Ford gave Strange a side eye as they walked through the hall. "So how long have you known my brother?"
"Hmm." She tilted her head back in thought. "The first time was about 30 years ago back when the Shack was the Murder Hut and he had just started giving tours."
"Murder Hut?" Ford knew that his brother had a terrible naming sense, but that seemed particularly bad.
"Yeah, people called it that anyway, so I guess he just capitalized on that." She shrugged. "Anyway, he collapsed during a tour from a severe infection."
That gave Ford pause. Something prickled at the back of his mind, and he didn't like it. "An infection?" He hesitantly asked.
"Yes, he had this bad burn, a brand, on his right shoulder." She shuddered a bit. "Hate to know how exactly he got that. It looked like he had tried to treat it himself, but it wasn't really enough."
Ford knew exactly how Stan had gotten that burn. He tried to ignore the sick feeling in his stomach.
"Here we are. Like I said, he's asleep right now." Dr. Strange opened the door to the room, and both Soos and Ford followed her in.
Ford could only really stare at the sight before him. It wasn't like Stan looked on the verge of death, but…
Ford had never seen his brother so still. Stan had a larger than life personality, always had, and it filled up whatever space he was in. He always was on the move, even in his sleep. But right now, he just seemed…
Vulnerable.
Stan hadn't seemed like that since the night he was kicked out.
Ford really didn't like it.
"See? We'll find out the cause of the heart attack and he'll be right as rain." Dr. Strange reassured him.
Soos breathed a sigh of relief, but Ford wasn't as comforted.
Stan had commented on them getting old, but this was the first time it had really hit him that they weren't as young as they were. Plus, for some reason, Stan seemed to have aged a lot more than he had.
"I guess." Ford commented, the beeping of the heart monitor at least telling him that his brother was okay for now.
Wendy sighed and sat back. This whole situation was messed up; she couldn't believe that Stan had had a heart attack. For as long as she had known him, Stan had looked the way he did now, so he'd always been old.
But now she knew that while he was old, he was not as old as she had always thought he was. And given that he had always been there since she had first come to the Shack as a brat, seeing him down and out for the count like this was just bizarre.
It was scary.
It's not like this was the first time she'd been in this sort of situation with Stan, but that didn't make it any less scary.
She clamped down on those feelings though as she glanced over at Dipper and Mabel. They weren't handling things well. Mabel was clutching her brother's hand so tight that her knuckles were white and her other hand fiddled with the bottom of her sweater, which ironically had a giant heart in the center. Dipper, on the other hand, had pulled his knees up and was resting his head on them. His jaw was clenched though as he stared into the middle distance.
Even if she was only fifteen, she was the closest thing they had to an adult in the room, so it was up to her to turn this around.
Wendy tried to break the silence. "So – "
"Is it our fault?" Mabel interjected softly, looking down at her shoes.
"What?" Wendy jolted a bit, surprised, "No!" She was definitely sure of that.
"But he was saving us!" Dipper legs swung down as he swiveled to face her. "And on TV, half the time a person has a heart attack, it's because they've done a lot of hard exercise!"
"Dude, less than a week ago, Stan was climbing up scaffolding and punching eagles. I don't think running away from some monster while carrying you guys is any harder than that and he didn't have a heart attack then." Wendy tried to rationalize.
"But what if it was, like, the final straw or something?" Mabel looked back up. It was painful to see her like this as she was normally the most optimistic person Wendy knew.
"I don't think so." Wendy got up so she could put a reassuring hand on each of their shoulders. "I'll bet it'll turn out to just be some sort of freaky thing, not anyone's fault in particular. It'll be fine, guys."
"What if he dies?" Dipper asked, a stricken expression on his face. As the words left his mouth, Mabel's face mirrored his as if the possibility hadn't occurred to her before then.
Wendy's heartbeat sped up at the thought. Because heart attacks were serious and Stan…
No. She told herself, willing her heart to calm as she pulled the twins in close for a hug. "It'll be fine." Wendy reiterated, lining her voice with steel because it would be. "Stan's way too stubborn to die, just you see."
If not for himself, because she had never really seen much in terms of self-preservation outside of avoiding the law, he would not die just for these kids. These kids who had such an impact on him before he had gotten to really know them. A month before they came, when he realized what he had agreed to, he had freaked out saying he had no idea how to handle children and he should just let them stay with their parents.
She and Soos had exchanged an almost endearing look before reassuring him that things would be fine. After all, Stan had taken both of them under his wing when they were the twins' age. She remembered just being surprised because Stan never showed his worries like that.
Stan would die if that's what it took to protect these kids, Wendy knew. He'd also live if that's what it took to protect their innocence now. He would never take that away unless there was no other choice.
Wendy sighed and leaned a bit on their heads. In the meantime, she and Soos and the mysterious author Dr. Pines would look after the two. But if Wendy knew her boss, and she did despite the secrets he had kept, then it wouldn't be long before he was back on his feet and swinging, heart attack or not.
She looked up at the sound of footsteps. Soos smiled down at her and the twins, and Wendy felt reassured by how calm he was.
"You dudes want to come see him?" Soos thumbed behind him towards where Stan was.
Dipper and Mabel scrambled out of her arms and rushed out.
"He's still asleep though." Soos called after them, but let them run ahead towards where Ford could be seen outside of one of the rooms.
Wendy got up at a more sedate pace and came up alongside the handyman. "How bad is it?" She asked lowly, even though the twins were far enough ahead to not hear them.
Soos was quiet for a moment. "Probably as bad as that time a couple years ago." His mouth was turned down into a frown and Wendy could feel the mood going down with it.
"Dang." She said under her breath. She didn't want to remember hearing about what had happened that first winter after she had started working at the Shack.
Stan would get better though. It may seem bad now, but he would get better just like he had then.
He had to.
AN: Admittedly, we have not had a severe heart scare in my family. However, my mom did have cancer (twice, though the second time didn't end well) so I figured that the scared feelings of that time would be remarkably similar. Also, in my research on heart attacks, I found that teens tend to blame themselves when this sort of thing happens.
Plus, this is not the first serious health scare Stan's had, though none of the other Pines know it.
In other news, it's my first time writing Wendy's POV but I think it went well.