*Insert a chibi Samantha waving and shouting 'SHE DOESN'T OWN THEM! ONLY ME!'*

Hey guys! Wow; 10 chapters…I'm so happy to have got this far! *sniffle* You guys have been extremely supportive and have encouraged me to continue writing this fic! So, since this is a double-digit chapter, I'm going to say my thanks to you all!

So, thanks to Nekobasu97, NattyMc, EeveeRoseRunner, WordNerb93, veryloyalfan, indigofrisbee, Woodshrew, BookwormStrawberry, PFTones3482, Carma Bain Bentley, and humanusscriptor! You guys inspire me to write more chapters of this fic! I hope this next chapter is to your liking!

So, without further ado, I give you: Chapter 10!

Chapter 10

She couldn't stop shaking.

The anger was beginning to die down, and was now replaced by fear. Fear that her father would hurt her again. And that thought alone terrified her to the point of tears.

And as she sat there in Phineas' arms; limp, sobbing and shaking, that was all she could think about. What if Francis came after her? What would she do? Hide behind someone else's parents like the coward she felt like, or stand up for herself and risk being hurt more? She couldn't think straight; her mind was nothing more than a jumble of thoughts.

"It's okay, it's okay, it's okay…"

She could faintly hear Phineas' voice - clam and soothing - through her panic. This fact alone calmed her greatly; at least she wasn't alone to face her punishment. If her father came after her, she would have Phineas with her.

"Phineas, I'm just going to- Oh my! Samantha, sweetie; what's wrong?" Linda yelled; running towards the crying girl and pulling her away from Phineas and into her arms. Samantha was suddenly reminded of her mother, and she couldn't stop herself as the tears flowed, and she cried louder. She clutched at the fabric of Linda's blouse; desperate for any comfort she could find. She felt Linda's arms wind around her back, and she was pulled gently into a soft comforting hug.

"…It's okay, sweetheart…you're gonna be okay now…Phineas; can you go and get a wet cloth for her cheek; let's get her cleaned up a bit," Linda murmured to her son, and Phineas simply nodded, and ran back into the house; dashing past Ferb who was trudging down the stairs. He hadn't slept a wink due to the fiasco of yesterday's events, and so he was less than happy to nearly get tripped up by his brother.

"Ferb; Samantha's out there. Go and see her, bro," Phineas yelled; rushing up the stairs and into the bathroom. Ferb froze; Samantha? What was she doing here so early in the morning?

All questions flew out of his mind as he heard Samantha's cry; shaky and barely audible, but there. His feet moved before his brain could process his thoughts, and he found himself at the French doors before he could even consider his next move. His eyes locked onto the scrunched up figure of his mother, currently holding and rocking Samantha in her arms gently.

The sight of Samantha - shaking, crying, and clutching onto his mother like she was her lifeline - stunned him so much that he went running towards the pair, and dropped to his knees in front of her. He willed himself to speak, to try and resolve the matter as quickly as possible.

"…Samantha? What's wrong?"

At this, Samantha lifted her head from Linda's blouse. As soon as she saw Ferb; his face plastered with worry, she couldn't contain herself. She pulled away from the woman, and buried her face in Ferb's chest; her tears soaking through the thin fabric of his shirt. He froze, not too sure of what to do.

"What's happened?" he mouthed to his mother; absentmindedly pulling the sobbing girl closer when Linda merely shrugged; getting to her feet, before dashing back into the house to get some tissues for the weeping girl.

"…There, there," he whispered, pulling Samantha into an awkward hug, "it's going to be alright…"

In truth, Ferb had no idea what he was doing. He'd never had to comfort someone like this in his entire life, and that fact alone made him a little cautious when approaching the situation. He didn't know what he should do next; should he continue to talk to her and try and get some info out of her, or should he just stay silent and hug her? Or maybe he should lean his chin on the top of her head; showing that he was trying to get close to her, to try and help her. Maybe if he held her hand, then-

He stopped himself. Now was not the time to be thinking of such…trivial things. No, what was more important was finding out what had happened. Samantha seemed like a strong girl; it had to have taken something incredibly bad to make her snap like this.

It was then that he remembered; the night before, he had heard the argument between her and her father. Was that maybe the trigger?

"…fault…"

"Samantha? What was that?" Ferb asked, trying to listen as she whispered into his shirt; the words becoming small and muffled as she did so.

"It's…all my fault…"

That shocked him. Just what had happened that had made Samantha blame herself? He didn't understand. But he wanted to know. He needed to know.

"What's your fault, Samantha?" he pressed, hoping to finally get some answers.

"My dad…he hates me…"

The way in which she said it - her usually bubbly British accent now a low monotonous drone of sadness - startled him into silence for a few moments. It sounded as if she believed the fact; that she truly thought her father hated her.

"…Why does he hate you?"

Samantha slowly lifted her head from Ferb's shirt, looking into his eyes before murmuring to him.

"I said some horrible things to him, Ferb. Some horrible, terrible things that I really wish I hadn't…and now he hates me…"

"…Like what?"

He knew he shouldn't have asked, but his mouth formed the words before he could stop it. Almost instantly her face grew dark and reserved, and she hissed her answer at him.

"I told him what I thought of him, basically. He didn't like that too much. You probably heard the banter last night, didn't you? I wouldn't be surprised if you did…well, that continued on this morning, and it ended in him slapping me…I can't say that I didn't deserve it, but it stings now…makes me regret voicing my opinion, really…bummer…"

She chuckled at the end of her explanation, making Ferb slightly question her sanity. What was funny about this situation; her father had slapped her, for crying out loud! He didn't see anything funny about it at all!

"…There's nothing wrong with voicing your opinion. You just have to be prepared for the reactions," Ferb sighed, causing Samantha to snort.

"Sure. Of course; I mean, I knew this was coming!" she snapped, motioning to her swollen cheek. The green-haired boy sighed a little at her outburst, before placing his palm gently against her cheek, inspecting the damage. The slap had certainly been a harsh one; so much so that it had drawn blood.

Samantha shied away from him; her cheek throbbing from the pain.

"Let me see."

Ferb placed his hand on her cheek once again; moving his thumb fleetingly across the swelling skin, wiping away some of the blood that had gathered. The injury had turned her entire right cheek a horrible red-purple colour; it was certainly going to bruise. He could also faintly see nail marks on her skin; she would be lucky if it didn't scar a little.

"…Your hand is cold…"

Ferb ripped his hand away from her cheek; a pink tint colouring his cheeks. He had been so engrossed in inspecting the damage that he hadn't even thought about the fact that he had been touching her.

"No! Don't-" Samantha began; grabbing his hand and placing it back on her wound, "it's nice. The cold is soothing the pain a little…"

Ferb's eyes widened as she closed her eyes and sighed; nuzzling his hand gently against her boiling hot skin. He stuttered a little as she did; was it really okay for them to be doing this?

"Ferb! Samantha! I've made drinks! You should come in!" Linda's voice called from the French doors, and the two pulled away from each other; both of them fully aware that she had just seen their contact. Ferb stood quickly; holding his hand out to Samantha with his face turned away in a now obvious blush. He wasn't going to react inappropriately today. He was going to make this work, even if it killed him.

"Do you and your father get into a lot of fights, Samantha?" Linda asked; pouring the girl another glass of orange juice. The girl sat with her knees up to her chest on the couch; her chin leaning on her kneecaps as she sighed.

"Not really. I do give quite a few sarcastic and harsh remarks, which I know I shouldn't, but he's never reacted this way before," Samantha replied; biting down on her thumb gently as she lost herself in thought. Ferb was sitting next to her; sipping on his soda quietly as he listened. He kept glancing over to Samantha; noticing how her posture never once changed. She seemed truly comfortable 'owling' on the couch, and to be honest, he found it cute. It was different, and he was pretty sure by now that he liked different.

"Well, I don't think it's right that your father reacted in the way that he did, but I do think you should apologise to him. He's obviously hurt by the things you've said to him," Linda suggested, and Samantha lowered her eyes, contemplating the thought. The idea of even going near her father right now made her shudder, and so she shook her head slowly.

"I will…but not yet…I don't really want to see him right now…I need some time…"

"Of course, that's understandable…Ferb, will you help your brother? He seems to be having a bit of trouble with the taps in the bathroom," Linda asked, and a few seconds later, Phineas' voice could be heard throughout the house.

"Stupid cold tap! TURN OFF!"

Samantha smiled at the boy's frustration, before going back to thinking. Ferb took one more look at the troubled girl, before dashing up the stairs; the sooner he helped fix the tap, the sooner he could get back to comforting her.

A few moments of silence passed, before a small chatter was heard next to Samantha. She turned her head to the side, to see Perry sitting next to her on all-fours, scratching himself. He glanced over at her, and his eyes asked her the questions.

Are you okay?

She suddenly felt tears welling in her eyes, and she couldn't stop herself as she reached for the platypus; picking him up and placing him in her lap. She nuzzled his fur with her face, and snuggled closer to the mammal; incredibly thankful that he had shown up when he had. She closed her eyes, and allowed herself to whisper to him.

"Yeah, thanks, Perry…now that you're here…"

Annnnnd done! Well, this chapter took longer than expected! I was originally hoping to have this chapter finished two weeks ago, but due to certain…things, it had to be delayed! But I'm done now, and I'm happy with how it turned out! I'm also glad I managed to get Perry back into the story; I wasn't originally planning to have him in this chapter, but the idea struck and I COULDN'T STOP MYSELF! Yep…I done goofed with that one…

Anyways, I just wanted to ask this; do you guys want a sequel? I was thinking about it the other day, and I came to the conclusion that a sequel would be good. I had some kind of plot straightened out, but then I thought "hang on; I need to finish this fic first!" But basically, I just want to build on the Fermantha love a bit more…see, I've made a shipping name…feel free to ship them now :D

Also, whoever guesses what anime character Samantha was imitating on the couch, gets an Internet hug and a good word in my next chapter. So have at thee, fellow readers!

Anyway, thank you so much for your support on this fic, and I hope that you guys look forward to the next chapter! So, until then!

~Fallen~