Hello everybody!

This procrastinator was waiting until the the very last posting day for the 2017 Valentine's Day Ferbella Fic Exchange, hosted by Spazzumtard, our great and glorious queen.

This story is a gift for none other than Spazzumtard herself! And for our Ferbella leader, I wanted to do something extra special! So I shot myself in the foot and took on a project that was probably a crazy poor decision, considering this fic exchange only spanned a couple weeks; but instead of a one-shot, I wrote a nine-shot story, over 140 pages long! All for our beloved Spazz!

While today, the 21st, was the deadline for posting the fic exchange, she made a special exception for this story, since it's nine chapters. I am posting the first today (obviously) and will be posting each consecutive chapter every 2-3 days (no more than 3), so it should be finished completely in the next three weeks! (Hence why I have been slacking on updating my other stories).

A couple things before you read:

I wrote this story as a tribute to Man of Action. I enjoy that story a lot, and since this was a gift for Spazzumtard, I wrote in Spazz's style of showing Isabella and Ferb's relationship develop through the years. Therefore, each of the nine chapters will be a day-in-the-life one-shot of Isabella at each consecutive age, as indicated by the chapter title.

The prompt: "Isabella realizes she always goes and always will go to Ferb for comfort for everything even when it's not about Phineas and his obliviousness. Bad hair day? Ferb. Sick and/or hurt? Ferb. Pinky missing? Ferb. (just examples. Not to be used in the story unless your muse says so.)"

And... like I said... I definitely got a bit carried away. I 100% promise I tried to only write, like, 20 pages, tops! Then a hundred or so more pages crept into there while I wasn't looking...

Regardless, I did a lot in this fic that I've never done before: poetry and, believe it or not, it's relatively angst-free (comparatively speaking, because I write a LOT of angst).

Special thanks to Foodluver8 for encouraging me to keep pumping out a whole new 15-page chapter every two days; without her cheering me on, I don't think I would have finished this monster on time.

Enjoy the Ferbella cuteness!

Disclaimer: I do not own Phineas and Ferb.

TWELVE

It was during third period that it happened: Isabella felt like she was going to die. She didn't know what the heck kicked her in the stomach or why, but she could die. Literally. Right here in this chair.

A groan keeled from her mouth as she slumped over on her desk—a groan that unfortunately garnered attention from her teacher.

"Isabella?" Ms. Farlow asked. "Do you need to go to the nurse?"

The nurse. Yes, that sounded good. She couldn't bear just sitting here as her insides squeezed and slowly churned over.

Oh god, Isabella wasn't sure she could move.

"Phineas, would you make sure she makes it there okay?" her teacher added, and that, at the very least, made Isabella feel better. Phineas would be escorting her? He was like her knight in shining armor!

"Yeah, of course," Phineas said, taking her elbow, and she slowly stood. The pain ebbed a little bit, but she still felt so, so icky.

"Hey, are you okay?" Phineas asked as soon as they were in the hall and she nodded mutely.

As he walked her to the nurse, Phineas chattered on about how he hoped she would feel better before this afternoon, since he had a huge project planned for after school; and for some reason this made Isabella really, really mad.

Like, scary mad. She really wanted Phineas to just shut up, and she had literally no idea why. It wasn't like he was doing anything wrong, and she really did love him. He was just being Phineas, nothing more and nothing less.

When they made it to the nurse's office, she promised to see him at lunch and strolled in alone. The sharp, stabbing feeling was gone, but she still felt crappy. When she told the nurse what was happening, she smiled with pity and recommended Isabella use the bathroom.

That was when realization struck.

Isabella's eyes grew wide, understanding the nurse's meaning even before the woman grabbed something out of a cabinet and held it out to her: a small white package. With dread, Isabella realized she would need it.

As she took those heavy few steps to the bathroom, she tried to remember everything her mother had told her about this. But it didn't make any sense, because if this was supposed to last a few days? Every single freaking month? Isabella didn't understand how the female race survived.

When she made it into the stall, it was confirmed. Great.

She wished her mom was here, but even if she convinced the nurse to send her home, she knew her mom would never let her hang out with Phineas after school if she went home sick. Isabella did not want to miss out on an opportunity to see Phineas! Each time she did brought him one step closer to liking her back, she was sure of it!

She sat in the nurse's office until the end of the period, nibbling on some saltine crackers while the nurse asked her if she had any questions. Isabella continued to stare on, silently shaking her head.

She thought this day would mark some kind of transformation for her. Like, she would suddenly feel grown up once this started. Adyson had been so smug when she'd started hers last year, like it was something to be proud of! Instead, Isabella wanted to crawl into a hole and never come out.

Once lunch rolled around, the nurse encouraged her to go eat. With a solemn nod of her head, Isabella made her way to the cafeteria. She easily spotted Phineas and Ferb—Ferb was so tall and his green hair was a beacon—and she made her way over.

"Hey, Isabella, I grabbed your backpack!" Phineas told her cheerfully. "Did you find out what's wrong?"

Isabella reclaimed her bag from him, but she kept her gaze resolutely glued to the ground as she shrugged.

"Tummy troubles. They're not sending me home."

Phineas nodded. "You were probably hungry! Let's get you some food."

"I just want to sit down," Isabella grumbled, slouching down on the bench at the lunch table, and Phineas shot off toward the food line.

"I'll get you something," he called back, and he was gone before Isabella could tell him she wasn't really hungry. How was it possible, she wondered, to feel so starving but have literally no appetite? She was dizzy—probably hungry, like Phineas had said—but the idea of eating any of the cafeteria food made her nauseous.

From the other side of the table, Ferb nudged her foot with his own, and when she looked up at him, his head lilted to the side.

"I'm okay," she groaned, burying her face in her arms.

Phineas was back with food a minute later, and Isabella stared on at the tray with total indifference. He'd gone for healthier options: a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with some fruit and veggies. Usually she'd have no problem with it, but… ick.

She buried her face in her arms again—and that was when the sharp pains came back. It felt like someone taken her gut in their first and twisted. Thank goodness her troop had a different lunchtime, or they would figure her out immediately. As it was, she couldn't help but whimper.

"You've got to eat," Phineas insisted. "The nurse would've sent you home if it was a bug, right? So try eating something."

She shook her head. "Not hungry."

At least, she wasn't. Until she smelled something like chicken broth. Her head shot up just in time to see Ferb unscrewing the lid of the thermos he'd brought from home. She could see the soup inside, and she almost drooled.

Oh man, she wanted that. That, specifically. Because her freaking insides were apparently on revolt right now!

Ugh, being a girl sucked.

When Ferb noticed her staring, he froze halfway through lifting his first bite. His gaze flicked from her to the soup, there and back again, and she quickly looked away. He didn't need her ogling his food.

Suddenly the thermos was in front of her, and Isabella's eyes snapped up in time to see Ferb pulling her food tray toward him. He lifted the PB&J and gestured to her with it, his small nod seeming to say, go on.

Isabella didn't even bother with feeling bad; she lifted the little plastic spoon and started scarfing the soup down. Chicken and rice… yes, this was exactly what she needed!

"I thought you said you weren't hungry," Phineas muttered, scratching his head, but Isabella didn't stop eating long enough to respond.

"Ferb made that soup a couple nights ago," he continued after a moment when no one answered him. "It's good right?"

"It's perfect," Isabella gushed. "I didn't think I'd be able to eat, but it's so good! I wish I could have it for dinner, too."

"Oh man," Phineas sighed. "We'd run some over to you, but I think that was last of the leftovers, right, Ferb?"

The older brother nodded his head in confirmation… and suddenly Isabella felt like she was going to cry. Holy crap, that came on so fast! And the fact that it was completely irrational only made her even more upset!

"But you're coming over anyway, right?" Phineas asked. "I had an idea for this laser tag mirror maze structure with artificial gravity so you can—"

"Phineas," Isabella snapped, "I just don't know!"

She was just about ready to slam her head against the table the moment it came out of her mouth. She hadn't meant to bark at him! She was just so—so irritated with him today, even if she wasn't sure why. He'd been so nice, he definitely didn't deserve it; but literally everything he did and said right now rubbed her the wrong way.

She drained the last of the soup and pushed the empty thermos back to Ferb. She figured the last thing she needed right now was to be around others. She didn't want to bite poor Phineas' head off again, and she still felt like she was going to cry.

The moment she went to stand up, a whole new wave of cramps hit her, and she sat down hard. She couldn't help the pained expression that flashed on her face, but she managed to catch it after only a second and replace it with a neutral look. Her insides were screaming right now, but as much as she felt like she was dying, she thought she would literally die if Phineas found out what was happening.

"Are you okay?" he asked again, and she nodded mutely.

Ferb, meanwhile, had frozen just before taking a bite. He was staring at her with wide eyes, and he was uncharacteristically pale. His jaw dropped, and she was so worried about being figured out that she rushed away from the table.

God, this was so embarrassing.

She went to the very far back corner of the library and was thankful there was at least one unoccupied couch. She curled up on her side, closed her eyes, and resigned to waiting for lunch to be over.

At least, that was what she was doing until she felt someone poke her shoulder. She opened her eyes to find Ferb leaning over her.

Oh no… He'd totally figured it out, she could see it.

"Oh please, Ferb, spare me this humiliation," she groaned, burying her face in her hands.

He didn't say anything—not that that was weird for him. Instead, he poked her shoulder again. This time when she looked up at him, his hand was held out. In the center of his palm were a few pills.

Isabella shot up, eyeing the gift. Not even the school nurse had given her any medicine! Schools were so weird about doing that sort of stuff these days. She snatched up the pills and popped them in her mouth. She chugged some water from her water bottle, and took solace in the fact that the agony would lessen significantly in about twenty minutes.

It was a start.

"Thanks," she mumbled, staring intently at her feet.

She thought that would be the end of it—Ferb had done what he'd come here to do, after all—but instead he took a seat next to her. He pulled his thermos out of his bag, and she didn't understand why he offered it to her; she'd finished all the soup inside, after all.

Then she touched it. It was so warm! It heated her hands through, just holding it! She opened it up, and saw… was that water? Blistering water, the boiling kind that they put aside for the kids who brought noodle cups that needed hot water. No wonder the thermos was so warm!

"What's this for?" she asked. She'd burn her tongue beyond repair if she tried to drink it.

For the first time, Ferb looked a little uncomfortable. His cheeks turned pink, but still he held her gaze as he gestured to her stomach. He wanted her to… oh. Isabella quickly resealed the lid and brought the warm container against her abdomen.

After only a minute, Isabella sighed and flopped over onto his arm.

"Oh my god, Ferb, thank you so much!"

The only way she could tell he nodded was that she could feel the movement as she lied against him. She wanted to stay curled around the warm thermos and never ever ever move again.

She could do that, right?

But the warning bell rang. She had seven minutes to make it to her next class. It just so happened to be a geometry test, and Isabella was definitely not in a testing mood.

"This was your first time," Ferb guessed when she stood up, and Isabella froze. She wasn't sure she actually heard him right, but then he said, "I hear it's not quite so bad from here on out. The first always hits you the worst."

Isabella's mind was on overload, and she turned on him sharply.

"I—you—I can't talk to you about this sort of stuff, Ferb! You're a boy!"

He raised his eyebrow, and the look he gave her was downright incredulous.

"We're friends."

And the fact that his voice cracked on the word friends was the only thing that thawed Isabella's embarrassment.

Maybe… maybe Ferb was feeling just as awkward right now, too. She'd noticed his voice cracking more than once the past couple days, after all. Phineas had been teasing him about it, but she hadn't. Honestly, she'd been busy imagining how Phineas would sound after his voice dropped, but now she was happy she hadn't teased Ferb. He wasn't teasing her, either.

"I feel like death, Ferb," she admitted as she sat back down. "I feel horrible and I can't let Phineas find out but I want to hang out with him and this thermos helps but I can't walk around holding it to my stomach all day, that'd be too obvious and I feel like I'm going to cry and I'm cramping again and oh my god!"

She careened over into his shoulder again and let herself revel in a long, irritated groan. She didn't know what it was about ranting, even when nothing could be done to change anything, but it helped almost every time. At least now she felt like she would make it through the day.

After a minute, Ferb began to stand, and she sat up so he could. He pulled his hoodie off over his head, and she didn't think anything of it until he held it out to her. She was too confused to move at first, so he tapped his watch and held the hoodie out to her a little more adamantly: warming them they could be late.

Isabella wasn't sure what he was getting at, but she stood and slid his hoodie on over her head. It was big on her, no doubt, but at least it smelled good. It smelled like Ferb.

Ferb took the thermos from where she'd left it on the couch and tucked it in the big pocket on the front—oh dear lord, yes. She could feel the warmth even though the fabric, and this would be perfect for when she was in class. No one would see it and wonder why she was cradling a thermos to her stomach.

"Oh my god, Ferb, thank you!" she cried as she threw her arms around him, and she felt him pat her back.

Honestly, Isabella wasn't sure there was anyone who could have made this as minimally awkward as Ferb had. Don't get her wrong; this was awkward. But she was so glad Ferb had figured it out, because he'd really saved her butt! Once those meds kicked in… Oh yeah. Isabella couldn't wait.

They took off to their different classes, and Ferb parted ways in the bustling halls with a silent, two-fingered solute. Just like that. Just whoosh, save her life, and gone again. He was like a freaking super hero.

After school, Isabella walked to where she usually met Phineas and Ferb at the bus stop. She was doing much better after that medicine remedied the worst of the pain. She was still in a sour mood, but she would just have to deal with that. She needed to apologize to Phineas, too. It wasn't cool of her to randomly bite his head off, even if she hadn't been feeling the best.

Stupid hormones.

"Hey Isabella!" Phineas called out when he saw her, waving like mad, as if they didn't meet in the same place every day and she hadn't already seen them. But that was Phineas for you, and she shook her head.

"Hey, Phineas." Might as well get if over with. "Sorry I was harky-barky earlier. I didn't mean to snap at you."

Phineas laughed. "Oh, it's fine. You're not feeling well, I get it."

Well, that was a relief. She didn't think he'd dwell on it—it was Phineas, after all—but she'd still felt bad. She flashed Ferb a smile as they climbed onto the bus and she said, "I'm doing a lot better than I was at lunch."

"Great!" Phineas beamed. "That means you're still coming over, right?"

Isabella chewed her lip. She wanted to, mostly because she really hated the idea of turning down an opportunity to spend time with him. But she also felt that growing, irrational irritation building within her, and she really didn't want to snap at him again. She was on a short fuse when it came to his usual antics today, it seemed.

"I don't know," she said as they all sat down. Usually kids sat two to a row, but Phineas, Ferb, and she always managed to squeeze all three of them on a seat.

"Alright," Phineas responded. "Well we should work on homework now, just in case. I want as much time to work on my idea as possible, you know?"

He grabbed their English book from his backpack and flipped it over to their current chapter, pencil poised in his hand to take notes, and Isabella stared at him.

She hated that everything he did annoyed her today. Stupid, stupid puberty. She loved Phineas! She really didn't like this sinking, triggering feeling that his usual comments created. If she needed to avoid him every time her time of the month came around, she would be in for a long, long life! Especially since she wanted to marry him! It was something she'd just have to get over.

Isabella slumped back in the seat, feeling depressed. She had precisely zero motivation to start her homework now, but Phineas was already pounding away at his, and she didn't have the heart to interrupt (and maybe, with her emotions being all over the place today, it was best that he was distracted). It wouldn't be the same if Phineas figured it out like Ferb had. She wouldn't be able to handle it!

Ferb nudged her with his elbow, and when she turned her sunken frown on him, he smiled sheepishly. It was a strange expression for his usually placid face, and she didn't understand it until he retrieved something else from his backpack.

Admittedly, when she saw it, she did cry. In part out of sheer disbelief. Mostly out of gratitude. He was holding a bar of dark chocolate he must have retrieved from the vending machine.

She quickly wiped at her eyes before Phineas could notice and took the square of chocolate he offered her. She didn't know if chocolate actually helped with all this hormonal stuff or if that was just some myth, but she knew it sure as heck couldn't hurt.

They rode the rest of the way home in mutual silence: Phineas working, Ferb dishing out crack chocolate one square at a time, and Isabella sucking on each one until it melted on her tongue.

Perhaps the whole chocolate thing wasn't a myth… it certainly made her feel better.

When they made it home, Isabella parted ways with the others. She'd agreed to come back over and help Phineas with his project, but she wanted to get her history homework done first. That, and she needed some time to breathe.

Mama freaked out when Isabella told her. She was the only child, after all; her mom wanted to throw a freaking party about "crossing a threshold" but all Isabella wanted to do was bury her head in her pillow.

Her mom thought it was amazing that this had happened only a few weeks after her bat mitzvah. Isabella, however, thought it was a cruel joke of fate. She bolted to the kitchen as soon as she could pry herself out of her mother's arms.

She heated some water up in the microwave to a boiling point and put it in Ferb's thermos. She slid it back into the pocket, and sighed in bliss at the heat. It was almost funny; maybe it was a good thing Phineas was so oblivious. Seriously… he didn't even question why she'd been wearing his brother's hoodie all day.

Oh shoot! A hoodie she was currently still wearing!

Well, Ferb would just have to be okay with her giving it back later.

With her homework done, she made her way back across the street. She would have to be patient. When she started feeling frustrated for stupid reasons, she'd just need to breathe. If worst came to worst, she could see if they had a secret stash of chocolate somewhere.

When Linda let her in, Isabella was surprised to find Phineas dragging some blankets to the living room.

"What happened to the laser tag mirror maze?" she asked as she trailed behind him, and Phineas peeked his head up from over the pile of blankets.

"Oh hey, Isabella! Ferb said we should postpone that since you were feeling under the weather. We're having a movie night instead. Mom and Dad had a couple they wanted to watch. Is that okay?"

Was it okay? Isabella so did not feel capable of running around in some big maze with artificial gravity today… That was beyond okay!

"Mom made spaghetti," Phineas added on in an afterthought—and Isabella's spirits plunged again. She didn't want to be rude, but her appetite had been scrambled and then tossed out the door entirely.

"And it's just about ready," Linda said as she poked her head around the corner. "Isabella, dear, would you mind setting the table?"

With Phineas getting all the blankets set up, Isabella went into the kitchen and put plates and forks around the table. She could smell the spaghetti and it made her stomach flip. Usually she loved Linda's cooking, but tonight? Yeah…

"Hey, Ferb," she said when she noticed him by the stove. He turned when he heard her, gave a small wave, then went back to whatever he was doing. After a minute, he grabbed a bowl from the cupboard and poured—was that soup?

Isabella was out of her chair and by his side in no time at all, gaping at what he held.

"Did you make soup for me?" she asked, her voice shaking, and Ferb looked alarmed. He was probably afraid she would start crying on him again—and she very well could because he'd made soup for her, and she loved soup, and oh god, she couldn't handle how nice that was!

He nodded before walking the soup over to the table. He put it down in her usual spot and glanced down at her, his eyes lingering on her torso. It took her a moment to realize why, but of course she was still wearing his hoodie! The thermos was still tucked inside.

"Can I wear it?" she blurted out. "Just a little longer. I've still got the thermos, and, well…"

She trailed off, but she didn't need to actually finish the statement because he was nodding again. Thank goodness Ferb wasn't really bothered by much. She needed that right about now.

Dinner was uneventful, and she was totally ready for a night of curling up and watching movies! She supposed she owed Ferb for changing that plan up, too. This was so much better than before.

Linda and Lawrence took the couch while Phineas put the movie in. Ferb sat in that glorious mountain of blankets Phineas had created, and everything in Isabella's brain told her yes: a mountain of blankets was exactly where she wanted to be!

This probably should have embarrassed her more than anything else that day, but Isabella dropped down over Ferb's legs like a bag of wet cement. She was draped over his lap like a cat, and she didn't even care as she let that thermos press against stomach and hugged an armful of blankets to herself.

"Uh, Isabella?" came his quiet voice, and Isabella was quick to respond.

"I know I'm cranky and tired and weird, but you're warm and blankets and—gosh darn it, Ferb, just let me lie here!"

He didn't say anything else, and he didn't move either. She took that as a good sign as she snuggled up a little bit more.

The whole reason she'd come over was to spend more time with Phineas; and she had, during dinner. But now that she was lying here, a whole different story started taking shape. It was one in which the mindless sound of the television filtered in before fading to a blur, and her eyelids grew heavy.

It was exhausting, growing up.

When, after a couple minutes, she felt Ferb's fingers slowly drift through her hair, she finally allowed her eyes to close completely a content hum escaped her throat; and when that apparently encouraged Ferb to comb through her hair more, Isabella was in heaven.

This was what every girl needed at a time like this: to be a little pampered. Oh, she was all for this.

Her world was finally calming back down, and truth be told, she was asleep before she could even tell you what the movie was about.

I hope you enjoyed chapter one, Spazz! Age thirteen will be coming at you in a couple days (hehe, it's like the gift that keeps on giving!)

All my love,

Lilly-Belle