Chapter Ten: Anticipation

"Can I look now?" Isabella asked as she walked into Phineas' apartment, he was currently behind her, holding her by the shoulders gently to guide her in her blindfolded state. She felt a slight tremor of nervousness in his hands, being together with him for the better part of four years, she knew him as well as she knew herself.

"Not yet, just sit tight while I get everything set" he told her, leading her to his sofa; she sat and closed her eyes, letting her nose and ears work instead of her eyes.

Phineas' footsteps headed to where his small kitchen was, she heard him open the fridge and rummage about, then walk to where she knew the dining table was and set whatever he was holding on it carefully. She heard a cabinet open and the clink of glass hitting glass as he set them on the table. After that, he opened another cabinet and put the dishes; the good ones if, she was correctly hearing the tell tale sound of porcelain. Silverware followed after that, but she still didn't smell the food. She could only smell the chlorine he'd probably used to clean the apartment earlier, and a slight smell of vanilla, most likely one of those candles she'd bought for him a few months past to give the apartment in the middle of the city a more homely smell, like the one back at his parent's house in Danville.

She heard him put a heavy object on the table; then the smell of food reached her. Whatever it was it smelled great. His steps went back to the kitchen, where he put some water in a small container, before plunking something in it with a barely audible plop

"You're awfully quiet" he remarked, his footsteps came closer "and concentrated"

"I'm listening, since I can't see" she heard his low chuckle and raised her head in the direction of his voice "are you going to remove the blindfold or does part of your plan involve feeding me while I'm blindfolded?"

"That would be interesting, but no" she felt his presence come closer until he was just a breath away from her. He kissed her softly while removing the blindfold.

When he took her by the hand and led her to the table, he was smiling and looking at her expectantly. He'd put a sheer white cloth over the usually cluttered dining room table. In the center of the table was a rose in a delicate vase, the firelight from the vanilla candle dancing on its red petals. Next to it, a bottle of wine and two glasses waited to be used. He'd already served the food, one of her favorite meals that she had taught him how to make: fajitas. Next to it was a little bit of broccoli and cauliflower and a thinly sliced apple.

She gasped, caught by surprise, usually dinner at home for Phineas was something simple, never an all out meal full with decorations and everything; he was definitely planning something big.

"I'm just… speechless, it's amazing Phineas" she kissed him gently, he smiled
"Glad you like it" he whispered, pulling out her chair for her, she kissed him on the tip of the nose before sitting down. He sat next to her, and they began eating, talking about simple things that had happened to them during the day.

When they finished, Isabella gathered up the dirty dishes, following their usual routine of the one who didn't cook cleaning up and washing the dishes. While she washed them and rinsed, Phineas got the dessert out of the fridge. She peeked and smiled. She had no idea how he'd gotten the time to make all of this food. The dessert was one of their favorite ones, ranked higher than Ice cream and regular cake, and almost as high as a chocolate cake.

Sitting down next to him once again, she served the dessert "When did you have the time to make all of this?" she asked him

"When it's for a special occasion" he told her "I make the time" he pulled her close and kissed her gently

Isabella took a bite of the flan and smiled at the flavor "This is amazing, Phineas"

Phineas smiled, before taking a bite himself and comically putting on a face of concentration, before smiling once again and stating "Yes, yes it is"

Isabella laughed "It's not as sweet as you, though, I think that would be impossible" she told him once they had finished and were taking the dishes to the kitchen.

Phineas simply picked up two towels, smiling cheerfully as he kissed her while handing her one of the towel. They began drying the dishes calmly humming a familiar song from their childhood.

Once finished, Phineas took her hand and led her out to the balcony, one of the few perks his small apartment had. He took both of Isabella's hands in his and looked deep into her eyes

"Isabella, I love you, and I honestly could not imagine life without you" she smiled, no matter how many times he'd said those words before, they always made her spirit soar "I don't want a life without you" he went on, drawing one hand back to dig into his pocket "and I want to know if you want to be with me, forever" kneeling down, he opened the box, showing a beautiful ring "Will you marry me, Isabella?"

She smiled at him, her whole face beaming joy that was impossible to miss, kneeling next to him, she wrapped her arms around him and kissed him sweetly " Yes, yes I will" she said against his lips.

He wrapped both arms around her and kissed her deeply. When he pulled away, he took her hand and placed the ring on her finger.

"Ferb helped me pick it out, just this morning once he got back from England" he slapped his head against his forehead "I almost forgot, Ferb met someone in England, well not met since he used to know her but it's been years so, he met her. The point is he was bringing her over here tonight so she could meet you, although he said you probably know her. Something about a fireside girl international convention"

Isabella smiled "he found someone, I was worried that after Gretchen…" her voice trailed off sadly

"Me too, he was out of it for a while, but going to England to study did him some good" he took her hand " I'm glad that didn't happen to us, having different interests pulling us to two different countries time zones apart. I don't think I could've borne it"

A knock sounded on the door "That must be Ferb" he said, taking her hand and walking with her to the door.

He opened it and embraced his step-brother warmly; then he saw the young woman next to him. Isabella looked at the half familiar face, she did remember her from somewhere; those blue eyes and blond hair seemed excruciatingly familiar.
"So this is…" he searched his head for the name Ferb had told him

"Emily" Ferb said "This is Phineas and his" he glanced at the ring on Isabella's finger "Fiancé, Isabella"

"He just proposed" Isabella told Emily, showing her the ring

"That's a lovely thing!" Emily exclaimed; then she took a close look at Isabella "Dear me, I'm quite sure I remember you from somewhere! But I fear I can't remember where it could have possibly been!"

Isabella thought for a moment, she exclaimed in triumph and ran to a shelf; she leafed through the pages full of pictures from her time in Mexico. She had left on a trip once, a short one to England, for a fireside girl's leader's reunion. The troop at London had been in charge, unless she was mistaken…

The picture gleamed like new; there she was at eleven years old, standing next to another eleven year-old girl named Emily, she had long blond hair and blue eyes. She and Isabella had been in the same hotel room. Emily had been the troop leader for a Fireside Girls troop in Cambridge.

She showed the picture to Emily who smiled happily "That's right, I can't believe I had forgotten!" she hugged Isabella happily "Come on, let's have ourselves a light chat, while Phineas and Ferb talk of things, what have you been up to after all of this? When are you getting married, if you need any help at all, you can ask me. People always said I have something of a gift at organizing parties and the like!"

Isabella smiled and both women began talking of plans, possible dates and the like, until it was late in the night. Then they joined Phineas and Ferb and began to watch a late night movie marathon event and they fell asleep halfway through the second movie.
Phineas woke up suddenly a few moments afterward by the sound of an explosion, in the glow of the TV screen, he could see Ferb and Emily on the couch, Emily's head was resting against Ferb's shoulder, and he had an arm around her, a small smile seemed to play on both their sleeping faces. He shifted Isabella, who was sleeping half on, half off his lap, into a more comfortable position on his lap. He dug the remote out of the couch and turned off the TV before resting his head on Isabella's and going back to sleep, arms around her lithe form and holding her hands in his.