The evening after the food chain experiment seemed to drag on and on. Jeremy was off tomorrow! He was going to be able to spend the whole afternoon at the house. It was going to be great. But the time between then and now just couldn't go by fast enough. Thus it was that Candace decided to retreat to bed almost an entire hour earlier than normal - hoping that at least in sleep the hours would quickly pass.

Right at the very first crack of dawn, when only the faintest hints of red and orange were tinting the deep-purpley black sky, she woke.

Ten. was her first thought. He's coming over at ten!

Turning over in bed, she saw, much to her dismay, that it was all of 5:30. 5:30! There were still four and a half long hours between now and ten.

Maybe going to bed so early last night wasn't such a good idea after all.

She pulled the bedcovers up over her head and lay still underneath them, desperately hoping for sleep to return.

She lay there until the space under the blankets grew uncomfortably warm. Tossing them off, she stared up the sloped roof, mindlessly counting the popcorn scattered across it. Growing bored, she picked up her phone from the nightstand, opened her camera and wiled away the hours trawling through her vast archive of photographs of Jeremy - a large portion of which had been taken on the day she and her brothers had invented those slow shoes. At last, she reached the end of the expansive album and let the phone fall back onto her bed. Her room looked to be considerably brighter now than it had been. Perhaps this wait wouldn't be so bad after all. She rolled over and looked at her clock.

It was 5:33.

Agh! Time seemed to have ground to a halt. It was almost like wearing the slow shoes again. She sat up disgustedly, swinging herself off the bed and walking over to the window. Looking out at the backyard, her heart sank at the sight of the stars still visible in sky - and at the noticeable lack of any sun breaching the distant horizon.

What was there to do? No one else in the house would be up for another hour at least. She returned to her bedside and picked up her phone from the place it had fallen.

are you awake?! she texted Stacy. A long minute passed and the message remained unread.

Was everyone else in the entire world asleep? She set the phone back on the nightstand and paced endlessly around the floorspace in the bedroom, burning a pattern into the carpeted floor. Only the glowing digits of her alarm clock, along with whatever feeble light was struggling in the window, provided any sort of illumination for the room.

Maybe she should go downstairs or something - there might be more to do down there. Dressing quickly in the dim light, she stepped over to her bedroom door and gently tried the knob, gingerly pulling the door open.

The rest of the house was perfectly quiet and still, with only the subtle humming of the air conditioning unit providing any sort of background noise. She was hungry for breakfast, but didn't feel like making any cereal this early in the morning. It wouldn't have been hard, exactly, but some combination of laziness and wanting to be quiet for her sleeping family kept her from it.

Instead, she crept down the stairs, carefully skipping the squeaky board three steps from the bottom, and padded through the living room, unlocking the sliding glass door. Opening it just a hair, she sucked in her stomach and slipped through, out into the backyard. It was still dark out, but the stars were beginning to fade as the sky slowly grew brighter.

Pulling the door shut behind her, she walked over to the tree and plopped herself down at the base of its trunk. Exhaling deeply, she settled farther back against its rough bark, and stared unseeing up at the house.

Her phone suddenly vibrated loudly in her pocket, and she quickly shifted to the side to dig it out. At last, someone was up - someone she could talk with to pass the hours until it was time for her and her brothers' project, and till Jeremy's arrival. Why did he have to wait till ten to come? It really sucked waiting that late. She was sure he used to come over earlier.

Maybe it was Jeremy saying he'd be over earlier, or maybe Stacy had miraculously woken up. Looking down at it, she was immediately disappointed.

(1 new message from Tri-State Central Bank 5:36 AM)

Your loan payment of $659,400,000,000 is about to…(swipe for more)

Candace sighed and sat her phone down on the grass next to her. Not even the birds were awake yet. The slightest of breezes stirred the branches above her, and a single leaf drifted down and landed squarely on top of her head. Then even the breeze ceased, and a pure and perfect silence settled down over the yard.

It was a good time to think - and a good time to worry, if there was such a thing. How was she supposed to deal with this new job that Jeremy was very likely to be getting in a mere two weeks? It would basically guarantee that he would never be able to be around during the afternoon - which, of course, would immediately preclude any involvement in her projects.

And why did everything repeatedly boil down to her projects? That was an issue all its own. Even if they were kind of a big deal, they shouldn't be - and weren't, she swore - the deciding factor on anything of this nature. Still, it was disheartening to think of the person she loved not being able to participate in an activity she enjoyed so much. Didn't he see how much she wanted him to be able to enjoy the projects the same way she did?

She had no doubt that he did see it. He was too perfect to let anything of that sort slip by. There must be something that she was doing that was giving him the wrong impression. But what could that be?

The answer to all of these questions was no doubt as simple as it was unpleasant.

Jeremy wasn't going out of his way to get this job. It was merely an excellent opportunity, and one that he was fully justified in taking. Candace knew well enough that one couldn't rely on their parents for support forever. He needed, at some point, to get a job that was capable of supporting him through college. Then he could finally settle down on his career of choice - which he had told her was to go into marketing for some company. And his career would need to support her, too, and their two future children, Xavier and Amanda, and the house that Candace just knew they were going to have one day.

Still, the idea of him actually working a full-time job was unsettling to her. It would eat up so much of the already-dwindling time they were able spend together now, before they were married and living together. That wouldn't be able to take place for another four or five years, according to The Plan, which allowed for dating through college and then marriage as soon as possible after graduation.

It was all laid out in her head - and it was going to be beautiful. She knew that the later parts of The Plan necessitated a job of some sort, but she wished there was some way that those parts could come to pass without it - that all the changes it laid out could somehow happen - without actually changing anything.

Suddenly, the silence of the early morning was shattered into bits by the fence gate being thrust open wildly and banging back against the fence. She sat up straighter against the tree, startled by the sudden noise, as Baljeet burst into the yard. What on earth was he doing here so early?

"Ooooh, I am so happy!" he said, his already high voice peaking even higher. "Behold! Feast your eyes upon this!" And he dangled a piece of paper in front of Candace's nose.

"What are you doing here?" Candace asked, reaching up and grabbing the paper out of his hand. "And what is this?"

"That, my fine friend, is the first test from NSSA, the most advanced and distinguished correspondence-summer school in the country, and perhaps the globe!" He paused a beat to take a breath. "Just this morning I received the electronic mail with this document enclosed. And behold! My score - is perfect."

She ran her eyes briefly over the test results in her hand. As Baljeet had said, they were indeed perfect.

"Well, congratulations," she said, handing him the paper back. He took it and looked around at the yard.

"You know," he said, "I was so excited that I thought immediately to come here and share my joy. It now occurs to me that no one is awake - appropriate at this early hour. Yet you are. Why is that? If you do not mind me asking?"

For a moment, she didn't answer. Well, time would pass faster with someone to talk to, even if that person was, of all people, Baljeet Tjinder. Still, she wasn't about to tell him about her worries over Jeremy and their future together and The Plan. That information was for her eyes only - and perhaps Stacy's, depending on the day.

"Oh you know," she finally answered. "Just woke up early today, I guess." She paused, casting about for some topic with which to start up a conversation. Well, if there was one way on Earth to provoke him into long-winded speech it would definitely be something about his schooling.

"Soooooo... correspondence summer school?" she asked.

Baljeet glanced up from his paper and raised an eyebrow, but, as expected, shrugged slightly and answered anyway.

"Oh, yes!" he said with enthusiasm. "I so enjoy learning. Taking an almost four month long break from school would be unbearable. I would never be able to stand for it! So, I take as many summer courses as I can get into, which is quite a considerable amount. Many are of quite a remedial level, but I take them anyway. You can never be too prepared for college, you know, and ... "

She gradually tuned out as he continued.

"...and in short, those are my top twelve reasons for partaking in continued academic stimulation throughout the summer. I could go on at length about the remaining thirty-eight reasons, but I will digress."

Something in her head started working, something she couldn't quite lay her finger on.

She came down out of her reverie, and returned her full attention to him.

"That was ... interesting." she said. "I guess I'm now well-informed on the benefits of additional schooling."

"Yes, you most certainly are!" he responded. "It is fascinating, is it not?"

"Way." she yawned. "Way interesting."

Baljeet nodded vigorously.

"It will also serve to make college and university much easier." he said. "Due to the fact that I have been working on that level for six years now."

"Sounds like you could just test through college right now." Candace pointed out.

Wait a minute. Testing through college. The Plan specifies 'after college', but it doesn't mention any minimum time limit on that.

"Oh, yes, I am quite sure that that is within the realm of possibility. However, I wish to take more time before doing so, to more fully enjoy my carefree teenage years."

"By taking tons of extra schoolwork?" she asked. "Sounds ... lovely."

He said something in reply, but she wasn't listening - the gears in her brain were turning, and an idea began taking shape.

Then it came. Phineas was, more often than not, the idea-generating person of their little group. But now, right now, this idea was hers. And an excellent one it was. She could have sworn that the heavens opened, and an angelic choir harmonized around her, as she suddenly sat bolt-upright. This was it! This was the way to solve the issues around Jeremy's potential new job, and also a way to kick-start The Plan into motion as quickly and smoothly as possible.

"Baljeet!" she exclaimed, scrambling to her feet. "I know what we're going to do today!"

"...okay?" he answered, glancing around. "Should I now - I mean, it is pattern - I will. Where is Perry?"

But she didn't answer, running across the yard and pulling open the sliding glass door. Glancing up at the clock hanging on the living room wall, she saw that it was six twenty-three. Phineas and Ferb had been waking at six-thirty ever since Phineas had turned fourteen two years ago, but this would do. Hastily clambering up the stairs, she darted down the upstairs hallway and paused briefly at her brothers' door.

Eh, they'd forgive her just this once. Swinging the door open, she stepped inside and over to Phineas's bed.

"Phineas! Phineas! Wake up!" she shook him. He always had been a light sleeper, and so was roused easily.

"Mmuuuuuhh..." he groaned, rolling over in the bed. "Wh - what's going on? Candace?"

"Yes, yes, it's me." she rushed out. "Come on! You've got to get up - I know what we're going to do today, and we've only got three and a half hours to do it."

"Wh - what time is it?" he asked drowsily, propping himself up in bed.

"It's like six twenty-five." she answered. "Only like five minutes before you'd normally get up anyway."

He glanced at his nightstand, checking his clock, then stretched and yawned loudly.

"Alright." he said, shaking his head quickly and rubbing his eyes. "I'm awake now. Just give me a second to wake Ferb, and get dressed, and we'll come downstairs." He paused and grinned, the traces of sleep in his face and voice becoming more faint by the moment. "I can't wait to see what idea you've got. If it was worth waking up early, I'll bet it's awesome."

"Yeah, yeah it is." she replied. "Just come on! I'll be waiting downstairs."

"Alright, we're coming."

She retreated out of the room and back down the stairs into the living room. Through the sliding glass door, which she had left open in her haste, she could see Baljeet still waiting in the backyard.

"I suppose that I am going to take my leave now." he said when he saw her standing in the doorway. "I shall return at a later hour, as per our normal routine." He paused awkwardly. "Our conversation was pleasant."

She nodded half-heartedly, watching as he disappeared out of the fence gate and down the sidewalk leading away. Couldn't Phineas and Ferb hurry up? And ... oh, no. They'd want to eat breakfast too. The thought of food re-awakened her own hunger.

Well, maybe a quick breakfast would be okay. She pulled the glass door shut and walked across the living and into the kitchen. Pulling down three bowls, she poured cereal and milk into each, and dug around in the kitchen drawer for three scoops.

Just as she found the required silverware, Phineas and Ferb appeared in the kitchen doorway.

"Good early morning!" Phineas greeted.

"Good morning," she responded, sliding two of the bowls across the kitchen table towards them. "I made breakfast already. Let's hurry."

Breakfast slid by quickly in the space of another twenty or so minutes. Not much time, really, but felt like an eternity. One way or another, however, it ended at last, and Candace found herself standing out in the backyard with her brothers, bathed in the bright golden glow of the morning sun.

"So, whatcha got?" Phineas asked.

"Okay." Candace took a breath. "What we should do today is this: build a schoolhouse!"

She paused and watched her brothers closely for their reaction. Ferb was stoic as ever, but she could see the idea rattling around in Phineas's brain. It was time to expand on it a little bit.

"Like, what's something you're good at?" she asked Phineas. "How long have you been able to fly a jet airliner? Five years?"

"Candace, it's been twelve years." he answered. "Or at least it will, in a month and a half - right when I turn sixteen."

"Even better!" she exclaimed. "I'll assume that you're already fully licensed to act as a flight instructor?"

"I am." Phineas affirmed. "Among other things."

"So wouldn't it be cool to spend a day teaching people how to fly planes or any of the other stuff we can do?"

Phineas stood still for one more moment, processing the thought. Then he smiled.

"That sounds awesome. Candace, Ferb, I know what we're going to do today."

"That's what I like to hear," she said. "Now, come on! Let's get this thing built and opened before Jeremy gets here!"

Phineas and Ferb glanced at each other.

"When will the stuff be here?" Phineas asked. The question took her aback. What about the long-standing promise they held between themselves - that any one of them was to never break out the corporate expense cards without the approval of the other two? The banks of Danville had grown incredibly lenient on loans to their corporation over time, but it only took one mistake to send that all down the drain.

"I haven't ordered anything yet." she answered. "You know I wouldn't, without getting your guys' opinion first. I call them right now, though."

"Sounds good," he responded. "Let's get all quirky worky up in here."

The Super Duper Mega Superstore's special seven-minute delivery guarantee came in handy once again, as it had done so many times in the past. It wasn't long at all before the tons and tons of bricks and mortar, miles of wiring, and thousands of pounds of concrete and steel they ordered had arrived, and were neatly piled in the backyard. Isabella arrived as promptly as one would expect, with Buford and Baljeet straggling in behind.

The vast quantities of construction materials were rapidly appropriated from their respective resting points, and put together. A broad foundation was poured, and a runway that ran alongside the length of the building. Thick masonry walls were erected, and the interior was paneled off and furnished appropriately. The school building stood three stories tall when finished, with a tall tower jutting from the roof for another seventy feet - air traffic control. It was, among other things, a flight school, after all.

A brightly painted banner hung over the wide double doors that marked the entrance of the red-brick building. Flynn-Fletcher Academy of Everything! Except crocheting - that's boring.

On the dot of nine-thirty, the doors to the academy were thrown open, and a crowd of assorted folk from around the city streamed in. There were people looking to learn to fly, or to dance, or to do calculus, or something else - but, as the name implied, the academy had something for all them. Thankfully, no one showed looking for crocheting classes, though the well-marked sign probably would have discouraged such a thing anyway.

Phineas and Ferb and Isabella and Baljeet and Buford all scattered to various parts of the building, doing one thing or the other. Candace instead remained by the doors, waiting impatiently for Jeremy to show up. The sound of jet engines roared overhead, and a small plane flew in wide circles above the building. Still she waited. It wouldn't be much longer now, just a few more minutes. She pulled out her phone and double-checked the time. 9:44 AM. The day was still so young, and yet it seemed to have lasted forever and ever. The sun was now high overhead, and the coolness of the morning had been replaced by a creeping warmth, that might soon develop into full-on heat.

The waiting was torturous. The awning arching over the entrance was angled at perfectly to let the late morning sun beat down on the front porch where she was waiting. She briefly contemplated the idea of retreating inside, but rejected it, wanting to see Jeremy the instant that he walked through the fence gate. They had a limited time with the school house today - just until Linda returned from her errands in the afternoon. She had get this done before the Mysterious Force whiffed it away.

She paced in a tight pattern on the porch, going round and round and round. Would it ever end? Would relief ever come? Would she be waiting here for …

"Hey, Candace."

She jerked up in the direction of his voice. He'd somehow snuck up on her, and was standing just three feet away.

"I'm here," he said. "Whatcha got here?"

"It's a school." Candace replied, grabbing his hand and pulling him along after her. "Come on! We've got a lot to cover and only a few hours to do it."

It had been a good few years since she'd bodily dragged anyone anywhere, but the skill is not one easily forgotten once learned. It's all in the back - and it helped that Jeremy wasn't resisting per se, instead just not moving fast enough.

At last she reached the room she'd had in mind - the one she'd specially designed this morning when helping to erect the building in the first place. It was mostly a normal room when it came to the construction, but the stuff inside it set it apart from pretty much all the other rooms in the house.

There was a large table set up in the middle of the floor, next to which sat a black office chair. Large stacks of paper were piled on the table, and there was a small can holding a handful of writing implements. A large cardboard box sat open next to the table.

"Sit here." Candace said, pointing at the chair. "And let's get started before time gets away from us too much."

"Alright, then," Jeremy replied, humoring her. He sat on the chair and spun around until he was facing the table. "What're we doing?"

"Today, I'm going to teach you." she said. "Everything. Don't worry, it isn't all that hard. This way, you don't have to … well, just because, okay?" Something inside her told her that it might be better if she didn't actually out and out say what her true motivation for this effort was. Not that it mattered - this would solve all the problems anyway.

"So, look at this paper." she resumed, sliding the top sheet off the stack and handing it to him.

"Two plus two equals four." he read from the piece. "Two minus two equals zero. The square root of two rounded to six digits is 1.41421. Two squared is four."

He sat the paper back down the table and raised an eyebrow.

"I mean, that's all correct." he said. "So, uh, what about it?"

"Those are the basic tenets of math," she replied. "From which basically all math can extended. It's slightly more complex than that, of course, but it'll do for now." She reached over to the stack of papers and pulled off the next one, laying it down in front of him.

"So, let's see if you can do some basic calculations." she continued. "It's all based on those four tenets - and so shouldn't be too terribly hard to figure out. Just, you know, don't get intimidated by the way it looks."

He sighed slightly. "...Okay. Let's see it."

She laid the paper down and watched as he picked it up. Almost immediately, his eyes widened, and his eyebrows shot up his forehead.

"Candace - I can hardly tell how to read this. What's with all the lines? This looks way beyond pre-calc stuff."

"i to the power of the fraction of 2 to the power of 6 over 16 all times the integral of 1 plus the square root of 2 to the power of the limit of sin (2r) over 2 as r approaches infinity where the integral is from 1 to 3 all times the derivative of the integral of t dx from x to 1." she rattled off by heart, remembering the equation from when she had written it earlier that morning. It had been specifically designed to be easily solved - what with simplifying down to a whole number answer and all.

He leaned back in the chair and sighed.

"Candace, I don't even know where to begin with that." She started to say something in protest, but he held up his hand and continued. "Look, I know that you can do that. And I'm sure that you already figured out the answer. And that's great, and it's fine. But that doesn't mean that I can do it too. You know that, right?"

She paused and stared into his face for a moment.

"No!" she suddenly exclaimed. "You can! I mean - I couldn't either, at first! Remember? And you've got to! If you can get this, then everything will be perfect! The Plan will go off without a hitch and you won't have to get …" her speech trailed off. Something told her that spilling her innermost desires here, about this particular subject, would not help.

"Candace, you can't just throw stuff like this at somebody and expect them to be able to do it. You've got to, like, work up to it, or something."

"But Phineas! And Ferb! They've being doing since, well, forever! And Baljeet can kinda do it too." she replied. "Come on! I know you can. Just like, focus or something." Memories of that time four years ago when she'd been the one struggling to decipher advanced math were heavily distorted and fragmented, both by scars in the space-time continuum itself and by the tumultuous and potentially unhealthy mental state she had been in when that old mental block had finally come tumbling down. But come down it had - in one way or another.

"Candace, just focusing isn't gonna help me. I don't know - and that information isn't going to come from thin air."

She hesitated for just moment.

"But you know the four basic tenets!" she protested. Maybe he just needed some encouragement or something. "Look, it's easy, I'll show you!"

She snatched up a pencil and pulled the paper closer to herself. Her hand flew across the paper, sketching out the steps - well, the major ones at least, he could figure out the easy stuff - to finish the equation. Jeremy sat back and stared off into space as the empty part of the sheet was rapidly filled with figures and calculations.

"...See?" she said, setting the pencil back down. "The answer is ten. Told you it was easy."

He just seemed to stare blankly.

This was not going well. But there was still hope. Maybe math wasn't his thing. That was okay - maybe he would be more like Ferb, more of an engineer than a mathematician. That would be okay too. With a single motion, she swept the papers and pencils onto the floor.

"Forget that." she said. "Let's do something else instead." She reached into the large box sitting next to the table and produced a pile of wooden planks, letting them clatter into an unorganized pile in front of him.

"Candace…" he started, but she didn't let him finish. He wouldn't understand until afterwards, maybe. Then he would be grateful - and it would be worth it. She pulled out a toolbox and sat it down next to the wood.

"Here." she directed. "Make something."

"Candace, I…"

"Come ooooon! It'll be worth it, I promise! Just please, try! You've got to try!"

He sighed and opened the toolbox, pulling out the pliers within.

Pliers? What in the...

"No, not those." she quickly snatched them away and handed him a hammer instead, chucking the pliers over her shoulder onto the floor behind them. "Just, like, picture something. Anything. You can do it - you've got to do it."

He picked up some of the wood blocks and slowly pulled them towards himself. She cringed as he pulled out a nail that wasn't nearly as long as the length he needed, and twitched slightly at the unsteady, unsure strokes with which he tried to beat it into the boards. Ten minutes of watching his painfully slow craftsmanship later, he held up his creation. She stared.

It was just a board - with two other boards nailed onto it. One was jutting out from top end, and one from the bottom end, making it look like some sort of crude sideways 'n'. The boards sticking out weren't straight or even. As he held it upright, they sagged downwards slightly, victim of nails too short to fasten them securely to the anchor. There was no denying it - he had no idea what he was doing.

Even as she stared at it, the bottommost part suddenly fell off, banging onto the floor with a clatter, landing dangerously close to her feet.

"So?" he asked, smiling slightly. "What'd you think?"

Despite her best efforts to the contrary, she felt frustration boiling up inside her. Why was this so hard? Maybe she should get Phineas down here. He'd know what to do. No, that was stupid.

"Bigger!" she repeated. "If you just think bigger, then you'll get it! Here, let me show you."

She took his hammer and rolled the office chair out of the way. The pieces of wood, which had been resistant when under his control, yielded effortlessly beneath her hands. A cacophony of sounds erupted as she rapidly assembled the boards into something truly worthy of awe.

When done, she stepped back proudly.

"That's cool." he complimented, looking up at the towering creation. "It's … an interesting design choice. But cool."

No! Why couldn't he get it? This wasn't about her - it was about him! It was about them! If she could get this to work, then everything could go back to being the way it had been for so long. It hadn't been perfect, but it had been good enough, and it had definitely been better than what would happen if she were to fail.

"It is cool." she said. "Now imagine if you could do it too? Wouldn't that be cooler? Here, try again." she offered the tools to him.

But he held up his hands and wouldn't take them back, shaking his head.

"Candace, what is this about?" he asked. "I'd think it'd be obvious by now that no one but you and your brothers can do this … stuff." He reached out and took the hammer and handsaw from her, setting them down on the table.

She tried to think some way to respond - some way that wouldn't immediately shatter whatever he thought of her.

"I … I don't know." she lied. "I just - um…" the falsehood died in her throat. What was there to say?

He knitted his eyebrows together.

"You do realize that I don't mind, right?" he said.

"What?" the question caught her entirely off guard. He smiled slightly, scooting the office chair away from the table.

"Look." he explained. "It's nice of you to be worried about me. I appreciate it very much, in fact. But you can put your mind at ease. I'm perfectly content being ordinary."

Wait, what?! Was he saying …

"I think that the stuff that you and brothers do is really, really cool. But look at me - I mean, I've got claustrophobia, of all things. I get motion sickness. I work at a fast-food restaurant. Just a boring, old, normal person - I don't think I could handle your gift for myself." He flashed her a smile, further cementing the building unease in the pit of her stomach. "And you can believe me when I say that I'm happy this way. You don't need to worry about it. I've been like this for my whole life up until now, and I'd not mind if it continued for the rest of it."

She swallowed hard. The fact that he was normal, and that for pretty much her entire family, that was the farthest thing from the truth had always been self-evident. But it'd never been a big source of contention for her. It had been just the way things were, more or less, and not something that came up very often, if at all. And even she had admitted to herself that it was better this way.

But now … what was this? He was normal, that much was fact. But - but The Plan! How could they date through college, and then get married, and then move into their own house, and have their boy and girl if he wanted to be normal for the rest of life?

That was a tall order, and one Candace knew that she'd never be able to pay. The Mysterious Force alone would have been enough to ensure that no household she stayed in for long could maintain the label 'normal', and the Force was just the tip of the iceberg.

"You get what I mean?" he asked, when she didn't answer.

"Yes." she said, smiling so hard her face hurt. "I get it."

He leaned back in his chair and let out a long, low breath.

She couldn't do anything but stare. These last two weeks before his new job started already had their own fair share of worries - and now this? It was almost too much. How long had he felt this way? And never said anything of it?

The Plan was suddenly on shaky ground, threatened with imminent collapse. She had to stabilize it somehow, in some way. It was the future - their future! She'd seen it with her own eyes during time travel - as unreliable as time machines were at predicting the course of events. If she let it collapse now, what would she do? Her life would be over. There would be no coming back.

All around them, the building was suddenly seized with violent convulsions. It shook and trembled, emitting all sorts of disturbing groans.

Jeremy stood up and took a step towards the door, but Candace grabbed the back of his shirt and made him stop.

"Don't!" she said. "Just let the Force do what it wants. It won't hurt us. It'd be best if we stay put."

"Uh…" he said, wincing at a particularly drawn out squeak coming the rafters. "If you say so."

She nodded. All around them, the walls began trembling. Then, slowly but surely, they began turning white - and losing their substance. She watched as the brick and mortar and paint slowly morphed from solid lines and rigid angles to loose masses of semi-transparent cloudy whiteness. It spread down the walls, and across the floor, reaching the place on which they were standing. Their feet sank gently down through the floorboards during the transformation, coming to rest on the grassy ground that'd been hidden beneath the foundation of the school. For a moment, the steamy mass held the shape of the school - then, with an almost audible whooshing, it all collapsed down on itself.

Next to her, Jeremy cowered down instinctively as the huge cloud of fog sank down from atop of them, but she was confident in the Force. The fog flowed down all around, filling the backyard in an opaque mass of moisture that settled on them, weighing down her clothes with its dampness.

Then, a sudden gust of wind from somewhere whipped through the yard in a flurry, shaking leaves from the tree, and pushing all the fog over the fence and out of sight entirely, leaving the yard bare. With it gone, she could see her brothers and their friends standing around in seemingly random places - presumably wherever they'd been in the building when the Force had struck.

"Hey, Candace!" Phineas said from next to the fence gate. "There you are." He reached up and pushed his goggles up off his eyes.

It was at that moment that Linda pushed open the sliding glass door.

"Hey, everybody." she greeted. "Who wants some pie?"

"Hi, Mrs. Flynn-Fletcher." Isabella said. "I'd love some - if you don't mind."

Linda smiled. "That's why I make it." she said. "Though I will say that it goes a lot faster nowadays than it used to."

Everyone aside from Candace and Jeremy quickly abandoned the yard in favor of the house. She might have invited him in, but his recent implications were still echoing in her ears.

"That was pretty fun." he said. "Even if all I did was fail at woodworking and complex math."

It was meant as a joke, perhaps, but she couldn't hear it as one.

"Yeah." she echoed dully, staring at the ground. "Yeah."

"So …" he continued awkwardly. "I , uh, wow. Can you believe it's two o'clock already? I can't believe we spent four hours in that school. Surely didn't seem that long."

She looked up at him. What was he getting at?

"Well, I think I'm gonna head off." he said. "I told Coltrane I'd go over to his place today too. You can come if you want."

But she didn't want. Today's plan had been an unmitigated disaster - there was no way around that. But, despite all the odds being stacked against her, she still refused to give up - and remained determined to come out on top. After all, this was her entire future on the line here. There were still two weeks - make that one week and six days now - to come up with something. That wasn't a lot of time. But it was time, if just a little.

And when the universe is your plaything, a little time can do just as well.