Author's Note: Final chapter, concluding the 'episode' on a relatively ambiguous note. More Phindace and Ferbella in this one. I hope you all enjoyed reading it. Please review!

Chapter Four

Candace Flynn blinked, coming to. The first sensation she registered was the touch of a soft shirt against the back of her head. It momentarily puzzled her – why would she be lying against somebody's chest? – but her drowsy mind soon went for the obvious solution. Jeremy… She flipped over to her side, burying her head against the shirt, and then reached out for where she knew her boyfriend's hand should be. After a few tries she got it and tugged it over to her chest.

Ah, it felt good cuddling up to him like this. His arm on her chest, gently moving up and down, her head on his chest peacefully listening to the sound of his heartbeat. She moved her head a little more upwards towards his face. His pointy nose did poke the top of her head while she was getting there, but the sound of his breathing mixing with hers somehow made it much more comfortable. She felt even more at home, more at ease than she would have imagined she would be when in this situation with Jeremy.

But wait a minute. Since when did Jeremy have a pointy nose?

A horrible chill crept up her spine. She opened one eye and saw an orange shirt and a very steeply curved chin – or rather lack thereof. She then opened both eyes.

"Hi Candace!"

"PHINEAS!"

She scooted off him as quick as she possibly could and wobbly stood up. "How… why… what am I…"

"You fell asleep and your head landed on top of my chest!" her brother cheerfully informed her. "We didn't want to wake you, so I just stayed here and watched you while you slept. You look really adorable when you sleep, you know?"

"I… I…" Candace stammered. What should she say to this? Could she say anything? Shouldn't she just get out of here before her face would turn redder than an apple? "I need a moment. Of quiet. Alone." She sped off towards the side of the house. "Sure thing, Candace!" she could barely hear Phineas yell after her.

She caught her breath only when she was safely away from the group of kids. "All right Candace, nothing to be freaked out about" she told herself. "Phineas is as oblivious as always to any disturbing implication whatsoever, and what really happened anyway? I just slept with my brother, that's all." She blinked. "Okay, that sounded a lot less dirty in my head." She really should stop talking now before her rambling moved into strange territory. Of course that didn't help a thing, as the monologue just continued in her head anyway.

Of course it doesn't mean anything. It's just a minor mistake.

A minor mistake? I snuggled up to my brother thinking he was my boyfriend! How weird is that?

Plenty weird, but you're acting like it was a disaster. You just slept, Phineas didn't notice anything strange, nor did anyone else from the looks of it, and it didn't really feel that bad, did it?

Maybe you're right… wait, what do you mean by that?

Just that you shouldn't freak out about it. That's what I said, isn't it?

Yes, it is… but that's not what you meant. Your tone sounded a little more… suggestive.

I don't know what you're talking about.

All right, now you're just lying.

… no I'm not.

Yes, yes you are. I know my own mental voice when I'm lying.

Ah, come on. Even in our most schizophrenic moments, that's just ridicu-

Lalalalalalalala!

… all right, who let her out of the janitors closet?

Wasn't me!

Let's get her back inside before she makes us do crazy stuff again.

Yeah, let's – wait.

What?

You let her out to distract me, didn't you?

I still don't know what you're talking about.

Come on, you've got to do better than that. You let her out so I would forget about our conversation about Phineas.

How could I even do that? I've been standing here next to you on this cartoony hologram of a brain the entire time!

In case you haven't noticed, we're inside our mind. Real world physics don't work there. Not that they seem to work much in the actual real world either, but that's not the point. Now what were we thinking about Phineas?

I…

Candace's mental reverie was ended as suddenly as it began when she got a tap on her shoulder. She shrieked and jumped nearly three feet into the sky before turning to see Ferb. "What are you doing here?"

Ferb pointed to the backyard. "Is the age-accelerator-thingy ready?" He nodded. "That's great! Come on, let's get me back to normal!"

She had already started to walk back when Ferb took her arm and forcibly made her halt. "What's wrong?" In response, he just pointed at her. "With me? Nothing's wrong with me, I just needed a time-out. It was getting a little hot back there and the whole being a kid thing was really messing with my brain, so I had to cool off."

Ferb blinked.

"No, really! I felt a bit confused after all what happened today, after Phineas got that wrong impression from that whole stuff with Isabella and then we got into an argument about the scheme I had planned for her and it really was hot out today, so I just had to lie down and after that I just wanted to be alone for a moment."

Ferb blinked again.

Candace sighed, knowing she was blushing and that that would have given her away even if her brother hadn't been so adept at reading situations. "I know. I know I shouldn't lie, Ferb, it's just…" She sighed. "This is a really weird story and I'm probably reading too much into things anyway and I wouldn't want you to read too much into this, and you'd probably think I'm weird." In response, her brother just smirked and pointed at the backyard. "Yeah, you're right. You guys do freaky stuff every day. I suppose I do trust you with the story, it's just… not now, okay? I really want to be changed back to normal now. Being your age is strange. As is looking up to you."

Ferb grinned, but nodded anyway as he and Candace walked into the garden. Candace felt in a lighter mood now. She was going to change back to normal and be a teenager again, and then all that strange stuff would end. Sure, there was the matter of that talk she'd just promised Ferb, but maybe he would forget about it or she could ask Phineas to build her an invention that would make him forget. She was sure she could solve that problem, given some time. Everything was going to turn out all right now. Nothing could mess this up anymore.

Yeah, she really shouldn't have thought out of turn.

Standing in the center of the garden talking to Phineas and Isabella was the one person she hadn't wanted to see this day – her boyfriend, Jeremy Johnson. Candace couldn't help but freeze on the spot.

With her rotten luck, it didn't take long for Jeremy to notice her. "Hey, is that…" he began.

"That… that's our second cousin" Phineas cut him off, scratching behind his ear. "She's… grandma Lorraine's granddaughter. No, greataunt. Greataunt Lorraine's daughter. Granddaughter. She lives far away from here. Normally, I mean."

Well, at least he tried.

"That's right!" Isabella piped up. "This is Lisa – she's their second cousin, and she's with the Fireside Girls! We've been hanging out with her all day."
Jeremy looked at both kids with an air of uncertainty. "Guys, I don't want to accuse you of anything…"

"Why would you need to?" Phineas said, in a wavering tone that sounded unusually cheerful even for his standards.

"Because she really does look a lot like Candace." He took a step towards her, and Candace could feel his glare inspect her. She couldn't hold it and burst out crying. "Yes, it's me! I got shrunk by some weird shrink ray and now the boys have built a machine to get me back to normal before you could see it, and I told them to lie to you because I didn't want you to see me small and ugly and not want to date me anymore and then we would break up and it would be horrible and, and…" She was crying so hard that Ferb, who was still standing next to her, got out an umbrella.

"Calm down, Candace" Jeremy said soothingly. "Nothing's going to happen. I'm not going to break up with you."

Candace looked at him skeptically. "Really?"

"Really" Jeremy assured her. "Sure, it's weird to see you so small, but it's kind of cool too… as long as it's reversible, of course. You not trusting me enough to still love you after this… well, that's kind of uncool. I told you that when we were in Paris, didn't I? Or am I just dragging up old stuff now…"

"Oh, that's okay" Phineas reassured him. "We've been having flashbacks all day."

Jeremy nodded. "Anyway Candace, I can't say I like what you did, but I'm certainly not going to break up with you over it."

Candace looked up and gave him a smile of unbridled relief. She ran into his arms…

…and only then realized just how much taller he was than her now.

She must have let her discomfort show, because Jeremy frowned. "Candace? Is something wrong?"

"I'm fine" Candace replied, letting go of him and looking up at his face. "I'm fine, it's just…" Yes, she still thought he was handsome and dreamy, but hugging him like this just felt weird. It was like… like he was so much older than her now. So much more mature and grown-up and serious and… and average. Dull, almost. It was a state of being that she wasn't sure she was ready for yet, a chasm that their sudden age gap had widened. There was a world of differences between the wacky surroundings she lived in and the adult life, and she suddenly wondered whether she was ready to cross that bridge.

She kind of didn't want to cross that bridge. Yes, she would be with Jeremy, but… she snuck a peek at his tall stature again. It was almost intimidating. Besides, he was nice and sweet for sure, but was that all she wanted in a boyfriend? Could that be enough? She needed someone who was more than that, someone who was creative and smart and youthful and cheerful and inspiring, someone like Ph…

Oh no.

No, no no no. She had not just thought that.

That explained what her subconscious had just been trying to hide from her. It made it crystal clear.

"Are you okay, Candace?" Isabella wondered. She gave her a vague nod.

"You know, I can come back later" Jeremy suggested uneasily. "After you guys have fixed this."

He thinks I need to be fixed? Candace thought. Although she knew Jeremy hadn't and would never have intended it that way, it still stung. She tried to focus on something else. "You want to come back here?"

"I got off from work early and thought that maybe we could go out to get a burger or something" Jeremy replied. "Would you be okay with that?"

Candace's own non-reaction surprised her. She should have been delighted, but instead she was paralyzed and could only nod. She barely registered it when Jeremy said something to her brothers and left the yard. Her attention was on one thing only.

She had thought of what she wanted in a boyfriend, and the name of her brother had popped into her mind. She had been thinking about boyfriends, and she had thought of her brother. Her brother.

It was explainable, of course. All perfectly reasonable. She had just gotten a skewed perception on Jeremy from that weird encounter, and it was messing with her brain. Making her consider other guys, and what traits they should have. So what if Phineas happened to have a lot of those. So what if he was a kind, understanding guy with whom she could fully be herself and oh no.

She was on the verge of developing a… a crush, on her brother. While dating Jeremy, she had somehow gained a crush on her full sibling. Who was four years younger than she was. Who had a girlfriend-wannabe already in Isabella. Who had a triangle for a head… what? That was really weird and kind of off-putting! But not off-putting enough, apparently. She was still interested. In… in… Phineas…

Just as she figured she was either going back into an internal monologue, lose her mind completely, or pass out, Buford giving her a shove in the side returned her to the land of the living. The object of her affections (No, no, she would not call him that, not even mentally. The object of her delusions. That sounded better. Slightly) groaned. "Buford!"

"You asked if anybody could wake her up!" Buford said defensively. "I could, and I did! You're welcome!"

Phineas continued frowning at him for a few moments, but then he cheerfully turned back to Candace. "Sorry about that" he said. "Who knew random green de-aging rays would give you weird zoning-out spells, right?"

"Yeah. Right." Candace cast a cautious glance around her. Phineas was oblivious as usual, but Ferb had a strongly suspicious look on his face while Isabella and Baljeet both looked confused. This wasn't good. "So, is the machine ready to get me back to normal?"

"Right this way, Candace" Phineas replied, smiling so brightly that Candace couldn't help but crack a little smile as well. Ah, that was the optimism she loved him for.

As. A. Sibling.

Her brothers led her onto some kind of platform next to a large machine-thingy with a ray on top. Considering the fact that some previous rays hadn't involved a specific platform, Candace wouldn't be surprised if Phineas and Ferb had added this just for fun.

"All right, now hold still" Phineas instructed her. "Gretchen, turn on the machine!"

"Aye aye, Phineas!" the brunette Fireside Girl whom Candace hadn't even realized was still there replied. In fact, she hadn't realized any of them were still there except for the core group of Phineas, Ferb, Isabella, Buford and Baljeet. Didn't those girls have anything else to do? Or wouldn't they get their patches until the whole project was done? Ah, well. Time to do what Phineas had told her and brace herself.

The moment after she had thought that a wide green ray zapped out from the machine and hit her. She was enveloped in a flash of light and when she opened her eyes again, the others were back to their usual sizes. Candace blinked a few times before breaking into a smile and a sigh of relief. "You did it! You really did it!"

"We certainly did!" Phineas replied enthusiastically. "Good job, Ferb! And we even have four minutes left to go before Jeremy comes back!"

Candace blinked. "Wait, what? Jeremy told you when he was coming back?" Phineas nodded. "In four minutes?" Another nod. "Oh no no no no!"

"I do not get it" Baljeet piped up. "Is something wrong?"

"My hair is wrong!" Candace exclaimed. "My clothes, my shoes, my hands, my general look… I didn't prepare anything! I look horrible!"

Phineas shook his head in a half-chuckle. "Why must you girls always be so dramatic? You look fine, Candace. Didn't I tell you this morning that you looked pretty?" He turned to his brother. "Candace is pretty, isn't she Ferb?"

Ferb gave his sister a good look before replying. "Yes, yes she is. Although not like Vanessa. Or Isabella, for that matter."

The crowd fell silent. Most just stared at Ferb, while Phineas looked slightly confused and Isabella's face was a mixture of shock and slight happiness that at least somebody had noticed her. They might have stood there just silently staring at Ferb – who only blinked in return – for a long time if not for the sound of a very familiar car horn.

Candace smiled maniacally. "It's mom! Oh, you're going to be so busted this time! Mom mom mom mom mom!" She sped off into the house, towards the front door. Jeremy was forgotten. The matter with Phineas was… postponed until further notice. None of it mattered right now.

It was busting time.

oooooooo

Meanwhile at Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated, the fight was still on and both sides were looking for something to gain the edge as how it was now, no one would get a clear shot at the inator long enough to use it.

Perry and Doofenshmirtz had switched from using books to tools (which were conveniently lying around) to clothing (well, Perry had swung his hat at Doofenshmirtz, which had somehow made the old fool fling out his shoe in retaliation. It had not ended well for him) to kitchen utensils when they had somehow ended up there. They had also been interrupted twice, the first time when Vanessa came in to grab a snack and to ask them to please be quiet, there was a horror marathon on TV, which had caused Doofenshmirtz to launch a rant on the evilness of modern television. ("And that's the wrong kind of evil, Perry the Platypus. I may be evil, but did I ever traumatize a poor kid by tempting them to watch something that might scar them for life? Hm, I actually might have done that once or twice, but that was with adults, not innocent children. I'm not the kind of guy who does that to kids. Do I look like a guy who would – don't answer that.") The second interruption had been a phone call which turned out to be a telemarketer, causing Doofenshmirtz to launch yet another rant (seriously, how did the guy not have a sore throat already?) about how they want to sell you stupid stuff you never asked for and that he should make a Telemarketing-Desintegrator-Inator. Perry was actually half-considering turning a blind eye to that one, considering how often he'd heard his host parents complain about the same thing.

Anyway, by this point they had managed to get the fight back to the front of the laboratory, where Doofenshmirtz, for all his faults, was still protecting himself pretty well. Perry finally got tired of it and decided to take drastic action. He swung his hat again, this time upwards to the ceiling. Doofenshmirtz predictably followed it with his eyes, allowing Perry to jump up and smack him in the face with his tail so hard that he toppled over before gracefully landing, his hat landing on his head. With Doofenshmirtz momentarily on the floor, Perry ran over to the inator.

When he looked through the telescope to aim, though, Perry saw the boys and a clearly teenaged Candace standing in the yard. Though part of him groaned at all his work being for nothing, the other part was happy that everything was back to normal and proud of his boys. He watched as Candace ran off, undoubtedly to get her mom, and then momentarily hesitated which button to press. Doofenshmirtz had said the fire button was labeled 'self-destruct', right? And the button labeled 'fire' was a trap, as he'd experienced so painfully. That meant the coffee maker button had to be the real self-destruct button…

He pressed it, but to his surprise a ray shot out towards Phineas and Ferb's yard nevertheless. Perry watched through the telescope as the ray hit the machine the boys had built and both enlarged and aged it. The machine grew bigger and older until it was too big and too old to hold together and then exploded, raining into pieces into the neighbors' yards.

While Perry was still aghast at the scene, Doofenshmirtz suddenly showed up to kick him away through the air, making him land against the wall and hit his head pretty hard, rendering him immobile for a few moments. "Gotcha!" the scientist exclaimed. "I… I don't know what happened there with the self-destruct button though. I was sure I had it figured out. I should have had it figured out, considering that, you know, I made the thing in the first place. Let's see, the fire button was the trap, the coffee maker was the fire-thing, so that means the self-destruct button should be the real self-destruct button. So if I press it…" The scientist pressed the button, and true to his word, the inator promptly exploded and covered his face with soot. "Yup, told you. So now I destroyed my own inator. Curse you, Perry the Platypus. Again." He curiously looked at Perry. "Maybe I should get a real job one of these days, don't you think? It can't be more exhausting than this."

Perry grinned, then took out his parachute and jumped off the balcony. He could get where Doofenshmirtz was coming from. As much as he enjoyed his job from time to time, it really was tiring. At last it was now time to go back to his family.

oooooooo

Candace crossed the distance to the front door within seconds and managed to get to the car before the car door had even opened. She opened the door and tugged on her mother's arm. "Mom mom mom, come, quick! It's still there now!"

Linda sighed. "Not again, Candace…"

"Yes, yes again, and this time they're going to be busted!" Candace insisted. "If you'll just come along before it disappears!" She frowned. "And why didn't you answer my phone calls throughout the day?"

"I had my cell phone turned off" Linda replied. Candace looked aghast. "I'm sorry honey, but your calls tire me out and this was a really special convention. I couldn't stop everything I was doing just to see what the boys aren't doing." Candace continued to glare at her. "Fine, maybe it was too harsh, but considering I just looked and I have ten unanswered calls from you today alone... tell you what, I'll come with you right away to make up for it. Lawrence, will you take care of getting the car and everything in it inside?"

"Sure thing, darling!" Lawrence replied. "We picked up lots of priceless artifacts at the antique convention. Just wait until you see them Candace, they will blow your mind!"

"Yeah, yeah, right" Candace absentmindedly said. "Come on, mom, no time to lose!"

She dragged her mother back through the house, through the back door, and into the backyard. "See, mom? What did I tell you?"

"Oh that is nice, Candace" Linda complimented. "Look at how empty and clean the backyard looks compared to that of the neighbors! They should really clean it up, it looks ridiculous. What do they even want with all that scrap metal out there?" She turned to Phineas and the others. "Anyway, who wants a snack? We've got special antique pie from the convention!" The remaining kids (the Fireside Girls were gone by now) cheered, to which Linda smiled and went inside.

Candace, in the meantime, was just left staring at where the invention that had turned her back into a teenager had been just under a minute ago. "But, but, but, but, but…"

"What's antique pie?" Isabella wondered.

"It sounds kinda gross" Buford chimed in.

"It's an old pie recipe from the 1800s!" Phineas told them. "Dad says they made the best pie then. Considering they bought it at the convention, the pie itself is probably also from the 1800s." He paused. "Yeah, probably best not to think about that too much." He looked down at the sound of a familiar chatter. "Oh there you are, Perry."

"And that makes three" Ferb said, putting down another vertical line on his notepad. They all headed inside, while Candace slumped and walked in after them. Yet another day, her brothers had accomplished the impossible and her own busting attempts had been thwarted. And now, with pie on the table, Perry back from wherever he went, it looked like everything had just gone back to normal, as if nothing weird had happened today at all. Everything was almost the same again.

Almost.

And in a world where everything seemed to repeat itself every day, it was those little things that actually did change that might eventually make the difference.

THE END.