Pacifica folded up the last of her clothes, sighing deeply. Tommorow she and Dipper would begin the drive to Gravity Falls so he could drop her off with Mabel and Wendy. For some odd reason Dipper had insisted they drive instead of flying. Pacifica had no idea why. It was atleast a three day drive if all you did was drive all day. What her husband was thinking, she had no idea. Pacifica zipped up her suitcase and then sat on the bed, waiting for when it was time to leave. She ran a ahnd over her stomach.
"You're Daddy is a good man," she whipsered to her belly. "He's doing what's best for you right now, even though it's hard on both of us…"
She sighed again as she rubbed circles over her belly. Dipper came into the room momentarily.
"Why are you making us drive again?" Pacifica asked once more. "And can I please get an answer this time?"
Dipper chuckled. "Well," he sat down next to her "We're about to be apart for 2 ½ months-"
"Don't remind me!"
"And once I get back we'll be hitting the ground running getting the Gravity Falls program up and running, finding a home, getting ready for the baby, so…" Dipper gently pushed her onto her back and hovered over her. "...this might be our last chance to do something just the two of us for a long time."
Pacifica arched an eyebrow. "What did you have in mind?"
"I have planned a cross country road trip, just the two of us, for a week."
Pacifica gasped. This man! Oh, goodness, did she love this man! How did she get so lucky. But, wait-
"A week? But don't you-"
"I may have fibbed about when the Study Away started."
Pacifica punched him the shoulder.
"What? I wanted to surprise you."
"Well, you certainly did!" Pacifica leaned up and deeply kissed her husband. "I love you."
"I love you, too. Now, Princess, I believe it's time for us to get going."
Dipper stood up, picked up Pacifica's suitcases, and led the way to the van that the Grunkles were currently packing up.
"There are the lovebirds!" Stan grinned. "Ready for Honeymoon 2.0?"
"You two knew?" Pacifica grinned.
"Sure we did!" Stan cheered.
"Before you go, here," Ford reached into his trench coat and pulled out a pre-paid $200 card.
"What's this?" Dipper asked.
"You kids get yourselves some souvenoirs," Ford said. "Maybe something for the newcomer."
"Oh, but Ford, we can't-" Pacifica protested.
"Of course you can! Now go on! You two have fun!" Ford waved the two into the van and closed the door behind them.
"Have fun, casanovas!" Stan cat-called as they pulled off. "Don't accidently make another baby!"
"Stanley!" Ford shouted.
Pacifica and Dipper couldn't help but chuckle.
"So, what are we doing first, Mr. Tour Guide Ken Doll?"
"Please don't call me that."
"My handsome hot shot."
"Ermmm. I'll accept that one, but not my favorite."
"Whatever, what are we doing first?"
"I don't know, why don't you see…" Dipper pulled a manilla envelpoe out of the glove compartment and handed it to her.
"What's this?" Pacifica asked.
"Open it and see."
Pacifica did so. Inside the manilla envelope were several other smaller envelopes inside nummber for 1-21. Pacifica reached for the envelope marked as # 1, and opened. Inside were two tickets and a note.
"Our romance began on the ocean, so why not experience the ocean again and take a piece of it with us into our future home (wherever that might be). Time to go to the National Aquarium in blatimore for an hour long tour, followed by a painting party."
"You bought tickets to a paint party?" Pacifica arched an eyebrow at him. "You?"
"If you ever doubt I love you…"
Pacifica giggled and hugged him tight, kissing his cheek.
"Lunch, Northwest…" a guard slid a tray into Preston Northwest's cell.
The older man grumbled as he took his tray and began nuibbling on a roll. He waited until he was sure the guard was far down the hall before pulling out the iphone he'd had a friend smuggle in earlier that day. He'd already set up several false Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram pages by the name of "Stony West." The only thing left to do now was to find…
"Pines? Pacifica PINES?"
He clicked on the profile that had popped up. Sure enough, that was his daughter. He clicked on her pictures. There was an album titles "Wedding." He clicked on it.
Pacifica in a wedding dress.
Pacifica walking down the aisle, her arm linked with one of those old creeps. Not his! It wasn't him walking her down the aisle!
And it wasn't Zachary, his choice, waiting for her at the end. It was that boy! That nerdy, goofy, riff-raff.
They were kissing.
Dancing.
Cutting cake.
Throwing bouquets and garters.
Honeymooning in Santa Barbara.
"Ding! Pacifica Pines has been tagged in a new photo."
Preston clicked on it.
Pacifica was standing in front of a dolphin tank, one of the sea mammals pointing its nose at her lower torso. There was a caption under it:
"Baby Pines making a splash at their first aquarium trip. #honeymoonnumbertwo, #lastflingbeforebaby, #roadtrip."
Baby? A baby?
Preston checked to see who had posted the picture. It was Dipper Pines. Her-he shuddered-husband. Preston scrolled through Pacifica's timeline. Sure enough, there was a picture of those two insolent twins, one holding a "I don't have a crazy aunt, but I AM the crazy aunt," the other holding a "This guys is going to be a Dad!" shirt. Pacifica was standing in the middle of them, holding her hands in the shape of a heart over her belly.
She was pregnant.
His daughter was married to a man he didn't approve of. Was pregnant with a baby he didn't approve of. She needed to be punished, but he was trapped back here, thanks to his insolent daughter, and he had no clue where she was…
He could hear the guard making his rounds and hid the phone away to eat his lunch.
Preston had to wait several hours before it was safe for him to pull the phone out again. There were three new pictures. The first was of Pacifica and that boy holding up two paintings of jellyfish.
"I think I did better than he did, LOL!" was the caption.
There were several comments:
Mabel Pines: "Surprised you didn't do better with all the journalling and sketching you did as a kid, bro bro!"
Stanley Pines: "He's just letting Pacifica do better. He's whipped!"
Dipper Pines: "It was the paintbrush! It was old!"
Mable Pines: "Sure….LOL!"
Preston scrolled up and found a picture of a set of children's picture books: "Perky Pelican," "Lizzie Aligator," "Tine Tortise," "Inky Octupus," and "Chadwick Crab," spread ontop of a blanket designed to look like a stingray.
"Souvenoir count on this road trip...Dipper: 1, Me: 1, Baby: 6. #alreadyspoiled, LOL!"
Below this picture was a picture of that boy making a funny face infront of a coral reef aquarium as he pointed to a clown fish.
"He found Nemo!"
Preston rolled his eyes. Such juvenility!
"Ding! Pacifica Pines uploaded five new pictures to album 'Roadtrip!'"
"Your jellyfish looks like a bowler hat with hair!" Pacifica chuckled as she and Dipper piled back in the van, reffering to his version of the jellyfish painting that was what they were instructed to paint during the paint party after the tour.
"Well, we'll just hang yours up and hide mine in the back of a closet as one of those keepsakes that you feel attached to, but you don't want anyone else to look at."
"Okay, where are we going now?" Pacifica bounced in her seat as Dipper drove off and she opened the envelope marked #2.
"We've always been the adventurous type, so why stop now? Let's go exploring at the Penn Cave together!
P.S. They have a gift shop where we can buy stuff for the baby or our house."
Pacifica grinned ear to ear as she leaned over and kissed Dipper.
"Sheesh, if you're going to do that after each envelope I might sneal 20 more in there," Dipper chuckled.
Pacifica playfully punched him in the arm. "You rascal."
"But I'm your rascal."
"Yup."
There was a picture of Pacifica and that boy sitting in a boat floating along inside a cave. Disgusting. Dusty. Dark. Damp. So this was the level to which their family name had fallen? And she was smiling. Ear to ear. In fact she looked happier in that dirty, dumpy cave than she had ever been in their luxurious mansions, or elaborate vacations, or opulent balls.
How dare she!
There was another picture of them in the cave. Only this time, rather than cheesing for the camera, they were kissing! Preston gagged as he read the caption.
"Thankful for this man. He surprised me with this road trip earlier this morning! He knew I was sick of being cooped up with morning sickness, and decided to take me on yet another adventure! Just one small example of why I love him so much. You're an amazing husband, love, and you'll be an amazing father. Our baby and myself are lucky to have you."
Preston gagged again as he kept scrolling. "Disgusting!"
There was also a picture of a yellow baby onsie with "Penn Cave" written on it and a stuffed black bear.
"Dipper: 1. Me: 1. Baby: 8!"
Below was a picture of Pacifica wearing a necklace with a small quartz geode hanging from it.
"Dipper: 1, Me: 2. He's always buying pretty things for me. Not that I'm complianing. (Baby still has more than both of us combined though, LOL!)"
Wendy Corduroy commented: "Shoot, if baby Pines turns out to be a girl Dipper will be practically worthless!"
Hmm...they didn't know the gender yet. It must be early in the pregnancy. That gave him plenty of time to get a plan together. First of all he had to figure out where they were.
They were on a roadtrip currently, but where were they going…?
"Ding!"
Preston clicked on the update. They were in a botanical garden now. But where at? Preston heard the guard coming and put the phone away. He waited until the guard passed by and then pulled the phone out again.
Pittsburgh! That's where they were. They were now shopping for flower to plant in their future home: Azaleas, Japanese Snowballs, Alliums, Bleeding Hearts, Hydrangeas, Mountain Laurels, and Painted Lady Ferns.
Those seeds and bulbs would never be planted if he could help it.
So far they had been to Baltimore, some cave in the middle of nowhere, and Pittsburgh. They were headed North, but where to…?
He waited. And waited. Sketchind plans onto a napkin. Getting people to do the job wouldn't be hard. He had enough money to pay anyone off, and thanks to his friends he could get access to it. He just had to know where they were going. Or staying. Or doing.
"Ding!"
They were watching a broadway show, West Side Story, to be exact. In Columbus, Ohio. They were going west now.
"Hm…" Preston pondered. He couldn't be sure, but her had a sneaky suspicion where they were going. It was late. They probably wouldn't travel anymore tonight. Time to do some more digging on what his daughter and that boy had been up to the past year…
Pacifica climbed into the hotel bed next to her husband. He was reading one of the children's books they'd picked up at the Baltimore Aquarium. She smiled shyly as she propped herself up on her elbows.
"Whatcha doin'?"
"Reading."
"A children's book?"
"Hey, I've gotta make sure there's nothing offensive in this."
"It's written for toddlers!"
"You never know."
Both laughed. Pacifica rubbed a hand over her belly. "You want to try to read it to the baby?"
Dipper turned to her, a surprised look on his face.
"You know it can hear us, right?" Pacifica asked.
"This early?"
"Oh, well, that I'm not sure about," Pacifica scratched the back of her head. "But, maybe? Even if it can't, you might as well try it. Consider it a practice run."
Dipper though for a while, then shrugged and scooted closer to her. Pacifica sat up so he could lean his head in her lap. He kissed her abdomen.
"Story time, Peanut," he said before he began reading.