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

I open my eyes, instantly awake. I give a quick glance at the clock to see that it's a little past five in the morning. Using my electroreceptors, I can tell that Diana is still next to me, fast asleep. Great, she couldn't have gone back to her own bed? At first she'd acted like she wanted to hide her feelings, but now she's wearing them on her sleeve. What's up with that?

I slowly get out of the bed, making certain I don't wake her. I make my way into the restroom and quickly shower to wash out my hair dye. After I'd taken care of everything I needed to, I exit and go over to my desk, opening up my laptop. I open my instant messaging program.

As expected, a familiar message was on the screen, from my "ally," as he calls himself. I don't know who this guy is, but his constant messages over the past few months are getting annoying.

How's your vacation so far?

I don't respond to it. I don't have time to try and figure out who this guy is today. Right now, I need to focus on other things.

I quickly look up reviews of the concert from last night. Critics didn't like most of the songs, but the reviews are generally positive. I study them so that if Pinky asks for details, I can give them to him.

I then try to look up details involving animals and crimes in Los Angeles. I get nothing aside from a few instances of animal abuse, which I highly doubt is what is going on.

I turn back and look at Diana peacefully sleeping. This is the most relaxed I've seen her. While awake, she's constantly looking around, almost more than me. Normally I would think that animal abuse is what's going on, but this seems worse.

I begin to sort through my emails to see if anything is going on at the agency. As to be expected, I'd gotten no mission requests, but I do see a few invitations to a dance that's coming up soon, including one from Callie the cat. I give a small smile. She's also got a small crush on me, though, I act oblivious to it because I don't return her feelings at all. I'm pretty sure she knows that.

My thoughts drift over to Diana again. I look over at her, fast asleep. Maybe I do somewhat return the feelings that she's been displaying for me. Well, there's no maybe about it. At this point, I know I do at least a little bit. But I know how to separate my emotions from my work, and right now, this is work.

I grab one of my card keys and a notepad and pen, and quietly slip out of the room. I go to the elevator and make my way down to the first floor. I hop up onto the counter and ring the bell for reception.

A few minutes later, the lady from yesterday morning walks in and smiles at me. I note that her name tag reads "Kristen." I smile back then grab out my pen and notepad. I write down what I want, rip off the piece of paper, and hand it to her.

She reads it quickly then nods. "It shouldn't be too much of a problem. I'll have to talk to my manager for confirmation, but I'm sure she'll agree."

I nod my thanks and hop off of the counter. Pretty soon, I'm back in front of my room door. I run the card over the lock and, after hearing the beep, slowly open the door.

I walk over to Diana and gently shake her. "Hey," I say quietly, "time to wake up."

She stirs slightly before looking up at me. "Hey, Perry…" She's clearly not fully awake.

"'Morning, sleepy head. The breakfast buffet will be open in a few minutes. If we go soon we can get it fresh."

"'Kay…" she murmurs, turning away from me. "Just give me a few minutes…"

I nod my head then go over to a drawer, grab out some clothes, and throw them on. I walk over to Diana and shake her again. "Come on, wake up."

"I don't feel very good…" she mutters.

I blink for a few seconds before slapping my forehead. Idiot, you're an idiot, I think to myself. You forgot to give her that medicine.

I quickly run into the bathroom and grab a pill. I exit and go over to the refrigerator and grab out a water bottle before going back to her.

"I forgot to give this to you yesterday," I say. She sleepily opens her eyes and looks at what I'm holding. "Our intestines don't normally mix too well with human foods, so to counteract that, I usually take medicine that helps me digest it. It helps."

She eyes me cautiously, not sure if she should take it or not. I shrug.

"If you're worried that it's bad for you, you don't have to." I toss the pill into my mouth and dry swallow it. "I need one for breakfast anyways."

She slowly sits up, and looks about herself. Her eyes widen when she realizes that she'd fallen asleep besides me. She opens her mouth, probably to apologize, but I raise my hand.

"It's okay; I don't mind." She closes her mouth, and even in the dim light, I can see her embarrassment.

I head into the bathroom and grab another pill. I return to her and hand the pill and water to her. She takes and swallows it with great effort.

"It'll take a few minutes for it to take effect. You'll feel better soon."

"Thank you," she says quietly. "I say that a lot, don't I?"

I give her a sideways smile before going over to the desk to put my phone and wallet in my pockets. I see her climb out of the bed and pull her new clothes on. I walk over to the door and she joins me.

"You look better like this. Without the hair dye, I mean," she says.

"Thank you," I open the door. "Come on, I'm starving."

"When aren't you?" she giggles. I know what she means. Eating's pretty much all I've done since we met. But I need to eat a bunch to keep up my daily routine. You don't get the kind of muscles I have without eating and exercising plenty.

We make our way into the front lobby and make our way over to the buffet. Kristen smiles at me again. "Same as yesterday?" she asks.

I shake my head no. She gets us both two plates with similar items on it, all of which I picked out for Diana and myself. I don't know what she likes as far as human foods are concerned, so I figure small portions of almost everything is a good idea.

We each get a glass of juice (mine being cranberry again, Diana's being orange) and make our way to a table.

I watch her eating everything on her plate slowly and carefully. She's clearly enjoying herself. I'm glad of that; she's clearly never known luxury like this before. And here I am, just giving it to her without asking for anything in return. Well, I am asking for something in return, but she refuses and refuses to tell me what she does.

"So, today I was gonna do some souvenir shopping and then ship it all home. Wanna join me?"

She looks startled. I'm guessing she'd been completely absorbed in her eating. She excitedly nods her head, her mouth still full of food. I chuckle at her.

"And since you seem to like wearing clothes more than me, we might get you a few outfits, since those are the only ones you own."

She swallows, her eyes wide. "Oh, no! Perry, I couldn't possibly—!"

"It really isn't a big deal," I shrug. "Remember, enough money for two people here. Pinky wouldn't mind at all."

In fact, he'd encourage it, I think dryly. Because he'd think I was just doing this to spend more time with her.

And that's technically true, it is to spend more time with her, but I have an ulterior motive: learning as much as I can. Subtle movements and speech patterns might help me determine what is going on. She knows what I do, she might catch on and try to leave, but that's why I put the tracker on her. If she leads me to her "keeper," then my job would be all but done.

And once my job is done, then perhaps I can think about the other thing. Or would it still be too much of a risk? She knows about me, but would it still be too problematic? Too many distractions could indeed prove to be a problem. Then again, as had been proven in the other dimension incident, my "weaknesses" tend to be strengths. Phineas and Ferb had been immensely helpful.

I clear my mind of those thoughts. Focus on the mission.

We're done with our breakfast soon and we go back up to the hotel room. While Diana's in the restroom, I unlock the drawer with gadgets in them and pull out a small device that looks like a cellphone. I quickly hide it on myself before closing and locking the drawer again.

It's almost seven o'clock by now. Shops would be opening soon. I pull out my phone and try to look at it before remembering I'd turned it off. I turn it back on and wait a little bit. It eventually flares to life and, sure enough, a text message comes through from Pinky.

srsly how was the concert

I frown and respond.

it was awesome! went with someone else. wish you were here, amigo

I put my phone up and stare at the ceiling. Great. I lied to my best friend. Then again, I need things to look normal until I come up with a real game plan. Right now, the only ideas I have are to study Diana and follow her to her home.

My phone buzzes as another text comes in. Confused, I look at my phone to see a response from Pinky. Oh, right, timezones, I think to myself.

what kind of someone else?

Oh, great. Now he's trying to figure that out.

another LH fan why?

is she pretty?

you dont know if it's a she

well is she?

ttyl pinks

I sigh, put the phone up, and continue to stare up at the ceiling. Great, despite my efforts, there is no avoiding the gossip brigade.

Diana comes out of the restroom and lays down next to me. I give her a queer look, but don't say anything. She is being much more forward than she had been at first, and it's starting to make me uncomfortable.

I sigh. "The stores should be open by now. We should go."

She hums at me and hugs my side. Okay, she's being much more forward than she had been before. I get that it's August, but it's still awkward. I guess she's not as good at suppressing her instincts as I am.

"Diana, I already told you, I'm not doing this."

"Perry," she murmurs, "you're always so kind to me… I don't know of any other way to thank you…"

"You can thank me by going shopping with me," I say, trying not to offend or upset her.

She hugs me tighter. "Are you sure?"

I nod and smile at her. "I'm sure. And don't get me wrong, I'm flattered. I like you. A lot. But this is just too… I don't know how to explain it."

"Perry…" she whispers sadly, locking her eyes with mine. "I don't know what to do… I'm trapped and you're the first person I've felt like this with and I just don't know what to do."

I look into her bright green eyes. "The way I see it, you have two options. We go shopping and enjoy each other's company or you let me help you." She opens her mouth to protest, so I continue. "And I know you aren't gonna let me do the latter. So let's just go shopping. It'll be fun."

She smiles at me. "Okay."

I breathe a sigh of relief. Somehow I managed to get out of that. I don't need to get anymore emotionally attached than I already am.

Not yet, anyways.