PLEASE DO NOT GET MICHAEL AND MICHAEL MIXED UP IN THIS STORY. IT WAS A MISTAKE I DID NOT REALIZE I HAD MADE UNTIL IT WAS TOO LATE TO FIX ;P ;P ;P ;P ;P ;P

Anyway….

I DO NOT OWN PHINEAS AND FERB, OR BELLE FROM ONCE UPON A TIME(she gets a cameo-of sorts- in this beginning of this chapter). ANY CHARACTER YOU DO NOT RECOGNIZE IS PROBABLY MINE

(Michael's POV)

It took me a moment to remember everything that happened the night before when I woke up. I sighed when I did and laid my head on my paws.

Michael- always the early bird, like his mother- was already awake and eating. Lydia was making her own breakfast in the kitchen, talking on the phone.

She was walking around something. The cages. "Sorry, Belle, I can't come over today. Caleb's feeling sort of sick, I've got to get Michael and Annie to school, and we've got three criminals in the house right now."

She was silent for a moment, then said, "Yes, of course we're gonna take them to prison! That's another thing I'm doing today." Lydia spotted me and waved.

Footsteps pounded down the stairs. I turned and saw Annie running down. "Mommy, I-"

Lydia turned to her daughter and placed a finger on her lips, motioning to the phone.

I sighed and got out of bed, walking into the living room. Dad was sitting on the couch, typing something in on his laptop. He smiled when he saw me. "You alright, Michael?"

"Yeah," I nodded. "What are you doing?"

"Just letting Major Monogram know we've got a few prisoners we're bringing in."

"Oh. Is Mom still asleep?"

Dad nodded. "If she doesn't wake up soon I'll have to wake her up. Her and your sister."

I chuckled. "We really leaving that soon?"

"I'm hoping to leave after you're done eating. If your mother and sister aren't awake by then, they'll have to eat on the way."

"Are you sure you're not evil?"

Dad smirked and continued typing. "Everyone has their moments."

"Who are you talking to?" Annie asked Lydia.

Lydia smiled. "I'm talking to Grandma. Do you want to say hi?"

Annie nodded, and Lydia said something. Probably to her step-mother. "Annie wants to talk to you."

Lydia looked over at Dad and me. "Are you okay with me putting the phone on speaker?"

We nodded, and Lydia smiled and clicked one button on the phone. A female voice with a British accent rang out from the phone. "Hello, Annie."

"Hi, Grandma Belle!" the little girl squealed.

Perry laughed. "If Annie keeps that volume up, I won't need to worry about waking Pixie and Emily up."

Sure enough, a few minutes later, Mom came down the stairs. "Hey," Dad said, smiling at her.

Mom smiled back, and Dad continued. "Is Emily still asleep?"

Pixie nodded. "I didn't wake her up because I didn't know when you wanted us to leave. Do you want me to go wake her?"

"Let's give her a few more minutes," Dad replied.

"Okay." Mom came over and sat next to Dad. She leaned her head on Dad's shoulder.

"Do you want to get something to eat before we leave?" Perry murmured.

"I'm not hungry," Pixie replied softly, closing her eyes.

My stomach growled. "I better go get my breakfast."

(...)

Emily still wasn't awake by the time I finished my breakfast. I looked over at my parents. They were nuzzling and enjoying each other's company.

I sighed. It looked like it was up to me to wake Emily. I grinned and shrugged. Oh, well.

I walked upstairs and opened the door to Emily and Annie's room. Emily was sleeping peacefully on the bed. Sorry, Emily, I hate to do this. I paused, then changed my mind. Actually, I don't.

I reached for my little sister and began tickling her. Emily shrieked, laughed, and began kicking.

After a couple minutes, I stopped, letting Emily catch her breath. She glared at me and used that breath in a very expected way. "Michael!"

I smirked. "Yes?"

Emily let out a much exaggerated sigh and got out of bed. She yawned.

"Are you really still tired?"

"Well, last night was kind of noisy, in case you didn't remember!" Emily snapped.

I grinned. Emily was definitely not a morning person. "Oh, well, I might as well have breakfast."

Emily didn't get to keep her plan. As soon as Dad saw Emily, he said, "Great! Let's get going."

"What?" I could hear the whine in my sister's voice. "Dad, I haven't eaten yet!"

"Emily, it's nearly lunchtime anyway," Pixie sighed. "You'll survive without one meal."

"Fine," Emily grumbled.

Dad stood up and helped Mom up. "Besides, I don't think you want criminals in the house any longer."

I winced. I knew Dad was right, but still... My old friends, criminals. You used to be one, I reminded myself.

Dad walked over to Lydia, who had gotten off the phone with her step-mother. "Do you think you could help us get them-" Dad gestured to Daisy, Leo, and Courtney- "to HQ?"

Lydia hesitated. "Well, Linda and Lawrence are still asleep, so I can ask Caleb to watch the kids- if I go, I'll be back before it's time for them to get to school. If he feels up to watching Annie and Michael, then I'll come."

I sat down on the kitchen floor and stared at Courtney. She was still sound asleep, thanks to Lydia's magic. It was hard to believe that this cotton-furred angelic-looking lagomorph sleeping in front of me was Dennis the rogue rabbit's daughter.

I lost my best friends. I had been aware of that for years- and especially last night- but it really hit me hard now. I attempted to blink back tears. It didn't work.

Directing my head to the ground, I squeezed my eyes shut. I could feel the tears drip from my eyes, and they slid down my cheeks to the floor.

I felt Mom's arm wrap around me, and I buried my face in her fur, crying. Mom rocked me back and forth slowly. "I'm so sorry, sweetheart," she murmured.

(Perry's POV)

I watched sympathetically as Pixie comforted Michael. I would have helped, but my mate seemed to have it under control.

Lydia, who had apparently gone upstairs at some point, ran back down. I chuckled. She was married and had been a mother- of twins- for eight years, and, somehow, she still had hardly changed. Caleb followed his wife a bit more slowly.

Lydia came up to me. "Caleb said he was feeling good enough to watch the kids until I'm back. Let's go."

(Michael's POV)

I sat in my seat behind Dad in the rocketcar. Mom was sitting next to Dad, and Emily was sitting behind Mom. Next to me.

I glanced over at Lydia, who had her own little thing. I had no idea what it was, but it was some kind of flying vehicle Lydia had created. And since she had magic, she didn't need to drive.

Daisy, Courtney, and Leo were all still asleep; they were riding in Lydia's...thingie. I glanced over at Courtney. The sun's glow made her fur shine more than normal.

I attempted to clear my head and glanced over at Emily. She was talking with Mom and Dad. "Will I EVER get a summer break? Or a spring break or Christmas break, for that matter?"

I grinned. Emily was an AIT, and the Agents In Training not only learned how to fight and O.W.C.A's rules and stuff like that, they got just as much normal school as regular kids did. Well, a bit more, actually.

"Nope," Dad said, not even glancing back.

Emily huffed and looked to her right side. "Normal kids get breaks from school, you know."

"Normal children aren't spies-in-training," Mom replied, turning to look at Emily.

Emily sighed, yawned, and leaned her head against her seat, closing her eyes.

Oh, no, you're not falling asleep again. "Hey, Lydia," I called, "could I have a cup of cold water?"

I held my paw out, and Lydia waved her hand- apparently, she didn't know how to snap. A cup with ice cold water appeared in my paw from a cloud of purple magic.

Smirking, I held the cup over Emily, tilting it slightly. My sister's eyelids fluttered, and she spotted the cup hanging ominously over her head. She let out a piercing shriek and sat up.

Lydia, who had apparently been watching, laughed. "We're you seriously going to do it?"

"If she didn't wake up in time."

"I wasn't asleep!" Emily snapped.

"Do what?" Mom asked, turning back around.

"Michael was going to dump some water on me!"

Dad laughed. "I'm alright with that, as long as you dry the car up afterwards."

I grinned and shrugged. "No problem!"

"Dad!" Emily complained. She paused, then looked at the sky. "Although," she mused, "I guess getting wet wouldn't be horrible. It's July, it's late morning, the sun's shining brightly. I guess I wouldn't freeze."

Emily continued talking, and, eventually, her mindless prattling began to bug me. I leaned forward. "Could you get her to shut up?" I whispered to Dad.

"If talking's what'll keep her awake, we should let her." I could tell Dad seemed to be reminding himself that, too.

Mom leaned over to Dad. "I was just like that when I was her age."

"I bet so," Dad responded.

Pixie just looked at her mate, and Perry continued. "Do you remember how much you were talking when we first met?"

"Fair enough."

Emily quieted down the closer we got to HQ. When Dad parked, I noticed she was asleep. I sighed, grinned, and poured the water on her.

Emily moaned and opened her eyes. She realized she was soaking wet and glared at me. "Michael!"

I snickered, and Emily got out of the rocketcar and shook herself. "I'm still wet," she muttered.

Lydia, who had parked her thing a minute before, threw Emily a rag. My sister grabbed it and began drying herself off.

Dad reached into the glove compartment and tossed a roll of paper towels to me. "Catch."

I caught it with my paws and started cleaning up the water.

Mom pulled out her phone and called- well, Major Monogram, probably. "We're here now," I heard her say. "Yes, so are the prisoners."

I winced and heard Mom continue. "Could you send out a few agents to help us get them inside? Only a few because Lydia put the prisoners to sleep, and they shouldn't be waking up until tonight." It felt weird to only hear half of the conversation.

A few minutes later, HQ's doors opened, and three- wow, Major Monogram took "a few" specifically- agents came outside.

I looked up to see who they were. Bethel the bear- or Agent B, Ethan the eagle- or Agent E, and Barry the bulldog- or Agent Barry. The bulldog crossed his arms and glared at me. "Michael."

I met his glare steadily, looking him in the eye. "Barry."

We never really got along. It started with a simple, we're-suppose-to-hate-each-other-we're-on-opposite-sides thing, but then...then I poisoned him. I had poisoned a lot of the other agents, too, but Barry, he really- he really hated me for it. Which was actually funny, because there were some agents who nearly died from my poison, and Barry was not one of them.

The bulldog crossed his arms. "Better hurry up there, or you're gonna be late for your own class."

I looked at my watch. Oh, crud. I tossed the final paper towel on the pile of used towels, picked up the pile, and began running into HQ. I tossed the towels in the trash can. "Come on, Emily!"

So, what did Barry mean, "You're gonna be late for your own class?" Find out next chapter ;P