After the intense investigation yesterday, Reese came to a firm conclusion: she didn't like Grandpa and Grandma Martin. They were too overly affectionate, demanding that Reese stay around not just one but two days. She had missed the robots! That wasn't fair.

She'd wanted to see robots.

Robots were like...her thing.

This hurt.

This hurt to not be involved.

Ugh!

Worse yet was that they wouldn't leave her alone. Two whole days of constant attention from the elder Martins. Reese had wanted to take advantage of this mini-vacation to work out some numbers for Phineas and Ferb. There weren't many numbers that needed the attention, she still wanted to work on them to keep them from becoming a big mess.

She was back home with Zara though. She wanted to believe the cobra was happy to see her, that may be willful imagination. The cobra noticed someone in her space. That was all. Reese didn't expect much more.

When the cobra wrapped around her arm, Reese thought it was just for the warmth of her.

When Zara tried to come with Reese by sneaking in her bag, Reese thought the snake wanted the frozen rats she kept inside.

It never came to Reese that maybe the others genuinely liked spending time with her.

Why would it?

==W&R==

The day had gone much better afterward. Reese had no eye for fashion. In the cartoon world, she wore the same green tank top and jeans. In the other worlds, the live action ones, she tended to keep her clothes simple.

So she was relieved that the day's events went by before lunch time. She was happy to see Forever Summer line come to a close.

"Face it, mon ami, your designs are 3 minutes and 37 seconds ago." Gaston Le Mode told them, shedding his latest outfit for the pharmacist outfit.

"Oh, well. We had a great time." Phineas cheered. He blinked. "Hey, Gaston? What's with the new outfit?"

"Are you kidding? No one's claiming this look yet!" Gaston Le Mode explained. "I have to get out in front of this thing and take credit for it all. That's how you stay in business, kid. Au revoir!"

"Well, Phineas, I still like your style." Isabella praised.

"Thanks." Phineas replied. "What'd you think, Reese?"

Reese shrugged. "I thought they looked cool."

Phineas grinned.

"Hi, Mom!" Phineas greeted.

Linda smiled at the group of children. Candace open mouthed gawked at them all. "Oh, look. We're all here. Why don't we get some lunch?" She started walking from the fashion runway. "I think there's a pizza place right over there."

The kids all cheered.

A platypus chittered.

"Oh, there you are, Perry." Phineas cheered. He picked up the platypus, brushing the blue fur on his head.

"Yeah, go ahead. Eat all you want." Candace snapped. "My dreams are smashed to pieces, and all you can think of is food! Well, just remember, Gaston said I'll always be his Cou de Crayon." She reminded them all, proud of the little nickname.

"You do realize that that's French for 'Pencil Neck'?" Ferb informed her. Candace blinked, her dreams pulled out from under her feet.

==W&R==

Reese came back to the Martin house still scribbling in a notebook. She was trying to remember the order of the episodes after this one. Of course, she wrote it all in code. That was just her paranoia talking. 70 years of being something non-human built up a healthy sense of paranoia about humans.

And snakes.

She was plenty paranoid around something that always followed her around the room with it's eyes. As she scribbled the code out on her notebook, tension in her shoulders eased. When Reese had finished, she closed her notebook and tucked it away into her Bag.

She curled up on her bed, pretending she was in complete solitude. The afternoon had just begun, really. There was still some warm summer air from the afternoon sun peeking in from the clouds. Reese had just wanted an afternoon of doing nothing.

It...it felt good.

Sometimes Reese spent so much time working she forgot that she could spend time doing nothing. That she didn't have to be moving all the time, it was alright for her to relax. The concept itself was bizarre. Reese didn't settle into it easily. Relaxing wasn't really in her nature. She had to move. She had to always be working towards something. Not doing that...felt wrong.

But this...this didn't feel wrong. She was pleasantly surprised at it.

Her cobra slithered up to her side. Reese let herself just breath as Zara came to rest. Reese brought her hand to the scales, brushing on them. Zara settled into the touches.

Reese hummed. She sang a little song, probably one she heard on the radio. Zara cuddled to her, feeling the vibrations in the air. Reese sighed, actually relaxed for a moment. She moved them about so Zara could read her lips. Zara draped herself on Reese's leg, her head rested on Reese's knee so she could watch Reese.

"We made a cold fusion thing today. That was fun." Reese reported. She had some trouble signing 'cold fusion', she had to go on the fly with the words 'cold' and 'mix'. "We did it after pizza. Phineas said something about wanting to do it before tomorrow, and I get it. Nobody wants a cold fusion chamber just chilling around their house...yeah that was a pun. That's fine, don't laugh. I know you liked it."

Zara softly hissed. Reese snorted.

"Was that a laugh for you?" Reese asked, laughing too. "I can't- it's just too cute. You're too adorable."

The cobra hissed, louder and with a threatening vibe.

Reese laughed again. She brushed her finger down the cobra's back. Zara shivered, settling back down.