Hi! Did anyone miss me? I've been pretty sick, but that's always me. Anyway, at least I'm not gone for 50 yrs or anything. Now that I've violently destroyed both Balinger and Phishti? (Muwahaha!), back to Ferbella!

The last time I had been without a roommate was in college; for most of my experience, I had a single room, which was pretty lonely. For one year, my room was en suite, so I did spend some time with my only roommate, Beeker, a rather peculiar fellow. The boy always acted as if he was on LSD and was also exceptionally neurotic, beyond even Candace and Baljeet. It was a relief to be in a single afterwards, and quite useful for… other occasions. Then, it was back to Phineas. And like always, we were a good match. Isabella and I had practically been living with each other for the past year. In fact, we had practically been living together since we were little, with the exception of the "awkward teenager" phase. And we were the "perfect" match. Yet, some stuff sort of had changed.

Isabella had become the ultimate neat freak. Not in the sense that she would force me to make the bed or anything; she had become neat about herself. She would frantically try and make sure everything looked perfect all the time, trying to keep up the illusion that she was still the pink princess, and not the girl who wakes up five hours after me on weekends with the enormous poof of hair in sweats with no makeup. She didn't want me to see her at any "unattractive" point in the day, and I would be lying if I said I didn't do the same. At the same time, everything just got a lot easier. We could talk, have sex, go out on dates, etc. without having to call and plan ahead. The gang still all could come over. Dating someone you've known since you were in elementary school is actually pretty helpful… any and all quirks, habits, annoyances, turn-offs, secrets, had all been exposed by now. I think.

"Shit!" I heard a hiss from the other room.

"Bella," I peeked around. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine. I just almost broke a nail." Female priorities. "What are you dressed up for?" She asked me inquisitively.

As if on cue, Phineas walked in through the door. "Hey Ferb, ready to go?"

"Go where?" Isabella turned to me crossly. I gestured towards the fridge. She marched over there and pulled a sticky-note from it. "Going to Mom and Dad's for dinner – Ferb! What did I say about using, you know, words?"

"You can come." Phineas shrugged. "Candace and Jeremy and all will be there."

"Can I come?" She crossed her arms.

"Of course, love." I said tiredly. I gestured for to get ready.

"Yay! Meeting my boyfriend's parents! How exciting!" She joked.

Huh. That was normally supposed to be a big deal, but like I said, I was dating a girl I had known, we had all known, since I was tiny. My family knew Isabella well enough that we had brought her on trips with us, she had already met all my cousins, my grandparents, she had been to England with me… I'm not sure what was supposed to be a big deal now.

"You do know I should be mad at you right now." Isabella commented as we went inside. "You were sneaking off here without me."

I gave her a look. Sneaking off? Honestly, it didn't matter if I had told her or not, Isabella had the habit of inviting herself along no matter what. If she didn't try to be such a matchmaker, she would be the ultimate cockblocker. Again, Isabella had never really "kept tabs" on me before she moved in with me.

"Hey Amanda." Phineas commented.

"Hi Uncle Phineas. Hi Uncle Ferb." She said sweetly.

"How's the A.I. working out for you on that princess doll?" He asked.

"Not so great." She sighed. "She's become really bossy."

"Why is it that when you code it, they always become authoritarian?" I questioned him.

"Hey man, I'm not the one who almost built the space laser. That's all I'm saying." He responded.

"Hi Amanda." Isabella said sweetly.

"Hi." The little girl twirled her hair. "You're...?"

"Isabella."

"Yeah!" She nodded actively. "You're the one in all the pretty pink dresses all the time!"

"That's me." Isabella giggled. "I'm your Uncle Phineas' and Ferb's friend. Actually, I'm Uncle Ferb's girlfriend."

Amanda started giggling. "Really?"

"Yeah."

"I had a boyfriend once. But he wouldn't share his crayons the next day. So then he wasn't my boyfriend anymore." Amanda seemed to get lost in her own tiny memories.

"What are the boys doing?" Phineas asked.

"NOTHING!" She declared angrily. "They never do anything. I'll show you."

"Ferb, hi honey." Mom welcomed us. I gestured to Isabella. I hope she didn't… "Of course I don't mind you brought her! Hi Isabella." Ha, yup, that was my mom.

"Hi Mrs. Fletcher." Isabella smiled. "Hi Mr. Fletcher."

"Hello love."

"Hi Mom, Hi Dad." Phineas said, walking into the kitchen with Candace and Jeremy.

"These kids drive me crazy." Candace commented.

"Let me just get this… into the oven… Ok." Mom turned around. "So, what has the gang been up to?"

"Oh, you didn't know? Ferb and Isabella are living together now." Phineas said obliviously. I gave him a look, Isabella blushed pink, Mom couldn't hide her smile, but Dad had this strange thoughtful expression on his face.

"As a couple?" Candace said incredulously. "And you're alone?" She pointed at Phineas. We three all kind of squirmed around. Now you know what I meant when I said, "I can't" to Isabella. ALONE felt like it carried a weight now. Three didn't have to be a crowd.

"They are a couple. They're the perfect couple." Phineas emphasized.

"She's probably just jealous we didn't get to do that." Jeremy said. "Move in together while we were dating." Jeremy is always the voice of reason in the room. Yeah. Candace and Jeremy got married, moved to the suburbs, and had their first child all within her first year out of college. They never bummed around as the gang and I am for so long. But that had always been Candace's dream, to get married and live the picket fence family life. Pursuing Vanessa all my life should've put it in perspective, but none of us had ever been that mature… only now were we more ready for serious relationships.

I stayed relatively silent throughout most of the night. I listened to what was going on in everyone's various lives. It was true that to some extent, in your twenties, your friends become your family, so it was nice to hear what was going on with the kids at school, everyone else at work; "old people" romance. Of course, Bella and Phin still talked up a storm. Isabella was the chattiest person I knew, only to be rivaled by Phineas, which was why we made the perfect pair. However, the whole night I couldn't help notice my dad watching me, and her, with a close eye. It was starting to creep me out. By the time dessert had been served, and Xavier and Fred were falling asleep, my father gestured that he wanted to talk to me alone.

"Ferb, can I show you something?"

I followed him quietly up the stairs. Oh God, what was this now? My father was definitely known for being eclectic. He was a well-known historian and antique dealer. We couldn't be more opposite; I was all about inventing and the future.

He was digging through a box in his closet and eventually pulled out an antique-looking ring box…? And opened it.

I stared at it. It had to be the most beautiful thing in the entire world. One large diamond, with what seemed like a million little ones around, with hints of pink and blue gleaming from them like prisms, all set in silver.

"It was your great-grandmother's." Dad said gently.

I had never met any of my great-grandparents, but my father had been particularly attached to his grandmother. I was stunned he was showing me this.

"Grandma Donnie was a real spitfire Ferb. Ha, she's the one who brought the Scots into the family. Of course, you know how we Fletcher men are. I can't believe how lucky we were to get a woman like that in our family. I think, in fact, all of us Fletcher men have been extremely lucky in that field. Mum is very spirited, and your mother might literally be a fireball sometimes." He chuckled at his stupid redhead joke. "You don't come across a special girl like that often, and we're pretty lucky to find them." Maybe he could tell from my face I wasn't completely on board. "Do you know what Grandma Donnie's real name was? Donella." He handed me the ring in its box. "I know Isabella is your spitfire, Ferb."

"Ho-ly shit." The guys all stared at the ring.

Phineas half-laughed and rubbed the back of his head. "He – they – want you to marry her." I nodded.

"They just gave you their blessing." Baljeet said. We were all pretty dumbfounded. It was so strange that I had been contemplating just the concept of marriage in general… and now my parents wanted me to get married?

"No, nobody said… Our parents love Isabella more than like anyone. They aren't saying go marry her this second. They just kind of want you to." Phineas stated. I nodded again.

"Marriage? Are you kidding me?" Buford laughed. "Ferb, if you get married, that's it. No more ladies for you."

"Buford, you are a huge faker." Baljeet said. "We all know you are a romantic at heart. Obnoxiously so."

"Eh." Buford shrugged. "I guess we all already know Ferb found the person he couldn't live without."

Baljeet tilted his head. "There was this little thing we did in psychology camp; Name the five people you couldn't live without. Not more, not less."

"That's not fair!" Phineas exclaimed. "There are loads of people I couldn't live without."

"What?" Buford said. "So, are we like, going to try to do that now? I don't know!"

"What about you, Ferb?" Phineas turned to me.

"Mum, Dad, Candace, Phineas, and Isabella." I said plainly.

"What?" They all stared.

"How'd he do that so fast?" Buford wondered.

"Well, he just picked his family and his girlfriend, who is about to be his family." Baljeet shrugged.

"But that means we don't make the list." Buford whined.

"Hmm…" Baljeet paused. "My mother, my father… Phineas and Ferb, and," He cringed. "Buford."

"Yes!" Buford said triumphantly. "Made it on the list!"

"That caused me pain to say." Baljeet said.

"Not Ginger?" Phineas asked gently.

"No!" Baljeet exclaimed. "Why on Earth would I put Ginger of all people on my list of five people I could not live without?"

"Uhh…" Phineas trailed off.

"Ok, my turn." Buford said. "My mom, duh. And… Phineas, Ferb, Baljeet, and Isabella. I mean, you guys are pretty much my family." I half-smiled.

"Well, I mean, if I had to pick only five people, it would be the same as Ferb's." Phineas said. "Mom, Dad, Candace, Ferb and Is… Mis…" He frowned. We all knew what he was thinking and who he was thinking of, but he was living without her right now, and doing fine… I think. "…Isabella." He finished weakly.

"Oh, tell her!" I declared.

"What?" He asked.

"What part of that did you not understand, Dinnerbell?"

"I- I can't tell Mishti I'm in love with her!" Phineas exclaimed.

"Why?" I questioned. "You're always the one encouraging all of us to confess our feelings."

"But what about you?" He weakly gestured to Baljeet.

"Phineas, I promise you, " He held up his hands. "I am never going to be that spiteful again. And, psychologically speaking, much of that probably has less to do with you and more to do with me; envy is linked to interpersonal conflict-"

"Shut the FUCK up." Buford said flatly. "Anyway, if anyone can make the whole 'long-distance' thing work, it's you two, you don't even know how to have a normal relationship, might as well have an abnormal one."

"But she hates me." Phineas said weakly. "She was so mad at me at the party, and over the phone."

"Phineas," I said. "She doesn't hate you. She was crushed when you didn't come with her to the airport."

"Ferb, I can't, I can't." He said. "This isn't like the rest of you. She's not my high-school sweetheart like Candace and Jeremy. She isn't my secret admirer like Baljeet and Ginger. She's not my best friend like you and Isabella. She's… MISHTI." He sighed to himself.

I suppose there was something there about their relationship I would never get. He was such a loving person who completely gave his heart to a girl who just seemed to want to stay a free bird, or an unprovable theory.

"Alright, go home to your wife, Ferb." Buford laughed. Neither Baljeet nor Phineas made a move to leave with me. I know he was making a joke, but in all seriousness, my Bella would be home from her own little friends' meeting soon, and the sort of fun we had together I preferred to any of this, if you know what I meant.

I'm not sure if having sex with my girlfriend would get the newfound Donella problem out of my mind or make it worse, but I could sure use some if she was up to it. I checked my phone and there was a text displayed on it.

It started raining coming from Ginger's. I'm soaked. You're going to have to peel these clothes off me ;)

I knew it. She was probably already at home. When the elevator stopped, there was in fact someone standing in front of my apartment door.

But it was the last person I expected to see.

Cliffhanger? Any guesses as to who it is?

So, in the beginning, I was a very strict by-the-books follow-my-outline writer. Catch 21 is a good example of that. But my outline for this has some complete blanks! So please review, you could totally "write" this story if you're anonymous and you don't know how to write or you just wanna see stuff happen or whatever. I really could use the reviews. Even if you wanna just roast me. Ok, I'd rather you don't, but you can, I guess. Tell me what you want to see, I'll make it happen.

Silver Trivia: This chapter is named for biophysicist Donella Meadows who was born March 13, I missed it, sorry. Also, R.I.P. to Stephen Hawking... probably the one guy we associate with the Theory of Everything and G.U.T.