Epilogue

Stanford sat back on the bench with the thirteen-year-old twins, his arms crossed so as to habitually yet discretely hide his hands, the niblings leaning on a shoulder each as they waited for the bus to Piedmont to arrive. It was early in the morning, and they had come almost an hour early, knowing that if they waited until last minute to leave, they'd end up never doing so.

It was September 1st, and already there was a coolness in the air that signaled the first signs of autumn. Summer was over, and it seemed both too soon and too long for all three Pines. So much had happened, so much gained and lost…

Ford cleared his throat softly. "Did you make sure you have everything?" he asked quietly. Dipper nodded, not lifting his head from Ford's left shoulder. Mabel sighed from his right.

"Summer's really over," she said quietly, sounding both incredulous and accepting. "…is it bad that I used to wish summer would last forever?" Ford uncrossed his arms, shifting them back to curl around the twins' shoulders.

"I don't think so," he replied. "It's a wish for millions of kids everywhere…and crotchety old adults who have to get jobs." He smiled when even Dipper let out a bark of laughter. "You two are going to be fine. And you know that if you ever need help with homework, I'm a video chat away."

In addition to shopping for the twins, Soos had convinced him to pick up a laptop that could be used for non-secret paranormal study stuff, as well as using the webcam to keep in touch with the kids easier. Phone calls were one thing, but being able to SEE each other would help ease the distance after all this. So he splurged on a good one, figuring he could tinker with it later for customization, and set aside a day later this week to set everything up.

His thoughts trailed back to the two-part birthday; the party had gone very well. It was heartening to see Dipper and Mabel laugh and smile and just be kids, playing some party games with Wendy's friends, opening gifts, and smashing a—apparently now Pines traditional—slice of their cakes into each other's faces.

THAT had started a food fight, and honestly, Ford was having too much fun with the twins and Soos on Team Pines to be bothered, slaughtering Team Corduroy while Abuelita refereed from the porch.

The party ended with the twins being hoisted in the air with a loud cheering of 'PINES PINES PINES!'. Things wound down after that, with Wendy starting a fire pit to help clean up the mess and extra wrapping paper, and everyone sat around the fire in comfortable silence, eating the food off their clothes for awhile before Thompson gave the teenagers a ride home.

Soos stayed for a bit longer before leaving with his grandmother, leaving the twins and Ford sitting outside with only the dim porch light, the fire, and the full moon to light up the yard, and there they sat until the twins began nodding off.

Ford had them go inside and shower before they fell asleep covered in food residue, and tidied up a bit as they did so, counting it as a success.

Everyone slept in the next day, on the twins' birthday, but Ford had breakfast ready and their other gifts. Dipper and Mabel looked confused at the extra gifts, but Ford explained that these gifts were from him…and from Stanley, hidden away in the closet for Ford to find when he went in to get one of Stanley's suits.

They opened Ford's gifts first, and had equally-pitched squeals when the saw the new laptops he bought for them, having heard Dipper express a desire for one to keep better records of his paranormal studies. He wanted to give one to Mabel too, so she could so what she wanted. She appeared to be much better at editing movies than her brother, in any case, and he'd heard great things about 'graphic design' on computers he was sure she would be interested in.

After the squealing and hugs died down, he gave them Stanley's gifts, sitting back with his coffee to watch.

Dipper's gift was a box full of notebooks, photographs, and maps amassed over Stanley's thirty years in Gravity Falls, full of anecdotes, steadily-improved drawings, and observations. Ford thought it somewhat odd that he wouldn't have found SOMETHING like this around the Shack; Stanley had souvenirs and collections of everywhere they used to go and everything they did as kids, and he was sure that habit wouldn't have faded over time. Now he knew Stanley was giving the collection to Dipper.

Mabel's gift was a crudely but snugly knitted scarf, pink in color with golden tassels. She held it to her tightly, tearfully murmuring that she'd tried to teach Stanley to knit, but he never picked it up, or so she'd thought. It took her a few minutes to settle down before she reached back into the box and took out a set of pink knuckledusters. THAT particular gift raised a few eyebrows, but then Ford remembered that Mabel fought unicorns barehanded, and came out on top.

The twins also got personalized birthday cards, with individual messages of love and warmth from Stanley that they sort of kept close to the chest. Ford didn't mind; he still hadn't shown them HIS letter from Stanley.

When Dipper and Mabel finally perked themselves up, Ford brought out two more gifts for them, saying it was 'from both of us'. For Dipper was a billiards cue stick with a tiny 8-ball carved into the back end, and for Mabel was a dart set, the fletching being a sparkling pink. The twins sort of stared at their gifts before bursting into laughter, hugging him tightly as their laughter dissolved into tears again.

The rest of the day was spent watching more movies and looking through Mabel's scrapbook, where she had taken pictures religiously almost every day. There was plenty to reminisce about. Apart from eating lunch and dinner and having a long phone conversation with their parents, everything was quiet and peaceful.

Before they went to sleep, Mabel insisted on opening up the windows 'because of the almost-autumn breeze' that would cut down on the AC, but even Dipper noticed the scent of pine oil and leather as he went to bed that night.

Mabel hugging Ford tightly brought him back to the present. "You'll come visit us for Christmas, right?" she asked. Ford ruffled her hair.

"Of course I will. And you two will come back next summer?"

"Nothing could stop us," Dipper said. "Promise you'll be safe until then?"

'Promise you wont disappear too' was what Ford heard between the lines. He hugged them both tightly. "I'll be safe," he promised. "As long as you two will be."

The Pines sat there hugging until the bus pulled up. Ford packed the luggage away, made sure the twins had everything they'd need in their carry-on bags—Mabel had her knuckledusters in her pockets 'just in case'—and stood back. "I guess this is goodbye for now," he said thickly. "Call as soon as you get to Piedmont, I want to make sure you made it home alright."

"We will," Dipper promised, holding his sister's hand and walking up onto the bus. Mabel followed, getting a window seat and pressing her face to the glass to make a funny face. Ford snorted, smiling and waving as the bus pulled away.

He stood there quietly until the bus was out of sight before climbing into the car and driving home. He walked in, locked the door, then touched a button on his watch to open the vending machine door, heading down to the second level of the basement.

He'd gotten rid of every sign of Bill late at night after the kids went to bed, burning and shattering everything until not one triangle, or one eye, remained, leaving just a plain, empty study with source material he'd have to go through again at some time.

Ford sat down at his desk, reaching up to a bookshelf and taking out a journal with a large 4 in the middle of it, opening it to show Stanley's folded-up letter along with every clue he could think of taking up a handful of pages.

'I'll find you, Stanley,' he told himself, his jaw tightening. 'I'll find you, and I'll bring you back. I don't care if it takes ME thirty years to do it. I owe it to you.'

He picked up his pen, and he began to write.

THE END

To be continued in the sequel, 'Debts Paid'. Watch out for it, if you're interested!