Stanford unpacked his bag and pockets, putting stuff away on the shelves as he waited for Dipper to come back from visiting Mabel. He was actually glad of the brief interlude for the mission, wanting to calm his nerves and let it settle into his brain that he almost DIED, had Dipper not saved him.

His great-nephew was certainly something else. Not only bright and inquisitive, the boy was also brave and resourceful, a perfect apprentice to his knowledge. He was so lucky, blessed, even.

Ford climbed a ladder to put a sample of alien craft residue in a jar on a shelf, hearing the door slide open to his right and someone quietly walk in. "Let me guess," he said, having a feeling that Dipper breaking the news to his sister wouldn't exactly be smooth sailing, "Mabel didn't take it well?"

"…Mabel took it well enough."

He almost fell off the ladder with a jolt when instead of Dipper, it was MABEL he'd heard. He managed to regain his balance and climbed down the ladder, feeling a heat in his face. This just became awkward quickly. He cleared his throat, turning to face Mabel.

One of the first things he noticed was that she was sans a sweater. He'd learned by now that she was almost ALWAYS wearing one of her personalized sweaters for some reason or the other. He supposed it was somewhat like how Dipper was with his hat. She was instead wearing a yellow skirt and a purple t-shirt, giving her a slightly more mature appearance.

She was giving him an oddly blank, critical look that eerily reminded him of his father when he had something to say, and he felt the ingrained urge to straighten his back and wring his hands. He cleared his throat again, the silence going from awkward to just creepy. "Can I..help you with something?"

Mabel's critical look hardened slightly. "Yes, you can," she said, crossing her arms over her chest. "I heard you want Dipper to stay here as your apprentice, is that right?"

Ford let out a soft sigh, scratching the back of his head. "…That would be correct," he responded. "Dipper spoke to you?"

"No," Mabel answered. "The walkie-talkies decided to kick on."

Ford quickly searched his memory of when the walkie-talkies would have picked something up, and realized with a start that Dipper was holding it right after the confrontation with the alien craft, during his proposition. He swallowed, his jaw twitching. "…I see," he said quietly. "…But…yes. I…do want Dipper to stay as my apprentice. He's very well-suited to the task, and I believe him to be a valuable asset to my research."

Mabel nodded minutely, her lips pursed slightly like she WANTED to say something, but was trying to keep it civil. "…I see," she replied in kind. "We've never been apart before. Not once." Ford opened his mouth to respond, but she beat him to it. "So you'd better take good care of him."

Ford's open mouth stayed open, staring at the child in front of him, his brain supplying nothing to say. "…I…uh…what?" he finally managed, sounding less intelligent than he'd ever felt in his life.

Mabel's stance shifted slightly, one hand on her hip and the other pointing at him. "You'd better take care of him!" she said again, louder this time. "He's never been apart from me, and he's gonna get lonely! He's gonna want to talk to someone about his feelings sometimes, so you CANT just be busy with work all the time! He's going through an awkward, sweaty, gross time, and he NEEDS someone to be there for him, NOT as a teacher, but as a GRUNKLE! You'd better be his family before being his teacher, and NEVER forget that!"

She swallowed hard, forcing herself to stay brave for this. "Be good to him," she said, her voice softer this time. "Be what I cant be when I'm not here, okay? Be his friend, someone he can trust with his life! And DON'T make him regret it." She took a deep breath and let it out, the need for tears being locked away behind her conviction. "Be good to him," she repeated before turning and walking out the door, passing Dipper en route.

"Mabel, THERE you are!" he said, sounding relieved before realizing she was down HERE with Ford. "…Hey, are you alright?"

Mabel nodded, pausing before giving him a quick hug. "…I'm happy for you," she managed to say before hurrying to the elevator and pressing the button to go up. Dipper stared at the elevator doors for a moment before slipping inside with Ford.

"…Did you tell her?" he asked. Ford didn't answer, standing there looking like his entire world shifted around him while he was blindfolded. "…Great-Uncle Ford?"

Ford shook his head slightly, looking down at Dipper. "…No," he finally said. "I didn't. But she…knew." He swallowed hard, reaching into his jacket and taking out the adhesive container. "Let's finish this, okay?"

Dipper chewed his lip, looking between Ford and the elevator for a moment before taking his backpack off his shoulder. "…Alright," he said. "Let's do it quick, I promised Mabel I'd help with our birthday planning when I got back."

Ford felt a slight lump in his throat as he opened the container and fetched an application brush. "…You go ahead," he said quietly. "This part is very delicate, and I've pretty much taken up your entire day."

"Okay!" Dipper said, beaming, then sobered slightly. "I mean, if you're sure you don't need my help…"

Ford nodded. "…I'm sure," he replied. "Run along now, you deserve the evening off." His composure almost cracked at how BADLY Dipper was containing an excited, grateful look, it suddenly hitting him like left hook to the gut that Dipper was as excited by birthday planning and spending time with his sister as he was about finding out aliens were real. That wasn't suffocation at all, not in the least.

Dipper ran for the elevator, then turned back and ran up to Ford, giving his great-uncle a quick hug around the middle before running off again. Ford stood there frozen for a few long moments before turning back to the rift and adhesive, swallowing down a thousand emotional responses as he got to work.

"—and I thought I was going to have a HEART ATTACK, Mabel!" Dipper exclaimed, flailing dramatically as he recounted his day with Ford. "Seriously, I swear my heart flat-lined when that thing's huge gun came out!" He flopped back on his bed, staring at the ceiling. "…Holy crap, it just hit me that I almost got vaporized."

Mabel hugged her knees, her own heart feeling like it almost flat-lined several times as he told his story. She wanted to badly to cling to him like a limpet and never let him go again, but she swallowed down her clingy feelings and gave him a smile. "Sounds like you had your work cut out for you," she said. "Must've been exciting."

Dipper let out a rush of air. "Mabel, I've never been so scared in my life, and that includes the time we fell off the floating cliffs and getting my body taken over by Bill," he replied, rubbing his face. "And that was the PROBLEM, see? If I WASN'T so scared, that whole kidnapping thing with Great-Uncle Ford would never have happened!" He turned his head, glancing over at her. "…You wanna know something?"

"What's that?" Mabel asked. Dipper chewed his lip a little, looking almost shy.

"…I think you would've done a TON better than me with this."

Mabel blinked. "…What do you mean?" she asked. Dipper raised his hands, ticking off points on his fingers.

"Well, for ONE, you would've used your grappling hook to get down inside that ship, no problem," he said. "You would've found that adhesive no problem. And you wouldn't have set off that alien thing."

"Dipper…"

"I'm serious." Dipper sat up, looking at her. "You know how to hold back your fear when you have to." His hands clenched tightly. "I couldn't do it until I was about to actually lose Ford…if it were you there, it would never have come to that." He smiled a little. "You're like, literally, the bravest person I know…and I've seen Grunkle Stan punch a pterodactyl in the face!"

Mabel gave him a smile back, feeling her eyes water. "…Hey, you're brave too," she said. "Remember saving me from the gnomes? And from Gideon? Even when you thought Grunkle Stan was up to no good, you tried to fight him." She sighed. "…Dipper…you shouldn't let something you're afraid of keep you from moving forward. You have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity here. And now that you know how to turn on the brave, you can do it anytime. I KNOW you can."

Dipper kicked his legs, looking contemplative. "Yeah," he said slowly. "But even I have to admit…even after the whole summer, this mission with Great-Uncle Ford was a gigantic leap for me…and…" He trailed off, mirroring Mabel's position in hugging his knees.

"…Dipper, what is it?" she asked, frowning.

"…I think…Great-Uncle Ford expects me to know more than I actually DO," Dipper confessed. "And…I don't wanna let him down or anything, but—"

"Dipper." Mabel got up and walked over to him, sitting next to him. "A crotchety old man once told me that things don't go right if there's no communication about the prospect beforehand. If you don't think you're ready for something like that, TELL HIM. Build up to it, you know? I mean, we started out with gnomes and built up to dice-rolling Math Wizards. Baby steps, y'know?"

Dipper let out a soft bark of laughter, smiling. "…You think he'd understand?" he asked. "For real?"

Mabel smiled back. "Hey, if he doesn't, then it's his loss for missing out on the best darn paranormal nerd apprentice in the world!" she said, giving him a noogie. Dipper yelped, batting at her.

"Aw, come on, cut it out!"

"Nope! FEAR THE NOOGIES!" She tackled him back to the bed, mussing up his hair until it stood on end, him doing the same to her until they were both howling with laughter.

After settling down and catching their breath, Dipper sat up, flattening down his hair as best he could. "So, that was my day," he said. "How was yours?" Mabel stayed flopped back, shrugging a little.

"…It wasn't that good," she admitted. "We'll have to do some major renovations to the party plan…but I think it'll still be okay. We've got the Grunkles, Soos, and Wendy coming for SURE." She smiled a little. "Like Soos said…birthdays are best spent with people you love, and you know what? I wouldn't care if it was just me and you spending it with two gross old men who kept arguing over the cake flavor and whether or not substituting bottle rockets for candles was ethical. They love us, and we love them."

Dipper bent down and picked up a copy of Mabel's birthday flyer, looking it over quietly. "You're right," he said. "But let's face it, Soos and Wendy would totally spruce up the party."

"The gnomes too."

"Not the gnomes, Mabel."

"Gremloblin?"

"No."

"You're no fun."