"AAAAAAAIIIGH!"

Pacifica Northwest groaned faintly as she woke up for the umpteenth time this year. Sometimes she really regretted that moment of pity she had after what had happened a year ago… But as she had started this, she was responsible for it. She had learned that from Mabel.

Yanking on a robe over her silk nightclothes, she tugged the cozy garment shut over her blossoming chest. Here I am with these boobs and Mabel would totally have been a flatsy patsy, Pacifica thought with a slight smirk… Until she remembered what had happened when a fresh scream from the teen down the hall from her interrupted the thought. The smirk slid straight off her face.

Slipping on her fuzzy llama slippers- another Mabel inspired thing she would never admit to outside of her home, though the material was extremely high quality- Pacifica stood up. Padding across the lush carpet of her bedroom, she opened the door to the hallway soundlessly. One of the night maids was passing by, rubbing sleepy eyes as she prepared to go deal with the disturbance that had become semi-normal in the past year. Pacifica waved the newbie away slightly irritably; she didn't know procedure in the house yet, obviously. The maid took the hint and skittered away from the area, shooting a grateful smile over her shoulder at her mistress. Pacifica took it in stride. It wasn't the maid she was doing this all for.

Making her way to the darker wood door than her own, she paused. Nerves skittered up her spine- it was still strange to enter that boy's room without his permission. He was always so uptight about it, even if this was Pacifica's home. She gave him that space because…. Well, because he was HER brother. Since there was no one left that could look after him…. Pacifica had let the boy with the constellation on his forehead into her home and her life.

With an abrupt surge of confidence- this was her home, after all- she pushed in the door. It didn't budge. With a grumble, Pacifica retrieved the key to this particular room she had from her robe pocket. Paranoid teenage boys tended to lock their doors fairly often, she'd found out, so she kept the only other key in the house that would work every time for nights like this. It would work every time because, apparently, it was a spell breaker. Said paranoid teenage boy also happened to know a lot of magic thanks to the stupid Journals he read, so the spell-breaking key came in handy.

Pacifica unlocked the door, with the characteristic snapping click of a locking spell being broken. Really, where did he find this kind of thing in the Journals? And how did he remember it even after he'd been away from those freaky tomes so long?... Right. It was protection against what was intrinsically a part of Gravity Falls- monsters and mysteries, neither of which Dipper Pines wanted anything to do with ever again right now.

She padded over to the bed, dully looking over at him. Dipper was so pale and skinny…. He'd been losing more weight. Well, some of that was his recent growth spurt, which he'd hated. Pacifica had found him crying in one of the dressing rooms and begging a mirror, "Don't change! Don't leave me, don't leave me behind again!"…. Whatever that meant. It probably had something to do with Mabel. He'd also been refusing to go outside lately, without much pestering from Pacifica- the only person he'd listen to at this point.

Messy brown hair was stuck to the pillow with sweat, and his eyes roved ceaselessly underneath his bruise-colored eyelids. The circles were still there- but then, they were the norm with this many wracking night terrors and near sleepless nights. His breathing was ragged and quick in his chest, like something was chasing him. Maybe it was Bill again.

Pacifica reached over, and with practiced movements grabbed hold of Dipper's shoulders and pinned him. That was when he blasted her with the loudest scream yet, despite sounding incredibly hoarse. Pacifica proceeded to smack him upside the head. This had been the only proven method of waking him up thoroughly. And him waking up only halfway was NOT pleasant.

Bloodshot doe brown eyes snapped open. Pacifica gave a sigh of relief- they were clear and normal… Normal for him now, at least. She climbed off him.

"….P-Pacifica?"

His voice cracked a little as he sat up, after untangling his limbs. Pacifica couldn't help but blush and look away as the teen boy sat up. While Dipper had been getting skinnier than he had been at first, he had also grown into a rather nice looking chest… Just her luck this was one of the nights he picked to sleep shirtless.

"L-look at me… P-p-please…."

With a soft sigh, she looked back at him again. His brown pair of eyes looked into her own blue pair. With a soft sigh, she scooted over close to him and wrapped her arms around him. He returned the gesture with his thin arms. The two teens cuddled into each other, finding comfort with each other's presence.

This ritual had been much the same since the first few days after Pacifica took Dipper in. Both of them had intense night terrors after the nightmare that had taken Pacifica's father and Grunkle Stan… As well as Mabel.

Dipper had been a wreck ever since. Pacifica herself didn't have the time to break- she was expected to take over her father's company, and company heads didn't break- except here. In his arms. Her arms wrapped around his torso, so skinny and almost frail…. And yet…. For all his dorkiness, all his nerdish tendancies, and his fascination with videogames that had started to come back to life a year after the attack…. Pacifica knew this boy in her arms would not break. Crack or splinter, maybe. Cry, DEFINENTLY. But he was still here… Even after a monster wiped out two of the four people he held dearest to his heart.

Pacifica stroked the nut brown hair as he buried his face in the slope of her shoulder, nuzzling into the fabric of the robe. His hands clenched on the back of it, tucked almost naturally with one arm around her shoulder and the other around her waist. Her breath hitched, but she returned her hands to the appropriate places. Not the time to be thinking about that. He needed her in the NOW….. Not with her brain running to incredibly inappropriate places.

His breathing was still ragged, tired.

"Do you want to talk to me about it?"

Usually, he said no. Then they just held one another til one or both of them fell asleep. This time…

"I saw it again. The…fire. Flames. Everywhere….Bill…."

He had spat the name like poison, shuddering as he relayed what his nightmare had detailed this time. Pacifica played with his hair until he calmed enough to speak again.

"He… It… Bill…They were there…all d-"

His voice had cut off, strangled as it had on that word for almost a year. The… well, the word "dead." It wasn't like Pacifica wanted to hear it either…. Her father had also died that day. She wished things could have gone another way… Almost wished that he was still alive, sometimes, despite how hellish he had made her life some days. But she had an odd feeling that saying it… acknowledging that Mabel and his Grunkle were gone…. Might bring a bit of closure to the boy she'd come to care for, over the past year.

"D-D-D-d-d-…."

He was getting near hyperventilating. Maybe Pacifica should intervene….

"They were DEAD. I SAW them… All over again….charred and burnt and not…. Not dead…. They talked to me, said it was all my fault… I never got the chance to apologize….."

A hiccupping, gasping breath from Dipper. The brown eyes, once so clear and curious, were hazed over by guilt and fear. Pacifica really didn't like this feeling that rose in her heart- yes, she had one- when she saw the stubborn, curious boy so close to shattering.

"Dipper…"

With a shuddering cry, he pushed her away and nearly off the bed. Balling up in a corner of the bed, he put his hands over his head and started mumbling to himself, whimpering occasionally. That push hurt Pacifica, to some degree… And not just because Dipper's long-fingered hands were stronger than they looked. With a quiet sigh, she crawled back up onto the bed and followed him into his corner.

She wouldn't do this for anyone else, wouldn't take the time out of her well-earned sleep at night. Just for him. Mabel's brother. Stan Pines' grand-nephew. The Author's grandson. And the boy she… Well, the boy she had come to like very much.

What she really didn't like were these nights. When he was so sad and so guilty…. Haunted by the creature they had faced down, even when Bill was locked away safely. Presumably forever.

Crawling to him, she carefully nabbed his wrists and started to coax them to more normal positions. They had a hard time budging, and if she dropped one Dipper would just snap it back to himself. Pacifica tried his legs, but the same beetle-esque effect happened again and again and again. After a bit of this, she groaned crabbily, out of breath and still tired herself.

"Dipper… Listen to me."

His shaking stilled and mumbling ceased. That was a good sign. Maybe.

"What happened that night wasn't your fault. It was… It was no one's fault. At least they… At least it happened to save the world. Now everyone else is safe and not under Bill's control…. They wouldn't blame you either."

She wasn't good with comforting words. She could tell by the sharp, angry movement he made after she finished. He sat up not long after that, quickly. Pacifica jerked back in surprise when he turned his head to her. Those brown eyes of his still wreathed in the shadows of haunting memories.

"What world's worth living in if it doesn't have Grunkle Stan or Mabel?"

Pacifica had no answer to that. Then… she remembered.

"You have other people. People who are probably pretty worried about you and grieving, too. That big question mark guy, that woman with the lazy eye from the diner, the lumberjack girl," with some hesitation, "…Me."

Even Pacifica was bright enough to know to not mention the Author. Dipper… Hadn't reacted well to the man's survival after his nearest and dearest had died.

She continued, "You've just… been too out of it to remember. It… wasn't fair of me to isolate you up here in the mansion, and for so long too. But… It seemed like what you needed at the time. And… I wanted… I wanted to…"

What had she wanted to do? Pacifica could barely remember. She just felt this… overwhelming need for someone who would know… Who would know how bad it was, losing someone. And somehow… That need for company in the mind-numbing misery of taking over her father's corporation and trying her best to help rebuild the town she was born in… Had evolved into something more as they nursed each other through nightmares of that fateful night.

When she felt Dipper's arms wrap around her, she startled. He was taller than her sitting up now, somehow… It was even more confusing when he buried his face in her hair, gathering her to his chest. Even grieving, tired and too thin, Dipper radiated warmth. Warmth Pacifica realized she had been craving. Her arms trembled, then settled around his chest. The other fifteen year old stroked her back gently, naturally cuddling her to him as if he'd been doing it forever when this was DEFINENTLY a new thing.

"…Don't… Do that. It's weird when you apologize, okay?"

Pacifica laughed faintly, burrowing her face into his-bare- chest to hide a flush that was forming on her cheeks.

"I won't. Not unless it matters. I'm… not the stupid brat from that year…"

At least, she didn't think so. She could hear the rumble in his chest as he replied.

"No, Pacifica. You're not the same as before."

He lay back, so that both of them reached the sheets. Now here was a familiar part. Pacifica curled close, tugging at the sheets that Dipper ended up getting to first. He tucked the blanket around her first, and most securely. It… was nice to feel protected once in a while, she mused. His cheek settled back on top of her head and she settled into their positions for the night. It didn't occur to her once that this position was embarrassing or odd with a boy, especially one she liked. They had been doing this for a long time, and nothing untoward had happened.

Except that.

Pacifica's eyes shot open as she felt lips press to the top of her head. When Dipper didn't say anything and resumed the position with his cheek on top of her head, she finally exhaled. A tiny smile curled over her lips. She then proceeded to press a soft kiss against the area where Dipper's neck met his shoulders. Repositioning, Pacifica closed her eyes.

They both slept without nightmares.

Oneshot. My first fic in Gravity Falls, possibly the last. Just got inspired reading the fanfics and watching the Northwest episode. Was recently hooked and didn't look back. Let me know if there are any specific errors.

Cookies, hugs, and kisses to all who review

-June