One Last Deal

Family Reunion

(3rd person POV)

The moment that Matt emerged from the lab, Dipper and Mabel immediately began asking him questions. Stan stood in shock of it all before dragging his twin aside.

"Sixer, who the heck is that?!"

"Stan, it's Andie's older brother, Matthew," Ford whispered, looking back to see the young man being bombarded with questions. "I'll take care of it, alright?"

"You'd better," Stan groaned. "I only signed up for taking two kids in this summer."

Ford walked back over to Andie and Matt, where the latter was doing his best to answer the younger twins' questions.

"Favorite color's blue, no, haven't seen any aliens, um, my name's Matt, and, yes, I have unfortunately sprayed myself in the eyes with spray paint before. Don't ask," he ended, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

Mabel did an arm pump. "Knew it!"

"Matthew? Come along," Ford interrupted, motioned the teenager to come over to the kitchen table. Andie followed close behind as Ford, Stan and her brother sat down at the table.

"Um, Andie? We'd like to speak with Matthew alone," Ford said to his granddaughter, emphasizing the last word. The girl rubbed her arm nervously.

"Oh! Um, okay!" she mumbled before hugging her brother's arm to which the teen smiled and gave her a noogie.

"How can you be sure they're even related?!" Stan whispered to his brother angrily.

"Night, you three," Andie said before winking at her brother. "And don't forget to tell our grandfather about your amazing first kiss!"

The teen's cheeks reddened. "I was four, Andie, and you KNOW it!"

"Uh-huh! Love you, doofus!" she teased, dodging a shoe that Matt threw in her direction.

"I LOVE YOU, TOO, DORK!"

Stan and Ford gave each other a knowing look. "I have a hunch," Ford muttered before turning his full attention back to his grandson.

What both men immediately realized was that the boy was nervously tapping his fingers on the table with his good hand. The other was stuffed into his jacket pocket.

Ford was the first to say anything. "Kid, what were you doing in the woods last night?"

Matt's gaze shifted to the table. "Tryin' to find Andie. Our brothers and I have been worried sick since she ran away from the orphanage. So I went to look for her."

"Bud, do you have any idea why your sister would run away?" Stan asked.

Matt sighed. "You really don't know, do you? The Pacific Northwest Orphanage is an all-boys orphanage. So where do you think that put my sister?"

There was a beat of silence as the two older men took this in. Ford looked down and Stan bit his bottom lip.

"She was bullied, wasn't she?" Ford muttered, feeling his fist underneath the table clench when Matt nodded.

"Yes, but...since the caregivers were so used to taking care of boys, they had a very...outdated perspective of what girls should do and how they should be raised. To sum it up, girls weren't allowed to talk much, even if they were getting beat up; they were supposed to sit still, take it, and not say a word," Matt explained, gritting his teeth.

"And...Andie took it. She got beat up, teased, picked on, and she didn't say anything...not even when they started dissing Mom. Because they had manipulated her into thinking that no one would do anything if she spoke up."