Chapter 6: Accelerated Plans

To say the moments after Wendy's outburst were awkward would be the most correct statement one could ever utter. They had all been astonished by her reaction to one of her best childhood friends coming back to their beloved hometown. Stan finally decided to break the uncomfortable silence by clearing his throat.

"Well, that happened. So Adam, it's getting kind of late."

Sure enough, when the twins looked out the window that was recently fixed from Grunkle Stan's incident watching The Duchess Approves, they saw that the sun had long since passed below the horizon and the sky had started to fade to darkness.

"Actually, that's what I was kind of meaning to talk to you about Stan. I bought a place in town, but until the house is finished I have no place to stay. Would it be alright if I stayed at the Shack for a while?"

"Well, I'm not sure. What with the kids here already..."

"Oh c'mon Grunkle Stan, please let him stay." Mabel spoke up, giving her great-uncle the most sparkly pout she could muster. Mabel had been pretty quiet throughout most of the new arrivals stay, besides rambling to him about her bedazzleing her face. While she didn't know too much about the one-eyed former employee of the Mystery Shack, she really liked the young man. Something had made her feel drawn to him. While she didn't know if Dipper felt the same way she did, she could tell that Dipper had noticed it as well. Plus she thought it might be kind of nice to have someone else living with them. She loved her dear twin brother to death, but she did often get tired of the times he would just sit on his bed all day and read his book.

"Oh alright. You can stay," Stan Pines grumbled, "but there might be a small rental fee."

Adam laughed and said, "You got it."

He then turned toward Mabel.

"And thank you, Mabel." Adam said, and gave her a big friendly grin. She smiled back at him as Dipper stared at his twin sister with big, bulging eyes. Dipper did not like the idea of this stranger staying here in their Grunkle Stan's home. He was going to have a talk with Mabel before they went to bed.

"Well I'm going to hit the hay, you animals should do the same." Stan yawned and went into the kitchen, going toward his room.

"Okay, I call the bathroom first." Mabel yelled and rushed up the stairs to get ready for her shower.

"Well I still need to get stuff out of my car. Have a good night's sleep, Dipper." Adam said, and then proceeded to go outside to his vehicle.

"Yeah, you too." Dipper mumbled under his breath, clearly still skeptical about this whole situation.

After Mabel had gotten done with her shower, Dipper took his. As the hot water washed down his bare chest, he thought about the all the commotion that Adam had caused. Dipper was worried about Wendy. She had seemed so upset. After he finished drying himself off and putting on his pajamas, he noticed that his sister had fallen fast asleep. He didn't have the heart to wake her to talk about her brash decision to let Adam stay, and the fatigue from earlier had come back almost tenfold. So, he crawled into bed and drifted off to sleep.

Stanford Pines had been called many things in his life. A con-artist, yeah. A thief maybe, but none had ever called him heartless. While he wouldn't miss an opportunity to make a quick buck or get something that he needed without paying for it, he had never thought to put another person's life in danger because of his schemes. However, he could no longer afford that luxury. As all was quiet in the Mystery Shack, Stan made his way toward the gift shop. Adam was a good friend, had been a good employee, but his unexpected presence in Gravity Falls disturbed Stan. It meant his plans were accelerating. Stan cursed himself for even allowing his brother's son to send his kids to live with him for the summer. He had come to deeply care for their safety, but he knew that now, they might not be able to escape this place before it happens. He neared the vending machine at the edge of the room, hitting the secret code and slid behind the machine as it sprung out from the wall. It then closed behind him, lights flickering off. The stage was set, now it was just a matter of time.