Disclaimer: I do not own Gravity Falls or any of its characters. If I did, there probably would've been more quiet moments like this.

All Through the Night

Stan was finally heading up to bed after hours of tinkering with the portal the first time he heard the soft whimpers drifting down from the attic to his position on the first landing.

He glanced up, unsure over what to do. The kids had only been here for about two weeks and they all were still adjusting to the situation. As such, he wasn't exactly sure what you were supposed to do at times like this. When he was a kid, he'd been told to suck it up whenever he had a nightmare and there was no way that'd he'd be allowed to disturb his parents. But…

These kids deserved better than what he'd gotten.

He took a few hesitant steps and then headed further up the stairs. He stopped only once more as he stood at the doorway to the twins' room. Then, he slowly opened the door and went in.

Glancing around, he saw Mabel tossing and turning in her sleep, several stuffed animals knocked onto the floor. She whimpered once more, and she looked like she was in so much pain, he couldn't help going over to her and gently shaking her.

"Mabel?" He called her name softly.

"Wha?! Gideon!" Mabel startled away, throwing a punch which Stan expertly dodged. She sat there for a few moments, breathing hard.

His heart twitched at her words. Maybe he shouldn't have semi-jokingly suggested she marry Gideon. Something had obviously gone down today, and both Mabel and Dipper had seemed pretty freaked out and disgusted by it.

"Gru-grunkle Stan?" Mabel blinked at him. She appeared a lot calmer already. "Wha-what are you doing here?"

"Uh, I kinda heard you." Stan said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. "You okay, sweetie?"

"Um," Mabel wiped away the last traces of tears from her eyes, "yeah."

Stan paused, looking her over. She said she was fine, but she really didn't look it. "Well," Stan stopped what he was about to say about her getting back to sleep as he saw the way she clutched the nearest teddy bear. "Uh, like hot chocolate?"

He didn't even know why he'd bothered asking seeing as he had already seen how she enjoyed devouring sugar in all its forms, but the way she lit up at her words made it worth it. In mere moments, she had scrambled out of her bed and took his hand, leading him to the kitchen. He hid a smile at her eagerness.

It was only as they got to the kitchen that she slowed down.

"Oh, shouldn't we…" Mabel looked back up towards the attic. "Shouldn't we ask Dipper to join us?"

Stan thought about it for a second. Dipper had been sleeping peacefully, and the kid got so little sleep as it was that he was reluctant to wake him. Plus, it was okay for twins to do things separately every once in a while. "It'll be our secret, okay?" He threw Mabel a wink.

Mabel giggled as a smile grew on her face.

Stan was glad that she seemed happier already.

In short order, the hot chocolate was made and he watched in horror at the amount of whipped cream, sprinkles, and edible glitter she put on it. Distantly, he remembered that kids aren't supposed to have sugar at night when they should be sleeping. However, as they drank the last dregs of their drinks, Mabel came over and hugged him tight. "Thank you, Grunkle Stan." She whispered before dashing back to bed.

He tried to pretend that his grin was just because he liked hot chocolate as much as the next person. He couldn't deny that her smile had been worth whatever parental faux pas he'd just committed.

Dipper was not the type to admit to nightmares, another way that he reminded Stan of himself. Heck, the kid had plenty of troubles sleeping already, and he was the kind of person that couldn't sleep because he was focusing so much on what was bothering him. As such, his problems usually didn't travel into his nightmares.

So, needless to say, Stan was surprised the night that he found Dipper pacing right outside the shared attic room. The sounds had drawn him up there when he had been going to bed, and he couldn't help but check on them. After all, it'd just been a few days since Dipper had summon the undead hordes.

Dipper pacing had not been what he'd been expected.

Actually, he was almost afraid that he was going to give the kid a heart attack when he popped his head up.

"Agh!" Dipper startled so badly that he fell over, clutching his heart. "Stan!" He took several deep breaths to calm himself. "Wha-what are you doing up?" He tried to sound nonchalant but ultimately failed.

Stan's eyes narrowed. "What are you doing up?" He deflected. He didn't put many restrictions on the kids, only things like making sure they're inside before nightfall and they had to be in bed by midnight at the latest.

It was a lot later than midnight, but looking at Dipper, Stan got the sense that he had at least tried to go to sleep. It's just that the jumpiness, bloodshot eyes, and signs of tears indicated that his sleep hadn't been exactly restful.

"Uh, you know me, Grunkle Stan." Dipper tried to laugh it off. "Always up trying to figure out that journal."

Stan gave Dipper a look. He cast about for a solution to this, because he didn't think this could be solved as easily as dealing Mabel's nightmares. Give the girl some hot chocolate and a hug and she was as right as rain. Dipper was different. He tried so hard to seem mature and he hated being coddled. He didn't want to seem weak in front of anyone.

An idea came to mind. "Follow me." Stan ordered, and Dipper hesitated only a moment before following him. He took them into the kitchen, and set about getting some supplies. He could practically feel Dipper's confusion hitting his back as he made popcorn and then lead him into the living room.

"Uh, what are we doing?" Dipper finally asked as Stan settled into his armchair and gestured for Dipper to join him. He scrambled onto Stan's lap as he clicked on the TV.

"Don't know about you, but I couldn't sleep." Stan easily lied. "Was gonna watch some TV. Some of the best stuff is on at this time, y'know?" He flicked through channels, trying to find something that wasn't an informercial or complete crap.

"Uh, so, you're letting me join you?" Dipper asked, though Stan could catch the traces of relief in his face.

"If I was going to send you back to bed, I would've done it already, Dipper." Stanley said a bit grumpily, trying hard not to look like he cared too much. He stopped as he came across something that would appeal to them both. "Hey, you like crappy B-movies, right?"

"Yeah?" Dipper turned his attention to the screen, showing some interest as the signs of stress seemed to melt from his body.

"Ever heard of Horror Movie Screening 6000?" Stan grinned a bit.

"No." Stan noticed a slight shiver go down the boy's spine, and slowly realized that with what went on in this town, maybe something with the word "horror" in its title wasn't the best.

"I swear, the horror part is just short for horrible." Stan promised. "C'mon, at least heckle it with me and the hosts."

"Okay…" They watched the program for a bit. "Are… are those supposed to be zombies?" Dipper asked hesitantly, a look of complete bewilderment on his face.

"They're undead somethings." Stan commented, digging into the popcorn with Dipper following suit. "But they're deader than the humor attempts in this movie."

"Oh my god," Dipper chuckled, "these effects are so bad."

They continued watching and at some point, they both fell into an exhausted sleep. Mabel found them both in the chair with the TV still on in the morning.

Given how rested Dipper looked and the smile on his face, Stan didn't even mind the fact that Mabel had undoubtedly taken a picture for her scrapbook.

Stan bolted upright in bed, breathing hard. He closed his eyes as he tried to control his breath. He wiped the sweat from his brow before slipping from his bed. He knew he wasn't going to be getting anymore sleep.

He didn't know why he was having nightmares now. After all, Ford was here and safe; there was nothing to worry about.

Well, nothing to worry about in regards to Ford. He could try lying to himself, but he knew exactly why he was having nightmares about his homeless days.

Stan walked out of his room, but he paused when he reached the stairs. Normally when he had nightmares, he would go down to the basement and work on the portal. But there was no need for that now. And if Ford wasn't sleeping in his room like he was supposed to, then he'd be downstairs in the basement and that wasn't really an encounter that he was looking forward to.

Stan stood on the stairs, at a loss for what to do.

"Grunkle Stan?"

Stan looked up to see two pairs of identical eyes blinking down at him. He was worried for a moment, but though they looked sleepy, they didn't have any signs of having nightmares.

"Is something wrong?" Mabel asked, tilting her head at him as she stifled a yawn. Dipper rubbed the last bit of sleep from his eyes, but he looked just as curious.

He faked a smile up at them. "It's nothing, kids. Go back to bed." He didn't want to worry them with his problems. After all, technically he was the adult here.

The two of them gave him a silent appraisal before exchanging a look. A gentle smile came on Mabel's face as she walked down to him, taking his hand. "C'mon." She said, tugging him along.

Stan couldn't find it in him to protest as she lead him into the kitchen. He registered Dipper following them, though he peeled off at the living room. He had no idea what was going on, but he was willing to go along.

"Grunkle Stan, can you heat up the milk?" Mabel asked as she got out the things that Stan recognized were for hot chocolate.

"Uh, sure." Stan did as she asked, making enough for three mugs. Mabel quickly put on the extras for each mug, though she luckily reined herself in on two of the three servings.

"All set here." Dipper called from the living room. Stan followed Mabel into the room, holding two of the mugs. He looked around and saw that Dipper had set up a movie in the VCR, the previews already rolling on the screen.

"Uh, what's going on?" Stan asked, because he was really quite mystified as to why the twins were doing this.

"C'mon." Mabel and Dipper shepherded him into his chair before crawling up. Dipper took his hot chocolate and then they both just settled in.

"Uh…"

"Shhhhhhhh…" Mabel said, putting a finger on his lips. "Let us take care of you for once."

As the two turned to watch the movie, Stan felt no need to hide the smile on his face or the prickling he could feel in his eyes. He took a sip of his drink and put his arms around the two kids. He took comfort in the way they snuggled into his embrace.

He was going to miss these kids, but he was going to treasure this while it lasted.

AN: In honor of my birthday today, I give a full-length fic for this week's prompt. Nightmares are something that you can protect people from, as surely as any monster. You may not be able to stop the initial one, but you can stop them from coming back. Plus, I really like the idea of Stan protecting them and then them returning the favor.

Also, I personally make hot chocolate with hot water, but the Pines seem like the kind of people who would use milk for it. I got to add in quite a few of my headcanons here. This is also posted on my Tumblr.