A/N: This chapter actually turned out to be quite a pain - I veered considerably farther away from my original plan for it than I intended and it took me a good many attempts before I settled on an ending which seemed acceptable. Nevertheless, it's complete now, as the final major conflict in this story comes to a head.

Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy.

When she heard the doorbell ring, the first thought that entered Isabella Garcia-Shapiro's head was: Not again.

She thought that, maybe, if she remained quiet on the couch, that he would just go away. Ugh - if only her mother hadn't had to run out to the restaurant for something or the other. Then at least she could've had her mother answer the door again, and again, tell Phineas that she really didn't feel like facing him.

But Phineas would surely get the message anyway, maybe? Isabella listlessly picked up the television remote and resumed the program, lowering the volume of the set a few notches as she did so. Maybe he'd think that no one was home or something.

This was killing her, really it was. All this sitting around inside, watching TV and eating and surfing on the Internet what to do with your life when the boy you'd crushed on for eight years dumped you and told you to 'put it behind you'. Fireside Girl troop meetings were the only real excuse she had for going out anymore - and even those had been affected by the sudden shift in her life.

No more crazy cool and exotic patches, at least. Not unless she could figure out a way to travel the seven hundred and forty six million miles to Saturn - and again, coming back, on her own. Why did the Fireside Girls' handbook even have a 'Traveled to Saturn' patch? It ranked up there with 'Wrestling an Alligator' and 'Revolutionizing the Modern Understanding of Quantum Physics' on the list of patches she was pretty sure were originally intended as jokes or something.

But Candace Flynn had wrestled down an alligator, and with Phineas and Ferb's help, quantum physics' modern understanding had been successfully revolutionized. It'd been fun, while it lasted. Which was supposed to be forever, of course, but now apparently… wasn't.

The doorbell rang again, and then someone pounded directly on the door.

Isabella rolled her eyes and groaned aloud. She really didn't feel up to facing Phineas right now - for a multitude of reasons. A vast multitude. It was just as likely to dissolve into a repeat of the last time she'd allowed him to come inside - that was to say, an utter disaster, and nothing less.

At the time she'd still been hoping against hope that there was still a chance for her and Phineas to end up together. Sure, in a stunning blow to all she held dear in this world, she'd discovered that he possessed a forbidden crush on his own sister, if you could believe such an outrageous thing.

But there had still been a chance at that point. Because, as she'd figured, surely he would know better than to actually do anything based on that 'crush' of his - which was hardly even deserving of that title, in her opinion. Perhaps… 'unhealthy infatuation' was a more apt description. No, that was mean.

...still, it was a little deserved, right? Especially considering who he'd turned down to go chasing after his own sister. Her. Because apparently her having a crush on him was grounds for doubting the strength of their friendship. Or relationship, as Isabella had often thought of it. Because they really were that close - she'd just needed a little bit more time to subtly push him in the appropriate direction. But apparently she failed bigtime with that, hadn't she?

And the final nail in the coffin had been when Phineas had come over and, in slightly more words, told her that he was simply 'not interested'. That he had his romantic interests 'fully occupied'. And she knew what he meant by that.

The pounding at the door resumed, so persistent and obnoxious that she could hardly believe Phineas was behind it. Dragging herself off the couch, she slowly trudged down the hall towards the door. "I'm co-o-o-ming! Geez!"

This'd better not be Phineas, or else she was half inclined to give him a piece of her mind. Half inclined - but probably wouldn't, just like what had happened last time, too. Because she just couldn't bring herself to express how she really felt to him. And he didn't even get it, even after all this time. Sure, it was nice of him to come on over and say he didn't mean it when he'd accused her of never even being his friend in the first place. That was a nice enough thing to say, wasn't it? Sure.

But it didn't change the fact that he had said it in the first place, did it? No, of course not. And it boiled her blood that he would have said it all - that he dared to imply that she hadn't cared about him? Oh, yeah, because her just seconds before that confessing the extent to which she did care for him wasn't enough?

And admittedly, that confession may not have been appropriate for the situation. But that didn't matter - because she was right, and she knew it. Phineas had way overstepped his boundaries this time with that. And though she sometimes felt a little guilty for giving him that impression, it only served to make her madder.

Or it had, at the time. Anger tends to drain when it has nothing to be taken out on, and now she was just… listless. Apathetic. What was there to do? Phineas - and the idea of someday winning his love - had been the very thing she lived for. And that had been torn away from her - in a way she'd never expected, a way that could not have been more upsetting if it had tried.

And Ginger Hirano had tried to help, but Isabella had still refused to rat out the actual disturbing truth to her friend. She didn't know why. He hardly deserved it, having so randomly rejected her after so many years.

Perhaps it was because she as yet still refused to completely give up all hope - so many years in Phineas' constant company had rubbed on her a lot more than she'd realized. And there was still a chance, no matter how small, that he might still come to his senses about this thing, and she would be there. And she wasn't going to do something that might weaken that already slim chance.

But as time had dragged on and on and on… that tiny spark of hope had been all but stamped out anyway. There was only so much comfort she could derive from her spliced-together soundbites of his voice. And after a few days, she'd become unable to listen to them anyway.

"Isabell - Will - you - Mar - Ry - Meee!"

It'd been her favorite clip for a long time, but now the thought of listening it just turned her stomach. Those were words she'd been waiting patiently to hear for years and years, and every passing year seemed to be another milestone - bringing her closer to the ultimate fulfillment of her oh-so-carefully laden plans. And everything had been moving along so wonderfully, too. Aside from him actually realizing what was going on, which she… was working on. Slow and steady wins the race, after all.

How could this have happened? She'd gotten just about the best proof they were 'meant to be' anyone reasonable could have asked for. A couple years ago, they'd literally traveled into the future and met Future Candace's future children - one of whom had commented that she resembled 'Aunt Isabella'. Which, obviously, meant that she was right, that her future was assured, that Phineas was eventually going to surrender to the inevitable and fall in love with her.

And yet… none of that was coming to pass. How could it all have gone so wrong? So horribly wrong? She hardly knew - but one thing she did know was that she was not about to hash this out with Phineas again. The last thing she needed was to have her face rubbed in her failure again. It was more than she could take. It was more than anyone would be able to take, let alone her.

And Ginger had been some help, but Isabella could feel her friend thinking that she should've been 'more proactive' to avert this thing before it had happened. But no! She hadn't needed to be 'more proactive' or whatever. That was her future! She'd literally seen it with her own eyes. It wasn't up to chance or fate or luck or anything. It was a - was supposed to be a sure thing.

And slow and steady wins the race.

Or so she'd thought, before Phineas had thought to inform her that she was being dumped so he could go off and get tangled up in some unhealthy thing with his sister. Yeah, because this was something she'd thought she would have to prepare for. Everyone in Danville knew that Phineas was hers - that he was off-limits. Everyone, apparently, except for his sister. And somehow Candace, having just suffered through some kind of breakup with Jeremy Johnson, had decided that the next best thing was to go after her brother.

...or something like that. Isabella didn't know the exact details to it, nor did she want to. It was enough to know that her plan for her future, for her life, was ruined. And she'd gotten in not one or two, but three separate fights with Phineas since that time - something she'd almost never done before. And now, she almost felt guilty for it - for the reaction she'd seen on his face, and the knowledge that she was actually upsetting him to a degree that she hadn't quite known was possible.

But screw all that! She was upset too. More upset than she'd ever been before, really. And he still didn't seem to get was wrong with what he was doing - what he was throwing away - and why she was so upset and hurt in the first place. And that made her mad, and rightly so.

Mad enough to reject him at the door, mad enough to continue staying away from the Flynn-Fletcher house, and refusing to reach out to him at all, even when her entire being cried out for some explanation to these horribly twisted events of the past weeks. It wasn't like he had any explanation either - except the lame, transparent ones he'd already tried to pawn off on her.

Like he could somehow miss all her advances over the years, and still pick up on whatever Candace had done that could've put those thoughts in his brain.

It was enough to make anyone mad - and she was no exception. It felt bad to be so steadily tearing their friendship apart, but if it had to happen, this was the sort of situation that would merit it. Because although the whole 'random-rejection' thing was bad… it was the 'with-his-sister' factor that made it just flat-out unforgivable.

It was altogether a complex situation. But in spite of all that, she knew one thing for certain. Whatever Phineas thought he had to say to her, she didn't want to listen. Unless, perhaps, he was here to tell her that he'd realized what a terrible mistake he was making?

No, no matter how much she wished in her heart for that to happen, she knew somehow that it never would. Phineas had very emphatically made it clear that he had no interest in returning the feelings she'd cultivated practically since meeting him for the first time. And though she could hope and dream that he might recant those words, something in the way he'd said them had… killed any real chance those dreams had of coming true.

And she just didn't know where she went wrong. Everything was set. She'd seen the future. How could this all have gone so haywire?

She turned the deadbolt and swung the door inward a little bit. "Phineas, I…"

Her speech trailed away a little bit. That certainly wasn't Phineas on her front porch. "Candace?"

Okay, just… no. She didn't feel up to facing Phineas again, and she certainly didn't want to have anything at all to do with his sister. Candace was… well, apparently, she'd been the one who'd attracted Phineas' attention away from Isabella, in utter disregard for the blood tie she and Phineas shared - a tie that should have made such a thing impossible.

Well, that was that, then. Was Phineas not brave enough to come over and face her himself? She definitely wasn't going to stand this - not for another instant.

"No," she said firmly. "Goodbye."

And she shut the door - or tried to. Candace stuck her foot in the way of the jamb, preventing it from latching. "Oh, no," she said. "You're gonna listen to what I have to say, whether you like it or not."

"And why should I do that?" Isabella sarcastically asked, kicking half-heartedly at Candace's foot, trying to push it out of the way. She really wasn't in the mood for this. Her mixed feelings for and about Phineas made confrontations like this with him insufferably awkward - but with Candace, there was no such feeling. And no such awkwardness either.

"Because I said so," Candace returned. "Because you can't just keep hiding in there forever. Now open up!"

"I said no!" Isabella repeated. "And I'm definitely not listening to you anyway. Now butt out of my business!"

"Yeah, well, gladly - any other time," Candace said coolly, reaching into the crack in the door and pushing it farther open. "But this involves my brother and I don't intend to let you upset him anymore."

"What?!" Isabella spluttered, hardly able to believe her own ears. She lost her grip on the front door, and Candace triumphantly shoved it open. "Let - let - me upset him?!" She clenched her fists. "Oh, you have got to be kidding me!"

"You heard me," Candace repeated. "You may not realize it, but I can see it - everyone can. He's really bothered about it, and you just keep making it worse."

"Well, excuse me for being upset about what he did!" Isabella was getting angry now. "It's not like you can say anything anyway - I know what you did and I don't want any part in it!"

Candace turned deep red at that, which was somewhat satisfying to see. She knew from her 'Debate Club' patch that she wasn't exactly following the most logical path in her argument - but come on now. In a world where Phineas Flynn had abandoned her in favor of romancing his own sister… logic didn't seem to be working like it was supposed to anymore.

And what was more - Isabella could tell by Candace's furiously flushed face that she had the upper hand, and she knew she needed to press it if she wanted to end this situation as quickly as possible.

"I don't know who you think you are," she started. "Coming over here and thinking you can defend what's been going on? I can't believe you! You have no idea what this is like for me - and you want to get on to me for upsetting him? I don't think so."

"Now you just hold it right there," Candace retorted. "I don't intend to defend anyone - and maybe before I came over here I was still thinking that he was overreacting to your grand reveal a little, but oh, definitely not now!"

"Well I don't care what you think." Isabella gestured violently in Candace's general direction. "Because I know what else you think is okay, too. And let me tell you, I've never heard of a more vile or contemptible idea in my life!"

"Well, I…" Candace spluttered. "I - I don't care what you think - since you apparently also think it's okay to keep slamming the door in Phineas' face when he tries to come over here." Her expression momentarily softened. "It really bothers him, you know that?" Then she lowered her eyebrows and stabbed at the air with her finger. "So that's why I came over - to tell you to just suck it up. Because you're bothering my brother, and I won't have it."

"Why?' Isabella asked, lilting her voice as sardonically as she could manage. "Because you two are all… lovey-dovey now?" She scrunched up her face, grimacing. "Blegh!"

"I - what - no!" Candace stammered, looking more embarrassed than ever. "I just - ugh - he's my brother and it makes me mad to see him constantly upset over you when I know he's tried to patch things up."

Phineas was constantly upset - and over her? So their original fights had affected him too. Knowing this for sure… made her feel partly more guilty, and partly smug, for some reason. Vindicated, in a way. Because despite all he'd rambled to her about them never being friends in the first place, he obviously cared for her more than he'd let on.

But not enough to actually see how much she cared about him - on a level that was vastly deeper than whatever he'd had for her.

"Well, brother or no, you obviously didn't let that stop you," she retorted. "So I think you should just go off and do whatever freaky stuff you do nowadays, and let me sit here in peace - because you have zero clue what I'm going through and it's really none of your business anyways." She laughed, short and bitter. "I don't get what you see in Phineas anyway. You do realize that his head is a triangle?"

Candace frowned. "Shut it," she snapped. "What I decide to do with this… situation is none of your concern. So keep out! It's not like you ever had anything with Phineas anyway, except a one-sided obsession that was about as subtle as a punch to the face, and about as healthy as one, too."

"Like you're one to tell me what's 'healthy'," Isabella rejoined. "Do I even need to mention all the irony behind that statement? Or about obsessions, because apparently you just don't remember how stupidly consumed you used to be with Jeremy Johnson. You're hardly one to lecture me."

Candace winced slightly at her ex boyfriend's name, and Isabella felt a small prick of guilt for dredging up such a topic - but it had to be dredged up.

"Sucks, doesn't it?" she continued. "Yeah. Well, I loved Phineas, too, for eight freaking years, and he never responded to me. So I was forced to resort to the next best thing - to taking his words and his actions out of context to comfort myself, to assure myself that he did love me back, and that it was just a matter of time." Her voice faltered slightly, but she persisted. "And I thought I had it - had it all planned out. I saw the future, for goodness' sake. You were there! And your future children, who plainly pointed me out as resembling 'Aunt Isabella'. How could I have gone wrong with that?"

"The future's constantly changing," Candace remarked dryly. "Time travel's hardly reliable as a method of proving something to be true."

"Oh, can it!" Isabella snapped, feeling herself grow angry again. "You'll never know what it's like. I loved him - actually loved him, in a real and healthy way that actually could have gone somewhere. And after so many years, it's just… kaput. Gone. Done. My dreams… my plans… my future. All gone. So just get out of here, will you?"

Candace frowned again, but she appeared more thoughtful than angry - and she also closed the front door behind her and leaned back against it. "I'll never know what that's like, huh?" She snorted, and Isabella almost got the impression she was talking to herself. "Right. Because I guess Jeremy just… doesn't count for anything? I loved him too, you know. I always thought he was perfect."

"But I'm... stupid sometimes," Candace continued. "And I… I ruined everything. What I tried to do was a… a horrible thing and I can't really blame him for breaking up with me. And I always knew it was my fault, too. But you can't imagine how it felt to have him just be… gone. We'd been together for years now." She looked up, the expression on her face suddenly gone so pale and haggard that Isabella couldn't help feeling a tiny bit bad for her. "I had a wonderful plan. Everybody knew about it. We were going to date. Through college. Then get married. And have two children, Xavier and Amanda. It was going to be perfect. And now… none of it will ever happen."

Isabella grit her teeth and reminded herself of exactly who she was dealing with here - and for what reason she'd come over - and remained silent.

Candace, however, didn't seem to notice. "So I think you'll find yourself mistaken when you say I have no idea what I'm talking about. Because I do."

Still, Isabella was hardly convinced. "That's…" she couldn't really find it in herself to be so cold anymore, though she wasn't exactly moved to pity either. "...sucky. But it's hardly the same thing." She crossed her arms and leaned back against the wall. "Because as we all know, the main difference here is that while I had a normal, perfectly, justifiable crush - you thought that the best way to deal with a breakup was to latch onto your brother. Why? I don't know. Maybe because he's the only one who'd not immediately shut you down, because that's just how he is and you know it." She hesitated slightly. "I don't know and I don't care. All I do know is that the boy that I've loved since the day I met him dumped me. For his sister… and I don't know how to deal with that."

She paused slightly, her tone becoming more bitter. "But I guess you know all about that, don't you? So kindly butt out of my business, okay? I don't want to have anything to do with any of you anymore. You… sicken me. Just get out." She pointed at the door, then turned and stalked off, back into the living room.

Just who did Candace think she was anyway, coming over here to lecture her like that? Well, she certainly hadn't helped the situation any, that was for sure. Isabella was sure Phineas was upset - who wasn't? - This whole situation was an absolute mess. But the difference was that her own frustration was perfectly justified - and that Phineas somehow expected her to just be all fine and happy with seeing her dreams torn to shreds in front of her - as if a simple apology could ever make up for him cavorting off with his own sister taking the role that she'd desired for so long.

She plopped back down on the couch in a huff.

Now that her chances of actually getting together with Phineas seemed to have been pretty well sold off down the river, she couldn't exactly help but get mad at him - at Candace - at everyone. It was like she'd wasted all that time, hadn't she? In pursuit of something that, apparently, had been just a pipe dream that entire time. And Phineas himself had cast the nature of their entire friendship in doubt - something which she could still hardly believe. Oh, because having a little crush on him was that threatening to being friends? Not that her crush was 'little' by any means, but the point still stood.

He'd been way overreacting.

She didn't know what she expected, really. Well… that wasn't true. She had an idea of what she would have liked to happen pending her ultimate reveal.

To have him realize that, whoa, she was in love with him? Well, that was great, because the feeling was mutual. And they could live happily ever after, in love, as she'd always dreamed of.

Sure, she liked to imagine that scenario playing out, but she'd never really quite expected it. It seemed a little… out there, if she was being honest with herself. But then what had she expected?

Well, nothing, really. She'd always sort of assumed that it was going to happen eventually - in some way - but hadn't ever really thought about specifically how that might happen. Still, she'd certainly not foreseen something like this. Being forced to come clean because Ferb - because it was pretty obviously him who did it - saw fit to rat her secret out, which also happened to coincide with her discovery of Phineas' repellent… feelings for his sister, which Isabella still refused to recognize as anything other.

And her perfectly planned future had all come spiralling apart at a breakneck pace. And even though Phineas had tried to come back to her and apologize for saying that she'd cast their entire friendship in doubt, she'd been far to broken up by the reveal of exactly why he was rejecting her to want anything to do with him. And not just that knowledge… but him flatly, almost cruelly, saying that no matter what she ever thought, he'd never had any inclination towards romancing her. At all.

And all the little bits and pieces of conversation that she'd clung to for so many years as 'evidence' that he really did love her had suddenly seemed like silly worthless bits of… of nothing - of her jumping to conclusions over things that were hardly worthy of that anyway. But she'd been so desperate. Who could blame her?

What was she supposed to do now?

Nothing. Just sit here and stew. That seemed fair.

There was a footstep at the entrance to the living room, and Candace appeared there, looking a bit pale and with eyes slightly bloodshot - but she still offered a tiny smile as she stepped into the room.

"What?" Isabella asked, hardly able to even find it in herself to be exasperated anymore. She'd been mad and upset and broken-up more often and more violently in the past week alone than in the rest of her life combined. And it was exhausting. "Why don't you just get out of my house?"

"Because," Candace returned. "I told Phineas I was gonna come over here and give you a what-for and I don't intend to leave until I have." She paused. "So… why exactly did you turn him away yesterday when he came over here?"

"Why do you think?" Isabella burst. "I'll give you one guess. Let's see if you can get it on the first try."

"I… figured as much." Candace sat on a armchair and put her face down into her hands, inhaling deeply. "It's… weird, isn't it?"

Rolling her eyes, Isabella shrugged her shoulders. "That's the understatement of the year. I can think of a thousand better-suited adjectives to use there. Try 'creepy' or 'messed-up' or 'disgusting' or just plain 'wrong'. But what do I know?" She didn't know why she was trying to provoke a rise out of Candace again. If Candace was mad, then she'd been justified in getting mad back, so there was that.

But Candace didn't get mad again - instead she shook her head and sighed. "I know. I know. I'm a- it's just not normal."

"No, no it's not," Isabella responded coldly. "You can quit trying to reverse-psych me now, or whatever you're trying to do. You're utter garbage at it - and I have three patches in psychology."

Candace looked up and her eyes narrowed. "Yeah, right. Look here - as far I'm concerned, you can shove off. I've seen how bothered Phineas gets after coming over here and fighting with you. And that is not acceptable, not on my watch, not with my little brother."

"Oh, so, he's your little brother now? Explain to me how that works, will you?"

Candace ignored the comment, except to cast a hard glare in the general direction of the couch. "And the only reason I'm not over here telling you to get out of all of our lives permanently is because he'd never forgive me if I said that to you." She threw her arms up in the air. "Everyone on the face of the earth knew about your crush. Except Phineas himself. And it never occurred to you that might be a problem?"

"I had everything under control," Isabella returned coldly. "It was all going fine, except for the fact that you… thought you should steal him away from me."

"Right," Candace snorted. "Because that's totally something I would do. Stupid - Phineas reached out to me."

"Yes, I'm aware of that fact," Isabella retorted. "He made it exceedingly clear last time we talked."

"And yet you still-" Candace cut herself off. "Whatever." She shook her head fiercely. "Look, I'm trying to be reasonable because Phineas would want me to - and he wouldn't want me to go over there and smack you upside the head for being so… insufferable."

Isabella internally just dared Candace to try it, but she was well aware the threat was nothing more than empty bluster.

"Either way," Candace continued. "I know you're all upset that the 'love of your life' left you. Or whatever. I know it sucks - it did happen to me too, after all." She paused. "Of course, you can't actually seriously blame him for that, obviously."

"Oh, please," Isabella cut in. "And why can't I? I was everything he could have ever wanted. I was always there - I was always supportive - I was literally perfect for it." She laughed bitterly. "What could you have that I didn't?"

"...I don't know," Candace said slowly. "There's still an awful lot of things that I don't understand, honestly." She shook her head. "Either way...for whatever reasons… are behind this - one thing is for certain - and I know you know it, too."

"Do not," Isabella cautioned. "I do not want to go there with you too."

...was it telling that she already knew what Candace was going to say? Because it was pretty obvious, really. She was pretty clearly gonna go into some spiel about how no matter how much it hurt to have her feelings turned down, that after so long she could hardly blame Phineas for not feeling the same way all at once. And that although casting their entire friendship in doubt was a bit harsh, it wasn't entirely unprovoked. And that she'd had her best chances of success early on - and in doing nothing she'd let it slip out of her grasp, because people developed opinions on these things over time.

She could almost hear Ginger's voice as the familiar words replayed in her brain. She'd meant well, really she had. And maybe she was right. It almost didn't matter - it was done now. It was over. Should she have been more upfront about things? It hadn't really mattered at the time… after all, there was no one else in Danville who would dare cross her in that way. Everyone knew that Phineas was hers - there was no one in the city who didn't realize that.

Except Phineas himself, of course, which had led to this whole debacle in the first place. Maybe she really should have just told him so many years ago, before this whole mess had happened. It had just been… it had never seemed like the right time. He was always so distracted, and there were always other people around and… she could never quite bring herself to confess to him.

And now she'd lost the chance. It was the most bitter, distasteful thought she'd had for years. Because… if it was true, then - well, what now?

"So you know I'm right, then," Candace said. "It's not my brother's fault that you couldn't get ahold of yourself and tell him how you felt. And it's also not his fault for moving off down that road without you, what with your eternal lollygagging around the entrance."

"...and so what?" she retorted defensively. "That doesn't make me feel any better, you know. I don't know what it is with you and Phineas that you can't grasp this simple concept."

"I am aware of that, thank you very much," Candace snapped back. "If you'd quit interrupting me and let me finish my thoughts, you'd have a much easier time of this, you know?" She rolled her eyes. "Anyway, as I was saying, I'm sure it sucks. Just because it was my fault that - that Jeremy broke up with me didn't help me at all."

"Well, we both know how you got over your issues," Isabella said. "Sadly, that just won't work for me."

"I did not-" Candace protested but she shook her head again. "Ugh. Whatever. Look, I'm about fed up to here with you, so I'm going to cut it really short and then get the heck out of here. Phineas is upset that you won't even hardly talk to him. He's worried that he's lost you as a friend forever and he doesn't like that any more than you do, but he's tried to reach out to you and just keep pushing him away. So there. Happy? Ugh. I'm out of here."

"Hey - !" she exclaimed, cutting Candace short as she turned to leave. "You act like I'm having fun in all of this. Did you not understand anything of what I just said?"

"Well," Candace retorted, "If you're that miserable, then I guess you know what to do. We both know Phineas would jump at the chance to have you back as his friend - quite unlike me, on the other hand. I'm so done with dealing with you right now. If you'd just get over yourself once in awhile, it'd be a heck of a lot easier." She rolled her eyes. "I get that you're upset and all that, but really, it's all your fault. And you've gotta quit blaming Phineas for that."

Isabella crossed her arms and huffed. "Why are you so eager to jump to his defence anyway? Oh, right, because you're both getting all creepy up with each other. Do you really think that I'm gonna take anything you say seriously?"

"Oh, please, lay off with that," Candace said. "That's got nothing to do with this and you know it."

"Uh huh - right, for sure," Isabella returned. "You're just like him, you know that? Not able to pull your head down out of the clouds and realize that half the reason this whole thing is such a pain is because of what you're doing. Like, honestly, do you expect to just up and abandon eight year's of nursed feelings, as well as acknowledge that the person who stole him away was… you." She wasn't aware she could put so much vitriol into one word, and she almost scared herself with the sheer bitterness in her tone. "And why exactly should I put up with any of that? Come on, explain it to me - if you can."

But to her surprise, Candace just shrugged and scoffed at her. "Don't ask me that. I hardly know myself. But it is happening, for now, and so you can either suck it up and deal with it or just sit here and rot inside. It's not like I really have any reason to care which you do, aside from wanting to see Phineas happy, but he'll get over you. He always does."

"Wait…" Now, for the first time in this tumultuous… exchange of words, Isabella was confused. "You 'hardly know yourself'? You're - you're practically committing incest and you don't even know why?" She blinked. "That's so… ugh! Why?! How could you do this? It's so wrong!"

Candace rolled her eyes again. "Is this really the whole reason that you're being so stubborn over this? Fine, then, whatever. You want to know 'why', hmm? 'Why' - even though it's 'wrong' and 'disgusting' and 'unnatural' and those other lovely words you mentioned?" She exhaled forcefully. "Fine - I'll tell you. 'Why' is because there's no reason not to - 'why' is because he makes me feel… safe. And like everything's gonna be okay, even when there's no real reason to think that." Her voice softened slightly as she continued, to a degree that sent cold chills up and down Isabella's spine. "And… I don't know why. I really don't. He says he loves me. And I…"

"Oh, no you don't - don't you dare!"

"... I do too," Candace finished before any more protests had a chance at coming out. "And I already know how terrible a thing that is, trust me." She laughed herself, short and forced. "I've already single handedly quashed the best friendship I ever had because of it. And you would think I would take the warning like I had an ounce of common sense - to just get out while the getting's good, but…" she hesitated slightly. "I… didn't want to. I couldn't. And...yeah."

Isabella's mouth was hanging open in shock and disgust. Candace looked up and started turning red again, as she seemed to do a lot when verging near this subject. "But - but -" she stammered. "You - you can't 'feel' like that! You can't! You're siblings, for crying out loud. That's… that's so wrong!"

"Is it?" Candace collapsed back down on the armchair behind her. "Tell me, then, why's that?"

But Isabella had a reason. She mutely raised her arm and gestured in the general direction of the bookshelf pushed against the other wall of the living room. Candace turned and took a passing glance at it. There were multiple books on the shelf, but the one Isabella had meant to point out was clear enough - plenty easily recognizable even if one had never stepped foot in a church building their entire life. And it was clear enough from the expression on Candace's face that she, too, knew what was being driven at.

"Oh, that…" she replied. "Yes, because you don't think I looked in there? Trust me, I looked everywhere under the sun - and a few places above it - trying to find some reason why we simply couldn't do it." She shook her head. "But… the only reason I could find where it's explicitly forbidden, even in there, is because of negative effects on - on reproduction. And in a community of people with no new blood coming in, you had to take every precaution against letting the existing bloodlines… inbreed like that." Candace sighed heavily. "It was for medical reasons, Isabella, because that was the only way a small-ish group could survive multiple generations while still under critical mass for self-sustainability." She stopped briefly and shuddered. "Obviously, though, Phineas and I… aren't actually doing that." Her eyes suddenly grew wide. "Oh, no - you didn't think that, did you?!"

"No!" Isabella exclaimed, almost too loudly. "Ew - that's - no! Blegh." It was all she could do to not physically recoil away from the idea.

"Well, duh," Candace returned. "That's - no. It was never a possibility. Ever. That's… that's disgusting." She shuddered again and shook her head violently, as if trying to rid herself of the idea.

Having beenstripped of her single best off-the-top-of-her-head reason, Isabella seized onto the next best one she could find. "So what about your Plan, then? You said that it involved children. I mean..."

Candace smiled a small smile and shrugged again. "Isabella… my plan… has been through the absolute shredder over the course of this summer. So much - of all the things that I thought were guaranteed to come to pass, well, now they're guaranteed never to happen. So, I guess, if I'm throwing away the rest of the Plan, what's that one last little detail? Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater, and all that." She chuckled again., though a little more lightheartedly this time. "And if that's what it takes, I guess… I'm okay with it. Because Phineas and I… this is going to happen, for now."

"...well, that's just disgusting," Isabella repeated. "And wrong. I don't know how you do it. Ugh."

"Well, I'm not asking your opinion on that," Candace snapped, traces of her ire returning. "I have enough self-doubt already without you adding more to the pile, thank you very much. If anyone makes me walk back my decision to do this - it sure as heck isn't going to be you. So you can about give up on that."

"Fine then," Isabella retorted. "So what did you come over here for? To gross me out? To ruin my afternoon? Because you've done both quite well. So congratulations on that, I guess."

"No, you… ugh," Candace muttered. "I came over because I know Phineas wants to end all this mess between you two. And I know he's tried - and that you kept kicking him to the curb. So I came over to figure out why - because I saw how much it was bothering him and nobody gets to do that to my brothers - either of them, before you dare say anything about that."

"Well, excuse me for taking my time adjusting to the freaky new way of things," Isabella retorted. "Unlike you, I don't have a brother to run to, to help me deal with stuff. Maybe that's my problem, huh?"

Candace frowned, and looked as if she was about to snap back, but instead she just laughed. "You know what? Fine. It's not my problem. You wanna sit here and mope for the rest of your life? Fine. See if I care. I can tell Phineas I tried, and that's all there was to it." She frowned even more deeply. "You know, I figured you'd have the common sense to realize that you don't have to permanently lock yourself up away from him. Just because he doesn't love you doesn't mean he doesn't want to be your friend." She laughed bitterly. "Unlike me, you've actually got a shot at repairing the relationship between you and your best friend, but you know what? Fine. See if I care. I'm done. Candace is out. Peace!"

Candace had turned and walked completely out of the living room before Isabella spoke up again. "Hang on a second!"

When there was no response, she hauled herself off the couch and hurried after her, catching up just in front of the front door.

"What?" Candace asked.

Isabella hesitated, not quite sure herself. "I…" She began uncertainly. "I do want to him to be my friend again." She paused. "I mean… I'd rather him be my boyfriend, but if that's not going to happen, I… I mean, he was - is my best friend, too. It's just - well, he said that he doubted the entire foundation of our friendship and acted like I never cared about him in any way except to win his heart and I…"

"Well, it sure doesn't seem like you gave him much evidence to contradict that conclusion," Candace said dryly.

"...well, thanks for that," she said through grit teeth. "You're not exactly helping this situation, you know."

"Fine, fine, fine." Candace held up her hands. "Sorry. Geez."

Isabella narrowed her eyes but let the comment slide. "Whatever. Look, I… I wanted to go over to him. Really, I did. But… I just couldn't. How am I supposed to be able to do any of that knowing what - knowing what he's doing-" she took a slight step back from Candace. "-with you?! And even then, I thought maybe I could convince him that this was a bad idea, that even if he doesn't think about me at all that he still can't go after his - his sister. But... he wouldn't listen to me. Not anymore." She groaned slightly. "You weren't there. But I was. And he - he acted like the only motivation I ever had for hanging out him him at all was to win him over to me. And I, well, I'll admit that it wasn't ever far from my mind, but it's not like he wasn't my friend, too."

"Okay?" Candace echoed.

"Ugh, you just don't get it, do you?!" Isabella threw up her hands in exasperation. "What do you want from me?! No matter what you say, you are not going to convince to be okay with whatever… freaky thing you've got going on with your brother. That's a - a dealbreaker. I just cannot deal with it."

"Fine then," Candace responded, carelessly shrugging her shoulders. "Don't deal. You know Phineas isn't the type to rub your face in it - and it's not like we were planning on acting out in some exceedingly obvious way. It, uh, should be kinda obvious that this was a secret, after all."

"Don't - don't deal?" Isabella spluttered. "What on earth are you talking about? How exactly do you think I'll be able to manage that?"

Candace shrugged again. "Look at me - do I look like I care? No. No I don't. Maybe you should tap into that 'friendship' of yours and decide how important it really is to you - now that there's no chance of it ever progressing any further than that." She reached out and grabbed ahold of the front door, pulling it open. "Like I said - I tried, for Phineas' sake. Goodbye."

She stepped out the door and shut it behind her, only a few pounds of pressure short of slamming it.

"I…" Isabella stammered to herself in the empty hallway. "Ugh!" She clenched her fist and almost felt like stomping her foot, but she resisted the urge.

Stalking back into the living room, she threw herself back on the couch, but couldn't bring herself to turn the TV back on.

It was all so aggravating. She hated all this lying around inside doing nothing. But what exactly was she supposed to do about it? Aside from the usually-weekly Fireside Girls' meetings, there really wasn't a whole lot to do in Danville - at least not a whole lot of stuff as interesting as Phineas' and Ferb's daily projects. Sometimes she was of the opinion that even those projects were a bit over the top, but still. Over the top or no, nothing else in the city (or likely in the world, for that matter) could quite match them in as far as how interesting they could be.

Of course, she hadn't been over to their house in ages now, for obvious reasons. And it was really chafing at her by now - the cabin fever was getting nigh-insufferable. It was too bad there wasn't a patch for that, because she certainly could've earned it by now.

Still, as miserable as it all was - it was certainly better than the alternative. Namely, having to face down the boy who'd simultaneously managed to dump her - for his sister, which was not a detail you could forget - and also take the state of their entire friendship and throw it under the bus.

Candace's words replayed in her brain.

Well, it sure doesn't seem like you gave him much evidence to contradict that conclusion.

Well, she shouldn't have to! That was the thing, of course. Phineas' reaction had been ridiculously over-the-top, even by her standards, which were... generous, to say the least. That he would think, even for a second, that she'd never thought of him as anything but a potential romantic partner was… disturbing. And it was a little embarrassing, too.

What exactly had been said in the very first argument that had led him to make such a conclusion? She couldn't quite remember - although whatever had led him there aside, he'd certainly said it. And, of course, he had come over and walked it back a few days later, although she… had hardly been in the state to listen to him then - given that had also been the day when he'd first let slip that his infatuation with his sister was oh so much more than just that.

Still, that did hold the hope that he didn't actually doubt their friendship all the way to its very core, as he'd first implied. Which was all well and good, really. In fact, she might even have been inclined to accept his rejection of her by now. If it had indeed been just about anyone else on the face of the earth, this would all be so much different. She'd still have been utterly heartbroken, as she was now, but it would have been… different. She'd have been able to accept it, at least, to deal with it - to kick herself and say 'I should've known that this girl was going to be a problem' and 'If I'd only confronted her - or Phineas - this might've not happened.'

But this? This was… an entirely different ballgame. She couldn't accept this - no way, no how. Despite whatever Candace had rambled on about, there was no way that this - this thing - No. It was just not going to happen, ever. Ever, ever, ever. Ever.

The mere idea of it still somehow defied her comprehension. How Phineas had been so blind to her all this time - whether because he actually didn't love her back, or because he was really just that oblivious - and yet still somehow aware enough of what was going on around him to fall - to think he'd fallen in - in love with his sister. And Candace had actually gone along with it.

And what could she do about it - she, Isabella Garcia-Shapiro, recently dumped and left all alone? Nothing, that's what. Nothing at all. She was… was utterly helpless to stop this thing from happening. And it certainly wasn't for a lack of trying.

But Phineas was Phineas… and Candace was as stubborn as always, and all her sound, reasoned, objections to this thing that played out so eloquently in her mind had gone in one ear and out the other with the both of them. And it was all she could do to not throw up her arms and yell in frustration.

Well, one thing she knew for sure: no matter what happened, whatever Phineas and Candace were getting up to was not, nor would ever be, okay. That was only the rational, normal response to such a thing, after all.

Still, she couldn't quite help feeling a bit guilty for being so... cold to Phineas when he'd repeatedly tried to reach out to her. And she'd sort of known that he was more bothered than she'd seen by her actions, but hearing Candace confirm it - well, that hadn't helped the situation any.

Because part of her was still maintaining that, after all he'd done to her, it was rather deserved.

But to be so vindictive had never really been part of her nature, and especially not towards Phineas Flynn. Even being mad at him was unusual. Oh, sure, she'd gotten aggravated and even angry with him many times, mostly over his obliviousness to her flirtations, but a straight-up, flat-out, actual fight? It was practically unheard of.

And yet, it had happened. Twice, almost bordering on thrice, all in the space of two weeks. Which was easily more times than in all of the rest of the years that they'd known each other. Not to mention her… shouting match with Candace, which really hadn't served any purpose at all other than getting everyone upset.

Still, given Phineas' tendency to cut arguments short by fleeing from them, it had been oddly… cathartic to stand there and yell. At Candace, but that was almost beside the point. Even that, though, wasn't any actual help, because cathartic or no, she was still in exactly the same place she'd been before Candace had shown up at the front door.

Sitting dejectedly on the couch, wishing to herself that Phineas would just have been normal this one time and gone after some other girl so that she could at least get some closure on the whole painful mess. And agonizing over the fact that it was his sister, a fact that seemed an insurmountable barrier between her and finally accepting the situation.

Well… there was one other thing she knew for sure. That she couldn't stay like this forever. Ginger herself had said the same thing to her just the other day, after Isabella'd spent the better part of ten minutes ranting over the phone about how boring summer vacation could be without Phineas and Ferb.

"Why don't you just go back over there, then?" Ginger had asked. "It's not like he's gonna hate you now. And I know that it'll be awkward as all get-out at first - but, then, once you get past that, you'll have your life back. Mostly, of course."

The last 'mostly' had hardly even been necessary. Because aside from her flirting with him - which she did do a lot, to be fair - her crush on Phineas had hardly had any real repercussions. They'd never really done anything that they couldn't still do as 'just friends' - and for sure not, given that Phineas had done all those things while considering them 'just friends' in the first place.

And Phineas was the last person in the world who would have ever held a grudge against her, she well knew. She really didn't doubt that if she were to walk over there right now, he'd be the first to forgive her - likely while apologizing himself.

So why didn't she?

Because of that whole 'Phineas-and-his-sister' deal? Yes, that was pretty much the only reason. It was such an impassible obstacle, too. Because it was so… so gross! No one could honestly expect her to be able to accept something like that.

Of course, there was still technically that other option, she supposed. Candace herself had said that she didn't exactly have to condone what Phineas and she were doing - that was between them and them alone. But did it have to stand between Phineas and Isabella's friendship too?

...the logical answer seemed to be 'yes'. But… she wasn't so sure anymore.

There was no denying that she'd like to be able to have her best friend back, for many, many reasons. And even though it would take a long, long time to entirely abandon all traces of her crush on him… she could do that, she was rather confident. The only thing she really couldn't bring herself to do was condone the… relationship between him and his sister.

But did she even have to? Wouldn't it technically be just as possible for her to ignore the subject entirely, to pretend that she numbered among the people from whom the secret was still secure?

She internally recoiled from the idea, knowing full well that it would bring about all sorts of awkwardness and uncomfortable situations.

Then why did she get up from the couch? And go pull on her tennis shoes, and walk through the house to the front door, pausing only for a second to leave behind a note on which was scrawled 'Gone to the Flynn-Fletchers'? Why did she push the door open and begin walking across the street, with the unease still building up in her stomach at the uncertainty that awaited in the backyard that was so familiar to her?

Why did she do any of that?

Because, dang it, she was tired of being alone in the house and bored, forced to constantly pester the Fireside Girls for companionship until she had a feeling she was wearing on their nerves. She was tired of not knowing just how much of her relationship with Phineas had remained intact throughout this most disruptive and damaging of summers.

Because - and this time, with complete honesty, she could actually say 'all crushing aside' - she missed her best friend. And like Candace had said, she did actually have a chance to salvage what was left between them. But, as she also knew now, sitting back and letting things happen on their own was not going to get her anywhere. And she may have lost her chance to turn the boy from across the street into her boyfriend, but she sure as anything wasn't going to lose the chance to keep him as her best friend.

Well, what did you know. Maybe yelling at Candace had been more helpful than she'd thought.

Perhaps she should do it more often.