Eventually, Linda and Lawrence came and sat with the girls, announcing that Phineas was having his arms treated and that it would still take a little while. Ferb could be seen a little ways away…pacing? Isabella had never seen him betray any kind of emotion, and even though his face continued to have that blank stare, the fact that he was pacing showed a lot. But it wasn't long before he got over that and came to sit with his family. But he kept his hands flat on his knees, only looking at them, and not moving otherwise. Candace was sitting with crossed arms, staring off into the distance with red eyes, and her parents were talking in hushed, worried voices about anything other than their son. But Ferb…there was so much bottled up anguish in him that made Isabella almost more afraid for him than for Phineas. If someone so outgoing could hide something this drastic, then how much more could someone who never spoke hide?

Of course Phineas had an almost eerie mind-reading ability for both his silent pet and his silent brother, and he wasn't as oblivious as she'd thought, but still…

When Dr. Hirano finally came out into the waiting room, Isabella felt ready to explode with impatience. "I'm happy to report that Phineas' injuries are superficial," Dr. Hirano said. "He has no brain damage like we feared, and his arm scars won't take long to fade." She paused before adding, "His…psychological health may suffer, but so far we're unable to tell if it will. We can go into details on that later, though. For now, you may go and see him, if you like."

Four concerned people practically leapt to their feet, and Candace turned to Isabella. "You coming?" She asked.

Isabella gave her a quick smile and shook her head. "No, not now. Maybe after you come back."

Candace looked at her with a tiny worried frown, but then nodded and followed her family into Phineas' room. Isabella waited for several minutes, but seeing as how her worried fingers were probably going to rip the hem of the dress she was twisting, she picked up a magazine and began to flip through it. Not seeing a single word, of course. She didn't know how long she'd been staring at the same recipe for butternut squash muffins before her phone rang, startling her.

Okay, again? She'd been hearing phones ring her whole life, how come these past few times it had made her jump, as though she'd never heard the sound before?

She brought the phone to her ear, having a pretty good idea of who it was. "Mickey?"

"Izzy! Hey, how's your friend?"

"Oh, he's…he's fine. Superficial injuries, that's all."

"Good, great to hear. Listen, I uh…" Sheepishness crept into his voice, and he seemed embarrassed about what he was going to say next. "I sort of…sprained my ankle at practice."

"Oh no!" It wasn't hard for Isabella to be sorry, seeing as how she was feeling miserable already. "Are you okay?"

"Oh, sure. I'm just lying on the couch, you know, with like a million tiny needles shooting through my foot. Would you come keep me from going insane with boredom?"

Well, Isabella was certainly in a bind now. Because this? This was something to drop everything and run for. This was a reason to come away from whatever else you might be doing. In a contest where two of her closest friends had, as she'd just admitted, "superficial injuries," the one that should win out was her boyfriend. She should be at his side, not Phineas'. In fact, how creepy was it that she was here when none of his other friends were? His whole family was here, and they wouldn't dare leave him until the hospital released him. But her boyfriend was alone, and suffering, and bored, and had asked her to come. There was really only one way to answer him. She only needed to go for an hour or two and watch a movie, and then she could come back and see Phineas.

Poor, depressed Phineas, who knew she'd loved him this entire time…

"I can't," she said, as soon as that last thought crossed her mind. "I…I can't. I'm going to see Phineas in a few minutes, and I…he's going through more than I thought he was, and I just need to make sure he's okay, you know?"

There was a long sigh on the other end, and then an even longer silence. But it didn't sound like it was out of anger or disappointment so much as it was of…resignation.

"Yeah," he said. "That's what I thought you'd say."

Isabella had never experienced so much guilt in her life, and she'd just found out her affections nearly got her best friend killed. "I'm sorry, Mickey, maybe later I could—"

"No," he said, cutting her off. "No, you don't have to make empty gestures, Isabella."

Isabella. That's when she knew she was in trouble.

"Look," he said. "I completely respect the fact that you've got other friends, and you don't want to spend every minute with me. Totally understandable. But when I ask you on a date, to come watch my practice, and to come see me when I'm bedridden and you refuse all three times because of the same friend? It makes one start to put two and two together."

"Mickey, you don't understand, he—"

"I know how close you are to Phineas," Mickey continued. "I know because you talk about him all the time. What I didn't know was that him getting hurt would cause you to throw everything else in your life out the window. So just answer me this. Does he like you back?"

"Wh-what?"

"I'm not stupid, Isabella. I can tell you like him. And that's okay. You guys have a bond that goes way back, and I'm someone you just met. Just tell me if he likes you back."

"Mickey are you—are you breaking up with me?"

"Yeah." There was a note of sadness in his voice, but still not one of anger. "Yeah, I am."

Isabella closed her eyes and leaned her head on her fist. Stupid, stupid…

"It's for the best, really, it is. And I'm not mad, because if your heart is somewhere else, than all I want is for you to be there. But if he doesn't like you back, let him know I'm going to come and give him a pummeling. You know…" here some humor crept back into his tone, "As soon as I can walk and stuff."

For the first time in their relationship, Isabella felt a surge of love towards him. "I'm sorry, Mickey," she said. "I'm so, so sorry."

"It's okay, Izzy." She'd never been so relieved to hear that name. "I know you tried."

"Thank you," she said feelingly. "Thank you, thank you."

"Yeah," he replied. "Now, go sit by that poor injured boy's bedside, like I know you're dying to. I'll see you around."

"Goodbye Mickey," Isabella said, and when she hung up she felt a huge weight off her chest. And also a generous portion of guilt, because she knew Mickey was an angel she never should have given hope to. But now he could go out and find a girl he truly deserved. She sighed with relief.

She did have to wait for a time to see Phineas, because Candace and her parents came out of the room before Ferb did. But Isabella was perfectly content to wait for Ferb to finish, considering he was probably the main factor in Phineas still being alive right now. That didn't prevent her from almost running to his door when she was permitted, however. She did hesitate slightly before opening the door, but that was because this was the first time she'd stopped to consider what she might find when she did. But she mustered up her courage, took a deep breath, and walked in.

No matter how many times she visited someone's hospital bedside, it was always jarring to see all the wires that were attached to them. Seeing the Frankenstein-esque stitches on his arms and giant bruise over his left eyebrow didn't help, either. Nevertheless, he greeted her with his big, friendly, signature smile that she felt no day was complete without seeing. But it only made her hurt more, because now she knew…she knew it wasn't real.

"Hi Isabella!" he said. "Don't look so worried, I'm fine, see?" But when her worried look persisted, his smile suddenly fell. The change was so sudden and drastic that Isabella almost burst into tears at the sight. "You know," he said. "Don't you? Who told you?"

"Candace," Isabella whispered.

Phineas nodded and looked down.

"You could have told me," Isabella said. "You could have told me, Phineas, I would have understood! I wouldn't have…judged you or thought less of you or anything stupid like that!"

"No, I know you wouldn't have," he answered quietly. "Your heart's too big for that. I just thought you'd be…I don't know…scared of me, or…or treat me differently, maybe without even knowing it, because you'd be afraid of triggering me or something."

"Well," Isabella said slowly. "Well maybe I would have…at first. But probably your family did too at first, right? And then they got used to it, and just treated you like normal."

"I guess," Phineas sighed. "It was stupid, I know. You're my best friend, you deserved to know. I just thought I could fight it, you know? I don't feel it every minute, and building things really helps. Takes my mind off the bad feelings…that's why I do it as often as I can, and have a nervous wreck if I can't."

"Why'd you write a suicide note?" she asked softly.

Phineas looked up. "Wow, Candace really told you everything, didn't she?" Isabella nodded, and Phineas looked back down and said hesitantly, "I don't know…I don't even know if I would have gone through with the suicide. Mostly I just wanted to have it on hand…to see what it looked like on paper…to know what someone going through with it actually felt like…"

Isabella knew the next question she wanted to ask, but it was a very big question, and she was terrified of hearing the answer. "But why the contemplation of suicide in the first place?"

Phineas' head jerked back up, and he looked straight at her. "You know that, too," he said. "Because I've always known, Isabella. I've always known you, you know, had a crush on me."

"But why would that be reason for—"

"Because a person like me can never be in a relationship!" Phineas burst out.

Isabella stared at him in shock. Really, that was the reason? Out of all the guesses she'd come up with in her head, that one had never factored in at all. She opened her mouth, but then decided against talking and decided to just wait for him to continue.

"What I have," Phineas said slowly, after thinking it through very carefully, "Is a disability just as much as being blind or having to sit in a wheelchair your whole life. Picture this, Isabella. I ask you to be my girlfriend. We start dating. Then a party comes up that you're desperately looking forward to, and I cancel the night of because I'm having, well, a scene. Or, I call you in the middle of the night and just cry for four hours. Or, I feel like college isn't worth the effort and so I just lie in bed all day until I'm forced to work at Slushy Burger for the rest of my life. Or, I'm faced with a bottleful of pills and decide to just take the whole darn bottle and die so I don't have to deal with life anymore. Don't you see, Isabella, that me being a boyfriend causes all kinds of heartache and sorrow during life, and then even more if and when I decide to end it?"

Isabella had been doing pretty well for most of the day, but now she sat down in a chair and began sobbing hysterically. Oh, oh the thought that Phineas was feeling worthless…that he was trying to spare her…that thousands of people had this feeling that if they just could end it all it would be so much better for everyone else…how could anyone feel like that? Especially him?

Phineas waited until she'd calmed down, which she did after realizing this was exactly the reason he felt guilty about his condition. Because it hurt her like this.

"And why couldn't I just tell you I wasn't interested, Isabella Garcia-Shapiro? Because I was, of course! You think I haven't had a thing for you ever since I met you? You think it hasn't killed me every time I've had to pretend not to notice your affections? You think I could just lie and say I didn't care about you?"

"Oh!" Isabella had waited her entire life to hear those words, and now that she had it started her off on another sobbing spree. She stood frozen for a minute before rushing to Phineas and throwing her arms around him. "Oh Phineas!"

Phineas wrapped his arms around her in return, and held her so close that she knew it must be true, he had been waiting as long as she had for that feeling. It felt so right, and she wanted to stay there forever, but even as she buried her face in his shoulder she knew that he was still injured, and who knew what other bruises the hospital gown was hiding. So with an effort, she pulled herself away, and frantically tried to dry her eyes with the heel of her hand.

"So," Phineas concluded, with a wry smile, "I have to admit, that whole thing about you having a boyfriend caught me off guard a little bit. Scared the heck out of my family I guess, because the doctors kept pestering me with questions about whether I fell on the saw on purpose. But I knew it would happen. And I'm glad it's happened. Relieves my guilt, anyway, and you deserve someone to make you happy."

"Oh!" And here Isabella had to laugh at herself a little nervously. Had she really forgotten about Mickey in such a short amount of time? "Oh, he broke up with me."

"What?" Phineas sat up so quickly that he winced at the sudden pain. "Oh, Isabella, I'm so sorry!"

"Oh, don't be," Isabella said cheerfully. "He said he knew my heart was elsewhere, and I kept denying it to myself as well as him, but, he was right." She sighed. "He was an absolute saint, and I was a complete demon for leading him on the way I did when I knew deep down I've always loved you and always will. Besides, his pet name for me was Izzy."

Phineas blinked. "But you don't like being called Izzy," he said, and Isabella giggled.

"Well I don't hate it," she said. "I just wish he didn't do it."

Phineas tried not to smile, but was unsuccessful. "So I guess all this was for nothing, huh?"

"I'm SO sorry for startling you off that elevator," Isabella gasped. "I was terrified of telling you, and I thought blurting it out would make it easier. Yeah, I was wrong."

"It's okay." Phineas shrugged. "I shouldn't have reacted that strongly. THAT had nothing to do with depression!"

"Soooo," Isabella ventured nervously. "Does this mean we can start going out and stuff?"

Phineas gave her a worried look. "No?" he said, as if it were a question. "All those concerns are still there, you know. I'm going to be a problem, causing nothing but pain for you. I already do that enough to my family, I don't want to do it to someone who—"

Isabella bent over and briefly kissed him. "I'm willing to put up with monsters for the sake of an angel," she said gently.

Phineas looked up at her in a way he never had before. "I'm not getting released until tomorrow morning," he said, feebly trying to come up with an excuse.

Isabella grinned. "And then?"

"…We'll see."

But Isabella knew by the smile he gave her that he'd already made up his mind.

The End

A/N: Sooo yeah, I don't know why I did this. Again, this is NOT at ALL how I think Phineas really is, but I've been going through some of this stuff lately, and well, the Phineas and Ferb characters are some of the ones I know the best, so that's why I wrote my story through them.