Bill sipped at the hot soup Mabel had made for him as the trio watched TV. The liquid was still pretty hot, so it was both painful and soothing, somehow. Like giving his throat and mouth tough love. Well, technically it was Dipper's throat, but that sounded awkward on so many levels. In fact, this whole situation was awkward. Dipper was just floating there next to Mabel like everything was normal. He had a feeling the kid was enjoying the dream-scape way too much for his own good. And for Bill's good.

It was a while before he was done with his food and by then, it had cooled down considerably. He put the bowl down on his side opposite to Mabel. He had been so focused on his food and avoiding Dipper's eyes he didn't really pay attention to what was on TV. It was some sort of children's show. He wasn't really sure what was going on, though. He pulled his legs into toward his belly and got warm and comfy in the couch and blankets.

Mabel put her head on top of his and reached her hand over to touch his forehead again. Bill was getting pretty tired of this; she knew he was sick, right? No reason to keep checking him. He kinda didn't understand how this "sick" thing worked. Or how being a human worked. He knew what he did by observation alone. After all, he was a dream demon, why would he care much about human affairs when he has limitless power? Enough to stick his nose into this mess.

He sniffled a bit and relaxed, falling asleep curled up in the blankets next to Shooting Star. She smiled and patted his head, turning her attention back to the TV. His fever was gradually dropping now, which was good, but she wasn't so sure how long it would stay going down. It would probably spike again, knowing her brother when he was sick.

Dipper frowned in disapproval. Bill must be enjoying this. Sure, Dipper was enjoying being free of his weakness and frailness, but he kinda missed Mabel's kind sisterly love and certainly didn't want Bill to have it. After all, Bill was the villain, and Dipper was the protagonist, right? That meant it was his duty to protect Mabel and make sure Bill couldn't get away with anything he was scheming. And Dipper was sure he was scheming something.

He floated into the other room as Soos and Wendy arrived to greeted Stan, then Wendy when to her station behind the counter. Hopefully some tourists would come today since the rain had stopped.

Mabel came in from the other room to say 'hi' to everyone, after making sure her brother was all tucked in and comfy on the couch. "Where's the little dude?" Soos asked Mabel after she had greeted him and Wendy.

"He's feeling sick, so I'm letting him sleep on the couch for a while. He's really tired." The young girl explained.

"Aww, poor guy. Hope he feels better soon." Soos said, sounding a little sad.

"I kinda expected this; he seemed out of it all yesterday. He needs to learn to just tell us when he feels bad instead of forcing himself to go on trips that will make him feel worse." Wendy's words hit Dipper with crippling guilt. She really did care about him more than he knew, even if it wasn't in a romantic way. She wanted to know he was feeling sick? That didn't make sense since that would be just complaining. And it wasn't like he forced himself to go; he wanted to go. He couldn't be bothered with being a bit tired... right?

They had gone on talking while Dipper was lost in his thoughts. He was brought back into reality, not literally, by the sound of coughing coming from the other room. He winced, then watched as Mabel left to check on him. Dipper lingered to see if Soos and Wendy went on talking, but they both just seemed a little sad, then went to their jobs. Soos had some stuff to repair and Wendy had the counter to run.

He floated back into the TV room and watched as Mabel tucked him in better on the couch. It was probably better he was in the TV room instead of the attic, since it was a lot warmer down here. Plus it would be easy to get him something to eat from down here... what was he thinking; he didn't want Bill to be treated so nicely! He sighed in irritation with both Bill and himself.

Mabel was soon asleep on the couch, sitting at Bill's feet. Dipper approached the sleeping form of Bill and poked him slightly. He jumped back, covering his mouth as he almost screamed when Bill's triangle form just slightly drifted out for just a moment. Something seemed a bit weird about it, though. Dipper approached Bill once again and gently pushed out the little triangle just a little. The bright yellow of his usual spirit form seemed just a little... dim. It lost some of its normal sheen and color. Dipper watched it drift back into his sleeping body.

Well, he now knew that he could easy get Bill out of him. Now, what? He was still enjoying his freedom, but at the same time, he hated all the attention the dumb triangle was getting. Plus, if he let Bill go, wouldn't that just risk everyone's lives as he unleashed the demon back into the world? He had a feeling Bill wouldn't just forgive him right away... or ever, for this.

~~~~~

Dipper decided to go see what Soos was doing today, since nothing else interesting seemed to be happening. He had a ton of stuff to repair around the shack. It was interesting seeing what small jobs the guy took on; Stan really ought to pay him more. Although, he broke at least half the amount he fixed while trying to fix things, so those costs probably leveled themselves out.

After a while, Dipper decided to check on Wendy again. The poor girl seemed pretty bored; she just sat in the chair behind the counter and read a magazine. Only a few customers had come in today, so there wasn't much work to be done. He floated up next to her to see what was in it, but it didn't seem very interesting at all. Whatever it was, it must be something teenagers were into.

Dipper winced as he heard a clap of thunder outside the window. It was beginning to rain lightly again outside; that was probably why so few tourists came today. He sighed and decided to go outside, maybe see what was going on in town. Surprisingly to himself, he couldn't feel the rain. It was... strange to say the least, and Dipper had experienced some pretty strange things before. Well, at least he knew now that spirits in the dream-scape didn't melt in water or something, like his clone Tyrone, had. Of course, Tyrone was made of paper, so that made sense... He didn't know what he was thinking anymore.

He hovered around town, but nothing was really going on. Just people going about their daily business, trying to stay inside, boring old adult stuff. In the end, he just went back to the shack. Soos and Wendy were saying their farewells to Bill and Mabel. Bill was conscious again, but still looked pretty terrible. It was strange to hear the triangle guy's voice crack. He wondered if he was the only one hearing it as Bill's voice instead of his own; that would explain why Stan and Mabel hadn't caught on yet.

"Careful not to get yourself sick too, Mabel. I know you guys are inseparable, but that doesn't make you immortal." Wendy warned Mabel. Mabel just smiled.

"Don't worry about it. I've helped him when he was sick before; I know what I'm doing." They waved a final good-bye and left.

"I wonder if it's possible your sickness was caused by something supernatural... Maybe we should see if something like this is in the journal..." Mabel pondered for a moment. "Where did you put the journal last night, Dip? I looked for it but I couldn't find it in its usual place."

"I-uh..." He coughed a little bit, which was a little too convenient of a moment for the situation.

"Dipper, what happened to your journal?" Mabel repeated. Real Dipper grinned. This was getting interesting; how could Bill cover this? The journal was somewhere he'd never expect and... well, this was too perfect. He gave Bill a wide grin as he gave Dipper a glance. He looked a bit nervous, which was hilarious for Dipper to see. This dream demon was cornered.