This is a brief addition that took an hour or so to write. Life is really hard right now, and I barely found the time to write even this. I hope you enjoy it.

Things fell into a comfortable rhythm in the Shack over the next few weeks, with only a few bumps. Dipper was rather crushed to learn Wendy had a boyfriend, therefore crushing any fantasies he might have had about one day successfully flirting with her. What made it worse was the guy she was dating was a guy who Dipper despised – a guy named Robbie Valentino who had a long face and was fond of wearing eyeliner. Every time Dipper saw the stupid black hoodie with a patchwork heart stitched into the front, he wanted to hit something.

Mabel was starting to show real talent for salesmanship, using her cute face and a few well-timed pouts to rake in the cash for her great uncle. Soon Stan was calling her his protégé, often having her strolling in the gift shop or working the register to maximize her ability with the tourists.

She was doing much better. She still had nightmares, but very infrequently, and after a the few months of eating properly was finally beginning to fill out to the point she could no longer see her ribs unless she sucked in her stomach. Of course, now that she was healthy again it set other things in motion – things Dipper and Stan hadn't even considered.

It was very early in the morning when Dipper was awoken by a persistent hand shaking one of his shoulders, and slowly he became aware that Mabel was standing at his bedside shaking and crying. "Mabel?!" he gasped, shooting up in bed. "What's the matter?!"

She whimpered, her bottom lip trembling, and held out the hand she hadn't been using to shake him awake. Her fingers glistened scarlet.

"What did you do?!" Dipper demanded at once, scrambling out of bed and placing his hands on her shoulders, looking for any signs of injury on his sister. He saw none. "Mabel, where did all this blood… come…" he trailed off when his gaze shifted from Mabel to her empty bed, where he could see a pool of blood right where she must have been lying all night. "Oh," he said awkwardly, slowly taking his hands off her shoulders. "Um…"

"What is it?!" Mabel pleaded tearfully, her breaths short. She looked on the verge of a panic attack. "Why is there blood?! Am I dying?!"

"No," Dipper said numbly. He had no clue what to do. It hadn't even occurred to him over the last several weeks that Mabel should be getting periods once a month. It wasn't something he'd ever had to deal with before. "You're not dying. Everything's okay. Just… um… go downstairs and get in the shower, okay? And maybe soak your nightgown in some cold water so the blood comes out. I'm gonna… deal with some stuff to help you, okay?"

She sniffled once and nodded, proving once again to Dipper that she trusted him without question. "My stomach really hurts," she whispered.

"Oh, boy," Dipper sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "Just… shower," he finally said lamely. "Take a long one. Long and hot. Don't worry about Stan getting mad at you for using up the hot water or anything, okay? This is a kind of special situation."

"I don't feel special," Mabel muttered, but turned and trudged downstairs. Dipper grimaced, seeing the large circle of blood on the back of her nightgown.

"Jesus" he breathed, shuffling over to Mabel's bed and stripping the sheets. "How did this never come up before?"

Dipper threw Mabel's bedsheets into the washing machine and went into the kitchen, having heard Stan shuffling about making coffee. "Morning," Stan grunted at him. "Want some coffee?"

"Yeah, but before that there's, uh… something's happened with Mabel," Dipper said, not knowing how to tell his great uncle that Mabel had taken a step into womanhood, or whatever it was those awkward middle school puberty pamphlets and videos used to say. Mabel hadn't been around for those. She had no idea what was going on.

"What's going on?" Stan asked, obviously not worried. He probably assumed Mabel had put sequins on all of her sweaters or something trivial like that.

"Well… she woke me up this morning and was… er… bleeding," Dipper mumbled.

That caught Stan's attention. "What?!" he exclaimed, whirling around so fast that some of the coffee in his mug sloshed onto the floor. "What'd she do?!"

"Nothing," Dipper said quickly. "It's just her first," he paused and groaned. "God, this is way weirder than it should be." He took a deep breath. He was just going to say it. "Mabel got her period."

There was a loud crash as Stan's coffee mug slipped out of his hands and fell to the floor, smashing into pieces.

Silence fell in the kitchen, neither Dipper nor Stan making any movements, watching the pool of coffee on the floor spread. Finally, Stan cleared his throat and asked, "Is she okay?"

"She's freaked," Dipper said, kneeling down to delicately pick up pieces of broken mug. "She just woke up and there was blood, and she was pretty scared. I think she thought she was going to die." He grimaced, remembering her terrified expression.

Stan went to get the mop. "Did you explain what was happening?"

Dipper stared up at his great uncle. "Yeah, about that… I'm not a hundred percent sure what is happening, you know?"

Stan cracked a grin, easing the awkward tension in the air. "What, you never got the talk?"

"I was pretty adamant about blocking out the girl's health part of those talks," Dipper retorted, tossing broken ceramic pieces into the trash. "What about you? Can you explain it to her?"

Stan recoiled. "Oh, no. No way."

"Well, someone's got to tell her what's going on," Dipper said. "She's gonna be… you know, for a few more days. And we're going to have to get stuff for her, right?"

Stan looked mortified at the thought.

After several minutes of deliberation and arguing, it was decided they should call Wendy to help Mabel, and Dipper and Stan played a desperate game of "rock, paper, scissors," to decide which of them would go to the store to buy Mabel the necessary supplies. Dipper lost, much to his dissatisfaction, but didn't complain as he left the Shack.

Wendy drove up a few minutes after Dipper left, getting out of her car and pulling out a duffel bag, which she slung over her shoulders and brought into the Shack with her, coming in through the kitchen door. "Morning," Stan greeted her stiffly, staring suspiciously at the bag.

"Hey, Stan," she grinned, noticing his way gaze. "I brought some supplies," she explained. "Me and Mabel are gonna wage war on Mother Nature."

"Well, she's still in the shower," Stan said. "She's got to be close to getting out by now, though. She's been there nearly twenty minutes."

"She doing okay?"

"No clue. I didn't see her. Apparently she woke up Dipper this morning pretty freaked out. Thought she was dying."

"Poor thing," Wendy said sympathetically. "Did he at least try to explain to her what was going on?"

Stan fell silent, giving Wendy her answer. "Guys," she muttered, rolling her eyes before slinging her bag further up her shoulder and ducking into the hall, heading towards the bathroom. Stan let out a sigh of relief. Wendy would be a damn sight better at explaining things to Mabel and helping her through it than he and Dipper could ever hope to be.

Wendy was something of a miracle worker. She had ushered Mabel upstairs after her shower and the two of them hadn't come down for an hour while Wendy explained what was going on and what could be done. Dipper arrived back some time after they disappeared into the attic with everything Wendy had told him over the phone to get, still blushing red, and threw what could only be described as an ungodly amount of chocolate into the cupboard over the fridge before he went to start stocking up the bathroom with his other purchases.

When the girls finally did appear in the kitchen again, Mabel looking much more content in sweatpants and the baggiest sweater she owned. Stan was cooking oatmeal on the stove, and looked up and cracked a smile. "Feeling better, sweetie?" he asked.

She nodded and sat down at the kitchen table. Wendy went and poured herself a cup of coffee, not bothering to ask if she was welcome to it. Stan didn't mind – she'd gotten him and Dipper out of a very awkward situation and he was grateful. "I explained everything," Wendy told him. "What's happening, how often it's going to happen, what she needs to do. She was just relieved that she wasn't kicking the bucket."

"Good," Stan nodded. He wasn't very keen on thank yous, but made a mental note to give Wendy a bit of a bonus on her next paycheck.

"I guess it's because she's finally healthy again, huh?" Wendy asked, glancing at Mabel fondly. "Though I've got to say, I feel bad for her. The first one sucks."

Dipper came into the kitchen then and stopped short, seeing Wendy leaning casually against the counter sipping coffee out of the mug he usually claimed as his. "Hey," he said awkwardly. "You're back."

Wendy offered him a salute. "Morning. You get everything I told you to?"

Dipper shook himself, remembering her boyfriend and how he didn't want to tread any toes, even if he did think he could take Robbie in a fight. "Yeah, I got everything."

"Good man." Wendy raised the mug to him before taking another swig of her coffee. "Dang, Stan, this is pretty awful."

"I didn't make it for you," Stan grumbled, spooning oatmeal into a bowl for Mabel.

Mabel spent most of the day in the armchair of the living room, watching colorful daytime television and old movies, occasionally trudging to the kitchen to microwave water for hot chocolate if there was no one to coerce into doing it for her by whimpering pitifully. She was very content with the heating pad Dipper had gotten at the store – according to Wendy, an essential item on the list she'd given him – and was extremely adamant about using it as a blanket. Dipper came in every so often to give her chocolate, and Stan would duck in every so often to check on her. Wendy was extremely precise on timing when it came to popping in and having Mabel take more painkillers, which Stan and Dipper both admitted probably helped the most.

It went on like that for the next few days until Mabel was back to her usual bubbly self, and while Stan and Dipper were both relieved to see her back to normal they were already dreading next month when they would have to do this all over again.

I'd love to hear what you thought in reviews. Thanks for reading!