Pointdexter: A Swooning Over Stan-fiction

Chapter Fifteen

It was another day with nothing to do but wait.

Alice found her schedule shockingly clear today. Ford usually had something going on for her to help with, and if not, Stan, Soos (A literal golden retriever of a man), or the kids did. Hijinks around the shack in the following days were centralized around the vow renewal between Waddles and a goat, Ford managing to drag one of the massive birds to the shack for study (With Alices' help of course).

She cantered down the stairs, a small skip in her step as she passed through the living room.

"Alice!" Mabel called out from her seat at the table in the living room, waving her over. "I was hoping I'd see you! C'mon! I wanna ask you something!"

Alice shifted, directing her path into the room and leaning over the table to see what she was working on. Raspberry pink colored pencils and other art supplies scattered across the table, various sheets of brightly-colored paper, covered in doodles, and a lot of glitter. Lots of the drawings looked like a cross between Godzilla and Barney, some were scattered with puppies, and one page...

One page was made by a thirteen-year-old, defiantly.

The page kinda looked like her... with... was it Ford or Stan? Alice almost couldn't tell, but didn't exactly look finished, the jawline giving that little detail away. Alice took a seat across from Mabel, suddenly getting the feeling she got when she had her first job interview.

The girl pushed her papers to the side, the organized chaos set to the flank for the moments, as Mabel rested her arms on the table, her fingers twisting together almost seriously. It would have been amusing if not for the look on her face.

"Alice," Mabel started. "I'll be frank."

That's never a good sign-

"I've been trying to find a match for my Grunkles for a while, but I never seemed to get their matches made."

"I'm sorry," Alice interrupted quickly. "A match?"

Mabel didn't seem to hear her, continuing her little speech. "But then, it's like you were pulled from thin air, attracted to the Shack by the magnet of love! It was a sigh, and these past couple of days just made the chemistry you share OBVIOUS! You know who I'm talking about, right?"

Alice felt her face burning under the gaze of the girl, wishing she could stand up and walk away, but that wasn't an option. She did know what Mabel was talking about, more specifically, who she was talking about.

"Ford?" Alice asked, she could feel the heat from her face, blushing like an idiot.

"Yes, yes yes-" Mabel agreed with a million-dollar grin. "Grunkle Ford's great with the family, but he's still guarded. You're the first person I've seen him actually get interested in! Maybe if you get to know him, he'll see that social interactions aren't so hard- And maybe love was on his horizon after all."

"Love?" Alice asked, ashamed to find her face heating even more. She'd gotten the chance to share some quality time with Ford, and yet Alice felt like something was missing. A part of his story that she didn't know, something she wasn't aware of. How much did she even know about him, anyway? Why do I want to know so much more? "Mabel, sweetie, that's a jump, isn't it? Ford and I haven't spent all that much time together. Sure, he's invited me on a couple of adventures but..."

"But nothing!" Mabel interrupted, holding a hand in the air. "Adventures are the perfect bonding material, I know that first hand. But you know what would really get this chemistry going?"

"Talking to him?" Alice suggested, not bothering to count the girls' argument.

"Pfft," Mabel snorted with a wave of her hand. "No- I'm thinking something more romantic. HOLD ON- I'm getting an idea! I'll get everything ready, Alice, you just focus on falling completely and utterly in love. MATCHMAKER MABEL IS BACK IN THE GAME!"

Alice buried her head in her hands as Mabel shot out of her seat and sprinted out of the room. What had she gotten herself into? The machinations of a boy-crazed teenage girl were about to become her reality. She leaned on the table, staring after Mabel.

Oh God... She had to stop her.

Alice shot up, racing after Mabel and nearly crashing into Dipper, right outside the living room- It didn't seem like an accident. The boy crossed his arms over his chest, staring at her, almost dubiously.

"So I heard about Mabel's plan-" Dipper started, raising a brow at her.

"How do you-" Alice started, gesturing over her shoulder. "I just left the room!"

"Yeah well, word travels fast," Dipper said with a shrug, his defensive posture softening ever so slightly. "And, Mabel sends out mass text updates."

"Yeah..." Alice sighed. "That- That does make sense."

"Just-" Dipper started, almost hesitating. "Tell me one thing. I know my Grunkles can look after themselves, but... Can you promise me you won't hurt Grunkle Ford?"

Alice hesitated. These kids cared, so deeply about their Grunkle, that it almost broke Alices' heart. She straightened, tipping her head to Dipper.

"Dipper..." She said quietly. "You can trust me."

"Okay, Alice..." Dipper said, crossing his arms over his chest, just as his phone buzzed in his pocket. "I'm remembering that."

The boy reached into his pocket, drawing out his phone and letting out a groan.

"And be ready... any time... for your date with Grunkle Ford?" His face twisted in something between disgust and disinterest. "Eugh. this feels awkward enough- No offense, Alice. It's, my Grunkle Ford actually going on... A date? Do old people even date? Kinda hard to wrap my head around."

"I'm not that old-" Alice said, crossing her arms over her chest. "I'm forty-one, and a zoologist. I have a bachelor's degree."

Dipper didn't seem to hear her, typing back to his sister on his phone. "I hope Mabel doesn't ask for my help tomorrow. I mean, I'm having enough trouble trying to get a date for myself-"

"HEY DIPDOP!" Mabel called from upstairs. "I'm gonna need your help tomorrow!"

"Welp, never mind-" Dipper said, deadpanned as he turned up the stairs.

Alice pressed her hands to her face, dragging them down her cheeks and letting out a stifled groan. This is a disaster.

But was it?

That faint flicker of heat that invaded her every time she was around Ford Pine blared again, a little brighter than before. Alice turned back to the storage room, only coming out for meals and bathroom use, stuck on her conversation with the twins.

Alice jerked slightly as the door to the storage room slipped open, Waddles snorting into her room and flopping on the air mattress next to her. She reached out, scratching the pig behind the ears and snapping a couple of pictures of him. She smiled, sending one of the images to Mabel with the text: Your spy's been caught, Ransome is twenty bucks.

She slumped back onto her pillows, Waddles settling against her side, and closed her eyes.

"Thanks for the support, buddy." She muttered aloud, her fingers running over the pig's head. The day was slow but exhausting, and she couldn't stop thinking about what Mabel had said.

I'm the first person she's seen him be interested in.

The thought was... Strange to say the least. She didn't see herself as anything too interesting, and surely he had to know more fascinating people. But then there was the fact that he always invited her out when he was doing fieldwork, or how he kept finding different birds for her to research and document.

It was as Alice started to fall asleep, her hand still resting on Waddle's head, that she realized that she hadn't thought about Carson since she told Ford about him. Every thought that had been distracted by her ex-husband was filled with something new.

Ford.