Part Six

The next morning, Manly Dan woke everyone like he did every other morning. It was when he was going out to wake Dipper and Mabel that Wendy went to tell him of what had happened the night before. However, she had left out that Dipper and Mabel had headed out into the forest and she had to go and find them. At the mention of a cougar on the loose in the forest, Manly Dan suggested going to extremes to make the property much safer during the night. After talking to her father, Wendy went to check on the twins inside the RV. Wendy was surprised to see the twins were both wide awake, sitting at the small kitchen table and they had been talking about something that she had only heard the end of as she entered the RV.

"Oh! Uh.. H-hey.. Wendy.." Dipper stuttered, feeling uneasy.

Wendy looked at him a bit confused by his attitude before remembering the night before. She had yelled at them in the same way her father would when losing his temper. Wendy sighed inwardly as she seemed to be becoming much like her father. She looked the two over, taking in the sight of the bruises and cuts from the previous nights' events.

"Hey.." Wendy replied, soon taking a seat on the nearby counter. "Look.. A-about last night.."

"We know.." Dipper responded. "We.. We weren't thinking.."

Wendy sighed.

"That didn't make it right to yell at you.. I mean.. You guys have obviously never been here and I just kinda freaked OUT!"

Dipper and Mabel nodded softly in response. Soon Wendy spoke up again.

"I talked to my dad last night.."

Dipper and Mabel went a bit pale at the mention of speaking to her father.

"A..and?" Dipper responded.

"He's going to work on making the property safe with my brothers today." Wendy shrugged. "Don't worry, I didn't go into too much about it.."

Mabel and Dipper were surprised by what Wendy was implying.

"B-but.. W-what about-?"

"Hey, I can't just throw you guys under the bus," Wendy grinned. "You guys deserve better than that!"

Dipper and Mabel stared at her in surprise but Wendy smiled. She then put her index finger and thumb together before running them across her lips in the way one would close a zipper and then flicked her fingers. Dipper and Mabel smiled as they soon did the same in response.

"Since we won't be working today, you guys should get some rest.. We can't have you guys drop dead while working, now can we?" Wendy joked, playfully nudging Dipper in the shoulder.

Dipper chuckled and Mabel smiled.

"I'll cya guys later, okay?"
With that, Wendy left the RV.

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Dipper and Mabel watched as Wendy left.

"You know.. She's not that bad." Dipper grinned. "I mean.. Wendy's really helped us out.. We should do something to return the favor.."

"But what do you think she would like?" asked Mabel. "We still don't know that much about her.."

"Yeah.." Dipper responded.

He began to think of what they could possibly do to make it up to Wendy, especially since she had saved them at least three times in the span that they had been in Gravity Falls.

"We'll think of something.." Dipper grinned after a moment.

Mabel nodded and began to relax a bit.

Dipper continued to think of what they could do to make it up to Wendy. That was when he began to go through his pockets. He smiled as he pulled out some money Manly Dan had given to him for his hard work the day before. He only had about three to four dollars, which Mabel matched his amount of money.

"If we combine this, I'm sure we could figure something out.."

"I don't know, Dipper.." Mabel started. "I'm not sure what we could get with this.."

"It doesn't have to be anything fancy," Dipper replied. "Just something that shows how much we appreciate what she's done for us.."

Dipper was interrupted as a loud knocking came from the door. Thinking quickly, Dipper and Mabel began to gather up the money and put it all back in their pockets just as Wendy entered the RV.

"Hey, guys!" she greeted as she walked in.

"Hey, Wendy." Mabel and Dipper both grinned in response.

"So.. What's up?" asked Dipper after a moment.

"I'm going to go to town.. You guys wanna come with?" asked Wendy. "I've gotta pick up some stuff from the store.."

Dipper was surprised by the question but soon smiled.

"U-uh.. Sure?" he replied, still a bit unsure.

"Cool! C'mon! We should go before it gets really busy in town."

Dipper and Mabel nodded and as they stood up. They followed behind Wendy as she led the duo into town.

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The walk into town seemed to take over an hour. Dipper and Mabel had only taken half an hour when they had been taking shelter in the forest. Now though, after having been farther in the forest, the walk did not seem as easy as it had been when they had first been in town. Wendy however, seemed to be accustom to the long walk through the forest. As they walked, Mabel began to tell Wendy about where they had been the night before.

"...And he seemed really cranky.. I don't know why he was being so.. You know.. MEAN.." Mabel finished as they soon made it into town.

"Oh.." Wendy replied.

She took a moment to think of what to say.

"Yeah.. Well.. He's kinda been there for as long as we can really remember.." she began after a moment. "We don't really know that much about him, aside from the fact that he lives all alone in the forest.."

Mabel was shocked and gave her brother a concerned look. Dipper looked back her before he turned toward Wendy and spoke up.

"So.. Nobody really even knows he's THERE?" asked Dipper.

"Aside from the people who lived here for years and years, not really.." Wendy shrugged. "He mostly just keeps to himself.."

Dipper was surprised by this. Mabel, however, seemed to feel a bit sad that Stanley was alone in the forest without anyone to be there for him. Mabel's thoughts were interrupted as Wendy stopped walking.

"I'll be just a few minutes," she smiled. "You guys can hang out in town if you want.. Just make sure to meet back here when you're done, 'Kay?"

Dipper and Mabel nodded and watched as Wendy walked into the nearby grocery store. Once she was out of sight, Dipper turned to Mabel.

"Alright.. Here's the plan, Mabel.." Dipper whispered. "We're going to look for something she might like.. Maybe something that could really help her out.."

Mabel, however, was off in her own thoughts.

"Mabel?"

"Huh?"

"Did you even hear what I said?" Dipper asked.

"I.." Mabel sighed. "I'm sorry, Dipper.. I've just been thinking about Mr. Stanley.."

Dipper gave her a look.

"That old grouch?" Dipper asked.

"Listen, Dipper.." Mabel began, her expression sad. "Maybe he's just upset because he doesn't have anybody to talk to.."

"Mabel.." Dipper sighed.

"Just hear me OUT!" Mabel tried to reason. "Maybe we could try to make it up to-"

"Mabel, we don't even KNOW the guy.."

"I KNOW, but-"

Dipper gave her a look.

"C'mon, Dipper.. Please?"

Dipper looked at her for a long while before he finally sighed.

"Okay..! Okay.." Dipper relented. "We'll go and pay him a visit.."

Mabel grinned.

"But this time, Wendy is coming WITH us! We don't want another incident with mountain lions like we had last night."

Mabel gave a salute to which Dipper groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Alright.. Now that we've got that settled, let's go find Wendy that gift.."

Mabel nodded and smiled and headed farther into town with her brother.

Author's Note: There's more to come..