get to stay here for Christmas.”

“They told me,” Launchpad said, his voice gentle. Sympathetic. “Sorry, DW.”

Drake closed his eyes, not wanting Launchpad’s sympathy. He wanted to go home. He wanted to see his daughter and forget this whole thing ever happened.

Speaking of….

“You’d better get home, LP. Bad enough I’m stuck here and can’t be with Gos. I don’t want her to be alone on Christmas Eve.”

“Well, that’s the thing….” Launchpad said, his dark outline shifting side to side at the foot of Drake’s bed.

Drake was immediately on high alert, sitting up and ignoring the twinge in his back. “What did she do?” Drake asked, already running through the possibilities and how he’d be able to break out of the hospital to get to her.

“I resent that!” came an all too familiar voice. A small head popped up at the foot of the bed next to Launchpad. “Who says I’ve done anything?”

“Gosalyn Mallard!” Drake scowled, but just seeing her — well, the general shape of her — already soothed his frayed nerves. “What are you doing here, young lady?”

“Gee, it’s almost like my Dad’s in the hospital or something,” she said, tone laced with sarcasm.

“Why’d you sneak in?” Drake pressed, highly suspicious. When it came to Gosalyn, it was always safe to question everything. “Why not come in with Launchpad like normal?”

“Because if the nurses don’t know I’m here, they can’t ask me to leave,” Gosalyn said, sounding entirely too smug for her own good.

“They… what?” Drake asked. attributing his inability to grasp the concept to his possible brain injury.

“Like I’m gonna let you stay here alone. It’s Christmas Eve, Dad.”

“Which is why you should go home with Launchpad. You can at least have Christmas morning at home—”

“Without you?” Gosalyn asked, her head shaking side to side. “No way.”

Drake sighed and glanced at Launchpad. “LP?”

“I only signed myself in on the visitor’s log. I’ll be back in the morning to take you both home.” Launchpad moved to the door, saying, “Merry Christmas, DW.” Not waiting for Drake to protest, Launchpad left, closing the door behind him.

Gosalyn walked around the bed, coming to stand by Drake. He could just make out her large green eyes from the lights emitting from the heart monitor.

“Did you put him up to this?” Drake asked, something in him wanting to fight even though having Gosalyn with him for the night was already making him feel better.

“He didn’t fight me much,” Gosalyn said, eyes tracking over him. “Are you in pain?”

“Nah. The doctor just wants to keep me here for observation.”

“That doesn’t sound good, Dad.”

“I’m fine, Gos.” Drake shifted, ignoring how his back protested. “Go home with Launchpad. There’ll be nothing for you to do; I can’t even have the TV on.”

“But you’re here,” Gosalyn said. “Can I lay next to you or will it hurt too much?”

“Gosalyn—”

“Dad. I’m not leaving.”

Drake glared at her in the dark. He saw her cross her arms and that just wasn’t fair, one of his arms was in a cast.

“You won’t hurt me,” he finally said, his need to have her close winning over his want to do what was best for her.

As Gosalyn climbed up onto his bed, he said, “The nurse is supposed to check on me every few hours.”

“I’ll duck under the bed or something,” Gosalyn said, settling next to Drake and snuggling into his chest. She hadn’t grown much in the past two years since Drake had adopted her, so she fit perfectly as his side. Selfishly, Drake wished she’d stay this size forever, but he knew she was due for a growth spurt soon.

“Not much of a Christmas Eve,” Drake said, carefully shifting onto his side and wrapping his good arm around her. “Waking up and hiding every few hours.”

“Eh, it’s not so bad,” Gosalyn said, tugging the sheet up over her. “Besides, we’ll go home tomorrow, right? Then we can celebrate Christmas.”

Drake sighed. “It’s gonna be a rough Christmas across the board, kiddo. I wasn’t able to get you much—”

“Dad,” Gosalyn said, lifting her head to look at him. “I don’t care. I just want you. Now stop talking and rest. Wake me up when the nurse comes in.” She curled into him, one of her hands gripping his hospital gown.

Drake tightened his hold on her, pressing a kiss to the top of her head before burying his face in her hair.

As always, Gosalyn had made Drake question which of them was the parent. Because what did it matter that he didn’t have gifts? They had one another. And that’s what mattered.

He didn’t have the heart to wake Gosalyn when the nurse came in. He prepared himself for a fight because now that he had her, there was no way Drake was letting Gosalyn go, but the nurse just smiled. She said she had kids of her own and gave him a wink before assuring him that no one would ask Gosalyn to leave.

After knowing his daughter was safe, Drake managed to get a few hours of sleep himself, wrapped protectively around his daughter.

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So, yeah.

This Christmas was better than that one. But not by much.

Drake would never get used to Negaduck being in his home.

But it could’ve gone worse, he supposed.

Which he would take with him to his grave because if Gosalyn knew he hadn’t been completely miserable the entire time, she’d never let him live it down.

#darkwing duck #drake mallard #gosalyn mallard #launchpad mcquack #31 days of christmas #a very merry geronimo christmas

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