Dipper got out of the car and stretched, smiling at the old house in front of him. "Home sweet home," he said, glancing it over. "Oh hey, you finally got the S to stay up!"
Ford snorted, helping Mabel get the bags out of the trunk. "Turns out alien adhesive can do more than weld metal together," he replied. Mabel pouted.
"Boo, I liked the crooked S. It had character!" she retorted, hurrying inside as Dipper and Ford trailed behind at a slower pace.
"…So, is Soos coming back this year?" Dipper asked, grabbing his bag. Ford smiled sadly.
"Probably not until August," he answered. "Melody's family is having one event after the other, and she wants to show him off for all of them." He smiled. "But he'll be back in time for your birthday."
"That's alright," Dipper said, heading inside. "Pretty sure Mabel and her duct tape can help fix anything."
"Oh, yeah, thanks for the vote of confidence, Dipper!"
Dipper jumped, looking up and seeing Wendy leaning against the counter. "Wendy!" he cried, rushing over and hugging her. "I thought you were going to college!"
"I am, dum-dum," Wendy replied, bopping the brim of his hand down. "Not until September, though. Thought I'd give this place one more summer before I officially begin my college career. And a little extra money saved up never hurt anyone."
Dipper beamed, hugging her again. "Well that's good," he said. "I was starting to think the whole gang was moving on all at once."
Wendy shrugged. "It happens," she replied. "It's pretty much just me staying in Gravity Falls this summer. Makes me happy you and Mabel come around to make it interesting."
"Not TOO interesting," Ford muttered. "The last thing this place needs is ANOTHER griffon tearing the place up looking for her eggs."
Mabel rooted through the ice cream bin. "…I thought they were dinosaur eggs," she pouted.
"Or when you incited a war between the gnomes and the brownies."
"Not my fault they cant take 'no' for an answer! I am NOBODY'S QUEEN BUT MY OWN!"
"When you bought Waddles a girlfriend."
"Hey, Waddles Jr. Numbers 1-5 were ADORABLE!"
"That OTHER D&D& More D incident—"
"Yeah, that one was my bad, Grunkle Ford," Dipper said, blushing. "And I cleaned the mess up, didn't I?" He ducked when Ford swatted at his head, snickering.
"Point is, I'm going to start taking the remodeling and construction fees out of your allowance this year, so if you HAVE to summon eldritch abominations, do it outside the property line," Ford said, crossing his arms, then turning to Wendy. "Same goes for your paycheck, Wendy. No matter what they're doing, you're ALWAYS two steps behind with the camera."
Wendy rolled her eyes. "Aye aye, Boss," she replied, saluting sarcastically. "I'll play boring old responsible adult this year, don't you fret your fez about it."
"I'd fire all of you if I could," Ford muttered before clapping his hands. "Alright, kids, unpack and hurry down for dinner, I closed the Shack today for you guys, and we have a lot to do before it reopens tomorrow!"
Mabel shoved the rest of her popsicle into her mouth before grabbing her bags and bolting upstairs to the attic. Dipper did the same, but took his bags to the bedroom on the second floor, which used to be Stanley's room. Wendy followed to help before she had to leave for her own home.
Ford sighed, smiling softly as he headed into the kitchen to start making dinner, glancing upward every so often when he heard the thumps of the kids unpacking and shouting at each other up and down the stairs about how they had packed away something in the others' bag by accident.
It was so good to have them back, he thought. The Shack was always much too quiet during the school year when they were gone. It made him want to rethink his old idea of keeping them around and being their teacher himself…but he never fully contemplated that thought. They were still growing up, and had much to see and do before they committed to one single thing.
And oh, how they were growing up right in front of him. Both seemed to be inheriting the Pines family bulk and bone structure, and he was tickled pink when he saw that Mabel's baby fat had faded somewhat, showing that she had developed a slight cleft in her chin much like his own. Since her haircut, she also had his birdlike upward lift to his hair hair—'floop', she called it. Her build was like Stanley's though; athletic, but soft. It wasn't very noticeable since she still wore her sweaters religiously, but it was obvious in the pictures she took of her amateur kickboxing meets.
Dipper, on the other hand, had sharper edges to his growth. He was taller than Mabel now, and had broader shoulders, but his build was lean, albeit by no means scrawny. Then again, Ford couldn't recall a time where ANY Pines, present or past, turned out scrawny past puberty. Dipper's hair remained an untamable mess kept under a hat of some sort—more often than naught his blue and white trucker hat—and all his reading finally had him procuring glasses. Honestly, with his broad shoulders, glasses, and sharpened jawline from the loss of baby fat, he looked so much like Stanley it was unreal.
Ford was true to his word in promising Stanley that he would reconnect with his family. He got to know Shermy's son and found him to be a kind, likeable man, if not a bit of a workaholic. His wife was the 'supermom' type, and Ford saw where Mabel got most of her personality from. She encouraged anything her kids wanted to do, and didn't think twice about Mabel taking kickboxing lessons out of the blue, or Dipper needing a ride to a haunted area for some ghost footage.
Through webcam, phone calls, and IMs, he hadn't missed a thing in the twins' lives between visits. His first Christmas with the family was so warm and comforting, he almost forgot that it was his first family visit outside the twins and his brother. His nephew didn't seem to notice any difference between him and Stanley, and if he did, he didn't seem to care. It was fantastic meeting them, and after things had settled down, Dipper and Mabel would break out the photo album and catch him up on some family history.
He learned that Stanley had reached out to the family when Shermy suffered a stroke and helped take care of his wife and son while he recovered. After the initial hurt of not having been around died down, everyone had just assumed 'Stanford' had gone a little cuckoo bananas with all his paranormal research and the news of his brother 'dying', and settled down to the life of an eccentric.
Naturally, there were the clucked tongues from the family, of how 'Stanford' had thrown away all that talent and grant money to open a tourist trap of all things, but to Shermy's side of the family, there was no more favored relative.
Ford smiled as he looked through the album, seeing pictures of Stanley always being tailed by Shermy's boy, a wonderful first-generation throwback to the pictures in Mabel's scrapbook. Even in candids, Stanley stood out in the pictures, whether he was in the background, or just being caught off-guard. There were some holiday pictures taken of the Shack, where family had been brought up to visit.
It had never occurred to Ford that there would be family in his home aside from the twins that past summer, but apparently, Christmas holidays at the Shack became almost tradition. It was a tradition that died down after Dipper and Mabel's father went to college, but even then, Stanley continued to be a part of his family's lives.
He was there for graduations, marriages, and Ford almost cried when he found a picture of Stanley holding Dipper and Mabel the day they were born. The look of absolute, unbridled adoration at seeing a new pair of twins for the Pines family on Stanley's face was almost too much to bear.
Stanley had loved Dipper and Mabel before they even knew who he was.
Dipper made a somber comment about how Stanley would visit for holidays and send them gifts on their birthdays and for Christmas, but they never really got to know him until that past summer.
Just a little over a month and a half…that was all they truly had with him.
The rest of the visit had been a little somber after that, and Ford returned back to Gravity Falls with much to think about…
The sound of stampeding teenagers diverged him from memory lane, and he smiled, setting the food out on the table. "You two ready to help me with work tomorrow?" he asked as they sat down and started piling onto their plates.
"Sure am!" Mabel chirped. "I've got sales, called it!"
"Aw, no fair!" Dipper huffed. "You got sales first LAST time! YOU get clean-up!"
"You've just got to be quicker on the draw, bro-bro," Mabel replied unapologetically. "I'll trade you sales tomorrow for dishes tonight."
"…." Dipper just stuffed his mouth with food, saying nothing.
Ford smiled as he listened to the twins' banter. Oh yes. It was good to be summer again.
Later that night, after the twins had gone to bed, Ford quietly slipped out of his room and to the vending machine, tapping in the code and being grateful that he had tweaked it a bit so it opened more quietly. With Dipper just one floor up instead of two, he didn't want to risk waking him up.
He took the elevator to the second-level basement, stepping out into his study, which had some semblance of organization at last. Gone was the Cipher paraphernalia, and in its place were several of his brother's things, as well as an in-progress photo collage on a large cork board, almost all of them every decent picture of his brother he was able to collect or copy.
It served as a reminder of his goals, to keep strong with the charade he was playing. His lips twitched at Soos's description of it: 'You pretending to be Stan pretending to be you'. It summed it up pretty nicely.
He sat down at his desk, taking out Journal 4, which, even almost three years in the making, was still only half-filled. Progress in this mission of his was slow; slower than anything he'd encountered.
But he refused to give up. Stanley hadn't given up on him, and Ford felt he owed it to his brother to keep going. To find SOME answer, ANY answer.
He unscrewed his thermos and took a long sip, prepping himself for the few hours he set aside for this before he had work in the morning.
Dipper stared quietly up at the ceiling, unable to sleep, wracking his mind as to WHY for a few moments before finally realizing why. He rubbed his eyes, sighing as he slipped out of the bed and crept into the bathroom, leaning down to open up the cabinet under the sink and taking a bottle out, holding it tightly as he slipped back to bed.
He unscrewed the cap and set it on the bedside table before closing his eyes, at last able to drift off to sleep to the pine oil and leather scent he'd come to know and be comforted by.
Up in the attic, Mabel laid silent until she couldn't hear so much as a creak in the old boards, slipping out of bed and walking over to the window, opening it and breathing in the sweet summer air. She smiled up at the sky, seeing the moon was full tonight, and picked up a girly pink plastic-lock diary, opening it as she sat on the windowsill.
"Hey, Grunkle Stan," she greeted to the air, keeping her voice conversational, but quiet as she opened the diary. "Time for some catch-up! Tonight's entries brought to you by months September through October…"
She smiled as she talked in, feeling a sense of contentment as a breeze cooled the night air, the scent of pine oil and leather being carried with it.
