"Fireside Diaries"
Story Written by Freedom Fighter
So, let's see... there was a cliffhanger about a month ago in the previous episode. Let's resolve that, shall we? And place your bets for whom you think the groom is!
Disclaimer: The characters of 'Phineas and Ferb' belong to Disney.
Warning: Some very borderline-PG material. Remember, all characters are considered legal in this episode, but basically, if you have to ask... you're probably too young to ask.
Entry #111 - Written by Isabella Garcia-Shapiro, troop leader
Sorry for cutting off that last entry early! I got called away by you-know-who! But never mind that! Back to where I was!
"I'd listen to the man. He knows what he's saying."
21-year old Isabella had just expressed concerns of having not planned for life after the wedding with Jeremy. But a third party had cut into the conversation, and the voice was from someone that she had not seen in a couple years.
"It... it's YOU!"
He had lost some weight from the midsection down and he was wearing an army uniform, but there was no mistaking that the man standing before Isabella was Buford. She happily got out of her chair and gave him a big hug.
"Oh my gosh, Buford! The last time I saw you, you passed on college to enroll in the military!"
"Yep," he concurred, being stoic as ever. "Six months of basic training, got transferred to three different bases on the West Coast in under 18 months, then got sent off for a two-year tour overseas that included back-to-back tours of duty in That Hard-to-Pronounce Country Over Yonder."
"That's a really long name for a country."
"Don't get me started. You know how many words you have to say in their language to say 'Where's the bathroom?' No, seriously, do you know? I couldn't understand them, so I just went wherever I wanted!"
"Gross, and... no, just gross. Still, glad to see you haven't changed."
"About that. Can we talk?"
-
Entry #111 [FSD210] - I'm Marrying... (03.26.12)
-
Buford was now sitting down at the table with Isabella and Jeremy.
"So I hear you're gettin' hitched," Buford got right to the point. "I heard it on the Wild World Wide Web... and it still feels weird having to type four w's instead of three nowadays. So, who's the lucky sap you're making a man of?"
"Well," Isabella said, blushing, "it's..."
Buford cut her off, having figured it out already. "Ha! Shoulda known you two crazy kids were gonna hook up."
"You interested in coming?" Jeremy asked. "We need one more groomsman to round out the party."
"What a coincidence," Buford replied. "That's just what I was about to ask! I'll do it!"
"Great!"
"On one condition!"
Isabella rolled her eyes, as she had already guessed what it was. "Here it comes..."
"You know how each groomsman is supposed to escort a bridesmaid down the aisle, right? Well, I wanna escort Adyson! She's one, right?"
"Buford," Isabella said, bluntly, "given the rough past you two share, I'm not so sure that's a good idea."
"But I've changed! I'm not the wild party animal with no respect for authority that wanted to get some action every weekend when I was back in high school! Life in the military has changed me! You'll see!"
"Even if I said yes, I doubt Adyson would approve. Besides, she's my Maid of Honor, and she walks with the Best Man."
Jeremy nodded. "We already decided that it's going to be..."
"Buford!"
The three spun around and saw Candace had returned, with her daughter Amanda in tow.
"When did YOU get back?"
"A few minutes ago. No time for details."
"If you think you're crashing this wedding..."
"He's not," Isabella interrupted. "We told Buford we were short one groomsman, and we offered the opening to him."
"No way!" Candace exclaimed, rejecting him. "As the wedding planner, I won't allow it!"
"And as the bride, a.k.a., the woman who's paying you a lot of money to make sure everything is perfect, I'm allowing it."
Jeremy smirked at his wife. "She's got a point."
Candace groaned. "Fine."
"YES!" Buford raised his hands in triumph, as Candace sat down and then placed Amanda on her lap.
"Now that that's settled..." Isabella began.
"Hold up!" cut in Candace once more. "I still have one more concern! I overheard the bit about you wanting to walk with Adyson, and given your past, I'm not comfortable with allowing that."
"Will you people let that go? That was back in high school! I'm a different guy now!"
Jeremy saw the genuine look of remorse on Buford's face. He slid his chair over to give him a pat on the back.
"I believe him, ladies. Maybe we should give him the benefit of the doubt."
"No offense, hubby," Candace responded, "but you don't know as much about what happened as either me or Isabella do."
"Didn't we learn to always forgive people for what they've done? I can tell that Buford has done some growing up these past few years. Why don't we let him have this? Huh?"
He pleaded to Candace and Isabella with his sad, sad eyes. Hoping to help his chances, Buford did the same. The women were still skeptical, but their eyes were making a strong case. Candace leaned over to whisper a comment to Isabella.
"I swear it should be illegal for guys to use the puppy dog pout."
Isabella chuckled lightly, then officially declared her surrender.
"Okay, Buford, you win. But just conditionally! I have to convince Adyson to agree to it AND you have to talk to the Best Man and have him agree to switching places as well. Okay?"
"Thanks, guys! I appreciate it!"
He wrapped his arms around Jeremy and gave him a big hug.
"I... I think I just heard a crack," Jeremy mumbled.
Buford then went over to Isabella and did the same.
"You're strong than I remember!" she squeaked.
Once he let go, Isabella started coughing as she tried to get some of the air that had been squeezed out back into her lungs. Meanwhile, Buford wanted to thank Candace too, but given that Amanda was on her lap and the small bulge protruding from her stomach, he thought better of it.
"Uh... I owe you?"
"Please don't."
Buford shrugged, then ran off. He raised his arms over his head once more and started yelling loudly, no matter who was around him.
"I'M GONNA BE THE BEST MAN AT A WEDDING! CONDITIONALLY!"
Isabella laughed as she shook her head.
"Wow, the things I do to please everyone."
Despite my worries, preparations for the wedding were steady, and thanks to Candace, they remained on track. Everything was going great otherwise.
The last few weeks passed quickly, and before I knew it, it was the eve of my wedding. And most people know there's one last thing you have to have before you get hitched...
At a four-star hotel in downtown Danville, Isabella walked into the suite where her bachelorette party was going to be held...
"I can't believe we're having the party in this suite!" Isabella exclaimed as she looked around the place upon entering.
"She's here!" Holly exclaimed, the first to see her. "Girl's last night as a free woman!"
Gretchen clapped cheerily as Katie got up from the couch she was sitting on to greet Isabella with a hug.
"Katie! You made it in time for the wedding after all!"
"I'm just happy to be here."
"Enough with the friendlies!" Holly shouted. "Where's this hot dancer, Adyson? As Maid of Honor and the person settin' this shindig up, that was your responsibility!"
"He'll be here," Adyson shouted from the kitchen, as she started mixing some drinks.
Ginger rose her hand, confused. Isabella acknowledged her.
"Yes, Ginger?"
"Uh, a dancer? At a bachelorette party?"
Gretchen gasped. "That's right! You didn't get to have one because your wedding was put together in a matter of days!"
"WORST WEDDING EVER!" Adyson yelled.
"I can't believe none of you told her what a bachelorette party was!" Isabella said in disdain.
She then sat down next to Ginger and began to explain it to her.
30 seconds later, the door to the suit swung open, and an angry Ginger sprinted out, heading for the exit.
"THERE'S ONLY ONE WOMAN BALJEET GETS TO SEE THAT WAY, AND IT'S ME!"
The women were stunned over Ginger's sudden departure.
"Shouldn't have told her what a BACHELOR party was, Chief," Gretchen told her.
"They're basically the same thing with only minor differences, how was I supposed to know she'd freak out like that?"
"Oh well..." Adyson said with a smile as she walked out of the kitchen. "I get her share!"
She had a tray of small glasses filled with 'adult' beverages on them. She put it down on the table, then took Ginger's share, downed it in one gulp, then took hers and sipped at it a little.
"ADYSON!" scolded Isabella. "You are my Maid of Honor and you are not gonna show up at the wedding tomorrow loopy!"
"Chill! I'm just having enough to get buzzed! And forget, at least for tonight, that I have to walk the aisle with you-know-who!"
"But you said you were okay with that!"
"I never said that! I agreed, but never stated such! Look, I'm doin' it 'cause it's your wedding, and you said it'll make you happy! It doesn't make me happy, but it's not 'bout me, it's 'bout you!"
She then finished the rest of her glass, to the astonishment of the others. And this was all before any of the other girls had even taken a sip from their respective glasses.
"At least tell us this guy IS showin' up!" exclaimed Holly.
"Stop worryin'! I told them to send the guy that was willing to have the most fun, and that money was no object!"
Suddenly, they heard a knock at the door. Katie got up to answer it.
"WHAT?"
Katie slowly backed into the room, grabbing everyone's attention upon doing so. She had a shocked look on her face, and the others soon would when they recognized the brown-haired guy that had come to dance for them.
"DJANGO?"
Django laughed nervously, as he appeared before them, in a chippendale outfit - plus shirt, for now.
"Um," he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "I'm a starving artist! I have to pay the bills somehow."
The girls froze, unsure of what to do. Suddenly, Katie took her glass and started chugging its contents down.
"She doesn't want to remember this night at all!" shouted Holly.
Talk about awkward. We still paid him for the night and gave him a hefty tip. It was just minus... you know, a show that none of us would've been comfortable with.
I'd feel sorry for him if not for...
Ahem, moving on!
After eight months of long, tenuous planning, the day I had been dreaming about since I was ten had finally arrived!
My wedding day.
Isabella was stunned as she looked at herself in the large mirror, wearing her pink wedding dress for the first time since she had purchased it. Around her, Adyson was working on her hair, Gretchen was spot-checking the dress to fix any last-second wrinkles or folds, and her mom was just watching them work with a smile on her face.
"Oh, Isa! Te ves muy hermosa!"
Isabella blushed. "Mom! You're embarrassing me!"
"As they say, anything embarrassing must also be true!"
"She's right, Chi- I mean, Isabella!" Gretchen added. "I've never seen a more beautiful bride than you!"
"Hopefully you-know-who thinks so, too," chuckled Adyson, before lightly elbowing Isabella in the side.
Gretchen and Adyson, both dressed in their strapless, slightly lighter pink-colored bridesmaid gowns, stepped away from Isabella to admire their handiwork. Adyson whistled.
"I think we're done," she said. "We make her any more glammed up and we'll look like we just walked in off the street!"
"Oh, stop!" Isabella giggled.
The two women waved goodbye as they exited the room to double-check their hair and make-up before the procession, leaving Isabella to spend her last few minutes as a single woman with her mom.
"Mom?"
"Yes, Isa?"
"Is... is it wrong to feel nervous? I mean, this is what I want, and even though I'm still entirely unsure what the future holds, I don't know if..."
Her mom smiled as she grabbed her daughter's hands and sandwiched them with her own.
"No. No, it's not. Did I ever tell you about how I nearly had to postpone my wedding day..."
"...because you refused to put on your wedding dress for three hours? Yes. Yes, you did. Every day since the engagement!"
"What I'm trying to say is just relax, Isa! The fact that you have butterflies is proof enough that you are marrying the right man."
"Thanks, mom!"
Isabella reached over and gave her mom a hug. The two then heard a knock at the door, followed by it opening and then Candace sticking her head in the room - which was actually her old bedroom.
"Show time, Isabella! LET'S DO THIS!"
The Flynn-Fletcher backyard was set up for the wedding, and nearly every one of the 200 folding chairs had someone sitting in them. Everyone turned towards the house, as the procession was emerging from the sliding door that led into the kitchen.
Music played as the groom stepped out first, walking down the aisle with both his father, Mr. Flynn-Fletcher, and Isabella's dad, Mr. Garcia-Shapiro. After a few moments, Candace standing at the door, whispered into her daughters ear to go, as Amanda was the flower girl. She nervously made her way down the aisle, stopping every few seconds to reach into her little basket and throw flower petals on the ground around her.
Suddenly, a little Indian boy with a small afro ran up behind her, holding a small box with the wedding rings... which he promptly dropped into Amanda's basket, to her surprise.
"Happy birthday!" he said after doing so.
The boy's parents, who were the first groomsman-bridesmaid pairing in line, reacted appropriately.
"I told you that that was the bad twin!" Ginger snapped at Baljeet.
"Well, I'm not the one who switched their names on their birth certificates!" Baljeet fired back.
Candace clapped her hands once, in front of their faces, to get their attention.
"Hey! One screw-up of a wedding per lifetime, and you two used that when you two got hitched! Now, move it or lose it!"
They both shut up and did as they were told, moving down the aisle fast. Baljeet picked up their son on the way and, as planned originally, dropped him off to sit with his twin brother, who was in the front row along with Mishti, who was to watch them for the duration of the ceremony. The rest of the groomsmen and bridesmaids made their way down the aisle without incident.
And then Buford and Adyson - the Best Man and Maid of Honor, respectively - stepped out of the house, hand in hand. There were a few surprised gasps and murmurs, but otherwise no one present seemed to have a problem with them paired together.
"Don't get any ideas," Adyson told Buford only loud enough for him to hear her, believing that he was eying her up.
"Ideas?" Buford shot back. "I went to the military instead of college! You think I have ideas? Puh-lease."
The two dropped their chat when they saw Candace staring at them, and they began making their way towards the altar. That only left...
"Please stand as we welcome," proclaimed Candace, "for the LAST time as a single woman, Miss Isabella Garcia-Shapiro!"
The crowd obliged as all eyes turned to Isabella as she emerged from the house. Flash bulbs from cameras began going off as pictures were being taken. After a few seconds, Isabella was joined on either side by her mother and her husband-to-be's mother, Mrs. Flynn-Fletcher, as was custom. Isabella could easily guess what the reactions of everyone present were despite the veil covering her face - and somewhat obscuring her vision - as she made her way down the aisle. Both mothers grabbed an arm each and guided her along.
Upon reaching the makeshift altar, both mothers let go and joined the other bridesmaids on one side, while the groomsmen stood on the other, and Isabella's husband-to-be stood before her, along with the rabbi who was conducting the ceremony under the chuppah, or wedding canopy.
As per tradition, before taking her place next to her husband, she circled him three times - each circuit represented one of the three virtues of marriage: righteousness, justice and loving kindness. Once that was done, she could finally take her place.
And finally lift the veil from her face to see the one she was to be wed to. But for some reason, Isabella's first unveiled gaze was not directly at her husband-to-be, but rather over to the groomsmen. Right next to Buford - or behind him, from her point of view - was the man who was originally supposed to be the Best Man, and her jaw nearly dropped to the floor when she saw who it was.
It was Phineas.
Her head then quickly turned to the man she was standing in front of her. The man she was about to marry. The man who was winking right at her.
Ferb.
"Honey, is everything alright?" he asked, calmly, seeing the look on her face.
"Wait... what?"
"I said, is everything alright?"
Thinking that Ferb was deaf, Isabella repeated herself, albeit much louder.
"WAIT, WHAT?"
"I'M GETTING MARRIED TO FERB?"
Ten-year old Isabella had jumped out of her seat at the table and nearly reached over to strangle the person who had just told her that. And she might have well done so, if Gretchen, Adyson, Holly, and Ginger had not been there to grab her and hold her back.
"The crystal ball does not lie, child!" exclaimed the person on the other side of the table, who happened to be a fortune teller. "What was shown will transpire, if things continue the way they are."
Isabella's rage soothed as she soon she heard those last few words. She calmly sat down, and her friends released their grip on her.
"What do you mean, 'if things continue the way they are?'"
"Well, child, if you continue to live your life as you do now, then your future is with this... Ferb. But..."
"But?"
"The future is never completely set in stone until its arrival! Certain events could transpire that could change them before then."
"Like what?"
The fortune teller was taken aback. "What? You want me to actually TELL you? Where would be the fun in that? Surprises in life are best enjoyed when you don't see them coming."
Isabella frowned.
"We're going, girls."
Isabella got up from her seat and the others followed her out of the tent.
"Tell all your friends about Madame Mysterious!" the fortune teller lady exclaimed.
Once out of the tent, the girls emerged into the daylight and all of the noises of the annual End of Summer Labor Day Weekend Celebration Even Though Kids Went Back to School A Week Ago Carnival filled the air around them.
"I told you she was a crock!" exclaimed Holly. "So not worth five bucks!"
"I have to concur," agreed Gretchen.
"I dunno," Ginger said with a smile. "Any future that has me and Baljeet together, although not perfectly, seems right to me!"
"Seriously?" grumbled Adyson. "Any future in which Buford and I have history - ANY kind of history - would be my worst nightmare!"
The four girls then turned to Isabella, wondering what her final opinion on that matter was.
"That was fun!" she exclaimed happily, to their surprise.
"WHAT?" they shouted. "FUN?"
"Yep. But I think we should find Phineas and the others. Come on!"
With that, Isabella took off running.
"Well, if Chief's not worried about the future," stated Gretchen, "then we shouldn't be either!"
The others nodded.
"Wait up!" Adyson shouted after Isabella.
They all followed their fearless leader, off to enjoy the rest of carnival.
So how many of you guessed that this was a tale of what could happen, not what already has? I have to admit, that fortune really had me worried. But then I remembered the reason I wanted to go see that teller in the first place! To have some fun! To answer a 'What if?' scenario. To see what one person thought my future could be.
But of course I don't believe in everything she said. No one can dictate your future. They can influence it, but not decide it. The only person that can dictate my future is me. Ferb's nice and all, but I've known for years that my future is with Phineas.
I'm not worried at all!
So, I guess the lesson learned here is to not believe what anyone says about your destiny, and that your destiny is what you make of it. Or, something like that.
But, just to be safe... anyone know of a good day to get wed in ten years?
- Isabella Garcia-Shapiro, troop leader, Troop 46231
End Entry
Author's Notes:
So, how many of you guessed the husband-to-be was Ferb? How many of you thought it odd that Isabella didn't come right out and say she was marrying Phineas? Well... hope you enjoyed the surprise!
Again, like Katie's solo tale at the beginning of this season, this is an out-there type of story that you probably won't see again in this series. That is, of course, you guys want more of these 'What if?' tales...
If you hadn't guessed, the wedding skewed Jewish because, well, we don't know for sure what religion Ferb worships, but we do for Izzy...
Oh, and don't ask how Isabella knows what a bachelorette party is. She just... knows, okay?
And if you're not following me on Twitter and/or haven't been going to my website lately, I suggest you do. In the next six and 24 hours, respectively. Links on my profile page, k?
Anyway, Adyson's hoppy since her solo entry is up next week! Get it? Hoppy, because she's dressing up as... well, you'll see.