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 feel something brushing against my back. I open my eyes and see Diana's smiling face. Her arm is wrapped over me, her paw slowly rubbing up and down my back. I think she's tracing one of my scars. I slowly blink, gazing into her emerald eyes.

"Hey, Princess…" I whisper. My voice is still hoarse.

"Good morning." Her smile deepens. "How do you feel?"

I remember all of the events of yesterday. So… they weren't a nightmare. They were real, they happened. But then I look into her eyes again. She's worried. She's worried about me. She really does forgive me.

"Terrible," I answer truthfully, "but better. Thank you…"

Diana leans forward and kisses me again. I hug her tightly to myself. I still don't know how to return her kiss. It's not natural for animals. I have no idea how she does it.

There's serious passion in her. She's trying to make me feel better through her actions. It's working more than she probably thinks it is.

She pulls away and rests her head against my neck. "I love you, Perry… I love you…"

I smile and nuzzle the top of her head. "I love you, too…"

"Perry…" Her voice drops to a whisper. "I don't want to ever leave you."

I furrow my brow. "You don't have to…"

"No, Perry, you don't understand." She pulls slightly away from me and looks me in the eye. "I want… I want this to be permanent. I want this to be permanent." She puts one of her paws on my chest.

It takes me a few seconds to realize what she's asking me. I had never considered it before the other day, when she'd first told me how she really felt. I search her eyes. There's sincerity in them. And fear. She's afraid of what I might say.

My whole life, I've only focused on my job and my family. The thought of having a mate has always been one of the furthest things from my mind. But then I met Diana, and I realized that something was missing. I know it's not just my instincts acting in me. I suppress those instincts. It's something else that's missing.

Companionship.

Pinky comes close to filling that void in my life. Carrie comes close. Drake the duck comes close. But the fact remains that I've been lonely. None of them have done what Diana has. So my answer doesn't surprise me when I give it to her.

"I love you, Princess." I put my paw on her chest and smile. "This is permanent. I won't leave you."

She grins and embraces me. I wrap my arms and tail around her, holding her as tightly to my body as I can.

"Hey, Perry…" she whispers. I hum at her questioningly. "I'm hungry."

Talk about a segue. Despite myself, I laugh. Besides, I haven't eaten since breakfast yesterday. "Same. Come on, let's go get something."

We drag ourselves out from under the covers. Diana heads to the restroom and I look at myself in the mirror. There are still a few splotches of brown stuck in my fur, but I'm actually pretty cleaned up. She did a really good job considering my exhausted self had offered no help whatsoever.

I hear the shower turn on. It's probably the first time she's cleaned herself in over a day. And considering everything that's happened, I imagine she feels… just…

I check my phone to see if Pinky's sent me any more messages. He has. It's from last night.

Perry, how are you?

I smile. He really is a great friend. He's always making certain I'm okay.

I'm better. But I still don't know if everything's okay.

He responds almost instantly. I look at the time. Holy crap, it's 10:30. Did I really sleep in that long?

Is she okay?

Kinda. I'm not sure what's going to happen, but I have a feeling that things are going to heat up quickly.

Is there anything, ANYTHING, that I can do to help?

Probably. But not right now. There can't be any interference, I'm sorry.

It's okay. Perry, seriously, I'm here to help. Just tell me when.

I will. Trust me, I will. See ya soon.

I put my phone on its charger and open my laptop, sitting down at the desk. I hear the shower turn off. She'll still be a few more minute.

I, thankfully, don't have another message from my "ally," so I begin to look through my emails. I've got a lot of personal messages from multiple agents. There isn't any gossip. They're all asking if everything's okay.

I smile. Pinky told everyone that something is wrong. And now everyone is checking to see if I'm going to be alright. I had never realized that this many agents care about me. It makes me feel appreciated. I reply to each email, expressing my gratitude for their concern, but explain absolutely nothing. Diana deserves her privacy. I close my laptop.

Diana exits the restroom, still drying herself off. I go in to wash the rest of the dye out of my fur. I'm grateful that she cleaned me up last night. I don't think she knows just how much it means to me that she's willing to do something like that for me. It must've been difficult for her, since I weigh more than three times as much as she does and twice as much an average male.

A few minutes later, I exit the restroom, having sufficiently cleaned myself and taken care of my business. It's eleven o'clock already, lunch time.

"So, where to?" I ask. Diana doesn't answer me. She throws herself on me, knocking us to the floor. "Pr-Princess?!"

"Perry…"

Laying on top of me, Diana kisses me again. I wrap my arms around her, and attempt, but likely fail, to return her kiss. A few minutes pass before she pulls back slightly.

"Please…" she pleads. "Please, Perry, please, stop restraining yourself."

"I—" I start to object, but stop when I realize that I'm trying to. Just like last night, I am trying to give more, but I can't bring myself to. "I can't. I—"

She shuts me up with another kiss. "Please, Perry. You won't hurt me…" She resumes kissing me.

She trusts me, likely with her life. And despite her forgiving me, I don't think I can ever forgive myself. I love her, but I don't trust myself with her. Not after what happened.

But then I remember her words from last night.

"For the first time in my life, I enjoyed it."

Diana enjoys being with me. She enjoys our time together, good or bad. So maybe, just maybe, I can to.

I tighten my grip on her and stop holding back.

We go to the restaurant that we seem to keep going back to. We both order something different to the last time we were here. The entire time we're eating, I can't take my eyes off of Diana.

It was almost two o'clock before we left the hotel to go and eat. And now that we're here, I find myself not as hungry as I thought I'd be. What happened between us today meant more to me than I'd expected it to.

I notice that Diana's acting much the same way I am, and as time goes by, I find myself even more drawn to her. I really am in love, more than I'd first realized. I think that she's what I've always been missing.

"Princess… come home with me."

Diana's expression changes from one of endearment to one of alarm. "Perry, I can't do that! I can't!"

"Princess," I say, allowing more force to enter my voice. "It's killing you. I'm sorry for analyzing you like this, but I can't help it. Every time it crosses your mind, you get this look in your eye. It's literally killing you."

She falls silent and stares down at her food.

"Princess, I love you." I can hear my voice cracking. "I don't want anything to happen to you…"

"Perry, if I leave I'll never have kids…" Her voice is distant and her eyes don't meet mine. "I— I don't want that. I want to have kids more than you can imagine."

I let this sink in. She wants kids, and she loves me, so she likely wants them with me. And… I find myself completely open to the possibility, despite how unlikely I think it is. "Then we need to get that cure." She looks up at me, her eyes wide. "If we get it, even just some of it, it's over: you'll be free. The O.W.C.A. has scientists who can mass produce it and we can free everyone in Mother's grasp."

"I— I don't know where it is. We aren't allowed to look around the mansion. We're only allowed on the first floor. We don't have access to the second floor or the basement."

I lean forward, put my paws on my temples and close my eyes, deep in thought.

Mother's Mansion is ginormous. Even if I searched it for hours, I probably wouldn't be able to find the cure. Especially not without getting caught. The cure is likely being kept somewhere secluded. If it's like any other antidote, it'll be stored in a drawer or a cupboard.

And if it's the only thing keeping them from trying to escape or going to the authorities, then it'll be hidden very well. It's entirely possible that it's in a hidden room, or in the basement, as Diana implied. But still, I've seen the building. I've been inside of it. It's much bigger than one would expect just from looking at it.

Which means that I can't do this on my own.

I open my eyes. "I can have a team put together." Diana looks ready to protest. "We aren't going to raid the mansion. I can make certain that only our stealthiest agents are selected for it. Yes, it'll be risky, but it's our best bet."

Diana looks down at her food again. She closes her eyes. "Let me— let me think about it. Please, let me think about it…"

"Of course," I say quietly. I reach over and put my paw on her shoulder. "Princess, it's going to be okay. It'll all work out."

She opens her eyes and sighs. "I hope so."

Her eyes suddenly divert to her side. I know what it is. Her phone just vibrated. I begin to feel sick. She looks at me, unsure of what to do.

I nod. "I know about the phone."

She gulps, pulls it out and begins reading. It's a flip-phone. Bare minimum. She sucks in her breath and squeezes her eyes shut. "No, no, God, please, no, not now! Please!"

"Diana," I lean forward, dread filling me. "What is it?"

"I… I…"

I take a deep breath and let it out. I feel my rage beginning to boil again. "It's Mother, isn't it." She shakily nods her head. "It's a 'client,' isn't it?" She nods again. I close my eyes for just a moment. I open them, knowing they've adopted a look of steel. Agent P has taken over. "Come on."

"What?" she chokes out.

I grab her paw and drag her away from the table. I quickly pay for our food and rush us out the door.

"Perry, where are we going?!"

"The hotel. I'm not sending you back there empty-handed."

"I need to respond to her!"

"Then respond, but don't slow down."

I hear her typing on the phone as I lead us back to the hotel. I rush us up to my room.

"How long do we have?"

"He's going to be there at five."

She's responding to me quickly, good. It's almost as if she's had training. And I had seen where she pulled the phone from: a fur pocket. She is either former-O.W.C.A. or she's the child of an O.W.C.A. agent. Either way is good because that means that while I'm in the mode I'm in right now, she'll be able to at least somewhat keep up.

I look at the clock. "That give us just over two hours. Okay, take a shower. Wash my scent off of you completely. Make certain, and I mean absolutely certain, that you've completely cleaned yourself. I mean that. We don't leave to leave any of me on you."

She quickly does as she's told, rushing into the restroom. I go over to the locked drawer and open it. I pull out a small microphone and set it on the desk. I open up my laptop and type out an email. I attach the audio file from yesterday to it. I list some instructions on it and send it. I know Diana told me to let her think about it, but, quite frankly, fuck that. I'm not letting her or any of the other eighteen animals in Mother's Mansion go through this any longer.

About thirty minutes pass before Diana finally walks out of the restroom. She's efficient, I note. I make several passes over her with my nose and can't pick myself up on her. I nod my approval.

"Good. Now…" I walk over to the desk and pick up the microphone. I hand it to her. "Bury this in the fur around your neck."

"Perry, what is this all about?" she protests. But she does as I told her.

"Princess, you do remember what we did this morning, right?" I see her face turn red through her fur. "Exactly. My presence would contaminate anything."

"You plan on doing that again?" she asks hesitantly. I nod my head. She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. She nods. "You're right. You're right, it's for the best."

"It's the only way we can stop those bastards from hurting anyone else. And the disc you just put in your fur is a microphone."

Her eyes widen and she reaches to remove it.

"Princess," I say quickly, "I know you don't want that; believe me, I don't either. But it'll be more concrete than the samples we would collect otherwise."

She hesitates for a few seconds, but she lowers her hands. I walk back to the drawer and pull out the tracker. I hand it to her.

"This is a tracker. I want you to put it on whoever it is."

She examines it for an uncomfortable amount of time before looking up at me. "Is… is this how you found the mansion? Was this on me?"

I take a deep breath. I'm not going to lie to her. "Yes. I wasn't going to lose you." She closes her eyes. "I'm sorry…"

Diana shakes her head and opens her eyes. "No, no. Stop saying that. I'm glad you did it."

I can't tell if she's being genuine when she says that, but right now, that isn't important. She puts the tracker into one of her fur pockets. I go over to my laptop and make certain that the microphone is transmitting. It is.

I look at the clock again. "You've got two and a half hours. You should probably go…" She gets a sad expression and tries to hug me. I back away. "I'm sorry. I want to, but we need to keep my scent off of you."

She looks hurt when I say this. It pains me, but I force it down. I need to keep going about this as Agent P, not as Perry. Perry could compromise us.

She nods her head and walks over to the door. She turns and looks at me.

"I'm sorry, Perry…"

I shake my head, not meeting her eyes. "We aren't starting this again. It's like you said. You don't have a choice…"

She looks like she's about to start crying. And I don't blame her. If I was going through what she's been going through for the past two years, I probably would be, too. That isn't to say that I know what she's going through, because I have no clue how horrible it's been.

She leaves the room.

Diana speaks to me on the way to the mansion. She knows I can't respond to her. But the microphone does let her know that, even though I may not be there physically, I'm not far, and I'm here to help.

But once she gets back to the mansion, she falls silent. I can hear her cleaning up her room. I remember it; it surprisingly has a lot of character to it. Mother probably wants the animals to decorate them so that things appear normal.

Most of the room hadn't really stuck out to me, but it did tell me how Diana felt. It has muted colors. She feels trapped, with only a few beacons of hope.

I had seen some grooming products on a dresser with a mirror. On a desk in the corner, I had spotted a Bible. That confused me, since most humans view us animals as not having souls. Then again, any hope is good for her, and the hope of a God that loves her is probably perfect for her. So I hadn't said anything.

I had seen a Love Händel poster on the wall. Their songs are one of the few things that she enjoys. Seeing it on the wall almost filled me with dread. It had likely been that poster that had influenced Axel to go the concert the other day.

I hear the bed shifting as she lays down on it through my headphones. She starts talking again.

"I've only got a few minutes before he shows up… Perry, I wish you were here…"

I squeeze my eyes shut. She sounds terrified. For a few moments, I let Agent P go away.

"I wish I was, too…"

"Are you even there?" her voice comes again. "Are you even listening to me? Or am I just talking to myself? I hope you're there. I don't want to be alone. I've been alone for years…"

I take a deep breath. It depresses me knowing that that's what we've been feeling together. It's one of the things we have in common.

"Perry… I-I want… if I get out of this… I want— I want to raise a family with you."

I smile. I had been correct in my assumption that she wants kids with me. That fills me with an odd happiness that I can't identify. But it doesn't change my doubts to the actual possibility of it.

"If… if that's what you want, too, then… Then I want you to try and get the cure. I know it's not fair to the others here, because if we fail… But still…"

My smile vanishes. She's right. If I fail to find and take the cure, then everyone in Mother's Mansion is going to suffer. But at the same time…

This has been going on for too long. It needs to end.

I hear the door to her room open. I close my eyes, not sure what I'm about to hear next.

"Hey, Diana. How are you today?"

My eyes shoot open. "Oh, God, please no…"

The voice I heard was spoken in English. Diana's newest "client" is a human.

The door closes and Diana immediately speaks again.

"Perry!" Her voice is full of panic. "Perry, do it! Get your team, please! PLEASE!"

I throw my headphones off of me. I can't listen to this. I can't do it. Agent P isn't in charge anymore.

I collapse onto the floor and lean against the end of the bed. Despite removing the headphones from my head, I can still hear what's happening through them. I squeeze my eyes shut and cover my ears.

You're no different from him! You did the same thing he's doing! You're no better than him!

You're no different! You're the same! You're no better!

You're the same!

I begin to sob as these thoughts bounce around my head.