EPILOGUE

Brainless Genius: Of course I can give you feels, I'm the author.

TripleAAA1183: Can't wait to hear them!

AmyNChan: You would be wrong.

Kind of sad that I didn't get a lot of reviews for the last chapter. It was my favorite chapter to write, aside from chapter 2. Oh well. Guess that's the downside to writing a long story.

I don't own Phineas and Ferb.

GENERAL POV, FIFTEEN YEARS IN THE FUTURE

Candace leaned against the doorjamb of her office and waved. "Bye Nick, bye Vincent! It was nice seeing you! And Vincent, have fun at Disney World!"

The black haired boy waved brightly and followed his father out the front door of City Hall, leaving Candace to shut her door and lean against the solid wood for a moment, taking a deep breath.

A lot had changed since the attacks. She and Jeremy had gotten married and had Amanda, who was now almost seven years old. Ferb and Isabella had finished college and immediately gotten engaged afterwards. Their wedding had been about two months ago, and it had been a teary occasion when Ferb had had to choose a best man (he ended up asking Thaddeus, who everyone had become good friends with).

The OWCA had remained public, and every family that could have a secret agent did, specifically families with children. Monty never wanted any child to be left without parents again, and had made sure that there were at least two agents on every street. Monty and Vanessa had gotten married about a year before Candace and Jeremy, and Vanessa had given birth recently to a little girl, who had immediately been named "Charlene Francis" (aka Charlie). Not a name Candace would have wanted as a child, but the kids now a days were growing up knowing that they were being named after people who had fought to live. Teasing involving names was now nearly non-existent in the Danville school system.

Candace, under unanimous vote from the city, had remained mayor. Isabella worked as her secretary after Melanie, who had been paralyzed from the waist down during the attacks, resigned from office.

Thaddeus and Milly had gotten married, to no one's surprise, and Katie and Holly had started dating, to most people's surprise. Coltrane and Stacy were currently at the hospital, Stacy in labor and Coltrane probably pacing the floor like a caged cheetah.

Candace smiled thinly and walked over to her desk, sinking into the chair and pulling out her notebook. She knew that Coltrane would call as soon as the baby was born, but she also knew that she had work to do and couldn't be there for the actual birth.

She flipped the pages open and pulled her pencil from behind her ear, jotting at the margins of the paper. A tentative knock sounded at the door and she glanced up, pencil in mouth, at Isabella and Ferb. "Hey, come on in," she said softly, gesturing at the worn sofa and letting her hair out of its bun. It settled just above her shoulders and she tucked a strand behind one ear as she tossed her pencil into the cup on her desk.

"You called?" Ferb said, raising an eyebrow at his sister from behind his glasses. Ferb had permanent nerve damage in his left shoulder from the bullet wound and it made it difficult for him to move his arm, but that hadn't stopped him from becoming the head of his own construction and design company.

Candace nodded, standing and holding her notebook close as she moved around and leaned against the front of her desk. "Yeah, but we have to wait."

Isabella frowned and gazed in Candace's general direction. Despite Ferb's protests, she had chosen to remain blind and was now a Fireside Girl troop leader for physically handicapped girls. "For who?"

Candace opened her mouth to respond but was interrupted as Carl stepped into the room, flanked by Perry and Pinky and followed by Dr. Doofenshmirtz.

Ferb frowned. "Good morning," he said to the group, signing for Carl.

Candace remained silent while they found seats, tapping at her notebook anxiously. Dr. Doofenshmirtz, who had gone back to school since the invasion and had actually become a child psychiatrist, studied the room and blinked in surprise. "This is…"

"The group," Ferb answered, turning to look at Candace with a suspicious glare. "What's left of the group that Meap told us about."

Of course, they all hung out frequently. Half of them were related or worked together, it would be hard not to. But never had they all been alone, called together specifically, at the same time.

"Candace?" Perry chattered slowly, adjusting his hat on his head. He and Pinky had been fitted with permanent translators so that they could be understood by everyone, not just a select few. "What's going on?"

Candace took a deep breath and thumbed anxiously at the pages of her notebook. "You guys know that….next Tuesday is the 15th anniversary of the invasions."

Everyone's faces grew somber and they all nodded, the only movement other than Ferb's fingers moving for Carl. Everyone in the room knew some sign language, but Ferb had become fluent.

Candace chewed on the inside of her cheek, fiddling with her wedding ring. "Well…I've been doing a lot of research the last several years. A lot. And I think I pinpointed exactly when and where the aliens entered the city."

The room was dead silent, and Candace rushed on quickly. "A couple of us could go back, warn our past selves, stop the invasions. We could save everyone and make sure that none of that ever happened, and we could-"

"Candace," Heinz interrupted, his face torn. "You have a daughter. Vanessa and Monty have a daughter. Stacy is in labor right now. Vincent got adopted by Nick. Do you want to give that up?"

Candace froze, her mouth working. "Well…well it was obviously meant to happen, which means it will happen again," she protested.

Ferb looked up at her, his eyes sad. "Candace, do you remember when I was ten and we went into the future? Phineas was still alive in that future. So was Mum. That future changed. If we go back…so will this one."

Candace gestured anxiously to her notebook. "But I've done the math, the research…I know we can do this!"

The room stayed quiet, everyone staring at the floor. Candace's eyes began watering. "Do you even want them back?" she choked out.

Ferb leapt from his seat and strode over to her. He was nearly two feet taller than Candace, and she shrank a little as he loomed over her. He stepped back quickly at the look on her face and crossed his arms. "Candace. I want my brother back. I want our mother back," he said, his voice tight. "But we have lives now, we have families. We can't just turn our backs on that."

He glanced back towards Isabella, his eyes watering. "I can't, Candace. If we fail, there's too much at stake. For all of us."

Candace stared up at her brother, her lower lip trembling. "But-"

"I'm pregnant," Isabella blurted out, shutting her eyes tightly.

From the look on Ferb's face, Candace could tell he hadn't known. From the look on Pinky's, he had. Ferb nearly fell over as he darted to his wife, taking her hands in his. Doofenshmirtz, who had taken over signing for Carl, had frozen, a smile growing on his face.

"You're serious?" Ferb gasped, pressing his lips to her fingers.

Isabella lifted her head, a grin on her cheeks. "Yes."

Ferb yanked her into a firm kiss and pulled away almost as fast, spinning to his sister. "Candace," he pleaded softly. "I know you miss Mum and Phineas. I do too. I miss them so much, Candace. So does Father. But you know Phineas, and you know Buford and Baljeet. You know Jenny and Django, and you know all of them would want us to be happy. Do I want them back? Hell, more than anything. If I could be certain that we could go back in time and not change what already exists in this future, than I would do it in a fucking heartbeat. But Candace, we don't. We don't know."

Tears streamed down his cheeks and he shook his head slowly. "I'm sorry, Candace."

She took a trembling breath and looked around the room at the others, who were all nodding sadly. Shutting her eyes, Candace closed her notebook softly and set it behind her. "All right," she finally whispered. "All right."

Firm arms encircled her and she buried her head into her brother's chest, crying softly. He stroked her hair and gave a grim smile to the others in the room. Candace pulled back and swiped at her eyes, embarrassed. "I'm sorry, everyone. I just…I'm sorry."

"We understand," Dr. D said soothingly.

"Even if you had wanted to go back in time," Pinky barked gently, "you couldn't. Perry and I removed the parts that make the time machine work, on orders from Monty. We destroyed the pieces years ago and replaced them with fakes."

Ferb nodded in confirmation. "He's right," he said, moving to sit back down next to Isabella. "I helped get rid of them, since I knew how they worked."

Candace let out a harsh laugh. "Then I really wasted your time, didn't I? I'm sorry everyone."

Everyone fell silent once more, and it was only when the phone rang and startled the group that the quiet was broken. Candace picked the phone up off the receiver and pressed it to her ear. "Hello?"

"Candace? It's Coltrane. His name is Marcus."

An unwilling smile slid across Candace's face and she shut her eyes. "That's wonderful, Coltrane. Tell Stacy I'll come down and see her tonight, okay?"

"Will do."

She hung up the phone and turned to find everyone grinning at her. "What's his name?" Isabella asked, the excitement evident in her voice as she rested a gentle hand on her own stomach.

Candace let her smile come full force now. "Marcus."

Ferb spelled the name out for Carl and Candace shook her head. "Guys, I'm still sorry. You're right. All we can safely do now is remember them. And we sure as hell will. I'll see you next week here for dinner, all right?"

Everyone confirmed that they would be there and then began to leave. Carl had to get back to his office at the OWCA, where he was Monty's head of Animal Agents. He had gotten a text stating that Agent C was in need of help, but he stopped quickly to give Candace a tight hug and sign It'll be okay to her. She pecked him on the cheek and shooed the young man out the door.

Ferb and Isabella remained on the couch as Heinz stepped up to Candace. He had become like a second father to all of them over the years, and he put a calming hand on her shoulder. "Will you be all right, Candace?" he asked softly, running his free hand through what gray hair he had left.

Though Candace had suspected he would let himself go, Dr. D had managed to stay pretty healthy through the years. The only sign that he was getting older were the wrinkles criss-crossing his face and his balding head. She smiled at him. "I think so. Thank you, Dr. D."

Doofenshmirtz nodded and gave her a gentle hug, rubbing her back as he pulled away. "Remember, any time you need me, I'm just a phone call away."

She tilted her head at the man. "I know, Dr. D. I know."

He squeezed her shoulder and left quietly. Ferb and Isabella still remained on the couch, so Candace knelt to speak to Perry and Pinky next.

Pinky jutted a thumb over his shoulder at the couple. "They really want to speak to you," he said softly, his voice low enough to not carry.

Candace nodded. "If you two have somewhere to be, that's fine."

Pinky nodded. "I do, Perry doesn't. I'll see you later, Candace."

Since all the animal agents worked for the city, Candace regularly interacted with them. She saluted Pinky as he left and then turned to Perry. The platypus' tired old eyes were watery as he studied the woman in front of him.

"I miss them too, Candace," he finally chattered, pulling his fedora off and twisting it in his hands. "But you did the right thing. I love you and I couldn't bear to see any of you kids get hurt again."

Candace gave him a soft smile. "We're not kids anymore, Perry."

He scowled up at her. "To me you are. You're my family. I'm not losing what I have left of it. You'll be okay, Candace. We all will."

Candace swallowed and scooped him up in a hug, something that she hadn't done for a long time. Perry stiffened ever so slightly before returning the embrace and then dropping back to the ground, saluting, and racing out the door as if he could hide the tears in his eyes and the proud smile on his face.

Candace stood slowly and turned to her brother and her sister in law. Ferb was grinning from ear to ear and Isabella was talking rapidly in a quiet tone. They glanced up as Candace approached, and she shoved her hands into her pants pockets and rocked slowly on her heels. "So….when did you find out?"

Isabella smiled brightly, even her scarred eyes lighting up. "Just this afternoon, right before you called us. I had been going to tell Ferb tonight at dinner. But…it just seemed like the moment I should bring it up."

Candace nodded and perched on the edge of the sofa. She rubbed the bracelet on her wrist thoughtfully, her fingers tracing over the triangle shape for a brief moment. Ferb had a matching charm, on a chain under his shirt along with the words 'Carpe Diem,' which was also on hers. "It was. If you hadn't said that….I would have still tried to talk you all into it. That was so insensitive of me."

She shuddered and shook her head. "When Dr. D mentioned the kids….I just froze. I hadn't even thought that I would lose Amanda, or that Vanessa and Monty might lose Charlie."

Ferb put a gentle hand on his sister's wrist. "The thing going through my head," he admitted, "was that Isabella and I might never even have gotten together."

Isabella winced. "You're right. We might not have. Candace, will you be okay?"

Candace took a deep breath and glanced at the doorway, jumping when she spotted Jeremy standing there, hand in hand with Amanda. "I…yeah. I will. Thank you."

She hugged Isabella and then turned to Ferb, studying him as he studied her. The two siblings had gotten incredibly close since the attacks, and could read each other better than almost anyone else. Candace smiled sadly at her brother and he pulled her into a hug, pressing a kiss to her scalp. "Love you, sis."

She smiled and reached up to ruffle his hair. "Love you too."

Candace touched Isabella's arm just before she left. "Whenever you find out the gender, let me know, okay? Or if you need anything, give me a call."

Isabella grinned at her. "Of course."

They left, hand in hand, saying hello and goodbye to Jeremy and Amanda on their way out. Amanda darted into the room as soon as they had gone, racing into her mother's arms. "Mommy! Daddy taught me how to play a chord on the guitar!"

Candace swung her up into her arms and nuzzled Amanda's stomach with her nose, the sudden gut wrenching realization that she'd been about to ignore her daughters existence nearly sweeping her off her feet. "Did he now?"

Amanda giggled and nodded enthusiastically as Candace sat down on the couch. "Yup! He said soon I'll be almost as good as him!"

Candace winked up at Jeremy as the blond leaned down to kiss her on the lips. "Maybe, but you'll still have to prove you're better than me!"

Jeremy mock scowled at her and sat down next to her on the couch, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "So, did I hear right? Isabella's pregnant?"

Candace grinned. "Yeah, and Stacy and Coltrane called a bit ago to say that the new baby's name is Marcus."

Amanda bounced up and down in her mother's lap. "Did you say Aunt Isabella is going to have a baby?"

Candace laughed and bopped her nose. "That's right! So you'll have to be extra helpful when we visit them after that happens."

Amanda nodded earnestly and then gazed around the room as if she had never seen it before (she had, of course. She was in it nearly once a week). Her eyes landed on the picture frame on the side table by the sofa and she grabbed for it, frowning down at the picture. It wasn't new, but it hadn't been on the side table before. Candace had moved it while cleaning spilled coffee off of her desk.

Candace almost yanked it out of her fingers in anger, but took a deep breath and calmed down quickly. Jeremy rubbed her shoulder gently, remaining silent as Amanda intently studied the picture of Candace, Phineas, and Ferb. "Mommy? That's you, right?" she asked, pointing down at the sixteen year old Candace.

Candace nodded and glanced over at Jeremy. They had never mentioned Phineas to Amanda, only because they had thought her too young to understand what had happened. "And this is Uncle Ferb. I can tell 'cause his hair is green."

Candace smiled thinly. "That's right."

Amanda's brow furrowed. "Who's this?" she asked quietly, pointing to Phineas.

Jeremy and Candace looked at one another and the woman settled back into the couch, pulling Amanda against her chest and taking the picture from her gently. She studied it for a long time. She was in the middle of the boys, her arms wrapped tightly around their shoulders and smiles on all their faces.

"Well," Candace said softly. "Phineas was mine and Uncle Ferb's younger brother. He and Uncle Ferb were almost the same age, but Uncle Ferb was just a little bit older."

Amanda twisted to look at her mother. "I thought Uncle Ferb was your only brother?"

Candace shook her head and traced a finger over the photo. "No, sweetie. Phineas would have been your Uncle too, but he died a long time ago, before you were even born."

Amanda frowned, pulling the picture closer to her and looking down at it. "How did he die, Mommy?"

Candace swallowed and took the photo back, handing it over to Jeremy and leaning her head against his shoulder. He pecked her temple and Candace shut her eyes, wrapping an arm around Amanda.

"That's a sad story, honey. I don't think I want to tell it right now."

Amanda nodded against her chest. "Okay….what was Uncle Phineas like?"

Candace opened her eyes, a smile crossing her cheeks. She glanced at Jeremy, who was also smiling. "Uncle Phineas was super duper smart, just as smart as Uncle Ferb and Aunt Isabella. He was always really happy, and he liked to sing a lot and make everyone else happy too."

Amanda turned around and snuggled up in between her parents, smiling up at them. "He sounds nice. Do you have any stories about Uncle Phineas?"

Candace almost burst into laughter. "I have a lot of stories, Amanda. About him and Uncle Ferb and Aunt Isabella and their best friends, Buford and Baljeet. They always did everything together."

Amanda nodded slowly, tugging at Candace's bracelet. "Did Buford and Baljeet die too?" she asked suddenly.

Candace winced, wishing her daughter wasn't quite so smart. "I'm afraid so, Amanda."

Amanda frowned and studied the triangle on Candace's bracelet before twisting the chain and continuing. "Mommy, I know that telling sad stories will make you sad….can you tell me some of the fun stories about all of them?"

Candace smiled and pressed a kiss to her daughter's scalp and then Jeremy's cheek. He grinned at her and Candace suddenly realized that she didn't ever want to give this moment up.

"I absolutely can, Amanda. You see, it all started with a rollercoaster…."

Ohhhhh myyyyyy gosh this has been one of my favorite stories ever to write. I've had the draft for this story since I was twelve years old. I cannot believe I managed to actually get it written and whatnot (I legit knew what the last scene was going to be before I wrote almost anything else).

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HAS FOLLOWED, FAVORITED, AND REVIEWED THIS STORY. IT MEANS SO MUCH TO ME WHEN PEOPLE COME BACK TO MY STORIES.

Honestly I started this story while I was in a bad place, and I'm ending it in a much better one (albeit not perfect). So thank you everyone for putting up with my moody self and all of the long waits for updates.

Reviews would be amazing. Love y'all!