Vanessa knew who the culprit was the moment she opened the hood.

Dear Vanessa, the sticky note said in all-too-familiar handwriting, I am an anonymous person who has sabotaged your vehicle. Maybe you should press the distress signal button and ask your father to help you, subsequently postponing your return to college.

"Dad!" she yelled into the air. Of course she had forgotten her cell phone in the her apartment over the two-week Christmas break, of course the car broke down on a road where no one could see her, of course she didn't know anything about cars.

Vanessa sat on the hood, glad she was wearing a coat at least, and stuck out her thumb. Maybe she could borrow a cell phone if someone ever did come down this road—there was no way she was going to ask her dad for help.

Fifteen minutes later a bright green car came down the road and pulled over. It had been three years, but who else would have green hair and a nose that big?

"Hi, Ferb," she said, a little surprised. "Um, I guess you don't remember me—"

"You're Vanessa," Ferb said.

"I guess you do remember," Vanessa said. "My car's broken down and I forgot my cell, so could I borrow yours and call a tow truck?"

"You can," Ferb said, climbing out of his car. "But I can fix your car."

"That's great, but—"

"For free."

Vanessa raised her eyebrow. "Go ahead and take a look, I guess." Ferb pulled up the hood and studied the machinery, then grabbed a toolbox from under his front seat and started working on the engine.

"So, ah," Vanessa said. "Thanks for fixing my car. Dad messed it up. He wants me to press the panic button in it so he can come and fix my car and it'll take me longer to get back to college, but I'm not going to give him the satisfaction. So thanks."

"No problem," Ferb said. And since Vanessa couldn't think of anything else to say, she just sat there for a while.

"So," she said, five minutes later when the awkwardness got to her, "What's with the accent?"

"I'm from the UK originally," Ferb said, grabbing something else from the toolbox.

"Cool. When did you move here?"

"Twelve years, three months, and nine days ago," he said, like he didn't even have to think about it.

Vanessa gave him an odd look. "You keep track?"

"Nope." He looked around the raised hood. "Judging by your strange expression, which seems to be a mixture of 'weirded out' and 'puzzled,' you require an explanation; I don't have to keep track of things like that. I'm good with numbers."

Since this was the most Vanessa had ever heard him speak, she just raised her eyebrows and said, "Okay, then."

"And no, I don't normally talk this much."

"Why?"

Ferb smiled. "Everything is funnier when the quiet guy says it."

Since he said it like that, Vanessa had to laugh. "You've got a point, Ferb." Since she didn't want to ruin the effect, she refrained from asking him anything for a few minutes and dug her iPod out of her pocket.

Halfway through the first song, Ferb said, "I can't fix it here."

Vanessa scowled. "Great. Can I borrow your phone, please?"

"I can fix it. Just not here." Ferb looked a little irritated at this affront to his technological skills. He took his cell phone out of his pocket, snapped a picture of himself, Vanessa, and the car, and sent it to who-knows-where.

"Ferb? What are you doing?" Vanessa then found out exactly what he was doing, as she, the car, and Ferb were suddenly inside a garage. "Okay, what did you just do?"

"This is the mechanic's shop where I work," Ferb explained, digging through the piles of spare parts and tools. "I teleported us here." He looked back at Vanessa. "I hope you don't mind."

"Well, not really, I guess. Will your boss mind you doing all of this?"

Smirking, Ferb said, "I own this shop."

Vanessa thought about this and realized it was no less plausible than anything else she had seen him do. "Cool."

After a few minutes, Ferb—who was, it seemed, replacing her entire engine—asked, "Does your father often remote-detonate small grenades in your car?"

Vanessa shook her head. "No, this is the first time he's done that. Once he tried to make my entire dorm radioactive, but thankfully Perry stopped him. I guess sabotaging one car was too low-key for the O.W.C.A. to worry about." She scowled.

Ferb made a small "hmm" noise that could have indicated sympathy.

"I just wish he would be a little less protective. I've been going to college for three years; you'd think he'd have gotten over the separation anxiety by now. And don't get me started on what he's done to the one boyfriend I brought home."

Glancing up, Ferb asked, "You have a boyfriend?"

"Not anymore," she snapped. "Dad turned him into a rat. It took two weeks before the effects of the ray wore off; by then it was pretty much over."

Ferb nodded and started working again.

"Do you have a girlfriend?"

For some reason, this made him smile. "Until yesterday."

Vanessa wasn't really sure how to respond to this. "That's, um, too bad."

Ferb shook his head. "It was mutual." Vanessa stared. Ferb stared back. "The girl was Isabella," he said, as if that explained everything.

When Vanessa thought about it, this did explain everything. "Oh, yeah. She still likes your brother, huh?"

"That would be an understatement," Ferb said, "but I don't mind. Neither of us really expected it to work."

Vanessa nodded. "Sorry if I'm, you know, prying."

"We have known each other since I was ten."

"Yeah…" They were saved any further awkward conversation by Phineas walking into the garage.

"Hey, Ferb, Mom says dinner's ready if you want some—oh, hi, Vanessa!" The redhead said cheerfully. "Haven't seen you in a while. How've you been?"

"Fine," she said, shrugging.

"That's cool. Anyway, come in when you're done working, Ferb. And you can come in for dinner if you want, too, Vanessa!" With that, Phineas walked out of the garage.

Vanessa looked back at Ferb. "I thought you said you owned this place?"

"I do, but I am fifteen," Ferb said, shrugging.

"I thought you were, like, eighteen," she said.

Vanessa could swear Ferb looked pleased with himself. "No. Try to start your engine." She did, and, after a huge cloud of black smoke billowed out, the car started smoothly. "It's good," the Brit said after coughing several times.

Smiling, Vanessa got out of the car and gave Ferb a small hug. He blinked and stood very still. "Thanks, Ferb. You don't know how much of a relief this is."

"My pleasure," he said after a minute. "You can stay for dinner, if you'd like."

Vanessa shook her head. "Nah, I'd better get going. I'll catch you later, okay?"

"Okay."

"Ferb, is that knot tight enough on your end?" Phineas asked from his headset six months later. The brothers were using the headsets to communicate, as they were almost half a mile away from each other.

Ferb checked the knot again. "Yes."

"Alright! Come on down here, then!"

Ferb strapped himself in to the zipline harness and kicked off from one of Danville's tallest buildings. Unfortunately, the brothers hadn't accounted for the Large-And-Pointy-Inator protruding from on of the shorter buildings en route; as a result, the line was severed, and Ferb Fletcher fell onto the exposed floor of Doofenshmirtz Evil, Inc.

"Ferb? Ferb! What happened?" Phineas yelled.

"The line broke and I fell on a building."

These words captured Doofenshmirtz's attention while he was in the middle of his monologue: "And since everything will be large and pointy, I will be able to sell the only soft things in the ENTIRE TRI-STATE—HEY, don't I know you?" The mad scientist glared at Ferb. Behind Doof's back, Perry waved and then calmly stuck his hand back into his handcuffs.

"Dad, that's Ferb, remember?" said an extremely familiar voice. Vanessa leaned on a railing behind Ferb. "Hey."

"Hi, Vanessa," Ferb said.

"Don't you say 'hi' to my daughter like that!" Doofenshmirtz snapped. "How old are you, anyway?"

"I'm just fifteen," Ferb said, and, seeing Vanessa's expression, tried to appear as young and innocent as possible. "Your –Inator cut my zipline. My brother will be picking me up in a moment. I'm very sorry for the inconvenience." He couldn't help but notice that Perry, at least, seemed surprised to hear him speak so much.

"Fine, fine. Just don't interfere with my evil scheme! That's Perry the Platypus's job! And even though she's way out of your league, don't stand too close to my daughter!" Doofenshmirtz turned back to Agent P. "As I was saying, Perry the Platypus…"

"Yes, sir," Ferb said, though he was largely ignored. The teenager walked back and leaned against the railing, less than two inches away from Vanessa. The woman stifled a grin.

"Rebelling against authority, huh?" Vanessa muttered when the battle started in earnest. "I like that."

"How about we go see a movie later?" Ferb asked, raising an eyebrow. "Then we'd really be rebellious."

"Aren't you a little young for me?"

"Yes. Yes I am."

Vanessa frowned. "Hmm." They flinched simultaneously as Perry somehow managed to zap Doofenshmirtz's pants with the Large-and-Pointy-Inator. "Sure. I'll be at your house at…six? Picking me up isn't really a good idea."

Grinning, Ferb nodded.

Shortly after Perry had finished up with Doofenshmirtz (giving Ferb a wink right before he took off on his jetpack), Phineas arrived with Isabella, and the friends drove off in their remote-controlled car.

For the first time, Ferb requested something of that day's project: "Can we wrap things up in a bit? I've got a date to get ready for."

Phineas wolf-whistled loudly. "It's Vanessa, isn't it? I could tell you guys liked each other. Sometimes, people are so obvious."

Behind him, Isabella (who was doodling a large heart on her palm), fumed.

Erm, yeah, they know about Perry. x3 I wrote this one a while ago too, but I think it stands up okay. Please R&R!

this is a one-shot and will not be continued; please do not alert

i do not own