A few days later Stan was out of the hospital and on his way to Piedmont California. As he drove and took in the beautiful landscape his mind was racing. He and Ford had made an agreement not to tell the kids. They loved and respected those kids deeply, but they were still too young to fully carry the weight of a terminal illness. Don't get him wrong those kids were wise well beyond their years, but there was nothing that they could do, and they were such go getters that they would use up all of their energy and time worrying about it. It wasn't fair to take the best years of their life from them, he wanted them to be as carefree as humanly possible.
Once Stan crossed into the California boarder he found himself blown away by the beauty of the ocean and the smell of the fresh sea. It was a beautiful place, he regretted not visiting sooner, but with all of the family drama it just never seemed necessary until now. While he drove some ideas had begun forming in his head, with Dipper and Mabel being twins they were probably used to always doing everything together, but on this visit Stan wanted to spend some one on one time with each of them, doing something really special with them both. He wanted the kid's last memories of him to be as happy as possible. He already knew exactly what he would do with Mabel, but he was still not sure what to do with Dipper. He kind of wished Ford was here to give him some pointers, but he knew that he had to face the kids alone.
It was around 3:30 when Stan arrived at the house. He had to admit there was a part of him that was nervous, what if he looked too sick? Or had an attack and scared the kids? Regardless of his fears he took a deep breath and headed into the house. Mr. and Mrs. Pines were in the living room to greet him. He had called ahead of time to make sure it was ok that he stopped by. He had decided to go ahead and tell Mr. and Mrs. Pines of his condition, so that when the time came they could be there to comfort and support the kids. After a few minutes of somewhat awkward small talk. They were still a little upset about all the danger that Stan had put their kids through that summer, but they were almost angrier about Stan sending a pig home with their daughter. They explained that the kids were each still at school working. Mabel had play practice, and Dipper was setting everything into motion for his science fair exhibit later that evening. Stan thanked them and headed for the school, agreeing to meet them at the science fair that night.
As Stan moved through the school, he couldn't help but think back to his old school days. The actual classwork was really hard, but there were good times to be had for sure. Stan wished he could be young again, not just because he was healthy back then, but because there was so much he wanted to do differently. He wanted to work harder, be kinder to others, to dance with Carla again, to be with his brother and mother again. Then again there was no point in wasting his time wishing, he was still here now, and there were two kids who needed his love. He had figured out exactly what to do with Dipper, but before he did he had to stop by the theatre and get a quick peek of Mabel.
Rehearsal was going on in full swing, so Stan just stayed behind the door leading into the theatre. He could not have picked a better time to stop by, Mabel was preforming the final song from the play. Stan had not ever heard Mabel sing with effort before. She sang around the shack practically all summer long (it gave everyone a headache), but here she was completely in the zone. It wasn't Mabel up there it was Eliza singing about how hard she worked to tell Alexander's story, how she raised funds in D.C, and spoke out against slavery. The moment Stan got chills was when her voice became very meek and quiet (the complete opposite of Mabel…so she was quite the actress too) and she sang about the orphanage that she had started in memory of her Alexander. By the end of the song Stan was in tears, even if he didn't live to see opening night of the show, he had seen his beautiful, talented, niece doing something wonderful. She had not only told the story of Alexander…..but also Stan's story. It gave him the greatest gift of all….the gift of inner peace.
Stan quickly snuck away while wiping his tears. He headed to the science lab, and as he snuck behind the door he was relieved to see that Dipper was the last one there, "how's it hanging squirt?" Stan said opening the door.
Dipper nearly had a heart attack, he was so startled, but before long he ran over and tackled Stan in a tight hug. "It's so good to see you Grunkle Stan! Is Ford with you?" Dipper asked eagerly looking over Stan's shoulder. Stan half expected that and took it with a grain of salt giving Dipper a playful noogie.
"I'm afraid not sport," Stan said gently. Dipper tried to hide it, but his disappointment obvious, "Oh….I was hoping he could help me figure out this science project…the fair is tonight, and I still have so much to do," Dipper said sadly.
"Well I won't pretend I am as good as Ford at this stuff, but I would like to help if you'll give me the chance," Stan said.
"I didn't think you were into this kind of stuff Grunkle Stan?" Dipper said skeptically.
"I'm not into this stuff…..but I'm into you, and if you love this stuff then I can try to love it too," Stan offered sincerely.
For the next several hours Stan was the best lab assistant Dipper could have. He was attentive and really helped Dipper with everything he needed, never complaining and simply enjoying the time with his nephew. He talked with him, and laughed with him, he took a real delight in the work Dipper had done. Dipper didn't realize how amazing it felt to have his Grunkle there helping him every step of the way.
It felt good for Stan too. He had certainly come a long way from destroying Ford's science project. He did everything he could to make sure Dipper's experiment was a smash. The two had one of the best afternoons either of them could remember, and before long it was show time!
Before the science fair Stan had finally revealed himself to Mabel (and received his second tackle hug of that day), and the two of them spent some quality catch-up time poking fun at all of the other experiments, until finally it was Dipper's turn. At Grunkle Stan's suggestion Dipper had finalized a robot arm that could open pit cola on command (a useful skill for any piece of robotics). To the surprise of no one his experiment was by far the best, and he won the blue ribbon with absolutely no contest.
"Thank you so much Grunkle Stan….I couldn't have done this without you," Dipper said hugging Stan tightly after the show.
"My pleasure, Dipper….Hey I want you to have something….just to show you how much I care," Stan said handing Dipper a box.
Dipper stared at the box suspiciously, Stan had been a great help today, but he was still a prankster, and Dipper had to keep his guard up. To his surprise when he opened the box he found a beautiful and very expensive looking journal, almost exactly like the ones Ford had, "Wow Grunkle Stan….It's awesome! Was this Ford's idea?" Dipper asked.
"Nope, believe it or not this was all my idea, I figured a brain as big as yours should have a place to store all of those big ideas," Stan said giving Dipper a big hug.
"Hey….how come Dipper gets all the attention today? I thought I was your favorite niece?" Mabel said with a pout.
"You're his only niece dumb-dumb!" Dipper said jokingly poking his sister.
Stan let out a laugh, "Don't you worry pumpkin I haven't forgotten about you….I have something special lined up for you tomorrow, oh and Mabel….pack an overnight bag!" Stan said with a grin.
