"I'm going to visit my brother today." Mabel said softly, placing Bill's tea at his desk. He looked up from mountains of paperwork, brows furrowing in concern. His scar had healed over, no longer needing her attention, and Mabel found she missed the time spent together.

Bill cleared his throat, breaking out of her trance as she realized she was staring at him. Mabel placed the teapot on his desk, so he couldn't complain later about not having it near him, and took a long step away.

"Do you want me to escort you into town? I promise no business this time." Bill pushed his paperwork to the side. "I do need to get along with the in laws at some point."

"I'm not sure." Mabel said softly, pausing as his expression fell. "It's just...I don't want an argument to happen and I need to talk to my brother. Promise me you won't argue with him?"

Bill hesitated a long moment before he nodded, and Mabel felt her shoulder's slump. She could insist, that he stay home while she went out, but if he was willing to get along.

"Maybe you could do some things around town? I don't want to push you away, it's just my brother can be sensitive, and I don't want him hurting you." Mabel said. "How about while I talk to him, you go and buy those things we were trying to buy from the shop?"

Bill hesitated before he finally nodded. He stood, escorting her out of their home and into the carriage. Mentally, Mabel prepared herself. Dipper probably didn't know anything about what she was going to ask, but her uncles would be home, and they would most certainly know.

When they arrived at her old home, Bill kissed the back of her hand and promised to be back in just an hour, so she wouldn't be left alone. It wouldn't be good for his image to have his wife running around town unescorted, even if Mabel was more than capable of walking around town on her own, and had done so before.

"Mabel!" Dipper threw his arms around his sister, engulfing her in a crushing hug. Mabel breathed in the scent of trees and paper, and had to fight back sudden tears. She missed her brother dearly.

"Dipper, I missed you." Mabel pulled back, looking him over. "You look well."

"So do you. I guess Cipher is being a good husband?" Dipper asked, an unvoiced question on his lips. Mabel heard it easily. He's not hurting you, is he?

"He's a great husband." Mabel said easily. "But that's not what I want to talk about. Bill said he'd be back in an hour and I need to ask you something."

Dipper's brows furrowed, as they often did when he was worried or lost in thought. She sat down gracefully on the couch, wishing Jonah was there to offer her a cup of tea, as he always did when she was nervous.

"What's wrong?" Dipper sat down cautiously next to her, like a startled cat ready to bolt. Mabel reached out and placed her hand over her brother's own. He relaxed slightly at her touch.

"I'm curious about something, do you know anything about the business our uncles did with Bill?" Mabel asked. "I'd think you'd know, since you'll be taking their spots, letting them retire."

Dipper's face fell slightly at her words. "I never bothered to ask. I didn't think I needed to, it's all done and over with."

"Everyone keeps saying that, and I'm starting to think you all don't want me to know." Mabel sighed. "Are you going to tell me, Dipper?"

Dipper's face pinched, and Mabel had her answer. She stood, heading down into the basement of their home. A long time ago, when she was a child, Stanford had made his office there, and when the brothers didn't want to be disturbed, they could be found down there.

Stanford was nowhere to be seen, but Stanley was there, signing his name in a flourish of choppy handwriting. His penmanship wasn't as nice as Stanford's was, often bulky letters that stood out on the page.

"Gruntled Stan?" Mabel placed a hand on his shoulder. "Are you busy?"

"Mabel! When did you get here?" He placed his work to the side immediately. Mabel laughed as he embraced her in a hug. "Should have told me you were stopping by."

"There wasn't any time, and I wanted to speak to you about something." Mabel took a seat next to him. "I know you did business with Bill, please, tell me what it was."

"Mabel-"

"I know, it's old business, but he's my husband and I have a right to know." Mabel said firmly. Stanley sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Please, Grunkle Stan."

The old man sighed. "It's really not that important. It worked out in the end, didn't it? Are you sure you want to know?"

Mabel gave a firm nod. There was a secret here and she wanted to be a part of it. Mabel braced herself for the worst.

"Cipher, he has this way about him. He just knows exactly what you want. I got no idea how he knows. Anyways, we were going to lose the lumber yard, it wasn't going well and we couldn't make ends meet. You remember that time when we hardly had anything to eat?" Mabel nodded slightly, a quick movement of her head. "Well he showed up while we were working. Young kid, but already so much money. He said we'd get him out of debt, as long as we did something for him in return."

Mabel felt her breath catch in her chest. She remembered, when she was younger, Stanley coming home with food and they ate until they couldn't move. After that, having what they needed wasn't a problem anymore.

"What did he want?" Mabel asked softly.

"I'll get to that." Stanley brushed her question off. "He gave us enough money, a lot mind you, to pay off our debt. If it wasn't for him, that business would have gone under within the week. We would have been on the streets." Stanley ran his hand down his face. "We took what we could, and Ford found a little loophole in the agreement. Bill meant for it to be in his favor, but there was hardly a thing he could do to stop us. Almost made him bankrupt, he ended up giving us so much money."

"Grunkle Stan, are you going to tell me or not?" Mabel asked. History lessons were nice, but this was getting tiring.

"The original deal was that we would pay off the money as quickly as possible, and that we would allow him to take one thing from our family. He said it wouldn't be anything major. Then as soon as we agree he tells us he wanted to court you, intended for marriage." Stanley threw his hands in the air. "You weren't thinking of that, we didn't want to make you, you were only sixteeen! Ford found a clause that said if we didn't abide by the agreement within a month it would be void."

"You took his money and ran." Mabel felt like the room was spinning.

"Then you came up and told us you wanted all of this. We couldn't stop you." Stanley paused, letting out a bark of a sarcastic laugh. "Guess he really does get what he wants in the end."

Mabel took a deep breath, letting it out at the count of three. A million words weighed down her tongue, trying their best to spring forth first and be the winner. Mabel suppressed them all, trying not to let her passion overcome her.

"You will pay back every bit of money that he loaned you, and I will not hear a word about it." Mabel held up a hand when he opened his mouth to argue. "Not one word. Do you understand me?"

Stanley nodded, and Mabel turned to leave. "All he ever wanted was me. Oh my lord, this probably all started as some kind of revenge. Why did nobody think it was important to tell me this?"

It was her life they were playing with, chess pieces in a game that left her as a pawn and Bill as the king. Stanley pinched the bridge of his nose again, rising to stop her leaving.

"We didn't want to worry you, we got rid of him so it wasn't an issue." Stanley explained. "I'll pay him back."

"You're damn right you will." Mabel snapped. "I have to go."

"Sweetheart-"

She was already climbing the steps, her heels on the ground drowning out whatever Stan was saying. She rushed past her brother, and out of her childhood home like the devil himself was on her heels. Dipper didn't try to stop his sister, letting his head fall into his hands.

The carriage wasn't there, meaning Bill had to still be in town. With purpose radiating through her, Mabel walked into town, her shoulders thrown back as she received stares. A lone woman without her escort or even her friends? It would be the topic of gossip by the end of the evening, most people wondering who let Mabel run around town so frivolously.

She found the carriage outside the general store, and inside a different shopkeeper. Bill stood at the counter, staring down at the different assortment of yarn with absolute confusion on his face. Mabel walked up slowly, her husband not noticing her yet.

"These were the ones she had waiting, correct?" Bill sighed as he pulled out his wallet. The shopkeeper nodded, his fingers nervously beating against the counter.

"Yes sir, Mister Cipher."

Mabel walked forward, placing her arm on Bill's shoulder and forcing him to turn. He looked enraged for a moment before he saw it was her, and anger melted off his face like it was never there.

"Are you okay? You look as though you've seen a ghost." Bill asked.

Mabel moved her hand, over the lapels of his jacket to his bow tie, yanking him down into a rough but sweet kiss. She had kissed him before, a quick peck on his cheek or on his head, and he had pressed kisses against the back of her hand, but they had never truly kissed before. Bill was stiff for a moment before his arms wrapped around her, pressing her closer than what was proper.

When they broke apart, his cheeks were stained a luscious red that Mabel wanted to bottle, to never forget this moment. He wasn't upset, just confused, and Mabel's attention finally turned from him to the shopkeeper, who coughed awkwardly to get their attention. Bill's arm tightened around her waist.

"Will this be all for you?"

Bill nodded, taking a couple bills out and throwing them on the counter. Not once did he take his eyes off Mabel, making her own cheeks flush with color. Thankfully, the shopkeeper didn't say anything else to them as he packed their items and handed them over.

Bill took her hand and led her to the carriage, waiting until the door was shut before he turned to Mabel. The look on her face must have silenced him, because he didn't say anything, only staring.

"I'm going to ask this once, and you will give me an answer." Mabel ended up breaking their silence first. "What business deal did you make with your family?"

Bill's shoulders slumped. "You already know." It wasn't a question, but Mabel made no move to speak. "They wanted money, and I gave it to them. I figured that if I pursued you in marriage, the dowry I got would basically be a refund. My advisors were already telling me to start looking for a wife, I didn't see the harm in it. Your family can be pretty smart at times, almost bankrupted me."

"Was this all revenge? They didn't give you a chance so you took it?" Mabel scoffed. Bill just stared at her, his one blue eye unblinking.

"At the start, yes. You're full of surprises though, and at some point it stopped being a game and started being real." Bill tapped his fingers on his knee, a habit Mabel noticed he was starting to pick up.

They arrived home, and Mabel pressed a parting kiss to his cheek as she went to the parlor, intent on starting a new project with the fine yarn he had bought her. She drifted off to sleep with her pig, who she had started reluctantly calling Bacon at Bill's insistence, curled up next to her, and her knitting still in her fingers. It was the way Bill found her late at night, wondering why she hadn't come to dinner. Bill pressed a soft kiss to her hair and covered her with a blanket, wishing her good dreams before he went to bed himself.

Maybe, just maybe, this could work out.