As Dipper, Mabel, Faith, Ford and Stan ate the Mac' and Cheese, Soos arrived home and as soon as he and the Mystery Twins saw each other, they jumped up from their chairs and raced to embrace him.

"Soos!"

"Mabel! Dipper!"

The trio hugged and Soos looked like he was about to cry though he restrained himself. "Oh man, dudes, it's great to see you guys!" He said, happily.

Mabel grinned and Dipper smiled widely. "We're glad to see you too Soos!" Dipper replied.

"Hey Soos, come try some of Faith's specialty – Mac' and Cheese!" Stan called out and Soos took one whiff and sat down immediately, much to the amusement of everyone else.

As everyone ate, Soos' eyes lit up in an idea. "Hey guys, how about we have a party! You know, for Faith, Dipper and Mabel's return!"

Ford immediately took a shine to said idea. "That sounds like a great idea!"

Stan pondered for a moment but smiled. "Hey, I may not be getting any money from this, but just a party for the family? That is great! And besides, you own the place, Soos. You can do whatever you want." He replied, full-heartedly.

Soos' eyes widened and he had a contemplative look on his face. "Oh, right. Sorry, Mister Pines, I keep forgetting you gave me the establishment. It feels like only yesterday I was helping you run the place. And now I'm the boss. Go figure." He said fondly.

"YES! PARTY! WE'LL INVITE EVERYONE!" Mabel exclaimed before quickly finishing her food and racing upstairs to ready invitations.

Dipper grinned. "Yeah, a party sounds great, Soos! What do you think, Faith?" He asked.

Faith smiled widely. "I think a party sounds splendid!" She answered excitedly.

"Well then, it's settled. We're having a party, dudes!" Soos declared and the rest laughed eagerly.

LEBAM SI YM TEPPUP

"So, Mabel, who are you inviting?" Faith asked, as she entered the twins' room and saw Mabel already working on multiple invitations.

"Oh, I'm sending one to my friends: Candy, Grenda, Pacifica and Wendy!" Mabel squealed excitedly.

Faith laughed at Mabel's enthusiasm and sat down next to the bubbly girl. "I don't know the first three but Wendy is certainly a name I recognize." Faith said with a silly smile.

"Oh?" Mabel questioned and Faith's smile grew.

"She is the cashier of the Gift Shop here, after all. And I've been here for two weeks now." Faith elaborated and Mabel facepalmed.

"Oh right! Sorry, I forgot you were here before we came!" Mabel laughed at her own silliness. "I'm just so excited about this party!"

Faith giggled. "So am I!" Then she paused and watched Mabel draw colorful designs for the invitations. "Hey, can I help?"

Mabel only grinned and nodded eagerly. "Of course you can!" She replied, half throwing the supplies to Faith.

Faith only eagerly grabbed the color pencils and began to draw some very detailed stars and symbols. When Mabel looked over, she smiled when she saw Faith was drawing a Llama, which was of course intended for Pacifica.

"How do you know about the Llama?" Mabel asked, curiously. Faith smiled.

"Ford told me what those symbols meant when he told me about Bill and his defeat." Faith answered. "I had seen them before but didn't know what they were for."

Mabel nodded and smiled brightly. "Well, I'm glad your helping!" She exclaimed and Faith giggled.

"Same here!" Faith responded before the girls laughed and continued to draw and make invitations...

HTIAF SEVOL DROF

The day of the party, as the (extended) Pines family were preparing for the party, Ford ran into Faith trying to set up the music and sound system, though was unsuccessful due to her lack of knowledge on modern technology.

With a smile, Ford snuck up from behind her and wrapped his arms around her and exclaimed: "Boo!"

This warranted a short scream from Faith. Though she quickly realized it was Ford so she relaxed and panted from the shock. "Jesus, Ford! You scared the soul out of me!" She exclaimed, still recovering from the shock.

Ford laughed before spinning her around to face him. She smiled when he hugged her and hugged him back. "Ford... what am I going to do with you?"

"Dance?" He suggested teasingly before the music suddenly turned on and it was a slow dance song. Faith's face turned pink at the implications though she smiled and began to dance with him.

"Hm, since when do you dance?" Faith asked, a certain edge of teasing in her voice.

Ford raised an eyebrow with a smirk. "I could ask you the same question."

She laughed. "Touche."

They fell into a pleasant silence for a few moments, just dancing.

"You know... I did miss you. I don't think there wasn't a day when I didn't think about you disappearing into the forest and never coming back. I was scared." Ford admitted and Faith smiled sadly.

"I am sorry to have worried you, Ford..." She apologized sincerely. Ford nodded and smiled sadly as well.

"Well, I'm glad you're back! And that's all that matters right now..." He replied, a more happy smile returned.

The two stared into each others eyes before they began to lean into each other...

"Ford..."

"Faith..."

"Um, Grunkle Ford, where did you put the-" Dipper's voice stopped the duos lips from meeting, just centimeters away. Ford, still holding onto Faith, both looked over at Dipper's confused and borderline shocked face.

"Um... should I come back later..?" Dipper trailed off.

"Oh no, Dipper! It's fine! You were saying?" Faith said, her face practically as red as a tomato as she gently pulled away from Ford, who looked a little dejected.

"Oh, okay then, well, Grunkle Ford, I was wondering if you know where the..." As Dipper spoke, Ford's concentration was solely focused on Faith, studying her every feature with extreme detail. He felt... sad when she pushed him away. Though he didn't let the feeling linger.

"Oh um... it's downstairs in my lab. Second shelf to the left in the bio-testing room..." Ford replied, having heard Dipper's question though he was more focused on Faith more than anything else while Faith was making an effort to avoid his gaze and gazing at him.

Dipper, realizing he had overstayed his welcome, thanked Ford and went off to go find his missing item. Ford approached Faith and took her hand, slightly timidly. Faith looked at him and smiled half-heartedly.

"I'm sorry, Ford... I guess I was surprised at Dipper's appearance." Faith apologized and Ford nodded, a forgiving smile on his face.

"No, it's all right. I got a bit carried away." Ford said, masking his disappointment with sincerity. If there was one thing he picked up from Bill was how to hide your emotions well.

Faith nodded with a sad smile. "I gotta go..." She trailed off before running off, unable to understand her own feelings for him.

She was mostly afraid of her feelings for Ford. Partly because of their now vast age difference. Though while she is his age mentally and the age doesn't bother her, it is the consequences of getting into a relationship with Ford. He was getting old, and regardless of what Faith does, he would die sooner than she would. And this she would not want on her poor heart. She loved Ford so much but she could not bear to see him die before she did...

And so she felt as though leading him on would only hurt him in the end...

I DEEN REH

The same day Faith and Dipper were hanging out on the roof, drinking sodas. They were talking about Faith's time with Ford investigating Gravity Falls. More specifically, the story of how they documented several creatures, bouncing between different situations and creatures.

Suffice to say, Dipper was glad to have the time to talk to her. Her point of view provided a different view on all the creatures. Though the conversation eventually turned to that of a specific dream demon. Bill Cipher.

"Bill Cipher... as I've said, I know next to nothing about him besides what Ford has told me from your summer last year." Faith pointed out when Dipper asked if she was sure she never saw Bill or anything suspicious regarding Bill.

"I know, but from a researching perspective, I mean. If you were to give me an analysis regarding what you've heard from Ford..." Dipper elaborated. Faith thought for a moment.

"I suppose I could. From what Ford has told me, Bill Cipher was an extremely dangerous being who wanted nothing but chaos and madness in the 3rd dimension. He was manipulative, sly and a psychopath who strives for selfish reasons." Faith explained. Dipper nodded.

"Well, you and Ford certainly share a similar opinion." Dipper pointed out.

"Yeah, well, I for one am glad I wasn't around for Weirdmageddon. I think I would have just began questioning how things work." She joked. Dipper cracked a slight smile.

"Well, at least he is gone. We don't have to worry about Bill Cipher returning. He was deleted after all in Stan's mind." Dipper explained, relieved. Faith smiled and nodded.

"Heaven knows we don't need a homicidal all-knowing dorito walking around." She commented and Dipper nodded and then yawned.

"Well, I'm going to take a nap before the party." Dipper replied and Faith nodded.

"Okay, see you, Dipper."

"Wait, aren't you coming? I mean, what are you going to do out here alone?" Dipper asked, a bit concerned.

"Oh no, you go on ahead. Don't worry, I'll just cloud gaze." She responded and Dipper smiled before crawling back into the window and waving 'see you'.

When Dipper was gone, she lay down and began to cloud gaze. The quiet and peace providing a perfect atmosphere...

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As Dipper went for his bed, he noticed Mabel was strangely absent from their room, when prior she had been making more decorations. Though out of the corner of his eye, he noticed something white on Mabel's bed. Curious and with a desire to snoop, he walked over to her bed and picked up the white object, which turned out to be a note.

With a raised eyebrow, he turned on a lamp and began to read the text:

Hey Dipper, meet me outside the Mystery Shack. Back door. I have to show you something cool I found!

Unsure, but still curious (and a bit suspicious), he carefully made his way downstairs, trying not to wake anyone up and walked out the back door. He then saw Mabel by the tree line though she disappeared into the trees after he saw her.

Dipper, confused, began to chase after her. "Hey Mabel, wait!" He called out, though she didn't reply and kept running, deeper into the forest. "Mabel, what are you doing?!"

He kept chasing her, his lungs burning and his legs starting to hurt though he couldn't lose her. Who knows what she found. He ran after her until she stopped in a clearing with her back turned to him and Dipper stopped several meters away from her.

"Hey Mabel, what's going on?" Dipper asked, confused and slightly uncomfortable, though he approached her, something pulling at him to make sure she was all right.

"Oh, nothing really..." She replied, and at this point Dipper was right behind her. Then she turned around and Dipper gasped. "I just wanted to take a nice walk out, Pine Tree."

Mabel's eyes weren't her own, in fact they were those of Bill Cipher's! Dipper backed away and pointed a finger at him/her.

"H-How are you s-still alive?!" Dipper stuttered over his words, shocked.

Mabill laughed evilly and approached Dipper with an evil grin. "Oh nothing really. Barely clung on, thanks to the AXOLOTL. But enough about me, Pine Tree. I have stuff to do, people's lives to ruin..." Mabill trailed off with a sinister grin.

"And a party to crash...!" Mabill laughed and before Dipper could do a single thing in retaliation, Mabill swung a bat..!

And knocked Dipper out cold...