Hello readers and welcome to my fanfiction: At All Costs. This is a Stanford, or Ford as I call him, /OC story. My name is I'msorrymylove and to readers who have been reading my Doctor Who fanfiction, the Kayla Hark Series, I hope you enjoy this. To those who haven't but like the show, I hope this story prompts you to read my other ones!
This story will focus on Susan and Ford but will follow Susan. So if she gets separated from Ford for some reason, it will follow her and not what Ford is doing. In case you're unfamiliar with how I do my stories, I usually pick out an actress for my OC. As Gravity Falls is an animated show, it made sense for me to do an animated character as my OC. Therefore, if you want someone to picture as Susan, then that would be Mother Gothel from Disney's Tangled.
Before I truly begin the story, I will soon though, I would like to do my disclaimer: I do not own Gravity Falls or Mother Gothel. If I did, there would have been a season three and a movie and there would be more jabs at Disney.
Ford woke up first from the explosion. He always did. He smiled at the look Susan would have on her face when he realized he had woken up first again when he paused. The smile turned into a frown. Looking on the ground near him, he didn't see the black-haired woman who had been his constant companion, so much more than a friend, for so long. He quickly thought through the events, of him pulling her through the portal with a shout of, "This is our one chance!" He really should have said that it was his one chance. Because that's what it was, his one chance to get home.
Home. Gravity Falls, Oregon. The town that many would call sleepy and boring was anything but. And now that he was home, though it seemed he would have to sort out a bit of a mess first, he could stay with Susan here. She would like the forests surrounding the town.
But still…where was she? Looking through the wreckage of what had once been his most prized possession, he spotted her dress, which was a dark reddish purple first. Grinning, he hurried over to her and gently shook her awake. She took her time, as she always did, but her eyes soon were open enough to take in his face peering over her.
"Ford…did it work?" she asked groggily. One of her hands raised up and rubbed her eyes as she looked up at him.
Ford grinned and held out a hand. "I think so," he replied. Helping her up, he surveyed the damage they had landed in. He could clearly see his twin brother, Stan, waking up along with someone that was large and wearing a question mark shirt and two younger children, a female and a male, that had been knocked out in the blast but also waking up.
"We have company," Susan warned, looking over at Ford for directions. Ford shook his head and held up one six-fingered hand.
"I think…I think they might be family," he told her.
Susan frowned and looked at the group and then over at Ford. They did look similar, especially the older gentlemen. And the boy as well, he had the same hair that she had often ruffled when he got to serious. The dimension they had landed in was an apocalypse, which meant that you didn't survive well when you were too serious. So she would often help out in that regard.
Following that train of thought, her hand reached up and idly mussed Ford's hair up, which made him pout and whack at her hand lightly. She smirked teasingly. "You sure you aren't a man-child?" she asked him for the umpteenth time.
Ford rolled his eyes and crossed his arms with a light huff. Looking at the ground, he suddenly grinned and hurried over to a small book on the ground. It was red with a golden six-fingered hand print on the cover and a number on it. "This is mine," he told her rather excitedly. "I haven't read my notes about Gravity Falls in years! Of course I remember it all, but still, the written word is nice to read…"
Susan, used to his ramblings waited until Ford looked up long enough to catch the look on her face. After over twenty years together, they had learned to read each other's expression easily, and hers was her usual, 'shut it,' one. Stopping in his ramblings, he gave her a small, apologetic grin, which she returned.
….And then Ford's twin brother, Stanley, had to cut in. "Finally! After all these long years of waiting, you're actually here! Brother!"
Susan turned and looked in between the two. Yep, this was definitely the Stanley that she had punched and then listened to Ford rant about for the past years in the other dimension. She considered redoing the punch she had given him when they had first met, but Ford rightly beat her to it. With a swivel around, he punched Stanley squarely in the face.
"Oh! Ow! What the heck was that for?!" the man protested after he had stumbled backwards and had begun rubbing his face.
Ford gave just glared at the man. "This was an insanely risky move: restarting the portal! Didn't you read my warnings?!" he yelled at him.
"I believe I wrote them in the journals," Susan put lightly, which made Ford huff and roll his eyes.
"My journals. My warnings," he retorted.
Stanley, however, did not have such a take on the matter. Instead, he looked at Susan for a long while until recognition flared up in his eyes and he yelled out, "You!" Making to go and yell at her at a closer distance, Ford punched him in the face again.
"Stay back from her," he shot at the man.
Stanley stared at his brother in bewilderment, which was a very amusing look to see on his face. "Stop punching me! How's about maybe a thanks for saving you from what appears to be, I don't know, some kind of sci-fi side burn dimension?"
It shamed Susan to want to laugh at that comment, considering how serious the matter was at hand, but she didn't have to fight amusement for long, for Ford retorted, "Thank you? You really think I'm gonna thank you after what you DID THIRTY YEARS AGO?!"
Stanley stared at him in shock. "What I did? Why, you ungrateful..." making to punch at Ford, Susan watched, bemused, as Ford easily ducked the punch and grabbed Stanley. "Don't expect me to go easy on you, just because you're...family," the man continued to say, as if he was anywhere close to winning, as Ford slammed him into the ground. "Ah!" Stanley finally gave up and yelled, which seemed to be as close to a yield as the man would do. Susan vaguely respected that, determination was a good skill to have, but her dislike for the man really overweighed any positive attributes he had going for him.
Ford, still holding Stanley to the ground moved off the man to go back to Susan when a younger female voice called out, "Hey, hi. Mabel here. Quick question: WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON HERE?!"
It seemed that the children that Susan and Ford had seen earlier decided to join the fight going on. The girl, who had introduced herself as Mabel, had brown hair and was wearing a large sweater with a key on it. The boy, who seemed to be her brother, perhaps her twin, had the same brown hair and, as Susan had noted before, the same hair as Ford, but it was now covered up by a hat with a pine tree on it. And then there was a large mole-rat type person wearing an oversized green shirt with a question mark on it.
Huffing, Ford crossed his arms and examined Mabel for a few moments. Coming to the conclusion that she was indeed a child, he turned to his brother. "Stan, you didn't tell me there were children down here. And some sort of large, hairless gopher?"
"I thought he was a mole-rat," Susan said.
Ford looked over at the gopher/mole-rat cross and shrugged. "I can see that," he agreed.
The mole-rat/gopher chuckled. "I get that a lot," he admitted.
"They're your family, Poindexter. Shermy's grandkids," Stan explained to Ford with what seemed to be a bemused look on his face.
Ford's eyes widened and he looked over at Susan with expression of disbelief and confusion on his face. "I-I have a niece and nephew?" he asked her, which made her laugh softly and shrug.
"How am I supposed to know? I was in that dimension with you," she pointed out.
Ford nodded at that. No, she wouldn't know the answer to that question. And even if she didn't she didn't really need to. It was obvious by looking at the two kids that they were related to him. So, he kneeled down in front of the girl in the sweater, Mabel, and held out his hand for a handshake. "Greetings. Do kids still say greetings? I haven't been in this dimension for a really long time."
Mabel laughed, which was odd given the present situation but it seemed to help and the tension in the room dropped some as everyone, even Susan and Ford, smiled at the laugh. "Whoa, a six-fingered handshake? It's a full finger friendlier than normal!"
Ford chuckled lightly as he got to his feet. "I like this kid. She's weird," he said to Susan.
Susan grinned and ruffled his hair. "Told you, weirdness is good." His reaction to this statement was always the same; he would huff but not reply, which is exactly what he did when Susan said this to him. She rolled her eyes. "You're too predictable," she informed him lightly.
"I-I can't believe it. You're the author of the journals!" At this very sudden cut-in from the boy, for it had to be the boy because no one else in the room had such a pubescent voice that included voice cracks, Susan and Ford looked over at the boy. He seemed to be hyperventilating in what was either shock or fear, Susan really couldn't tell.
"Is he alright?" she wondered as the boy continued to stare at Ford.
Ford shrugged and looked over at Stan, who seemed rather amused by the boy and then over at Mabel, who also amused but a tad bit concerned as well. The words of the boy getting through to Ford, he flipped through the journal he had picked up before putting it back away. "You've read my journals?"
"I haven't just read them; I've lived them!" Looking either really excited, or really insane, the boy started to walk in circles as he spoke. "I've been waiting for so long to meet you, I-I don't know what to say I have so many question I…" his voice trailed off and he doubled over, hyperventilating. "Oooooohhh I think I'm gonna throw up." The girl, Mabel, went over to him started to pat him on the back as the boy tried to finish whatever thing he was doing.
Exchanging a look with Susan, who gave a shrug that he matched, Ford turned to address Stan. "Listen, there'll be time for introductions later. But first, tell me, Stan: are there any security breaches? Does anyone else know about this portal?"
Stan waved his hand, which made Susan relax slightly. Thank god that he could get something right when it came to the portal….and then he said, "No, just us. Also maybe the entire U.S. government."
"What?" Susan snapped at the same time as Ford. Stanley gave them a look for that but Susan ignored it. Instead, she turned to Ford. "Do you think those cameras are still running?"
As if to answer, one of the screens that was on caught her attention. Susan and Ford peered over at it to see an agent clearly giving orders to a group of agents to search their house. Ford eyed where they came in before he sighed. "We still have some time before they get here. That'll give us enough time to plan."
"I can always-"
"No. Way too risky."
"But you didn't even-"
"It had something to do with what's in your cloak, didn't it?"
Susan huffed and twitched the cloak closer to her. It was truly an amazing thing that he had made for her, or so he claimed. Some the stuff in it, like the pockets being able to hold far more than they should or the fact that it seemed to survive everything made her wonder about its true origins. Still, the cloak was perfect for holding everything she needed to, much like his trench coat. She was always very aware of anything touching it, so when the girl, Mabel, jerked the lower part of it, she nearly went on a rampage before Ford placed a hand on her shoulder, which instantly soothed her…to a point.
"Yes?" she asked the girl in a hopefully calm manner. No one touched the cloak, not even Ford's family.
"Well, it looks like we're stuck down here for a while. Who wants to tell us their entire mysterious backstory?" Mabel asked with a wide grin on her face.
Susan blinked at her for several minutes and then looked over at Ford. He, of course, looked over at Stan and crossed his arms. "Yes, I have some questions about this myself, Stanley."
Mabel and the boy instantly seemed to turn on Stan. "Stanley?" the boy asked, his arms crossing in a defensive manner.
"But your name is Stanford," Mabel put in.
"Wait, you took my name?!" Ford cried out, frowning. "What have you been doing all these years, you knucklehead?!"
The boy seemed to be on Ford's side as well, and even Mabel seemed very upset, which given what Susan had seen of her of their short time together, that just made everything else seem worse. "Yeah, Grunkle Stan, no more lies! You owe us some answers: What's the deal with this portal? Why did you keep this a secret?"
"Grunkle?" Susan asked softly, not really interested in hearing what everyone else said about Stan hiding stuff.
"Great-uncle, family tradition," Ford replied back just as the mole-rat/gopher put in something about fanfics…whatever those are.
Stan sighed and looked down. "Okay okay okay, I have a lot of explaining to do. It all started...a lifetime ago...nineteen sixty something. Glass Shard Beach, New Jersey," he started. "I lived with my ma and pa in the Lead Paint District in the family pawn shop. Dad was a strict man. Tough as a cinderblock and not easily impressed."
At this, both Stanley and Ford smiled at something, most likely a memory of their father. Susan grinned, though it was a sad one, as she recognized the smile to be the same one he wore whenever he was up late at night and writing down something in a black journal he bought. She had never asked about it, because it wasn't any of her business. Instead, if it was very late, she would go over and ruffle his hair and say, "Whatcha thinkin' about Fordy." He would always groan and lean his head back so that he could see her face.
"I'll be in bed soon," he would promise. Susan would roll her eyes but go back to the bedroom. About ten to twenty minutes later, Ford would join her. For yes, they shared a bed. They weren't going to bring it up until they explained to Stan just how close they were, but Susan and Ford had become a force to be reckoned with together. They were truly two parts of a whole. Ford loved Susan because she cared about him. She would listen to him, and she would point out new perspectives. She would always have his back, and she protected him. Susan loved Ford because he took care of her, he was always there when she needed him, even when she didn't know she would need him. He would do small gestures, like hold her hand when nothing was going on. She knew that if she needed to, she could fall on him because he would always be there and he would always protect her.
Smiling softly, she leaned against him as she listened to his brother talk. Ford, grinning, wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her closer to him. The two listened as Stan spoke about their childhood, how they had found an old boat and name it the Stan O' War. The two young boys had planned to sail around the world. They relied on each other because they were twins, that's what twins did, and they also had no friends. Ford was picked on by the other boys for being too smart and having six fingers. Stan was picked on for being too stupid. So they were each other friends.
"Those were the good times. Those bullies may have been right about us not making many friends, but when push comes to shove, you only really need one," Stan said. "Ford's brains seemed to get more impressive every year. So did our pet project. Sure I got in more than my fair share of trouble, but when your brother's the smartest kid in school, you've always got a leg up on the competition. The future was lookin' bright. For both of us. Till one day..." His voice trailing off, Stan looked down at the ground and then at Ford. Sighing, he started back up.
"Standford and I were called to the office. They always called us both because both our names were Stan. Anyways, I sat outside as genius went in. Of course I listened in on their meeting. And I heard the principal of the school telling my parents that my brother should go to some fancy school for nerds while I stay in New Jersey by myself. And when I asked him about it, he said he was going. Without Ford I was just half of a dynamic duo. I couldn't make it without him. And now, thanks to that dumb college, I was gonna lose my brother forever. So when I was walking through the school, I somehow came across the sci-fi projects." Stan shook his head. "I don't know what happened, honestly! I pounded on the table and something came off from the machine. I put it back on and I thought I had fixed it but I guess not…"
"I lost my pa, my ma, and my baby sibling that night. But what's worse than losing them is that I lost the only one who really meant something to me. I lost my twin brother. Thanks to one dumb mistake I had no brother, no home, no nothing. But I had a plan to fix everything."
"Oh! This story's so sad!" Mabel suddenly cried out, causing every head to swivel over to look at the girl. She didn't seem to care and continued to talk. "I know what you two little broken teacups need: to hug it out! Hug it out! Hug train's comin' in the station. HUGAPOLOOZA! TWO THOUSAND!"
Susan blinked and looked at Ford, who looked completely stunned by this. "It ruins in the family," Susan said in a soft voice.
Ford shook his head. "Shermy," he responded.
"Sure, put the blame on the younger sibling," Susan said with a roll of her eyes.
Thankfully, Stan seemed to be use to Mabel's outburst. "Kid, will ya knock that off? I'm tryin' to tell my life story here," he protested. Shaking his head, he continued on with his story. "I had decided I wasn't gonna show my face at home until I made something of myself. Unfortunately, the treasure-hunting business was slow going. Apparently gold was some kind of...rare metal. Luckily I struck a different kind of gold...in sales." Stan grinned widely. "I had made my mark, all right. Unfortunately, so did the Shammies. Apparently the cheap dye I used to color them only made stains worse. Customers went crazy about that. Fortunately they were using Stan Co. brand pitchforks. I was officially banned from New Jersey, but with a quick name change, Steve Pinington was ready to take on Pennsylvania.
"I made the Rip Off and said they didn't give you rashes…it gave ya rashes. I traveled the whole country, sometimes outside of it, always one step ahead of the law, looking for something that would be my big break."
Mabel stared at her Grunkle it what appeared to be awe and relief. "Whoa. So that explains all the fake IDs."
The boy crossed his arms and looked over at Ford. "But, wait, what about you? Did you end up going to your dream school? And who is that girl with you?"
"Susan," Susan said promptly, which caused the boy to look over at her. "My name is Susan."
Ford gave her a small grin and then looked at the boy. "I didn't get to go to my dream school…not exactly. I want to a smaller and lesser known college called Backupsmore University."
Susan smiled widely. "That's where we met," she put in. Everyone turned to look at her, except for Ford who was looking at the ground, hoping to God she wouldn't tell the story…"He studied far too much, everyone knew that. If you wanted to meet a quota of people coming to a party but not have them come, invite Ford."
Ford pouted at this. "I wasn't that bad," he huffed.
Susan rolled her eyes. "Yes you were." Ignoring Ford's sigh, she continued with her part of the story of the two Stans. "I was at Backupsmore because it actually had a surprisingly good Old English program. It wasn't the best but it was recognized. I was trying to finish up a paper and Ford decided that he needed the electricity from the dorm room next to me. Suddenly everything was off and I had lost about five hours of work. I went over to yell at him only to find him standing in the middle of an impressive smoke plume. He had blown up whatever he had made. Since it had failed, he figured he had nothing to do so Ford went over to my dorm and proceeded to not only get my paper back but also made it to where my computer ran faster than ever."
Ford nodded. "Anything she needed help with became a side project to school. She was just fun to hang out with. But I still worked twice as hard as everyone else. I went from undergrad to PhD three years ahead of schedule, wrote a thesis that was nationally ranked, and was awarded an enormous grant for my own scientific research!"
"And then, one day," Susan started, "he decided to ask the main question of his entire life. 'What should I study next?'"
"My whole life I'd been teased for my six fingers. But that got my thinking about anomalies: things that were odd, unusual, statistically improbable. And according to my investigations, there was one place with a higher concentration of these things than anywhere else. A small lumber town in roadkill country, Oregon: Gravity Falls."
"He packed up all his stuff, gave me a hug, and wished me luck for the remainder of my college time. And then he was gone."
Stan rolled his eyes and, crossing his arms, started his portion up. "Meanwhile, your old uncle Stan was doing great. I had come up with a sophisticated new business strategy. I was in great shape, living on my own, and the best part was: I didn't need help from nobody," he said in a proud voice with a sharp look to Ford.
Seeing the look, Ford sighed and shook his head. "I was heading out on my own as well. I set to work using my grant money to investigate the strange properties of this town, but what would I find here? As soon as I arrived, I got greeted by my car getting stolen by a giant tree-hand. Bingo. I began to investigate at once. I knew I'd have to record my findings. I began to keep a journal..."
Suddenly, Ford got cut off by a girlish scream that made Susan jump. "THE JOURNALS!" the boy squealed. Then, when he looked up and saw that everyone was staring at him he blushed. "Sorry, sorry," he apologized and then cleared his throat, "just got excited there...About the journals...Keep-keep talking."
Very slowly, Ford nodded. "I began to keep a Journal..." he started up again, only for the boy to scream wordlessly once again.
"Just ignore him," Susan recommended while giving the boy a worried look. She was starting to wonder if he was mentally sound. Judging by his behavior, the answer was debatable.
"Right, well as I was saying; there were anomalies everywhere. And the more I looked, the more I saw. It was finally a place where I felt at home, but something nagged at me: where did it all come from? It seemed to me the answer must come from outside of our world, a dimension of weirdness leaking into ours. I realized the only way to understand Gravity Falls would be to build a gateway: a portal to the source of its weirdness. But I couldn't make it alone. I decided to call up my old college buddy, Fiddleford McGucket, a young but brilliant mechanic, who was wasting his talent trying to make personal computers in some garage in Palo Alto. I decided to also call up Susan, because some of the ruins I was finding were just fascinating. Plus, if I came across something old that I couldn't understand, Susan would know."
"Fiddleford and Ford would work on the portal and I started to encrypt the journals. Ford took a break at one point and got some invisible ink from a wizard. It made anything it touched turn invisible so Ford added a few ingredients and I was able to write in the journal using it. The only thing that could make the ink show up was a black light."
Ford gave Susan a grin. "Those were good times, despite the many long nights were spent perfecting the machine. It would be a crowning achievement of my studies. An answer to the source of this town's anomalies. And then the time had come to test it."
At almost the same time, both Susan's and Ford's smiles fell. "But something went wrong," Susan said with a shake of her head.
"Fiddleford got pulled into the portal and when he came out there was something very, very wrong. I was told to destroy it and when I refused, Fiddleford left. Susan nearly left as well, but I convinced her not to."
"Actually, you said that you would destroy the portal, so I stayed," Susan corrected with a pointed look.
Ford sighed and then nodded. "It would be the right thing to do, to destroy the portal. I was in over my head, and feared I was losing my sanity. I needed help. Someone other than Susan that I could trust. So I sent a postcard to Stan."
"I got the postcard and went. When I knocked on the door to their house, I got some girl, apparently it was Susan, giving me a crazy eyes and pointing a gun at my face."
Susan shrugged. "We couldn't trust anyone," she defended.
Stan rolled his eyes. "When I said who I was you punched me in the face!"
"Ford talked about you a lot. I figured you needed to get punched. When the opportunity presented itself to me, I punched you in the face." Susan shook her head, "It's very simple Stanley, please do keep up."
Stan glared at Susan while Ford ran his hands over his cheeks. "Susan, be nice," he scolded halfheartedly. This made Stan give him a glare as well before he huffed.
"Can I keep going?" There was no protest so Stan gave a nod. "Anyways, Ford showed me the weird sci-fi portal thingy he had built and then shoved a journal into my hands. He told me to sail far away from him with the journal. My own twin brother, the one I wanted to sail around the world with and we used to be so close was telling me to get as far away from him as possible. I made a stupid mistake and decided to try and burn the journal. Ford and I fought."
"I tried to break it up, tried to stop any damage, but nothing worked. Stan got burned on his shoulder and showed Ford towards the portal. I tried to pull him back, but Ford shoved me out of the way. I hit the lever that controlled the portal and then fell over the safety line. Ford tripped over it and suddenly we were holding hands and getting pulled into the portal with Stan calling after us. Ford made the decision to throw the journal at him and then we were through the portal and in an apocalypse."
Stan stared at Susan, his heart breaking all over again as he relived losing his brother all over again. Susan, feeling Stan's gaze, looked down. Ford instantly took her hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. Everything was better now, they were back in Gravity falls.
Taking a deep breath, Stan finished his tale. "I didn't know if he was dead or alive in some distant galaxy, but I knew his journal must have the answer to getting him back. Somehow. I didn't get much sleep that night. Or the night after that. I tried for weeks to turn that dumb machine back on. But without the other two journals it was hopeless. Finally I ran out of food. I had no choice but to go into town. I had no money and I needed it badly. People somehow recognized that I was my brother, so I took his name and invited them back to the shack. People loved the idea of going through and seeing weird stuff and I got the money I needed.
"So I came up with a plan. I couldn't leave my brother's house until I figured out how to save him, but I needed to pay his mortgage somehow. For once in my life, people were actually buying what I was selling. And so the Murder Hut was born! Later renamed the Mystery Shack. Finally I found something I was good at. For once being a liar and a cheat paid off. The old me was dead, and I'd faked a car crash to prove it. By day I was Stanford Pines: Mr. Mystery. But by night I was down in the basement, trying to bring the real Stanford back."
Nearly done, Stan shook his head and gave the two kids a sad look. "I couldn't risk anyone learning the truth and sabotaging my mission, so I lied to everyone: the town, my family, your parents, even you kids."
Susan looked over at Ford, who was studying Stan. She could clearly tell what he was thinking. He could see that Stan was truly regretful when it came to all the lies and deceit that he had done. The only thing Susan couldn't tell was if Ford would forgive him.
However, it seemed that the two kids didn't need to have to think much on whether or not they would forgive Stan. "So all this time you were just trying to save your brother. Grunkle Stan, I'm so sorry I didn't believe you," the boy said.
Stan looked truly touched and gave the boy a smile. "That's okay, kid. I probably wouldn't have believed me either," he admitted with a small shrug.
For a moment everything was peaceful, but then the moment was shattered as an agent's voice from upstairs called out loudly, "I heard talking! It was coming from downstairs!"
"Oh no, it's too late, the agents are comin' for us!" Stan yelled with a worried look towards the two kids, a worried look that Susan noticed.
"What do we do?!" Mabel cried out, her eyes wide.
The mole-rat/gopher shook his head. "Aw, man. I was so spellbound by your dramatic tale I forgot all about those dudes," he complained.
The boy's eyes widened and he grinned. "Wait, forget. That's it! I think I know a way we might be able to defeat those agents!" Grabbing his backpack, he pulled out a very familiar gun. Susan instantly grabbed it from him, her instincts taking over to keep that gun, that horrible gun away from the boy.
The boy stumbled backwards a few steps and Mabel instantly went to her side. Both kids stared at Susan and the boy weakly said, "Okay…not the reaction I was expecting."
Ford, however, fully expected that reaction from Susan the moment that gun was pulled out. The gun was a powerful memory gun that Fiddleford had created. After using it on himself to forget things, he started to lose his mind. At one point, when Susan was walking through the woods to just think about stuff, Fiddleford had tried to use it on her, had tried to wipe her mind with the gun. He had tried to hit her with the gun but something had gone wrong, it had backfired. But she still had ended up passed out. When she awoke, disoriented and confused, she stumbled back to their house. She had been terrified of going out to the woods for a very long time and seeing that gun again had to bring up some horrible memories.
So Ford moved over to her and took the gun from her. "Sorry," he apologized to the kids. "I have no idea how you got a hold of one of these, but..." looking over at Susan, he sighed. "I think this might be perfect."
Susan looked over at him, her eyes wide. "Ford…" her voice trailing off, she ran a hand through her hair. "Is there any other way?"
"No."
Susan shook her head. "I…I trust you, Ford."
Ford nodded and started to examine the gun. "If I can just amplify the signal to a radio headset frequency..." grabbing some wires, he plugged them into the gun. Peering through some viewing glasses, he frowned at the sight of the agents running into the shack. "There. Now everyone PLUG YOUR EARS! GET DOWN! NOW!" As he shouted this, he moved to Susan and crouched next to her, their bodies pressed against each other and their hands covering their ears. A wave pulsed around them and then there was eerie silence.
"We have to move, fast," Ford said, recovering the quickest. Helping Susan up, he squeezed her hand. She stumbled slightly and he instantly wrapped his arms around her, steadying her. He looked over at the others. "I need some important looking documents. Papers, really."
"Your journal," Susan suggested.
"No!" Mabel shouted. Running over, she handed Ford a stack of pages that were hurriedly colored but still fairly good drawings.
Ford blinked down at the pages. "I don't think these would work-"
"There's no time!" Stan informed them. Shoving Ford, and therefore Susan, he nodded to the entrance to the rest of the shack. "You two get the agents out of here."
Sighing, Ford put the pages in the pocket inside his trench coat. Grabbing Susan's hand, the two hurried off. Through the shack they went, which had really changed from when Susan and Ford had been there last, until they were on the porch of the shack and surveying the confused mass of agents.
"Stand down, gentlemen! I've been sent with the latest intel from Washington," pausing he flipped through Mabel's reports and then continued, hoping that this act was successful, "According to this very real report, the power surges in Gravity Falls were actually due to radiation from an unreported meteor shower. A total embarrassment for your whole department. Luckily I'm here to take this mess off your hands, but I'll need of all your..." his voice trailed off, he looked over at Susan, unsure of what exactly he needed to ask them for.
"Any and all of your records," Susan put in.
A man motioned to another man who stepped forwards. "Uh, everything about this case is contained on this drive." The other man handed Ford some sort of drive which he examined, curious about whatever it was.
Looking over at Ford to see him occupied with the drive, Susan shook her head and addressed the agents, "I suggest you leave before I have all of you court-martialed."
One of the men nodded. "Uhh, yes ma'am and sir. Apologizes ma'am and sir." Turning away, he whistled loudly. "False alarm, everyone!" as the agents started to loud up, Susan shivered slightly at the sight of the man tripping on his way to his car. The memory gun definitely had done damage.
Turning away, she ruffled Ford's hair, knowing that that was the only method that would get him to stop examining the drive. He turned and then sighed. "But it's so cool," he whined even as he handed it to her. Seeing a goat, Susan shoved the drive in the goat's mouth and watched as the goat ran off, munching on it.
"I'm sure we can find another one," Susan told Ford with a reassuring pat on his shoulder.
Ford grinned. "I think this is the first time we've been alone since we got back to Gravity Falls…"
"Great uncle Stanford and Miss Susan that was amazing!" at the young girl's voice, Susan gave Ford a look for jinxing their time together. Now, Mable was running towards them along with the mole-rat/gopher, Stan, and the boy.
"Let's not go crazy; it was serviceable," Stan grumbled.
Ford chuckled and nudged Susan, who grinned despite herself. "Thank you, kids, but please, call me Ford."
"And Susan is fine," Susan put in.
The boy nodded quickly. "Sure! Thanks, Great Uncle Ford and Susan. So, uh," grabbing a notepad and pen, he started to click the pen excitedly over and over again, "would you mind if I ask you two a couple billion questions about Gravity Falls?"
Ford blinked. "Um, well I-uh..." he started to stumble.
Susan just stared at the boy as if he was an alien, which given everything in Gravity Falls that could actually be true. "I don't think…"
Luckily, Stan came in to the rescue the two. "All right, kids, it's been a long day and me and my brother, and I guess Susan as well, have a lot to talk about. Why don't you hit the hay, huh?"
The boy looked up at Stan with wide, pleading eyes. "But, it's the author!" he protested and then clicked the pen some more. "I've been waiting so long to ask questions about-"
Stan shook his head and grabbed the boy's and Mabel's heads and pushed them towards the door of the shack. "I said. Hit. The hay!"
As that was going on, Susan and Ford exchanged worried looks. By the way both kids rubbed the back of their heads, Stan using that a means to shove them had to hurt, and by the way they reacted and went upstairs, one had to wonder how common that was. From what Ford had told Susan, Stan had always been rougher and more physical than him, but to act like that as an adult to two children? That was just troubling.
"I'll just...let myself out," the gopher/mole-rat muttered, and then scurried off, which just left Susan, Ford, and Stan on the porch together.
"So…uh," Stan said with an uncomfortable scratch of the back of his neck.
"So…uh," Ford echoed. Seeing how uncomfortable Ford was, Susan took his hand and gave it a small squeeze, which prompted him to look over and give her a grateful smile.
"So you and her…" Stan started, eyeing the two.
Susan nodded. "Though not officially. There weren't that many priests in the apocalypse."
"Try any," Ford muttered. For they had looked, quite a few times. At one point they considered going to a different part of the dimension, but the passage was always too dangerous. To them, the small bands made out of obsidian meant more to them than anything. Both wore the bands around their neck as they didn't want to risk dropping them
Stan stared at them for a long moment, at their closeness. He sighed, "Do you guys want some food or anything?"
Susan looked over at Ford, who shrugged. "Sure," he agreed.
"Sure," Susan echoed.
Stan nodded and then walked inside, leaving Susan and Ford alone. The two looked at each other. "We're finally back."
Ford nodded and hugged Susan. "We're finally back."
For a long moment, the two stood together, their arms around each other. At one point, Ford lowered his head down and kissed Susan briefly for a few moments, but then they just went back to hugging. Susan laid her head on Ford's shoulder and sighed.
In the dimension they had been in, there were so few moments to be quiet. It was all running and fighting and trying to survive. Even though they were safe, they still wanted to be together, in each other arms, as they always were.
"I love you, Stanford Pines," Susan said in a soft voice. She had said it once before, because she never felt comfortable using it casually. To her, love was special, and saying that she loved someone meant that she truly loved them.
"I love you too, Susan," Ford replied. Taking her feelings into account, Ford never brought up the word love and only let Susan bring it up. He would always respond with that he loved her too, because that was the truth and he tried to be as honest as possible.
So they stood there, on the porch, for a long
After a silent dinner of cold pasta, Ford stood next to Stan and stared at themselves in the mirror. Susan was sitting nearby, watching them as they stared at their appearance. They had found all their old clothes, which was very nice, and now Susan was dressed in her dark green dress and Ford was redressed in his red turtleneck and tan trench coat. These clothes truly reminded them that they were home, that everything was okay, and Susan loved that feeling.
"Look at us. When did we become old men?" Stan asked suddenly with a shake of his head.
Ford grinned and looked over at Stan's reflection in the mirror. "You look like Dad," he remarked.
Stan shook his head. "Ugh, uck, don't say that," he complained and then nudged his brother, which prompted both of them to laugh and Susan to grin.
Once the laugh had died down, Ford sighed. "Okay, Stanley, here's the deal. You can stay here the rest of the summer to watch the kids. Susan and I will stay down in the basement and try to contain any remaining damage. But when the summer's over, you give us our house back, you give me my name back, and this Mystery Shack junk is over forever. You got it?"
Stan glared at his brother. "You really aren't gonna thank me, are you?" after a beat with no jumping to answer, Stan shook his head. "Fine. On one condition: you two stay away from the kids; I don't want them in danger. Cause as far as I'm concerned, they're the only family I have left." Shaking his head, Stan walked off.
Susan went over Ford and wrapped her arms around his waist. "It's going to be okay," she reassured.
Ford gave her a grateful grin and then rested his forehead on the top of hair. "I know we should go and see the damage the portal caused by opening, but our bed…our bed is here."
"Tomorrow, Ford. Tomorrow we will work. Tonight, we will sleep."
Ford grinned and took Susan's hand. Together, the two walked to their bed and promptly collapsed.
So, as I said above, this will be a Ford/OC story. I really hope that you guys enjoyed this chapter. I know the ending was rather anti-climatic with them just going to sleep but I promise, it will be a lot more adventures as the story gets on. As much as I love fluff and kisses, Gravity Falls is a kid show and I want to stay true to the tone of the show, which is why I did K+ instead of my usual T rating and there will not be a lot of kissing. I will also make sure there is no cussing.
I am huge fan of the show so I hope that I've stayed true to this episode. I will be updating this once a week, so next Sunday I'll have the next chapter up.
I hope you enjoyed and see you next week!