Day 200:
Dipper finished setting the last of the textbooks in his classroom.
His classroom.
Starting next month he would officially be a college professor teaching three courses on Paranormal studies. Well, kind of. He was being paid to teach classes, but the University was also requiring him to take Masters Classes with them online. It was kind of a bummer, but he was getting them for free and once he was doen he would get a MAJOR pay raise which, if Persia turned out to be anyting like Pacifica, he would need the extra cash.
He moved to the back of the classroom to study every tiny detail. Were the desks in the right place? Did he leave enough room for himself at the front? Should he bring in some live samples...nah, leave that for after midterms.
He let out a satisfied sigh and headed out to go home. He needed to get back. He and Pacifica had been late this year in decorating the house for Christmas, so Pacifica had insisted on decorating it TODAY. He needed to go make sure she wasn't over doing it. She still had three months to go, but she was already large enough that she could not get out of the floor without help, and her back was bothering her.
He got into their newly purchased car (that they were able to get from Grideon fairly easily thanks to the intimidating Grunkles), and drove home. The minute he stepped inside he was nearly knocked over by the smell of cleaner.
"Pacifica?" he asked, worried. Too much cleaner could not be good for Persia.
"About time you got home!"
That wasn't a good sign. Dipper shuffled towards the kitchen, where he saw Pacifica scrubbing the grout in between the tiles with a toothbrush.
"Erm, Pacifica, what are you doing?" Dipper asked, with the risk of getting his head bitten off.
"What do you think I'm doing?" Pacifica snapped.
"Erm…"
"We're about to have a baby! We can't bring our little girl into this filth!"
Filth? Dipper looked around. Yeah, maybe their house was a little dusty, but not filthy. Certainly not dirty enough to-
"Here!" Pacifica tossed a sponge to him. "You can start scrubbing the livingroom wall."
Livingroom wall? What was happening to his wife?
"After that we'll have to bleach the bathroom. Then scrub all the upstairs. Wash the windows. Dry clean all our clothes. Take the-"
"Oooohhh…" Dipper nodded slowly. Nesting. He'd been warned about this. He knealt down next to Pacifica and put his hand over hers. "Okay, Princess, let's take a quick break, shall we?"
"But we got-"
"Three months before Persia gets here. You can't be around cleaners for too long, so let's take a break."
Dipper helped Pacifica out of the floor and began leading her to the couch. He noticed her putting a hand to her lower back and grimacing as she stood up.
"If I don't clean it now, it will never get done. You can't stop me, Pines!"
"I'm not stopping you, I'm asking you to take a break," Dipper said. "And it will get done, I just don't want you to overwork yourself." Or drive me crazy with ridiculously nit picky cleaning. Dipper sat behind her on the couch, letting her lean into him as he began massaging her back. Pacifica sighed and slowly began relaxing.
"Better?" Dipper asked.
"Mm-hmm," Pacifica hummed.
"Good, now," Dipper drew her closer and set his chin on top of her head. "Tell me what's wrong."
"We need to get the house cleaned. Right now!"
"Why?"
"Because we're about to have a baby! You can't bring a baby into a dirty home! She'll get sick! Or hurt! Or..."
"Okay, okay, I get it."
Pacifica sighed, frowning deeply.
"You do realize that we still have two and a half months left, right?"
"Yeah…"
"And that no matter how many times you clean the house it will just get dirty again, so might as well wait until we get closer."
"I'll be too big to do anything by then!"
"Okay, when I say 'we' I mean 'me,'" Dipper explained.
"You'll be teaching then."
"I've got two free weeks around the due date."
"That's not enough time!"
"Sure it is. If not, we can hire a cleaner."
"Cleaners don't have that special touch needed."
"'Special touch?' Okay, what's this about? Really?"
"Getting the house clean, obviously."
"No, there's something else going on, what is it."
Pacifica sighed. "I just want everything to be perfect for our little girl, that's all."
"Well, so do I, but I'm not panicking because there's a bit of dust scattered here and there."
"I'm not panicking," Pacifica grumbled.
"Okay, over reacting."
"I'm not over reacting!"
"Yes you are."
"I'll make you sleep here on this couch, Pines!"
"Okay, okay," Dipper moved his hands up the her neck and began working out the knots there. "So what's got you so worried?"
"I'm not-"
"Pacifica…"
"I meant what I said about the couch."
"You want me to sleep on the couch, fine, just tell me what's going on."
"Nothing, I just…" Pacifica sighed. "I just don't want to screw this up is all."
"Screw what up?"
"Being a mom."
Dipper blinked, his hands stopped their massage as he processed what he'd just heard. "Oh. Okay...why do you think you'll screw up?"
"I don't know, I just...I don't know. My...nevermind…"
"No, no, tell me."
"It's dumb."
"No it's not."
"You don't even know what it is."
"If it's big enough to bother you than it's not dumb."
The corner of Pacifica's mouth curled up slightly, but she still looked worried.
"Well, my parents-and I know I keep going back to them. Trust me I am far more frustrated with talking about them than you are."
"I'm not frustrated," Dipper wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close.
Pacifica sighed. "Well, they didn't do a good job at...anything, actually. In this particular case, though, taking care to make sure there was nothing in our house that would hurt me. Heck, my mom couldn't even stop smoking and drinking. I just...I don't want to make that same mistake."
"And you won't," Dipper kissed her cheek. "We've already order a baby proofing kit, it's just a matter of waiting for it to get here-"
"It's more than that!" Pacifica covered her face in her hands.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, okay," Dipper turned her around and gently pried her hands from her face, cupping a hand to her cheek and wiping her tears away. "What else is there?"
"Just because I know not to do what they did to me...ach, well...that doesn't mean that I know what to do! What if she gets here and I don't feed her right! Of I accidentally hurt her. Or maybe I won't give her enough attention, or maybe too much. Or...Do you even get what I'm saying? Does any of this make sense?"
"It does," Dipper nodded. "In fact, I 100% get what you're saying."
"Really?" Pacifica asked. "Are you...are you scared?"
Dipper chuckled. "Why do you think I put myself through two months of torture staying away from you. I didn't think I was doing a good enough job providing for you two. I still think about that. I mean, yeah I've got a job, but adjunct professors still don't get paid a lot. And I'm still technically in school. How am I supposed to be working, going to school, raise a daughter, and still be husbad all at the same time."
"Well you fought monsters, discovered the author of the journals, while updating said journals, defeated a triablge demon, and kept Mabel and Stan out of trouble all summer once when you were only twelve. So if anyone can do it, it's you."
"Yeah, one correction though. No one can keep Stan and Mabel out of trouble."
"Well, you kept them from doing serious bodily harm to themselves or someone else."
"Sure, we'll go with that."
Pacifica giggled as she rubbed the tears out of her eyes.
"There's my smiling angel," Dipper smiled as he cupped a hand under her chin. "But to answer your question, yes. I'm scared to be a father. But from what I understand that's normal when it comes to be first time parents."
"I just...I just want to give her the world," Pacifica whispered.
"So do I," Dipper agreed. "And we will, or at least as much of the world as we can manage."
Pacifica placed and hand over her stomach. Diper set his just under hers and felt Persia kick. He smiled then kissed her belly.
"We love you, Peanut. We're not perfect, but we do love you. We will give you everything we have. That's a promise."
