Mabel lay on her bed waiting for Pacifica to get back. She'd had this conversation with her many times before, and usually they would sit scheming in her room for a couple of hours or so until they figured out a plan. She could be sure that Dipper wouldn't come in because he was watching a marathon re-run of Duck-tective on the TV that wasn't scheduled to finish until after eight.

A car pulled up outside. Mabel ran over to the window and saw Pacifica get out. She rubbed her hands together and ran downstairs.

Pacifica came in through the gift shop. She stopped at the mirror to see if her hair was alright.

'I'm back Wendy,' she said to the girl behind the register, throwing the keys onto the counter. Wendy grunted and continued reading her magazine. Pacifica headed through the 'Employee's only' door, took off her jacket and hung it on one of the chairs at the table. Mabel met her at the bottom of the stairs.

'So, how'd it go?' she asked as they climbed.

'He said you were … erratic,' Pacifica replied.

'Good, that gives me plenty to work with!'

They entered the attic and Mabel sat down on the floor, opening her notebook. Pacifica sat down on Dipper's bed.

'Alright Paz, give me the run-down,' said Mabel, grabbing a pen and opening to a new page.

'He's 16, an only child and has a rocky relationship with his parents,' Pacifica began, lying back down on the bed.

'Ok, next.'

'As he said, he's from Tacoma in Washington, and his favourite pastimes include ten-pin bowling, board games and watching TV.'

'Keep going Paz, I'm keeping up.'

'Mabel, how many times have we done this now?' she asked out of nowhere. Mabel looked up at her, chewing on her pen.

'What do you mean?'

'You know,' said Pacifica, gesturing at the ceiling, 'this. It's like stalking, it's kinda creepy.'

'Psh, don't worry yourself. We're not going over the top, you're just overreacting.'

'I'm not, Mabel! Joel is a decent guy, why don't you just get to know him yourself?'

'Getting to know people is boring,' replied Mabel, doodling on her piece of paper.

'That's just it, Mabel! Did you ever wonder why none of your boyfriends last for long? It's because you don't get to know them! Dipper and I had known each other for more than a year before we went out on our first date, and you met Joel less than six hours ago!'

Mabel said nothing. Pacifica sat up and looked at her. There were water droplets forming in her eyes.

'Aww, geez, I'm sorry Mabel,' she said, getting down onto the floor to comfort her. Mabel looked at Pacifica with her teary eyes.

'Just… just another rant, hey Paz…' she said before breaking down into tears. Pacifica put an arm around her shoulder to cheer her up.

'Come on Mabel, it's alright. I didn't mean any of that stuff…' she started.

'Yes you did!' interrupted Mabel, bawling her eyes out, 'I know you're right! All along I've been trying too hard to get a boyfriend that I've never tried to be friends with a boy!'

Pacifica moved away a little and took Mabel by the shoulders, looking her in the eye.

'Mabel, you really like Joel, don't you?' she asked. Mabel wiped away some of the tears and nodded.

'So give him a chance, get to know him a little better! Trust me, it'll be a lot easier to decide if you really like him or not after a while, rather than going with your gut feeling straight away. Ask the questions yourself.'

'Thanks Paz,' sniffed Mabel. Pacifica got up and threw a box of tissues at her.

'Minimum two weeks,' she said as she made for the door, leaving the crying girl on the floor.

'Minimum two weeks what?' asked Mabel. Pacifica smiled at her.

'Until I give you permission to ask him out,' the blonde said as she left the room.

Mabel laughed. She wiped the last of the tears away, tore out the piece of notepad paper, scrunched it up and threw it into the bin.

o00o

Dipper was sitting on the couch marathon watching Duck-tective. The entire of the second season was being re-run, and Dipper was all stocked up on nachos and soda to get him through the night. Stan was sitting at the table pretending to play Solitaire, but in the end he couldn't resist the temptation and ended up watching too.

Pacifica came in from the stairs and sat down on the floor in front of Dipper's legs, using them as a back rest.

'Hey,' she said, nestling her head in between his knees. Dipper looked down at her.

'Hi,' he replied. Stan cleared his throat from the table and both of them looked at him.

'You two better tell me if you're going to get mushy, because I don't want to stick around to be a witness,' he said, moving some of the cards around. Dipper went red but Pacifica stayed calm.

'Don't worry Mr Pines, I'm going to need to head back home soon, or I'll have to risk Jeremy coming to remove me from the premises.'

'Fair enough,' replied Stan, pretending to play cards once again, 'Is Mabel alright?'

'Why do you ask?' said Pacifica, turning back to the TV.

'I heard her crying upstairs, I was going to go up but she stopped before I'd finished debating about whether I should get up or not.'

'She's fine,' Pacifica replied, 'We just had a little chat, that's all.'

'About what?' asked Dipper, reaching over to the bowl of corn chips and offering them to Pacifica.

'She wants to get together with Joel, but I told her she should try to make friends with him first,' she said, taking a chip from the bowl and throwing it into her mouth.

'And she asked you to get to know him so you could pass on the information,' Dipper discerned.

'You got it, nerd boy,' she said. Dipper responded by crossing his legs around her so she couldn't get out. Stan gathered the cards up and shuffled them together.

'Right, I've seen enough,' he said, leaving the room. Dipper groaned.

'Always one to jump to conclusions,' he said. Pacifica tilted her head back and smiled at her boyfriend.

'Can you let me go now please?'

'Do I have to?' he teased.

'Um, yeah, because otherwise Jeremy is going to come down here and I'll get a beating from my parents.'

At this Dipper quickly untangled his legs from her, 'There, you're free.'

She stood up and looked at the clock.

'Shit, it's late. I gotta go Dip, I'll seeya tomorrow.'

'Bye Paz,' he said, trying to look around her at the TV. Duck-tective's old partner Steve was having an argument with the Officer, and he didn't want to miss it.

'You're so the least romantic person I've ever met,' Pacifica said. She bent down and kissed him on the cheek, grabbed her jacket off the chair and went out into the gift shop. Wendy had, thankfully, hung her keys up on the wall out of reach of the pig. She grabbed them and headed out the door.

Dipper reached over to pour himself another cup of Pitt Cola when Mabel walked in.

'Hey sis,' he said, instinctively grabbing a second cup. Mabel smiled at him and sat down on the floor.

'You alright?' he asked, pouring her a cup. Mabel simply nodded and accepted her drink from her brother.

'I'm fine Dipper,' she said, leaning up against the dinosaur skull and sipping the soda, 'I'm fine.'

Whoa, that was a long chapter. I hope you guys like it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I'd love it if you could leave reviews with suggestions or questions, and I hope the story will get better and better. Joel will be back again next chapter.