Ford couldn't sleep that night. In other news, the pope was Catholic.

Since he was feeling pretty awake anyway, he ended up using his laptop (as frustrating as technology could be at times, he had to admit it often made doing research on obscure topics a lot easier) to read up on Mikey's particular type of cancer, and what type of treatment he needed. He was just wondering how ethical it would be to steal the right types of DNA from two people and use them to create a clone that would be the perfect donor, when there was a knock at the door.

He got up in confusion and answered it to see an absolutely exhausted-looking Mabel.

"I'm sorry about what I said, Grunkle Ford," she said without preamble, while staring at her feet. "I-I know you're all just worried about me, and I shouldn't have lashed out at you like that."

Ford was touched and inspired that Mabel could apologize so soon after an altercation…it was another way she and Stan were wiser than he could ever be.

Ford didn't think her words had been exactly wrong…but he managed to smile and squeeze her shoulders. "Thank you, Mabel."

She pulled him into a brief hug, which ended up turning into a much longer one, in which he pretended not to feel the way she was trembling, or the slight dampness on his sweater before she pulled back and, after a brief smile, hurried back upstairs to get back to work.

Logically, Mabel knew that the "power of Mabel" was not a divine miracle cure-all; regardless, she was willing to work herself silly to make it so. From that day on, all of her free time was spent either visiting Mikey in the hospital or organizing a massive donor drive in his honor.

She spent hours working late into the night, trying to figure out various ways to reach the most people possible to get them registered and see if they were a match. She wasn't without willing participants, her entire family (including Soos and Wendy) was tested, Candy and Grenda were tested, even Pacifica Northwest went against her parents' wishes to get her bone marrow tested-but unfortunately, none of them were a match. And it seemed like nobody else in town would fit her boyfriend's needs either.

It was then that she decided the sleepy town of Gravity Falls was too small-scale for such an important issue, so she wrote a letter to the governor of Oregon himself (who was more than willing to help her, as a way to save face after the whole pardoning-her-attempted-rapist-who-then-tried-to-murder-her thing). He granted her permission to plan a huge donor-palooza in the nearby town of Eugene, and thanks to his endorsement the turnout promised to be astronomical. Her worried grunkles hoped that her success would allow her to feel somewhat reassured, and maybe return to spending some free time enjoying her youth.

No such luck. Mabel became determined to create an event that people wouldn't just feel compelled to attend; she wanted it to be something they would want to attend. She started by convincing Stan to fix up and offer rides in his "I EAT KIDS" hot-air balloon. She figured that despite the disaster it had created at the Woodstick Festival, the balloon would bring people in for the irony and terror it instilled in youngsters (since you had to be at least eighteen to donate). It also helped that Mabel flashed Stan her sweet puppy dog pout face and reminded him that it would be free publicity for the Mystery Shack in the bargain.

After that, she convinced her former pet boyband Several Timez to come out of retirement and put on a reunion show at the event. They were thrilled to put their talents towards a good cause (and Mabel promising all the pizza they could eat was just an added plus).

Even after all this, Mabel wanted to make sure that every possible avenue would be taken to find her boyfriend a donor. She started a social media campaign called "Mikey's Miracle" and set up a website with a link to various testing sites around the country (and even the world), and was constantly interacting with as many people as possible to get the word out about how simple it is to get tested and how they could potentially save the lives of people who were in dire straits.

It seemed pretty clear that she was going to leave no stone unturned in her quest to save Mikey's life.

Ford was worried. One of the things he admired most about Mabel (and Stan, whom she had definitely inherited the trait from) was her unwavering loyalty, but his more logical mind tortured him with the realization that hope, and hard work might not be enough this time. It was one thing undoing the effects of a memory gun with the power of love and scrapbooking, but this…

A few nights before the donor-palooza (when he was certain Mabel would be fast asleep), he decided to bring his worries to Stan, who was in his office counting the day's profits.

"I'm concerned that Mabel might be feeling a little codependent towards Mikey," he began when he stepped into the office. Like Mabel, he saw no point in beating around the bush.

"Says the grown man who panicked when I was running fifteen minutes late getting groceries." Stan looked up at him with a bit of a smirk.

"That's different!" Ford turned a little pink. "Considering that being in our family is practically an occupational hazard, I was worried something had happened to you! Besides, you're my brother, and…I owe you my undying loyalty, all things considered." He didn't notice that Stan looked a little perturbed at those words. "But Mikey's just a boyfriend, and-and I don't think it's healthy for her to be so focused on saving him that she no longer sees her friends or does extra-curricular activities, or-or even make enough art to finish her scholarship application!"

"It doesn't matter if he's 'just' a boyfriend or not! Stanford, he's potentially gonna die if they can't find a donor for him!"

Ford wilted; he should have remembered that Stan knew all too well what it was like to be so desperate to save someone else's life that everything else became irrelevant. "I know, I know! I just….I'm worried if he…if this doesn't work out the way she's hoping…that she won't be able to cope."

Stan's slightly raised hackles settled themselves at once. "She's gotta at least try. Besides, with all the effort she's puttin' inta saving him, maybe we shouldn't bury him when he's still breathing. That's happened to me before; it's not fun."

Ford did a small double-take. "…Do you have any backstories that aren't completely horrifying?"

"…Not really, no."

The brothers managed to have a small laugh together.

When they calmed down, Ford sighed. "I know that we don't need to give up just yet, and I definitely don't want to discourage her. But…" His eyes caught the globe that was in the corner of the office, covered with sticky notes marking the places Stan and Ford wanted to travel to once the children were out of the house.

Ford walked over towards the globe, and gave it one small, melancholy twirl.

Stan looked at Ford nervously, the two of them hadn't talked about it in ages, but in the back of Stan's mind he always feared that his twin regretted putting off sailing.

Ford quickly said, without turning around, "I've loved every moment raising the kids with you, Stanley. And I would say yes to it a thousand more times but…I still want us to finally have our own adventures. I want to know that the kids are secure and stable enough to live on their own, and-" He shook his head. "Sorry, I know I'm being selfish-"

He suddenly felt a warm hand on his back. "No, it's okay. I…I wanna get to have our adventure too." Then Stan said firmly, "But the kids need us right now. And as long as they need us, we gotta be there for them. You know that."

Ford nodded. "Yeah, I know."

Neither of them heard the office door slowly slide shut, or the sound of young feet creeping away, back towards the stairs.