A/N:

Code Answer: Homeward bound or taking a detour?

Thanks for the reviews guys and gals, keep 'em coming, and I've loved reading your theories on Roxie, they're awesome. To quote a reviewer, they're 'epiclly awesome' hehe XD

Mabel awoke to the sound of snickering. That instantly put a smile on her face, always wanting to be in on a joke first thing in the morning. She rolled over and pushed away the sheets, remembering the events of the day before as she did so, morphing her smile into a grin. I hope Roxie slept alright in that crumby hat, she pondered. However, the question would have to wait as it was instantly replaced by another. Why was Dipper laughing at his own cap on the desk? Where it had been turned upside down for Roxie to sleep in, now it was right side up and, if Mabel wasn't mistaken, making little jittery movements.

"What's going on?"

Dipper snorted with laughter in answer. An irritable voice from under the hat called out, "I know you're there, Dippy! Let me out of here now!"

Mabel narrowed her eyes and got to her feet in accusation. Instantly Dipper tried to clear his name, "No-no-no! She tried to climb out on her own and it flipped over." He insisted, cheeks red with attempting not to laugh again.

Mabel had to admit that it was funny, but she gave a quick giggle to get it out of the way before giving her reluctant little friend a helping hand by skipping to the desk and lifting the cap gently. Now in the open, Roxie looked dishevelled and annoyed, glaring at Dipper who smiled sheepishly. She looked up at Mabel's hopeful expression and sighed in exasperation.

"I hate that hat…"

Now that she was free, Roxie had to give a light smirk in spite of herself; she guessed that it would look pretty funny from the outside. From the triangular window, the sun was once again shining, the remains of the storm had faded away into leftover puddles and pleasant warm air that took them back to the core of summer. To the twins, it meant another day in their summer lives. To Roxie, it meant she was going home.

"Can you try calling my parent's again?" she asked hopefully.

Dipper gave his sister an expectant look to which she beamed, "Okie-dokie karaoke! Hey, you wanna stay for breakfast first? Race you!"

Just like that, she was off in a fit of laughter. Roxie blinked in bemusement; not admitting that she was a little hungry; and glanced up at the remaining company, "She does know that she's already won, right?"

"Why'd you think she picked the challenge?" he shrugged, "We can call your folks after food if you're staying. Oh, and you won't have to worry about Grunkle Stan, he doesn't get up till gone noon on a weekday."

Kind of wanting to meet this Stan, and yet glad she hadn't, Roxie nodded in fake passiveness at the delay in getting home. "If you say so. Uh… you mind giving me a lift; unless you want a race too? In that case, you win."

"Oh, uh, sure…"

At first he reached a hand towards her, curving his digits as if ready to hold her gently in his fits. But then at the last minute changed course and moved in his fingers as if preparing to pinch the back of her shirt; however he changed his mind again by laying his palm flat for her to step on, only to take both hands away and rethink the process. All the while, Roxie just observed this with amusement, arms folded and eyebrow arched.

"I don't bite."

"But you do claw and pull hair." Dipper reminded her by replacing his cap.

She gave a wry smile but took pity on him, "Alright, Dippy, lay your hand flat, palm up,"

Sure he'd lifted her before, but that was only when necessary like when he caught her in mid-fall or when he had to act fast to hide her. But when it came to actually having her permission, he wasn't sure if there was a technique to it or if she was going to grumble again. Not that he wanted her approval, but frankly he didn't want to listen to her complaining about anything else either since the truce had been made. Feeling a mixture of irritation and embarrassment, he followed instructions.

With his left hand, he lay his palm upwards just behind her. She nodded and casually crouched down so that she was sitting upright snugly in his palm with her legs hanging over the edge. Taking her expectant look as a sign, he steadily raised his hand so that they were pretty much eyelevel. Dipper felt a glimmer of self-pride at his achievement; and done so with little mockery too. That is, until she ruined it with a patronising slow clap.

"Congratulations, this is probably the first and last time you'll ever pick up a girl."

He scowled, "Don't make me drop you."

Roxie titled her head challengingly, "I Dippy-dare you."

Instead he slumped his shoulders and rolled his eyes, "It's Dipper… And you seem very particular about how to be handled for a supposed human." He commented sceptically.

She kicked her legs casually and chose to ignore that one, "Mabel's waiting." For an added effect she made a whipping motion at him, "Mush! Mush!"

After digging into the colossal breakfast which ended up being less than a tenth of a pancake, Roxie had once again asked for the call to her parents to be made. In truth, she was slowly getting to like the twins; she didn't get much interaction with kids her own age very often. But no matter how much they were growing on her, they weren't home, and things were getting a little too close to the truth for her liking.

The problem was, was that Dipper knew that she was getting used to them and in theory meant that she was likely to open up soon. But, as much as it irritated him, and deflated Mabel's mood on the possibility of loosing a new friend, he made the call. Now that the storm had cleared, the dial-tone connected instantly. Covering a hand over his open ear to block out the sounds of his sister cackling and Roxie's contribution, he listened into the phone. He didn't know what he was expecting to hear on the other end, but he certainly didn't expect to hear this: "The Falling Star Hotel: Gravity Falls, how can I help you?"

"-and that's pretty much how my fake-lationship with Gideon ended." Mabel sighed as she finished her story, "So between him and Jeff, I can only improve!"

Roxie cringed, "From what you've said, they were real jerks. Possibly bigger than your brother on a bad day." She teased.

Mabel rolled her eyes, "Awe, Dipping-Sauce is pretty cool most of the time!"

"Sure." She shrugged in mild agreement, "But you know what they say: Stupid men are the only ones worth knowing after all."

"Who said that?"

"Me! Okay, Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice said it first but I'm respectfully quoting."

Mabel nodded in understanding, "What else does she say?"

"Hmm… One time she says: A lady's imagination is very rapid; it jumps from admiration to love, from love to matrimony, in a moment."

"For some girls, sure." Mabel scoffed before remembering where this conversation sprouted from, "But fear not! Who's gonna get her epic summer romance soon? This girl!" she giggled, moving her arms in a little jig.

Roxie admired her attitude, but she disagreed with the concept as well as taking in the irony of Mabel's reaction to the quote, "Well you might, it's possible I guess."

Suddenly getting a high on the girl-time she'd been deprived of since moving to the Shack, curiosity took over, "So who was your last boyfriend? Unless you already have one? Spill! Spill!"

Oh how to answer that one… "Actually I don't have one, and never have." She indicated down at herself perched on the edge of a plate, "I kind of gave up the idea of romance a long time ago."

"Pfft! Why do that? It's not like you were always that height; and some guys like shorter girls."

That earned a laugh, even a nervous one. "I'll keep that in mind. You know, my brother and sister wouldn't like you very much."

"Oh… why's that?"

Feeling bad for the sudden look of upset on the girls face, she quickly explained herself, "Mainly because you can have a laugh. There's not a lot of room for jokes in my family."

Finding the complement in there as always, Mabel resumed her brace-filled smile with a mocking glint, "Is that why you're such a sourpuss?"

"I'm not a sourpuss!" she scoffed, "I'm a middle-child, sarcasm tends to be a useful tool of survival for me."

"Then I'll be sure to prepare myself for it…" Dipper muttered, taking a seat and retuning to his breakfast, "You know the number you gave was for a hotel, right?"

"Right."

"But you said you were visiting family?" he challenged.

Roxie arched an eyebrow, "I never said we were close with the family…"

"We're going to a hotel?" Mabel asked excitably, "I've always wanted to try room-service; will they let us do that if we don't have a room?"

"They're not picking me up?"

"Yes we're going to a hotel; No they're not picking you up because they're not there at the moment;" Dipper answered, firstly looking at his sister and then turning to Roxie and then back to Mabel, "And we can ask about the room-service later."

"What if one of you can take me to the hotel, I can go from there?" Roxie urged, not wanting the inevitable meeting to take place. It would just lead to questions and then things would backfire horribly. Mainly on her.

"Oh no, we're going with you all the way." Dipper pointed a finger smugly, "Unless of course, there's something you're hiding about your family which may just prove me right much to your distaste."

"Fine, come along." Roxie snarked, but seemed dejected. She wanted to go, but she wasn't comfortable with them taking her, "So how're we getting there? And don't even think about putting me in that hat again."

"I've got that one covered." Mabel waved her had nonchalantly and pulled back her hair to reveal one earring on her left shaped like a little doll that just scraped her shoulder, but not one on her right.

Dipper gave a half smile of acknowledgment at the idea. If Roxie stood on Mabel's right shoulder, then who'd know the difference between her and an earring at a glance? And even if she was noticeable, Mabel's thick hair could form a curtain around her anyway. Roxie nodded in admiration, "That's actually pretty clever…"

Mabel shrugged, "It's a gift."

From her perch on Mabel's shoulder, Roxie could see everything, and what made it more thrilling was the fact that no one could see her. If only Mabel would stop skipping then this would be a pretty smooth ride. Not really much to do but hold on and try and think of a way out of this without having a certain someone on her case. Dipper on the other hand was trying to think of a way to get as much answers as possible. What he had said about the phone call was true. As far as the staff knew, her family wasn't currently at the hotel; however because he didn't know the family name, he was forced to go ahead and say that he was looking for a family with three kids, Roxie, Lara and Chris. Apparently they couldn't give much information away over the phone, but the only family with both a Lara and a Chris had gone out for the day, and the staff hadn't seen the family with a third child at all.

He wanted to ask Mabel if that seemed at all weird to her, but he hadn't had the chance without the risk of raising suspicion. He knew this girl was hiding something, why else would she be so vague about herself? And she hadn't mentioned much about her family; in fact she seemed overly eager to make sure that he and Mabel never see them. But that wasn't stopping him, heck no! If he saw the family, then it would really help. If they were small too, which kind of seemed unlikely since they were staying in a hotel in the middle of town, then there really was a supernatural quality to them. But if they freaked out over Roxie, then it leant more towards human. So why didn't she know what the crystals were? And he noted that apart from her snarky attitude which he guessed was just her, lucky him, she hadn't even bugged out about the size issue or even the gnomes. Granted she couldn't remember the gnomes much because she was unconscious, but surely it would spark some kind of reaction. Take him and Mabel, their reaction to the gnomes was flee in panic and then grab the nearest leaf-blower.

"Oh great…" Mabel groaned, coming to a stop and picking up a flyer that had been stuck to a nearby lamppost.

Roxie leaned out slightly to get a better look. The flyer was bright blue with sparking gold writing that was simply described as eye-catchingly tacky. New attractions are coming to the Tent of Telepathy just for y'all! But it's a secret that just lil' ol' me knows about! But I'll share! Come on down! There was a boy taking centre stage who looked a little younger than she and the twins with massive platinum blond hair and a smile that she assumed was meant to be cute, but just came across as creepy. But he looked harmless enough; and by the looks of his baby-blue suit he was a con-merchant.

"Tent of Telepathy? Is that a rip-off of your Mystery Shack?" she asked, kind of feeling that the situation was vise-versa but biting her tongue.

Mabel handed the flyer to her brother, "Gideon is one of my many admirers I told you about. Irresistibility and all that!" she explained, but her playful grin soon vanished, "But he's a total but-face who's totally insane!"

Whoa… Roxie thought, Where did that come from? Dipper seconded that opinion, "He's a phoney psychic who's been trying to get back at us for Mabel not wanting to date him. He's the one who used the gems on us before."

"Wait, you mean you were like me at one point?" Roxie asked, curiosity tweaking.

"Only for a few hours." Mabel shrugged, making Roxie sway.

"Like you?" Dipper asked craftily, "Care to elaborate?"

Wanting to get off topic, Roxie pointed at the writing, "So what's the new attraction?"

Dipper held his chin in thought, knowing that she was diverting him but not giving her the satisfaction of drawing attention to it; "Seems a bit coincidental doesn't it? The crystals go missing and now all of a sudden Gideon's got a new attraction?"

"But what could it mean?" Mabel pondered, receiving a sceptical look from her company, she giggled and rolled her eyes, "I'm kidding! So you think that Gideon has them? What does he need them for? People still eat up his garbage no matter what!"

"Why Mabel, you don't want to go hurting my lil' ol' feelings now, do you?"

Roxie shied away at the sickly sweet southern accent back into hiding. The twins span around and wore identical glares at the newcomer. It was as if the flyer had suddenly animated. The dapperly dressed kid stood before them, but the cutesy act deformed into a malicious smirk. Dipper felt the need to take a step forward in front of his sister out of protectiveness. He lifted the flyer.

"So what's the secret? Or are you going to give into false advertising and not share?"

"Always read the fine print, boy, I ain't sharing anything until opening night in two days time." He turned to Mabel and reached out to take her hand softly, "Why not come, Mabel? I'm sure you and your whole family will just love what a show I've got planned."

Roxie was almost slipping down the back of Mabel's shoulder as she became more desperate to stay hidden, thankfully Mabel snatched her hand away and backed up, "Yeah right! Like I'd fall for a trick like that!"

"Trick? Why, you insult me!"

"And you, oh I don't know, creep me out!"

"Even if I told you that there'd be a buffet table made up of only gummy-koalas and rainbow sherbet?"

"Hit the road, man, you're not fooling anyone." Dipper interjected, knowing his twins weakness to the sugar, "And don't count on catching us at your fraud fest either."

Gideon shrugged like the refusal meant nothing to him, which just made the twins more anxious, "Oh well what a shame! But never mind, boy; it's not like most of the town won't be there to take your place-ahem-I mean, to see the show." He gave another of his signature smiles that managed to merge the coy with the devilish as he carried on his way down the road, "And such charming earrings, Mabel; so lifelike, you're skills do amaze me. See y'all later…"

There was an uncomfortable chill in the air as the boy vanished around the corner. The twins glanced uneasily at one another. Mabel shivered, "He would have made a terrible little sister."

Roxie moved Mabel's hair out of the way and peeked out, "I didn't like that last comment…"

"Well I don't know about you guys but I didn't like anything he just said. We can't let him get away with this… whatever this is."

"But it's not for two days, and you told him we weren't going."

Dipper arched and eyebrow cunningly, "That's where you're wrong, sister, I told him he wouldn't catch us there. Oh we're going and putting a stop to it once and for all."

Roxie blinked and waved her hand at him to get attention, "Hey, hey, wait, what about getting me home? Don't get me wrong, I'm all for battling a nemesis but he's yours, not mine."

"But the curiousey feeling is starting!" Mabel moaned, "And if he's got the gems then you can -"

"I have never been near the things!" she insisted, "And I'm not stopping you from playing hero, just delaying it a little. Please, I just want to see my family." She looked pleadingly, "Put yourself in my position. You get where I'm coming from, right?"

Dipper sighed. Was this her getting back at him for supposed blackmail? So much for a truce. But… what she said kind of had a point. And it wasn't like they were running out of time with investigating Gideon, they had two days. But like Mabel said, he was getting more than a little curious. He looked at his twin and gave her an 'it's your call' look. Mabel looked between her brother and Roxie. If she was in Roxie's position, she'd definitely want to get home again. What would the mystery twins be separated? She gave a half smile and nodded. What can I say, Mabel thought, I'm a sucker for a happy ending.

"Who is it you were looking for?" the hotel receptionist asked, shadows under her eyes and monotone voice coated in fatigue.

"Mr and Mrs… uh…" Dipper blanched.

"Mavis." Roxie whispered into Mabel's ear, "Ian and Fran Mavis.

"Ian and Fran Mavis!" Mabel blurted.

The receptionist gave her an irritable look, to which Mabel returned with an innocent beam. They waited impatiently as the woman scanned through the book before her and finally sighed, "They checked out about three hours ago."

Roxie tensed, three hours? Was she serious? Dipper sensed the shock, "Do you know where they went?"

"Might have heard them talking about hitting the road," she shrugged, "I don't interview the guests, kid, I just book them in and out."

Mabel suddenly developed and urge to test out her detective skills and casually rested an elbow on the desk, arching an eyebrow knowingly, "I think you know exactly where they are."

"I really don't. Now if you don't mind, I've got work to do."

"Like covering up their tracks?" she urged.

"No."

"Uh, Mabel, this isn't -"

"I got this, brother." She nodded, "So you're telling me you do know where they went?"

"No."

"So you do know what road is being hit?"

"No. Now I'm really busy so if you don't leave I'll have you escorted out."

Dipper started to steer his twin away, "Hehe… No, no don't do that, we'll uh, be going now!"

"But-"

"Come on, Mabel." He muttered, the harsher tone making her give in and roll her eyes.

"Alright, I'm moving!" she turned her head warningly, "This isn't over!"

Roxie did nothing throughout this exchange but crouch on Mabel's shoulder and hold on. That, and feel the ever growing rejection and disbelief turn her insides to ice. The sun from the outdoors shone down, but she still found herself shivering. Her family weren't meant to leave for at least another week or so, why would they leave now? They knew she was missing; they should be extending their stay so they could find her. That's what families do, right? That's what they should be doing! Roxie was vaguely aware of Dipper peering at her and Mabel angling her head to look at her own shoulder.

"Uh, are you alright there? Maybe they're staying with the family your visiting." Dipper swallowed anxiously, wanting to kick himself for giving this offer again and at such a bad time as well when Gideon was planning something, but felt it needed to be given, "You're, you know, welcome to come back to ours?"

There wasn't much Roxie could say at this time. Mabel tried to lighten the mood, "I gots ice-cream in the freezer. So in your case it'll be like an unlimited supply!"

Roxie refused to cry in front of them, so instead she turned her head away from them, "Fine; where else have I got to go?"

DZIMRMT: R ORPV UOUUB XSZKGVIH

A/N:

I hate Gideon, but think his character is brilliant. He's the villain you love to hate which makes him a good character, lol XD I just had to include him. But what does he have planned? Well, the day after tomorrow (in the stories time-zone) will reveal a lot. Please review!