Get your tissue boxes out, people xD Well, if you decide to listen to the featured song while reading. If you don't, it won't be as sad, so if that helps your decision….
The song is Don't You Wanna Stay by… Yes, you guessed it xD Kelly Clarkson, and it features Jason Aldean. It's a lovely and sad song. Since the male actually doesn't sing along for most of it, you don't have to listen to the song. If you haven't heard the song before, though, I highly recommend you do, so you can better grasp the feel of the song and the moment in the story :'(
I DO NOT OWN PHINEAS AND FERB. ANY CHARACTER YOU DO NOT RECOGNIZE IS PROBABLY MINE
(Grace's POV)
Grace stared at the ground far below as Perry flew the rocketcar. She was so excited that she was finally leaving the hospital, but this was awkward for her.
On Grace's right was a female echidna that she had heard Perry call "Ellie." She seemed nice, but Grace never really felt comfortable around new people- except Perry, but her dad was a different matter.
"Ellie" was sitting on the left of a purple hyena. Grace hadn't heard his name yet. He was talking with a red macaw who had her own stand connected to the car. Grace thought she heard the hyena call her "Maggie" once.
Grace was sitting behind her father. It relieved her, but she kind of wished she had been sitting next to him instead of the cat- whatever her name was. Then again, Grace wasn't sure how she'd feel squished in between Perry and- what was his name? Doofenshmirtz?
After a little bit, the hyena and "Maggie" stopped talking, and silence weaved its way among the seven people. Awkward silence.
The brown platypus sighed. I can't handle this. So, after summoning her courage, Grace squeaked out, "How long is the drive?"
Perry managed to turn away from the wheel long enough to shoot her a quick smile. "About fifteen more minutes."
Fifteen more minutes of awkward silence? I can't do this. Grace immediately wished she had music she could listen to.
The thought reminded her of something, and she froze as her heart rate increased. Did I forget it?!
Grace immediately reached into her fur pocket and relaxed as she pulled out a phone. She still had it. The phone had belonged to Fiona, and it had all of her music on there. It and the stuffed bear were all Grace had been able to salvage from the fire-
if she lost the phone, it would be like losing part of herself.
"I could play a song to pass the time," Grace said hesitantly.
(Perry's POV)
Curiosity got the best of Perry, so he switched the autopilot on and turned to face his daughter. "How?"
"I-it's Mom's old phone," replied Grace quietly. "It has all her music on it." Obviously, she was struggling with six pairs of eyes resting on her.
Perry got a good look at the teal, orange, and white phone. His eyes widened. "I-" He cleared his throat and continued. "I'm the one who gave that phone to her in the first place."
Grace's eyes widened, her mouth opened a little, and she stared down at the phone in her paws. "Whoa."
The teal platypus let out a soft chuckle. "You said your mother's songs are on there?"
"All of them. Maybe I could play one?"
Perry exchanged a glance with Karen, but he was talking to everyone. "Would that be okay?"
"I'd certainly like to hear just how good a singer Fiona was," Karen muttered. Perry raised an eyebrow in confusion. Why was there a hint of hostility in her voice?
There were five choruses of agreement, though none of them were hostile. "A-alright," Grace said nervously.
Perry turned back to the wheel and turned the autopilot back off again as he heard Grace scroll through the songs. She was reading each name out loud to herself.
Some of the names Perry recognized, such as, "Let Me Down", "Standing In Front Of You", and "You Thought Wrong", but there were some that Perry hadn't heard before- that Fiona had most likely written after Perry had lost her. The names such as, "Hear
Me", "Nostalgic", and "Cry" stuck needles into Perry's heart.
Suddenly, Grace let out a shout of excitement. "Ooh! Don't You Wanna Stay! I love that song!"
Perry winced. He knew THAT song all too well. It was the last song Fiona had written and sung before they were separated.
"Could I play it?"
The teal platypus took a deep breath in. "Okay." He scolded himself when his voice shook a bit.
"It's a male-female duet piece," explained Grace. "When Mom recorded all these songs on her phone, it was after she moved into the treehouse while she was pregnant with me. She was only able to sing her part, so the song won't sound quite right."
With that, Grace began the song. How Fiona had managed to record the instruments was beyond Perry- maybe she had recorded the instruments while they were still together.
As Grace had explained to everyone, Fiona had sung each song by herself, so where the male was supposed to begin, only instruments played. But Perry knew the song by heart.
The male began the song with the first verse: "I really hate to let this moment go, touching your skin and your hair falling slow. When a goodbye kiss feels like this..."
This was where Fiona's voice began singing in harmony with nothing- in the complete song, the male sang with the female. "Don't you wanna stay here a little while? Don't you wanna hold each other tight; don't you wanna fall asleep with me tonight? Don't you wanna stay here a little while? We could make forever feel this way; don't you wanna stay?"
Fiona sang the second verse by herself; Perry inhaled deeply and listened to her soothing singing voice. "Let's take it slow; I don't want to move too fast. Don't wanna just make a love; I wanna make a love last. When you're up this high, it's a sad goodbye!
"Don't you wanna stay here a little while? Don't you wanna hold each other tight; don't you wanna fall asleep with me tonight? Don't you wanna stay here a little while? We could make forever feel this way; don't you wanna stay?"
(Grace's POV)
Grace swayed a little as she listened to the song. She had only heard her mother sing it and had never heard the full thing, so she had never found out who Fiona sang it with.
"Oh, yeah!" her mother sang through the speaker.
The next part was just instrumental, but Grace knew what came next. The male singing, "Oh, you feel so perfect, baby!"
Fiona's voice came again. "Let it feel so perfect, baby!"
"Who sings this with her?" "Ellie" asked, leaning over. Grace didn't reply because she didn't know the answer.
When the next part came, however, Perry suddenly joined in. Singing in perfect harmony with Fiona's voice. "Don't you wanna stay here a little while?"
Grace blinked in surprise. Did her parents originally sing the song together?
"Ellie" had the same thoughts. "Perry sang it with her?!"
Apparently.
"Don't you wanna stay here a little while?" Perry continued to sing along with Fiona's voice. "Don't you wanna hold each other tight; don't you wanna fall asleep with me tonight?"
(Perry's POV)
Perry knew that Karen knew that he was crying; and he didn't care. Tears WERE slowly dripping down his cheeks as he sang along with his mate's "ghost". "Don't you wanna stay here a little while? We could make forever feel this way; don't you wanna stay?" His
voice cracked a little.
He had been the original male singer. It had surprised Perry when Fiona handed the song to him the day after Major Monogram had placed the decision on Perry's conscience. The song had matched his current position so well that he had been able to sing
it with a surprising amount of feeling; the only question was why Fiona had even thought to write it. But if she had secretly been watching when the Major gave him the decision, then a lot more things made sense.
The teal platypus stopped singing along again as the next part of the song came up. "Don't you wanna stay?" Fiona sang.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah."
As the instruments pulled the song to a close, Perry brushed away his tears with a paw and inhaled deeply to compose himself in front of his team and daughter.
"Sorry, Dad," Grace apologized meekly. "Did you not want me to play it?"
Perry smiled- and it wasn't forced. "Grace," he said truthfully, "I haven't heard that song in five years. Thank you."
"Really?"
"Really. I do miss your mother. I really miss her." Perry's voice cracked with that. "But listening to her music helps keep her close, no matter how painful it is. Thank you so much for playing that."
Karen hesitantly placed a paw on Perry's shoulder, and, after taking in another deep breath, Perry simply shook it off. Silence gathered again, this time more awkward than before.
After a few more minutes, Ellie spoke up. "Fiona WAS an amazing singer."
"Yeah," Perry grinned weakly. "She really was."
It was another few minutes before Perry parked the car in front of O.W.C.A's HQ. The lights on the front of the building were turned on, and Major Monogram was waiting outside with Carl, his arms behind his back.
He saluted as soon as Perry parked the car. "Good job, agents." All the agents saluted back... All except Perry. And Grace shrank down timidly in her seat.
Perry's team began to file out of the rocketcar. Perry climbed out after everyone else and helped his daughter out of the vehicle. Grace hugged him tightly, and Perry hugged her back. "Go on inside, sweetheart. Ellie will help show you around."
Grace hesitated. "O-okay." She glanced at Major Monogram and Carl before quickly walking in the building. Perry smiled and then turned to his Major, his arms crossed.
"She's your daughter?"
"Yes," Perry replied, his eyes narrowing a little.
The Major's gaze faltered. "And who is the mother?"
Perry's slightly hostile gaze turned into a full-on glare, so he turned it to the ground. Major Monogram continued slowly and quietly. "Because Fiona left five years ago."
"And whose fault is that?" Perry muttered under his breath.
"Agent P," Major Monogram repeated firmly, "who's the mother? I have every right to know what my agents have been up to."
"Fiona!" Perry snapped, turning back to him.
Major Monogram's eyes widened, and he barely tried to hide it. "But, Agent P, I said-"
"I know what you said!" Perry wasn't even bothering being respectful anymore. "And you know what? I NEVER saw Fiona again!"
The Major raised an eyebrow. "T-then... Then how did you...?"
Perry folded his arms and looked miserably at the ground again. "She was pregnant when you made me choose. After Fiona left, she had to raise our daughter by herself."
"A-A-Agent P-P..." Perry had never heard Major Monogram stutter before. "I'm so sorry. If I could-"
A new thought struck Perry, making him interrupt the Major. "You knew..." he murmured.
"What?"
Perry turned to glare up at Major Monogram again. "You knew! You knew I'd wind up staying in O.W.C.A!"
"You chose us over Fiona," stated his Major quietly.
"No," Perry scoffed. "I never ended up choosing. Fiona did. But you knew that I'd end up losing her; that's why you weren't scared to give me the decision. You KNEW you wouldn't lose me as an agent!"
Major Monogram hesitated and winced. So Perry was right! "Well," he snarled, "thanks to what you did, you didn't lose me. My mate died, and my daughter lived as an orphan for five years, but you didn't lose me. That's good enough, isn't it?"
"Agent P-"
"You depend on me to keep O.W.C.A. going! How would you survive withoutyour top agent?" Perry's eyes narrowed. "Maybe we could find out."
The Major blinked in shock. "What?"
"Thanks to O.W.C.A, I lost my mate. It doesn't make me want to stay here. Maybe I'll quit! How would you survive then?"
Before Major Monogram could reply, Perry stormed off, blinded by tears and rage. He collapsed on the ground by a bush outside of HQ, not sure whether to cry or not. So he simply sat there, his head hanging to the ground, and his eyes closed.
After several minutes, Perry felt a small pair of arms wrap around him. He glanced over to his right and saw Grace hugging him. Perry smiled and gently nuzzled her with his beak before pulling her up against him and holding her tight. Grace didn't ever
struggle.
Poor Perry D: D: D:
And don't imagine Perry singing in Jason Aldean's voice xD xD He does not have that deep, country voice xD xD
