Built for Love

Chapter 8 - I'm Fine...

Disclaimer: I do not own Phineas and Ferb. The use of the OC, Emma Hunter, was approved by the owner Emma aka sunsh1ne1023. Please please please check out her work! It's awesome and you will NOT regret it!

A/N: Don't know about you guys but I got teary eyed, writing this. You have been warned! Also, apologies for how short the chapter is!

Phineas and Isabella were working steadily together; Phineas on the metal detector and Isabella on electronics. Due to the tools they needed, they were working on the same workbench, side by side. Ever since they hydrated themselves and got back to the garage, they've been sneaking glances at each other, where Phineas would stare at Isabella while tightening a screw and then turned back to his work when Isabella looked over and vice versa. If you were a fly on the wall, you'd facepalm yourself thinking how they're not together already. This went on for a few minutes of staring at each other, back and forth until finally, someone broke the tension like a hot knife through butter or in this instance, a soldering iron.

Isabella stopped moving her hands, held the mini motherboard in the air and admired her handiwork as she held it up to the light. Feeling happy about this, she called Phineas over to double-check her work. He obliged and scooted next to her. With their shoulders touching, Phineas peered closely at the freshly soldered motherboard. Isabella stared at him. From her position, she could see the crook of his neck as he leaned forward over the workbench. Oh, how she wanted to bury her face in that crevice and embrace everything in her grasp.

Just then, the garage was filled with music, seeping in from the crack underneath the garage door. The 80s pop/dance tune made the potential couple tap their feet and bop their heads in time to the beat. As soon as lyrics were heard, they noticed it wasn't the usual singer of this song. The main vocalist sounded familiar. Curiosity got the better of them and they opened the garage door, only enough so that they both could bend down to crawl underneath it.

As they got up, all they could see was a sea of people, singing along with the song. On the stage, to their surprise, was Candace, singing her heart out. They watched in awe as Candace was nailing this song, with the crowd all in agreement by the level of sound made. As they saw his mom go up onto the stage and started singing with Candace, his heart was filled. He couldn't help but have the largest smile on his face. He just had the sudden urge to dance and enjoy this moment. He turned to Isabella and realised there was only one person he wanted to share this moment with. He suddenly took Isabella's hand and spun her around. Isabella was surprised by this because, to Isabella, this was the first time Phineas took initiative with anything related to them. As they stopped spinning, Phineas kept hold of Isabella's hand and started dancing with her. It seems like the first time in forever, nothing mattered but the person in front of them.

As the music stopped, the crowds started to dissipate and Phineas and Isabella quietly snuck back into the garage. As they got back to their workbench, Phineas asked Isabella to look at how she's progressing with the motherboard and she agreed, going back to their original position of being shoulder-to-shoulder with each other. They had their romantic dance with each other and all was well in the world. Well, to Isabella anyway. After all this time, she's lowered her expectations, so she'll take it. She didn't need a limo or a corsage, just him and her without the entourage. As Isabella sang her 'Birthday Song' in her head, Phineas was still looking over what Isabella had worked on. (A/N: If you're not sure what the song is, it's literally called 'Isabella's Birthday Song')

Phineas was closely inspecting Isabella's work, everything was in order. At the corner of his eye, he could see that Isabella was staring at him as if using her mind to try and control him. Ever since realising his feelings for Isabella, he looked back at all the times they've spent together and he was just annoyed at himself for all the times he unintentionally hurt her. Of course, he was preoccupied with the things going on at the moment, but what he did was no way to treat his best friend. He tried to subtly look at Isabella and laughed softly to himself as he looked into her heart-shaped pupils. Again, thinking about how oblivious he has been, he let out an overly exaggerated groan and facepalmed a few times, not thinking about how this looked without context.

Isabella saw this and worryingly asked, "Is it...not good enough...?"

Her tears started to form on the bottom of her eyes. She just shared the most amazing time with Phineas and floated on Cloud Nine and then, Phineas' usual obliviousness brought her crashing down. She couldn't handle it, her heart couldn't handle it any longer. Phineas looked at her, wide-eyed and he knew. 'Oh no! I can't believe I've done it again...' Phineas thought.

"Isabe-" he started to say but was immediately cut off by a tearful Isabella.

"No, Phineas. It's ok... I get it. I'm not good enough and that's ok. I'm fine."

The two words every person fears hearing from their significant other, 'I'm fine'. These two simple but deep words dug deep into Phineas. He might as well have been stabbed in the heart but even through the pain, he can only imagine how much pain Isabella felt after all these years...He felt sick, he wanted to crawl into a hole or anything, just to get out of this situation...

With this, Isabella started to force her belongings into her bag, not caring about using the bag's space efficiently. She marched towards the door that allows you access to the house, was about to press down on the door handle but she stopped. While her hand was still on the handle, she turned around to face Phineas.

With tears falling down her cheeks, she called to him, "Phineas. I loved you. I always had. But I just need to know, do you have ANY type of feelings for me...?"

Phineas heard her voice cracking as she talked, fighting through the pain she was visibly experiencing on her face. He opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. He tried to force a word out of his mouth, a syllable, a sound, anything! He needed to tell her that he loves her...but the silence in the garage was deafening. After a few seconds, for what seemed like minutes, Isabella faced the door and opened it. She turned around once more to her once-enamoured triangular savant and uttered one last word to him, "Goodbye..."

Phineas continued to stare in disbelief at the opening Isabella went through. So many things ran through his mind, all with the one common message, 'I love you, Isabella'. He fell to his hands and knees, unable to comprehend the last minute or two. Tears started falling, hitting the cold, hard concrete floor of the garage. He clenched his fists in anger, angry that he was insanely oblivious, angry that he let Isabella walk away, angry that he couldn't tell her that he cared for her. His forehead dropped hard, his fists repeatedly hitting the concrete underneath him. He wanted to scream, let everything out but yet again, nothing. As he drowned in his silent agony, the door from which Isabella left closed with a soft *click*.