Disclaimer: I currently don't own Phineas and Ferb, but should Disney ever decide to sell it, expect to see me running.

*Only original character belong to me, no infringment intended, yadda yadda yadda we all know the drill.

All I Want

by Fidelis et Espoire a Noel Dy

Prologue

Isabella Garcia-Shapiro couldn't go back to sleep.

She lay down on the air mattress in Phineas and Ferb's room, willing her to sleep, but it never came. She looked at the ceiling, illuminated by the winter's bright full moon shining through the window, and tried to keep herself from crying.

She had been so excited that morning during school, when Phineas and Ferb, well Phineas for the most part, asked her to spend the night. She had never been to a sleepover before, so she eagerly accepted the invitation. As soon as her mother picked her up from school, Isabella shot out the question, "Can I got to a sleepover at Phineas and Ferb's?" Her mother was hesitant at first, since her nine year old daughter had never slept away from home before, and said maybe it would be best if she tried when sleeping over at her abuela's first so that she would at least have some family near her. Isabella sighed and said she understood, knowing that her mother was worried about her, but Mrs. Garcia-Shapiro saw the crestfallen look on her daughter's face as she turned away. In that moment, she saw that causing Isabella to miss the sleepover was just baby-ing her and that missing the little things like this would give her daughter, a too sheltered life if she stayed at home. She relented and gave Isabella her permission. It wasn't long before she was walking her daughter to the sleepover that was ironically just across the street.

Now it was nearing midnight, and although Isabella and the boys had had fun together on that Friday evening, Isabella was feeling homesick. She had enjoyed eating dinner with the Fletcher-Flynn family, and had been in awe of Candace because she was older and seemed so cool because she was a high-school student. But when Phineas's mom turned out the lights, and the boys fell asleep almost on the spot, Isabella had finally realized that this was the first time she had been away from her family overnight.

Tears threatened to spill as she wondered what her mother and Pinky were doing without her there, wondered if the even missed her presence, or were the too busy having fun on their own to remember.

Afraid of awakening the boys with her sobs, knowing she would die of embarrassment if they knew what a baby she was, Isabella quietly slipped out of bed and out into the hall. She wasn't sure what to do, it wasn't as if she could go through the street that was heavily laden in snow and show up at her house at midnight. So she tiptoed down the stairs, through the living room, and to the kitchen. She grabbed a tissue, and sat at the wooden kitchen table blowing her nose in the near-darkness.

Suddenly the room flooded with the bright kitchen light. Isabella blinked a few times before she adjusted to the brighter light. With a plummeting sensation, she saw Phineas gaping at her in surprise.

"Isabella!" Phineas exclaimed softly. "Are you ok?" He came up beside Isabella and looked at her with worry. "Is something wrong?"

Isabella quickly wiped her nose and crumpled the tissue in her palm. "No," she said quickly. "I'm okay. Just can't sleep. Not used to not being in my own super-soft bed," she joked lamely.

Phineas turned quickly to let Isabella compose herself. He had seen the tears that threatened to fall in her eyes, and the crumpled up napkin that now hid in her hand. He was pretty sure he knew why Isabella was upset, but he had no idea what to say to make her feel better. Girls were still a bit of a mystery to him, even his friend. Which was why moments like these, he usually let Ferb handle. Ferb was just good at empathy and keeping people from crying. He was afraid of saying something stupid that would cause her to dissolve in tears. But here he was alone with her, he realized he'd better say something.

"Do you want a peanut butter sandwich?" he asked carefully as he walked to the pantry.

Isabella shook her head. "No, thank you. I should go to bed."

Phineas suddenly realized he didn't want her to leave. Not yet at least. "Wait," he said to her. "Lemme make myself a sandwich, and then I want to show you something."

Isabella knew that being here with Phineas was much better then lying awake in the lonely bed, so she nodded. She watched him make himself a sandwich and laughed as he tried to put in as much peanut better as he could get to hold on each slice. Phineas, enjoying his audience, soon had a sandwich so thick with peanut butter, there wasn't any way he could eat it without making a mess, but he tried. He managed to get one bite in before the majority of the contents oozed out the end and glopped onto the floor. Isabella helped him clean up the mess, each of them trying to be quiet so as not to wake up the rest of the house. The difficulty of this task made the process even funnier, and by the time they finished, their laughter threatened to erupt. Knowing they were at the breaking point, Phineas grabbed her by the hand and said, "Come let's go get our jackets on." They went to the living room was and quickly slipped on their jackets and then decided to but on their boots as well. When they finished, he led her out through the backdoor, into the cold winter evening. He half-pulled her away from the house to the large tree in the back where they ended up collapsing on the snow and gave in to their hilarity.

Once they'd laughed themselves breathless, Isabella finally was able to gasp, "So what were you going to show me?"

Phineas jerked his thumb upward. "That," he said simply.

Isabella looked at him quizzically for a moment, then turned her head up to the cloudless sky. Her mouth formed a surprised O as she looked above her in wonder.

"Wow," she breathed. "I've never seen so many stars in my life. Where did they all come from?" she asked him.

Phineas smiled a little, pleased to have shown her something new. "They're always there, but you don't really get to see them from where we live."

Isabella furrowed her brow and looked back at Phineas. "Why not?"

"Light pollution ," Phineas answered matter-of-factly. "All the streetlights and stuff keep you from seeing all the stars, but winter storms clear the air. We're outside in the dark more because of short days. All those bright stars around Orion are our close neighbors, and we're looking away from the center of our galaxy so they stand out. It helps that Jupiter and Saturn are near Orion this year. That will change, but even the moon and planets are higher in the winter sky when the sun is low, because they are on opposite sides of the ecliptic plane."

"Wow!" Isabella said, looking impressed. "How'd you know that?"

Phineas shrugged. "I noticed one day when my dad, Ferb, and I went to the movies that the starts looked clearer then when I saw them during the summer. I was curious how that could be, so I went and looked it up."

Isabella's eyes shone. "You're so smart, Phineas. I wish I could be as smart as you." Isabella tilted her head to look up at the stars again.

Phineas was glad the moon wasn't bright enough to show the blush creeping up his neck toward his red hair. Isabella's compliment had made him feel better than he could ever remember feeling. Normally he didn't think that his desire to always learn things was all that impressive. But here was Isabella Garcia-Shapiro, one of his best friends, telling him how smart he was.

Quietly, he said, "Well, it's not that big of a deal. But someday I'm going to go to college and learn lots. And one day I'm going to build big things."

Isabella turned to look at him so quickly that her long black hair flared out. "You're going to leave? Forever?"

Phineas shook his head. "Not forever. When I come back, I'm going to be a scientist, and and architect, and tons of things and then I'm going to be a teacher, and teach kids all kinds of things they don't know. THen they can build cool things like I want to, like…um…I'm not sure yet but I'm sure Ferb will help me."

Isabella gave him a shy smile. "That's good. I wouldn't want you to leave for good. I like knowing you'll always be here."

She looked at him, and he smiled back. The two of them turned their faces upwards again, and gazed at the stars in companionable silence.

A/N: (PLEASE READ!) Hey everyone! So this is a quick note to you all. I'm going on a trip the day after tomorrow and will be gone from home for three to four weeks. Sorry I didn't inform you sooner, but it wasn't a done deal. All my stories will be on hiatus in some sorts. As it is, I do have access to the internet so you may catch me reviewing and reading your stories from time to time(I have to do something while I'm traveling after all), but I will not always have access to word processing all the time. Plus I'm going to be doing other things, but since I will have times when I'm stopped somewhere with nothing to do, I may just pop a flashdrive into an available computer and work on one of the stories. This story I'm posting has already been completed, but I was going to post this at the end of the year(you'll see why). Since I will be gone, this story is my gift to you guys which you will all hopefully enjoy. Please review! (I'm a review hoarder sadly, There I admitted it:P, but please let me know what you think.)

And lots of love,

-Fidelis et Espoire a Noel Dy

PS-In the layout of this story, Phineas and Isabella may be different I guess, I'm not to sure so let me know what you think. :)

PS(x2)-As the story progresses see if you can figure out which movie I based this off of. I'll be sure to post a shout out to your aweome deduction skills if you get it. :)