Perry finally reached the end of the tunnel. He was in a dark room with a table and two chairs.

A strange scene met him. Dennis was in one chair, Palmer in the other.

They were playing… cards.

"Do you have any fours?"

"Go fish."

Poppy emerged from behind Perry. Perry clapped his hand over her mouth.

Dennis pulled out a few cards from the pile. "You SURE you don't have any fours?"

"I told you, I don't have any stinkin' fours! Suck it up and DRAW." Palmer turned his attention away from the cards. "Mommy!"

"I told you they were coming." Dennis said, following Palmer's gaze.

Palmer threw his cards on the table and ran over to Poppy. "Mom! I missed you!"

"Palmer! You're safe!" Poppy grabbed Palmer up in a huge hug.

"Of course he is." Dennis snapped. "You think I was going to cook him or something? All I needed was to borrow him for a few seconds. I'd give him back."

"Sure." Perry shook his head. "You were going to keep him, and you know it. You told me before. You were going to train Palmer to be a nasty O.W.C.A hater like you."

Dennis smiled. "You see, that's where you're wrong, Perry. I've changed my plan a little. I couldn't possibly train Palmer now. He's much too fond of you two. He practically lives for the agency."

Poppy picked Palmer up and glared at Dennis.

"I realized, as I brought him here, that he had a good, strong bond with his parents. He talks about you two nonstop. He's got the stubbornness of his father and… I don't know you very well, Poppy, but I'm sure he's got a lot of your traits as well. It inspired me. I now know exactly…"

"Wait, hold it. If you didn't need Palmer for all of this, then WHY didn't you just bring him back home the moment you got this huge inspiration?" Perry demanded.

"Because Fir told me you were already on your way. I'm actually quite glad, it saved me a trip." Dennis pointed at the ceiling.

Fir hung upside down, grinning at them with pointed white teeth.

"Thank you, Palmer, for a wonderful game of cards. And for helping me figure out my next move."

"I kicked his butt in cards." Palmer told Perry.

Poppy turned and ran down the tunnels, going back to the outside. Perry followed her.

He was glad when they crawled out of the manhole. The sun warmed him.

"I just remembered something." Palmer said as Poppy placed him on the ground. "That evil bunny tried to hurt me when I was a baby! I shouldn't have kicked his butt in cards, I should have flat-out kicked his butt!"

"It's fine. I'm just glad you're okay." Poppy clutched his hand, as if she was afraid he would vanish at any moment.

Palmer smiled at Perry. "I wasn't afraid when he took me. I knew you'd come back to get me."

Perry smiled back.

"I hate you!"

Perry heard those words the instant he came in through the pet flap. He was a little confused at first.

"I hate you and I'm never speaking to you again!"

Wow. Perry had never heard those words come out of Phineas' mouth before. It sounded faint. Phineas was probably upstairs.

Perry climbed the steps, using all four feet. Sometimes coming home and acting like a mindless pet was a relief. He was still an animal, after all. He shouldn't have to walk on two legs ALL the time.

When he got upstairs, a shocking scene met his eyes. Phineas was standing in the hall, glaring into his room.

Objects were flying out of it, dangerously close to hitting Phineas in the head.

They appeared to all be things that belonged to Ferb.

"What are you even DOING?" Phineas snapped.

"I thought you weren't talking to me." Came Ferb's curt response. A snowglobe flew out of the doorway and soared dangerously close to Phineas.

Finally, a blue blanket and pillow streaked through the air. Ferb emerged from the room and began putting his stuff on the blanket. He scooped up the blanket and carried it downstairs.

"Fine, move out of the room!" Phineas shouted. "See if I care, 'cause I DON'T!"

Perry felt sad. The boys NEVER fought. He wondered what had caused the tiff.

Perry trotted past Phineas and went into the boys' room.

"Perry will stay with me!" Phineas shouted. "He always liked ME better, anyway!"

Perry stopped. He didn't want to be dragged into this. He loved Phineas and Ferb equally. Phineas always fed him and played with him, Ferb always held him and stroked him. He didn't want the boys thinking he was picking favorites when he decided to spend time with one and not the other.

On top of everything else, he didn't like this hostility between the two.

"Come on, Perry." Phineas picked Perry up and closed the bedroom door. "We don't need Ferb."

Phineas put Perry down on the bed and started looking through his blueprints.

Perry sat with him for a while and began chewing on the blanket. Once he was bored of that, he got up and walked over to the door.

He scratched on the wood.

Phineas turned to him, looking sad. "Come on, Perry. I don't want to have to sit in here alone."

Perry wanted to go out. He scratched the door again.

"Fine, I'll leave it open." Phineas opened the door and went back to sulking near his blueprints.

Perry frowned a little. He walked over to Phineas and rubbed his head against his leg.

"Love you, boy." Phineas said quietly.

Perry purred.

"It's pretty out here." Palmer said.

Danville Forest was a nice place at night. Perry had managed to build a small fire to roast marshmallows on.

"Want another marshmallow?" Perry asked, holding out a brown one to Poppy.

"Guess what marshmallows are made of!" Palmer said.

"Every time I roast marshmallows, someone always says that." Perry muttered.

"Give it to Palmer." Poppy said.

"He's already had four. Don't you think he's hyped up enough?"

"He gets so hyper that he tires himself out. Then he falls asleep."

"So THAT'S how it works."

Poppy glared at him, obviously remembering the song Perry had taught Palmer.

Perry handed the marshmallow to Palmer. "You gotta roast your own now. I better head back home."

"Already?" Palmer whimpered.

"Yep. I'll see ya in a couple weeks, though." Perry got up.

"No!" Palmer clutched onto Perry's leg. "It's not fair!"
Perry tried to shake him off.

"Just a few more minutes, please?"

Perry sighed. "Fine." He sat back down.

Palmer smiled. He let go of Perry's leg and lay down next to the marshmallow bag. Within a moment, he was asleep.

"You can probably escape now." Poppy said.

"It's fine."

"It's okay. You can go if you need to."

"In a rush to get rid of me, are you?"
"You have to get home."

Perry looked up at the stars. "Do you think that when people are close… and then they fight… do you think they'll ever really be friends again?"

"I'm still your friend. I was only mad at you for a little while. Then I got the hang of raising Palmer on my own."

"I'm not talking about you, miss center-of-the-universe. I'm talking about if there were two metaphorical brothers who were super close and then they got in this huge fight. Would they ever make up?"

"If they were originally close, then yes. Eventually."

"How long do you think it would be?"

"I don't know." Poppy shrugged. "A day? A week? A year?"

"Not helping." Perry lay down in the grass and stared up at the sky. "I hope they make up. They're the best people in the world."

"Everyone forgives, eventually."

"I hope so."

"Candace, can you ask Ferb to pass me the cereal box?"

Candace sighed. She turned to Ferb. "Can you pass Phineas the cereal box?"

Ferb shook his head.

"Candace, can you pass me the cereal box, since Ferb can't be bothered?" Phineas asked.

Perry ate silently. If it were two other people communicating through Candace, it would be funny.

But this wasn't funny.

"Candace, tell Ferb that he took my alarm clock by accident when he took all his stuff out of my room."

Candace turned to Ferb. "You heard that."

Ferb ignored her. He continued eating his cereal.

"So, what are your plans for today?" Linda asked, coming into the kitchen.

"Gee, I don't know." Phineas said sarcastically. "I guess I'm going to build something. ALONE."

Ferb rolled his eyes.

"Don't be mean, Ferb." Phineas grumbled.

The instant Perry stepped into the O.W.C.A, he was surrounded by gleeful agents.

"That was the WILDEST PARTY EVER!" Kyle said.

"AWESOME!"

"EPIC!"

Pinky shoved to the front of the crowd. "Man, I wish you'd been there for the end of it. Did you have fun while you were there?"

Perry thought for a moment. Then he smiled. "Yes. Yes I did."
"We totally brought the house down." Devon said. "We played Tiny Cowboy songs for like HOURS!"

"And then we brought the ceiling down when Edie jumped." Said Herman the hedgehog.

Perry laughed.

"That was the best." Darren said. "Guess it takes a party-hater to throw a really good party."

Perry's phone vibrated. He pulled it out and looked at it.

"Text?" Pinky asked.

Perry nodded. He pushed a few buttons on his phone and stared.

"Everything okay?" Pinky watched Perry carefully.

"Oh great. Just great. I'm dead." Perry slammed the phone against his head.

"What happened?" Kenny the koala joined the group. He looked sleepy.

"Poppy laid another egg. The last thing I need is another troublemaker." Perry stuck the phone back in his fur pocket and dizzily walked toward the elevator.

To Be Continued in the next story: Quits