Warnings: none?
Word count: 1282
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Mabel goes up to welcome the man with a handshake and gasps when she discovers he has six fingers. Excitedly, she rushes over to me, tugging me by my wrist to him. "Vickie, look, he has six fingers, too!" she grinned cheerfully. Nervously, I glimpse at the man, who is virtually a carbon copy of the Stan imposter.
The man beams, reaching out to shake my hand as well. "Nice to meet you, my name is Ford. Who are all these kids?" the man turned to the Stan imposter, a bewildered look on his face.
"Mabel and Dipper," he indicates toward the twins, "Are your great niece and nephew. Shermie's kids. Vickie here," he motions to me, "Is... your grandkid." This man is my real grandfather? It makes sense with the six fingers and all... but...
Ford falters and his glasses slip down his nose a little. "Grandkid?" he doubles back. Disoriented, he sighed, "I wasn't even aware that I had a kid! Wh-where are they? Can I meet them?" he asked me and my face fell.
"My mom... she-" I sigh, not wanting to complete the sentence. Ford nods, understanding what I was trying to say. He then strides up to his brother and punches him, berating him for reactivating the portal and all that.
"Why in the world would you do this?" Ford demands, glowering at his brother with a stern gaze. There's some sort of feud going on between the two of them and it's making the atmosphere denser than a marshland.
They squabble for a minute and then silence as they turn so that their backs are to each other. Forever the peacekeeper, Mabel grinned, expressing, "Hugs all around! Hug O'Clock. It's hug time!" They don't hug. "Why isn't this working?" Mabel asked me, a dazed expression on her face.
I shrug, wondering what variety of things could have gone on between the brothers. "I'm not hugging him until he thanks me for saving his butt," Stan frowns at Ford as the man meticulously inscribes something in his journal.
"Perhaps maybe you shouldn't do something so reckless. I can take care of myself, Stanley," Ford advises him, which makes Mabel gasp and Dipper give a perplexed look. His name is Stanley?
"I thought his name was Stanford," Dipper thinks out loud, puzzled exceeding imagination. I am too. This is a lot of knowledge to take in. My grandpa is actually my Grunkle and his name is Stanley whereas my real grandpa was trapped in another dimension. I've got to hear how this occurred.
"You took my name and my house?" Ford exclaimed angrily, huffing as his brother tried to defend himself. I don't know what's going on whatsoever... and I have a feeling that Bill knew the whole time who my real grandpa was. That's why he separated the two when he warned me about Stan and my grandpa.
I might have some words for him.
"You better start explaining, Stan," Dipper squinted his eyes, trying to seem intimidating to the old man but inevitably failing because he's just a boy. Mabel nods in agreement and Soos mentions how he'd like to know as well. I stay quiet, observing what's going on in front of me, not sure if I should contribute to the scene or not.
Stan sighs and sits down, glancing at all of us before he begins his story. It starts with two little boys in the 40s, having fun on the beaches of New Jersey and ends with a lonely old man trying to bring his brother back. Turns out my grandfather had disappeared just before his girlfriend found out she was pregnant. Ford had ghosted her to protect her and when the woman returned to the Shack with a small infant in her arms, Grunkle Stan had sent her away with a sense of guilt in his heart.
That caused my grandmother to go bitter and marry a man she didn't love. I wonder what would have happened differently if Stan didn't turn her away.
"I'm sorry I lied, but everything was for this family," Stan states, surveying all of us. Honestly, I believe him, feeling a bit sorry for thinking of him as an imposter. Sure, he wasn't my real grandfather, but he did still care for me like one. Still, I don't say anything, my face shrouded by a shadow.
We suddenly hear a bang up above us and Ford turns to his brother once more. "Who else knows we're here?" he demands, a sense of authority in his voice.
"Just those that are down here," Stan states nonchalantly, shrugging his shoulders. Then, he says, "And maybe half of the US government." Ford rolls his eyes, mumbling curses under his breath as he fumbles around, looking for something.
"I wish I had a memory gun," he murmured to himself and Dipper digs around in his backpack until he finds the one from our run-in with the Society of the Blind Eye.
"Would this work?" Dipper asked, his face desperate for approval from the author.
"I don't know how you got that, but this will do perfectly," Ford grins and I can see Dipper physically dance in excitement. Ford hooks the gun up to something and tells us to lay low and cover our ears. A frequency is emitted towards the outside and to the feds.
Then he races up the stairs toward the front of the Shack. We follow after him, stopping in the gift shop when he motions for us to not take another step. "Does anyone have any paper on them?" Ford asked, looking around at all of us. Mabel jumps up, pulls a few folded pieces of paper out of her sweater pocket, and hands them to Ford.
He heads outside and soon, the feds are gone, picking up things they knocked over and riding away in helicopters and government issued cars. Tanks roll away, leaving track marks where they were. "Thank god they're gone..." Grunkle Stan mumbled to himself, probably feeling quite relieved that he isn't being arrested.
Dipper pulls out a pen and pad, rapidly clicking the button of the pen in excitement as he rushes up to Ford. "I have like, a million questions!" the boy buzzed, practically hopping up and down.
His sister buzzed with excitement as well, bubbling and grinning wide as she says, "What is the craziest dimension you've been to?" I don't really have questions for him, so I watch as they pester him like birds that only twitter at a frequency dogs can understand.
"Alright you two. Go to bed, me and Ford need to catch up," Stan shooes them away. Soos slips away, dialing a number on his phone and excitedly whispering into it as he gets into his truck. I follow behind the set of younger twins, but I'm stopped. "Not you," Stan says.
I turn to face the two of them and Stan puts his hands on my shoulders, a sad look on his face. "What- What's wrong?" I ask him, wondering what could possibly be going on in his head.
"I'm sorry for pretending to be your grandpa... I-" he sighs and looks away for a second before continuing, "I still care about you, kiddo. I just wanted you to know that."
"I know," I say, hugging him and for once, I don't mind his old man smell.
"Now," he pulls away, grinning goofily, "Go to bed before I make you clean the bathroom or something." An empty threat that shows he loves me, but still, I know he's trying to subtly kick me out so he can talk to his brother. Nodding, I race inside and lay down, immediatly giving into the pull of sleep so I can give Bill a piece of my mind.
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A/N: I absolutely love Ford. He's great. Can't live without the guy
YOU ARE READING
We'll Meet Again...
Fanfiction"You don't deserve love". That's all Victoria Pines knew when she was six. Then she made a stupid deal with a triangle... and now she has the family she always dreamed of. But at what cost? He could take it away at any minute. He's keeping something...
