After Pacifica's parents cut her off and disowned her, the heiress was still left with a sizable chunk of money in her name for college funds. With her and Dipper's money combined, they were able to afford a decently sized yet average home back in Piedmont, California. With the help of the Pines twins' parents, there was enough to put Dipper - and only Dipper - through four years of college. Any extra they had was put towards making their house feel a little more like home, which, in Pacifica's eyes, meant the height of luxury.

Pacifica stared out the window, watching trees speed by as they drove home from the hospital. Atlantica was asleep in the back seat, nested warmly in a carrier and blankets. Neither of them had said a word to each other since they pulled out of the hospital parking lot. Dipper's fingers tapped nervously on the steering wheel, he chewed his bottom lip idly and kept on hyper alert for any road hazards like he was afraid he might get lost in a daydream and crash with their newborn daughter in the back. The young woman watched her husband from the corners of her eyes, feeling guilty for the way he'd broken down two days before. She took a deep breath, holding the air in her chest for a moment, and then released a sigh.

"I made a deal with Bill," she admitted slowly. The whole car jerked as Dipper braked unnecessarily. The sound of Bill's name had stuck him like a needle. He took a few slow breaths and tried to relax his muscles.

"I-I'm sorry, what was that about Bill?" he asked in a small voice.

"Nine months ago I made a deal with him so that I could have your baby. I... I never wanted you to find out, but I didn't expect him to show up in the hospital room."

"Oh."

There was a few long seconds of silence.

"Is that seriously all you have to say on the matter?" she asked, a bit irritated.

"I'm sorry, Pacifica, I would rather not talk about Bill if we can help it. I mean, I'm not upset at you if that's what you were worried about." He craned his neck around to check if the coast was clear for him to make a turn. "I just... I can't talk about it."

"I understand," she frowned and sighed, "but I have to ask: is this about those scars on your arms?"

Dipper stomped the breaks, nearly throwing them all through the windshield. The car behind them also screeched to a halt and blew their horn at them as they quickly sped around them and shouted swears. Dipper swallowed hard and put his face in his hands, a shaky breath drawn from his chest.

"Please, please, Pacifica. I can't talk about it. I'm sorry, I can't. I just- I can't," he dry sobbed into his hands.

"Maybe I should drive," she offered, voice weak with worry. She put a hand on her husband's shoulder and rubbed reassuringly. Dipper jumped slightly at her touch. After a moment, he took a deep breath and straightened up again, gripping the wheel hard enough to turn his knuckles white.

"No, no, I can... I'm okay, I can do it." His face twisted with anxiety, he glanced around and checked all his mirrors before carefully putting the car in motion again. "It's just a few more blocks," he said quietly, cringing a bit at the sight of a yield sign.

The atmosphere had been made tense and the lot of them were silent the rest of the way home.

...

That night, Mabel called. Dipper held the phone in his hand, watching the little phone icon dance beside his sister's name while it played 'Don't Start Unbelieving'. He grimaced.

Dipper and Mabel had grown apart, since that summer. After the breakup, Dipper became struck with a paranoia that Bill would exact his revenge by hurting Mabel since she had no protection like he'd wanted. For a long time he had wanted to train himself up, get in shape and attempt to look less 'whimpy' so he could summon Bartemaeus himself, but depression foiled that plan before it even began.

Ever since then, he and Mabel only ever said what was necessary to each other. Bus rides home were awkward, graduation was a nightmare when Mabel read an extensive speech about her brother and he said barely a word about her in his speech, birthdays were spent apart, and on the day of his wedding, Mabel was the only family left uninvited; but she came anyway. Some time after that, she finally started leaving him alone and he hadn't heard from her in about a year and a half. To get a call from her now was just nauseating.

Finally, the phone quit ringing and Dipper let out a sigh of relief. He looked down at Atlantica asleep in his other arm and smiled. Babies had a way of keeping their parents up at night. It was nearly three a.m. and she had been crying to be changed but wouldn't go back to sleep unless Dipper continued holding her.

"Okay, since you won't pick up, I'm coming in through the window."

Dipper's eyes snapped up to the window next to them to see Mabel standing there in the garden in the pitch black night. She looked a mixture of upset and anxious. How long had she been there?

"Mabel, what are you doing here?" he shouted in a whisper so he wouldn't wake his daughter. Mabel was already halfway in by the time he registered what she was doing. "You're gonna wake the baby, at least keep it down!"

Mabel hit the floor with a thud, landing on her head and toppling over onto her back. She rubbed her head with her teeth grit.

"Ow, rough landing," she groaned as she got to feet.

"Mabel!"

"Dipper, I know you don't want me around, I'm not stupid okay. But this time I really need you!"

"It's three in the morning and my newborn daughter is trying to sleep, couldn't you have waited until later?" he ground out as he tucked Atlantica back into her crib.

"No! I can't do this anymore, bro-bro, Edwin is driving me insane!" Dipper crossed his arms and glared at her.

"Well let's at least take this out of the nursery," he growled, gesturing to the door. Mabel exited the room without skipping a beat and Dipper followed behind her, shutting the door behind them. The pair headed across the hallway and into the sitting room to continue their surprise visit.

"I've put up with this for a long time," she continued, pacing in front of the fireplace, "and it was alright, but a few months ago Mom and Dad saw on Facebook that you and Pacifica were expecting and ever since then he has been hounding me to have a baby."

"And this is a problem because...?"

"I don't want a baby, Dipper! At least not with him. He's so possessive and - you know, last week he slashed this dude's tires just because he saw me talking to him outside of the store? I work with this guy, Dipper! We were talking about if he could cover my shift for this evening so I could come beg you to help me."

"Alright, but I don't understand why you don't just call the cops. Why do you have to pester me about it?" Mabel took a deep breath, her fists clenched and shaking with anger.

"Because, I have tried the cops. And everything else under the sun, but I think this has to do with that love potion you had him take when we were kids, remember?" For a few moments, Dipper was silent. He cast his eyes away to the ground and shook his head.

"I try not to think about that summer. I've sorta blocked it out," he said in a low voice.

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Mabel groaned loudly. She waved her hands beside her face and mocked him. "'Wah, Bill Cipher the triangle guy traumatized me and I can't take life anymore!'" Dipper's entire body tensed and he jerked his head back up, gaping at her in offended shock. "What even happened between you two anyway? All this time and you've never told me, but I'm supposed to take you seriously about it. Come on, bro, what happened that could separate us?"

"You wanna know what happened?" he snarled, throwing his arms down and clenching his fists. He marched up to Mabel and pointed an angry finger at her. "While you were too focused on your vampire boyfriend, I had my heart broken by Bill! You joked about it, but you didn't even realize that we were actually sort of together. I can't even tell my wife about that but you just won't leave it alone!" He turned his back and paced away from her, continuing to rant, "All that love potion biz was thanks to Bill. When your plan for him to push you down the stairs failed, I asked him to help with a love potion and we went through a lot to make it for you, and before I knew it, I was kissing him in the living room and he was kissing me back and then it all just got away from us. We sorta... had sex and then I asked him about getting you protection. But I couldn't tell you about me and him because you wouldn't have understood, so I asked about getting you a different demon and - I don't know, he just went bonkers! Couldn't be reasoned with."

"And you wonder why I don't trust him."

"Mabel, please," Dipper grunted, pressing his index and thumb to his temples. "The point is, somewhere along the line he found out that I had summoned him just for answers to the journal and got upset that I was using him. We broke up, alright? That's why I've been so distant since then." He sat down in one of the armchairs and wrapped his arms around his stomach, staring absently at the floor. "I was afraid he would use you as revenge and I couldn't bear to see him hurt you too."

Mabel stared at him from across the room and felt tears well in her eyes. She rubbed her arm and chewed her bottom lip.

"You abandoned me because of a breakup with Bill?" she croaked. Dipper put his face in his hands.

"I knew you wouldn't understand," he sighed. Mabel shook her head. She moved across the room and knelt down before him, putting her hands on his knees.

"I understand better than anyone, bro. Breakups, pfft," she snickered in an attempt to lightened the mood. "But I wish you would have told me. I'm sorry I've been such a jerk about it this whole time. Can you ever forgive me?" She tilted her head with a small smile. Dipper was heaving breaths, sick from having to relive the pain, but he looked into his sister's eyes and was brought to tears himself. Overwhelmed with a flood of emotions, he reached out and took Mabel in his arms, hugging her as tightly as he could manage with shaking arms.

"Awkward sibling hug," he said in a rush of breath, patting his sister's back.

"Awkward sibling hug!" Mabel chimed in return.

When they finally let each other go, Mabel had tears running down her smiling cheeks. Dipper was a mirror of that. They wiped their faces in sync and then Mabel got up to make herself more comfortable on the couch.

"So what's going on with Edwin?" Dipper asked, moving to sit beside her. They propped their heads up on either sofa arm and laid head-to-toe across from one another.

"I'm sorry I had to break in, bro-bro, but I've gone to all sorts of magically inclined people about this - I even managed to get in touch with the Love God - and no one understands how this works and even Love God's anti-love potion doesn't work on him. You were my last hope. I figured if you did it, then maybe you could... undo it."

"Ah geez, I really wish I could, Mabel, but without Bill I..." he cut himself off upon the realization that he did, in fact, have Bill now. Mabel curled up to look at him.

"What?" she questioned.

"I, uh - might be able to help you after all."

"Really?" she grinned, sitting straight up. "You ca-"

"But don't get your hops up," her brother cut in, sitting up and clamping a hand over her mouth. "Bill and I are walking on eggshells, alright, and we're going to try being each other's confident, but that doesn't mean he's going to agree to help after what happened." Mabel nodded and made an agreeing noise behind his hand paired with a thumbs-up. He let go of her mouth and rubbed the back of his head, "I just have one favour to ask."

"Of course, brother bear, what is it?"

"Please don't tell Pacifica."