A/N: Back again. You might enjoy this one, it's been cooking in my head since I thought up Part 2. As always, read and review! Making people laugh is the coal for the furnace of my soul.

Responses:

Fanfic Reviews:

Bigou: A wild, out-there concept like that isn't actually impossible in the setting I'm establishing in this part, but my lips are sealed. Thanks for enjoying.

AO3 Comments:

Black_Mist: I didn't think I would have fun writing an Isabella that is actively trying to be less defined by Phineas, but it turned out to be one of the most fun chapters in the project. When Buford says 'One of my favorites' in 11, He's speaking on my behalf.

NightOfNetter: Thanks, dude. It means a lot.

JetZFlare: There was one episode where Suzy and Isabella interact. The only interaction they have is Suzy stealing Phineas' attention away, to Isabella's frustration. As for the Arrested Development bit, I kind of ad-libbed it based on an in-joke. I once described MML as "Arrested Development for kids" due to it's emphasis on running gags and being extremely good. Not wanting to mention MML in-universe, I opted to name-drop AD instead.

Chapter 12: Drusselsteinian Dynamite

Phineas awoke in the Garcia-Shapiro's basement bright and early (or dark and early, because there was no light in the room) as always. His ears perked at the sound of rustling in the sleeping bag across from him. Isabella woke up suddenly in a puddle of her own drool and awoke with a start. Phineas quickly grabbed her by the shoulder and shushed her. She looked at him with some confusion.

"Am I still dreaming?" She glanced at her parents, who were snoring loudly in the cot, and it occurred to her that the day before had been less than pleasant. "So," She kept a low tone, "How was the floor?"

Phineas pushed his arms into the back of his spine and heard a satisfying crack. He rubbed his back tenderly. He rolled his shoulder and cracked his neck. "I've had worse."

"Really, now?" She rolled into a cross-legged position. Phineas collected his shirt from the corner of the room (he had trouble with the heat) and stuffed himself into it. Isabella quietly observed, chin resting on her hand, a small smile forming on her lips.

"Uh..." Phineas scratched the back of his head as he stood up. "You got me. Not really." He took a seat next to her, and she scooted closer. He was starting to feel a little woozy. "We're stuck in here until Ferb inevitably clears away the debris for us." He was remembering more and more of the preceding day, and as a result was breathing rapidly.

The storms had been on-and-off all night. It was enough that nobody could reach anybody else, and they weren't sure why.

"Just one question, young man: Why did you think you could just do whatever you wanted, at significant risk to yourself, whenever you wanted." Linda huffed in frustration.

Ferb blinked. He needed Phineas, and he needed him bad.

"Gee." Isabella rocked back and forth. She looked down at the floor. "That's not so bad, though, huh?" Though I wish Mom and Dad weren't here to spoil it.

"Yeah. Yeah. Not so bad." Though I wish Mr. Garcia-Shapiro would decide whether he wanted me dead or not.

Phineas quickly grabbed her hand, before either of their brains could object. Isabella let out a slight gasp, followed by a contented sigh. He put an arm around her shoulder and pulled her closer to him. She can probably see the sweat.

It didn't matter all too much though, because there was some time before any chance of rescue and some time before Isabella's doting parents regained consciousness. The only sounds were breathing and the snores of the parents.

"Pinky's been missing since the wedding..." Isabella muttered. Phineas gave her a slight look of concern. She quickly waved away his curiosity. "Oh, no, I'm not worried. After all, he's one of those... agents, too."

"Do you feel angry about it?"

"No. Did you? I mean, with Perry?"

"Yeah. Kind of ashamed of it, honestly. He was just doing what was best for us."

A period of silence (Again, excepting the snoring) followed.

"You got anything else good to talk about?" Isabella whispered as she leaned into his shoulder.

"Processing. Just processing. Sitting is good, for now. Talk later." Phineas' brain was, for the moment, not racing with any exterior thoughts. None of his thoughts were louder than the touch of the girl he was serving as a pillow for, and it was nice to only be feeling one type of pressure.

So they simply enjoyed each other's feelings. Phineas laid back, taking Isabella with him. It was a few moments before he realized she had once again dozed off on top of him. He stroked her hair softly and in no time at all, he had fallen asleep too.

Phineas was also a snorer. I mean, look at that nose.

Vanessa puffed angrily at her cell phone. "Stupid network's down!"

Heinz, with whom she had hunkered down for the night in Roger's office, gave her a raised eyebrow while he pulled on a candle holder. "You're telling me that between Danville being teleported to a dimensional void where storms of seemingly random objects fall from the sky, the cell tower went down? What a shock!" The candle holder, obviously, did not budge.

"Dad, I'm not shocked, just-"

"I'm not shocked either, honey, it was sarcasm."

"But-" Vanessa sighed. "I could tell it was sarcasm, Dad." At the sound of rustling beneath the mayoral desk (A very fine desk, solid oak), Vanessa waltzed around to help Roger to his feet. The on-and-off nature of the storms had been curious. Heinz had gone out on the balcony to take a leak (juvenile, I know) and the calm skies immediately began to spit objects at an area around City Hall.

Vanessa noticed a timer in the corner of the room where Heinz was rifling through the bookshelves. "Do we have anything to eat in here?" He turned back to face his brother.

"What, in the office? No, that's a bookshelf."

Heinz continued to pull out random books and replace them. "The secret kitchen lever is probably around here somewhere."

Eyeing the timer, Vanessa looked up at her father, who was a couple of shelves up on a large bookcase. "Dad, what's up with the timer?"

"Well, I figured..." Heinz rolled his wrist for effect. "That since the day started, I should time it. The storm stops completely when that... fake looking sun is in the sky."

Indeed, the dimensional void's sun did not rise. It simply appeared to be drawn in the sky when morning came, and it had not moved since. "Night lasted about 8 hours, give or take," He elaborated, "Which means that it's about the same as the night of the Summer Solstice. But it's possible we could have days that last longer."

"Why don't we grab a bite to eat out on Main Street?" Roger suggested. Both of the other occupants of the room gave him a confused look.

"Roger, I hate to break it to you, but I doubt The Diner Downtown is gonna be reopening today." Heinz' tone dripped with trepidation.

"Nonsense, Heinz! Just look at that beautiful sky!" Roger marched out on the balcony and put his hand above his eyes. "Marvelous day for a little family get-together!"

"Uh-oh." Vanessa groaned. Heinz made a circular motion around his ear with his finger in her direction and hopped off the shelf. The bookcase groaned and fell forward. Heinz narrowly avoided being crushed as the books splayed across the floor.

"Are you alright?" Heinz couldn't hide his slight concern. Roger smiled warmly at him as he clasped his hands together.

"So, The Diner?"

"Agent P!"

Perry muttered something in his sleep. The eventful night before had resulted in him being able to get very little in the way of shut-eye, so he was making up for lost time.

"AGENT P!"

Perry awoke with a disgruntled groan, eyeing his wrist communicator. Closed-circuit networking was very much operational in the Tri-State Area, much to his chagrin. He clicked the button on the communicator and an image of Francis Monogram appeared on-screen.

"Good morning, Agent P! And a good morning it is, too! I'm-"

"We've, sir!" A feminine, though distinctly male, voice interrupted.

"WE'VE. Irving insists I tell you that everybody in the office is FINE." Francis waved dismissively. Irving had started interning at OWCA while the newly minted Captain Carl was climbing OWCA's hierarchy. Irving had, at first, found it difficult to keep from revealing Perry's identity himself. That's where Irving's been this whole time. Just for the record, nobody noticed.

"We've actually got good news this time. By OWCA rules, officially, we have to reassign you. However, there is the small problem of there being no place we can put you that isn't the Tri-State Area due to..." Monogram pointed at a small child's crude drawing of the sky. "Circumstances. So for now, we're going to be reorganizing OWCA into a peacekeeping force in the case that anyone tries to take advantage of this situation for personal gain. We'll call you when we need you, so happy vacationing!"

Perry smiled toothily before clicking off the watch as Ferb entered from the garage, where the family was emerging from the panic room. Ferb glanced at Perry with curiosity as he ambled into the kitchen and took a seat. He sat there, silently, for a few seconds before palming his face with sudden realization. He got up and headed into the garage, after which only the sounds of metal grinding could be heard.

Linda, Candace, and Lawrence stumbled aimlessly into the room, clearly all exhausted. Linda sank into the couch, followed by Lawrence, and the two almost immediately fell asleep on top of each other. "Well. Guess I'm... Breakfast... Guy." Candace managed to form a semi-coherent thought as she rifled through the cabinets. Breakfast was revealed to be sugary cereal and milk, but she did at least have the courtesy to pour 4 bowls.

Ferb emerged from the garage carrying a large drill on his shoulder with his right hand. Nimbly picking up the bowl of cereal with his left, he gave a quick thumbs-up thank you and headed out the door. He stared at Perry as he headed out.

Candace debated for some time afterwards whether or not what she had witnessed was possible, as his hands were clearly full.

Phineas and Isabella had begun to stir. A sharp noise from above suddenly jerked the two back into consciousness. The boy had, for his part, developed a pool of saliva in his mouth as he snorted awake. Coughing as he choked on his own spit, he realized it was the sound of a drill. "Ferb!"

Isabella clutched Phineas fearfully as the room shook. The adults, meanwhile, were in a panic. Vivian rolled off the bed, taking the covers with her and kicking around on the floor. Joe searched for what was presumably a gun beneath his bed, grunting disappointingly as he didn't find it. Phineas watched everyone with confusion. "IT'S FERB!" He shouted over the noise of the drill. Everybody froze in place. Isabella glanced at her father and quickly let go of Phineas. The basement door burst open, flinging the metal doors down the stairs. Phineas quickly jerked Isabella out of the way as the she grazed the door.

Ferb stood in silhouette at the top of the staircase, earning an angry glare from his brother. "Watch it! You almost killed Isabella!" Ferb shrugged.

"Didn't think that through." Ferb rubbed his chin. Isabella was mostly just shocked, but Phineas nodded slightly at Ferb. Ferb scratched his forehead. "Sorry." He finished, in a very small voice.

Phineas' glare slowly turned into a smile. "Thanks for coming for us, though."

"Yep." Joseph shoved past Phineas and walked up the stairs. "A few more hours in there and we might have had to eat someone."

Ferb cleared the way. Joe walked up to the fridge, opened it, and suddenly realized that he wasn't a good cook. Isabella dragged Phineas up the stairs. Vivian struggled to get out of her blanket, but eventually emerged from her cocoon and dusted herself off. "I didn't need your help anyways." She muttered.

"Sorry, Dear!" Joseph yelled from up the stairs. "Nature calls!"

"I don't think that means what you think that means." Isabella giggled. She shoved past her father and grabbed some ingredients out of the fridge. "Phineas, Ferb, you want to stay for breakfast?"

"Sure!" Phineas quickly agreed, putting his arm around Ferb's shoulder. Joseph groaned quietly. Vivian stretched as she finally made it up the stairs.

"We should definitely have the Flynn-Fletchers over! After all, there's so much to discuss!" She went to pick up the phone and-

It wasn't there. The wall, that is. The fridge was the only thing in the kitchen that had managed to remain intact. Everybody took their surroundings in, realizing that what had once been a beautiful home was now a pile of rubble. The appliances were smashed and dented. The plumbing pipes had been destroyed. There were holes in all the walls. Doors had been knocked off their hinges. It was a ruin.

Vivian sat down on one of the few chairs in the residence and simply stared at the destruction. Joseph put a hand on her shoulder and nervously ran a hand through his hair. "Now, now, Viv. It's gonna be all right."

Isabella was going to say something, but choked up. Joe ruffled her hair affectionately. "Why don't you kids take stock of the Flynn-Fletchers' house and report back? We should definitely, uh, get the neighborhood together."

Isabella didn't have the chance to really analyze the house, as Phineas grabbed her by the hand and led her out the door. She offered no resistance. Her mouth had dried up from the sense of dread that washed over her.

The two had their fears confirmed when they looked out at their neighborhood. "This... This is awful." Phineas looked over his house. It was better constructed than the rest of the neighborhood, but it had nonetheless been taken down to a single story. The fence around the backyard had been demolished. A metal pipe stuck out of the top of the tree.

"W-well. At least you guys didn't have your WHOLE house wrecked." Isabella observed. "I bet the wiring and the plumbing could be repaired- y'know, you could handle it."

"Y-yeah." Phineas managed to sputter. "This... Is workable. We get..." He glanced down the block. The other houses on the street had it much worse than the Flynn-Fletcher residence, and everyone had noticed, and a small crowd had gathered at the border of the lawn, murmuring.

"I think the first thing we need..." He grasped at a faint idea, but it was all very overwhelming.

Isabella pulled him in by the shoulder. "First, the bushes are nature's toilet. Plumbing isn't priority. I think food is priority."

"You're right. We need to get power on so everybody can maybe get cooking..." Phineas muttered. "But there's the problem of location. We'd have to get a bunch of cooking appliances together in one place so we don't have to rewire the whole neighborhood right now." He beamed suddenly as he snapped a finger. "Ferb! I know what we're doing... First! Today!" Ferb nodded in agreement.

Heinz and Vanessa flanked Roger as he waltzed down main street in Danville. The destruction was of a scale that Heinz had never seen. It looked as if every building had been blown out by bombs. Rubble littered the streets, complemented by completely random junk. Heinz stepped over a large stuffed animal. Roger appeared to not be taking any of this in. He was waving at shaken passers-by, smiling at people, and generally acting as he normally did in his day-to-day mayoral duties. His eyes occasionally twitched as he gritted his teeth. "Everything... Is... Fine." He muttered.

Vanessa sped up to match Roger and gave him a strange look. "Uncle Roger, you really seem to be taking this well."

"Taking what well? Is there some sort of problem? Oh!" Roger pointed in the direction of a neighborhood. "Look at that! Smell that! I know where we're eating this morning!"

Indeed, a pleasing aroma was drifting their way from that direction. Roger broke into a brisk jog, and the other two quickly scrambled to pick up the pace. "Wait!" Vanessa called out. Heinz really wasn't much of a runner, but the two managed to keep a decent pace with him.

"Come on, Heinz! You really should exercise more often!" He yelled back at them, in a jovial tone. They couldn't really do anything but follow. His smile looked painfully forced.

"Alright! That's another one!" Phineas plugged in the final cable, completing a circuit of stoves and ovens. The boy grunted as he got up. He surveyed his work as Ferb's arm slipped around his shoulder. Some 30 or so stoves and grills had been daisy-chained into a large generator Ferb had buried in the backyard. People from all over the neighborhood were hard at work putting together a community breakfast the likes of which Danville had never seen.

"You won't even have to advertise this one, Phineas!" Isabella laughed. "The smell will drag em' in from all over town!" She had, of course, chosen a cooking space close to the brothers' generator. She had changed into a skirt and a pink short-sleeve when she got the chance to. "You two want anything in particular?"

"You make it, I'll eat it!" Phineas poked his head out from behind the generator, where he had been making sure there would be no explosion.

"I'm a simple man. Pancakes." Ferb smiled. The two had gotten into some work jeans, which had already been a bit stained by oil, dirt, and a bit of sweat. Ferb wiped his brow.

The rest of the Fireside Girls had arrived very early in the morning to help with a cleanup effort, and had been recruited by Isabella to set up tables and chairs in the now mostly-clear streets, as well as the empty lot next to the Flynn-Fletcher house. In a mere hour, their bombed out patch of rubble had been transformed into one of Danville's famous local cookouts. The few vehicles that remained undamaged (Namely the boys' own ice cream trucks) had been sent to deliver ingredients and people from around town, so even a few professional chefs had pitched in to the effort.

Phineas and Ferb folded out some chairs, put their feet up on the table, and kicked back, allowing themselves to relax for the first time in what felt like days. Professional chefs were one thing. Isabella Garcia-Shapiro was another. Phineas watched her work intently, and she took notice. "You need anything?" He asked.

"Nah. For as tough as this whole thing's been, I think we've got everything we need right here." She stylishly flipped a pancake into the air, catching it on a large plate that contained the first batch. "That was a pretty convenient request, Ferb." She mixed more ingredients into her large bowl of batter, topping it back up. "Pancakes are easy, fast, and-" The boys had already syruped and eaten the whole first wave. "delicious." She grinned.

The Fireside Girls wiped the sweat from their brows and joined the boys at the table. "Gee, Isabella. You had this handled." Ginger watched with admiration as Isabella confidently worked on feeding the rest of her friends. "It's like last night didn't even happen to you." She sounded exasperated.

"Well, we've practically got a bomb shelter in our basement." Isabella glanced over at Phineas as she whispered to the girls. "Plus, the guy that warned us about the storm got stuck in there with us, and he's good enough company." Phineas didn't realize how wide his grin had become, having rested his chin on his hands. The girls stared at his stupid expression.

"Wow. That moved pretty fast." Gretchen commented.

"Impressive." The other Gretchen also commented.

"Do you mind telling me why there's two Gretchens, dear?" Joseph took a seat next to Phineas. He hadn't actually had the chance to eat anything yet.

"Oh, that's Gretchn't. She's also from that other dimension, but she's not evil." Isabella flipped a pancake onto her father's plate. Phineas held himself back from an interception. Gretchen and Gretchn't were indeed sitting together, and the only way one could tell them apart was Gretchn't's camouflage beret contrasting against the rest of the girls.

"Yup. I think we can close the book on that investigation." Gretchen and her twin's plates received their own ranged pancake-toss. The two doused them in syrup and took bites in almost perfect synchronization.

Joseph grumbled as Vivian joined him. Soon enough, the table had been joined to a few more, and there was a meeting of practically every one of the gang's families. Baljeet and Buford showed up with their families. Buford took a spot next to Ferb, and Baljeet sat next to him across from Ginger. Surprisingly, the tone of the gathering wasn't so much somber as it was sweet.
Isabella sat down between Phineas and Ferb as her mother got up to start cooking. Ferb thought he might protest, but shut his mouth when he saw Vanessa following Roger into the backyard.

"Mayor Doofenshmirtz!" Phineas clasped his hands together as he stood up suddenly. He walked briskly around the table and stood in front of Roger. The mayor bowed slightly and smiled at the teenager.

"Good morning, Phineas! And what a lovely morning it is, aye?"

Phineas' eyes widened as he looked over Roger's shoulder. Yup. Town's still destroyed. "I, uh, wouldn't say-" He nervously put his hands together as Vanessa approached. "How's the work on getting the city council on board with our plan?"

"There's no need!" Roger pushed past Phineas and browsed the food, picking up a paper plate and loading it with an omelet. "Everything is fine."

"B-b-b-" Phineas sputtered. He sat next to Roger and leaned into him intently. "We NEED to get a defensive solution together for these storms!"

"Yes, the rain was a bit hard last night, but I'd hardly call it apocalyptic." Roger shrugged. Phineas gawked, throat dry.

"B-b-but..."

"I'd call it apocalyptic." Heinz huffed as he sat down next to Phineas. "How's the morning gone for you, kid?"

"Pretty well, all things considered. It would be a lot better if we had those funds..." Phineas rubbed his chin. "Has Roger gone off his rocker?"

"Seems that way." Vanessa sat down next to her father and picked at some scrambled eggs. She leaned over her father and whispered to Phineas. "We might need to have a 'changing of the guard' so to speak."

"Nonsense, Vanessa!" Roger grinned. "Look, my constituency is happier than ever!"

In all honesty, he wasn't super far off. The community breakfast had been a breakout success, and people did generally seem to be coping well with the storm. Isabella had even heard that no one was seriously injured or killed.

"Hmmm..." Phineas mumbled, gazing over at Isabella. She noticed, and waved back cutely.

"Forget about her, kid. You have to be at least 25 years of age to run for mayor." Heinz rolled his eyes. "Also, no matter what you think about her leadership skills, she is a 14 year old girl."

"Almost 15." Phineas said, defensively.

"Yeah, sure. Besides the fact, being the ruler of the Tri-State Area right now would take some real gumption. And moxie. And... knowledge of what's going on." Heinz rested his chin on his hand. "Like some kind of scientist, or something... Somebody who's not afraid to bend the rules. But where could we find one of those?"

Phineas and Vanessa stared blankly at Heinz. Realizing what they were implying, he quickly waved his hands in front of his face. "Oh, no, no, no! I am FINISHED trying to take over the Tri-State Area! I'm going good!"

"We could do it for you! It would be totally legal." Phineas reassured Heinz. "There's a difference between legality and morality, anyways. We need a leader that..."

"You can control like a puppet?" Vanessa asked.

"Lacks both bravery and charm?" Heinz asked.

"Can get Ferb and I the funds and permits to save the town!" Phineas exclaimed, jumping up on the table and pointing upward. The table was frail, due to being a fold-out, and he quickly tumbled off of it onto his back. "FERB!" He raised his fists to the air. "I KNOW THE SECOND THING WE'RE GOING TO DO TODAY!"

Ferb gave a small thumbs-up, Isabella looked on in adoration, and all of the adults collectively groaned. Linda scowled at the two. Phineas got off the ground and waltzed back over to his spot by Isabella and Ferb, but his mom quickly pulled him aside by his ear.

"Phineas Flynn! What do you think you're doing?"

"Fixing... the problem?" He sincerely hoped this was the right answer.

"Not yet, you aren't! You have a lot of explaining to do, mister." It wasn't, he guessed. He had rarely heard his mother use such a tone.

"Alright." Phineas tried his best to sound calm. "What would you like to know?"

"What do you plan on doing today?"

"Uh, political activism, I think. Kind of a boring thing, right?"

"You'd better not be lying to me, Phineas." Linda suspiciously glared. Phineas shrunk back slightly, in spite of his being about as tall as his mother. When had he ever lied to her?

"When- when have I ever lied to you?" He asked.

Linda thought for a moment. She sent Phineas off with a small, angry huff. Phineas tried to shrug it off, but felt like he had done something wrong. He took his seat next to Ferb and Isabella. Isabella turned to face him. "It looks like you're already making big moves, Mr. Flynn. Schmoozing with politicians and scientists." She crooned sarcastically.

"Getting your ear pulled by our mother in front of everyone." Ferb added.

"Shut up, Ferb. You practically curl up into a ball when she looks at you funny." Phineas chuckled. "I guess, whether we knew it or not, we screwed up pretty bad, huh?" The boys hadn't seen their mother that morning because she and Lawrence were still so beat from the recent trauma of the portal storm, not to mention the unorthodox wedding. Candace, likewise, was in a grumpy mood, saved only by the fact that she was now married to Jeremy Johnson.

"This is not how I envisioned the big bust going down." Candace muttered, as she sat down between Buford and Ferb, Jeremy in tow. Jeremy walked around the table and sat across, between Gretchn't and Ginger. He glanced at the two Gretchens in bewilderment. They waved.

"It's good to see everyone's safe, though. Stacy and Coltrane are gonna be by shortly." Jeremy coolly started. "Candace and I were planning on looking for an apartment near the university, but I think that's out of the question considering... The highway is missing."

"Woah. Yeah. Even though you two are married now, you probably still won't be living together." Phineas pointed his fork, creating a line linking Candace and Jeremy. "Must be tough."

"Speaking of living together..." Candace grinned at her little brother mischievously. "I heard somebody didn't make it to the panic room last night because he was busy taking care of his GIRLFRIEND." She exaggerated the last world.

Phineas and Isabella blushed furiously. "I don't think-" The girl started.

"It's not like-" Phineas stuttered.

"Nothing, you know, happened." Isabella scratched the back of her neck.

"We didn't, uh-" Phineas continued, "Her parents were there and everything."

"Yes. Yes we were." Joseph grumbled, poking at a fifth pancake. This was going to be awful for his diet.

"Yeah, okay, sorry I said anything. It's not like I'm curious." Candace waved the two off. Jeremy chuckled and set back to eating.

"You know, Candace-" He took a small bite of his pancake and stopped. "These are really good. Who made these?" He surveyed the line of cooks. Isabella raised her hand. "Nice. Very nice." He turned back to Candace. "Candace, if you really wanted to stay over, I could just put up some soundproofing-"

"Jeremy Robert Johnson!" Candace sharply glared at him. He put his hands up in front of his face defensively.

"Okay, okay! Just saying!" He did his best to hide his smile. The teens around them snickered. Isabella appreciated Jeremy's removing the attention from them.

Phineas waited until everyone had begun eating again to begin describing the day's plan. "We've got a few things to do: Ferb and I need to start on the Defense Grid, permits and funds or not. Roger Doofenshmirtz can't be trusted to run the government, so we should replace him with Heinz."

"We could run a campaign, Phineas!" Isabella grinned through a mouthful of pancake. The Fireside Girls nodded in agreement. They needed to get their 'Perform a Coup' patches.

"You know," Isabella started, "I was thinking last night. Do you think that maybe Flint and Suze actually succeeded at getting home this time? At our expense?"

"Suze?" Jeremy raised an eyebrow.

Phineas thought he wouldn't have to explain this again. "Oh, uh, another dimension. She's your sister from another dimension but Flint destroyed hers so-"

"We've run through this enough." Ferb muttered. "Wait until the perspective shifts."

After the perspective shifted, the girls were already well underway in printing flyers and posters. This was the guerrilla marketing campaign. Baljeet and Ginger were hunched over legal texts, trying to locate the part of the Danville Charter pertaining to emergency elections. Baljeet pointed down at the page he was on with an exclamation. "I've found it!" Ginger took the book from him and began to read:

"In the event that it becomes necessary to replace the current mayor of Danville, procedure is as follows: Gather a crowd of at least 1/5th of the town's population at City Hall and yell about it, really loudly."

A stunned silence overcame the room. "Man, that rule is stupid." Gretchen observed. Everybody nodded and murmured in agreement.

"It does, on the other hand, make our job REALLY easy." Isabella walked into the room with Buford in tow, a massive stack of flyers in his arms. "Let's get it done, ladies!"

The girls cheered in agreement. Buford and Baljeet felt left out.

"Phew!" Phineas wiped the sweat off of his brow with his arm. The unusual climate sure did feel like summer during the daytime. He and his brother had started work on a little side project while they waited for legal clearance on the defense grid. Phineas put his hand up to block the sun in his eyes and grinned. The Flynn-Fletcher house had been completely repaired.

Candace whistled. "That looks really good, boys." She smiled at them.

"I wanted to rewire the internet from cat5e cable to cat6 anyways." Ferb monotonously responded. Phineas grabbed Candace by the hand and led her inside.

The house was mostly identical, save for a reorganized dining room. "Hey! How come you knew the position of every photo of Jeremy I hung up in here?" She stared at the perfectly arranged pictures in her room with suspicion.

Phineas and Ferb shrugged. "We were thinking of maybe doing the Garcia-Shapiro's next."

"As sweet as that is, Phineas," Candace pulled her brothers in for a hug, "I doubt Isabella would like you poking around in her room."

"Or her parents, for that matter." Ferb shuddered. You never know what adults get up to.

"Alright, alright." Phineas chuckled. "Thanks, guys."

Candace looked out the window as she thought. That morning, a good amount of tables and chairs for the breakfast had been organized out in the empty lot next to the Flynn-Fletcher house. "If you guys REALLY want to help Danville, a more permanent solution might be building a shelter over in that empty lot."

"But what if it gets destroyed at the end of the day?" Phineas asked. Candace frowned.

"PEOPLE OF DANVILLE!" Isabella's voice erupted over a loudspeaker as Buford drove the crew around in the final ice cream truck, throwing pamphlets for the City Hall gathering. "WE'VE DETERMINED THAT ROGER DOOFENSHMIRTZ IS NO LONGER FIT TO BE THE MAYOR OF DANVILLE!"

"Wait a minute," a random citizen exclaimed, "Why is that?"

Isabella motioned up at the sky, then motioned around at the destruction. Downtown had been hit the hardest. No businesses had even started to get back to running. Electricity was scarce, and all of it was being used to refrigerate what might become a limited perishable supply.

"Look around!" A discontented murmur spread throughout the crowd.

"Yeah, the teenage girl is right!"

"He's the mayor! He should have prevented weird magical bombs!"

"Why was there no emergency plan in the case our town becomes completely isolated from the rest of the United States?"

Isabella smirked. "We're hitting City Hall for a demonstration in an hour! We'll have a candidate that's ready to face the problems of today... today!" She proudly finished and ducked back into the truck. The Fireside Girls, Buford, Baljeet, and Doctor Doofenshmirtz were gathered closely in the back. Baljeet gave her a tenuous look.

"Isabella, you are aware that Roger Doofenshmirtz is not responsible for the dimensional shift, correct?"

"Yes. Yes I am. But he was in office when it happened, and that was his mistake. Gives us an advantage. " She matter-of-factly stated. The Fireside Girls nodded slowly. Gretchen't glared at her. "Come on! We're doing the necessary thing here, folks!" Isabella raised her hands in exclamation.

"You've never steered us wrong before." Addyson confidently gazed over the room, hoping they shared her optimism. For the most part, the group did.

Katie slapped a clipboard with some printed pages of text into Heinz' hands. "As for you, Mr.-"

"Doctor." He interrupted. Katie rolled her eyes.

"Okay, DOCTOR Doofenshmirtz. We wrote you a knock-out of an election speech and an even better inauguration speech!"

"Wow, really? Having somebody else do it feels kind of.. dishonest." Heinz rubbed the back of his neck.

"A man should be a man of his own word." Buford intoned from the front. Nobody knew where he was getting these sayings from.

"Don't you know anything about politics?" Isabella gave the three boys a questioning look. "Next you'll say we shouldn't have prepared a teleprompter. This is just how it works, guys."

"Fine." The trio sighed in defeat.

Vanessa climbed up the scaffolding the boys had constructed and yelled up at the older Flynn-Fletcher brother. "Hey, Ferb! Dad said I couldn't fit in the van, so I'm stuck helping you build this..."

"Homeless shelter." Ferb finished. "Lot's of people without good lodgings after that storm."

"Well, you guys just have a full plate, don't you?" She joked.

"Yes. Yes we do." Phineas' eye twitched slightly as he bolted another part of the metal skeleton of the building on. "Not to say we can't handle it. We always handle it..." He continued muttering under his breath.

Ferb helped Vanessa up the last bit of scaffolding and whispered into her ear. "He'll be fine once the others get him out of 'work mode.' I can't do it myself."

"And I'm the only person that can get you talking, huh?" She picked up a drill and tested it.

"The only woman." Ferb corrected, grinning slightly. He handed her a box of screws and pointed at a door on the floor of the worksite. "If you could, put the hinges on those doors. You know how?"

"Yeah. Dad's an engineer, genius." Vanessa huffed humorously as she climbed back down the scaffolding.

Ferb climbed back up to his brother, who was almost finished with the frame. "Vanessa's here." Phineas commented, monotonously. "I can finish this last part myself. Go hang out with her."

"If you say so." Ferb slid down the vertical beams and landed next to Vanessa, startling her slightly. He caught the drill as it fell out of her hands, placing it gingerly back into her palm.

He gave her a thumbs-up and smiled.

The gathering around City Hall was in full swing. There were signs, and banners, and music, and even an odd torch or two. Isabella dusted off her hands theatrically. "Now that the dirty work is done, all we need to do is get Heinz up there to deliver this crowd-swaying speech and we'll have taken over the ENTIRE TRI-STATE AREA!" She crowed from her perch atop the ice cream truck. Buford shoved Heinz up to a large podium as the Fireside Girls rolled it out in front of City Hall. Isabella handed Heinz a wireless microphone, powdered some makeup onto his face, and gave him a reassuring wink.

"Greetings-" A harsh feedback emenated from the speakers, causing the audience to cover their ears and stop all the chanting. Isabella raised her hands, making a large 'X' in the direction of the band, signaling them to cut the music. Heinz began to sweat and shake slightly. "Greetings, people of the Tri-State Area. It has come to our collective attention that- that Roger Doofenshmirtz is no longer capable of carrying out his mayoral duties-"

"I beg to differ!" Roger suddenly yelled from his balcony. That was odd. He had disappeared earlier but his reappearance was unexpected. He disappeared back into City Hall and came out a brief while later on the ground floor, stationing himself with a megaphone next to Heinz on the podium. Isabella and the girls clutched their hair. Baljeet, running the teleprompter from his laptop, was unsure of what to do.

"Good people of the Tri-State Area," A seemingly recovered Roger began passionately, "Now is not the time to be pointing fingers! Now is the time for us to come together as a community! Just this morning, a neighborhood recovering from the disaster of last night's storm-"

"He's actually getting it." Isabella and Gretchen shared a look. "Does this mean we won't have to replace him?"

"-served the most delicious community cookout that this town has seen in years!" The crowd murmured in agreement. That had, indeed, occurred.

"Why, even the young Isabella Garcia-Shapiro pitched in, and made me the best pancakes I've ever eaten in my life!" Isabella smiled slightly at the acknowledgment.

"Wow, he does have a way with words." Gretchen't pointed down at the crowd, who were listening intently. "The people are just eating it up."

"What Danville needs right now is not a changing of the guard! Danville needs stability, and community, all things that my administration has fostered in the past and will continue to foster!"

Even Buford was paying serious attention. He leaned over and looked up at the girls on the truck. "Hey, if he's back to normal, we don't even need to replace him, right?"

"Danville will thrive in this time of crisis not because of me or my government, but because of you, the people!"

The crowd erupted into a cheer. "Four more years! Four more years!"

Isabella laid back on her seat. Ginger shrugged. "Well, I guess all's well that ends well."

Heinz, onstage, was paralyzed with fear and embarrassment. He was sweating bullets like he hadn't since his wedding. Watching his former allies turn against him, suddenly occurred to him that something must be done.

"Wait just a second." Heinz spoke. The crowd hushed. The doctor threw the clipboard aside, scattering papers all over the podium. He leered at Roger suspiciously. "That speech was a bunch of baloney!"

The crowd was utterly silent. The gang looked on in eager anticipation. "This just got interesting." Buford leaned against the truck, shifting it slightly.

"All this talk of 'community'. You aren't the community! You're the government! A government that completely dropped the ball last night! While the city cowered in fear, you didn't once consider that offer from the Flynn-Fletcher brothers!"

"The Flynn-Fletcher brothers? Phineas and Ferb?" The crowd spoke in whispers. Roger gulped.

"Yes, the Flynn-Fletcher brothers! Phineas and Ferb!" Heinz declared, pointing a finger to the sky.

"He doesn't mean to be using God symbolism right now, does he?" Gretchen asked. Nobody answered.

"Those two came into his office practically begging him to allocate government funds and zoning for a water solution, later a defense grid, and he denies them because he wants to keep the money in the festivals and cookouts we have every single summer to drive tourism! What's the logic there? Who's gonna be a tourist?"

Roger felt hundreds of angry eyes sharply focused on him.

"And furthermore, we don't even NEED money for that stuff! The teens just organized it this morning! Off the cuff! So, yeah. Your leader is an incompetent fool, and even though I am also incompetent and also a fool, I sure as heck aren't stupid enough to do anything like that."

Silence followed for a few seconds before the crowd exploded into a collective chant. "That guy for Mayor! That guy for Mayor!"

Heinz tapped the microphone. "My name is, uh, Heinz Doofenshmirtz."

"The other Doofenshmirtz for Mayor! The other Doofenshmirtz for Mayor!"

Isabella gathered all the Fireside Girls in a group hug. Buford and Baljeet grinned furiously. Just like that, after years of trying, Heinz Doofenshmirtz had taken over the entire Tri-State Area.

Perry the Platypus smashed into the window of the mayor's office, startling Heinz, who was just getting settled in. "Ack! Perry the Platypus!" Vanessa looked up from her desk.

Perry glared at the Doctor, and made a motion with his hands challenging him to a fight.

"You misunderstand completely, Perry the Platypus. This time, conquering the Tri-State Area was actually a good thing!" Heinz explained, putting his feet up on the desk. "I didn't even want the job this time. So you can't beat me up for it, at least not before I save the town."

Perry chattered discontentedly. Phineas, Ferb and Isabella walked through the door, clipboards in hand. Perry instinctively put his hat away.

"C'mon, Perry. You don't have to do that anymore, remember?" Phineas laughed. Perry scratched the back of his head, and slowly put the fedora back on. Phineas patted him on the head. "That's the spirit!"

"Hey, Ferb." Vanessa waved. "Phineas. Other girl."

"Isabella." Isabella shrewdly responded.

"Yeah, whatever. You guys got the budget proposal?"

"And do we!" Phineas grinned as he slapped the clipboard down on the table.

"We do." Ferb finished.

Heinz looked over the proposal quickly. "Well, it all looks well and good, but where could we possibly source the money for the parts necessary?"

"Also, why do you need money for parts this time?" Vanessa asked. "You usually just build stuff."

"Uh, that's a story for a different day. Let's just say that Danville is not our source of revenue." Phineas said.

"It's just that Roger was kind of right, you know?" Heinz ran his hand through his hair as he looked over the sheet. "I mean, all of these events are so essential and-" His face fell flat. "Oh, wait. Easy answer."

The Danville Defense Grid project was approved in short order. The money had been siphoned from the Meatloaf Festival fund, disappointing the 13 people who were exited for it. Phineas and Ferb had installed the base into City Hall after finishing the shelter, which was, thanks to Doofenshmirtz' quick efforts with the Electricity-inator, hooked into the electric grid.

"Okay, Ferb." Phineas looked up at the hole they had made in the middle of the hall. The sun had begun to drip down the canvas of sky. "It looks like it'll be dark soon, and that means more of those portal storms!"

Ferb nodded, hopping down from the large metallic cylinder at the base of the emplacement. The two had built it in the basement of City Hall, and the plan was for it to extend out, penetrating into the first floor and the mayor's office, before surrounding the entire city in a strong plastic barrier that had small holes to let in the rain. Phineas grinned, producing a remote from his pocket.

"Alright, bro! Behold! The Danville Defense Grid!" He cackled as he slammed the glowing button.

Nothing happened.

Ferb plugged the DDG's power cable into an outlet. He gave his brother a thumbs-up.

"Oh. Okay. Behold! Again! The Danville Defense Grid!" Phineas' cackle returned to a fever pitch as he pressed the button again, lightly this time.

The steel cylinder extended up into the sky. The citizens of the Tri-State Area looked on in awe as the pipe rose into the atmosphere, reaching an incredible height before stopping with a shudder. A comforting male voice boomed over the city from above.

"Warning! The Danville Defense Grid is active! Please step away from the edge of the city!"

Ferb recognized it as his voice, and he glared at his brother. He had said it while they were pitching security measures, and apparently Phineas had recorded it on his phone.

"So it's just gonna be my voice up there, huh?"

"Uhhh... yeah. Why not?" Phineas shrugged.

"Will it count as me speaking?" Ferb answered his question with a question, perturbed.

"No, no. Of course not." Phineas assured him. "I could replace it with Irving's voice if you would like." He joked.

The two stood in silence for a solid minute, simply looking up at their latest achievement. Ferb turned to Phineas.

"Wait a second, what the heck even happened to Irving?"

Plonk! Plink! Bam! Smash!

Isabella and the Fireside Girls (Buford and Baljeet in tow) had rolled out a picnic blanket and were watching the portal storms scattered throughout the sky. The distant smashing created a comforting quilt of sound above them as they laid about enjoying burgers that some grateful chefs from a nearby restaurant had made them. Gretchen had set up a plastic umbrella to shield from the rain that was dripping off the holes in the Defense Grid. Baljeet and Buford were just out of the radius of the umbrella, and were getting wet in spite of it.

"C'mon! Why do we gotta be the guys left out in the cold?" Buford complained.

"Baljeet, if you want to scoot in a bit closer, that would be fine." Ginger circled the space beside her with her finger. Baljeet nervously tensed.

"No thank you. This is perfectly comfortable for me." He said, soaking wet at this point.

Buford got up off of his butt and began to walk down the hill. "Screw this. I'm going home. It's been a long enough day."

Baljeet stared at Buford as he stumbled down the incline. Buford fell over, tumbling down and covering himself in grass and water. Baljeet tenuously looked over at Ginger, and then scooched over just a bit so that the umbrella covered him.

"See? That wasn't so hard, was it?" Ginger smirked. The girls laughed in unison. Baljeet blushed furiously.

Phineas and Ferb came over the other side of the hill, both brandishing umbrellas. Ferb was carrying a cooler. "Very nice work, girls!" The younger boy congratulated. "We just got the Defense Grid situated in Dr. D's office, so we're free for the night."

Heinz and Vanessa stared at the massive hole in the middle of the office. "They know when the Grid comes back down it's gonna just be a falling hazard, right?" Vanessa grumbled from her desk. In a strange, ironic twist, she was once again now her father's assistant.

"Seems kind of like a major design flaw." Heinz rubbed the back of his neck. "Then again, we did just assign responsibility of this whole project to two teenagers. You reap what you sow."

"You what?"

"Reap. It's like when you pull the crops out of the ground."

"Well, use that, then."

"You pull out of the ground what you sow."

"And why not change sow to something like 'what you plant'?"

"You pull out of the ground... What you plant. I don't know, Vanessa. It just doesn't have the same ring to it."

Heinz checked his new clock, which he had created based on the amount of time that had passed between the sun coming up and the sun going down. The day had lasted about 30 hours. It was 13:00 PM.

Thus ended a productive day for the government of the Tri-State Area.

Ferb set down his cooler and opened it up. It contained a heated soup thermos and an assortment of mugs. Isabella sniffed. "You guys brought hot cocoa?"

"Yeah." Phineas chuckled. "We swiped it from City Hall's kitchen on the way out. Figured we deserved a party, or something."

"We saved you two some burgers." Gretchen held up the still-warm paper bag. The two stuck their umbrellas in the ground and took the food, pouring the girls some mugs in the process. Everyone gazed up at the dark purple hues of the sky and admired the storm.

"From a safe distance, it really does look quite beautiful." Ferb rested his chin on his hands.

The gang got a brief period of respite as calm and relief came over them. Then, Phineas' phone rang. Phineas held the phone up to his ear, only to jerk it away as all he could hear on the other end was garbled, panicked screaming. "That was Mayor Doofenshmirtz!" Phineas hung up the phone and looked over at his friends, who were starting to get up. Phineas ran down the hill, tugging Ferb with him. "Party will have to wait, girls! We have to help Heinz!"

Isabella chased after the two as they slipped and slid down the hill. City Hall was only a few blocks away, so they made it pretty quickly. The door had already been broken in, and there was a trail of black goop leading up the stairs. Phineas put his arms out, stopping Isabella and Ferb from proceeding. The trio observed the liquid, but it didn't appear to be damaging anything around it.

"Is Dr. D being attacked by a giant snail?" Isabella squatted to take a closer look at the mysterious substance.

"I am so, so tired of today." Phineas huffed out, raggedly following the trail of goop. When he got upstairs, he realized the door to the mayor's office had already been penetrated. Fear nearly paralyzed the three as they slowly crept through the door.

In the center of the room, next to the Defense Grid, was a dark figure. Odd, considering the room was well-lit. Heinz had passed out on his desk.

"Ah." The figure murmured as it stopped fiddling with the Defense Grid and turned to the trio.

"D-d-did Flint tell you anything about a brother?" Isabella squeezed Phineas' hand tightly.

The figure standing before them was a purple, shadowy Ferb. He had glowing white eyes, containing no pupils. He assessed the three for a bit, smiled viciously, and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

The boys flinched at the POOF sound it made, but the explosion had left them all unharmed. The three stood in shock together as Heinz came to. Ferb seemed to have a thought and quickly slid over to Vanessa's desk, picking her up off the ground where she had slumped.

"Uh- wha- oh. Hey Ferb." Vanessa frowned. "How did I get down here?"

"Well apparently, I did it." Ferb looked over at the DDG.

"Oh! Right! That wasn't actually you, was it?"

Ferb opened his mouth to answer but was quickly cut off by Heinz. "Oh, it was horrifying! He came in, dropped some kind of knockout gas on Vanessa, and then threatened me into telling him the shutoff code to the Defense Grid!"

"That's odd." Isabella inspected the panel on the Defense Grid. There was a slightly sticky purple goo on some of the keys.

"He didn't get it, of course. Firstly because of my masterful interrogation resistance skills, and secondly because I passed out in fear almost immediately."

"So, first a malicious Phineas and... that girl, and now some un-talkative stranger is trying to take away our portal storm thingee." Vanessa crossed her arms. "This isn't really how I expected this internship to go."

"Hey, I'm more surprised than you." Dr. Doofenshmirtz got up from his chair, yawning. "What say we home, Vanessa?"

"Sure thing. Ferb?" Ferb glanced at Vanessa silently as she spoke. "Lock up after you're done investigating, okay?" She tossed him the keys to the building. Ferb caught them and turned around with a wave.

"Well, I'm beat." Phineas yawned. "It's already 13:10. Nearly midnight." Isabella huffed in agreement. "Stick around if you want, Ferb. Izzy and I are gonna walk home."

Ferb scratched his chin. Isabella grabbed Phineas' hand and tugged him out the door. "See ya, Ferb!"

A minute or so after they left, Ferb got up and walked out of the Mayor's Office. Hey, he was tired too.

Phineas and Isabella, exhausted from the day's events, ambled home. Phineas had his umbrella out, holding it over his and Isabella's head. Rain poured in torrents off of the sides. Isabella began to shiver. The two could see their breath.

Phineas smiled at her, wrapping his arm around her shoulder and bringing her in closer to him. "That a bit better?"

"Y-yeah." She blushed a bit, her breath steadying. She reached around his back.

"It's, uh, awfully cold. I wish we hadn't ditched the cocoa on that hill." Phineas chuckled. The two walked in silence for a bit.

"I want to thank you for being there for me today." Phineas started. He rubbed the back of his head. "Ferb isn't exactly the best emotional support. You, um... Managed it."

"'It'?" Isabella looked up at him.

"Eh, it's just been stressful. All the stuff we suddenly HAVE to deal with." Phineas and Isabella gazed out at the streets as they got closer to their neighborhood. The Fireside Girls' cabin had yet to be rebuilt. "No fun at all."

"I get so busy looking out for everyone else that I forget to look out for myself." Isabella muttered. Phineas frowned, but then smirked at her.

"I admire that spirit of self-sacrifice, but I agree. Ferb and I will take care of that first thing in the morning. Speaking of, I did manage to do something nice for you today." He grabbed her hands and rubbed them together.

"You smell gross, Phineas." Isabella finally caught the stench of his work clothes, which were now far dirtier than they were this morning.

"Then why are you still so close to me?" Phineas' goofy smile was one she hadn't seen in a bit.

"Because... Because we still haven't finished our date!"

"Oh, yeah. Never got dinner like I planned." The two finally approached the Garcia-Shapiro residence. Isabella looked up at her house. It had been completely reconstructed. "Candace told me not to, but..."

"Did you go through my stuff?" Isabella asked, looking away from him to hide her embarrassment.

"Nah. Had your Dad take care of it." Phineas chuckled. "But I did spy a book with a strange title inside of your closet."

"Y-you... That's an invasion of privacy!" She turned back to his face, glaring at him. Phineas was taken aback, and recoiled a bit in fear. Her grip on his back tightened.

"Like I said, I didn't mean to!" Phineas protested. Isabella's glare turned into a laugh.

"Pffft! Like I really care! You fixed my house, dude!" She hugged him tightly, lifting him slightly off the ground. Phineas winced as his back popped.

"Any... Thing for you." He managed to heave out. "Dude."

Isabella giggled as she approached her door. Phineas stayed at the bottom of the steps. "So?" She motioned towards him. "You gonna come in for dinner, or what?"

"I don't know, I- my parents are gonna be worried." Phineas scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. "I think my mom's still on the warpath."

"Even more reason to come in." Isabella smiled flirtatiously.

"Fine. Fine." Phineas waved his hands defensively, and stepped through her door after her.

"Shoes by the door! You two are soaking!" Joe's gruff voice echoed from upstairs.

The two heard thumping on the stairs as they removed their shoes. Vivian Garcia-Shapiro quickly stepped down onto the main floor and swept up the two in a big bear hug. "It's good to see you two! So busy!" She set them down and ruffled Isabella's hair. "Too busy for even your mother these days, my goodness!"

Phineas grinned at Isabella and hopped up on a stool next to the breakfast bar. He swung around it casually, putting his arms behind his head. "Yup, we're busy alright. I WAS, however, promised dinner."

Isabella rifled through the cabinets, pulling out some cocoa mix. She tossed it to Phineas. "That's your job. Gotta work for it."

"Well, your father is ready for bed. We were just waiting up for you." Vivian kissed her daughter on the forehead. "Have a good night, Isa. Don't stay up too late now." She walked back up the stairs, leaving the teenagers alone in the dimly lit kitchen. Phineas poured some milk into a pot and set it on a heater.

Isabella put some oil in a pan and got some tortillas out of her fridge. Phineas took his seat and twiddled his thumbs. "This is the most boring part of cooking, I think. The waiting bit."

Isabella quickly set out another pot, grabbed some ground beef, and handed Phineas a brick of cheese with a grater. "No such thing as a waiting bit when you're working."

"Oh, uh, yeah." Phineas ran the cheese over the grate slowly.

"Phineas." Isabella grabbed the cheese from him and started to grate it rapidly. "Like this."

"Sorry. I can do eggs, but I don't really cook." Phineas ran his hand through his hair. He took it back from her and got a bit faster.

"So, uh, does this mean we're..." Isabella focused on baking a tortilla in a pan as not to let her nervousness show. "Official?"

"Nah. Just two BFFs sharing dinner in a dimly lit setting late at night." Phineas chuckled. "Yeah. I suppose it does. Everyone else seems to think so."

"Yeah, but I-" She stopped herself, huffed slightly, and tossed around the beef. "There are certain... Things. We haven't done."

"Oh, yeah." Phineas looked up from his meticulously cultivated pile of cheese. "Romance... Stuff."

Isabella rolled her eyes. For all of the progress she had made shockingly fast, Phineas was still an absolute idiot when it came to reading a situation. Then again, he could just be as uneasy as she was. They hadn't dated anyone else before, even if Isabella had a lot of grand visions of it.

Phineas set the cheese down and put himself at Isabella's side as the food simmered. He reached past her and rustled some of the ground beef, which was now about done. "There. I'm a chef."

She giggled as she reached past him to flip the tortilla with a flourish. Phineas' goofy smile was back, and she found it incredibly endearing. He wrapped his arm around her waist and leaned in towards her.

Phineas suppressed a gulp. Isabella took a small breath inward as he put his lips to hers. She dropped the pan she was holding back onto the heater with a small clatter, wrapping her arms around his neck. The two separated after what felt like forever, heaving slightly.

Isabella's face was as red as a cherry. She took her hands off Phineas' neck and rubbed the sides of her face. "Gosh..." She giggled. Phineas nervously laughed as he glanced at the tortilla in the pan.

"Well." Phineas let Isabella go, putting his hands behind his back.

Isabella snapped out of her trance with the crackling of the oil in the pans. Isabella gasped and quickly poured the contents of the pan onto plates. Nimbly wrapping a couple of burritos for the two, she took a seat. Phineas sniffed the air a bit, turning to her and snapping a finger.

"Smells good."

"Makes one of us." Isabella rested her chin on her hands, grinning. "You know how long I've wanted to kiss you, Phineas Flynn?"

"I don't want to know." Phineas wiped his brow with his sleeve, leaving a bit of oil on his forehead.

"Good answer." She wistfully assured. She slid a plate across to Phineas, who brought it back around as he sat next to her on a stool.

The two began eating. Phineas wolfed his down in seconds. "That hit the spot." He rubbed his stomach. "Good gravy, I'm tired."

"Yeah. You should get some sleep." Isabella quietly said. To keep Phineas around any longer, as much as she wanted to, would be hard for him. He'd stick around for me, too if I asked.

Phineas yawned as he waltzed slowly to the door. "Thanks for the meal, Isabella. Even if you made me work for it."

"Would you say it's..." She tilted her head slightly as she stretched her arms out in front of her. "The second best thing you tasted tonight?"

Phineas sputtered at her newfound confidence. "Uh, yup." He awkwardly peeped out. "I, uh- I'll- See you tomorrow, alright?" He quickly waved and slunk out the door, shutting it behind him and letting out a heavy breath.

"What- who- did I just get myself into?"

Ferb was already the boys' bedroom by the time Phineas, bedraggled, came through the door. Suddenly, a whistle went off, the lights flicked on, and confetti sprinkled overhead as a celebratory noise rang. "Oh, what now?" Phineas angrily asked.

Ferb and Candace were sitting on Ferb's bed, clapping. "Congratulations, Phineas. You finally went and did it!" Candace fell back on the bed, laughing maniacally. Ferb gave him a thumbs-up.

Phineas blushed furiously. "How do you- What do you know?"

"We-" Candace felt a harsh nudge from Ferb. "Sorry, I- kinda spied on you just now." She shrugged as she got up from the bed, still giggling. She slapped Phineas heartily on the back. Phineas gagged.

Candace slipped out the door with a sly grin. "You can't blame me for being curious! Everyone is!"

Ferb nodded. Phineas rolled his eyes, put on some pajamas, and flopped onto his bed. He threw his covers over his body. The light clicked off and the two stared up at the ceiling.

"At this rate, we should sleep in tomorrow." Ferb huffed.

"I agree with you there, bro." Phineas laughed softly. "Here's to our troubles going away, eh?"

A/N: This chapter is just over 10k, making it the largest chapter thus far! Had fun writing the fluff. As always, tell me what you think.

Next Time:

Portal-Jump!

The brothers fly close to the sun! The girls investigate under the town! Dr. D recruits a bodyguard!