“Alright, you can take off your blindfolds… now!” Ford instructed the kids as he guided them into the kitchen, and they did as they were told.

The room was full of balloons, many of which had pine trees and shooting stars drawn on them, and at each seat at the table was a plate holding a tall stack of pancakes, topped with caramel sauce, whipped cream, and cinnamon.

“Happy birthday, you little pipsqueaks!” Stan told them, still wearing his flour and cinnamon-dusted apron as he wiped a smear of whipped cream off his face.

“Stan, did you wake up early to cook all this yourself?” Mabel gasped. “You didn’t have to push yourself so hard…”

“Ah, don’t worry about me, pumpkin. I remembered how to cook right away, even if you guys wouldn’t let me near the stove at first — and besides, there was no way I was trusting Ford not to butcher the Stancakes recipe.”

“Alright, that was uncalled for,” Ford grumbled as he sat down at the table. “Cooking and baking are just applied chemistry, which I’ll have you know I have a PhD in! I am perfectly capable of —”

“Yeah yeah, someday you can try and make a breakfast this delicious and then we’ll see how much good that PhD does you.”

Ford’s comeback was unintelligible as he stuffed his face with pancakes.

“Oh good, he’s actually eating food instead of those alien nutrient pills for once,” Stan muttered, but he couldn’t help but smile as he watched his family enthusiastically dig into the breakfast he’d prepared.

“Yeah, I was so worried about him for the first week he got back because I never saw him eat anything besides a mug of coffee for both breakfast and dinner ever day,” Dipper added.

Ford swallowed his bite of pancake, and sighed. “That’s an exaggeration,” he replied with a completely straight face. “I’m fairly sure you’ve also seen me eat jellybeans for dinner, not to mention that time I tried Mabel Juice.”

Mabel laughed. “I’m really gonna miss you guys.”

“Well, I’ve been told that communications technology has advanced quite a bit in my absence,” Ford assured her, “so I’m sure we’ll find a way to keep in touch. Although… I can understand how nothing will ever quite replicate this… interesting summer we’ve had.”

“Yeah,” Dipper agreed. “When I think back to what I was doing just three months ago… I feel like I was living a totally different life back then. I had no idea about everything that was going to happen, and how much I was going to see and learn…”

“Three months ago, I was off on a quest for epic summer romance,” Mabel added. “And maybe that didn’t really work out, but I ended up with way more new friends — and family — than I ever expected!”

Ford spoke quietly, eyes directed towards his plate as he awkwardly poked his food with a fork. “Three months ago, I didn’t think I’d ever be seeing this dimension again — much less resolving things with Stanley.”

But then he managed a smile, and reached up to ruffle Dipper and Mabel’s hair. “And I definitely didn’t expect to have a couple of wonderful niblings waiting for me when I got back home, but despite all odds, here you are.”

“Aww, Grunkle Ford…” Mabel slid out of her seat to give him a hug. “I’m happy you’re here, too.”

“Three months ago, I was just getting to know you kids,” Stan added slowly, “and realizing how well you’d get along with my nerdy brother, if only he was still around… I’m glad you got to meet each other.”

“All thanks to you, Stanley,” Ford told him. “You reunited this family.”

“Yeah, I — I did, didn’t I?” Stan set down his fork to wipe his eyes. “Don’t mention it.”

“Got whipped cream in your eye, Grunkle Stan?” Dipper asked him with a knowing smile.

“Something like that,” Stan told him. He knew he wasn’t fooling anyone, and he was okay with that.