Chapter One:

of the time where the men set the stage and word about a wedding gets out

Seven years have passed since the graduation of Danville High School's Class of 2016. For the Flynn-Fletcher boys, it has been a pleasant blur of mom's apple pies and mornings in foreign places, evening calls and sounds of planes' engines, hellos and goodbyes and hellos again.

For the brothers, it is the first time they have taken different paths at the crossroads.

Ferb ends up choosing politics, and in time obtains his own place of glory. Phineas vies for upholding his dreams of creating and for a short point he studies engineering in Boston, leaving a promise of return to the woman he loves. The boys are placed apart for the first time since they met each other, but the bond between them is so connected, so intangible to even their closest friends that not even a promise of meeting again needs to be spoken. It's already known.

Ferb opts to take the farther path because the ties to his home, though strong and enduring, are more resilient than Phineas's bond to Danville. The connection between Ferb and Danville bends, but never breaks. He has less to tie him there than Phineas does. Not much less, but just enough to make leaving a little more tolerable.

He first travels to San Francisco, accompanied by Django, who he believes could really use the time away from Danville. He expects that once he arrives, he will devote his time to studying, perhaps work an internship, and move on to another place to observe other political systems. What he is not expecting is her. The teacher's assistant. Vanessa Doofenshmirtz. It's been years since he has seen her anywhere near the Tri-State Area, but when he sees her walk into his classroom with her head high, casting a cool look over the class, he knows without a doubt who the teacher in black is. As the strict, cool woman offers him a knowing smirk while he leaves class, he then realizes she is no longer the same teenage girl he was once infatuated with.


Django doesn't seem to mind at all when Ferb announces during lunch on the weekend that he has decided to change his study plan from two years to four. San Francisco has gorgeous women and a colorful city scene. There's plenty to do and see, not to mention all the work he has from his internship with the San Francisco Chronicle. Ferb's decision to stay in the city past his previous expectations makes for convenience when he needs a place to escape (hide from) crazy women from the night before. The city offers foods to sample, sights to see, women to appreciate, and a friend to tease about his unexpected unwillingness to leave the West Coast.

Most importantly, it keeps him busy, putting memories of Danville into the recesses of his mind.

Across the mainland, Baljeet is expectedly tied down in schoolwork. Django, in his emails, can hardly resist the chance to mock him and tell him to lighten up ("Have you even been to a frat party yet?"), but the Indian boy always gives a dry reply ("Some of us are concerned about having an acceptable resume upon entering the work field, Mr. Brown.").

Baljeet still has time to communicate with his friends, and Buford is, surprisingly, a pretty interesting, if not ridiculously entertaining, correspondent. While the other boys have gone away, the burly giant has decided to stay in town ("Buford ain't goin' to waste his time bein' surrounded by a bunch of dweebs.") and take over his family's business. He goes to Manly Gym: A Gym for Men now. It is there he makes his big break when the owner notices him and asks if he ever considered a career in professional football. It is no surprise to anyone either that when the pro team from the city one hour away holds try-outs the following month, they pick him up in a snatch. After his first game of the season, Buford Van Stomm becomes the talk of every sports channel, newspaper, and magazine in the country.


The first time Ferb actually spoke with Vanessa, she greeted him with an old sort of cordiality that surprised a nearby classmate. Conspiratorially, said classmate told him that rumor had it that she moved to the area five years ago after she had broken off a serious relationship. And despite the fact she was periodically asked out by one colleague or the other, she continued to refuse all offers to date, making her an enigma among the students on campus. Yet Vanessa, regardless of how she might have acted around everyone else at school, allows him to stop her outside the classroom. They have coffee at the brew house on campus and he says nothing when she paid for her own drink. Simply, he lets her be. She spends some time with him, discussing this and that, and around the ninth conversation she begins to let slip small clues to the reason she came to the City on the Bay.

Isabella was right, he thinks as Vanessa speaks, in saying that truth can be found in rumors.

For a woman who really does not give much in a conversation, and being a person who prefers to observe, he recognizes the trust she is placing in him, and decides to never forget this moment.


Ferb, Vanessa finally started to acknowledge during her sixth class with him, has matured most attractively in the duration of his adolescence. He doesn't have Monty's obvious masculinity or Johnny's grungy style. He is gentle in spirit, proper in manners, and powerful in his presence. She likes the quiet playfulness in his smiles. He's a good-looking young man, tall and handsome, and his brightly colored hair earns him more than his fair share of curiosity.

He is very patient and attentive, always listening to her, watching out for her wellbeing. If she did not know any better, she would think he liked her. Only she catches the interested looks girls give him, and the curious glances he gives them back. While he finishes his classes with her, she earns her PhD, and becomes an official professor at the university for the following year. Now, instead of anticipating seeing him in class, she looks forward to Thursdays because he always comes by to give her a ride home.

One Thursday, the year she starts going by Dr. Doofenschmirtz (Yes, it was a weird in the beginning), he isn't there. She wanders down the hallway confused until she hears his voice around the corner, "Of course… I'll be there…the twelfth at five. Of course…Yes, I'll make sure to dress nicely…Yes…Alright…Take care…Bye…I love you too."

Vanessa can hear the click of an ended call and quietly hurries back to her classroom. His footsteps get closer as she frantically searches her bag for her keys and she all but jams her keys into the clock. When he rounds the corner, she twists her keys to the left as calmly as she can and faces him, giving him a blithe smile that does not quite convey what she is feeling. "Hey Ferb, sorry for taking so long, I had a few papers to sort out." He simply nods and takes her bag for her. Instead of walking next to him as they go to the car, she trails a few steps behind.

The car ride is very quiet and Vanessa forgets to change the radio station in his car as she often does. She stares out her window in deep thought, unaware of the confused looks Ferb throws her way. Three blocks from her house, or her father's house really, he pulls over to the side of the road in front of some nondescript homes. "What?" She looks over startled, her home is a few streets down. "Ferb," her face has complete confusion written all over it, "Why did you park here?"

The young man sighs and turns to her, "Vanessa, how much of the conversation did you hear?"

Her face contorts into a mask of caution, a specialty of hers when it comes to defensive mechanisms, and she says curtly, "Enough."

Ferb relaxes against the back of his seat. "I think the last thirty seconds would be a more appropriate answer."

"Huh?" she asks stupidly, the veneer cracking.

He closes his eyes, "I could hear you coming down the hallway."

Her own eyes widen.

"My cousin Emily is holding her engagement party this Saturday and I was hoping I could convince..."

She wants to slap herself for jumping to conclusions. "Oh—"

"You to accompany me as my date," he finishes in a rush.

"Date?" She must look like a fish right now.

"Date," he affirms and straightens up again to look at her for answer. He throws her an innocently boyish smile.

Oh God, she thinks when she feels her breath catch, so that's what it feels like when you love someone. "Okay."


So Ferb spends the first three years studying near Django, dining with Vanessa, and studying the new and exciting world around him. He studies philosophy from the Greeks, Romans, and other long gone civilizations. He decides to study German because his girlfriend offers to help. And he dabbles and completes a few majors in record times (It's only a few spare classes here and there really). He makes inventions without input from his brother—it's tough and unsettling at first without Phineas' voice echoing beside him—, and he realizes just how far his mind can go.

At the end of the fourth year he meets Charles Pablo DiChero-Chikafuji, governor of California, when the man visits his campus. The man's name is without a doubt absurd, a mouthful, and hard to remember, but not only does he himself reflect the diversified culture of the West Coast City, but he is really America defined. A plethora of mixed ethnicities, exceedingly bright, a charismatic leader, a classic rags-to-riches story, and a devotion to increasing the welfare his state of his state, Ferb knows a future President when he sees one.

Mr. D.C., as Ferb jokingly refers to him, seems to notice something in Ferb too because the next year he's helping the middle-aged politician launch his campaign, and twenty months later he's sitting atop the United States Capitol, Vanessa at his side, as the forty-sixth president is sworn in.


Then the inevitable arrives in a postmarked gilded letter. No riddles nor codes nor puzzles to get the message. He reads it, and reads it again, and there is such an insurmountable amount of happiness swelling up inside him that it seems impossible that he is not leaping out of his chair and frightening the rest of the staff. So he does both, clutching the invitation in his hand he jumps out of his seat and pulls out his cell phone, dialing his wife, laughing until tears roll down his cheeks. (It is so absurd that when his assistant sticks his head in to see what the commotion is about, he darts back out, almost afraid by the very unusual scene). He dries the tears with his sleeve and relates the news to Vanessa. He has wanted this, waited for it, known it would happen and yet now that it finally has, now that the event he foresaw more than fifteen years ago is coming to pass, there is something strange and wonderful about it. He feels surprised, and the fact that it could still shock him somehow is a when he knows it should not be.

Ferb walks briskly to the Oval Office, and the Secret Service men have become so accustomed to his green hair that they rarely blink at the sight of it. He nods his head to the President in respect for his abrupt arrival and when he look the older man in the eye, Charles can see the lightness dancing in the young man's eyes.

"I have to go home for a few weeks," he declares.

"So suddenly," the President raises a curious eyebrow, "Out with it, Ferb, I don't you need you combusting all over the rug. What's so urgent?"

Ferb's face splits into the widest grin that man has ever seen from the usually solemn young man. "My brother and his girlfriend are getting married."


Django is outside the nursery, looking for the latest addition to his family when he hears his nephew's excited high pitched voice. "I want MOMMY!" he squeals as his reluctant father handed the toddler over to his sister.

"I see you haven't won your son over yet," he jokes as his brother-in-law reaches him.

"That's what I get for letting her name him after a nature," John grumbles before turning his attention to the babies.

Django snickers, "Which one is she?"

"Fourth to the left," John says proudly. "Jenny is still sleeping but she said to wake her up when you guys arrived."

"Guys?"

"Django!"

Django whirls around to meet the smiling faces of his parents as they rush toward him in the sterile white hospital hallway. He smiles. Is that gray hair on his dad?

Thirty-minutes later, John takes his son and mother-in-law to go meet the newest addition to the Brown clan. Django sits in the stiff, uncomfortable chairs with his dad while they wait for their turn to go.

"So can we expect you around more often, son?"His father's warm baritone fills the room and gives the comfort and support he used to soak up in as a kid.

Django shakes his head. "Just a few weeks. Figured I couldn't miss Jenny's kid, especially since she got really emotional when I missed Chaos's birth; and my friends Phineas and Isabella are getting married in a about two weeks. Didn't want to miss that."

Beppo Brown nods, "Your mom and I are going too. Can I look forward to any visits in the future?"

Django shakes his head, brown hair swaying along. "Wouldn't plan on it if I were you."


"Need help with that?"

Baljeet looks up as from his luggage that lies in a heap on the floor. His face lights up. "Phineas Flynn!"

The redhead grins, "The one and only!"

Baljeet embraces his old friend, "Long time no see, I can't believe I am back here."

"Neither can we," a clear, feminine voice titters in Phineas's place.

Baljeet looks over and snatches the other person in a hug, "Isabella! I could've sworn you were not there a moment ago."

Isabella laughs, "I was just coming back from the flight schedule listings when I saw you struggling to get your luggage from the conveyor belt there. Nice to see you're working on your contractions. "

He smiles sheepishly. He catches sight of Phineas struggling with pulling his luggage's handle "Oh…I might have brought one too many books."

"I'll say," Phineas grunts as he tries to haul the large, heavy bag over his shoulder.

"Don't hurt yourself sweetie!" Isabella giggles and turns to her new guest, "C'mon. We've got the car parked outside."

Baljeet follows complacently, listening to Phineas groan behind him. Isabella sees his worry and adds, "Don't worry about him 'Jeet. He could use some weight-lifting."

"Hey!" her fiancé interjects.

"No harm meant," Isabella laughs, "I'm just trying to make sure that you'll have enough stamina for our wedding night." She throws a wink over her shoulder that makes her fiancé miss a step and end up on the asphalt.

Baljeet steps up and grabs the handles of his bag from the hard ground, "I think that I will just carry this from now on."

Phineas huffs, face blushing red, and Isabella pats him on the back.

"C'mon, honey, I'll let you show me what you've got planned for today when we get home."

"Try to keep it PG before nine." Baljeet smirks as he walks past them. He chuckles when he hears Phineas shout at him from behind.

It's nice to be home.


Next chapter

"Do you you guys know who Potus is?"

"You mean capital P-O-T-U-S?"

"Yea."

"It stands for President of the United States. Why?"

"Because I have eight missed calls from some person named POTUS."

"Isabella?"

"Yes?"

"Please don't tell me your fiancé did something to jeopardize national security."