Disclaimer: none of these characters belong to me. The show belongs to Alex Hirch and the movie The Impossible, which inspired this fanfic belongs to Juan Antonio Bayona and María Belón

It was suppose to be a nice time. A fun trip for the whole family.

Stan still remembered the conversation between him and his brother. No: His brother and himself, as Ford would have corrected him. Normally Stan hated being corrected, but right now he would give anything to hear his older twin brothers haughty voice, telling him how to talk right.

Stan remembered how happy he had been for his brother, when he had won a price and a huge cheque, at some kind of science fair, or whatever. They had celebrated Ford's victory, and the next day, they had started the discussion:

"So? Have you decided what you wanna do with that load of cash yet?" Stan asked.

"Not exactly," Ford answered. "I have given it some thought though."

"Yeah? Like what?"

"Well, we aren't exactly financially strained, so I was thinking about spending it on something special, yet sensible. Like for example the beginning of a new project, that could help improve energy consumption in most of the stat. Possibly the whole country."

"Hmm... I guess that's good," Stan said, leaning back in his chair. "It's your money, so it's your call."

Ford gave his twin-brother an analyzing look, trying to read his body-language. "If you have any suggestions, then I would like to hear them."

"Well," Stan said, sounding like his was really thinking about it. "I was thinking, that it would be nice to spend the money on a trip."

"A trip?" Ford repeated, with a raised eyebrow. "Stanley, we've just finished sailing around most of the world."

"I know, Poindexter. But I was thinking about inviting Dipper and Mabel, on a Christmas holiday, to some place where it's warm."

"Hmm..."

"Come on, Sixer, it would be fun! Not to mention; nice to spend time with the kids again."

"I suppose that you're right. But where had you envisaged that we would go?"

"So you are up for it?"

"Yes," Ford said. "It would be nice. But we'll have to ask Patricia and Brian, if Dipper and Mabel can go, first."

"Ha! Let's invite them too, just for the heck of it!"

They started researching, and finally agreed on going to Thailand, where they had found very nice hotel. They called up their family in California the same night.

"Hey kids!" Stan said, when his great niece and nephew showed up on the screen.

"Hey, gruncles!" Mabel answered and waved.

"How are you doing?"

"Pretty good," Dipper answered. "Even though everything here is pretty boring compared Gravity falls."

"I can only imagine," Ford answered.

"Hey, how did the Science fair go?" Dipper asked. Ford had asked him if he would like to join him, but unfortunately his parents wouldn't let him skip school.

"Well, I have to admit that I was pretty impressed by the competition. Technology has for sure improved the last 30 years."

"But ya still beat all of their smart asses!" Stan said, wrapping an arm around his brother's neck.

"That's amazing!" Mabel cheered.

"Yeah congratulations!" Dipper said.

"Thank you, thank you," Ford said, waving his hands in front of the screen, like he was getting embarrassed.

"Did they give you one of those giant cheques?" Mabel asked.

"Why yes, they did."

"Please, please, please, gruncle Ford, can I pleeeeeeaaaaase see it?"

"Of course. I'll just go get it."

"Yaaiiii!" Mabel's eyes got twice as big, when her gruncle brought in the large piece of paper. She had seen cheques like that on TV, and she had always wanted to see one in real life (even though she already had seen one, when Gideon had tried to trick Stan into signing over the Shack to him, but that had been fake, and she wanted to see a real one), and seeing her gruncle holding it over Skype, was almost as good! "Wauw! Dipper, look at all those zeros!"

"You're right, that's pretty impressive," her brother agreed. "What are you gonna spend all that money on?"

"That is actually the reason we are calling you. But before we tell you, could you please make you parents join us?"

"Sure." Dipper left the room, and less than five minutes later, all six Pines' was gather together over the computers.

"We would like to give you an early Christmas present," Ford explained.

"So you're all invited to Thailand, when the holidays begin!" Stan finished.

"Seriously?!" the twins exclaimed.

"That's so generous of you," Patricia said. She was tall woman and had long, blond hair.

"But we can't accept that," Brian said. Just like every other Pines, he had thick brown hair.

"Nonsense!" Ford said. "Now, what date would you like for us to book the flight?"

Stan sighed and tucked the blanket tighter around Mabel, who was sleeping beside him. "Don't worry, sweetie. Tomorrow, I'm gonna find our family," he promised. Words couldn't describe how much he hoped that he was right.

o*o*o*

"Ready for a new adventure?" Dipper asked, when they had found their seats on the plane.

"You know it, Bro-bro!" Mabel answered. She had been excited for this, ever since their gruncles had invited them, more than a month ago. Of course she had been very disappointed, when she had realized that Waddels couldn't come with them, since all the hotels had a very strict politic against bringing pets. Stan had been very close to threatening the owners, just like they had done with the bus-driver, but Ford had convinced him otherwise. Mabel had been devastated, until Soos had offered that Waddels could spend the Christmas in Gravity falls.

Brian put the suitcase away, and was about to sit down, when Patricia said: "Oh, erh Brian, could you please ask Stan to come over here? There is something I have to talk to him about."

"Honey, we are about to take of," Brian said.

"Could you switch seats with him then?"

"All right then," Brian mumbled.

"You wanted to talk to me, Trisha?" Stan said and sat down beside her.

"Actually, I just wanted Brian to sit beside Ford," Patricia explained.

Stan looked to the seats, where his nephew had just sat down, and back at Patricia. "Why?"

"Because, they don't really know each other. I think it would be good for them to spend some quality time together."

"Hmm..." Stan looked back at his brother and nephew. Now that he thought about it, Patricia was right: Brian and Ford had never really spoken more than a few words before. It actually seemed like Brian was avoiding it. "I think Brian is freaked out, because of his hands," Stan mumbled.

"You do?" Patricia asked, hoping that she sounded surprised. The truth was that she had been thinking the same. "Why do you think that?"

"Because I've seen it before, plenty of times, Trisha. All the time when we were kids. Either people would bully him, or simply stay away from him, like he had some kind of disease."

Patricia felt her heart drop. Stanford was a good man. He didn't deserve that kind of treatment! Especially not from his own nephew! She knew how painful it could be, when you were excluded because you were different. She had seen the pain so may times in her own son's eyes, when he was picked on, because of his birthmark. At least Mabel had always been there to cheer him up. "Well, then it's good, that he had such a caring brother."

Brian shifted uncomfortably in his seat beside his uncle. He felt like he had to say something, but what? It felt weird to say something like `thanks for the trip!´. They had already thanked them!

Brians eyes caught on the book, which Ford was reading, but he couldn't see the title due to the fingers covering it. Five long fingers. It was just so... weird!

Ford turned his head and Brian knew that he had noticed the staring! "So, erh, what are you reading there?" Brian asked, trying to cover for his mistake.

"Ah, it's an old classic, called Moby-dick," Ford answered.

"Oh, that sounds exciting. What is it about?"

Ford gave him a surprised look, and Brian realized how stupid his question had sounded. Ford then gave a long summary, but instead of listening, Brian tried to figure out, why he was so awkward around his uncle. The birth defect did make him feel uncomfortable, but he should be able to overcome that. It didn't make it any better that the man was a genius... Brian couldn't even keep up with his own son, so how was he suppose to say something that was interesting enough, to start a conversation with Ford?

"So... I've always thought that it's kind of funny, that there is no twins in my generation, you know: You and Stan in your generation and Dipper and Mabel in their generation, but none in mine, I mean... Isn't it something about that twin are genetically?"

"Well yes, it is true that it is genetically, but not in that way. You see; every woman can have monozygotic twins like my brother and I, but that doesn't go for dizygotic twins as Dipper and Mabel; only women are able to have the gene as dominant, while men only are able to carry the gene recessively and pass it on to their daughters. That means that Dipper and Mabel being twins is caused by genes from Patricia's family."

"Oh... I see," Brian mumbled. The rest of the flight was painfully awkward.

It got better, when they landed, and started talking to the others again.

Mabel was so excited, that she totally forgot to look where she was going and Dipper had to hold an arm in front of her, to prevent her from walking out in front of a car. He had to admit that he was excited too though. Everything was so different from California and he couldn't wait until he could get out and explore the animals and plants, with great uncle Ford, and just have a great time with his family!

The hotel was amazing. Stan and Ford had rented two, great cabins and despite how warm it was outside, they were lovely cooled down inside.

"Dipper, look! There's a pool outside!" Mabel cheered. "Let's go for a swim!"

"Now hold on, young lady," her mother said. "You have to help unpacking first."

"Orh, mooom!" Mabel said.

"Hey, the quicker we unpack, the quicker, we can go swimming," Dipper said. It was enough to motivate his sister and soon they had unpacked all the suitcases and were splashing around in the pool.

"This was a magnificent idea," Ford said, as he watched his family enjoying themselves.

"Of course! It was my idea, Sixer!" Stan answered and both of the laughed.

In the evening, they ate at a fancy restaurant, and Stan and Ford talked about some of their adventures at the Stan' O war II (they had already told them plenty of times by now, but Mabel just loved hearing them!). After dinner, they walked down to the beach.

"Wauw! Look at all those stars!" Mabel exclaimed.

"Here you go, pumpkin," Stan said, and lifted her up to sit on his shoulders.

"Look, a shooting star," Dipper said.

"I wish, that this will be the best Christmas ever!" Mabel blurred out.

"I'm sure that, that wish is gonna come true, kiddo," Stan said.

Patricia couldn't help smiling. She adored the sweet relationship her kids and their great uncles had. Her kids had always seemed like they had some... difficulties, fitting in, in California. But somehow Stan and Ford had managed to make them more open-minded to new things, not to mention capable of handling them!

"We should probably get back to the others, if we want to make it to sending off the lanterns," Brian said.

o*o*o*

"Pst, Dipper. Dipper," Mabel whispered.

Still half asleep Dipper scratched his cheek, where Mabel had been poking him.

"Dipper," Mabel tried again and poked harder this time.

"Urh... Mabel," Dipper mumbled, as he started to wake up. "What is it?"

"I can't sleep. Will you go out and watch the stars with me?"

"Mh... No," Dipper yawned. "Go back to sleep, Mabel. We'll watch them tomorrow, okay?"

Mabel went back to bed feeling very disappointed. She loved looking at stars, but it was no fun doing it on your own.

o*o*o*

"Sshh, shh," Stan whispered. It wouldn't be fun if the kids weren't asleep. He carefully pushed the door to the kids' room open. Both of them were still fast asleep. Stan waved the others into the room, and gave then sign to be ready. They nodded, and Stan lifted the horn and blew it as hard as he could!

The twins immediately woke up; Mabel screamed and Dipper fell out of the bed, making Stan laugh out loud: "Rise and shine, kids! Your gifts are waiting!"

"Gifts..." Mabel began, rubbing her eyes. "Oh my gosh, Dipper! It's Christmas morning!" She rushed over and grabbed her brother's wrist. "Come on, let's go!"

Patricia and Brian followed their kids down stairs.

"Come on, Sixer, you're gonna miss all the fun," Stan said, when he noticed that his twin brother was just standing there, looking out of the window.

"Yeah... I'm coming, Stanley."

"Hold on, I know that face. What's wrong?" Stan asked, holding a hand out to prevent his brother from walking down stairs.

"Nothing... I..." Ford began, but the look in his brother's eyes told him, that Stan wasn't buying it. "I just had a weird feeling, that's all."

"Yeah? What kind of feeling?"

"That... something is wrong." Ford lowered his voice. "I know this might seems peculiar to you, but when I lived in the dimensions, I adapted the ability to envisage dangers that might come. I haven't experienced it here, before, but now..."

"Now you think that something dangerous is gonna happen to us?" Stan finished. "Like what?"

"I don't know, Stanley... It's probably nothing. Let's just go join the others, shall we?"

"Now you're talking, Sixer!" Stan said and wrapped his arm around his brother's neck. "When will you ever stop worrying, huh?"

Mabel was thrilled when she watched her family open her gifts. All of them were homemade, and every single member of the family, seemed to love it. Especially Ford was very fond of the six-fingered glows she had knitted.

Patricia was very surprised, when she realized that Stan had given Dipper a pair of boxing gloves, but Stan argued that he had been even younger when he had gotten his first pair.

"Come on, open your gift, gruncle Ford!" Mabel said and handed him another box.

"But you already gave me the glows?" Ford answered surprise.

"Yes, but this one is from all of us!"

Ford opened the box and found a brand new laptop inside.

`Well that's just great,´ Stan thought. He had finally managed to get his brother away from all of his nerd-work and now they gave him a computer! Stan knew that there was no way he was gonna get his brother away from it, when it first was started up. Heck, this was gonna be worse, than the first time he had tried using an iPad!

After opening the remaining presents, Dipper and Mabel started teaching Ford how to operate a modern laptop. Ford quickly learned that it was much different from his old one, and listened carefully, as Mabel showed him how to change the background, and Dipper explained how to use Word, Excel, PowerPoint etc.

It was around noon, when the family went out to the pool, except Ford, who brought the laptop to his room.

"Seriously, Poindexter, quit being a nerd for one day, and have some fun, would you?" Stan asked.

"I didn't work yesterday," Ford argued. "And I promise that I will join you soon. I just have to take care of a few things first."

"Yeah, right. You're hopeless, Sixer," Stan mumbled and went down stairs to the pool, where Dipper and Mabel already were splashing around.

Ford wasn't the only one, who was concerned with his work though. "A penny for your thoughts," Patricia said, as she sat down beside her husband in the deck chairs.

"Just some work."

"You are just as bad as your uncle," Patricia said.

"Hmm... Patricia, we might have to move," Brian said.

"What? Why?" Patricia asked and sat up straight.

"They want me to cover the field in Oregon."

"Oregon? You mean that you are getting promoted?"

"I don't know for sure, yet, but it's possible." Brian sat up, and looked her into the eyes. "And I was thinking, that if I do so, we should move to Gravity falls."

"Brian, the kids would love that!"

"I know. But I don't think that we should tell them, before we are sure that I get the job."

"You're right. We'll deal with that when we get home," she said and kissed him on the nose. "Honey, you forgot sunscreen. You know how easily you get a sunburnt!"

"Yes, my love," Brian said and walked inside.

Dipper ran past him and climbed the springboard. He was about to jump, when he suddenly felt a very strong and cold wind. How odd, it had been windless yesterday, and until now. He then noticed that a large group of birds flew over them, like they were fleeing from something... "Come on, Dipper, don't be such a sissy!" he heard Mabel call.

"Yeah, what are you waiting for? Jump, kid!" Stan joined in.

"Jump! Jump! Jump!" they both started to cheer.

Ford was still working on the laptop, but he couldn't shake the feeling from earlier. In fact, it only seemed to grow stronger. He kept telling himself that it was just his imagination, and that he was being paranoid. But then the water in his glass, started to shake. Ford look out of they window, and saw Dipper standing on the top of the, springboard, trying to look over the roof of the cabin, with worried eyes. Ford got up and opened the window. "Dipper? What do you see?" he called.

"I'm not sure..." Dipper answered.

Everything was shaking now and Dipper grabbed the banister. He could now hear the screaming! It was coming from the beach. Something was rumbling... Palm trees started to fall... Then he saw it. Even though everything happened so quickly, it felt like it was all in slow-motion:

"TSUNAMI!" Dipper screamed. The panic spread as fast as the water, that was flushing over them, destroying everything on it's way! Stan grabbed Mabel, trying to swim or run in the water, what ever could get them away as quickly as possible. "MASON!" he heard his mother scream. He managed to free himself from the frozen statement of fear, and jumped into the water, only a few meters from Stan and Mabel. "DIPPER!" Mabel called. He reached for her hand, but before their fingertips managed to touch each other, everything became blurry! Dipper felt himself getting smashed around, small and larger things hitting him from every angle as the wave forced him with it! He managed to reach the surface, for a brief moment, and inhaled all he could, before he was pulled under, once again!

Everything was getting darker, around him. He couldn't breath. He could only feel the pain coming from everywhere.

Next chapter is gonna be very emotional