After spending the next day doing nothing but resting - and celebrating their triumph against Bill Cipher - Pacifica was pretty happy to be back at Greasy's Diner. The familiar, homey smell of raw wood, coffee and bacon was still one of comfort and solace for her - and a welcome back to relative normality.

Well, for Gravity Falls.

At the very least, the power lines had been repaired, with the official line being that a pylon had been hit by an articulated truck carrying canisters of hallucinogenic gas. The hope was that it would at least explain some of the stranger occurrences that had been reported to the local authorities.

Of course, Pacifica knew better - but figured it was best to keep her mouth shut. Sometimes it was better to keep people in the dark. Especially if the truth was something terrifying.

Her own resilience was something that she was taking particular pride in right now. She was serving with a smile, feeling chipper and ready to take on the world. The tips had been great, the customers friendly, and Mabel had text her to ask if it was okay for the girls to visit. It was a damned good Monday, all things considered.

She occasionally, however, cast a worried glance towards Susan, who was still working diligently in her usual routine of pouring coffee, serving food with a well natured smile and fixing things. In every step the older woman took, Pacifica was reminded of Curzon's display of the doomed Mr. Wentworth, wordlessly building those terrible machines.

The fact that the entire family had seemingly been made so… eccentric at the hands of Curzon's twisted mind control curses was something that weighed on the young waitress immensely. After all, Pacifica owed the woman a lot. In her mind, Susan was one of the guiding lights in her new life.

To know that her family had wronged the Wentworths in such a profound way was… painful.

She decided to venture with it carefully.

"Hey, Susan?"

"Hm? What is it, sweetie?" Susan smiled as she wiped the counter. "Do you need a break?"

"No, I just kinda wanted to ask about your family a bit more."

The stout manager smiled at her deputy's inquisitive nature. "I don't have much to tell you, really, hon. We aren't as exciting as the Northwests or the Piiines. We lived here all our lives."

Pacifica bit her lip as she considered her next move. "Well, your grandpappy built the generator… What else did your family make? You said you were inventors."

"Sure were." Susan replied, patting the diner's aquamarine barista coffee maker with pride. "Papa and I even built Lil' Susan together, and she still gives the best cup of Joe in the state!"

"I sorta meant… Y'know. Historically." Pacifica said fleetingly as she handed her order pad to the chef. "I mean, further back."

"Ohhh, you must mean Great Granpappy!" Susan laughed. "Aw, you've been reading about the town, huh? I might have known. A smart cookie like you is bound to go off learning on weekends!"

"y-yeah, you could say that." Pacifica giggled, batting Susan's hand away as she went to pinch her cheek.

"Well I'm sure you know most of it, you lil' Einstein. Great-Granpappy built the railroad that used to run through these parts. He loved that railroad." She beamed, proudly looking at one of the vintage photographs of the Gravity Falls Bridge. "He put tunnels everywhere in those cliffs during the gold rush, and even designed some of the trains. He was so upset when the train wreck happened that they say he was never quite the same afterwards."

"Tunnels, huh? How about, like, elevators and stuff?"

"Elevators? Back then they were pretty rare, Pacifica, but he probably could have. Do you know something I don't?" the lazy-eyed woman enthusiastically crouched to learn more. "I love learning family history! How sweet for you to go researching!"

Pacifica smiled nervously. "I just saw a lot of stuff that looked like it could be his work. That's all. He was a real genius, y'know?"

"He sure was, honey. You might not know this, but there was an early rumour that he and a Northwest were close . If you know what I mean. Some other Northwest who was part of the railroad. It was a bit of a scandal. All the old-timey tabloids talked about it for weeks."

The blonde froze. "Hold up. Cycle back."

"Yeah, hon. If that kind of stuff was allowed back then, we might have been related!" Susan grinned with a finger-assisted wink. "Funny, huh?"

Pacifica held her brow and sat down. "Jeez."

"I love history. We should go looking into this stuff sometime together, Pacifica. I'm sure there's lots you could teach me with your super-detective skills." Susan chuckled, ruffling Pacifica's hair. "Keep it in mind, sweetie.

"S-sure. I- I will." Pacifica replied, staring blankly at the floor. She barely even registered that Dipper had just arrived and sat down at the counter alongside her.

"So, you aren't gonna tell her?"

Pacifica jumped out of her skin and almost fell from the barstool she had perched on. "Oh my god, Dipper, you can't just do that!" She wheezed. "I swear, you're gonna turn me into a nervous wreck!"

"Sorry." Dipper grinned. "But what gives?"

"Dipper… what good would it do?" Pacifica sighed, watching forlornly as Susan went about her duties. "All it's gonna do is upset Susan with something she could never change. Maybe it's like… better for her to not know."

"I thought we said no more secrets." Dipper replied.

"Between you and me, sure." She sighed. "Look, I know I'm playing devil's advocate all of a sudden, but have you ever noticed that she and Toby are happy being bonkers? They're confident, they're proud of what they do, they're friendly… they might be weird as all hell, but why would we wanna change that?"

"I guess."

"Gravity Falls is full of scars from my family. I don't want to add more . Not if people are doing fine as they are."

Dipper thought for a moment and smiled, taking hold of Pacifica's hand. "Alright. You got it. But what about Toby's story?"

"Toby probably knows way more than he lets on, Dipper. No way he didn't read that notepad first."

"I dunno, Paz. He's pretty-"

"He might be a bit down on his luck, but he's a journalist, Dipper. He still manages to print a newspaper every week." Pacifica shrugged. "More than we can do."

"Least until we write our memoirs."

"What, at age 13?"

"Gotta start sometime!"

She laughed and pushed Dipper's lumberjack hat firmly over his head. "Are you just here to be dumb or do you want your usual? "

"Boom." Dipper grinned, trying his best to be suave as he leaned against the counter. "Landslide with extra chocolate, shaken not stirred."

Pacifica giggled and rested her head in her hand, smiling at her boyfriend's antics with no small amount of adoration. If anyone was paying enough attention, they might have picked up on a soft wistful sigh that they shared together.

Of course, her reaction publicly was fairly obvious. "Sure. Hey, Suse! A Landslide for the world's dorkiest secret agent."

"You got it." Susan replied. "On the house, provided he stops distracting my waitress."

"Yeah, he's pretty terrible." Said waitress beamed, planting a kiss on his cheek as Susan served up the drink to them with two straws and a sly smile.

"Just in case. Have fun, you two. But you only get a fifteen minute break, Pacifica."

Dipper sipped, raised an eyebrow and gave a little smile. "Hey. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. This is - excuse me - a damned good Landslide."

Pacifica nearly choked with laughter at the somewhat poorly played attempt at 'cool', giving Dipper a playful shove on the shoulder. "You nerd!"

"You got the reference! Who's the nerd now?"

"Call me a nerd one more time, Dipper Pines, and you've gotta take me to the movies."

"You got it, nerd." Dipper grinned and, this time, tapped Pacifica on the nose.

Whatever the reason, the two seemed to be feeling closer - and more understanding - of each other than ever. Even if they were now prone to public displays of affection on a regular basis.

Perhaps there was still uncertainty for the future. Perhaps even a lack of confidence and fear. Perhaps even that niggling knowledge that there was probably more to the story, and that the Fundhausers would, sooner or later, require investigation.

But Dipper and Pacifica had certainty in one thing more than any other at this point - certainty and confidence in each other. In their family. And in the one thing that seemed to unify everyone and everything that they loved. Gravity Falls was freaking weird. And so were they.