Though they had managed to stop the bleeding, Wendy's face was quickly becoming a sea of blacks and blues. Dipper silently told himself that was the reason he now struggled to meet her eye. The teen seemed to pick up on his discomfort. Perhaps because she felt it herself.

She placed a hand on his shoulder as they reached the ground floor. "Dip."

"Yeah?" He looked everywhere but her face.

"Are you okay?"

"Of course. Why wouldn't I be? I've dealt with Bill before." His words were confident, but his tone less so.

"I get that. But he told me something before…he wasn't just going for the journal. He wanted to hurt you. Emotionally." He blushed. "And me." Finally, he looked her in the eye. "Bill knew—I don't know how—he knew how you felt about me. And how I feel about you. He…he did all that because he wanted to mess us up. Hurt us. Permanently. I just…I just want to be sure you're not…don't let him win. Don't let this get between us."

The boy smiled. "I won't."

"So…we good?" She raised her fist and he bumped it with his own. "Sorry about your…you know," she continued.

"Oh," he said, looking down. "I think it's okay."

"Yeah, but…I have a feeling it'll be awkward the next time you—or well, I guess the first time you—this shouldn't count, obviously—with a woman…you might feel a little—it might be, y'know…"

"I don't—"

"It's just that that demon might've ruined your first experience, y'know? I'm just worried you might be mentally scarred from having your—ahem—almost bitten off. Next time, it might be hard to let a woman…yeah."

Once again, his face turned red. "Well, yeah. Maybe."

"There's a lot of Summer left. I could…" It was her turn to blush. "I could help. Y'know…get a little practice in? Maybe we can cover this memory up with a better one."

Dipper proceeded to choke on his own saliva, but Wendy recognized his approval by the huge grin that overtook his face. She matched it with one of her own, and they made their way to Stan's office.

Mabel's loud voice could be heard through the thick wooden door. They couldn't understand exactly what it was she was saying, but she was clearly itching to escape the room. Dipper knocked. Heavy footsteps approached.

"I said stay back," Stan barked at Mabel as he cracked the door. Upon seeing Dipper—and that he was fully dressed—the old man threw the door open and stepped out. He clapped his great nephew on the back, knocking him off balance. "Well, congratulations! That was a little fast, but I can't fault you." He laughed.

Dipper offered a nervous chuckle in return. "Um…Grunkle Stan, Wendy needs a ride to the hospital."

Stan looked past him towards the teen and cringed at what had become of her face. "What the hell happened?" Dipper sucked in a deep breath, prepared to regal him with the unconvincing cover he was hurriedly piecing together on the spot. "You know what? Nevermind. I don't wanna know. C'mon. You too, Mabel."

He closed up the Shack for the night then ushered the three of them into the Stanmobile.