Candace tossed and turned in her bed, all the while muttering incoherent words about Ferb, the rollercoaster in the backyard and a talking zebra. She'd been having really weird nightmares the past few nights, and no two of those nightmares were ever quite the same as the last.
The red-headed teenager woke up breathing heavily and with a cold sweat on her forehead. She glanced around the room for anything out of the ordinary, sighed and lay back down on the bed. There wasn't any point in her trying to get back to sleep, since not only was she too frightened to do so but it was also 6:30 in the morning, so she would have to wake up soon anyway.
Before Phineas had left for two weeks for their grandparents' house, Candace had barely talked to Ferb. It wasn't as if she didn't care about him, it was just that he and Phineas were practically inseparable. She rarely got a chance to be around Ferb without the younger brother being right by his side- that is, until recently.
Walking down the stairs, Candace pondered over Phineas' famous catchphrase: Seize the Day. She shook her head in wonder at Phineas' always-present enthusiasm, and thought that perhaps it may have been rubbing off on her. However, if there was one thing she knew for certain, it was that she and her brother were very different in perspectives. Candace was more focused on the present situation and having close, intimate relationships with people, while Phineas was all about big ideas for the future and although he too had a tight group of friends, he could still be very oblivious to those around him (which Candace sometimes considered to be a blessing).
Then there was Ferb. Quiet, sensitive, wise Ferb. On first glance most people would consider him to be antisocial, which he was, but those who knew him well enough to understand his gestures knew that he was a very good person to be around. Ferb was an awesome listener, and he almost always gave good advice if you asked him for it. That was actually what Candace needed Ferb for right now, since there was something really important that she needed to talk about.
The kitchen, living room and family room were all empty, so she figured that he'd either be in the garage or the backyard, since she'd also already checked his bedroom and seen that he wasn't in there. Candace pulled open the door to the garage hoping that she'd see a patch of bright green hair, but to her dismay there was nothing. Suddenly, she heard the faint sound of a drill being started up, and then getting louder and louder until she could feel the vibration on the ground. 'How in the world do Mom and Dad never see or at least hear this?' she thought to herself.
Candace had astonishingly lowered her busting urge recently, mostly because she and Ferb had started doing little projects together since Phineas had been away. However, when she opened the sliding door and looked to find Ferb up on the roof of their two story home, she immediately thought of the danger that could come to her brother.
"FERB! What are you doing? You could get hurt up there!" Candace yelled up to him. Ferb stopped what he was doing, turned to face Candace and then pointed at several roof tiles that were either falling off or already broken.
Candace shook her head and said, "Ferb, we were going to call a contractor to get the roof patched. We can't have an eleven year old boy up on the roof unsupervised, you know that!"
His sister gave him a stern look, and Ferb knew that she was right. Sighing slightly, he picked up his tools and started crawling over to the ladder that was placed at the side of the house. Suddenly, his pant leg got caught on a loose nail on the roof and he stumbled over, hanging on to the edge of the roof for dear life.
Candace screamed in fear and ran over to the ladder to go to him. If Ferb ever showed emotion, now was certainly one of those times, as his eyes were wide with fear and he was trembling. His feet hung dangling from the roof top as Candace hastily climbed up the ladder.
"I'm coming Ferb! Hold on, bud!" she called out to him as she climbed off the last wrung and onto the roof.
A storm was quickly approaching, as they both could see dark clouds rolling in from the distance. Candace had to keep her balance as the wind came, but she kept on moving over to where Ferb was still hanging on.
Suddenly, a huge gust of wind came and blew off some of the shingles that Ferb was in the middle of repairing, and the green-haired boy could start to feel the eaves rough coming loose. What else could go wrong, right?
Ferb felt the metal start to give way, and he ended up suspended in mid air on the eaves rough going out into the backyard (imagine a pencil leaning half-off the desk, half-on the desk, if that makes any sense).
"Uh… Candace?" Ferb called out slowly as this happened. Candace widened her eyes in shock at the circumstances, but she shook it off and continued to try and reach him. It was just her luck then that the rain started to slowly fall, until it became an absolute downpour.
"Okay, if you don't get busted for this, then you won't get busted for anything." Candace yelled out to Ferb, who chuckled slightly. Given the situation, he really had to agree with her.
As Candace finally reached the edge of the roof, another gust of wind came that knocked made Candace wobble dangerously over the edge. "CANDACE!" Ferb yelled out, desperately hoping that his sister wouldn't suffer a similar fate.
She stabled herself upright and blew out a huge sigh of relief. Balancing out her weight, she slowly crept closer to the edge once again and reached out her arm to the frightened little boy.
"Okay, Ferb. This is just like the time that you came to get me from the spaceship before, all right? Now just shimmy over a little bit and take my hand!"
Ferb felt his limbs go numb for a second, and he looked down. His eyes went wide with fear and he whimpered as he closed his eyes tightly and shook his head.
"Ferb, I need you to trust me, okay? Don't look down, buddy. Come over here- I won't let you fall, you know that! I'm your sister… I'd never allow anything bad to happen to you…"
Those last words got Ferb to open his eyes… slightly. He thought to himself, 'She's right, I just have to believe in her and myself. I can do this.'
He started to move his hands ever so carefully back to Candace's outstretched arms, with the latter giving him soft words of encouragement. "That's it, you're doing great, Ferb! Just a little bit more! You can do it!"
He crept closer and closer, until he was almost within her reach, until suddenly the eaves rough began to sag with the weight. Ferb shrieked slightly as it lowered, and he shut his eyes tightly once again.
"You're gonna be fine, Ferb. You're so close! Just shimmy over a little bit more!" Candace cried out to her brother, even though she herself was terrified as well. Ferb slowly began to climb the incline that he now had to face in order to get to his sister.
"AHH!" came the sound of Linda as she opened the door to see what all of the commotion was about. Lawrence came out from behind her and looked mortified as he saw what was taking place.
Ferb looked down to see his parents, and Lawrence called out to his son, "Ferb my boy, you'll be fine! Just grab onto Candace, alright?" Lawrence was currently holding Linda who was now shaking in fear and had tears coming down her face.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Candace grabbed onto Ferb's body and began to pull him up. He ended up crashing into her, but she didn't care. Ferb sobbed uncontrollably into Candace's shirt, who was also crying but at the same time embracing him.
Candace felt Ferb's body go up and down as he cried harder, and she tried to calm down a bit. They just stayed like that for a little while as the rain poured down on top of them, with their parents hugging each other with relief.
Candace's sobs soon stopped and she started saying comforting words to her brother. "Shh, it's okay, Ferb. I've got you, bud. Don't worry, you're safe now, see?"
Ferb nodded into her shirt and went to wipe his eyes with his sleeve. He then looked up to her and gave her a very grateful smile, even though his eyes were red from all of the crying.
She helped him stand up and they started to carefully walk over to the ladder that was being steadied by Lawrence. As soon as they got down Lawrence and Linda hugged both of their children, and they then all walked into the house to get dried off.
Once inside, Lawrence grabbed a warm towel for everyone to dry off with, and Linda told Candace and Ferb to go sit in the family room while she made some hot chocolate. She did not look very happy at all right now.
"What you two did was totally irresponsible, dangerous, reckless and stupid. You know better than to be playing on the roof, much less in the middle of a storm! Lawrence, help me out here?" Linda lectured, as she turned to her husband for support.
Lawrence nodded his head and looked sternly at the two of them. "Your mother's right, you two. I can't believe that you were even up there in the first place- why were you even up there in the first place?"
Candace started to say something, but Ferb put his hand out in front of her. She looked over and saw that her brother was shaking his head, signalling that he needed to tell them.
"It was my fault, and my fault only. I went up on the roof to try and fix the shingles without anyone around. I was about to fall off of the roof when Candace came and saved me. I would most certainly be in the hospital if not for her, so if you're going to punish anyone, punish me." his crisp, British accent faltered a little bit at the beginning, but by the end of his statement he was sure of himself.
Candace was shocked and grateful that Ferb had stood up for her like that, and their parents noticed. Lawrence sighed heavily and replied, "Well, Ferb, that was a very mature thing that you did right there: sticking up for your sister and telling the truth. However, there's still no reason for you to be up there, okay?"
Ferb nodded and gave him the signature thumbs up. The other three laughed and their parents sat down on the couch with them.
Realizing what was going to happen, Ferb reluctantly added, "So I guess this means that I'm grounded, then?"
"Afraid so, old chap. At least for the time being, anyway." Lawrence responded with a slight look of sympathy on his face. Ferb nodded again and began to go up the stairs to his room. However, before he reached the first step, he turned around and flashed a genuine smile at his sister.
"Thank you for saving me, Candace."
Ferb then turned and ascended the long staircase to his room. When the teen heard Ferb's door close, she grinned slightly.
"That was a very brave and responsible thing that you did, Candace. We're so proud of you," Linda told her daughter.
Lawrence nodded in agreement. "I'm sorry that we doubted you- we were just worried, that's all."
"I know, and thanks. I think that I'll go talk to Ferb right now, though."
With a little bit of a hop in her step, Candace walked up the stairs. Linda shook her head in amazement after their daughter left.
"You know Lawrence, I've never seen them get along so well before. Have you?"
The young Brit shook his head and replied, "No, but this is certainly as good a time as any for them to be get to know each other, what with he and Phineas not constantly beside each other now."
Linda sat over and leaned on Lawrence's shoulder. "Isn't this what we wanted way back then," she spoke softly, "to have this perfect family, where everyone got along so well?"
"Like a modern-day Brady Bunch?" Lawrence chuckled at the thought, "Yeah, I suppose it is. It'll be nice while it lasts, but I think this is a chance for them to understand each other a lot more than they did before, wouldn't you say?"
His wife nodded and started rubbing his arm. She didn't really need to respond to that, since they already knew the answer. The two of them sat in silence for a while in each other's arms until they both fell asleep on the couch.
"Oh… there you are Perry…" Lawrence managed to make out before drifting off to a deep slumber.
I don't know why I thought of this one, actually. I guess that I just wanted to make another Candace and Ferb fic. Anyways, I hope that you enjoyed it, so please review!