Phineas couldn't wipe the stupid grin off his face for the rest of the day. If anyone guessed why, they didn't mention it.

The following morning, Isabella and Phineas kept sneaking glances at each other, then looking quickly away. Which was no different than the previous morning, except this time they shared smiles before looking away blushing.

Thankfully, due to how romantically clueless society was, no one noticed anything new. Phineas was starting to wonder if they ever would.

But for now, both he and Isabella seemed content to not tell anyone anything.

Whether or not that was a good plan remained to be seen, but for now the two were brushing hands under the lunch table and ignoring questions from everyone who were still two steps behind.

Well, not everyone was two steps behind. As always, the ever-observant Ferb was almost a step ahead.

Many weeks passed in a similar manner, with Isabella and Phineas sneaking time to spend together, sometimes going to Chez Platypus, sometimes inventing with the inclusion of Ferb, and yes, sometimes they kissed (mostly alone in Isabella's room).

At this point they'd told their parents, and obviously Ferb knew. The one person Phineas was avoiding telling (aside from literally everyone else) was Candace.

Danville's own soulmate dream story.

Of course, he'd tried bringing the subject up to her many times— usually over text.

Phineas: Hey Candace, what would you do if Jeremy wasn't your soulmate?

Candace: He is.

Phineas: Yeah, but if he wasn't.

Candace: Where exactly are you going with this?

Phineas: Nothing, Candace.

And most of the conversations, face-to-face or no, went like that.

Eventually, he picked a day. Christmas, he had thought to himself many times. When she comes to visit for Christmas, I'll tell her.

And Christmas, as a result, seemed to suddenly have a personal mission get there somehow both incredibly quickly and incredibly slowly.

So it felt like both years later and days later that it was the last day before winter break— and lunch hour.

"No plans for today?" Katie asked at the table after almost all of lunch had come and gone.

"Yeah, every acquaintance we've got is gonna have to suck it up until after the holidays." Phineas said.

"Why only acquaintances?" Baljeet asked. He and Buford had become a regular presence at both their lunch table and in their backyard, along with sometimes the group of former Fireside Girls that Isabella called friends. "I mean, do we get special treatment as friends or something? It is not like you are going to build anything over break."

Phineas and Ferb burst into laughter. Everyone else at the table exchanged confused glances.

"What?" Buford asked.

"You've never seen how Phineas gets when we're off school." Ferb said with a grin.

"What do you mean?" Katie asked.

Phineas grinned too. "You know the stuff we do every lunch hour?"

"No." Buford said sarcastically.

"Yeah, well picture that, with a whole day to do something instead of half an hour."

There was a couple seconds of stunned silence, and then Isabella laughed too. "I want to see your guys' idea of a Christmas party."

"Oh, you will, trust me."

And the following day, Candace and Jeremy arrived at the house.

Well… I don't have to tell her right away, do I?

"Phin, the longer you put it off, the harder it's going to be to tell her." Ferb warned.

"I know that." Phineas said, playing with his hands. "I just… I don't know, Ferb. It's not like I would tell anyone besides Candace, and maybe Jeremy. And it's Christmas."

"But this is the day you picked."

"I know!" Phineas groaned. "I'll— look, I'll tell her before she leaves. Promise."

Ferb sighed. "You say so."

Candace and Jeremy were staying in the guest room across from Phineas and Ferb's bedroom, so whenever Ferb actually mentioned Isabella it had to be at a whisper in case either of them was listening.

Phineas, as promised, gave Isabella— well, everyone, but mostly Isabella— the Christmas party of all Christmas parties. It was held in their house on Christmas Eve while Linda and Lawrence had gone to pick up their grandparents, since they had already cleared with them having a Christmas party with their friends.

Jeremy, seeming to get that the party would be full of bust-worthy material, had dragged his wife away to go Christmas shopping for everyone, as she had yet to get anyone gifts.

So the party consisted of Phineas, Ferb, Isabella, Buford, Baljeet, Katie, Gretchen, and the rest of the Fireside Girls.

Needless to say, the house was still very full.

Robotic butlers brought everyone hot cocoa and Christmas cookies, and Christmas music played in the background. But of course, that did not qualify as a Phineas and Ferb Christmas Party™, so every fifteen minutes or so everyone was told to look out the window as the house had arrived at their next location.

They'd seen the location of the World War I Christmas Truce, they'd flown to Bethlehem, up to the North Pole, and various countries around the world to see different types of celebrations. Everyone brought swimsuits for Australia.

Everyone had a ton of fun, and there was a lot of laughter and stories shared and jokes made.

At one point, Phineas and Isabella disappeared upstairs, which had mysteriously become filled with mistletoe earlier that day.

Phineas and Isabella were slowly getting better at kissing. Their first kiss had been incredibly awkward, the kind Ferb would've laughed his head off at, despite the fact that obviously he had never kissed anyone before either.

Despite that, their first kiss had also set off fireworks that lasted as charged energy long after they broke apart, and now every time they kissed there were more.

The addition of mistletoe changed nothing.

When the house was finally placed back at its official location on Maple Drive, almost everyone waved goodbye and headed home to eat with their families. The 'almost' was from Isabella, whose mom had come over for dinner.

As Mrs. Garcia-Shapiro walked across the street, Candace and Jeremy and Linda and Lawrence arrived with both sets of grandparents. Everyone wandered in, although there were some confusing looks as to why Mrs. Garcia-Shapiro and Isabella were there.

Well… maybe Christmas Eve wasn't the greatest choice, but if he had to tell everyone eventually…

He ran the idea by his mother, and she agreed that she didn't think everyone would be together again soon.

And then Phineas told Isabella, who was nervous for him more than with him, because she already knew her mom was okay with it.

Phineas had no idea how to broach the subject, but luckily, he didn't have to, because Grandpa Clyde brought it up:

"So, is anyone going to tell us who these lovely ladies are and why they're here?" he asked.

Phineas looked briefly at Isabella, who gave a reassuring smile, and then took a breath. "Well, that's actually something I've been wanting to tell you guys." he said, and everyone's attention turned to him. Might as well say it fast, like ripping off a band-aid. "This is Isabella Garcia-Shapiro and her mom Vivian, and they're here for Christmas Eve dinner because Isabella is my girlfriend."

There was a couple seconds of silence while no one really seemed to get what he was saying. Finally Candace raised her eyebrows.

"Like, a practice round? I've never thought you were the type. I've certainly never heard of one coming over for dinner."

Phineas' anger flared up, and he paused and took a breath. "No, Candace, not a practice round. Also, Isabella has a name, and she's sitting right there." It's not like he expected anyone to start praising them for going against society, but was a little common courtesy too much to ask?!

No one said anything again for a couple seconds until Candace spoke again. "Wait, you're telling me you two like each other?"

Phineas summoned his courage and nodded.

There was another couple seconds of tense silence, and then Candace let out a short laugh. "Well that is about the worst joke I've heard in a long time."

"It's not a joke, Candace." Phineas said, staring at her.

"Oh, come on." Candace said, rolling her eyes. "You're going to take teenage infatuation over your actual soulmate? No offense, but that's just plain stupid right there."

"Candace!" Linda gasped, but Phineas was already on his feet glaring at his sister.

"Look, just because you have the perfect soulmate story—"

"Oh, mine is perfect! So that gives you the freedom to date whoever you want, huh? Even some random bimbo you just picked up off the street?"

"Candace Johnson!"

Everyone jumped at the tone of voice Linda used, especially Candace, who turned to her mother in shock.

"You are being completely inappropriate! Isabella and her mother are sitting right there and it is Christmas Eve! Either check your attitude or leave the table!"

"Mom! You can't tell me you're okay with this!"

"As a matter of fact," Linda said, sitting down very pointedly next to Lawrence. "I am."

Candace blanched, seeming to finally realize what she'd just said.

Everyone was absolutely silent again.

"Well, I think that's lovely," Grandpa Reginald finally said to break the silence. He extended a hand across the table. "It's wonderful to meet you, Isabella."

"Thank you." Isabella said, looking more than a little embarrassed.

"Um, perhaps we should go—" Vivian started.

"Oh, absolutely not." Grandma Winifred said, and Grandpa Clyde and Grandma Betty Jo followed it up with a nod. "I need to get to know my grandson's girlfriend and her family."

Something in Phineas' chest loosened, and Ferb smiled at him from across the table.

Even so, the night still felt more or less like a disaster.

…

"Calm down, Phin, that went so much better than expected." Ferb said as Phineas kept repeatedly shoving the pillow in his face.

"Ferb! You did see how Candace reacted, right?" He shoved the pillow on his face again. "That was an absolute disaster."

"What?"

"That was an absolute disaster!" Phineas screamed, yanking the pillow away again. "Ferb, they left!"

"Just the two of them. Besides, Jeremy just said she needed some time to calm down. It's not like Candace said she wanted to leave."

"She might have! Maybe Jeremy was just trying not to make things worse! And you know he would do that."

Ferb was quiet for a minute, because they both knew he would. "But all of our grandparents reacted really well." he said after the silence had lasted long enough. "Who cares what Candace thinks?"

"Well— I care! She's my sister! Maybe it's annoying with her being sort of famous and maybe she's being a real jerk right now, but I still care about her, a lot! If it comes down to picking between Candace and Isabella, I— I don't know what I'll do." He buried his head in his hands.

Ferb sighed, having no easy answer for this one. "Give her time. Maybe she'll come around." he said eventually.

Phineas said nothing, and after a while, he drifted off to sleep.