Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me

Mabel stretched her neck to look around. She saw many familiar faces, here among her parents, but not the ones she was looking for. She looked down at her feet, with a sigh. "Why aren't they here? They promised to come," she asked, without looking at her twin-brother.

"Don't worry, I'm sure they are on their way. They have probably just gotten stuck in the traffic or something like that," Dipper answered. He prayed silently that he was right. Today wasn't the day, Mabel was supposed to be sad. He didn't want his sister to be sad at all, of course, but it was today they were going to graduate from high school!

After four years of hard work, they had finally made it to today, and they were supposed to be happy and celebrate. And their gruncles from Gravity Falls was supposed to be here and celebrate with them! Great uncle Ford usually made sure that Stan and himself were punctual, but today, of all days, they had to be late!

Dipper turned around, to look at the families. He had gotten a head taller than his sister, over the years and didn't need to stand on his toes, to make eye contact with their mother who smiled. Dipper smiled back but his smile got twice as big, when his eyes caught on four familiar faces. "Mabel," he said giving his sister a light slap on her upper arm, and pointed down towards their parents, where Ford, Stan, Wendy and Soos, were about to sit down. "Look!"

Mabel followed her twin's gaze and gasped. "Oh my gosh! Dipper they made it! They made it!" she cheered, as she grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him.

"I know!" Dipper answered, barely able to keep his own happiness down. Mabel let go of him and they made the handshake, they had made up, when they were kids: "Blib blob blubbedyblup, twins!"

Dipper was happy, that they never gave up on their childish handshake. And he was happy, that he had decided to take high school, with his twin sister. Of course, it would have been great, to become Great Uncle Fords apprentice, already when he was twelve, but he wouldn't have missed the high school years with his sister, for the world. It had been a crazy ride, with both good and bad times, but it had all been worth it.

The in-march music started to play, and the ceremony began.

O*o*o*

"Gruncle Stan!" Mabel yelled as she ran towards her family.

Stan caught her in the embrace. "Hey there, sweetie!"

Dipper couldn't possibly blame her. They hadn't seen their gruncles since last summer. Of course they had been video-chatting, a couple of times, but it wasn't easy, when their gruncles were out on the Stan o' War, and they had to study.

Dipper himself, was given a friendly and proud handshake from Ford. He had never really been as big a hugger, as his twin-brother, but he would always hug back if someone hugged him first.

"Good to see you, nerd," Stan said after he had hugged Dipper too.

"You too, fraud," Dipper answered.

"Dipper!" his mother scolded him, cheeks turning red.

"Don't worry about it, Mrs. Pines. They are like this, like all the time. Besides, Stan deserves it."

"Thanks, Wendy," Dipper answered, before he hugged his older friend (and old crush).

"It's good to see you, man," Wendy said. She took his student cap of, and switched it with his old pine-tree cap. "That's better." She placed the student cap on her own head. It was kind of a ritual they had together: trading their hats when they saw each other after a long time, and trade back, when they said goodbye. They had done this every summer, when the twins came to Gravity falls.

O*o*o*

They all went back to where Dipper and Mabel lived with their parents to celebrate. Their mother – Patricia had prepared a big and special meal for the two graduated twins and their friends and uncles. It was a great time, where they exchanged stories:

"It was an amazing sight," Ford explained. "The whale was far away from the boat, but we were still able to see when it jumped up from the water!"

"Yeah, but that damned fish, send a heck of wave towards the ship, making everything fall down from the shelves!" Stan growled.

Ford considered, if he should correct his brother, but decided, that he rather shouldn't. "It wasn't that hard to clean it up again," he said instead.

"No, but my stew was simmering…" Stan growled.

The family laughed, but they probably wouldn't do that if they had known that Ford had used the remaining of the food to make something. Stan never really figured out what it was, but it had given him the worst food poisoning, he ever had had!

"So, Soos how is Melody?" Dipper asked, trying to change the subject, before they risked the older pair of twins to get into a fight. Over the last five years the two of them had managed to regain most of the close relationship they had had, when they were young, but they could still get into some intense fights.

"Oh she is good, man. I should tell you congratulations and say that she is sorry, that she couldn't come," Soos answered.

"Yeah, but she has gotten really big already, dude. I keep thinking that it could happen any day now!" Wendy said.

"What?! You thing so? But the doctor-dude said that it wouldn't happen before five months!" Soos suddenly looked like he had realized that he was about to miss something very important.

"Relax, dude, I'm just messing with you!"

Dipper and Mabel exchanged confused looks. "What are you two talking about?" Mabel asked.

"Oh what? Soos, haven't you told them?" Wendy asked.

"Well, erh, no… but Melody didn't want anybody to know before we were sure and… and I didn't really know how to say it. It's not really normal talk, you know, dude…"

Suddenly Mabel screamed a fan-girl scream, when she realized, what they were talking about, and she looked like she was ready to jump across the table to hug him. "OH MY GOSH! SOOOS! YOU ARE GOING TO BE A DADDY!"

"Soos! Congratulations!" Dipper smiled. He couldn't believe it. The insecure guy, who barely had been able to ask a girl out, was now going to have a child. This was just amazing.

"Thanks, dudes, but I have to admit, that I'm a little nervous… What if I don't know how to be a good dad?" Even though Stan sort of had replaced Soos' real father, he was still scared that he would let down his own son… or daughter.

"Don't you worry about that," Brian Pines said. "Nobody really knows how to be a father, but when you first get to hold you child, it will come naturally!"

"Thanks, dude. I hope I can do just as good a job, as you did with Mabel and Dipper!"

"You have nothing to worry about, Soos," Patricia said. "A child is like a gift from life."

"Dude! We totally forgot about your presents!" Wendy exclaimed. She quickly got up from her chair and ran out to the car, and came back with her arms full of presents, for the twins!

Both Soos and Wendy gave Dipper books, while Mabel got gift cards for creative shops for decoration and close.

From Ford, Mabel got an encyclopedia about animals, which she had developed a growing interest for and Dipper got a pair of boxing gloves from Stan (he had started to teach him boxing skills the last couple of years and he thought that it was about time that he got his own pair of gloves!)

Mabel opened her gift from gruncle Stan and found some black, and pink fabricant and also a pink fez. At the same time, Dipper opened his gift from Great Uncle Ford and was very surprised when he found three new copies of the journals, and a fourth journal, with a pine-tree on the cover and it blank pages.

"Wauw, thanks, Great Uncle Ford!" Dipper said as he looked through the journals. It was clear that Ford had rewritten almost all of the research, with much more order, than the originals.

"What are those books about, Dipper?" Brian asked. "It's most of the research Great Uncle Ford has made since he moved to Gravity falls," Dipper explained. "With my additions."

"You know, I never really understood what you have been researching," their mother said. "May I see it?"

Dipper instantly closed the journal, as his mother reached for it. "Actually, I don't think you would understand it," he said quickly, as his parents looked at him in surprise. "You see, it's filled with biological and scientific terms, and complicated diagrams..."

"Yeah, you would have to be a total nerd, like those two, to understand, half of it," Stan said.

"Well, maybe you could try to explain it in a language, that us `normal´ people would understand?" Brian suggested.

"Yeah…" Dipper said. He began to feel like he was at some kind of interrogation. No he couldn't panic. He would just have to do as Stan had taught him: breathe and keep it cool when you are under pressure (not that Stan was too good at that himself). "It's basically about the animals, that lives in the forest."

"Really? You can write three book just about the animals, that lives in the forest?" Patricia asked.

"Oh yes," Ford said. "You see, the circumstance in Gravity Falls, has forced the animals to adapt very differently than they normally would. For example there is a snake and a badger that have become mates."

The parents exchanged looks. "Well, then that must be something for you too, Mabel," Patricia said. She knew that Dipper had been studying a little with Stanford, but not Mabel, who claimed that the stuff was too boring and nerdy.

"Pfft, no," Mabel said, waving her hand towards her parents. "I love animals and all, but I'm not all nerdy about it. I'm gonna let Dipper be the researching apprentice, while I'm gonna go in a whole other direction." She placed the fez on the top of her head. "How do I look?"

"Like a business woman, ready to scam the whole world," Dipper answered, with Wendy and Soos nodding in agreement.

"Oh I'm gonna teach her that, and much more!" Stan stated confident.

"Mabel, did you say: `researching apprentice´? What do you mean by that?" their mother asked.

"Oh, man, we never got to tell you," Dipper said. "Well Great Uncle Ford offered me an apprenticeship, a while ago, and I agree to take it when we finished high school."

"Yeah! And Gruncle Stan is going to teach me, how to become a business woman!" Mabel said.

"But what about college?" their father asked. "Oh we never applied to any colleges. We agreed to do this, about a year ago," Dipper said.

"Oh…" Patricia said. "But… well, we wanted it to be a surprise tonight, but in that case, we probably should have told you this before, Dipper."

"What are you talking about?"

"Your headmaster called us a couple of months ago, saying that with your grades, you would be able to get in everywhere. We assumed that you wanted to go on the best school possible, so we gave your headmaster permission to contact the school," Brian said.

"This letter came a couple of days ago," Patricia said, handing her son a large envelope. "Even though you are going to apply a little late, your headmaster was sure, that you could get in."

Dipper took the envelope from his mother and opened it. It was filled with brochures and other papers. Dipper laid the brochures on the table, and began to read the actually letter. As he read further down the paper, his eyes grew bigger and his mouth fell open. He then read it again. And again. He kept rereading the sentences, that wouldn't really penetrate into his head.

Mabel took one of the brochures, and gasped when she read the headline. She then handed it to Gruncle Ford. "Isn't this…?"

Ford took the brochure. His eyes got almost as big as Dipper's. "It is indeed, Mabel," he mumbled, before he looked at Dipper, who still kept rereading the letter. "Dipper? Have you gotten a scholarship, for West Coast Tech?!"

"Yeah…" he mumbled. The words were finally coming through. "Oh my gosh! I..I can't believe it!" West Coast tech… he had been accepted to the school not even Great Uncle Ford had been able to get into.

"Congratulations, dude," Soos said.

"Yeah man, sounds great," Wendy cheered.

"T..this is amazing..." He could barely keep his excitement down, until he looked up from the paper. Everybody around the table was smiling at him, trying to seem happy for him, but he could easily see the truth in their eyes, especially Mabel's. She really tried to hide it, but her disappointment, and something like fear, was shining through.

"And I'm definitely going to think about it," Dipper said in a more normal tone, as he folded the paper and putted it back into the envelope.

"Think about it? But Dipper… It's such a huge opportunity…" his mom said.

"I know that, mom. That's why I'm going to think about it. I have still got a week before I have to answer," Dipper said and stuffed the rest of the documents and brochures back in the envelope.

"Yeah, but…"

"Excuse me, but was it something about dessert?" Wendy cut her off.