Phineas decided for the next step of his master plan to woo Isabella, he wouldn't try quite so hard as when they held hands. After all, they had hugged before, so it wouldn't be that big of a step for them. They weren't planning on doing anything big today. The Flynn-Fletcher family was going to the beach today, and since the delivery company stopped shipping underwater, their plans would have to go on hold for the day.

At the moment that Isabella walked in through the family's back gate, Phineas was crawling around the backyard looking for his sunglasses. Therefore, the first thing Isabella saw was Phineas with his bum in the air and nose close to the ground "Hey Phineas... Whatcha doin?" She said her catchphrase slowly, eyes narrowed at the strange sight before her.

Phineas looked up, not expecting anyone over. "Oh hi Isabella. I was looking for my sunglasses and Ferb said that I left them out here yesterday, but I can't see them anywhere," he responded, scratching his neck.

Isabella glanced around for a few seconds. "Is that them, up in the tree?"

Phineas looked up, then looked puzzled. "How on Earth did they get up there?" he wondered aloud as he stretched to reach them.

Isabella chuckled slightly as Phineas turned back around. "So what are you doing today?"

"No big plans today, I'm afraid. We're going to the beach," after a moment's hesitation, he added "Would you like to come? We aren't leaving for another twenty minutes."

Isabella bit her lip. The last time she had gone to the beach with Phineas was when she was ten, and they were with their entire group of friends. "I'd love to," she said. "Let me just go ask my mother."

"Okay, we'll wait for you. Candace still has to decide which bathing suit to wear."

Approximately ten minutes later, Isabella came back with a beach bag and sunglasses on her forehead. The Flynn-Fletchers were waiting by the car for her to return.

"I'm so glad you're joining us, Isabella," Linda said "Your mother said it was okay, right?"

"Of course Mrs. Flynn-Fletcher. She also said to say hi to you and she hopes you're still on for bridge next Wednesday."

"I'll have to call her when we get back," Linda commented. The kids, along with Laurence and Linda piled into the van and set off to the beach. As soon as they were out of the driveway, Ferb put headphones into his ears and rested his head on the window.

Phineas turned to Isabella as this was normal behaviour for Ferb on car trips. Usually he had to amuse himself for the ride, but he could talk to Isabella now.

"So, Isabella, what's your favourite thing that we did this summer?" Phineas asked, beginning the conversation.

"Oh, I don't know Phineas... I really liked when we put on the stage version of Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. You were an amazing Captain Hammer." Isabella said. She smiled at the boy beside her, recalling the humorous musical they had staged earlier in the summer. Ferb had played the main character, Dr. Horrible, Phineas had played the self-absorbed hero Captain Hammer, who was more of an antagonist in the plot, and Isabella had played the innocent Penny.

"That was a lot of fun," Phineas said. He nodded his head in agreement with Isabella. He enjoyed being the jerk for once, and as a bonus, he got to kiss Isabella on the cheek. Technically in the original script, they were supposed to actually kiss, but neither one wanted to do that on stage in front of their friends or parents.

The pair reminisced about the funny things that happened when they were rehearsing and how Ferb built a working Freeze Ray for use in the play. They started laughing about some of their better acting in that play.

"Actually, I think my favourite part of this summer so far was when Buford, Baljeet and Ferb competed in that mock video game tournament when Ferb was Bowser and Buford and Baljeet were Mario and Luigi. That was hilarious!" Phineas chuckled at the memory of his brother in a full-sized Bowser suit with working flame action.

All the way to the beach, Phineas and Isabella discussed their adventures both this summer, and previous summers. After a while, their topic of conversation drifted to other topics and before they knew it, they were at the beach.

Everyone climbed out of the car and stretched, glad to finally be out of the cramped van. The entire group made their way to an open spot on the beach, save Candace who was attempting to get cell service from where she was.

Linda pitched an umbrella in the sand and began to get out her books and snacks. Ferb sat underneath the umbrella and began to read. Phineas and Isabella put down their bags, got out their towels and swimming goggles and ran towards the water. The sand was hot beneath their feet, so stepping into the cool water was a relief for the pair of walked out farther and farther until the water was up to Isabella's chin and Phineas's shoulder. The waves caused them to bob up and down in the water as they swam about.

After a long while, Ferb walked out to join them. The trio then ended up having a splash fight. "Phineas, stop!" squealed Isabella. She had just got ocean water in her mouth for the fifth time and was sick of the taste.

"I won't stop until Ferb stops trying to push me underwater!" Phineas shouted. All of a sudden, Isabella disappeared under the water. Phineas and Ferb stop their roughhousing immediately, looked at each other and decided upon a plan of action.

Ferb began swimming, and later running towards the shore to retrieve a lifeguard or Linda, and Phineas went underwater to see if he could spot Isabella.

Underwater, it was hard for Phineas to see much of anything. The water was murky with sand and people's legs were everywhere. However, after a few minutes, Phineas noticed the girl he was searching for about twenty metres ahead of him. He swam forward as fast as he could towards her.

Isabella was caught in a bit of seaweed and had gotten pulled by the undercurrent farther away from her group. Unfortunately, Isabella had swallowed some seawater, then tried to cough it out, losing most of the air from her lungs. Phineas swam towards the limp figure of Isabella. He tried to pull her away from the seaweed, only to have it pull back. He rolled his eyes and leaned down to where the offending piece of aquatic greenery was wrapped around Isabella's ankle. Phineas tugged at it until it finally snapped, leaving Isabella free to move. That is, if she could.

Phineas pulled her up to the surface and started to swim back to shore. When he was almost back, Phineas felt Isabella move against his back, if only slightly. He got her ashore and placed her down on the sand. Ferb immediately checked her for injuries.

"She's breathing," he declared. Just as he moved out of the way, Isabella coughed and sat up, spitting out a bit of seawater. Everyone that was crowded around her breathed a sigh of relief as she continued to cough.

Phineas, thankful that she wasn't hurt or dead, reached his arms around her, embracing her as tight as he could without hurting her. "Thank goodness you're okay," he breathed into her hair.

With a small smile, Isabella returned the gesture, wrapping her arms around the boy.

"Maybe you should stay on land for the rest of the day," Phineas said, pulling back from their hug. Isabella chuckled at that, and nodded. As she turned to sit under the umbrella with Linda, Phineas smiled.

Step three can now be checked off. He thought.

AN: Hi there! It's been a while hasn't it? Anyways, that was due to my obsessive studying for exams, then exams themselves. But I'm back now, so all is right in the world. I also quite enjoy Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, in case you didn't catch my reference in this chapter. If you're approximately 13, you should go watch it! I hope you enjoyed the chapter.