Gravity Falls - One Off Stories

Small Mistake, Big Consequence

Cover art is by Skidar on Tumblr

Summary: When Stan lets one of his bad habits get the better of him, it not only puts his life at risk, but Dipper and Mabel's lives too. Set sometime after Gideon Rises but well Before Not What He Seems.

Small Mistake, Big Consequence

It was a late evening in Gravity Falls. Down the quiet country road leading towards the Mystery Shack came the familiar Stan mobile. Dipper, Mabel and Stan were on their way home after having dinner at Greasy's Diner.

"Man, Dipper you we're right. Lazy Susan sure knows how to make some good Sloppy Joes," said Mabel.

"See I told you you'd like them," Dipper said.

"Hey Grunkle Stan what about you? How was dinner," Mabel asked.

Stan didn't hear her.

"Hey Grunkle Stan," Mabel said again but louder.

This time Stan acknowledged her, "Oh uh, yea, well, uh, ya, it was uh, a good meal. Uh, expensive, uh I guess," he responded. His speech sounded as if it was coming from someone who was not completely in mind.

"Uh, okay," said Mabel, a bit confused by Stan's response but otherwise not suspecting anything. Dipper however did.

"Grunkle Stan are you alright? You're acting, strange," he said.

"What, I uh, I'm fine, uh, you know, Grunkle uh, Stan, he's never been better," he replied yet again with a slurry speech pattern.

Dipper was getting nervous. He looked over to Mabel who was starting to dose off. He started getting worried. Were they both in danger? He was no expert but he had an idea of what might be happening.

"Grunkle Stan are you-"

It was too late. The car started swerving to the left. Before Dipper could yell, Mabel could realize and before Stan could react, the Stan mobile drove strait off the road and through a barrier wall.

The car began to flip. It flipped over and over. Finally, the seconds that felt like hours came to an end, as the Stan mobile came to rest upside down, on its roof, in a ditch besides the road.

Stan came around. He coughed several times. It was surreally quiet. All he could hear was the sound of steam and creaking metal. He unbuckled himself out of his seat and fell onto the roof. Kicking the door open, he crawled out of the car. He collapsed onto the grass next to the wreck and looked at his hands. They we're bruised and bleeding and he could feel multiple cuts on his face, but other then that he had escaped major injury.

But what about the kids? Stan immediately crawled back towards the car and threw the rear door open. He was met with a sight he'd never soon forget. Dipper and Mabel we're both still buckled up, unconscious, upside down and looking badly injured. Before shock could take its grip, Stan unbuckled the two out of the wreck and carried them to the grassy area he was just at.

"Kids? KIDS! Oh, please, please be okay. Please! Dear god," he begged as he examined them.

Both we're bleeding and looked like they had been beaten up multiple times by a gang of hooligans. Dipper was badly cut up. His vest was ripped apart and Mabel's beautiful sweater was torn up. While he was no medical expert, Stan did know how to tell for the signs of life. He grabbed both Dipper and Mabel's hands and felt for a pulse.

He felt one in both of them, but it was weak.

Stan didn't have a phone and he now wished he had bought that first aid kit for the car that the twins were begging him to get. There we're no oncoming cars he could flag down. What was he going to do?