Title: Healing Wounds

Rating: k

Characters: Mabel Pines, Stanford Pines, Dipper Pines (brief mention), and Stanley Pines (brief mention).

Word count: ~2480

Summary: Ford is left alone to tend to his wounds after a long day of trying to take down a dream demon alongside his family, hoping no one would ever notice or question the burns and wounds he earned as a result. Though what he didn't expect was for his niece to stumble across him attempting to treat them.

A/N: I FORGOT ABOUT POSTING THIS ON HERE OH MY GOODNESS. I posted this like...3 months ago on my tumblr oops. ;v; But I got a request to write something over the injuries Ford sustained when being tortured by Bill, and Mabel being there to be his physical and mental aid by helping him and comforting him. :') This turned out quite long, but I hope it's all right nonetheless. Hope you all enjoy reading, haha. :) PS: And even though this doesn't really exactly align with what the journal had to say about what's under Ford's sweater (and I'm not gonna say bc spoilers asfasdf), I'm still gonna post it here. c: Also I've posted other fics since the last time I've updated on here, so I'll post those too. Look forward to it, I guess? Haha!

As always, I'm always up for requests. :)

Disclaimer: I don't own Gravity Falls!

The author released a sigh as he saw his brother heading for bed at an early time – and he couldn't blame him. It was only hours ago that he'd went through a traumatic experience that left him clueless and memory-impaired. Mabel was a godsend, being able to find and show Stan her scrapbook, which entailed pictures and short commentaries over her whole summer experience. He had to admit — I'd been a while since he genuinely laughed and enjoyed himself with his brother and family, and couldn't have been more overjoyed to be a part of it again.

Eventually Ford was left alone to reminisce on the traumatic experience he had only recently witnessed (alongside his family).

He sighed.

Stanley has only been able to regain some memories back so far, but it was a start. They still had another week to bring back as many memories as possible before the kids were to be sent back to California. The author could only hope and dream that his twin would be able to recover all of his memories, but that was a long shot. Still, if he were to at least remember all of the good memories, that'd be good enough for Ford.

Ford suddenly groaned when his hand brushed across his wrist. Oh, yeah. He almost forgot about that; the time that Ford spent in Bill's fortress being endlessly tortured for both gaining information and for the dastardly demon's pleasure.

As soon as Ford finished off the rest of his beverage, he finally decided that it was time to try to relieve some of the pain (that he began to notice) coming from his neck and wrists, and eventually get himself to bed. His studies could wait.

Ford released soft hisses of pain when he brought his wrists under the running facet, hoping that eventually the pain would lessen. After five minutes of keeping his burns under the cold water, however, he never noticed or overheard the soft squeaking sounds of the floorboards from outside the bathroom.

It wasn't until he heard the bathroom door creak open that he became aware of the presence of his grandniece, who was now glancing up at him with concern.

"—Mabel!" Ford cried out abruptly as he quickly shut the facet off to the sink and pulled down the sleeves of his sweater. "I...I was just...I..." He trailed off and abruptly stopped speaking as soon as he noticed Mabel's focus was not on his face.

His actions to hide his wounds were futile, as Mabel quickly recognized his shaky and petrified gestures with a worried expression.

"Grunkle Ford?" She inquired softly in a worried tone, taking note of his cowering when she took a step towards him. "Is there something wrong?"

"It's...it's fine, Mabel. You don't need to worry about me — "

Mabel was careful not to startle her grunkle even more, as she proceeded to slowly approach him and latch onto his bare arm softly, which still earned her a brief flinch (whether it was from pain or surprise, she didn't know). She lowered his arm to her level carefully, pulling the sleeve back up and scanning the concerning burns around his wrist.

"What happened to you?" She mused aloud to herself while looming her hand over his wrist, hesitant to touch it due to the risk of hurting him. Though, she proceeded to continue in her actions when she saw the author's nod of approval. "Who...who hurt you?"

Ford released a defeated sigh when his eyes met her concerned, desperate ones. He surely wasn't expecting a visitor this time of night, and he had a feeling that his visitor wasn't leaving anytime soon. At least without some answers.

"It's...nothing to worry about, sweetheart. He can't hurt me anymore." He answered after a moment of silence.

Mabel's heart clenched when she realized who Ford meant. Of course the dastardly demon had to be behind it. She was never told the details of what happened between her grunkle and Bill, but she figured whatever happened between them, it surely wasn't good, based on her observations. She figured it was Bill who left him on the brink of losing his mind (as he briefly covered the subject when he came back out of the portal).

She couldn't even imagine all of things her grunkle may had to endure for their sake while being held prisoner in Bill's pyramid fortress. All the physical pain, emotional distress, or whatever else the demon may have brought upon him.

"I'm so sorry you had to go through that, Grunkle Ford." Mabel immediately wrapped her arms tightly around his waist, burying her face into his sweater to try and muffle the sniffles that followed. She was at least glad that he was here now, safe and sound from the hauntings of the dream demon. And she could say the same about the rest of them as well.

Ford couldn't help but let a small smile grow across his features as he wrapped his own arms around her trembling form. "It's all right, Mabel. It's okay now. What matters to me most is that you and Dipper are safe and that everything is back to normal."

Mabel hummed to herself as a thought crossed her mind.

"Hold on, I'll be right back."

"Mabel, wait — " And before Ford could finish his sentence his grandniece was already out the door, going who knows where. Though the only thing the author could do now is patiently wait for Mabel to come back.

The author groaned. He honestly never intended to let anyone see the wounds and scars he'd earned over the years — especially what remained from Bill's schemes of torture to get him to talk. He didn't want his family to worry about him — or his well-being as well for that matter. He tried his best to hide what truly happened to him for the past 40 years, as well as what lied underneath his coat and sweater. His family had already gone through enough (specifically Stan), and they didn't deserve to suffer even more with him. Yet here he was caught by his grandniece, who clearly expressed high concerns for the man after seeing his wounds, which he never meant to expose her to.

Several minutes passed, and the author began to wonder when or if his niece would come back. Though, despite his internal suggestions of leaving to find her, he eventually settled on staying put. She said she'd be back, after all.

Ford wouldn't lie and say he didn't jump when Mabel kicked the door open.

"Allll righty, Grunkle Ford — if we're gonna get you all patched up I'm gonna need you to take off your sweater." She piped out softly while entering the room, carrying a bin filled with various medical items and supplies. He couldn't even see her over all the things she was carrying, there was so much. What was she planning to do?

He then could feel his heartbeat spike at the suggestion of discarding his sweater.

'C'mon, Ford — you can do this. It's just your niece. She only wants to help you out. It's no big deal.'

As much as he didn't want to take off his sweater, internally he knew that it was for his own good. His family expressed concern for him and his well-being, and he should take advantage of the offer of help and support, especially when he vowed after all of this apocalypse mess that he wouldn't push his family away.

Ford took in a shaky breath, making eye contact with his niece once more before he slowly took his sweater off, revealing more scars and marks of injury that weren't covered by his undershirt.

Mabel could only state in horror as she scanned his upper-body. Besides the other newer wounds Ford had on around his neck and other arm, she took note of all the other older ones that were revealed before her.

What did her grunkle have to endure that caused so much scars and pain to his body? She couldn't even begin to imagine what other marks and scars that may lie hidden underneath his undershirt.

"Where...where did all of these other scars come from?" Mabel questioned with concern as she scanned his bare shoulders, neck, and arms — which bore occasional remnants of deep cuts and other nasty wounds. After moments passed and still not obtaining an answer from him she began to worry, she asked softly, "Grunkle Ford?"

Ford sat down cautiously and glanced away, avoiding Mabel's gaze as she climbed into his lap. She snuggled into him as he wrapped his arms around her tightly, resting his head on top of hers. "It wasn't easy being in the other dimension, Mabel. At first it was hard just trying to get used to a new environment...but then it became extremely difficult to get adjusted — especially when you were always on the run from those trying to hunt you down."

Mabel latched onto his shirt so tightly as if he were going to vanish before her very eyes. "...People were trying to hunt you down? But why?" She inquired softly as she glanced up at him, her eyes brimming with tears.

No one deserved to be in fear of being hunted down — especially not her grunkle. What she didn't understand was why he seemed to be always on the run from those trying to bring harm to him. Even though Ford may have not realized, but as he was hurting over the traumatizing experiences he had to pull himself through, his niece was right there hurting with him. It truly saddened her whenever she saw one of her family members hurting, and she would stop at nothing to do whatever it took to assist and cheer them up in the best way she could.

And she at least hoped she'd be able to help her grunkle through this.

"I was in a dimension under the control of Bill and he would stop at nothing to find me, so he was going to give a big award to whoever could capture me and hand me over to him...and didn't matter to him whether I was dead or alive." His voice cracked at the end of his answer, which caused Mabel to wrap her own arms around his mid-section tightly. "But at least I managed to keep myself out of too much trouble before Stan could bring me back, where I was able to meet you and Dipper for the first time."

She was just planning on staying in the embrace for as long as he needed it, at least until a certain thought crossed her mind.

"Y'know what you need, Grunkle Ford..." She trailed off with a slight ring to her voice, grabbing her grunkle's attention. "You look like you could use some of Mabel's special love and support – free of charge!" Mabel finished with a grin.

Mabel eased herself out her grunkle's arms, eager to retrieve the supplies she took in with her earlier. She grabbed a clean rag from the cabinet underneath the sink, bringing it under its now running facet to soak it in cold water. As soon as the piece of cloth was done absorbing the cool liquid she swiftly turned the facet off, grabbing her bin of medical supplies and rushing back over to the author's side.

"You may want to sit on the ground for the first part." Mabel informed him, and Ford willingly complied as he hoisted himself onto the bathroom floor, his neck now within her reach to be properly attended to.

"This may hurt at first." Mabel warned him before she slowly eased the cool rag onto his exposed burns around his neck, earning some low muffled noises of distress.

Mabel flinched at his reaction, which followed by her murmuring apologies to him.

"...How long did he do this to you? These burns look like they weren't just a one-time deal."

Ford sighed. "I'm...I'm not sure. Who knows how many hours he took pleasure in torturing me. There were times where I passed out from all the excessive shocks and the various intensities of them."

Mabel narrowed her eyes, feeling her heart break at the answer. Careful not to hurt her grunkle, she slowly applied antibiotic cream onto the blistering skin before loosely wrapping bandages around his neck. She then repeated the same process with his wrists, being sure to place a wet cool rag over them before applying treatment to his other electrical burns.

As soon as she was done addressing his burns, she placed her own special touches on his bandages, decorating them in all sorts of stickers and whatever else she deemed colorful and appropriate.

"There! Good as new, Grunkle Ford!" She softly cheered, throwing her hands up to express her optimism.

Ford took a moment to study his niece's handiwork, taking note of the stickers placed among them containing words of encouragement. "Thank you so much, sweetheart. But you really need to – "

"Nope!" She interrupted by placing a finger over his lips, silencing him. "No more of that sappy stuff. I was more than happy to make you feel better, Grunkle Ford! So don't you even dare feel guilty, because you've already spent enough time doing all that. You deserve all the happiness and love, Grunkle Ford, and I hope you realize that." She finished sheepishly, bringing her arms behind her back as she genuinely smiled up at her grunkle.

He couldn't help but return her smile. "Th…Thank you, Mabel." He finally spoke with endearment, bringing her into his arms once more. "But now it's time for you to go back to bed."

"What — "

Suddenly Mabel was hoisted up by her feet, earning a surprised squeal from her which later turned into a fit of giggles from her as he playfully swung her around. After several minutes of laughter and horsing around, Mabel eventually found herself hung over one of his shoulders, being carried by her grunkle.

"That wasn't fair, Grunkle Ford." She pouted playfully, placing her hands over her mouth to try and muffle her giggles.

"Wasn't fair? Whatever do you mean? I was just simply trying to pick up my niece so I can put her to bed." He replied in a teasing tone, smiling widely.

After a soft fit of laughter they entered the attic, where they found Dipper sleeping soundly in his bed.

"All right, Mabel — time for bed." He informed her softly as he pulled her down from his shoulder and into his arms, carrying her over to her bed adjacent from her brother's.

As soon as Ford placed her carefully down onto the mattress he found himself enveloped by a small pair of arms.

"Good night, Grunkle Ford." Mabel whispered into his ear with a small smile.

Ford returned the gesture, and let out a small chuckle. "Good night, sweetheart. And thank you."

A/N: Hope you all enjoyed reading! Favorites, follows, and reviews are appreciated. Thank you all so much for reading and keeping up with all my drabbles.

Until the next one!

-Syd