The Date

SUMMARY: Dipper takes Pacifica out on a date, where some dark things about the past gets brought up.

MAIN CHARACTERS: Dipper Pines and Pacifica Northwest

He sits upright in his bed, cold sweat beading on his forehead, plastering his brown hair to the skin.

Dipper gripped his right hand to his nightshirt over his heart, as if it could help calm it. His breathing was ragged and his brown eyes dart around as if he was searching for something. The wisps of his nightmare was still fresh, so he puts his jitters to the side and grabs his journal and a flashlight. Immediately he jotted down what he saw, from a glowing yellow eye, to how he was surrounded by blue fire with some demon in front of him.

His heart slows and he takes a deep breath, shutting the journal and setting it aside. Dawn was breaking through the curtains of the window, and even though the nightmare was already fading form his mind he knew he couldn't go back to sleep. He gets up from his bed with a creak and leaves the room, shutting the door behind him so he didn't disturb his sister and Waddles.

Slowly he goes down the stairs from the attic and once he reached the hallway he saw a light from by Ford's room. He walks over and sees that the door was cracked open slightly, him able to see Ford pacing back and forth in his room. Suddenly their eyes meet and both of them jump backwards in surprise. Ford walks over and opens the door wider, him gesturing for Dipper that he was allowed to come in.

Dipper walks in, noting how it barely changed the last time he was in it. He and Mabel were twelve when he was in this room, the two competing to see who got to move in since they were driving each other crazy in their shared room. There was a carpet that ended up switching his and Mabel's minds, so they saw the world in each other's shoes, and even though Mabel as Dipper tried to make him lose the room, he had ended winning since she yelled at Stan as him, which made the old man proud.

The carpet was rolled up and standing upright in the corner…

"So, what brings you here so early, Dipper?" Ford asks his great nephew, him taking a seat on his couch that he used as his bed. Despite the whole family telling him to get a real bed, he refuses since he claims he barely sleeps anyway. "Did… did you have another nightmare?" he then asks gently.

"Nah, I just woke up because of Waddles." Dipper lied. He knew if the family found out that he was writing down his nightmares so he could go over them Ford would take the journal and get rid of it. They claim him not knowing is to help him, since he has asked a couple of times about his nightmares. Dipper had to figure out what had happened to him, and he didn't like it that his family was keeping it a huge secret from him.

Ford nods. "Yes… that pig does like to jump between you two to sleep with…. And Stanley." He chuckles. The old scientist then claps his hands together and asks, "So what's your plans tomorrow? Going out with friends, hunting? Because if you're not busy and want something to do we can play a round of 'Dungeons, Dungeons, and More Dungeons'!"

Dipper gives a smile. "You know I'm always up for a game of DD&MD, but this weekend I'm doing something with Pacifica." He tells his uncle.

"Oh… like a date?" he teases. "Are you finally gonna kiss the poor girl? She's been waiting… what, months?"

Dipper's face flushes a deep red. "Grunkle Ford…!" he sputtered. "C'mon! That's embarrassing…!"

Ford laughs. "I'm teasing you, Dipper! I know more than anyone about being awkward arounds girls. I mean, I didn't see my first naked woman until I was in the portal." He snaps his mouth shut, throwing his hands to cover mouth, and his face turns red.

Dipper then cocks his head to the side. "Wait… what?" he questions, him actually surprised.

"Uh… it's nothing!" Ford assures him nervously, holding his hands up. "Nothing at all! Heh…" he rubs the back of his neck nervously, him giving a sheepish smile.

The boy then laughs, "Oh, no! I gotta hear this Grunkle Ford! Did you meet someone in the portal?"

Ford's expression then turns serious. "This is not the time to talk about that, Dipper." He callously said. When he notices Dipper's disappointed expression he adds, "One day I'll tell you about her, okay? Just right now… it's not a good time."

"Okay, Grunkle Ford… sorry if I brought up a bad memory…" Dipper apologizes.

"It's not your fault, my boy," Ford assures him. "I was already thinking about it earlier… that's why I woke up… again a story for a different time."

After their encounter Dipper went into the kitchen and got himself some cereal, him slowly eating it. He was thinking about what his uncle had said, about how he met a girl there… was she human or was she some kind of supernatural being? These thoughts ran around in his head until he heard his sister run downstairs and slide into the kitchen. Her socks were so slippery she ended up crashing into the fridge.

"I'm okay!" she calls out, giving a thumbs up. She goes into the fridge and grabs a pitcher of a bright pink liquid, toys and something shimmering within its contents. Her Mabel Juice. "Want some, Dip Dop?" she asks her twin.

"I don't want to die today, Mabel," Dipper responds. "Maybe tomorrow."

"You said that yesterday…" Mabel points out, her face in a pout "And the day before that, and the day before that times a gazillion!"

"Gazillion isn't a real number, Mabel." Dipper tells her as he puts his half eaten breakfast in the sink.

Mabel scoffs and rolls her eyes. "Well, George likes my Mabel Juice!"

Stan then pops his head into the kitchen, his eye wide. "He likes what now!?" he screams.

Mabel then lifts the pitcher. "My… Mabel Juice, Grunkle Stan…" she says slowly, her pointing at it.

Stan looked like the world just got lifted from his shoulders. "Oh, oh thank God!" he laughs nervously. "I thought… uh, never mind." He then walks away.

Mabel and Dipper look at each other and shrug.

"So, Sir Dipping Sauce, how did you plan your little date with Pacifica?" Mabel asks, her nudging him with her elbow. "Are you gonna kiss her...? Eh…? EH…!?"

The boy rolls his eyes. "Why is everyone asking me that!?" he screeches loudly, his voice cracking slightly. His voice was a lot better since when he first started going through puberty, but once in a while a voice crack would show itself. Mabel laughs as Dipper groans. "But…" he adds. "I do have a-"

"I swear to God if you say you have a list I'm throwing you out of this house." Mabel tells him seriously, her eyes narrow.

"Um…"

"You have a list don't you?"

"UH…."

Both Ford and Stan then enter the kitchen, interrupting the conversation between the younger twins. "Stanley, you are blowing everything out of proportion…" Ford mumbles to his twin. He then pours himself a glass of Mabel Juice, causing both Dipper and Stan to grimace.

"Am not!" Stan shouts back at him. "What we need to do is give the kid a good beat down, ya know? Jersey style!"

"We are noting beating a fifteen year old up." Ford states, him glaring over his glass. He then chugs the juice and gets a second glass.

"We can threaten him." Stan suggests.

"No."

Mabel groans loudly and walks out of the room, her knowing exactly whom they were talking about. Dipper follows her, him waving to both his grunkles. He sees his twin sister walking up the stairs to head to their room, so he follows her. Once they were inside she immediately had found his list and she tears it apart.

"MY LIST!" Dipper shrieks, him putting his hands to his head.

"Talk to her like a normal person, damn it!" Mabel shouts at him. Her face was flushed red. It wasn't Dipper she was mad at, so he knew not to take her aggression personally. "I'm not a kid anymore! Why does Grunkle Stan always do this!? I mean for God sakes, literally the first week in Gravity Falls and I ended up dating a race of gnomes and he didn't care then! So why now!?"

Dipper replies, "Because he really knows you know and has grown to love you. In a way it's like we're his kids, you know? We know he's a family kind of guy, so he just wants to make sure we are okay."

Mabel then points between herself and Dipper. "But you can go on a date and no bats an eye whether or not you do something or not! I go hold hands with George and Grunkle Stan makes it seem like I'm gonna get married right then and there and leave!"

Dipper sighs. He knew there was no way to get through to her right now, she just had to blow off her steam. "Well, I'm gonna go tie up a few loose ends for my date tomorrow night, so try not to blow up on Grunkle Stan, okay?" She grunts angrily, holding Waddles close to her chest. With a turn of the heel, Dipper leave the room and leaves the Shack.

Normally Ford wouldn't want Dipper to go by himself, claiming that there is still dangers in the woods. But Dipper had been dealing with these woods and the supernatural since he was twelve, he knew what he was up against. It was like Ford knew there was something out there that would trigger his memory…

Although Dipper desperately wanted to go out and find the answers to his personal mystery, he couldn't do it that weekend. He didn't want to the search to consume him and blow off his date with Pacifica, because if he did he would never hear the end of from her and Mabel.

So instead he goes into town, picking himself a royal blue dress shirt and a white tie, a pair of new black dress pants, some black dress shoes, and getting some kind of hair product to not make his brown hair as messy looking. He even went to the market and got some fruits sparkling juice to put in a basket. His heart pounded in his chest, he was actually nervous about this whole thing.

He goes home with his newly bought items, him hanging the shirt and tie so they wouldn't get wrinkled. Him shopping all day made time pass by quickly, it already being dinner time. In the bedroom Mabel was finishing a little sewing project that Dipper asked her to do.

"Hey, Dipper!" Mabel shouts when she saw him. "I'm actually done with the dress you wanted me to make for Pacifica!" she holds up a long regal purple dress that had a single strap. There was a sash that was a light blue that went around the waist and tied into a bow in the back, and the hem of the dress had a light blue ruffle trim. "I can't believe she actually designed this…! She's really good, it's so cute!"

"How'd you get her to let you take a look at her sketchbook anyway, Mabel?" he asks her, taking a seat on his bed.

"I snuck into her room one night and stole it." She replies casually. "I also measured her in her sleep so I could be able to make this for her!" she gives a big smile while her twin brother looked at her oddly.

"You… couldn't just ask for her dress size or…?"

"Nope!"

"Okay then…"

Stan then calls from downstairs, "Kids! It's time for dinner! It's Friday, so you know what that means!"

Both Mabel and Dipper look at each other and cheered, "Homemade Pizza Night!" they ran downstairs, seeing that both Stan and Ford were by the oven. There was a knock at the door and Dipper goes and let's in Soos, Melody, and Gideon as they always came over for the homemade pizza.

After dinner and desert was done, the whole group went into the living room and watched some reruns of "Ducktective". Soos even brought up that they were going to start making the second season after the now considered two year hiatus after the first season finale finding out about Ductective's twin brother.

"What kind of show does something like that?!" Mabel cries out. "We get something really good and creators just strip it away! WHY!?"

"Well… there was the end of the world, remember, Mabel?" Gideon points out. She shrugs.

That night when Dipper went to bed his nightmares still haunted him. He woke up a few times and jotted down what they were about when they weren't so hazy. He kept seeing so much red, he saw himself with glowing yellow eyes and cackling manically. Once morning arrived he stood in front of the mirror in his and his sister's room, taking deep breaths. He put on his hunting gear, replacing his blue and white pine tree hat for his camo version.

Dipper dressing for a hunting trip was the plan to make Pacifica not to suspect a thing. The two usually went hunting on weekends to help the town have food for the stores to sell. He hate a couple of backpacks packed, one for him with his change of clothes and the stuff to pitch a tent. The second backpack had the stuff for Pacifica and the date.

"Okay… time to do this…" Dipper shakily says to himself in the mirror. "M-maybe I should make a l-list, just in case-" A slap to his face. "OW! MABEL?!"

"NO LISTS!" she shouts at him. She then pushes Dipper out of their bedroom door and forced him down the stairs, Dipper almost falling during the process. As the twins walked pass the living room, both Ford and Stan looked up from the couch.

"Oh, he's going on his date?" Stan calls out.

"Yes he is!" Mabel shouts back, practically pushing her brother out the door.

Stan laughs, "Actually kiss the girl by the way, kid!"

"AW C'MON!" Dipper groans loudly as the door was slammed shut behind him.

He proceeds goes to the small shed that they had built and grabbed his hunting rifle and straps it across his back. Dipper then grabs a holster and his favorite pistol and straps them to his right side. With a deep breath he marches to Northwest Manor, everything weighing him down.

Once he was there he knocks on the door and Pacifica opens the door. She was wearing a similar outfit to Dipper, except all the green that Dipper had on his clothes was replaced by a lavender color. She didn't wear a hat, her blonde hair was in a ponytail tied back with a purple band. She also had a hunting rifle and pistol herself, her prepared for the "hunting trip".

"Ready to go, Pacifica?" Dipper asks her, handing her backpack.

"Yeah," she replies. "Why'd you pack me a bag…?"

"Uh… snacks?" Dipper lies nervously.

Pacifica rolls her eyes as the two started walking into the woods. They took their usual path that was leading up upwards to higher ground. The woods became thicker, the trees dense as the manmade path slowly disappeared. Birds sang in the trees, squirrels jumped from the branches, and the sounds of the two's boots crunching the twigs underneath them.

Dipper then finds the small cliff side that he had discovered while doing a solo hunt. There was an opening that looked out to the rest of the woods, seeing the river snake through that led to the lake. The sun was high in the sky, some clouds gently blowing across from the wind. He takes a deep breath and turns to face Pacifica.

"H-hey, let's uh, stop here for a moment for lunch?" Dipper suggests.

"Huh…?" Pacifica mumbled. "What do you mean?" her green eyes widened when she saw that he was pitching a tent. "Dipper… what are you doing?"

He finished pitching the tent, his brown eyes glancing around nervously. "Uh… open your backpack…" he tells her, his voice sounding a little high.

Pacifica does what she was told. Inside her backpack she saw the dress and the packed picnic basket. She takes the dress out, seeing how it was actually one that she had drawn in her sketchbook.

"Wait… how!?" Pacifica shrieks.

"Power of Mabel." Dipper tells her, his nerves lightening up a little bit. "You can get changed in the tent, I promise I won't peek!" his face blushes a slight pink.

She then steps into the tent, zipping it behind her. As she did that Dipper went by a tree and took his dress clothes out of his backpack. He puts on his blue dress shirt and removes his hat. After putting on the rest of his dress clothes he uses the hair product to fix his hair, which fluffed upwards a lot like Ford's did, looking just like when Pacifica had made him brush his hair during their ghost hunt at the manor.

He returns to the tent just in time for it to unzip. Pacifica stepped out, the dress flowing like a purple waterfall of cloth. She fixed her hair to look a little neater, but it was still in her ponytail. It looked like Mabel packed her one of her pairs of shoes, a pair of silver looking ones to go with the dress.

"Wow… you look very pretty." Dipper admits, his face flushing red.

"Eh, if I had some makeup I could look a little better," she says with a shrug.

"Nah, you look beautiful." Dipper insists, adjusting his tie. He kept messing it up so Pacifica fixes it for him. "Thanks…"

"What brought all this up, Dipper?" she then asks him. "I thought we were going hunting like we always do?"

Dipper gives small shrug. "I… I thought that we should go… go out on a solo date… just the two of us."

Thunder then bellows overhead, dark gray clouds covering the sun, causing the very air to get a chill. Rain drops began falling from the sky, the two gasping as they rushed to the tent. They kept the tent open, watching the rain begin to pour down, seeing how the drops flowed down the green leaves.

"Well, this ruins everything…" Dipper mutters. "I didn't expect it to rain…"

Pacifica laughs, "The gesture is sweet though." She then opens the picnic basket and takes out a couple of sparking juices. "This rain reminds me of when I was little…" she comments.

"How so?" he asks.

"When I was little, my parents and I went to the theater… it was an outdoor one." She explained. "It was pouring so hard at the end of the play that my dad had be bundled up next to him underneath his coat to try to keep me dry. That's… actually one of my few good memories with him." She then puts a hand on Dipper's.

A hot flash surges through Dipper. His mind began flashing a memory. He was cackling as he saw Pacifica's father on the ground before him. There was a flash of silver, and with a swift flick of his wrist, a bright scarlet filled his vision.

"…pper!" a distant voice called out to him. "DIPPER!"

He blinks his eyes, his breathing ragged and his eyes felt wet. He looks down to Pacifica's green ones, her wide with worry. Dipper then jumps away from her, causing her to gasp.

"G-g-get away from me!" Dipper screams as he crawled out of the tent, his hands and knees getting muddy. His shirt becomes soaked as he ran into the edge of the woods, his heart racing.

"Dipper!" Pacifica yells. She caught up to him, her blonde hair getting plastered to her face. "Why did you run away? What happened?!"

"I killed them…"

Pacifica's face pales. "W-what?"

Dipper hunches over, almost throwing up. "I-I-I killed them, Pacifica! You don't have a family anymore because I killed them!" A wetness stains his eyes, and he couldn't tell if they were tears or if it was the rain. "It's all my fault…! Everything! So many people got killed because of me… I've been getting theses nightmares and I've been writing them down… I've done terrible things! How can you or my family even look at me like it had never happened!?"

Pacifica then grabs him by his shoulders and forces him to look at her. "Dipper," she sternly tells him. "It wasn't you… it wasn't you that hurt those people! You would never do that, even if you didn't like them you would never hurt them…!"

Dipper backs away. "No… it's my fault… I let it happen… I made a bad deal…" he mutters, almost insanely.

"You did it to save you family!" Pacifica insists. "You did it to make sure your twin sister didn't get killed! You gave up your own life, your memories, your very self to make sure everyone was safe…! If no one can see that… then they can go to hell!

"I've seen you at your best and at your worst… and look, I'm still here going out with you! It doesn't change the fact that I love you!"

"Wait… what?" Dipper stammers. Pacifica's face turns beet red. "What did you say?" Her face was still red and she gently shook her head. "Did you just say that you loved me?" She was stammering, trying to make an excuse. He then takes her face in his hands and gives her a full on kiss on her mouth, making her grunt in surprise, but she kisses him back, putting her hands in his hair. After they broke apart he murmurs, "I love you too… and I really needed what you said…"

She gives him a smile and takes his hand. They went back to the tent, both soaked to the bone and shivering from the cold. Dipper had brought a blanket mainly for the picnic, but he wraps it around him and Pacifica to try to keep warm. She puts her head on his shoulder them both watching the rain fall.

"I do have to say, this is relaxing." Pacifica admits, her closing her eyes.

"Yeah… this actually his." Dipper agrees. He then rests his cheek on the top of Pacifica's head. The two watched as the rain fell, both still shivering in their wet clothes. "I can step out for a moment and you can get dressed if you want?" She nods as he steps out, the freezing rain slapping him in the face.

"Finished." Pacifica calls out. When Dipper went back inside she was back in her hunting gear, her shivering stopped. "How are you gonna get dressed?" she asks him.

"I'll just change my shirt and I'll be fine." Dipper insists. He takes off his shirt, which didn't make him uncomfortable until Pacifica was staring at him. "Uh… why are you staring at me like that?" she then points to the scar that he had on his abdomen, something he had no recollection of getting. "Oh, that? Yeah I have no idea what it is… I even got one on my back in the same spot like something went through me."

Pacifica whispers, "You don't remember that I accidentally shot you?"

"What did I do to get shot!?" Dipper gasps.

"Nothing!" Pacifica insists. "It was an accident!"

Dipper laughs. "I know, I was messing with you!" he then puts back on his orange t0shirt and puts on his hunting hat. "I had a dream about a few nights ago, I wrote it down."

Pacifica's face twists with anger. "You jerk!" she screams at him, her pushing him to the floor of the tent as he continues laughing. He sits up and kisses her again, her face still red. "You're still a jerk."

"Yep!"

After rain stopped the two packed up their belongings and started heading back into town. As they made it back to Northwest Manor they talked on how they should do it again sometime. When Dipper dropped her off he gave her a kiss goodbye.

He wasn't even in the door for two seconds at the Shack when Mabel practically tackles him. "DIPPER! DID YOU KISS HER?! DID YOU KISS HER!?" she shouts at him, forcing him to look at her. "Well, didja!?"

Dipper gives a sheepish smile. "Three times." He holds up his fingers to count them.

"OH MY GOSH! MY BROTHER ACTUALLY KISSED A GIRL!" Mabel screams at the top of her lungs. "GRUNKLE STAN, GRUNKLE FORD, DIPPER KISSED PACIFICA! YOU TWO OWE ME TWENTY DOLLARS EACH!"

"Wait, what!?" Dipper screeches. "You guys made a bet!?"

"Hey, bro-bro, at least I bet that you would kiss her!" Mabel giggles as she races into the kitchen.

Dipper gives a smile as he climbs upstairs. However, his smile soon falls as the dark memories began creeping back into his head. Even though what Pacifica said was helpful about how they all still cared about him despite of what had happened to him.

But is it enough?

A/N: I ship Dipcifica so much! They are adorable!

And I wrote Mabel a little more enthusiastic this time, I felt I wasn't writing her well.

And Stan... oh dear, he overprotective Grunkle.

Thanks for reading as always!

~Skye Hendersen~