Yeah, Phineas is kinda out-of-character here. That's part and parcel of putting him in the Scrooge role. I've tried to explain how and why his personality changed.

Rated T for themes and for mildly offensive language (damn, ass).

Phineas Flynn closed the door on the office of Flynn Technologies. The '& Fletcher' on the door had been crudely crossed out fifteen years ago, when he'd been a young and foolish man of twenty-five who'd learned the hard way that not even a brother could be trusted, and he'd never gotten around to replacing it with a new sign. That would cost money.

Tomorrow was Christmas. He supposed he should stay home; while he didn't really care about the holiday, nobody he'd want to do business with would be in the office. He might come in anyway. The house was too empty to stay in all day.

He walked down the street, pulling his coat around him to protect himself from the cold snows of a December in Danville. He saw the Salvation Army bell-ringer ahead at the corner, and crossed the street to avoid him. Even if his initial reason for being tight with his money was gone, he still held on to all of it. It was habit now, but long-held habit holds a life of its own.

A flash of red hair on the street coming toward him looked familiar; he considered trying to hide, but it was too late. She'd seen him, and would insist on talking to him.

"Hi, Phineas," Candace said, juggling packages. "Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas, Candace," he said grumpily.

"I know you don't want to come to Mom and Dad's tomorrow," she said hopefully, "but if you'd like a smaller family Christmas, you're welcome to come visit us tomorrow morning. Amanda's visiting with her new husband, and the boys are back from college. We'd all love to see you."

"I'll think about it," he said hesitantly.

She frowned. "That means no, doesn't it? We miss you. You're turning into Scrooge on us."

"It means I'll think about it, Candace."

"I suppose that's the best I could hope for," she said with a sigh. "Hope to see you tomorrow, then," she said, and headed on her way.

Scrooge, eh? Bah, humbug.

Shaking his head, Phineas walked the rest of the way home. The holographic door-knocker flickered to life, showing his face as he approached, and then his face changed, replaced by a similar one with blonde hair. He blinked and stared at it again, but it was back to normal. Frowning, he pressed his palm to the unlock pad, and the door swung open.

He sat down in his chair before the fireplace and said, "Ok, house. Activate fireplace." The fireplace turned on, quickly settling to a calming flame. He stared into the flames, wondering at the hallucination. Maybe Ferb had hacked into his door-knocker somehow. He hadn't seen him in person for...he wasn't sure how long. Mom and Dad were too busy with their grandchildren to have much time for him - Candace and Jeremy's three, and Ferb and Vanessa's twins. Candace was the only one who really tried to keep in contact now.

With a grump, Phineas sat back in his chair. It's lonely here, and I'm seeing things. Maybe I should just get a dog.

It would have to be a small dog to fit in his house here, though. Something like a chihuahua would be just right, but that always made him think of...her.

He wondered how she was doing. Hopefully she'd found the happiness he hadn't been able to give her, even if it came without the security he'd worked so hard to offer her.

I should eat something, he thought. Sighing, he walked into the kitchen and found a package of ramen. "Ok, house, boil two cups of water," he said, and a robot arm pulled a pot out of a drawer, placed it in the sink, and turned on the faucet just long enough to put two cups in. The arm picked up the pot again and put it on the stove, turning on the burner.

He stared at the package of ramen, wondering why he ate so much of it. Its sole saving grace was that it was cheap. He didn't really need to save the money, but like so much of his life now, it was just habit. Maximize the money in, minimize the money out, so that he could be sure he had enough to support a family. That hadn't even been necessary when Flynn & Fletcher Technologies had been worth thousands of dollars, but now that Flynn Technologies was worth tens of millions, it really was overkill. Especially since, he figured, it was so unlikely he'd ever find someone to share that wealth with again.

He dozed in his chair in front of the fireplace, until a voice awoke him.

"Phineas," an unfamiliar man's voice said.

Phineas sat up. He saw nothing unusual in the fire-lit room. With a shrug, he sat back in his chair again.

"Phineas. My son," the voice said.

A glowing form was appearing by the fireplace. It coalesced into a translucent shape, looking like Phineas, but younger and gentler, with blonde hair instead of red.

Phineas's eyes narrowed. "Who are you?"

The spirit covered its mouth with a ghostly hand and made harsh breathing noises, then said in a deep voice, "Phineas...I am your father." Then it pulled its hand away, laughing. "I've always wanted to do that. I never got a chance to while I was alive."

Phineas scootched back in his chair. "You're not Lawrence. Lawrence is still alive. Somebody would have told me."

"Not Lawrence, Phineas. Timothy. Your biological father."

"Why are you here?"

"I was granted a boon in response to Candace's prayers. One last chance to save you, Phineas."

"I don't need saving."

The ghost looked around him. "Could have fooled me. You will be visited by three spirits tonight, Phineas."

Phineas rolled his eyes. "A Christmas Carol? Really?"

"They're a package deal, okay? Besides, you really need all three. Await the first after midnight," Timothy said, fading away.

Phineas shook his head. He must have dozed off in the chair and had a bad dream. He'd have to remember not to have that rarebit-flavored ramen just before bed again. "Ok, house. Turn off the fireplace." The fireplace turned off, darkening the room, and Phineas went upstairs to bed.

Rarebit, aka Welsh Rarebit or Welsh Rabbit, is a cheese-sauce-on-toast dish notorious for causing bizarre dreams. I suspect that rarebit would not be a popular flavor of ramen.