Mabel Pines was not broken or fragile. She never had been.

Mabel Pines had defeated monsters and demons and little boys with too much hair product. She had, many times, done it singlehandedly.

She had graduated high school. She had been popular, had even been prom queen. Her eccentricities had matured as she aged, dirty jokes and swear words occasionally making appearances, but her sense of humor had stayed the same at its core; charming, funny, irresistible. People liked it.

People liked her.

So now she wondered when the people around her had stopped viewing her as this strong, rambunctious, confident teenager who had everything going for her. She wondered when they started seeing her as a scared, miserable, crazy young woman, who couldn't stand to be away from her twin for more than a couple weeks.

Mabel turned her head to watch Dipper drive. He was always trying so hard to look cool. Right now, his arm was resting on the open windowsill, one had on the steering wheel, eyes focused on the road straight ahead. But Mabel knew. She watched his finger taping against the leather of the steering wheel to the beat of a catchy pop song playing on the radio, could see him mouthing the words that he for sure could recite by heart; words that he'd be belting out later in the shower when no one was listening.

"Let me have a turn driving, Dipper! You've been hogging the wheel for like, a bazillion hours now."

The boy beside her furrowed his brow, his gaze not shifting from the windshield.

"I don't know if that's such a good idea, Mabel. You haven't driven in like, over a year now."

"It's only been a year because you have an average driving speed of 2 MPH! I haven't had a chance yet!"

"Mabel, I really don't think-"

"Who put you in charge? I seem to remember something about you being the younger sibling. My baby brobro-"

Dipper ignored her. "I told mom I'd bring you home in one piece".

"What? Do you think I'm going to break apart too?" Mabel was pissed. Dipper was not allowed to have any authority over her. Jokes about her alpha-twin capabilities aside, they had always been on equal footing with each other. Why should that change now?

"No, Mabel, of course not! It's just that we're in the middle of nowhere right now and I don't really trust your driving skills. If something happened we'd be screwed."

Mabel shifted her body back against the backrest, mimicking her brother and staring straight out the windshield. The clouds from earlier had subsided and the sun was beaming down on them. The trees that lined the side of the interstate were massive. Such tall, brooding pines that Mabel thought they might reach up into the sky. She sighed, tears coming to her eyes.

"Mom wants to put me in a nut house."

" What?" Dipper exclaimed, the pitch of his voice heightening, obviously shocked at the abrupt change of topic. He took a breath to gather himself, softening his tone, "That isn't true, Mabel"

"I can tell she's through with me. She can't take care of me anymore. It's not her fault, I know I'm a lot to handle, I just wish there was another option"

Dipper glanced at her quickly before shifting his eyes back to the road.

"I don't think you're tough to handle, Mabel"

He said it honestly, she could tell it was sincere, but she could also tell he was implying something else.

"Yeah, cause I don't freak out as much when you're here… and when I do, you know how to make it stop."

"Yeah"

"Hundred bucks says the doctors at the phyc ward won't know how to stop it either."

"You're probably right."

There was silence for a while, save for the radio dj promising 40 more minutes of commercial free music after the break. Mabel heard her brother sigh and saw him out of the corner of her eye take the wheel with his left hand. He grabbed hers with his right.

"Mabel, we've been through some shit together. I'm the only one who can help you because if you explained to anyone else the root cause of your illness they'd think you were even worse than you are. But when we get to Gravity Falls, there will be a whole town full of people who won't think you're crazy, and who won't treat you like you're broken and I think that's going to be really good for you."

Dipper pulled off the highway and into a McDonalds parking lot, looking at his sister for the first time since they pulled out of the gas station hours ago. Mabel felt him boring his brown eyes into hers the way he did when he wanted to have a serious conversation.

"Hey, listen, I'm sorry if I've been treating you like you're fragile or unstable or whatever. You're not, I know you're not. I dunno, I guess I'm just trying to protect you."

"From what, Dipper?" she was fuming inside. Since when did she need to be protected? She wanted to be sarcastic, to make him feel like the idiot he was for feeling that way. But she could tell by his tone of voice and the way his eyes were still connected to hers that he was concerned, and her question came as a gentle, consoling whisper.

"I'm not really sure… I guess from the world. And from mom. And from yourself. I don't want you to hurt yourself, Mabel. This illness is hurting your life and your future and your college years and I hate that. It makes me hate Bill even more and it makes me want to shield you from everything because I don't want anything else to be taken away from you." Tears were brimming in Dippers eyes now, and Mabel realized finally how concerned he was. His actions, while unfair, had the best intentions behind them. She felt the anger inside her bubble away.

"Are you still struggling with your panic attacks?" she asked, wiping his tears away with her thumb.

He hesitated, and she knew he was debating whether or not to tell her the truth, whether or not he was worth stressing her out, but he finally nodded against her hand and she leaned over the center console and hugged him. She buried her face in the spot between his neck and his shoulder, just under the hood of his sweatshirt. She could feel his body shaking with silent sobs.

"We'll beat this together, you and I," she whispered, "Gravity Falls will help us. It will distract you and reassure you that Bill's gone. Like forever."

Mabel felt him nod against her neck. She waited until her brother calmed himself down before patting his back and letting him go. He wiped his nose on his sleeve before mumbling a croaky, "Thanks". Mabel got out of the car and walked over to his side, opening the door.

"I'm driving now, brobro. Mabel is ready to rumble!"

Dipper didn't look too convinced, but he rolled his eyes and moved to the passenger side of the car.

"Mabel, if you kill us, you best believe I'm going to kill you again in the afterlife".

Mabel nodded, turned the key in the ignition, and revved up to the drive-thru, where she ordered a cheeseburger Happy Meal and a Big-Mac combo. Delighted at the technicolour beanie baby she received with her food, she perched it on the dashboard before flooring the gas pedal and cranking the radio.

"Next stop," she yelled, "Gravity Falls!"