As soon as Alton was out of sight, Hal leaned against a wall and breathed heavily. He didn't think he could take another step. Hopefully the stairs would slow down his brother down long enough for him to find Uncle Perry. Alton was such a wet blanket sometimes. All Hal wanted to do was see Uncle Perry on a real mission. What was wrong with that? And he was getting exercise. He didn't see what Alton was so upset about.

Someone screamed. "Who are you and what are you doing in my house?"

His aunt Candace had just exited one of the rooms. It was so weird seeing her like this. She practically looked like Amanda.

"Hi, aunt Candace," he said, still leaning against the wall.

Candace blinked a couple of times, then scrutinised him. "Are you like... Ferb's long-lost cousin or something?"

That was stupid. "No, I'm his son from the future!" He looked nothing like any of the uncle Beckhams, not even the ones with a sense of direction.

"You're from the future?" said Candace, staring at him. She chewed her lip. "That makes sense, I guess... But what are you doing here? Did something bad happen?"

Hal checked behind a picture frame. "We just wanted to hang out with dad and uncle Phineas back when they were our age."

"We?" Aunt Candace was beginning to use her scary voice. But she was still a kid and it was still the past, so there was probably no danger of Hal's mom appearing out of nowhere and grounding him for a decade.

"Me and Alton and Xavier and Fred and Alicia!" said Hal. "It was Alicia's idea!"

"Alicia," aunt Candace repeated.

Hal nodded, and poked at the carpet in case there were hidden doors underneath. "She's my cousin. She's outside."

Aunt Candace immediately left the room.

Hal heard her say "And what are you doing here?"

"Once I get up the stairs, killing Hal," responded Alton.

There was a short pause, and then aunt Candace said "So... I guess you're Alton?" Alton must have nodded, because she added "Uh... Do you need any help?"

"If you don't mind," said Alton. He was using his talking to adults voice, even though aunt Candace was still a teenager.

Hal didn't stick around to hear the rest.

.

Xavier walked down the street, staring at his map. He wrinkled his forehead. It seemed very inefficient compared to his GPS. How had people in the past ever got anywhere?

He still wasn't completely sure what he was doing, but he had a good sense of direction. As long as he remembered where the city was, he'd be okay.

With his aunt's help, Alton finally made it to the top of the stairs. "Thanks." He didn't want to say any more in case aunt Candace freaked out. She was already teetering on the edge. He could tell.

"Don't mention it," she replied. "Brothers, huh?"

Alton smiled at her, and set off to look for Hal. He didn't know what to think about her brothers comment. Was there something bad about her brothers? Had they... argued? Or... fought?

Alton began to wonder how much of his parents' childhood he'd really understood before today.

"Hal?" he called. "Come on Hal, you shouldn't be in here."

No answer. He hadn't really expected one.

Alton tried to put himself in Hal's head. Where would he go first, if he was Hal...? He wished Fred was there.

.

This was great. Alicia was actually hanging out with a younger version of her dad! And uncle Ferb was there, and Fred was still being her, so it was like double the awesome! Maybe even quadruple!

The sliding door slammed open and aunt Candace stormed outside. "Okay, what's going on out here?"

Alicia's dad turned around. "Hi, Candace! Guess what?"

"Our future kids are here to 'hang out'," said aunt Candace flatly.

"That's right!" Alicia's dad said.

"Aunt Candace!" said Alicia, waving.

"Hi mom!" said Fred, also waving.

"You!" said aunt Candace, looking at Alicia. "Are you... Alicia?"

Alicia nodded. Wow, aunt Candace already knew her name! She was really smart!

"And you're... Phineas's daughter?"

Alicia nodded again. "I'm not telling who mom is!"

"It could mess up the future!" Fred agreed.

"Did you hear that, Candace?" said Alicia's dad. "I'm gonna get married!"

Aunt Candace was less enthused. "I'm shocked." She turned back to Alicia. "Why did you come back in time, again?"

"Because we could!" said Alicia. "And because Xavier and Fred got to meet dad and uncle Ferb as kids and me and Alton and Hal didn't!"

Aunt Candace put a hand over her face. "Ugh. Why am I always the one who has to deal with this?"

"Uncle Phineas and Ferb told us to seize the day, so we did!" announced Fred.

"Which ones?" asked aunt Candace.

Fred pointed at Alicia's dad and uncle Ferb.

"That's right!" said Alicia's dad.

Alicia wished that she could have been there for that. Apparently there'd even been a song. She loved the songs.

"What did you guys do?" said aunt Candace to her brothers. "Did you mess up the future?"

Alicia's dad looked thoughtful. "I don't think so..."

"You'd never mess up the future, dad!" said Alicia, laughing. She couldn't tell if he was joking or if her dad just hadn't become perfect yet.

Aunt Candace put a hand over her face again. She peeked at Fred through her fingers and said, "Aren't you my son?"

"Yeah!" said Fred. Then he added "I'm Fred!"

"Why are you being so... Weren't you calmer last time?"

"That's 'cause I was being Xavier!" said Fred, like it was obvious. Because it was. He pointed at Alicia. "Now I'm being her."

"He's being me," agreed Alicia. It was kind of flattering.

"Being her?" aunt Candace repeated. "Why can't you just be yourself?"

"Now you sound like mom!" said Fred cheerfully.

She sounded like every adult ever. None of them seemed to get Fred, except for Alicia's parents, of course.

"Since I am your mom, or... future mom," said aunt Candace, "that means I can at least bust you, right?"

"Nope!" Alicia announced. She'd worked it all out in her head. "You're out of the same-person zone."

"Let me guess," said her dad. "Two, no, three years!"

"Two and a half!" Alicia corrected him. Wow. He really wasn't perfect yet.

"Fine," said aunt Candace, sounding fed up. She pointed at Fred. "But when I catch you up, you are so busted!"

She started to walk off, then came back. "By the way, I'm still telling mom."

"Okay!" said Alicia's dad. "Have fun, Candace!"

.

"I'm glad you guys could come on such short notice," Candace said.

"Anything for you, sis!" replied Phineas.

Candace smiled. She had the best brothers in the world.

If only she had the best kids in the world.

"Ferb had been meaning to try out his new matter transport design," added Phineas.

Ferb blinked a couple of times.

Candace wondered how he had the time to design new physics breaking devices with such a demanding day job. She could barely juggle having a career with raising her kids. Ferb was the most skilled person she'd ever known, and she'd known a lot of people.

Phineas picked up a blueprint off the ground. "I think these are the plans to the time machine... This is pretty good!"

Amanda came outside. "Mom, I can't- Oh, uncle Phineas and Ferb! I didn't know you were visiting!"

Phineas waved. "Hi, Amanda! We're just here to help Candace out."

"Wait a second," said Amanda, looking around in confusion. "Where are Xavier and Fred? They always sit under that stupid digital tree! Where are they?"

"They're back in time," said Phineas. He rubbed his chin. "I guess I should've mentioned to Alicia that she wasn't supposed to time travel..."

"They don't even know how to do that!" Amanda insisted. "They're hiding somewhere! I'll find them!"

She looked behind the digital tree.

"Doesn't hiding qualify as doing something?" said Candace, amused.

"No!" said Amanda. She looked over the fence.

"We should have another time machine ready in about ten minutes," said Phineas.

Ferb held up some fingers.

"Make that five minutes," Phineas corrected himself.

"Thanks a lot, guys," said Candace. "I owe you."

.

Hal knocked on a mirror in the bathroom, and it slid back to reveal a secret passageway.

"Yes!" he said, more loudly than he intended.

He heard the distinctive sound of his brother's footsteps, so he hurriedly tried to hoist himself onto the sink to reach the passage. Just as he finally managed it, the door flew open.

"Hal, get down from there!"

Hal jumped down the passage and onto the slide, hoping that the door would close automatically and Alton wouldn't be able to follow.

As he got further down, he became aware of a hum, and then a roar. And then he landed.

He was in a blue, steely room full of awesome secret agent stuff. The roaring seemed to be coming from a vehicle in the centre, which looked vaguely like a small jet. A very modern one, too. Weird to see it so far in the past.

Hal ducked behind the jet and peeked out. There, on the screen opposite, was a man, who seemed to be yelling. Hal couldn't make out anything he was saying, the jet was too loud. And in the seat in front of the screen, was... He was facing away, so Hal couldn't be sure, but it looked like his uncle Perry.

Yes! He'd always wanted to see him in action! The only time he ever got to see any secret agent in action was when his dad had to rescue him, and half the time Hal was blindfolded or tied to a table or something and couldn't get a good view. His dad would never let him come along on a mission. He said it was too dangerous.

Someone grabbed his arm and pulled him around to face them. It was Alton, and he didn't look happy.

Alton gestured angrily, so Hal pointed at uncle Perry. Alton glanced over, then glared at Hal. Then he looked back at uncle Perry with his mouth open.

Hal followed his gaze. Uncle Perry was coming over! Hal jumped into the jet and hid behind the front seat. If uncle Perry found him, he'd probably tell him it was too dangerous, just like his dad. But if he didn't find him, maybe he'd get to see something cool.

Alton struggled in after Hal, and was talking very fast and probably saying some bad words when uncle Perry hopped in, closed the top, and blasted off.