Many believed that Stanford Pines was a no-nonsense, strick, looming figure. One you should never mess up in front of, or invoke his fury. Students would cower when they saw him in the halls between classes, and scientists would sweat profusely whenever he examined their experiments or results. Stanford Pines was a man who made other men shake in their boots.

'He's been through the ringer' they would say about him, 'Something in his thirties. Big issue. Think he went nuts for a while'. Of course, no one ever dared to say anything like that in front of him though. Who knows what he would do.

He never yelled. He never used physical harm. But the look he'd give you... It was like it was from another dimension. And trust them, they knew other dimensions. That was part of the whole reason they were there. Who wouldn't want to be part of a company that went to other dimensions? Who in their right mind would pass up a chance like that?

There was something odd that was happening though. A number of times that week something... private, had happened. Only the top four (Pines, other Pines, McGucket, and Zenith) knew what had happened. Stanford's great-niece and nephew, who were a staple of the university even though they wouldn't be able to attend for more than five years, who cared that they roamed the halls like gigantic mice (funny story about Mabel... but we don't have time), were just... not there. Other Pines, Sherman, had shrugged off any questions about his grandchildren. "Dangerous experiment. Orders are from the top." And by 'top' he meant that this was a family issue.

So they didn't question them about it. McGucket still conducted inter-dimensional escapades like usual, but he made sure that his communication device was always within arms reach. Needless to say, the chatter by the water fountain was a lot more interesting lately, more so than usual.

No one ever did find out what was going on. But the Pines did, in either universe.

Dipper rubbed the side of his head. Everything sort of hurt, but it wasn't too bad. What was bad was his feeling of betrayal. Why would Stan restart a device that could/would destroy the universe apart? Why would Mabel, who knew what the portal could do, trust Stan and not Dipper? What was so important about the portal that it would be worth all of this?

Then Dipper could see a dark figure stepping through the bright vortex, and suddenly everything made more/less sense. Who was that guy?

"Who... is that?" He asked, not really expecting the answer to change his life, and not knowing that he was secretly hoping for the answer Stan gave him. Needless to say, it blew Dipper's mind.

"The Author of the Journals..." Stan answered, and that would have been good enough for Dipper. The very fact that the Author was there was a dream come true. But then Stan said, "My brother." and that sealed Dipper's amazement.

Any anger Dipper was harboring for Stan and Mabel slid away. If Dipper had had his way a few minutes ago, the Author would never have come back. Dipper would never be able to meet his... Great uncle? The Author of the Journals was his great uncle?! That was the most amazing thing ever! What... How... Aaaahhhh!

He watched in silence as Stan pushed past him and came up to the Author, who, sure enough, looked almost exactly like Stan, right down to the black suit. The Author wasn't wearing a tie or fez, but Dipper could almost swear that the two of them were wearing the same suit, and... no offense to his Grunkle, the Author looked a lot better in it. Dipper bet that he wasn't wearing a girdle.

"Finally. After all these long years of waiting!" Stan exclaimed, stepping up to his brother, holding his arms out, a childlike glee in his voice. "You're actually here! Bro-"

"Ugh, of course." the Author said, cutting Stan off, and he reached into his unbuttoned suitcoat and pulled out a small black box. "This again."

Stan blinked, his arms drooping more towards the floor. He watched as the Author closed his eyes and breathed in. "Hmm. Let's see." The Author held the black box up to his mouth and pressed a button on the side, a small whir started, and he started to speak. "Yes. This is 100 Pines to 101 McGucket." He released the button, not even noticing Stan's shocked expression.

"Go ahead." Came a small voice from the box, and 'Pines' (of course he was a Pines!) sighed and pressed the button again. "We have another... incident. I think this is 89'\, but I might be wrong. I have my IB if you need me to set it off."

Stan's mouth dropped open as Pines listened to 'McGucket' and nodded. "Yes, I will need some supplies. A DVN instruction kit, and..." He looked around and sized up the half-destroyed portal. "Uh... A grounds team if you have one. This portal's pretty busted up. Thank you for your help."

A 'You're welcome' came from the box, then Pines put it back in his coat. He ran a hand down his face, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Don't worry Stanley, this is the fifth time this has happened this week." Stan raised his eyebrows in confusion, and if Dipper was confused, then Stan got a medal for his own mixed-up thoughts.

"Uh... Ford? Are you okay?" He asked, and Ford shrugged. "I'm perfectly fine. As I said, this is the fifth time this week..." A look passed over his face, a look of sadness and regret. "You guys must really care about us... I need to do some rescheduling..." He held his right hand up and began to count his fingers, "Let's see... I could fit him in after my meeting with the President... And clear the rest of Wednesday! Yes! That sounds perfect! Maybe I could take the kids out somewhere with Sherman."

Stan blinked at him profusely. "Wh- What? President? Sherman? Kids?" Ford nodded, and rubbed his hands together. "Yes. The President of the United States, something about another medal for Scientific excellence. Sherman is my Business partner and the kids, Dipper and Mabel, are his grandchildren. They're actually going to inherit the company."

Stan rubbed his head, "But... I thought... Didn't I..."

"Oh, you haven't figured it out yet." Ford said, there was no condescension in his voice, but Stan felt like there was. Ford sighed, and reached into his coat pocket, pulling out a small business card. 'I'm Doctor Stanford Pines, but you know that of course. I'm the CEO and President of the University of Oddology." He stepped up to Stan and handed the card to him, which had the symbol of the Journals' in the center, along with Stanford's name and occupation, along with a phone number and mailing address.

"What... How... Where were you?" Stan asked staring down at the card. Ford sighed and rubbed the side of his head. "I have been many places, but the one I believe you are speaking of is my own dimension. You see... I'm not the Ford you were trying to bring back."

He let his sentence hang in the air. Stan just sort of stood there, and then Mabel called out "Hi! Yeah, uh, Mabel here... What on Earth is going on here!?"

Ford's eyes lit up when he saw the two kids. "Dipper! Mabel! Good, you're safe. Were you injured by the gravitational anomalies? Dipper, I've been trying to study those, but so far I haven't been able to..." He stepped past Stan, who was stammering something under his breath. Ford came up to the kids and beamed down at them. Dipper was super excited to be able to talk to the Author, but... How did the Author know his name?

Ford facepalmed, "Of course. That must have seemed very strange. I'm sorry, I'm just your Grunkle from another dimension. I'm Stanford Pines... And now you're going to say that Stan is Stanford... And... I'll say that he stole my name." He kneeled down and held a hand out to Mabel, who shook it. "Whoa. You're like... Super meta." Ford laughed and nodded. "Well, not every universe has the same timeline, so sometimes things are switched up. I once went to a universe where we're the Grunkle and Graunt. It was odd."

Mabel nodded, "Is there a universe where we're all cats?!" She asked, releasing his hand and smiling brightly when he chuckled. "I have been to four different cat dimensions. Took forever to get all the hair off of my uniform. That was before all my paperwork and meetings kept me from... Well... Fun stuff." Mabel's eyes were nearly as wide as dinner plates, and Ford couldn't help but let a grin slide onto his face. "And I haven't even started on the glitter dimensions."

Mabel and Dipper squealed at the same time. "Glitter!" was what Mabel cried out, while Dipper went "Author!" Ford laughed at both of them and shook his head. "You guys are just perfect. Like my own Dipper and Mabel." He glanced sadly at the floor, his smile fading away. "It's been too dangerous for them to be around me recently. I'm so used to them just always being around. I need to spend some more time with them."

"Wait. What?!"

"There you are Ford. I thought we'd never find you."

Sherman and a group of about five men had arrived in that dimension that night, a book and parts in a box which they immediately handed to Stan. The five men had immediately started rebuilding the portal, which, with their advanced technology, was quicker than it would normally take. Sherman had said hello to the kids, who watched him with stunned fascination, almost as much as they had with Ford.

"Zenith cleared today's schedule. She's a bit worried about you. But you know how she is." Sherman said, accepting a Pitt cola from Dipper. "It's nice to see that this isn't like that shark universe again."

Ford nodded, "True, true. Hey Sherman, I was thinking of calling Stan over on Wednesday. Do you have anything you have to do on that day?"

Sherman shrugged, "I'd have to check my schedule, but I think I have most of the day free." He glanced at the Pines from their current dimension. "You've explained what's going on, right?" He sighed when his brother nodded. "Well, I think that just about rounds it up. We can leave as soon as the Ground Team's done. Oh, Fiddleford and Emma-May invited us to their house for dinner."

Ford chuckled. "Sounds great." His eyes landed on the kids, who were staring at the two of them. "You do know who Fiddleford is, right?"

"Oh yeah." Mabel said, placing her hands on her hips and beaming proudly. "We're helping him restore his sanity!" Ford and Sherman winced, but they nodded. "That's very kind of you." Sherman said, patting her head. "It can take a lot."

"We know. That's why we just let him do most of it himself." Mabel answered. "And... He didn't go all cray-cray in your dimension?"

"Funny story actually..." Sherman said, "You see... Ford asked me to come back to Gravity Falls, and I got kidnapped right after Stan came. But Fidds stopped the Society before they could erase my memory. The rest is history."

"As I recall, you called them a Creepy Mind Cult." Ford said, grinning at his brother, who laughed. "Of course. That's what they were! Fiddleford might still say that they weren't, but... He's wrong."

And that was how the rest of their evening went. The five of them comparing backstories, finding out that Ford and Sherman's universe didn't have kapris. Finding out that their Star Wars prequels were actually the best out of the entire series, each one making Empire seemed like a cheesy film, and making Stan feel very sad. Lots of sadness.

But their stay couldn't last forever, and after a quick recap of what to do with the DVN instructions Ford, Sherman, and the grounds team all left.

"Well. That happened." Stan said after the last of them had left. "Uh... How about we go get this started."

"This was an insanely risky move, restarting the portal." Stan was seeing his Ford again, and, needless to say, this one wasn't as used to social interactions as the last one. "Didn't you read my warnings?!"

"Uh, actually you're the second one we've gotten back." Stan said, pointing at a black box attached to the portal, which looked exactly like it had before Stan had restarted it the first time. "He gave us that, and left. So... There was nothing that could have gone wrong... So... Yay? Hugs?"

Ford sighed, then seemed to comprehend what Stan had said. "What? Second? You met another version of me?"

Stan nodded, rubbing his arm, "Yeah, he came from a place where you were like a CEO or something. Went back to his own Dimension. Sherman was with him. Says you'll like meeting Dipper and Mabel." He scratched his head. "Told us to get some Alien Adhesive if the 'DVN' didn't work. So if you see a starry jelly anywhere... Let me know."

Ford's mouth opened and closed multiple times, like he didn't believe Stan in the slightest. "Stanley. You make no sense."

"Hey, don't blame this on me! It was an alternate version of you!"

Hello guys. I'm back again!

I was thinking about the Better World, and thought "Hey, what if Stan accidentally got that Ford instead?" So I wrote this. I added my own sort of headcanon based on my other chapters, a combo of I'm sort of socially awkward, Can you keep up?, and When you fall behind I'll save you. I hope you enjoyed.

Have a great day! Thank you all so much for everything. And I'm always open for prompts. Uh... I don't really know what to say here. Buy gold!

-BrilliantLight