Disclaimer: Phineas and Ferb and all characters associated with Phineas and Ferb are the intellectual property of Dan Povenmire, Jeff "Swampy" Marsh and Disney.

The story, characters, and incidents portrayed are fictitious. No identification with actual persons (living or deceased) or events is intended or should be inferred. Please review this story to let me know what can be improved or revised. Thank you.

Perry

After a few minutes of running with her barely in my line of sight, I find myself no longer in the stadium. After a little while longer, I quickly find myself in a park. I see Diana collapsed underneath a tree. As I approach, I hear muffled sobs.

"Hey," I call gently. "Are you okay?"

She lifts her tear streaked face from her paws and tries to answer me, but it comes out as another sob. I go over to her and hug her, gently rocking her back and forth.

"Hey, it's okay, he can't hurt you."

"Yes," she sobs, "yes he can. You've made things worse…"

I let her keep crying as I hold her. I don't know what exactly is going on, but I have a distinct feeling that it has to do with what she's been keeping from me. I need to get her to tell me what's going on.

I don't know how to help her right now, so I figure the best thing for me to do is to just keep holding her and let her cry. After a few minutes, her sobs are much quieter.

"Better?" I ask quietly.

She sniffs and slightly nods her head.

"Diana, I can't help you if you don't tell me what's going on." I never let my voice get over a whisper.

"You can't help me… no one can…"

"Diana… you know what I do." She looks at me sharply. "I know you know. Which is why I can help you."

"It's because of what you are that you can't… you'll be forced to arrest me and every one of the others if you knew."

"Are you a vandal?"

"No…"

"Are you a thief?"

"No."

"Are you a murderer?"

"Perry, no!" she raises her voice.

"Then why can't you tell me? Diana, trust me. I can help you."

"You don't understand…"

I hug her closer. "Then help me understand."

She shakes her head. She's adamant, I'll give her that. She's not going to tell me what's going on, I can tell. It doesn't matter how much I press her on it.

"Okay… want to go back to the concert?" I ask. She shakes her head again. "Okay, then let's go to sleep. The hotel isn't far from here. Come on."

I gently help her get up onto her hind legs, holding her shoulder as we walk. After a few minutes, she finally speaks up again.

"Thank you, Perry…"

"You're welcome," I smile.

As we enter the hotel, we're shot many looks from different people. I feel Diana tense up under the curious glares, so I rub her shoulder some to try and distract her.

Within minutes, we're in my hotel room. I let her enter the restroom to clean herself. I look at my phone to see another text from Pinky.

how is concert

I sigh. How am I going to explain this to him? I know Pinky, and if I tell him that I brought someone to my hotel room, a female someone at that, I know exactly where his mind is going to go. I don't need gossip starting up.

I look at the clock. The concert starts in ten minutes from now. I shake my head and chuckle slightly. I quickly send a response.

still not started :p

He responds to me quickly.

tell me how it is wish I was there

I smile and send another message, ending the conversation.

turning off phone will tell tomorrow

I put the phone on its charger and sit down at the desk. I place my face in my paws.

What am I going to do now? I think. She isn't going to tell me what's going on, so how am I going to figure this out?

This isn't fair. I'm on vacation, for Pete's sake, I shouldn't be thinking like I do when I'm working. Yet that's exactly what I'm doing, and I don't have any intention of stopping. I need to figure out what's going on. That bulldog had been about to do something horrible to Diana, and I can't let that stand. It's my duty to figure it out.

I look over at the drawer I'd stored the tickets in. I had seen Diana trying to look into it, which is why I'd closed it so quickly. A lot of my equipment is in there. Bringing it had just been a precaution, but now I'm grateful for my paranoia.

I open up the drawer and pull out a tracker. I know Diana will probably resent me for this, but if she refuses to tell me what's going on, then I won't have a choice. I quickly hide it in my fur and close the drawer. I then stick a lock on it to prevent her from going through it.

She now has confirmation that I'm an O.W.C.A. agent, and I don't need her trying to get to my gadgets. While I doubt that she'd try to, I still can't take the risk.

I pull off my clothing and lay down on my bed, staring up at the ceiling. I sigh, trying to focus on what I'm going to do tomorrow. If things go just fine, with no interuptions, I'd be souvenir shopping. After that, I'm supposed to be leaving the city to go to the beach for a week.

But I'm not going to go to the beach, I've already decided on that. A week is a long time, and I could use it to my advantage. Investigating has always been one of my strong suits, and if I can figure out what Diana does, then I can start to piece together what I need to do.

She claims that I'd be forced to arrest her if I found out. I don't know if that's true or not, but I'd rather not. I've really taken a liking to her over the past several hours. Even if I don't know her too well, I consider her a friend, and I'd rather not hurt her if I can help it.

I hear the shower turn off and I lean up against the head of the bed. I grab the television remote and turn it on. I begin flipping through random channels, trying to find something interesting. I kinda wish I was at the concert right now, but it wouldn't be any fun by myself. Plus, that bulldog is probably still there, and I really don't want a round two.

Finally, I stop on a soap opera. One of my favorites at that. Perfect, I think, smiling.

About a minute later, Diana comes out of the bathroom. I cast her a quick glance before turning back to the television. She hops up next to me.

"Whatcha watchin'?"

I cast her another glance. Not only did she hop into the bed with me, but now she's flirting again. Fantastic, just what I don't need.

"It's called I Hate You, I Love You. The plot up to this point in the story is pretty complicated, so I won't explain everything. But the basic rundown is that these two people can't decide whether or not they love each other or hate each other. It's a back and forth kind of thing."

"And… that's a good thing?" She gives me a questioning look.

I shrug. "The story itself is pretty good, despite the weird concept. I like it."

She smiles and leans on me. I don't react to it.

"You were right about the hair dye. It just washed right out."

I look away at that.

"Sorry about the concert…" she says quietly. "I know how badly you wanted to go."

"That isn't the problem. Diana, you need to tell me what's going on. I can help you."

"You're still going on about that? Why can't you just let it go?"

"Because you can't let it go. It's bothering me."

"Why do you care so much?"

I look away again. How do I explain that I just want to help out a friend? I know how she feels about me, at least, I'm pretty sure. And if I shoot her down right now, it could push her away.

"Oh…" she breathes, smiling. "I see." She grips onto me tighter.

Great, now she's misinterpreting what I'm thinking. I need to think of a way to keep her at bay.

"Look, Diana. I need to know what's going on. Despite my work, I don't do good with secrets. Either tell me, or just…"

She gives me a slightly hurt expression. "Just… what?"

I don't answer. I just turn my head and give her a cold glare. She gets the message and removes her arms from me.

"Who was that bulldog?" She doesn't answer me. She stares at the television.

I pretend to scratch at my abdomen and grab the tracking device. I grab her by the shoulders.

"Answer me, Diana!" I hiss. As I see a bit of fear in her eyes, I bury the tracker in her fur.

"I-I can't tell you," she stammers.

I look her in the eyes a little while longer before sighing. I let go.

"Let's go to sleep," I say quietly, turning off the television.

Diana gives me a sad look. "Perry, if I could tell you, I would. It's just… I can't, I just can't."

"Does it have anything to do with that bulldog was implying?"

She falls silent and slips off of the bed. It hurts me a bit to see her so sullen, but I don't need to do anything stupid. She climbs into the other bed and looks over at me.

"Good night, Perry…" she says quietly.

"Good night," I answer, reaching over and pulling on the lamp cord, cutting out the light.

A few minutes pass before I start to regulate my breathing, pretending to be asleep. A little while longer passes and I hear Diana get out of her bed. I feel weight shifting next to me. I don't open my eyes, because I already know that she's climbed back into my bed.

"I wish I could tell you…" she whispers. "But you'd hate me…" I feel her hand gently brushing my face. "Oh, how I wish I could tell you everything…"

It's now that I realize that whatever it is she's doing, she hates it. Whatever it is, I know that I can't let her down. I'm going to help her get out of it.