Turning the tables

Chapter 18 - Bittersweet arrivals

Warning: Talk of blood and wounds in the 15th and 17th paragraph

I watched as Bill became further and further away, his face etched with fear as I fell, my arm outstretched towards him as I gripped my journal in my second hand. "Dipper!"

I gasped awake, yelling out "Bill!" as I sat bolt upright, gulping in air as I tried to catch my breath and calm down. I had just suffered the same dream I did a few nights ago. I suddenly heard the sound of bare feet against wooden flooring as Bill burst through the door, panic evident in his eyes. "What? What's wrong?" He asked, panting. I groaned, letting my head fall into my hands again. "Nothing... Sorry, I woke you." I muttered, hearing the door close as Bill walked over. I yelped as he picked me up, my arms wrapping instinctively around his neck to make sure I didn't fall. Bill lay down with me in my bed, pulling the covers over us as he held me. "Go to sleep, Pine tree." He mumbled sleepily, his arms still wrapped around me as he closed his eyes. I looked at him for a moment before I yawned, my thoughts of protesting fading away as the need for sleep overtook me once more. I shut my eyes, my head laying on Bill's bare chest as I fell back to sleep, falling into a peaceful slumber.

By the time I awoke again, it was almost noon and Bill was still passed out. I dragged my sorry ass out of bed and grabbed my journal, not even pausing to get coffee or breakfast before rushing to my cork board room- I'll just call it my office. I pulled up a chair and started writing down the events of last night, underlining the parts about the building shaking, noting the flashes of white light that would occasionally shine through the windows when this was occurring. I wrote something down on a small piece of paper that I ripped from my journal and pinned it to the board.

22. Periculosis was present @ the party fiasco.

23. Building would shake every time I got close to Pacifica or argued with Bill.

I stared at the board just as I did a few days ago. More and more things pointed to the 'lovers' card, but why would a demon want Bill and me to start dating? What did that have to do with fixing things other than that, I don't know, hearts, I guess. But neither of us had gone through a breakup, so that didn't seem logical or very likely. I could already feel the frustration bubbling up in me. This didn't seem to make sense. Even if so many of the possible clues led to 'lovers' it was illogical- you couldn't just send a demon back to his mortal enemies and expect them to fall in love, or at the very least start 'screwing' around. I debated trying to figure out how to summon Will, but that would mean that I would have to make a deal with him, and I couldn't exactly trust him on the account that he was definitely working for Periculosis. None of my work was leading me towards anything useful or remotely close to figuring it out so I just dropped it and walked out of the office, closing the door behind me and making my way downstairs and into the kitchen. I was barely in there for a minute before I heard my phone ring from upstairs. I rushed upstairs and into my room just as Bill whimpered and woke up. "Dipper?" He whimpered, looking around. I answer the phone, running my fingers through his hair and kissing his forehead before leaving the room again. "Hello?" I asked, hearing a broken voice from the other side of the phone. "H-hey, Dipper. The baby was just born, it's a girl." Pacifica sniffled, concerning me. It didn't sound like she was very happy about that. "What happened?" I asked, my stomach dropping at her next words.

"Mom died in childbirth. She tore and her heart rate dropped after the baby was delivered. Cause of death was blood loss." Pacifica whispered, the sound of a crying baby in the background. "Okay, I'm on my way. Where's Persy?" I asked, running back upstairs to put on a pair of pants, Bill groaning and sitting up in bed as I did so. "He's with Mable, at home. Neither of them knows yet and I don't know where my dad is. When I got here he was already gone and no one knows where he is." Pacifica said, suppressing sobs as I heard a nurse walk over and talk to her for a moment before giving the baby. "I... I need you to-" Pacifica was cut off by her own sobs, my stomach flipping uncomfortably with panic as she did so. "Pacifica, stay calm, okay? What do you need me to do?" I questioned, glancing at Bill who looked both thoroughly confused and incredibly concerned. "I need you to come here to get the kids. I can't take care of them I- it's too much." She managed out. "Okay, I'm on my way." I promised, "Okay. Bye." Pacifica said and hung up.