Chapter Twelve: A Surprise on their Return

Dipper was sweating heavily in his suit. He hated wearing suits, especially during summer. But this was important. He sighed as he sat down in the church. Wendy, who looked equally ill at ease in the dress she was wearing was sitting next to him with Pacifica on the other side. Pacifica, unlike Wendy looked perfectly at ease in her dress. Pacifica had grown up wearing dresses to various occasions. From parties to weddings to funerals, she often wore formal attire.

Mabel didn't love dresses, but she was fairly comfortable in them. The minister was speaking. Dipper knew he was speaking, but he was having trouble focusing on his words. He was worried about what was going on in Gravity Falls, about what would happen if someone else discovered the fountain of regeneration. That was all he could really call it at the time. He had theories that in addition to the healing and near invulnerability, it granted immortality. But only time would prove that, or disprove it.

Either way, he was distracted. After what could have been ten minutes or an hour, Wendy shook his shoulder.
"We have to go to the graveyard." Wendy said. Dipper knew he didn't want to be buried. Assuming he ever died, he wanted to be cremated, again, assuming that even dead, his body could be destroyed now. There were a lot of ifs in that statement.

The four of them headed to the cemetery and gathered around the grave site as the casket was lowered into the ground and the minister said some final prayers over their father. After about half an hour, the group began to disperse, saying their goodbyes and their final condolences before they headed back to their homes. Amanda took Dipper, Mabel, Pacifica and Wendy to her home. Dipper agreed with Mabel when she said that the home felt strangely empty without their father there.

Matthew had always been somewhat messy. It was one of the few things the couple clashed on anymore. Overall, they had a good routine. They loved each other and were happy together. But Amanda got annoyed that Matthew left his socks on the floor. Why couldn't he walk the extra five steps to the laundry basket? And Matthew got annoyed that Amanda felt the need to vacuum and clean four times a week. Why couldn't she choose two days out of the week to clean? Or better yet, just do it one day. The house didn't get that dirty with just two people in it.

"So, are you going to go back to Gravity Falls now?" Amanda asked. Dipper sighed.

"No, we can stay a while. Wendy and Paz might go back if they want to. But Mabel and I can stay to keep you company." Dipper said.

"Plus this will always be our home. Even if we're adults." Mabel added. Amanda smiled, sighing.

"I do appreciate that. But you two should go on with your lives. Go back to Gravity Falls if that's what you want to do. I'll be okay.

"You know our family. They'll be organizing times for everyone to stop by to see how I'm doing. There probably won't be many days when someone doesn't stop by for at least an hour or two to talk to me." Amanda said. Mabel seemed hesitant to take her up on the offer.

"Are you sure that's what you want?" Dipper asked.

"Yes. I'm sure. Please still stop by sometimes to see me. As you said, you may be adults now. But you'll still always be my babies." Amanda said. Dipper and Mabel nodded, calling Ford.

"Grunkle Ford… We have some boxes to bring back to Gravity Falls. Will that work with the transporter?" Dipper asked.
"Oh, probably. I've never transported more than a few pounds of material before. But theoretically, the transporters can teleport up to 100 pounds of material per transporter. So between the four of you, it should be fine." Ford said.

"Wait… Mom, do you want to come with us? I'm sure that we can get a place for you to stay in Gravity Falls." Mabel said. Amanda chuckled, holding back tears at the combination of losing her husband and seeing her children moving away. They were already so independent and she was sure they would be successful in life. She and Matthew had followed pretty conventional careers. She was a nurse and Matthew worked on computers.

But Dipper and Mabel were different. They would find jobs that suited their tastes and talents and she was sure that nothing would be able to stop them. While she still had trouble believing half of what Dipper and Mabel talked about having gone on in Gravity Falls, she could see Dipper being a supernatural researcher and investigator while Mabel would probably design sweaters or clothes in general for a living.

"No… No, that's… That's okay… I'm touched that you want me nearby. But you two are adults now and I want you to have lives away from your old mom." Amanda smiled, hugging them tightly.

"Wendy, the first time Dipper came back from Gravity Falls, he couldn't stop talking about how awesome you were. I would have sworn you could walk on water if I didn't know better. But I get the impression that you kept him safe in a lot of your adventures together. And I can't thank you enough for how kind you were to both my children." Amanda said to Wendy.

"Aww… Dipper and Mabel were like the coolest people I'd ever met. Dipper was beyond smart and the adventures I had with him were some of the most exciting in my life." Wendy laughed.

"And Mabel. Well, every day is an adventure with her. It was fun getting to know them." Wendy said.

"And Pacifica… I never expected Dipper to come back with two girlfriends." She'd heard a lot about Pacifica. Some of it was good, that she'd really redeemed herself. Some of it was not so great, about what a spoiled brat she'd been, about how pompous and arrogant and mean she'd been. Amanda was glad to see that Pacifica had changed for the better.

"Well… Losing most of the family fortune sort of humbled me.

"I wish it had done the same for my parents. Unfortunately, it only made them worse. They've got about a quarter of their fortune back now, and I don't even want to think about how they got that much money back so fast. It can't have been entirely or even mostly legal. But I'll be honest with you. I've liked Dipper since I was 13, around the time of the ghostly party. Maybe he told you about that. But I probably wouldn't have been okay with doing this 'poly relationship' thing." Pacifica said, putting quotations around the 'poly relationship' part.

"But Wendy and Dipper have been really accommodating about my boundaries and honestly, I started dating Dipper so that my parents would get off my case about marrying me off to some rich snob to further grow our fortune. They had plans to have me engaged by the end of summer to some European noble. I would go and live in Europe where I could re-establish a proper sense of pride for my station in life. Basically, where I would be taught to be a stuck-up snob again. And Dipper and Wendy were nice enough to let me in on their relationship so that I could tell my parents I'm already dating someone.

"Needless to say, they didn't like that and they've threatened Dipper and effectively disowned me. So I'm not sure that I'm legally a Northwest anymore. But onto more pleasant things. Thank you for having us, even if it's after your husband's death. Sorry, that came out wrong." Pacifica said. Amanda was silent for a long moment, processing what Pacifica had said about her family and what they'd done and were about to do. Finally, she spoke.
"What? Oh! Of course. You and Wendy are welcome anytime you want." Amanda said.

The group estimated the weight of each of the items and programmed into the transporters what each one was carrying. The boxes that Dipper had were strange boxes that Ford had created. They had about an extra inch of space inside for every six inches outside. They were just prototypes of tesseract boxes that allowed for advanced storage in relatively small spaces. Finally, Dipper finished calculating everything and handed the transporters out to the group.

"By, Mom. We'll come by to see you soon. I promise." Mabel said.

Dipper counted down from five and they teleported away, showing up a little bit down the road from the Shack.

-0-

"Alright, let's get our stuff into our rooms." Dipper said. They all picked up boxes and packages and carried them back to the Shack. Ford sighed as they got in.

"Everyone, before we get settled, I have some bad news. Stanley was doing some work around the Shack, and he collapsed.

"He's been taken to the hospital. I haven't heard back from the doctors yet. But I'm not sure what to think. Stanley and I both drank the Fountain water. I'm not sure if that means that drinking it doesn't have the same… Sorry, I'm getting ahead of myself. We'll all need to wait on the call from the hospital to see what's going on. He has been complaining about bad headaches lately. We can hope for the best and whatever the case, I promise I'll be right there helping Stanley get better." Ford said. Suddenly, there was a phone call, as if on cue.

Mabel ran over and picked it up.

"Hello? Mystery Shack, Mabel speaking."
"Hello… Is… Stanford Pines available? This is Mercy General in Portland." A woman said. Mabel handed the phone to Ford.

"Hello, this is Stanford Pines." Ford said.

"Mr. Pines… I think it's best if you come in to pick Stanley up." The woman said.
"Thank you. We'll be there as soon as we can." Ford said. Stan had told Ford that he could go to the hospital to get looked at on his own. It was probably nothing. He would be just fine. Ford didn't agree, but he knew from experience that it was easier not to argue with Stan. He was so headstrong sometimes. But if this was what Ford feared it was, Stan probably wasn't in any condition to drive.

"Alright, anyone who wants to come can. It's about an hour drive to Portland. There were other hospitals closer to us, but I wanted him to go to the one that had the best supplies and staff, just in case." Ford said. They all got in the car and drove to Portland.

The trip felt long and was almost completely silent. None of them really had much to say. Wendy often talked back to Stan. She often had smart Alec comments for him. But he'd been her boss since she was 14 and she liked him. She was worried about him. He always seemed in such good health for a man his age.

-0-

When they got to the hospital, they went to the intake desk and announced themselves.

"Okay, you're the family of Stanley Pines… We'll get him out here as soon as possible. For now, please take a seat." The nurse said. They sat down. Dipper and Mabel were a bit jittery. Stan sick? Stan had never been sick. He sometimes got a cold or something small like that. But never anything serious. Even now, they had trouble accepting that he could be seriously sick.

Finally, Stan was wheeled out in a chair. Apparently he had tried to wheel himself out, but wasn't coordinated enough to do it on his own. An orderly was pushing him.

"I guess I need help just to walk out to the flipping car." Stan growled, standing up with Ford's help and being taken out to the car. Stan seemed 'grunklier than usual' to use Mabel's terminology. When he got in the car, he was silent for a long time. Ford started driving them home. Finally, Stan spoke.

"Now I remember why I hate doctors. Every time I go there, I get bad news. Last time I saw a doctor, I got my spleen out. Now, they tell me I'm dying. Inoperable tumor in my brain. Apparently if they had caught it a bit earlier, they may have been able to treat it. Now all they can do is treat the pain. I have six months, maybe a year." Stan said bitterly.

"Stanley… We're with you every step of the way. And whatever happens, I'll help you treat it." Ford said.

"And don't forget. You have bionic organs and nanomachines. Even if your body can't beat the cancer, it's not like there's many places the cancer can affect." Mabel said.
"Mabel, Cancer can affect almost anywhere. From the blood to the bones to the skin. Already, it's affected his brain. We'll take it one step at a time. I'll run some scans once we get home and I'll start treating him immediately." Ford said.

"What? It's your damn fault I have brain cancer anyway! Your dumb portal machine caused it with the toxic waste that I needed to get it to open!" Stan said angrily. If I hadn't helped you get back to earth, you'd still be wandering wherever you were, but I'd be fine!" Stan said. He seemed to be combining anger and denial. Ford smiled.

"Well, will you let me examine you on the off chance that I can find something that works? Do you remember what kind of toxic waste it was?" Ford asked.

"How should I know!" Stan demanded as he helped Stan out of the car and escorted him inside and down the stairs to the laboratory.

"Alright. Let's get a look at you." Ford said, turning on the machines, sliding Stan inside it.

"Hmmm… I see… I see…"
"Well? Is it bad?" Stan demanded.
"It's not good. The cancer has spread from the brain to the spine and is starting to spread elsewhere.

"I'm surprised I didn't notice it before. I did have your whole body under the machine to put the bionics in. Fortunately, the cancer seems to be spreading slowly, partially due to the nanomachines. They've been working overtime it seems." Ford said.

"I'll have to inject you at least every other day with nanomachines to enhance your resistance to the cancer. We'll take it a day at a time. I'll examine you again in three days." Ford said.

Stan nodded, letting himself be injected and then going upstairs to take a nap. He had been really tired lately.