After thirty long years Stan had finally gotten the portal to work again.

And all he needed was two crazy kids. Who would have guessed?

Unfortunately, because of his own stupidity, Dipper thought that he was trying to destroy the world or something. Luckily it was Mabel's choice in the end, and she chose to believe Stan.

There was light, light that crept into every crevice and illuminated literally everything. The power the portal created lifted everything up, like they were in space.

Then, as quickly as it had started, it ended.

Stan squinted up at the portal, he had landed on his stomach on the floor, and he struggled to get up. But he had to see, he had to be the first thing Ford saw.

From the spin of the Journals a spherical object, almost too big to fit through, came out.

It was a charred red. The same color as the Journals. It was cracked and golden light spilled out of the fractures. Facing Stan was the symbol of the Journals, etched into the sphere.

"What is that?" Dipper asked, but before Stan could answer the bubble began to pulse.

The outside of the sphere began to flake away, like an egg soaked in vinegar. Stan watched open mouthed as the bubble shrank and a figure could be seen, hanging limply in the center.

When the sphere was completely disintegrated, the figure gently fell to the floor, and Stan suddenly recognized the man.

His back was to him, but Stan knew, he just knew who he was.

"The Author of the Journals..." Stan said, taking a step towards Ford. He looked down at Ford's khaki trenchcoat, which was rising and falling rhythmically. "My brother."

Stan didn't look back to see Dipper's reaction, he instead kneeled down in front of Ford and reached a hand out to roll the sleeping man over.

When his fingers were just centimeters away from Ford's left shoulder something even stranger happened.

Ford's body jerked up, and Stan could see his half turned face. Ford's glasses-less eyes widened when they saw Stan's hand, and Ford let out a short scream.

He scrambled away from Stan before the older man could even blink. He pressed himself against the portal structure and stared at Stan wildly. He was breathing quickly, like he couldn't get enough oxygen.

He looked exactly like the Ford Stan had last seen. The only difference being his eyes, the dark circles under them were even more prominent, if that was even possible.

Ford was watching Stan's every movement, and his eyes flicked more often to Stan's still stretched out hand.

Stan straightened slowly, as to not surprise Ford. Ford's eyes trailed his path of movement, as his breathing became quicker and shallow.

Stan took a step towards Ford, and watched as his brother pulled his knees up to his chest, and buried his face in them.

"Please leave me alone... Leave me alone... Leave me alone... Please... Please... Please..."

Ford's voice sounded broken, scared, it made Stan feel like literal trash. Ford was whispering the two sentences over and over again like a mantra. He seriously thought that Stan wanted to hurt him.

Slowly, Stan moved to stand in front of Ford, who was a shivering mess. He was hissing as he breathed in, and he rocked his shaking body back and forth.

Stan held a hand out to his brother, palm open, hoping that Ford wouldn't get even more scared.

Unfortunately, his hopes were in vain. Ford stopped chanting, and stared at Stan's hand for a second before reaching out and smacking it as hard as he could.

Stan let out a pained gasp, and in a flash Ford had pushed himself up and barreled past him.

Only to trip and fall flat on his face.

Stan wheeled around, and watched Ford get to his feet. His brother looked like he was going to dash towards the exit, but he had noticed Dipper, Mabel, and Soos.

He froze, then dropped back to the floor, curling up into the fetal position. His pattern of breath changed, and with a start Stan realized that he was crying. Ford never cried.

This was bad.

"Where are you taking me? What are you going to do to me?"

After realizing that he was surrounded, Ford had stopped trying to get away. Stan had promised Dipper that he'd explain everything he could as soon as they got Ford to sleep. Dipper and Mabel started thinking of ways to get the government agents away from the house, and Soos mused, "If only we had one of those memory things..."

Bingo.

Ford was whispering under his breath, and Stan slung him up on one of his shoulders. Ford's body was light, and Stan couldn't help but feel bad about what had happened to him.

Stan didn't know what was on the other side of the portal, but whatever it was it wasn't good. There was something about Ford's actions and words that set a protective urge inside of Stan. Someone had hurt his twin, and if he ever met them Stan would punch them in the face.

"I'm taking you upstairs, the kids got the government guys out of here, and then we're going to Soos' break room. And I'm going to send you to sleep."

"Sleep?" Ford mumbled, he leaned his head against the back of Stan's neck, his hands hanging limply against his twin's chest. "I don't... I... Are you going..?"

"To hurt you?" Stan asked, grunting as walked up the dark passageway and reached the vending machine. "No. Never."

"Mm... I have..." Ford winced as Stan turned down the hall. He shut his mouth and stared deadpanned at the wooden floor.

Dipper held the door open for his uncles. Stan walked across the room and, against his first instinct, carefully set Ford down on the bed, rightly guessing that it wouldn't be good to just flump him down.

Ford had his eyes squeezed shut, he tried to sit up, but Stan put his hands on his shoulders, pushing him back down.

"Lay down."

Ford's body went rigid, he lay facing the ceiling, his breathing a bit shallow. "I'm ready." He whispered, "Just get this over with."

Stan let out a long, slow sigh. He stretched for a moment, then walked over, past Ford's legs, and reached for a blanket on the side table.

Ford had his eyes shut again, his entire body trembling. He cracked them open when he felt the fabric drape over him. He stared at Stan when his arms were covered, and watched him walk over to a chair and sit down.

"What are you doing?" He asked quietly, and flinched again when Stan sighed.

"Waiting until you fall asleep." Stan said, taking his fez off and wiping his forehead. Ford let out a shaky gasp, but didn't say anything.

After watching him silently for a number of minutes, Stan sighed again. Ford hadn't even closed his eyes. There was still that stiffness that made reminded Stan of that wax statue Mabel had made only two months before...

"What you so tense about?" Stan asked, and Ford flinched again. "I already promised that I wouldn't hurt you..."

"You can do a lot more than inflict pain." Ford said quietly, brokenly. Stan suddenly felt sick. What had been in that bubble?

"Listen, Ford, I swear that the moment you're asleep I'm going to go out and clean the house. I won't do anything to you." He said, and breathed in deeply, "I won't let anything happen to you... I promise on my life. If someone does do something to you I'll... I'll..."

Ford shook a little, "Nothing is going to happen to me?" He whispered, and his tone, although soft, felt like he was yelling at Stan.

Stan had done this to him. Stan had pushed him through the portal and into that... Thing. Stan was the one responsible for everything that had happened to him... Stan just had to make this right. He could help Ford. Help Ford get better.

He nodded, then said, "Nothing. I'll lock the door on my way out and keep the key on me at all times."

Ford sighed. "Nothing is going to happen... Nothing is going to happen... I'm safe... Safe... Safe..."

Stan's heart felt like it had shriveled up. Ford looked so pathetic. What had happened to him?

"Yeah. You're safe." He said, "I'm going to keep you safe. No one will ever hurt you again." Ford sighed, and he seemed to melt slightly into the couch. He closed his eyes, but almost immediately opened them again.

Stan watched him again, his own eyelids drooping. "My day was great..." He said, and shifted nervously in his chair. "I barely got any sleep, then we had a fireworks party, then these government guys came..."

Stan began to recap his day. The more he spoke, the more details he added. When he got to the end he began to tell Ford about his summer with Dipper and Mabel, watching his brother start to drift off.

True to his word, he left as soon as Ford was sleeping, and locked the door behind him.

What was he going to do?

Stan and the kids made a plan.

Admittedly, it wasn't the best solution, but it was what they had to work with. Every night, one of them would sit outside of Ford's room, and listen just in case he had a nightmare.

During the day, Stan would give Ford safe books to read, mostly 'boring' science books, but ones that wouldn't trigger him. Mabel would talk to him about glitter or something similar, and Dipper would... Well, Dipper didn't really know what to do.

He had idolized the Author. Looked up to the man. Not that he didn't think that Ford was amazing, but he was a far cry from the heroic, not afraid of anything, super human that Dipper had imagined him as.

Dipper didn't really know what to do around Ford. That was, until one night when he was on guard duty...

Dipper was awoken by a loud cry of "No!". He had been told what to do a million times by Grunkle Stan, but he'd never had to actually do it before.

He carefully unlocked the door, and stepped into the dark room.

Ford was sitting up on his couch bed, blankets dropped on the floor, his brow covered in cold sweat. He was breathing deeply and whispering something over and over to himself.

"Great uncle Ford?" Dipper said quietly, taking a step towards him. "I heard you from outside..."

Ford looked over at him and pushed his glasses onto his face. "Dipper?" He asked, turning and putting his feet on the floor. "I... I'm sorry I woke you... It was just..."

"A nightmare?" Dipper asked, moving to stand in front of him. "It's fine. It's my job..."

Ford nodded, and ran a shaking hand through his brown hair. "If you want to stay..."

"Yeah." Dipper said, and sat down next to Ford. He but his lip and kicked the air. "You wanna talk about it... Or..."

Ford closed his eyes, he took a steadying breath and said, "It was about Bill."

Dipper's eyes widened, "Bill Cipher?" He asked, and almost instantly regretted it. Ford nodded, and stared down at his fingers. "The very same..."

He looked over at Dipper, who nodded, and placed a timid hand on Ford's arm, even though the man flinched.

"He's the one who put me in the Nightmare Bubble... I told him that I'd rather spend an eternity in my worst nightmare than join him... And that's exactly what he did."

Dipper nodded again, and he pulled his hand away from Ford. "I don't really want to talk about it..." He said, and Dipper agreed wholeheartedly.

"What do you like to do?" Ford asked. "I haven't really done anything... Fun... For a long time... The books Stan gives me are nice... But..."

"To be honest, I like reading your Journals." Dipper said, shifting awkwardly, "But I don't think..."

"The first one is safe..." Ford mused, staring down at his sock-clad feet. "We could try that..."

"Really?" Dipper asked, his voice squeaking slightly. "That sounds amazing!"

Ford looked over at Dipper's happy face and tried to smile, but it didn't work. "Yeah, it does..."

Two weeks after Ford arrived was the biggest incident.

He'd been getting used to life. He still checked behind every corner before he stepped into a new room. Still freaked out slightly whenever someone made physical contact. But he was getting better.

The passing of time was helping. Along with the fact that everyone was being nice to him.

But, in the back of his mind a thought niggled at him. What if, this entire time, this had just been a scheme? A new plot created by Bill to get Ford to put his guard down. That at any moment the people he was beginning to trust would just turn out to be illusions.

Ford didn't want to talk to Stan or the kids about it. So he kept his guard up and prepared for another heartbreak.

Sure enough, it came.

They were sitting at supper, Dipper and Mabel had finished their plates of spaghetti and had rushed out to go check on whatever cool thing Wendy and her friends had called them about.

Ford picked at his food, he never really had an appetite, and that's when Stan asked, "You gonna finish that Sixer?"

Ford's plate clattered to the floor as he shoved his chair away from the table and stood up. "Whoa!" Stan said as Ford quickly rushed to the side of the kitchen, pressing his back against the wall.

"Wh- What did you call me?" Ford asked, his voice quivering. His breathing became quick and shallow, and his eyes were filled to the brim with pure terror.

"Sixer..." Stan answered calmly, "Is there something wrong with..."

"Get away from me Cipher!" Ford yelled, reaching over to the counter and grabbing the closest utensil that he could find, a sharp knife. "You were never my brother! Leave me alone! Please... Why... Please... Please..."

"Whoa, Ford. I'm not Cipher, it's me, Stan." Stan said quietly, forcing his eyes to stay on Ford's terrified face. "Just put the knife down..."

"Why did you call me that then?!" Ford yelled, "Why?!"

Stan breathed in, then he said slowly, "It's my old nickname for you. When we were kids in Glass Shard, remember?"

Ford's hands were shaking, in fact, his entire body was trembling. He was whispering "Leave me alone. Please... Please..." Then he looked down at his spilled plate of spaghetti, the noodles and sauce making a horrible mess on the already dirty floor.

He looked into Stan's eyes. His brother was holding his hands up, showing that he didn't have anything he was going to hurt Ford with.

Ford let his hands fall slowly to his sides. The knife fell to the floor, and he kneeled down next to it, tears starting to spill down his cheeks. "I thought... I was going... I thought... I thought..."

Stan kneeled in front of him, and tentatively placed his hands on Ford's shaking shoulders. "It's okay." He said, and pulled his brother into a hug, Ford staring at the broken plate. "It's okay Ford. It's me... It's going to be us forever. I'm sorry for ruining your life..."

Ford closed his eyes and let his tears soak Stan's shoulder. He couldn't even tell Stan that Ford was the one who ruined his life. He couldn't even say thank you.

It was going to them forever.

They were going to be alright. Eventually.

Hey guys!

Sometimes, I can be a total monster to the poor Stan twins. And this is one of those times. This is like an AU of Bill-ed, where Ford doesn't join Bill, and is trapped in a nightmare version of Mabel's bubble.

I also noticed that I haven't had any Dipper/Ford bonding chapters, so I added that part in the middle. They'll eventually get around to DD&D, and Dipper would totally be the kind of person who reads PTSD books to help his uncle out... And Mabel will be Mabel.

Anyway, thank you guys so much for all your reviews! I'm so glad you guys liked the last chapter!

Have a great day!

-BrilliantLight