Reverse Falls: Battle for the Journals

The End

"Look, Dad, I'm sorry," Gideon said. "I'm sorry I made you worry so much. I'm sorry I didn't write. Things just got complicated with Mabel and Merlin and-"

Before Gideon could finish apologizing, Bud embraced his son. The affection caught Gideon off guard. Bud was not an affectionate man. He was not as verbal about his emotions as he could have been. So the fact that he just hugged Gideon without doing much as a warning was shocking, to say the least.

When Gideon returned the hug, his father held on tighter as if he were afraid he might disappear. Then when he pulled away Gideon saw that he had been crying.

"I missed you so much," Bud said. "I have spent these past couple of years, worried out of my mind. I didn't think I'd ever see you again. I never thought I'd get to tell you how much I love you and how much you mean to me. I'd never been able to tell you I'm sorry."

Gideon blinked in surprise. "What do you mean?"

Bud wiped his tears with his sleeve. "I should have told you that you were a wizard sooner. I should have told you the truth about your mother. I spent so many years trying to ease the pain that I almost forgot about her. But I couldn't."

"Why not?" Gideon asked.

Bud smiled. "You were there to remind me of her. You remind me of her. She was a little closed off and had a hard time getting out of her shell. But once you knew her she was so vibrant and kind and talented. Just like you." Bud grabbed his son's shoulders. "Thank you. For being you."

Gideon began to cry. This was the most he had ever heard his father talk about his mother. To hear about her, to find out how similar they were, was jarring. In a good way. He hoped this wouldn't change. He wanted to know more about his mom and what she was like. And he wanted to tell his father everything he found out about her and what had happened. For now, however, he wanted to enjoy this moment.

As they pulled out of the hug Kathy and Pacifica came over accompanied by their own families. When they reached them both of Kathy's parents hugged Gideon.

"We are so happy to see you again!" Her father said. "We were all worried sick for you kids! I almost went out and tried to find you myself."

Kathy's mom smiled. "It's true. He was ready to walk to hell and back to find you kids. If Kathy hadn't sent that letter telling us everything, he would have spent years trying to find you and bring you back."

"And what have you been doing these past few years?" Kathy asked with her arms crossed and her eyebrows raised.

They didn't answer but Preston Southeast did. "They tried to find you and bring you back."

"Just as I thought," Kathy said, rolling her eyes.

"It hasn't all been looking for you. Every once in a while we'd gather evidence to make a case against the Gleeful family. We have a few pieces of evidence but nothing that'll prove much."

"I can help," Dipper said, stepping forward. "I can tell you everything my parents ever did. And I know where some of the documents that prove they did it are."

Preston looked at Dipper surprised. "You'd give up your own family like that?"

"They haven't been my family for a long time. I don't know if they were ever truly my family." Dipper said a little solemnly.

Preston could see that Dipper was genuine and couldn't help feeling a little sympathetic. He knew the Gleefuls as people and they were terrible. He couldn't imagine they were much better parents.

So he took a step toward Dipper and put his hand on Dipper's shoulder. "You sure you want to do that? Some of that evidence might get you in trouble."