Ford tried to think of something he could say or do as he walked with Mabel down a seemingly endless maze of hallways towards her father's room, but words simply failed his brilliant mind.

When they arrived outside the room, the nurse paused, as if wanting to find a way to warn the child of what she was about to see, but he knew there were no combination of words that could soothe her. This was something she would have to face head on.

When they opened the door, Mabel's eyes widened at horror at what she was witnessing.

Her father was lying there motionless on the hospital bed. The loving face Mabel had looked up to nearly every day since her birth was covered in blood and totally disfigured. His right arm had been ripped right off. The arm he used to make his living as a cartoonist and to draw countless silly doodles on napkins, bulletins, and anything else he could find to entertain and delight her and Dipper on lazy evenings back in California. Both of his legs were broken and every part of him appeared to have been impacted by the horrific crash.

Ford expected Mabel to wail, to vomit, to faint. Ford didn't know his own nephew from Adam, and yet, he wanted to do all those things. Instead, he was shocked when Mabel pulled a chair right beside his bed, took his left hand, and spoke in a calm, loving voice.

"Hi, Daddy…don't worry, everything is going to be alright now. I'm right here…and Dipper will be here soon. I'm going to take good care of you from now on, just like you always took care of me and Dipper. I'll make you lots of Mabel juice and soup, and you'll feel better in no time. I'll read you comics in those silly voices just like you used to. And most importantly, I'll always love you," she assured as she kissed his bloody forehead tenderly.

Ford was amazed at both her heart and strength.

At that moment Dipper and Stan entered the room.

"Oh my God…" was the only thing Stan could whisper as he looked at his nephew…his family.

"Dad..." Dipper whimpered as his shaking legs managed to make it to his sister's side. He put his arm around Mabel — both to soothe her and to keep himself from toppling over.

"Dipper's here now, Daddy," Mabel assured her father.

"Yeah, Dad, I'm right here. I'm not going anywhere," Dipper promised. He knew it was logically futile, but somewhere deep inside, he thought that if he told his dad he wasn't going anywhere, his dad wouldn't go anywhere either.

Stan and Ford looked at each other trying to figure out what on earth to do, but neither coming up with a halfway-decent answer.

Suddenly the doctor appeared looking shell-shocked. Stan and Ford could see tears in his eyes and knew that whatever this was, it wasn't good news.

Mabel and Dipper were too distracted by their father to even notice the doctor enter. The doctor wanted to take advantage of this and pulled the adults in close so the children wouldn't have to hear this from him.

"He's braindead," the doctor explained.

He showed x-rays and charts that displayed Ford's worst fears: there was no activity in the brain. The nephew he had never met was dead, and Dipper and Mabel were essentially orphans

Poor Stan didn't fully understand the true finality of what it was he was seeing. "So, there's some drug you can give him to bring some activity back, right?"

The doctor looked prepared to explain things, but Ford spoke first. Stan deserved to hear this from his brother. "Stanley…he's essentially dead. There's nothing more medical science can do for him. I'm so sorry, Stanley…so very sorry."

Stan had a million questions, but right now only one mattered. "How on Earth do we tell them?"

The doctor sighed sadly at the sweet children speaking to their father, none the wiser to the fact that he couldn't even hear them.

"Be honest with them. Be there for them," the doctor whispered as he left to give the family some privacy.

Stan and Ford each took a deep breath and gave each other a nervous glance before they slowly walked over to their dear niece and nephew.

Ford put his six-fingered hands on Dipper while Stan knelt down and rubbed Mabel's back.

Mabel gave him a sad smile. "I know he's really sick, but I'm going to make him better! You'll see!" she said, giving that same determined look that she had given when she had revived his memory just a week ago.

Stan bit his lip, unable to tell his niece that any efforts to help her father were futile. Ford decided that he needed to be the one to explain things to both children. Keeping one hand on Dipper's shoulder, he used his other arm to pull the girl onto his lap, causing her to give a shocked gasp at his affection. It made Ford wince to realize how cold he had been to her.

"Do you guys know what it means to be braindead?" Ford asked as tears filled his eyes.

Dipper instantly sobbed. Stan tried pulling him into a hug, but Dipper pushed away as he laid over his dad's body.

"No, he can't be! I can't be too late!" Dipper screamed with a horror that Mabel had never heard from him. Seeing her brother like this was more terrifying than anything Stan or Ford could tell her.

"Is…Is that like what I feel when I'm in math class?" Mabel knew it wasn't, but she hoped making a joke would make the reality less horrifying.

Ford shook his head sadly as he cupped her face. "It means there's no activity in the brain. For all intents and purposes, it means he's dead, honey."

"No!" Mabel pushed herself off his lap. "No, it doesn't, Grunkle Ford! His heart monitor is still going! His heart is still beating! He's alive!"

Ford sighed sadly as he pointed to the machine. "Mabel, the only thing making his heart beat is that machine. When that's unplugged, his heart will stop. And he'll be…he'll be with your mom again," Ford said, trying to soften the blow.

"No! We just keep the machine on until he gets better! I'll take good care of him!"

"Mabel…his brain is dead…it can't get better."

"I made Grunkle Stan's brain better!"

Stan bowed his head, unable to look at his niece…his hero.

"Sweetheart, Stan was still alive, but your dad is dead. I'm sorry, honey."

"No, he's not! You're wrong!"

"Mabel, honey, you don't understand…"

Ford couldn't have picked a worse way to word things.

"I DO UNDERSTAND! I MAY NOT BE AS SMART AS YOU, BUT I'M NOT AS STUPID AS YOU THINK I AM!"

Ford was startled. What on earth gave her the idea he thought she was stupid? "Mabel…"

"HIS HEART IS STILL BEATING! YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT, BECAUSE…BECAUSE…YOU DON'T EVEN HAVE A HEART!"

Ford gasped in shock, her words stinging so badly. Mabel turned her back on Ford to give all her attention back to her father.

Ford gave her a broken-hearted look before leaving out the door.