The calendar on the wall was littered with red X's, all leading up to the current, unmarked date: June 20. It was one day until the summer solstice, and one day until Summerween once again descended onto Gravity Falls. There were jack-o'-melons on the front porches, doorsteps, and lawns of almost every house and business in the sleepy Oregon hamlet, one building of which pulled double duty in that regard. As the massive group of tourists exited the Mystery Shack with smiles on their faces and their wallets a little lighter, Mr. Mystery followed them outside and exclaimed, "Thanks for visiting, dudes! Make sure to tell your friends about us and remember: we put the 'fun' in 'no refunds!'" He lifted his eyepatch to both watch the crowd head to their vehicles and restore his depth perception while the ambient noise of opening and shutting doors, combined with engines turning over, concluded the final tour of the day. As Soos headed back inside to close the Shack down for the night, his cell phone vibrated twice in short succession to announce a new text message, and after a cursory glance revealed it was from Stan, his eyes widened in excitement.

"Dipper, get your tablet ready! Stan and Ford will be calling any minute now!"

"Wait, what?!"

"Stan and Ford will be calling any minute now!"

"WHAT?!"

"Stan and Ford-" Before Soos could once again repeat himself, Melody covered his mouth with her hand and cracked, "They get it, honey."

"Heh heh... whoops." Meanwhile, in the living room, Dipper and Mabel paused their round of Super Ultra Turbo Fight Fighters 2: Tournament Edition and locked eyes before letting out a simultaneous squeal of excitement as they raced to the kitchen and did as Soos suggested. He and Melody stood behind the twins as Dipper unfolded the small stand built into the tablet and put it upright on the kitchen table. Mabel could hardly contain her excitement as she bounced up and down in her chair and chanted, "Grunkle Time! Grunkle Time!"

Melody chuckled at her enthusiasm and said, "Sounds like someone's excited."

"More than excited, Mel," Mabel replied with a beaming smile. "Super-duper mega ultra ecstatic is more like it!"

"And there's so much for us to talk about," Dipper added with an equally luminous grin. "What we've been doing back home! Their travels! Summerween's tomorrow and movie night with Wendy is tonight! And don't forget your big news!"

"Couldn't do that even if we tried," Soos said as he kissed his wife on the cheek. "It's gonna be so cool being a dad. I can impart wisdom, humor, and handyman skills!"

"And I'll impart trivia, videogame skills, and even more humor," Melody added.

"But most of all," Soos said as he pulled Melody in for a hug, "both of us, and you guys, will impart the most important ingredient!"

"Friendship?" Dipper asked.

"Sweaters?" Mabel added with a knowing grin as she side-eyed Dipper. He knew full well what that gesture entailed, and he proved that he was on the same page as his twin when the two of them let out a simultaneous exclamation of, "Friendship sweaters?"

Soos and Melody let out a hearty laugh as he replied, "Nah, dudes... though that stuff is still important. The answer we were looking for was 'love!'" That last word acted as a cue for Dipper and Mabel to react like contestants on a game show who missed an obvious answer, and there was much exaggerated gesturing, forehead slaps, and a series of exclamations like:

"Oh, of course! Love!"

"How could we have forgotten love?"

"It was right there! How'd we miss that?"

"Talk about blowing your big chance! Oh man, we are just not feeling it today!" Melody couldn't help but start laughing again as the twins wound down their act, with Mabel saying, "Seriously though, Dipper and I are so happy for you. You two are gonna be awesome parents!"

"Thanks, Hambone," Soos replied with a friendly shoulder punch. Dipper opened his mouth to add his congratulations, but right when he did, the familiar ringtone of an incoming video call interrupted him. A picture of Ford sporting a confident grin accompanied by his name let the group know who was calling, and Dipper's finger hit the answer icon fast enough that it could have been a reflex. The static screen was replaced by a live video of Ford sitting at a picnic table somewhere, and with a six-fingered wave, he declared, "Salutations, everyone!"

Dipper could hardly contain his excitement as his face filled the screen. "Great Uncle Ford! It's so good to see you again!"

"Likewise, Dipper," Ford replied. "My brother and I are back on dry land, as you can see. However, we're not in port collecting supplies or cataloguing anomalies at a local library. Instead..." On his end, Ford picked up the tablet and spun it around to face the landmass in front of him, revealing a panorama of the Rocky Mountains to the denizens of the Mystery Shack. Everyone gasped in amazement at the closeness of the snow-covered peaks as Ford continued: "The Rockies are behind us, and we have only one destination left on our itinerary. Stanley, if you would, please." On his cue, Stan took the tablet and asked, "So, what do I do? Do I just look at it and-"

"Look down and start talking, Stanley."

"Yeah, I'm doing that. I don't know if they can see me or not. Can you see me?" Indeed, they could. The sight of Stan looking straight down at the ground and missing the screen completely led to a round of laughter from the quartet in the Shack.

"Unbelievable," Ford cracked. "You figure out how to activate the portal, but you can't figure out how to use a tablet."

"I'll figure my FIST into your FACE if ya don't knock it off, Poindexter!"

"Ha ha ha! Look up, Grunkle Stan!" He did just that when he heard Mabel's voice, and when he was face to face with the screen and his family at last, he said, "Oh, there you are! How ya doin', ya little knuckleheads?"

"We're doing great," Dipper said as he tried to appear calm and collected. "Mabel and I got to Gravity Falls two weeks ago, and we've been helping Soos and Melody run the Shack since then. Just like we did with you last year."

"Ah, the ol' girl's still standing! Great job, Soos!"

"Thanks, Mr. Pines," he replied with a proud smile. "Hey, can you put Ford on screen? Melody and I have something to tell you guys."

"Sure thing, just... gimme a second here..." On the other end of the line, Stan sat down beside his brother at the picnic table and adjusted the camera, putting Ford on his right. "Okay, Soos, what's your news?"

"I think it's best if Melody and I both tell you. You ready, honey?"

"You bet." Melody and Soos put their arms around each other's shoulders, smiled, and let out a simultaneous announcement of, "WE'RE GONNA HAVE A BABY!" That news put equally huge smiles on the faces of Stan and Ford, with the latter declaring, "Oh, that's wonderful news! Congratulations!"

"That's fantastic," Stan added with warm pride in his voice. "Absolutely fantastic. I can't wait to meet him... or her."

"Hey, everyone on this call will be the first to know when it happens," Melody said. "We've got some names picked out and everything! Ooh, I'm so excited!"

"As you should be," Ford replied. "Everything that's happened this past year has taught me the importance of family, whether it's right beside you or hundreds of miles away. You've been given a gift. Don't ever lose sight of that like I did."

"Not gonna happen, sir," Soos declared with a salute. "You can be sure of that."

"Excellent. So, Dipper, how has Gravity Falls been treating you and Mabel?"

"Fantastic, Great Uncle Ford. There hasn't been anything too crazy going on in town these last few weeks, if you can believe it." Mabel had a can of Pitt Cola against her lips when Dipper said that, and it took every muscle in her body to prevent a massive spit take. She downed the soda in her mouth in one big gulp and exclaimed, "Whaaaaaaaat? 'Nothing too crazy?' What about the portal that showed up in McGucket's banjo? Or the day that Waddles ran into one of those size crystals and turned from a regular pig into a BIG PIG?"

"Oh, and don't forget about what happened on Pioneer Day," Soos added. The twins both shuddered at the memory, with Dipper mumbling, "I never want to hear the phrase 'spin that pole' ever again." Stan arched his eyebrows in confusion and asked, "Do I even wanna know?"

"Let's just say it involved one of Gravity Falls' archaic laws and leave it at that."

"Hey, now you kids know how I feel! CURSE YOU, PIONEER DAY!" Stan shook his fist in the air to accompany his outburst, but that gesture was countered by Ford's snarky reply of, "So are you going to tell them the news, or should I?"

"I'm gettin' there!" Stan collected himself and cleared his throat with a big dramatic flourish that earned him a sarcastic eye roll before saying, "Well, as my brother mentioned, the one stop left on our itinerary... is Gravity Falls! Brace yourselves, because we're comin' back to the Shack!"

That piece of news sent Dipper and Mabel into a frenzy of high-pitched screams of excitement, while Soos and Melody pumped their fists with a collective "Yes!" Stan let out a gruff laugh as he continued: "We would've flown into Portland, but we decided that a cross-country drive would be a lot more fun!"

"Yes. 'Decided,'" Ford snarked as he made quotation marks with his fingers. "We had no choice but to drive because someone put me on the no-fly list!"

"Hey, I'm workin' on getting you off that, Sixer!"

"That's what you said three months ago!"

"What, were you expecting an answer right away? It's the government! You know how slow they are getting stuff like that fixed up! And besides, how could you expect an immediate answer? We were in the middle of the ocean!" Ford opened his mouth to reply, but he shut it just as quickly as he realized that Stan was right. "Anyway, we're gonna find somewhere cheap to bed down for the night, and then we're comin' home. It's about ten, eleven hours to the Falls from where we are, so if we set out early, odds are we'll be back in time for Summerween. Make sure that you two get your costumes ready!"

"Oh, they're ready, Grunkle Stan," Dipper declared. "And not only that, Mabel and I are going to Wendy's house for a horror movie marathon tonight!" Once he finished talking, Mabel popped in on his left and cracked, "The over/under on how many times Dipper screams like a girl is five!"

"I'll take the under, my dear Mabel," Dipper declared as he put some authority into his voice and puffed out his chest. "After Weirdmageddon, nothing can scare me." Unbeknownst to Dipper, Melody had crept up behind him with an evil grin and stood at the ready with her hands hovering over him. As soon as he finished his sentence, she brought them down over his shoulders and screamed, "BOO!" Dipper rocketed out of his chair and let out a high-pitched scream of fright, which left everyone laughing, including Stan and Ford. Even Dipper had to admit he saw that coming as he pointed at Mabel and argued, "That doesn't count!"

"Agreed, but it was still funny," Mabel replied. On the other end of the call, Stan wiped a tear of laughter from his eye and declared, "Oh, that made my day! Well, you two go have fun at Wendy's, and if you need us, we'll be in touch."

"Thanks, Grunkle Stan! See you tomorrow!"

"Same to you, Pumpkin! Try not to get too scared, Dipper!"

"Never do!" Stan handed the tablet to Ford, who added, "Just make sure you watch a few documentaries to balance out those horror films."

"Jeez, Sixer, killjoy much?"

"Not in the least! Knowledge and-" Ford's retort was cut off as the call ended, and when Dipper exited out of the video call program, he noticed a new message from Wendy. When he tapped it, a message box appeared:

You guys ready to be scared? If you are, be here at seven!

"You're darn tootin'!" Mabel said as she pumped her fists. "It's 6:30 by my watch, so we should get going. You wanna give us a ride, Soos?"

"Sure thing, dudes. Let me just grab my keys." As Soos headed to the room he shared with Melody, Dipper and Mabel headed outside and stood near his truck as Dipper asked, "Do you wanna stick to the PG-13 horror movies, or..." He shrugged his shoulders as his question trailed off, and Mabel gasped in sarcastic shock. "Dipper, are you suggesting... we watch an R-rated horror movie?"

"Now, I'm not suggesting we watch nothing but R-rated horror movies, but maybe one would be okay as long as Wendy's cool with it. We can ease into it and then up the ante with each movie."

"I'm down for that if you are, bro-bro."

"Looks like he is too," Dipper replied as he pointed at Mabel's feet. She looked down to see a squirrel running around and between her legs, showing no fear at the human in its midst. Mabel giggled at the animal's antics and held out her hand to pet it, and to her and Dipper's surprise, the squirrel leaned in for some pets and head scritches, which Mabel was more than happy to bestow. It let out contented chitters as her fingers danced over its head and down its back, and she would have kept up her petting session if not for Soos jangling his keys and saying, "Ready when you are!"

"Then let's go, dude!" Dipper and Mabel climbed into the backseat of Soos' truck as he and Melody sat up front, and one turn of the keys later, the engine started, and the quartet began the drive to the Corduroy house. The squirrel watched all this happen from atop a nearby tree stump, letting out a few chitters before its brown eyes rolled back in its head and a pair of menacing, bright red orbs took their place, emitting a dim glow against the forest surrounding it.

After all these years... I finally have a human to add to my collection. Just a few more hours until this body gives out... and then you are MINE.