#Danny is stranded on the other side of the Multiverse

[bet-on-me-13]

Stranded Danny AU

Danny gets pulled into a faraway Dimension by a Villain one day, just after the events of Phantom Planet. He is barely 15.

He has no way to get back, but he does manage to unlock the power to make Portals. Unfortunately, none of the dimensions he ends up in are his own, and none have enough Ectoplasm to open portals for very long. It takes up to a week to scrounge up enough Ecto to open a single Portal into the next dimension over.

And none of these worlds have Technology strong enough to take him home either. The few times he did find some tech that could potentially get him home, it never worked or it was destroyed before he could finish it.

He spends well over 30 years of his own Personal Timeline trying to get back to his home dimension, constantly gathering scraps of Ectoplasm and Tech until the day he eventually collected enough to build a safe way home.

But time does not pass the same across dimensions.

What to him was a 30 year long Journey, was actually just 10 for his home Dimension.

And they had to move on without him.

Sam became a Business Woman who used her money to fund Nature Preservation Organizations. She hired Pamela Isley and helped her through her powers when she became Poison Ivy (still a Villain, but secretly working for Sam)

Tucker got a high ranking job at Star Labs, and helped Cyborg come to terms with his new life when he became a cyborg. He even helped upgrade his tech a few times.

Jazz became a successful Psychiatrist, and now works under Daina Lance as one of the Justice League's top Therapists, specifically their Child Psychologist for young Heroes

Ellie took his place as a Hero and became the new protector of Amity after he dissappear. After the Justice League was formed, she joined them and became one of their best members, always working and nor really taking many breaks.

They always wondered what happened to Danny, and spent many years trying to figure out what happened to him, but never succeeded. They finally began to assume that he was fully dead after a few years of searching. They had enough time to come to terms with it.

...

So one night, while a 22 yr old Ellie is resting on one of her rare days off, she gets called in by the League about a possible Dimensional Breach near her Home Town. JLD was deployed to investigate, and she was asked to tag along since she was the Resident Hero of the area.

But she refuses, thinking it's just some random ghost trying to enter the Living Realm illegally after she began regulating the Portal. JLD would be able to handle it on their own, let her sleep on her day off!

Meanwhile, JLD has located the spot where the Dimensional Breach is about to appear. They surround the Area, and prepare to interrogate whoever is about to appear, or deal with them if need be.

Space begins to tear apart as the fabric of Reality breaks apart at the seams. And from that wound in existence, an Adult Danny steps out. He is 44 years old, and looks like a less buff version of Dan without the mustache (basically imagine Danny as Ford Pines from Gravity Falls)

The JLD can sense that he is strong, but not too much so. It feels like he is powerful, but like that power has been starved for a while.

"Who are you?" Asks Wonderwoman, ready to jump into battle if needed. "What are your intentions in this World?"

Danny ignores them. He is staring into the Night Sky, eyes wide. The Constellations he hadn't seen in 30 years were there. The stars were in the right locations. He takes a deep breath, tasting the amount of Ectoplasm in thr Air. This is it. He's home. He's finally home.

"Finally" He says breathlessly. A slightly manic Grin on his face.

"What the hell does that mean?" Demands Constantine. The grin had unsettled him, and he began preparing a few spells just to be sure.

Danny ignored him again, this time deciding to close his eyes and finally eat his fill of Ectoplasm for the first time in 30 years. He was ravenous, this was the first decent Meal of Ectoplasm he had been able to have in 30 years. He was giddy, he was so happy to finally be home.

However the Heroes didn't know what was happening. All they knew was that some guy had ripped a hole in reality, said "finally" with a crazy grin on his face, and started emitting a dangerous amount of Death Energy for no apparent reason.

Constantine reacts on impulse, trying to cast a Banishing Spell on this guy.

Danny, feeling the spell begin to pull him away from his home after he had just found it again after Thirty. Fucking. Years. Does something that he would consider reasonable.

He quickly dashes over to Constantine and slams him through a tree.

This sparks a fight between Danny and the JLD. And at first he is having some serious trouble, but as he continues to feed on Ectoplasm and recover his strength, he becomes progressively more Powerful. It comes to the point where the JLD can't keep up anymore, and call in Backup.

Ellie was enjoying her night off, but the desperate Call from JLD about a powerful Entity at the edge of Amity finally got her going.

She rushes over and slams into Danny just as he is about to attack Constantine again. Neither of them recognize eachother, since they have changed since they were kids (Danny moreso) and continue to Duke it out.

Ellie is trying to banter with him, but Danny is really angry at this point. So he resorts to his final attack, his Ghostly Wail.

He levels a good chuck of the Forest, and in the end he is standing over Ellie as his anger fades. He says "Sorry" and he starts taking a look around him to see if there is anybody else.

Ellie is on the ground, shaken because she recognized that power.

She gets up, and asks "Danny?"

Danny finally gets a good look at her and says, and says "Ellie?"

Meanwhile JLD still has ringing in their ears and thinks that Ellie just called Danny "Daddy"

(Which makes sense because of the new age difference)

[fandonnavyce]

Close Encounter

Danny's just hanging around with some blob ghosts whilst he’s waiting for a ride back home to his dimension. Outsider POV, Ben's POV. This occurs during some nebulous Ultimate Alien Time Frame and during DP canon. Danny is just 14  AO3 Link

Part 2(ish)

Night had fallen. Empty air yawned endlessly across a teary field of grass. The full moon’s light suffocated beneath thick dim clouds. A chilling mist seeped across the moor, and haunting balls of light flickered and danced around a single boy. Then they disappeared.

Line Break

“Anomalous DNA detected”

“Yeah okay, but how far away is it?” Ben is exasperated. They’ve been walking for nearly 20 minutes and there’s been nothing. For a moment Ben thought he’d seen some glowing lights in the misty distance but there was nothing as he walked closer.

“Anomalous DNA detected immediately ahead,” 

Ben stood still and scanned his surroundings. 

“Are you sure?”

“Anomalous DNA detected immediately ahead,” it repeated adamantly. Then the green scanning light erupted from the Omnimatrix in a 360 degree radius. 

“Anomalous DNA found. No match is found in the current database. Searching database for closest match”

There’s a pregnant pause. Nothing happens. There’s nothing to be seen.

“Are you broken?” Ben started fiddling with his watch. 

“Are you looking for me?”

“!” Ben jumps. He raises his watch in an offensive position.

In front of him was a teenager, a human teenage boy at that. He was the same age as him, maybe a few years younger. He had dark hair, blue eyes, and was dressed in modern normal looking Earth clothes, blue jeans and hoodie.

Ben looked left and right, “Where did you come from? Is there anyone else here with you?”

“Nah, it’s just you, me, and the ghosts”

“Hah funny. No seriously, you haven’t seen any aliens or something weird around here.”

The teen’s eyes drift to look behind Ben. Ben turns around but sees nothing. 

“... no,” the other teen hesitates. Ben is suspicious. 

“Why’d you hesitate?”

“Just thinking if I’ve seen anything weird,” they try to nonchalantly reply. 

Ben aims for soothing, “Hey it’s fine if you’re the alien. Or if you have alien parentage on one side or something. You’re not in trouble or anything.”

“I’m not an,” they stutter,  “an alien,” they deny. Warning bells ring in Ben’s head at the insistent denial. Ben straightens up.

“You know I never caught your name.”

“I never gave it to you.” After a moment’s consideration he offers, “You can call me Danny.”

“Alright Danny, what are you doing out here so late at night?”

“What are you doing out here so late at night?” Danny shoots back. “Also it’s polite to provide a name back.”

“You don’t know who I am?”

“Am I supposed to?”

“Yes! I’m Ben Tennyson, wielder of the Omnitrix,”

“I don’t know what that is, sorry.”

“You don’t know,” Ben’s mind had to reboot, “you don’t know the most powerful weapon in the universe?!” Ben lifts up his arm to emphasise his point by showing his watch. 

“It’s a nice watch,” Danny compliments, then he politely asks, “can you tell me the time?”

“... no”

Danny looks at Ben confused, “You can’t tell the time with your watch?”

“It’s the Omnimatrix, ” Ben stresses. 

“I still don’t know what that is.”

“You’re not from around here, are you?” Ben abruptly declares.

Danny smiles sheepishly, “Is it that obvious?”

“Yes,” Ben states flatly. He tilts his head and considers Danny, “So what is it, dimensional travel?”

Danny was taken aback, “Err yes, how’d you guess?”

“You've never heard of me,” Ben answers dismissively.

Danny squints his eyes, “I can’t tell if you’re big-headed or if that’s actually an accurate indicator of dimensional travel.”

“Danny, my name is known throughout the universe, the multiverse even. If you’ve never heard of me or at least of the Omnitrix then it’s because it doesn’t exist in your dimension.”

“Still sounds big-headed.” 

“Whatever, so are you stranded here?”

“Sorta,” Danny admits, “I’m waiting for my ride though. They should turn up sooner or later.”

“Nice,” maybe with some luck this would resolve itself with no hassle. “So, if you don’t mind me asking, what are you? The Omnitrix would not have freaked out if you were just a baseline human from another dimension.”

“Oh well, I am half-ghost,” Danny tentatively admits. 

Ben pauses as he tries to understand what he heard.

“What do you mean by half-ghost?”

The Omnitrix pipes up, “Anomalous DNA Closest Match Found. Homosapien, DNA Match: 50%, Genetic Match: 50%, Closest Match Found: Ectonurite. DNA Match: 50%, Genetic match: 0.0106%. Conclusion: DNA Anomaly is an Human/Ectonurite-adjacent Hybrid.

“You’re part Ectonurite?!” Ben can’t believe that the teen next to him was related to Ghost Freak, even remotely. 

“I don’t know what that is. I am part ecto plasm. That’s what’s infused in my DNA”

“So it was your funky ghost genes, were what the Omnitrix had been picking up.”

“Hybrid-DNA has been recorded,” the Omnitrix supported, “Warning: Hybrid-DNA can not be used for transformations.”

Danny warily eyes the Omnitrix, “Aside from not telling the time, what exactly does your watch do again?”

“By recording alien DNA it can transform me into those aliens and their ultimate forms.”

“That’s so cool! How many can you turn into?!”

“I generally rotate between 10 at a time but I technically have access to like over a million different kinds of aliens.”

“Ancients, that’s so many! Have you met a million aliens?”

“Oh definitely not, but I have met a lot of aliens. I’ve had the Omnitrix since I was ten years old.”

“Still really cool, I haven’t met any aliens, at least none from outer space, because I guess ghosts could count. Have you been to outer space?”

“Yeah, plenty of times,” Ben grins, showing off.

Danny pouts, “Urgh I’m so jelly right now you can’t believe. All I meet are annoying ghosts.”

Ben smirks, “Well I mean, aliens can be annoying too,” he commiserates.  

A swirling portal opened high into the sky. It looked like a portal to the Null Void except in green. What looked like a small space shuttle flew out of the portal. 

“Ahh, that'll be my friends. Nice meeting you Alien Boy.”

“You too, Ghost Boy.”

Line Break

Ben watched Danny disappear with his friends through the portal. Whilst walking back, he realised that it was brighter. Throughout the mist ethereal balls of light illuminated the field.

[goliath-de-senfina-sango]

Whenever Danny went to the past and was seen by others, the moment he came back to the present there were these weird threads sticking to him.  they didn't seem to do anything and nothing bad was happening - heck he felt stronger every time he saw new ones actually.  Still, he was curious as to what they were.

It started when Danny first came back from the Infinimap event. He felt the tug and pull of something on his core, some kind of… tingling? He wasn’t sure how to explain it. But among the whole ‘the Infinite Realms both do and do not exist at every feasible and non-feasible point in space and time across the whole multiverse’ revelation it wasn’t exactly something that Danny was focusing on. Instead, he was making sure Sam and Tucker’s heads didn’t explode with jokes to distract them. “Thanks for eating your veggies for the first time in your whole life, Tuck.”

Tucker rolled his eyes and elbowed him in his ribs. “Yeah, you owe me for that. I’ll take all your best copies of videogames.”

“How about you name three videogames and I’ll get them for you,” Sam countered. “You really did save our butts back there. And so did you, Danny.”

“Yeah yeah, who else is gonna do it if I don’t?” They laughed, there was ribbing, and the day went on.

After that, however, Danny found himself stumbling through natural portals more and more often whenever he went into the Zone. they lead to the past, often, and he found himself helping people out as much as he could before another portal could be found and he could find his way back to the Fenton Portal or at least to Frostbite or Dora or wherever he’d been planning to go. Tucker and Sam, of course, got caught up in it too. That wasn’t even the weirdest part though.

Every time Danny returned to the present day after a time-traveling shenanigan he felt stronger. As soon as he set foot on Earth, blue and silver threads of light reached out from him into the world, pulsing with energy, and Danny felt less tired, less weighed down by everything. He’d explained it to Sam and Tucker and saw that he even had these threads leading to them, though the strands leading to them were different. Tucker’s was golden and silver and UV orange, while Sam’s was green and silver and black. There was even one leading back to Jazz, violet and white and blurple. Sam said Blurple wasn’t a color, but Danny said that she couldn’t see in Ultra Violet so she didn’t get to name the colors in the spectrum. She bought a blacklight soon after.

The oddest thing, however, was when he saw people in the street walking to the Nasty Burger or to the library or park that the strings connected to. Usually, the blue ones, though sometimes it was the silver ones. When he passed by one such person, a guy in black pants and white jacket with sunglasses on, Danny reached out to wrap his fingers around that thread between them and narrowed his eyes when it felt like a tangible thing. So he pulled on it. The man stumbled a bit, lifting his sunglasses to look around - mostly up at the sky - and Danny snickered. Once he was a distance away from the man he started tugging on the other strings, gently at first but then he got curious. One of the blue threads held an extra green sparkle to it, and Danny weighed his choices and options carefully, making the most educa- he yanked on the glowing green invisible string coming from his core out into the world to see what happened.

The air in front of him twisted, light shifting around until it was purple and green and everything in between and a guy with pale green skin, oily purple hair and bright green eyes fell through the portal, floating over the sidewalk in an outfit befitting the 70s more than it did the millennium. The portal hovered open behind him and everyone on the sidewalk stopped, staring at the ghost, who was staring at Danny slackjawed and wide-eyed. “I’m gonna ask that you please go back into the Realms, I really don’t wanna deal with this right now.” More gazes shifted to Danny for that but really, he had to try to solve his problems with words at least once or twice, right?

The ghost looked down at the thread between them - wonderful, ghosts could see that, that was just fanfreakintastic - and then back up at Danny. Then he nodded, seemingly in shock, and floated backwards into the portal from whence he came. It snapped closed behind him and Danny blinked a couple of times. “I didn’t think asking nicely would work. I’ll have to tell Mom about that.” Now, Danny simply had to perform the task of becoming metaphorically invisible instead of literally. This proved difficult, however, as everyone ID’d him as The Fenton Kid pretty easily. He pulled out his phone, dialed Tucker, and ignored the stares best he could.

After the mishap in the streets, Danny noticed a new thread form in real-time, blue and sharply visible, as though daring him not to see it. When he got to school the next day, he saw that it lead back to Dash fucking Baxter of all people - who was showing off something as usual. When the trio made it through enough of the crowd to see what Dash had done that connected Danny to him like that, they saw a tattoo of Danny’s DP symbol inked onto reddish-pink raw skin. Danny let out a hum and wrapped his fingers around that string, tugging gently and watching as the tattoo glowed bright enough for everyone to see it. “Holy shit, I just felt that. It’s like Phantom pulled on me!”

“Whoa, dude! What if like, wearing Phantom’s symbol connects you to him somehow?” Oh, how Danny hated that Kwan was so much smarter than Dash and yet so easily lead by him. “Oh, hey, maybe you can like, pull back?”

“Perhaps if I get a tattoo myself then my ghost boy will always know where I am so that he can find me for a date!”

Danny would’ve paid any mind to the rest of the chatter around Dash had he not been floored by a tug from the other side of this newfound and unwanted connection. Warmth appreciation caution excitement echoed like words in a cave, searching for someone to hear but not close enough to truly communicate. Danny took a deep breath, holding onto Tucker’s shoulder for support, and carefully pulled his attention away from Dash trying to get it. “Save me.”

“They’re gonna start a cult,” Sam said with poorly concealed mirth. “Oh my gosh, this is going to spiral disastrously out of control and it’ll be hilarious.”

“Sam, I’m about to have a bunch of jock thoughts beamed into my head, and you’re laughing at me.” He sighed, rolling his eyes. “With my luck, they’ll try and make an official religion around me.”

Tucker snorted and shook his head, tapping away at his PDA. “Ya know what’d be really funny? What if all those extra threads are like, cults that worship you?” Tucker laughed at the idea, and Danny did too for a moment, elbowing him gently in the side. Sam, however, was not laughing, and once Danny noticed that he stopped laughing as well.

“Sam?”

“You said that you first saw these threads when we went time traveling around, right?”

“Yeah, every time we go to the past and someone sees us do stuff there’s more weird strings. They don’t pop up when we come back and didn’t get caught though.”

“So when you and Vlad fought over Rome and burned it down, and fought in that one temple and near destroyed it…”

“Oh, holy shit. Hold on Sam, I gotta check.” Tucker tapped away at his PDA at speeds that Sam informed Danny were not normal. He wanted to pretend he didn’t understand what they were getting at, revel in the bliss of ignorance and all that, but he was getting less oblivious these days - he was he swore.

“Guys, the cult joke isn’t going too far now, is it?” Tucker hummed at him, and Sam started walking toward class, dragging them both behind her. “Guys, this isn’t funny anymore!” Honestly, Danny had every right to be whiny about this. He fought eldritch abominations every day, he didn’t need to have a cult to deal with too.

“Wow, that’s a lotta results. You’ve been seen in the past by a lot of people - me n Sam too. Maybe that ghost you summoned was like, one of your cultists who died?”

“There’s only one way to find out,” Sam half sang. “Someone’s gotta hold a seance and ask a ghost a question.”

“Sam, please, we’ve asked enough ghosts enough questions without dragging them here from their afterlives.” His friends were laughing at him now, which lead to yet pettier whines. “What would I even do about this if I have a cult?”

[thelastspeecher]

Pint-Sized Sixer

Okay so this morning, I went through my bookmarks and AO3 and re-read @novantinuum‘s AMAZING fic in the Smaller Than He Seems AU, which is an AU where Ford gets stuck at a younger age while traveling through the multiverse, and returns to Gravity Falls as a child about the same age as Dipper and Mabel.  And after I finished re-reading it, I became inspired to crossover that AU with my own base AU that is part of my brand at this point: Stanley McGucket, aka where Stan gets effectively adopted by the McGucket Family and graduates high school and has kids and grandkids.  Sadly, none of my McGucket OCs appear in this, but Stan’s kids do.

A couple notes: Since it was a spur of the moment thing to write this, I avoided the majority of the angst that would come with this particular situation, so just assume it happens off-screen.  And in a similar vein, the very last scene takes place at the end of the summer, when everyone has had time to come to grips with Ford’s circumstances.

Anyways, enough rambling and background.  Have some...whatever this is.

              “We can probably come up with a way to fix this.”  Ford looked at his newfound niece, Emily.  He shook his head.  “What makes ya think we can’t?” she asked.

              “I’ve tried everything,” Ford said solemnly.  “Nothing worked.”

              “Yeah, but-” Emily started.  Stan looked up from the box of clothes he was currently digging through.

              “Squirt, go make sure Dipper and Mabel are in bed,” he instructed.  Emily rolled her eyes.

              “Fine,” she sighed.  She exited Ford’s study.

              “Ha!” Stan said triumphantly.  He pulled out a pair of khaki shorts and a T-shirt with a lion on it. “Knew I had some of Emmett’s old stuff.” He held out the clothes.  “Here ya go, Benji.”  Ford didn’t take them.  He frowned at Stan.

              “Pardon?”

              “I- oh.”  Stan grimaced.  He set the clothes on the floor.  “I just called ya Benji, didn’t I?”

              “Yes.  You did. Who’s Benji?”

              “Danny’s oldest.”

              “…Danny has children?”

              “Yep.  Four, and a fifth on the way.”  Stan dug around in his back pocket before pulling out his wallet.  He opened the wallet and removed a picture, handing it to Ford.  Ford looked at the picture of his niece, whom he had last seen when she was three.  He smiled faintly.

              She’s an adult now.  In the picture, Danny stood in front of a house Ford didn’t recognize, her arm around a man he assumed was her husband. Intelligence still sparkled in her eyes, even if they were hidden behind glasses now.  Three toddlers sat on the grass directly in front of the couple, while a young boy stood proudly by Danny’s side.  The boy looked more like Ford’s twin at the moment than Stan did. He had inherited the Pines family nose, Danny’s rich brown eyes, and rowdy brown curls from somewhere, despite Danny and her husband’s hair lacking both that color and texture.  He even wore glasses similar to Ford’s.

              “I see the resemblance,” Ford choked out.  Stan took the picture back and returned it to his wallet.

              “Yeah.  Luckily, Benji hasn’t been up here since the triplets were born, so no one around town should confuse you for him.”  Stan chewed on his lip.  “But if nosy people ask, maybe we should still say yer my grandkid.”

              “What?  No!” Ford burst out.  Stan sighed. He sat down on the floor in front of Ford.

              “Whattaya want us to tell ‘em, then?”

              “Nothing.  I won’t be going out in public.”

              “Ford…”  Stan rubbed his forehead.  “You can’t stay cooped up in the house.  It wouldn’t even be the full house!  If you don’t want people outside the fam’ly to see you, you’ll be stuck with only part of it.  We’ve got tourists tramping through every day to see the exhibits, after all.”

              “I can and I will stay indoors.”

              “I don’t think-” Stan started.  Ford crossed his arms.  “…Fine. You’ll get sick of it sooner or later.” Stan got up with a small groan. “Sittin’ down was a bad idea,” he muttered to himself.  He nodded at the box.  “Go ahead and put on whatever you want.  I’ll send Emily out to find some more clothes tomorrow.”

----- 

              Ford poked his head around the door plastered with the “Employees Only” sign.

              The coast is clear.  Damn Stanley and his correct assessment of how I would feel about staying inside the house.  Ford took a cautious step into the empty Gift Shop.  Nothing happened.  No tourists appeared out of nowhere to stampede over him, no relatives manifested from thin air to ask him prying questions.  Ford let out a sigh of relief.  Perfect.  He made his way over to the shelf of souvenirs he could most easily see at this height.

              “$100 for a snowglobe?” he mumbled out loud, picking one up. “Ridiculous.”

              “You lost or something?” a voice asked behind him.  Startled, the snowglobe fell from his hands.  “Aw, man.  That sucks.  Bet you’ll be breaking the piggy bank to pay for that.”  Ford slowly turned around.  At some point while he was distracted, a teenage girl had entered the Gift Shop.  She blew a strand of long, red hair out of her face.  “Better find your parents fast.”  The girl took a seat on the stool behind the register, propped her feet up on the counter, and opened a magazine.  Ford continued to stare at her silently.  After a moment, she sighed and closed her magazine.  “I was kidding.  I’m not actually gonna make you pay a hundred bucks for a cheap snowglobe.  I’ll just tell Stan that it got knocked off the shelf or something.”

              She must be one of Stan’s employees.  The girl raised an eyebrow at him.  If you try to go back to your room now, she’ll stop you, because she thinks you’re a tourist.  Introduce yourself!  Ford opened and closed his mouth silently.  Say something!  She’s just a teenager, she shouldn’t intimidate you! The girl got up with another sigh. She walked over to him and crouched down to his eye-height.

              “All right, kid, I’ll help you find your parents.  Did they go on a tour?”  She frowned.  “Hang on. You look a lot like Stan.  You one of his grandkids?”

              “…Yes,” Ford squeaked, seizing the less-than-ideal way out of the conversation.

              “Ah, okay.  Didn’t realize he had family other than Dipper and Mabel visiting.  He usually makes a big fuss about it.  When’d you get here?”

              “Last week.”

              “When that earthquake happened?” the girl asked.  Ford nodded.  “Oof. Bad timing.  Usually, things don’t float around here.  What’s your name?”

              “F-Ford.”

              “Ford.”  The girl stuck out her hand.  Ford hesitantly shook it.  “I’m Wendy. So, which of Stan’s kids is your parent?”

              “Um…”

              “Wendy, get ready, we’ve got a busload comin’ in ten minutes!” Stan shouted, barging into the Gift Shop.  He frowned at Wendy crouched in front of Ford.  “Get back to work.”

              “Geez.  You usually like it when I talk to your grandkids,” Wendy muttered, standing back up to her full height.  “Whatever.” She ambled back to the register and resumed her position behind the counter, idly reading her magazine.

              “You lookin’ fer food or somethin’, Ford?” Stan asked.  Ford’s stomach rumbled.  “Yeah.  It’s lunchtime.  Let’s fix you up a sandwich before I gotta run tours again.”  Stan ushered Ford back into the residential area of the house. Wendy waved at Ford as they left.

              “No need to say you told me so,” Ford said softly.  “You were right.  I couldn’t handle being stuck to the residential rooms.”

              “Yeah, no shit,” Stan said under his breath.  He looked down at Ford.  “What’d ya think of Wendy?”

              “She’s nice.”

              “Yep.”  Stan nodded. “She’s a good kid.  Helps keep Dipper and Mabel outta trouble.”

              “She asked me if I was your grandson, and I couldn’t think of any other reason that wouldn’t involve her dragging me around looking for my parents, so I said I was.”

              “That’s fine by me.”

              “She also asked which of your children is my parent.”

              “Hmm.  That’s a good question.”  Stan rubbed his chin.  “Maybe we could say Daisy.”

              “I don’t want- why are you so blasé about this?” Ford demanded.  Stan shrugged.

              “After raising four kids in Gravity Falls, there’s not much that’ll surprise me anymore.”

              “…That’s how you knew I would get sick of staying hidden,” Ford said quietly. “You’ve raised four children.”

              “Yeah.  Kids your age have too much energy to stay put for extended periods of time.  You actually held out longer than I thought.”

              “Fantastic,” Ford mumbled.

              “Ford, I’ve been thinkin’.”  Stan scratched his cheek.  “Sure, you might not wanna talk to people outside the fam’ly.  But that shouldn’t stop you from doin’ stuff.  It’s not healthy, fer one thing.”

              “But if I run into someone-”

              “Bring Dipper or Mabel or Emily with you.  They’ll handle whoever you come across.  Hell, you can even bring Soos or Wendy.”  Stan glanced at Ford.  “By the way, I made Soos promise not to spill about you to anyone.  That’s why Wendy didn’t know who ya were.  Figured you’d wanna keep it a secret fer now.”

              “…Thank you,” Ford said softly.

              “No problem.”  Stan cleared his throat.  “Seriously, though.  Next time the kids decide to go do whatever it is they do in the woods, join ‘em. It’ll be good fer ya.”

              “I’ll take that into consideration,” Ford said after a moment. Stan nodded.

              “That’s good enough fer me.”  He checked his watch.  “Shoot, the tourists are gonna be here any second.  Think you can handle lunch on yer own?”

              “Yes.  I’m biologically ten, not two.”

              “Good.  I’ll see ya later.”  Stan adjusted his suit slightly and went back into the Gift Shop.  Ford watched the door swing a few times before making his way to the kitchen.

              And the web of lies begins. Ford let out a small sigh.  I certainly hope this doesn’t result in my attending public school.  I’ve been through that once already.  I don’t want to go through it again.

----- 

              Ford drummed his fingers idly on the arm of Stan’s chair, his attention split between the TV currently blaring National Geographic and the door, through which Stan and the rest of his family were supposed to enter any moment.  He hoped that they would arrive before Soos came to check in on him.

              I am not a fan of this system. Ford scowled.  But agreeing to allow Soos to stop by every day was the only way Stan would leave me here alone.  Even though part of him ached with the desire to reunite with Stan’s children, he cringed at the thought of showing up to the birthday party being thrown for Danny’s triplets.  Stan would have to either come up with a lie, forcing me to act the part of a child, or he’d tell the McGuckets who I really am, which would be humiliating.  He heard the unmistakable sound of tires crunching against gravel.  Voices carried from outside, along with the slamming of car doors.  Ford turned off the TV.  The front door opened.

              “Hey, Ford, we brought you some cake,” Stan said cheerfully, marching into the living room.  He handed Ford a piece of cake in a sealed plastic container.

              “…Thank you,” Ford mumbled.

              “Oh, uh, and Emmett and Lucy are here,” Stan said.  “Emmett decided to take a semester off.  The stress was gettin’ to him.”  Ford perked up.

              I can finally meet the last of Stan’s children.  A tall young man entered, holding the hand of a young girl.

              “Dad, I-” the young man started.  He caught sight of Ford and stopped.  “…What’s Benji doin’ here?”  Before Stan could respond, the man squeezed his eyes shut.  “No, I ‘member now.  The drive messed with my brain a bit.  Wow, they look exactly the same.”  The girl whose hand he was holding looked at Ford curiously.  “Lucy, why don’t ya go with Grandpa Stan and get your room set up?  We can do introductions later.”

              “Okay!” the girl – Lucy – chirped.  She ran upstairs.

              “Sweetie, don’t run so fast.  Your grandpa has bad knees,” Stan called after her.

              “So?” she shouted.  Ford chuckled.

              “She’s certainly your granddaughter.”

              “Yep,” Stan said.  He followed Lucy upstairs, leaving Ford alone with the young man he now recognized as his nephew, Emmett.  Emmett approached Ford.

              “Uh, hi,” Emmett said awkwardly.  He rubbed the back of his neck.  “Sorry ‘bout the confusion earlier.”

              “It’s fine.  Stan showed me a picture.  Benji does look eerily like me.”

              “Yeah.”  Emmett swallowed.  “So, uh, yer my Uncle Ford.”  Ford nodded. “Geez, this is weird.”

              “It’s weird for me as well,” Ford said gently.  Emmett smiled weakly at him.  “But I’m excited to have met you.”

              “Same here.  I mean…I don’t really like the whole Gravity Falls weirdness stuff, but I do like fam’ly. And my whole life, I’ve been told that we might share somethin’ in common.”  Emmett looked down at his feet.  “Don’t know how much I believe that.”

              “A healthy dose of skepticism is required for functioning properly, I’ve found,” Ford replied.  Emmett snorted.

              “Man, the illusion that yer a kid just goes poof the second ya open yer mouth.”

              “That’s a good thing.”

              “…I guess.”  An awkward silence fell.  Footsteps sounded loudly on the stairs.  Stan poked his head into the living room.

              “Emmett-” he started.  Emmett shook his head.  “Okay. Good.”

              “You were the one who wanted to tell ‘im, so…”

              “Tell who what?” Ford asked.  More footsteps scurried downstairs.  Lucy ran into the living room and stopped in front of Ford, staring at him intensely.

              “Lucy-Loo, let’s go help Auntie Emily,” Emmett said, putting his hands on his daughter’s shoulders.

              “But-” Lucy started.

              “C’mon, we better go before she hurts herself,” Emmett insisted.  Lucy’s eyes widened.

              “Oh gosh.  Yeah.” She darted back outside.

              “I’ll let ya know when I’m done talkin’ to Ford,” Stan said to Emmett. Emmett nodded.  He followed his daughter outside.  Ford looked at Stan oddly.

              “Stanley, what is going on?” he asked.  Stan ran a hand through his hair.

              “On the drive, we got to talkin’.  Since it seems like we can’t fix this, we gotta get ya some paperwork and identification and all that good stuff.  Luckily, Danny works in the government, so she knows a guy who’s gonna help us out.”

              “That’s good.”

              “I talked to the kids, and we realized that if we wanna pretend yer my grandkid, which will be the easiest way for us to get you papers, there’s only one kid who could really pull off actin’ like yer parent.”

              “Let me guess.  Emmett?”

              “Yeah.  Danny’s got her own family, Daisy hasn’t even kissed anyone as far as I know, and Emily’s…well…”  Stan swallowed.

              “She lives in town, so the locals would be surprised if she had a child without anyone realizing she was pregnant,” Ford said.  Stan nodded.

              “Sure.  Let’s go with that.”

              “So, my identification will list Emmett as my father?” Ford asked.  Stan nodded again.  “I’m assuming the story is that I am the product of a one-night-stand, and Emmett wasn’t aware of my existence.”

              “Basically.  It works out pretty well, actually, since Lucy happened from a one-night-stand.”

              “Emmett doesn’t seem the type to sleep around.”

              “Well, you did just meet him.  You haven’t gotten to know him that well.”

              “Will I have to move in with him?” Ford asked quietly.  Stan shook his head.  Ford let out a small, relieved sigh.

              “No,” Stan said.  “It’d be better for you, Emmett, and Lucy if ya stay here.  Since this is the first time you’ve met Emmett, it’ll be easy to make the case that you shouldn’t stay with him.  And I’d hate fer ya to have to act like a kid around Lucy.”

              “You won’t be telling her the truth.”

              “Not yet.  Maybe when she gets older.”  Stan looked into Ford’s eyes.  “That’s what we came up with, but if you don’t like it, we’ll scrap the whole thing.”

              “…No, it’s…”  Ford looked down at his lap.  “It’s the best option, given the circumstances.”

              “It still sucks,” Stan said.  Ford nodded.

              “I won’t deny that.”  He swallowed. “Okay.  I can be Emmett’s son.”  Stan’s shoulders slumped in relief.

              This was clearly the best idea they could come up with to make everyone as happy as possible.

              “In public,” Stan said.  Ford looked back up.  “You’ll be Emmett’s son in public.  In private, you’re still my brother.”  Ford managed a small smile.

              “Good.”  Ford sighed again.  “Maybe Lucy and I can form a familial relationship of some sort.  It might be nice to have a sister.”

              “Emmett claims it’s overrated,” Stan said with a shrug.  Ford chuckled.

              “It’ll be easier to bond with Lucy if I’m not living in the same household as her,” he continued.  “I’d imagine the jealousy over an older sibling not attending school would be difficult to get past.”  Stan was quiet.  “…I won’t be expected to attend school, correct?”

              “Um…”  Stan looked away.

              “Stanley.”

              “You won’t have to go to school this year.  Let’s leave it at that.”

              “Stanley-”

              “We’ll burn that bridge when we get to it.”  Stan headed for the front door.  “Come outside and help us unload.”  Ford got out of the armchair.

              “That’s not how the saying goes, Stanley,” he grumbled.

              “Yeah, yeah,” Stan said breezily.  “Whatever.”