Isabella POV

Phineas gave me a little smile right after he finished his apology, but I was still too busy processing everything in my mind to respond. I had received too much information, and had to slowly go through all of it in my head, from the beginning.

He had just apologized for our entire fight, acting like it was all his fault. And it wasn't just his, I was yelling at him the whole time too. But he came over here to say sorry anyways, how sweet! And he called himself a jerk, but again, we were both being jerks.

"He loves to hang out with me and called me his best friend!" I thought from before. It was already pretty obvious that I was Phineas's best friend, seeing as I came over every single day, but it felt good for him to say it. And then he called me brilliant, trustworthy, and ... he called me beautiful! He thinks I'm beautiful! My expression didn't change, but I felt a spark of hope light in my broken heart.

Finally Phineas told me that he lied about nobody liking me, that millions of people would probably love me. He said that everything was a lie. "He didn't mean it!" I thought in desperate relief. My heart started beating faster, but in a good way, and I felt a smile growing on my cheeks.

"Maybe he still likes me!" I thought excitedly. I shed a few more tears, but more from happiness this time than sorrow. That apology was just so touching, just as everything Phineas did was. Of course I accepted it, in fact, I had to do some apologizing as well. I wiped away my tears and straightened my hair and dress, and was about to speak when I caught up to the present and realized that Phineas wasn't there.

Phineas must have just left. I could still hear him slowly walking down the staircase to go home.

"No," I thought desperately as my smile disappeared, "He probably thinks I hate him! I have to fix this!" I sat up on my bed and stood up, only to fall back down due to my throbbing ankle. I had completely forgotten about how I tripped on it before, but I had to ignore the pain and get to Phineas.

I grabbed the backboard of my bed and hoisted myself up, then hopped to the door and pulled it open. I then limped down the hallway as fast as I could, and saw Phineas near the bottom of the stairs, opening the front door to leave. His hand was on his forehead and his eyes were tightly pressed together; he looked so devastated. I needed to comfort him as he did for me.

"Phineas," I called out, my voice coming out sad and childlike. He didn't seem to hear me, so I began almost running down the stairs. "Phineas," I called a little louder, "I need to tell youuuaaaAAHH!"

My ankle let out a nasty surge of pain as I tried to step down another stair, and I felt my leg give out. I tripped off the stair, my arms flailing as I tried to find something to grab on to. Phineas must have heard me this time, because he whirled around. His eyes widened for a split second before he dove forward, trying to catch me. I plummeted to the ground, screaming, until Phineas caught me, pulling me into an embrace. He wasn't prepared to catch me, so my motion knocked us over onto the tile floor. I landed great since I was being tightly held, but the same was not true for Phineas. He hit the floor hard, his head getting a significant bruise. And if that wasn't enough, I landed on top of him, nearly doubling the amount of pressure on his chest.

It looked like Phineas had had the wind knocked out of him. Ignoring the desire to snuggle, I scrambled off of Phineas to give him space to breathe.
"Oh my gosh, Phineas, are you okay?" I asked frantically. After all, he had hit his head pretty hard on the floor, and the tile was unforgiving. Phineas was staring at the ceiling, mouth open and trying to breathe, but he was temporarily unable to. He looked frightened, and with reason, because he couldn't get enough oxygen.

"I'm s-so sorry!" I spurted, knowing from a Fireside Girls camp out how scary it could be the first time you got the wind knocked out of you. It felt like you couldn't breathe at all, and it would take a minute or two to recover. I gripped his hand, and tried to fight back the tears that I had managed to stop only moments before.

"Just keep trying t-to breathe, Phineas," I tried to say encouragingly, though I failed miserably. "It'll get easier."

I rubbed his arm and shoulder soothingly to help him get through it. Phineas continued gasping as he slowly regained the ability to inhale and exhale. Soon enough he was breathing almost normally, most of the color returning to his face. I smiled a bit, but then realized I hadn't yet checked for any injuries.

Already having achieved my emergency first-aid patch in the Fireside Girls, I knew exactly what to predict. Phineas probably didn't have any broken bones, but I decided to check.

"Does it hurt anywhere?" I asked, glancing over his body to make sure everything was normal.

"Everywhere," he croaked back after a moment, and he finally stopped looking at the ceiling to look at me. I stared back, checking to see if Phineas's pupils were dilated. This could signify a concussion, so I sighed in relief when I saw that his eyes looked normal as well.

"I'm so sorry, Phineas, I didn't mean to hurt you. I tripped when I was coming down the stairs but I really didn't mean to and I am so sorry and..." I trailed off as a new thought came to my mind.

A little smile appeared on my tear-stained face. "You saved me, Phineas." I leaned over and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. We both blushed madly, and my smile got a little bigger. "Thank you," I told him sincerely. He smiled back weakly.

I thought that it might be better without Phineas laying on the hard floor, so I decided to move him to the couch instead.

"Here, let's get you to the couch," I said, grabbing under his arms and trying to lift him off the ground. Phineas held my shoulder for support as I helped hoist him up. Once he was standing, I thought he was stable and let go. Phineas took a step forward but then wavered and almost fell over again. I quickly grabbed his shoulder again and walked him to the couch. Phineas was heavily leaning on me as I walked, and I was limping even more from my second accident, making it very hard and exhausting to move. "I wonder how I would do this several years from now," I thought, glad we were about the same size now.

We slowly maneuvered into the living room to the couch. After what seemed like ages, we arrived at the couch. We both fell over and sprawled out on the couch, panting.

I turned to him and asked "Are you okay?"

"Yeah" he replied, but he looked very confused. Probably because he wasn't expecting me to chase after him. I took a deep breath, now I had to apologize.

Ferb POV

I stood by the emotion changer, scrolling through the vast options to choose from. I was excited, there were so many that nobody had tried yet.

British - That wouldn't really work on me.

Chameleon - Heh, we could go spy on Phineas and Isabella! But no, that was private.

Bodybuilder - If Buford looked that buff with the "Tough" ray before, I wonder what this would do to him.

Flu - We really should have gone through and removed some of these options, like "Angry".

In Love - Better not let Isabella see that one.

Drunk - Perfect!

I smiled and selected the "Drunk" setting and then lined up the zapper with Baljeet, who looked quite scared.

"Are you going to tell me what I'm going to become?" Baljeet asked, his voice an octave higher than usually. Looking smug, I smiled and shook my head.

"But don't worry, the effects will wear off sometime," I said reassuringly.

Baljeet gulped but then muttered in a wavering voice that he was ready. I pushed the button and the zapper emitted a deep purple ray that stuck Baljeet. He froze for a second as purple light engulfed him, then a funny smile slowly spread over his Indian face.

Baljeet looked strangely happy, and he began staggering towards me, having a hard time staying upright. He hobbled up to me, gave a little laugh, grabbed my shoulders, and said "Heeeyyy Ferrbbb" in a very slurred tone. He nearly fell over, and I had to steady him with my arm. I only just kept myself from laughing; this was too funny.

"Hello Baljeet, feeling well today?" I asked politely with my rarely used British accent. For some reason, Baljeet thought this was the most funny thing in the world, and he burst out laughing. He let go of me and this time did fall over onto the grass, but this didn't stop him from laughing up a storm. I couldn't help but start laughing as well, not because of the nonexistent joke, but because of Baljeet's funny behavior. In a moment I was rolling on the ground laughing and gasping for breath with Baljeet.

Once we finally recovered, Baljeet somehow managed to stand up and walk back over to the emotions machine. He slumped against it and started playing with the on/off switch, getting frustrated quickly.

"It doesn't work!" he screamed, but then he noticed the touchscreen and returned to his easygoing state. He chuckled a bit more, then rubbed the screen with his hands and pushed the fire button. I wasn't expecting that, and shut my eyes tightly as a yellow ray hit me.

I waited for a moment, expecting to feel some weird emotion, but I still felt normal. Maybe I got lucky! I opened my eyes and sighed in relief, but stopped short when I heard a hyena laughing.

What the? I surveyed the backyard for any of the African dogs, but, as expected, there were none there. Baljeet hadn't seemed to notice any noise; he now appeared to be having a conversation with a blade of grass. I didn't think he would be sane enough to answer, but I decided to ask Baljeet anyways.

"Did you here that, Baljeet?" I tried to ask, but I was interrupted by something that sounded like a laughing dolphin. I then realized I hadn't even heard my voice at all!

"What?" I said again, but it came out as a loud cat's meow. Great. I had gotten struck with some sort of animal noises ray, and now all my speech came out as a different creature. I guess I could add another thing to the list of reasons why I don't like to talk.

Baljeet had finally noticed the strange noises and had walked over to see what the commotion was.

Oh well, might as well have some fun, I thought. I sucked in a deep breath, then let out the scream of an angry monkey right in Baljeet's face. Still being intoxicated, Baljeet screamed back with an Indian war-cry. I chuckled (which came out as an elephant's trumpeting), this was pretty awesome.

Phineas POV

I was really confused. I thought Isabella wouldn't accept my apology, but when I was leaving, she appeared, literally flying down the stairs and landing on me. That really hurt, banging my head (and the rest of my body) on the floor, and I actually thought I was going to die when I couldn't breathe. But it was all worth it when Isabella kissed me and said thanks.

"So why did you come downstairs?" I asked, fearing the worst. "I thought you hated me," I said a little quieter, and I broke eye contact with her.

"No," she replied, shaking her head, "I would never hate you, I lo- I mean, you're my best friend."

She paused for a moment, as if contemplating what to say next.

"Phineas, I love everything you told me, and of course I accept your apology. I just had to think for a bit." She gave me an endearing smile and took my hands. "And I'm sorry too. The fight was my fault too, its not fair for you to just blame yourself." She looked saddened and began to tear up a bit. "I-I can't believe I was being so mean to you! I d-didn't mean to, it was an ac-cident."

Now her tears were streaming freely, and I wanted to comfort her.

"A-and I told you your inventions were boring, but I was just so angry that I lied ab-about it." She tried to stifle a sob but a little still came out. I pulled her up to me and into a hug, grimacing from the pain from my shoulder.

"I would never want to do anything else, I love helping you with your inventions. I'm really sorry too, Phineas, do you think you could forgive me?"
I pushed Isabella away just far enough so I could look at her. She was still crying and looking at the ground. I cupped my hands around her face and wiped the tears from her cheeks. She looked up at me, surprised.

"Don't cry, Isabella," I said, smiling with concern. "I'll always forgive you, no matter what happens. I care about you too much to let anything get between us."
"You-you care about me?" she asked, hope and wonder filling her voice.

"Of course," I replied, "You're my best friend, and I can't stand a day living without you."

"Oh, Phineas!" Isabella cried, launching from her side of the couch. She wrapped her arms around my surprised body, pushing me over so that we fell laying on the couch.

"Thank you, thank you!" she continued to say, hugging me tightly as she lay on top of me. I was enjoying it quite a bit, but I also couldn't breathe from a combination of her weight and my accident. So I eventually had to cut it off before I passed out.

"Isabella," I finally stuttered, "Can't breathe." She gasped and immediately pushed herself up. I gasped for breath, and concern dawned on Isabella's tear-streaken but shining face.

"Phineas, are you okay?" she asked, looking similar to when I had really gotten hurt earlier. "Why didn't you tell me you couldn't breathe earlier?"
Great. I had to man up and tell her. Just like before, no backing out. I paused for just a second, mustering up my courage.

"Because ... I like it ... when you hug me" I said, still breathing heavily. I started grinning like a maniac with no control over it. She gasped, and a smile appeared on her face.

"You do?" She whispered anxiously.

"Yeah," I responded, trying to keep from blushing, "I really like, apart from the fight, how close we've been over the past day and a half. D-do you think we could keep doing that 'close friendship' stuff?" I felt like such an idiot, but it went away when Isabella beamed at me.

Isabella POV

"Yeah, we can definitely keep doing that!" I said, failing to keep my voice down. I was actually shaking from excitement. Now I knew, without a doubt, that he liked me! Phineas didn't know it, but he had just admitted that he liked me acting as his girlfriend.

I realized I was still in my awkward position above Phineas, so I did my best to lay down next to him. The couch was just big enough for me to lie next to him, and to my delight, it was very snug. I cuddled up to Phineas immediately, and he actually responded by putting his arm around me! I rested my head on his chest and sighed.

"This has gone from the worst day ever to the best day ever," I said dreamily. He began rubbing my back softly, and I closed my eyes and smiled. We snuggled for a while, me trying to get closer and closer as he caressed my back and shoulders. This was heaven.

It was just like when we were somehow in the same sleeping bag in the morning, only this time there was ... no Candace to interrupt us! My heart started speeding up as I got an idea.

I moved one of my hands off of Phineas's stomach to smooth my hair. Then I moved up a bit so that our faces were only inches apart. We both blushed at the close complexity, but neither of us moved.

But what if he didn't accept it? What if he pushed it off and said he didn't like me? I'd have nothing to look forward to. I considered backing down, but remembered what I had learned before.

"We've already been over this, Isabella," I lectured to myself, "He definitely has feelings for you so you are not backing down!" I took a deep breath to try to calm myself.

"So do you like this?" I whispered nervously, tilting my head to one side and trying to look as cute as possible. Phineas smiled and nodded his head.
"Well ... Do you wanna try something new?" I asked with a shaky voice.

"Sure," he replied uncertainly, "What is it? And are you okay? I can feel your heart pounding."

"I'll show you," I answered, not bothering to answer the second question. I smiled and leaned towards him.

"What are yoummmm..." Phineas was cut off as I softly pressed my lips to his. I saw his eyes go wide before I closed mine to enjoy the moment more. I molded my mouth to shape his and pressed against him harder, fuzzy sensations going through every end of my body. It felt amazing.

After several seconds, I fought against the screaming desires of my body and pulled away from him, though our noses were still nearly touching. I opened my eyes and saw that his were still as wide as saucers as he stared at me. I beamed at him, happy beyond belief. After all these years of waiting, I had finally, finally kissed Phineas! And he was awake this time, too!

"Wha- wha-" Phineas seemed unable to speak, and was just stuttering out parts of words. I decided to help.

"Good or bad?" I quietly asked in a sing-song voice.

"Wha- huh- h- I-?" Phineas seemed to be unsure of himself, but then again, he was sort of in shock. I thought he was taking it well enough, and I wasn't finished yet.

Still smiling, I leaned towards him again.

-Until he put his hands on my shoulders and stopped me. My smile faltered and then disappeared completely; I really hoped he wasn't rejecting me.

"Wait a second," Phineas huffed, having finally found his voice. "You-what-you just kissed me! Why-why did you kiss me?"

"I thought you'd like it," I responded, beginning to get worried. "I did it because-because ... I love you."

"You love me?" Phineas asked incredulously, his eyes growing wider still. "But-what-I don't..." He trailed off staring deep into my eyes. Then, a disgusted scowl slowly spread over his face.

I felt my heart being crushed as I stared at him scowling at me. He didn't have more feelings for me than a friend after all! I shouldn't have kissed him, he would probably never forgive me now.

"I'm sorry," I said, fighting tears, "I thought you liked me too." I started untangling myself from Phineas, which was pretty hard since we were so close.

"I-I thought that since you liked me hugging you that you would like this too." I moved his arms off of my shoulders and began to get up from the couch.

"If you don't like me back, th-then I guess we can just forget about this," I said, stuttering over the words as I tried to keep control of myself. I stood up, looking down as Phineas continued to stare at me angrily.

"I'm sorry," I said again, sniffling as a tear finally got past me. I turned to walk away so that I could cry in private. "Just pretend nothing happened, just forget that I said I looo... ?" I squealed in surprise when, all of a sudden, Phineas was off the couch and spun me back around to face him. Then, before I had time to do anything, he leaned forward and planted a kiss on my opened mouth.

"MMMM!" I squealed in a very-high pitched tone, completely surprised. This time my eyes opened wide as he put his hands on my waist and pulled me up to him. Phineas, my massive crush who I thought might hate me now, was actually kissing me! I stood there, in total shock. Then I snapped my eyes shut to mirror his and moved my hands up to his chest, then wrapped them around his neck. He, in turn, slid one hand up to my neck and began stroking my long hair, while pressing me closer with the other one on the small of my back. Everywhere he touched blazed like a wildfire on my skin.

After a while, Phineas took a sudden step to the right, and, not wanting to stop, I moved with him. Then, we were falling, but I trusted Phineas. Besides, this moment was worth more than a world of pain.

We landed on the couch like before, laying next to each other. I tangled one of my hands in Phineas's red hair and used the other to try to push our faces closer together than they already were. He continued rubbing my back and neck, and I smiled into his lips. I was in total bliss.

I had lost track of time when Phineas slowly began pulling his head away from me. Not wanting to stop, I craned my head forward to keep my lips on his, but he put his hands on my shoulders and forced me to stay there. And then we finally broke apart, gasping for breath. I opened my eyes to see his face next to mine, his eyes gleaming triumphantly. I glanced at myself; my dress was in complete disorder, folded and ruffled in random places, and my hair was a tangled mess that went all over the place. But at least I was still completely covered, and Phineas had kept his hands away from private locations as I had expected him to. I wouldn't be planning to go much further than this until marriage.

But now worry began to settle in. Would I blink, and suddenly everything would disappear? I removed one of my hands from Phineas's neck and began pinching my arm.

"Please don't be in Phineas-Land, please don't be in Phineas-Land," I repeated over and over, wincing from continually pinching myself. And then I was stopped as Phineas grabbed my hand and gave me another quick kiss.

"What's Phineas-Land?" Phineas asked, once he had ended the kiss.

"Oh, its just a place I go when I dream that I'm your girlfriend or that we're married," I said dreamily, smiling with half-lidded eyes. "But it doesn't matter that you know, because I'm in it right now, I'm just imagining this."

"What are you talking about, Isabella?" Phineas asked, laughing, "This is real life, not a dream!"

That brought me to reality, that he really had just kissed me! My face began to heat up even more than it already was from embarrassment. I squeaked again, and blushed more from that.

"So ... you just heard all that?" I asked an octave higher than usual while somehow managing to keep eye contact with him.

"Yep," came the reply, and I sighed in defeat. Why did I have to let Phineas know about that embarrassing secret?

"And I'm also wondering about why I can strongly taste strawberry lip gloss right now," he said, laughter embedded in his voice. "I think I figured out how it got on my lips this morning."

My blush deepened in color until I was as red as a strawberry. Phineas laughed at my expression and moved closer so that our noses were touching.

"You know, you look really cute when you're blushing," he said, which made me smile. "I didn't mean to scare you before, I wasn't actually mad at you at all. I just realized how much of an idiot I've been, how I've missed all your hints. Your kiss made me finally realize that I like you a LOT. I'm just angry at myself for taking so long to figure it out. And now that you told me about Phineas-Land, I think I figured out one more thing."

"What?" I asked quietly, my anticipation building.

" ... I love you too," he whispered, and before I could respond or smile or scream or cry, he wrapped his arms around me again and pulled me into another long, warm, fuzzy, and perfect kiss.