The mission that Major Monogram had given him was rather simple: Doctor Doofenshmirtz had created some sort of new –inator and Monogram wanted Perry to go smash it.

The whole thing took three hours. It would have been shorter but Perry had waited in his trap until the last possible second to escape, and then he had deliberately drawn out the fight. Not just to try and use the fight to take up the four hour period in which he couldn't see Sylvia; he also needed something to keep his mind off of Sylvia, and this fight had been ideal. Doofenshmirtz had been babbling about something or another and Perry had focused on that. It had actually turned out to be a rather complicated and amusing backstory.

When he got back to OWCA HQ, it was nearly six in the evening. He went straight to Natasha's office to collect Nicky. He had intended to immediately go find Sylvia in the hospital bay but he was feeling tired.

The next thing he knew, he woke up at his desk. The clock said eight am.

I slept for twelve hours! Perry realised with a jolt.

Gathering up Nicky, who was asleep on the desk, he went straight to the waiting room. He met Apollo as the doctor was just coming out.

"Ah, Perry. I was just coming to look for you."

Perry nearly let out a stream of "OH MY GOSH HAS SOMETHING HAPPENED IS SHE OKAY DID SHE DIE" but Apollo's lack of a serious tone made him hold his tongue and simply ask, "Is everything okay?"

"Everything's great," Apollo smiled. "I was worried about the effect that the surgery will have on Sylvia's ability to sing."

Perry felt a sting of guilt. He hadn't thought of that. "And?"

"She'll still be able to sing like normal," Apollo replied. "As long as she doesn't overly strain herself, she can still do performances that are less than an hour in length, unless she has regular five minute breaks."

"That's great news," Perry sighed in relief. "Can I see her now?"

"Sure. She's been awake all night, though, so she might be asleep. I think she's been composing."

With Nicky, Perry went into the hospital room. Sure enough, Sylvia was asleep in her bed, under the covers. She wasn't looking as pale as she was before, which Perry knew was a good sign. He sat down beside Sylvia's bed and placed Nicky on the sheet. The baby platypus crawled up onto his mother's body and curled up. That woke Sylvia. Her eyes opened and she smiled, stroking her son gently.

"How are you feeling?" Perry asked his mate.

"Out of breath at the moment," Sylvia replied. "Apollo said that's how I'm going to feel for about a week so I'm used to it. How's Nicky been?"

"Missing his mom."

"And you?"

"Missing my mate."

Sylvia chuckled. "Apollo told me I can still sing, which is a relief."

"Yeah it is. I know you love singing."

Sylvia grinned. "I've already composed a song while I was in here. Well, I have the lyrics and some of the tune."

"Already?"

"Well, the first thing I thought of when I woke up was you," Sylvia smiled. "And I felt like I was on top of the world, even though I was lying in a hospital bed. By the way, was Nicky there when I had my operation?"

Perry nodded. "I managed to persuade Apollo to let Nicky stay with you during surgery."

Sylvia put her paw on Perry's. "Thank you. I really appreciate everything you've done for me and Nicky."

"You're my family now," Perry said. "You're my mate and Nicky's our son. I feel like he's my own."

"I feel like that too," said Sylvia, before she yawned. "Man, I'm tired."

"You should go back to sleep, then," said Perry. "Nick and will stay with you until you fall asleep."

Sylvia took Perry's hand and interlocked their fingers. "I love you, Perry."

"Love you too, Syl."

Sylvia smiled. Then her eyes slowly closed and her chest began moving rhythmically up and down. Nicky fell sideways in panic. "Mummy dead!" he proclaimed, terrified.

Perry quickly scooped Nicky up and held the shaking baby in his hands. "No, Nicky. Mommy's just asleep."

"Mummy asleep?" Nicky asked.

Perry nodded. "That's right. Mommy's asleep."

…

When Sylvia woke up, Perry was gone. Her iPad with her piano app was by her bed, so she lifted this up and began composing the melody for her new song. There was a reason she had chosen the words "top of the world" when telling Perry about her new song.

It was the title of her new song.

…

I highly recommend looking up the song Top Of The World by The Carpenters; this is the perfect song for their relationship, and it's going to be featured next chapter.