Chapter Twenty-Nine: A Bit of a Rough Date

"Hey, Mabel. How did your date with Deirdre go tonight?" Dipper asked as Mabel came in the door. It was after midnight. Dipper was still studying some of Ford's lessons.
"Great. We're gonna have to figure out how to tell your Deirdre and my Deirdre apart when your twins are born." Mabel chuckled.

"Technically our Deirdre will be Deirdre II." Dipper said.

"She's being named after Wendy's mother. Odd that both your girlfriend and Wendy's mother are named Deirdre. It's not that common a name. Only about 1 in 104,750 girls were named Deirdre in recent years. Of course, given how old your Deirdre is, it might have been a much more common name back then." Dipper said.

"There's almost no data for the popularity of the name before the year 1944. Of course, there's not that much data for a lot of things before 1944." Dipper said.

"Deirdre is incredible. She's so knowledgeable about a lot of things. She actually reminds me of you a bit. But I guess she knows a lot because she's over 200 years old. She certainly had time to learn a lot. She pointed out all the constellations and showed me some new ones that I didn't even know about. She read my fortune on really old Tarot cards that she was carrying around. She said that fate saw the heart of an artist in me. She says that her cards have never steered her wrong before." Mabel said.

"That's great." Dipper said.

"I'm glad you had a good time." He said.

"What are you doing up so late? You're usually in bed by 11." Mabel said.

"Well… Part of it is that I had some work left to do before tomorrow. But also I couldn't sleep. I'm anxious about the baby coming. I really wasn't ready to be a father." Dipper said.

"Aww, Dipper… I'm sure you'll be a great father." Mabel reassured him.

"You just need to remember how our parents raised us." She said. Dipper chuckled.
"Good to know, but I don't remember how they raised us from the time we were born." Dipper said.

"Oh, well… Shit, that's true." Mabel said.

"Anywho… Are you still taking care of Pacifica as well? You know, just cuz Wendy is about to give birth don't think you can ignore Paz." Mabel said.

Dipper nodded.
"I've worried about that. I'm trying to pay attention to both of them equally. But unfortunately, it seems like sometimes my attention gets diverted and I don't have enough time for either of them. They both know that I'm working hard studying under Ford. Someday, hopefully I'll have enough time for myself and for both of them. But right now, I'm trying to balance a busy schedule." Dipper said.

"Just don't focus so much on work that you lose them." Mabel said, going up to bed.

"G'night, Dipper. Don't stay up too late. We both know how you get if you don't get eight hours of sleep." Mabel said. Dipper sighed and continued his work, finishing about an hour later, brushing his teeth and going to bed. Being part bionics, he didn't need as much sleep now. He estimated that he could get by on about 5 hours of sleep a night. But it was 3:30 in the morning now and if he was going to get that 5 hours, he would need to get to sleep fast.

Unfortunately, when Dipper knew he needed to get to sleep, he didn't do a very good job of shutting his brain down.

-0-

Dipper moaned as his alarm rang at 9:30. He'd gotten to sleep around 4:30-ish. So he'd barely gotten enough sleep. He wished he could go back to sleep and sleep until around 11. But he had work to do today. Ford was going to test him on the material they'd been working on and hopefully start with some new material. Dipper was showing great promise, according to Ford. He'd progressed much faster than Ford had expected. Dipper was known for his ability to sift through material quickly.

Wendy was still working at the Shack, though Dipper wished she would stay off her feet and rest. She insisted that staying in bed all day would drive her crazy and that she needed to be up and doing things.

"Hey, Dipper." Wendy said, kissing him as he came up to the Shack from the basement.

"Hey, Wendy." Dipper said, still a bit lovestruck, despite having dated her for almost five months now. She'd gotten pregnant in about early September and it was now mid-to late November.

So with Ford's pregnancy accelerant, she was now almost 7 months along. She would be giving birth in a few weeks and sure, she was anxious. But she was trying to keep her cool demeanor about her. But she was tired, and most of the time she was hungry and irritable. This pregnancy was taking a lot out of her. Her regeneration was allowing her to avoid the worst of it if she just remembered to eat almost three times as much as she normally did. But today, she was especially off her game.

She was struggling to stay awake, even standing up at the check-out.

"Hey! Wake up!" A customer snapped, snapping his fingers at her. Wendy jerked up.

"Oh! Hey, is that all? Can I interest you in a snow globe?" Wendy asked.

"No thanks. Just this." The man said, paying for the tee shirt and the bumper sticker and leaving. Ford called Wendy to the side and had Soos take over.

"Wendy, it's not your fault you're like this. The pregnancy accelerant seems to have some extreme effects on hormone levels. Your regeneration is balancing things out to some degree. But there's still a bit of an imbalance. Perhaps you should take some time off from work until after you give birth. We can hold down the Shack for a while. We have Soos, Melody, Mabel and myself. And if necessary, I'm sure Pacifica will be happy to help." Ford said. Wendy rolled her eyes doubtfully. Pacifica was a better person than she had been when she was thirteen. But Wendy doubted Pacifica was prepared to work in a store.

Still, Wendy agreed and went upstairs to rest for a while and ended up falling asleep.

-0-

Dipper yawned, finishing the test and handing it to Ford. He took the test and started grading it. When he was finished, he handed it back to Dipper.
"Good job. You've learned all this material much faster than I expected you to." Ford said.

"You're a good teacher." Dipper said, yawning widely again.

"Why don't you go upstairs, take a nap. We can begin the next lesson tomorrow." Ford offered. Dipper sighed. He didn't really want to take a nap. He was worried he wouldn't sleep again that night.

"I need to go get some exercise. I'll feel better afterwards. Hey, Paz. You wanna come take a hike with me?" Dipper asked. Wendy really needed to relax now that she was so far along. Seven weeks along almost. She was blown up like a balloon, especially since she was carrying twins.

"Sure. I'll get my outdoors clothes on." Pacifica said, smirking at Dipper. She'd bought a new outfit that she was sure he'd like.

She went into her room and got dressed, coming down.
"Umm… Paz, this is… A very nice outfit. I really like it. But it's not really practical for the hike I have planned. Maybe just wear a tee shirt." She was wearing a low-cut tank top that looked more at home if Pacifica was going clubbing than if she was going hiking. Pacifica snorted and went back upstairs, putting on a regular tank top and shorts and coming back down.

"Does this meet with your approval?" Pacifica asked.

"That looks fine." Dipper said, taking Pacifica out into the woods. He had only recently mapped out this area and saved the maps in his neurotech.

"You sure you know where you're going?" Pacifica asked. Dipper kissed Pacifica, nodding.

"Yeah. I mapped out this area just a little while ago. We'll be taking a trail that I know. It gets pretty rough. On a scale of 1-10, I'd say this ranks a 5-6 in terms of difficulty." Dipper said.

"If you think you need an easier trail, that's fine. I can pick out a different route." Dipper said.

"Oh… No! Wendy's not the only one who knows how to take a tough hike in the woods." Pacifica said. Dipper nodded, taking Pacifica's hand, leading her into the woods.

It started off pretty easily. There were some uphill parts of the hike and some slightly difficult terrain. Rocky areas, having to step over logs or sludge through mud. But overall, it wasn't that difficult at first. Pacifica wasn't sure where they were going. But Dipper seemed to know his way, so she simply followed him. As they got toward the middle of the route, it got more difficult though. The rocky and muddy areas and logs that they needed to sometimes crawl over because they were going uphill became more frequent.

Pacifica was dripping with sweat as she tried to gain a hold in a rocky crevice so that she could climb up to the next portion of the trail.

"Hey, Paz… You okay? I can help pull you up." Dipper said.

"No, no, no! I'm fine!" Pacifica exclaimed, grunting as she climbed the crevice, another nail breaking as she did.

"You know, maybe you should consider wearing your nails shorter. It sure will make them easier to take care of." Dipper said, realizing that Pacifica had lied about her ability to handle a difficult trail.

"The trail evens out about 1,000 feet up ahead." Dipper said, plotting a new trail for them so that Pacifica could have it easier. He felt bad that he had subjected her to all this.

"Oh, that's okay. If-if you… Want to… Finish up this… Trail… We can…" Pacifica gasped as she made it to the top and laid there, trying to catch her breath.

"We are finishing the trail. It just gets easier up ahead. The worst is behind us." Dipper said, letting her rest for a little while and then leading her the last thousand feet of the trail that they had been on, diverting them onto an easier trail. One that was a 3, maybe a 4 at the hardest.

Pacifica was still panting for breath on the new trail, but it wasn't nearly as hard for her, and there were no rocky crevices that they had to jump or climb through. There were no slick, muddy areas or rocky terrain that they had to navigate their way over. There were still hills to climb and Pacifica struggled a bit to get to the top. But when they made it, Dipper showed her a valley beneath them. A river flowed through the valley and there were trees as far as the eye could see.

"I wanted to take you here. It's no hot spring of immortality. But the view is to die for." Dipper said, sitting down with Pacifica, holding her hand, kissing her lovingly on the lips.
"Oh… No, I'm-I'm so sweaty and gross… You probably don't want to be close to me when I'm like this." Pacifica protested. Dipper chuckled.
"Trust me, you're good. I took you on this hike. And I'm gross and sweaty too." Dipper said.

Pacifica nodded, kissing Dipper eagerly on the lips.

"It's beautiful out here." Pacifica said, teasing her hands under Dipper's shirt.

"You want me?" She breathed seductively. Dipper nodded, blushing heavily as he let Pacifica undress him.

They made love right on the edge of the woods, forgetting to use protection. Dipper had only forgotten twice. Once in the hot spring, and they were pretty high that time. And the other time, he got Wendy pregnant. When he woke up, he realized the mistake he made.

"Ummm… Pacifica… We-we… I mean I forgot to wear a condom." Dipper said. Pacifica chuckled.

"That's okay. I'm on the pill. Mom always told me to never rely on the man to remember. If I don't want to have kids, make sure I don't get pregnant myself." She said.

She wanted to have kids. But she wasn't sure she was ready yet. She was going to wait to see how the three of them handled Wendy's children before she decided whether she wanted kids of her own yet. And she also had to talk about it with Dipper. She knew that neither Dipper nor Wendy had planned on Wendy getting pregnant. And though both were stepping up to the plate and getting ready for their children, they both admitted that they weren't ready.

The two got dressed and went down a much easier trail. This trail was maybe a 2 or a 3 on a scale of 10. There was some uphill sections, but they got home in about an hour and a half and immediately went to Ford.

"Hey, Ford. Pacifica and I… Well we…"
"We had unprotected sex and Dipper thinks that I should use the nanomachines you gave us last time." Pacifica said.

"Sure. Come on down to the lab with me. You know, while the nanomachines are quite effective, you really should consider preventative measures rather than relying on aftercare every time." Ford said, injecting Pacifica in the stomach.

"Trust us, we usually do use preventative measures. If we'd asked you for aftercare every time, it would have happened a lot more often." Dipper said.

"Dipper!" Pacifica blushed heavily.

"Ahahaha! Well, just try to remember to use preventative measures in the future. You're still quite young to be having children. Though Wendy got pregnant early, we can hope that you'll have some time left as young people before you have to really settle down as parents. My own bionics will allow me to live a bit longer. And we have Mabel, Soos and Melody to help with the kids.

"But please don't forget to do your parts as parents." Ford said.

"Trust us. We won't." Dipper said. Pacifica nodded as well. She was determined to do a better job as a parent than her own parents had done.