Family is supposed to be our safe haven. Very often, it's the place where we find the deepest heartache.

̶ Iyanla Vanzant

Darkness constantly patrolled cold and empty hallways. Shadows crept along the walls, ready to pounce upon any unwary creature that might accidentally wander too close to their domain. Strange creaks and moans echoed throughout the house, almost as if stalking unseen prey. This was the current state of the Pines household. Normally so full of energy and life, it was now nothing more than a paranoid's worst nightmare. That was not to say that anything strange was happening. No, this was actually all part of the 'daily routine' as the Pines matriarch constantly reiterated.

As with every morning, the house's occupants had left at the crack dawn and would not be due back for another couple of hours. A tired and true pattern that was almost never broken except in the face of the rare holidays and even rarer sick days. Not the least bit surprising considering the fact that the Pines matriarch was a creature of habit. Finding even a hair out of place was enough to garner her attention and subsequently her wrath. Therefore everything followed a strict schedule in order to keep the older woman placated.

So, yes, this was simply another normal day in the absence of the Pines family.

SLAM!

Or not.

The eerie stillness of the Pines household was disrupted by the home's front door loudly slamming shut. Not even a second later two bodies of similar build and wearing nearly identical faces rushed through the halls. One of these bodies threw open the door to a shared bedroom and frantically ushered the other inside, only pausing long enough to quickly, but quietly, shut the door behind them.

If one had not witnessed the strange event with their own eyes, and even then, they would have thought the whole thing just a figment of their imagination. For the house, almost as if trying to wipe the scene from existence slowly descended back into an eerie stillness once again.

It was to be incredibly short-lived.

SLAM!

Once again two figures had slammed the front door behind themselves, although these newcomers varied much more in appearance. They were also a lot more verbal than those who had entered the quiet home before them.

"Oh. My. God!" A loud angry shriek rang out through the Pines household, effectively putting an end to the eerie stillness, but also serving the purpose of striking fear into the hearts of the silent twins. "Yeah, the two of you better run!" A tall woman with light brown hair screamed. She was the mother of the twins currently in hiding. Normally unflappable, the woman seemed to be on the verge of having a total meltdown. "I cannot believe that you two would do something so-! So-! So… STUPID!"

Behind her, a much shorter man with dark brown hair looked on with a conflicted expression, "Look, sweetie, it really isn't that bad. I mean, technically, it's a good thing." Using a voice that was both calmer and quieter than his wife's, Mr. Pines hoped to curb her anger, something that the always happy-go-lucky man immediately regretted upon seeing the way that his wife's whole body stiffened.

Oh no… Here it comes.

Turning slowly, so that her husband could get the full effect of what was to come next, Mrs. Pines was pleasantly pleased to see that her husband was already sweating up a storm and she had yet to do anything. Ah, the perks of wearing the metaphorical pants in a relationship.

That aside, now came the part that she had mastered for winning any and all arguments with her husband. Making sure that her whole body was turned in a way that kept her spouse in her direct line of sight, and therefore the line of fire, Mrs. Pines leveled a soul-piercing glare at him. A tactic that she long ago learned had the extremely satisfying effect of causing her husband to squirm like a fish fresh out of water.

While absentmindedly glad that looks lacked the required power to kill, Mr. Pines still found himself squirming uncomfortably under the harsh scrutiny of his wife's piercing gaze.

He would never admit it to her face, but Mr. Pines was absolutely terrified of his wife's wrath. Although, he guessed, that to some degree she was already aware of this little fact, otherwise her trump weapon wouldn't be giving him a look that could punch holes in solid steel.

Wringing his hands together in an effort to clear them of any sweat, he grimaced when this had the opposite effect and caused his hands to become sweatier than before. Quickly wiping his hands on his jeans, Mr. Pines licked his lips and swallowed as much saliva as he possibly could, he did, after all, have to convince his extremely beautiful wife that their children had not done anything horribly wrong. Something that he was absolutely positive, without a doubt, he would fail at. Oh the horrors of his wife's superior (or was it just stubborn?) logic. Still, he had to at least try.

Yep, beautiful. Not scary at all. Nope. Maybe I should try and compliment her to start off? NO! She'll see right through that. Oh my God! What am I going to do? She's still looking this way! But I can't let the kids get in trouble! Oh right, here I go! Confidence! Ooze confidence!

"M-most parents would be happy f-for their c-children!" Inwardly kicking himself for both his stuttering and loud tone, Mr. Pines nearly gave up then and there, but was swiftly reminded exactly why he needed to do this when from the corner of his eye he spotted his darling children peeking at him from around a corner. "I- I mean, Dipper and Mabel will be s-seniors… At the age of fifteen no less! I-isn't that great honey?"

In response to her husband's question Mrs. Pines simply closed her eyes. She was well aware that the children were listening in on their conversation. It was something that her husband had always teased her about; she always knew where the other members of her family were. He chalked it up to some kind of supernatural ability, but she had harshly reprimanded him for coming up with something so… illogical and insane. But, that was not the focus of this conversation. What was it again? Ah yes, the children. Her children… her pride and joy. She had raised them to be respectful and courteous to all they met, and was especially happy that during the 'rebellious stage' of their life that they held onto the things that she had instilled into them since birth. All things considered, Mrs. Pines had thought, that she and her husband, although often spoiling the children, had done an amazing job being parents... But like all children, and parents, she added as an afterthought, no one was perfect. Her earlier outburst had been a prime example of that.

After what seemed like an eternity, the rest of the Pines family were left standing in awe. Mrs. Pines had just agreed with her husband. This was surely not an unseen occurrence, but rather a rare one.

Releasing his breath that he was unaware that he had been holding until that point Mr. Pines looked behind his wife and to his children who looked as surprised as him and flashed them a bright smile before he began speaking, "Alright! Since that's out of the way… How about we go-,"

"Wait." Mr. Pines swallowed whatever words had been about to leave his throat as his wife once again opened her eyes and looked at him. Her glare was less of a glare this time, and more of a sad stare. Mr. Pines stood in place as his wife began to pace back in forth, unknowingly doing exactly what she had asked of him.

"You are right, of course. It is amazing that they are seniors at the young age of fifteen. It shows both their intellect and maturity." Both, children and father were flabbergasted. Not only had his wife agreed with him, but here she was, praising his opinion and even adding to it! Turning his head to the side, Mr. Pines looked outside to see if it had started snowing in August, in California, no less! It was the only logical conclusion at this point! Stopping to roll her eyes at her husband's maturity, Mrs. Pines continued, "Yes, while there are many goods that come from this, surely you know that there are many bad as well, right?" Stopping her pacing so that she could look her husband in the eye, she question him, "Do you know what those bad things are?"

Mr. Pines did not. The twins did not. It seemed that the only person with even a slightest clue was the original speaker, Mrs. Pines. Not that she had expected anything different. Her husband focused on only the good, a trait that their darling Mabel shared with him. And Dipper, quite like herself, almost refused to admit to any flaws within him.

"I figured as much. Honey, can you name three, no, even one of Dipper or Mabel's friends? Not counting each other, of course. How about their favorite pastimes? Favorite movie? Favorite food? Can you?" Her voice had been rising as she spoke and Mr. Pines found his throat drier than it had ever been, peering over his wife's shoulder once again, he could see both Dipper and Mabel looking down at the ground guiltily. "Honey, our children's only friends are each other! They do not go outside! They do not go to the movies! Heck! I have not even heard one of them mention a crush! That is something that is normal at this age!" All of the conversation's listeners flinched back at the amount of stress that Mrs. Pines had put on the word 'normal', but she did not seem to be finished, "I know that our children are smart! The counselors, tell us. The teachers, tell us. Even the principal pulled me aside one day just to tell me how, 'Amazingly bright your twins are!' So, I know that our children are smart! But…" Here Mrs. Pines voice dropped to nothing more than a mere whisper, and all those listening had to strain themselves in an effort to hear better, "they are different. Our children are different. They hold entire conversations without talking, Mabel has a cheerfulness that is even worse than your own, and poor Dipper has a birthmark in the shape of the Big Dipper on his forehead! Add all that up, and it is no wonder that I was called to the office one day because Mabel had beaten a boy up for picking on Dipper."

Once again, Mrs. Pines was met with silence. Her normally eccentric husband had nothing to say, and she could hear the tell-tale sign of Mabel crying. While it broke her heart to do this, it needed to be done. Deep in her heart no matter how much she wanted to just take her babies into her arms and tell them that she did not mean any of it, she also had another feeling deeper within, the feeling for her children to grow up normally. To not be defined by being twins. And so, she continued.

"At first, I was hoping that changing schools would work. I thought that maybe since they were being picked on that a new school would allow them to start fresh… BUT NO! THEY STILL ACT THE SAME! THEY STILL LIVE UP TO THAT STUPID 'MYSTERY TWINS' NICKNAME! AND NOW THIS?! EVEN AFTER I SPECIFICALLY INSTRUCTED THEM NOT TO?! AFTER I POINTED OUT EVERYTHING WRONG WITH IT?! WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO?! AS A MOTHER, WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO?!" Mr. Pines had moved before the first tear had even fallen, wrapping his wife in his arms he allowed her to vent everything, "What am I supposed do? What… What am I supposed to do?"

Mr. Pines had no answer. He was unsure. He had seen his children's disregard for all things normal as signs that they would never allow someone to put them down. He had not known about Dipper being picked on. Sure, he remembered his wife talking about it and being strangely upset, but he had seen it as a couple of kids just being mean, because their parents had already instilled within them society's definition of normal. He had never given thought to how it was affecting his wife, and what about their children? Did they really have to go everyday with being harshly bullied? Squeezing his wife tightly in his arms Mr. Pines made up his mind. It was time to change this!

"Dipper? Mabel? Could you guys come here?"

Like clockwork his children came to stand before their mother and him. It was almost strange even from his point of view. They walked in sync, and if he did not know any better he would have sworn that they even breathed in sync. Yeah right, that's impossible.

Clearing his throat, Mr. Pines pulled away from his wife and found himself looking up to see her eyes. Ah the curses of being short. Once he was sure that he had everyone's attention Mr. Pines began to speak, "Sweetie, do you remember my Uncle Stan?" Waiting for some type of confirmation from his wife before he continued Mr. Pines was happy to see that his wife did indeed remember his 'interesting' uncle, "Well, he lives in Oregon, in this little town. What if we send the kids there for their senior year?"

Almost as if they had though the exact same thing, Mr. Pines was now faced with three wide-eyed people looking at him as if he had grown a second head. That was before he heard three voices of varying intensity begin to yell at him.

Uh… Maybe this wasn't as good a plan as I thought…

Author's Note: So yeah. Here's a new Gravity Falls fanfic. I hope you guys will give it a try and any feedback and criticism is welcome. To be entirely honest, this was a pain to write. I have not written anything for over year and trying to embark on a multi-chapter story feels like a bit too much for me. That is not to say I will not be trying my best. I will that you can bet on! That aside, however, this story will not officially be starting for another two weeks. For the story's start date (if you liked it enough) check my profile. If you want to know exactly why it will not be starting until then feel free to check out one of the websites listed under my contact information. Or PM me, it is no problem. Thank you all!