I was still asleep when my watch beeped the next morning. I yawned, then answered it, trying to look alert, but knowing that it didn't matter.

Monogram actually looked worried. "Agent P, Doofenshmirtz is up to no good again, and apparently you can teach an old evil scientist a new trick. (I've been waiting to use that line, hmm.)" He cleared his throat, and shook off his amusement with his wit. "It seems that Hilda Doofenshmirtz has remembered who she is, but nothing about your cover. Unfortunately, while obtaining this information, Carl let it slip that we were the ones who wiped her mind in the first place."

Carl's nasally voice protested from off-screen, "I did not! You were the one communicating with him!"

"Quiet Carl! Go clean the bathrooms, and think about what you've done!"

"But! Yes, sir."

"The important thing is, Doof's sworn revenge on the O.W.C.A. and you need to put a stop to it! Good luck, Agent P."

I saluted, and cut the signal. Leave it to the people who are constantly telling you how to keep secrets to not be able to keep their mouths shut. Maybe someone ought to threaten to relocate him once in a while. I rolled my eyes as I got dressed, and took the passage to my lair, figuring today was a hover car sort of day.

When I got to D.E.I., I proceeded with a little more caution than usual, knowing first hand how overprotective Doof was of his little sister. I couldn't exactly fault him for that, but I certainly couldn't let him get his revenge on O.W.C.A. either.

I made my way into the building, and walked straight into my trap. I sighed, and squinted at the inator in the shadows, trying to figure out what it did.

"Uh, uh, uh! No cheating, Perry the agent. That's my job!"

Something pounded against the bedroom door. "Heinz Doofenshmirtz, you let me out of here this instant! I mean it!"

I crossed my arms and leveled a look at my nemesis. Really?

He scowled. "Don't judge me! If anything, it's your fault! You just had to restore Hilda's memories, didn't you? And why not, since your little agency is responsible for stealing them in the first place!"

I'm sure my eyes went a little dull at that. Most people would be mad about one or the other, but oh no; Doof was determined to be mad about both, despite the fact that they pretty much canceled eachother out.

He saw the look, I know he did, but he chose to ignore it. "So I'm sorry, Perry the agent, but you brought this on yourself, or, rather, Major Monogram did. I guess when I really think about it, you might have been an innocent victim in all of this, too. But since you're not going to just sit there and let me wipe all the memories from every agent in O.W.C.A., I'm not letting you out of there."

My eyes widened. Sure, the stakes got high in our daily fights, but having my mind wiped, forgetting my family, and friends, and the agency… being alone again… Woah, it's not going to happen, because I'm going to stop him. Get a grip, Plats! I quickly amended my mental scolding. Yeah, Perry Plats would do what he could, but it was Perry Flynn-Fletcher that was going to fight the hardest right now. I ignored the fact that it proved his point about what an awful idea it had been to take Hilda's memories. I never agreed with that dumb plan.

"Heinz, you don't understand! You let me out right this second! Perry? Are you out there? Let me out!"

I looked back at Doof, and he went back on the defensive. "Again, not my fault!" He walked over to the bedroom door, and leaned against it. "Hilda, sweety, I'll let you out of there just as soon as we're done here, okay, Crumbkin?"

"Open the door, Heinz, you're going too far!"

"Look, I can support your decision to be good, but it's Perry the agent's job to thwart me. Not yours. We're going to have to lay some ground rules, but we can make this work. Trust me."

Yes, I took full advantage of this distraction by breaking free of my trap, and punching the self destruct button.

Doof sighed without bothering to turn around.

"Can I come out now?"

He opened the door. "Yes."

She immediately darted out and stood in between us, standing protectively in front of her brother. "He was trying to take things too far, but please don't hurt him."

She'd recovered well from yesterday's shock, by the looks of it. With the inator gone, I didn't really need to fight Doof, who was giving me an apologetic frown. Not for the inator, I knew better than that. It was for the interference from girl in front of him, who was likely to be a problem from this point on. I guess neither of us had considered how difficult it was going to be for her to just stand on the sidelines now that wanted to keep her brother from doing anything harmful.

So that's where she stood, both literally, and figuratively. Because she couldn't stop loving her brother anymore than I could keep pretending that she didn't love me.

I looked up at Doof and shrugged one shoulder. He shrugged back, and then nodded. "Alright, truce, but just for today, Perry the agent."

I didn't see how it was really a truce since I'd already won, but I let him off easy, for Hilda's sake. After all, he hadn't really done anything.

I tipped my hat, and left by the front door, making it home in time to find my family sitting around the breakfast table.

Phineas was just asking, "Hey, where's Perry?" as I slid into the seat next to him.

"Oh, there you are, Bro. Look, we're having pancakes!"

I grinned as I dished up a couple, listening to Mom and Dad planning out their days. Candace was busy texting someone, the sly look on her face hinting that she was on a mission.

After breakfast, I helped the boys build cannons that shot us from one place to the next in a forceful blast of air. It doesn't sound safe, but they had the equipment monitored so that nothing could go wrong.

We were trying to figure out how to levitate a second air cannon so that we could shoot up into it, and then glide down, when Candace came out. I figured she was just going to tell us that she was going to tell Mom, but instead, she called to me. "Hey, Perry, can you do me a quick favor?"

I nodded, and stepped away from the drafting table.

"I'm supposed to meet a friend at the mall, and I'm going to be late if you don't give me a lift. Please?"

We headed around to the front of the house, and I tossed her a helmet.

I drove her to the mall, and she hopped off the motorcycle, clicking the strap on her helmet to remove it. "Thanks, I…" she froze, staring at something.

Concerned, I tried to follow her gaze, but I didn't see anything out of the ordanary.

"There was a guy, staring at me."

What? My head spun back around as I got off the motorcycle, but before I could go charging off after the guy, she grabbed my arm. "No, please don't leave me!"

Still not seeing anybody, I nodded, and walked her into the mall.

She led me into one of the little food courts, and frowned. "Uh oh, they're out of seats."

I realized I'd been trapped when a cheerful voice spoke up from behind us. "That's okay, you guys can sit with us."

We turned towards Annie's voice, to find her sitting at a booth with, yeah, you guessed it; Hilda.

I waited for Candace to sit down, but she just sort of smirked, and motioned to me. "Age before beauty!"

I rolled my eyes as I slid into the booth, already noting that Annie had Hilda trapped on the other side. However, instead of sliding in next to me, Candace checked her watch. "Would you look at that! Annie, if we don't get going, we're gonna be late for that swap meet!"

Annie stood up, grabbing her purse. "You're right. Hey, Perry, I already ordered, so would you mind eating my food for me? Thanks a bunch!"

Candace waved. "Thanks for the lift!"

They turned, and I couldn't see the twinkle in their eyes anymore. I rolled mine, somewhat amused by their blatant disregard for how obvious they were being. I looked across the table, at the menu that Hilda was hiding behind.

With a smirk, I reached across the table, and pushed it down.

She tried to sink under the table beneath it, ears and cheeks a bright red. When our eyes met, she gave up. "You need to know that I had nothing to do with this!"

I nodded with a kind smile, and shrugged one shoulder.

She gave a sigh of relief. "Sorry about this morning. It's not that I don't think you can do your job, it's just…"

I grabbed a napkin, and she handed me a pen. 'You're caught in between us, I get it. We'll figure something out. We really need to get you a cell phone.'

She chuckled as she read the note. "But that's so ordinary. I mean, anyone can text."

She looked around the room, then sucked in a breath and hid behind the menu again as a scientist from L.O.V.E.M.U.F.F.I.N. came in a picked up his order. As he left, she lowered the menu. "They really outdid themselves. It looks like we're on a date."

I nodded. Looks like.

She swallowed. "You know, you don't have to stay."

I nodded my head in agreement as I leaned on the table with one arm, wondering absently what Annie had ordered for me.

Her eyes widened even more than usual, and then she broke into a huge smile, before regaining her composure by clearing her throat. "Potato soup."

I blinked.

She smiled again, but this one was more amused than joy-filled. "She ordered you potato soup. She said it's good here. I got a hotdog."

I let my mouth drop open in mock indignation, and she nodded. "I know, I know. Please don't tell Heinz! I just figured that if there was a chance I was really going to have lunch with his nemesis, then…" she shrugged.

I nodded.

She smiled again, unable to meet my eyes for long. "Well… this isn't normal."

It really wasn't. As much as I'd wanted things to go back to normal when this all started, it was really looking like that just wasn't possible anymore. No matter how content you are your life, okay, especially when you're content with your life, change happens. The old normal gives way to the new. You don't get to keep your comfortable patterns, no matter how firmly you keep them. But not all change is bad.

Hilda was watching me now, and she nodded in agreement. Her eyes asked a thousand questions that I wasn't ready to answer, but when she didn't blurt them out, I realized something; I didn't know her half as well as I understood her.

The place was crowded, but sitting there comfortably, we weren't in any more of a hurry to get our food than they were to get it to us. We sat there for a moment, and I finally shrugged one shoulder. I wasn't sure if this was a date in the strictest sense of the word; I'd never been on one before. But it didn't take a genius to see that Annie and Candace had decided that it was one, or that Hilda was hoping that it counted as one. And since I wasn't entirely opposed to the idea, well, whatever made them happy.

Life is about risks, because you never know which change could become your next new normal, and, sometimes, accepting that change is the only way your life is ever going to be 'normal' again.

The End

—

A/N: Finally! I could not get this to a point where I could satisfactorily end it for the LONGEST time! (Okay, I've actually written this faster than usual if you don't count the fact that I was writing only the second half, and even then…

But anyway, Wow! You made it all the way to the end of this! Congrats! I apologize for any discomfort you have suffered along the journey!

Thanks so much for coming along, and special thanks to my reviewers, who not only let me know that someone was reading this, but also kept me going with encouragement, advice, and helped me keep my grammar in check as well! (Yes, sadly folks, it was even sadder than this when it was first published!)You guys are all still awesome, and you've made this story so much more fun to write!

That being said, this started out as a quick experiment, but I've decided that there's room for a sequel, due to several unanswered questions that I still have about this human Perry character (and friends. I have other stories that need work before I can get started on it, but I fully intend to write it! Feel free to PM me with any ideas you might have for it, or any questions.

As always, thanks so much for reading! See you next time!

~veryloyalfan