Last chapter: I ended at a cliffhanger I:}

This chapter: BE PREPARED FOR YOUR VIEW OF KIKI TO CHANGE COMPLETELY. I CAN PRETTY MUCH PROMISE YOU WONT BE ABLE TO THINK OF HER THE SAME WAY AFTER THIS.

I DO NOT OWN PHINEAS AND FERB. ANY CHARACTER YOU DO NOT RECOGNIZE IS PROBABLY MINE

(Michael's POV)

"Michael, Michael!" I heard a voice and felt someone pushing me. I moaned and sat up, holding my paw against my head.
Everything still looked a bit fuzzy, but I managed to see three people. Katrina was sitting in front of me, and Mom and Dad were standing on her left. Their faces all relaxed when I opened my eyes. "What happened?"

"Rodney used a knock-out gas," Katrina replied. "Luckily, it's not a fatal poison."

The nurse mentioning Prof. Rodenstein sparked me, and I immediately became alert. "Did we get him?"

Dad shook his head. "He got away."

I growled in frustration and banged my paw on the floor. I realized that we were still in the building. "It's alright," Mom said. "The fact you were able to get out of the cage is an accomplishment in itself."

That reminded me. "Is Kiki okay?"

"Yeah. The gas filled the whole room, so she was knocked out, too, but she woke up before you," Katrina responded, combing her fingers through my head fur. I winced. "Sorry, darling. You're gonna have a bit of a bruise there. You DID collapse onto a hard-wood floor."

"Like carpeted would have been much better," I muttered under my breath.

(Pixie's POV)

I could tell Michael was upset that Rodney had gotten away; he was getting into his sullen mood. Katrina didn't notice his snarky comment, but I did. Apparently, so did Perry, because he exchanged a glance with me.

Kiki the fox walked up to us. "How you feeling, Michael?"

"Not bad," my son replied.

Perry looked over at me again and raised his eyebrows."Wow, she's being friendly."I nodded in agreement with my mate.

"What about you, Kiki?" Katrina asked.

"Yeah," Michael groaned, holding his paw against his head, "how's YOUR head?"

Kiki chuckled. "Well, probably better than yours, 'cause I didn't fall onto my head."

"How did you not?"

I grinned, deciding to test something. "It was probably a fall like in the movies- a dramatic collapse onto your tail, just happening to curl up into a ball in the process."

Kiki laughed, mirroring my grin. "Yeah, actually, it probably was."

(Perry's POV)

I blinked. What on Earth was going on with that fox? The Kiki I knew would have thought Pixie had been making fun of her- of course she wasn't, just joking around- and made a snarky response or something.

Once Kiki had walked off with Peter, I stepped a bit closer to Katrina and whispered, "You may want to check Kiki when we get back to HQ; she might have hurt her head more than she thinks."

Katrina chuckled. "Darling, I think you should have a talk with Kiki soon."

(Daisy's POV)

I lied in my cage, head resting on my paws. Salty tears dripped down my cheeks. I missed my friend.

What had happened to Michael? Fun Michael who only listened to L.O.V.E.M.U.F.F.I.N. and made fun of all other authorities? Michael, the leader of our prank gang and our best friend?

Maybe I wouldn't be hurting as much if Michael talked to me, but the only person he's talked to out of us has been Courtney. Why her? Why did Michael only talk to her, when she was the one who seemed to have stopped caring about him? Why wouldn't he talk to ME? I couldn't even hear Courtney's end of their conversations because of the design of the stupid prison.

The bitterness towards L.O.V.E.M.U.F.F.I.N. I had gained years before grew a bit more as I realized something. THEY knew who Michael's parents were AND what division they were part of. If they hadn't assigned Michael to the American division, I wouldn't have lost my best friend.

(Kiki's POV)

I stood by the door to Perry's office. This would change my life, for better or for worse. I'd either be humiliated until death or gain a friend- maybe more than just one friend.

Something told me it would probably be the first one. I knew Perry would never mock me or anything- like I have with him- but it would still be humiliating.

Heart pounding, I stretched my paw to the door and knocked. "You can come in," came Perry's voice.

I inhaled deeply, temporarily calming my nerves, and stepped into the office. Perry looked up, and I saw his eyes widen. "What is it, Kiki?"

My paws were shaking so much it was difficult to stand still. "I have an apology/confession to make." I blushed and continued. "Actually, it's twenty-nine years worth of apologies."

(Perry's POV)

I raised my eyebrows: a sign for Kiki to continue.

The fox's cheeks turned an even deeper shade of red. "Well, it's not the case anymore, but...when I was younger..."

What on Earth was she trying to tell me? "Yes?"

"It's possible that the reason I treated you so rotten was because...well... Before Peter and I became mates, I, um..."

Just tell me! I inhaled and waited.

"I had a bit of a crush on you," Kiki finished speedily.

My eyes widened. "Seriously?"

Kiki blushed and nodded. "I mean, I honestly don't anymore, but before I found out about Peter's feelings for me..."

"Interesting way of showing it," I commented, trying to process this new information.

"Yeah..."

"Please explain."

"Well, I sort oflikeliked you pretty much since we first met..." Kiki began.

I interrupted her, just trying to piece things together. "But you've treated me rotten since you first talked to me."

"I was scared," Kiki responded. "Scared that if I tried to talk with you while being myself I'd completely freeze and humiliate myself."

"So you tried to be assertive," I realized. "Which ended up being more like bullying."

Kiki blushed, and the red glow mixed in with her yellow fur, resulting in an orange flush in her cheeks. "And I guess that it became habit overtime. See Perry, treat him rotten."

The fox began stuttering, something I had never heard before. "I-I k-know that it's n-n-not a very good excu-excuse or anything, but-"

"Don't worry, I understand," I reassured, smiling. "Basically, the way you treated me was just a really bad attempt to flirt with me."

"Yeah, pretty much." Kiki rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly.

"Also explains why you were really mean to Pixie all those years."

"Jealousy." Kiki blinked. "I mean, I don't have it anymore, now that I've got my own family..."

"I know." A new thought struck me. "I also know there's no way it could have been just those reasons for every time you were mean to me..." I waited for her to answer the unspoken question. "Because I can think of a few times where you were really rotten to me, and it was too soon for it to have just been a habit."

"I was occasionally trying to impress Peter and his gang," Kiki admitted.

"Why does Peter hate me?"

"You stole his thunder," the fox explained. "Unknowingly, of course. He had been O.W.C.A's top agent in training before you joined."

"He did warn me not to get in the way when we first met," I realized. "Oops."

Kiki chuckled. "Well, it's been twenty years since we were even agents in training, and I'm his mate; I'll try to talk some sense into him."

I grinned, and Kiki spoke up again. "So... I'm sorry for how I've treated you your whole life..."

(Kiki's POV)

Wow, that sentence made me sound even worse than I had been to Perry! Which was pretty bad...

So I was surprised when Perry smiled and shrugged. "It's okay."

My eyes widened. "Seriously? You're not angry for the ridiculous reasons or anything?"

"Why would I be? It's all in the past." Perry stood up and walked over to me, holding his paw out. "And if it's all behind both of us, maybe we could be friends?"

I grinned and shook his paw. "Friends."

"Oh, and maybe you could update Chrysalis on the subject?" Perry asked suddenly. "She and Emily share a class, and Michael teaches them... It ends disastrously every time."

"Like yesterday," I agreed. "The 'little terror' thing." Then I blinked. "Wow, it's hard to believe that was just yesterday!"

Perry chuckled. "It's been a long day. In fact," he checked his watch, "it's probably time to head home."

"Yeah, probably," I grinned.

(Michael's POV)

I stared down at the ground as Dad mindlessly flew the rocketcar home. He seemed preoccupied with something. Emily and I exchanged a glance.

Mom must have noticed, too, because when we got home, she laid down on the couch next to him. "You are one distracted guy. What's going on?"

That was a signal for me to make myself scarce, which I did so quite quickly.

(...)

I had moved to the rooftop. I sat on the edge of the roof, staring at the midnight blue sky sparkling with white and yellow stars.

Soon, I heard a motor whirring, so I turned around, only to see my sister step out of the chimney. Well, Chimney-Vator. Emily smiled and skipped over to me, hopping next to me. "Hey, big bro, what's up?"

"Just...thinking."

Emily cocked her head and smiled sweetly. "About what?"

I hesitated before replying. Emily and I had promised to tell each other pretty much everything; even though she was still young, I knew I could trust Emily with the secret not many others knew about. "I have a crush on someone."

My little sister's interest immediately doubled. "Really? Who?"

"You don't need to worry about it."

"Aw, come on, tell me! Please?" Great. Emily began nagging. "I'm your sister, you can tell me anything. Who is it? Please, can you tell me?"

I shot my sister an amused yet stern look. "Emily."

Emily glanced down at her lap. "Right, sorry."

(Emily's POV)

Michael and I were silent for a few minutes before he brought up a completely random- or so it seemed- fact. "Grandma and Grandpa became mates at fifteen. Mom and Dad became mates at sixteen."

I blinked. "Okay, why...?"

My big brother turned and looked me in the eye. "I'm thirteen, and I have a crush on someone."

Ah. "Point taken." There was another couple beats of silence before I broke it, realizing something. "It's Courtney, isn't it?"

Michael turned to stare at me incredulously. "How did you know?"

"I've seen the way you look at her." There was suddenly something I really wanted to say that I knew I probably shouldn't have. But I said it anyway, smirking. "It's the way Dad looks at Mom."

My older brother rolled his eyes and shoved me. "Shut up."

I just giggled and continued. "You like Courtney, you like Courtney," I hummed.

Michael rolled his eyes again, smiling. "Real mature, Emily."

"Michael and Courtney sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G. First comes love, and then comes marriage, and then comes Michael with a baby carriage."

My brother just cocked his head. "Wasn't Lydia working on an animal version of that song?"

"I think so, but she couldn't think of a good word that rhymes with 'mating'."

"Ah."

We were silent until we heard the Chimney-Vator whir again and turned to look.


(Pixie's POV)

As soon as I stepped out of the hidden elevator, I spotted my children sitting at the edge of the roof, feet dangling off. I crossed my arms. "Emily, it is SO past your bedtime!"

"Sorry," Emily muttered, standing up and walking over behind me.

I looked back at Michael; he was staring into space. "You coming to bed yet, Michael?"

"Wait, why does HE get to choose what time he goes to bed?" I shot my daughter a stern look, and she sighed before going down the Chimney-Vator to get into bed.

Upon realizing Michael didn't reply, I turned back to him. "Michael?"

My son slowly shook his head, still staring at nothing. "Okay. You alright, sweetheart?"

This time, Michael slowly nodded, but I sure didn't believe him. "Well, your father and I are going to bed."

"Kay."

Michael was probably thinking about his dilemma with Courtney, which reminded me of something I needed to talk about with Perry. So I tried talking to my mate about it after we were in bed.

"Michael's turning fourteen in a couple weeks," I murmured quietly.

"Yeah," was Perry's mindless reply.

He was still preoccupied with what Kiki had told him- which he had told me about. And I couldn't blame him: that discovery put a whole new perspective on a ton of things. But my mate's mindlessness was just annoying when I was trying to have a serious talk with him.

I must have let some of my frustration show. "Perry, he's entering the age range in less than a month. You have to tell him soon!"

Perry seemed to recognize the seriousness in my tone. "And I will," he said softly, placing his paw on my cheek. "After he turns fourteen. No sooner."

Sighing, I looked down, and Perry smiled, kissing my forehead. "Night, Pixie. I love you."

"I love you too," I murmured, smiling and closing my eyes. Sleep came quickly.

0_0 Like I warned- your view on Kiki would completely change. If it somehow didn't, then... Wow.

And what is this mysterious age range that has now been mentioned twice? Find out soon enough: possibly next chapter I:} if you can't figure it out yourself...