A/N: He's back again, and about time too. This time, I swear it's the last chapter with an alliterative name. Sorry for taking so long on this one, school is hard and I have far less privacy living with my parents.

Chapter 6: Prenuptial Preparation Panic

"PHINEAS!"

Candace's voice practically shook the room. Phineas jolted awake and sat up in his bed.

"FERB!" Ferb had already been awoken by the previous yell, but nonetheless snapped his attention to the door in response to his name. Bracing for the worst, the two flinched as the door was practically blown off the hinges by Candace's foot. The boys put their hands over their eyes to shield themselves from the harsh light coming from the hallway. They watched as the figure of their sister loomed over them, her face indicating stress and sleep deprivation. "Thank God you two are up!" Phineas groggily looked towards the alarm clock. As expected, it was long before the usual time the two would wake up.

"Yeah, I guess we are now." Phineas wiped his teary eyes, betraying a hint of annoyance. Ferb flopped over in his bed and put his pillow over his head. Candace sat down on the edge of Ferb's bed and pulled it off.

"Oh no you don't! Today is the day of the wedding's dress rehearsal, and you know what that means?"

"I'm pretty sure it doesn't mean 'wake up at 3 in the morning'."

A tired looking Lawrence trudged into the room. "Candace, dear, it's very late-"

"Or early depending on how you look at it." Ferb interjected, struggling to get his pillow back from his sister.

"-Thank you, Ferb. Point is, absolutely nobody wants to be awake at this hour on a saturda- Oh dear, the rehearsal." Lawrence seemed to jerk awake. "In that case, carry on." He walked over to Phineas and nudged him on the shoulder. "You'll understand when you're older, Phineas. This is just a thing women do." Lawrence whispered. Phineas let out a small chuckle. "Just do try to take it all in stride."

Lawrence yawned and left the room. Phineas sheepishly shrugged and turned to Candace. "Candace, you know as well as we do we work fast. Whatever parameters you need us to work with, you know we can hash it out over breakfast."

"Alright, fine, but don't keep me waiting!"

Candace raised a hooked finger to Phineas' protruding nose. "But if I catch one whiff of you two going off-script with this one, you can bet there's someone I'm going to tell." There was a faint threat to the tone. Phineas and Ferb considered that perhaps they should not have taken on this responsibility in the first place.

The bride-to-be stormed out of the room, leaving the boys almost too afraid to go back to sleep. Almost.

Flint was once again beating the unliving tar out of his practice dummy, having woken up at about 5:30 in the morning. Isabella was keeping an eye on him, leaning against the sliding door. She had begrudgingly decided to make him breakfast again. Phineas was right, she thought. The best thing to do when you're confronted with an enemy is to turn him into a friend, right? After all, when has Phineas ever been wrong?

Flint hoped she just liked watching him. He sat down at the table in the backyard and motioned towards her. "G'morning, Isabella! Why don't you have a seat?"

She paced over carefully. The girl sat down, resting her elbows on the table and her chin in her hands. She narrowed her eyes, unable to help her suspicion. "So, what's the plan for today?"

"Oh, no big things..." Flint began. "... My boss, that guy I've been working with, has a little something for me to do while he's out having lunch with his daughter. Then later, I guess I'm headed to the Flynn-Johnson wedding rehearsal." He eyed her cautious expression up and down. "You, uh... wanna come with?"

"Oh, believe me, I'll be there. Phineas always asks for my help with this kind of stuff." She confidently asserted as she passed her housemate a plate of bacon and eggs. Flint looked down at the plate, then at her, then back down.

"Woah! Bacon!" He almost seemed to recoil. "Aren't you Jewish?"

"On my dad's side. This-" She picked up a piece from her own plate and bit off just a tiny bit. "-Is turkey bacon. Totally street-legal." She let out a small laugh. "And between you and me, I'm not exactly adhering to all the codes if I can get away with it."

Flint gave her a knowing glance and pinched his fingers together, motioning across his lips. "I won't tell." He thought for a moment. "On the condition that you go to the rehearsal with me." He smiled at her.

Isabella smiled facetiously. "Out of luck, there, pal. I'm going with Phineas. And to a lesser extent Ferb." She pointed at herself with an air of smug self-satisfaction.

"Ooh! Then how about a bet?" He got up on the table, dumping the remaining eggs down his throat. He crouched down as he wiped his face with a napkin, getting to about Isabella's eye level. "If you can ask Phineas to go with you in some official capacity in the next hour, I'll back off, and what's more..." He dramatically paused. "...I'll quit it with the goo-goo eyes. Permanently. I can't help it, you know. Just watching him say some errant word or not notice some obvious flirtation." Flint laid down on the table and turned his head to face the girl's. "If you seal the deal, I'll let you be. But you really oughta consider giving someone, anyone else, a shot." He hopped off the table and strolled back through the sliding glass door.

Isabella angrily shouted through the door at him. "I'll have him in half an hour! DEAL!" Flint rubbed his hands together and grinned as he made his way down to the basement.. Now his evening was set, and his plan was foolproof. Isabella, meanwhile, slumped down at the table. Maybe he was right. Maybe she should consider giving someone else a shot. Phineas Flynn had been an occasional shining light of hope in three years of heartbreak and melancholy. She wouldn't be caught dead with, say, Flint, but there were plenty of guys around, right?

She shook the thoughts from her head. Now was not the time to focus on other things. Now was the time to put in one last-ditch effort to catch the attention of the handsome red-headed boy across the street.

It was Saturday morning, so Perry the Platypus was already at the residence of Heinz Doofenshmirtz. After a few years of fighting, Doofenshmirtz had softened up quite a bit, and was even being honest enough about his friendship with Perry that he frequently invited him over to breakfast. The usual day was Wednesday. Doof had created a platter of Drusselsteinian breakfast items, and they actually weren't half bad, especially since Perry was allowed to eat at the table.

"Well, that was a delicious meal, if I do say so myself." Heinz wiped the grease from his chin using a handkerchief. Perry rubbed his stomach happily in reply. "Vanessa's actually been learning a thing or two about cooking lately. Just dove right into it after splitting with what-his-name." Perry thought for a second that he might humor the idea that his nemesis didn't remember Monty Monogram's name, but that was frankly impossible. He was actually a great asset in getting Perry much-needed time off when the occasion arose and the OWCA had no agents available.

"Speaking of Vanessa... and food, I actually have a lunch date with her at a fancy restaurant. 'Le Ferb'. Figured I would take some of that alimony and treat her, you know. So no evil today, even if I do have the kid running a few tests." Heinz started to clear the table. Perry held up his hands questioningly.

"Oh, you?" The man looked down at his mammalian companion. "Don't you have a family or something?"

Perry shrugged. Phineas and Ferb needed time to put together Candace's wedding, so he figured he could show up later that night, so he didn't have plans. It was at this moment Vanessa rang the door bell. Doofenshmirtz gladly received his daughter with a hug. "Vanessa! I was just having breakfast with Perry the Platypus-"

Perry waved from his spot across the table. Vanessa leaned out from behind Heinz and waved back. "Hey, Perry."

"-Yes, hello, Perry the Platypus. We were just discussing how I had to kick him out for the rest of the day because we're going to lunch-"

"You can come to lunch with us, Perry!"

"-Yes, fine so as I was saying I had to-" Heinz stopped and grinned at his daughter. "I know how you hate me bringing work into family business- "

Vanessa once again interrupted. "I don't hate Perry! He's practically family! Look at his cute little face!"

Perry toothily smiled and shrugged to emphasize the point. Vanessa picked him up and smushed him up against her side. "Apparently having a pet platypus is pretty common in Danville." Perry chattered comfortably as she stroked his fur. "I've got a friend who's been telling me about their eating habits, and they're actually pretty diverse. We could totally get him into the restaurant as long as he kept his funny little hat on."

Perry wiped his face. He wasn't about to turn down a free meal.

Phineas and Ferb were trying their best to enjoy breakfast, but they were constantly badgered by Candace, who was sitting across the table from them. Her eyes were firmly affixed on the toast that Phineas was currently chewing on. The brothers looked at each other with discomfort. Phineas finally spoke up after what felt like hours. "Candace, can you quit staring at us? Or at least make yourself some breakfast?"

Candace leaned back in the chair and crossed her arms. "You guys need to chill out. I'm just making sure we're staying on timeline for today."

Phineas was picking at his eggs with a fork, but stopped to casually point the end at his older sister. "Actually, I think you may be the high-strung one this morning."

"She usually is." Ferb leaned over and whispered. Phineas let out a small snicker and leaned back in his seat.

"Like I said, " He made a sweeping motion with his hand. "We've got everything planned out. It's gonna be nice and traditional, just how you like it. Deliveries are already set to happen at the church later today." He almost let the growing disdain for his task seep through his voice. I mean, if there were so many notes she wanted to give, why did she bother not just having a regular wedding planner in charge? His train of thought was interrupted by his phone's text tone. He whipped it out, scanned the message, and quickly got up from the table. "Ferb! The speaker guy is gonna be at the church in half an hour!"

Ferb wordlessly produced Candace's car keys from his pocket. Phineas smiled as Candace glared at him across the table. "Sneaky, Ferb, but it's still not legal for you to be driving me around. Let's take the bikes."

The boys took off, leaving Candace in the dust. She gave a tense sigh and grabbed her keys off the table where Ferb had left them. She was in charge of picking up the "rehearsal cake". Phineas had insisted that the rehearsal not be just a boring dinner, especially since, defying tradition, the rehearsal was planned for roughly a week before the wedding was to actually take place, due to Jeremy's hectic schedule at the observatory. She was just about to leave when she heard a knock at the door.

"Hey, kiddo." Candace swung the door open to reveal a very nervous Isabella. Seemingly startled, Isabella took a step back.

"Oh, man. I- uh- I mean-" She stammered, words half-forming but not quite escaping her mouth. Candace snorted.

"You had this whole thing planned out and thought Phineas was gonna answer the door."

Isabella's lip's tightened, then she shrugged in defeat. "Yeah, I guess that isn't the best idea. Is he here?"

Candace ruffled the other girl's hair. "Awww, that's so cute. I remember when I was like that." Isabella glared at her, but her expression quickly became softer. She even smiled a bit. Candace snapped her fingers. "Shoot! You just missed him. He's down at the church sorting out the audio equipment."

"Any chance I could catch him in the span of, say, about thirty minutes?" Isabella began calculating the distance to the church in her head.

"Why does that matter?"

Flint happily strolled up the stairs of DEI. Sure, there had been potholes on the bike route, he may have been attacked by a squirrel, and the elevator was out, but as far as he was concerned, his day was going very well. Secret trackers he had installed on all of his associates revealed that Phineas and Isabella weren't even going to meet in the next hour, so he didn't even have to rely on her nerves. About half the way up the stairs, he even thought he might whistle if he wasn't nearly out of breath. He passed by an equally tired Heinz, Vanessa, and Perry.

"Hey, boss." He managed to mutter as he stumbled upwards.

"Hey, kiddo." Heinz breathlessly spat out.

Flint continued up the stairs for some time before he even considered his employer's companions. "I thought he and the platypus were enemies?" He produced a key to the apartment and fumbled it into the keyhole. "Oh, well. A rose by any other name and all that."

That's not at all what that phrase meant, like, not even ballpark. Not considering this, Flint stepped into the laboratory and caught his breath. Walking over to an obvious blue tarp. Grabbing the edge, he pulled it away to reveal a large mechanical suit. "The mech-suit-inator. Truly a masterpiece of evil engineering." He deployed some of his reusable target dummies before he hopped into the cockpit to check the controls. The robot featured arms that could transform into other utilities, including missile launchers, swords, even a Y7-rated Gatling Gun. Additionally, there was a gun that shot Christmas lights. Not sure about that one. He cracked his knuckles before turning on the power supply.

"Alright..." He looked at the checklist on the console. "Gatling gun." Flint pressed a button. The gun shredded the target to pieces, leaving some bullet holes in the wall behind it. The boy thought for a moment before clicking a button on his phone. The target reset, but this time it had a striking resemblance to Phineas Flynn. "Check."

Rubbing his hands together, Flint smiled before he loosed a missile at the target. "Missiles." The target was a smoldering waste. "Check."

A loud timer went off before he could reach the next item, surprising him slightly. Regaining his composure, he whipped out his phone and placed a call. There was a brief dial tone before he heard heavy breathing on the other end. "What, Flint?"

"Time's up, Izzy. Lemme guess, it's a go for tonight?"

He tried his best to contain a laugh at the defeated heave on the other end. "I didn't even get to try."

Flint put his feet up on the console, pressing a button. "Well, if he had really cared to have you along, don't you think he would have talked to you?"

A barrage of knives flew from the left arm of the machine, producing a series of loud clangs. Flint covered his ears as he dropped his phone. When the noise has subsided, all he could make out beneath the ringing in his ears was Isabella.

"What was that noise?"

"Uhhhh, interference. Anyways I'm busy so gottaletyougoseeyatonightbye!"

"But you called-" Isabella started before Flint quickly hung up the phone. He took a deep breath before resuming his tasks.

The nerve of that guy! Isabella angrily slammed her phone into a pocket as she caught her breath. The irony of the situation was that she was actually right outside the church where the boys were signing some papers.

"Hey, Isabella!" Phineas looked up from his clipboard to greet his friend. "Did you come early to help out? I totally forgot to get you this morning, Candace was rushing us."

Isabella faked a smile. "Yup, here to help." She made a mental note to break Candace in half later. "So, uh, what did you have for me to do?"

Phineas thought for a second. "I guess I didn't actually set aside anything for you to do, per se, I was thinking that you might..." Phineas scanned the table before his eyes landed on some signage. "Hang these up!" He handed the girl the supplies. "Otherwise, you know, just hang out. Maybe we could grab some lunch at that place Ferb and I own, it's just a block from here."

Isabella huffed slightly before grabbing a sign and a ladder. She climbed up and was just about to pin in one side of the large sign. Phineas cleared his throat.

"So, Isabella, are you going with anyone to the rehearsal tonight?"

"Unfortunately". The girl muttered under her breath. Phineas caught it, and seemed surprised. She quickly covered her mouth. "Sorry, it's just, ugh, bad timing."

Phineas looked a bit perturbed. "Bad timing?"

"Uh, I just, uh, gave my, uh- Flint. Flint and I kinda had a bet and I kinda lost and now I'm... going out with him. I mean, coming here, with him."

Phineas expression gave way to shock for a second before he huffed outward. "A bet?"

"Yeah, a bet. It really doesn't mean anything, trust me."

"Oh!" Phineas perked up, but there was still an edge to his mannerisms. He seemed, at the least, relieved. "What was the bet?"

Now it was Isabella's turn to be nervous. "I'd rather not say."

Phineas nodded. He figured it must be something embarrassing. "Huh. Well, at least you're not convinced he's trying to kill us." Phineas jested. He was suddenly uncharacteristically interested in inspecting the speakers that had just been delivered.

Uh oh, Isabella thought. Did I make a mistake there? She looked up at the sign she had just put up. It was blank.

The Doofenshmirtzes sat down at their table at "Le Ferb." Perry slid up a toddler seat and got comfortable. A waiter came by, dressed in the purple slacks and dress shirt mandated as the uniform, and handed them their menus. "Hey there! I'm Gerald, I'll be your host this afternoon, so if you need anything, feel free to just ask.

"I would like you to know before we even start here that I don't intend to tip." Heinz flatly stated. Perry and Vanessa glared at him, leaning in.

"Dad, I thought you weren't doing evil today."

"Alright, alright. 10 percent."

The waiter shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know how to respond to this situation."

"Maybe we could start with drinks?" Vanessa apologetically suggested.

Flint had almost finished his checklist, leaving only the basic movement controls. "Alright, last thing." He turned the mechanical legs to face the outside balconies. The assistant pushed forwards on the thrusters, and the machine responded in kind. "Turning and acceleration... check." Flint pumped the brakes. The brakes did not work.

Suddenly, the mech-suit-inator stumbled over the side of the balcony.

"Ok... brakes..." Flint struggled to write while plummeting to the streets below, "... need work."

Phineas was hard at work making his sister's wedding the best it could possibly be, and as long as there's room for improvement, he wasn't going to stop. Ferb tugged at his brother's shoulder, finally managing to pull him away from the eighth set of speakers he had installed in the church sanctuary.

"What?" Phineas snapped. Ferb blinked at him blankly. "You're right, Ferb, sorry. That did seem pretty aggressive." Ferb produced a remote from his pocket and pressed the speaker test tone. Immediately, a low, dull tone emanated from the speakers, shaking the entire building.

"Hey, if we want improved sound quality, we need to have as many audio output points as possible!"

Ferb pointed at the disco laser-light system that had suddenly appeared on the ceiling above them just a few minutes earlier.

"I know she just needed the mood lighting, but I figured just in case-"

Ferb pointed at the chocolate fountain that had recently sprung up on the center stage.

"We need that! Who doesn't love a chocolate fountain?"

Ferb pointed at the massive holographic projection of Candace and Jeremy floating in the center of the sanctuary, above the pews.

"It's like that thing at the top of wedding cakes! You know the one! But better!"

Ferb swept his arm out at the northwestern corner of the room, where a variety of bizarre electronic carnival games had been set up. A dunk tank was leaking a small amount of water on the carpet.

"You know it wouldn't be one of our events without some fun and games?"

Ferb motioned towards Isabella, who was staring glumly at the pair from atop her ladder. Next to her was the fifth blank sign Phineas had insisted she put up. "Am I supposed to be writing on these?"

"Yeah, I'm gonna be honest, there's no good reason for that one."

"There's no good reason for any of this, Phineas. You know Candace wanted something simple, and you still took it to our usual standard."

"W- well- I just thought she might like-"

"You and I both know this isn't about Candace, Phineas."

"Of course it is!"

"Are you sure you're not just-" Ferb glanced over at Isabella, who was still staring at the two intently. "-Acting out?"

Phineas' started to look a little frustrated. "No, I'm SURE-" His tone was harsher than Ferb had heard in a long time. "-This is BETTER."

Ferb felt a little anger at his brother's insensitive tone, but tried to remain calm. "This isn't better. It's different. Different from how Candace wants it. She trusted us with this, and she's gonna be here in two hours, and she's going to freak out."

"If you don't like it, you can-" Phineas stammered, "-butt out!"

Ferb huffed angrily. "You know what? I don't have to take this from you. I need a break." he stepped down the ladder and stormed out towards the sanctuary's exit. He turned back to his brother, whose face still reflected a stressed anger. "I'm going for a walk."

"You do that." Phineas coldly turned back to his work. Isabella would normally be thrilled to be stuck alone with Phineas, but he was unreadable. The air was palpably tense.

Ferb needed to clear his head, so he headed down the block to treat himself to some lunch.

Vanessa and Heinz had finally managed to stumble through the ordering process and were just about to receive their food. Gerald placed a series of trays on the table in one swift motion. Vanessa had ordered a turkey sandwich, Perry a shrimp salad, and Doofenshmirtz a plain hamburger. "This is the litmus test for a decent restaurant. Any good place has a good hamburger." Vanessa rolled her eyes. "No, no, no, really. Slushee burger? Crap hamburger. That's how you can tell. That way I don't have to try the whole menu."

Heinz bit into his burger. "Mmmm... that's pretty good." He chewed the burger, savoring the whole burger-esque experience. Suddenly he wretched and spat out a small hair. "Now that-" He looked very closely at the chunk of hamburger with the bit of hair peeking out. "- is disgusting. Hair in food is only a thing in Drusselsteinian cuisine. Excuse me, waiter?"

"Dad, please don't make a big deal about this-"

"Don't worry, sweetie, I won't embarrass you." Gerald arrived at the table just as Heinz reassured his daughter.

"Is there something I can do for you, sir?"

"Yes." Heinz paused. The 'ding' of the entrance bell rang. "You can get your manager." Vanessa slumped and put her face down on the table, groaning.

Ferb approached the table. "You're speaking with him."

"Ferb? You own-" Vanessa looked up at the boy. "Oh. Le Ferb."

"May I sit?"

Heinz was a bit confused about the whole situation, and even more confused when he discovered that Perry the Platypus was missing. Ferb moved aside the empty child seat, and firmly planted himself in the booth next to Vanessa. Heinz glared at the interloper. "Aren't you a little young to be the owner and manager of a downtown eating establishment?"

Ferb shrugged.

"Well, in any case, I have a hair in my food and would like to request a refund."

"How about a remake? I won't charge for the meal." Ferb responded.

"Fine, I guess. Wow, that was way easier than usual. I even had this little -inator with me that would destroy all the technology within a large radius in the case that my service was unsatisfactory."

"I am doing so much more talking than I meant to today, and would like to keep to a minimum." There was a short pause before Ferb processed the rest of the sentence. "Wait a second, you have what?"

Isabella watched from her ladder perch as Phineas angrily played some carnival games. Specifically, he was angrily shooting at a large LCD screen with those little digital ducks with that little plastic gun. He wasn't very good at it.

"Ack!" A metallic clang rang out as Phineas put a small hole in the wall of the sanctuary. Perhaps it was too realistic. "Those darn... ducks! Am I right, Izzy?" He looked towards her, as if hoping for some kind of frustrated duck-solidarity. The teenage girl staring down at him let her eyes wander around the room.

"Phineas, are you freaking out or something? Because this whole-" She waved around the room "-thing is really getting to me. Why not just do what Candace said?"

"BECAUSE-" Phineas holstered the gun and paused. His typical demeanor finally collapsed as he breathed out a heavy sigh. "Because I build when I'm stressed. You know that."

"And what's got you so stressed?"

Phineas put his palms together and breathed in deeply. "You, and uh-" He snapped his fingers. "-what's-his-face. Getting all close. The dynamic changes, and it kinda throws me off."

"You don't have to pretend to forget his name, Phin. You have literally never forgotten anyone's name."

"You don't have to worry about him, Phin." She hopped down the ladder and landed right in front of him. She pulled him in to a hug. "The dynamic between us-" She tightened it ever so slightly "-will never change."

The two separated, staring at each other for a moment before Isabella remembered that she was madly infatuated with Phineas, and promptly began inspecting the ceiling for cobwebs. Phineas scratched the back of his neck subconsciously. "And I've got no problem with Flint. I mean what's-his-face." He glanced at his watch, his relief turning into panic. "Oh, jeez! Candace is arriving with the cake in ten minutes! There's no way I can get rid of all this useless fluff before then!"

"We can try!" Isabella exclaimed. They urgently took to dismantling the carnival, which seemed far easier for Phineas to have put together alone than the two of them could take apart together. "Wow, this is a bad time for quality craftsmanship."

"I know! I know! We need Ferb!" Phineas exclaimed, dashing out the door and leaving Isabella in a cloud of dust. She coughed in his wake but quickly followed, still unable to keep pace with the boy.

"So you're telling me that this device is able to just magically knock out any nearby technology? Like an EMP wave?"

"Well, first of all, it's not magic, and second of all, it doesn't just knock it out. It destroys it, like 'poof!'" Doofenshmirtz made jazz hands. "And it leaves behind no trace."

Ferb was now infinitely more interested in this device than he was with the second round of food or for that matter, Vanessa. She could only look on in boredom as he inspected it from every angle. It was about the size and shape of a potato, with two buttons, one labeled "destruct" and one labeled "self-destruct".

"So how does it work?" Ferb strained his vocal chords.

"Well, you press the button-" Ferb quickly slapped Heinz' hand away from the remote "- and then all the technology around it goes 'poof!'-" Jazz hands "- and it leaves behind no trace."

Ferb was just about to find a good candidate for demonstration when Phineas burst through the door.

"Hah! I figured you were here! We need your help destroying all that dumb stuff I added to the mock wedding!" Phineas knelt in front of the table and bowed his head in shame. "I'm sorry I told you to butt out and that my stupid ideas were good and that I used your toothbrush this morning!" Really, confessions were just spilling out.

"You don't need to say anything. I have had to speak six times since I left the church and frankly any more and I'm out for the week. All is forgiven." Ferb coughed raspily to emphasize the point. Phineas quickly hugged his brother and then dragged him off, Ferb barely managing to swipe the remote off the table before they headed back to the church.

Sprinting down the sidewalk, the two passed a confused Isabella, who slowed down as she gasped for air. "I have to stop doing this." She readjusted her slumped posture with her hands as she doggedly doubled back. "The Flynn-Fletchers are a force of nature." Her pace was slower than before as she hobbled after the two.

Phineas and Ferb arrived at the church with minutes to spare. "Quick! Help me pack this stuff up!" Phineas dashed around the room frenetically. Ferb remained calm, raising the device he had taken from the Doofenshmirtzes and pressing "destruct". Immediately, the device disappeared. For a few seconds there was nothing but the noise of Phineas unplugging wires and moving components. Then, all of it disappeared. The games, the fountain, the holograms... and the lights. The room darkened completely. Suddenly, a loud CRASH was heard outside the building, alongside an explosion. The light blinded the brothers as they were suddenly wrapped in cable.

The duo set to untangling themselves from the strange cable. "What the -? Christmas lights?" Helping Ferb out of the last of his constraints, Phineas grabbed him by the hand and led them outside. A smoldering wreck lay before them, but more importantly, their friend(?), Flint, had finally shown up to help.

"Light launcher, check."

Phineas and Ferb could only look on in shock at the wreckage. Flint grabbed Ferb's leg.

"Help, please." the soot covered Flint weakly managed to sputter before putting his face down on the asphalt and letting his consciousness slip away. This shook the Flynn-Fletchers into action. Phineas grabbed at his hair.

"We've gotta get him to the hospital! I'll call an ambulance!"

Ferb was glad no one was asking him to talk any more today, so he set to the task of getting their friend(?) off of the street and onto a makeshift bed of blank signs. Isabella finally managed to catch up to the group but came to a stop at the disastrous scene before her. Perry nonchalantly rubbed up against her leg as she came to a stop.

Ferb stared at his pet for a moment before Isabella noticed him. "Oh, there you are, Perry." Isabella picked up the platypus and cradled him in her arms like a baby. Ferb breathed a sigh of relief. "What can I do to help?" she set the animal down by Ferb.

Ferb stared at her for a few seconds wordlessly. Finally, he cleared his throat. "Just put the new lights up or something, Isabella." He barely managed to rasp out.

"Jeez, you didn't have to be a jerk about it." She huffed sarcastically as she walked into the church, where Phineas was on the phone.

"Yeah, he's here by Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated and the First Baptist of Danville. He's not too badly hurt, which is strange considering he appears to have been in a vehicle accident of some sort but there could be some internal bleeding, so you need to get down here right away!"

Phineas exhaled as he closed the phone. Isabella was already quickly putting up the lights, which were luckily white and not multicolored. The way the light reflected off the cream paint in the sanctuary gave off a sense of ethereal beauty.

"Wow! Now THAT looks good!" Phineas grinned as he made a note to get a new audio system ready. "Speaking of, it, uh, kinda looks like you're free tonight."

"Phineas! He could have been killed!" Isabella yelled down from her position on the ladder.

"But he wasn't, so that joke's okay, right?"

"Pffft. It's just-" Isabella dusted off her hands as she hopped down from the ladder. "-you've never been the type to be insensitive. Intentionally, I mean."

Isabella started towards the doors of the sanctuary. "Hey, the blast could have got me and Ferb, too! This is my coping mechanism!" Phineas trailed along after her. The pair finally stood outside, where a group of street cleaners were disposing of the robot parts.

Then they started to laugh.

Candace was standing off to the side, alone, carrying a cake.

"Mom's not gonna see this one, either, is she?" She sighed in defeat. "But I always have to." One of the street cleaners looked up at her.

"It's actually pretty common that we have killer robit parts and all that coming out of that there buildin' actually so, yeah. We've gotten purdy good at cleanin' up."

"Killer? Robot parts?" Isabella suddenly broke out of her elated state. Phineas, however, had not heard any of it. The girl rolled her eyes, then looked up at Candace. She took Candace's hand and excitedly led her inside the building.

"Woah! This place looks crazy! Leave it to Phineas and Ferb to go completely off-script and still manage to deliver something I didn't know I wanted."

"For the record, this was mostly my doing." Isabella put her hands on her hips as she beamed up triumphantly. "And I guess a little bit Flint's."

"Also, we're gonna need a new audio system and we're probably gonna have to replace all the stuff damaged in the explosion," she casually admitted as she left the sanctuary to gather the rest of the wedding party to take them to the hall where dinner was taking place.

"Wait, was there a second explosion?"

"So that's where the little green fella went." Heinz arrived, Vanessa in tow, at the First Baptist of Danville just as the wedding party arrived. It consisted of the Johnsons, the Flynn-Fletchers, the Garcia-Shapiros, and a few of Candace's other friends. Candace noticed Vanessa and smiled at her.

"Hey, V! Is that your dad? You should totally join us, we're gonna have a rehearsal dinner for my wedding!"

"Uh, sure." Vanessa glanced at her father. "You're getting married?"

"Oh, man!" Candace slapped her forehead. "I guess we have a lot to catch up on. I've been out of town at law school for the past few years."

"That's crazy. Congrats."

"So, how's the secret agent thing going?"

"It's kinda on the backburner, right now, you know... complications." Her eyes didn't quite meet Candace's. The other woman sensed that she should just let it lie. "Is it that Johnson guy?" Vanessa inquisitively leaned in. Candace beamed ear-to-ear.

"Who else?"

Heinz, meanwhile, was more interested in his young protege, who was being lifted on a stretcher into an ambulance. "Oh my gosh! Are you alright, kiddo?"

Flint briefly regained consciousness. "Check... the... brakes..." His head slumped back over as he fell asleep. Heinz looked on as the ambulance rushed off.

The rehearsal dinner went swimmingly. Phineas, Ferb, Isabella, and some of the Fireside Girls sat in the corner, joking around. That is to say, everyone but Ferb joked around. Candace and Vanessa exchanged contact details and caught up on old times. The adults discussed boring, adult things, like antiquing, space, and Joseph's time at sea.

Heinz nudged Ferb, and tried not to make eye contact with the glaring platypus sitting on the teen's lap. "Hey, the device you swiped earlier... where did it go?"

Phineas butt in. "Turns out, it worked a bit too well. It destroyed itself along with the electronics in the sanctuary."

Doofenshmirtz sat back. On one hand, glorious success. On the other hand, he no longer had the device to threaten local eateries with. "Pretty cool, though, huh?"

Ferb nodded as he stroked Perry in his lap. The platypus happily chirped.

A/N: Sorry for the delay in getting this one out, phew! It's been... what, a month? Finals at school, relocating to my parents, building a computer and finding a job... it's been a trip. Ooh, I also got absolutely addicted to Avatar: The Last Airbender, which is now my second favorite cartoon of all time. I've really enjoyed writing these chapters late at night though, so I'm going to try to be more consistent. Please, tell me what you thought. I'm trying to strike the balance between dramatic and humorous at this point.

NEXT TIME: Double Vision

Extra-dimensional travelers cause trouble for the boys! Doofenshmirtz seeks revenge for the death of a dear friend! Flint continues to be thirsty!