Disclaimer: I don't own Phineas and Ferb, Pritt Stick, Avery and this was a request from KoalaTakingNotes. I had a lot of fun writing it, so thank you very for this amazing idea!

I will apologise in advance for the DoofxPerry scenes. I haven't written them before and, I have to give a hand to Dan and Swampy and the rest of the crew on the actual show because the hilarious stupidity of those scenes are ingenious and very hard to mimic when you're trying to write them.

Another day of summer vacation was coming to an end. And with, it another day passing where Isabella failed to express her feelings to Phineas.

All day long, heck, all summer long, she had been trying to build up the courage to just look him in the eye and tell him she liked him. But it was always so hard. She would spend so long composing herself only to wimp out at the last moment or, if she managed to push through the nervousness, he wouldn't give her enough time between her waffling and tripping over her tongue to actually get to the point.

Today had seemed like the perfect opportunity since Baljeet was taking some more summer classes and Buford was… somewhere. Isabella had no idea what that boy did when he wasn't with them. But no matter. What did matter was that she'd woken up that morning and promised herself that she'd make use of the absence of the two boys. But she couldn't do it. She could picture it. She would go up to him and tell him the way she started each morning excited to see him. How she involved herself in all his crazy plans so she could spend time with him. How she felt like she was on top of the world whenever he would smile at her or take the time to thank or praise her. Then he would confess that he felt the same way but just didn't know how to say it. He'd sweep her into his arms and they'd ride off into the sunset.

It was all so simple in her head, why was it so hard in real life? All she had to do was get him a position where all his attention was directed at her for once. Something as small as dropping something so that they both went to pick it up and in that intimate moment when their hands touched and eyes locked, she would pour her heart out. Although, knowing Phineas and his quick reflexes, he would catch it the moment it left her hand. Maybe she could make use of that? Maybe she could trip up on an untied shoelace and conveniently fall into his arms…?

The day was almost over, their invention had already disappeared and they were heading inside for some pie. Unless she did it now, she wouldn't get another chance today and if she didn't do it today, odds were she wouldn't do anything for weeks after. Phineas was walking right in front of her with the look he wore when he was thinking of some incredible things to build the next day. Her heart raced; she could do this. It was as simple as forcing herself off balance and letting gravity do the rest. It was as simple as believing with unwavering faith that he would catch her.

"Whoops!" One foot caught behind the other, she was falling. And then she wasn't. But not because Phineas had spun around and caught her like she'd planned. Because Ferb's hand had shot out and grabbed her around the waist, holding her up.

"Isabella!" Phineas said, "are you ok?"

"Yeah," she brushed a strand of hair behind her ear, trying not to show her disappointment, though if she had, she knew he probably wouldn't notice it. "Just lost focus for a sec."

"Good thing Ferb was there to catch you," he smiled at his step-brother. "Nice one Ferb."

"Yes," Isabella replied brightly, then quieter. "Nice one, Ferb."

"Hey girls," Isabella looked positively dismal when she walked into the Fireside Girl lodge later that afternoon.

"Afternoon, Chief," the girls greeted.

"Did you do it?" Ginger asked eagerly.

"No." Isabella slumped onto a log seat. "It's always the same, girls. I plan it all out precisely in my head but then the moment I try, I always get so scared and wimp out."

"Isabella," Gretchen shook her head. "Come on, we've been through this. You just have to go for it."

"Well, even if I do approach him my mind goes blank and I start rambling about nothing in particular and before I can tell him how I feel, he gets distracted!"

"Again, we've talked about this!"

"I know, I know," Isabella sighed. "I should show him not tell him. But even if I do get over my fear of doing that, Ferb happens!"

"Ferb happens?"

"I try hold Phineas's hand or rest my head on his shoulder but then suddenly Ferb's there." Isabella threw her hands in their air. "It's so hopeless."

"It's not hopeless," Ginger insisted. "Just think about how great it would be when you finally do it!"

"It's my dream," their leader admitted dreamily. "But it's so hard. Maybe this is a sign?"

"So, what, you're just going to give up?"

"I wish it were that simple," Isabella put her head in her hands. "What do I do?"

"Today was a bad day," Adyson reasoned. "So tomorrow can't be worse!"

"Yeah!" Katie agreed. "Chin up, Isabella."

"Go home, get some rest and don't worry about this," Gretchen advised. "You two are meant to be and we believe in you."

"Yeah!" the other's chimed.

"Thanks girls," Isabella sighed with a slight tone of despair. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Bye chief." Isabella left the lodge and the Fireside Girls exchanged a glance.

"I wish there was something we could do to help her out," Milly said.

"But what?" Holly asked. "It's not even than the situation is hopeless, we all know they're destined to be together."

"Holly's right," Gretchen agreed. "The problem is two of them. We've all seen how easy it is when they're just hanging out as friends. But the moment the idea of a relationship enters their heads, it all just goes down the drain."

"And there's nothing we can do about that," Ginger added. "We can give Isabella all the advice we can, but in the end, we can't make her do anything. Bar telling Phineas of course, but I doubt he'd actually believe it."

"It hurts to know she's in pain," Gretchen said, "But there's nothing more we can do."

"And now, Perry the Platypus," Dr Heinz Doofenshmirtz declared loudly. "Watch helplessly as I shoot Roger with my Voodoo-doll-inator, giving me control over him and by default the whole Tri State Area!"

Perry strained in his wooden prison. Doof had explained earlier on that he had initially planned a voodoo doll related trap but struggled to design it at the same time as building his inator.

"Besides," he's snickered evilly. "You're a little bill looks so cute poking out from the little peep hole."

Which was why Perry was locked inside a Russian doll while his nemesis took careful aim at City Hall where his brother was making a speech of some kind. Perry withdrew his bill and managed to flip into a handstand. Bracing himself against the bottom, he sprung upwards, bursting the lid off the doll and landing in a fighting stance.

Doof glanced back and said casually, "oh perry the platypus is free." Then frowned and yelped. "PERRY THE PLATYPUS IS FR-UGH!" Cut off, of course, by a flying kick. As he stumbled back, one of his flailing arms crashed onto a button, sending the machine into a wild fritz of random fire.

While the pair fought it out, a green beam fired off the edge and lasered down to street level where it zapped an unsuspecting girl in the back as she walked home from the Fireside Girl lodge. Isabella looked up as she felt a slight tingle between her shoulder blades, but not seeing anything, went back on her way.

Back in Doofenshmirtz Evil Inc, Perry grabbed hold of the top half of the Russian doll trap and jammed it onto Doof's head. While the evil scientist reeled away, Perry ran over to Voodoo-Doll-inator and desperately tried to turn it off.

"Haha," Doof's voice was muffled by the wooden encasement over his head. "I planned for this…. Well not this, this I didn't plan for my head to get stuck in you trap, but I planned for you escaping and hid the self-destruct button in the last place you'd expect!"

Perry chattered and ducked as a beam whizzed past his head. The heat radiating from the machine told him that at this rate, the inator was bound to blow up anyway very soon. Doof was still stumbling around trying to dislodge the doll head from his own and now the inator was shaking. Yep, definitely about to blow.

Perry pressed a button on his wrist communicator and his paraglider sailed overhead. After tipping his hat towards his nemesis, he leapt off the building and flew away. Doof quietened down as he heard the engine fade into the distance.

"Perry the Platypus?" With a grunt of effort, the doll popped off his head. "Perry th-"

BOOM.

"CURSE YOU PERRY THE PLATYPUUUUUS!"

Unbeknownst to him or Perry, a little yarn figure stuffed with rags had appeared on a shelf in the apartment. It wore a white t-shirt, pink dress, had deep blue eyes with raven black hair and had a little pink bow on top of its little yarn head…

Another day dawned upon Danville. For Isabella, it started off the same as usual: she woke up, fed Pinky, ate breakfast with her mom then went across the road to see Phineas.

But today would be different. She had taken the Fireside Girl's advice and thought long and hard about what she could do to share a moment with Phineas.

In the end, the idea had struck her. What if she went to grab a tool at the same time as he did? They would touch hands, meet eyes, maybe laugh a little and then she would tell him everything. It was just like her plan to drop something except this way it was only up to her to time it right. What could possibly go wrong?

"Hey, Phineas." She stepped into the garden with her signature sweet smile. "Whatcha doin'?"

"Hey, Isabella!" Phineas replied brightly. "We're going to build a giant shoe!"

She frowned, "uh, why?"

"Remember that old tale about the women living in a shoe? Well Candance mentioned how smelly it must have been so Ferb and I decided we were going to see for ourselves!"

"Oooh, cool." Isabella spread her hands. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Well, yeah, that'd be great." Phineas nodded his head over to a pile of leather. "Ferb and I are almost done with the frame so it'd be really helpful if you could start outlining the leather plates with glue to be stuck on in a minute."

"Sure thing!" Isabella agreed. She looked over to the glue gun and realised how close it was to Phineas. Now would be the perfect opportunity for her to make her move. "Where's your glue gun?"

Phineas glanced around and spotted it nearby. As he reached for it, Isabella raised her hand to do the same, when suddenly she froze up. What if this backfired and he asked her why she had asked him where it was when she obviously already knew? What if she grabbed the wrong thing and looked like a fool? What if she burnt herself or-

"Here you go," Phineas smiled and placed the gun in her out stretched hand. "Thanks again!"

And just like that, the moment was ruined and she'd missed her chance.

It looked like it was going to be another normal day.

"Hah!" Doof yelled as Perry was sealed inside a comically large Pritt Stick. "Looks like you've found yourself in a pritty sticky situation." He laughed at his own joke. "Anyway, you might not have heard but they've just opened up a glue factory down the street and now whenever I open up my windows for some fresh air, I just get this stupid glue smell… you know that platicy smell? Well, no more. Allow me to introduce you to the Gooey-inator! With it, I will reduce all the glue in the factory to gooey sludge effectively meaning they have nothing to sell and will get closed down!" He rubbed his hands together. "Never again will Heinz Doofenshmirtz smell the ghastly scent of glue!"

Perry braced his arms and legs against the sides of his trap and jumped towards Doof while his back was turned.

The scientist scowled, "will you stop banging around back there, Perry the Platypus. You can't escape your trap, it's fool proof!"

Perry chattered and hopped over to his nemesis, slamming the bottom of his trap onto Doof's foot.

"OWW!" he howled and lashed out with his leg sending the glue stick rolling away. It hit a wall and fell apart as Perry burst out with his fist raised.

"Perry the Platypus," Doof muttered. "You didn't even let me prepare for firing before you busted your trap. No matter, I've set my inator on auto fire so you can't turn it off!"

He drew a Pritt stick tube from his lab coat. "On guard or however that saying goes."

Perry lifted his hat and brandished an Avery stick before leaping into the air with an overhead strike. Doof blocked, and slashed at Perry's exposed left side, but the platypus dodged and counted by knocking Doof off balance with a jab to the centre of the chest. The scientist staggered backwards before ducking his head and charging. Perry caught his hand and using his momentum against him, sent the man flying over his shoulder. Instead of letting go of the platypus's wrist, however, Doof held on and the weight of his roll caused Perry to go crashing across the room into a row of shelves, his makeshift sword tumbling out of his grip.

Behind Doof's head, the Gooey-inator started flashing: a sure sign it was about to fire. Perry grappled around on the shelves and grabbed the first thing he felt. After a split-second calculation, he threw it towards Doof who ducked.

"Hah!" Doof chided. "You missed."

Isabella's Voodoo doll bounced off the wall and pinwheeled into the inator's barrel blocking it up just in time for the beam to get jammed inside the machine, causing the main chamber to expand with the increasing pressure.

"It's going to blow!" Doof screamed. "We have to unblock it!"

He scrambled over to the machine but too late. The doll shot out of the spout and into the streets blow as the Gooey-inator shot a single beam then exploded in a ball of fire that engulfed Doof completely. By the time he sat up, coughing soot and ash, Perry was already gone.

"Curse you Perry the Platypus!"

"Aaaaand…. Done!" Phineas stepped back to admire their work. The massive boot was finally complete. "Who wants a tour?"

Over the course of the day, most of the children had come into the Flynn-Fletcher backyard, wondering why they could see a huge boot from their houses. It was quite a sight to admire: seven stories high with windows and everything. Among the groups were the Fireside Girls who had questioned Isabella about whether she'd had any success this morning with Phineas. The answer, as we know, was no.

"Step right up," Phineas was saying as everyone crowed into the lace which was actually the elevator shaft. "Each floor has its own use. The bottom floor is the biggest and is a leisure centre, with pools, cinema screens, buffets and bowling alleys. Working upwards, you have the arcade area, two floors dedicated to sports arenas, pitches, rinks and courts, bedrooms are on the fifth floor, sixth floor is the dining room and there's a viewing platform at the top with stunning views of Danville. And we've also answered the question: if the boot the old lady lived in was anything like this, it wouldn't have smelt bad in the slightest."

The kids stepped out of the lift and Phineas took them around the boot, which although was made of dark leather and metal frames, was very comfortable, cool and bright.

Phineas turned to Isabella and grinned proudly. "What do you think?"

"It's amazing, Phineas," she answered in awe. "Now I see why it took me so long to glue on all those panels."

They both laughed and to Isabella's joy, he invited her to the top floor which was more of a balcony that looked out over Danville.

"It's so pretty up here," she sighed inhaling deeply.

"Everything is so perfect right now," he agreed. "I wish everything could stay like this forever."

She ducked her head, trying to work out what he meant by that. Did he mean the carefree summer days or was he talking about her and their friendship never becoming anything more? Maybe she was just overthinking all of this, his words probably didn't have a deeper meaning, maybe he was just talking about the weather or the fact that every day their crazy inventions disappeared for some reason. Maybe he was talking about that and how he wished that didn't have to-

ZAP!

A green beam struck the side of the boot and suddenly the surface they were standing on was getting wet and sticky. -

"Uh, Phineas," her legs stared sinking into the mush. "Is it?"

"Melting?" he finished for her, sounding equally as confused. "This feature was not in the blueprints."

The boot continued to 'melt' into a sludgy mess and confused and excited cries from the others on different floors rang out through the air. Phineas and Isabella exchanged a glance before bursting out laughing.

"Ferb's a genius," Phineas said as the sludge began sinking into the ground, leaving the children a little soggy but otherwise unharmed. "I don't know how he came up with that, but it was awesome!"

After congratulating the boys on their crazy awesome invention for that day, everyone started heading home and Isabella found herself sighing. Once again, another perfectly normal day.

"See you tomorrow," she called to Phineas as he and Ferb settled back under the tree. She turned to leave the garden when she walked into a wall of Fireside Girls.

"Isabella," Gretchen said warningly. "Go."

She looked over her shoulder and where the brothers were greeting Perry. "I can't."

Ginger stepped forward. "You can. And we're not letting you leave until you do."

"Ok," she started back towards the boys before stopping and shaking her head. "No, I can't do it."

The Fireside Girls exchanged a look before Adyson covered the distance between her and their leader and gave her a hard shove in the back.

"Ok," Isabella amended as she stumbled forward. She took a breath, composed herself. "Hey Phineas," she began before something swept her feet from beneath her, sending her slamming face first into the ground.

"Adyson!" Gretchen hissed.

The girl looked mystified, "I didn't shove her that hard!"

"Isabella," Phineas leapt to his feet. "Are you ok?"

"Ugh," she moaned as he helped her to her feet. "I don't know what happened."

"Are you hurt?"

"My nose is killin-" she cut off as a cold sensation filled her body and suddenly her mouth was forming words. "Hi I'm Lil' Isabella and I just fell from the sky!"

"Uh, what?" Phineas looked puzzled.

"Whatcha doin'?" The coldness dissipated and she went slack. "I… I don't know why I said that."

"You hit your head pretty hard," he said worriedly. "Are you sure you're ok?"

"Oh, thank you Candace that's so kind of you," The cold sensation was back. It was like an extra presence within her body, like her brain had been hijacked. No matter how much she tried she couldn't stop herself.

"Candace?" Phineas repeated.

"I'm probably playing with Phineas and Ferb at your house." Her arms and legs shot out into a star pose and she started rocking side to side.

"Isabella?" The Fireside Girls crowded around her. "Are you ok? What's going on?"

"I don't know," she replied, looking perplexed with strain evident in her voice. "It's like I have no control over my body. I don't know what I'm doing!" She tried desperately to try and pull her arms back to her sides but they were locked out and no matter how much she willed her limbs to respond to her, it was impossible. Beads of sweat formed on her brow and she gritted her teeth but it seemed as though her arms were being held in place by some invisible force.

"Phineas," Gretchen said as Isabella started spinning in circles. "What do we do?"

Phineas thought frantically for a moment, before stepping forward a determined look on his face. But, Isabella's next words stopped him in his tracks.

"I can't wait to see Phineas. He doesn't know it but I have such a huge crush on him that he's too oblivious to notice and I'm too afraid to say."

Everyone froze. Isabella's eyes widened in horror.

"What?" Phineas asked in a small voice.

The Fireside Girls all looked completely stunned. Had their leader finally confessed?

There was another beat of silence and Isabella's arms dropped back to her sides: she was back in control. "Phineas I- I hear you girl, I love Mr. Slushy Dawg."

"Ok," Phineas seemed to snap out of it. "Something is clearly not right here. Isabella, has this happened before?"

"You're so amazing Candace, what would I do without you?" Now she wasn't even trying to resist, she was paralysed within her own body. She, or rather the person or thing controlling her, had just made her blurt her feelings in front of Phineas. There was nothing controlling her body at that moment but she was rooted to the spot. Cold sensation seeped out of her, but it was barely noticeable as the chilling sense of fear replaced it instantly. This was nothing less than her worst nightmare.

"What?" Phineas rubbed his eyes. "Why are you talking about Candace?"

"Maybe we should get her and find out," Katie suggested.

"Good idea." He ran into the house mind reeling. There was obviously something weird going on with Isabella. That had to be the reason she was saying what she was. There was no way… she couldn't… surely she wasn't in control of herself when she'd said she had a crush on him. It just couldn't be that way?

"Candace!" He yelled rushing around the house. "Where are you?"

But what if she had meant to say it? What she was right and he had been completely oblivious to how she'd felt this entire time. And… how did he feel? There was always something inside him that cared deeply for Isabella, but he'd always put that down to their life long friendship. She was his friend, his best friend. What if he did like her and what if that endangered that friendship?

"Candace!" he screamed. "Where the hell are you?"

Earlier that morning, Linda had encouraged her daughter to get out of the house, at least for a few hours.

"It will do you good to get some fresh air," she'd said and even though the idea of leaving her brothers to their own devises without someone to bust them didn't particularly appeal to Candace, the revelation that they were simply 'making a shoe' convinced her that maybe it would be ok for her to have some fun that day.

So, she'd called up Vanessa and the two of them headed over to the movie theatres to watch the new Ducky Momo movie. They were the only teenagers there, but no one dared point that out to someone like Vanessa who was considered to be a 'cool goth girl'.

Despite the movie being such a butchering of the comic book it was supposedly based off, the girls had a surprisingly good time and discussed it the entire way back to Vanessa's apartment.

"It was good seeing you, Candace," Vanessa waved as she went into her building.

"Bye." The redhead turned around and wondered what else she could do on a day when her brothers weren't doing anything bustable. Then again, there was a chance that by now the boys had blown 'making a shoe' hugely out of proportion which required her to be dragging her mom outside to bust them.

She was about to head back home when a little doll landed right at her feet. Candace looked around wondering where it came from. There was no one else around, so she glanced upwards towards the balcony where she figured it had fallen from. She bent to pick it up but paused when she saw the pink dress and bow.

"Wait, is this… Isabella?" She frowned. "I wonder how this got here…?"

The most likely answer was that it had been dropped by Isabella or one of her friends but that didn't add up with it falling from the sky. Could it be something to do with Phineas and Ferb? Knowing them, most likely. Either way, it made sense for Candace now to return it.

She glanced around making sure she was alone before pitching up her voice to match the younger girl's. "Hi, I'm Lil' Isabella and I just fell from the sky! Whatcha doin'?" She laughed: this brought back memories. "Well come on, Lil' Isabella, let's get you home… Oh, thank you Candace that's so kind of you… That's ok. Now, I wonder where the real you is… I'm probably playing with Phineas and Ferb at your house… you're probably right, ok let's head there."

And so, she started on her way home. Now, Candace was a teenager and considered herself quite mature but she had always had a strange attachment to dolls and stuffed toys. When she was younger and before Linda had married Lawrence, Candace and her little brother used to get on really well. They played together and laughed together and despite Candace being a few years older, were very close. But that dynamic had changed with Ferb. It wasn't that Candace didn't appreciate Lawrence and his son joining the family: she loved them both with all her heart. However, it had come as a bit of a shock that now Phineas had someone else to play with, someone his own age with more in common with him. And while she loved that Lawrence and Ferb slotted perfectly into the family, she sometimes missed the times she and Phineas used to have before.

Which had pushed her towards her toys: dolls in particular. She could have the physical comfort of something to play with and was also able to create personalities of her own.

Time went on and she had grown out of it, but here was still a part of her that was grateful for the endless hours she had spent with them. Getting briefly back into it now with little doll Isabella came with its own rush of nostalgic emotions.

"I can't wait to see Phineas," she said in Isabella's voice making the doll do a little dance on her hand. "He doesn't know it but I have such a huge crush on him that he's too oblivious to notice and I'm too afraid to say… really? Oh, that so sad I know how you feel. I was like that with Jeremy once upon a time. He was so dreamy and cute and on top of that, he worked at Mr. Slushy Dawg. I mean, who doesn't like Mr. Slushy Dawg?... I hear you girl, I love Mr. Slushy Dawg … right? Well, anyway, you'll get through this and then it will be great like me and Jeremy… you're so amazing Candace, what would I do without you?... oh, you flatter me!"

She arrived at the end of her road and her house was in sight. She couldn't see anything as of yet that was particularly bustable, but that didn't mean there was nothing. She quickened her pace, her sixth sense for busting was tingling. There was something weird going on.

"-ran off!" She heard someone say as she jogged up her drive. "He must think I'm crazy."

"Isabella," someone else said. "This is good. You did it, you confessed."

Candace recognised Isabella's voice and one of the Fireside Girls, although she still didn't know them very well and couldn't always put a name to a face… or in this case a name to a voice.

"I can't find her inside," Phineas sounded breathless and when she pushed open the gate into the back yard, he looked awful. "Candace!" he shrieked. "Get over here, now!"

Her jaw dropped slightly; she hadn't seen him this mad in a while. She picked up her pace again, only for her legs to get tangled up sending her tumbling to the floor and Lil' Isabella flying through the air where it bounced to a stop a few metres away. The moment it hit the ground, however, Isabella herself slammed onto the floor as well.

"Jeez," Candace muttered as Isabella was hauled back to her feet again, clutching her face. "Isabella are you ok?"

"Candace, what did you do?" Phineas cried. "She's been talking about you and doing weird dances and… she said something else but the point is, what did you do?"

Candace looked bewildered. "I didn't do anything, I don't think. I mean," she stooped to pick up Lil' Isabella. "I found this in town…" -

"What is it?" One of the Fireside Girls asked.

"I believe it's a Voodoo doll." Ferb answered. "Legend has it a voodoo doll is used to represent the spirit of a specific person. You can address the voodoo doll as if you are talking to that person, requesting a change in attitude and influencing the person to act in accordance with your wishes and your desires."

"Wait a second," Candace protested. "Are you saying that while I was messing around with this toy, I was actually controlling Isabella?"

"Yes!" Phineas snapped. "Everything you said, she said."

"Well not everything," one of the Fireside Girls reasoned, the first one she'd heard, with a little mousy ginger bob. "It sounded like a lot of things were out of context. Were you having a conversation with her?"

Candace blushed a bright embarrassed red. "Maybe."

"Show us," Phineas ordered.

"Ok," Candace cleared her throat. "Uh, hi?"

"Uh, hi?" Isabella folded her arms as she parroted Candace. "Is that supposed to be an impression of me?"

"I don't know!" Candace replied returning to her normal voice. "Yes?"

"You really nailed it," the younger girl said sarcastically.

"Wait so," Candace scratched her head. "You were doing and saying everything that I was making this doll do? Including the…" she trailed off as Isabella's eyes narrowed.

"Everything."

"Whoops," the redhead smiled guiltily.

Phineas scowled and snatched the doll from his sister's hand. "This isn't funny, Candace. Isabella isn't a toy."

"Well, she was when I found her," she shot back. "I mean, the doll was. Or, at least, I thought it was."

"Is there any way to block it?" one of the girl's, who Candace recognised as Stacy's sister, asked. "There must be right?"

Everyone looked over at Ferb again but he merely shrugged. There was a brief silence as everyone tried to work out what they were supposed to do now. And there didn't seem to be any logical answer.

"Maybe we should try and work out some rules?" Adyson suggested. "So we know what to avoid."

"Yeah," Phineas agreed. "That's a good idea. Ok, so we know that Isabella will only say what the puppeteer is saying they imitate her."

"Are we sure its only like that?" Isabella asked. "Do you have to do my voice?"

"Yeah, otherwise you would have said everything I was saying instead of just what I was making you saying?" Candace answered.

"But that's because the other things you were saying were just you talking," Isabella countered.

"I'm Isabella," Phineas said at the doll. Isabella didn't do anything. "That confirms it then, you have to be imitating Isabella in order for you to control her words."

"And you can't resist it at all?" Candace asked.

Isabella shook her head, "It's like my body has a mind of its own and there's nothing I can do to stop it."

"Hang on," Phineas frowned. "Surely if you knew what was coming, you would be able to at least be aware of what to try not doing?"

"What do you mean?"

"Candace, make her say something," Phineas gave the doll back to her. "And Isabella, try to not say it. Maybe because you know what you're trying not to say.."

"She'll be better able to resist," Gretchen finished. "It's worth a try."

"Hmmm," Candace scratched her head. "What's something Isabella wouldn't want to say? Ah, got it. Pink is lame."

Isabella gritted her teeth, her jaw started trembling, foot tapping. The other's watched in fascinated terror as she started pacing, shaking her head, grimacing and wincing until her mouth opened and after a agonised sound, the words began to form. "Pink... is... lame. CANDACE!"

"Guess we can check ability to resist off the list then," Candace threw Lil' Isabella back to Phineas before hiding behind one of the Fireside Girls.

"What about the physical movements then?" One of them asked, shrugging her away.

"When Candace made the doll dance, Isabella did too," Gretchen said. "That would imply that whatever happens to the doll physical, Isabella will do the same. But if that's the case, then why isn't she floating." She gestured to the way Phineas was holding Lil' Isabella currently, dangling at his side.

"It must have something to do with intention," Phineas offered. "I'm not intending for Isabella to be floating so she isn't."

"But what about when Candace dropped it and Isabella fell too?"

"That's a good point," Phineas ran a hand through his hair.

"Maybe it had something to do with the ground," Candace said suddenly. "When I made Lil' Isabella dance, she was doing it on my hand."

"That might actually make sense," Phineas agreed. "And that would mean that we can't make Isabella jump. Not that we would want to of course..." he trailed off as Isabella leapt into the air.

"Please tell me you did that to enforce the point," Candace pleaded.

Isabella looked dismayed. "How did you do that?"

"I don't know," Phineas examined the doll before a thought came to him. He raised it to his lips and said, "make Isabella do a handstand."

"Woah!" She rocked onto her hands and held the position perfectly. "Phineas, all the blood is rushing to my head!"

"How do I make her stop?" he exclaimed. "With the jumping thing the control stopped when you finished."

"Stop doing a handstand," Ginger cried but she stayed upside down. "Phineas what did you say exactly?"

"I said..." he racked his brains, it was only a few seconds ago but panic was making his brain foggy. "Make Isabella stop doing a handstand."

She slumped to the ground, face flushed. "Thank you."

"I wanna try," Candace grinned taking Lil' Isabella back. "Make Isabella do a back flip!"

"CANDACE!" The others yelled, but Isabella bent her knees and sprung into the air, flipping backwards and landing neatly on her feet.

"Impressive," Candace said approvingly. "I bet you couldn't do that this morning."

"Someone take the doll away from her," Isabella pleaded. "Before she hurts me. Or I hurt her." She glared daggers at Candace, who immediately passed to someone else.

"Now we know what this doll can do," one blonde Fireside Girl said. "But it doesn't help us solve the big question."

"Where did come from?"

"How do we get rid of it?"

"Why did Candace find it where she did?"

"Yes, yes and yes," the blonde conceded. "But I actually meant what do we do with it? We can't put it anywhere otherwise Isabella won't be able to move."

Phineas stooped and placed the doll on the floor leaning against the tree. Isabella yelped as she tilted backwards, somehow staying upright despite balancing on the back of her heels. Phineas nodded and picked the doll up again.

"Katie's right. If this doll is touching any surface, it has control over Isabella." He thought for a moment. "I'm sure we have a box somewhere that we can suspend it from."

"Thanks," Isabella said gratefully.

"No worries, Isabella," Phineas replied. "It's the least we can do." He handed her Lil' Isabella and he and Ferb dashed inside to find a box and some rope or string.

"So," Candance clasped her hands casually. "He knows."

Isabella turned red. "Supposedly. Although I'm sure he thinks you were just messing around and making things up."

"But this is so perfect," Ginger insisted. "You can tell him that it was the truth."

"No way," Isabella rubbed her eyes. "Today has been weird enough as it is."

"Maybe this doll isn't so bad," Candance raised her hands in a sign of peace. "I mean how long are you going to be stuck like this? With him having no clue and you not being able to speak up? You can't tell us it doesn't feel good now he knows it."

"It doesn't," Isabella sighed. "It doesn't, because it wasn't me saying it. It was you. I'd much rather it take forever for me to get over this fear because when I finally do, it's on my own terms."

Candace and the Fireside Girls nodded their understanding. Isabella exhaled looking stressed. She had truly thought today was going to be another normal day and yet here she was holding a doll of herself that could control her. Never mind unusual, this thing was terrifying. And on top of all that, Phineas now knew something about her crush on him, whether he believed it not. If nothing else, this entire experience was bound to increase her fear of confession. At this rate she was destined to die alone.

Then again, maybe the Fireside Girls were right. Maybe it made sense for her to utilise Lil' Isabella to at least get in the right position to truly tell him about the way she felt towards him. She had to admit that when she tried and he took no notice of the severity of the situation, it discouraged her so much she tended to give up. Maybe this little Voodoo version of herself could help her stay on track instead of quitting and walking away.

"Here we are," Phineas and Ferb came back into the yard with a wooden box. "Hopefully if we attach Lil' Isabella to the top of this box she won't be touching any surfaces."

Isabella handed him the doll and he tied it up inside the box. He closed the lid and offered it back to Isabella. After an awkward exchange of thank yous and goodbyes, Isabella and the Fireside Girls headed across town to the Lodge.

The moment they were inside Isabella spoke up, "I'll do it. I'll let you use Lil' Isabella here but only under these conditions."

The others perked up. "Go on, Chief." Gretchen said.

"You only use her to get me into a place where I can confess. Once we start talking, you put her back in the box."

"Done." The Fireside Girls agreed.

"Ok." She put the box down. "Tomorrow then."

"See you tomorrow, Chief," Gretchen waved as Isabella left. "Well girls, looks like the ball is finally rolling."

"Mission almost accomplished," Ginger added.

Isabella barely slept that night. Her mind was churning, trying to work out what she was going to say. She had been writing a speech about how she felt about Phineas for years in her head but when it really came down to it, what was the most important thing to say? And how much should she say? What if she poured her heart out only for him to tell her he didn't feel the same way?

When her alarm rang, her mother came into her looking concerned. "I haven't heard that alarm ringing for years. Is something wrong, Isa?"

"I just overslept," Isabella lied. Vivian didn't look convinced. Her daughter was always up at least ten minutes before her alarm went off and she had never overslept before. But Isabella insisted she was fine and what else was her mother supposed to do?

Isabella eventually got up, fed Pinky, had a quiet breakfast before heading over to Phineas's house. After taking a quick look over the fence, she could see that Phineas, Ferb along with Baljeet and Buford were already sitting under the tree. She checked her watch and right on cue, Adyson, Gretchen and Ginger were beside her. In Adyson's arms was the box containing Lil' Isabella.

"Ok, Chief," Gretchen began. "Holly, Katie and Milly have to go on their cookie rounds but they said good luck."

"Ok," Isabella said shakily. "How is this going to work?"

"Adyson has the best you impression," Gretchen explained, "and she has her puppeteering patch so she'll be in control of the doll. Here is a comm unit, so we can hear what you're saying."

"Where did you get a comm unit from?" Isabella asked as she slipped it into her ear.

Ginger opened up her laptop, "Stacy had one lying around. She said that the crew use them for Coltrane's concerts."

"Right," Isabella frowned. "Why can't we just use the comms with you telling me what to do?"

"Because a comm unit can't stop you walking away," Gretchen answered. "You're still sure you want this?"

"Yes?"

"Good." Gretchen pushed her through the gates.

"Hey guys," she said, waving.

"Oh hi, Isabella."

"Whatcha doin'?"

"We're trying to work out what we're going to do today," Phineas replied as she sat down. "How you feeling after yesterday?"

"I can't believe you got controlled by a doll," Buford snorted. "You're such a girl."

"Being a girl has nothing to do with it," Baljeet informed him. "The threat of Voodoo control is very real. What was it like?"

"We don't want one of your lectures," Buford interrupted before Isabella could speak.

"Perhaps that's what we should be doing today," Phineas suggested. "We should find a way to destroy the doll. Or at least break it's hold over Isabella."

"But first," Isabella felt the chill spread throughout her. "Phineas we should talk."

"Are you sure you wouldn't rather get to work?" He asked. Her body got up and walked over to him.

"It's really important," she insisted, taking his hands. He seemed to freeze up but let her pull him a few metres away.

"What's up?"

"Well," Isabella took a breath as the chills faded away. "I think we should discuss what I said yesterday."

"About the… me?"

"Yeah, about that."

"It's ok," he said firmly. "I know it was just Candace being silly."

"Actually, it wasn't." His breath caught in his throat as she went on. "It was, is, true. I have a huge crush on you Phineas."

He didn't say anything for a moment and Isabella held her breath as he processed the information. "Really?"

"Yeah," she laughed slightly. "I do."

"I had no clue," he spread his hands.

"I know," she shook her head. "I thought I was being very obvious about it, but you never seemed to reciprocate my feelings so I assumed you didn't feel the same way…?"

"I do." He blurted. "I… I always felt something for you, Isabella. I just didn't know is was this."

"So," her cheeks turned red. "You do like me then?"

"Yeah," he smiled shyly. "I do."

They both glanced down at the way they were still holding hands before glancing back up and locking eyes. Phineas pulled her close, she leaned in and they shared their first kiss. For Isabella it was perfect but it wasn't the softness of his lips against hers or the way their bodies fitted perfectly together that made it so. It was the realisation that maybe, she had gotten used to his apparent disinterest with her and the knowledge that he felt the same way about her as she did about him, made her feel special, appreciated, loved. As for Phineas, his mind was a big mess of happiness. He felt closer than ever to Isabella which was the opposite to what he'd feared would happen. This moment was the moment he realised that Isabella could still be his girlfriend but also his best friend at the time.

"Finally!" The two drew apart and found their friends had gathered in a crowd with them.

"We've been waiting for this forever," Baljeet said happily as the two blushed profusely.

Phineas took her hand in his and hugged her. "I'm just sorry I never knew."

"It was worth the wait," she grinned before turning to the Fireside Girls. "Thank you guys, I owe this to you as well."

"Yeah…" the three exchanged a glance. "About that."

"What?"

"Well, the moment you went through the gate, some sort of green beam hit your doll and it disappeared."

"So," she trailed off. "That was all me?"

"Am I the only one who's confused?" Phineas put in.

Isabella turned to him with a guilty smile. "Well, I asked Adyson, Ginger and Gretchen here to help me get over my fear of telling you how I feel by using Lil' Isabella."

"Oh," he didn't seem like he knew how to respond.

"But that doesn't mean anything anymore," Ginger pointed out. "Because she literally just disappeared."

"I have the scorch marks to prove it!" Adyson added brightly. "And I helped these two earn their treating burns patch."

"Why were you scared?" Phineas asked, taking Isabella to one side.

"Oh, you know," Isabella shrugged, trying to play it off cool. "You didn't seem to take me seriously so I got into my head about it, but it's fine."

"It's not fine," he replied. "I'm so sorry. I'm supposed to be your friend. I really want to know you can talk to me about anything."

"I do know that, Phineas," she assured him. "But, thank you. That really means a lot to me."

He hugged her again before smiling over her shoulder. "There you are Perry. Where've you been?"

Perry chattered and lay down beside Ferb, tired from his evening stretching into morning helping Doof construct a Voodoo-Doll-Disappear-Inator.

Isabella and Phineas joined their friends in a circle underneath the tree and they started discussing what crazy invention they were going to build today but before getting engaged in the conversation, Isabella took a moment to internally thank Lil' Isabella everything she had helped her human counterpart achieve. Without it, she would never have had the confidence to take risk that resulted with her being with the boy of her dreams.