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.

Diana

I wake up alarmed. I quickly begin looking around.

"Perry?!" I choke out in distress.

"Hey. 'Morning," a voice calls from a side of the room. I turn to where it came from and see a dimly lit screen on the desk in the corner of the room. I can see Perry's silhouette outlined by the dim light. I relax a little bit.

"What are you doing?"

"Just checking my emails," he responds calmly. I don't answer, and he quickly continues. "What's wrong?"

"I woke up, and you weren't here and—"

"Hey, hey, shhh." He gets up and comes over. He leans over the edge of the bed, and I can barely see his face in the dim light. He runs his fingers through the fur on my head. "I'm here, don't worry."

"It's just… the last people I loved were taken from me… They were just…"

"Oh, Princess…" he whispers gently. He squeezes my shoulder. "I'm not gonna leave you…"

"You're leaving today…"

"Only for a week, then I'm right back here. I'm not leaving you, Princess."

"You can't promise that…"

"I can and I am promising that."

"But you're leaving afterwards…"

He falls silent at that. I can see conflict in his eyes. I know that his training is advanced enough that he can hide whatever he's thinking. So I have no clue what's going on in his head.

"I can't leave my family," he finally says. "So yes, afterwards, I do have to go home. But that doesn't mean we won't ever see each other. You could come with me or I could make regular visits."

At first, I'm stoked at the prospect of going with him. But then that familiar nagging appears in my gut. I can't. Not ever. Not until I get what I was promised. I look into his eyes.

"I can't go with you… I can't…"

He sighs before continuing. "Is it because of what you do?"

I look away from him, shame and disgust filling me. He clearly sees this because he grabs my face with his paws and has me face him.

"Hey, it's okay. I don't know what it is, you're right. And you're not gonna let me help you; you've made that clear. If you can't come with me, I'll visit you here, I promise."

I smile at him and begin to lean towards him, but he gets distracted by a beeping at his computer. I'm slightly miffed as he gets up and goes over to it, but I know his work is important to him. Like he told me, it's the only life he's really known.

I hear him curse under his breath. I sit up to look at him.

"Is something wrong?" I ask him, my voice still groggy.

"Not really… It's just…" he sighs. "It's Pinky. Despite telling him literally nothing aside from 'I went to the concert with someone,' he's already starting rumors and I'm getting questions from a lot of agents."

"Oh…"

"It's whatever," he says, closing his laptop. "I just wish he'd at least waited for details before telling everyone in the organization."

"What would you have told him?" I ask, getting a little excited.

"Not sure. Maybe that you fell asleep next to me twice."

I feel the heat rising in my cheeks as he says this. He goes over to the closet and opens it, getting out a small suitcase. He takes it over to the drawer and begins to pack things away. I notice something odd as he's packing.

"You're leaving things behind?" I ask, finally climbing out of the bed and going over to him.

"I've got this room reserved; I'll be back in it soon enough."

I look into the drawer and notice that he's left quite a bit of clothing. I also see that one of the drawers has a padlock on it.

Perry stands up and stretches. "Breakfast is in a few minutes. I'm gonna get a shower; give me a few and we'll go down."

He goes in the restroom and closes the door. A little bit later I hear the shower turn on.

I sit down on the bed and wait. Perry hasn't mentioned last night yet, not really. Is he regretting answering me? I can't tell; he's incredibly reserved, despite how excitable he can be at times. Or maybe that was just how he'd been acting with me on that first day. I don't know, I just hope he at least mentions what we said.

I feel a vibration in my fur. I look at the restroom door in alarm, hoping that he doesn't come out. I pull the phone out of my fur pocket. A text message displays itself on the small screen.

You have a client on your schedule.

I feel a familiar sickness fill my gut. Please, not now. Not now. I squeeze my eyes shut to prevent tears from falling from my eyes. Please, God, make him go away. I don't want to keep doing this.

I open my eyes and respond to the text.

Who and when?

Axel at noon. Get here now and get ready.

I squeeze my eyes shut. Why does it have to be Axel? Was he really that insistent? I put my phone in my pocket and throw my head in a pillow to muffle myself. I just lay there crying, not wanting to move.

After a while, I feel something on my shoulder. I slowly lift my head out of the pillow to see Perry standing there, worry plastered all over his face. But he doesn't say anything, he instead just lifts me up and embraces me from behind.

I listen to his breathing, and it calms me down pretty quickly. I lean back onto him.

"Do you wanna get something to eat?" he asks me after a while. I shake my head. "Okay…"

God, tell me, why can't I just tell him everything?

I want to so badly. Maybe he'd understand, surely he would. He's been so kind to me, even if we've only known each other for two days. He has resources, he could help, right? But can he? If he's caught trying to help us, then it's over; any hopes I have at real freedom are gone.

I close my eyes and lean the back of my head on his shoulder. "I love you…" I say again.

I feel his bill rest itself on the top of my head. "I love you, too…" he whispers. I take a deep breath. He doesn't regret it. He's embracing it.

"Perry… would you ever hate me for something I did?"

He doesn't hesitate. "No. I haven't known you for very long, but no, I know that I wouldn't." I feel him shift some and I can tell that he's looking at me. "Is that why you were crying, because of something you've done?"

"Because of what I've done… what I'm doing and what I'm going to keep doing…" I choke down a sob. I don't need to break down again. "If you knew, you'd hate me…"

"No, I wouldn't," he says again. There's a force in his voice that makes me believe him.

I close my eyes. "Thank you…"

"Come on," he whispers. "Let's get something to eat. It'll make you feel better."

I nod my head and pull away from him. He smiles and hops off of the bed. He quickly throws on some clothes and looks at me. I nod and slip off of the bed. I put on one of my new outfits and we go down to the lobby.

Despite myself, I can't bring myself to enjoy the breakfast. I keep looking over at Perry and then think about what I'm doing at noon. And everytime that comes to mind, I feel like throwing up. It's not like I'm not used to it, I'm unfortunately too used to it. But that doesn't make me any less sick.

After all these years, I had thought that it would get easier if I just focus on why I'm doing this, why I don't just leave, as I'm more than capable of doing. Perry's offered to take me home with him, and I desperately want to take him up on it. But if I did, then our relationship would never fully develop; I know that, but he doesn't.

I squeeze my eyes shut as another wave of nausea hits me from the thoughts of what's coming. I force myself to swallow the bile filling my throat.

Throughout all of this, I notice that Perry hasn't taken his eyes off of me. I can tell he's more than just a little concerned by what's going on with me. He doesn't know what's going on, but it's clear that he knows that I'm distressed by it. He may not be able to empathize with me, but I can tell he wants to help in some way.

We go back up to his room after we're done eating. He flops down onto his bed and stares up at the ceiling. I snuggle up next to him. I lock my eyes with his, and he sighs audibly.

"You know I'll be back soon, right?" he says.

I nod, wrapping my arms around him in the same way I had yesterday morning. I'm not sure if I want him or just the comfort he gives me. Either would be perfect to me.

He sighs again. Something tells me he's not going to give in to me, so I just keep holding onto him, not moving. He does, however, wraps one of his arms around me.

"I don't want to lose you, Perry…"

He smiles at me. "You won't. I'm not gonna let go, Princess. Not of this." He shifts slightly and looks at the clock. He sighs. "Princess, I need to go if I'm gonna catch my bus."

I hum at him and tighten my grip. I'm not gonna let go, either.

He slowly pulls me off and looks me in the eyes. I realize that now is the best time for me to act. I lean forward and kiss him, locking my bill with his. He moans in surprise at what I'm doing, but doesn't push me away.

A few moments pass before I pull back, breathing heavily. He staring at me in slight shock.

"That was…" he says slowly, his breath also heavy, "… different."

I smile sheepishly. "More human than you'd expected?"

He slowly nods, staring at me a little blankly. I can't tell if he didn't like it or if he's still just processing. So I try again to see which it is.

After a while, I feel his paw on the side of my face. I let out a small moan. He does like it. I feel relief and ecstasy flooding through me. This moment… it's a dream come true. A few minutes pass before we finally pull apart.

"Wow…" he breathes.

I'm lost in his dark brown eyes. After all this time, maybe I've finally found the real hope that I need. Maybe he's who I've been praying would come.

He smiles sadly at me. "I do need to go… I'll be back soon, I promise."

I squeeze my eyes shut and nod. Him leaving means that I need to go home. I can feel my sickness coming back.

I feel his paws on both sides of my face. I open my eyes.

"Are you ever going to tell me what's wrong?" he asks.

I close my eyes again. I don't know how to answer. If I tell him, he might never come back. But then again…

I take a deep breath and open my eyes. "When you get back… I'll tell you everything…"

He nods and smiles, seeming satisfied with my answer. "Everything's gonna be okay, Princess. It's all gonna work out."

I nod, not taking my eyes from his. He pulls himself off of the bed and goes into the restroom. He quickly exits with a pill and pulls some water out of the small refrigerator. He hands them to me.

"Don't want you getting sick again," he says with a smile. I gratefully swallow the pill.

He grabs his suitcase; I leave my clothes. Like he said, he'll be back, I can get them then. We head down to the lobby. As we're passing through, I notice a woman in a fancy suit give us a strange look, but I decide to ignore it. I feel Perry tense up as we pass her. We walk outside.

A while passes before we finally arrive at a bus stop. We stand there, awkwardly surrounded by humans. We're, understandably, getting weird glances from them; but they're trying to ignore us, for the most part.

I can see the bus coming up and I look at Perry. His eyes are distant, focused on something in the back of his mind. I nudge him. He looks at me and smiles.

"How will I find you when you get back?" I ask.

"Don't worry," he says, nuzzling the top of my head with his bill. "I'll find you."

The doors to the bus slide open and people begin pouring out.

I look Perry in the eye again. "Please don't go…"

"I'll be back sooner than you think," he says, suddenly serious.

I lean forward and kiss the side of his face. He smiles at me and climbs onto the bus along with the others surrounding us, leaving me alone. I see him in a window. He's looking down at me, a sad expression on his face. Maybe him leaving, even if for only a little while, hurts him as much as it hurts me.

The bus pulls away, breaking our eye contact. I stare after it and watch it turn a corner around a building, cutting my view of it. I sigh. I know I'm going to see him again.

But I also have to go home. And I'm not looking forward to it. I turn and walk down the sidewalk, headed for my dreary day.