Chapter 9

(Dipper's POV)

Now that the ki—Mabel's kids—had been fed and taken care of, I proceeded to the Gravity Falls lake with Tammie temporarily taking the lead but soon backing up behind me again. Her brother seemed to have expected this and remained in perfect pace beside me, almost as if he was trying to help hide his sister. It wasn't working very well.

I was pretty sure the only thing that took Tammie's mind off all the stares directed at her was the sight of a large body of water. She wasted no time in darting away from me, her laughter fading as she ran off the dock and dove into the water. I knew I couldn't keep up with her boundless energy and even Tyrone had a very resigned attitude about it, so I simply watched as I continued on, leading my nephew—it was so strange, thinking of him that way—to the docks to either frolic with his sister or just relax and sunbathe.

Me personally, I doubted I'd be able to relax… There were no new strangers living in this town but there were tourists and lately the docks had become part of a tourist attraction, like a beach but much smaller and with rough sand and mud mixed in with small rocks and pebbles. So instead of lounging on land, a few new businesses had opened up as ferries for tourists who wished to sightsee. And while not necessarily dangerous or even threatening, I was uneasy about leaving two young kids to their own devices around unknown adults.

"Tammie's a great swimmer," Tyrone said. "She can stay underwater for a long time. Don't panic if you can't see her."

Yeah, sure. Leave a child unattended. That wasn't going to happen, not on my watch.

"What about you? Do you like to swim?" I asked.

"I love to swim but Mom says we shouldn't. She tries to keep us away from the water."

"Why?"

He just shrugged. "I have no idea, she won't tell us."

My sister was just getting stranger and stranger… Why would she do this to her own children…? Deprive them of something completely natural? Did she maybe go through something traumatic that she wanted to protect her children from? Probably. It seemed possible at this point and I couldn't think of one other way to explain that behavior.

We reached the docks and at first I thought Tyrone was going to jump in the water like his sister, since their mother wasn't here to stop them. Instead he sat on the edge of a pier and let his legs dangle, watching over the lake.

I set up a lawn chair on the same pier and put the duffle bag beside it. I did see glimpses of Tammie here and there and she surfaced to take a breath before diving back underwater again. She seemed to be having fun and she moved pretty fast, proving Tyrone's point of her being a good swimmer correct. There were no ferries out this time of day and she wasn't straying too far from us so, despite Mabel's odd rule against swimming, I allowed her to just have fun in the water.

I pulled out some sunglasses and put them on, settling into the lawn chair. I could hear Tammie's giggles and Tyrone was preferring to stay dry and watch her. I supposed in this way I had a little helper in keeping an eye on her.

Now my main question was what to tell everyone else… I'd just discovered that these twins were not only related to me by blood, but they were my sister's. I'd discovered that they knew nothing about me, our parents, or any event having taken place in Gravity Falls. I'd also discovered that even though Mabel had been putting so much hard work and effort into raising these two, she still wasn't faring well. For them to have known so much about Child Services and what it could do, the government had gotten involved before—or tried to, at least.

So what in the world would I tell everyone about all this? Would it be a good idea at all to confess what I found out? Because this was some pretty shocking stuff here and even if I did decide to tell someone, how would one go about that? I could imagine myself trying to drop hint after hint but all the while still beating around the bush… Besides, who would pick up on anything subtle when Mabel had been missing—BUT THANK GOD STILL ALIVE—all these years? If I was being told such news by someone else, I probably wouldn't believe a single word of it. In fact it was still hard to believe even though everything added up. The twins didn't have anything to gain from lying as far as I could tell. I kind of hoped, deep in my heart, that they were talking about a different Mabel Pines…but I knew it wasn't the case.

But back on topic, my life was full of adulting and I hadn't been prepared to take care of children popping up out of the blue. Now that I knew they were my sister's it almost felt like an obligation… I was positive that Wendy and her husband, who had both been very prepared for children, could properly care for two of them. I worried about Wendy but at the same time she was a fully grown adult who understood things I still didn't. She probably already knew it might hurt her once their mother was found, but when she saw them for the first time…when I thought back to the slightest glint in her eyes… She knew what it'd cost her, and she most likely knew why I took them before she could even offer to. It only made sense for me to worry about her but I also had to think of the kids. They'd never had a father figure before. They'd never had a complete family before. Not according to Mabel, Grunkle Stan and I were the only family they had here in Gravity Falls. I knew Wendy and her husband would take excellent care of these two but still, was it a good idea to just…dump them on someone who wouldn't be able to keep them? After all it wasn't like I could locate Mabel and then keep her from her own children.

It still didn't answer my question of what to do with all this new information… I could think about Mabel later, right now these kids needed a stable environment, even if it was temporary. The problem was finding one… If someone was to believe my claims—and theirs, at that—how would they react? How would they view Tammie and Tyrone knowing they were the children of a close family member who completely abandoned everyone and never bothered with us since? I couldn't see it in their nature to shun the kids but I could see even more of Mabel in Tammie now and I knew they would too. I was still trying to wrap my head around it all so if this was my reaction, well…what would be going through their minds? Even Wendy, who would openly invite any child into her house, could potentially see them in a new light.

Now, perhaps if Soos had married Melody and they both lived in Gravity Falls, then maybe I could take him into consideration. But with his grandmother terminal he was the only one who would be able to keep up with two kids. It would be so different if Melody was around…

Perhaps Grunkle Stan could help me figure this ou—

I jumped when I heard a loud SLAP right beside me, followed immediately by an annoyed growl.

"TAMMIE!" Tyrone yelled as he scraped a soggy mud clump off his face.

Her only response was pure laughter and I let out a heavy sigh of relief as he ran off the pier and plunged in after her. But relief or not I did still have to watch them. I wasn't so worried about rule-abiding Tyrone as I was adventurous Tammie. As far as their dynamic went she was more of the troublemaker and, needless to say, that was a bit of a concern of mine. They were both well-behaved in their own regard but…I wasn't so sure I'd be enough to care for them.

But Mabel was. My sister was younger than me when she first met her kids and managed to raise them alone, for many years. If she could do all that who was to say I couldn't for a while? I was responsible enough, I had my own place, I could feed them, and my only real priority was work. I wasn't restricted by all the binds my sister was in and, bittersweet though it may be, I was better off than her. I could take care of these two for a while and not end up struggling. And Mabel? If what the twins said about her predicament was true, and if she was really so distracted, then this would give her time to unknowingly save up money.

(Mabel's POV)

I pretty much just collapsed onto the couch, knowing I'd only have an hour and a half to get any rest before my next job. I was supposed to have been given the one day off from it—from that particular one anyway—but another waitress fell sick and I'd been called back in to cover her shift. I couldn't pass up the opportunity for extra hours so I decided to trade in sleep for work. It wasn't too bad a deal in my eyes. It would be even more exhausting but more hours meant more money and I could really use that right now.

At times like these I occasionally wondered if the situation would've been different had I stayed in Piedmont. So many years had passed that they'd probably forgotten about me, maybe even thought I was dead or something. If I'd gone back like I was supposed to, would I have had to work so hard all this time? At this point it seemed like too far a stretch to get help from any of them. Where had I been, why had I left, why hadn't I trusted them? An endless list of questions I'd squirm at… The closest person I could think to get any help from was Dipper but even he might not do that. Besides, I chose this life of my own accord. I couldn't unload all my responsibilities on someone else no matter how close we used to be.

Dipper had a life of his own now. I couldn't just barge back in and disrupt that. He probably had a wife, a kid, a job, a house…all the works. To intrude on that simply because of my own financial shortcomings was unfair to him. I'd rather myself work things out than burden another.

I turned onto my side, slid my elbow under my head, and went to sleep in a matter of seconds.

(Dipper's POV)

"No!" Tyrone grunted as he blocked the entrance to my only full bath.

Tammie tried again to shove him aside. Me? I just watched to see another sibling fight unfold. Admittedly they could be funny. This time it was something about Tammie using up all the water again. The most mature thing to do would probably be to tell them that this house wouldn't run out of water…but I'd wait a little longer for that.

"I was in the lake longer than you!" she protested, this time trying to pry his fingers off the doorway.

"You threw mud in my face!"

"It washed off, dork!"

She managed to get one hand off and practically threw him to the side, quickly slamming and locking the door behind her. He pounded a hand against it and growled.

"Mom said no locking doors!"

I heard her blow a raspberry and turn on the shower. It was at that exact moment that an ironic coincidence hit me—I had no conditioner or any feminine shampoo or soap. She would come out smelling like a man. I figured Tyrone would feel even better if he found that out himself, when she came out of the bathroom.

In the mean time I told him the truth about the shower's water, that it wouldn't run out like he was so worried about. It seemed to come as a bit of a surprise to him, as though it was unheard of. Made me wonder what kind of place he and his sister lived in. When Mabel and I were kids we never struggled and the bills were always paid so hot water wasn't a kind of luxury like it was for these two. If anything there was a lot we'd taken for granted and I was only noticing it now.

I sat down on my couch prepared my towel-pillows. Admittedly the day wasn't as exhausting as I figured it would be, but I still had so much to take in mentally that I didn't even want to stay awake to process it anymore. I also still had to figure out what and how to tell people about Tammie and Tyrone's secret lineage, assuming I would decide to tell someone at all…and even then who would I tell?

Tyrone walked up to me, abandoning his station at the bathroom door.

"Hey, um…" he started.

"Hm?"

"Thanks for taking us to the lake," he said. "It was fun."

"Oh…sure, no problem."

"And thanks for letting us stay here while Mo— Mabel is…you know. Away."

I took a deep breath and nodded.

"Look, you don't have to call her 'Mabel' around me," I said. "I'm okay with 'Mom'." No I wasn't. "But, just, for now, maybe it's best if nobody else knows she's your mom."

He frowned and asked, "Is it because she would be embarrassed…?"

Now that, I couldn't say for certain. However, if Mabel still had the same heart she always had, then if anything she would be proud of them.

"I highly doubt that," I answered. "I just think it's better if you let me handle this and until then, just keep your mom's name a secret. Think you can do that?"

"I guess so—but we can still say 'Mom', right?"

My insides flinched at the word that seemed wrong to associate with my sister. "Absolutely."

I relaxed again as he ran back to waiting for Tammie to finish showering. I would have to post mental sticky notes all over my brain if I was ever going to get used to the concept of my sister being a mother to twins nobody else knew about. Especially when those twins popped in out of nowhere. It almost felt like I would wake up tomorrow and everything would be normal again.

But I knew it wouldn't.

A/N

So after almost a full year here's the next chapter...much appreciated if I don't get mobbed for the delay. Been some medical stuff along with work stuff and attempting to prioritize other stories, along with writer's block and a plethora of other excuses... Um...so...enjoy? I guess. I'm so tired lol...I'm going to get on the next chapter now while it's fresh on my mind. Goodnight everyone!