A/N: Sorry for the delay, I have been busy. The rest of the story is practically finished, and I'm on holiday now, so I expect I'll have the rest of the story submitted here soon.

Everything had returned to normal.

Perry could hardly believe it. His lives as a pet and as a secret agent had collided, Phineas and Ferb had found out everything, and met Doof, they had travelled to another dimension, and fought another Doofenshmirtz.

Together.

And then everything had gone back to normal, like a giant reset-button had been pushed.

Perry wondered if the 'Mysterious Force' that protected the boys from Candace's busting was behind it as well. People from both sides of his life did happen to interact surprisingly often, but always in a way he managed to keep his double-life a secret.

It had been an interesting experience, and very liberating, having his boys find out about his secret. Of course it had been shadowed by the knowledge it couldn't last, and that he would have to leave his family. Leave Danville. And his nemesis.

Perry wondered what it would have been like if the reset-button hadn't been pushed, but if he could have somehow kept his family and nemesis after everything had been revealed.

It wouldn't work, Phineas and Ferb would worry about him and try to help, thus putting themselves in danger, Candace would probably try to bust him as well, and of course Doof would know his family…

Perry wasn't terribly worried the doctor would have tried to harm the Flynn-Fletchers, he was evil, true, but not like that. However, he'd end up putting them in danger inadvertently in some way eventually.

But he wasn't like the 2nd dimension Doofenshmirtz.

There was something about him that bothered Perry. Apart from how he was evil, of course. Actually, there was something odd related to that and how he felt about it.

Eventually it hit him. He wasn't his doctor.

And again it stroke him that he wanted specifically him as his nemesis, something he had realized before. But seeing this other version of Heinz Doofenshmirtz, who felt so much more like the kind of a villain he would have preferred as his nemesis before he got assigned to Doof, made the agent realize how he had grown accustomed to their arrangement.

And it wasn't just to stop him, of course that was something that needed to be done, and despite his nemesis being in habit of practically foiling his own plans, there was the possibility he could pose a real threat, and Perry took satisfaction in protecting the world from him.

But if he wanted to, Perry could have taken care of him permanently. But he didn't really want to, and since he supposed some other, more evil villain would just take Doofenshmirtz' place, letting him stay in business was the best solution from the agency's point of view as well.

Or so Perry reasoned.

But he couldn't help wondering how long things could go on the way they were.

And if he really should be that content with the way his nemesis-relationship had turned out.

Perry landed on the roof of the DEI building, ready for a trap.

Nothing so far. Major Monogram had briefed him on how Dr. Doofenshmirtz had browsed local swap meets for buttons, an activity which was deemed suspicious enough by the agency to send Perry in.

But there was a distinct lack of traps, button-themed or otherwise. Assuming he was expected inside, the agent kicked the door open, flew through the doorway and landed in a fighting-pose in one fluid motion.

But instead of a giant buttonhole or something along those lines restraining him, the platypus was greeted by a startled doctor Doofenshmirtz:

"Perry the Platypus! What an unsurprise! And by that I of course mean a surprise. I wasn't really expecting you, I don't even have a trap ready. I'd fetch some old one, but I don't really have the time for-"

"What?"

He followed platypus' pointing finger.

"That's nothing evil. It's just a scale model of Eiffel-tower made of buttons. Sorry. Unless… Maybe it's against the copyright law or something? Using the likeness of the tower? You just don't know these days-"

Perry shook his head.

"No? Sorry, then, nothing evil here. Wait!"

Perry, who had started to leave, turned around.

"Aren't you curious why I'd build a scale model of Eiffel tower out of buttons? Look, I even used these cute small ones to make the antenna on top! I'm going on a date!"

Perry couldn't help flinching at that.

Luckily for him, Doof was too focused on showing off his work to notice the platypus' reaction. Even if the doctor was usually sort of dense he had these flashes of insight when Perry thought he could read him like an open book.

"You see, Perry the Platypus, do you remember my scheme involving buttons a few weeks ago? When I planned to get all the zippers in the TRI-STATE-AREA stuck with my Stuckinator so everyone would have to buy buttons from me? It involved the backstory about my summer-job at the button-factory and the lemur-attack?"

Perry nodded. He had wondered why Doofenshmirtz would have another plan involving buttons this soon.

"So, preparing for that, I did some research on historical buttons and the significance of the Crusades in the development of the use of the buttonhole in the 13th century Europe- That plan went through several rewrites, originally I was planning to-, actually, I'm not going to say, I can still use that one. Anyway, I toured the button-museums of Danville, and met this tour-guide, and we bonded over our mutual hatred of zippers, and agreed to go on a date!"

He gestured proudly towards the model.

"And, yeah, I'm planning to give this to her. I suspect we can badmouth the zipper-industry only for so long, hopefully this is a nice conversation-piece or something. In any case, I really should be going, bye bye, Perry the Platypus!"

And so the agent found himself pushed out of the door.

He felt disappointed, somehow.

Well, that was to be expected, he had admitted to himself he enjoyed thwarting the doctor, so not having anything to foil would be a cause for disappointment, from a purely emotional standpoint.

But why was he feeling slightly upset at the idea of the doctor dating?

He thought about his feelings while driving back home.

Maybe it was because he was worried about the safety of the woman? That would make sense.

But to his surprise he found he felt disdain for her.

How was that even possible? He hadn't even met the woman in question.

But if the doctor did start a relationship, he'd probably have less time for his schemes, which in turn would mean Perry would be sent after him less often.

Perry had to admit to himself he was jealous of the doctor's time.

But he had still not gotten to the bottom of the issue, or so he felt. And he had avoided fully analyzing the status of his nemesis-relationship for a while now. That was simply unacceptable. Whatever problems he might have, would need to be confronted head-on.

It wasn't like he wanted the doctor all for himself (which would indeed be unreasonable). And he had on several occasions helped him with Vanessa. And indeed when he thought about Vanessa, none of that jealousy surfaced. Quite the opposite, he liked Vanessa, almost the same way he liked Candace.

Perry thought of Dr D on a date. Anger. No, not only that, but somehow a sense of betrayal. Which didn't really make sense unless…

Then he thought of the doctor with his daughter. No anger. In fact he would have preferred they'd have a good relationship.

So he was jealous of his girlfriend, but not daughter?

Could it be?

Perry reminded himself not to jump into conclusions.

He'd need to be sure.

And he knew just how to do it.

Perry approached Candace's room.

After making sure the room was empty, he shed the guise of mindless pet and assumed his secret agent persona.

He went through the stack of teen magazines. Perry knew he had seen just the thing he needed when he had spent some quality time with Candace. The girl sometimes acted annoyed with Perry, but often when they were alone at home she didn't mind his quiet company, and was happy to let him on her bed when she was studying or reading.

After a while he found the issue of 'Teen Vague' he remembered seeing.

"Are you in love with him?"

He could see Candace had already taken the quiz, and unsurprisingly, gotten the highest possible score. Seeing how it was pretty safe to say she was indeed in love, Perry took this as a sign of the trustworthiness of the test.

He took a pen and got to work.

1. He is the first thing I think of in the morning.

Perry was pretty much certain the first thing he thought about in the morning was whether his family was safe. Closely followed by 'food'. He did eventually think of him, though. So how much did he agree with the statement? Not at all (1), completely (5), or something in between? Perry supposed that since he thought of the Flynn-Fletchers first, and the family had 5 members, Doof was the 6th at most. So '1'.

2. I find myself thinking how cute he looks.

Perry had to stop to ponder. Those kinds of things were something he didn't really think about much. He generally didn't evaluate people (or platypuses, for that matter) based on their physical appearance. That kind of a thing had never felt really all that important to him.

However, he knew what people generally considered cute or beautiful.

And Doctor Doofenshmirtz was neither.

But this wasn't about the public opinion, he'd have to try to look at it completely subjectively.

Perry supposed he liked his eyes. He enjoyed seeing them light up when the man was filled with enthusiasm, and supposed he found that cute or beautiful, at least. Not to mention the mad gleam he got in his eyes occasionally when thinking of a scheme that caused certain odd but not completely uncomfortable feelings in the pit of the platypus's stomach.

And Perry supposed he found his nose aesthetically pleasing.

And since he supposed the general opinion was against him, any cuteness or beauty he saw in the doctor was significant.

After some thought he circled '5'.

3. When I don't see him for a while I feel lonely.

True. He circled '3', since he supposed 'a while' was a relatively short period of time, and it wasn't like he felt immediately lonely, he had his family and the people and agents from OWCA for company as well.

4. I talk about him to everyone I meet.

Perry circled '1'. Never.

5. When I think about my wedding, I can picture him as my groom.

Perry stared at the question for a while. And decided to skip it.

6. I find myself smiling for no reason.

This confused Perry. When he was smiling, of course there was always a reason for it. So he circled '1'.

7. I always like it when I find out we have things in common.

You probably shouldn't be pleased to find out you had things in common with a bad guy. And yet, Perry had been happy to find they had the same taste in soaps. After all, that was something he couldn't share with his family, and Major and Carl weren't interested…

'4', then.

8. Seeing him makes me happy.

'5'.

9. I often worry what he thinks of me.

Perry wasn't in habit of wondering what people thought of him. He strived to be the best at what he did, to be a good person (or a platypus). But not because he worried about his public image. He worried about what his family thought about him, though, but because he didn't want them to find out about his double-life.

'2', maybe? He did sometimes worry the doctor would find out something he shouldn't.

10. I get upset if he is on a date with someone else.

'5'.

There, finished. Perry added up his points and after getting his score looked for his result.

"You think of him as a friend."

Perry thought about it, and decided the test wasn't valid if he skipped some questions.

So he went back to question Nr. 5. Well, certainly now that the magazine had brought up the issue Perry could picture himself marrying Doofenshmirtz. Not that the prospect was plausible or even appealing.

Just in case, though, he circled '5'.

Also looking back at the other questions, he supposed that a 'while' could be interpreted to mean a longer period of time. And since he would eventually miss the doctor, '5' would probably be closer to the truth.

Also, he supposed the magazine meant smiling for no good reason, or for unusual reasons. If former, well, Perry still thought '1' was the correct answer. When Dr. Doofenshmirtz made him smile it was for a good reason. But if it meant the latter, it probably was unusual for an evil scientist to get his nemesis to smile the way he did. A victorious smirk, maybe, when the villain was defeated, (although Perry thought it wasn't exactly good guy-behavior to take joy in the suffering of others) but just being happy to see him? Or offering an encouraging smile when his nemesis was feeling down? Not exactly text-book protocol. Finally Perry changed his answer to '3', as a compromise.

Satisfied the answers now reflected his situation better, he added up the points again, and this time the score was high enough to get another result.

"You are in love with him."

I am in love with Doofenshmirtz.

Perry was in a shock. Then, after ten seconds he decided being in a shock was unproductive and got over it. But it left the question for him to deal with. What was he going to do about it?