A/N – In the recent episode, "Let's Bounce," Doof sings about his theory that "Lies are the glue that holds society together." When he sings, "They lie to spare each other's feelings," there's a shot of him pretending to like Vanessa's apparently yucky cupcakes. That led to this…

Cookies and Lies – Part One

It was a lovely summer Saturday morning in the Flynn-Fletcher back yard. Three years after what was still referred to, more often than not, as "The Rollercoaster Summer," surprisingly little had changed. Phineas had kicked off the day with a confident, "Ferb, I know what we're going to do today!" and, once in the back yard, had puzzled, "Hey, where's Perry?" Isabella had come through the gate with a flirty, "Hi, Phineas. What'cha doin'?" and Phineas still had not noticed – or at least had pretended not to notice – her eyelash-fluttering tone. Buford and Baljeet had turned up in their own good time, engaged in their usual frenemic-bromantic banter. Ferb found the routine comforting, if a bit repetetive, as he made his usual contribution by whipping up the blueprints for Phineas's Collapsible Refrigerator.

Now, Baljeet was poring over Ferb's plans on the lookout for any mistakes. The green-haired boy's mouth curled up slightly at one corner as he wondered how long it would take the Math Genius to spot the miniscule miscalculation he had put in this time. Ferb couldn't remember now when he had started doing this, but it had become something of a private little game for him. It never affected the final plans, but Baljeet got such a thrill out of catching and correcting Ferb's errors, he simply couldn't stop.

Baljeet was still engrossed in the blueprints, Isabella and Buford were bickering over something pointless, and Phineas was calling around in search of some environmentally-friendly coolant, when Ferb's own cell phone chirped in his pocket. He fished it out and cast a careless glance at it to see who could be texting him. At once, he froze, heart racing, as her name flashed on the screen.

At your house. Come out.

That was all it took. Ferb bolted through the gate without a backward glance. Sure enough, the little rosewood sedan was parked at the end of their front walk, and the Loveliest Girl on Earth was getting out of it. Vanessa Doofenshmirtz had just finished her freshman year of college a couple of weeks ago, but this was the first time Ferb had seen her since she'd come home for the summer. Gobsmacked as usual by the mere sight of her, he paused for a moment to regain his balance before he went hiking across the lawn, waving a hand as he approached.

"Oh, good, you're here," said Vanessa.

She seemed slightly agitated, thought Ferb, and had skipped her usual, "Hey, Ferb, how's it going?" Her hair, cut to just above her shoulders, was pulled back in a clip behind her neck, and she was wearing a blood red Scraping Fangs t-shirt that fit her in a frankly distracting manner. With a valiant effort, Ferb trained his eyes on her face and smiled. "Hello, Vanessa. To what do I owe the pleasure?"

She gave him a smile in return, but he still sensed a bit of nervousness in it. When she said, "I brought you something," he realized there was an object in her hand. "It's a cookie," she added, although he had discerned this by now. It was folded in a paper napkin, and he accepted it from her.

"Thank you." He was a bit puzzled by this gesture, but if Vanessa had come all the way to his house just to bring him a cookie, he certainly was not going to complain.

"I made it myself," she was going on in a bit of a blather. "It's a carrot raisin cookie, it's from my Great-Great-Grandmother Doofenshmirtz's recipe. Try it, I want to know what you think."

Ferb looked at the cookie in his hand; it was about three inches in diameter, thin and flat, with raisins and visible bits of carrot projecting from the top. When he bit into it, it began to crumble, and he had to hold the napkin under his mouth to catch the crumbs. Vanessa was looking at him with anxious eyes and an encouraging smile as he munched. Ferb was very glad that he'd always had such a good poker face, because the cookie, quite frankly, was – well, it wasn't awful, it wasn't burnt or anything, but it was dry and crunchy, and the thick, tough shreds of carrot didn't help. He gamely took another bite as he contemplated how to answer when Vanessa said, "Well?"

"Mm," said Ferb, nodding his head.

"Good?" Vanessa pressed.

"Mm," said Ferb again, popping in another bite as an excuse not to speak.

"Not too dry?"

"Unh," said Ferb, shaking his head this time. "Lots of raisins," he mumbled appreciatively as he finished choking it down.

Vanessa let out a sigh of relief. "I'm glad they turned out all right. It's my first time making them. I don't do a lot of baking." And, just as he started to worry that she was going to hand him a whole batch of the cookies, Vanessa gave him a quick, "Thanks, Ferb!" and hopped back into her car. As she zipped away, Ferb brushed the crumbs off his shirt. He felt just a bit guilty for leading her on, but he couldn't bear the thought of hurting her feelings, not when the cookie was obviously so important to her. And who knew – maybe that was how Drusselsteinian cookies were supposed to taste.

To Be Continued…