I saw some lovely Ferb and Isabella art awhile ago and this little story has been in progress ever since. I'm not sure how this pairing is taken in the fandom, but please no flames. I love Phineas and Isabella together as well, but I always seem to ship the underdog pairing regardless. Just think of this as an alternative option.
This story does have a dark tint in later chapters, so don't expect it to be all light and fluffy. By the last chapter I will probably up the rating to M. You have been warned.
As per usual, I don't own anything. Enjoy!
My Defining Moments
Love, my mother once told me, is not something you plan. Maybe she said that the day I told her Phineas and I were getting married. When I was 8. I don't remember, but I certainly remember thinking that she was totally wrong. After all, Phineas and I were perfect. And one day, once all my efforts paid off-all my time hanging around him dropping hints, all of my casually flirty, "Whatcha doin'?" conversations-we would be together. We would be the perfect high school couple that everyone voted prom king and queen. We would have the perfect first kiss and the perfect first date and, maybe, I thought as I got older, he would be my perfect first, and of course we would do all this at the perfect moment for both of us. And then someday we would have the perfect wedding and would have a perfect family and we would both have perfect jobs and we would live an absolutely perfect happily ever after.
The only problem with all this was, of course, my mother was right. Phineas wasn't perfect. And neither was I. The problem, I think, was Phineas' perfect plans, the ones I had admired for so long. We spent summer after summer together, me tagging along to help whenever I could with all of his plans. Well, Ferb's plans too, but most importantly Phineas' plans. As we all grew, the plans got more and more complex, and more and more time consuming. Whereas before we might build a beach in the backyard for a day and then build a roller coaster the next, the boys began to spend more and more time on each stupid, non-fun idea like cold fusion and some kind of string theory. My help was needed less and less as the projects became more out of my league, and I began to despair that all my work trying to woo Phineas would be for naught.
When I went crying to my mother about all my hopes and fears and worries about Phineas, she usually just patted my back and told me it would all work out okay. But one day, she shared some surprising insight that really stuck with me. She told me that if it was meant to be, I would just know. It wouldn't be a question. There would be what she called 'defining moments in our relationship'. I didn't understand then. I was a silly middle school girl. How could I understand what a defining moment of a love, of a life was? I couldn't comprehend that a moment, a day, a night, could entirely change and define what you would become. But everyone has them. Some are cherished, some are tinged with regret, some lurk in the shadows of nightmares. These ones are mine.
I was fourteen when the first of what I like to call "the incidents" occurred. I had oftentimes, over the years, gone to Candace for advice when my mother proved to be unhelpful once again. When I first attempted to talk to her, she would be too busy with her obsession with busting her brothers and simultaneously trying to get her friend Jeremy to ask her out. However, as time went on and her priorities changed (school became more important, she dated and subsequently broke up with Jeremy) she began to listen more and she actually gave very good advice. She spoke mostly from seventeen and cosmopolitan magazines and only a little bit from experience, but to my middle school-aged self she seemed like the wisest guru. The first of the incidents occurred when Candace had just finished her freshman year of college and Phineas, Ferb, and I were out of high school for the summer.
I spent lots of time there, as per usual, always trying to wiggle my way into Phineas' heart. The boys had recently begun spending more and more time locked up in the garage working on some 'top secret government project' and had had little time to see me. I was in a funk that even working on campfire girl badges couldn't fix. After being turned away at the garage door yet again, I wandered upstairs looking for Candace, looking for any kind of answer to my conundrum. Candace wasn't in her room, and I became more and more upset as I wandered around the upstairs of the Flynn-Fletcher home. By the time I stumbled into Ferb's room-in a last ditch attempt to find Candace I must have looked absolutely miserable. Candace wasn't there, but Ferb was.
He was sitting on his bed, casually flipping through some kind of very thick book. He glanced up as I walked in. His brow furrowed as he saw how clearly upset I was. I hadn't expected to run into anyone except Candace and I was too upset to think clearly. I started babbling.
"Oh…I'm sorry…I was looking for…have you seen…why aren't you in the garage?" My thoughts were racing in a thousand directions. I wasn't even coherent enough to speak a full sentence. Ferb shrugged in answer to one of my questions, although I couldn't even entirely remember what I had asked. "I'll just...I'm sorry…see you around…" I turned to go when I heard an unexpected accented voice.
"Isabella."
I turned, shocked to actually have heard Ferb speak at all, let alone to me. He tended to be a man of action, not words, or so Phineas always said anyway. He was standing, having discarded the book on the floor. He head was cocked, his eyes questioning, and he held his hand in front of him, beckoning. I took two steps forward, cautiously. I had never even had a conversation with Ferb, let alone spent any real time getting to know him. Yet here he stood, curious about my problems, willing to listen. I stood a foot in front of him, unsure of what to say, unwilling to get any closer, feeling uncomfortable about the whole situation. Heaven forbid Phineas walk in and assume something was going on with me and his brother. It would ruin everything.
But then, Ferb said the only words that could possibly have shocked me even more. "What in the world has that brother of mine done to you now?"
He knew. I mean, on some level, I always knew that he knew. Everyone must have known. I was so obvious about my intentions that it was likely that everyone knew except oblivious Phineas. But having it out there in the open was too much for me. And the way he not only knew, but understood exactly why I was upset and felt sympathy towards my plight…I couldn't handle it. Before I knew what I was doing I had literally thrown myself into his arms, nearly bowling him over in the process, and began sobbing. Loudly and rather obnoxiously.
I couldn't help it. Everything had been building up inside me for far too long and even though my friends, my family, and even Candace had tried to understand, none of them really could. Only Ferb, who really knew me and Phineas both far too well and had been there to see everything-all of my attempts, all of my failures- understood the extent that I was hurting.
He was honestly too good about everything that followed. I'm pretty sure that my first bout of sobbing nearly soaked through his shirt. After I ceased for a few moments, he managed to get me to sit down on his bed and release my death grip on him. And that was when the flood gates really opened. I started speaking and couldn't stop myself. I told him everything. All my hopes, all my dreams, all my perfect plans about Phineas, and how I felt they were all for naught. I told him everything, and then I cried some more, and then talked and sobbed even more. I cried until I literally had no more energy or tears left and fell asleep, possibly while I was still mid-sentence and also possibly directly on top of Ferb.
When I finally woke up, several hours had passed and the sun was beginning to set. Perry was curled up alongside me. Ferb was gone, but he had been kind enough to cover me up with a blanket. As I shook off my grogginess, I noticed a note on the pillow next to my head. It was short, simple, but also possibly the sweetest thing I had ever read.
Isabella,
I understand. I knew everything before today, and I would have known even if you never spoken to me now. But if you ever need to talk, even if it seems stupid or useless, I'm always here. I know I don't speak very well, but I can listen beautifully. If you never want to speak of this again, it never happened, consider it a dream, and leave this note where you found it. Either way, Mum says you can stay for dinner.
Ferb
I took the note. I wasn't sure if I would ever take him up on his offer, but it didn't feel right leaving the note there all alone. It would be like breaking a promise. I went to dinner, and Phineas babbled about cold fusion and Candace babbled about college boys and Ferb sat in silence. It felt the same always. But it wasn't. It suddenly felt right.
