St. Bill

Chapter 10

(Dipper pov)

Bill and I stand in the waiting room of the hospital, him putting a dollar in the vending machine as and punching in the keypad the snack he wanted. "Surprised they still have the same shit in here they had when I was a kid."

"They would be rotten by now."

"Nah. They're all jacked up on preservatives. Crap has half a life of plutonium."

I wait just for right the moment before slamming both my hands on the glass and two bags of pretzels drop. "You hit it just as it's falling out and you get two for the price of one." I take out the pretzels and hand him one bag.

"That's stealing though, right?"

"Yeah, I guess so."

"That's my boy." He kisses my forehead gently making me smile as a nurse comes out.

"Mr. Cipher, it's about that time."

He takes my hand and we follow the nurse into Pyronica's room, her new child crying in her arms as she smiles down at it with happy tears running down her cheeks.

"What is it? Black, white, purple?" Bill jokes and Pyronica laughs softly.

"She's beautiful." She gestures me over and as I come over she grabs my hand. "You be godfather."

"What? I-I don't know if-"

"No buts. My word is law. You are to be her godfather and that is the end of story. At least that way if I die, she won't be stuck with that useless asshole." She points at Bill who puts a hand on his chest where his heart is.

"You wound me, dear sister, you have deeply wounded me."

"If I die, she will be taken care of by someone who knows not to smoke around children and never got himself in debt."

"I paid that off already, but fine. Fair enough."

Pyronica gently puts the baby in my arms and I look down at her, her blue eyes meet my brown ones as I gently calm her down before looking at Pyronica again.

"What's her name?"

"Arina, after my grandmother. She told me that my mother would always choose men over me, was the only person in my family who never lied to me or faked the truth. She gave it to me straight and she was right."

I look down at Arina. "Hey, Arina." She reaches to me and I let her hold my finger as she stops crying. "See? Things ain't so bad, Arina."

.........................

I help Pyronica set the table and put out the big dishes, one holding spagheti and the other holding green beans before I take my seat next to Robert. Bill sits at the head of the table and my mom and Pyronica sit across from me, Arina in her bassinet next to Pyronica.

"It's colorful, I'll say that at least." Bill mutters earning a small glare from Pyronica.

"How about you don't say anything?"

"I personally love green beans." My mom says, this taking me by surprise.

"You do?" I ask not bothering to hide the surprise in my voice.

"Yeah, don't get them too often."

"My Ma makes them out of a can." Robert speaks up before Bill adds his delightful opinion.

"That's why your brain is still stilted. At least it beats spam."

He starts to eat as I add something. "Don't you want to say grace first?"

He seems to be in thought for a minute. "Nah, better not." He goes back to eating.

I do the crucifix sign but Robert stops me and shows me how to do it correctly before we both start eating.

Arina cries and Pyronica picks her up. "Fussy princess, sees everyone else eating and wants to eat too."

Pyronica unbuttons her blouse and my mom at once gets up draping a small blanket over Arina as Pyronica feeds her. My mother looks flustered before looking over me and Robert.

"Don't even get any ideas you too."

"Pinetree hasn't the need for those kinds of ideas." Bill pipes up.

I look at Bill and before I can react he takes me by surprise softly kissing my lips. I kiss him back feeling his hand gently on my cheek, everything geeling perfect.

The End