Little known fact, Reese liked to sing.
She loved it.
Back in her home reality, she sang a lot to her little brothers and kids she babysat to make them go to sleep. She sang the loudest when a new Disney song came about.
She's not gonna lie. That was a big selling point for this show.
She climbed out of her bed that morning. She was already tapping her feet to 'Gitchie Gitchie Goo'. Phineas & Ferb had the best songs.
As Reese quietly danced in the kitchen, she heard a hiss from behind her. She turned to see Zara slithering up the counter. She smiled at the snake.
"Yeah, I can sing." Reese noted. She poured milk into her cereal, walking it back to the fridge. She continued talking all the while. "It's fun. It's easier to carry a tune than people think. Did you know that blue whales mate for life, and they use their whale songs to call that mate? Like a personalized ringtone for them."
She sat the bowl down on the table. She held her arm up in Zara's path. The cobra wrapped herself around Reese's arm.
Reese moved them both to the table. She started eating with her snake-free arm. "It's just...wow. How romantic. I found out about it cause apparently one kept calling out the mating tune but it's mate was dead so no whale ever came. A perfect tragedy, like something from Greece."
The snake hissed.
"Yeah! Exactly." Reese mused. She hummed, bringing up another spoonful to her mouth. "Happy you get it."
She should finish her breakfast fast. She would have a lot of work today.
==W&R==
Phineas had texted everyone in the unofficial band. Meaning, mostly the Ferbettes. Reese had gotten the text to help get the legal matters down. She loved that about as much as she loved singing. Well maybe not as much, but it was fun too.
Reese had been on and off the phone for an hour. Getting the song everywhere she could reach, then intimidating all the places she couldn't. She was like, ten, that's short.
When everyone grouped up at the mall, they were the most popular band in the Tri-State Area. Reese preened as she directed the band to the stage.
"It was agreed that our performance would be separate from the competition itself." Reese explained to Phineas. "We agreed that we would give the 100th contentestant a guest appearance in our song, which would double as their audition."
The backstage was in constant movement. The Fireside Girls were running around, getting into their outfits for the show. Reese saw Ferb setting up his keyboard. Phineas himself was getting in makeup.
"Sounds great!" Phineas replied. "Wow. I wonder who it'll be."
"So do I." Reese lied, knowing full well it would be Candace. Wasn't it always Candace? "Are you ready?"
"...so here's the thing-"
"What'd you break?" Reese deadpanned.
"I was practicing this thing where they slam the guitar into the ground-"
"Why would you practice that?! It's self-explanatory!"
Phineas shrugged.
Reese let out a breath between her teeth. "Whatever." She reached into her Bag. "Give me a second." She searched inside it for a long minute. When she found the desired object, she pulled it out. "You're so lucky I stopped by the garbage on the way here."
She still couldn't believe someone threw this away. What, just because the strings needed tuning? Danville was weird.
"Classic, bright orange, just tuned. It fits with the general theme of the band so-"
"It's perfect!" Phineas took the guitar, throwing it over his shoulders. He tried out a few chords. "Awesome!"
"Now get going!" Reese started pushing him towards the stage. "You're needed for dress, and I have calls to make."
Phineas saluted. "Yes ma'am."
When he rushed out to the stage, Reese let out a long breath. If she hurried, she could make sure that lunch made it for the band and get to a bookstore.
It was hard being a band manager.
Reese liked to think she was making it look easy.
==W&R==
Yep.
It was Candace.
Reese tucked away her recent purchases into her Bag. She walked up to the side of the stage. Phineas handed the sheet music to Candace. Reese pulled out her phone, texting another radio station. Having a lot of exposure would be good for the short life of the band.
She set up a camera. Her own personal video camera, bought from her home reality to be brought to this one. A real life viewing of the Gitchie Gitchie Goo. She wanted this song saved like that for the rest of her life.
"Ladies and gentlemen, the Ferbettes!" Phineas called out in the crowd. Reese started nodding her head to the beat. "I'm Phineas and this is Ferb, and we're gonna sing a song!"
Reese nodded her head along to the beat. She stepped back from the camera, bobbing her head. "Bow Chicka, Bow-Wow! That's what my baby says! Mow-mow-mow! And my heart starts pumping! Chicka-Chicka, Choo Wah! Never gonna stop! Gitchee Gitchee Goo means that I love you!"
She started dancing. She loved the song. She'd only had it in her life but she'd been singing it for days. Reese couldn't help it- she liked it. She liked all the songs.
"I said a Bow, Chicka, Bow-Wow! That's what my baby says! Mow-mow-mow!" Reese twirled in place. "And my heart starts pumping! Chicka-Chicka, Choo Wah! Never gonna stop! Gitchee Gitchee Goo means that I love you! I said a Bow, Chika, Bow-Wow!"
"Candace!" Phineas cued.
Reese had continued singing, going along with the music that was now playing in just her head. "That's what my baby says! Mow-mow-mow! And my heart starts pumping! Chicka-chika-"
The music cut off.
Reese almost complained.
She turned to the stage to find out what had gone wrong. To her dismay, it was Candace. At that, Reese turned off the camera. She tucked it away into her Bag. She'd start filming again later.
"Wait a minute! What are you doing?" Candace snapped.
"I'm cuing you?" Phineas replied, confused.
"How'd you get a hit single?!"
"Well, it wasn't easy. It took most of the morning and Reese made a dozen phone calls. But if you're willing to put in the work-" Phineas explained. Reese preened.
"That's it! I'm gonna tell Mom!" Candace snapped.
"Okay...tell her what?" Phineas asked.
Candace sneered. "Ooh, I'm just gonna tell." She stormed off the stage.
Reese winced. The music picked back up to finish the song. Reese couldn't get too into it because an attendant tapped her shoulder. "Yes?"
"Someone is looking for you, miss." The attendant explained.
Reese nodded. The attendant showed her the way out of backstage to meet someone outside. There, she was met with a tall blond man. She stood straight, waiting for him to speak first.
The man didn't disappoint. "Reese Martin, manager for Phineas and the Ferbtones?" Ben Baxter asked. He held out his hand.
"This is she." Reese replied. "You must be Ben Baxter, Huge-O-Records." She accepted the handshake.
"That's right! Why don't you bring the talent to my office in an hour and we can talk about their future? Here's my card." The man held out a gold shaded business card.
"Thank you. Here, have mine." She held out her own business card.
A simple white shaded card, her name done in golden letters while the band was labelled beneath in their logo.
Ben's eyes widened.
Reese knew it wasn't the best. It was a cartoon, so she was allowed leeway.
"This is a great business card!" Ben replied with a barking sort of laugh.
Reese was reminded suddenly of the scene in American Psycho, where this exact thing had happened.
"You're going places kid! Like my office- one hour!" Ben reminded her, walking away.
Reese let herself smile. She'd earned it.
Walking back inside, she found the Flynn-Fletchers putting their instruments aside.
"Guys! Good news!" She held out the business card. Phineas grabbed it, giving it a quick read. "Ben Baxter came by. He's with a record label. That was the next part of the plan."
"Cool." Phineas beamed. He turned to Ferb. "Excited, Ferb?"
Ferb held up a thumb.
"He's excited." Phineas told Reese.
"You round up the girls. I'll meet you guys outside." Reese grinned. "We're riding in style."
They left in time for Candace to have brought Linda back.
==W&R==
"You got it?!" Phineas asked.
Reese tossed up the pair of keys in her hand. "I got it."
Now indeed, in the episode they had a huge bus with their faces and logo on the side. That had been cool. Reese, though, thought it could be better. She got a bus with their faces and logo on the outside, and TVs on the inside. Also cup holders.
She was terrifying.
And legally she has to say the men will be able to live independently by the end of the week.
"Got it set up to play whatever you guys want." Reese instructed. The brothers ran onto the bus. Reese turned to Isabella. "Ferbettes?"
Isabella gave a curt nod. "Already loading up the bus."
"Good." Reese let herself into the bus.
They left five minutes later.
The TV's were all playing a movie that came out a few months back. Apparently it was popular here. Reese had no idea- she kept up with the movies back Home a lot more.
She was curled up in a seat, her legs stretched out into the next. She was reading one of the books she'd bought today. It was about snakes. Though she had no idea what kind of missions her super secret agent snake was doing, she just wanted to send good thoughts Zara's way.
She was reading a great bit about snake biology when they drove over the overpass.
"Wow, what a great painting! How did you get permission for that?" Isabella asked.
"Oh, they didn't mind. The building's scheduled for demolition." Phineas explained.
Reese looked up from her book. The building collapsed. She didn't even want to look towards the mall behind them. She knew it was unlikely she could see Candace and Linda from here, but it was possible.
She went back to her book.
==W&R==
They were all sitting in a meeting. Reese was still reading her book on snakes. The brothers were talking to the record producer. Reese kept an ear open for them.
"Boys, let me start by saying we love your act and we want to be in the Phineas and the Ferb-Tones business." Ben Baxter praised. "And by the way, aren't you a little young to be pop stars?"
Phineas and Ferb blinked.
"...No." Phineas deadpanned.
Ben blinked back.
"Well, okay then!" Ben cheered. "We prepared to offer you a very lucrative contract if you'll just sign exclusively with us for your follow-up single. We'll even take on your manager! Usually we would give you one, but you're such a well oiled machine we couldn't take you apart!"
He held up a document. It had 'contract' on the top in classic boring adult font.
Reese liked her fonts better.
She could use WordArt for that.
"Follow-up single?" Phineas raged.
"Oh no, you angered the talent." Reese mused, turning a page in the book.
Phineas stormed over, snatching the contract from Ben's hands. He tore it apart. "Who do you think we are, some two-bit hacks who will keep writing new songs just because you pay us obscene amounts of cash?!" He threw up the contract like confetti."
Without looking up from her book, Reese stood up from the table.
"Phineas and the Ferb-Tones are strictly a one-hit wonder!" Phineas snapped.
Reese walked into the elevator, moving the book to one hand and calling the elevator with the other. It pinged. It filled up with the Fireside Girls and the brothers.
"Good day to you, sir!" Phineas yelled.
Reese pressed the button, waving her fingers at the executives of Huge-O-Records.
The door slid shut.
"Nice rant." Reese complimented. She used her free hand to pull out her phone. She used her thumb to turn the page in her book.
Phineas preened. "Thanks."
"Any practice?"
"Nope." Phineas answered.
At that, they paid attention to the music playing in the elevator.
"Diva tantrum, check." Phineas listed. Ferb held up a clipboard. "Elevator music, check." Ferb checked them off.
"Just another day with the Flynn-Fletchers." Reese mused.
The Fireside Girls laughed in agreement.
Once they reached the bottom floor, they all walked outside. Perry the Platypus was walking up.
"Oh, there you are, Perry." Phineas stated.
The bus pulled up. Reese waved to the driver. The driver waved back. They'd painted the upgrade onto the side. 'PFT: Reunion Concert!' Reese liked it.
"Come on, guys. We still have one thing left to do." Phineas reminded them.
==W&R==
Reese set up her camera again. She was in a rush. She'd stopped at the bookstore again. What could she say, it was her passion. It was blowing her spending budget but she could make it up from the funds in the reunion concert. Super-America-Pop-Teen-Idol-Star was happy for the publicity.
She pressed record.
"Hey Candace." Phineas called from the stage. Reese smiled, leaning on the chair she'd set up too. "You're still the hundredth contestant, wanna come up and help us out?"
Candace walked up.
Reese started singing quietly to herself. "Bow, Chicka, Bow-Wow! That's what my baby says! Mow-mow-mow! And my heart starts pumping!"
Reese glanced at the book, beginning to move according to it.
"Chicka-Chicka, Choo Wah! Never gonna stop! Gitchee Gitchee Goo means that I love you!" Reese laughed, dancing to the song. "I said a Bow, Chicka, Bow-Wow! That's what my baby says! Mow-mow-mow! And my heart starts pumping! Chicka-Chicka, Choo Wah! Never gonna stop! Gitchee Gitchee Goo means that I love you!"
She danced and sang until the lights went out.
All in all, a good day.
==W&R==
Zara was reclining in her case. The heated lamp was perfect, making the room more humid than normal.
The door to the bedroom was thrown open. Reese caught it before it slammed into the wall. Mr Martin was home- he didn't like loud slamming noises.
"Were you ever going to tell me snakes were deaf?" Reese asked.
The snake stared at her.
Reese shook her head, unable to stop a giddy smile. "You asked for it, chika." She pulled up the huge bag on her shoulder.
Zara often wondered just how much was in that Bag, why she carried around a bag that big. The snake had tried sometimes pushing the Bag, or moving it to a better place. It was surprisingly heavy. The child was already small, carrying around that heavy Bag all the time wasn't healthy in the long run.
Reese pulled out a book. She showed it to the snake. "I know you're not blind so you can see it."
The cover said 'learning to sign for dummies'.
Zara was struck silent.
Reese smirked. "I know you can't sign back, but it's the absolute least I could do for you!" She lifted Zara up onto her shoulders. The snake let herself be moved, too surprised to stop it.
Reese kept quiet until they made it to her room. Once the snake was on the ground, Reese turned to make sure her face was always in sight of the snake.
"I mean, I learned Arabic for a classmate. Learning sign language is just another language, just with hands." Reese explained. She sat across from Zara, resting the book in her lap. She turned the pages. "This'll be great."
Zara watched the girl, as struck by Reese as she had been before. Everyday that Reese had broken so many assumptions Zara had made of her. She had not yet seen a human behave like this. Learning sign language for a snake? Giving up her entire day for helping the neighborhood children? Zara could hardly believe it.
Reese held up her hands. "Okay! Okay." She followed along with the pictures on the page. "My...name...R-E-E-S-E M-A-R-T-I-N." She signed. "Oh that's long. I should find something shorter, so that you can-" She paused, looking up at Zara. "...you can't sign back. Meh. I'm gonna go with it anyway. It's only kind. A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity. A talking cucumber told me that it's gotta be true."
Such a shame that Zara couldn't tell the girl that she could read lips. Such a shame indeed.
"So anyway, I was gonna play you the song we played today. Since you can't hear it, I thought I'd have to sign it instead! Just give me some time, there are a few signs I'm still tweaking." Reese explained.
Reese spent an hour in that book, signing various signs and getting them wrong more often than not. She was getting better, self-correcting the signs as she went.
She performed her song, proudly and quietly for only her pet to hear.
Zara was proud of her charge.
==W&R==
AN:
Thanks to for favoriting
Thanks to for following