A/N: This is purely an AU, guys. You know there's that saying about how the saddest people smile the brightest? Well, while I fully believe that the Phineas we know and love smiles so bright because he truly is that happy, I had the sudden urge to see what it would be like if he had depression that he keeps under wraps. And if that has anything to do with why he's so seemingly oblivious to Isabella's affections.

Isabella sat on her front porch, looking at the house across the street. She didn't know what her friends were doing, but she could see it beginning to take shape, and it was getting bigger and bigger. She knew she couldn't stay there much longer. At some point one of the boys would notice her and ask why she wasn't there with them. And even if they didn't, the urge to go over there was so strong that she was starting to drum her fingers nervously.

Besides, there was something she had to tell them. And she had to do it today. If she put it off any longer they would find out from somebody else, and she wasn't about to let that happen.

She jumped at the sound of her phone ringing. She pulled it out of her pocket and cringed when she saw who it was.

No, not a cringe, of course she wasn't cringing! It was her boyfriend, she was excited about him calling! Obviously!

She held the phone up to her ear and mustered up her perkiest voice as she said, "Hey, Mickey!"

"Hey, Izzy," he said. "I was just checking to see if you were done helping your friends with their…summer school project."

Isabella bit her lip guiltily as she looked at the yet-to-be-disclosed project forming in her neighbors' backyard.

"Nope," she said. "It's still being built. Sorry."

"Hey, no worries," he said. "Maybe we can go out for ice cream tonight. Sound good?"

"Uh-huh," she said, squinting as she tried to see what it was that Buford was attaching. Was that—an upside-down doghouse? She really needed to get over there. "Yeah, yeah we could do that."

"Cool," he said. "See you then."

Izzy hung up and sighed. He was so sweet, and so understanding. She really didn't deserve him. She covered her face with both hands and rubbed her eyes, then peered through her fingers at the backyard again. She had to do it now. Yep. She was going. Right now. She was going to get off this porch. She was going to march over there and tell them. It's not like this was new to any of them. Baljeet had gone on a date with Mishti, Buford had a history with a French girl, and Isabella suspected that Ferb was still into Vanessa. But none of them had actually had a girlfriend before.

And then there was Phineas. Who loved everybody, and was loved by pretty much everyone in return. Was it any wonder that he couldn't pick a favorite? Was it any wonder that he couldn't pick someone out of a crowd who loved him the most, even when that person wasn't in a crowd at all, but was the only girl in his group of closest friends?

"No," Isabella said out loud to herself, which was a habit she'd never broken, even with the incentive of a patch. "No, you're over him, Isabella. You're into someone else, now. He had his chance, and anyway, it was never going to happen."

She pushed open the door of the gate, and couldn't help but feel a little happier at the familiar sight of her friends bustling around the yard, building whatever it was they were building.

"Hey, Phineas," she said, and then immediately corrected herself. "And…and guys, I mean you're all here, it's not just Phineas, obviously." She cleared her throat and started again. "What'cha Doin'?"

"Hi, Isabella!" Phineas said, popping his head up from behind half a giant tube. "We're finally getting around to Croquet Y8."

"Cool!" She swallowed. "Can I help?"

"Sure!" Phineas said. "You can come take Ferb's place, he was just about to run to the attic for his spare fusion torch."

Isabella forced her feet to move over to Phineas' side, where he was sitting on a hastily-fashioned elevator and apparently was creating a very specific shelving system on the inside of the tube. Ferb handed her his hammer, and let her take his spot on the elevator before retreating inside the house.

"What I do not seem to understand is which number will come next," Baljeet said. "Would it be A10? Why would you start the number count at R? Why not just at A?"

"'Cause it doesn't sound as cool, duh!" Buford said.

Isabella felt like she was on autopilot as she hammered the nails exactly where they needed to be. Years of practice had taught her how to do that. She only barely heard Buford and Baljeet's conversation from where she was behind the tube, and just watched Phineas as he carefully sawed a big plank of wood into several smaller pieces, and then drilled into them to carve a series of numbers, which presumably would be part of the game somehow. She began to squirm uncomfortably. It would be easier now, she decided. Telling one person would be easier than telling the whole group, at least at first. Maybe he would even volunteer the information to the rest of them so she wouldn't have to.

She watched him as he picked up a sheet of metal and held it up to the tube, as if positioning it in his mind. "Phineas," she said in barely audible voice. Okay, this was no good, she just had to be brave and say it. "Phineas, there's something I have to tell you."

"Sure, go ahead," he said, squinting as he tilted the plate.

Well, may as well rip the bandage off. "I have a boyfriend," she blurted out.

"You what?" At that moment, several things happened. Baljeet's shriek was heard as Buford creamed him in the shins with his monkey wrench, whether intentionally or not remained a mystery. A car horn honked as the familiar station wagon pulled up on the curb. And a bright orange ray which seemed to come from nowhere and liquefied the half of the project that Buford and Baljeet had been working on, which now seeped into the grass almost instantaneously. But the only thing Isabella noticed was that Phineas dropped the metal plate, which tilted the elevator. She managed to grab the rope and hold on, but Phineas wasn't so lucky. He fell to the ground, too quickly to have time to cry out, with his saw under him and the sheet on top of him. Isabella shrieked in terror, and barely even noticed when a second orange ray liquefied the rest of the project. She fell to the ground as well, unhurt because everything was gone at that point, but she couldn't be sure the same was true of her friend.

"Phineas!" she cried, running to his side. "Phineas!" She rolled him onto his back and gave a slight gasp at what she saw. It wasn't his face, though the sight of him unconscious and bruised was pretty scary in itself. It was his arms and wrists, which had been slashed by falling on top of the saw. She couldn't tell how deep the cuts were, but judging by the amount of blood that had already collected, she knew this wasn't something that couldn't just be patched up at home.

She heard the back door open, and looked up to see Ferb standing there, staring. He fusion torch fell from his hand, but otherwise he remained petrified. His mother and sister, carrying in the groceries from the car, hastily set their bags down and joined him.

"Oh my goodness," Linda cried. "OH my GOODNESS, what happened?! Isabella?"

"He-he fell, I mean, we were building something and he just—the saw—"

"There's nothing here, what were you building?" Linda asked, but Candace steered her around and said, "No time for that Mom, just call 911." Ferb gave one look to Buford and Baljeet and they scampered out of there like frightened rabbits. He then finally managed to drop to his knees by his Phineas' side and examine him, while Candace strode forward, grabbed Isabella by the shoulders, and pulled her away from her brothers.

"I know something was here," she said. "And I know it disappeared when Mom and I got back. Now here's the important thing, kid, did he fall, or did he jump?"

"Wh-what?"

"Did he drop the saw or did he throw himself on top of it?"

"Candace, why would—"

"Basically," Candace said. "What I need to know, because you clearly saw it happen, is was it actually an accident or did he hurt himself on purpose?"

Isabella realized only now that she was crying, and wondered how long she'd been doing it for. "He fell," she said, in a quavering voice that got stronger as she continued speaking. "He dropped the saw, and yes, it was an accident. Of course it was an accident! Why on earth would he have done that on purpose?"

Candace looked at her for a long time before letting go of her shoulders. "You're right," she said. "He wouldn't have, not in front of you."

"He wouldn't have, period." Isabella said defensively.

Candace looked up and saw the ambulance arrive. "Listen," she said, softening her voice. "Why don't you go home, and I'll call you when we know something. Okay?"

Isabella looked over at Phineas doubtfully. "But…but if he, you know…I mean I just would want to be there if he…if he doesn't…"

"I know," Candace bit her lip and placed a hand on Isabella's cheek. "But they're probably not going to let anyone see him until they have a diagnosis, anyway. Go home, Isabella, I promise I'll call you if something happens."

"O…kay," Isabella said, with a shuddering gasp.

Candace smiled and turned away, then looked back. "Did something make him fall, by the way?"

"Well I…don't know if this is what caused it, but he fell right after I said I had a boyfriend."

Candace looked at her for a moment before nodding. "Hm. Okay, good to know."

"Yeah." At this point Isabella didn't care who knew, or if Candace would have to relay that message to the doctors. She dejectedly walked back towards her house, looking back only once to see Phineas loaded into the ambulance on a stretcher. She immediately regretted looking, and ran the rest of the way, not stopping until she had reached her room and closed the door behind her.