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

It's been twenty minutes since Axel left and I still haven't moved. I'm simply lying face down, my head in my pillow, crying my eyes out. I feel sick.

It's never hurt this badly. Yes, it's hurt every time I've gone through it, but this time, it hurts worse, since there's someone I want…

The thought of Perry makes me breakdown even worse. What would he think if he knew? What makes it worse is I promised to tell him everything, so he will know…

I hear a knocking at my door. I gather myself as quickly as I can before going over to the door. I open it to see Mother standing there. I do everything I can to not flinch at the sight of the grey woman.

"Get your room cleaned up," her harsh, shrill voice comes at me. Now I flinch. "You've got another client in thirty minutes."

She closes the door, leaving me staring at it in despair.

Another?! Why me, God? Help me, please, please!

But despite my praying, I know that that isn't going to stop what's coming. So I do what Mother told me: I clean up my room. I make up my bed accordingly and pick up things that Axel had knocked onto the floor in his excitement. I feel weak as I'm walking around. Axel hadn't let up almost the entire time he'd been here.

After I finish, I lay face down on my bed and sigh. I can't let myself cry again, not right now. Mother would get angry with me, and I can't let that happen.

A few minutes pass before I hear a knocking at my door again. I gather myself and lie down on my bed the way Mother had taught me to when meeting a 'client.'

As the door opens, I pray that it's not going to be too bad. I've had too many bad experiences with certain clients.

I let out a small sigh as a large, brown platypus in baggy clothing walks into the room, closing the door behind himself. He smiles lustfully at me.

"G'day, sheila. What should I call you, love?"

"Diana," I reply curtly. "You're new. What's your name?"

"I'm Bartholomew," he stalks towards me. He reaches out a paw and places it on my shoulder. "But you can call me Barry."

"And what do you want to do, Barry?" I ask, leaning forward, as I've been trained to.

Barry leans forward, and as I try to kiss him, he adjusts himself to avoid it and whispers into my ear. "Princess…"

I abruptly pull away from him, my eyes wide with shock. His paw is still on my shoulder.

"Princess," he says again, his voice barely loud enough to even be considered a whisper. "Is this room soundproof?"

"Perry?" I mouth at him, unable to make a noise. This is impossible, right? Perry's out of town by now. Unless…!

For the first time in a long time, my prayer's been answer.

He nods, then repeats his question. I shakily nod my head.

He continues, still in a whisper. "Are there security cameras in here?" I shake my head in response. He takes a deep breath and sighs.

"H-H-How…?" I barely manage to get out. "Why— why are you here?"

"I'm here to help," he says, dropping the accent he'd used. "I figured out what's going on."

I suck in my breath. Surely this isn't happening. I'm glad that it's Perry here, but he shouldn't be here!

"You can't be here!" I exclaim. "You could ruin everything!"

"Which is why I came alone and undercover," he responds quickly. "I'm not going to try and interfere, no matter how much I want to. What you're being put through sickens me."

I throw my arms around his neck. I feel his arms wrap themselves around my waist. In this moment, I forget about what happened an hour ago. I just feel safe again, finally safe. But the hurt soon comes back almost as quickly as it had left.

I stop holding back and cry into his fur. I feel one of his paws move up my back and rest itself above my shoulder blade. He begins to gently rub me.

"Shh… I'm here now… He can't hurt you…"

I sob even harder as his words seep into me. I can't help it. With him, I can finally let my walls down. Being in his arms is the perfect medicine for my pain.

"Princess, what did he do to you?"

I didn't think it was possible to cry harder than I am, but his question makes me.

"God, Perry, it was horrible…" I gasp out.

"Hey hey hey hey. Shhh. Shhh… It's okay, it's okay…" He tightens his grip on me. I think it's his way of letting me know he's got me. It's working.

He doesn't say another word. I don't know how long he just held me and let me cry into his neck, but it's a long time.

I pull myself out of his arms. "How did you find this place?"

A look crosses his face. I think it's shame. "I'm really good at my job," is his answer, and I can tell it's the most he's going to give me. "Princess. What did he do?"

I choke as another sob threatens. I force it down. Well, he says he figured it out anyways, I need to tell him. "Perry… if you know what this place is, then you know what he did…"

He pulls out his phone and shows me the screen. It's recording sound. "You need to say it out loud." I breath in sharply as I realize what's going on. He's gathering evidence. Before I can say anything, he continues. "I'm not going to use this until you let me. I already have Axel admitting to something, but it's useless without corroboration."

I squeeze my eyes shut. "You made things worse…" I hear him catch his breath. I open my eyes and see hurt in his. "His deal was that he wouldn't tell Mother what happened at the concert if I— if I—"

I can't say it. God, I can't say it.

Perry puts his paws on the sides of my face and looks into my eyes. He's trying to give me strength to continue. So I do.

"This is Mother's Mansion. Mother took us from our families when we were young. She either just took us from our parents or killed them. We're kept here for her 'business.'

"Axel is a 'client.' God, I hate that word…" Perry moves one of his paws to my shoulder. I smile gratefully at him. "Since you paid to get in here, you know that they pay for 'services.' Perry… for two years she's been— she's been forcing us to mate with clients for money."

Perry squeezes his eyes shut and draws in his breath. "God…" he whispers. "I was hoping I was wrong…"

"It's what we were trained to do from the moment we got here."

"That's why the only way you could think of to thank me was…" he trails off. I nod sadly. "How many of you are there?"

"Nineteen."

"Are you all animals?" I nod in response, not sure if I can keep talking. "Princess, you have to say it out loud."

I take a deep breath. "Yes, all of the 'employees' are animals. But… not all of the clients are."

Perry covers his mouth in shock after I say this. A few seconds later I see his cheeks bulge slightly. He swallows. "You need to be more exact, Princess…"

I take a deep breath; tears are threatening me again. "Some of them are humans…"

Perry squeezes his eyes shut and leans back. I close my eyes, too. I don't want to start crying again. I feel Perry's arms wrap around me again. I hug him back, choking on another sob.

"It's okay, Princess, it's okay…"

I sniff as I try to get myself under control. To my shock, Perry isn't even remotely angry with me. He's being as sympathetic as he can. I don't deserve him after all I've done over the years.

He gently pulls away and looks me in the eye again. "Princess, what is it that Mother will take if you don't cooperate?"

My eyes widen. "How could you possibly know about that?!"

"Like I said earlier, I'm really good at my job. I don't know what it is, but I know it's why you aren't leaving. Whatever it is, it's important."

I look away from him. This is my most closely guarded secret. Only Mother and the other animals here know it, since it's theirs, too. I take a deep breath. Perry needs to know. Because he's the one that I want my future to belong to.

"It's… it's a cure." I manage to choke out.

He leans forward. "A cure… For who and what?"

"For— for me. And the others. It'll— it…" I find myself unable to finish.

He gently places his paws on my face. Before I can process, he leans in and kisses me. Well, he tries to. He clearly has no idea how to; it's not natural for us. But it doesn't matter. I close my eyes, melting from the comfort he always gives me. He pulls back and looks at me, nothing but compassion in his eyes.

"Princess…"

I nod. "When Mother catches one of us, she poisons us. This poison, it—" I take a deep breath and finish my sentence in the way Mother would, "it permanently stops our ovulation cycles."

Perry almost falls over, a look of pure horror crossing over his face. I squeeze my eyes shut.

"I have to stay if I ever want to have children…"