He dialed the digits into his phone, the ten numbers she had written down. It had been 3 days since the incident at the grocery store. He didn't return to his job since.

Those three days passed slowly, with an almost drunken haze clouding his judgement of wether or not he should call the number his beautiful rescuer scratched down for him. The fact of the matter was, if his clock was any clue, she was his soulmate. And now, for what felt like the thousandth time since this all happened, he once again contemplated the matter. So what could go wrong with the call if she was as his clock indicated, it would go perfectly fine, right? ...Right?

He erased the digits from the phone and put it down with haste. Every time he thought he gained a control over his anxieties, they shoved themselves back up into his head like vomit excreting from the mouth. He muttered a mild swear under his breath to no one at all, not even to himself. His eyes studied the now still clock on his arm that hadn't moved since that night. The halcyon stiffness of the futuristic embellishments on his arm that once ticked down to a moment he anticipated now symbolized all he hated himself for. Anxiety, social inability, shyness beyond compare, and the stubbornness of a raging bull. That same stubbornness was the only thing keeping himself tied to this mental dispute.

He leaned back in his chair, aligning his shoulder blades with edge of the wooden furniture in a position that left him as uncomfortable physically as he was mentally. He breathed heavily out a few times in aggravated sighs. He simply stared at the phone on the coffee table in front of him, the mostly white screen shining light dimly into the room. His mind was waging war on itself. The battle was a stalemate, neither side was winning, but casualties were being caused left and right. He cringed at himself.

It was almost as if he was a character in a shitty sitcom, with an angel and a devil on either shoulder. The angel sang of hope while the devil hissed doubts. God forbid he fall for the devil.

But he did.

He lifted the phone and dialed quickly the numbers he now had memorized. Without giving himself a chance to second guess anything, he clicked call and pressed the cold glass and metal object to his ear and ignored the skip in his heart. He squeezed his mouth shut and regretted the decision with every bellowing ring. He swallowed heavily and almost had a heart attack when the ringing stopped.

"Hello?" The same piercing and airy voice from that night shown through the speakers of his phone.

"Uh.. hi. Is this Pacifica?" His words hitched, he stuttered slightly, and wanted to die more with each awkward vocal mishap. Get it together Pines, it's just a girl.

"Yes, and this is...?"

"Dipper." He spat out all too quickly. "Dipper Pines. From the store the other day. You kinda saved my ass from a robbery and-"

She laughed lightly, interrupting his tangent. "I know honey, I was there." He could hear someone else speaking in the background faintly. "You're Mabel's twin right?"

"Yeah. You mentioned knowing her that night." Shit, Dipper, now it sounds like you memorized everything she said to you. You sound like a creep. His mental criticism almost pained him to think. He eyed the green digital-looking digits on his arm that spelt out 00:00:00 and remembered why she was so insanely important.

"Oh, about that, the court case is on Saturday morning, are you ready?"

That question caught him off guard. He entirely forgot he'd have to go to court over this. He muttered a swear and heard Pacifica hum a little sound of interest.

"Honestly I entirely forgot about that... I don't have a lawyer or whatever you need for this kind of thing and-"

"That's fine," she cut his nervous rambling off before it began. "I'm an attorney, that's why I was asking. I'd be willing to help when he goes on trial."

He..? Oh. He. The robber. Right. That took him a minute to remember who he even was. There was silence on both ends for a few moments. He was at a loss for words, she knew it.

"I'll see you then, I'm guessing." She started up after too much stagnant laconism.

"Right, yeah." He nodded along with his words even though she obviously couldn't see that.

"Great, be prepared, but don't be nervous." He could once again hear the muffled sound of a person talking on her end. Whatever the person said prompted a stifled laugh from Pacifica. He waited a minute for the giggling to cease. He tried hard it listen to the distant voice on the other end. He could have sworn it sounded familiar, but he barely heard it at all. "Seriously though, there's no way that the charge will be dropped. It'll all work out."

-----

Dipper stared into the bathroom mirror at a man he barely recognized, a professionally dressed, well looking man that is supposed to be him. God, can dressing nice really change how someone looks so drastically? Apparently so.

He ran a hand through his unkempt hair. That was one thing that didn't change with a suit. Sure, this was a court case, but he was still himself, the same messy haired loser who's not going to go through the effort of controlling his brown mane.

Today was the day his attacker was put on trial, and not even that was as nerve-racking than the fact that he'd see Pacifica in person again. Without a gun to his head this time. He lifted the left sleeve of the dress jacket he wore, the stiff fabric not pulling up easily, and gazed at the frozen 00:00:00. That was his main drive right now.

He almost forgot his setting of standing in the men's bathroom of a court until he breathed in and was hit by the stench. He quickly left.

Standing out in the hallway he stared down the door to the court room in which the trial was to be held. He wasn't all that ready for an actual trial to take place, he wasn't all that over the accident that happened to begin with. It had been a week now since he had a gun pressed to his head by an unknown robber for the sake of money he never ended up gaining. He barely remembered what the perpetrator looked like, being that he only barely caught a glimpse of him. Blonde, rough, young. He only remembered him in minor facts, not enough to be able to call him out of a crowd of other blonde, young, rugged-looking men.

The clicking of a pair of heels on tile floors like firecrackers snapped him out of his recollections. These clacking jolts were accompanied by the shuffling of flats on the polished ground. Two woman, he assumed, before their blurred reflections on the emulative foundation. He followed their images cased on the mirror-like onyx slabs up until he saw the women themselves.

There he noticed Pacifica, dressed in a navy business suit, and his twin sister, Mabel, wearing a casual pastel pink dress. Pacifica looked stunningly fierce and professional when dressed for the job, Mabel looked as if she was thinking the same thing about her. Her blonde hair was pulled back into a bun on the back of her head and made her look older and more mature than when he had met her. That was probably the point, being this was a court trial and all. Dipper still looked like a tall twelve year old though, despite the suit, despite the fact that he was now 23.

He waved awkwardly, with a half-smile sitting just as awkwardly on his lips. Both girls smiled back, Mabel waved enthusiastically. Her smile was toothy and wide, Pacifica's tight and professional, respectable. This fact seemed to speak wonders towards who each of these women were.

"Hey Dipper!" His twin said all too loudly, her voice bounced off of the walls of the hall. As the two approached him, he finally realized the height difference between Pacifica and the siblings. Even in heels, Mabel and Dipper had at least two inches over the blonde. Her strong personality made up for it.

He simply switched his attention to Mabel as a response. His smile grew slightly, and he shoved his hands into his pockets. His figure jutted out of the shining coal abyss of the building, all brown and frail like a twig in tar. He looked weak and disheveled when compared to the slick-dressed lawyer next to him. Her azure dress suit complimented the obsidian walls and metallic floors, and the fair pigment of her hair and skin stood out like the light at the end of a tunnel. He wasn't much next to her, nor was he much while alone either. He wasn't much of anything anywhere.

They funneled themselves through the door that fed into the court room. The mostly brown wood room stood in stark contrast to the polished black shine of the hallway. The jury was already set along the side and a few onlookers sat preparing for the case to ensue. Bill caught sight of the back of who assumed was the attacker. He saw a sea of blonde hair, the head slouched down in defeat.

Dipper followed the diplomatic Pacifica to the front, Mabel shuffled in to one of the seats to watch. His eyes trailed along the corners of the room, taking in all he could before almost immediately returning his gaze to his robber. There was something odd about him. As much as he looked capable of felonies, as much he looked like he'd be willing able to jump up and beat the shit out of someone, there was something there that denounced all of that. There was a heart there somewhere and it was visible and almost obvious in this vulnerable state on trial. He sat handcuffed and silent, staring down at his linked wrists put looking past them, spacing out away from anything tangible. Dipper was fascinated.

He sat down and waited about ten minutes in silence before he was shifted out of his curiosity by the slamming of a gavel on the judge's podium. Everyone assumed a state of respectful quiet, as the judge recited the necessary statements.

It felt like forever before any of the actual trial commenced. Pacifica stood up to explain the situation in detail to the judge and jury. Her phone rested on her chair, and the screen lit with a slight hum of vibration. He glanced down and had his attention stolen by a text from the contact 'Mabel <3!' reading simply

"U go babe!! Love u!!!!"

followed by a parade of pixelated emoji hearts in each available color to make a rainbow.

His heart jerked as his line of vision snapped behind him, looking to Mabel shuffling her phone away after completing and sending her digital message. Her arms were bear in the sundress she wore and he caught notice of the faint 00:00:00 of what now meant something entirely new.

He glanced quickly at Pacifica, then back to directly in front of him. Things added up in his head with his sudden epiphany. He remembered Pacifica's remark about being 'pretty close' to his sister, the familiar voice in the back of the phone conversation (a voice that now only made sense to belong to Mabel), and the fact that the two arrived together and were then inseparable until the trial actually started. His heart dropped. He kept himself from eyeing his arm, from reconsidering what the whole timer meant. He wouldn't dare now.

He zoned back in to a conscious state of attention and looked at around the room nervously. Pacifica had finished her spiel of explanation, of which Dipper truly heard fractions, and had then called for a statement from the victim, Dipper himself.

He muttered something and flashed a look in Bill's direction. Everyone in the room tried to hear what was said.

"Could you repeat yourself?" The judge looked on patiently.

"I.. uh..." he gulped heavily and shut his eyes.

"Take your time, Dipper. We understand." Pacifica said, slightly quieter.

Dipper opened his eyes in a quick flash and coughed out "He's innocent." The room gaped, everyone was stunned. The perpetrator almost gave himself whiplash turning his head in shock. The look on his face was one of confusion, fear, and somewhat gratefulness. Pacifica gave a face of astonishment and went to say something before Dipper began again. "This man is innocent."

He paused. He didn't think this through. But there was no going back on it now that it was said. He stared straight into the opposing client's eyes - which he now realized were a stunningly beautiful sea of sky - and reassured himself of what to say.

"He didn't take anything, it wasn't a robbery."

"Dipp- Sir." Pacifica fainted his name before correcting herself immediately. "He had a gun."

"Oregon's an open-carry state. He could have a gun on him if he wanted to. I'm sure he had a warrant anyway." He was sure he didn't have a warrant.

"It was pressed to your head, he was threatening you." The lawyer's voice trembled in a confused panic. Her professionalism didn't prepare for this.

"It was not - He was not." That was another lie. "He wasn't doing anything like that. This kid's innocent."

"I saw... Mr. Pines, there had to be security footage of the accident."

"The security cameras were down for maintenance." That was true. God, at least there was some truth in this.

Pacifica stared into what felt like his soul with a burning agitation. She was blown away by whatever the hell he was trying to do. He pleaded with his eyes and after a moment, she began to comply.

"It was all a misunderstanding.." Dipper shuddered in a half-whisper. The room pulled to a silence that felt eternal. It took minutes for anyone to even think of breaking the silence. The delinquent stared Dipper down through ever second and beyond.

"...So." The judge began carefully. "You say this man is entirely innocent of this crime, that we should drop the charges against him...?"

"Yes." Dipper said immediately. "This man is completely innocent of the crime he's been accused."

[A/N: I'm back??? Yes. Yes I am. Somewhat probably. Hope you enjoyed that first return. Sorry about the raging hiatus. It's been over a year since I updated some things, right? Real sorry about that. Some personal stuff went on , I lost drive to write these, it happens. But I've had my break from this and I think I'm ready to start it up again. Sounds fun. ]