As The Clock Ticks Chapter 3: The Artificial Valve, a phineas and ferb fanfic

And so, the story that was once called "Time and Time Again" is now called "As the Clock Ticks". Thank you, Sixletlover11 for the suggestion…as well as the new cover for the story…seriously, guys, she drew it herself! Gaze upon it! GAZE UPON ITS AWESOMENESS! 8DDDDDDDD

Dan Povenmire and Swampy Marsh own "Phineas and Ferb"

I own only my OCs

…Ahem. Now, without a further ado, the next chapter of "As the Clock Ticks"

Enjoy! :D

P/F/P/F

Chapter 2: The Artificial Valve

Only a day had passed in the present since Doofenshmirtz and Phineas left for the future. Isabella told Buford and Baljeet right when they asked about Phineas's well-being (although it only seemed that Baljeet cared, Buford was obviously just as worried). Neither of them were surprised, and even placed a bet about how someone was going to save Phineas via anything, including time travel. Least to say, Baljeet won, and got a whopping 20 dollars as well as a knuckle sandwich for mocking the bully.

Irving still had no idea about what happened to Phineas. He had been too depressed to do anything, least of all find out what had happened to the red-head. Django, who had been busy helping his father with some art projects, had little to no idea of what was even going on. He had heard about Phineas being in a critical condition, and he worried for his well-being just like everyone else. But he didn't know about the two to three month time limit of Phineas's life.

Of course everyone was worried. News of what happened spread in Danville like wildfire. Both Phineas and Ferb were well-known in the Tri-State Area to be prodigies beyond prodigies, building things that were nearly impossible even for grown-ups. No one ever thought that either of them would have their lives at stake until Phineas was taken to the hospital. The whole "aren't you a little young to have heart problems?" was what everyone was wondering.

"Ferb..."

The green-headed Brit looked to raven-headed girl, the same stoic look that he always wore. It seemed forced, since his brother was on the verge of death, and had been taken to a different time to be saved. Isabella sighed. "Do you think Phineas will be alright?" she asked.

There was a long pause as Ferb fell into thought. After a while, he concluded that his brother had survived many things throughout the course of years. Surely, he would be okay. Ferb then nodded, and said, "I'm sure he'll be fine."

Isabella smiled. Ferb was never wrong, after all. If he said that Phineas would be fine, then he'd have to be.

...Right?

Beep

"…Ugh…"

His vision was blurry. The glaring lights shining down at him made it all the more harder for him to see who was around him or what was going on. He could tell that there were four people, two on one side, and two on the other. He could barely make out what they were saying.

"His condition is worsening. I suggest we proceed with surgery immediately."

"Yes. It's the only way to save him now…"

He groaned a bit, his head hurting. "Mm…where…?"

"I still can't believe how malformed his heart valves are. I've never seen anything like it."

"Huh…Dr. Lewis, he's waking up."

"Sedate him. We'll need to undergo a perfect surgery if we're going to save him."

A few seconds later there was a jab in his arm. He cringed, though barely, and felt the darkness take over his sight again. The drowsiness came in quickly, and Phineas Flynn blacked out completely once again.

Waiting was the hardest part of the whole ordeal. The uncertainty of whether or not Phineas had died. Dr. Doofenshmirtz knew that he should probably be figuring out he was going to set up the much smaller machine that would help them both get back to the past, but all that he could think about was Phineas. He hadn't paid much thought of the other two who saved him, other than the fact that the goat could talk, which was enough of a surprise to knock him out. He was awake now though, thanks to a good buck in the side via pygmy goat.

"So," the woman beside him, whose name was Alice, broke the silence, "What exactly is wrong with your son...uh?"

"Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz." the 'evil' scientist said.

Alice's eyes shifted slightly. "You're a doctor?" she asked.

"My profession is more of mechanical ingenuity that medical work if that's what you're thinking," Doofenshmirtz stated.

"Right," Alice nodded, "How did your son get into this state?"

Doofenshmirtz often questioned why people mistook Phineas to be his son. Yes, the two had many similarities, from the style of their hair, their blue eyes, even the hunch of their backs. He and Phineas even had near to same personalities. To be quite clear, sometimes Doofenshmirtz wondered if Phineas was related to him in some way, but then concluded that it was just mere coincidence that they had such similarities.

"He isn't my son," Doofenshmirtz said, mentally counting how many times he's had to say that over the time he knew the boy, "He's a friend of mine. Now as for what's wrong with him, about two months ago, he was diagnosed with a congenital heart valve defect."

"He has heart problems, then?" Alice asked curiously, "But he's so young!"

"I'm equally surprised," the pygmy goat beside Alice, whose name was Perry much like the nemesis Doofenshmirtz knew too well, said with crossed front legs, "How can someone so young suffer from such a thing?"

"Its genetics, apparently," Dr. Doofenshmirtz explained, "His father-his REAL father-died from a heart attack."

"Poor thing," Alice said sadly.

"Yes," Perry the Pygmy Goat sighed, "It's rare to find such travesties here in New-Danville…" the goat looked to Doofenshmirtz, wrinkling his nose a bit, "Come to think of it I've never seen you around here before…and its odder still of HOW we found you."

Doofenshmirtz froze a bit. Although he was well prepared of how he and Phineas would return to their time, he hadn't really anticipated anyone actually seeing them when they entered the future; in other words, he hadn't thought of a believable alibi. Would time collapse if he said he came from the past, or does that only work if you came from the future? And even if he told them the truth, would they believe him, or get him treated from his "insanity"?

"Well…uh…" Doofenshmirtz chuckled, "You see…we come from a different town far from here, where they couldn't treat him. We came here in hopes of saving him."

That may have only been half-true, but he would have to manage. Maybe if he was lucky, these two would probably be gullible enough to believe him.

"Explain the fiery vortex of doom that you both fell out of, then." Perry demanded skeptically.

Of course, Doofenshmirtz wasn't the luckiest person in the world, so the demand was no surprise.

"…The vortex…?" Doofenshmirtz sweated, "Uh…"

"Knock it off, goat-breath." Alice growled, "You're being really rude."

One out of two would be fine in any other case, but now...

"But aren't you questioning it?" Perry asked turning to his human partner, "What's with the portal? He could have driven here, couldn't he? And why was it burning? We've seen plenty of portals and vortexes of all sorts, and none of them were on fire."

"He really inquisitive, isn't he?" Doofenshmirtz thought with the slightest of irritation.

"Furthermore, he fainted after I spoke as if he's never heard an animal speak before." Perry rambled on, "Which he hadn't! You had to explain it to him! Isn't it supposed to be normal for animals to have human speech?

"And that portal...you saw it collapse. No portals collapse like that! It's almost as if the portal itself wasn't advanced to our timeline."

"And now he's mentioning timelines." Doofenshmirtz stated mentally, "Not a good sign..."

"What do timelines have to do with anything?" Alice asked, nearly tilting her head like a curious child.

"...Nothing." Perry sighed, "Nothing at all."

"Hm...? Wait. Is he hiding something?"

"No. You are, mister, and I want answers."

Doofenshmirtz was taken aback. First he learns that animals can talk in the future (something about microchips, animal schools, videotapes, a lot of things that proved to be able to teach animals the skill of human speech). Now this pygmy goat can apparently read his thoughts. Doofenshmirtz was about to ask if he was talking out loud, when Perry the Pygmy Goat interrupted him.

"The T-S.U.U. placed another chip in their animal agents brains, allowing them to read thoughts of others." Perry explained nonchalantly, "We did this in order to read the minds of those planning on getting out of line. We're sort of like a secret service kind of thing."

"I still think that lacks freedom of speech." Alice said with crossed arms.

"It's in the mind, not out of the mouth." Perry stated, "We have freedom of speech, but that doesn't include thoughts."

"That doesn't make it any better!"

"Shh..." several nurses hushed Alice, who shrunk down a bit.

"Sorry," Alice apologized softly.

"How is Phineas, anyway?" Doofenshmirtz asked, changing the subject.

"Oh, well," Perry said, "The doctors told me that the kid was in a critical condition, but they've managed to stabilize him. They're probably undergoing surgery as we speak."

Doofenshmirtz sighed; whether it was out of relief or to let out stress, Alice and Perry weren't sure. Alice looked to Perry again, and said, "Did they say anything else, any news?"

"Nope." Perry answered, "They haven't come back with any news."

"No news means good news," Doofenshmirtz chanted as Alice and Perry (the Pygmy Goat) went on with their conversation, "No news means good news..."

Things were going well...so far...at least. Doofenshmirtz simply kept saying those words that were almost meaningless to him at this point. This whole trip wasn't for nothing, was it? It couldn't have been, right? Phineas was going to be fine...he was going to be fine.

"No news means good news...no news means good news..."

"Heinz?" Alice shook Doofenshmirtz out of his thoughts, "The doctor wants to talk to you."

Doofenshmirtz's head shot up to see a man wearing a white coat similar to his own, only it fit more to be a doctor's. The man looked like he could be the twin brother of Dr. Anderson, only this guy had black hair while Dr. Anderson's was brown. Other than that, the resemblance was impeccable.

"Heinz Doofenshmirtz, I presume?" the doctor asked, "I'm Dr. Ivan. It's a pleasure meeting you."

Doofenshmirtz and Dr. Ivan shook hands. "How is Phineas?" was the first thing that Doofenshmirtz said to the doctor.

Dr. Ivan looked serious, but calm. Probably because he had done this several times before, no doubt. "I think it's better if I showed you." Dr. Ivan turned to walk away, "Come with me."

Doofenshmirtz followed immediately. Alice and Perry glanced to each other, wondering whether or not they should follow, but decided to stay put. They didn't really have the right to butt into this anymore than they already did. Even if Perry was a little suspicious of Doofenshmirtz.

"Whatever that guy's hiding, I'm gonna find out." Perry said with a cross of front-legs.

Alice merely rolled her eyes. "Oh, Perry..."

Doofenshmirtz and Ivan entered one of the hospital rooms. In the middle of the room lied Phineas on a bed: on his side and completely limp. A tube ran some machine down his throat, and his tongue was hanging on the side. Phineas was now audibly breathing, but barely, and he was far from conscious at the moment.

Doofenshmirtz walked to the boy's side. "Oh, Phineas..."

"In his condition, I highly doubt he'll survive another forty eight hours." Dr. Ivan stated with a shake of his head.

Doofenshmirtz looked over to Dr. Ivan. "You can help him, right?" Doofenshmirtz asked, "This whole trip wasn't for nothing, right?"

"We need to replace his aortic heart valve as soon as possible." Dr. Ivan explained walking to a table and grabbing something, "We'll remove the defective valve and place one of these in its place."

The doctor held up a small circular valve for Doofenshmirtz to see. It was small enough to fit in someone's nose if one tried hard enough. The flaps within were very finely crafted, and looked fairly similar to an actual heart valve. "This is going into his heart?" Doofenshmirtz asked.

"That one is just a model, but yes." Dr. Ivan explained, "Alternatively, we could place one made of spare tissue inside, but they need replacing every decade or so, and Phineas is much too young to have to put up with those surgeries for her whole life. Personally, I strongly recommend the mechanical valve."

Doofenshmirtz kept his eyes on the artificial valve. "Yes, yes, I can't really see Phineas coming back here every ten years, anyway."

"There is one problem." Dr. Ivan said, "Since Phineas is a minor, I'm legally required to obtain parental consent to perform this operation. You said you were just a friend of his?"

Doofenshmirtz felt sick. Alice must have told him that they weren't related while he was spaced out in thought. "Oh no. I... I can't go back for that. Not in forty-eight hours. It'll take too long!"

"I'm sorry, but, I can't go against the law," Dr. Ivan said.

Doofenshmirtz grabbed Dr. Ivan by his coat, looking at him pleadingly. "I don't have the time to do it!" he exclaimed, nearing to panic, "Please, you have to save him! There has to be something I can do! Anything!"

The doctor scratched his chin. "There's no record of either of you in our files, so I think... yes, well, the receptionists do tend to make errors from time to time." he nodded as the man. "We'll get your son prepped for his operation right away."

Tears ran down Doofenshmirtz's face as he found himself pulling Dr. Ivan into a death-hug. "Thank you! Thank you so much!"

"I'm just doing my job." Dr. Ivan smiled as he politely pried Doofenshmirtz off of him. "Let's get you back in the waiting room so we can start on Phineas. I have some reading material concerning what to expect out of the heart surgery, too."

Dr. Ivan reached into his coat and took out several pamphlets. He handed them to Doofenshmirtz, who took them with a nod. "Of course, yes. I'll get to reading these right away."

Doofenshmirtz made his way back to the waiting room, where Alice and Perry remained. Both Alice and Perry thought about leaving, but decided to stick around and see what would happen. Plus, it seemed wrong to leave people who were in trouble after they helped them, although it was obvious who was more concerned over the two rather than curious of where they came from and why they were here. For all Perry was concerned, Doofenshmirtz and Phineas could be aliens.

"How's Phineas?" Alice asked.

"He's doing fine," Doofenshmirtz said rather calmly as to hide his reaction from before, "Who knew that people mistaking me to being Phineas's father would come in handy one day?"

Alice blinked. "So they think you're his father now?" she asked with a slight chuckle, "I wonder how this is gonna turn out..."

"I still want answers from you, Heinz," Perry stated.

Doofenshmirtz nodded, not really paying attention to anything that the goat said as he opened the first pamphlet. Perry tried grabbing his attention some more, but groaned and decided to let it slide this one time. Alice peered over Doofenshmirtz's shoulder to see what he was reading, but after a while got a bit bored. She had already read about artificial heart valves in science books anyway. She knew how they worked.

That night, Doofenshmirtz spent most of the time setting up the much smaller apparatus. The machine was contained in a small box that could fit into someone's pocket. It was black with a red button on top, meant to be pressed if it were to be opened. When opened and set up, it looked much like a tripod with a large camera on top, sparking bits of the same green energy that created the first portal.

It was a lot weaker than the original time machine, but it was only meant for a one time use so that didn't really matter to Doofenshmirtz. As long as it was enough power for them to return to the present, Doofenshmirtz was fine with it. He spent the rest of the night testing the small apparatus, having spent every ounce of energy running it. He spent even more in panic of Phineas's well-being, though Alice visited the next day as well just to see if Phineas was alright.

Doofenshmirtz was, if not momentarily, relieved that everything was going to be alright. After Alice left, saying something about being late for work if she left any later but would be back later in the evening to see how everything was going, Doofenshmirtz took a seat on a chair, closed his eyes, and fell asleep.

A/N:

Cliffhanger! :D

Will Phineas be okay? That ain't any of your business! XD

Yes, this seems a bit shorter than the last chapters, but that's not really a big problem, right?

You know what I love about Dr. D? You can do pretty much anything with him and he won't be OOC. At least that's my way of thinking about him. :3

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I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! There's more to come soon! :D