"Beautiful, kind and gentle, and loving and softness and sweetness and candy and gum..."
With her eyes still shut tight, Isabella stirred happily in her bed, still suspended between slumber and consciousness.
"Peppermint and pink flowers, and bunnies and happy songs that we can all hum..."
"Oh Phineas..." she sighed dreamily, as she awakened and opened her eyes. "You're so... eek!"
To her great surprise, the one serenading her from the bedside was a robot she'd never seen before. She pulled up the covers defensively as she edged away from it.
"Hello Isabella!" it said cheerfully, oblivious to her shock. "I'm Steve!"
Isabella stared at Steve a little more closely. The robot was was shiny and metallic, short and squarely built, with a large chest. It had a blocky robotic head, with robotic facial features that imitated a human's, including a 'mouth' that flashed when he talked. It had a permanent smiling expression, a toothy, infectiously cheerful grin.
Well, he certainly sounded innocent enough. In fact, he sounded almost like Phineas. And he did look like a Steve. Isabella decided that the robot was harmless.
"Hi Steve!" she smiled, sitting up in her bed. There was a moment of silence.
"So, er, whatcha dooin'? You know, in my room?"
"Oh, Phineas sent me, miss!" Steve responded. "He told me to gently wake you from your sleep with sweet music!"
Isabella's heart skipped a beat. "He did?" she asked, melting on her bed where she sat.
"Yes. He also told me to tell you that he 'loves you more than there are stars in the sky or particles in an army of flesh-eating space aliens,' and that I am to serve you breakfast in bed!"
"Wait wait wait... Phineas really said that? I don't believe it!" She shook her head vigorously in denial. "This is just so sweet and romantic, this whole breakfast in bed can't be real!"
"I really do have your breakfast here, miss!" Steve replied, opening his chest and handing her the plate of warm pancakes from inside.
It really can't be real- mm, strawberry and golden syrup. It smelled delicious; Isabella couldn't help but drool, her suspicion about Phineas' serendipitous love being put aside for the moment. She picked up the fork and knife and slowly shovelled a big bite into her mouth.
A moment passed. "Ok, these are the best pancakes I've ever eaten," she admitted through a mouth full of food. "But this doesn't mean it's not still a dream!"
"I can pinch you if you want to find out," Steve offered, leaning towards her, his mechanical hand poised to pinch her.
"No no, I'm good," Isabella said hastily.
"Don't worry. A dream episode would be terribly lazy writing!" he reassured her. "I don't believe bilaterus will do that."
"Huh?"
"I've also been instructed to break the 4th wall where possible! Enjoy your breakfast!"
Steve then resumed playing the Incidentals' soundtrack. Isabella finished her mouthful and took another, trying to think of some explanation as to why Phineas suddenly loved her. Her mind wandered to Phineas and Ferb's backyard...
"Perhaps it was for the best. Who knows what sacred laws we may have transgressed in our innocent yet ambitious undertaking?"
"Yeah. Still, it's pretty weird that our Danville Tower of Babel spontaneously turned into compost of all things."
It was the previous evening. The gang had once again spent their day on a thrilling and satisfying once in a lifetime project in the Flynn-Fletcher backyard. And, as inexplicably as ever, the entire day's fun had been cleared away in an instant. It meant there was no cleanup to do (which was certainly a good thing - cleanup is always the worst part of any project) but it also meant that nothing would last except the memories.
"It really is a shame," Isabella said wistfully. "It would've been something to show our kids one day..."
"Oh man, can you imagine Dinner Bell's kids?" Buford said. "They would be like, 'Ooh look at us! We can do the impossible every day!'"
His impersonation received an enthusiastic applause from the gang.
"That is uncanny!"
"Perfect!"
"It's as if they were here!"
"Though they better take the shape of their heads after their mother," Buford continued, smirking. "Unless she's ugly."
"Buford!" Isabella scolded, visibly annoyed by the comment.
"Anyway, it has been enjoyable but I have a wonderful night of math ahead of me," Baljeet said, stretching out of tiredness. "Take care, my friends!"
"Yeah I better go too," Buford said. "I've got the whole night to bully a nerd that wants to do math!"
He looked at Baljeet menacingly, who cringed as they started to leave the backyard. Isabella followed behind them.
"See you guys tomorrow!" Phineas called out cheerfully, waving goodbye to them as they left.
"Bye Phineas," Isabella said sweetly, closing the backyard gate as they parted ways. "Can't wait to see you next time."
That had been their entire interaction that evening. Isabella frowned, trying to pinpoint what exactly must have tipped Phineas off. Perhaps it was all the talk about children? But such hints had gone over Phineas's head before (no joke intended). Perhaps it was that last comment of hers? Maybe it took all of the hints together to get him to finally realise?
Or perhaps Phineas's feelings had, spontaneously or by some mysterious force, arose in him by themselves, and because he wasn't sure if Isabella reciprocated he was trying to prove his love for her. Wouldn't that be wonderful! Then she could confess her feelings and they could be together forever...
"Would you like some coffee, miss?" Steve asked abruptly, oblivious to the train of thought he had just disrupted. Isabella blinked - she had absent-mindedly finished the pancakes while deep in thought about Phineas's behaviour and what exactly she should do about it.
"Oh, no thanks, Steve, I'm good," Isabella said brightly. She had decided: it'd be better not to look a gift horse in the mouth - she would make the most of the pampering Phineas had in mind for her. She would not worry about it at all, instead choosing to simply relax and enjoy her wonderful dream come true. After all Phineas had declared he loved her! She had wanted nothing else since forever! And it was barely the morning, but he had made her feel special already, and who knew what he still had in store?
Yes, Isabella decided. Today will be a special day, filled with romance and...
Hey, where's Pinky?
As it happens, Pinky's location at that time was thoroughly uninteresting. Fortunately, some other certain brothers in the neighbourhood were wondering where their pet was too in the same instance, and the actions of the platypus of theirs are far more worthy of mention.
In fact, Perry was already on his way to Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated. The briefing that morning had been uneventful. Monogram and Carl had been their usual quirky selves, and his only clue about Doof's scheme was that the evil scientist had been up most of the night working on it.
"Ah, Perry the Platypus, how understandable that you've come to foil my evil scheme," Doofenshmirtz grinned evilly, as Perry dropped in through the open window. "And by understandable I mean... completely standable!"
A push of a button later, Perry was trapped under a heavy blanket that was seemingly stuck to the ground, leaving only Perry's head poking out.
Doof continued to ramble conversationally as Perry stared fiercely at him. "And I really do mean 'standable' this time. Do you know how nice it is to have you over every day? It's a nice little thing we have, isn't it? An understanding, that's what we've got.
"Thanks for coming in through the open window this time, by the way. Norm tried to clean up the broken glass from last time and... well, you know what he's like, Perry the Platypus."
"I did clean up the mess, sir!" Norm piped.
"Yeah, after starting a fire!" Doofenshmirtz replied angrily. "And there wasn't even any flammable material in the room, what's up with that! Now go stand over there!"
Norm obediently trotted off to face the corner. "Is this a new kind of game, sir?" he asked happily.
Doof ignored him and bent down to face Perry the Platypus. "You may be looking around for my evil scheme. Well guess what, Perry the Platypus? There is no scheme today! You know why? Because I am in love!"
Perry looked at him incredulously.
"She's wonderful!" Doofenshmirtz exclaimed. "I met her when I went down to the store after yesterday's Compost-Inator incident - I'm sure you still remember that, Perry the Platypus - and when we both reached for the same pack of garlic I knew she was the one!"
He was clutching the remote in his hand and sighing dreamily when Perry chattered, interrupting Doof's thoughts.
"What? You think that because my last romantic ventures have all ended in disaster it means this one will be ruined too? Well guess what! She's coming over to visit again today! How do you like that, Perry the Doubtapus?"
Perry continued to stare at him.
"Don't give me that look, Perry the Platypus," Doof huffed, turning away from his nemesis in defiance. "i know she likes me, you see. And, you know, to make sure she loves me, when she comes over today I'll zap her with my Love-Inator."
Doofenshmirtz was high on coffee last night, Perry concluded. The Love-Inator seemed to be an amalgamation of cliche romantic symbols. It was pink and fluffy, with hearts of different sizes and shades embellishing it all over. Even at its base, there were boxes of chocolates and flowers. The device was directly next to and was aiming towards the seat of the sofa next to it.
"Romantic, isn't it?" Doofenshmirtz said, patting it happily. "And guess what? It has no self-destruct button, and it can also run on batteries! That means you can't foil me today, Perry the Platypus!"
And as the doorbell rang and Doofenshmirtz exclaimed "Oh look, she's here!", Perry sighed and wondered when this kind of day became normal to him... and how interested he was in seeing them through.
This ought to be good.