Bam! Chapter two! :D

Sorry for the wait, I was hoping to see how viewers accepted the story before posting the next addition. All right, and we continue!


Phineas peeked around the corner carefully, viewing the kitchen thoroughly before daring to enter. Isabella was, as she had said, starting breakfast.

He noticed that she broke the eggs into the frying pan with a little more force than necessary. Phineas decided to be brave and strode in the room, leaning back onto one of the barstools, but not sitting down.

"Good morning," he tried, grinning lamely in his girlfriend's direction.

"Hello," Isabella returned, never looking up from the stove. She was testing Phineas' patience and she knew it. "Fried or scrambled?"

Phineas resisted the urge to sigh in frustration as he answered, "Whatever's easier."

Isabella nodded, dropping four slices of bread into the toaster. "Scrambled it is," she responded listlessly.

"Great," Phineas replied. His response was less than sincere. Isabella looked up at him with mild interest.

"Great," she mimicked, shoveling eggs onto two plates before heading to pick up the newly made toast.

She buttered each piece efficiently but with little grace, leaving globs of margarine messily strewn across each slice of bread. She handed Phineas his plate to which she received a mumbled thanks.

And unlike most breakfast traditions, the couple chose neither to eat at the table nor the counter, instead opting to sit cross-legged on the counter themselves, plates set carefully in front of them.

The pair ate in formidable silence for a long while before both had finished, Isabella using Phineas' offered hand to leap off on the countertop and onto the floor tile below. She collected both plates and chose to merely rinse each before discarding both in the dishwasher, instead of typical hand washing.

Phineas let out a sigh. Breakfast had gone better than he had imagined, but then again, he imagined bringing up the fight in every conversation. But they had been silent.

Phineas still sat perched on the counter, with Isabella leaning against the countertop across the way. She leaned firmly on the palm of her hands, legs planted straight in front of her, the heels of her feet holding up the weight of her person.

"Why the sudden interest in children?" Phineas finally whispered albeit much reluctance.

Isabella looked up thoughtfully, seemingly attempting to choose her words very carefully.

"Does it matter now?" she asked finally, propping herself against the counter so her arms would be free to cross her waist.

Phineas grinned slightly, "Do you always answer questions with questions?"

"Do you?" Isabella replied without a moment's hesitation.

Phineas almost chuckled, running his fingers through his still-wet bangs. "I asked you first," he bickered playfully.

Isabella did not relent. "I asked you second."

Phineas opened his mouth to speak, but closed it when Isabella cut him off.

"It was just a question, Phineas. And I got an answer," she finished, simpering slightly.

Phineas looked at her with pleading eyes. "It's not that-"

"You don't want to," Isabella completed for him. "You just don't want to right now. I know. I get it, Phineas. You're not ready."

The young man looked at Isabella's face with intense determination. He knew she was hiding something; a secret, a hidden motive. Unfortunately as to what, he hadn't a clue.

"I'm not ready," Phineas repeated, the words ringing on his tongue. "I'm not ready." A pause. A beat. Realization hit him like a ton of bricks, curiosity becoming overwhelming. "I'm not ready," he repeated for the third time, earning a laugh from Isabella. But Phineas' face was serious. "Isabella… I'm not ready… are you?"

Isabella's head shot up instantly, her face paling considerably. "Excuse me?"

Phineas' face was desperate, "Are you ready to have a baby? Do you want to have a baby? Is that why you're asking me all this?"

Isabella's emotions ran frantically across her face, confusion and doubt clouding her midnight eyes. "No!" she shouted hopelessly, "No! I… I don't know, Phineas! I just. Don't. Know."

Phineas looked unconvinced, still searching for an answer for all the strange inquisitions she had presented the night before. "Well, then, why?" he shrieked, throwing his hands up in the air and bringing them to the side. "Why are you asking me all this? Why do you care so suddenly about children? Why else would you care unless you want children or you're-"

Phineas' words died in his throat. He wasn't seriously going to ask her that… was he? A thousand thoughts ran through his head at once; those of panic, fear and uncertainty. Could she be? Was she? He didn't know. And there was only one way to find out…

Phineas looked at Isabella with wide eyes. "Isabella…" he breathed quietly, "Are you… pregnant?"

Isabella's mouth dropped, and why, he didn't know. And it was killing him. Was she shocked that he would think such a thing… or shocked because he knew?

Isabella scoffed, leaning forward slightly and looking to the floor like she wanted to throw up. One look at Phineas and she felt her heart break to pieces once more.

Phineas' eyes were big and expressive. They always had been. There was no hiding the way he was feeling, not for as long as she'd known him. And right now, they were dark. He wasn't scared. He was terrified.

"No," she said finally, tears beginning to form and leak out of her eyes. "No, I'm not. I'm not pregnant."

Phineas visibly relaxed, his shoulders dropping and his eyes blinking rapidly. Isabella watched him with nothing less than sadness.

She looked up at him through the corner of her eyes, her body curled and turned away from him. Wiping her nose frantically, she sniffed, "Would it be so bad if I were?"

Phineas, still calming down, was less than wanting to continue to speak with her. Phineas sighed, anxiety still plaguing his mind. "Why?"

Isabella sobbed, her face red and shining with a river of several shed tears. "It's not that kind of question, Phineas. It's just a simple yes or no. You don't need a rhyme or reason from me, Phineas. Just tell me, please, what would you have done if I had told you yes."

Phineas looked at her seriously as she wiped her face. "I don't know, Isabella. I just don't know."

"Please, Phineas," Isabella was close to dropping to her knees, "Just say anything other than I don't know."

The young man scooted himself slowly off the countertop, perching less than gracefully on the barstool below. "I…" he began, "I'd probably… I don't know." He finally said. "I can't just assume things like this, Isabella! So much would change if you were! If we had a baby! We're so young."

Isabella's crying had long died down, now replaced by the all too familiar feeling of confusion. Her frustration was evident in her voice. "Right. You're still a kid yourself. How could you possibly raise one?"

"That's not what I mean, Isabella-"

"Then what do you mean, Phineas? Do you even know what you mean? Because I don't think you do," Isabella snapped, her words flowing from her fury and pent up emotion.

"And you do?" Phineas countered darkly.

"Yes!" Isabella cried, "Yes, I do! You're scared! You're scared and you know it! You don't want to have children because you think it's the one thing on this planet you can't handle! You say someday but you don't mean it! You've never said someday to anything! Someday means never to you. It's the one thing you're putting off. We can't put this off forever, Phineas!"

Phineas took in her words the same way a man would take poison. He knew everything she said was true, and as much as he hated it… there was nothing her could do.

"We have plenty of time," Phineas whispered carefully.

"We don't, Phineas. You don't get it. You may have all the time in the world. But I don't. What is it going to take for me to get you to see that?"

"An explanation, maybe," Phineas suggested, standing up to his full height in front of Isabella. "This is all so sudden."

Isabella nodded, turning on her heel to leave the room quietly. Before exiting, she leaned her forearm on the doorframe, much like she had in their bedroom earlier that morning.

"Yes," Isabella agreed. "It was sudden for me as well."

"What do you mean?" Phineas asked, smiling in disbelief despite his annoyance.

Isabella left the room swiftly saying nothing but a soft, "I'd like to be alone," before disappearing into the tower.

Phineas cleared his throat shortly after Isabella's departure, mocking the woman's previous stance and leaning on the countertop.

"Well," he whispered to himself. "That could have gone better." Phineas paused, running over Isabella's final statement in his mind repeatedly but finding no apparent reasoning.

"Ugh!" Phineas growled, throwing his head back bitterly, "What the Hell did she mean?"


Hmm. What did she mean? Ha, just kidding. I know. ;)

Any predictions? Haven't started the final chapter just yet, but I'll hopefully have it finished tomorrow evening. Review make me smile. :)