Ford walked out of the twins' room and closed the door with a deep sigh. If the kids said they're fine, then they're fine, he thought to himself. Mabel did look pretty upset, though. He wanted to ask once more if she was alright, but he didn't want to pry. She might not have told him, anyway. She seems to have an easier time opening up to Stan, Ford thought sadly. But he decided to let that go for the moment. "You coward," he scolded himself as he made his way back to his room. "You should've warned them!" Although he couldn't be sure that a certain triangular demon was responsible for waking up his niece and nephew, he still should've told them by now.
He thought about Dipper telling him to get some sleep. He shook his head. "No. I can't!" He let out another sigh. On the other hand, if Bill was in his dreams, then he couldn't torment Dipper and Mabel. He would do anything for those kids. Even if it meant enduring a night of his mind being tortured by Bill. He laid down in bed. "Alright, Cipher," He called into the empty room. "Do your worst!" Then for the first time in what felt like weeks, Ford willingly closed his eyes. He heard the all too familiar sound of twisted laughter as he started to drift to sleep, submitting himself to the monster waiting for him in his nightmares.
Ford awoke in the morning mentally exhausted from Bill's visit. Even physically. Somehow after every time he faced Bill in his dreams, he ended up awaking with sore muscles. It felt like he didn't sleep at all. But that didn't matter. He kept Bill away from the kids. He pushed himself out of bed, cleaned up, got dressed, then headed downstairs. His brother was already making breakfast. Ford grabbed a cup of coffee and sat down to read the newspaper.
"Sleepin' in, eh Poindexter?" Stan said by way of greeting.
A puzzled look painted Ford's face as he sipped his coffee. "It's not that late, is it, Stanley?" He inquired, glancing at his watch.
Stan continued flipping pancakes. "I'm just sayin, you're usually up and about long before I am." Suddenly Ford realized. The only reason Stan finds Ford awake so early is because he keeps himself awake all night. But Stan didn't know that. And that wasn't the only thing Stan didn't know. Ford felt a pang of guilt for keeping secrets from his family.
Nevertheless, he played along. "Of course. Your right, I did sleep in more than usual."
Just then, Mabel walked into the kitchen. "Mornin', Pumpkin." Greeted Stan fondly. "Hungry for some pancakes?"
Mabel simply said, "mhmm." And sat at the table across from Ford. Ford glanced up from his paper and shared a concerned look with Stan. She was lacking her usual spirit that normally brought so much energy to the home. She rested her cheek on one hand and with the other, spun her fork around on the table.
Ford set his newspaper down. "Mabel, are you alright?" He asked.
She looked up and met his gaze. She gave him a halfhearted smile as she responded, "I'm fine, Grunkle Ford. I just didn't sleep very well." He could've sworn he recognized the very same look He often saw in the mirror after one of his sleepless nights. There must be more that the kids aren't telling him.
Dipper's POV:
Dipper must've dosed off at some point during the night. He awoke to find his sister's bed empty. She undoubtedly got no sleep. He felt terrible for scaring her. I should've stayed up with her. He thought. Luckily, after he fell back asleep, he didn't get another visit from Bill. Which he found slightly odd, but he wasn't complaining. He got up and went downstairs.
His family was already eating breakfast. He sat down and put a few pancakes on his plate and began eating. Dipper noticed that Stan spent all of breakfast telling his worst, cheesiest jokes. The kind that Mabel likes. She must've still been upset when she came down. Stan's terrible jokes seemed to be working though, because Mabel was laughing. She seemingly forgot all that was troubling her before. It made Dipper not want to bring up the topic of worry. But he had to. He had to be honest with Ford. Stan got up to take the dishes to the sink and lovingly ruffled Mabel's hair as he walked by.
When Stan was busy at the sink, Dipper turned to Ford. "Grunkle Ford, I wasn't completely honest with you last night." Ford's brow furrowed with confusion at first, but Dipper continued, "It wasn't just some stupid dream that woke me up." He paused and glanced at his sister before he finished. "It was Bill."
Stan almost dropped the plate he was washing, "Bill?" He questioned furiously. Then he turned his angry gaze on Ford. "You got something you wanna tell me, Stanford?" He demanded, walking towards his twin.
Ford's eyes widened at his brother's temper. He stood and held his hands up defensively. "Now calm down Stanley. I can explain." Stan stopped and folded his arms. There was a look of barely contained outrage in his eyes, but he waited for Ford to explain.
"Now I haven't exactly been honest with all of you either. And I'm sorry." He looked at each of his family members apologetically. "Last summer when we defeated Bill and banished him from our dimension, he somehow found a way to uh, put his foot in the door, so to speak." Stan stood motionless. The same furry on his face as before, patiently waiting for Ford to finish. "You see, after Weirdmageddon was over, I went down to my lab to run some tests to make sure we were in the clear. That's when I discovered a tiny fracture between our dimension and Bill's."
Mabel gasped. "Wha-" Dipper started.
Ford held up a hand to silence both of them. "Now, it's not big enough for Bill to enter our reality again. And I don't think it ever will be, but-"
"You don't 'think' it will?!" Stan cut him off. "It's gonna take a lot more than 'think', Stanford!"
"I know Stanley. Please! Just let me finish." Ford said, the slightest bit of irritation in his voice. He took a deep breath before continuing, "I know that's a chance we can't take, Stanley. That's why I've been spending all year trying to close it. The fact is, if Bill can still enter our dreams, he's still a threat."
Dipper opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out. This was all too much. Bill was still a threat?
"Kids, go upstairs. Ford and I need to talk." Stan said quietly, not taking his eyes off of Ford. "But, Grunkle Stan!" Dipper protested. He needed to talk too. Stan finally turned to the kids. "Upstairs!" He demanded. Dipper was angry, but he knew better than to argue with Stan. "Come on, Mabel. Let's go." He took his sister and went upstairs.
A/N: Thanks for reading! I hope you're enjoying my story! I'll post more as soon as I have more! ~Amanda