Dipper stepped out of his car. It was a warm day in Oregon, sunny and cheerful. He reflected on the brutal irony, and found he wasn't appreciative of it one bit. He walked over the hot asphalt of the parking lot, slowly making his way to the double doors of the hospital, wishing with every step that this parking lot could stretch forever. How nice would that be? He wouldn't have to deal with what awaited him inside. As his hand pressed against the hot metal plate of the door, however, he grimaced. The parking lot did not give him any solace from the day's events. Reality ensued.
He stepped into the AC-created atmosphere of the hospital. "Hello what can I do for you today?" the girl at the counter chirped.
"I'm here for a visit," he responded. "Stan Pines, Room 618."
She clicked a couple times on her computer screen. Dipper briefly wondered what sort of interface hospitals had on their computers that allowed for such convenient record-checking, but brushed the thought aside. It didn't matter right now.
"Alright, you're all clear!" she informed him in a tone that made him think she used phrases like 'peachy-keen' liberally. "Just sign here and you'll be on your way!"
He scribbled out his chicken-scratch signature on the paper and went on his way. He hated customer service people. They were always too cheery. He knew that they were told to be, but that girl could clearly see that he was miserable. Couldn't she just have a little tact? He guessed that wasn't fair to her though. Miserable people were the norm in a hospital. She couldn't be expected to be miserable for the sake of every person that walked through those doors.
He walked through the hospital, trying his best to ignore the silent, joyless atmosphere of the hospital. Or maybe he was just projecting. He couldn't tell at this point. He just knew he hated the hospital. He didn't want to be here. He kept walking until he saw something he didn't hate. His great-uncle Ford. Ford saw him before he got close enough to say anything. He stood up. "It's great to see you, Dipper," he smiled.
Dipper did not think he had ever seen a more broken smile. His great-uncle had always been on the healthy side, but looking at him now, you'd think he hadn't eaten or slept in a week. Dipper wondered if he actually had. They shared a tight hug. "Great to see you too, Grunkle Ford," he muttered. They broke apart. "How is- how is he?" Dipper choked up.
"Better, once he sees you," Ford said. "But, doctors said that all we can do now is make sure he's comfortable."
Dipper blinked back tears. He had known that, had read the email 80 times over, but he still didn't like it. "Where's Mabel?"
"Getting us food. She insisted I eat something, and knew you'd be much the same way."
Dipper nodded. He hadn't really been in an eating mood the ride up here. "So, I guess I'll..."
Ford nodded, stepping aside to give him a path to the door. He took a deep breath. He was not ready for this. He would never be ready for this. He pushed the door open anyway. He walked into the white room. It was deathly quiet. No, bad analogy, Brain. Bad analogy. He stepped past the curtain that was in-between him and the bed to see his great-uncle, hooked to up to a bunch of machines that did God-knows-what. If he thought Grunkle Ford looked terrible, Grunkle Stan was indescribable. Breathing through a tube, the worst kind of pale, and looking tired as all hell, Dipper found his voice was stuck in his throat.
"Yeesh, kid. Quit looking at me like that. You're being even more of a downer than usual."
Dipper was brought back to reality by his grunkle's regular insults. He sat down at the bedside chair. "You know, Grunkle Stan, I'm really not a kid anymore."
"Neither am I. Turns out, eating ice cream for dinner when you're 80 gives you heart attacks. Who would have guessed, am I right?" Stan asked, giving a weak chuckle. Dipper kept silent. "Wow. 0 for 2 on that one. Bet Blondie would have laughed."
Dipper smiled at that. "I can promise you she wouldn't. She doesn't actually hate you, you know."
"Coulda fooled me. How is she though? Keeping her away from guitar players?"
Dipper chuckled. "Yeah, yeah. She's doing really well. She's at some sort of charity thing right now, but she'll be here tomorrow."
"Good, good. So, how have you been? Doctors won't let me watch the Guide to the Unexplained in here. Apparently I get too wound up, so I'm out of the loop."
"We're all doing as good as ever. That old Victorian house was actually haunted, and this next place we're looking into seems promising."
Stan frowned. "Ugh, I bet Ford fifty bucks it wouldn't be. Mind keeping that a secret between the two of us?"
"Sure, Grunkle Stan."
"Thanks kid. I'll add it to your part of the will."
Dipper tensed up. Grunkle Stan had officially broken the ice on the reason they were both here.
"This is probably the last time time I'm ever going to be alone in a room with you, isn't it?" Dipper asked.
"Not a fan of your chances," Stan acknowledged.
"Well,," Another deep breath. That seemed to be the only kind he was taking lately. "I've got something I kind of wanna get off my chest, if you don't mind."
"I ain't going anywhere."
Dipper wrung his hands. "I've been thinking a lot, about what I'd say right now. Like, you know, you and I never really see eye-to-eye, and I've never really been as close to you as I could've been, and sometimes your jokes get on my nerves, but… I just wanted you to know…" He struggled to figure what to say. Dammit, he had practiced this time and time again on the way up here. He could feel his eyes water up. His emotions were getting the better of him. You know what? That was the point. He could toss aside male pride for a couple seconds. Grunkle Stan deserved at least that much.
"Thank you so much for being alive, Grunkle Stan."
Well, he broke the dam. He could feel everything he was thinking and feeling welling up. "Thank you for taking us in that summer, thank you for saving my life, thank you for teaching me how to be a real man, thank you for helping me out with Wendy and Pacifica, thanks for playing cards, for the hat, for..." Oh, he was sobbing now. He hadn't cried once since he heard the news, but it was coming down now. "Thanks for talking to me, thanks for listening to me, thank you so, so, much. For everything."
As he stared down at his hands, crying his eyes out, that hidden wish that he had kept in the back of his head came out along with the tears. "Please don't die," he whispered. It was stupid, asking the impossible of a man on his death bed. Yet, he couldn't help it. This was the man who had saved his life more times than he could count. The man who had fought off a horde of zombies, who had punched out a pterodactyl, who had restarted an inter-dimensional portal just to save his brother. The man who had taught a bear to drive, who had swung an election despite having no platform. The man who had vanquished an omniscient demon. The man who had noogied him and taught him life lessons. The man who taught him to talk to girls, who sat with him sipping Pitt Cola when the conversations inevitably turned sour. The man who was unarguably his hero. If there was anyone who could do it, who could cheat death and live forever, it was his Grunkle Stan.
After a few moments of silently crying into his lap, he looked at how his grunkle had reacted. Dipper saw something he had never seen before. Stanley Pines was openly weeping. "Y'know, kid," Stan said. "I really wish I had practiced saying 'Thank you' at some point, 'cuz now I don't know how to do it. Ugh, I feel like Ford." He laughed to himself before resuming seriousness. "Before I met you two, I always kind of figured my life had been one big mistake. My birth wasn't planned, I never did any good for anyone, hell, I screwed up my own brother's life pretty badly, but then, I met you two, and I thought you little squirts might be the best thing that ever happened to me, but I was always worried that I wasn't doing you two any good either. Now you're here telling me that my life meant something after all, and it's just-" He broke down sobbing. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I just, thanks for telling me that. It, it, really means a lot."
They sat there, crying for longer than they cared to admit. "As for that last bit," Stan said. "Sorry, kid, but I don't think I can cheat death much longer. But, y'know, I think I just figured out that that doesn't matter. The life I lived, everything I did, it all lead up to this. It all lead up to me meeting you and Mabel, and that all lead up to me sitting here, and being told the one thing I needed to hear. It was a good life. I mean, y'know, not objectively good, but if it caused kids like you and Mabel to love a guy like me, then it was the best damn life I could ask for. Now, come here, I got a hug I need to give."
Dipper leaned over and hugged his great-uncle for what would be the last time. He could feel his shoulder getting wet. He supposed they were even, then. "I love you, Dipper," Stan muttered. "I'm only gonna say it once, so don't forget it."
If Dipper hadn't been crying for the past several minutes, he probably would've started crying harder when he heard that. "I won't. I love you too, Grunkle Stan."
They sat there like that for a long time. Eventually, Stan broke the hug. "Alright, two manly studs like us probably shouldn't be huggin' and cryin' so much. We've got our images to uphold. I'm sure your sister's back by now. You should go see her. I think I'm going to take a nap."
"Yeah, gotcha." Dipper nodded. He didn't want to leave. He wanted to stay by Grunkle Stan until the bitter end, but Grunkle Stan knew better than he did. He had a sister to see, food to eat, things to do. Time never stopped ticking, and Grunkle Stan had been mature enough to accept that. He had to follow suit. He got up to leave. The moment he did so, he realized something. He realized what it meant to "have someone in your heart". He had always thought it was some malarky to help little kids deal with their favorite character's death in a movie, but that wasn't it. Grunkle Stan would always be in his heart, because Grunkle Stan had changed his heart. The life he lived, the way he looked at the world, the things he had done, all of that had been influenced by Grunkle Stan. He and the Mystery Shack had been an impetus that had directed Dipper down the course of his life, a force that would carry Dipper through his life as long as he lived. As he walked out of the room, and into the arms of his sister, he vowed to keep that force going for as long as he could. Stanley Pines would cheat death, one way or another.
