Disclaimer: I do not own Gravity Falls or any of its characters. I'm not nearly as devious as Alex Hirsch.
The Cure to All Ills
"AH!" Ford bolted upright, not knowing where he was for a moment. As he tried to calm his frantic breaths, he slowly realized that he was down in his study. It had just been a nightmare.
Ford let out a huge sigh. The longer he was back here, the nightmares receded more and more, aided by the barrier around the Shack to prevent Bill from hopping into his dreams and making things worse. Still, when they were bad, they were bad.
A glance at the clock told him that it was still early afternoon. He felt himself flush a bit in embarrassment. After all, he wasn't quite old enough that he needed afternoon naps. He looked down at his research but it didn't seem like it would have been boring enough to merit falling asleep.
The lack of light probably was a factor though. He could almost hear Stan's voice from back when they were teenagers berating him for not getting enough sun. With a sigh, he headed towards the elevator. Even if he didn't go outside, simply being up where the time of day was obvious would probably help.
Luckily when he emerged from behind the vending machine, the only person inside the gift shop was Wendy, and she was more into reading her magazine than giving him anything more than a courtesy nod. Through the open window, he could hear his brother giving a tour, which helped him relax a bit.
His brow furrowed a bit at what he heard though. What is so confusing about a rock that just happens to look like a face?
Seeing the daylight streaming in through the windows was already doing wonders for Ford's mood as he moved into the living quarters part of the Shack.
As he passed though the living room, Ford heard a distinct gurgling noise from his stomach. Face flushing in embarrassment, he headed towards the kitchen.
Mabel was the only one in there, plopping scoops of Cool Whip onto some sort of concoction in a bowl. She looked up at his entrance. "Hey-o, Great Uncle Ford!" She waved energetically, ignoring the droplets of Cool Whip going every which way.
"Hello, Mabel." He tried to smile at her, but he could tell that it was still a bit off, the effects of his nightmare lingering.
Mabel noticed. Her smile dropped a bit, and she stopped smoothing over the layer of Cool Whip she'd put down. "Is everything okay?" She asked, sending him a worried look.
"Just a nightmare." Ford tried to brush off her concern. After all, there was no way that he could burden a child with something as trivial as a bad dream.
"Really?" She paused midway putting chocolate sprinkles on top of the Cool Whip. "I don't think there's such a thing as 'just a nightmare.'"
"Of course there is." Ford made his way over to the fridge and opened it. Hopefully, there were still some fixings to make a sandwich.
"That's not what Grunkle Stan says." Mabel responded, finishing up what she was making.
Ford paused in what he was doing. That was an interesting stance for his brother to take. It was completely opposite of the views they were raised with.
"Are you hungry?" Mabel jumped down from her spot at the table and walked over. She gently took his hand as he turned to her and tugged him over to the table. "I was gonna save this for supper tonight, but I'm sure no one will mind if we start digging into it now."
"Mabel, if it's something for everyone, then it can wait." Ford told her, a smile still tugging at his lips over how much she cared.
"But you're not going to talk about it."
Ford blinked. "What?"
Mabel peered up to him, a surprising seriousness in her face. "You don't want to talk about your nightmare, right? Grunkle Stan's the same way." Ford blinked again at the comparison to his brother. "So this is the next best thing!" She nudged him into a seat and then scurried to get plates.
"What is this?" He looked down at the bowl. Nothing could be seen under the top layer of Cool Whip and chocolate sprinkles.
"Death by Chocolate!" Mabel threw him a grin over her shoulder as she grabbed some spoons.
"Death by…" Ford nervously examined the dish. It probably was not something that could cause actual death, but if you were to go by Dipper and Stan's reactions to Mabel Juice, it was certainly within the realm of possibility with Mabel's cooking.
"Oh, don't worry." Mabel must have caught his expression as she set the plate and spoon in front of him. "The only thing this stuff kills is negative feelings!" She shook her fist in emphasis.
"Okay…" Ford said a bit dubiously as she served it up. Under the layer of Cool Whip, there just seemed to be chocolate pudding. "What's in it?"
"Brownies, chocolate pudding, Cool Whip, and chocolate sprinkles!" She announced as she gave herself a helping. Before taking a bite, she produced a can of glitter from nowhere and sprinkled some on.
Well, that sounded harmless enough. And it even seemed that she had decided to keep her glitter to herself. Ford figured out it would be fine to take a bite himself.
It was just as he placed the spoonful of the concoction in his mouth that he realized he couldn't remember the last time he had chocolate. That didn't really matter though as Ford actually tasted the dessert.
Chocolate was just as good as he could remember it being.
"Mmmm." He hummed, appreciating the full flavor as he continued to eat.
"Good, right?" Mabel grinned. Her portion was already long gone.
"Indeed." Ford quickly polished his serving off as Mabel put a lid on the rest of the Death by Chocolate and stuck it in the fridge. He was a bit disappointed that he couldn't snitch some more.
"Mom always says that chocolate solves everything." Mabel explained as she returned to the table to pick up the dirty dishes.
"For once, I'm inclined to agree." He nodded as he got up to help her rinse off the dishes so they could be washed later.
"And do you feel better?" Mabel peered up at him, worry flickering over her face.
Ford paused and found that, yes, he actually did. He blinked in surprise before a soft smile spread across his face. "I do. Thank you, Mabel."
"You know, if you have nightmares again, you should talk about it." Mabel urged as they finished up. "If you think it's too scary for us kids, you can tell Grunkle Stan."
"Well…" Ford avoided looking at her. He and his brother were still not on the best terms, and in any case, he wasn't about to go running to his little brother like he did when they were kids.
Mabel gave a huge sigh. "Just think about it." She gave him a quick hug across his legs before beaming up at him. "See you later, Grunkle Ford!" She yelled back as she bounded out of the room and out the door.
Ford stood there a moment, still stunned by the easy affection Mabel gave out freely, before he smiled once more.
"What did I ever do to deserve these kids?" He asked himself as he went back to his lab, ready once more to dive into his work.
AN: Chocolate fixes pretty much everything. And Death by Chocolate is something that I can easily make for any fancy-ish occasion. I wrote this last year when thesnadger and scribefindegil were trying to put together a Food and Fluff Anthology for Gravity Falls. That kinda fell through so since it's been over a year and it's the time of year for food, here's this story. Also, here's the recipe for death by chocolate is you want it:
Ingredients
1 Large Box of Instant Chocolate Pudding (and whatever goes into the mix), 1 Package of Brownie Mix (and other ingredients for the mix), 1 Container of Cool Whip/1 Can of Whipped Cream (whatever you prefer), Chocolate Sprinkles or Candy Bits
Directions
Prepare the brownies according to the directions on the package. After the brownies have cooled, cut the brownies into bite-size pieces.
Place and stack the brownies into the bowl or container.
Prepare the pudding according to the directions on the package.
Before pudding solidifies, pour into the bowl with the brownies. Allow the pudding to solidify. (Putting it in the fridge helps.)
Put a layer of Cool Whip on top. Sprinkle chocolate sprinkles, candy bits, or another chocolatey preference over the top of the Cool Whip.
Keep in the refrigerator until it's time to serve and put any leftovers back into the fridge.
Enjoy!