I do not own Phineas and Ferb or the song Jingle Bells. I'm pretending that Bully Bromance Breakup happened after this.

Happy holidays, and Merry Christmas!

Happy birthday, Boris Yeltsin!

That Good Old Christmas Spirit

It was the day before Christmas Eve, and a heavy bit of snow was falling upon the Tri-State Area. Thick white flakes fell from the grey sky rapidly and the bitter wind roared. But while most of Danville was snuggled cozily in their houses by their stocking-laden fireplaces, five unique kids were walking through the snowy streets, music sheets clutched in their mitten-covered hands.

"C-can we p-please go h-home now," Baljeet Tjinder chattered as they trudged through the snow. "M-my lips are about t-to fall off."

"Normally, I'd be callin' Jeet a wimp right about now," Buford Van Stomm drawled. "But I gotta agree with the nerd. My feet are frozen."

Isabella Garcia-Shapiro smirked. "Maybe if you didn't have a hole in your boots-"

"Shut it," Buford warned. "And it looks like a blizzard's coming. And I'm freezing. Can we go home now?"

"Just one more place," Phineas Flynn promised. "Then we'll head back."

"You said that a few houses ago," Baljeet muttered.

"C'mon, guys, we always go Christmas carolling the day before Christmas Eve," Phineas said.

"It's tradition," Ferb Fletcher added. "And we certainly can't break tradition."

"So stop your complaining and enjoy the scenery and abundance of holiday spirit," Isabella said firmly.

Baljeet rubbed his hands against his arms and glanced around. Multicoloured Christmas lights twinkled all around them and Santa Claus' waved from rooftops. The holiday season did give him a warm feeling inside. "Okay. Where shall we go next?"

"Well, we're in the middle of town, so we could find a shop or something to-"Phineas cut himself off and glanced upwards. "Actually, I think we should go there."

His friends followed his gaze and they all stared at the large, dark purple building that looked vaguely like Ferb's head. Although there were Christmas lights decorating the windows of most of the floors of the multi-level building, the penthouse was pitch black.

"Maybe there's just no one home," Isabella suggested.

"Or it could be someone in need of some Christmas joy," Phineas said determinedly. "Come on gang, let's go!"

The five kids trudged up to the building. The snow picked up speed and Baljeet yanked open the door to the building. "We better hurry. We might get snowed in."

"We'll be fine," Phineas assured him.

Buford entered the warm lobby of the building and glanced at the large sign on the walls. "Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated?" he said with a slight frown of confusion.

Baljeet arched an eyebrow. "What kind of company is this?"

"I think it's just a gimmick." Phineas walked over to the elevator and jabbed the button. The elevator doors slid open and everyone filed in. Phineas slapped the button labelled Penthouse and the elevator started to make its ascent.

"What song will we start off with?" Baljeet asked, rifling through his music sheets.

"Jingle Bells is always a good one," Isabella said.

"Jingle Bells it is," Phineas agreed and Isabella beamed.

Suddenly the elevator lights went, throwing the kids into darkness. The elevator jolted and stopped. Everyone groaned. "The power must have gone out!" Baljeet cried in agony.

"No duh," Buford snapped. "What was your first clue?"

"Calm down, guys." Phineas pointed to the numbers beside the door. "Before the power went out I saw that we were just reaching the penthouse. Maybe if we pry the doors open, we'll be able to get out."

"Pry the doors open with what?" Buford demanded.

"Well, we'll have to try doing so with our hands." Phineas removed his mittens and everyone else did the same.

Phineas, Ferb and Baljeet dug their nails through the cracks of the door on one side while Buford and Isabella got on the other. "One, two, three...pull!"

The kids pulled with all their strength, but they only managed to move the doors apart an inch. "That was a waste of time," Buford grumbled.

"Hmm..." Phineas thought hard. "Maybe we-"

Everyone jumped as the doors suddenly screeched open. The kids rushed to help and soon the doors were open wide enough for them to see who had rescued them.

A hunched man with a long nose and dark bags under his eyes glared at them, a crowbar thrown over one shoulder. The elevator had gotten stuck a little bit below the elevator opening, so the kids had to climb up to the penthouse level.

"Thanks a lot!" Phineas grinned.

"Don't mention it," the man in the lab coat said dismissively. "But what are you kids doing in my building?"

"Well, we saw that the owner of the penthouse didn't have any decorations up," Phineas explained. "So we thought we'd come and spread some Christmas cheer via carolling."

"Nice thought, kid. But I'm not a Christmas kind of guy. I'm indifferent to the whole she-bang."

"How come?" Phineas asked curiously.

The man looked surprised at being asked. "Well, let's just say that I had a tragic childhood but Christmas wasn't too terrible, so I have mixed feelings on that level. And I hate figgy pudding, and I'm really the kind of guy who's supposed to hate Christmas, but all I feel is an intense, burning indifference."

"What is figgy pudding?" Buford asked.

"It's a white Christmas pudding containing-hold on a minute, who are you kids, anyway?"

"Oh! Excuse our manners," Phineas apologized. "I'm Phineas, that's my brother Ferb, and these are our friends Isabella, Buford and Baljeet."

"And I am Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz." Heinz crossed his arms. "And you pretty much wasted your time coming over here."

"Nothing is a waste of time so long as you get something from it." Phineas smiled. "I suppose we should be getting home, then."

Heinz hesitated for a fraction of a second. Before he had to gone to investigate the noise coming from his elevator, he had noticed the swirling white vortex outside. He really shouldn't have cared about their well-being, but then he thought of Vanessa, and how he would have felt if someone had sent her out into a snowstorm to get home.

"There's a blizzard happening outside," Heinz spoke up as the kids were about to leave. "I don't think your parents would want you walking around in it. As long as you're quiet and don't touch my stuff, you can stay in my penthouse until the blizzard calms down."

"Thanks, Dr. D!" Phineas grinned. "We really appreciate it."

Ferb nodded his head in agreement while the others chimed their thanks. Heinz let them into his penthouse, and the first thing Phineas and Ferb noticed was the half-finished invention sitting on the purple lab table. "Whoa! Are you a pharmacist and an inventor?" Phineas asked excitedly.

"Well, not the pharmacist part. People get confused by the lab coat. But I do invent, yes. With...mixed results, I admit."

"All it takes is a little practice," Phineas said as he inspected the invention.

Heinz arched an eyebrow. "And what do munchkins like you know about building?"

"We build stuff every day!" Isabella piped up.

"Oh really?"

"Sure. My favourite is when we reunited Love Handle." Phineas smiled. "It was great!"

Heinz blinked in surprise. "Wait, you were the ones who reunited Love Handle?"

"Ferb and I like to think we have the power of persuasion," Phineas said.

Heinz snorted. "Whatever you say, kid."

Baljeet's gaze drifted to the corner of the room, where a small, bare tree was stuffed. "Why is your tree not decorated?"

"I thought I said you could stay here as long as you were quiet?" Heinz snapped. He was starting to rethink his earlier choice. They would probably be able to make it to their houses in the storm. It would give them character.

"Aw, but it looks so sad." Isabella wandered over and lifted a limp branch.

Phineas studied the doctor for a moment. "Aren't you going to celebrate Christmas with anyone?"

"None of your business," Heinz said shortly. "Look, I'm going to check on the rest of the building. The fuse box might have blown and if the lights come back on, they won't be shining up in here. Don't touch anything while I'm gone."

He stormed out and slammed the door. Phineas winced. "I didn't mean to make him upset."

Ferb walked over to the mantle and removed a framed picture. He held it up to Phineas, who squinted at it. "Hey, it's Vanessa! I didn't know Dr. D was her dad. How come she's not here?"

Ferb shrugged. Phineas hummed. "Well, for whatever reason, if she can't be here to celebrate Christmas with Dr. D, then we will!"

"But we barely know him!" Baljeet exclaimed.

"Yeah, and he's been kind of a jerk to us. And that's coming from me," Buford added.

"It's Christmas, guys. Maybe spreading Christmas spirit will help cheer Dr. D up. And besides, he did let us stay here during the blizzard," Phineas urged.

"But he told us not to touch his things," Isabella reminded him.

Phineas was not concerned. He had an idea in mind and he was not going to ignore it. "Come on, guys. Let's see if we can find his Christmas decorations."

Isabella, Baljeet and Buford glanced at Ferb. He shrugged and followed after his brother. Baljeet sighed. "I hope Dr. Doofenshmirtz does not throw us out after this."

They split up, rummaging through cabinets and closets in search for anything Christmas-y. Phineas discovered a bunch of cardboard boxes shoved into the corner of the closet by the door. He pried open the flaps and beamed. "I found the decorations, guys!"

The redhead carried the box over to the pathetic tree. Isabella rifled through and removed a string of tangled blue lights. With a quick flip of her wrist she got the lights to untangle and lie on the floor in a straight, neat line. "Wow!" Baljeet exclaimed. "How did you do that?"

"I got my patch in Artfully Untangling Christmas Lights," Isabella answered. Ferb took the lights and strung them around the tree, with Isabella following with gold garland. Baljeet hung glass ornaments on the branches, evenly spacing them apart.

"Alright, who's puttin' the star on top?" Buford asked, removing the golden star from its home of white tissue paper.

"We should let Dr. D do it." Phineas set the star on the floor by the tree. "The tree looks great, guys!"

"Does that mean we are done?" Baljeet asked.

Phineas peered into the cardboard box. "There's some garland left. We can use it to decorate the rest of the place!"

"You got it, Phineas," Isabella said with a smile.

...

Heinz shone a flashlight and studied the contents of the fuse box with little concentration. Phineas' innocent question had aroused the lingering feelings of hurt of Vanessa spending the Christmas holidays with Charlene in Hawaii.

"Dad, we can celebrate Christmas when I get back," Vanessa had promised.

But it wouldn't be the same. He would be spending Christmas alone (or worse, with Norm) and his burning indifference towards the festive holidays was twisting into the familiar feeling of hatred.

"Bah humbug," Heinz growled, slamming the metal door to the fuse box shut. Finding nothing wrong he stomped all the way back to the penthouse. He threw open the penthouse door-and froze.

His Christmas tree (which Vanessa had forced him to buy) was sparkling with gold garland and twinkling with blue lights. Silver and red garland was strung along his fireplace and lab tables. His stockings and the tree topper were lying by the base of the tree.

And the five kids who he was reluctantly playing host were sitting around the tree, staring at the lights and singing Christmas carols softly.

His angry tirade died on his tongue when he heard their melodious voices. Each one was unique, but together they blended rather well.

Heinz leaned against the doorframe and listened. In a way, the munchkins reminded him of Vanessa, when she was their age. The innocence, her joy during the Christmas season and her stubborn persistence (which she had yet to grow out of-but Heinz doubted she ever would).

Phineas turned around and beamed. "Hey, Dr. D! What do you think?"

Heinz arched an eyebrow. "Normally, I would berate you for touching my stuff when I told you not to, but I admit all the glitter makes the place look decent."

"Glad you like it," Phineas said cheerfully. "We saved the star for you to put on."

Heinz walked over and picked it off the ground. "You did all this kid, so you can put it up."

"Everyone helped," Phineas said, not wanting to take all the credit.

Isabella smiled at his modesty. "But it was your idea, Phin."

Heinz handed Phineas the star and lifted him up. Phineas gently set the star at the very tip. "It looks great."

"Yeah, it kind of does." Heinz set Phineas down. "It kind of brightens up the place, although I'm not sure how I feel about that."

"It's the power of the Christmas spirit," Phineas said.

"You know what else makes people happy on Christmas?" Buford asked. "Christmas cookies. Buford's hungry."

Isabella rolled her eyes. "How attractive. Do you always think with your stomach?"

"Shut up," Buford muttered. "Hey, Doc, you got any food?"

Baljeet sighed. "You must excuse him. He has no manners whatsoever."

Heinz could not help but grin in amusement. "I don't have much, but there might be enough to make a batch of Christmas cookies if you feel so inclined."

"I do."

Isabella grinned. "I get to decorate!"

"Fine, but don't go overboard on the sprinkles," Buford warned as the group trooped into Heinz's kitchen. "But feel free to put on as much icing as you want."

...

In the rafters, watching intently was Perry.

He had been stunned when Major Monogram had informed him that his owners and their friends had ended up at Doofenshmirtz's lair. He had rushed over, disregarding the danger on travelling in a blizzard, in hopes of being able to keep watch on the young kids and make sure Heinz didn't do anything.

But then he saw them decorating the lair with smiles on their faces. He knew Vanessa would not be spending Christmas with her father, and the lack of Christmas decorations showed the doctor's unhappiness.

And when Heinz had just stood there, watching the kids for a moment, Perry knew he was thinking the same thing he was.

The true Christmas spirit resided in those five kids.

Perry smiled. Having his nemesis and his owners together would probably bring consequences later on, but for now he saw no reason to interfere. Heinz was happy.

And why ruin that on Christmas?