A Change of Plans

"What are you doing?" Mabel asked as she saw Dipper sitting at the table with a handful of cards labeled with skills he had or subjects he was knowledgeable about.

"I got into an argument with Grunkle Stan on how he chose the Shack as a career and he pointed out that I don't even have that much of a goal, because I don't know what I want to do with my life," Dipper replied.

"Eighteen isn't exactly a prime time to be making life goals," Mabel said. Dipper nodded, knowing in this Mabel was probably right. "Just pick the most nerdy and dull option available," she said with a laugh as she walked off. "That's what you always go for anyway."

Dipper frowned. Was that what she really thought of him? That he just took the... He looked at the list of knowledge and skills and sighed. He had a lot of technical skills that he'd chosen to give him the widest possible job choices in the future... He'd chosen the safest nerdiest way to go.

He looked down at the list he'd made of possible career paths and crumpled it up. The few really interesting careers he'd thought about didn't make money so much as cost it and he was neither independently wealthy nor had a rich backer. Ignoring that for the moment he filled out some more cards with the names of items he'd gotten 'adventuring' in Gravity Falls and skills he'd developed that didn't lend themselves to traditional career paths.

He'd always wanted to investigate things people dismissed as myths and legends, and there was a decent market for at least a cable show on the subject, but once again he'd need money a lot of money to get started and it wasn't like he could just walk into a bank and they would give him the money either, not unless he had a gun.

Dipper laughed. Robbing banks was probably the only way he'd ever achieve this dream. He sighed and his eyes drifted across several of the cards listed with items of an unusual nature...

Nah, it'd never work; just getting the money wasn't enough you also needed to know how to launder it and keep it from the IRS and who did he know with those kinds of skills?

"This is Stan and I was wrong," Stan hummed as he grabbed a can of Pitt cola. Mabel had made up the song when she was twelve to humiliate him, but the tune was catchy and the subject was Stan, his favorite subject, so naturally he found himself humming it quite frequently.

"Hey, Grunkle Stan?" Dipper asked.

"Yeah, Kid?"

"Do you think you could teach me how to run the Shack?" Dipper asked.

Stan perked up a bit. "I could use some help, but I ain't planning on retiring anytime soon, kid."

Dipper waved it off. "I just want to learn how to launder money and commit massive tax fraud."

Stan dropped his soda in shock, and then a smile made its way across his face and a tear came to his eye.

*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*

Mabel looked at her brother and frowned in thought.

"What?" he asked.

"Normally when the news does a special on an unsolved case you are all over it," she said looking from the TV and back to him. "But they've been running this bank robbery special for ten minutes and you haven't said word one."

"I have better things to do then try and show up the cops?" Dipper offered.

"That's not it," Mabel said with a frown.

"I've outgrown my silly obsession with solving mysteries," he tried again.

"It's not that either," Mabel said moving closer and closer until she finally just swung a leg over him and straddled him pressing her forehead against his and stared into his eyes. "Why haven't you put forth any theories on who it was and how they did it?" she demanded.

"I... erm," he muttered as he tried to figure out something to say.

"You bastard!" she growled smacking him in the chest, before getting up and storming off.

Dipper had no idea what had just happened, but he knew he had to find out or there would be no living with her. He sighed when he found the door to their room locked. This was serious, they never locked the door. "Mabel?" he called out while knocking on the door.

"Go away!" she yelled through the door.

"At least tell me what I did wrong!" he demanded, but got no answer. Pulling the Presidential Key out of his pocket he unlocked the door. "Seriously, I have no clue what you think I've done."

Mabel was in Sweater Town however and not listening.

"Mabel you can't get mad and hide from me without giving me a chance to defend myself!" He tried to reason with her, he tried arguing with her, and finally he tried begging her, all to no avail as she stubbornly stayed stuck in her overlarge sweater. "That's it, I'm coming in!" Dipper growled and pulled out the bottom of her sweater and started worming his way inside.

Mabel fought him but there wasn't a lot of room and now that they were both eighteen he was actually quite a bit stronger than her. Mabel stared at him in shock never having expected this.

Dipper looked around the surprisingly roomy sweater. There was plenty of light as Mabel had strung Christmas lights inside it and she had a set of Ear buds in and had been playing a violent video game while listening to something loud. Reaching up he pulled the ear buds out. "It is completely unfair to get mad at me, shut me out, and not give me a chance to defend myself. Hell, I don't even know what I am supposed to have done!"

Mabel's eyes were red and puffy. "You left me behind," she said quietly, over the sounds of her favorite boy band pouring out of the ear buds. "You promised you'd never go off mystery solving without me and you left me behind."

"I promised I would invite you, not that I wouldn't solve them on my own," Dipper said softly. "And the point is moot because I didn't solve this mystery and when I invited you, you said to leave you out of my nerdy career activities."

"You know the solution, but you didn't solve it," she said slowly.

"That's right," he assured her.

Her eyes filled with tears. "You got a new partner!"

"No!" he blurted out grabbing her shoulders. "I know who did it, because it was me!"

Mabel stared at him in open mouthed shock. "You robbed a bank?" Reaching over she pressed a shirt button and the stereo shut off. Unzipping a pocket on the wall she put the gaming system away and tucked away the ear buds.

"I like what you've done to the place," Dipper said still a bit amazed at what all was in there.

"I'd offer you snacks, but I'm fresh out. I keep meaning to restock the fridge, but you know how easily distracted I get," Mabel said with forced calm. "Now, I need you to focus for a minute, and yes I see the irony of me saying that. You robbed a bank?"

"I robbed a bank," Dipper agreed.

"Part of your boring nerdy career plans involved robbing a bank?" she asked.

"There were a lot of variables to account for," he told her. "I asked you twice just to be sure, but you didn't want to get involved with my nerd things."

"And you didn't have a partner?" she asked, staring into his eyes like she was trying to read his soul.

"It was all just me," he assured her.

"You robbed a bank.. without me," she sniffed, eyes tearing up once more.

"Oh for the love of," he muttered wrapping his arms around her. "I asked you, you said no."

"I carry a grappling hook, Dipper, a grappling hook!" she exclaimed. "What do all great bank heist movies have in common?"

"They have a grappling hook?" he guessed.

"Bingo! I could have helped you rob a bank! It would have been beautiful!" she cried.

Dipper sighed. He knew he was going to regret this but... "Mabel, would you like to rob a bank with me?"

"What?" she asked, tears vanishing instantly.

"Robbing that bank was just practice, so I could rob the bank I really wanted to rob," he lied. "Mabel Pines, would you rob a bank with me?"

Mabel squealed in excitement and hugged him tightly. "Yes! Yes! A thousand times yes!"

"Good," he said mentally figuring out how to rework his plan to include Mabel and work on a different bank.

"You know, you could try and be a little more romantic about these things," Mabel told him seriously.

"Wha?"

"I need to change and fix my makeup, you can show yourself out," Mabel said cheerfully giving him a push. "Now where did I put that lavender sweater?"

Dipper wormed his way out of Sweater Town, once more convinced he would never understand his sister.

Typing by: Stephenopolos

AN: Career plans. When I was 14 mine included at least 1 bank robbery...

TN: astronaut...- space cargo smuggler - Captain Kirk.