AUTHOR'S NOTE - this is another installment of my "future" Gravity Falls tales, which follow something of a loose narrative all together. If you haven't read the first three ("Always There", "The Proposition" and "Interruption"), I suggest you pause now and take a few minutes to read those. If you're up to date however, then please enjoy!

"...I know, I know. Look, there's no way she could've gotten far." The young man spoke breathlessly into his phone. "I...what? Look, I told you, just stay up there in her room in case she comes back, and we'll all keep looking, okay? Mel and Dad are still checking the top five floors, and Wendy and I are...wait, what? Mom, I don't…"

Dipper Pines abruptly hung up with a heavy sigh. He already had enough on his plate already, to put it criminally mildly. Admittedly it wasn't the most polite thing to do, but the last thing he needed as he searched the halls of the hospital was to have his mother calling every two minutes to fill his ears with endless streams of frantic chatter.

"Mabel? Mabel! Mabel?" He cried again and again as he looked down every corridor and glanced into every room, all to no avail. His twin was nowhere to be found.

Normally he wouldn't be fazed in the slightest by the fact that his sister had impulsively wandered off. After all, she'd been doing so almost as soon as she learned to walk. Considering the unique circumstances of the situation however, he couldn't help but feel a little frenetic. A cold hard lump of worry weighted heavily in his gut as he dashed around like a chicken with its head cut off.

"Mabel? Mabel! Hey, has anyone seen my sister?" Before Dipper knew it, he was unintentionally badgering bemused staff, patients, any anyone else unfortunate enough to cross paths with him. "Excuse me? I'm looking for someone. She looks like me, except...well, a lot more female, and...excuse me? Sorry, could you give me a second? I'm trying to find my…"

Right after he accidentally spooked his third nurse in a row, a familiar voice echoed from close by. "Dipper! Hey, Dipper!"

He whirled around and spotted a flash of copper hair at the end of the sterile white hallway. Dipper cupped a hand over his mouth to shout out a quick update. "I just checked the pediatric wing! No luck th-"

"Found her!" The words had barely rolled off Wendy's lips when he arrived at her side, bent over and heaving hard from his mad dash.

"Where is she? Is she okay? Are the..." Dipper took one glance at gigantic smile gracing his wife's face and let out a reflexive groan. "All right, what's she up to?"

"Come see." With this cryptic reply, the lanky redhead trotted off with a chuckle. Dipper of course followed along at her heels.

A few minutes later they had arrived in the hospital's expansive emergency waiting room. The couple made a beeline to the sizable group of patients-to-be surrounding a particular young woman. Clad in a standard gown, robe and slipper getup, Mabel lounged in one of the chairs and ecstatically gabbed away, absolutely relishing her spot in the limelight as always.

"...Seriously, aren't they just the best?" She gushed ecstatically and nodded down to the two tiny newborns lying cradled in her arms. Her already record-breaking grin somehow managed to grow just a little wider every time she gave either one so much as a brief glance. "I better clean out my wallet, because something tells me I'm going to be carrying a lot of pictures around from now on. Just how can you look at these little muffins here and not think that they're some of the absolute cutest sweetie-pies that you've ever seen? Have you ever seen anything so adorable in your whole entire life? Well, excluding yours truly of course."

Mabel burst out tittering like mad and flicked back some sweat-matted chocolate locks. "Haha! You gotta admit, though, it looks like they take a lot after their mommy. Isn't that right, hun-buns?"

One of her twins wiggled and whimpered sleepily, rousing a delighted squeal out of the brand new mother. "Ooooh, look! Gladys is saying hi to everyone! Yes, you are! Yes you are! Yes you are! Who's the cutest? You are! Youuuu are! Ooooh, you are! Yes you are! Oogie woogie boo! A woogie woogie-"

No sooner had they arrived when Wendy cracked up hard. As she snickered uncontrollably, Dipper let out a mighty heave of relief, and together their mild commotion snagged Mabel's attention.

"Hey, guys! Glad to see you've joined the party! I was just showing off my sweeties to all the nice folks down here. I thought it could brighten their day. Plus, doesn't help to flaunt what you got, huh?" She burst out into fresh giggles and nodded welcomingly. "C'mon, take a seat! The crowd can't get enough of 'em!"

Rather than do as enthusiastically bid, Dipper rolled his eyes like a stern parent. "Mabel-"

She immediately read his tone with mild dismay. "Oh, c'monnnn! Are you-"

"Mabel-"

"Don't tell me we have to go." She protested. "You're seriously gonna deny all those awesome people the pleasure of looking at the cutest little-"

"Mabel-" He tried again, this time a little louder, but his sister held firm with her bubbly stubborness.

"But they're just the best little-"

"Please?" He switched tactics and bluntly pled with her. "Can you come back with us?"

Mabel relented, but not before she theatrically let out a long, over-exaggerated sigh. "All right, all right. Sorry folks, I gotta get going. Family, right? Okay I'll see you around! Bye! Goodbye! Bye-bye!"

"Thank you." He sighed exhaustedly as she made her exit. His twin made each one of her children "wave" before she tried to get up, and fell right back into her seat with a grunt. He held out his arms. "Here, I can take-"

"Uh-uh! Mine!" She eagerly refused, and dotted each tiny twin with a loving peck. Mabel refused to let go of her babies for so much as a second, and it was only when her sister-in-law and twin lent a couple hands was she able to get back to her feet. Off the curious little group went, with the new mother happily chattering up a storm.

"...That was great! Seriously, you'd be surprised how much of a pick-me-up they are! Everyone there only needed to take one eensie-weensie glance, and they would get the biggest smile smile on their face! Then again, why wouldn't they? I mean, just look at these little angels, with their tiny little toes and fingers, little bitty ears, and teensie button noses…."

On and on she adoringly gushed. Wendy continued to chortle like a fool at the picture the proud parent cut. Dipper meanwhile was feeling drained beyond belief from all that had transpired during this madhouse of a day. He sighed loudly again, earning him a gentle elbow in the side from his sister.

"Awww, relax Uncle Dippingsauce!" She bubbled with laughter. "Don't tell me you got worked up just because I decided to go practice some bragging rights."

"Yeah!" Her son "agreed" as she bounced him a little and switched her voice to a squeakier pitch. "My Mama Mabes has been waiting nine months for this! And don't forget what she had to go through this morning!"

She then winced for comedic effect. "That's right! Yowch!"

"I get you want to show them off," He struggled to hide a smile as he wearily explained. "But if you could just wait until they're a little older than only two hours…"