Chapter 7 – Getting To Know Said Half Sister

Phineas' POV

I think Ferb had too much sugary cereal for breakfast this morning, because I've never seen my stepbrother faint, not even once.

Again, we woke him up, gave him a glass of water. He seemed rather embarrassed that he fainted, probably because it was in front of a stranger. Though, they seem to know each other from the mall, though I've never seen her before in my life. I think it's because the last time we were at the mall, I was kinda distracted by the massage chair. I can't help myself, it was SO comfortable!

Anyways, we were all sitting in the living room talking, while mom was in the kitchen making some snacks.

"So, Candace tells me you guys like to build a lot?" Vanessa asked. Ferb, as usual, didn't answer.

"Yeah, ever since we first met, we've been building stuff," I replied.

"And it's everyday they make something new. I can only imagine what you guys made while I was gone," Candace added, rolling her eyes. She's still regretting not being here year-long, because according to her, that's about a hundred more inventions she's missed, and double that of what mom has missed.

I nodded. "We re-dug the hole to the center of the Earth the Phinadroids and Ferbots had made, found Biff for the millionth time and made him a tracking device, had Baljeet's birthday party on Jupiter, and we're planning on building flying water skis next Tuesday" I said, counting out on my fingers.

"Whoa. Candace wasn't kidding about you guys. You seem to make more stuff than my dad does!" Vanessa said. "Well, technically our dad…"

I took this opportunity to learn more about my real dad. "So, what's dad like? He's an inventor?"

"You could say that…more of an evil inventor, but nevertheless an inventor," she replied. She fished around in her black trench coat and pulled out what looked like a TV remote. "He made this years ago. It's supposed to be called 'The Away-inator'. It makes things disappear." She handed it to me, and as I examined it mom came into the room with a tray of cookies. I passed it to Ferb, who after checking it out passed it to Izzy. Candace looked over Izzy's shoulder at the device, then got a strange look on her face.

"Wait a sec, let me see that!" Candace said, grabbing it and not waiting for Izzy to hand it to her. "Maybe THIS is what's causing your inventions to disappear!"

Vanessa thought on this for a moment, then said, "Well, dad's inventions do sometimes shoot randomly out through the window."

Candace stared down at the Away-inator. "You've caused me a lot of grief, you know that?!?" she yelled, shaking her fist at it.

We all just laughed. Even Ferb, who up until this point hadn't said a word.

Mom shook her head. "Such imaginations, you guys. So, how's your dad?"

Vanessa shrugged. "Eh, he's fine, evil as ever."

Mom sighed. "Still after the tri-state area, I see." The rest of us got weird looks on our faces. 'After the tri-state area'? What in the world could that mean?

Ferb actually spoke up at this point. "What do you mean by that?" I glanced over at him, and noticed he wasn't shaking anymore, but he was still a little pale.

"Oh, when we were younger, he told me he wanted to rule the world. But he didn't think he could do it, so I told him to start small, like with just the tri-state area. I never imagined he'd actually go through with it though," she explained.

"Oh, yeah. He went through with it. It's day after day, nothing but one evil contraption after another. And my mom doesn't believe me for a minute," Vanessa sighed.

Candace smiled. "Which is one of the reasons we're such good friends. Mom doesn't believe me about your contraptions, and her mom doesn't believe her about dad's evil contraptions." How easily she could now say 'dad' and mean the father we never knew.

On the contrary, I'm still trying to wrap my head around the idea of Ferb's dad not being my dad, too. I've called him my dad for the longest time, it's hard to switch people when I think 'dad'.

"So how long are you going to be visiting you dad, Vanessa?" mom asked.

"Oh, just for the weekend. I switch with him and my mom whenever I'm home on weekends, but I stay at my mom's during the week. She lives in Danville, too."

That puzzled me. Did we not know her either, like Heinz? Or did we know her and just never think about it?

"Wait, what's your mom's name? Maybe we know her from somewhere," Isabella asked. That surprised me, because I was about to ask Vanessa the same thing.

"Charlene. She still kept the name 'Doofenshmritz'. She actually lives here in Danville, too," Vanessa replied.

Mom started choking on her cookie. "'Charlene'? I know a Charlene! And she lives here in Danville!"

"Do you think it's the same person? What does she look like?"

"Umm…dark hair, purple glasses, usually wears a green shirt?"

Vanessa practically jumped out of her seat. "That's my mom! How do you know her?!?"

"She was my cooking partner. She said she had a teenage daughter the last time I saw her, but I didn't realize she meant you!" mom exclaimed.

Mom stood up then. "Um, I'll be right back. I have to…go to the bathroom," and she left.

The five of us went on talking, learning more about each other. Ferb seemed back to his usual self, but he didn't look at Vanessa at all. I thought maybe he was just being shy, but a shrugged any thoughts other than that off. It didn't really matter; he'd have plenty of time in the future to really talk to her, if we kept in touch now that we knew where she lived. Mom still hadn't returned from the bathroom.

Vanessa glanced down at her watch after awhile, as did I. It was about 3 in the afternoon, which surprised me, because it seemed like only a moment ago that it was noon.

"Oh shoot, I gotta get home. My dad's probably worried." We said our goodbyes, grabbed her keys and left.

Izzy, Ferb, and I stayed on the couch; Candace was leaning against the wall, her arms crossed. No one really said much. I myself was starting to get worried about mom.

"Hey, why hasn't mom come back?" I asked to no one in particular.

"She's probably just trying to clear her head. Sort stuff out, you know?" Candace said, shrugging.

I shook my head. What could she mean by that?

"Ugh, as naïve as ever, Phineas. If you just learned the person who your husband cheated with on you was you're half daughter's mother and your cooking partner, how would you feel!?" she asked me, sighing at the fact that I hadn't got it.

But now I did, and I felt bad for mom. I know I'd probably never experience it myself, but what happened to her must hurt a lot.