Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters. All Characters belong to Jeff "Swampy" Marsh and Dan Povenmire. (Forgive for any misspellings)
This story is the second in my Everything has Changed (EhC) story arc. The story will mention older siblings of Gretchen. I am developing them in to OCs.
Not so Merry Christmas
Part 2
The Next Morning
(Gretchen's POV)
It's December Twenty-Third, two days until Christmas. I am in my winter version of my Fireside Girls uniform: Orange thick jacket, Brown ski pants, my thick red winter boots, and A thick orange hat similar to the beret I normally wear in the warmer months. My mom had just dropped me off at the lodge downtown. I enter and Isabella is already there. It is just me and Isabella at the lodge right now. She is watching my facial expressions.
"What?" I ask her.
"One word for you Gretchen" She says
"And that is?" I ask
"Ferb" She says and I start to blush," Sam was right you ARE crushing on Ferb."
I clap my hand over her mouth and whisper into her ear "Do not under any circumstances tell anyone, especially Adyson"
She nods; she knows how sarcastic Adyson can get when she knows about other people's crushes. Even though Isabella and I both know about Adyson's crush on Buford Van Stomm. I remove my hand.
"You are stronger than you look Gretchen" Isabella comments.
I just shrug. Then Adyson, Holly, Katie and Milly come in to the lodge. A few seconds later Ginger comes in.
"OK Girls…wait where's Candace?" Isabella asks.
"You need to call her" Adyson says.
"She doesn't know that she is still an active member of our troop and needs to attend the meeting" I explain.
Several of the other girls start snickering. Isabella calls them to order. Then she pulls out her phone and gives Phineas a call.
"Hey Phineas, I need to talk to Candace" Isabella says.
We can tell that Phineas gave his phone to Candace.
"Candace you are still an active member of the Fireside Girls and you need to get to the lodge downtown" Isabella said in to her phone.
We can tell that Candace was surprised that she was still an active member of our troop. About 10 minutes later Candace came in to the lodge wearing her winter clothing.
"Ok now we can officially begin the meeting" Isabella started.
(Ferb's POV)
Phineas' phone rings as we are planning what to do today. It is Isabella.
"Hey Isabella" he says, "Candace? Yeah ok, here Candace it's for you"
Candace takes the phone from Phineas "Hello Isabella"
Isabella tells her something. Candace looks confused.
"So I have to be there when?" She says
"All right I will be there in a few" Candace says to Isabella.
Candace hands Phineas his phone back.
"I have got to go to a Fireside Girls meeting" she mumbled.
Phineas looks stunned he asks her "Why?"
"Isabella said I am still an active duty Fireside Girl" Candace says pulling on her boots.
Candace leaves quickly and we resume our planning.
(Isabella's POV)
"Ok Girls as most of us know, this is our last meeting of the year" I say addressing my troop.
Gretchen is sitting on my right side and Adyson is sitting on my left side. Candace looks out of place amongst the other girls. Holly and Milly are absentmindedly playing cat's cradle. Katie and Ginger were also playing cat's cradle.
"Most of us are leaving for Christmas, chief" Gretchen says quietly, no one else heard her, except me.
"What is one the agenda Isabella?" Holly asked.
"What do we normally do Holly?" I ask her in return.
"Get our 'let's help Phineas and Ferb' patch" Adyson says sarcastically.
At the mention of Ferbs name Gretchen buries her face in to the sleeve of her overcoat. She pretends she is checking the seams of her coat. I know that she did it to prevent Adyson from noticing her blushing. She then sits up again; I let out a sigh of relief as no one had noticed that Gretchen had acted weird when Ferbs name was mentioned.
"In favor?" I ask them
I count the Yes's 7-1. The one no was from Candace. She just wanted to hang out with her boyfriend.
"Ok Isabella how do I get out of the Fireside Girls?" Candace asked me.
"Oh Candace, you worked so hard to gain entrance to the Fireside Girls. Did you think we would let you go that easy?" I ask her. Adyson and Katie started to smirk.
"How do I get out" Candace said enunciating each word with a withering glare at all of us.
"It has to be a general agreement amongst the rest of the fellow troop members" Gretchen said quickly avoiding Candace's harsh glare.
Candace noted the expression on Gretchen's face. Candace's expression softened. Candace may not have agreed with the Troop's involvement with Phineas and Ferb's big ideas, but she cared for us. Candace does have a tendency to be protective of the younger kids, mainly us and her brothers, but since Gretchen's dad had died over the summer Candace had been a little bit softer in her notions to show her mom, what Phineas and Ferb are doing, when the Troop was involved.
(Phineas' POV)
The Fireside Girls just arrived with Candace. Candace whispers something into Isabella's ear. Isabella just nods. Candace tells Isabella "thank you" and takes off.
"What was that about?" I ask Isabella.
"Nothing much" Isabella responds.
Gretchen fidgets slightly. I catch Ferb looking in her direction; he has an apologetic look on his face. She noticed him do that, so she quickly looks away. I could have sworn Gretchen was blushing. But before I could decipher Gretchen's expression, Isabella distracts me with her normal "Whatcha doin?"
"Snowball catapults" I reply.
"Neat!" Isabella says.
"Ok Buford, Baljeet, and Irving are coming over to join us with the snowball fight" I say, "So we need one of you girls to be on our team, who volunteers?"
(Gretchen's POV)
"Gretchen does" Isabella says, giving me a light push.
"Izzy" I hiss in to her ear "What are you doing?"
"Letting you get better acquainted with Ferb" She whispers back.
I feel my face go red. It was a good thing that we were off to the side discussing this while the rest of the Fireside Girls were helping with the building of the catapults. Adyson notices us talking. She catches Isabella's attention. We end our conversation and quickly get to work with the catapults.
Ferb is working with me on the right side of the catapult our team will be using. It is coming along nicely.
"Gretchen" Ferb says as he reaches for one of his many tools, "I am truly sorry about yesterday. My mouth started moving before I could think"
"It's ok Ferb" I say quietly because Buford is within earshot.
(Ferbs POV)
Buford is watching me and Gretchen. She is quickly and efficiently setting up the parts so that I could tighten them down. Buford went to put a snowball down Baljeet's pants.
"Where did you learn to move so quickly" I ask her.
"I don't really know" She replies setting up yet another bolt for me.
"Can you slow down a bit" I ask her.
"what….sorry Ferb" She says a little surprised that I was about five feet away from her.
I quickly tighten down the bolts. This side is done.
"Are you really ok Gretchen" I ask her.
She gives me a sad smile before she says "I will be eventually"
We are leaning against the tree, when I noticed the mistletoe in the tree. Gretchen is standing directly beneath of it. She isn't even aware of that fact until she catches me staring up in to the tree. She looks up and simply comments "Oh Mistletoe"
I noticed that my brother, the guys and the Fireside Girls are all staring at us. Gretchen noticed them too.
"What?" She asks her fellow troop members.
"You are standing under the mistletoe and next to Ferb too," Adyson says pointing in the tree.
"Your point being" Gretchen asks her sarcasism creeping in to her voice.
"You have to kiss" Adyson says simply
I feel my face go red. Gretchen's face goes a really bright red. I can't tell who is more embarrassed, me or Gretchen. I think Gretchen is because she never does wily things like that.
It is then I realize with a start that I like her but not in the friend way anymore. I realize that I really like her, the same way Phineas likes Isabella, not that he will ever admit it. I am not sure if she even likes me in the same way. I don't want to ruin this like I did with Vanessa, but to be fair she wasn't what I originally thought of her anyway.
I take her hand and kiss it. Buford yelps "No way man you are not getting out of it that easily, the tradition is you have kissed her"
I do not like the way he said that. Gretchen is extremely red now. She takes her hand out of mine, and covers her face with it. I look over at Phineas for help, but he shakes his head.
"You have to kiss her on the lips bro" Phineas says, after this statement Gretchen stares at the ground, face bright red.
I lift her chin and give a quick kiss. She stares at the ground again then says "Can we just get back to work?"
We get back to work and play several rounds before everyone has to go home.
Mum comes in to the back yard, and its only Phineas, Isabella, Gretchen and I.
Over invention has once again disappeared when we went inside for some Hot Chocolate.
"Mom is it okay if Ferb and I Walk Gretchen and Isabella home?" Phineas asks
"Yeah but hurry, we are supposed to get snow for the next three days" Mum responds
(Isabella's POV)
We are walking to Gretchen's house. She has been staring at the ground ever since we left Phineas and Ferbs house.
We get to her house and she says "see you guys later"
We make it back to my house. I watch them go to theirs. I go to my room and call Gretchen on her cell. She picks it up on the first ring, as usual.
"Hey Izz" Gretchen says
"Hey Gret, what happened today?" I ask her.
"Mistletoe in the tree I wonder who did that" she asked
"Wasn't me, you have been with me all day" I say in my defense
"I know that" Gretchen responded
"I wasn't any of the other girls because they don't know about your crush on Ferb" I say
"Good thing too" Gretchen muttered, I hear a loud thud in the background
"Uh Gretchen what was that" I asked
"Moving the cat off of the piano" She replies.
I can hear her playing the starting notes to "Silent Night." I love how fluidly she plays it. None of the other Fireside Girls know that she can play the piano so well.
"Wow that's really nice Gretchen" I say when she stops playing
"Thank you" She says, "You are still the only one that knows"
We converse for a little while longer and then I tell her I have to get the assignment complete.
"Ok see you later and Happy Hanukah Isabella, and Happy New Year" She says
"Yeah see you later and Merry Christmas and Happy New Year Gretchen" I say and we both hang up.
(Phineas' POV)
Ferb had kissed Gretchen because of the mistletoe in the tree.
"Ferb we have to talk" I say grabbing my brother by his arm. I lead him upstairs to our room.
"What do you want to talk about" He asks me
"Do you have any idea on how the mistletoe got in to the tree" I ask him
"No" he said
"Your expression changed after you kissed her, what happened" I ask
"I think I like her, the way you just recently started liking Isabella" Ferb confides, "Do not tell anyone I am not sure until I see her again, which won't be until the new year"
"What do you-"I start before I realized that we are going to our grandparents in London this year to celebrate Christmas.
-Two Days Later December 25th, Christmas day-
(Gretchen's POV)
Finally Christmas, one of the more peaceful days of the year. Me, My mom, Sam, Glenn, Rachel and Parker, are gathered around the tree. We have already got our stockings and we are casually eating candy from our stockings.
The presents get passed out. My older siblings go first and it's my turn. I get to the final present and tears well up in my eyes when I see the writing on the tag. It was from my dad. There was a note on the top of it that said "read me first".
I open it up and I start to cry as I read it.
My dear Gretchen,
I love you and I know that you love me. I know that I won't be here on Christmas to see you open this. Know this my little girl, I will always love no matter what. Be who you are, don't ever change. You will find someone who loves you for you, like I always have. I hope you enjoy this present Gretchen and Merry Christmas.
Love, Dad
I open the present and it is a 10,000 page muti-langaugue dictionary. I smile and give my mom a hug.
It was the best Christmas present ever.
"How about I play some Christmas Carols?" I say getting up and walking over to the piano. I open the cover and start playing "Silent Night".
We start singing, and enjoying ourselves. We hear a ring at the door.
"Oh I invited the Garcia-Shapiro family over" My mom says.
Sam lets them in. Isabella and her parents come inside. My mom gestures at the seats, and they sit in them.
"Any requests?" I ask them.
"How about 'Angels we have heard on High' Gret?" Isabella asks me
"Ok Izzy" I say and start playing the song.
Sam, Isabella and I start singing along. Her parents join in. Parker and Glenn joining shortly after them. Rachel and Mom joined in as soon as Glenn and Parker did.
(Ferbs POV)
I am in London with my family. I am feeling conflicted about Gretchen. We are almost ready to eat our Christmas dinner. I sigh and close the book I am trying to read. Phineas notices this.
"What the matter o brother of mine?" He asks.
"I can't stop thinking about what happened in the back yard two days ago" I say
"Oh the kiss?" Phineas says raising his eyebrows.
"Boys dinner is ready" Mum calls up the stairs.
"Let's go Ferb" Phineas said with a squeeze of my shoulder.
I stand up and follow him. After everyone has food on their plates, conversations slowly starts around the table. Candace is sitting to my left and Phineas is on my right. Candace is chatting with Eliza, when she notices my expression.
"Hang on a second Eliza," Candace says, she leans close to me and whispers in to my ear, "What the matter Ferb?"
"Nothing" I mutter.
"You're lying" Candace whispers, she turns to mum and asks, "May Ferb and I be excused?"
"Of course Candace" Mum answers
Candace grabs my wrist and pulls me in to the hallway.
"Ok spill it" She says.
"It is nothing, I not even sure it" I begin.
"Does it have to do with the kiss in the backyard?" Candace asked interrupting me.
"Yeah" I mumble.
"Say no more, let's get back to the table" Candace said guiding back to the table, where she resumes her conversation with Eliza.
(Isabella's POV)
Even though our family doesn't celebrate Christmas, we had a great time with my best friend and Second in Command. It's like 8pm now so we headed home, but before we went Gretchen called me upstairs to her room for a minute.
"I know you don't celebrate Christmas Chief, but I got this for you" She said retrieving a package from a storage bin under her bed.
"Gretchen I don't know" I start
"Just promise me you won't open it until you get home" Gretchen said giving a look the light glinting off of her glasses.
"I promise Gretchen" I say.
"Good" Gretchen said we head down stairs and we left.
I sit on my bed with the present that Gretchen had given me. Knowing Gretchen it would probably be a book on some obscure subject. (She had given me a book like that for my birthday a year ago but then it turned out to be very handy). I slowly opened it. It was The Fireside Girls Book of Patch Records. There was a note attached to it:
Hey Izz,
I know you don't normally read lengthy books. I found this book for you. It has a record of every patch ever earned and records of patches that have been earned by whole Troops. I recommend checking out the record on the 'Help Thy Neighbor' patch page; you will find something quite interesting on that page. Oh, and it gives a list of each Troop in the back, the names of the members and whatnot.
Happy Holidays, Gretchen
I open it to the page she mentioned in her note. The page stated that our Troop: Danville Fireside Girls Troop 46231, had earned the most amount of 'Help Thy Neighbor' patches ever with each member of the Troop having at least 90 'Help Thy Neighbor' patches.
I flip to the back of the book and look up our troop. I find in a matter of seconds.
Danville Troop 46231
Isabella Garcia-Shapiro – 25463 - Troop Leader
Gretchen Adler -28011 – Second in Command
Adyson Sweetwater – 34321 – Troop Member – note Accident Prone
Katie Nelson – 55609 – Troop Member
Holly Wilson– 22381 –Troop Member
Milly Holtz – 44322 – Troop Member
Ginger Hirano -43654 – Troop Member
I can't help but laughing when I read the part about Adyson being 'accident prone' because it was so true. There were so many times when we had Gretchen tethered to Adyson, because of Adysons accident proneness.
(Gretchen's POV)
This was Not so merry but still very good Christmas.
(Phineas' POV)
We head back to the States in a week but this has been a very interesting Christmas
(Ferb's POV)
A good Christmas overall, but I need to see Gretchen as soon as we get back to the States.
(Isabella's POV)
I liked the gift Gretchen got me. I will talk with her later. It was the best Christmas day I ever had, even though I don't celebrate Christmas.
THE END