This is my first EVER fanfic that I had started over three weeks ago, but I got caught up reading a whole bunch of other fanfics and so, yeah, this is taking me a lot longer to put out than anticipated. Please leave me a note and tell me what you think. Like I said, first ever, so...yeah. Be kind. :)

New Hire

Dipper glanced up half-heartedly at the calendar hanging on the wall in the kitchen. August 28, 2021. It was the day. The day. "Ugh, is that today?" he said quietly to himself. It was a bright, sunny day in August, and exactly five years to the day after he and his sister and the rest of his odd family and friends had won back Gravity Falls from the triangular being they knew as Bill Cipher. He grabbed the crumpled newspaper that Soos had obviously already rummaged through to try to push the memories of that day out of his mind. Just the same old boring headlines glared back at him. Nothing interesting ever happened here anymore. All the strangeness inexplicably disappeared about a month after that day. The gnomes, multi-bear, manotaurs; they were all gone. He never thought much about them, though, especially since staying away from Gravity Falls until about a year ago.

He had spent a good deal of time trying to suppress what had happened five years ago. He didn't want to think about what could have been...what might have happened if Bill had ultimately won. Just the thought of that demon made him shudder; everything he had put him through. Dipper was glad he would never have to deal with him again. The statue was put into a stronghold built by Stanford before he and Stanley left Gravity Falls for an open-sea adventure. Sometimes, Dipper thought about going into the third floor of the basement to check and make sure it was still there, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. One look at that demon's single eye might make him lose it and want to pound the statue into dust. But Ford was very explicit in his warnings about doing that. To harm the statue in any way could lead to an escape by the demon, and nobody wanted that.

Dipper and Mable moved permanently to the sleepy town in Oregon after they graduated high school. They worked part-time for Soos at the Mystery Shack, and also got to move back in, but they still had to share the attic room since Soos had taken Stan's. Wendy still worked there, too, but was holding out hope for a breakthrough job she really wanted in New York. Even though her chances of getting the job were remote, she had already given Soos a heads-up about her plans, and there was a HELP WANTED sign looming in the front window of the shack, which greatly upset Dipper every time he saw it.

He had tried hard over the past year to convince Wendy to give him a chance with her, now that he was older and the age difference didn't matter anymore. "Don't give up, Dipper!" Mabel would always tell him when he had shared his latest rejection with his twin. Her overly optimistic attitude was as strong as ever. But Wendy had always turned him down, that is, until about two weeks ago. Much to Dipper's surprise, she finally gave in. He never thought he could be so happy. He was finally dating Wendy. But it was only a couple days later that she announced the job in New York was hers if she wanted it. Dipper tried as hard as he could to keep her from taking it. He simply could not accept that she would leave just as they finally got together in the relationship he always wanted. Especially upsetting was the fact that this job was a statistical long shot for Wendy. She had no experience and only interviewed over video chat. Typical of my luck, he had thought to himself when he had heard the news. Dipper, being the unselfish guy he has always been, didn't try for long, though. He ended up telling her that it was selfish of him to ask her to stay in this dead-end job, and that she would be missing out on the chance of a lifetime if she didn't accept this amazing opportunity. She left on an uncharacteristically (it being August) rainy Monday morning.

"So whatcha doin today, little brother?" The sheer sound of his sister's unadulterated perkiness was more than he could handle this morning.

"Aren't we a little old for that now, Mabel?" he retorted bluntly. The joke about Dipper being the shorter twin, if only by a millimeter (not to mention younger, if only by minutes) was not something he wanted to hear right now. "Gees, we're turning eighteen in just a few days."

"Aww, c'mon bro, don't be like that." Mabel practically sang the words, still being too upbeat for Dipper's liking.

"Just go away, will ya?!" he snapped back. "I'm in no mood for your enthusiasm right now."

"Sheesh! What's got your goat today?" she said, finally toning down a bit. But it came back again, almost instantly. "Hey! I know what your problem is!" The smirk in her tone was almost too much for him. He shot her that look of don't you dare, hoping she would give it up and leave him alone. No such luck. "You're upset about Wendy's replacement!" At that, Dipper nearly fell out of his seat. "That's it, isn't it! I always know what's bothering my lit-" but she was cut short by Dipper's frantic shriek.

"WHAT?! W-When did this happen?!" He could barely catch his breath as he was beginning to hyperventilate. He rose quickly from his chair, slamming it into the wall. As he approached his sister, she could see the panic in his eyes. "Mabel! Tell me you're joking! This is just another one of your stupid jokes, right?"

Although he had known this day would come eventually, Dipper wasn't prepared. Mabel knew it wasn't the time anymore to be her typical perky self. "Oh man, you really didn't know?" she asked, completely serious now. Dipper's face immediately gave her the answer. "Dipper, I-"

"No!" he interrupted, suddenly in full denial. "You're just making this up! Why do you constantly have to do things like this to me?! Man, you can be such a bi-". He couldn't finish the word. He would never forgive himself if he called her that name.

Mabel's face fumed at the word she knew her brother wanted to say. Now she was mad. "Why don't you just go into the gift shop where Soos is talking with the new hire right now?!" she said in a tone Dipper wasn't used to hearing from his twin. Dipper's heart began to race as he saw, and heard, how dead serious she was. He made his way to the other side of the shack faster than he ever had before. Mabel was still so furious that she slumped down into one of the other chairs, not caring what was going through her brother's mind right now. "Serves him right if he's not ready for this, he had long enough to try to get used to the fact that Wendy would be replaced," she sulked to herself.

Dipper stopped just short of the door frame that opened up into the shop. He hesitated to look, hoping he wouldn't find some tween looking for an easy job that he would have to babysit all the time. Or, even worse, the basement-dwelling, nerdy type guy who was an eyesore to look at. As he waited behind the wall, Soos finally stopped talking and the new hire began to speak. The voice Dipper heard was not that of a young teenager, and definitely not a guy's voice. It was a very smooth, angelic sounding voice, coming from a woman. Now he had to look.

He carefully peered around the door frame and what he saw was beyond his wildest imagination. She was beautiful. He'd never seen such beauty before. Not even an airbrushed, photo-shopped super model could have looked better. She wore a simple black tank top underneath a tight-fitting, half length, bold yellow leather jacket. A simple black mini skirt fell loosely over dark caramel, toned thighs. One of her knee-length, black patent leather, five inch tall Stilettos was gently tapping the wood floor. And then there was the hair. It was a golden blonde that almost glowed, even in the dim lights of the gift shop. Each loose curl barely hung down to her shoulders, short and sassy. To top it all off, a little black beret sat neatly off to one side of her head, the same side where her hair completely covered one of her eyes.

Dipper's stare must have burned a hole through her as she suddenly stopped chatting and turned his direction. He ducked back behind the wall as fast as he could, hoping beyond hope that she hadn't seen him. Heat burst into his face, and he was positive he had turned completely red.

"Hey!" the angelic voice called out in his direction. Dangit! he thought to himself, now more red than ever. "Who was that?" she inquired of her new boss.

"Oh, that was probably just Dipper," Soos said casually. "That dude is kinda shy around new people."

"A-Actually, it's Mason." Dipper managed to squeak out as he slinked around the corner. He decided he'd better come out before Soos said something really embarrassing. Not that his childhood nickname wasn't bad enough.

"Oh, hey Dip- uh, I mean Mason," Soos said with an over-enthusiastic wink. "Come meet the newest member of our fine establishment." Dipper rolled his eyes at Soos as he carefully approached them near the counter. He wasn't known for being terribly agile on his feet, something he wished he'd grown out of by this age. He was also hoping the redness in his face had retreated, even if just a little bit. "Wow, dude! Your face is like, totally red, dawg!" No such luck he thought as he flashed an angry look at Soos. "Don't be mad, bro, I just call it as I see it," Soos giggled. "So, hey, this is Isabelle. She starts tomorrow."

"Hello, Dipper," she said formally, ignoring Dipper's previous announcement of his actual name. The young woman flashed a smile at Dipper that made him feel uneasy. He already wasn't the smoothest person around females, especially ones he deemed to be way out of his league, and this one was so far out that he felt they were from two different universes. Dipper's eyes locked on hers, well at least the one that wasn't hidden behind her hair. He was mesmerized by the deepness of the blue staring back at him. "Please, call me Bill," she said coyly while extending her hand.

"Wh-what did you just say?" Dipper's face lost all color as he tried to lift his hand, but was shaking too violently.

"I said you can call me Belle." Her voice was even more angelic than before.

"Oh, I...uh. Gees, sorry. I-I thought you said something else," he managed to stammer out as he nervously raised his hand to meet hers. He felt as if he were stuck in slow motion as he watched the perfect hand with incredibly sharp fingernails that had the same blue color as her eyes come toward him. The moment their hands touched Dipper felt an electrical shock shoot through his arm.

"Oh!" Belle exclaimed, almost forcibly. "My boots must have worked up quite a bit of static electricity. I'm so sorry!" she exclaimed through a held back laugh.

But the feeling was far more painful than any little static electricity. He felt as if he had just grabbed onto the hot wire of an electric fence. Dipper suddenly felt very sick to his stomach and had to excuse himself from their presence. He ran upstairs to his bathroom and splashed some cool water on his face. "Get it together, Dipper," he told himself as he hung his head over the sink. I coulda swore she said 'Bill'. Why would I think that? He brushed off his thoughts and chalked them up to his nerves getting the better of him.

"Knock, knock" Mabel called out as she peeked around the bathroom door. "You ok, Dipper? You looked totally pale when you ran past me. Is everything ok?"

Ugh...Mabel. Why does she always have to pry? He tried to keep his tone as bland as possible. "It's nothing, sis. Just felt like I was going to throw up, but the feeling is gone now. Nothing to worry about."

"Wow, bro, you must be more upset than I thought. I'm sorry about earlier..."

"No, Mabel, it's my fault. I'm the one with the bad attitude about things." Dipper came out from behind the door and went to lie down in his room. Mabel, much to his dismay, quickly followed.

"Well?" she asked impatiently as she bounced down on the foot of his bed.

"Well, what? Mabel, I'm not in the moo-" He was suddenly interrupted by Mabel's uncontainable giddiness.

"What did you think of her?!" she squealed. Dipper rolled his eyes at her. She wasn't going to give up, and he knew it.

"I don't know, she's- pretty, I guess." A goddess, he thought to himself, but he didn't want to add unnecessary fuel to his sister's already annoying match-making fire.

"Oh, come on, Dipper! She's drop-dead gorgeous! I don't know what a girl like that would want with a sucky job like this place has to offer, but aren't you lucky!"

"Ye-ah, I'm just so full of luck," he said rolling his eyes at her, sarcasm dripping from every word. "Like I'd even have a chance with someone like her, n-not that I even want that chance..." His mind immediately drifted to Wendy, and guilt suddenly washed over him.

"Pffft! Of course you'd want that chance! Who wouldn't?! You almost sounded guilty there, bro-bro. It's not like you're currently ta-" she cut herself off, throwing a hand over her lips, and quickly shot a look of sincere regret at her brother. "Ohmygosh, I didn't-" This time Dipper did the interrupting.

"Real sensitive of you there, Mabel. I'm quite aware that I am no longer with Wendy, but that doesn't mean I can't hold on to the smallest glimmer of hope that this new job of hers won't work out and she'll be back here in no time." As soon as the words were out, he realized how stupid he sounded. He shot his hands up and rubbed them slowly down his face. "Sorry. You're right. I just need to let that go."

"Mmhmm," she nodded in agreement. "Anyways, you better get back down there, and this time, try to stick around longer than ninety seconds!" she snickered. She jumped up and ran out of the room before he could even open his mouth to respond. Probably rushing off to make plans for a wedding, he mused to himself.

He decided to close his eyes and clear his head. A voice startled him awake. Did I doze off? Hmm, I wonder what time... There was the voice again. It was coming from outside his window. It was angelic. He scrambled over to the window and looked down just in time to see Belle pulling her left leg into her car and shut the driver's door. It was a bright yellow Camaro with black racing stripes, and couldn't have been more than a few months old. "Wow, nice." he said under his breath. This woman is so out of place here. Seems more suited to be working with the Northwest family. He began to turn away from the window when movement of the car's driver-side window caught his attention. The nearly black tinted window slowly slid down into it's hiding place within the car door. The beautiful blonde looked up toward Dipper and once again flashed him the same unsettling smile as before. What the heck is that?! What is that look supposed to mean? His thoughts continued to bother him the rest of the day. He couldn't focus on anything meaningful as he could only think about her. There was something about the way she looked at him. It didn't sit right with him.

...

Belle stepped into her lavishly appointed apartment, closed the door hard behind her, and skipped into the kitchen to fix a snack. "This is going to be fun," she said with a devilish grin plastered on her face. Her mind was filled with an endless list of all the evil things she was going to do to those Pines twins.

...