Near the end of the month of March, another school day just ended. But Mabel's torment with Alan keeps growing. He still treats her as nothing but a slave for his school work, and always manages to get away with it thanks to his manipulations. It's not like any of her attempts went anywhere, and Dipper didn't manage to make a change either.

Because of that, she gradually grows a lot more frustrated when she's in class. And that day specifically, she walked towards home without even saying anything to her brother and friend, who follow around a little worried.

She grumbles a lot to herself in her frustration on the way there while the boys are talking.

Dipper exclaims, seeing his friend's concerns. "She usually cheers up once she blows some steam off. Then she goes back to her usual self quickly enough. That doesn't mean I'd want her to keep feeling angry from the situation, but..."

Samuel feels a little guilty. "I wish I could do something..."

Dipper gets serious. "I know you care a lot about her happiness, but it'd be best that you don't try to confront Alan... I wouldn't want something bad to happen to you..."

"What tells you...?"

"I'm serious, don't try to do anything. If you try to go against him, you'd get tricked and painted as a bad person. I could handle that to help my sister, but... I wouldn't want that for you..."

As hard as it is, Sammy accepts this advice, at least for the foreseeable future.

The first thing Mabel does once she gets home is to immediately go upstairs in the bedroom to do what Dipper just described. Worried, her brother joins her very quickly, leaving their friend downstairs to prepare some snacks.

Hearing the noise, Mrs. Pines approaches. "Kids! I have some..." After she sees who's at the door, she stops herself. "Oh, hello, Samuel. Why are you here alone...?"

Keeping Dipper's advice in mind, he avoids telling the full truth. "Oh, Mabel and Dipper quickly went upstairs to check on something. I'm about to join them once I get the snacks done." Then he adds, a little shyly. "Did you have something to tell them? I could take a message..."

In the meantime, Mabel is walking in circles in the bedroom, repeating. "I hate him, I hate him, I hate him, I hate him...!"

Her brother tries being reassuring, but isn't sure how. "Sis, could I...?"

She doesn't wait and immediately lets out what's on her mind. "Dipper, I can't believe I'm saying this, but... He manages to make me miss how Gideon was with me! I prefered dealing with his obsession with me, because at least he liked me at the core!"

Dipper is speechless that her train of thoughts led to this conclusion. This causes her to apologize as she tears up a bit. "I shouldn't have said that, sorry..."

This causes her brother to be reassuring. "No, I get it... You have frustrations to let out..."

She goes to sit on the bed, grabbing her new Phil plush to cuddle while she hides her face in her sweater to deal with her feelings, at least until Samuel arrives.

Their friend enters the bedroom with the snacks, but he also got something to say to get their minds off the current issue.

"Guys, your grand... I mean, Grunkles are waiting for you to call them!"

Mabel looks up, looking more curious. "Oh, they do...?"

"Yeah, they apparently got big things to tell you!"

Dipper's mind goes "Could it be...?", but he doesn't let it have time to develop and says "Okay, I'm gonna set it up..."

"Sure, while you do that, I'll get some of those delicious treats!" Mabel seems like she cheered up very quickly. Dipper knew this was coming, so he doesn't even object to the silly comment because he's happy to see her bounce back from the negativity.

"Here we go!" Dipper sets up the call, getting Mabel to sit with him in the camera's point of view, while she still holds the plush for comfort. Samuel is staying away just in case.

Then the video call gets answered, and Mabel is being herself again as she sees both of her grunkles on the other side. "Hi, Grunkle Ford! Hi, Grunkle Stan!", which she says with a wave.

Dipper adds. "Hi! We just arrived from school, and we were told you wanted to talk to us!"

"Yes, we wanted to tell you directly some great news..." Introduces Ford. "We've had talks with your parents, and..."

Stan concludes without wasting any time. "Guess who's getting another trip to Gravity Falls this summer?"

Dipper gasps and his face immediately lights up. "No way!"

Mabel cheers of excitement after some gushing. "It's happening!"

Dipper gets carried away. "We'll see everyone again! And all the places! And..."

Stan interrupts him. "Easy there, kiddo... You're not there yet, you have to finish the school year..."

This causes him to be embarassed with some amusement. "Oh... Yeah, of course..."

"This is such great news..." Mabel cuddles her plush tight to express her excitement.

Ford adds, unexpectedly. "And, I've been thinking about something else..."

"You did...?" Dipper gets curious.

He asks, sincerely curious. "How about, this time around, you get your friend to come along?"

Samuel was minding his own business when he heard that, and his head perks up.

"Sammy...? In Gravity Falls...? With us...?" Dipper seems a little doubtful, but mainly because he has never considered it. Because of that, he almost doesn't want to let them know that he's in the room with them and that he heard that.

Mabel gasps of happiness. "Him in Gravity Falls with us? It'd make our summer even better!"

Ford forces them back to reality a little with logic. "Of course, it's only if he's able to join you. Can I count on you to ask him in the next few days?"

"Why wait? He's..." Mabel starts saying, but she gets a nudge from her brother forcing her to stop.

"... he'll be able to answer this evening once we call him about that! But we'll for sure ask as soon as we can!"

Dipper is a little bothered by the lie, so he tries to move on for the end of the call, until he closes off after they've said their goodbyes.

Once that's done, Stan's smile turns a little less convinced as he's talking alone to his brother. "I do look forward to the kids coming back. I wouldn't be opposed to this Samuel kid joining, but..."

Ford interrupts, both gently and firmly. "I know... There's the whole situation with Bill being linked with that child at the moment. But I don't think you should worry. Truth be told, I have some unease about it myself... However, if he wanted to do bad things, he would've done so in that time period, don't you think?"

Stan is upfront about it. "But what if he was faking it? What if it happens to be a long term manipulation and that he's been waiting for a chance to come back here so he could use the place as his base of operations again, or something? Have you thought of that?"

His brother answers genuinely. "Yes, I have thought about many outcomes that could result from their friend and Bill coming here this summer. And I can promise you... Depending on Bill's behavior, I am prepared to take care of the situation. I will not let him get away with tricking our family again, if that's what he's doing right now!"

"Good..." Stan nods seriously. "I do want to believe the kids, but... I will not be able to trust this pointy demon, no matter what he does."

Meanwhile, on the other end of the call that just happen...

Mabel immediately asks out of genuine curiosity. "Bro-bro, why didn't you tell them that Sammy is right here with us? Don't you think he would've loved to be able to express his opinion on the matter?"

Samuel would like to add something, but he stays silent for now. He's not too sure what to say on the matter to begin with, but he also doesn't to pressure his friend too much when he sees him being nervous.

Dipper speaks up, a little ashamed. "I... got a little nervous..." He then tries to look at his friend directly. "I'm sorry, Sammy... It's not against you. I'd be really happy if you spent the summer with us! I'd encourage you to talk about it to your parents, even!" He sighs, painfully. "It's mostly that... you know..."

Bill's voice interrupts suddenly with a loud and annoyed tone. "Oh, we DO know!"

Dipper freaks out a bit, like he usually does whenever Bill makes himself known out of nowhere during a subject he deems sensitive. But nowadays, this feeling tends to disappear by itself afterwards.

"And I gotta agree with Pinetree. It doesn't sound like a good idea..."

Mabel objects. "Why not? It'd be awesome for him to join us! He'd make the vacation even more exciting! We could show him around... We could have him meet everyone..."

Bill approaches a little, growing in size by not much. "Let's say that..." His eye suddenly alters to showcase in rapid succession several of the things that happened in Gravity Falls during his short term reign of Weirdmageddon. Then his eye go back to normal, although his one pupil is looking away to a big degree. "I wouldn't be welcomed there... To put it very nicely..."

The simple notion of that makes Mabel quite upset. "Bill, you are my friend, now! I want my friend to be happy!" She grabs his hand softly. "I want you AND Sammy to join us in this summer! As long as we're around, you got nothing to fear! If someone there wants to do something bad to you... They'll have to go through me first!"

She looks at him, very seriously. Then, she softens up to go back to her cheery self. "Besides, don't you think Grunkle Ford would be happy with catching up with you, after all the things you have proven?"

Her big smile does make Bill reconsider. "I... suppose so...? But..."

She insists. "No doubts allowed! I'd love for you to join us in our vacation if that's a possiblity!"

With that, Bill gives up and says what she wants to hear. "Okay... If Fuzzball joins you... It'll be a good thing!"

"Of course it will!" Then she turns to Samuel. "Sammy, please please please tell your parents about this as soon as you can! I would be delighted to have you see the place! Even if Bill wasn't a factor!"

Sammy smiles. "Well... Of course, I would love to spend summer with you guys... I do hope it'll happen! ... And same, Bill! I'd defend you if your presence doesn't go too well, I promise!"

Bill just stays mute and disappears. Then, Samuel concludes. "With that, I should probably go home... Sorry if that got a little heavy by the end, but I'm really glad to know you guys will get to visit this place again. I'll be sure to talk about it at home and I'll let you know..."

Mabel cheerfully tells him goodbye for the day, and so does Dipper. But his mind is preoccupied with the whole idea of having Bill in Gravity Falls again, even if he tries to avoid overthinking things.

Once he's alone with his sister, he doesn't waste time saying what's on his mind. "Mabel, I'm glad you'd be happy to have Bill around for the summer. And I want him to feel better about his guilt too. But... I find it a little weird about how insistent you've just been about it..."

His sister grows defensive about it immediately. "Whaaaat? I just wanted to bring him a better mood! That's wrong?"

"No, but..."

Then she smirks. "I know what you need to stop doubting..." She's ready to jump at him while directing the plush's flippers at him. "Tickle attack!"

"Nonon... HAHAHA! Stop it, okay...!" He catches his breath and indeed moves on with a big smile. "I'm so happy we're going back to Gravity Falls soon..."

And as promised, as soon as Samuel gets the occasion, he casually brings up the important subject at his home. "Mom, Dad... I got something to tell you..."

Author notes: Yup, a return to Gravity Falls is in the plans, and this is something to be looking forward to for act 3. But we're not gonna get there just yet. There are still several things to take care about for now...

Thanks for reading!