3 years ago (but before the last two chapter's flashback)...

Evicted. Written as clear as day on the page. Stanley Pines stared at it a moment longer before crumbling up the paper and tossing it somewhere in the room. The old dingey apartment was all Stan had left. And now he had to move out.

He sighed, hanging his head in his hands. "Dad was right," he said to himself. "I'm just a screw up." The man lay back in his bed, arm thrust over his eyes. "What's the point anymore?"

He had tried everything, from marketing to scratch tickets. And no matter how much he hated to admit it, hitting rock bottom was his fault. All because of one lousy mistake he had made years ago. One stupid, selfish mistake.

Maybe if he had just gone home instead of angrily walking through the school. Maybe if he had just let his brother go to college. Maybe if he had just moved on.

Maybe if he were never born.

His heart stopped at that thought. He drew his arm down to his side and glanced around the dirty, cluttered apartment. His eyes rested on a set of knives in the kitchen. He bit his lip. No one would care if he was gone. Not a single soul in the whole world. Not even his own brother.

The thought of ending it all was tempting, but he was interrupted by a knock at the door. He sat up.

"Dang it, the mob," he said under his breath. He grabbed a nearby baseball bat, gripping it tight just in case. "I'll get your money, I promise! Just a few more weeks!" he called.

He held up the bat a bit higher, ready to defend himself. But instead, a postcard slipped through the mail slot. It drifted the ground, making Stan perplexed.

A postcard? The only mail he ever got were bills and taxes. Who would care enough to send him a postcard?

He edged to the door, careful if it was a trap. Peeking through the eye hole, he saw the mailman's figure walking away. Stan let out a sigh, then turned his attention back to the note.

In big letters, the card said, PLEASE COME, FORD. Stan raised an eyebrow at it. It had to be a prank. Ford hadn't spoken to him in years. So why out of the blue, would he want him now? Stan noticed now that his hands were shaking. He still couldn't believe it.

Maybe someone wanted him after all.

Present...

Running up to her uncle, Mabel almost knocked him over. "Uncle Stan!" she shouted.

He took a step back after she yelled in her face. "Yeesh Mabel, you're going to break my ear drums! What do you want?" he said. He was about to sit down on the couch and probably waste the afternoon away with soap operas.

"I'm hungry!" Mabel whined! She fell to the floor dramatically.

Stan rolled his eyes. "Mabel, we have plenty of food in the kitchen," he deadpanned.

"No we don't! You ate the last can of meat yesterday while Dipper and I were out!" she explained. She melted into child's pose, which was, in fact, exactly how she was acting.

"Oh." Stan stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Well, we could always have bacon..." His eyes wandered to Waddles, who stumbled into the room at that moment.

Mabel's eyes widened. "Uncle Stan! How dare you!"

"What! Just listing our options!" He held up his hands defensively.

Mabel sat up and huffed, blowing a strand of hair out of her face. "Can't we just go to the store and get some food?"

"Um, two things. One, that would require me to actually put on pants, and two, if I've learned anything from life, it's never shop on an empty stomach," Stan said, waving away the notion.

Mabel just stared at him. No, more like stared into him. Into his very soul. It was a manipulative tactic she had taught herself as a kid. Just stare at someone until they do what you want.

Stan took of his glasses to clean them. "Alright fine, I guess we can go to the supermarket, even though you already ate yesterday."

Mabel smiled. "Yay!"

He ruffled her hair then went to go get dressed.

Thinking back over it afterwards, Mabel thought he may have had been right about shopping on an empty stomach.

Mabel went from shelf to shelf while Stan pushed the cart ahead of them. "Can we buy some of this, uncle Stan?" she asked, picking up a bottle of hot sauce.

Stan glanced from the bottle to her. "Mabel, you don't even like spicy food."

"What if my taste buds have changed? Ooh! What about this?" she said, throwing the sauce back on the shelf. Now she had a TV dinner in her hands.

"Why?"

"Because it comes with a brownie! Duh!" she said, tilting her head playfully.

Stan just smiled to himself. "If you want, we can buy some brownies, but I'm not wasting money on one brownie."

"Alright," Mabel agreed. She slipped the TV dinner back in the freezer. Mabel's eyes lit up as something else caught her attention. "UNCLE STAN I MUST BUY THIS!"

Stan rolled his eyes and sighed. "What is it this time?"

"It's a precracked egg! They just saved me a whole other step!" She shoved the package in his face.

(A/N sorry guys, couldn't resist!)

Stan just took it from her and stared at it. "What the heck is this garbage?" Yes, indeed, it was just an egg yolk in a plastic package.

"A precracked egg! Isn't it amazing!"

Stan was speechless. Finally he just gave up and added it to their cart.

Mabel and Stan went through the freezer aisle. "Anything we need here?" Stan asked.

Mabel smirked, rubbing her hands together. "I can think of something..."

"Please don't tell me it's a frozen precracked egg," Stan said, face palming.

Mabel dragged him and the cart to a certain freezer. "Ice cream!" she cheered. She opened the freezer door and pulled out several tubs, stashing them in the cart.

Stan raised an eyebrow and smirked. "Okay, I love ice cream, but don't you think this is a little much?"

"They're on sale."

"QUICK MABEL, SHOVE AS MUCH AS YOU CAN INTO THE CART!"

"Done and done uncle Stan!" Mabel said saluting.

When they got home, Mabel and Stan unpacked the groceries as fast as the could. Once everything was more of less put away, they set out all the ice cream flavors on the counter.

"Alright! What flavor should we try first?" Stan asked, pulling out two bowls for the two of them. Mabel sat on the counter, kicking her legs.

"Why not all of them?"

"I like the way you think!" Stan said, snapping his fingers and pointing at her.

Dipper came into the room, an eyebrow raised. "Um... what are you doing?" he asked, standing in the doorway.

"Having ice cream. Want to join us?" Mabel said, smiling.

"Yeah, come on Dipper, join us!" Stan put in.

Dipper stared at Stan a moment. Then his eyes wandered to the window. The sun was beginning to set. "No thanks. It's getting late, I'm going to head to bed," he said, turning around to leave.

Stan began scooping ice cream into a bowl for himself. "Ya know, for a kid who always goes to bed early, you always seem awfully tired out," he said, plopping a heaping serving with a spoon.

"Whatever," Dipper, shrugged, leaving. Mabel watched him, noticing the tension between him and Stan. And, besides that, Dipper was limping when he left. Just a small bit, but enough to be noticed by the girl. The few days she'd been there, it always seemed like Dipper woke up with new scars or injuries. She had just summed it up to him being a boy.

"What's his deal?" Mabel said, accidentally out loud. Stan stiffened. "What?" she pressed.

Stan shook himself, finally just resolving to eat out of the ice cream tub. "Nothing. Teenagers, at I right? So moody, heh," he said.

Mabel bit her lip, venturing a bit further. "Uncle Stan, what happened between you and Dipper?"

He stopped eating ice cream. Then he sighed. "It's complicated."

"Well, we have until the end of summer," she said, wondering if she had made a mistake.

"..."

"Please."

Stan contemplated with himself. "Fine. You deserve to know the truth. I made the mistake of keeping secrets once, and I won't do it again."

Well, hope you enjoyed this chapter! Next chapter exciting stuff happens! Though it may be a while due to NaNoWriMo. Idk, I'll update when I update. Thanks for all your support! It is greatly appreciated!