Chapter Six: Eight out of Ten

"The Shack was still shaking when Ford got up there and he had to grab onto something to stabilize himself. He sat down on a bench that was nailed to the floor, sighing as they rode out the quake. Finally, the tremors stopped and Ford stood up, sighing and looking around. Shelves and displays were destroyed.

"Soos, could you come and help me assess the damage to the Shack?" Ford asked. They needed to determine how badly damaged the building was.

"Stanley, go down and make sure that Dipper and Wendy are alright." Ford said. Stan went upstairs first to see if Mabel was alright. He'd lived through earthquakes before. But this one seemed like it had been really bad. Mabel was already calling her parents. She hissed nervously when they didn't answer.

"Grunkle Stan! We need to get to a television! We need to watch the news!" Mabel said urgently.

"Why don't you use your smart phone? Cable probably isn't working right now." Stan said. He was worried about Mabel's parents as well. Mabel grabbed her phone and typed in some searches to Google.

She looked into Piedmont and found a tentative news article. An earthquake that was an 8.8 on the Richter Scale came from the San Andreas Fault Line and seemed to have jumped the other fault lines as well, creating a massive and incredibly widespread earthquake that has so far devastated California. Power and services were out and tidal waves have crashed on coastal cities and between the earthquake and the tidal waves, buildings were still crumbling, even after the initial shockwave but other than that, there was little news available. Mabel felt tears filling her eyes. Her parents were dead. She just knew it.

"Mom… Dad…" Mabel breathed anxiously, clutching her phone. Stan hugged her. He wasn't usually a sentimental person. But he could see how upset she was.

Dipper went upstairs. Wendy was healing well and she didn't really need any continued medical care. She was safe down in the basement. Ford had made sure that everything was stable downstairs. It wasn't perfect. Some repairs would need to be made. But overall, it was fine. Dipper went up and started putting things back in place, though he wished that he could just call his parents. He'd tried calling them already and hadn't gotten through.

He worked as hard as he could to get everything set back up so that he wouldn't think about his parents possibly being hurt or worse, dead. His anxiety was getting to him again. He hadn't been this nervous in years, but now, he was sweating and starting to get short of breath.

"Kid, go downstairs. Mabel is already down there with Wendy. Just relax. Ford, Soos and I will take care of everything." Stan ordered. Dipper nodded.

"I'll be down in a little while. There's something I'd like to try." Ford said calmly. Dipper rushed down and sat with Mabel, who was actually crying. Wendy, who was healing pretty well, was comforting her.

"Mabel, it's gonna be okay, dude. Whatever happens, we're all here for you. Right, Dipper? Paz, have you managed to reach your parents?" Wendy asked. Pacifica shook her head.

"No. I'm not in a rush to reach them. They'll ask me where I've been and I'm not eager to have that conversation." Pacifica said. She was worried about them though.

She didn't like her parents. But they were still her parents. She still loved them. They were monsters, but they were her parents.

"Paz, I'll go with you to see your parents. We can talk to them about our relationship together." Dipper said kindly.

"And Mabel and I will keep on top of the news here." Wendy said, taking Dipper's hand. She could tell he was still anxious, but wanted to distract himself.

"Good. You two do that. Stay on the internet on your phones and write down whatever you can about what's going on." Dipper said. Wendy saluted playfully, kissing Dipper and sending him off. She growled as she felt a twinge in her leg.

-0-

Pacifica sighed as she rang the bell on the gate and it opened for them.

"You ready, Dipper? They're probably not going to be very nice to you. They want me to marry someone richer than us, not someone smarter than me." Pacifica chuckled. Dipper laughed. He'd tested his IQ and come up at 152.3. So yes, he probably was smarter than the Northwests. But that didn't really matter to him. He just wanted Pacifica to be happy. And shouldn't that matter more than how rich he was? Unfortunately, with Preston and Priscilla, it clearly didn't matter.

They went into the mansion.

"Mom? Dad?" Pacifica called out.

"Oh, Ms. Northwest. Please be careful. Some things have fallen and broken. We don't wish for you to harm yourself. Nobody has been hurt in the earthquake. But your parents are upstairs, assessing the damage to their property." The butler said. The family had been reduced to a butler and two servants and a maid rather than the veritable army of servants that they'd had before.

"Can you ask them to come down? I need to… We need to talk to them." Pacifica said. The butler bowed deferentially and went upstairs.

"Pardon my intrusion, Sir and Ma'am. But your daughter and a… Young man are here. They claim they wish to speak to you." The butler said. Preston narrowed his eyes slightly, thinking for a moment.

"Very well, Aldrich. We'll be right down. Tell them to wait in the sitting room for us." Preston said.

Aldrich went downstairs.

"Ms. Northwest, your father requests that you and your friend wait in the sitting room until they come down." He said politely. Pacifica nodded. She knew she couldn't hurry her parents up. They would come down when Preston wanted to. And while she wanted to get this over with so it wouldn't be hanging over their heads, she knew they would just have to wait until their parents finished what they were doing.

"I'm sorry about this. Let me put in the house's WiFi into your phone so you can do research on the earthquake in California." Pacifica said, taking Dipper's phone and putting in the manor's password.

"Here you go." Pacifica said. Dipper immediately opened up four tabs and went on different sites, collecting information from all of them and taking the necessary information from each of them, putting them into his notes and cross referencing them as quickly as possible. Mabel was amazed at how quickly he was doing his research. It seemed like the whole world had fallen away for him.

He didn't even notice her watching him going onto over a dozen other sites and collecting information. Clearly he had become even smarter since she had last seen him when he was 15.

"Ah, umm… Dipper, right?" Preston asked, sitting down across from him, looking at him with an almost disconcertingly calculating look. Dipper put his phone away.
"Yes, my name is Dipper." Dipper said, looking Preston in the eye, showing that he wasn't intimidated by him.

"Well, you did us a favor years ago, or at least you tried to when you tried to banish the ghost. Still, it ended up being ruined. But I suppose I can make five minutes for you. We really are quite busy." Preston said. Dipper nodded, taking Pacifica's hand.

"Pacifica and I have become close again since I got back to Gravity Falls and I've asked her out, sir." Dipper said calmly, wanting this to be a civil conversation. Preston nodded.

"And you, Pacifica? What did you say?" He asked.

"I said yes. I really like Dipper and I want to go out with him." Pacifica said.

"I see. Well, in terms of class, I would rate him maybe a 4 out of 10. In terms of talent… How are your grades? What are your plans for college?" Preston asked, already clearly assessing how Dipper would be beneficial to him.

"I got straight As in school and got a perfect 1600 on my SAT." Dipper said. And he didn't say it, but he didn't even have to buy his perfect grades.

"I see. Impressive. What extracurriculars do you do?"
"Track, Cross-Country, Hapkido, Taekwondo, Chess, Pathfinder and Dungeons and Dragons, Debate Club and future inventors club." Dipper said. Preston nodded.
"Not bad. Is Stanley Pines, the con artist your guardian?" Preston asked.
"I'm not sure. My parents live in Piedmont, California and after this earthquake, we haven't been able to get in contact with them. So I'm not sure of their condition." Dipper said, trying to stay calm.

"I'm sorry to hear that. You seem like a good young man. But I'm sure your sister has told you that numerous young men of noble and aristocratic status have sought my daughter's hand in marriage. What do you believe you can offer her that they can't? Can you introduce her to high ranking individuals around the world, offer her high class accommodations and take her where she deserves to be?" Preston asked.

"I can make her happy." Dipper said simply. Pacifica held Dipper's hand tighter, showing that she stood with him, that she wasn't hesitating in her interest in him.

"Happy… And you'll be able to support her? I'm aware that Stanley isn't a wealthy man. What do your parents do and what are they leaving to you that would allow you to elevate my daughter beyond what she has now?" Preston asked.
"I'll admit. I'm not rich. Odds are strong I won't ever be rich.

"My father is a computer technician. He got his Master's Degrees in Computer Sciences and Computer Programming. My mom is a nurse. We're comfortable, but not rich." Dipper said.

"I see. And what do you plan to do?" Preston asked.
"I plan to continue my Great Uncle Ford's research into the supernatural and continue his inventing career. Already, he's invented some amazing things and I think it would be wrong to not continue to improve on what he's done." Dipper said.

"A supernatural researcher and an inventor." Preston mused.

"Other than the supposed happiness that you believe you can offer Pacifica, why should I let you be with her rather than insisting that she choose from between her other suitors?" Preston asked.

"Isn't her happiness enough for you?" Dipper asked, though it seemed a dumb question the minute it came out of his mouth.

"Hmm… Yes, perhaps. But let me ask you this. Is money not the true source of happiness? And before you answer, imagine if you had no money. Would you be happy?" Preston asked. His astuteness surprised Dipper. He always saw Preston as being very disconnected from the 'lesser half' as it were. So for him to make such an astute comment.

"Well, I'm sure I would be unhappy if I had no money. But I don't. And just because I'm not rich doesn't mean I can't be happy." Dipper said.

"But could Pacifica be happy if she wasn't rich? She's been rich her whole life. How would she react if she didn't have fancy cars and a mansion? Her marriage to one of these wealthy men is something she's doing for the family. Loyalty to the family is everything. If she's not loyal to the family, then she may as well not be part of the family. If she's not part of the family, she's not rich." Preston said calmly. Pacifica felt her heart sinking. Her father was threatening to disown her. This felt like a nightmare. She could either marry a wealthy man, stay in the family and be rich but unhappy.

Or she could stay with Dipper. And he was 18, she was 19. They might not even stay together. Who knew? They had long lives ahead of them. But Preston Northwest was slow to forgive and he never forgot. Pacifica had seen him ruin people for relatively minor slights. He was a cold, cruel, vindictive man. And she couldn't be sure that he wouldn't seek that kind of revenge on Dipper if she didn't back off of him.

"You know, young man… You have strong prospects for college.

"But nothing is a sure bet. You're a strong contestant. But a bad word on you could prevent you from getting into the college you want. It would be tragic really if someone as smart as you had to be relegated to a second rate community college." Preston said. Pacifica's hand tightened on Dipper's. She knew what her father was doing. He was trying to 'convince' Dipper to break up with her. And she knew how badly Dipper wanted a successful life.

"Dipper, it's okay. I wouldn't blame you if you want a high profile college more than me." Pacifica said.

She knew that if Dipper proceeded with courting her, Preston wouldn't stop at just blocking him from getting into college. Preston may not have been one of the richest men in the world anymore, but he still had enough clout to block Dipper from getting a job, he could cause problems for Dipper throughout his whole life.

"No. I'm not going to leave you, Paz. You're my girlfriend. I have plans to be great and I will be great." Dipper said determinedly. Preston smirked.

"I admire your determination. But know that enemies of the Northwests don't tend to last long. Just look at who you're talking to. I've used my connections to ruin movie stars, high profile lawyers and academics. Do you really think that I couldn't ruin you if you don't back off of my daughter?" Preston asked. Dipper chuckled.

"I was wondering when the unveiled threats would come out." He said. He pulled out his phone and replayed what Preston had said.

"You see, I know what kind of person you are. But you underestimated what kind of person I am. I'm not the simpleminded fool in love you think I am." Dipper said.
"If you disown Pacifica, I can't stop you from doing that, but she'll always be welcome with us. We'll take care of her." Dipper said, holding Pacifica's hand tightly.

"Now, let's get going. I'm sure that whatever's going on at the Shack is more important than this." Dipper said. Pacifica marveled at what Dipper had done. He'd seen her father's bluff and countered it.