Stan's Story
SUMMARY: Stan tells the kids and Ford the story of how he was there when the twins were born.
MAIN CHARACTERS: Stanley Pines, Stanford Pines, Mabel Pines, and Dipper Pines.
Stanley Pines finally closes up the Mystery Shack at the end of the day, giving wave goodbye to Wendy as she wished everyone a goodnight.
With a sigh Stan unties his tie and walks into the kitchen part of the house, seeing his great niece and great nephew sitting at the kitchen table, doing their homework. Their pencils scribbled onto their papers as Stan goes into the fridge and grabs a Pit Cola, him doing a slight hum. He pops the tab and takes a long swig, him giving a satisfied sigh afterwards.
"So… what are you kids up to?" Stan asks gruffly as he sits in a chair at the end of the table. He takes another swig of his drink as he removed the eyepatch from his glasses. "Science… history… uh… other school things?"
"History." Both the kids replied, both not looking up from their papers.
Ford then walks in, bringing in a stack of papers that were precariously titling about and the old man was trying to find balance before they topple over. He sighs with relief as he takes a seat next to Mabel, the papers still stacked. However, as he had sighed, the papers fell and scattered across the table, causing Ford to give out an annoyed groan.
Everyone seemed to be in an annoyed mood, all except for Stan, which was uncharacteristic for him. He narrows his brown eyes, thinking of how to entertain his family. "Hey, hey! Anyone wanna hear a story?" Stan asks.
Mabel immediately throws her history homework over her shoulder, the paper gently swaying in the air as it traveled to the ground. "I WANNA, I WANNA, GRUNKLE STAN!" she screams at the top of her lungs, waving her arms wildly. She ended up knocking Dipper's glasses off his face.
"Damn it, Mabel!" Dipper shouts as he picks up his glasses, sighing with relief that they weren't broken or cracked.
Stan gives a hearty laugh, causing Ford to give him a glare. "Well, Stanley, if you really want to tell one of your tall tales, go right on ahead." Ford mutters as he start rearranging his papers.
"Nah, I don't feel like making up a story," Stan admits, giving a gesture with his hand. "I was thinking of a truer story…" he set down his empty can on the table, him putting a hand to his chin and rubbing it, trying to think of one. He gives a snap of his fingers, causing Dipper to flinch, and says, "Hey, I got one, how about I tell you kids the day I visited the hospital when you guys were born?"
"Oh yeah, you never really went into detail about that…" Dipper remarks, putting a hand to his head as he pushed away his homework from him. "You said Mabel punched the doctor in the face and I was blue."
Stan nods. "Oh yeah, there was other stuff too… never knew baby stuff was that gross…" he gives shudder.
Ford looks up. "You actually saw them being born?" he asked with curiosity.
Stan nods. "Christopher and Katherine were surprisingly open people… they wanted to invite more family members but I was the only one that showed up." he gives a shrug.
"And they thought you were me, correct?" Ford assumed.
Stan smiles sheepishly. "Yeah…" Ford just sighs.
"WELL TELL US GRUNKLE STAN!" Mabel screams again, causing Stan to almost fall out of his chair from her sudden loudness of voice. "WAS I ADORABLE!? PLEASE TELL ME I WAS ADORABLE!"
Stan gives a real smile and reaches over to her and ruffles her short brown hair. She gives a giggle and gives a brilliant smile. "Yeah, you were the prettiest baby girl I've ever seen." He tells her honestly. "Now… where was I going with this…? Oh, yeah!
"So your Grandpa Shermie gave me a call one day here at the Shack, saying that your parents wanted some family members to come see you kids being born. Ya see, your mom was actually overdue with you two, apparently that's common with first kids, not really sure though… so she was going to be induced by the end of summer.
"I told him that I would take the time out of my schedule to come on out to Piedmont. The time I saw them before that was at a reception for their wedding or something… I really don't remember, there was an open bar involved…"
A slap was heard, everyone looking at Ford. He had given himself a face palm from his twin's statement.
"Anyway, so I get to Piedmont, and thank goodness it is one of the few states I wasn't banned in-" another slap was heard from Ford's direction. "-I forget which hospital was… but, whatever. Seeing your parents was sort of awkward, your mom was a lot like Mabel, she was just extremely excited, and that's when I found out that you guys were gonna be twins."
"Mom like Mabel?" Dipper scoffs. "Never saw it."
Ford pipes in, "She probably changed a bit of her personality to raise you kids. Sometimes adulthood does that to you." He notices Mabel look suddenly nervous. "But… adulthood isn't all boring, you can still do the things you love to do."
Stan glares at him. "Hey, I'm try'n to tell a story here, Ford." He says stoically. "Anyway, where was I? Oh, yeah! So Katherine was really excited, she wanted to meet you two very much, she kept showing me all the ultrasounds of ya two, and it was to the point where Shermie and your guys' dad had to drag her into the hospital bed. Apparently she had already been induced so the doctors wanted her in the bed, but Katherine was just so happy to get to finally meet ya two that she thought walking around would speed things up I guess.
"And oh man, Shermie… He was really dressing like a grandpa before he was one!" Stan then laughs loudly. "He was wearing a bow tie, like an ugly yellow one with purple stripes-" "Sounds like Dad…" a comment was heard from Ford. "-a green blazer jacket, and stupid brown pants! Shermie was never the best dresser… and neither was Ford when we were growing up." he points a thumb at Ford, laughing once again, getting Mabel and Dipper to chuckle a bit.
Ford replies to the comment sarcastically and with no emotion whatsoever, "Oh hardy har har, Stanley that was hilarious. Oh my, I can't stop laughing, tee hee." He then starts to grade the papers he finally finished organizing. "But remember, I looked like a bad ass coming out of the portal, so, ha." He then adds, amusement in his voice with a grin.
"And I punched zombies in the face with brass knuckles!" Stan counters. "I looked pretty bad ass!" he then gives a hard glare to Dipper. "But I wouldn't have to do that if someone didn't raise the dead!"
Dipper scoffs, "You raise the damn dead one fricken time…!"
"Go on with the story, Grunkle Stan!" Mabel begs. "Did you see us actually be born?! Were we covered in blood and goops!?"
The Pines men looked at her oddly, the table going silent.
"Uh… yeah, Mabel… you and your brother were covered in blood… and, uh, goops." Stan slowly said, him raising a silver brow. "Anyway…
"So, Mabel was the first to be born, and let me tell you, she was pissed! She probably didn't want to come out yet, but hell, when she socked that doc in the jaw, I was laughing so hard I think I caused Christopher to start panicking… that's where you get your anxiety from Dipper, I swear…!
"Dipper was blue when he was born, and they actually called in for a pediatric specialist to come in STAT… it was actually kind of scary, the umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck. Shermie and Christopher was panicking, and I can only imagine what Katherine was feeling… your dad couldn't even cut the cord, they had to do it since it was wrapped a couple of times…
"I remember after they cut your cord you had to be immediately transferred into the NICU to be tested for a lot of things… Dipper, they were actually scared that you were so oxygen deprived, even during labor, that they honestly thought you were going to die, be brain dead, or just slower in your mental state.
"And your guys' mom, wow what tough lady, she was perfectly fine through the whole process until they sent Dipper to the NICU… she was bawling, and having a full blown anxiety attack, Shermie and I actually had to be sent from the room because of it." Stan's voice went soft and sad sounding, him remembering that very clearly.
"But hey, it all turned out alright!" Stan then went on with his story, trying to sound more upbeat. "I mean, look at ya Dipper, even as a kid you were extremely more intelligent than other kids, ya beat the odds of what doctors said, so you're a real Pines man!
"And when you two's mom finally got to hold you two… I've never seen someone so happy. I swear she never wanted to let go, and I could see why when I got to hold you two."
Dipper's eyes went wide. "Wait, you held us, Grunkle Stan?" he was actually surprised at that fact.
Stan laughs, "Hell yeah I did, I was the first one to point out you got the Big Dipper on your forehead, your little tuft of brown hair was covering it for the most part, but I figured it out! I actually almost fought with Shermie because according to him I was 'hogging' you two." Stan made quotation marks in the air with his fingers.
Mabel then goes and gives him a hug. "Aw, Grunkle Stan, hogging us babies!" she teases him. "Ya big softie!"
"Yeah… I did… I guess seeing you two twins reminded me of myself and Ford…" Stan admits, rubbing the back of his head with his hand. "I wanted you two to be there for each other and never really drift apart. I wanted Dipper to protect his sister and wanted Mabel to make sure bullies didn't make fun of his birthmark."
Ford shifts from his seat, putting down his red pen. He glances up, seeing Stan staring at him with a soft, sad smile. Ford then gets up and moves toward his twin brother, putting a hand on his shoulder. Dipper even gets up from his seat and joins the rest of the family.
"And you wished us something great, Grunkle Stan." Dipper tells him. "I'll always be there for Mabel."
Stan gives another sad smile. "Yeah, I know you always will. We younger twins gotta make sure our twins stay safe, right?" he tells the boy. He took off Dipper's hat and gives his brown hair a tussle.
Dipper laughs, "Yeah, we do!"
Stan then suggests, "Anyone wanna hear the story of how I married a bronze miner statue in Vegas?"
"And… moment ruined." Dipper complains as he goes back to his seat, same with Mabel and Ford to theirs.
Stan laughs, feeling good that he told one of his happiest memories. Although he was there when they were born, he was never around as they grew up. Stan felt it was better that way for them not to really know him, sometimes he had sent gifts around the holidays if he remembered. Then the one day he got a call from Shermie to watch them for the summer… that fated summer.
Apparently Christopher and Katherine were having some problems, with money or their relationship Stan had no idea, but they didn't want the kids to witness it. Even though Stan had bigger plans for the portal, he agreed to watch the kids for summer, and though he tried to act indecent so they wouldn't get close to him, he had grown to really love the kids and show his better side with them.
But he was glad they came over during the summer, Stan was happy that he really got to know them. They helped open up his heart again, and even helped with his strained relationship with Ford. Although Weirdmageddon happened, and family and friends were lost, he got to make sure two of the greatest things in his life were still with him.
And I wouldn't have it any other way.
A/N: I am so sorry for the lack of updates! This weekend was Memorial Day weekend and I was super busy and couldn't type really! But while traveling I did finish the "Gravity Falls" game "Legend of the Gnome Gemulets", which inspired this story with Stan.
Also... I'm a little stuck on "Beyond the Portal"... UGH I'M TERRIBLE!
I have a few other short stories planned, especially with Dipper... if you're noticing that there a small things that bug him.
Thank you for reading as always, and I'm once again sorry for the lack of updates! (I'm literally posting this at 2:30 AM and I've been typing this story for over three hours trying to think of a way to write it while watching Gravity Falls, Star vs. The Forces of Evil, and Wander Over Yonder...)
~Skye Hendersen~