The next few days passed in a depressing blur for the three Pines men. Life had lost all of its hope and beauty. Stan and Dipper were at the shack while Ford went for another one of his frequent long walks. Even though Stan and Dipper were in the same house they might as well have been on different planets. Much like Ford and Mabel the love between Dipper and Stan was there, but they had no common ground. Dipper had always been a quiet child, especially around Stan, and losing Mabel hadn't done anything to change that. In fact, it only made it worse. Stan desperately wanted to reach his son, but he had no idea how. Similar to Ford and Mabel he cared about Dipper a great deal, but they didn't have much in common and he rarely tried to find common ground with him. This made it hard for them to connect on the best of days, let alone at a time like this. Stan did know that Dipper deserved effort from him though; even if Dipper didn't bite Stan had to offer the bait.

He came into the living room where Dipper was stretched out on the floor looking at piles of sympathy cards with a bitter look on his face.

"Everything ok champ?" Stan asked sitting at his side.

"No," Dipper answered quickly and honestly.

"Yeah, same here," Stan confessed.

Dipper was on the verge of crying again, but instead he pushed it down and unleashed anger as a substitute.

"These cards are bullshit," he commented, though he quickly covered his mouth, embarrassed by using a swear word.

Stan managed a half smile, hearing Dipper swear kind showed that his ways in dealing with life's issues had begun to rub off onto him, "what makes them bullshit?" he asked, wanting to give Dipper permission to use whatever language he pleased.

"Just listen to some of these…..I'm sorry Mabel passed on," Dipper read in a mocking tone, "that sounds like Mabel passed some stupid test. And she hated tests, she'd always want to forget about them the moment they were over, not get some ridiculous card congratulating her on it,"

Stan gave a very tiny chuckle, he then reached and picked up a card and read in an equally mimicking voice, "Mabel has gone to meet her maker, sounds like the kid has been abducted by aliens!"

This time Dipper giggled, "her time ran out…..who is she Flavor Flav?"

They both managed to laugh.

"And hey, I wanna meet the wise guy who said that ya gotta bring a casserole after someone dies….those things pass right through ya and the end result does not look or smell pretty I'm telling ya!"

Before long. Amidst all the tears and pain, father and son were finally able to connect. It was small, but they were slowly creating a bond that hopefully would last, even if dark humor was what started it.

Ford would spend hours walking around the town, he still wasn't social with the townsfolk, but he truly felt like he didn't belong at home any longer. He knew that Dipper and Stan were trying their hardest to forgive him, but the truth was that Ford was painfully aware of the fact that they both still blamed him. He didn't harbor any ill feelings towards them for this. He blamed himself too.

The rest of the town was still clearly in a state of mourning, but they had very subtly started to move on with their lives. They still had jobs, shopping, and hobbies, little things that Ford didn't appreciate until he had lost his will to live.

Deep down Ford resented it. He resented seeing people going about their lives, he wanted their lives to shut down the way his families had. He and his family couldn't laugh or be happy, so no one else deserved it either. He wanted the whole world to mourn with him and his family forever. Not helping was the fact that when he would catch the eyes of one of these people walking the streets, he didn't get the look of sympathy that Stan or Dipper would get. He would get looks of disgust and anger; he deserved them after what he did. He did afterall unintentional bring such a horrible fate onto such a promising life and loving little girl. It was awful, but confessing to the whole town had been the very first step to taking responsibility for the first time in his life. He knew even though it hurt that it was the right thing to do. He just hated the loneliness that followed him, but he deserved that feeling too. He had made Mabel feel lonely so many times that it was only fair for him to feel that now. He decided to retreat to the only place in town that he felt safe, Fiddleford's mansion.

He slowly knocked on the door, the truth of the matter was that he was still waiting for Fiddleford to judge him for how Ford had wronged him years ago. At this point Ford had zero self-esteem, so why wouldn't he think his best friend would hate him despite their making up.

Fiddleford quickly eradicated these fears as he instantly engulfed his friend in a tight embrace. Ford allowed himself to cry in his arms.

"It's gonna be alright buddy, I don't know when or how, but it will be,"

"I-I don't ever deserve to be alright again!" Ford sobbed.

Fiddleford rubbed his back, "sure you do Ford, I know if Mabel were here she would say so too,"

"But she isn't here! It's all my fault! I finally got to know her only to lose her,"

"But you did get to know her Ford. Even though you were nervous and she wasn't your type, you got to know her, and she got to know you, and love you,"

Ford gave Fiddleford a slightly confused look.

"She used to always say how lucky she was to have someone smart like you in her life, someone to help with homework and to explain complex ideas," Fiddleford smiled. "And someone with a good heart who was a great tickler and a better hugger,"

His voice softened, "and someone to sing her lullabies and hug her close during some really scary moments,"

"Yeah, but I basically had to be forced to spend time with her, and to get to know her, Maybe if I had treated her right from the start I wouldn't have put her in a situation that could hurt her. I was doing it to try to make amends with her, and instead it ended her life," Ford said as tears continued streaming down his face.

Fiddleford wanted to help his friend more than anything, but deep down he knew the best way to help him would be to admit there are more qualified people for the job.

"Have you talked to Stan or Dipper about how you're feeling?" he asked gently.

"I can't talk to them….they hate me…..and for good reason, the truth is I hate me too,"

Fiddleford pondered for a moment before he spoke up, "you guys are all going through hell right now, and for good reason, but if you gotta go through hell you might as well go through it with those closest to you,"

"I don't know if I can face them," Ford whispered as he bowed his head in shame.

Fiddleford put a comforting hand on his shoulders, "well I reckon that you owe it to Stan, Dipper…..Mabel, and yourself to find out for sure,"