Hi. I plan on this being a two-shot so let me know if you like it I guess~


Mabel was usually the one to brighten the mood of any depressing situation, but right now she was at a loss for words. She was sitting at the table with Dipper eating breakfast as the sun rose over the horizon of trees just outside, but the usually happy atmosphere was missing. Even as Grunkle Stan continued to build a huge stack of pancakes, Mabel could see the tension in how stiffly he held himself.

She glanced over at Dipper, hoping for him to say something or at least give her a look that said 'I know', but nothing. He was staring at his food unseeing with his hand propping his head up, obviously deep in thought. Mabel decided that he was just in shock at finding the author.

Personally, she was more caught up in the fact that Stan had a twin brother?! It explained the twin gene that had resulted in the two twelve-year-olds but other than that a lot of questions remained. Even after hearing their life story, Mabel didn't get it.

"You okay, sweetie?" Grunkle Stan grunted indifferently. His back was turned, trying to hide the concern about the girl's quietness. In the whole summer so far Mabel hadn't stopped talking and laughing for more than five minutes unless she was asleep, and still, it wasn't rare for her to giggle as she dreamt about who knew what.

"Pssh, I'm fine, Grunkle Stan," Mabel waved him off, breaking out of her funk. "Just thinking about what Dipstick and I are gonna do for the rest of the summer!" With that remark, she grabbed her brother in a playful chokehold. He looked up at her and smirked, the same amused grin that Stan wore as he watched the two.

"You come up with anything yet?" Stan chuckled, sitting next to his great niece.

"Not really," she shrugged. "But I'm sure Dipper'll be exploring more and hounding Grunkle Ford about the journals." Stan's face fell at the sound of his brother's name, especially it being linked with his 'Grunkle' title. It was only for a second, but the kids still noticed.

"Just … don't go downstairs to bother him," he said quietly, looking out the doorway that led down the hall, into the gift shop and towards the vending machine. "And don't be too full-on, kid," he added, nudging Dipper's shoulder lightly. The kid nodded and got up to leave the room, tugging the front of his hat further down his forehead. The two remaining in the kitchen anticipated the beeps of the vending machine, but instead, they heard the front door open and close.

"Why are you so upset?" Mabel finally asked. Stan glanced down at her with his eyebrows creased. "I mean, you brought him back. What's the problem?"

Grunkle Stan exhaled a sort of breathless laugh, but mostly a sigh. Despite the impressions the kid gave off, she did know what was going on. "He doesn't want to be here. He's angry at me for jeopardising the fate of the universe."

"He would have done the same for you," Mabel said. Stan opened his mouth to argue but she shook her head and held her small hand up. "Based on your story, you guys cared about each other more than anything, right? You were angry at him but you still spent all these years trying to get him out. He would have done it for you, and of course he wants to be here, he just doesn't want to admit that he needed help. Dipper's kinda like that too."

"Yeah, pretty clear where your geek brother got his traits," Stan laughed. "Thing is, even if my brother did do the same thing for me, it wouldn't have taken him thirty years. Heck, I only got him out because Dipper found Journal 3. It was all luck."

"And you still did it," Mabel nodded. "You love him, so you saved him, even though you had a huge fight and didn't talk for so long. He totally would have done it for you."

"But who knows what he had to face out there?" Stan asked loudly, starting to get a bit worked up. "He had to deal with that by himself. What if he's gone completely insane? What do I do then?"

"But he hasn't," the girl stated firmly. "If he did, he would have come out of that portal acting like Old Man McGucket, or not even come out at all. At the very least he would have given up on his experiments. But he's down there right now. He's okay. And if he's not, you can help him."

"What if he doesn't want it?" Stan muttered. Mabel gripped his arm.

"Then I'll knock some sense into him," she said very seriously, the words sounding out of place coming from her mouth. Stan laughed and patted her hand, then sent her off to find her brother while he cleaned the food up. He frowned at Dipper's empty plate and began to eat the food himself as he walked around the room clearing things up.

Unbeknownst to him, Stanford Pines had been standing just outside the doorframe ever since Dipper left. He had heard everything, but couldn't find it in himself to confront the con artist. Every word Mabel had spoken was true, and the silent but angry glare she had shot at him as she ran by was truly frightening. Ford didn't remember Stan being like that when they were that age. Then again, he didn't remember much of anything anymore. Just the shrill laughs of a certain triangular demon as he set his henchmen at the author.