Chapter 4: The Night, The Morning

It took Phineas over an hour to get the fire started and the sun was finally setting by the time he did, Isabella tried to ignore how cut his hands had gotten by the time he was done because there wasn't much she could do about because they needed the fire, it was getting cold. Phineas built what was an amateur shelter compared to his usual standard considering he was tired, couldn't move his hands very much and didn't have any help or tools. It ended up being basically a raised deck with a leaf covered roof and a grass bed type thing, it was built right near the fire so they would get the heat but not so close as to catch fire of course, Phineas also ended up having a pile of firewood as a result of making the shelter.

He gave Isabella support as she hopped over to the shelter because she had refused to be carried the short distance he sat next to her and they stared at the fire. Isabella shivered, her usual pink skirt wasn't the best thing to wear outside at night

"You cold?" Phineas asked and put his arm around her to pull her in. Isabella was shocked at his action and how warm he was when she noticed he still didn't have a shirt, not that she had expected one to appear she had just forgotten. She was feeling weak for being cold when he didn't even had a shirt, she was going to pull herself away when a voice inside her head said Don't do that stupid your next to Phineas. She decided that she should stay Besides he could use the warmth too. Now that was logic she could listen to

They decided it was time to get some sleep so they laid down for the night. Phineas pulled out a woven grass blanket that he had obviously made himself, Isabella didn't know when he made it but she had learned a while back not to question how he amazes her, he just did.

Isabella took a little while to fall asleep partly because of the cold, partly because of her leg, partly because she had a lot on her mind, but what was really keeping her up was that Phineas was sleeping right next to her. She could feel his warmth and that he kept moving and was a bit restless, she was sure he had checked the fire dozens of times, but both of them eventually got comfortable after they got used to being so close to each other, tiredness beat out nervousness and they both fell asleep


Isabella slowly woke up she had the weirdest dream that she had been falling and Phineas caught her, then she was drowning and Phineas gave her air, then she found herself lost in the woods and Phineas picked her up and whisked her away. As she opened her eyes she realized that it had been less of a dream and more of memories from the previous day

She looked around and noticed the sun was only just coming up then she saw Phineas sitting with a stick by the fire "Oh good, you're up." he said sticking his stick in the ground next to the fire "I wanted to re-wrap your leg you looked like you were in pain yesterday and it looked like it was coming off."

Isabella looked at her leg and saw that the wrapping was pretty loose "Umm okay i guess." He walked over to her and undid the knot in his shirt and redid it a couple of times as slowly and carefully as he could and after about 10 minutes Isabella noticed he was finally looking satisfied with his work so Isabella decided it was time to mess with him a little, he looked stressed

"Hey Phineas whats taking you so long did you find something you like down there?" Phineas turned bright red but finished the knot and stood up fully prepared to feverishly deny said allegation until he saw the joking look on Isabella's face. That wasn't cool he thought. Now it was his turn. He quickly turned around so she couldn't see his face and said

"What? Nonononono what do you think I would find? It's not like I was looking up your skirt or anything?" he started scratching his ear as he knew he did when he lied. He had a huge grin on his face so he couldn't turn to look at Isabella or she would know he was joking.

"Wait, YOU DID WHAT?" Phineas could tell she was angry but what was really evident in her voice was embarrassment. Isabella hadn't actually expected him to have found something he liked.

Phineas turned around with his hands up "Kidding. Kidding." Isabella's face was bright red from embarrassment but it quickly returned to a soft smile "It's funny though," Phineas continued "I'm pretty smart so you'd think I would have thought of that" She hit him upside the head "Ow that hurt. I think we both learned something, I learned if I'm near your legs and I look up your skirt I'll get hit in the head, and you learned not to let me near your legs" She pushed him playfully

"Well you had it coming," she said smiling, "Have you gotten over your inventors block yet, or are we just gonna keep trying to walk/be carried all the way to Danville?" she continued in a more concerned sympathetic voice.

Phineas looked up he hadn't thought about a way to get home in a while, he had been putting his effort into the current plan. Now that he was thinking about it, he realized he still couldn't think of anything "I've got nothing" he said disappointed with himself "What about you, you're involved in almost all our ideas and inspire half of them, can you think of a way to fly out of here?"

Isabella hadn't even thought about a way she could come up with an idea. She looked around her they had a fire, the shelter, the blanket Phineas made, as much bark and small twigs as they could find, and water from the river. Well now that she was thinking about it they actually had a lot to work with. She thought for a moment, then it hit her Is this how Phineas feels when he gets an idea. She pulled out her miniature copy of her Fireside Girls handbook, it was small and everything was blurred from being wet but she flipped right to the pages she was looking for, tore them out and held them in front of Phineas

"Hey Phineas," he looked up at Isabella and saw the papers "I know what we're gonna do today!"