For a minute or two, the twins sat in silence, McGucket standing where he was. Finally he turned to them.
"Well, kids—we'd better get you home," he focused on Dipper—"—and you to a hospital. "He looked down at his arm, still in the makeshift sling. "Guess that's where I should be headed, too."
Dipper shook his head and was about to protest, when a sharp pain tore through his head. "Ow—okay, I guess you're right. "
Mabel helped Dipper get up, and held his arm as the three headed out of the forest.
"So, what was that you were saying about not having as exciting a summer this time?" Mabel asked.
Dipper chuckled. "Okay, but this was just one time. "
"Well, that was enough excitement for me, I'll tell ya. " Dr. McGucket said. Maybe we'll do something like that again next—"
"Wait, guys, did you hear that? "Mabel interrupted.
"Well, hon, I still need to invest in a hearing aid, so probably not." McGucket told her.
Dipper stopped and listened. Then he heard the voices.
"Dipper! Mabel! Dudes, where are you?"
"Dad!"
Dipper and Mabel looked at each other, and then in unison called, "Soos !"
McGucket looked to see Soos and Tate entering the forest. "Son! We're over here!"
Tate McGucket looked in their direction, and started running. Soos followed, but had to stop and catch his breath a couple of times.
"Dad!"
The twins watched as Tate threw his arms around his father and lifted him up off the ground. They smiled at each other, thinking what a wonderful change it was from the summer before. Back then, Tate had complained about his father "scaring off his customers" and sprayed him with a water bottle like he was a misbehaving pet.
Soos finally caught up. "Dudes!" He stopped to catch his breath, putting his hands on his knees while he did so. After several seconds, he stood. "Where have you been? We've been looking all over for you since yesterday!"
Dipper and Mabel looked at each other. Yesterday?
"We'll tell you all about it on the way to the hospital." Dipper said, wincing.
"Dude, you don't look so good." Soos said.
He came over and picked Dipper up.
Tate put his father down. "Dad, your arm! What happened?"
"Well, son, it got broke." McGucket said with a chuckle. "Like th' kid's said, we'll tell you all about it on the way."
On the way back to the Shack, Dipper, Mabel, and Dr. McGucket tried to explain to Soos and Tate what had happened to them over the last twenty-four hours.
"Whoa, dude—you met aliens?" Soos exclaimed.
"Well, they weren't all aliens." Mabel said. "The leader of the group was this really good looking—"
"—human." Dipper finished, before Mabel got too much into her explanation. After that he shut his eyes tight and groaned.
"Okay, dude, in you go." Soos said as they got to his truck. The twenty-three year old put Dipper in the front seat and buckled him in. Mabel climbed in beside her brother.
"We'll meet you at the hospital!" Tate called from the door of his own truck. Dr. McGucket was already in the passenger's seat.
Soos nodded to him, got in his own truck and headed down the road.
Once at the hospital, Dipper and Mabel told the attendants that they and Dr. McGucket had been in a "ship" that crashed. They were rather shocked when the woman checking them in said,
"Oh, you don't mean that spaceship that crashed in the lake? "
Mabel's eyes went wide. "You know about that?"
"Oh, of course, dear. Ever since that weird apocalypse thing last summer, nothing surprises people in Gravity Falls. People have been talking about the crash all morning!"
Dipper and Mabel looked at each other. They shouldn't have been surprised—and now the Society of the Blind Eye had been disbanded…
"Hm. Guess now that that little group I started ain't together no more, folks remember the stuff they see." McGucket said in a low tone, glancing at Dipper. Dipper grinned back.
Minutes later, nurses had whisked Dipper and McGucket off to different areas of the hospital to take care of their different needs. About forty-five minutes after that, Soos and Mabel were shown to the room where Dipper was.
Mabel looked up at the doctor when she saw her brother in bed. "He has to stay here? "
The woman smiled down at her. "Just overnight, honey. Your friend has a concussion, and we just want to keep him for observation."
Mabel grinned. "He is my friend—but he's my twin brother. "
Dipper blushed.
The doctor looked from Dipper to Mabel. "I should have guessed. Well, I am needing to check on other patients –"
"So can I stay with my brother? "
"I don't think that will be allowed. "
Mabel looked downcast.
"No worries, Mabel." Soos said. "You'll be with me and Melody – and we'll get you here first thing in the morning. "
Just then out in the hall they heard—
"Sir—sir, I'm going to have to ask you to wait until that dries—"
"Oh, pshaw, it's dryin' out already. I'm goin' t' see how my friend is, Miss."
Dipper and Mabel grinned at each other, and looked up to see Dr. McGucket in the doorway.