PnF_What a Sister's There For

"Why don't you boys just head upstairs to your bedroom and play with some blocks?" a familiar voice recommended as she walked into the house.  Candace didn't even look up, she was so immersed into her show.  A Ducky Momo special was on and she didn't want to miss it.  However, she felt a need to address the people entering their home.

"Hi mom, hi Phineas, hi Ferb," Candace droned without looking away from the television.  "How was daycare?" she asked, only half-tuned into what her chatterbox brother might say.  Phineas always needed to talk, so she was used to tuning him out.  And if she kept him talking now, he and Ferb wouldn't make funny noises upstairs.  Then she'd have to see what they were up to—which was usually dangerous, mind you!—and get mom to stop them.  But usually when she got her mother, the boys had cleaned up their dangerous mess and were ready for dinner.  So it was better to get him talking and out of trouble—and her hair for that matter—than to send them up to their room for another crazy invention.

"See you at dinner, Candy…" the boy's voice was barely audible as he trudged up the stairs.  It instantly grasped her immediate and full attention.  It was commercial break anyways.  Candace's head spun around to see that the figures of her two little brothers were trudging up the stairs.  Trudging!  The two boys who would normally bound with excitement up the stairs—which would normally give Candace a headache—were silently and solemnly making their way up the stairs to their room.

Something's wrong…  Candace instantly thought as she made a beeline for their mother, who was on her way to preparing the afternoon's snack.  She watched her mother chop up carrots for a few minutes before deciding to ask her question.  "Mom, what's with Phineas?" she piped up, apparently startling her mother.

"Candace, please don't sneak up on me" Linda said as she returned to chopping up the vegetable.  Yet Candace didn't miss the slightly upset look on her mother's face.  She waited silently for her mother to answer her question.  The wait wasn't long.

"They had a bad day at daycare" was the answer she received.  Candace waited for a proper explanation.  After a few seconds, she cleared her throat, obviously waiting for more information.  Linda didn't look up from her carrot-chopping as she finally decided to elaborate.  "The teacher said that after recess they weren't talking to anyone.  I've tried to talk to them and cheer them up, but they won't say anything to me.  You might just want to leave them alone for a little while."

Satisfied, but not really, Candace began to heed her mother's advice and return to her Ducky Momo special.  Yet even as the animated duck did his dances, Candace could not find any sense of happiness in watching.  

Suddenly deciding that Ducky Momo was not what she wanted to do right now, Candace turned the television up and practically flew up the stairs.  She almost tripped on their pet platypus, Bartholomew.  He was new to the family and the boys had named him.  Candace thought the name was impractical, but whatever.  Reaching her destination, Candace knocked on the door of the room that belonged to her little brothers.  Receiving no answer, she simply pushed the door open, a scowl on her face.

"What's wrong?" she asked bluntly.  She watched as the two boys—with faces longer than a horse—simply stared at her for a few seconds from their respective beds.  Five year old Phineas was in his blue overalls, white tee shirt, and small tennis shoes.  Ferb, on the other hand, sat from his bed in his yellow tee shirt, purple shorts, purple-topped shoes, and small blue bow-tie.  However, their faces were what caused Candace's heart to clench itself in sorrow.  It looked as if they had just been crying.  That was a statement for either of them!  Phineas was always happy, always had a smile on his face.  Ferb, on the other hand, had to have an over abundance of emotion before he let it show.  It was just something that Phineas found cool about his brother.  The two had a friendship that seemed to have lasted forever, even though it had only been a few years.

When all the boys did was stare at her, she walked into the room with a sigh.  It probably wasn't going to be easy to get the boys to talk to her.  Without a word, she picked little Ferb up and carried him over to Phineas' bed.  She was pretty sure his eyes were widened in shock.  Candace never did this, but this was an emergency.  She stared at the boys for a long while before talking again.

"I'm waiting…" she said, hoping the two would finally tell her what the heck was going on.  Phineas glanced at Ferb, who simply looked down into his lap.  Phineas then seemed to chance a glance at Candace, who stood there with her arms crossed.

"The ceiling's up, Candy" Phineas pointed upwards to emphasize his point.  A sad attempt at a smile crossed the five-year-old's face.  It broke Candace's heart.  She looked over at Ferb, who still had his head down.  He was staring at his purple-topped tennis shoes.  Candace sighed.

"You two are the smartest five year olds I know" Candace told them.  To her complete surprise, it caused Ferb to glance at her funny.  Phineas, too.  Now that she had their attention, she felt she should continue.  "You also show what's on your face a lot, so I know when something isn't right" she finished.  To her complete dismay, this caused Ferb to go back into hiding.  Yet this time, Phineas joined him.

"Oh, no you don't" Candace announced.  Both of the little heads rose up to look at her.  She stared back.  Then she realized something.  She might be freaking them out a little bit.  For the umpteenth time, she sighed.  "Why won't you two just tell me what happened at daycare today?" she asked.  "It's not like I'm gonna bite you."

That last comment made the boys laugh.  For some reason, that sound made Candace feel so much better.  She smiled and let her arms out of their folded position.   Feeling tired, she walked over to the boys and sat smack in between the two.  She sent her arms behind her as a support system to keep her upright.  She looked down at her two little brothers with a smile.  "So what's up, you two?" she asked again, this time in a much gentler voice.

A long silence ensued.  For some reason, Ferb decided to lean on Candace at this time, causing her to be even more confused.  Ferb usually wasn't this expressive.  Yes, he'd been becoming more open with Phineas, but never with Candace.  A little hesitantly, Candace set her hand on top of his head and began to mess with his hair.

"Someone told us that we're not brothers…" Phineas finally admitted, his voice showing the signs of impending tears.  The sentence shocked Candace.  Ever since the two boys had met, they had practically been inseparable.  Even before they were legally brothers, they had been close.  It was friendship no one could shake.  At least, that was what Candace thought.

"Who told you that?" Candace asked, instantly wishing she could give whoever it was a piece of her mind.

"I don't 'member…" Phineas mumbled.  Candace sighed with a smile.  It was so like her little brother to forget important things.  His memory was somewhat flighty like that.

"Then it's not important" Candace said.  She felt Ferb move on her side.  She looked over to her little British brother to see he was looking at her oddly.  His eyes were glistening with tears.  They were ready to fall at a moments notice.  The sight made her want to cry as well.  She moved her hand from his head to his back and placed her free hand on Phineas' back.  Despite how much the sight of them being so close to tears made her want to cry, the eleven-year-old smiled.

"You two are so brothers" she said.  "Not only that, but you're best friends!  You two always work on something cool together."

"Really?" Phineas asked, a tear threatening to fall.  "Candy thinks our toys are cool?"  The question made Candace want to laugh.

"Of course I do!  Not every five year old can think of a bazillion things to make with a jigsaw puzzle, and not every five year old would know how to pull it off" Candace stated, remembering back to the day where her brothers had made a hang glider out of about fifteen jigsaw puzzles.  Even though those hang gliders could have been extremely unsafe and they could have fallen on their heads and gotten really hurt, she was still impressed by their ability to create something like that.

"My point is that you two are a team" Candace smiled as she looked at both of her brothers.  "And you are both my brothers, so I don't see what you two are so worried about."

At that precise moment, both boys decided to tackle their older sister, sending her flopping onto Phineas' bed.  It was then that she realized she was getting the ultimate bear hug from both Phineas and Ferb.  She wrapped her arms around her little brothers with a smile.

"And I think I saw mom cutting up some carrots in the kitchen" Candace smiled as she watched her brothers shoot upright, smiles plastered on their faces and all traces of tears gone.

"Carrots?" Phineas asked.  His excitement was matched by Ferb, who hopped off of Phineas' bed and darted to the door with his brother.  Candace watched in laughter as the two five year olds scrambled down the stairs for some carrots.  It was then that she noticed something.

"Hey!  Don't run down the stairs!" Candace cried as she chased after her brothers.  Those two could be such a handful.