A/N: This is my first attempt at writing a Phineas and Ferb story, or, to be more precisely, some CandacexJeremy. It takes place six years after the actual cartoon. Candace is 21 years old, Jeremy 22, and Phineas and Ferb are 16. Enjoy. ;)

~ "The best answers we find on our own," was all the green-haired teen said. ~

On an early sunday afternoon, Phineas and Ferb were both sitting quietly under the oak tree in their garden, simply enjoying the nice weather and singing of the birds. The air smelled like freshly cut grass and some flowers Phineas didn't know the name of. It smelled nice, though, creating a special, soothing aroma. For him, this was how the beginning of the summer should smell.

It was summer vacation in Danville, 33 Celcius degrees to be more exact, and, more importantly, summer holiday. Their parents weren't home at this moment, because they were spending the day together. Normally, boys and girls of their age would be enjoying themselves on the beach, or in a swimming pool. Especially when it was a hot day. These teens were anything but normal, though, with their incredible capability to invent anything they desired. That was why they were waiting for inspiration to strike them. Inspiration for what they could do today.

"I love summer, but you know, sometimes I really miss those old days, when we would invent cool gadgets and other pretty useful stuff. Those were good times," Phineas admitted, as he wiped some newly formed sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand.

Phineas wondered briefly if the heat bothered Ferb just as much as it did to him. If it did, he didn't show much of it.

Ferb said nothing, but Phineas knew his brother long enough to notice that he agreed with him. For Phineas, his silence said it all and Ferb's silences had many meanings. Phineas knew everything about them by now.

"Problem is, we've already built everything we could possibly think of and nobody will enjoy it if we build the same thing twice. I really wish someone could give us a good idea."

Once again, Ferb said nothing, merely listening. It was a silent invitation for his brother to continue. An invitation Phineas gladly took.

"Well, the only thing we haven't done yet is dye your hair red and mine green. So...how 'bout that?"

Phineas was half-joking here. Keyword: half, because he had to admit that he was slightly curious at the outcome of that. However, Ferb obviously thought this idea was so stupid that he didn't even bother to give Phineas one of his infamous looks, but nevertheless, his brother took the hint.

"Nah, you're right. That's probably the most absurd thing I've ever said. Well, if I don't count that time where I said that Perry was a secret-"

It was just then that the two teenagers noticed that their neighbour, who also happened to be their sister's beloved boyfriend, had opened their garden gate. He approached them quietly. He looked like something was bothering him terribly. Phineas could see that from the frown on his face. Jeremy hardly ever frowned. Was it just him, or did the poor guy look very tired? Phineas wondered briefly what had happened. Did it have something to do with his sister?

When the young man looked up, he spoke, managing to form a small smile on his lips. That smile wasn't fooling them, though.

"Hi Phineas, Ferb."

Ferb nodded curtly at him as a greet. After all, he had never been much of a talker and the fact that Jeremy was dating his stepsister didn't change that. People who didn't know Ferb would probably think that he was one of those incredibly moody and anti-social teenagers. Obviously, Jeremy didn't see it that way.

"Hey, Jeremy. What brings you here?" Phineas asked, rather cheerfully. In a slightly teasing tone he continued, "Can't live too long without Candace, huh?"

He was more than glad that there had come a sort of distraction in the form of Jeremy. Said man sighed wearily, while running a hand through his blonde locks. This made it look all tangled up. Candace probably would have squealed or something, if she had been here. Phineas couldn't help but smile at that thought.

"Well, I have a little problem," he admitted, sighing again.

At once, Phineas's face fell.

Oh, that wasn't good, he thought.

"What is it? Is everything okay between you and Candace?" Phineas asked, swiftly.

A frown was about to appear on his face, but Jeremy quickly replied with, "Oh, yes. Everything's great. Don't worry about that. But uh...look."

The man now pulled something small out of his pocket and held it in the palm of his hand. It was a small, navy-colored, box, decorated with a curly, light blue ribbon on it. It fitted right in his hand.

"Oh, what's that?" Phineas asked, curiously.

Jeremy didn't reply, but carefully opened the little box to show its contents to the brothers. Instantly, Ferb's brows shot up in surprise, at the sight of it.

"Whoa, is that...?" Phineas asked, in awe.

Both Phineas's and Ferb's eyes had grown the size of saucers at the sight.

"Yeah, and that's why I need your help, guys. You think you can help me with it?"

"Sure! Do you have something in mind already?" Phineas asked, smiling brightly now.

Phineas's happiness seemed to be contagious, because Jeremy smiled a little too. It looked more like he was a little nervous, though.

Jeremy nodded and replied, "Yes, I do, but it isn't that easy. And please don't tell Candace anything about this."

From that point, Jeremy started whispering so Candace wouldn't walk in on them and hear them. The brothers had to come closer to him so they wouldn't miss any information.

What they didn't know was that Candace just happened to look at them from her bedroom window. She frowned slightly, wondering what Jeremy was talking about with her brothers. Just when she wanted to open the window and call out Jeremy's name to get his attention, she saw him leaving again.

"Huh? That's strange. He didn't even come here to see me? Why?" she muttered.

She was slightly confused, because in six years, Jeremy had never done such a thing. And then there was the fact that he had been very silent for the past few days. What could that mean?

Meanwhile, Phineas said, "Hey Ferb, I know what we're gonna do today."

And with that, the two got up from under the tree to do whatever they were going to do.

Just then, another thought occured to Phineas.

"Hey, where's Perry?" he wondered.

He looked around, but Ferb nudged his brother with his elbow and pointed to the tree. Phineas squinted until he spotted the platypus, lying on the grass and looking almost lifeless. If he hadn't made a sound just that moment, Phineas would probably have thought that he wasn't breathing at all.

"Oh. There he is. Hmm...he probably thinks it's too warm to move around much. Can't blame the poor thing. And now that that's taken care of, let's go. We should hurry up now. We wouldn't want to spoil the fun for those two, right?"

Candace paced her room, going back and forth and hands folded neatly behind her back. She didn't seem to notice herself, but she was quickening her pace more and more as time passed and darker thoughts burdened her mind.

It seemed that Jeremy was hiding something. What could it be? Why was he hiding it from her? He had been so withdrawn the last time she had spoken to him. Another thing that Canadace had noticed was that he didn't reply her text messages as quick as he used to do. Normally, he would reply within ten, sometimes even five minutes. As of lately, he almost needed twice as much time to do so, while her text messages hadn't become longer than her previous ones...that much.

"Hmm...maybe Stacy knows what to do."

Candace took her mobile phone from her nightstand and immediately dialed her best friend's number. She waited impatiently till she picked up. Waiting had never really been her thing.

"Come on. Pick up, pick up, pick up!" she chanted.

A click was heared, and shortly after that, "Stacy speaking?"

"At last! Honestly, what took you so long to pick up?" Candace didn't give her the chance to respond to that. "Anyways, I think we have a problem."

"Let me guess, your brothers are planning to make your life miserable again by building random things that mysteriously disappear whenever you tell your mom about it?"

It was a good thing that Candace didn't know how her friend tried not to snicker, otherwise she would've exploded.

"No, it's Jeremy!" she replied.

"Oh. Yeah, that was my second guess."

Candace rolled her eyes, but chose to ignore that last comment.

"He's...been acting really weird lately."

"Oh? How weird? Weird as in only texting you 19 times a day, instead of 21? Or weird as in acting like a mute zebra?"

For a moment, the redhead was at a loss of words, wondering where that had come from. Sure, Stacy was a little weird sometimes, but this didn't even make sense anymore.

"Actually, it's neither of them," the woman replied, twirling a strand of red hair around her fingers.

She always did that when she was worried, or nervous, or near a mental breakdown, because her brothers had decided to create something weird. Candace breathed in and out and then started to tell Stacy what bothered her.

Once again, Candace started pacing the room. It was something she seemed to be doing a lot lately. She was worried beyond belief, but not without a reason.

Why was he late? Jeremy never was too late, because Jeremy, the gentleman that he was, knew that one shouldn't let a lady wait too long. It was wrong in many ways. Candace was worried. No, worried was an understatement. She was more likely about to call the police. She kept on wondering this, to the point of getting crazy. Had it something to do with why he hadn't called her yet, or why he visited her brothers, but not her?

She had called Stacy shortly after this incident, because Stacy always knew what to do in situations like this. Surprisingly, the call hadn't lasted that long. Her best friend's reaction hadn't made her happy, though.

"I would watch out for more suspicious actions if I were you. Who knows, maybe he has someone else and he plans to break up with you," Stacy had said.

Could that be true? After being happy with each other for six years already? Sure, their relationship had had its ups and downs, but didn't all relationships have that? Even Mom and Dad weren't always super-duper happy. Although, now that she thought of it...

Candace sighed and collapsed on the couch, looking defeated. Her own thoughts were driving her nuts, as always. She felt miserable and she was pretty sure that anyone could see that from her facial expression.

Look at me. I'm only 21, but if I continue like this I bet I'm going to catch gray hair on my head soon, she thought.

The thought alone made something twist and knot painfully inside of her.

"Relax, Candace. Jeremy will be here very soo-" Phineas started, but he never got the chance to finish his sentence, for his sister turned to face him and interrupted him.

"What if something happened to him? What if he got hit by a bus or something? I mean, I've been waiting for..." here, she looked at her watch and continued, "Two minutes and 47 seconds!"

Phineas smiled at that. If Candace only knew the real reason of why he was a little late, then she would have acted...very different.

"What are you smirking at?" she suddenly snapped, slightly irritably.

"Oh. Uh, well..." Phineas shrugged, not knowing what to say now.

He had promised Jeremy not to tell Candace anything, so he tried to come up with a believable lie. Phineas started to scratch the back of his head, sheepishly.

Apparently, that was some sign for Candace, because the next thing she said (sounding suspicious like heck) was, "You're hiding something from me, aren't you?"

"What? No, of course not. How could I hide somthing from you?"

Phineas glanced over at Ferb for some back-up and their eyes met almost instantly.

"The best answers we find on our own," was all the green-haired teen said, now looking back at his sister.

This earned the green-haired teen a blank stare that would even put a blank sketchbook to shame from both of his siblings. Ferb merely blinked a couple of times. He either didn't know what to say else, or didn't really bother to do so.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Candace asked, narrowing her eyes in suspicion.

This time, even Phineas had no answer to her question, because he wondered that, too. Apparently, Ferb had gone back into his not-so-talkative-mood again, which didn't help at all. Candace shook her head, eyeing both of them for a long time. Then, she sighed, wearily.

"Brothers. Does every sister have to deal with this? No. Do I have to deal with this? Of course! You'd think I'd have better things to do and more important things to worry about. Every single day it's one thing after another. But do Mom and Dad see it? No. Do they get in trouble? No. Honestly, I-" their sister started muttering, but at that moment, the bell rang.

Candace's eyes widened and she shrieked, while racing to the door at the same time.

"Phooh! Saved by the bell," Phineas muttered, relieved. "Seriously, at times like this, Candace kinda scares me."

It was a good thing that this wasn't a family thing, Phineas thought. He chose deliberately not to share his thoughts about this matter, just in case Candace would come back at that same time and hear him saying something that might cost his life. After all, he couldn't die before he had seen Candace's reaction when she found out about Jeremy's secret, right?

A/N: Thanks for reading! Hope you liked it. Please review, if you feel like it. This is my sixth entry for Bookaholic711's Project PULL. By the way, do you agree with me that Ferb always says things that make me think something along the lines of what the heck? :)