Winter's Promise

Chapter 17 - Fire

The next week went by agonizingly slow by Dippers standards. He and Mabel went back to work. Dipper buried himself in archives devoting himself to memorizing everything great uncle Ford had cataloged about his exploration of the alternate dimensions. This was more than just distracting himself. This was a safety mechanism for Dipper. When the world became too much to bear Dipper oftentimes reverted to something he knew. He and great uncle Ford worked hard gathering information about the Final relic. This was the known relic. They knew where it was, to begin with. And that's what made it so dangerous.

Dipper had taken it upon himself to make Dinner. When Mabel had told him she would make dinner when she got home Dipper would have none of it. She had slaved all day at the dinner and he didn't want her to have to deal with more food serving and prep when she got home. Dipper had just checked on the stuffed chicken breasts he had tossed in the oven earlier. The stuffing was cream cheese, lemon juice, minced parsley, and garlic. After folding the cream cheese mixture in Dipper cracked two eggs into a bowl and dipped stuffed breasts into the whipped egg mixture. He then dipped them into the breading mixture which consisted of finely crumbled ridged potato chips, flour, and a zesty rub seasoning.

Seeing as the chicken was crisping up just fine as it began to take on a deep golden hue Dipper turned his attention to the rutabaga mashed potatoes mix he had boiled after dicing into cubes. He now strained them and added them to a mixing bowl. Dipper softened them with buttermilk, butter, garlic, and garnished them with paprika after whipping them into a smooth fluffy mix with an electric whisk and serving them in a bowl. Dipper had just removed the asparagus spears from the oven too. He zested them with butter, lemon juice, ground the fresh black cracked pepper over the spears. After that, he checked the chicken. Dipper was happy to find the chicken was just about done and only need a few more minutes. Not knowing how long Mabel would be Dipper merely turned the oven off and closed it. He leaned over peering into the oven. The residual heat would finish slow cooking the chicken yet keep it moist not that he had covered it with tin foil. The asparagus spears would stay warm too. Dipper had covered the rutabaga mashed potatoes with tin foil on the table too. The thick ceramic bowl he served it in would retain the heat till Mabel arrived home.

Just then the doorbell rang. Dipper smilled as he stood up. How punctual of her. Walking over to the door he opened it up with a smile cheerfully saying, "I didn't know shooting stars were-" Dipper cut off in mid-sentence. Rather than the cheerful brunette Dipper found a forlorn-looking Pacifica her eyes heavy with the weight of a burden. "P-Pacifica!" Dipper gasped as he pulled her up into his arms drawing her in like breathing after one had held their breath diving from the black depths hoping to find the surface. Mind you he was careful of her cast. Dipper ran his fingers through her hair with one hand reveling in its soft luster while he held her close to his chest with the other. "I missed you too," Pacifica whispered her voice uncharacteristically cracking. Dipper spoke back soothingly. "I thought I'd never see you again." Pacifica held him tighter after hearing that. For a few moments, they just stood there in the entryway holding each other.

Dipper stepped back to look at her face. Pacifica had always been beautiful and not just in Dipper's eyes alone. As she had grown older in the last few years Pacifica not only made Dipper's palms sweaty when she would lock eyes with him but made him flush hot oftentimes. They had always been attracted to each other but neither was ready to humble their pride back then. As such whenever they found themselves eye to eye Dipper would feel waves creep up his chest in a flush of heat as his heart beat faster. Her eyes were like pools of sapphire gems sparkling in the light. Dipper would catch himself with his mouth hanging open at about the same time Pacifica would shut hers and gather her whits before trotting off in a more dignified manner. Not that Dipper minded watching her hips move as she left. Her sense of fashion was always complimented by her alluring curves, yet they always were dignified and reflected the high standard in which she held herself. Dipper respected the fact that she respected herself enough to maintain that standard. As Dipper was getting older he had begun to attract all sorts of 'attention,' and often the girls had far less dignity let alone any sense of propriety. So while Pacifica had remained a hard nut to crack as far as figuring her out or getting any closer to being friends Dipper found it made her all that much more alluring. Not that he would ever admit it to Mabel, but Dipper had his sneaking suspicions that Mabel was far more in the know about this than he cared to dwell on. Thus his feeling for Pacifica remained clearly in the denial category for many years.