Summery: When Grunkle Stan says goodbye to the twins as he puts them on the bus, he never realized until that moment just how much he loves them and how much they had become part of his life.

Warnings: Some (?) spoilers for Gideon Rises. Because of that, I'm putting this under a "Read More". Read at your own risk.

Cherish The Moments

Stan carries their suitcases as they walk into the bus station. Mabel and Dipper are walking ahead of him, holding hands with their heads down. Stan sees a tear slide down Mabel's face for only a brief second before it's wiped away furiously. Dipper looks at his twin sister with his own glassy eyes before squeezing her hand and looking away. Stan can just feel someone trying, and succeeding, in clawing his heart out.

"Well," Stan says, trying his best to hide the emotion in his voice and coming out gruff, "Here we are."

Mabel's two townie friends are here and she lets go of Dipper's hand for the first time and runs to them and embracing them and letting herself being swallowed into the hug of her true friends. She leaves Dipper and Stan on their own.

"Dipper,"

"Grunkle Stan,"

They both spoke at the same time before stopping.

"No, you can speak-"

"It's alright, you can go first-"

"But-"

"I just-"

They both stopped and sighed a bit.

"Go ahead Dipper." Stan nodded at the young boy, who just nodded.

"Well, I just wanted to say thanks. I mean, this has been one of the strangest, but coolest, summers of our lives. I just wish we could've stayed longer…" Dipper's face turned sorrowful again and Stan had to close his eyes and hold back a sigh.

Getting down on one knee, Stan put a hand on Dipper's shoulder.

"Listen Dipper, I know that we haven't spent much time together just the two of us as much as Mabel and I have but I've enjoyed the time that we've spent. All of us. And I know I've been hard on you but it's just the fact that you…remind me of myself when I was young. I just wanted to toughen you up a bit, just like my own father did to me."

"I know Grunkle Stan." Dipper said automatically.

Stan paused and looked at his nephew with a confused look.

"You know? How do you know that?"

Dipper's eyes widened and he sputter out an quick answer:

"Soos told me!" Dipper's eyes shifted slightly and he seemed guilty.

Stan grumbled half heartily under his breath about that man-child giving away secrets.

Suddenly a bus pulled up and the breaks screeched as it stopped. Mabel pulled away from her friends and slowly made her way to Stan and Dipper.

"Grunkle Stan…" Her eyes were shiny again and without even stopping her stride, she threw herself at Stan and put her arms around his neck and hugging him tightly. After a moment of hesitation, Dipper threw his own arms around Stan and hugged him tightly. Slowly, Stan put his arms around his niece and nephew and hugged them both to his chest.

"We love you Grunkle Stan." Mabel whispered and Dipper nodded against his shoulder. Stan choked and tried to stop shaking.

"I-" He tried his best to say the words, but the knot in his throat was stopping the words he wanted to say from coming out. "Me too kids, me too."

Too soon they all let go, the kids looking even more miserable then before, before Stan loaded their suitcases into the packing area and watching the kids getting on the bus.

"It's for the best." Stan said, but he wasn't sure if he was trying to convince the kids or himself.

Then the bus began to drive away and Stan watched with guilt and sadness growing in his stomach as their faces got farther and father away. He was the last one to leave the bus station, just staring in the distance, before finally turning around and heading back to Soos' house.

XxXxXxXx

They were in the process of fixing up the Mystery Shack and it was the first night that it was possible to actually sleep in the house. The attic was still pretty messed up from where Gideon had smashed it with a wreaking ball so the kids were sleeping in the spare room for the night.

Everything was quiet in the house as Stan quietly walked down the hallway. Slowly opening the spare room's door, he peeked in on the kids. The two were sharing the bed, sleeping peacefully. Stan watched them for a second as he felt a warmth in himself. He turned to leave and close the door after when he heard a voice.

" 'runkle Stan…?"

Stan turned and saw Mabel, from her side nearest the door, blinking slightly and looking at him with a sleepy smile. "What are you doin'?"

"Nothing Mabel, go back to sleep."

The girl yawned and nodded.

"Okay. Good night Grunkle Stan. I love you." She mumbled before falling back asleep.

"Yeah…I love you too." Stan stood in the doorway for a moment, letting the realization of what he finally said sink in, before letting out a hesitant smile and closing the door.

He really did love those kids.

Fin