Hello~ I hope you enjoy this little one-shot I wrote:)

I do not own Gravity Falls or any of its characters.

"Fepper."

"Dipper!" Wake up!"

The boy groaned when he heard his sister's voice, he didn't know why, but he felt more tired tan usual that morning. However, the boy sat in his bed and rubbed his eyes for him to be able to start the day.

"I didn't know you were so lazy" the girl giggled while saying this. "Come on, bro-bro, it's time for breakfast and then I will go with Grunkle Ford to the Aquarium, it will be awesome!"

Dipper smiled at his sister. He knew how much Mabel wanted to have some bonding time with their Grunkle Ford, so when the man proposed her to go to the aquarium together, the girl instantly screamed out of happiness and hugged the man with all her force, causing the man to fall to the ground.

"Are you sure you don't want to come with us?" the girl asked to her brother. "It will be fun!"

"No thanks." The boy already felt like he had spent too much time with Ford, so, he decided to let Mabel to enjoy her day with their Grunkle. "I'll help in the Mystery Shack."

"Well, okay. Let's go downstairs!" The girl ran to the stairs and, before he could stop her, he could hear how his sister fell down the stairs.

"I'm okay!" the boy chuckled at this, his sister would never change.

"Mr. Pines, will Mabel not be here today?" Wendy asked, looking around the gift shop in search for the 13 year old girl.

"Nope. She and my brother went to the aquarium." He explained. "It's a little far from here, so they probably will return by night."

"That's adorable." Wendy said, smiling a little. "I can imagine her excitement."

"The little girl dude must be happy." Soos commented with a smile, making a new attraction for the Mystery Shack.

"Yes, she was really happy." Stan agreed. "But now I lack of an employee."

"I can guess who will replace her chores." Dipper said, a little frown on his face.

"Kid, go and clean the front yard!" Stan ordered, making Dipper sigh in annoyance. "Quick, kid!"

"Man, is the day too hot, or it's just me?" the boy asked to himself outside the shack, he was sweating, more than normal, and he felt really tired.

Dipper gave a little sneeze, followed by other one, and another one.

"Man, am I getting sick or something?" he thought with annoyance. "Whatever, I'll just finish this, it's not like a little fever can stop me."

"I finished cleaning the front yard." The boy announced when he returned to the shack, although he could hear how his voice sounded weird due the flu.

"Wow, dude, your voice sounds funnier than normal." Soos commented, a worried look on his face.

"Kid, are you feeling well?" Stan asked after hearing Soos statement. "Maybe you shouldn't work today."

"I'm okay." The boy said before starting to sweep the mystery shack. "Some sneezes can't stop me."

Dipper knew he had been past this, however, the moment Stan asked if he was okay he felt… odd. He felt like a little boy whose parents have to take care of just because he was sneezing a little. He had seen plenty of people working while they were sick and nothing happened to them.

Following this trail of thoughts, Dipper continued working, ignoring how his body was feeling hotter than before.

"Okay, maybe that wasn't a good idea." The boy thought, entering the attic while feeling a little dizzy. "It's okay, I just need to rest a little."

However, the moment he went to his bed, he couldn't ignore the fever any longer.

"Too hot." He thought, taking off his vest and t-shirt. "Too hot..."

The boy sneezed a couple of times, feeling his body ache every time he sneezed.

"What's wrong?" he thought, a little desperate. "Come on, I… just need to rest."

"Dipper!" his uncle called him from downstairs. "I need you to wash the dishes."

The boy tried to get up, however, when he stood up, he suddenly felt like the world was moving way too fast.

"Grunkle Stan, Grunkle Stan." Dipper didn't know if he screamed or just called his grunkle with a little whisper, but he kept saying his name. He definitely didn't feel well. "Grunkle Stan, help me."

It seemed like Stan heard him, because before he could fell to the floor, he felt how someone prevented him from falling.

"Dipper! Dipper what's wrong?" The boy was conscious, but he couldn't respond.

"Too hot." He said, not being able to focus what he was seeing. "Too hot…"

Stan tried to hard not to panic when he felt the boy's forehead.

"You are burning." The man told him. "Thermometer, thermometer…"

Stan carried his grandnephew in his arms and stormed out of the room. He knew he had a thermometer in the bathroom behind the mirror.

"There it is." The man took the electronic device and put it under the boys arm. "Please, don't be too high, please…"

After a brief moment, the man heard the device and took it so he could see the boy's temperature.

"40 degrees." He read out loud, his hand shaking when he saw the number. "That's really low… wait! This is Celsius!?" the man panicked, he wasn't the best at numbers, but he knew how that was equivalent in Fahrenheit. "104… oh no."

Stan walked out of the bathroom, ready to head to the hospital, however, the news quickly told him that plan wasn't happening any soon.

"Breaking news! Due the lack of patients, Gravity Falls' hospital will be closed for a week to have some renovations."

"Are you kidding me!?" Stan couldn't believe his bad luck "Why now!?"

Before Stan could swear, a new sneeze from his nephew called his attention.

"I got you, buddy." He thought, "Don't worry, you'll be fine."

Stan didn't know anything about medicine, however, he knew he had heard somewhere that a somewhat warm bath could reduce a fever.

Stan left the kid in the sofa and he went to prepare the bathtub, ignoring his nephew's desperate calls.

"Grunkle Stan, help." Those words were breaking the man's heart, but he knew he was helping the kid in that moment, even if Dipper didn't notice that. "Grunkle Stan…"

"I'm here boy." Stan prepared the bathtub and now was taking the boy to the bathroom. 'I'm here, don't worry, you will feel better."

They boy was just wearing his shorts, so Stan didn't bothered to remove them, he just put the boy in the water.

The water's temperature was okay, Stan knew that, and he also knew that the boy would feel like the water was freezing, but that didn't prepare him enough to hear the boy sobs.

"It's too cold!" the boy exclaimed, his eyes closed all the time. "Too cold!"

"I know, but it's necessary." The man told him, hoping the boy could understand what he was saying.

Dipper began to breathe heavily, so Stan tried to calm the boy down, stroking his hair while talking gently to him.

"Don't worry, kid. You will feel better in no time, your sister will return in a few hours and you need to be able to listen to her loud voice." He said him, trying to control his shaking hands. "But first, you will eat a bowl full of soup, how about that?"

The boy's breaths became more normal, so Stan checked the boy's fever again.

"38.5 degrees…" the man read out loud. "That's like… ugh, I don't know, but it's better."

The man grabbed his cellphone (he and his brother bought two so they could call the kids when they were in California) and searched for the equivalent.

"101.3 degrees." Stan smiled. "It's working."

The man looked at the hour. It was 6:00 pm already.

"I better call my brother." The man said to himself. He needed to tell his brother and his niece about Dipper's condition.

"Hi, Stanley." His brother greeted "We just exited the aquarium."

"It was great!" Stanley could hear Mabel's voice "Tell him I say hi! Also, I bought Dipper a present!"

"I think you already heard her." Ford said and Stan could swear he heard the man's smile. "How's everything at home?"

"Well…" now Stan regretted calling his brother, he didn't want to ruin the mood. "At first everything was good, but Dipper got a fever."

"Well, that's not good." Stanford said, his voice a little serious. "What was his body's temperature?"

"He is fine now." Stan quickly said. "But at first, his fever reached 104 degrees."

Ford became silent for a moment, however, his niece asking him "What's wrong?" took him out of his thoughts.

"Oh, nothing sweetheart." Stan heard his brother talking to Mabel. "Your brother is just a little sick."

"He is fine now." Stan repeated. "The hospital is closed so I put him in the bathtub and now his fever is going away."

"Well, that's good." Stan could hear relieve in his brother's voice. "It will take a while for us to arrive, if something else happens, call me."

"Understood."

Stan hang out just when the boy began to open his eyes.

"Grunkle Stan?" The boy had a confused look in his face. "What happened?"

"You had a fever." Stan answered. "You were dizzy, I put you here so the fever could go away."

"Oh." The boy looked a little embarrassed. "I didn't know it was that bad."

Stan raised an eyebrow at this. "You knew you had a fever and you didn't tell me?"

The boy froze at this. "Well… yes, I knew. But I didn't feel really bad so I didn't think it was a big deal."

"You didn't…" Stan tried to control his anger. "Kid, you almost gave me a heart attack. When I went to your room you could barely speak. Why didn't you tell me you weren't feeling well?"

Dipper looked at his hands. "I'm sorry, Grunkle Stan. I just… well, I didn't want to be like a small child that needed to stay in bed just because a flu." He explained. "Lots of people work even when they are sick."

Stan sighed at this. "Kid, the people who work while being sick, need to take lots of medicine to be able to get out of their house. If it were up to them, they wouldn't go to work. "Stan explained. "You, however, were having a fever since this morning, didn't take any medicine and worked all day in the mystery shack, sometimes outside in the sun, making your fever worse."

Dipper sighed. "I'm sorry, Grunkle Stan."

Stan rubbed his tired eyes. "Just, promise me you will never do that again, please."

Dipper smiled a little. "I promise, thanks for taking care of me."

Stan brought dry clothes to the boy so he could change and then accompanied the boy to his room.

"You try to get some sleep." He told the boy. "I'll go make some soup, your sister is returning soon and she will be starving."

The boy nodded at his uncle and closed his eyes while Stan left the room.

The man was preparing some chicken soup when he heard the front door open.

"We are here!" his niece's voice make the man smile. "Grunkle Stan! Look at this stuffed turtle I bought for Dipper!"

The girl ran to the kitchen, followed by a smiling Ford, who look with amusement at his niece.

"It's cute." Stan commented. "However, your brother is sleeping in this moment, so he will see it later."

"Right, Grunkle Ford told me he was a little sick." The girl commented. "Well, I'll watch some TV."

The girl left the kitchen, leaving the two man alone.

"How is he?" Ford changed his smile for a frown.

"His fever is gone, he just needs a little rest." Stan said with a sad sigh. "I was so scared…"

Ford went to his brother and put a comforting hand on Stan's shoulder. "Hey, he is feeling better now. You did a good job."

"Grunkle Stan! Grunkle Ford! Do you want to watch a movie with me?" the girl asked from the living room.

"Let's have some dinner first!" Stan told her. "I didn't make this soup for nothing."

"I couldn't give to him his bowl of soup, he is still asleep." The girl said. Mabel had gone to the attic to give her brother a bowl of chicken soup. "I left it besides his bed."

"That's my pumpkin." Stan said to her with a smile while the girl took a sit between her two great uncles.

The three family members began to watch "Return to the present." an 80's movie that came out after Ford fell through the portal. Mabel recommended it, so the man could watch it for the first time.

"It's a really creative movie, I must say." Ford said, while watching the movie. "It has in consideration the paradoxes that can be created while someone time travels."

"Sadly, it seems like Mabel is too tired to watch it." Stan commented, pointing to his now sleeping niece.

"She certainly had a lot of fun today." Ford said affectionately, stroking the girl's hair. "Although I had to stop her to go inside the dolphins' place when the show started."

Stan laughed. "Well, let's put this kid into her bed."

Stan carried Mabel to the attic while Ford was following him. When they entered the kids' room, Ford walked closer to Dipper's bed, checking on him.

"Well, it seems like he no longer has a fever." He commented, taking the untouched bowl of soup with him.

"That's good, he almost gave me a heart attack." Stan commented while leaving the room, his brother behind him. "The next time he scares me that much, I will confiscate his BABA's CD."

"You know you won't do that." Ford said with a knowing smile.

Stan returned the smile. "I know I won't do that, because I'll make sure this doesn't happen again."

That was a promise he was going to keep.