A/N: I'm sooo sorry for the long wait between chapters! I've been having a hard time deciding some of what's going on because I've changed my mind or canon has made it really ooc for those events to occur. I kind of ran out of inspiration for this fic for a little while too, but I just opened up the doc and suddenly the route kind of took its course. I wrote a couple pages all at once, and I might be writing more over the next few weeks now that I've gotten the chapter finished. I wanna finish before Gravity Falls ends, so I'll try for that. Thank you guys for being so patient and for still following the story! This chapter is a long one and I really like it. I hope the wait has been worth it though and you guys enjoy the rest!

"You know, Red, we never continued our little chat." Bill Cipher twirled his cane in his hands, looking at Wendy with his single eye, but she wasn't looking back.

"Yeah, I'm aware," Wendy replied, agitatedly.

"Whoa, whoa, what's with the 'tude? I'm just trying to have a conversation here! Relax!"

"I'm relaxed. I'm just pissed off." Wendy held her head in one of her hands, with a can of Pitt Cola in the other. Both she and Bill were floating in her dreamscape again, the one with the little white flowers dotting the ground and the forest-like atmosphere. Wendy stared down at the ground below, counting the flowers, avoiding the exchange at hand.

"There're 2,736 flowers there. It's useless counting," Bill offered. When Wendy shrugged the comment off, Bill's tone somehow became quieter. Even though Wendy knew he was speaking at his normal volume of screaming, it was as if he manipulated Wendy's mind to impale the words he was saying into her brain. "Red, I'm here to chat. That's literally why we're here right now. To chat."

Wendy leaned forward and placed her can of soda on the magic table, which appeared in all of Wendy's dreams with Bill. "Well, I don't want to anymore."

"...Why so?" Bill squinted his eye. "Look, I'm not here to ruin things for you, really, but if you want to let your own insecurities and fears get in the way of what might be good for you, then go ahead! Be my guest! I really can't even do anything, remember? You and the Pines ruined my existence by banishing me from it?"

Slowly, Wendy raised her head up to look the triangle straight in the eye. "Then how the hell are you even talking to me?"

"Well, you see," Bill explained, "it's not too complicated. I'm a dream demon, and a being such as myself thrives in the mind. I escaped the mindscape many summers ago, and it was great, but beings that thrive in the mind have more weaknesses outside of it. That's why I was defeated, not completely disintegrated, though. I was kind of... deleted from physical existence.. I can still travel through the mind and people's subconscious, so I just did that to get out of the place in the universe I was after you guys tried to kill me. Man, some other dimensions really aren't good at securing their minds." Bill paused. "You know, it doesn't really matter. Anyways, your turn to talk."

Wendy opened her mouth to speak, then closed it and pursed her lips. There was no reason for Bill to be talking to her unless he wanted something, but not once yet within this past week had he tried to bargain. Not once this week had he done anything to trick Wendy. All he'd done was act like an asshole, which was nothing new. Whatever Bill wanted now had to do with Gideon, she knew that already. She just didn't know what exactly, although hearing Bill speak of being banished from existence gave her the sickening feeling of the demon wanting back in. She pushed the wariness back and prompted, "Why me?"

"Why you what?"

"Why are you talking to me and not to Dipper, Mabel, Stan or Ford, or even Soos? I mean, if you wanna start some Weirdmageddon shit again―"

"Oh, please. That probably won't happen till thousands of years after you and everyone you know are dead!" Bill intruded.

Wendy continued, "Look, triangle, I just don't get why you're talking to me." She looked him straight in the eye. "I've got nothing to offer you right now."

Bill's face contorted to what she thought to be a smirk if he had more than just an eye. Just two words slipped past his tongue: "I know."

―――

"Wendy?"

The redhead blinked, rubbing her hands against her eyelids. "What?" she asked, thinking her dad wanted her to do something for him. As always. She hadn't even realized she was asleep, and didn't really want to go cut down a tree in that moment. "I'm awake!"

"You better stay awake, 'cause you promised me a movie night." Hearing the last few words, Wendy eyed the end of her bed. Dipper sat there, one hand stretched farther out in her direction, like he'd been reaching for her as he called her name. "They've got some really bad movies on tonight, I checked online."

Wendy smacked the top of her head. She sat up in the bed, covers falling over her legs. Her hair was a little bit of a mess, and all she was wearing was a tank top and flannel pants. "Oh man, dude, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to sleep for so long."

"Hey, it's cool. I thought you were sleeping when you didn't answer my text so I just came over here." Dipper used his arms to push himself backward so that he ended up sitting right next to Wendy. He was close; she could feel his presence creating heat between them.

Wendy sat up. Her arm brushed against Dipper's but she didn't even make an attempt to move it. "Hey." She turned to face her friend. "Just like old times, huh?"

Dipper nodded, then replied with, "Well almost." Wendy frowned in confusion until Dipper placed his hand atop his head and ran it through the air to Wendy's. The side of his hand hit the top of her head. He was almost as tall as her, less than an inch between them now.

Wendy rolled her eyes. "Oh, shut up."

"You know you love me," Dipper teased.

"Ha-ha," Wendy replied. She knew they were joking, but then she felt her cheeks and ears begin to burn. Something fluttered in her stomach. I'm sick, I've just gotta be feeling sick. "Is my head warm?"

Dipper placed the back of his hand against her forehead. "A little bit. You feeling okay?"

"Uh... I dunno, I guess. Maybe I'm just cold." Wendy shrugged off Dipper's question. When she saw the concern on his face, she began to feel slightly guilty. "Hey, hey, man, I'm okay. Really."

"You've been saying that for the past few days, Wendy. Are you sure nothing is bothering you?" What prompted her to not push away his comfort this time was the look of hurt that gleamed inside his brown eyes. They'd been friends for five years. Good friends. Best friends. Not telling Dipper something when she had the chance was pretty rare at this point.

"I..." Slowly, Wendy spoke. "I've been... having nightmares. Pretty frequently." That's not really a lie, she told herself. Just not the whole truth.

"Oh." Dipper broke eye contact, looking down at the orange pine trees and dots on the comforter Wendy's bed. "Uh... can I ask what they're about?"

"Um, well..."

"You don't have to tell me!" Dipper quickly added. He raised his arms to place his hands on her shoulders. Wendy tensed at his touch, then relaxed when he continued. "I just want to make sure you're okay." His tone softened, as did his expression. Wendy could tell that he completely meant it.

The redhead hesitated, but couldn't stand how concerned he was. It almost hurt to think about.

Wendy then told him the truth. "Bill," she blurted, and when Dipper's eyes widened in response, she hurriedly explained in more detail. "...and it really isn't scary or anything. Just kind of freaky, because I didn't think that of all people, he would come and talk to me."

"Are you sure," Dipper asked, "that you're not just dreaming it up?"

Wendy shook her head. "No way, man. You've met him before, you know what it's like. There is absolutely no way that it wasn't just a dream."

Dipper stayed silent, deep in thought before responding to the prior statement. "You lied to me."

Wendy winced, a pang of guilt traveling through her. "Yeah." Her voice was soft, sad.

"Why?"

Something about the tone of Dipper's voice hit Wendy, and hard. Her breath hitched in her throat. "I-I didn't want you to worry Dipper. About me. Nothing's been going wrong with it, so I just thought..."

"What did you think, that he was suddenly gonna be full of sunshine?" Dipper asked sarcastically.

"No! He's still an asshole, Dipper. Just..." She inhaled, trying to let air clear the lump in her throat. "...It didn't seem like he was gonna cause trouble when you asked before, okay? When it began, I swear that I didn't know about Gideon being in contact with Bill again, and I didn't know that they had a plan." Dipper's pent up annoyance began to subside, his expression melting back to normal but didn't quite make it all the way. Wendy knew that he wasn't gonna stop worrying about this any time soon. "Besides, since when did this matter so much to you anyways?"

"Since Bill basically destroyed the world..." Shaking his head, Dipper sighed. "I just don't wanna have to deal with all those overwhelming parts of Gravity Falls again, like almost dying, you know? And I don't want you to have to deal with it either, Wendy."

Wendy smiled a little smile, teasing the only other person in the room. "Aww, som-m-meon-n-n-ne cares-s-s-s about me-e-e-e."

"Come on, shut up." Dipper laughed airily, nudging Wendy in her side.

"You know you love me," she continued in a mocking tone, her small smile turning into a sly grin.

At the comment Dipper's face began to show some pink underneath. "Well―"

Before Dipper could finish, the television began to play music, and the announcer spoke. "You're watching the Gravity Falls Bargain Movie Showcase. Up next..."

"Oh, the movies are starting," Dipper stated. He coughed.

"Yeah, uh, let's watch them," Wendy replied awkwardly, shifting her weight onto one arm and resting there. She took a look at Dipper, and after a few seconds realized that he was intentionally trying not to return her gaze.

Neither of the two had a real conversation again until after their movie night ended. Sure, they joked. However, the whole time it was awkward, from after Dipper decided what he was going to say could wait. The way he began made it appear as though he was about to admit that he... that he really did love her. Wendy thought about it the whole night, how his cheeks turned pink when he processed what she said. Of course it didn't surprise her that he could feel that way, it just never occurred to her until now that he still did. Or at least in that way. Maybe it wasn't still in that way, and it was a friendship thing. If it was though, why was Wendy feeling so antsy? She tried to deny that she maybe felt the same way he could have when he teased her, and told herself that it had to just be a friendship thing.

Yeah. That's it.

Before she went to sleep, that movie night continued playing over and over in her head. She didn't even remember any of the movies that aired, because she was zoned out through the entirety of it. Dipper seemed to be too. Even though he didn't seem too mad, he was frustrated with her for not telling him about Bill. There was no doubt he was sitting around during the movies considering what Wendy told him. No doubt he was worried about her, too, even though she told him it was okay. And maybe it was really okay. Dipper would probably be on edge with her for the next couple days, but nothing she couldn't handle. Maybe nothing would go wrong.

Wendy rolled over in her bed. It doesn't matter. Right?