Stan drove his car up to the front of the Mystery Shack and turned the engine off. Almost immediately afterward he shot a glare at his passenger.

"What do you think you're doing?"

Stanley Pines' twin brother Stanford stopped his hand in mid-reach for the door handle. "Er—getting out of the car and going into the house? "

"Not without help, you're not." Stanley insisted, immediately getting out of his side of the car.

Stanford sighed, laying his left arm across his chest and resting his right elbow on his arm, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Stanley, are you going to be like this all day? "

His brother opened the passenger's side door. "All week, all month, until I'm convinced your one hundred per cent—maybe for the rest of your life. "

Stanford sighed deeply, but he couldn't help but smile as he looked up at his brother.

You would do anything for me, wouldn't you, Stanley? You've already saved my life more than once, I don't know what else there is to do…

As Stanford took Stan's offered hand and stood up from his seat, the older set of twins saw their great niece and nephew come racing down the front steps.

"Great Uncle Ford!"

"Grunkle Ford, you're home!"

Their niece Mabel almost immediately had her arms wrapped around Ford's leg. "Oh, Grunkle Ford, I'm so glad you're okay!"

"I'm fine, Mabel, thank you." Ford said, placing a hand on the back of her head.

"Grunkle Stan, can I help? " their nephew Dipper asked, his hands held out in front of him, but not sure what to do.

Stan shook his head. "Well, for one thing, you can move, and Mabel, you can let go of your Uncle's leg so he can walk. "

Ford chuckled. "Thank you, kids. It's good to be welcomed home. "

Stan placed an arm around Ford's waist and proceeded to help him toward the house. At first Ford was going to protest, realized it wouldn't do any good, and then when he tried to take a step with his left foot—

"Ghnnnnnng!"

Stanford gritted his teeth against the pain. Even though it was healing, the burn on the bottom of his foot still hurt.

"Stanford!"

"Great Uncle Ford! "

"What happened?"

"It—it's okay, kids." Ford assured Dipper and Mabel. "I—my foot just hurts, is all. I guess I will need your help, Stanley. "

Stan frowned. A few days ago, with the help of Dipper, Mabel, and his two employees, he had rescued his brother. A day and a half before that, Stanford had been kidnapped and held prisoner by a monster he had once studied, known as the shape shifter. While he was in the hospital, Stan had insisted that his brother tell him everything that had happened while he was in captivity (mainly because he kept waking up with nightmares). Ford had confided in him that the creature, who had taken human form, had found different ways to torture him, one of which had been subjecting him to electric shock. The electrical burn on the bottom of Ford's left foot was still healing, but it hadn't all the way.