Mabel nearly runs Stan over, and then the whole room goes red.

It looks alarmingly like how Stan remembers. Glass litters the floor and Dipper is in hysterics. For a moment, Stan looks far away too. He looks scared for Dipper all over again, pained and worried that he'll actually lose the kid this time. It's all incredibly real for him in a way that it couldn't be for Mabel.

But...then Dipper gives his warning. He finally registers Bill's laughter, which-- that couldn't have been part of it. It couldn't have because Bill wasn't there.

Stan blinks and shakes his head. He can still see what Dipper is projecting at them, but he's not being sucked in anymore. He steels himself, and walks right into the room.

"We're already here, Pumpkin," he says. He spares a glance back at Ford, gesturing for him to come in too. "We're both here."

Then, he places a cold hand on Dipper's shoulder - a grounding gesture that's stuck since last October. He goes for almost the complete opposite approach as Mabel, but he hopes it'll work. The kid likes things that appeal to his logic.

"Dipper, Bill's not here. Remember?" he tries. "All this? The glass and the windows and blood and junk? This all happened already. But he wasn't here then and he's not here now. He's not here 'cause that's not what happened."

And maybe-- maybe if Dipper remembers what actually happened, it'll make a difference here.