Everyone was inside and settled by a fire when Brigitte's aunt came out. Heinz nearly jumped out of his chair at the sight.
"Agent Lyla Lalaberry?!", he exclaimed.
"Dr. Doofenshmirtz?!", she exclaimed at the same time.
"Aunt Lyla, you two know each other?", Brigitte asked.
"Yes. He's my expartner's nemesis.", Lyla explained.
She then noticed Phineas and Ferb and recognized them instantly. But Doof knew the surprised look on her face and quickly stood up to explain himself.
"I'm helping them get Perry the Platypus back.", Heinz explained. "Didn't kidnap them or anything."
"Back?", Lyla asked as her eyebrows furrowed together in suspicion.
"Yeah. I-", Doof paused. "...didn't you know? I mean, holy cow! You're a part of Owca, aren't you?"
"Well yeah.", Lyla said. "Cowca? The Canadian Organization without a Cool Acronym?"
"Well then don't you know?"
"Know what?"
"I took over the Tri-State Area!", Heinz exclaimed.
It earned him a punch in the face from the secret agent and he stumbled back, holding his bleeding nose.
"OW! I WON it!", he said, flinching as she advanced on him. "I got it legally!"
"Who in their right minds would give away the ENTIRE Tri-State Area?", she asked, picking him up by the lapels of his lab coat.
"HEY!", Candace interrupted. "I came close to being mayor for a day because of a contest! Which, in turn, could make me ruler of the Tri-State Area."
Lyla looked back at Candace momentarily before dropping Doofenshmirtz who hit the floor with a thud.
"Ow...", Heinz rubbed his back.
"Start talking.", she ordered.
"I took over the Tri-State Area and banned Owca. Then Monobrow-"
"MONOGRAM.", she corrected.
"FRANCIS...", Heinz shot back in defiance of being told what to say by her. "...decided..to go ahead and gather up all the agents and run off to here. We've been following Perry the Platypus' DNA until your little niece there stopped us."
"So then how come Cowca hasn't been told anything?", she asked.
"We're not entirely sure.", Phineas shrugged. "The whole Owca thing is still confusing to us."
"..I'll have to investigate this..", Lyla deducted, heading off to her office.
"Wait for me!", Doof said, following after her.
Candace followed too and Brigitte gave Ferb directions to the guest room so he could rest. Buford then turned to Brigitte.
"Soo...", he said slowly.
"...outside?", she asked.
"How come you have to be right about everything?! Including my OWN THOUGHTS?!", Buford started in English before the two were at it again in French and started heading out the door.
Baljeet groaned, seeing them and knowing the hidden relationship and started walking out of the room.
"I am going to see what the adults are doing.", he said.
And Phineas and Isabella were left alone. On the couch, in front of a fire. The ideal romantic spot for Isabella's mind to jump towards, but the earlier conversation came back at them like an explosion and left them in a helpless state of awkwardness. For the first good while, neither one spoke. They were both consumed in a mental frenzy of emotions. Fear and slight interest raged internally against logic and even more fear of the unknown, slowly driving both mad as they avoided all means of eye contact.
"I actually enjoyed it.", the statement continued to ring in their minds.
'She likes that? She really liked being that close to me? In that awkward and lovey-dovey position?', Phineas questioned internally. 'What if I told her I did too? Would she be happy with that? Or what if she was trying to say it to sound polite, but found it sounding awkward, and actually ended up not liking me at all? Why am I the one who's not only secretly in love with, but also best friends with the cutest living creature in the whole galaxy?! Why do I have to keep playing oblivious?! Cause I'm so nervous that if I TELL her what I actually feel, she'll reject me... I'd give nothing more than for-'
'-him to snuggle up with me again in front of this beautiful fire and at LEAST momentarily forget the whole situation we're in!', Isabella was thinking at the same time. 'Of course though, knowing him AND my luck, he's either too busy thinking about Perry or we'll FINALLY get that chance but I'M gonna be the one to break it up... Why am I the one who's not only in love with, but also best friends with one of the most caring living creatures in the entire galaxy?! Maybe I should just tell him now, get it over with, and FINALLY move on past all this! What's worse? Internally screaming at the top of my lungs every time he's oblivious or I miss an opportunity, continuing to curse myself for doing so and giving me gray hair before I'm even 20...'
'..Or finally saying how I feel and accepting with whatever she says and move ON!?', Phineas questioned. 'I can't keep hiding from her, cause I'm pretty sure it's only going to get more and more awkward! And I wouldn't want that to happen. She's my best friend, I'm sure she wouldn't laugh in my face or turn me down harshly or anything... It's just...'
'I don't want to end up crying my eyes out if I find out that he..'
'...doesn't...'
'..like me back..', they both thought at the same time.
Phineas gave a silent sigh, knowing he'd have to be the one to break the silence and began, "Um.. Isabella?"
She glanced at him a moment and gave a nod.
"...Wh...what..were you saying? Back..back at the gas station?", he asked, hesitantly.
Isabella's face, of course, became bright red and Phineas went on to help move past the awkward as best as possible.
"Y-you said you..", he began.
"..liked it.. yeah.", she gave a small nod.
"...Do you?"
"...yes...", she uttered quietly before quickly covering over her reasons. "But that's only cause it was warm and nice a-and we were in the snow and I'm a girl and used to snuggling with Pinky and all."
"Well yeah. I mean, hey! I'm a boy and I snuggle up to Perry and all. It's just that-", Phineas was saying before he shrugged, unsure of what word he was looking for now.
"It's awkward?", she guessed.
"Yeah cause you know we're..."
"A boy and a girl who aren't related?"
Phineas paused for a moment, the sudden image of him and her kissing very passionately fluttering through his mind at the wording.
"...I was gonna say, 'best friends' but...", he said, feeling his cheeks grow warm again.
"...So... So we're nothing more than that?", Isabella asked, trying to keep the hurt out of voice. "Best friends?"
"...Were... What? Were you expecting something more?", Phineas asked, slightly confused.
Isabella's eyes widened at this question and she quickly shook her head.
"N-no! No no no no!"
"Yeah I wasn't so-"
"Aw, no. I mean what-?"
"That'd be really weird and all."
"Pfft! Yeah! I know, right?", Isabella finished with a nervous chuckle.
The silence rested on them again before Phineas looked off and asked curiously, "I wonder how things are with Dr. D?"
Isabella shrugged.
"Who knows?"
"...Is it just me, or does he sound...familiar to you?", Phineas asked.
Isabella pondered this a moment but simply shrugged again, absolutely clueless.
With Doofenshmirtz, Candace, Baljeet, and Lyla, the foursome were huddled over a computer as Lyla typed away on it.
"Let's see..", she was saying.
She logged into the computer and clicked on the internet icon. She leaned back in her chair and sighed a bit, taking her mug from nearby and sipping away at the coffee.
"...Where is it?", Baljeet asked.
"Oh this thing's SLOOW.", Lyla commented on. "I JUST woke it back up. It'll take...about five or ten minutes for the window to come up."
"WHAT?!", everyone gaped.
"What kind of a computer IS this?!", Baljeet exclaimed.
"It's ten years old.", she shrugged. "It just takes a while."
"Oh my gosh, TEN YEARS?!", Candace gasped.
"And still faithful!", Lyla smiled, patting the large monitor. "Call it Li'l Trooper. Poor thing.." She leaned over to Doofenshmirtz as she gently whispered, as if trying not to offend said computer, "It's a little senial. Pops up windows that you didn't click on."
All of a sudden, her "My Pictures" folder opened up, followed by a window apologizing for a setup not working.
"See?", she said, clicking a blank piece of the screen.
When the screen seemed settled to her, she clicked the "x" on the setup, and then moved her mouse to do the same to the folder.
"Whoa whoa, hold on!", Candace said, putting a hand in front of her. "Is that PERRY? As in, OUR Perry?"
Below a few oddly titled folders consisting of "x"s and numbers, there were several pictures of the platypus in action and a good majority of them Photoshopped with little sparkles or hearts around it. Lyla remained silent in shock as the others took a closer look.
"What on earth is that?!", Doofenshmirtz asked as Lyla felt her cheeks grow warm.
"Nothing!", she quickly said, closing the window and turning off the monitor as she waited for it to clear up.
She sat back in her chair, more upright than before. She could feel Heinz's wide smirk digging into her.
"...PARTNERS, eh?", he asked.
"EXpartners!", she snapped back in embarrassment.
"Oh I see why it's ex now.", he chuckled.
"Expartners cause I was a little too ditzy for him!", she retorted.
"Too ditzy, or too distracted with other things?", Doof continued his verbal torment.
"Doofenshmirtz! I'm warning you-!", she said, getting up.
"You, sit! NOW!", Candace ordered, standing in defense of her father.
Lyla stared with wide eyes at the teenage girl but quickly did as told. Doof opened his mouth to say a "thanks", but Candace quickly turned on him, jabbing an accusing finger into his chest.
"Don't EVEN get me started with you!", she warned, bewildering the other.
After a moment's hesitation, she turned the monitor back on and found the windows were cleared and that the internet window had popped up. It opened to google and she quickly typed in "Owca. com". After some moments of endless waiting, about the time that Phineas had finally started talking to Isabella at first, the windows finally changed and what was found surprised the agent.
"'We're sorry. We can't help you at this time'?", she repeated allowed.
She checked her connection, found it was still going, and retried the address, this time typing in "Owca. net". The same result appeared and it started to worry the agent.
"Wh-?", she stammered, shaking her head a bit.
"Maintenance?", Candace asked.
"No. Something's wrong..", she said, typing back in the first address.
With the same result, Lyla sat back, slightly horrified at the sight of the screen.
"Someone took down the sites..", she deducted.
"Why?", Baljeet asked.
"I don't know! I don't know about anything that's happening right now!", Lyla exclaimed, starting to panic.
She quickly opened up more public resources, such as twitter and facebook and the like. But all of the Owca-based pages, from Canada to Africa, were all gone. Even youtube videos were taken down. She growled a bit in frustration.
"Darn you, Carl! Why are you so darn fast about this?!", she cursed.
"Whoa, Lyla. Chill.", Heinz said.
"I'm freaked!", she snapped back. "I've got no clue as to what the heck's going on! All our websites, they're gone! Every one of them!"
"Well if they're gone, what would happen to them?", Candace asked.
"...I'm not sure..", Lyla sighed. "I haven't the faintest idea what's happening..."
"Um, excuse me? Lyla?", Baljeet said, pulling out a pink envelope. "Is this a clue?"
Lyla took a glance at it and quickly snatched it when she saw the Cowca address. She stared at it for a moment, wondering what it was doing in a trash can, before ripping it open and reading through it. She gasped reading it and flopped back in her chair in pure shock.
"...Lyla?", Heinz began slowly, gently reaching a hand to her shoulder.
"...I'm fired.", she said with a melancholic tone. "...Aside from that, all of Owca has been...disbanded."
"Disbanded?", Doof asked in shock. "W-well what would happen?!"
Lyla shook her head with a shrug.
"What would Francis do?!", Heinz continued to ask. "Lyla, surely YOU could GUESS?"
Lyla wracked her brains. It didn't make any sense. First the most hated person in Perry's sector taking over the Tri-State Area, then Owca being disbanded, no one of Cowca knowing anything about this or alerting her of what was happening... Nothing was making any sense. And Monogram.. What was he thinking?! What could be going on?
"...The only thing I could guess of Major Monogram...", she shrugged. "He's known secret agency all his life! All Monograms have! It wouldn't make sense for him to suddenly destroy the whole thing. Especially if they're all gathered here in Canada..."
"Then, what? Are there any other organizations in Canada?", Candace asked.
"...Must be.", Lyla shrugged. "Other than the ones that we work against."
"Do you know any?", Baljeet pressed on.
"Well... The only one I can think of... But Owca wouldn't join them.", Lyla shook her head.
"Who? Who?", Candace encouraged.
"Well there is ONE organization I can think of. But they're all scientists. Prissy, stuck-up snobs only wanting to harm the better good of nature with genetically engineered animals and the like.", Lyla rolled her eyes and lolled out her tongue in disgust. "The Biologically Advanced Creatures Opposing Ne'erdowells. Yeah. Bacon. Go figure. They think they're gonna benefit all of mankind with whatever research it is they're doing, but please! We're all made just the way we are because we're supposed to be this way, not because we're forced to be so from radiation. Anyway, Owca wouldn't bother joining THEM. We're all ran by purely natural animals. Not G.E.A.s."
"Well we oughta try it anyway.", Heinz shrugged. "There's no where else to look for, is there?"
"...I suppose so..", Lyla sighed. "I'll draw up the directions for ya."
Meanwhile, outside in the snow, Buford backed up from Brigitte a bit, nearing a tree, with a wide smile as he donned a top hat.
"WELLLLL...!", he began to sing when suddenly a mound of snow fell on top of him from the branches.
Brigitte laughed a bit as the bully emerged from the snow with a tight scowl.
"...It's been Summer for so long.. I forgot how cold, COLD was..", he grumbled.
Brigitte offered a hand and helped pull him up to his feet.
"Maybe we can skip the serenades?", she suggested earning a sigh and a nod.
They walked on, deeper into the property. Hand in hand, talking and laughing as they went on. But as time wore on, Brigitte couldn't help but look up, seeing the aurora broealis when she sighed and glanced back at the ground. It was getting late and it was nearing time for them to start heading back in.
"Brigitte? What's wrong?", Buford asked, slightly disappointed to see his girlfriend down.
"...Isn't it kinda weird that we act so differently when we're alone, as opposed to being amongst friends and family?", she said. "I mean, Buford. I like seeing you like this. Loving and caring, like back when we first met in France."
"Mm.. I guess.", Buford shrugged. "But we don't really act the same way from when we're around each other to when we're around...our parents or something."
"Well NO, duh.", Brigitte rolled her eyes. "It's just... I know that we French have the reputation of being rude, but slapping you across the face DOES start to become boring.."
"You're telling ME.", Buford said, rubbing the side of his face. "But you and I both know we'd be socially destroyed if people caught us being together like this."
"I know...", Brigitte sighed a bit.
It was the only time she didn't mind showing something past her tough attitude, being around Buford and all. And she would ask something about Americans being all about 'be yourself' and everything, but it wouldn't really help considering that Buford was actually French like herself and was only IN France to visit his grandparents at the time they first met. She leaned a bit into her secret boyfriend as a chilly gust of wind blew by.
"Just kind of wish we could be together more often...", she said quietly.
"Well...", Buford trailed off, starting to come at an end of what to say. "I guess that's what they mean by, 'we'll always have Paris'."
Brigitte smiled a bit and backed up, sneering at him.
"You DO know that's a really corny line, right?", she asked.
"Eeh...", Buford shrugged. "Didn't really have a lot to say there."
"You could've just kissed me.", she said.
Buford took the hint and leaned down to kiss her. Happy with this, Brigitte wrapped her arms around him, kissing back as they stood there. Hearts beating fast, cheeks radiating with heat to keep the other warm, knee deep in snow, and hidden from the world in the dark so they could only see one another with the lights dancing above their heads.
Laura: Sue me if you wanna, but for some reason, I just love shipping this couple! X33 It's almost as fun as Montenny!
Amber: After all, it COULD be weirder.. like.. Doof and Lyla.. O_o (ThatwasanodddreamX_x) *clears throat*
