The scarred, brown landscape no longer bore any resemblance to the idyllic mountain valley where Dipper Pines had arrived only four years ago with his twin sister, Mabel. Burnt out husks of trees dotted the hills like five o'clock shadow, and hollow, charred houses lined the overgrown grid of broken pavement that was once a small Oregon community called Gravity Falls.

Dipper stood on a hill overlooking the ruins of the town, squinting against the light of the setting sun. By his reckoning, it was his and Mabel's seventeenth birthday. Well, his, at any rate. He felt the familiar prickle of guilt at the back of his throat as he glanced in the direction of Ford's derelict cryogenics lab. He'd had to abandon his sister there just over two years ago after she'd fallen deathly ill. With no doctors left in Gravity Falls, and with no way to communicate with the outside world (Bill had seen to that), the small community of Weirdmageddon survivors had made the difficult decision to cryogenically freeze Mabel until they were able to find help for her. Whenever that was.

Dipper swallowed and looked down at this feet. He was seventeen years old now, while his twin was still stuck in stasis as a fourteen-and-a-half-year-old. Everything about it felt wrong—but that was par for the course in this post-Weirdmageddon wasteland. Everything was wrong.

An almost imperceptible scratch of gravel against dirt on the path behind him pulled Dipper from his thoughts, and in one fluid motion he whirled around, pulled his sawed-off shotgun from the holster strapped to his back, and leveled it on the creature that had nearly taken him off guard.

"Jesus, Dipper, don't shoot!"

The person was obscured in shadow, but his voice was distinct. Dipper scowled and tucked the gun back in its holster.

"Fuck sake, Gideon. How many times have I told you to not sneak up on me? One of these days I'm gonna end up blowing your head off."

Gideon stalked forward, his arms crossed over his chest, his disheveled, now shoulder-length white hair falling across his eyes. "Well maybe if you wouldn't stay out so close to curfew, I wouldn't constantly be volunteered by Ford to come after you so you don't get locked out all night. Again."

Dipper rolled his eyes. "Well, yell out to me or something, so I can hear you from a distance. You've finally become a somewhat tolerable human being. I'd hate to accidentally kill you."

"Uh, thanks? I think," Gideon said, giving Dipper the side-eye. "But there's no fucking way I'm gonna just loudly announce to every godforsaken wild critter in this hellscape that I'm out amongst them. I never sign up for hunting detail for a reason." Dipper stared at him blankly, so he sighed and continued. "It's because I'm a coward, Dipper. I don't like coming out here because I'm scared shitless. Speaking of—sun's setting, and I don't have any intention of getting locked out for the night. I'm going back now." He turned and walked in the direction he'd come from.

Dipper sighed and picked up the satchel at his feet, slinging it over his shoulder, before following his friend back home.

/

"Hey dudes, you're just in time. I was about to climb up and bolt the hatch," Soos said by way of greeting, at the bottom of the ladder that Gideon and Dipper had descended into the depths of their home.

The abandoned alien spacecraft buried beneath the outskirts of Gravity Falls was the only secure, bunker-esque housing that would comfortably fit all the original Remnants of Gravity Falls without them constantly bumping elbows. In the first week of Weirdmageddon, after Stan and Ford's mind-wipe plan backfired spectacularly, Dipper and Mabel's Great Uncle Ford had invited anyone he came across in the ruins to live with them in his laboratory under what was left of the Mystery Shack. However, the lab was small, there was zero privacy, and it quickly became too cramped. In the years following their taking up residency in the UFO, the Remnants' numbers had dwindled drastically enough that Ford's old lab might once again be a good option, but the last few Remnants preferred to just stay where they were.

They had actually been able to make the UFO quite homey, once the remaining security drones were dealt with. Everyone had their own rooms, except for Soos and Melody, who shared one. Dipper and Mabel originally shared a room too, out of preference more than necessity. But of course, now Dipper had the room to himself.

Dipper passed his hand over the sensor next to his door, and it slid open with a hiss. He tossed his satchel carelessly to the floor, and unstrapped his holster, placing his shotgun on its wall rack, next to his other weapons. He took off his tattered green flannel, and hung it over the back of his desk chair, then peeled off the stained white t-shirt he'd been wearing beneath it. He held it out and looked at it with a wince, making a mental note to wash his clothes soon.

"Hey Pines, did you-oh sorry, you're changing!" A red-faced Pacifica Northwest stood in Dipper's open doorway, a hand over her eyes. "Your door was open so I thought-"

Dipper chuckled. "You can uncover your eyes, Paz. I do have pants on. What'd you need?"

Pacifica lowered her hand, but when she talked she seemed to be addressing the wall over Dipper's left shoulder. "Mel just sent me to see if you had anything for her from your outing today."

Dipper nodded. He reached down to pick up his satchel, and opened it, looking inside. "No game worth going after, but I was able to forage some berries and mushrooms. And I think these here are wild onions?" He handed her the satchel. "She might want to check everything with Ford, but I'm pretty sure nothing I have in there is poisonous. Well—mostly sure."

"So what I'm hearing is that I should run these by Ford before taking them to Melody to cook with," Pacifica said with a small smile, finally meeting Dipper's eyes.

Dipper shrugged. "Yeah, I suppose that couldn't hurt."

"Right," Pacifica said with a small nod. As she turned to go, she called back over her shoulder, "Oh, I was also supposed to tell you dinner's in twenty. And—you should probably get a shower."

"What, are you saying I smell?" Dipper called after her jokingly. Then he gave his right armpit a quick sniff, and his head jerked back involuntarily. "Oh," he said, with a grimace. He quickly gathered his shower things and headed down the hall to the communal men's room to get cleaned up before dinner.

/

As Dipper let the water cascade over his body, tears poured down his cheeks. Tears were almost an involuntary reaction to showering anymore, as it was the only time he allowed himself to really feel any emotion. He leaned forward, bracing his arms against the front of the small shower stall, and put his head down. Gravity caused the tears to drip directly down onto the shower floor, where they mixed with the rest of the water as it swirled into the drain. His body shook with sobs, but he'd long since learned how to cry silently. The last time he'd uttered an audible sob was the day he hugged Mabel 'goodbye for now.'

Dipper did his best to appear strong and stoic for the sake of the others he lived with, but every moment of his existence was pain. The absence of Mabel was like a raw wound that refused to heal, and every time he thought of her, it started to bleed again. At least he'd had his twin to turn to in his grief when Ford's plan to end Weirdmageddon had failed, and Grunkle Stan, possessed by Bill Cipher, had killed himself.

He'd also had Mabel there to support him when he'd finally accepted that Wendy, who had gone missing while on a hunt three years ago, wasn't coming back. They'd found her green flannel over-shirt tattered and tangled in a thorn bush, and a few feet away there had been a patch of dirt permeated with dark red blood. More blood than a human could survive losing. After a thorough search, the general consensus of the Remnants was that Wendy had been taken unawares by one of Bill's demon lackeys, and most likely, as gruesome as it was to say, eaten. Dipper hadn't wanted to believe it, and went out looking for Wendy every day, for weeks. He simply refused to accept that she was gone.

A month after Wendy's initial disappearance, Mabel presented Dipper with Wendy's green flannel shirt that she'd patched up for him. Something about holding Wendy's shirt in his hands allowed Dipper to process that this was real, and she was gone. Mabel had held her brother and rocked him as he clutched the shirt to his chest and wept inconsolably.

After having to say goodbye to his sister indefinitely, Dipper only ever cried in the shower. He couldn't allow himself to become as close to anyone as he'd been to Mabel. Being close enough to someone that he could cry in front of them meant being hurt if, (or rather, when, in this nightmarish hellscape) anything happened to them. He wasn't sure he'd survive having to say goodbye to someone he was that close with again.

The hydraulic hiss of the bathroom door sliding open alerted Dipper to the fact that he was no longer alone. He sniffled and straightened up quickly, in case whoever it was could see his shadow through the flimsy shower curtain.

"Hey Dip, you're not jerkin' off in there are you? Everyone's waiting on you for dinner!"

"Fuck off, Gideon," Dipper called, scowling as he quickly scrubbed himself with soap. "Just start without me."

"I would personally love to," Gideon replied. "Mel, however, won't have it. 'Dinner time is family time,' she says. So hurry your ass up. I'm fucking hungry."

The bathroom door hissed shut before Dipper had a chance to think up a snarky comeback. He sighed and finished washing, then quickly dried off and dressed in a somewhat clean t-shirt and pair of jeans. After dropping his shower things back off in his room, he headed to the open area near the center of the UFO that had been designated the 'dining room.'

"Nice of you to join us, Dipper," Ford said wryly, from his spot at the head of the table. He was, of course, joking. Or he would be, if there was any semblance of humor left in his tired, old body. The Remnants' numbers had dwindled drastically since they first took shelter in the UFO. As their self-appointed leader, Ford felt responsible for their safety, and every death and disappearance had aged him seemingly by years at a time, leeching him of the vital essence and curiosity that had made Ford, Ford.

The last few Remnants were sitting clustered around him at one end of the long table: Soos, Melody, Pacifica, and Gideon. Dipper sat down next to Gideon on one of the many empty chairs remaining. The rest of the chairs would no longer be occupied—a daily visual reminder of the people they'd lost.

"Sorry to keep you waiting," Dipper said tonelessly, turning to address Melody. "I thought I had time for a shower."

Melody flapped a hand at him. "Oh, it's not a problem, sweetie," she said, as she scooped venison stew into bowls and passed them to Soos to distribute. "I'm just glad you didn't get locked out again."

Dipper felt his face redden. "I can take care of myself out there," he muttered, accepting a bowl of stew from Soos.

"Is it really still necessary to bolt the hatch at sunset?" Pacifica asked, swirling her spoon lazily in her bowl. "I mean, the six of us have survived this long—I think we all know by now not to go out after dark. If we stop bolting the hatch at night, Dipper can just let himself back in if he stays out past sunset."

Gideon nodded vigorously. "I am all for that plan. No offense, Dip, but I'm not fond of risking my hide going out to hunt you down every time you decide to cut it close to curfew."

"None taken. I never said I wanted you to, anyway," Dipper said, before shoving a spoonful of stew into his mouth.

Ford chewed his food thoughtfully, swallowed, and wiped his mouth with a napkin. "Soos, Melody? How about you? Any opinions on keeping the hatch locked or unlocked at night?"

Melody shook her head, and Soos spoke up. "Not really Mr. Pines. I mean, whatever you think is best is probably best. After all, you have, like, twelve doctor degrees, right?"

Ford nearly smiled. "Doctorates. Yes, I do have twelve of them. And believe me, I have given the matter serious thought. Gideon, you no longer have to go after Dipper if he's still out close to curfew. I suppose it has been unfair of me to ask that of you. But the hatch will continue to be bolted at sunset. With only the six of us trying to survive out here, we can't spare anyone from their daytime duties to be a night watchman—or watchwoman," he added with nods to Melody and Pacifica, before continuing. "Dipper, I expect you to respect that, and keep track of the time while you're out. We rely on the food you hunt and scavenge. It would put us in a tough spot if you got yourself killed."

Dipper clenched his jaw, and nodded. He missed the old Grunkle Ford, who would have actually expressed concern for his great-nephew as a person and family member, rather than just concern for Dipper as the provider of the Remnants' only food source.

The group ate quietly for a time, before Melody elbowed Soos, and he stood up and awkwardly cleared his throat.

"Ahem, so, dudes, we—that is to say, Mel and me...Mel and I? Okay, so I can't remember which is grammatically correct, but that doesn't really matter, because... I forgot what I was saying." Soos glanced down at Melody and she mouthed something at him. "We have an...enhancement?"

Melody heaved a sigh and yanked Soos back down into his seat. "An announcement, Soos. We have an announcement."

Soos' eyes lit up, "Oh yeah, that was it!"

"An announcement?" Ford said, his eyebrows drawing together.

Melody nodded. She laid a hand on her lower belly, and beaming, she said, "I'm pregnant."

Dipper's brows furrowed involuntarily. He wasn't sure how he felt about the news, and gauging by their reactions, neither was anyone else. Pacifica gasped, but it sounded more like a shocked gasp than a happy gasp. Gideon was smiling at the couple, but the smile looked uncomfortable and forced, like he was being made to sit for a family portrait. Ford was paler than usual, and his mouth was a thin line as he stared at Melody's hand on her stomach.

"We talked about this Soos," Ford said finally. "You were supposed to be taking preventative measures."

"We did, Mr. Pines, I swear. But it happened anyways. Like it was meant to be." Soos smiled at Melody and laid his hand on top of hers.

"I see," Ford murmured. "How far along would you estimate you are, Melody?"

"At least five months," she answered. "I didn't realize for so long because I normally have very irregular p—"

"So too far along to easily abort, is what you're saying," Ford said, rubbing his forehead like he had a headache.

"Oh shit," murmured Dipper. He, Pacifica, and Gideon met each other's wide-eyed glances. Yeah. Ford really just said that.

Melody's face fell, and Soos stood up so quickly that he knocked his chair over.

"Abort?! Never! What the hell, Mr. Pines?"

Ford frowned. "You're not seriously considering trying to go through a full-term pregnancy and bringing a child into the world in these circumstances, are you?"

Dipper had heard enough. More than enough. "Hey, Pacifica, Gideon, I just remembered we need to go work on our project," he said loudly, before Soos or Melody could answer Ford.

"What project?" asked Gideon, cluelessly.

"You know, that one project," Pacifica answered him, clearly having understood Dipper's intentions.

"OW—I mean...OH, that project," Gideon said, after Dipper kicked him hard in the ankle. The three of them got up and hurried away from the dining table in the direction of the living quarters.

When they arrived at the common living area between the rows of bedrooms, Gideon turned to Dipper with one eyebrow raised. "Just to be clear, we don't actually have some project that I've plum forgot about, and we just said we did to get away from the awkward and emotionally charged situation back there, right?"

Dipper nodded and sank down onto one of the old sofas that the Remnants had managed to drag back to the UFO when they first moved in. Pacifica sat on the other end of the sofa, while Gideon plopped down onto a leaking bean bag chair.

"Right," said Dipper. "Shit, I knew Ford had basically gone full Vulcan for the sake of our survival, but I can't believe he'd want Soos and Melody to abort their baby."

Pacifica frowned. "Full Vulcan?"

"It's a Star Trek reference," Dipper said, with a wave of his hand. No use wasting breath explaining it to her. It felt kind of stupid, in hindsight, that he'd referenced a science fiction television show while sitting in an actual space ship.

"Oh, you mean like Spock?" Pacifica said, surprising him.

"Well, technically Spock was only half Vulcan, but yeah," Dipper said with a nod. "Logic over emotion, always."

"Huh," Gideon mused. "I always kind of got a Captain Kirk vibe from Stanley, so Ford being Spock makes sense."

Dipper arched a brow. "I can see that, as long as no one tries to ship them."

"Ship?" Pacifica questioned.

Dipper shook his head. This conversation wasn't going as he'd expected. "Look, forget that. Soos. Melody. Baby."

"Yeah, but so what?" Gideon said, shrugging. "I mean, based on their adverse reaction to the idea that they abort, it looks like the baby is happening, no matter what Ford wants."

"Maybe," Pacifica said. "Or maybe there are complications and Melody loses the baby. Or they both die. Or only she dies, and then we watch the baby starve to death because we have no way to get infant formula for it."

"Well ain't you just a ray of fucking sunshine," Gideon muttered, kicking at a pile of stray foam beans at the base of his seat.

Dipper shook his head, his throat tight. "She's a realist. We didn't have proper medical facilities or medicine to treat Mabel's illness, so we had to freeze her. Unless Melody has a textbook-perfect pregnancy, which (given our circumstances) will probably not happen, things could go very wrong."

At the mention of Mabel, Gideon seemed to wilt. Dipper hadn't given it much thought at the time, being preoccupied with his own grief, but Gideon must have been almost as devastated as he was when Mabel had to be cryogenically frozen. The two had become pretty good friends, and it was obvious to anyone with two eyes that Gideon still had feelings for her.

"Maybe...if things start to look like they're going downhill, we could freeze Melody?" Gideon suggested hopefully. "Then when we're finally able to get medical treatment for them, we can wake them both up."

"Unfortunately, that won't be possible."

Startled, the three teens looked up to see Ford had entered the common area.

"Why not?" asked Gideon. "It was good enough for Mabel."

"Yes, but Mabel wasn't pregnant," Ford explained. He leaned against a pillar and crossed his arms, continuing. "I have no idea what the cryogenic process would do to a developing fetus. Soos and Melody have made it quite clear to me, in no uncertain terms, that they want to have the baby. Freezing her would just be too risky."

"So what are we going to do?" Pacifica asked. "Because an Oddpocalypse pregnancy seems pretty risky in and of itself."

"Absolutely," said Ford. "That's why the two of us are going to start studying the ancient art of midwifery."

Pacifica blinked at him slowly. "Beg pardon? Us? You and me? Study... midwifery?"

Ford nodded.

"Why can't one of them study it with you?" she asked, gesturing to Dipper and Gideon, who were both vehemently shaking their heads 'no.' "Is it because they're boys and I'm a girl?"

A humorless chuckle passed Ford's lips. "No, it's because of the three of you, you are the only one somewhat competent at first aid, and those are the skills you'll need to build on to be a midwife. You do remember the boys' sad attempts at continuous sutures, don't you?"

Pacifica facepalmed. "I learned to sew neatly because I wanted to be a fashion designer. Not because I wanted to deliver babies."

Ford shrugged. "I'm sorry, Pacifica, but you're really the only suitable choice to help me. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to see if I still have any medical texts that have sections on childbirth." Without waiting for an answer, he turned and headed in the direction of his shipboard lab. Then he stopped, and called over his shoulder.

"Oh, and Dipper, stop and see me before you head out tomorrow. I'm going to write a list of supplies I'll need you to try and scavenge. I'll also need you to stop by my cryogenics lab for a few things as well."

Ford continued on his way as if he hadn't said anything significant, but Dipper felt like he'd been punched in the gut. He hadn't been to the cryogenics lab since the day they left Mabel there. A prickle of guilt in his throat and a tightness in his chest made Dipper wish he had an excuse to take another shower.

He heard someone talking, but it took a moment to realize that the words were directed at him. He looked from Pacifica to Gideon, unsure which of them had been addressing him. "Sorry, what?" he asked.

It was Gideon who spoke up. "I said, I'll go with you."

/

Hi folks… I think this is going to end up being a longfic, but I don't know how long. I also don't know how often or how regularly I'll be able to update, so if you want to see where this goes, I recommend that you follow this fic. I hope you've enjoyed it so far! Thanks for reading!

Hearts and flowers,

MPD