The next day, things were pretty quiet. No one had anywhere they needed to go, except for Heinz who finally had a job interview. The kids enjoyed their peace and quiet, when there was a knock on the door.
"Um.. Should we answer that?", Phineas asked.
"You heard the rule, no one answer the door for anyone, except for Vanessa.", Candace said, not lifting her eyes from a magazine.
"But she's in the shower.", Phineas replied.
"Well, it's not Uncle Robert.", Candace rolled her eyes, finding it hard to concentrate on the book. "He'd just waltz right in."
"Why do you call Uncle Robert, 'uncle' but you try to avoid calling Dad, 'dad'?", Phineas asked.
"Cause he's NOT Dad!", Candace growled.
"WHY can't he be Dad?", Phineas asked in indignation.
"WHY are you suddenly defending a total stranger?", Candace retorted, turning around to match her brother's glare.
During their argument, the door knocked again, louder this time. Ferb took notice, gave Norm's head that he's been working on a good twist, causing it to screw on right, and flipped the on switch in the back. Norm came to life, heard the knocking, and went on his way.
"I'll just go answer that!", the robot said cheerfully.
"All I'm saying is that you should give people a chance!", Phineas was saying.
"I hate to interrupt your arguing on different life views, but a social worker is here to see you guys.", Norm introduced/interrupted.
The kids looked over as the man from before walked in.
"Children.", he briefly greeted. "I came by to see your father. Is he here?"
"No.", the answer was.
"He left you kids without proper supervision?", he asked.
As if on cue, Vanessa walked in, her head still wrapped in a towel as she dried her hair out.
"Who's at the door?", she asked.
"Vanessa's 16. Heinz said she's old enough to look after us.", Candace simply said.
"Heinz?", the man questioned.
"And DAD said our Uncle Robert was going to be coming by later.", Phineas said, shooting his sister a look. "He's gone for the day, on a job interview."
"Is there anything I can help you with?", Vanessa said, trying to get right to the point.
"I came to inspect your father's progress on caring for you kids.", the man said.
"Well, being the one in charge, I'll be happy to answer your questions.", Vanessa said, trying to sound gracious for her father's sake. "I'll be right back with some coffee, please make yourself at home."
She walked out and the man gave a curious glance at Ferb who stood quietly by.
"Ferdinand.", he addressed in a sort of impassive greeting. "How are you adapting to living here?"
Ferb simply said nothing, as is his common way of response. It was neither good nor bad for him, really. A tad odd to be with Phineas' biological father and living in the same house as Vanessa, but he certainly wasn't going to be one to complain.
"...I see.", the man simply said.
Vanessa came back in, and they sat down at the coffee table.
"So, I am to understand an Uncle Robert is supposed to be looking after you?", he asked.
"Well, he's not exactly our uncle.", Vanessa said. "He's more of like, one of Dad's friends. Dad said he should be coming by soon."
She mentally added an 'I hope' to that.
"Let's hope so.", he turned to Candace. "Candace, are you happy here?"
Fearful looks crossed the room as eyes turned on Candace. The bored teenager turned and looked up at the man from her magazine, as if determining how to answer this.
"...Not really.", she said flatly.
"And why would you say that?", the man asked.
"Because I'm not home.", she said, turning back to her magazine. "I'm in the house of a crazy scientist that doesn't understand me and yet still confides some obvious good times with my little brothers behind my back because I keep seeing them smile at each other and then laugh for no spoken reason. My half-sister is a goth-"
"Punk!", Vanessa argued.
"Who has to infest all my Ducky Momo merchandise with her gross icky goth germs. Mom is never coming back and no one is going to bust ANYTHING around here because the one person who would believe me about how evil science is, is DEAD probably thanks to YOU TWO!", she pointed an accusing finger at her brothers, making them flinch back in fear.
Phineas' eyes widened in fear but soon shut tight as tears poured down. He ran into his bedroom, closing the door behind him. Ferb merely stood there, looking either guilty or like he hoped so much that it wasn't true.
As if to make matters worse, The door suddenly banged open and Robert tripped in, just catching himself on the kitchen counter as he coughed out a puff of black smoke. Half his flaming red-hair burnt and darkened. His face, clothes, entire being, covered in debris, smoke, and wood. His skin was scratched, and he wore a pretty black eye, but he managed to cough out a "hey" and tried to straighten himself back out.
"Sorry, kids. It was crazy today. Ahem!", he cleared his throat and began to dust himself off when he saw the social worker. "...Um, *ahem!* Hi. I'm Dr. Robert Bloodpudding. Heinz's friend. I'm here to look after the kids."
He extended a hand, trying to be friendly, but the man simply stood up and began to walk out.
"I have all I needed to know.", the man said. "I'll be back in two days."
He walked out of the room, closing the door behind him. Robert scoffed and rubbed the soot of his hand onto his lab coat.
"Friendly.", he said shortly.
Vanessa came up, and kindly tried to convince him to clean up in the shower. Robert left and Vanessa sighed and leaned back, soon to find herself sitting in a chair Ferb had quickly pushed behind her.
"Thanks Ferb...", she sighed, burying her face in her hands.
Ferb turned back to face Candace who hadn't looked up from the book yet. Not until the startled look on her face stared back up at a glowering Ferb when he snatched the article away from her.
"What was that for?", she growled.
Ferb's eyes only narrowed, he was wanting to say something, but he threw it back onto her lap and went after Phineas. Candace scoffed and picked it up again.
"Made me lose my place.", she grumbled.
"Is that stupid thing ALL you care about?!", Vanessa growled before leaving to her own bedroom and slamming the door behind her.
"At least I don't try to support crazy mad scientists!", she called back.
"Who doesn't support crazy mad scientists?", Robert asked, coming out of the bathroom, surprising Candace a bit. "Cause if I recall, you helped me with quite a few inventions way back when."
She looked up at his skeptical expression and felt herself shrinking into the couch. Robert's cocked eyebrow soon curved and his face softened into a more concerned, if not hurt, face.
"You've really changed over the years, haven't you, kid?", he asked, before leaving her to her own guilt.
But soon guilt built up into frustration which became anger as she sat up. Her dark blue eyes tightened into a scowl that Robert felt.
"Well it's not like you know everything I've been through!", she retorted.
Robert stopped what he was doing, shook his head, and looked back at her. Yes, the look on his face was indeed, hurt. Very hurt.
"You know.. I can ask you what happened. What changed your attitude. Whatever happened to the ball of sunshine that would pick up a screwdriver and know just the problems in my blueprints. That would fit into those too-small areas just to help what I thought was her best friend. I could ask you a million questions, Candace. But I know you wouldn't want to tell me the truth. And I think that's what hurts me the most."
He walked away, leaving Candace back to feeling guilty. But still angry. He was right. She wouldn't want to say it. She wouldn't want to explain anything about herself. And yet...how easy was it, really, to hurt someone? Especially someone whom, she really did used to feel so close to.
Meanwhile, locked away in his bedroom, hidden under the comforters of his bed, Phineas' pillow was stained with the flow of tears as Ferb sat quietly by. By the time Phineas calmed down, he finally allowed himself to sit up and wipe up his eyes. He emptily took Ferb's offered handkerchief and dried the rest of his tears.
"It's not even the fact she said it, you know.", he finally choked out.
Ferb sat quietly by, ready to listen.
"...I keep having nightmares, Ferb.", the young boy admitted sadly. "And a lot of the time, I come up being the one to blame for something horrible happening. Like... Like it was my fault that they crashed."
Ferb raised a curious eyebrow.
"Because we kept playing with the car. What if we did something, and it caused the wreck?", Phineas asked. "I.. I keep feeling horrible about it all. Like it was MY fault. And Candace saying that..."
Tears were enough to say the rest. Because Candace said that, what feeble dam had held back Phineas' break-down, was finally destroyed. Ferb simply hugged his brother, hoping to be of some comfort.
The door opened then and Phineas looked up to find his uncle.
"Oh.", Robert began, somewhat guiltily. "Um.. Sorry, I didn't know.."
"No no..", Phineas interrupted, quickly wiping up his tears. "S-sorry.. I'm, I'm fine."
"Well I was just comin' in to tell you, lunch is ready.", Robert explained. "Anytime you're ready."
"Thank you..", Phineas looked down at the bed again.
"...you wanna talk, kid?", Rob offered, taking a step in the room.
"I.. I just worry that...", Phineas began before shaking his head.
"What?", the boys' uncle stepped in and sat by. "You can tell me."
"...well.. Ferb and I love to invent.", Phineas began. "And a couple of times, we even modified our family car into different things..."
"Ahh.. So, you worry you didn't turn it back right?", Robert asked, earning a shameful nod. "Did you always make sure to put it back to normal at the end of the day?"
"Yes.."
"Then, I wouldn't worry about it.", he concluded. "You made sure things were back to normal, you gave your parents a wonderful life, I'm sure. Things just...sometimes happen."
Phineas looked back up.
"...You really think so?", he asked.
For a moment, Robert saw not Phineas, but young Heinz. Innocent and naive. He could see those dark blue eyes, staring up at him, just as Phineas is now, trying to put on a smile though all he had was a backpack, his school books, and a cardboard box. He remembered that concerned look Heinz had, when he took the boy by the wrist and brought him home to live with him.
"You really think so?", Heinz asked. "It's...it's okay for me to live with you?"
"Yeah. ...Yeah, I do.", Robert looked back.
He was soon embraced tightly as Heinz stood there, crying. Crying like the little boy he was. So touched, so moved that one person would take him in, when having lived in a world of lies and neglect.
Robert looked down as the young red-haired boy hugged him now. His tone became soft and he carefully pat the boy's back.
"I really don't think it was your fault, Phineas.", Robert said comfortingly, lifting the boy's head and wiping up a stray tear. "You're too nice and innocent to be the cause of death."
Phineas mustered a smile and closed his eyes. After a moment, he gave a nod, finding himself believing the mad scientist's words.
"Alright, then?", Robert asked.
"Yeah..", Phineas nodded, sitting back on the bed. "Alright.."
"Good. Now, let's get some lunch.", Robert smiled.
The dysfunctional family sat down for lunch, but it wasn't long before an unexpected surprise knocked at the door.
"I got it.", Phineas offered, getting down.
He ran to the door and opened it up.
"Hello, sir. I'm from- PHINEAS?"
"Oh my gosh! Ferb! Ferb come here!"