Lullaby For Another Day [BillDip]

Being Human

As soon as he was sitting in his seat, Dipper called his mother and explained the situation. She scolded him for keeping his trip a secret, but she understood the need to do so. If he said anything, both Mabel and his Great uncle would shoot him down.

The only way was to surprise them both.

And come four o'clock, Dipper would call Mabel as well. And then, at eight o'clock, he would be arriving at Gravity Falls.

"Ack." Dipper groaned, feeling his chest constrict guiltily at the thought of explaining his elaborate plan to Mabel. She would be furious he'd hidden it from her for so long, and the fact that he left her behind during their last summer alone would only throw salt on the wound.

But Dipper had to do this. There was no other way.

So, as the greyhound began to pull away and Dipper sent Manuel a final wave, Dipper pulled a worn paperback from his duffel bag and pushed all thoughts of his sister from his mind.

...that is, until two hours later when he received a furious call from his twin.

"What in the hell do you think you are doing?" Dipper winced, pulling the phone away from his ear.

Damn .He thought. Mom must have told her.

"Mabel, calm down." Dipper said soothingly.

"Calm down? Dip, who do you think you are talking to right now? I'm not calm. I'm not going to be calm until you answer my question: what the hell do you think you are doing?"

"I'm going back to Gravity Falls."

"Yeah, no shit. Mom already explained that, dumb dumb. But did you really have to go to this extent? Did you have to hide it from me?" Mabel demanded, her voice breaking as she began to hiccup.

"Mabel..." Dipper trailed. God, he couldn't handle his sister crying. He couldn't handle his sister in general.

"No. Don't even try it, Dip. I'm not going to forgive you." She stuttered. Dipper sighed.

"I'm not asking you to forgive me, Mabes, I'm just asking you to listen."

"Well, I'm not going to do that either." Another hiccup.

"You don't have a choice, Mabes. You can either hear me out, or hang up and hate me for the rest of the summer. But I'm not going home." Dipper stated, trying to keep his voice even. It was hard, knowing he'd made his sister upset. The two, despite their differences, the two were inseparable. Dipper and Mabel – you couldn't have one without the other. Where Mabel was bright and outgoing, Dipper was cool headed and quite.

And though they often disagreed and fought, Dipper had never really upset his sister like this. He'd never made her cry.

He'd never wanted too.

There was a long pause, then Mabel spoke: "Okay."

"Mabel, I haven't gotten a good night's sleep for four years. Four years. Every night it's the same thing- I just stare at the ceiling before getting up to pace around the house before working at my desk. And when I do fall asleep, I get those nightmares – those horrible nightmares I can never remember." Dipper shuddered at the thought of the feeling he woke with every morning – a deep terror he couldn't quite place his finger on."

"I know Dip. But going to Gravity Falls isn't going to help. Please...' Mabel started, but Dipper cut her off.

"How do you know? How do you know it won't help? For four years both you and Grunkle Stan have been telling me to forget, to ignore. To let it go. And for four years I've tried and it's gotten me nowhere. Mabes, that summer – it's been haunting me all this time. I have to know, I have to remember. I feel like I'll go crazy if I don't. So, just don't try to stop me, okay? You can hate me, and yell at me all you want. But don't try to stop me." Dipper finished, gritting his teeth. There, he'd said it. He'd laid his hand on the table, and now it was Mabel's turn. Maybe she would be angry. Maybe she would never forgive him.