We Need a Time Anomaly!

Chapter 7: From His cave, He emerges.

It felt stuffy in the Shack. Stan didn't blame the kids for going out so often lately. He wouldn't stay much either if we had the option. But the Mystery Shack was his pride and joy, the one thing he was good at.

Also, it was unspoken, but everyone felt it. Stan held on to hope that Ford would come around. As unlikely as it seemed at the moment, he kept hoping. And Stanley Pines was not a man known for his optimistic worldviews. He wasn't the "It will all work out in the end" type of guy; he was a man of action, someone who made things happen.

But this was Ford. The little brother he loved so much and wanted so desperately to forgive him.

Ford, the braniac do-gooder. A guy who smothered his life in books and all things nerdy.

Stanley like the brute and tough lifestyle. Trouble maker, snarky, and confidant but lovable jerk.

They couldn't have been more different.

The twins came back when the sun was setting. They were unusually quiet, but Stan let it go. It couldn't be easy watching your Grunkles fight like that.

Grunkles. Plural.

That's' what they thought anyways. Stan wanted to come clean and tell them. Stan realized that he had called them grandkids when Ford questioned him about them. That was just a slip of tongue. Stanford II probably never used his childhood nickname. Heck, it was just what they called him as a baby, 'course it wouldn't stick.

So they didn't know who Shermie was, not really. They were probably too far in shock to realize there was something not quite right with their family tree.

Secretly, he hoped they would figure it out. Dipper was smart enough.

The basement was cold and uncomfortable. Lifeless. Stanford had finished shutting down the portal and containing anything that slipped through. Now there was nothing left to do.

Often he read through his journals, remembering all his encounters with the supernatural in Gravity Falls. Good times they were, then he went and messed it all up, building to portal and eventually going insane. Not to mention how he ruined Fiddleford's life.

Ford paused as he saw a slip of paper floating down from the ceiling. He looked at it curiously. It slowly came closer and closer, and eventually Ford could reach out and touch it. He reached his hand up and let it tap his fingertips, but he let it go and it floated elsewhere.

Right in that moment when it made contact with his finger pads, it straightened out right side up.

He recognized is as a receipt, although he didn't see the name Pines printer in the corner.

He watch it carefully as it floated through the air and eventually touched down to the floor delicately.

He turned away and adjusted his turtleneck, rolling his eyes at the ridiculousness of it all. He'd been so bored down here that he'd fall for any distraction from it. Nothing could cure the quiet though. That dreadful, piercing quiet that fell all around the room.

As he walked away, he heard the sound of gears and knots turning. He halted and didn't move an inch. The sound of a landing was heard.

Footsteps.

Behind him, Stanley Pines walked up.

He stopped where the paper had fallen and crossed his arms and he glared at his brother's back.

Ford was still, never turning back.

"You know brother," Stanley said, and Ford felt a great wave of release at finally hearing a voice properly. And not through that stupid vent that let him hear everything from the gift shop.

He gritted his teeth.

"It's rude to give the silent treatment. I thought you might've know that." Stan said sarcastically and reached down to pick up the paper.

"But I guess I'll just get my stuff and leave." The bitterness in those words had a double meaning and Ford knew it.

Ford, who never turned around once to face his brother, listened to the clatter of his shoes against the floor as he left.

Finally left alone again, he son felt a heaviness drape itself onto his shoulders. The silence was closing in on him, and he didn't know how much longer he could bear it.

Stan was restocking the gift shop, as usual. It had been a very successful day of tours, but Stan still felt numb and unenthusiastic, despite how much money had been thrown to him.

The twins went right up to their room in the attic, and they look melancholy. Stan looked at the stairs and wondered if he should go up to talk to them. He thought that they might just want to be alone so they can talk. He imagined they did an awful lot of talking lately.

Stan checked the register one more time and then decided it was the right thing to do. He folded a wad of twenties and stuffed in his jacket. He straightened his clothes and fez and marched to the stairs. But before he could even leave the gift shop, Dipper and Mabel came bounding in.

"Stan Stan Stan!" They chanted.

Stan jumped back in surprise.

"Whoa kids! What're you doing? Trying to give me a heart attack?" He asked as he put his hands of his hips.

"Grunkle Stan, there's something we need to tell you." Dipper said.

"Me too kids, me too." He knelt down to meet them at eye level.

"Looks, I know I've lied, and cheated, and done lots of other things that we won't get into now. But you don't have all the facts right, so I'm gonna come clean. Right now."

Dipper and Mabel had tried to cut him off somewhere in the middle but Stan was persistent.

Stan told them about Carla McCorkel, the girl he was crazy for in his teens. He wanted to propose, but things had gone south with his family, and he was basically homeless. Carla stilled stayed with him for a while after, but soon she was swept away by the music craze. He mentioned the movie date.

"Your father, Shermie, as we used to call him, wasn't the reason my life got so messed up. I loved him then, and I love him now. I just can't imagine what this'll all do to him."

Shermie's first name was Stanford II, and Sherman was his middle name. With two Stans already, they called him by his middle name to avoid confusion.

It also explained Dipper rather odd name. He and Mabel's middle names were their parents' first names. Mabel got Mabel Harper Pines, while Dipper was Stanley Stanford Pines. Stanley for the father his own dad lost, and Stanford after himself. Stan was a family name, after all.

"So kids, that's how the story goes." Stan finished and he stood up.

"Grunkle Stan-eh, Grandpa…?" Mabel asked.

"Let's just stick with Stan for now."

"Oh, okay. Well, see….we kind of…time traveled to get you and Ford to get along..." Mabel said while tapping her fingers.

"You what?!" Stan explained, startled.

"Don't wory! We put everything back the way it was." Dipper pipped in, waving his arms.

"We just wanted to and Ford to be friends again. That's it." Dipper said reasonably.

"But then the future got all messed up and never came to Gravity Falls!" Mabel cried.

"And there was this observatory, and I think he had twin cousins…?"

"Wait! Did you say twin cousins?"

"Yeah. I mean, we didn't meet them though." Dipper replied.

Stan stepped forward.

"Was there, by chance, a woman named Leah?"

Dipper and Mabel exchanged looks.

"Wait! Just who is Leah exactly?" Mabel demanded.

"Okay, so you know those brown haired twins that live in down? We stole fish form them once."

"Yes…" They said together.

"Those are Leah's kids. They all live in Gravity Falls. Leah-"

They were interrupted as the vending machine door suddenly flew open.

Stanford Pines stood there, looking like he'd been hit by a ton of books. The ad never seem him like this before: eyes wide and pleading, almost desperate.

He breathed, so softly that is was barley audible.

"Leah…."

The attention shifted for a moment, as Stanley and Stanford looked at each other directly for the first time since the portal.

Mabel grinned ear to ear. They were wearing the sweaters.

When they came through the gift shop early Mabel noticed that Stan was wearing the black sweater she made with the golden claw design. She and Dipper mentioned it in passing as they climbed the stairs.

And now, Great Uncle Ford also wore his sweater; the dark red one with the golden six-fingered hand on it. They both silently wondered if the other had been wearing it not long ago in the basement.

Ford shifted back to the twins.

"Leah…Is my daughter"

"Great Uncle Ford, you have a daughter?" Dipper asked, astonished.

"Yes, when I lived in Gravity Falls I married a woman named Selene. Leah is our daughter."

"But where's Selene?" Mabel asked.

Ford sighed and rubbed his temple.

"We didn't stay together. I got into a bad place because of my research, and that was no place for Leah to live. We made that decision together."

"Leah still lives in town though." Stan said.

"Daniel and Lucy too." He said it to reassure Stanford, let him know that his own family was alright.

"They're twins too…." Stanford said, and a smile formed. It was the first genuine smile anyone had seem from Ford. He laughed and even held his stomach.

Stanley felt inclined to join him, but he held back. He hadn't seen his brother laugh in forty years; it was weird.

Ford wiped a tear from his eye and settled.

Mabel was looking at him very excitedly, and Dipper looked happy and content. Even Stanley dropped his glare and gruffness.

Mabel walked up to Ford and put her hand in his six-fingered one.

"Ford, I think it's time to see your little girl again."

Ford smiled down at her and nodded. Then he suddenly froze up.

"Uh, Stanford?" Mabel tugged on his hand.

He snapped out of it.

"Yes! Yes, yes, I'm fine. It's just….been such a long time."

A/N: Alright, so let me explain why this is SO late, although I'm not using it as an excuse. The main reason was that I kept rewriting it over and over again. It was really hard to come up with an idea for this chapter. It finally clicked last night so I hurried and finished it. You guys have been waiting long enough, so here it is! So sorry again for the delay, but I hope you continue to enjoy this story!