"Y'know," Ken said, opening a bag of chips, "from the beginning Dipper has had experiences with time travel, and at some point or another he decided to tell Wendy about it. The two have seen more than their fair share of the Time Anomaly Removal Unit ever since."

"True, but there was one that Dad never told Mom about" Phoebe said. "Until we accidentally found out ourselves. It all started when Ken was vacuuming one day..."

####################################################################

BONK! "Oh, come on!" As Ken bumped the vacuum cleaner on the rug, it shifted to reveal part of the floor underneath it. He bent down to fix it, but then he noticed something odd.

Phoebe happened to be nearby and Ken decided he needed help. "Phoebe, have you ever seen this before?"

Phoebe rushed over to look. One of the boards was a different color than the rest. "No, hold on." She started to feel around the plank until she ran into a clasp. As she popped it open, the two moved it to the side to reveal a hollowed-out compartment.

"What is this?" She said pulling out a small box. As she opened it, however, Dipper and Wendy walked in.

In an instant, Dipper looked at the box in Phoebe's nad and called out "NO, DON'T - "

It was too late for her to close the box, but for a split second it made her fear what she would see...which at first didn't make sense as she stared down at a locket and a tape measure. "Huh?"

"What is that?" Ken looked at the tape measure and read off the extended piece. "1 day, days, 3 days...what?"

Phoebe gasped. "It's a time-traveling tape measure. You can use that plus the switch to go forwards or backwards in time a certain amount. But...why is this stuck on three days?"

Dipper snatched the box from them and tried to close it. "It's nothing, just mementoes from the old days, let me just put those back...HEY!"

Wendy took them from him. "You've had all those moved to the lab years ago! Is this really super rare? Dude, I wanna see!" With that, she popped upon the locket, only for her to shout "Whoa!" and her expression to change. As Ken and Phoebe looked at the locket, they too were confused.

It was a simple picture of a brown-haired boy next to a tall redheaded girl, both dressed in plaid, against a lake background at sunset. Phoebe knew immediately who it was - her parents when they were fifteen and twelve, taken at the local lakeside. But a few things confused her. For one, neither one wore their hats - something that at the time she didn't think had ever happened. For another, her mom's face betrayed nothing but confusion. "I don't remember this. You in plaid? That's awesome, but how come I don't recall anything like that?"

The most confusing part was when Ken nudged Phoebe and gestured towards Dipper. His face was impossible to read - relief? Sadness? Fear? - but the way he was scratching his arm was his signature giveaway. For some reason, Wendy seeing this locket was something he had been afraid of.

"Um..." he sighed. "There's something I never told you because I could never figure out how and because I thought it never mattered."

Wendy crossed her arms. "Dude. Spill."

Dipper took a deep breath….

###########################################################################

"Now's a good time to say this" fourth-wall-breaking Phoebe interrupted. "So, the events of ddp456's story 'Three Days' are true, and Dad basically told everyone in the room about them, so we'll skip that."

Ken chimed in, "Go check it out for yourself, it's a very intricate tale. For now, let's move to what happened after Dipper told the whole story..."

##########################################################################

"So I spent the last day I had with you, and then used the jammed tape-measure to go back and stop you from getting injured in the car wreck another way. We were never together as a result, but for some reason I was allowed to keep this locket to remind myself what had been undone." He held the locket open in his hand.

"Let me get this straight," Wendy recapped. "You and I were an item for a few days, but when Bill targeted me as a result you decided to undo that timeline?"

Dipper nodded, still looking at that locket. "Before I reset it, you had told me I should never be afraid to take risks. But that one...I just couldn't. I buried this after awhile to forget about it, and after we started dating in this world it didn't matter. But I still wasn't able to tell you because I still can't even tell myself whether or not I did the right thing...for both of us."

Phoebe reached an arm out to touch his wrist. "Dad..."

Dipper got up and walked away. "I have to take notes on something I left in the lab."

"Sure you don't want help?" Ken said, getting up out of concern that Dipper should not be allowed to dwell on such things.

"No, I...it's better if I do this alone." With this, the other three watched as he left the room.

#########################################################################################################################################################################################################################################

Later that day, Wendy sat in her favorite lounge chair on the roof of the Mystery Shack. As she stared into the sun, she knew that in any other circumstance she would just enjoy the beauty of life around her. Unfortunately, her mind would not allow her to relax. It was one of those rare moments that she believed her mind was racing as fast as her husband's did on a daily basis.

She heard a knock on the shingles behind her and Ken's voice. "Is this roof occupied?"

That made Wendy chuckle. "Come on up."

Ken walked to her side, bent down and pulled a Pitt Cola from the cooler. "Thanks. We were out of these downstairs." He looked at her and it didn't take a genius to figure out what was wrong. "Aborted timeline got your tongue?"

She nodded. "Just thinking about what Dipper put himself through for awhile there afterwards. I don't know if you know this, since you're new, but...when he was twelve, I sometimes think he thought about me more than almost anything else. The mystery of the journals, before we met his grunkle Ford, might be one of a few exceptions. So to have three days of his dreams come true, only to throw it away for my sake...no wonder he held onto that locket, only to try and bury the memory."

Ken looked outward at the sun. "I think that only leaves one question in his mind - do you begrudge him for that? I may not have been here for long, but it's been clear enough he hates the thought of hurting you."

Wendy looked down. "If he had told me back then - and if I had believed him, since that would've been the first time I learned about time travel - maybe I would be. But later on, I saw how strong Bill was. Be thankful you never have to deal with him, Ken - even as Kamen Rider Weird. He turned an entire city into a mini-apocalypse and nearly did the same to the entire world. It was seriously hell." She sighed. "The thought that he targeted me and prayed on my mind...before Dipper knew the author and so had no way to beat him for good...what else could he have done?" She got up. "I need to go tell him that, he's probably still feeling guilty."

Ken spoke. "I think he knows all that already." She froze. "Which means he's already come to the same conclusion."

Wendy turned around. "Then why's he still feeling conflicted?"

"I've had friends before who I thought I wronged. They later on told me I didn't do anything nearly as bad as I thought. But there's that small part of you - the part that doubts everything - that refuses to let go of that. The longer it's been, the harder it is to let go. Almost 26 years...no amount of reasoning can get him out of this."

Wendy sighed. "Great."

Ken thought aloud. "Yeah, should have told him back then."

Wendy slowly felt a smile grow on her face. "Yeah…." she headed back down the ladder at top speed, alarming Ken.

"Where are you going?" he followed her to the living room where Mabel was.

"Mabes, do you have the time journal?"

"Sure do!" She reached into her sweater and pulled out a small notebook. "Here you go, Wen-Wen."

"Thanks." she took it out of her sister-in-law's hands and started flipping the pages.

"Time Journal?" Ken inquired.

"You've met Blendin Blandin of the Time Anomaly Removal Unit, right? Well, one time when we met him, in his own timeline he was close to retirement. He gave us this as a gift, so we could know when he may have to intervene next." She finally found the day's date and whooped. "Score! There's an entry in one hour. 'Finished mission, then met Wendy half a mile north. Memory blurry afterwards, treated for head trauma upon return.'"

Ken was a bit apprehensive. "How did that happen?"

Wendy looked at him mysteriously. "I'm gonna need your help."

###############################################################################

Blendin wiped his eyebrow as he walked through the forest. It had been a long day for sure. All he had to do was report to Command about his finished mission and receive another one - no thanks or consideration in the process.

"Hey Blendin."

He jumped as he looked around, only to sigh with relief as he saw Wendy. "Oh, thank God. I thought I had been spotted by someone new."

Wendy shrugged. "You gotta be less jumpy. Same old?"

"Yeah, mostly. I'm on a tight schedule, though. What's going on?"

"I just need your tape measure for awhile, and -"

At that, however, Blendin stood up straight. "Nope, no can do! I can't just give this to you!"

"Honestly, I didn't expect you to."

Blendin looked confused for a second. "Wait, what do you -?"

CLONK! He felt a sharp pain as he fell to the ground unconscious.

Wendy looked at the Japanese teenage boy that appeared behind him, grinning. "Nicely done."

"No problem," Ken replied as he dragged Blendin to a tree and checked his belt. He tossed the time-traveling tape measure to the redhead. "Pity we couldn't just use the broken one."

"Well, I need to go back a lot more than three days. Hold him there until I'm back," she said as she pulled the tape multiple times, set the switch to "Back", and released it. She disappeared immediately.

#####################################################################################################################################################

Twenty-six years ago…

Twelve-year-old Dipper held the locket close to him, his eyes closed as he tried to recreate in his own mind the world that he and Wendy had shared. The fact that it officially never existed was disheartening, but what was far worse was the memory of her face as he had pulled the tape. He had betrayed her, as much as he'd like to pretend otherwise. "I'm sorry, Wendy" he said to himself as he lost consciousness.

Suddenly he felt a hand touch his shoulder. He looked up with bleary eyes, which were wide open as he Wendy looking at him with a smile. But that was impossible! Hadn't she gone home for the day?

Wendy cracked a small smile. "Hey, dude."

Realizing this was a dream, Dipper nervously smiled back. "H-Hey." He wondered if this was his sins revisiting him.

Wendy sat down and took his hand. "Listen, dude," she spoke with hesitation, choosing her words carefully. "However I feel about...things that arise when we are together, the fact is you've always made the right choice. You just need to believe in those choices."

Dipper looked up. "But...some choices I made...I couldn't tell you anything...and I still can't tell the real you about them!" His eyes glistened with sorrow.

Wendy pulled him in and held the little guy close. "There will be a day when you can. I don't know when that is and you have no way of knowing when that'll be...but until then, have faith that I'll understand why you did what you did, and I'll know you did the right thing."

Dipper hugged her back. "Thanks Wendy."

"Anytime, man." She lowered him back down and watched as his eyes closed back up, a face far more content than the one she had seen him wear before coming in.

As she left the scene, Future Wendy took out the tape measure again, thanking God that she hadn't changed too much over the years. Staying on her knees for a few minutes and making sure to wear similar clothing had proven to be enough. She pulled out the tape measure and set it to the appropriate length, making sure the switch was in the "forward" position this time.

###################################################################################################################################################

Present day….

After giving the tape measure back to Ken and trusting him to send Blendin on his way, Wendy went down to the lab to see what Dipper was up to. He was fingering the locket, but now he smiled broadly as he did.

Wendy cautiously asked. "What's up?"

Dipper shook his head. "You can drop the act."

"As in - ?"

Dipper turned to face her. "There was a memory my mind had blocked off about this - one I had rejected since it made no sense. It was of you telling me I did the right thing, even though you should have had no idea. But when Mabel told me you asked for the time journal some time ago...I get it now."

As he collected his wife into a giant hug, she could feel him squeeze her a bit. "Remembering what you said - it's funny. It feels like a giant unnecessary weight was just taken off my shoulders. You really are the best thing I could ask for in life."

Wendy laughed as she returned the hug. "Well, looks like we're both willing to warp time for the sake of those we love."

Dipper chuckled. "I know for you, this is the second time you've heard this today, but...thank you."

#####################################################################################################################################################

"So heartwarming" remarked Phoebe. "It's almost a shame we can't end on that note."

"Maybe" Ken replied, "But I'm just getting warmed up!"