The portal was a giant structure. It had loomed over Stanley from the very first day he saw it, when Ford had taken down to its chamber, when Ford had been pushed through. At first Stanley had only been worrying about his brother, and then, after several months, he had actually taken the time to bask in the portal's presence. It was ominous, glaring at him with its 'eye' and reminding him of the terrible fate he was assigned to in his Stanco(tm) life. Every day he'd go down, and try his hardest to get that machine to work.

For about a year. He still worked on the portal, but at a more reasonable rate. He stopped keeping everything in perfect order for Ford (not that Ford had left it in order, Stan just really wanted to impress his twin), and started using more of his brother's stuff. Ford had a bunch of nicknacks and willy-nillies strewn across his house, and you bet your boots that Stan started using them.

There were some days, when Stan was sure he had finally gotten the settings right, or the portal would actually sparkle and fizz for a few seconds, that Stan got exacerbated, and would start yelling at the stupid machine. Swearing like a sailor, or beat his fists against the metal so hard it made his hands bleed. But no amount of sheer human will would make the dumb portal turn on. It simply sat there, not moving, not working. Like a phone that had been dropped in a toilet.

Until this summer. Until Dipper and Mabel (those sweet rays of sunshine that illuminated Stan's life) had helped him get ahold on the last two Journals, and finally, finally, finally, he had restarted the portal.

But of course, like always, the machine had taken a few weeks to fully get ready. Apparently it couldn't just open up to the place it had spewed Ford out into, it was almost like there were more places he could be besides that first... dimension. But Stan had been patient (and procrastinating when it came to telling the kids), and he had waited until the day it would bring Ford back to even try to tell them anything about him.

But the government interfered before he could. And Dipper and Mabel had learned about the stupid portal without Stan's explanation.

Stan was actually glad that it was Mabel who was the one to choose between trusting Stan and pressing the shutdown switch. If it had been Dipper... Stan might never have seen Stanford again. But Stan's gratitude dissolved the moment the countdown reached zero.

A bright white light, like the sun itself was sticking its face inside of the room, erupted from the portal. Gravity, which had already been kind of wonky, completely evaporated. There was a great shake, and suddenly, as soon as gravity kicked back in and Stan fell to the ground, a loud, ear-piercing explosion sounded.

Stan felt the force of the blast shake his entire being. The sound nearly deafened him more so than he already was. He let out a shout, and heard a small scream come from in front of him. Waves of light crashed against his body, and the entire superstructure of the portal cracked into two even parts.

Stan looked up, his head ringing, the only sounds in his ears being the loud, high pitched humming. His eyes, which felt... odd, saw a small figure lying on the ground only a few feet in front of him. Dark red blood soaked her pink sweater and matted her hair. There was a small pool of blood drifting towards Stan, and he felt his eyes widening as his brain realized who it was.

Mabel was breathing shallowly, wheezing as she lost blood. Stan tried to push himself to his feet, Ford entirely forgotten. He attempted to shove himself towards his niece, but he looked down, and saw that his left arm was stuck in an awkward angle. Hot Belgian Waffles... he had a broken arm... His right arm was still fine, and he lifted his hand up to his head and felt blood drying on his forehead.

With the greatest difficulty in his life, he forced himself to his feet with his legs and right arm. He took two swooning steps towards Mabel, then his legs gave out again, and he crashed to the ground, crying out in pain as his left arm hit the floor.

The last thing he saw was a black figure turning Mabel over, then his vision matched the stranger's outfit.


Stanford knew that the portal had been unstable. But to explode the moment he got there? That was a little worse than what he had thought it might have done.

Well, anything was better than destroying the universe, Ford had to hand Stan that. Unfortunately what Ford got wasn't much better. He himself wasn't effected by the explosion that came from the portal, but everyone and everything else was. The first thing he noticed was Stanley, lying near the back of the room, struggling to get to his feet.

Then he saw the girl. She was the closest to him, so she must have taken the brunt of the blast. A sick feeling of dread overcame Ford, resting just above the main part of his stomach. Bill completely forgotten for a moment, he dashed over to the small figure, barely even hearing Stan's shout of pain. Stan wasn't too badly hurt, but this girl, who was in a pink sweater that was slowly but surely turning red, was.

He rolled her over as gently as possible, wincing as he saw a piece of shrapnel imbedded in her side. With tender hands (which hadn't been cleaned in a while, but that didn't matter yet) he gently pulled her sweater off of her body, lifting her up to do so. His heart began to beat even faster when she offered no resistance. Normally she should protest his touch.

He had to work quickly then.

Tearing off his trenchcoat, plopping it and his quantum destabilizer on the ground, he carefully pulled her blue t-shirt, which had been under her sweater, up to her chin, revealing the piece of metal more clearly. He did his best to make sure that his hands didn't shake as he made sure that there wasn't a catch underneath her skin, then pulled the piece of metal out of her body as quickly as he could without hurting her, making sure to place her sweater against the wound immediately after in order to still it.

His mind had gone into complete work mode. Nothing else mattered besides what he was doing now. There was blood on his hands, a sharp shard of metal next to him, a ruined pink sweater pressed against an injury that looked almost deadly for this dimension (probably. Ford wasn't the best person to ask though). Plus there was the fact that he still had to deal with Stanley after this.

After what felt like an eternity waiting there, moving the knitted material around so that the same piece of cloth wasn't always touching the area, and letting Ford see how bad the bleeding was, Ford simply wrapped the sweater around the girl's body, not really caring that he was catching her long brown hair as well. After securing that, he leaned over her chest and listened for her heartbeat.

It was a bit faint, but still there. Next he checked her breathing, which was shallow and wheezy. A surge of pity welled up inside of him, and he sighed long and loud. Every bone in his body wanted to fall over and sleep, but he couldn't until he figured out what to do with the girl.

"Is... Is she... Is Mabel okay?"

His head snapped up from staring down at the girl. A boy, who couldn't be older than eleven, was stumbling towards the two of them. Ford licked his lips, then nodded somberly. The boy collapsed in front of the girl, and snaked a hand to hers, closing over her thin fingers. His hand had its own blood that was half-dried already. Ford noted how similar the two of them looked, and asked quietly, "Is she your sister?"

The boy looked up at him with heavy eyes, then answered, "Yeah." He glanced back at Mabel, then added, "I'm Dipper. Who are you?"

Ford contemplated not telling the boy who he was. But the thought that he was actually 'safe' in this dimension helped bolster his confidence in not getting hurt or arrested. "My name is Stanford Pines," He replied, and the boy's eyes widened. "Stanford?" The boy asked, confusion spreading across his tired face. "But... Stan is Stanford... Unless..."

Dipper's eyes flicked back at a figure who was unconscious a few feet away from the two of them. All Ford could really make out of him was a black outfit and red hat, but the boy pointed a shaky finger at him and said, "Unless he's... you... or the guy who died... Because I thought that he was Stanford Pines..."

A horrible thought went through Ford's mind. "Dipper... Does he go by 'Stan'?" Dipper's head snapped over to look at Ford, and he nodded silently. Anger, hot and filling, swept through Ford, more so than before. Not only had Stan endangered the universe, hurt these children and himself, and ignored his warnings, but he had also stolen Ford's name!

"I'm afraid that a huge miscommunication has been made." Ford hissed, letting years of not revealing his emotions take control. "That man, Stan Pines, is actually Stanley Pines. My brother."

It was at that revelation that Dipper fainted as well.


When Mabel came to everything hurt. Her head hurt, her feet hurt, and her side hurt the most. It was like someone had jabbed her with a million forks, and then twisted her insides like spaghetti. Nothing was good.

"Ow..." was all that her tired voice could say at first. She was lucky that it was so dark in the portal room, or her head would have hurt even more. She tried to sit up, but strong hands kept her down as soon as she tried to do so. "Stay down. You've lost a lot of blood, and I don't feel like cleaning up any more." It was a male voice, one that she didn't recognize. But it sounded familiar. Like from a dream.

Her eyes cracked open, and she saw a man above her, with grey hair, sideburns, and a familiar chin. He looked exactly like Grunkle Stan, although he had a cleft chin where Stan didn't. Mabel choked out her uncle's name, and the man stiffened.

"Actually, it's Ford." he said, an unrecognizable look coming up in his eyes. "Hi..." she whispered, "I'm Mabel... Are you my Gruh- Grunk..." A small whimper escaped her against her will, and Ford rubbed her left shoulder with his thumb. "You probably shouldn't speak now." He said matter-of-factly, and Mabel nodded in response. "Alright," Ford said, sighing and leaning back, wherever he was.

"Blink once if this hurts, twice if it doesn't. In fact, keep your eyes shut if it does." Mabel winced. That was reassuring. She felt him squeeze her wrist between his thumb and forefinger, but it didn't hurt. She blinked twice, and Ford sighed. "Good, that means that you're starting to heal. You've been unconscious for the past day."

Mabel's eyes widened, then she looked to either side of her. "Dipper..." She mumbled, disobeying his order to stay silent. Ford sighed, then answered, "Is upstairs with Stanley, I offered to stay down with you while they tend to each other's wounds. You were the most severely damaged. I must be honest, I wasn't expecting the portal to explode and not take out at least the rest of the state. You're actually lucky."

"Ex... Explode?" she added, and Ford nodded. "Yes, the entire structure overheated in the last couple of moments. How is your side by the way? There was a rather large piece of shrapnel that I extracted from it." Mabel clenched her teeth, bile rising in the back of her throat. That explained the pain in her side. But it didn't explain just who Ford was.

"F- Ford?" she asked, and the man nodded. "Yes Mabel?"

"Do... Do I know you?" She asked, and Ford smiled sadly down at her. "Not yet. I'm your Great-uncle Stan's twin brother. It's a rather long story that will have to wait until Stan can be down here to help tell it. I've been on the other side of the portal for thirty years." Mabel felt her eyes widen. Suddenly everything about Stan's attitude earlier made sense.

"So... You're my new Grunkle?" she whispered, and Ford shrugged. "I suppose. Although I've been your 'Grunkle' for as long as you've been alive." For the first time since she'd woken up Mabel smiled, actually showing her braces-covered teeth. "I love you... Grunkle Ford..."

She fell back asleep a moment later.


Mabel's recovery didn't take as long as was expected. Ford had explained that there was an alien substance that would be able to heal wounds like that buried inside of an alien spacecraft under town. Dipper had wanted to come, but he had a fractured wrist, and it wasn't a good idea to take him to a possibly dangerous environment.

Stan was out of the equation as well, as his older body hadn't really enjoyed the fall very much. Ford had decided that all of Stan's injuries was a just payment for what he had done (though he had promised to deck him once he could at least try to fight back), and had let him off of the bitterness hook. Soos wasn't too badly injured, but Ford had taken one look at the man-child and claimed that he wouldn't do at all.

So instead he took the next best option. Stan's teenage employee. Wendy Corduroy.


"You know, before this summer with Dipper and Mabel, I would have said you were nuts when you told me all about this UFO junk." Wendy climbed down the ladder after Ford into the CSO, a smile on her face. "But after all of the stuff I've seen this summer. Man, I'm kind of surprised I hadn't connected the dots weeks ago!"

Ford himself had a small smile on his face. "I thought the same thing when I discovered this place. Honestly I drew nothing but sketches of this area for weeks after finding it." Wendy chuckled a bit as she heard Ford hop down to the metal ground below. "Yeah, if I was any good at art I'd do some. Maybe Mabel could come here and glam this place up. Once she's better of course."

Ford's smile slimmed, and Wendy bit her lip ashamedly. "Ooh, sorry man. I just meant..." Ford held up his right hand to silence the redhead. "It's not a problem. It just pains me that someone so young could be in such dire straights." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a glow stick, which he tossed to Wendy the moment she hopped down to join him. "Why don't you light our path for us Miss Corduroy."

"Dude, you can call me Wendy, I don't mind. Miss Corduroy was my egotistical maniac of a cousin." Wendy snapped the light on, and started walking in the direction Ford indicated. And the two of them walked on in silence.


Needless to say, Bill wasn't too pleased when the only tear into Ford's dimension was sealed up mere hours after it was discovered. He never even got a selfie!


Hello everyone!

I was watching Big Hero 6 with my family the other day, and when that portal 'turned off' it exploded. So, of course, I instantly thought, "Huh, what if The Portal exploded? Of course Mabel would get hurt (but not killed, I can't just kill Mabel!) and Stan and Dipper wouldn't be much help either, so Ford would have to step up and help." And thus, this chapter was born!

Man, work has gotten busy for me. I'm one of the few people who can work weekdays now, and so I get scheduled a lot. Also my choir started up again, and I'm going to be getting vocal training every Wednesday now. So... My life is awesome!

I've been thinking of making a spinoff of this fic, about the Multiverses these Fords come from. Let me know if you'd like to see that, and what you'd like inside. I'd love to hear any ideas you guys have!

Have a great rest of your day! Stay safe!

-BrilliantLight