Gravity Rises (S3)

SP: Part Twelve

WINTER 2013

"Good night, Grunkle Ford." Mabel leaned forward to hug her uncle as he sat on the couch. Ford and Lee had been deep in discussion, but they'd paused to say good night to her and Dipper.

"Good night." Ford hugged her, then moved so that he was looking her in the eye. "You were very brave today."

It took a moment for her to realize what he was talking about. Then she remembered: the portal. He must be talking about her opening the portal. To her perspective, that had only been eight hours ago; yet it felt like a lifetime had passed. It didn't help that she'd lost three hours to the time bubble, either.

"Thanks," she whispered. "But. . . but it didn't do anything. I mean, it did — but it helped Bill, and I don't—"

"You did what we all thought was necessary," Ford said. "I don't know what's going to happen now, but having all ten Symbols gives us a better chance of beating Bill than if we had nine. So you did help us."

"I guess." Mabel glanced at Lee. She couldn't help but wonder the same thing Gideon had asked earlier: Did they have a chance?

Lee caught the glance. "Good night, Mabel," he said gently.

"Um, good night," she replied. She wanted to give him a hug, too, but she hesitated.

Uncle and niece locked gazes for a moment, and something in Lee's eyes broke Mabel's defenses. With a sudden, shaky breath, she threw her arms around him. Climbing onto the couch between him and Ford, she buried her face in Lee's shoulder. He returned the hug and held her close.

Part of Mabel was terrified that Bill would take over at any moment and hurt her, and a small voice in her mind screamed that she had to get away. But it wasn't a loud enough voice, and she instead clung tighter to her uncle. Tears that she hadn't expected spurted from her eyes, and she found it impossible to breathe steadily.

Lee was silent as Mabel cried beside him. It wasn't the first time she'd cried today, and she understood why. The day that had started in the midst of the terrifying gravitational anomalies now ended with an uncle in a situation that was nothing like she'd expected. She cried for him as much as herself.

But her tears were born from positive emotions as well as negative ones — namely a relief that she was finally with her uncle. "We found you," she said into Lee's shirt. "We found you. I thought. . . I thought we'd never find you."

"You found me," Lee said softly. "It's okay."

It wasn't okay, not entirely — not with Bill's power over Lee — but it was better. That in itself was relieving.

When Mabel moved away from Lee and wiped at her eyes, Gideon and Melody came down the stairs. "The air mattress is ready," said Melody. "Gideon's going to need some of your pajamas, I think, Dipper."

"Okay." Dipper (who had already hugged his grunkles good night) helped Mabel up from the couch. The twins joined Gideon on the stairs.

"Stanford," said Gideon, "thank you. For giving me a place to stay, and. . . for defending me, earlier."

Ford nodded and gave him a small smile. "It was the least I could do after you helped me find my brother."

"Is there anything we can do?" asked Lee. "To help you tonight?"

Gideon looked away. "Well. . . like he said. Don't wake me up. Just. . . just let it run its course."

Lee watched Gideon silently until the boy looked up. "Thank you, Gideon. For everything." He looked like he wanted to say more, but no words came out.