A/N: Now that this story has been here for two years, I finally decided to make it a little more enjoyable to read. I "thinned out" the lines and worked on the grammar, so hopefully there are now little less mistakes.
Missing Phineas?
Candace stretched long before getting up. She walked to the mirror and combed her hair but decided not to change clothes yet, so she left her room and went to downstairs to get breakfast.
After she got to kitchen, she noticed Perry eating his own dish, which was weird because usually Perry came downstairs with Phineas and Ferb, but Candace couldn't see them yet. Mom was also there already making pancakes for breakfast. Candace sat down at the table watching her mother, waiting.
"Morning, Candace", Linda said without turning even to check who had just come from upstairs.
"Good morning, mom!" Candace answered energetic thinking that mom had recognized her presence, before realizing that in reality she had probably heard just one steps and boys always moved together.
"Could you please set the table while I'm making these pancakes?" Linda asked from her daughter and she couldn't but agree sighing heavily. "Thank you dear."
After Candace set the table she started to wonder where the boys were. Whenever there were pancakes mom wouldn't let them start eating before everyone was at the table. Dad was missing too. "Mom, where's dad?" Candace said turning to Linda. She saw something green just in her eyesight but didn't care what it was.
"He went to work. Weird, usually the boys are the first ones at the table. Could you please go to check if they're still asleep?" Candace sighed again and got up from her chair when someone disrupted her saying: "Actually, I'm already here and Phineas-"
"AAAAAARGH! Ferb! Don't sneak around like that and scare innocent people!" Candace ranted to her brother
"Oh, morning dear. I didn't notice you coming downstairs", Linda said turning around to bring the pancakes to the table, "and, Candace, please don't scream like that immediately in the morning. Where's Phineas? Is he still sleeping?"
"No, he's-" Linda walked to stairs and yelled upstairs: "Phineas! Pancakes will get cold, come to eat!" But she got no answer. So after staring up awhile she frowned and started to climb the stairs and headed her steps towards the boys' room. "Phineas, come to eat so the others don't have to wait…" Linda said to empty room.
Candace had followed her mom and peeked in the room behind her shoulder. "Where's that little psycho?" She asked out loud before she could remember who was standing next to her.
"Candace", Linda said making Candace give a gulp, "where is Phineas? Why isn't he in his room? Is he in the bathroom? Or the garage? Maybe he went to the backyard. But…" Linda watched her daughter worried and suddenly Candace understood why. Like Perry, Phineas never missed the breakfast. Especially when it was pancakes.
"I can go to check", Candace offered trying to get mom calm down and went off to examine the house.
After she had checked all the rooms at least twice – panic room five times – Candace went back to kitchen where Linda was sitting at the table leaning her head to hands. Ferb was eating pancakes like everything was fine. Linda raised her head with a hopeful expression on her face when she heard Candace's steps. Candace shook her head and Linda put her head once again to her hands.
"Erm, about Phineas", Ferb started.
"Not now", Linda said tired.
"But-"
"I have to call to your father", Linda said interrupting Ferb and got up to get her phone.
Candace sat opposite to her brother and watched for a moment him eating. Her stomach rumbled but she didn't feel like eating. "How can you eat in this kind of situation?"
"Well, actually-" Candace interrupted Ferb by getting up so that the chair fell down.
"Isabella! She must know something!" And after saying it, she rushed to change her clothes and went then straight to the opposite street. Panting heavily Candace knocked Garcia-Saphiros' door hoping that Isabella would really know something about her missing brother. The one to open the door was Isabella herself. Candace inhaled.
"HaveyouseenPhineas?" Isabella blinked couple times as if she didn't understand what Candace had just said.
"Err… Candace, could you please say it again little slower? I didn't really catch that", Isabella said carefully. Candace looked at Isabella her eyes round.
"Phineas!" She shouted. "Have you seen Phineas?!" Candace felt panic coming. If Isabella didn't know anything, what would she then do?
Isabella looked a little scared. "I haven't seen Phineas yet today. Is he missing?" Isabella probably noticed Candace's panic since she continued: "maybe he's with Baljeet. Or Django. I can ask Fireside girls to look for Phineas." Candace just nodded and left back to home leaving Isabella to call her friends.
When Candace got back home, she found her mother sitting on a couch. Linda looked like she could die from concern. Candace sat next to her and put her arm around Linda's shoulders comforting. "Isabella promised to help with Fireside girls to find him. What did dad say?" Linda looked at her daughter trying to hold back tears, not succeeding very well.
"He left the work and went to look for Phineas with the car. I offered to go with him but he told me to stay home if Phineas comes back. My little boy", Linda said bursting into hopeless tears. Candace stroked her mother comforting her the same way as mom always did to Candace when she had been down or scared and right now Linda Flynn-Fletcher was both of them. Suddenly something came into Candace's mind.
"The cellphone. Have you tried to call to Phineas's cellphone?" Hope glimmered from Linda's eyes as she took her phone and found Phineas's number. Candace heard how the phone alerted couple times and soon she heard Phineas's ringtone. Both, Linda and Candace, turned full of hope towards the voice but all they saw was Ferb holding Phineas's cellphone. Linda burst into new tears and Candace's own tears weren't far either. Ferb looked like he wanted to say something but Candace didn't want to hear it now, she gave a bad glare at him telling him to leave them be.
Immediately after Candace had left, Isabella took her phone and called to her friends. Isabella divided the city in the parts and sent her friends in pairs to look for Phineas. Gratchen and Holly got the south part, Katie and Milly the west, Adyson and Ginger the east and she herself would search the north. Isabella was going to find Phineas no matter what. She wouldn't bear to lose him. Isabella swept the thought out of her mind and concentrated all her willpower to find Phineas. Now wasn't the time to start thinking the worst.
Isabella checked every alley and asked if anyone had seen redheaded pointy nosed short boy, but no one had seen him. Isabella was about to lose all her hope, she didn't know where to look for anymore. None of the other Fireside girls had either found even a little hint of Phineas's whereabouts. Suddenly Isabella's phone started to ring. She answered to it quickly hoping to hear good news from some of the girls, but the caller was Ferb. Isabella was surprised that Ferb had called to her but his words made the smile rose on her face.
At home Linda had had enough of sitting still and waiting to hear news about his son from his husband. "That's it! I'm calling the police! What if something terrible has happened? This is definitely a police case", Linda said starting to type the number and walking to the kitchen at the same time, Candace following her. Ferb was already in the kitchen and as he heard Linda's words he quickly snatched the phone from her hand. "Ferb, what are you doing?" Linda asked surprised of her son's behavior.
"I've tried to tell you-"
"Ferb dear, not now. Could you please give my phone back? We really need to call the police", Linda said tiredly and tried to take the phone back from Ferb, but he dodged his mother's fumbling hand. Linda was just about to order Ferb to stop goofing around at this kind of time, when happened something Linda had hoped from the bottom of her heart. Phineas walked through the door.
"Hi mom, Candace and Ferb. It smells like pancakes. I hope you left some for me too", Phineas said smiling as if nothing had happened and sat at the table where his plate was waiting for him. Like from the one mark Linda and Candace rushed to hug Phineas to his big surprise. "Err… It can't be that you missed me that much, can it?" Phineas asked as he noticed that his mom and sister were both crying.
"Oh Phineas! Where have you been? I was so worried", Linda said to her son breaking away from the hug but still holding Phineas from his shoulders. Candace let Phineas also go, wiping her eyes and watching her brother curiously.
"Where? Didn't Ferb tell you?" Phineas asked glancing at his brother confused. Linda and Candace watched first Ferb then each other and finally turned their apologizing eyes back to Ferb.
Linda let go of Phineas and went to Ferb. "You were trying to tell where your brother were all the time, didn't you? I'm sorry dear that I didn't listen to you", Linda said hugging her son.
"Well, all is well that end well, right?" Linda smiled to Ferb as an answer.
"So, where were you, Phineas?" Linda asked turning back to her other son.
"At store."
"Store? why would you be at store so early in the morning?" Candace asked from her brother.
"There was this one part that came to that store today. We have wanted it for a long time already with Ferb. It's kinda rare so it sells like hot cakes. So we agreed with Ferb that I would go early in the morning to wait the store to open so we could get that part. We have had this plan where we need that part but we weren't able to find it from anywhere until now", Phineas explained to his sister and continued to Ferb: "I was so sure that I would be the first one in the line but there were almost twenty people before me. We should have thought that some people might sleep in front of the store. Well, at least I got the part." Phineas smiled and showed some technical apparatus to his brother, who looked pleased.
"Wait a second. At what time did you go to that store? I got up at half past five and I didn't notice you to go past me at all", Linda said now a stern look on her face.
"Hmm, I think I was there after four o'clock."
"What?! After four! Are you out of your mind, Phineas? You're too young to go to the town at that time alone! Do you have any idea what could have had happened? Why didn't you tell me or your father? If it was that important, other of us could've had come with you", Linda demanded.
Now that Phineas was safe Candace couldn't but jolt with the joy. This time Phineas was busted! Not maybe from what Candace usually tried to bust the boys from but all the same busted.
"But, mom", Phineas tried.
"No buts, young man. When your father gets home we decide what the most fitting punishment is. I hope you learned something from this, Phineas."
"Mom, I asked you yesterday if I could go to wait for this part", Phineas said even though her mother had told otherwise, but he didn't want her to think that he would do something like that without his mother's permission.
"Exactly, I… What? You did? Why don't I remember that?" Linda asked doubtfully.
Candace wondered if Phineas was just trying to deceive mom but that wasn't like him, even though Candace sometimes pretended otherwise. Suddenly she remembered something. Yesterday boys had built a flying car and Candace were trying to bust them so hard – with bad results as one can guess – and was just taking her mom to backyard when Phineas had suddenly appeared there to ask mom's permission to something, that Candace didn't remember but could surely guess now. Candace was pretty sure that mom hadn't really either understood what she had promised to Phineas because Candace had been yelling next to her telling her to hurry to the backyard.
Candace gulped as she remember this incident and to her misfortune mom seemed to remember that also. Linda gave Candace a blaming glare and sighed then. "I'm sorry, Phineas. I should've listened to you better. This whole misunderstanding is my own fault I guess. Though your sister could sometimes control her imagination, don't you think, Candace?" Linda said smiling to her daughter. Candace gave her silly laugh and soon they all were laughing and Phineas got finally some pancakes.
At supper.
"Hey, where's dad?" Phineas asked making Linda drop the plate she had on her hands.
"Oh."
Thousand kilometers from Danville, if you listened carefully, you could hear someone yelling the name 'Phineas'. Lawrence wouldn't give up until he had found his little boy.
