A/N: Alright, so with this chapter I'm writing a character from whose POV I've never written before. A character who is used to perceiving Phineas' every action through a lens heavily tinted by romance. That lens is one that can heavily distort an awful lot of things, but can make other things startlingly clear.

As always with new POVs, I did my best to keep everything in character, but be sure to point out any areas where you think I may have slipped up.

Also, as a note of warning, my upload schedule may get disrupted in the up-and-coming few days. There's a really bad hurricane making tracks towards the area where I live - I'll try to stick to my normal rate of upload, but can't really promise anything.

And as I always say, thanks for reading, and I hope that you enjoy!

It was with an exponentially increasing frustration that Isabella Garcia-Shapiro bid goodbye to her friends and trudged homewards across the street.

One week. She thought. A whole week.

That was… okay, it wasn't really that long of a time. But, still… it seemed long to her. Especially when it was denoting the amount of - consecutive, mind you - days in which Phineas Flynn was noticeably absent from their summertime schedule. Like, one day? No big deal. Stuff happened. Two days? Coincidences were a thing. But three? Four? Seven? That was when it started to chafe.

She wasn't sure why it got under her skin as much as it did. Phineas was almost certainly not doing it on purpose. He was… well, he just wasn't the sort to do that kind of thing.

And it wasn't like the afternoons without him were unpleasant, per se. They were… tolerable. Alright, even. Ferb was pleasant enough, even if his stony silences made for a lot of awkwardness from time to time. Buford and Baljeet - those two were always the same - were nice enough, but they were off in their own world half of the time. And Irving, well, was just Irving. There wasn't much else to be said there. He'd showed up only once in the past week, though. Really, with Phineas missing… it just felt like the glue was gone.

Even so, every morning for past week, she'd dutifully walked across the street to the Flynn-Fletcher house. And every morning she'd greeted Phineas and his brother in the yard.

"Heeeeey, Phineas. Whatcha doin'?" she'd say, repeating the same greeting she'd been using for years and years.

And - of course - every morning, her attempts at making him realize what they shared fell flat. But, sadly, that wasn't unusual. It was also a matter to be dealt with later - soon enough he'd come around on that - it was just a matter of time.

Every morning she'd hoped that her crush would stick around. How could he not? What was so important that he would opt away - from both the projects she knew he adored, and from his friends, and from her? But every morning, she'd been sorely disappointed.

At eight o'clock sharp, Phineas' phone would go off in his pocket, and he'd take it out, glance at it, then cut his conversation short, disappearing inside the house. And she'd not see him for the rest of the afternoon - except for a minute here and there, if they happened to be going to use the upstairs bathroom at the same time or something. Which had happened. Once.

All attempts to find a pattern in Phineas' bathroom-using times so that she could ensure that they ran into each other had failed.

It hadn't taken long for her to figure out where he went. She was, after all, fairly decent at getting to the root of confusing things, at least as evidenced by her Investigative Reporting patch. But that information had really not helped the situation one whit. So he went into his sister's room. Big whoop. How was that supposed to help, especially if she still didn't know what he was doing in there? And just because he went into his sister's room - that didn't mean he was actually spending all that time in there.

Teleportation and invisibility were just two out of many ways to accomplish that - and considering that this was Phineas Flynn, such things were not so far-fetched. It was almost certainly true - after all, what reason would he have for actually staying in his sister's room for all those hours?

Candace Flynn was a nice enough person, Isabella supposed, though she wasn't all that close with her crush's older sister. It seemed a bit shallow - after all, the eldest Flynn child had been a regular participant in the backyard for what was creeping up on four years. But Isabella had eyes for only one of the three siblings. She didn't mind Candace's presence, but similarly to Ferb's, it was more of a non-factor in her enjoyment of the day.

Enjoyment that was, of course, determined in large part by Phineas' actions. And he couldn't very well act if he wasn't even there, now could he?

Sure, the projects they put together under Ferb's instruction were nice enough. And sure, Isabella knew that whatever Phineas was doing had to be at least somewhat important if he was abandoning her - and everyone else - to go and pursue it. But it still got under her skin in a most aggravating way.

As she opened her own front door and stepped inside, Isabella straightened her shoulders and cleared her throat. There was going to be a troop meeting this evening, and she couldn't afford to be in such a funk in front of the other Fireside Girls. And their advice on these subjects was… fallible, to say the least. Ginger's flimsy justification for her I Saw A Cute Boy patch was proof enough of that. At least none of the troop members had been over to the house across the road during the long and disappointing week. She was sure that the past week would have given them plenty of ammunition for teasing - that would have no doubt been good-natured - but she just wasn't feeling up to that sort of thing, ill intentions or no.

It would be okay. After all, surely he'd be there tomorrow. Whatever he was doing - it couldn't take longer than a week to finish, right? This was Phineas Flynn - the boy who could travel to the end of the universe and back in a handful of hours, and probably call it small potatoes afterwards. There was just no way.

The troop meeting went off without a hitch, as she had expected. A few more patches were handed out - a third copy of the Interplanetary Explorer patch, a fifth copy of the Rocket Science patch, and her umpteenth copy of Help Thy Neighbor being the highlights of the evening, along with a few other less dramatic ones, like Gretchen's Running With The Bullies patch. Which was, admittedly, earned entirely by accident.

And although she was able to somewhat stifle her discomfort at the newfound trend that had begun to emerge at the Flynn-Fletcher house over the course of the past week, she still found herself unable to get fully into the mood of the evening. It was supposed to be a good time, but her brain obstinately refused to get off Phineas. This thing was going to drive her nuts, she could feel it.

"Hey… there's something bothering you, isn't there?" Ginger came over and asked, after the meeting broke apart and the various troop members were scattering off to their respective homes.

Isabella rolled her eyes and sighed. Had she really been that obvious? Probably.

"It's Phineas again, isn't it?" the other girl asked, without even a moment's hesitation.

"I'm nothing if not predictable." Isabella said. "I suppose I'm gonna end up getting that Unresolved Emotional Tension patch after all."

Ginger shrugged. "You know what we all think about that. No need for me to rehash it, I guess."

"Yes, yes I know." Isabella agreed. "And you know why I can't just go about it like that. Phineas - he just doesn't work that way. But that's not even what's bothering me anyway."

Even in the dim light cast by the streetlights, she could sense the surprise on Ginger's face.

"Something's bothering you… about Phineas… and it doesn't have to do with your infinitely unrequited crushes? Color me surprised."

"Well, it's not entirely unrelated." Isabella admitted. "But still not exactly that. I'm plenty used to that by now. This - this is different."

Ginger rolled her eyes dramatically. "Well, lay it on me. I already get my fill of drama from that family from Stacy anyway. So what's another little bit on top?"

Isabella suddenly felt a little bit embarrassed by her worries as she thought of trying to articulate them. If she was so sure that Phineas truly did love her - and she was - then why was his extended absence bothering her so much? Well, perhaps the answer was simpler than all that.

"For the past week straight, Phineas's been going off to do… something or the other. By himself - in his sister's room, of all places. And just kinda leaves me in the yard with his brother and Buford and Baljeet. And if I ask him what he's doing - he just makes weird faces and apologizes a lot and says that it's not his place to tell."

For a second, there was no reply, and they walked on in silence, turning down the street of the Hirano house.

"I mean," Ginger answered at last. "The obvious conclusion here is that he's doing something with his sister. I guess I can ask Stacy - she's guaranteed to know something, at least."

"Oh, please." Isabella replied, sighing slightly. "If there's anything I know about my - him, it's that nothing's ever the obvious conclusion."

Ginger shrugged and turned off the sidewalk into the driveway of her home. "Well, you'd know that better than me. Oops - I. At least you don't have to worry about him going off and getting a girlfriend or something when you're not looking." She smiled.

"Oh, no." Isabella chuckled at the idea. "No, he wouldn't do that. He loves me - at least, he will." She looked at her companion out of the corner of her eye. "Don't think I didn't hear that self-correction, by the way. Trying to impress someone, hmm?"

Ginger blushed in the dim light, and turned on her heel, starting towards her front door. "I'll call you tomorrow." She tossed over her shoulder. "If Stacy does know anything at all - and if it involves Phineas' sister, she probably does. 'Night."

"'Night." Isabella echoed, turning her own steps homeward at last.

The conversation, brief though it had been, had still helped to put her mind somewhat at ease. The issues were still there, unfortunately, but getting them off her chest had been kinda relieving. And maybe Ginger had been right - maybe it did have something to do with his sister after all. That could kinda sorta explain why Phineas kept pulling that same 'I can't tell you' sort of thing. It was hard for Isabella to think of any reason he would keep something from her, but maybe his sister had put him up to it. Why would she do such a thing? Who knew.

It was all very annoying. She longed for the day when the light bulb would finally go off in his brain and he would realize that she'd been waiting for him all these years.

And maybe - just maybe, she thought as she prepared for bed that night, that day will be tomorrow.

There wasn't much she could do, but she could always hope. And most likely be disappointed yet again, but it would be worth it someday.

Tomorrow finally dawned, bright and clear and full of opportunity. And, same as she had for as long as she could remember, Isabella got up early, got dressed, said good morning to her mother, ate breakfast, took care of Pinky, and then departed for the house across the street. It was warm, and birds were singing, and there only a few scattered clouds drifting here and there in the sky.

It could be so romantic. She thought, sighing slightly to herself. But there was no time to think about that now. Crossing the Flynn-Fletcher driveway, she pushed open the wooden fence gate and stepped into the yard.

"Heeeeeey, Phineas." she greeted, smiling as flirtatiously as she knew how. "Whatcha doin'?"

"Hey, Isabella!" he exclaimed from the under the tree, his voice laden with innocent enthusiasm. "How're you this morning?"

"Good." she answered, resisting the urge to sigh again. It was time to pop the question once again. But this was a new week… so surely the answer would be different this time. "Are you planning on sticking it out with us today?" She could feel herself holding her breath as she waited for the answer. Did Phineas even know how much she hung on his every word? No, no, of course he didn't. He had no idea.

Phineas frowned slightly, and it was through that action that she could tell that she was about to be disappointed yet again. "I'm sorry." He apologized. "But I can't. It's - it won't be too terribly much longer though." He paused and smiled. "You'll get yet another day to relax and talk about me, hm?"

"Yeah." she responded, smiling faintly at the joke. Well, here was just another disappointment to throw on the pile. What else was new?

"I'm sorry." Phineas repeated, a slightly concerned look crossing his face. "I miss hanging around with all of you too."

She had that at least, right? It was a good sign, she supposed. Still, if he actually did miss them all that much… why was he staying away? She knew that asking him would be useless.

Phineas got a strangely far away look in his eyes, and stared off into space. "It's just - I don't know. This is important, Isabella. I'd tell you if I could. But she…" Ferb cleared his throat in a loud manner, startling his brother down out of the clouds. "Right. Sorry."

Something in his tone rankled in her mind, poking annoyingly at her subconscious.

It's nothing. She told herself, attempting to push the thought away. Maybe Ginger was right. Maybe it really is his sister. Has to be right?

Well, of course it had to be. That was the obvious conclusion, the one that any rational person would arrive at after careful application of logic and reason. But if there was one thing that Isabella had learned from her years of trying to keep up with Phineas, it was that logic and reason tended to break down around the Flynn-Fletcher house. It was her years of experience in dealing with the impossible that even now prevented her from settling for the 'obvious' conclusion.

Yes, that is certainly what it was. There was nothing else. Nothing… nothing at all.

Still, the strange feeling refused to go away completely. She was used to Phineas' grandiose projects stealing away his attention from her feelings for him. Why was this different?

It's not. She stubbornly told herself. It's just… longer term than usual. Oh yeah, and involves someone else that apparently gets to decide if he can tell me or not.

Oof. That did not sit well with her. But what could she do? Nothing, that's what. Nothing except roll with the punches, knowing that at some point in the future, it would all be worth it. And they would look back on this moment and laugh.

It was what she did every day, after all. Why was it so hard now?

And I guess I can make it eight days now. She thought, sitting down dejectedly on the grass next to him. Eight. Freaking. Days. Bleh.

"Well, at least you're enjoying yourself." she said, trying her best to keep the frustration out of her tone. It was more for her own benefit that his anyway. He'd not notice if she flat out spat the words, in all likelihood. She leaned back against the base of the tree, preparing for what would probably be a long-winded spiel on the subject, getting agonizingly close to, but never quite reaching the disclosure of any actual detail.

Instead, she heard a long, drawn-out sigh so uncharacteristic of the boy sitting next to her that she leaned forward to look at him more closely. A faint smile had crossed his face and he was staring unfocused off into the air again.

"I am." he answered, at last.

And the short answer was enough to set all the alarm bells in her brain off at once.

It was… it was so short. So concise. And so… so dreamy? Wait, what? What on earth could have made her crush - the person that she'd many a time labelled as the most oblivious person on earth - sound dreamy? And there was no denying it. His words were practically dripping in it… oozing that sickeningly sweet, starry-eyed tone that she'd only dreamed of hearing from him one day.

But it - it wasn't directed at her.

Instantly, Ginger's words from the night before shattered back into her consciousness.

'At least you don't have to worry about him going off and getting a girlfriend or something when you're not looking.'

The notion was patently ridiculous. A part of Isabella's brain was laughing at her for even giving it a moment's thought. But there was no denying that… that tone. She knew it well enough, having often had to take time to steady her own voice to prevent herself from sounding like that.

This was - this was impossible. Suddenly, his protracted absences from the daily projects seemed a much greater obstacle to their up-and-coming romance.

She leaned forward even farther, looking directly at Ferb, who, as usual, was sitting silently on Phineas' other side. Did he know about… about this? How could he not?

But Ferb only stared back at her impassively, giving off the distinct impression that he either had no idea what was going on, or knew, but was for some reason refusing to admit it. Or maybe he was trying to tell her something - she'd never been able to tell with him. If something needed to be said, Phineas was always translator.

Okay, it's fine. You didn't get that Calm in Times of Stress patch for nothing. She thought. After all, this is Phineas.

And that was true. It was Phineas. And he loved - or was going to, at least - her. And even if he didn't know it yet, his constant oblivion should have easily protected him from anyone else. After everything she'd tried over the years, and he still hadn't realized? Yeah, there was no way that anybody else was going to work their way through it in just a week. The idea was patently absurd.

Still… that sigh. That tone. The way that even now, he was perfectly silent and staring off into space.

It disturbed her. This was Phineas - her crush. The love of her life, not anyone else's. And he loved her too, of that much she was positive. There had to be another explanation for this - something more mundane.

Well, she did have that patch in investigative reporting. If she wanted to find out just exactly what was going on around here, then maybe it was time to start paying closer attention - to everything. And surely doing so would uncover that mundane solution that she was so confident was there.

A loud beeping sound broke the unusual silence that had fallen over the yard.

"Oh!" Phineas exclaimed, pulling himself to his feet and digging his phone out of his pocket. "That's for me. It was fun talking with you, Isabella. I'll be seeing you later."

"Huh? Oh, yeah." she replied. "See you later, I guess. Have… fun?"

"Oh, I will." he answered, smiling broadly. "And you too. I'm sure whatever you guys do'll be great. You can tell me all about it later."

She watched him walk across the yard and disappear through the sliding glass door into the house. Well, he was gone again. Off to… wherever. Into his sister's room, probably, then maybe somewhere beyond? There was just no telling with him.

Maybe it was time to start a little bit of that investigative reporting she'd thought about. Beginning with… Ferb. Oh, no. This was going to be an absolute nightmare. But it would be worth it, even if she only got the tiniest smidgen of information. This was… she just had to know.

"So…" she said aloud. "Ferb. Whatcha - what - what are you doing?"

Her normally familiar greeting stuck in her throat for some reason, refusing to come out to the wrong brother.

Ferb glanced up from the blueprint spread across his lap and looked at her. Where had he gotten that anyway?

A deep silence settled over the yard as they stared at each other. Ferb's face was completely unreadable, as usual.

"So…" she started up again, not sure why she was feeling so nervous around him all the sudden. This was Ferb, of all people. "So… uh… I wonder what Phineas is doing. It's - it's quite a conundrum, hm?"

Another long and all-encompassing silence settled over the yard like a suffocating blanket. Ferb blinked, once, then twice. But she had no idea if that meant anything. Or maybe it didn't mean anything - maybe he'd simply had to blink. Agh! This was really getting out of hand - and annoying.

"Do - do you know what he's doing?" she asked at last, clearing her throat. "I mean, it is weird, right?"

Oh, it definitely was. That was, like, the one thing that she knew for sure right now. And you could bet that she was fully intending to cling to that one tidbit of knowledge like her life depended on it. Because maybe it did.

Ferb turned back to his blueprint, and made some unintelligible markings on it. Some sort of advanced math, maybe. She frowned.

"Have you noticed anything, you know, strange about him recently?" The fourth question was basically giving up on any last air of subtlety the previous few may or may not have had.

Ferb looked back up at her, his pencil coming to a halt.

"Considering what I know of the situation," he said aloud, his quiet voice giving her such a start that she almost keeled over. "No, I don't think I've noticed any particularly remarkable behavior."

Considering what he knew of the situation? Oh, that was just great. So Ferb knew what Phineas was up to as well. It shouldn't have surprised her, honestly. Phineas and Ferb, they were practically joined at the hip. Still, the knowledge that here was yet another party Phineas had deemed worthy of the knowledge kind of irked her. What about it 'not being his place' to tell?

Okay, to be entirely to fair to Phineas, Ferb was generally sort of the 'observant' one. At least, she assumed so. Heck, half the things she knew about Ferb were assumptions anyway. What was one more?

Still, she couldn't really be upset with Phineas for telling Ferb... not that Ferb had implied that he'd been told anyway. It was just as likely that he'd simply figured it out on his own.

Even that idea sank uncomfortably to the bottom of her mind and lay there like a strange, annoying stone. Well, if Ferb could figure it out of his own accord, then so could she! Of course, Ferb did live here, and she didn't, which might throw a monkey wrench into things somewhat.

Well, she didn't need to live here, and she didn't need Ferb's help either. This was Phineas, after all. And Isabella knew that above all else, her crush was infinitely unsubtle. Indeed, it was a miracle that he'd not accidentally let the secret slide yet. All she would have to do would pay closer attention to the things that went on, especially when she saw Phineas for those brief periods of time in the morning.

Eventually somebody would slip up and something would come out - a single thread, maybe, but one that when pulled, would bring the whole tapestry of secret crumbling apart.

The wooden fence gate creaked, jarring her free of her thoughts.

"What is happening with you all this morning, my friends?" Baljeet exclaimed from the gate. "I am most excited for this day's project."

Isabella rolled her eyes and heaved a sigh that dared not show itself externally.

Yes, the daily project. Whatever it turned out to be - it'd be cool, no doubt. And under Ferb's more-than-capable direction and skill, it would also no doubt come together flawlessly. But it would never be the same. With Phineas missing, a huge chunk of her entire day was... just gone.

She felt almost selfish, mentally resigning herself to the disappointment creeping up on her. But she'd grown accustomed to the accomplishing of impossible tasks. And the idea of doing the impossible merely to do the impossible was no longer enough to truly bring her to the very heights of happiness. That would require a certain boy - a boy who had technically been a teenager for some years now, but surely didn't act like one. And who was noticeably missing from the yard.

Maybe tomorrow. She told herself, standing up and accepting a hard hat from Ferb's hand.

Wasn't that just her motto now? Maybe tomorrow Phineas would stay all day like he used to... Maybe tomorrow he would realize how blind he was to the deeper connection they shared. Maybe tomorrow... maybe tomorrow... maybe tomorrow.

But it will happen. She thought resolutely. That's the thing with tomorrows. They always come... eventually.

And when her tomorrow finally came, you could bet it was going to be the greatest day of her life.

But enough about her tomorrows. Right now, she needed to focus on today. Namely, getting through yet another afternoon and evening and night before she would see Phineas again. She knew well enough from the past week of experience how… alright it would go. It wouldn't get much better than that, but it'd still be… alright.

First there'd be the construction of the project, whatever it was. Today's was apparently a giant version of that lawn darts game… with actual sixty-foot long liquid nitrogen propelled intercontinental ballistic missiles. Which was cool enough, if the tiniest bit tame compared to usual.

She tried to get into the mood, really she did. And it worked, bit by tiny bit. The musical montage for the day's project came haltingly, much to her embarrassment.

"Cantcha' get with the program?" Buford bellowed from across the yard. "I'm tryin' to bust into song here!"

And she put even more effort into fully focusing on the project, and eventually the music came, if a bit later than usual.

Even as she worked, however, she kept her newfound goal at the forefront of her mind. There was something going on in the Flynn-Fletcher house, and it was something - something she didn't like. Now, watching Ferb, of all people, for clues was just about as useless as the day is long. Why did her crush's brother have to be so… inscrutable all the time? Without Phineas around to translate for her, those silent stares and infrequent blinks were simply impossible to decipher. She tried, for a good few minutes, but eventually gave up in frustration. If Ferb had something he wanted them - and her - to know, he'd say so. If not… well, they'd probably never know.

Nevertheless, Isabella remained determined. She'd more or less expected these to be the results of her trying to read Ferb anyway. It was, apparently, something that took a lifetime of practice to fully grasp. Practice she didn't have, and couldn't feasibly gain over the course of a single afternoon.

Then, right on the dot of noon, her phone buzzed in her pocket, signalling an incoming call.

Finally! She thought, snatching it from her pocket. Now she'd hopefully get some real answers, or at least some something she could work off of to get to an answer.

Excusing herself from the backyard, she retreated through the sliding glass door and into the Flynn-Fletcher's living room.

"Hello?" she asked almost breathlessly as she accepted the call. "Ginger?"

"It's me." the voice came from the other end of the line. "Sorry I couldn't call you back until now. Stacy was off at some - something, I guess, and I couldn't get ahold of her long enough to get a straight answer until just now."

"And?" Isabella prompted. She waited silently for her friend to continue.

"Well, the gist of what I got was this: Candace told Stacy that she broke up with her boyfriend, and that…"

"Wait, what?" Isabella interrupted, her curiosity to hear the rest of the story temporarily forgotten. "Candace - broke up - with Jeremy Johnson? Why? I - wow." She blinked. This was not a piece of information that she'd expected to hear. Phineas' sister's relationship with Jeremy Johnson had always seemed so… well, maybe a little unbalanced, but it had lasted for years and years anyway and… wow. She never thought that she would have seen the day.

"I don't know why." Ginger's voice came again. "And I'd feel pretty safe guessing that Stacy doesn't either." The other girl chuckled briefly. "There's a lot my sister can do, but she sure as heck can't keep a secret from me."

"Okay…?" Isabella urged. With the shock of news quickly wearing off, she was really wanting to steer the conversation back to Phineas. What had happened to his sister no doubt sucked for her, but it was Candace's brother she was interested in primarily.

"Well, you haven't heard the rest of it." Ginger said. "And it basically confirms that I was right last night, too."

That Phineas is actually doing something with his sister? She thought. But it can't be.

And it couldn't be. Not after… what she'd seen and heard this morning. No, it had to be something else.

"So, I asked Stacy how come she hasn't gone to, you know, be with her friend in this whole thing. And she told me that apparently Candace told her that she was 'fine' and 'didn't need to bother worrying about her' because she 'wasn't alone'." Ginger paused for a breath. "And knowing what you told me last night, everything makes perfect sense. Obviously the reason that Candace is 'not alone' is because someone is with her. And who else has been missing for the past week?"

The question was almost rhetorical in nature. It all made sense - the puzzle pieces were all there.

All except one.

Ginger hadn't been there this morning - to hear that - that tone that was so unsettlingly out of character for Phineas Flynn. And it was that tone that was the one piece that refused to slot neatly into the puzzle. Everything else fit, more or less. Everything except that.

But it had to fit - somewhere, somehow. She wasn't imagining it - it had most definitely happened. But why? The whole thing just stunk of… something. Something that she didn't like the stink of.

"You still there?" Ginger asked.

"Yeah - yeah, I'm here," she replied. "Thanks for calling me back. It's, uh, been helpful." She plopped down on the Flynn-Fletcher's couch, sinking into the well-used cushions.

"Sure thing," Ginger answered. "Guess I'll see you, uh, it'd be Monday, right?"

"Yup." Isabella said, temporarily lapsing back into Fireside Girl Troop Leader mode. "Monday at seven-thirty. I think it's gonna be the Surviving Harsh Environmental Conditions one. We'll meet at my house, like normal."

"And then proceed across the street, yeah I know." the other girl interrupted. "I'll be there. I'm gonna go for lunch now, though. Talk to you later."

"Alright. Bye." Isabella replied, letting the phone fall to her side as the call disconnected.

She inhaled a deep breath, then let it out even more slowly.

Everything fits. She thought. Everything except…

She rolled her eyes at herself. This was getting ridiculous, if she did say so herself.

Think logically about this. She ordered herself firmly. His sister broke up. Of course he'd want to comfort her. It's, you know, it's the nice thing to do.

Something about even that idea made her uncomfortable. Phineas was… well, he was so blind to people's feelings sometimes. And not even maliciously… but he'd completely missed her attempts at flirting so many times that it somehow stung a little bit to realize that he'd been ditching everything else over someone else's emotions. Why did he get to be so sensitive to Candace's feelings? How come he could sense her's and not Isabella's?

Even as she thought it, her conscience kicked her in the gut.

Way to go. She thought. Now you're getting jealous of the person who is not only his sister, but who also apparently just broke up with her boyfriend. Yeah, because that's not selfish at all.

Obviously, the mundane answer she'd been seeking was here, right in front of her face. Candace had broken up, and Phineas, in one way or another, had somehow realized what that meant. And he had decided to take time out of his schedule to help his sister. It explained… well, it explained everything. Phineas' absences, Candace's absences - that she'd noticed but not really thought about - and exactly why he was going into his sister's room every day. It seemed the mystery was solved.

But was it, though?

There was still that last annoying piece of the puzzle that refused to go anywhere she tried to fit it in.

It was stupid, really, to get so worked up over two miniscule words. 'I am.' That was all he'd said. That - and his drawn-out sigh.

But it wasn't what he'd said. It was how he'd said it.

And of all people in the world, Isabella could recognize the undercurrent that had been spread so thickly in those two words. She'd dreamed of hearing that current in his tone one day. She'd fantasized about it so often that sometimes it was hard to draw the line between what was fantasy and what was real.

To hear him simply say 'Isabella, I love you! In an entirely non platonic and unscientific way!" would have made her happy beyond her wildest dreams.

And now, this morning, for the first time in her life, she'd heard the voice of Phineas Flynn come out positively dripping with a dreaminess that was in stark contrast to any she'd ever heard from him before. But it wasn't directed at her!

And that stung.

And where could it have been directed, anyway? If what Ginger had said was true, and she had no reason to doubt it, then there was literally no one who could have been the intended recipient anywhere around.

'I am', he'd said, when she asked if he was enjoying himself doing whatever he was doing. But that flew directly in the face of what Ginger had suggested, and all but proved. But if he was comforting his sister after a breakup… Isabella frowned deeply as she sat on the couch.

It just didn't mesh. Something wasn't right. He couldn't have been up there with his sister all that time - just couldn't have been. There was no way on earth that freaking breakup comforting his sister would have inspired such a response. There had to be something else.

Isabella leaned back and thought hard, trying her best to fit all the conflicting pieces of evidence together into some semblance of sense.

Once Baljeet had told her about a machine that Phineas and Ferb had built - a machine that could separate things. It turned a swordfish into a tuna and a cutlass, a calendar into a stack of looseleaf paper and a pile of dates, and a grapefruit into an orange and a bunch of grapes.

And, coincidentally, it was also apparently capable of tearing people in two.

She wasn't quite sure how that was supposed to work, in all honesty. But that was hardly unusual either, and certainly no reason to doubt the veracity of Baljeet's claim.

So, that could explain it, right? That Phineas had somehow torn him apart and one half of him was the half in Candace's bedroom, and the other half was out and about, doing… something that would inspire him to react in the way he had this morning?

She shook her head vigorously, astounded at the sheer stupidity of the idea. Phineas was, well, Phineas. The idea that he would do or show any sort of feeling even remotely related to romance was… frankly, it was outlandish. And to believe that he would cook up some convoluted scheme that involved literally rending himself in twain to not only have a 'romance' of sorts, but also keep it hidden? No. Just… no.

Of course, he'd start having those feelings eventually, when he realized what was between them. But the words he'd uttered this morning had most definitely not fit that bill. And that was what was making the whole thing so endlessly screwy.

Because if not her… then who? How? And maybe most important of all: why?

And try as she might, no answer to any of those questions could be found.

The sliding glass door slid open and the silence of the living room was shattered.

"Isabella?" Baljeet asked, poking his head inside. "Oh, there you are. We have finished the project, and I would just like to inform you of that fact before we begin the game. Are you planning on coming out to join us?"

With another heavy sigh, she picked herself up off the couch and nodded. "Yeah, yeah, I'm coming. Thanks for letting me know."

Baljeet nodded again in return. "But of course."

She trudged behind him from the living back into the yard, and followed his example as the day's activity began in earnest. But this time, her troubles weren't so quick to go away in the face of what could have been a good time. Every passing moment that Phineas was gone seemed to be another moment when he was off doing… whatever he had been doing that had inspired him to utter those two awful words this morning.

All through the afternoon, the steam built up inside her, increasing in pressure until she felt like she was going to explode. She had to know what was going on - simply had to. And not even know where Phineas was going - if they wanted to keep their sister's breakup under wraps it was probably at her direction, and Isabella really couldn't have cared less one way or the other.

But what it was that made him speak and act the way he did? That she had to know. It obviously had nothing to do with the whole 'comforting his sister' deal. But what did it have to do with?

She just didn't know! And the frustration at her own ignorance boiled all the more violently the more she thought about it.

By the time the afternoon came to a close, things had just about reached critical mass. The giant lawn darts/missiles whatever-they-were got struck by a reddish-orange beam of light from the sky and spontaneously transformed into so many ducks, which promptly flew away, quacking loudly. Ms. Flynn-Fletcher arrived at home at that exact moment, and as was normal, offered them pie.

And she ate it, but couldn't enjoy it. Not anymore - not knowing what she knew now, and knowing what she didn't know.

As the time after the project wore on, Buford and Baljeet both took their leave and disappeared from the house. But she didn't - she couldn't. She needed answers - she needed something - anything that would put this thing to rest.

No one had said anything when she remained at the Flynn-Fletcher house later than she normally did. She sat awkwardly on the couch, staring off into space, waging the internal war that had been going on ever since this morning.

But she'd have to leave and go home eventually. And before that happened - she had to have more information. It wasn't an option - she simply had to.

Ferb was sitting silently across the couch from her, with his feet propped up on the coffee table, reading some book.

Ugh. This was going to be awful. Conversating with Ferb without Phineas around to translate was slow, it was halting, it was awkward, and it often left her frustrated.

But that simply wasn't important anymore - not compared to what was going on with Phineas. Isabella just flat-out refused to believe that Ferb was completely clueless as to what was going on with her crush. He was there this morning! He had heard those words that had been haunting her all day. And he didn't think they were unusual? No - that was just not possible.

She loudly cleared her throat, and saw his eyes flick up from the page to meet her own.

"F - Ferb." she started, as confidently as she knew how. "Ferb, we have to talk."