Chapter 14

Apologies can't make up for the wait I've put every one through. I reached a point where I was backlogged with work I had to do. When I finished that I lost heart for the story, and it's taken this long to get back into the story telling mood. I may not be able to say the wait is worth it. But I will say that no matter how long it takes I will finish this story before I abandon it.

(Dipper's POV)

The lights flashed on and off as I rolled out of bed, crashing to the floor. The lamp on Mabel's bedside crashed to the ground shattering the lightbulb over the floor. I rolled under my bed as much as possible to avoid the falling items. Grabbing the legs of the bed, I watched as the room fell into chaos. The shacking was violent almost spastic in movements as it felt like the house was being picked up and slammed against the earth time and time again.

I could hear several screams and yells of fear from somewhere in the house, but I was helpless to move, with the force keeping me rooted to the floor. The tremors went on for what felt like hours but in reality was only three minutes. Feeling the shaking subside I still remained glued to my spot till they were completely gone. Even then I didn't move for another few minutes afraid of any aftershocks.

Confident no more were going to strike, I carefully pulled myself out from under the bed, watching the glass on the floor. Now standing up, I examined the remains of the room. Nothing had been spared from the earthquakes wrath besides the beds. The drawers located to the side had fallen over and clothes were littered everywhere. The remains of the golf course from summers ago laid destroyed on the floor.

Carefully stepping over the destruction, I spotted the lumberjack hat Wendy gave to me years ago lying on the floor. Grabbing the thing I brushed off particles of dust, before placing the hat on my head. The thought of having Wendy with me somehow made the situation almost seem bearable.
Almost.

Opening the doorway, I observed the little damage there was. Thankfully there were no loose objects to with the exception of a few pictures on the ground.

"You alright Dipper?" Turning around the sight of Stan in his underclothes was reassuring. He looked like he managed to avoid getting hurt, as he strolled towards me.

"Yeah, I'm all good. How about yourself?" giving him a reassuring grin. He tried to give one back before wincing in pain.

"Not so great" and with that he lifted his feet for me to see several shards of glass sticking through his slippers "My window shattered and some blasted shards got through."

I bent down to examine the damage. "It doesn't look serious, but take a seat here just in case. I'll check up on the girls, see if they're ok."

"Sure thing" he slumped against the wall to his knees "I'll be down shortly anyway when I'm done here." Flicking his slippers off and pulling out the small shards of glass.

Confident that Stan could handle himself I carried on down the stairs, heading to the spare room. Arriving at the door, I tried to push open the door only for it to not budge. "MABEL, PACIFICA! UNLOCK THE DOOR!" I yelled.

"Dipper" the sound of Mabel's voice was comforting, hearing that she was ok.

"You guys ok?" lowing my voice thankfully they could hear me.

"Yeah, but the locks been jammed shut there is no way in or out." That's an issue.

"Give me a moment and I'll have you out." Taking a few steps back, I braced myself and shoulder charged the door. Slamming into the door a rush of pain surged through my arm briefly, as it bounced me back.

"That's good Dipper. Do whatever you're doing again." Hearing that it was actually working I suckered up and positioned myself again at the door. This time, there was success. The sound of wood and metal snapped as I hit the door, knocking it over. I stumbled into the room only to fall on my face at the feet of the two girls.

"I thought we needed to do some remodelling." I couldn't help but smirk at my own joke as I was face down in the carpet.

"Get up Dip-dip." Mabel and Pacifica each grasped one of my arms and helped me to my feet. First glance they looked fine but I had to make sure.

"You guys hurt?" Wanting to make sure they were ok, as I blocked out the pain in my sore arm.

"No. A little shell shocked but we're fine" Pacifica answered "No windows or anything in this room to break and hurt us."

"Thank god." I took a seat on the bed, letting the adrenaline in my system lower.

"How is Stan and Ford?" Mabel questioned, causing me to frown slightly. Where was Ford? Did he know what was up?

"Stan's upstairs. A little glass in the feet but basically fine. Ford however… I didn't check on Ford. Is he still downstairs?"

"As far as I'm aware. I don't think he'd be anywhere else."

I mentally let out a groan realising where this was heading. "Ok, I'll go and have a look." Reluctantly standing back up and making my way to the door.

"We'll go and check on Stan" Pacifica said from behind me as they followed my actions "I know first aid so maybe I can help him."

"That would be greatly appreciated thanks." Letting a burst of thankfulness inside me. Even after the awkward moment earlier, it was put aside for the moment. The calmness of the situation was a continuous reassurance that everything was going to be all right.

I let Mabel and Pacifica head upstairs, while I watched them disappear from view. Out of my sight I made my way to the gift shop. Broken cups and clothes racks lay on the floor, leaving a mess in the centre of the room. The remains of the room were hidden in the darkness of the night. This is all going to be a pain in the ass to clean up. Walking up to the vending machine I punched in the code letting the door open.

Stepping inside I was grateful for the built in lights Ford had installed all those years ago. Making my way down the stairs revealing the elevator to the depths of the house. Stepping inside and pressing the buttons. Feeling the sense of my body dropping into the earth I prepared myself for the worst case scenario. As the doors opened, I stepped out into Ford's lab. Surprisingly enough, nothing looked like it had been touched by the quake.

The control panel of the Portal lay buried against Ford's usual mess of papers. Test tubes and vials were placed on a shelf in the corner of the room. I paused for a second to look at the picture framed on the counter. The only thing which looked spotless in the entire room against the messy surroundings was a picture of the four of us smiling together after the Weirdaggedon, just before we left for home.

I couldn't help but smile. Nothing would get this family down. With the picture in mind I walked into the main room to see Ford, with a welding mask on and a torch in hands working on some project.

"FORD! ARE YOU ALRIGHT?" With a glance at me, Ford flicked off the torch and threw the mask off his head.

"Dipper. Just the person I wanted to see" smile on his face as he walked towards me "What do YOU think of the idea of an illumine…" Stopping as he saw my expression "Something wrong?"

"Did you not feel it?"

"Feel what?"

"Feel the earthquake that just struck." This got his instant attention looked awe stuck at me.

"Everyone ok?"

"Just a bit shaken if anything." Ford let out a sigh of relief, before pushing past me towards his computer. After moments of tapping away on the keyboard he brought up a seismic graph.

"Well that answers the question about does the extra reinforcement that I had put in place, work or not. I didn't feel a thing down here."

"So was this you again." Having a suspicious feeling that Ford was once again the cause of the shakes.

"Kid, if this was me I wouldn't have asked you about it." Not glancing up from his screen, he brought up a map of the US.

"Then how was there a quake then? Oregon doesn't lie on a tectonic plate, does it?" Pretty sure my geographic knowledge wasn't that far off.

"We are on the edge of the ring if fire so we can have some earthquakes, but this is concerning." He stood to the side allowing me a look at the spikes on the screen.

"What am I meant to be looking at?" Confused at the spiked lines all around gravity falls.

"This" pointing at the map "Shows that the earthquake that was only felt here. Otherwise California would be lit up like a lightbulb."

"That automatically rules out natural disaster." Realising what Ford was going at "You don't think…"

"I don't know anything at this moment. But whatever this is, its supernatural. The earthquake was measured as a 6.2 on the Richter scale and that doesn't mean anything good."

"Any idea what could have caused this specifically then?" Feeling as though I knew what he was going to say.

"Nope. I didn't think anything was capable of creating this which isn't inside this room." He turned to face me and once again I saw the fear and worry on his face. "I have no clue what ever did this but whatever it is, it's powerful."

I felt a rush of worry, flood through me, almost being passed on from Ford. Nothing was going our way anymore.

"We should regroup with the others." Feeling like I needed strength in numbers now, to revitalise my will power.

"Agreed." Leading the way towards the elevator. As we entered we stood in silence just looking at the dull grey doors in front of us. Reluctant to talk about what we had just said. As the doors opened we made our way out of the secret room, before heading upstairs.

"Look what the cat dragged in." The hyperactive voice of Mabel reached my ears, as I walked into the upstairs hallway to see Mabel, Pacifica, Grunkle Stan and Waddles sitting in a cleared area of the room.

"Like you can say much." Taking a better look at the dust that had gathered on all of us.

"Yeah I know. Nice to see you're good Ford." Checking up on the old man.

"Yeah, didn't feel the shake at all where I was."

"And where were you Mr Pines? If you don't mind me asking." Pacifica asked out of curiosity. This caused a small flinch as he forgot about the extra person in the room.

Ford froze for a split second aware that Pacifica didn't already know about the lab, quickly thinking of a excuse. "I was… was… on a bouncy castle. I've got one in my room. You know the things can't stop the fun train." I watched as Stan slapped himself in embarrassment.

"Ok…" A puzzled look was left on Pacifica's face, but she didn't press on the subject just giving Ford a few weird glances. We began to clear up the room piece by piece, separating the broken from the fixable or undamaged objects. Only then did I realise not once had I thought of Wendy. How had she been coping through this.

"Anyone got a phone?" I piped, trying to take the conversation away from Ford's questionable habits.

"I've got a IPhone, will that do?" Pacifica said, pulling a small device out of her pockets held towards me. "Need to call someone?"

"Yes thanks. I want to call Wendy and see if she's ok." Suddenly Pacifica whipped her hand back, clinging onto it with both hands.

"On second thought, I think I'm out of credit. That's not going to be possible." Eyes a little wider than usual.

"Pacifica" taking in her sudden outburst "Can I talk to you in private?" Looking at the glances Ford was giving us.

"Sure…" she hanged her head as I lead her away from the group, almost as though she knew what was happening. A sinking feeling was entering my stomach with every step I took. Making our way into the other end of the house, I turned to face her.

"What's gotten into you Pacifica?" The tight sensation in my chest gripping harder as I awaited her reply "Is this about Wendy?". I watched as she gently rocked her head up and down.

"What's so bad between you two that won't allow me to check on her then? What's this unseen hatred towards her that you seem to be hiding?"

She stood there for a bit. Head hung, silence. "She took you…" I just stood there in silence, taken away by what she said. Pacifica liked me? I guess that would answer the reason she was being more careful by how she was around me. "I've had a crush on you since the end of last summer, and I was going to ask you out when you and Wendy get together. I mean why?

"Pacifica…"

Why does the girl who's dated nearly every boy in Gravity Falls get the one guy I'm interested in?" Her voice growing louder and louder with each sentence. "I mean she's not ever the same age as you."

"Pacifica, please stop…"

"I know it's unfair to hate the girl you are dating it's just what does she have that I don't? I've changed since we first met, I'm not the same girl as I was back then." At this point I had to cut her off, to prevent her from saying something she couldn't take back as she just began grabbing her hair and pulling it.

"Pacifica…" Taking a deep breath, I placed one hand lightly on her shoulder "You're a great person. You are one of the most beautiful girls in the state if not America" I watched as a pool of red broke her checks "And a great personality to match but Wendy just means something special to me. I don't know what it is about her, but she's amazing." I watched as Pacifica's face began to fall even further to the point where tears were forming.

I reached my hand up and brushed away her tears lightly "Pacifica, don't worry. There will be someone out there who deserves your love and compassion, and will be able to grant the same things for you. But that person isn't me. Even if I'd gone out with you, my heart would have already belonged to Wendy." I stopped there and pulled her into a hug.

I felt the slight sniffles of noise come from her as we stood in an embrace. "I hope you mean that Dipper." The muffled response said coming from my shoulder. I smiled at the reply.

"I meant every word of it." I let her stand there for a while just taking it in, while I stood comforting her. Just rubbing her back with one arm to let her know I am here.

I began to feel Pacifica gently ease away from me and I released her. I watched as she smiled back up at me before sticking her hand out. "Friends at least?"

"Friends at least." Grasping it and pulling her in for one final hug. "Just make sure you find that someone out there."

"Will do." Breaking part for one more time, she reached her hand into her pocket and placed her phone in my hand.

"I thought you were out of credit though?" Giving her a cheeky grin.

"Don't push your luck. We may be friends but that doesn't mean I can still punch you." Giving one back. I let out a light chuckle as she walked out the room leaving me to myself. Typing in Wendy's number, I clicked call letting it ring for a few time before it was picked up.

"Hey Wendy, you ok? Sorry got caught up looking after the family. Everything good at your place?" Waiting for a response after my quick fired questions, only for a very gruff voice to be on the other end.

"Hello Dipshit. Wendy's not available right now. Please leave a message after the beep."

Beep.