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No one was quite sure what happened over the summer in Gravity Falls, but it must have been bad.
Sam and Stephanie had noticed a difference in their children when they'd come home right away. Within the first week, they noticed Dipper wasn't nearly as anxious as he'd been before. He seemed more sure of himself, took longer strides with more confidence. Steph had been amazed at the change - until Sam pointed out how he'd gone stock still and pale when they'd joked about making a deal with him to do his homework on time. Shadows startled him every now and then now, and he had a strange aversion to puppets.
Mabel, on the other hand, was still her exuberant and glittery self, but it was... muted. Gravity Falls had mellowed their daughter to a slighter more tolerable level, and she took greater care in thinking about her actions before she made them. Sam had been relieved, even as Steph noted that Mabel didn't use the color yellow anymore in any of her art. When Sam produced a yellow marker when drawing with his daughter, she snatched it away and threw it in the trash.
They'd both changed - gotten stronger somehow, more tightly knit than ever, with an odd jumpiness around certain things that had their parents wondering.
Having a pig in the house was certainly a change, too.
It was made even more apparent to the rest of the family when their great uncles visited for the Holidays. Stan and Ford didn't celebrate Christmas, but they'd wanted so badly to see their niblings again. That in itself was something Sam and Steph found strange, considering the kids video chatted with them at least once every week or two. They figured they'd just bonded quickly and wanted to keep up with one another.
Until Shermie's innocent comment about Stan one night when they were all in the living room together.
It was the kids and their parents, their great uncles, and their grandfather there, the Christmas tree glittering in the corner. Luckily, they'd already revealed Ford to the Stan twins older brother, Sherman, and explained Stanley's deceit, otherwise it would have been a very tense Christmas. As it was, everyone had already made up, just happy to have their missing family member back. Somehow, the conversation had turned to the three brothers shared past.
"You kids should have seen Stanley! Came in the house with a story about how he'd lost his report card to a bird that stole it!" Shermie, a bit more put together than his younger brothers, grinned ear to ear. Ford laughed when Stan protested.
"C'mon, Sherm, not like I could show our old man that many D's and C's again! And besides, that bird story was true! Mostly true. Partially true. There was a bird around on report card day." Stan was trying not to smile himself, ignoring his twin sitting on the couch opposite of him. Dipper and Mabel were both sitting on the carpet in the middle of them all, relaxed and happy with Waddles. Shermie was in an armchair to the side, in between the couches, with Sam and Steph watching fondly from the kitchen while they grabbed some drinks for everyone.
Shermie laughed with his full gut. "It's a good thing those con skills of yours got better over time! You weren't good for much back then, were you?"
Ford winced, and Dipper's and Mabel's heads both whipped around to stare at their grandfather, smiles gone.
"Don't say that!"
"That's not true!"
"Grunkle Stan's worth a lot!"
"That's not fair!"
"Don't ever-"
"Kids!" Stan shouted over them to get their attention. To everyone but the senior twins bafflement, they fell silent immediately, getting up and running over to sit on either side of Stan. "It's okay, it's okay, Shermie was just joking around. Right, Sherm?"
Sam, Steph, and Shermie just watched in shock for a moment. Stan's arms were tight around his niblings, and they both held onto him with clenched fists. Dipper was still glaring at his grandfather, but shifted his gaze to his other great uncle when Ford got up and sat next to him, his own six fingered hand going to rest on Stan's back.
"I-" Sherm stumbled. He didn't understand how his comment had elicited this much protection of Stan. He could understand Ford, but the kids? They'd gotten defensive over him fast. "Yes, I was only kidding. Of course Stan had- has always had worth."
That seemed to do the trick. They relaxed, easily moving back into small talk with Stan's help, but the kids didn't move from his side the rest of the night. Mabel didn't even return to the floor when Waddles woke up and wanted to play. They both hugged Stan tight before leaving for their nightly routine, Waddles bounding up the stairs after Mabel.
Once the kids were in bed, Sam asked first. "What happened in Gravity Falls?"
The Stan twins both paling and anxiously glancing at each other didn't ease the other's worries.
Ford answered. "What... what do you mean?"
"The kids got so defensive over you two so fast." Steph shifted closer to the edge of the couch, one hand in her husband's. "I've never seen them protect anyone but each other like that. What happened?"
The twins locked eyes again, whole conversations flying by in the few seconds they looked at each other.
"While in Gravity Falls, after I got back," Ford started, "there was an... well, something went wrong. For a brief, but rather intense period, Stan became afflicted with severe amnesia."
The younger twin nodded, taking over the story. "I couldn't remember anything. Not who the kids were, not my brother, not even who I was. Don't worry, I got my memories back and Ford looked me over. But it..." He paused and looked down, something heavy passing over his face. "It freaked the kids out real bad. They thought I was gone forever, but it was Mabel's scrapbook that first got me to start rememberin'. Everything else got easier from there."
"Stan..." Shermie breathed out, unsure how to respond.
"So that's why the kids get nightmares so much!" Steph fretted, not noticing how her step-uncles both jump at that. "Oh, that's horrible!"
"...There's something else, isn't there?" Shermie asked, scrutinizing them.
Ford hesitated, looking away, but Stan answered immediately. "C'mon, Sherm, what else could there be? Anyway, we'd better head up and go to sleep too. Not used to this time zone yet, so we're both pretty tired." They took their leave up the stairs, leaving the other three members of their family in muted worry.
That first comment from Shermie was only the beginning of the four twins odd protectiveness of each other.
The Stan twins were only staying for a week, but the third night in, one of the younger twins had a nightmare. A cut-off shout rang through the house, waking Sam. When he groggily looked over at his wife, her hair was tangled in the hand by her head, still softly snoring. He smiled at her before getting up, shuffling to the kids room.
He opened the door, knowing to expect both his children in one bed, comforting each other. They never told him anything about their nightmares, or their mother, but just being there seemed to help.
What he didn't expect was his two visiting uncles already there, holding Dipper and Mabel between them.
Stan and Ford looked as surprised to see someone else in the room as he was. Dipper was tense, hiding his face in Stan's chest, a tan trench coat wrapped around him. Mabel's arms were around him, Stan's red beanie on her head, head leaning into Ford's elbow. Waddles was laying at Mabel's feet on Ford's legs, awake and looking around. More confusingly, both Sam's uncles were fully clothed despite how late it was, and there was a pair of brass knuckles on the pillow next to Stan. He thought he could see some kind of weapon on Ford's hip, but couldn't tell what it was in the dim light of the room.
"Uh." Sam blinked at them, too groggy to really process it all. "Hi. Is... Dipper okay?"
"He's-" Stan looked down at Dipper, and Sam saw the boy's arm tighten. "He's just a bit shaken up. He'll be okay."
Ford was watching him warily, guarded. "He's perfectly safe. You can go back to bed."
Stan nudged him. "These are his kids, Sixer."
They did look like they have a handle on it. He'd check in directly with Dipper, and if he really was okay, he'd go back to bed. He could try to talk with his son in the morning, when he was less tense.
"Dip?" Sam took a few steps closer, not noticing how Ford tensed at the movement. "You okay, buddy?"
Dipper nodded, still not turning around. "M'fine." It was muffled, but Sam heard it.
"I promise we're okay, Dad. Grunkle Stan and Grunkle Ford just heard him scream, and came to check on us!" Mabel spoke up, one of her arms wrapped around Ford's now, a smile on her face. Sam jolted at his uncle's gaze - a borderline glare that screamed get out. Stan elbowed his brother again, harder, and the stare was softer when it flicked back to him.
"...Okay. I'm gonna go back to bed then, but if any of you need me, just come and get me."
Stan and Mabel nodded. Ford and Dipper didn't move.
Sam stepped out the door, but hesitated to close it. Why did Stanford look at him like that? Why did they both have weapons?
What were his uncles protecting his kids from?
He let the door click shut. There was no way his children's nightmares were just about Stan's amnesia, but he wasn't getting any answers tonight. He'd tell Steph - maybe a briefer version to his dad - and they'd figure out how to ask them together. There were whispers in the room he'd just left - too quiet to hear, but it'd be wrong to eavesdrop. He walked back to bed.
The next morning, it was like nothing happened. Steph and Shermie watched the four of them carefully, having been caught up before going downstairs, but there were no remnants of last nights events except the dark circles under Dipper's eyes.
That weird protection could be seen almost every day Stan and Ford were there. Ford accidentally burned his wrist making hot chocolate with Mabel, and the other three twins fussed and fretted for over an hour. Shermie grabbed Dipper through a doorway to startle him, and Stan nearly broke his nose. Steph walked in on Dipper hugging Ford hard, the man shaking until he noticed she was there. Sam only caught the tail end of a conversation between Ford, Mabel, and Stan before they saw him and went silent, but he distinctly heard Stan say "not your fault" to the two of them.
By the last day of her step-uncles visit, Steph had had enough.
"Family meeting!" She called upstairs, Dipper and Ford looking up from their DD&D game in the living room. Stan wandered in from the kitchen, mug in hand. Shermie, Mabel, and Waddles came down the stairs after a minute, all equally covered in stickers and glitter, Sam right behind them with a raised eyebrow.
"What are you doing?" He whispered to her fondly, already guessing her plan.
"Getting answers." She replied. "Don't let Stan leave, he'll try to."
Sam nodded with a smile, sitting next to Stan on the couch. Shermie took the armchair, and Mabel sat across Sam and her grunkle with her pig, Dipper and Ford on the floor between them. They all looked at her expectantly.
"What happened in Gravity Falls? Ah ah ah!" She added, seeing both sets of twins pale. "No shutting down! No more lies, no more weaseling your way out of questions. Something happened over the summer that scarred my step-uncles more than they apparently were and gave my children nightmares. I know you all speak highly of the time you got to spend together, and I know you two," she points to Dipper and Mabel, "would riot if I don't let you go back next summer. But we need to know what happened so we can help. I need to know what's been hurting my family."
Silence.
Stan and Ford stared at her, both seemingly at a loss for words. Dipper and Mabel looked at each other, drifting closer until they could hold hands. Mabel found her voice first.
"You wouldn't believe us." She said, her twin nodding his head faintly.
Steph's eyes narrowed, her hands moving to her hips. "Try me."
Ford swallowed. "I- alright."
Stan looked between them before settling on Steph. "Remember you all asked for this. And it seems crazy, and ridiculous, but it's true. We aren't crazy and we've got proof."
Sam frowned. "O...kay?"
Ford stood and sat next to Mabel on the couch, clearing his throat. "Shermie, do you remember what I initially went to Gravity Falls to study?"
"Nerd stuff?" He replied, not sure where this was going.
"Anomalies. Oddities, like my twelve fingers, and the supernatural."
"...You're kidding, right?"
No one answered Shermie, but he got from the Looks the four twins gave him that no, they were not.
Ford explained his part of the story, Stan eventually taking over, and then Dipper and Mabel pitching in when it reached them. They told them about Bill, what he'd done to all of them, and Weirdmageddon. There would be times in the story that one of the older twins would glance at the kids in the room, pause, and deliberately pick their words. Sherman knew they were pulling punches, but the story they told was bad enough already. How could it get worse?
(He would later find that it could get a lot worse.)
When they were done, no one said anything for a while, just letting the story sink in. It was so crazy they didn't want to believe it, but the serious expressions said otherwise. The way Ford had to choke his words out at times, the way Stan went stiff and wouldn't look at them, the way Dipper went pale and started shaking in some parts, and the way Mabel's eyes teared up and she'd hold Waddles closer to her - it was real. At the very least, it was real to them.
"Bill's dead now?" Shermie spoke up.
"Yes, he's dead. Thanks to Stan." Ford replied. He looked nervous, Steph noticed, not yet sure how they were taking it. So did her kids.
"You, uh..." Sam cleared his throat faintly, "said you had proof?"
"We don't have any proof of Bill himself, but we do have proof of the supernatural. Dipper, could you fetch your flashlight from my bag?" Ford requested. Dipper nodded, running up the stairs to the guest room. For a moment, nothing was said.
Stan slapped Sam on the back, the younger man jumping. "Y'know, if you ever wanted to see more proof than what Dip's about to get, you and Steph could come up to Gravity Falls with them? I'm sure they'd both be thrilled if you could get that time away from your jobs for a bit. You're not really used to all this weirdness until you've had to scare gnomes outta your trash."
They all gave a short laugh.
Dipper rounded back into the living room a second later with a flashlight in hand, something strapped to the top of it. Ford held out a hand, but before he could request it, Dipper already had it pointed and turned on at his sister. Sam, Steph, and Shermie all gaped as the girl shrunk before their eyes, the light only turning off when she was small enough to fit in Dipper's hand.
Ford blinked. "Well, that's not exactly what I was going to do, but that works."
Steph cupped her palms when Dipper walked up to her, her little girl sliding into her hands. Mabel held onto her thumb with one hand and waved with the other. "Hi, Mom!"
Sam and Shermie both stood, coming over to examine Mabel. Sam's mouth couldn't seem to close, and when Shermie gently poked his tiny granddaughter in the stomach with his pinky, she laughed. Waddles came over and sniffed at her.
"This is what we used to grow the cage Bill was keeping us in." Dipper said softly.
Sam and Steph turned their eyes on their son. "All that really happened to you four, didn't it?" Sam asked softly.
Dipper nodded. Shermie went over to his brothers, and hugged them both tight.
"Dipper, could you... resize your sister, please?" Steph asked, setting her daughter gently on the couch. After Dipper got her back to her regular size, their mother corralled them over to Shermie and the other twins and into the hug. Waddles bounded over and leaned against their legs.
The family held both pairs of twins for a long time. Until Stan took a shaky breath and stepped back, mumbling something about "mushy stuff" that made everyone laugh.
"Well." Steph began, looking over her family, and smiled. "Now we can start to help."