Phinbella: Pseudo-Rejection

Isabella's Problem

She had rejected him, a cold hard slap in the face. She had waited her whole life for something like that to happen, she had dreamed about it as a little girl. He was her whole world, everything to her, and she had rejected him. He had asked her to the dance and she had gone and crushed him, just like that.

She had tried to convince herself it was just a childhood crush when he had left. She thought she had succeeded, but really she knew better, in the back of her mind she knew she still loved him. But she had moved on, she had a boyfriend. When he had returned she had tried to convince herself that he was just her friend. But when she saw him she felt the same, she wouldn't admit it though, not even to herself.

She tried to be just a friend to him and for a while it worked, or she persuaded herself it had. It hadn't, not really; he was still flirty with her, believing her to still have a crush on him. But he had been excluded by the popular kids and Isabella had to make a choice: his friendship or popularity. She had chosen the latter, but it only became apparent when, out of the blue, he had asked her to the dance. Isabella knew she couldn't take it anymore and had chosen being with the popular kids.

She had declined, worse, she had yelled. She had rejected and crushed him. She could remember his eyes, his beautiful eyes, the look they gave her. In them she saw how much she had hurt him, they first broke, a black hole appearing where once there was happiness; then had come the disbelief, the pleading, pleading Isabella, begging her that it wasn't true, that this was not real, that it was a dream, that someone would wake him up from his nightmare. Next came the sadness... no, not sadness, worse, almost horror, despair, misery, woe, grief, sadness beyond what was normally possible for any human being, let alone Phineas Flynn. And then they had turned blank and he had walked away amid torrents of laughter.

He hadn't cried, he had broken, most likely forever. He had no friends, his old friends had changed. He was a nobody, a loser, an outcast, outcast by Isabella. She tried to rationalize that it wasn't all her fault: everyone had rejected him. But then again, they weren't his friends, or weren't supposed to be, she was. She was supposed to be there for him, forever, whether as a friend or a lover.

What had happened to her? She used to be a carefree fun-loving girl. She had cared about none of her peer's opinions of her, except one, her love, her crush since she had met him. Now that same boy was a reject, sitting on a bench somewhere, rethinking his life.

And then, like that, he had kissed her. How good it felt! Just after she had broken up with her jerk of a boyfriend. But now it was her turn to be rejected, he had told her that the kiss wasn't for her, but his best friend from all those years ago who, in his words, had died. And just like that he had vanished, back into the crowd, leaving Isabella rejected. He had looked at her with the saddest eyes while he had said it, like mourning for his dead friend.

Now here she was: at home, crying her eyes out like a loser. She had covered her head in her hands, what had she done? Why had she done that? What had it brought her? What happiness had come from it? How had it enhanced her life? Now she had no friends, she supposed they were never really her friends in the first place. She had beaten, rejected and sent her one true friend packing. She had killed that relationship right then and there, never again would they be friends. And, just like that, all her 'friends' had left her; now she was the nobody, a loser.

Isabella softly cried herself to sleep that night, she didn't want to go to school tomorrow.

---

For a brief second the light glinted off the highly polished lens as he swung the rifle about in a minute increment. Nobody saw though, not that he expected them to... after all, who expected snipers in Danville?

Not that he was a sniper of course, the gun wasn't lethal, just loaded with darts. But it could reach out to two miles accurately and it was light. The darts travelled so fast that they took barely a second to reach their target.

The darts were also loaded with a special serum he had created that made the target act drunk but be completely aware of their actions. Not anything particularly nasty or dangerous, but enough to get people into lots of trouble and ruin their social lives.

Phineas took his eye away from the scope for a second to check his list. Who was his target? Yes, he did this for money, kids at school would pay him to drug other kids and he would gladly accept. Hmm... target for today was a certain Alexim van Coos, not anyone he knew. Phineas quickly pulled out his panel-computer and checked the school's hacked registry for Alexim (he had hacked it himself to check the targets) and found the picture. He compared it with the boy in his scope... match.

Phineas smiled to himself: this would be fun. Slowly, he flicked off the safety. Gently, gently. Patience was a virtue, especially for the sniper. Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale. Phineas kept his breathing steady and gently moved the reticle over the boy's chest area. Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale. Always fire on an exhale he remembered. Inhale, exhale, puff... inhale. The rifle barely made any noise and the kick was minimal.

Hitting it's target directly, Phineas saw Alexim jump in surprise. He was sure it was accompanied with a yell, but at one and a half miles off sounds were hard to hear. Staying on the scope just long enough to see the drug take effect, Phineas jumped up and tore off his gillie-suit.

He had made it himself, it was better than the standard military issue, more durable too, and that was saying something. He pulled off the scope and unfastened the two holding pins before he pulled the bolt and barrel out. Carefully stowing it in his false poster carrier, Phineas hoisted it on his back along with his schoolbag and clicked the button on his teleporter.

Seconds later he materialized in front of his locker at Danville University. Instinctively he opened the locker and, as expected, a hundred dollar note with a message taped to it had floated out. Nobody ever tried to pillage his locker, not after what had happened to the last person who attempted it.

That was almost straight after Phineas had started coming to the high school, he had been rejected by everyone and his only friend was a creepy kid called John. A nice enough name for a thoroughly scary kid, most of the students weren't completely sure he existed, the only proof they had of this was the students who shared his class and his locker, the teachers would never answer their questions about him. Out of class John was nowhere to be found, at least, until Phineas came. Even then that had been weeks after his rejection by that girl... Isabel? Nobody could remember her, they were sure she still attended, but anybody who was anyone never noticed her around.

Straight after that John and Phineas had become steadfast friends. That was when someone had raided Phineas' locker, they thought he was getting too confident. Just as they had opened the locker they had been knocked out... by who they didn't know, that was the freaky part. When he had woken up in a hospital bed hours later he found that he had been completely paralyzed for weeks. The only thing he could remember was a searing pain down his back and blackness.

Nobody could pin the crime to Phineas, let alone John, and the matter was dropped. However, no one ever again tried the same trick. Even if they did it would take years to break into Phineas' locker, with everything he had put on it, the only ones who could were he and John.

Smiling to himself Phineas pulled the note off the bill and shoved the bill in his pocket before reading the note from John. "Nice work Phineas, Alexim is wandering around like a drunk idiot. Collected the $200, enjoy" it read. After finishing it Phineas quietly pulled out a special frequency microwave laser and disintegrated the note. The teachers and authorities had no evidence that Phineas and John were behind these and he wasn't about to give them any.

Being early Phineas wandered the school, looking out at the snow. Passing by the cafeteria he noticed a bunch of schoolgirls chatting in a corner. Upon seeing him pass by they smiled and waved. Phineas gave them a small salute back, but nothing too friendly, not even a smile. The only people he would smile to were his family and John, his only friend. Besides that he had lost all interests with girls after Isabella. After she had crushed him and Phineas had seen her for the stuck up high-school mean girl she was he had only shared one friendship. Briefly he felt a pang in his chest, thinking of Isabella, but ignored it and kept walking.

Phineas wasn't as... seclusive as John was. That said, he wasn't very social either, not like he used to be. Nobody really interacted with Phineas, him walking around school on it's own was very rare. The teachers didn't bother him for three reasons: he never gave them any reason to, he always scored top marks and was a brilliant student, and they were down right terrified of him although he never did anything mildly threatening.

In John and Phineas' partnership Phineas was the business and technology side. He was the one who would sit at a table alone at lunch (not that he minded, he even forbid anyone to sit) in order to take orders from passing students. Because of this, sitting with Phineas, in the minds of his peers, was a sign of supreme superiority. Had Phineas been more social everyone would have been at his table leaving the popular kids abandoned, had he run for school president he would have been elected in a heartbeat.

Phineas sat alone at this table with a computer and his notorious backpack, sketchbook and notepad. Everyone was dying to know what was in his sketchbook but he would never show anyone. It was even more secret than his backpack, which popular theory stated contained a fully-armed atomic weapon. Popular theory also stated that Phineas had a fully-automatic pistol on him at all times; this theory, no one doubted.

At this table students would, as sneakily as they could (which was not very much compared with Phineas and John), make their way up to it and place orders with Phineas. The orders you ask? Snipings, thievings and general mayhem. If you wanted something done quietly and without anyone knowing you were responsible Phineas was the man to go to.

He was also the partner in the business that made all the serums, darts and weapons that the pair used. He had the expertise. John was the one with the skills: he was the one who had taught Phineas how to disappear, to take down an enemy without him ever seeing you, how erase someone's short term memory, how to put them into a coma, how to break their bones with ease and, most importantly, how to build and field strip weapons.

After Isabella's rejection Phineas' personality had changed. He did nothing but work, work was his fun. He didn't care about anyone except his family and John - this was sometimes illustrated by the quotes the teachers found in his books - "why care about anyone when they will only hurt you?" was the most frequent.

Throughout his childhood Phineas had only yelled at someone in anger once, and that was justified. All through his childhood he had kept his anger at bay and it had built up inside him. He had managed to keep himself calm though... until Isabella, when she had crushed him it broke the horse's back and he let it all out. It was like a coin flip, on one side was the usual Phineas: optimistic, caring and kind; while on the other was this.

---

Isabella hadn't seen Phineas for weeks now. Well, that wasn't true, she saw him every day, she just didn't talk to him. She had no friends now, no one in the popular group remembered her, now she spent her lunch in the library with the creeps. She spent her days here because they were the only people to accept her. Even then she thought it was because of their secret hope that the girl was paying attention to them.

But today was going to be different she decided. Today she would apologize to Phineas and hopefully win his love back. Quietly she approached the table where he sat discussing something with a small fifteen year old.

Isabella walked over and greeted him with her once-usual catchphrase: "Hey Phineas, Watcha Doin'?" she asked trying to put on a smile. Phineas didn't seem to have noticed her at all and kept talking with the boy. It seemed that he was deliberately ignoring her, hoping she would go away without him interacting with her. He didn't want to see her, let alone talk to her.

Upon being ignored by Phineas Isabella shot the boy a menacing glance. He took one fearful look at her before signing the paper held in Phineas' outstretched hand and running off. Phineas then turned back to his papers and shuffled through a few of them, trying to get engrossed. He tried ignoring her for a few more minutes but, upon seeing that she was still there, realized that she would not leave until talked to. He sighed and rubbed his temple without looking at Isabella.

"Isabella, I don't want to be stepped on so you can return to your friends. Just go back to your boyfriend and ask if you can get back together, profess your love to him! Or is this a challenge posed by him to get me to do something irrational? Regardless, I'm sure he'll take you back, what with him being one of the only people who can tolerate your personality. I certainly don't want anything to do with it or you, so can you go away? Besides, you're driving away my business"

Isabella was shocked at the way Phineas had talked to her. She did not expect him to just wave her away like that, he didn't care. Although, now that she thought about it, he didn't have a reason to want to see her or a reason not to wave her away, after what she'd done.

"n-no, that's not what I came here for..."

"Oh, I get it. I'm the new way for you to be popular again, that's it? Well look, Isabella. Don't bother, I don't want to be used"

"I'm not trying to use you"

"Oh, so you just want to break my heart again?"

Phineas' cold words struck her hard but she took a breath and continued. "No, actually I was wondering if you'd like to go to the upcoming dance with me"

For a moment a familiar gleam lit up Phineas' eyes as of old and Isabella turned hopeful. It looked as if the old Phineas returned; he opened his mouth to answer with a slight smile. But then he remembered all the things she had done to him, the reason why they weren't friends anymore, that this was probably a trick and that she would tear out his heart again. And so his eyes faded, faded to a cold, emotionless black and Isabella's faint smile waned. "I thought I was the reject loser in the way of your friendships" he spit before shutting his laptop forcefully and sliding everything from the table into his bag.

Still in disbelief at his words Isabella only barely realized he was leaving. She quickly ran after him and grabbed onto his arm, "please Phineas! Please, we need to talk, at least"

Phineas' expression turned to one of more sadness and anger but he led her into an empty classroom, realizing she would not leave him alone until they talked. "what do you want Isabella?"

"you're my friend..."

"I wish I could say the same"

"...and I love you"

At this Phineas turned and glared at her. "well YOU had your chance and you rejected me. Ferb told me that when we were young you prayed day and night that I would reciprocate your feelings and finally I did, you were the one who was too good for that"

"b..."

"you know, that's the funny thing: I thought we were gonna be together. As soon as we had set up the computer in our new house I sent you an email telling you that I did love you, you didn't respond"

Isabella remembered, she had been so upset that she had made an entirely new email address, she hadn't checked her old one since.

"still, I didn't lose hope, I figured that you were at camp or something and I'd have to wait a few days. I waited, and waited, still the email didn't come. As I kept sending emails without response I began to lose faith. But still I sent an email everyday, sometimes up to thirty emails every day, for six years"

Isabella looked on with tears in her eyes,

"123,457 emails" he recited, "123,457 emails and still you didn't respond. I tried calling you, I tried texting you, still nothing.

I had almost completely lost hope that I would ever see you again. Until Dad came home from work and announced that his contract had expired and that we were moving back to Danville. That was what had relit that spark, I knew I was going to see you again and we were in love, or at least one of us was.

Do you know how long it's been since I felt happy?"

Isabella shook her tear-stained face,

"that first day of school. I was so happy that I could see you again and was so very eager at the thought of us getting together. When I got there though I found you had a boyfriend already and that really put me off. I moped around for awhile wondering what to do with my life, because of you being taken. But after then I figured it was only natural.

I just decided, based on the way he treated you, that you would leave him quite soon and we could get together. However, as time went on it seemed that no matter how badly he treated you you wouldn't break up with him. I couldn't understand this, he didn't give you anything except popularity... but you had never cared about popularity. That was one of the first signs that I should've given up then and there, but I didn't, I loved you too much.

At this point I was getting desperate, I didn't know what to do, you weren't leaving him. I stumbled around for an idea to get you away from him, to convince you that you and I were meant to be together. As I looked for an idea I saw an advertisement for the school dance and I figured that if I asked you to the dance you would automatically say yes. So that was what I did. I asked you and you gave me the one reaction I did not expect: you crushed me, rejected me and sent me packing, the one person I had thought was my friend, the one person who was supposed to be.

That destroyed me. Why would you do something like that, I hadn't done anything wrong had I? And then it hit me, the problem wasn't me, it was you, or rather what you had become. My problem was that I was still in love with someone who no longer existed, a relic of times past. I saw you for what you were: just another of the snobby mean girls that hung around with their buff boyfriends.

It saddened me that you had become this when you had been so much more, but it also killed off any part of my former self that was still left. But I couldn't let go of little Isabella from my childhood, not yet, I had to say goodbye to the little girl who had been my absolute best friend since I was one and a half. On the night of the dance I watched you and, when felt the time was right, I walked up to you. 'Isabella, I have to do this before I let go' I said. And then I kissed goodbye that girl I had loved so much knowing I would never see her again.

After this I felt better, the anger I had felt before had gone, or so I thought. It was then that the sadness kicked in: I had just lost the love of my life, what was I gonna do? The sadness didn't last long though and soon receded, that was when I met John.

John was like me, except in his case it was worse. He had been rejected by the love of his life early on, then his father had left them and then his mother. He had lost everyone he cared about and he taught me how to deal with it. From then on John was my only friend."

Isabella was in tears now, she had never known. She sobbed, Phineas' words stung her, she didn't want to hear them, she knew they were true.

"So yeah Isabella. You had your chance. You could've fanned that flame that had relit inside me. Instead you not only put it out, but you squashed the candle and threw it out the window. Now I'll probably never experience love again... especially you!"

At this he turned and walked towards the door,

"No!" Isabella cried, "I love you!"

"yeah, so did I"

"Phineas, come back! I love you! I promise, we can be together"

"oh yeah? Like how you 'loved' me since you were three? And look how that turned out! Sure Isabella..."

At this he turned and opened the classroom door before walking out into the hallway without a backwards glance. Isabella, crying, ran after him into the hallway, she didn't want to see him go. But when she got there he was nowhere to be found. At this she broke down in tears on the floor, ignored by everyone passing by. What had she done? It was all her fault, all of it.

---

Phineas was wandering the streets of central Danville thinking to himself. He hadn't had a good day... but then again, when were his days ever good? The cold wind whistled slightly through the stiff, white, bare trees that dotted the Danville cityscape, Phineas hugged his coat tighter. The weather reflected his mood somewhat with the clouds being grey and overcast.

He sighed. He hadn't been happy since the first day of school, not truly happy anyway. In that respect what he had told Isabella was true. Most of it was, except him not loving her, he had told himself that it was true but really, he wasn't so sure.

His speech earlier today to Isabella had hurt him as much as it had hurt her he was sure. But he had needed to say it, to tell her the irreparable damage she had done. He had needed to tell her how she had killed his love for her.

He sighed and sat down on a park bench after passing the many rows of dark grey buildings that inhabited the area to rub his temples. What had happened to him? He missed being the carefree optimistic boy that made everything count. He missed building fantastical contraptions with his wise step-brother (who was now in an eastern state getting his degrees) that made everyone happy, especially the girl across the street. He missed those summer mornings he would spent daydreaming under the tree in the backyard only to be interrupted by the cute 'watcha doin'?' from his best-friend and crush that gave him such a warm feeling. He missed exchanging the cute compliments and flirts and sharing romantic moments with the cute school-girl from his youth. He was sick of being the dark, secretive school time gun-for-hire who bordered on being sadistic, he didn't like that person and it was getting him nowhere.

He sighed again and heard the crunch of the boots in the soft snow of someone approaching and felt a soft but strong hand on his shoulder. Phineas didn't have to look up to see who it was. "hey John". John gave him a comforting pat before walking around the bench and sitting down. Phineas didn't turn to look at him and sighed again, "I suppose you know what happened between Isabella and me"

John slowly nodded and gave Phineas another comforting pat. Phineas smiled a little, "yeah, you always know what's going on with me". But as quickly as it had come the smile left. Phineas sighed again and put his head back in his hands, watching the powdery white snow under his feet mournfully.

"I just don't know John, I convinced myself that I didn't love her, that's what I told her, and that I didn't feel anything there, that it was just a closed chapter of my life. But when I saw her I felt the same as I had as a ten year old". John watched him with knowing eyes and Phineas glanced at him. "am I in love, or... still in love? I just don't know anymore, I'm as confused as I was when Ferb first told me, I don't like it. I feel terrible"

John slowly closed his eyes and took a deep breath before he spoke. "yes Phineas, I think you are in love. I mean, you were before right? And true love never dies"

Phineas blinked for a moment, a hot tear dripping off his nose and into the snow, as if trying to comprehend John's words and then opened his mouth, a cloud of silvery vapor exiting his mouth. "...yeah, yeah I guess so."

After a few minutes of silence he spoke again, his eyes glazed and unfocused though still full of misery and worry. "but what about Isabella? After what I said the feeling can't be mutual anymore... can it?"

John blinked and rubbed his face with his hands before he answered with a slight smile. "well... here, I'll show you... come on" he gestured, standing up from the bench. Curiously, Phineas followed him.
...

Silently, they snuck inside the pink apartment room, John carefully closing the window behind him. "you sure she won't be home?" John nodded. Quietly, Phineas flicked on his flashlight, a beam of sharp, white light flying out, and examined the room, the beam carefully hitting everything while Phineas' keen eye observed all. What he saw shocked him.

Scattered around the room were pictures of himself or himself and Isabella, most when they were twelve or thirteen, when they had been closest, on the brink of a relationship with only his father's business splitting them apart. Everywhere there was a dust-covered picture there were a collection of hearts, some faded ones given to her by Phineas, some new ones she had cried upon. He examined them, peering at everything intently, trying to blink the fresh tears appearing in his eyes away to stop them from obstructing his vision. All the pictures seemed to be covered in tears, great spots or puddles staining both the pictures and the room. Everything was wept upon and only then did Phineas realize how much pain he had caused her. He travelled over to the door and tried the big brass nob, also wet. It was locked as he had expected, he knew that, had it been him, everything would have been triple locked, nobody could know about it.

Turning, he noticed a pink book lying on the dresser, decorated with fonder pictures of himself and Isabella. The book looked as if it had been messily packed away, as if in a hurry, and had several pages sticking rebelliously out of it. Then again, everything in the room looked like that: dust bunnies had collected in corners, puddles inhabited areas of flooring, clothes and makeup were thrown around the room and everything was covered in pictures or scrapbooks. It seemed that Isabella had had a breakdown, he couldn't believe it.

Phineas picked the book up and turned to the most recent entry.

Dear Diary,
I spoke with Phineas today, the first time since I rejected him, I regret that so much now. I tried to ask him to the dance but he coldly beat me away. He told me about how he'd thought we'd be together but that I'd broken his heart. He told me that he didn't love me anymore after I'd said that I love him. I deserved it though, I can only imagine what he'd felt when I rejected him, I think I'd have run away or killed myself if he'd done that to me.

I'm still in love with him, I guess I always was, but now I guess we'll never be together because of what I did. I made him hate me and now I'll be rejected forever and die alone. I wish I could turn back the clock and take back what I'd done. I'm so sorry, not that it matters anymore, nobody cares. I'm not sure what I'll do now, suicide is actually becoming appealing... after all, what do I have to live for? My love hates me, I have no friends, I'm a freak and a nervous wreck, I have no money and all my grades are plummeting, *sigh* maybe I should, nobody would miss me. I'll just go cry myself to sleep.

Phineas read this entry with a fresh pool of tears in his eyes. He wished he could've taken back what he'd done too. He didn't want to drive Isabella to the point of suicide, she did have things to live for, she couldn't give up her life. He wanted to be with her, forever. How could he have told her he didn't love her when it was so clear that he did? Why had he rejected her when he knew how it felt? He had been the exact same way but he, unlike Isabella, had received a friend.

Phineas sighed and shut the book, a puff of dust flying into the air from it. He turned stiffly, hating himself and found John looking at him with a steady, concerned gaze. Phineas could tell that John felt for him and cared very deeply. "come on, I think we need to find Isabella" John gestured and put his foot on the ice-covered window ledge before he climbed out the window and into the cold winter air and bright, cold light of the Danville central city. Phineas nodded slowly, still in shock, and took one last look at the room before his specially booted feet left the soft, tear-stained carpet of the suite and he followed John out the window.

Glancing up at Isabella's room one last time, Phineas let out a sigh and cursed himself for all the mistakes he had made. He hung on the ice covered concrete wall of the building mentally punishing himself. He didn't care that the cold was biting at his hands and that his muscles were screaming in protest, he was as careless of them as the wall, he almost said he deserved it. Suddenly, a shout from the ground brought him out of his thoughts and he looked down to find John waiting for him on the ground.

Phineas tried to grin a bit and continued down the building until his feet hit the hard, frozen pavement that substituted ground. Silently, John pulled him out of the alleyway and dragged him along the sidewalk at a brisk pace. Upon rounding a corner John pulled Phineas into a small coffee shop and sat him down.

As they entered the coffee shop Phineas was greeted with the warm smells of coffee and chocolate and leather. Despite the warmth and nice smells Phineas opened his mouth to protest but John shushed him before reaching into his pocket and pulling out a ten dollar note which he handed to the waiter, a rather petite lady in a clean gown and apron which smelled of fresh bread. "Coffee?" John asked, Phineas opened his mouth to say that they shouldn't be here at all, let alone for coffee, before John nodded politely and sent the lady off with two orders of warm coffee.

"why did you do that? We're not meant to be here"

John gave a small smile and smelled the air strongly before he spoke. "two things, first: there's always time for coffee..." Phineas opened his mouth to protest at this but John continued unabated and unwilling to let Phineas start, "and second: I need time to calibrate this" he said, holding up an electronic pad resembling some sort of tracker.

Phineas closed his mouth and glared at John while he smiled back genially in return. "what?" he asked smiling. Phineas opened his mouth to speak but then decided against it. At that moment their coffee arrived which John gladly received but which Phineas barely touched. The woman left with a look of surprise and concern on her face due to John's companion but he told her not to fuss about it.

After sipping his coffee for awhile John looked up at Phineas, "you should finish that coffee you know, you're gonna need it". Once again Phineas' mouth opened but again he decided against it and instead slurped his coffee, quickly becoming engrossed with it.

After John had finished his coffee he pulled out the electronic pad and began explaining it to Phineas. "this can track anyone, anywhere on the planet, it doesn't even need satellites". Phineas nodded slowly while sipping his coffee (which he was really quite enjoying now). John continued explaining while Phineas enjoyed his coffee, inhaled the smells of the shop, enjoyed the atmosphere, stretched out and, for the first time in months, relaxed. After sipping the last of it he put the cup down "so this is what we're going to use to find Isabella?". John nodded, smiling.

Phineas frowned, "so why are we waiting here?". John shrugged and winked before he got up and walked out the door, Phineas following hastily behind him. "So... uh, where is she?". John pointed forward to an alleyway a few hundred meters ahead and increased his pace. Phineas did too, anxious as to why Isabella was in an alleyway.

As they neared the alleyway the could hear thuds, screams, protests and gruff voices. Upon hearing Isabella's voice scream out in protest Phineas ran forward but stopped at the corner of the alleyway. 

Cautiously he peeked in to see what was happening. In the alleyway was Isabella and another girl surrounded by three burly men and a fourth lying rubbing his bruised ribs. 

Isabella and the girl were wildly trying to defend themselves against the men with little luck. Isabella had managed to get the first guy out with a strong kick to the ribs (which made a cracking sound). The other girl had bitten and scratched the others with little success and both were now being closed in. Isabella was scared and out of energy, she didn't want to be used by these men (A/N I'm keeping more descriptive language out).

One of the men silently made an advance on Isabella from behind. Out of the corner of her eye she saw him and kicked him. She missed and hit him in the wrong place delivering the force to a less vital spot. Fazed, but not knocked out of the fight, the man grabbed Isabella's leg and twisted, rendering use of it out of the question.

Isabella closed her eyes and prepared herself to be dragged off somewhere by the men and forced into an unpleasant experience. What she did not expect was to hear a slight *pop* and feel the man's grasp on her fail. Slowly Isabella opened her eyes to see the man slumped on the ground, a small trail of blood leading from his back, and his friends looking as puzzled as she was.

Angrily, one of the two remaining men ran at Isabella with a curled, leather bound fist and tried to hit her. Isabella moved aside and blocked him before she heard another *pop* and saw him convulse then drop. Utterly terrified, the fourth, and last, man standing turned and ran out the alleyway. Isabella watched him go wondering where he would run when she heard two sickening cracks echo from the front of the alley, it sounded as if the man had had some of his bones broken.

"Isabella? Isabella is that you?" a voice called out, "are you ok?". Isabella wondered who it could possibly be before she answered, "yeah, I'm ok!". Just then a tallish man with dark red locks came running towards her. "Isabella! You're OK!" he cried, wrapping his arms around her in a warm embrace. Isabella sat in shock for a moment before she returned the hug with equal strength.

"I missed you so much" she cried into his shoulder, "after what you said I was so distraught because I knew it was my fault". Phineas calmed her, "sshhh, shhh" he consoled, stroking her ebony strands with care. Isabella wailed for a bit before she pulled away to look at Phineas, "I'm sorry, so sorry. You do love me, don't you?". He nodded, smiling, "of course I do Isabella, I always did", and with that, that moment of realization, that moment of utter happiness at the finding of their love once more, she pressed her lips to his.

Sparks flew, dancing around the couple as the stress and sadness that had build up over the dark years previously was relieved. As the kiss proceeded Isabella's slender arms weaved their way around Phineas neck and playfully grasped his hair, while twirling it, while Phineas' hands slid to her neck and shoulder, pulling her tighter. Isabella and Phineas were becoming more devoted to the kiss with every second and so they moved faster, there hands grasping and un-grasping, pulling each other as close as they could and they slid to the ground.

Isabella had kissed other guys before, though rather half-heartedly, but the kiss she shared with Phineas was like her first kiss, what one was meant to truly feel like. Never had she had a kiss so good... but then, she had always known that a kiss from Phineas would be this good.

For Phineas it was bliss, it was his second kiss and he loved it, he didn't care that Isabella's tears were collecting in his eyes. He didn't care that they were laying on the dirty ground in a dark alleyway, the grey snow landing softly on their embraced forms as the indifferent world looked to other matters. To him it felt as if he had soared straight up, through the atmosphere to the edge of space, he felt on top of the world.

And then it ended, Isabella broke away, panting. Phineas could feel her hot breath on his face and smiled at her, she smiled back. "we'll be together forever, I promise" she whispered into his ear before she kissed it softly and gently nibbled his neck while burying her head in his warm shoulder. Phineas smile broadened and he pulled her out for another kiss. As they were about to touch however, they were interrupted by John.

"Jill?" he asked somewhat unsurely, looking down the alley to the other girl whom everyone had seemed to forget. At this voice the brown-haired girl looked up sharply, shook the slightly bloodied bangs out of her eyes, rubbed them and turned to face John. "John?" she asked, blinking her tear-stained face curiously at him. John slowly nodded and walked over to Jill, a curious amalgam of curiosity, amazement, joy and love in his face.

Jill stood up to meet him then ran and hugged him tightly, tears flowing openly from her eyes. "why did you run away? Was it because of me? Did I do something wrong? I love you" she whispered to him. At this John pulled away to look at her, "you what?"

"love you"

"y-you did love me?"

"uh-huh"

John grabbed her and hugged her tighter this time before she pulled back and met him full on the lips. John happily accepted and the two slowly sank to the ground amongst the blood, dust and garbage while Isabella and Phineas sat in stunned silence. Isabella turned to Phineas with a raised eyebrow but Phineas shook his head, "I really have no idea".

Isabella suddenly remembered the knocked out... or were they dead? Men who had attacked her, now littering the alley. "Phineas, what did you do to them?" she asked, pointing. Phineas glanced away from the kissing couple to look at the bodies, "they deserved it" he scowled. "but they're not dead, are they?". Phineas shook his head, "no, regrettably not"

---

Five Years Later

Isabella smiled happily at her family and friends as she watched them from a corner of the room while they went about their business. She was happy, she was in a committed relationship with Phineas (it was so committed that visitors frequently mistook them for a married couple), they both had great jobs, she had her three degrees and Phineas was getting his fifth and Ferb and John had gotten married to their girlfriends, Vanessa and Jill respectively, Ferb even had a two-year old daughter.

She sighed contentedly again and looked at each member. There was a pregnant Candace lying in an armchair with her daughter and niece sitting on her lap while she read them a story. There was Jeremy laughing with Mr. Fletcher, the Grandparents (from both sides of the family), Doofensmirtz (Ferb's father-in-law), Baljeet and Buford.

There was Jill and Vanessa (who were sister-in-laws) talking while they set the table. There was Mrs. Flynn-Fletcher and Mrs. Garcia-Shapiro giggling with eachother while they cooked the large Christmas dinner designed to feed the entire family. Isabella inhaled the delicious smells and her mouth watered.

And finally there was Ferb and John having a (very) animated discussion at the table. Ever since they had become step-brothers (A/N that's right, John became part of the family, his name appropriately becoming John Flynn-Fletcher) they had become considerably closer. That wasn't to say the hadn't been close friends before, they were so similar that they got on better than Phineas and Ferb (probably incorrect: they understood eachother better than Phineas did, they both lacked his obliviousness and were more similar to eachother).

She smiled again, everything felt so Christmassy. She and her mother didn't usually celebrate Christmas, until Phineas and Isabella got together that is. Since then Isabella and her mother had been a welcome addition to the Flynn-Fletcher Christmas home.

The Christmas tree was so laden with presents that some had been piled around it or shelved next to it. The fireplace gave the living room a nice, warm, earthly glow and the happy faces of family members simply added to that.

Suddenly Isabella noticed the absence of one face, usually the happiest of them all. Wherever she looked she couldn't see Phineas. He wouldn't be far from his family, he loved spending time with them. Isabella looked around for a second time to make sure she hadn't missed him but found him nowhere. This disconcerted her, usually he was to be found laughing or telling an amazing story to one (or both) of his nieces, but he was nowhere to be found.

This perplexed Isabella greatly until she noticed the silhouette of someone standing outside. Although still puzzled she put on a grin and went to meet her boyfriend. As silently as she could she pulled open the sliding door and shut it so as not to let the snow in.

Quickly and quietly she crunched through the snow and wrapped her arms around her man's waist. "hey Phineas, Watcha doin'... outside in the cold?". Phineas glanced at her for a second, admiring her features in the moonlight, before he turned back to looking at the stars. "thinking"

"what about?"

"life"

"like what?"

"the fact that we can only ever screw it up once"

"oh"

"that's why I'm obsessed with making everything count. I worry about the mistakes I've made and cover them up with fantastical inventions"

Phineas sighed and Isabella drew herself closer to him.

"I've made so many mistakes in my life, things that I shouldn't have done in the first place, that I knew were stupid"

"it's alright Phineas, these things happen, it's the past"

"I know, but I was just so stupid. Not to have noticed your feelings earlier, for not putting more effort into contacting you, for not coming to visit and most of all for rejecting you. I am so sorry Izzy"

"no, I'm the one who should be sorry. I should have braved up and told you, I shouldn't have gotten so upset and severed contact with you, I should have believed you would return, I should have trusted my feelings, I shouldn't have lied to myself about my feelings and I definitely shouldn't have rejected you. If anyone's got to be sorry it's me"

"Izzy, no. As you said: these things happen. As for mistakes, I've made many and now I try to work out things beforehand to make sure they're not mistakes, one in particular. I've thought about it a lot these past few months and I'm completely convinced it's not going to be a mistake."

"what are you talking about Phineas?" Isabella asked starry-eyed and cutely, curiosity overcoming her as Phineas got down on his knee. Suddenly her eyes opened wide in realization as he pulled out a velvet box from his pocket. "y-you're not..."

"Izzy, it's you I care for more than anything on Earth. I love you and everything about you. I'm terribly sorry for the mistakes I've made. And I'd like to ask... well it's kind of a stupid question isn't it?" he laughed, Isabella just blinked back tears if joy, "well Izzy, I was wondering if you'd like to share your life me and do me the honor of becoming my wife"

Isabella pinched herself to make sure this was happening and found that it was real. She let out a blissful, contented sigh of happiness before she knelt down in front of Phineas and embraced him. "yes, that's a very stupid question seeing as you know what the answer will be" she laughed while blinking back tears, "and if that wasn't clear enough... yes, I would dearly like to become your wife, it's what I've dreamed about ever since I met you"

"...and to seal the bond?" Phineas grinned, Isabella practically leapt on top of him and kissed him as hardly and as passionately as she could while he gently slipped the homemade ring on her finger, both totally oblivious to the family crowd that was watching from the window.