Dipper was feeling worried, to say the least. And so after taking a late-night bathroom break, he decided to take a quick detour to check up on his family's guest.

Despite the little fiasco with the police, it had actually managed to be a pretty good day overall. The twins had spent the afternoon showing Wendy around Main Street, where an over-excited Mabel had practically dragged the redhead from decorated shop window to decorated shop window at top speed. Dipper finally made them stop for cocoa at one of the local coffee shops, where they spent the rest of the day happily gabbing and joking about long after they had all emptied their cups.

They returned home in time to enjoy their father's famous homemade mac and cheese. Wendy downed three heaping bowls and remarked how it definitely beat the roasted ground squirrel she'd probably be eating if she was still spending the holiday back in Gravity Falls. This remark made Mr. Pines laugh up a storm, and he jokingly declared that it was best compliment that his cooking had ever gotten (Mrs. Pines however abruptly decided she was feeling quite full, and excused herself early from the table). After a few more Christmas movies followed by an introduction to the epic world of toothbrush races, Wendy seemed happy enough when they all retired for the night.

Despite the day ending on a good note, all definitely wasn't well. The tension that had sparked between Wendy and his mom at the get-go was only getting worse. Sure, his parent had been acting polite enough, at least for the most part. But her tone and body language towards their guest every single time she had the redhead came into contact with one another were still far from welcoming. And of course that little "misunderstanding" with the cops hadn't helped things very much. Dipper swore that he even spotted his mom passing the teen a couple suspicious looks when she thought she wasn't looking during dinner. It was pretty clear; so far she wasn't a fan of having the lumberjill teen in her house.

Wendy seemed to be handling it well enough. But few people knew better than Dipper that everyone's beloved bag of ice could camouflage a lot more than just a survival shelter. So he figured he might as well see how she was really holding up.

As crept towards the half-open door to the guest room, Dipper mentally told himself over and over that this was okay. He was only checking on a friend. Yup, just a friend that he may or may not still have teensy bit of a lingering crush on. He was just being concerned, and there was definitely nothing weird going on here. Nope, not at all.

This suddenly became the least of his worries when he found an empty bed and no Wendy. He thought for a moment, dashed to his room to throw on pants, shoes, jacket, and trapper hat and then he rushed to the backyard.

"Wendy?" He called out as he peeked into the survival shelter. Unfortunately she wasn't there either.

Well, this definitely didn't look good. The boy hastily launched into an emergency search. After three fruitless loops around the house, he started hunting around the neighborhood. It was eerily quiet as he wandered about, his path lit by a few street lights and his own flashlight. His stomach knotted tighter and tighter the further he went down the block with nothing to show for his efforts. Soon he wound up near the playground in the small park the end of the street. Like everywhere else he had checked so far, there wasn't a single soul in sight. All he could find was a lone seagull pecking around an overturned garbage can.

He was about to turn around and head to the other end of the road when there was a sudden clang. Something had fired out of the dark and bounced off the trashcan mere inches from the hungry gull. It squawked before hurriedly taking off into the night. Dipper was so spooked that he would have done the exact same if he had wings and feathers. But instead he just stumbled back a few paces and tripped over his own feet.

"Dipper?" He got major deja-vu when he heard leafy rustling followed by his friend's voice.

"W-Wendy?" He breathlessly called back.

After a short silence, she dropped down from a nearby tree. Wendy was decked out with a flannel headband, fingerless gloves, camouflage jacket and a few twigs and leaves strategically threaded through her hair. The spectacle was topped off with a burning red blush that set her freckled face afire. Obviously she hadn't planned on anyone catching her like this.

"Uh….hey."

"You okay?" He rushed to her side.

"Yeah, yeah. Don't worry, I'm okay. I'm….um….." She scratched her neck, looked him in the eye, and after what felt like an uncomfortable eternity for her, she finally erupted with embarrassed laughter. The situation was so absurd that Dipper cracked up too. When the awkward mirth subsided, she asked him half-seriously. "Soooo tell me….what's it feel like to be friends with a crazy person?"

"No, no! You're just….you're just…..uhhhhh…." He wasn't exactly sure how to finish that sentence. "Wait, so are you….like, actually hunting right now?"

She noticed the way his eyes wandered inquisitively to her bow, and she held it out for him to look at. It was a simple handmade affair constructed from some line and a springy piece of wood.

"Kind of. It's more like….working some stuff out of my system." Wendy took a seat on a nearby bench.

"What do you mean?" Dipper sat down beside her.

"It all started out with me not being able to sleep at all tonight. Like, not at all. We're talking wide awake, like I chugged a couple cups of coffee."

"Why?"

" I think….it's like my body knows that right now I should either be curled up in a hole somewhere or looking for something to eat out in the middle of the woods. And because I'm spending the holiday with an actual bed and roof and regular food instead, my whole system is having insane trouble handling the change." She theorized.

"So you had to leave the house?"

"Oooh, big time. You should have seen it. I had all kinds of crazy pent up energy going on." She shook her wiry arms for effect. "I couldn't even lie still for a minute. It almost felt like I was going to pop. I couldn't stand it and so….yeah, I just had to go out and do some of my normal holiday routine."

"Whoa. I didn't know it was that hardwired into your system." Dipper exclaimed with surprise.

"Honestly? Me neither." The equally incredulous girl looked around at her quiet suburban surroundings, glanced at herself and grimaced at the ridiculous contrast. She then looked up to the night sky and scoffed. "Thanks a lot, Dad."

"It's okay." Her friend immediately tried to reassure her. "You're-"

"Dude, just look at me. I had to go out and answer the freaking call of the wild tonight." She grumbled and shook her head. "No wonder I'm driving your mom psycho."

Dipper winced. So she knew. Then again, it wasn't exactly a well-kept secret. "It's fine. She just-"

"She's why you guys had trouble getting the OK for me to come down here, isn't she?" Wendy decided to finally drop the question that had been stewing on her mind the past few days. The boy froze, but while he tried to think up a gentle answer his silence ended up speaking volumes more than he would have liked. The older teen sighed. "Figures. Not that I can blame her that much. I probably sounded like the Wild Woman of the North or something to her."

At this point she felt the need to remark, "Though honestly. It kinda feels like she'd still be wound pretty tight without having all my stuff to deal with. No offense or anything."

"None taken. Trust me, I know." Dipper confessed. "Okay, look. So maybe she got worried about having you spending some time down here with us….okay, not so much 'maybe'... but when Mabel and I talked about you, we never meant to freak her out or anything. All we wanted to do was show how….how…."

After a pause and some thought, he decided he wasn't going to sound cool no matter how he tried to phrase it. So he bit the bullet and put it honestly, "We wanted to let her know how amazing you are!"

"Serious?" She cocked her head.

"Yeah! I mean, everything about you is just….I mean, look at you right now. That bow and arrow set. You didn't bring that with you from home. You definitely made them all tonight. Right?"

"Well, yeah." She shrugged. "They're nothing much."

"Nothing much? That's incredible!" The boy gushed. "You made a functioning weapon! And then you took me completely by surprise just a few minutes ago! I had no idea you were nearby at all. Your stealth skills are so…..so….they're just so….I mean, I bet if you actually tried doing this during right in the middle of the day, I still wouldn't be able to spot you. Probably nobody would! Wendy, everything you do is amazing! And it's this kind of stuff that we told our parents all about. Not because we wanted to scare them, but because we wanted them to know how our friend was literally one of the coolest people we've met!"

It was at this point that Dipper felt like maybe he was going a tad overboard on all the praise. The boy clammed up with a nervous cough.

"Glad you don't mind me turning your holiday into a freakshow just yet." Wendy smiled. Her friend always knew how to give her spirits a boost whenever they flagged. Unfortunately her embarrassment continued to linger. She slumped her head on the back of the bench and sighed again as the grin faded from her face. "Wish I could say the same for some others, though."

Dipper fretfully kicked his legs back and forth as the two passed the next few seconds in silence. It looked like he was going to have to try a different route here. "Hey…..did I ever tell you about my thing with Santa when I was little?"

"Huh?" She raised her head.

"Santa. I had this whole thing with him."

"Wait, you talking about that time your Dad tried to take you to see him at the mall?" She let out a chuckle. "Yeah, you made yourself throw up just so you could go home, didn't you?"

He scratched the back of his neck and went a little red in the face. There wasn't too many secrets that they held from one another, and now there was about to be one less. "That was part of it."

"Part of it? Were you scared of all mall Santas?"

"Worse. Santa Claus in general." He confessed.

"Wait, really? I thought all kids were supposed to go totally crazy for him."

"Not me. It didn't start out that way though. I used to be totally fine with the whole Santa thing at first. But when I turned six I began asking myself some questions."

"What kind of questions?"

"I couldn't help but wonder about like...just what was this guy's deal? First of all, somehow he had a way to monitor everyone. I mean, how else is he going to know whether you've been good or bad? Then after watching you all year, he flies down from a secret hideout and finds a way to break into millions of homes in only one night. That more I thought about it, the creepier it all seemed. So after I scared myself, I told Mabel all about this and got her freaked too. And so that year we decided we were going to try and get some answers."

"Awwww. So this was your first widdle mystery?" She playfully cooed.

"Actually…." He thought about it. "Probably, yeah. We came up with this whole plan to catch him. After we were put to bed, we snuck back downstairs, set up a tripwire, hid under the couch, annnnd…..that became the Christmas that Dad broke his ankle."

"Wow." Wendy cocked an eyebrow. "Honestly, even for a six year old that's that's some serious paranoia you had going on."

"You can say that again." He drummed his hands on his thighs. "Sooooo…..tell me, what's it feel like to be friends with a crazy person?"

She snorted so loudly it was a miracle she didn't wake anyone in the neighborhood. Dipper joined right in as the two descended into uncontrollable laughter.

"Thanks dude." She fondly yanked down his hat. "Good to know I have someone I can be totally nuts with."

"Anytime." He grinned as he righted his headwear back into place. "So now maybe you can think about everything that's going on with Mom this way; if she's been able to deal with me for the past thirteen years, then she should be able to warm up to you."

"I'll try banking on that for now." Wendy chuckled. She took a good hearty stretch and then checked the time on her phone. "Alright, think us crazies should head back to the house?"

"Well...we don't have to." Even though it was late, Dipper didn't seem too keen on leaving yet. He cleared his throat. "I mean…look, if you feel like you need to stay out a little longer, it's okay. Honestly, I don't mind."

The corners of her lips curled into a knowing grin. She could read her friend like an open book. "You want me to give a little survival archery 101?"

"Could you?!" His excited cry echoed down the dimly lit suburban street, and he clamped his lips tight. Wendy stifled another snort.

"Okay, doofus. Class is officially in session."

"Yes! Wait, so are we...like, actually trying to take anything down?" He asked.

"Nah, nothing's getting hurt. This is all just target practice. Dad would make me do this a ton to work on my aim. The whole point of the exercise is to just get your arrow close to your target without actually hitting it.. He taught us only to shoot something if you plan on eating it later. Otherwise it's just a waste." She lead him back to her perch up in the tree. "Okay, so first thing you need to do is go stake out your spot."

The lanky teen nodded to the garbage can nearby. With all the half eaten food scraps in there, it was clearly the perfect attraction for scavengers. Dipper had been on more than enough monster hunts to guess what was going to come next, and Wendy had accompanied her friend on enough of those hunts to know he didn't need any reminders about what to do. It was now time to lie in wait.

It wasn't long until a raccoon trundled into sight and started sniffing around. Dipper watched silently as his friend nocked an arrow, drew back her arm, and sent it flying. It clanged a half foot away from the fat little thing and it quickly scampered off.

"Whoa." He murmured in awe.

"Okay, your turn." She pressed her bow into his hands. Dipper took a moment to examine it. After tugging the string a few times to test its strength, she passed him an arrow and he tried to copy her form.

"Yeah, that's it. Oooh, check it out!"

The same greedy raccoon waddled back out of the night under the glow of the nearby streetlight. It cautiously sniffed the air, looked around, and began nosing through a half-empty chip bag.

"Try and get it within a foot or two." Wendy whispered. Dipper took a deep breath, drew back, and watched the arrow fly right several yards high above the mark and into the night. Somewhere in the near distance a shrill cry rang out, and a panicked owl flapped overhead in a mad rush to safety.

"Ooohh, mid-air shot! Nice!" She gave him a congratulatory nudge. "Dude, you scared the crap out of it!"

Dipper grinned and whispered, "It'd be better if that's what I was aiming for."

"Here, let me help." Another whittled arrow was taken out and nocked onto the bowstring. Wendy shifted herself until she was right behind him She was barely able to put her arm over his and already she could feel his noodly limb shaking a little under the strain of the bow. "Man, no wonder that last one went crazy…."

"I know, I know." He groaned. They were so close that he could feel her shake under the force of her half-muffled snickering.

"Alright, let's make this one a team-effort." She guided the bow for the two of them. "We'll fire this one off a few feet behind him. Now take a deep breath, and-"

Someone's foot slipped from their awkward perch. Suddenly the both of them tumbled right off together while the arrow soared into the sky in a high arc. Almost as soon as they hit the ground, Dipper sat back up with a gasp.

"Where'd the-"

An overly-decorated home across the street suddenly found itself under attack. There was a flash of spark as a ho-ho-ho-ing electric Santa up on the roof took the crude arrow right to its bearded face. As its voice warped into electronic nightmare gibberish, it wobbled back and forth under the force of the missile. The teens could only watch and hold their breaths until it finally toppled over. As it slid down the roof it snagged several strands of blinking lights, all of which helped it drag down its fellow tacky decorations. An enormous tangle tumbled yard with a thunderous crash that could be heard throughout the entire neighborhood. Panicked and angry voices rang out from the house almost immediately after the holiday avalanche. The siren of a patrolling police car soon blared in the near-distance.

"Oh sh-" Wendy swore under her breath.

"Go, go, go!" Dipper grabbed her arm and yanked her back up onto her feet.

Their frantic retreat was nothing but a blur for the both of them. One moment they were sprinting from the scene of the crime, and before they knew it they were taking refuge in the little survival shelter in the Pines' backyard. They spent the next several minutes laying low in tense silence.

"Wow…..your cops are actually like…..good at their jobs." Wendy observed breathlessly, and a smile cracked fast across her face. Even as the adrenaline continue to pump through his veins, Dipper broke out into a grin. The two look to one another, then proceeded to explode with laughter like a pair of lunatics.

"So…this never happened, right?" He chuckled.

She zipped her lip shut, as did he. After they both tossed their imaginary zippers away, Wendy said innocently, "I have no clue what you're talking about. We've been doing nothing but hang out right here allllll night….."

The last thing Wendy could recall was aimlessly chatting about everything and nothing with her friend as they recovered from their epic retreat. Suddenly she found herself being woken by a deep voice.

"Mornin', Wendy!"

She met the gaze of a creature with big bouncing googly eyes, rosy cheeks and a bald chin-shaped head. The teen flailed her arms in surprise and accidentally whacked her sheltermate. Dipper got up with a startled grunt, took one look at their morning visitor, and rolled his eyes.

"Wendy, Mister Upsidedownington." He yawned as he introduced the two. "Mister Upsidedownington, Wendy."

"Who?" Wendy chortled as she saw who it was poking awkwardly into the shelter.

"Nope, not today! I'm Santa UpsideClausingdown!" Mabel pointed to the little red hat balanced on her chin. "And I'm here to warn you that people who forget to invite others to backyard campouts might end up on the naughty list!"

"Sorry Mabes." Wendy wriggled from her sleeping bag. "We were just hanging out last night and we dozed off. Hope's that's cool."

"Throw in a piggyback to the kitchen and you have yourself an apology accepted!" Mabel smiled as she turned her head right side up.

"You drive a hard bargain." Wendy crawled out and hefted the little brunette up onto her back with ease. When they arrived at the back door, Mr. Pines gave them all a fat welcoming grin as he bustled around the kitchen.

"Mornin'! You're just in time. First batch is almost ready." He nodded to the waffle iron.

In contrast, Mrs. Pines definitely wasn't looking too pleased that her son had spent another night sleeping out in the yard like an animal in a burrow. She frowned at the sticks and leaves tangled in both his and Wendy's hair.

"Did you sleep alright, Dipper?" She exclusively asked him.

"We slept fine, Mom." The boy replied before he gave Wendy a quick wordless nudge. She nodded thankfully for the reminder before taking care to remove her boots. The redhead then gave the matriarch of the family an awkwardly friendly wave before she sat down with the twins at the table. As they quickly filled the kitchen with their chatter and laughter, Mrs. Pines decided to keep a polite silence for now. She took a sip of her tea and switched her thoughts to her itinerary for the day.

Across the kitchen, her husband took a moment to turn the volume up on his tablet. As usual he was listening to a live-stream of the local public radio station, which had some rather unusual news to report on that morning's broadcast.

"...Local police say that there are currently no leads on the incident. Their only clue is a single crude arrow that was found at the scene…."