Author's Note: If ya'll are wondering what the Hell happened to Mabel, this chapter explains it.
Shortly after ending the call with Will, Stan stood up. Walking out of the kitchen, he made his way up the stairs to the second floor of the house. As he approached the top step, he paused for a moment at the sound of hushed voices. He cocked his head sideways, listening carefully.
“It’s okay, sweetie.” That was Mabel, speaking in a low whisper. “I promise it’s not real. It’s just a nightmare.”
“I’m scared, Mommy.” It was the small voice of a boy, no older than two. Stan felt his heart twist with grief. Poor little Jesper.
“I know,” Mabel soothed. “But we’re safe here, baby. We’re safe.”
There was silence and Stan heard muffled sniffles that meant Jesper was still crying. He let out a sigh himself, walking past their bedroom door as he headed to his own.
He had scarcely believed it himself when he had received a frantic call from Mabel a couple years ago, crying in a state of pure, gut-wrenching hysterics. But through her broken sentences, Stan had understood enough to know the reason neither he or Dipper had heard from Mabel in all that time was because she had been trapped in an abusive relationship. Although, Stan thought bitterly that probably wasn't strong enough a word for what she'd been through. For two years she had struggled to work through it, but everything had become so much worse after little Jesper was born. His father’s temper had become volatile, culminating in the incident which had spurred Mabel’s desperate attempt to flee: That being that when Mabel had displeased him, he had started to beat her. Even though he was only two years old, Jesper had tried his best to help Mabel, screaming at his father to stop hurting her; that she hadn’t done anything wrong. But this only served to worsen the situation, as Jesper’s father had immediately begun walking towards him. In that moment, Mabel’s wolf mother's instinct to protect her pup took over, and she struck Jesper’s father from behind just as he was about to hit Jesper. Minutes later she was running out of the house to her car, with Jesper and only a few bags of clothes and other belongings. After driving them to a hotel, she had spent a solid hour crying before calling Stan.
Realizing that his niece was still in terrible danger, Stan had immediately flown out to bring her back home with him. Mabel had been in tears when she’d embraced him at the airport, stammering thanks and apologies to him for a good five minutes before she calmed down. Stan had held her the whole time, barely managing to keep the tears from his own eyes as he felt his heart breaking for what she’d gone through. He hadn’t even cared that she had gotten spit and snot on his jacket. All that mattered to him was that she and Jesper were safe.
It was for these reasons that he nearly shit bricks in horror when he’d seen Pacifica talking to Mabel. Of course, he had immediately forbidden Mabel from answering her phone and had even taken it to the service provider to have its number changed - again - but it still put ice in his veins to think what might have happened if Pacifica had managed to get their address. Pacifica was vicious and cruel, and if she had found out that Mabel had a werewolf pup to provide for…
Stan shut his eyes. The bitch was damn lucky he hadn’t allowed Mabel to go that far. Otherwise, he would have had to use his shotgun the moment she came knocking. And that was only if he felt like being a gentleman instead of making things personal.
Then there was Dipper’s situation. While it relieved him somewhat to know that Dipper had found safety with the Ciphers, Stan could not dislodge the feeling of guilt that weighed on him when he thought of his nephew.
Despite knowing that Pacifica’s claims of Dipper being worried was an attempt at baiting Mabel, he knew that she was probably right in saying so. Dipper had always shown great care towards his sister. It was in his nature, Stan knew - being a male werewolf, it was hard-wired in Dipper’s DNA to protect his sister - but Stan knew it went deeper than that. Ever since their parents had been killed in a car accident years ago, the two of them had come to rely heavily on each other and Stan for . So when they had lost with Mabel a few years ago, Stan knew it must have been driving Dipper to distraction not knowing where she was, or even if she was all right. And why wouldn’t it? There had been plenty of nights when he himself felt like he was losing his mind, thinking about her.
Still, Stan knew that telling Dipper his sister was hiding with him would be a mistake. He knew Dipper well, and he was sure it would result in Dipper immediately coming to see her. It was a risk that Stan was not willing to take, for he had a strong gut feeling that doing so would compromise his nephew’s safety. As badly as he wanted for Dipper and Mabel to see each other again, the chances of Pacifica finding out about them and relaying the information to Killian were too great.
No, what he needed to do was figure out a way to get rid of both Killian and Pacifica for good. And that, Stan knew, was exactly what he was going to do.
But he would need help. And there was only one person he could think of for the job.
It was time to call Wendelin.
Chapter 8
By the time Will got back, it was already light outside. The clouds from last night’s storm had nearly disappeared; allowing the morning sun to shine fully and bathe everything in its soft, golden light. Will was glad of it; as the return to brightness also helped to lift his spirits.
As Will stepped from the car, he was stunned to see just how clear and blue the sky was. The remaining droplets of rain fell in scattered drops, turning to pure gold when they caught the light of the rising sun. It was beautiful, and Will lingered for a moment longer on the spot, taking it in.
He thought that perhaps he was making too much of the positive change in the weather, but it crossed his mind that perhaps after today, things would get easier. It was this thought that made him walk up the steps with a small smile, feeling more optimistic than he had just an hour ago.
Heading in through the front door, Will acknowledged the greetings of the household staff with a polite word back, his gait becoming a bit faster as he walked up the stairs and down the corridor. But as he approached Bill’s room, he could hear Dipper laughing. Pausing beside the door, he listened, a mischievous smile forming on his face as he picked up on the conversation being had inside.
“There’s no way that happened!” Dipper was saying.
“Yes it did!” Bill insisted in a tone of mock indignity. “I’m being completely serious right now, Dipper!”
Dipper laughed again, but as his laughter subsided into a fit of coughing, Will figured that it was as good a time as any to make his presence known. Knocking politely on the door, he spoke up.
“Bill, Dipper, I’m back now!”
“Will!” he heard Dipper say. “Come in!”
The happiness in Dipper’s voice made something warm glow in Will’s chest. He opened the door and walked into the room, being sure to close it behind him before he walked over to the bed. Dipper was sitting upright, with a tray bearing an empty soup bowl and water glass next to him. Although Will was glad that some of Dipper’s energy had returned and that he’d eaten something, it was the smile on his face as Will approached that made him grin back. It brought back many fond memories of their childhood, and words could not describe the joy he felt seeing it again. It was like the previous night had never happened. He was sure that Bill felt exactly the same - his smile was nearly as big as Dipper’s right now.
“What were you two talking about just now?” Will asked as he sat on the bed.
“Oh, Bill was just reminding me of the summer we spent in Gravity Falls when we were little.”
“Really?” said Will, shooting his brother an amused look. “I’m surprised that you can still that.”
“Well, it’d be hard to forget, now wouldn’t it?” Bill answered. “I mean, it was the place where we first met our little Pine Tree.”
Unless Will’s eyes were deceiving him, Dipper suddenly looked shy; head bowing slightly to hide his face as his cheeks flared pink at the obvious affection Bill said his old nickname with. Bill grinned, racing over and rubbing the top of Dipper’s head. Dipper looked up at him then, his voice softer now as he spoke.
“I when you gave me that name,” he said. “It was the day you saved me from a wolf in the woods.”
Neither Bill or Will said anything, but there wasn’t a need to. Will was sure that they were all thinking of the same thing at that moment; which was how close a call the incident had been. On that particular day, the three of them had been part of a group of hikers. Dipper, being the curious nature lover with a need to examine every new plant or animal he saw, had easily become distracted and found himself separated from the group. In an attempt to figure out where they’d gone, Dipper had climbed up a tree to get a better view of the surrounding woods. Luckily, he was able to spot them, and had climbed back down so he could run and catch up.
The problem was, Dipper had been so focused on climbing back down without falling that he had no idea he had been spotted by a wolf. So when he dropped to the forest floor and turned around, he nearly had a heart attack when he saw the massive black beast standing only a few feet away. Dipper instantly froze, his heart constricting with terror as the beast stepped closer to him; teeth bared in a terrible snarl. Dipper could still the foul quality of its breath; the glistening blood on its red-furred snout from its most recent kill.
It was almost enough to make him shudder.
“I that,” Will said quietly. “Bill was the only one who noticed you were missing. So he went to find you while I told everyone else what was happening.”
“That’s right, he did,” said Dipper. He looked at Bill. “And you got there just in time, didn’t you?”
“Yes.”
“You’ve always been there when I needed someone. Always, even when I start to think there’s no way I’m going to make it, both of you show up just in time.”
Bill and Will exchanged a look with each other at this. They could both tell from how Dipper said it that he was hinting at something. Perhaps, now, with both of them here, he was feeling brave enough to explain what happened to him.
“What happened to you, Dipper?” Bill asked. His tone was quiet and serious. “How did you end up in the street last night?” When Dipper seemed hesitant, Bill softened his voice even more. “You know you can tell us, don’t you?”
Dipper stared at Bill, appearing to hesitate a moment longer as he considered this. Then he let out a small sigh.
“All right,” he said finally. “I’ll tell you.”
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