It has been a year since the Pines twins had visited Gravity Falls, Oregon. Grunkle Stan and Grunkle Ford had concluded their voyage around the world and had returned to the Mystery Shack for the Pines twins' annual summer trip.

"Ah, it's good to be back!" said Grunkle Stan, stepping off the bus, followed by Dipper, Mabel, and Grunkle Ford.

"It feels like forever since we've been here," exclaimed Mabel, dragging Waddles out onto the street with her suitcase.

"Come on Mabel, it's only been a year." said Dipper.

The reunited group took their time walking through town and appreciating the familiar surroundings.

Soon after, they found themselves at the instantly recognizable cabin in the woods, known as The Mystery Shack. Grunkle Stan walked up the front porch and opened the door.

"Come on in dudes, welcome to the Mystery Shack! Oh hey Mr. Pines- wait"

Soos was caught off guard for a second, as the familiar faces registered with him, and he opened his arms - "I'm so glad to see you dudes again!".

Everyone gasped for air as the familiar figure of Grunkle Stan's successor hugged them.

"Glad to see the shack isn't burned to the ground." grumbled Grunkle Stan.

"Hello Soos, I'm glad to see you're doing well," Grunkle Ford said as he tried to free himself Soos' grasp.

Mabel and Dipper were especially glad to see their old friend, and they quietly hugged him tightly.

As the day gave way to evening, Dipper and Mabel arranged their possessions in the familiar room they spent a large portion of their prior summer.

As Dipper started falling asleep, Mabel asked "Psst Dipper! Are you excited to meet all of our old friends tomorrow?" "Of course I am! I wonder if Wendy will want her hat back though." replied Dipper. "Haha of course you'd think of Wendy first!" teased Mabel. "Still haven't gotten over her, after an entire year?" "What? Of course I have. I...just she shared a lot of our adventures, so I thought of her first. Besides, I'm like half asleep." mumbled Dipper, half annoyed and half embarrassed. "Anyways, good night Mabel." "Good night Dipper..." whispered Mabel, plunging into a dream of meeting her friends from what was almost a lifetime ago.

Dipper on the other hand, now lay awake, his mind thinking of all the things that had happened during their last visit. Sure, once Bill Cipher had been defeated, everything went back to normal...in a way. Yet, nothing was the same anymore. Grunkle Stan didn't run the Mystery Shack anymore, Wendy no longer worked there as she had to go to high school, the Northwests lost their fortune and their home, old man McGucket became rich overnight, and Gideon stopped being bent on destroying the world. Everything had gone back to normal, yet nothing was normal anymore.

Dipper spent some time pondering this before he eventually fell asleep.

That night, Dipper had a nightmare that brought him back to the reign of terror the town had suffered under Bill Cipher. No bare spot of the town had been left untouched, and the Mystery Shack lay in ruins. Just as Bill was about to shake Dipper's hand, he awoke.

"It's a deal!" rang Bill's voice.

It was a nice and sunny day, and the twins wanted to find their friends and catch up with recent events. Their first stop was Wendy's house. Dipper and Mabel knocked softly on Wendy's front door. The door slid open, as a familiar face appeared.

"Hey guys, what's up? Visiting for the summer?" came the ever-recognizable voice of Wendy Corduroy. She bent down for a group hug as the twins embraced her: "We sure are Wendy, we're so glad to see you!" gushed Dipper, as his sister giggled at her brother's reaction.

Wendy smiled, reminded of the good times they enjoyed. "Hey, did you guys ever figure out what was down in Ford's laboratory in the woods?" she asked. "Come to think of it, we never asked Grunkle Ford" Mabel responded, shrugging. "I'm sure it's nothing important if he never told us about it. Let's go find more of our friends!"

With Wendy in tow, the old group of friends started walking down the street as they bumped into Soos, walking out of the arcade: "Oh hey dudes, guess what? Mr. Pines said he'd take over the Mystery Shack for the summer! He said something about missing the customers." "Wow Soos, that's great!" said Dipper. "Want to join us on a walk around town?" "Sure, beats playing the same arcade machine" replied Soos, munching on his bag of potato chips.

With Soos added to their group, the reunited friends wandered down the streets of Gravity Falls, waving to Sherriff Blubs and Deputy Durland, poking fun at Thompson, and chatting with Mayor Tyler.

As the day faded into evening, one of the few people that the Mabel and Dipper forgot about decided to pay them a visit.

"Hey Dipper, don't miss the new season of Duck-tective!" called out Mabel, snagging a seat at the TV. "I'll be there soon!" Dipper yelled back, sitting upstairs in their room, studying the second journal. "Maybe there's something important in here about the lab in the woods…" Dipper thought to himself.

Suddenly, Dipper heard someone knocking softly at the door. "Mabel must be too focused on the TV, so I guess I'll have to answer it" Dipper mumbled to himself, as he walked up to the door and pried it open.

In front of him, stood Pacifica Northwest, dressed in her normal attire – boots, light purple skirt, and dark purple jacket.

"Hey, can we talk?" asked Pacifica, clearly on edge. Dipper nodded, and quietly stepped out onto the porch, closing the door behind him: "Hey Pacifica, you seem…more nervous than usual." "Never mind all that, I've been waiting for you guys to return all year!" replied Pacifica with a small smile. "There's definitely something wrong if you're out here at the Mystery Shack just to pay us a visit" pondered Dipper. Pacifica's smile faded as she admitted: "You're right as usual…how about we visit my home before I tell you the full details. Besides, it'll be a long walk." "Relax, I can borrow a golf cart from the Shack's supplies." Dipper responded. "It beats walking in the dark."

The two reunited former foes made their way to the Mystery Shack's golf cart lot and started making their way through the darkness to the new home of the Northwest family.

"Ever since Bill ruined our family, we've had to move into a smaller two-story home and lay off a large portion of our staff." admitted Pacifica, gloomily. "We now only have a few servants, and no chauffeur to drive my father's limo."

"Wow, huge deal. We still have to take the bus if we want to get anywhere, and if we want anything done, it's easier to just do it ourselves." responded Dipper with a sense of fake sympathy.

"Alright listen here dork, if you thought it was easy for me to slip away from my parents just to see you, you're dead wrong! Ever since the party last year, my parents have heavily resented you. Even saving the world did nothing to redeem you in their eyes! If they knew I was out here talking with you - ". Pacifica's charged response was all too familiar, and Dipper suddenly interrupted:

"Then why are you talking to me? If I'm so heavily despised by your parents, the last thing you would want to do is bring me to them! It's not like I'm their biggest fan either."

Pacifica took a deep sigh and launched into a big story: "Alright well, you see…the only lifestyle my parents ever understood was being better than everyone. It's not one I fully agree with, but it's hard to change someone's life when you're at their age. My father has fallen sick and is worried about my mother leaving him…"

She took a pause and trembled before continuing: "…you're the only one I would trust with resolving family issues. Now that our family doesn't have as much money, no one from my father's former friendship circle cares. You're only as important as the amount of money you have."

Dipper took a moment to process the onslaught of new information Pacifica shared with him. On one hand, he felt grateful that Pacifica wanted to share this with him, but on the other hand, he wasn't sure how he could help. His family was never rich, and never wished to be. His specialty was anomalies, not relationships. But looking into Pacifica's tired, worried eyes, he couldn't find himself disappointing her.