Not too long after breakfast, Isabella was out of the door and on her way to Phineas and Ferb's backyard. She would've been out sooner had she not, because of her blissful and daydreaming frame of mind, put her clothes on backwards (twice in a row). As she walked, Steve accompanied her, enthusiastically commenting on everything they passed in the way only a newly created sentient robot would. It might have started to be annoying to anyone else but Isabella's mood was so bright she simply shared in his enthusiasm as they walked over to the backyard, expecting to spend the day with Phineas from there.

But he was nowhere to be seen. There was, curiously, only Ferb and Baljeet, and they seemed to have been discussing something.

"You are right," Baljeet admitted. He facepalmed in frustration. "I cannot believe I forgot to consider the eigenspace of the differential equations!"

Isabella's face fell at the lack of bright-eyed red-headed inventors, but it was only for a moment. "Hey guys! Er, where's Phineas?"

"Where is he? Where is he?" Baljeet exclaimed. "I will tell you exactly where he is. He is haunting my every waking moment!"

"Excuse me?" Isabella said, taken aback by his reaction.

He sighed. "I am sorry Isabella. It is just that Phineas kept me up all night having me check his math while he was inventing. The result is that I am now making amateur mistakes on trivial problems in the middle of the day! What will my fellow online math buddies think? They will assume I have lost my touch! They can be very angry and hurtful people you know..."

"Phineas was up all night inventing things? For me? How romantic," Isabella sighed dreamily.

"Don't worry Baljeet," Steve said brightly. "If you want a friend to play with, I'm right here!"

"What I want is a calculator and some relaxing math problems to take my mind off things!"

"Sure thing!"

At that, Steve transformed into an entire desk, complete with chair, calculator and screen with math problems. Baljeet, squealing a little girlishly in happiness, rushed over and started tapping away at the keyboard, sighing contentedly.

There was an awkward pause as Isabella and Ferb were left. Isabella cleared her throat slightly. "So...?"

Ferb pointed past her. Isabella turned and gasped - there at the gate was Phineas himself atop a brightly coloured unicorn and smiling familiarly. He looked as he usually did, no more special than normal.

Isabella still swooned. He looks so heroic atop that - oh my gosh, is that a real unicorn? It's so pink and majestic! And Phineas's red hair seems to be as long and flowing as ever in the gentle wind, his head shining brightly against the background, a chorus of angels heralding his arrival. He seems to be absolutely shimmering in the light...

Wait-

"Hi-Isabella-whatcha-dooin'?" Phineas said, jumping off the unicorn and rushing up to hug her.

"Oh Phineas..." Isabella sighed happily, melting once again in his arms. "Wait, why are you so shaking so much?"

Phineas spoke rapidly. "Oh-I'm-just-a-little-jittery-from-all-the-coffee- I-drank-last-night-to-stay-awake!"

"Er, ok?" Isabella managed before Phineas continued on.

"Anyway-it's-good-you're-here-I've-got-some-tokens -of-my-undying-love-for-you-did-I-mention-I-love-y ou-more-than-particles-in-an-army-of-flesh-eating- space-aliens?"

"Oh, er, Steve mentioned it, I think-"

"Great-wait-right-here-Isabella!"

With that, Phineas rushed off in a cloud of smoke. By the time the dust settled he was back, with a curious assortment of strange items piled up and shaking slightly in his jittery hands. He dumped the stuff on the floor and grabbed a necklace from the pile. It was heart-shaped, with the letters P and I engraved upon it, and it seemed to be constantly shining. It was the most beautiful thing Isabella had ever seen.

"This-necklace-was-made-from-a-rare-sapphire-and-I 've-designed-it-so-that-it-sparkles-whenever-I-thi nk-about-you!"

"Oh Phineas!" Isabella squealed in delight. "This is the most romantic thing-"

"And-you've-met-Steve-who-is-designed-to-make-you- and-everyone-around-him-happy -" he gestured briefly towards Steve before continuing - "And-I-travelled-to-another-dimension-to-find-you- this-unicorn-that-doesn't-exist!"

"I told you that real unicorns are pink!" Baljeet said triumphantly from over at his Steve-desk.

"Wow, I've always wanted-"

"And-I-don't-want-anything-to-happen-to-you-so-I-d esigned-a-bunch-of-stuff-for-your-safety!"

"Wha-?" Isabella blinked - in a flash, Phineas had strapped some kind of green belt to her, along with some kind of flashing bracelet, and he was just securing a strange heavy helmet to her head.

"The-belt-is-a-portable-tiger-excluder-in-case-the -one-at-City-Hall-runs-out-of-power-and-the-bracel et-is-linked-to-a-satellite-which-will-ward-off-an ything-that-attacks-you!"

"And... and the helmet?" she asked, fearing the answer.

"It's-a-temporal-anomaly-detector-which-will-prote ct-you-against-evil-time-travelling-animals-isn't- that-great-it's-great-isn't-it?"

"Right." Isabella shook her head, trying to compose herself. "So Phineas, now that you're here, can we spend some quality time-"

"Sorry-Isabella-but-I'm-still-working-on-an-awesom e-romantic-theme-park-ride-cya-later!" And with that Phineas disappeared, as fast as he had come, leaving a silence punctuated only by the sound of Baljeet tapping away on the keyboard.

"That's why I'm more of a tea person," Ferb commented at last.

Then Isabella sighed. Her hand went to the sapphire necklace. "At least he left me this." It still sparkled in her hand. "He's thinking about me, I guess..."

Ferb put his hand on her shoulder in sympathy. Then someone put their hand on Ferb's shoulder.

"C'mon-Ferb-let's-go-build-that-theme-park-ride-li ke-we-planned!"

Isabella jumped - Phineas appearing like that had surprised her. "W-wait! Can I come build it with you guys?"

"Sorry-Isabella-what-if-something-were-to-happen-t o-you-it's-not-safe-at-all-please-stay-here-where- it's-safe-ok-bye!"

He rushed out once again. Ferb let out a barely audible sigh and followed him out of the backyard, leaving Isabella standing alone with the unicorn. Which burped loudly.

"Well, I guess we'll always have burping pink unicorns..."