Under Pressure: A Gravity Falls Story

The Truth is...

Dipper was lying on his bed, lazily flipping through the pages of the third journal. Ford had wanted to study and record the effects of the "Truth Stone" (as he had come to call it), so Dipper had been told not to handle the stone until he had completely looked over it in a controlled environment. Dipper although, not wanting to miss a chance on conducting his own studies, broke a chip off the edge of the rock. He had been flipping through each of the three journals to see if he had missed something or if his great uncle had simply forgotten an entry he made about the rock.

For nearly four hours Dipper had been reading, re-reading, and re-re-reading to make sure he didn't miss a single word on the pages whether it be black ink or invisible. He was currently on page 67 (again) when he heard a knock on the door. Dipper sighed, put down the journal, placed the rock chip in his back pocket, and walked downstairs to answer the door. "There shouldn't be any customers today," Dipper thought "Nobody in town would come up just to say hello."

Dipper opened the door to a familiar face, and one he really wasn't expecting. "Hey Pacifica, what are you doing here?" Dipper asked curiously. It wasn't often that a Northwest would visit someplace like the Mystery Shack unless it was an emergency. Pacifica was dressed in a light brown trench coat, a purple bandana over her head, and sunglasses which meant she was trying to hide from the public. "Hey Dipper I need to talk to you, can I come inside?" Pacifica asked with an almost shaky tone. "Yeah, of course." Dipper said, opening the door and gesturing to come inside.

Once Pacifica walked through the door Dipper noticed a limo in the parking lot with a driver and what looked to be a bodyguard waiting for her. "Should we talk outside?" Dipper asked, silently gesturing to the two waiting figures. Pacifica just looked and said "Don't worry about them, plus I want to talk to you and Mabel privately." Dipper closed the door, "That may be hard, she went off somewhere with her friends. It's just me in the shop for right now and as you can see I wasn't expecting guests." he said pointing to the clothes he had on.

For a fraction of a second Pacifica smiled and started to giggle before being once again overtaken with a solemn expression, she took off her sunglasses so she could look Dipper in the eye one final time. "I was hoping to talk to the both of you at once but I guess you can pass on the message," Pacifica looked down, tears forming slightly "I can't be seen around you or your sister anymore, it's not right for me to be seen with people like you." Pacifica stated like it hurt her. The words were not hers so much than her father's, who made her go over them a thousand times.

"Wait, what?!?" Dipper asked, 'What is she saying, I thought we were on good terms?!?" "You heard me, I'm sorry Dipper." Pacifica now was really crying, Dipper noticed and thought about shutting up and accepting it but found he couldn't. "So what after everything me and my sister did for you you're just going to throw us aside like we're trash?!?" Dipper was now infuriated, he thought Pacifica had changed. He hoped she had changed, he had wanted her to change.

"Please Dipper I wish I could explain but-," Pacifica was saying before Dipper cut her off. "Oh you don't have to explain anything!" Dipper found he was rambling now. "You know we didn't have to help you, I didn't have to help you!" Dipper began yelling, "It was only by shear luck that Mabel forced me to help you and your stupid family, but later on I thought that maybe you were an alright person, maybe good enough to be friends with!"

Dipper clenched his fists. He couldn't believe that after everything that happened she was still a stuck up brat. "You know I was half tempted to release the ghost right then and there, and have you and your family learn some humility but I didn't. Have you considered that the reason I helped you, the reason I came back, THE REASON THAT I PROTECTED YOU WAS THAT I LIKED YOU!!!"

Pacifica looked up quickly, a look of surprise on her face. "What did you just say?" she asked slowly, making sure she heard right. Dipper went wide eyed and covered his mouth, his face was blushing madly. 'Why did I say that? Why did I tell her that I...THE PIECE OF THE TRUTH STONE!!!' Dipper realized that he still had the shard in his back pocket. 'I didn't think it have this much influence over me!!!'

Pacifica, thinking that Dipper might not have heard her, asked again "Dipper, what did you just say?" Dipper uncovered his mouth and said "I like you, Pacifica Northwest. More than I ever thought I would." Dipper was now looking into Pacifica's eyes to gauge her reaction.

For what seemed like an hour Pacifica Northwest and Dipper Pines, quite possibly the most polar opposites in the world, were standing there lost in each other's gazes. Soon Pacifica started crying, first in what seemed like joy then in sorrow. "I like you too Dipper, that's why I can't see you anymore. Goodbye." Pacifica ran outside, bumping into someone on the way out. "Excuse me." Pacifica said still crying. Dipper was saying something but Pacifica knew that if she stayed that would be the end of both of them

Pacifica hopped into the back of the limo and told her chauffeur to step on it. She was now lying down in the seat sobbing while her bodyguard kept staring with a cold expression. Pacifica looked back at the Mystery Shack, wondering if she'll ever see that boy again.

Wendy's POV...