Chapter Twenty-Five: A Surprise and His Reaction to It

Wendy groaned. She'd been so sick lately and she didn't understand why. She assumed that the bionic organs that Ford invested her with would prevent her from getting sick. So it had to be something else. What had she done lately that could cause her to get sick like this? But the weird thing was that she only was only really sick some of the time. It was unpredictable. And she didn't have diarrhea or anything. Just vomiting, especially in the morning when she first woke up.

As she thought about it, she gasped.

"Dad! I'm going out to the pharmacy!" Wendy exclaimed, getting her shoes on. Manly Dan waved goodbye and she rushed to the pharmacy.
"Hey, Marcy. How's it going?" Wendy asked, going to the back to get a few different pregnancy tests. It had been about two weeks since she'd had sex with Dipper out under the stars so she would definitely know if she was pregnant or not.

She bought the tests.

"Hmmm… Pregnancy scare? With Dipper?" Marcy asked. Wendy talked to Marcy when they were both off work. They went and got drinks together sometimes. Wendy sighed.
"Yeah. Not sure I'm really ready to be a mother. But I guess Dipper and I will handle it as it comes." Wendy said.

"Wait… Who else would it be with?" Wendy asked. Marcy shrugged.

"I dunno. You could've broken up with Dipper by now. We haven't really hung out in like three weeks." Marcy shrugged. Wendy nodded and headed home. She definitely was nervous, going upstairs and went into the bathroom, peeing on the tests, waiting for the results. They came back positive. Today was her day off, so she was sure Dipper would be happy to hear from her… Maybe not as much when she told him why she was calling.

She was kind of stressed about it. She was sure Dipper would be cool about it… Wouldn't he? What if he wasn't? I mean, he was only 18. If she wasn't ready to be a mother, what were the odds that he would be ready to be a father? And Ford was a great guy, but she didn't get the impression that he would be someone who ever even considered having children, much less taking care of his great nephew's child. And what if they had twins? Dipper and Mabel were twins. Stan and Ford were twins. So twins ran in the Pines Family. Odds were pretty good that she and Dipper would have twins as well.

She was about 95% sure that he wouldn't just leave her. But would the pregnancy and then childbirth put a strain on their relationship? Neither of them had been planning to have children.

"Then you shouldn't have had sex without a condom, dumbass!" Wendy said angrily to herself. She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down. Getting worked up wouldn't help anything. She had to stay calm and cool. She had to be collected when she went to tell Dipper.

She could just give him a phone call. Tell him over the phone. No! That would be even worse. That would be insulting to him. Not even willing to tell him in person what was going on. She sighed and got ready to head over to the Mystery Shack.

-0-

"Hey, Dipper!" Wendy said with a grin, though Pacifica could tell from her face that she was nervous about something.

"What's wrong, Corduroy?" Pacifica asked bluntly.
"Nothing. Something I need to talk with Dipper about. Privately." Wendy said. Dipper was taking a break from his studying. He hadn't been planning to see Wendy today. He wasn't complaining. He always liked to see her, but he was surprised that she had come over so abruptly and that she seemed so out of sorts.

"Okay." Dipper said, going down to the break room with Wendy and sitting down.
"Something is wrong. I can tell. Not because of any great people skills I have, but because of the bionics that Ford gave me. I can practically read auras now." Dipper said.
"I know, I can too, and I'm betting Paz can too." Wendy said.
"Anyway, this… I know this will probably be upsetting for you. But… I'm pregnant." Wendy said.

Dipper was silent for a long, long moment. Wendy watched as his expression went through a range of shock, excitement, fear, moving into panic as he tried to control himself, taking deep breaths, trying to slow his breathing.

"It's okay… It's okay… You got this, Dipper… You can handle this… Wendy needs you to be able to handle this." He whispered, clearly thinking Wendy couldn't hear him. Her bionic inner ears though meant that she could hear him as if he was talking right in her ear.

She chuckled.

"Thanks dude. I appreciate you trying to help me. But I'm gonna be okay. And I'm sure you will as well." She said, not feeling as calm as she was acting. But just like Dipper wanted to project a strong, confident image to Wendy about this, she too knew that Dipper needed her to remain calm and collected.

"Alright, so you're pregnant. Do you know if it's a boy or a girl yet?" Dipper asked. Not necessarily the most important question to ask. But it was obviously on Dipper's mind.

"No. I'm betting that I got pregnant only two-ish weeks ago when we had unprotected sex together and I forgot to tell Ford. Trust me, I didn't plan to get pregnant and I'm 99.9% sure you didn't plan to get me pregnant. We just kind of got there. You forgot to put on a condom and I forgot to tell you to put one on. And afterwards, I forgot to tell Ford to get a morning after treatment or whatever he did with the nanomachines that time after the hot springs. Anyway…" Wendy said, trying to stay calm and cool 'as usual' for Dipper.

"Yeah, anyway. We'll get through this, Wendy. Wendy, look at me. This doesn't change a thing between us. You, me and Pacifica will get through this together. No doubt Mabel will be doting over you your entire pregnancy and then doting on our kid… Or kids… No guarantee we won't have twins." Dipper said, not thinking about the fact that probably wouldn't make Wendy feel any better.

"I'd thought of that. Not the hottest thought in my mind right now. But we definitely could have twins. You and Mabel are twins, Stan and Ford are identical twins. Odds of us having twins are pretty good. What if when you get Pacifica pregnant, you have twins with her too? We'd have four kids for the price of two." Wendy laughed. Dipper laughed as well. It wasn't a super comforting thought. But it was entirely possible. Soon, the two were cracking up together. Then Dipper thought about what Manly Dan would say about him getting Wendy pregnant. He was sure Dan would be furious.

"I-can we not tell your dad j-just yet?" Dipper asked. Wendy chuckled.

"Well, we can wait a bit. But we're going to have to tell him eventually. As dense as my dad can be sometimes, he won't just think I'm getting fat." Wendy said. Dipper nodded.

"Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah! I-I know… It's just… His reactions can be kind of… Intense?" Dipper asked, though he was sure he didn't need to tell Wendy that. She lived with Dan every day.

"Trust me, I know. But he'll probably be cool about it. I'm pretty sure my mom and dad conceived me before they were married. I think he wasn't that much older than you when he got mom pregnant. They got married shortly after, before mom started showing. Back then I guess it was a bigger deal to have a child out of wedlock. So I sometimes worry that if mom and dad hadn't had to get married so young, would she have gotten so depressed? Would she have killed herself? Is it my fault mom is dead?" Wendy asked. Dipper held her hand, only for Wendy to jerk it away unconsciously.

She didn't like feeling like this and when she did, she often unconsciously shut herself off.

"Wendy… Of course it wasn't your fault." Dipper said, not reaching for her hand again. He didn't realize that Wendy still felt so much guilt.

"SHUT UP YOU DORKY LITTLE FREAK!" Wendy screamed, her mood going from 0 to 100 in two seconds flat. Dipper recoiled sharply as she growled at him.

"I-I'm sorry…" Dipper breathed anxiously, his whole body tensing. Had he said something wrong?

"I-no… I'm sorry… I don't… I don't know what came over me. Mood swings? Do those happen so early in pregnancy?" Wendy breathed.
"Dipper, you're not a freak. I love you. I…" Wendy could tell Dipper didn't want to talk anymore. What she'd said really upset him. She sighed and went to talk to Ford.

"Let me guess… You're pregnant." Ford asked.

"What? How'd you know?" Wendy asked.

"My bionics can sense hormonal changes in your body. You must be having morning sickness and possibly mood swings by now due to your hormones." Ford said. Wendy blushed, still angry at herself that she'd hurt Dipper like that. She was supposed to be his friend. Not just his girlfriend. But she suspected that she was the first friend outside his sister that he'd had.

The way he acted toward her, how awkward he was with other people, and just how intelligent he was, she guessed that he didn't have an easy time making friends.

"I can give you an injection. It will accelerate your pregnancy. It will be about 9-10 weeks rather than 9 months." Ford said. He'd been meaning to try it on someone.

"Possible side effects would include more intense mood swings and morning sickness, intense hunger and fatigue throughout the pregnancy and more intense back pain.

"You may also experience more severe post-partum depression. But we can handle all those things with a combination of nanomachines, pain serums and therapy." Ford said. Wendy felt she needed to talk to Dipper about it first. But she was sure he didn't want to talk to her. She didn't blame him either, the way she'd exploded on him. He'd just been trying to help her and she'd treated him like shit. Mood swings or not, there had been no excuse.

"Can you give me something to control the mood swings? I just exploded on Dipper and I don't want to do it again." Wendy said.
"I think I have some serums that can stabilize mood imbalances. They're temporary. Probably will last about 24-36 hours. Don't take them any more than every 48 hours, so there will be times when your mood is a bit volatile. But I'm sure that Dipper will understand." Ford said. Wendy wasn't so sure he would. Not if she treated him as badly as she had less than ten minutes ago.

She went back to talk to Dipper, seeing that he was curled up on the couch. He hadn't had an anxiety attack in years. But her berating him… He wouldn't tell her, but her opinion was the one that mattered most to him. He cared about Mabel and of course he loved Pacifica just as much as Wendy. But Wendy had long been the person who's opinions mattered most to him because she'd been the one who'd been most supportive of him that first summer he and Mabel went to Gravity Falls.

He was curled up now, trying to talk himself into calming down. Even with his bionic heart and his Neurotech though, his heart was racing and he was panting for breath.
"Dude, dude… Deep breaths…" Wendy said calmly, sitting down and stroking his hair lightly. He gasped, pulling away unintentionally.

"Wendy hates me… Wendy hates me… I got her pregnant. I can't believe I did that to her. I'm a monster… No wonder she hates me…" Dipper breathed, tears streaming down his cheeks.

Wendy stroked his hair again.

"Dipper, I could never hate you. And this isn't your fault. Women have mood swings when they're pregnant. I exploded on you and I really am sorry that I hurt you. What I said was horrible and if you'll let me, I'd like to make it up to you." Wendy said. Dipper hugged her tightly, burying his head under her chin so she couldn't see him crying. He hadn't cried in years either. Not really. Maybe when his father died. But he was obviously going to cry about that.

"It's okay, dude. I appreciate you trying to comfort me before." Wendy said. Logically, she knew it wasn't her fault that her mother killed herself. But she still felt some guilt over it because she knew how hurt her father was about it and she felt like her father's happiness had been ruined.

Dipper and Wendy sat together, cuddling for over an hour before Dipper fully calmed down and they talked again.

"Ford offered me a serum that would accelerate my pregnancy from 9 months to about 9 weeks. What do you think, Dipper? He said that it would cause more severe back pain, morning sickness and mood swings. But he says he has a serum that can take care of the mood swings and one that can help with the morning sickness." Wendy said. Dipper thought for a long moment.

He was silent and Wendy waited for him to process everything.
"What do you want to do? You're the one who's pregnant. If you want to get the pregnancy over with more quickly, I wouldn't blame you or be surprised. If you want to let it go longer because you don't want the more severe symptoms, I understand that too." Dipper said. Wendy laughed.
"I'm asking your opinion, Dipper. That wasn't an opinion. That was just telling me to do what I want." Wendy said.

"I trust Grunkle Ford. If he says the accelerant is a good idea, I believe him." Dipper said.

"He also said I'd be really hungry throughout the pregnancy. I guess that stands to reason since I'll be growing the baby or babies inside me within about a fourth the time that I normally would." Wendy said. Dipper nodded. That didn't surprise him either.

"Well, he probably has something to help with that too. Let's at least go talk to him about it. Then you and I can decide together." Dipper said.

They went to go talk to Ford, who was still in his laboratory, working on a new version of his super chair. This version had a direct brain interface which allowed the user to control the chair mentally and also had various other functions that he was still perfecting.

"How can I help you two?" Ford asked.

"Tell us more about the pregnancy accelerant." Wendy said.

"Well, it accelerates the pregnancy from about 9 months to about 9 weeks. It has no known deleterious effects on the baby itself and the child may well have accelerated mental and physical growth. Not in the sense that they will age faster, but that they will reach various milestones sooner. Walking, talking, learning various skills. The accelerated growth of the child in utero will cause the child to develop faster once they are born. Unfortunately, I've only used the serum on about 100 people so far.

"So we'll need to keep a close eye on the child or children once they're born so we can learn as much about the effects of the serum as possible. Possible side effects include fatigue, intense hunger, more severe mood swings, more severe morning sickness, more severe back and possibly body pain as a result of the child growing so rapidly inside of you. I recommend taking doses of various vitamins and minerals throughout the pregnancy and for at least a year after the pregnancy. I recommend trying to remain off your feet as much as possible. I'll provide you a version of my hover chair." Ford said.

"I also recommend you drink this shake once every 6 hours. Drink one before bed, when you wake up and several times throughout the day. If you're unsure, err on drinking too many rather than too few. I can always make more. This shake will have most of the vitamins and nutrients and calories that you will need to carry a healthy child or children to term. If it turns out you're having twins, we'll reassess the situation, you'll need to drink more shakes and take more vitamins." Ford said. Wendy was becoming a bit unsure of this. It seemed like a lot of extra work. Dipper trusted Ford though. She should as well.

She sighed.
"Alright. We'll do it." Wendy said, holding Dipper's hand as Ford injected her in the stomach with the serum.

"Alright, take this can of powder. Mix two of these spoonfuls in with it and stir it in. I recommend ingredients like blueberries, kale, strawberries, watermelon, and really any kind of fruit you want. It doesn't matter really. It's more to cover the taste of the powder, which is disgusting." Ford said.

"Come visit me in a week and I'll examine you. You should be the equivalent of a month along by then." Ford said. Wendy nodded and hugged Dipper, kissing him on the lips.

"I'm really sorry about how I treated you, Dipper." Wendy said. Dipper sighed. He couldn't say it was okay. It still stung, what she'd said to him. But he knew in his heart that she didn't mean it. So he could forgive her.

"I understand." Dipper said.