Disclaimer: I don't own Phineas and Ferb, or any of its characters. All credit to Dan Povenmire and Jeff "Swampy" Marsh.

Candace lay in her bed one night, thinking to herself. Earlier that day, Phineas and Ferb had built a trampoline to the moon, but when their mom had gotten home, everything had once again disappeared. Same old, same old.

Her friends often asked Candace why she wanted to bust her brothers so badly. She told them because they never got in trouble for anything, and so it was only fair to try to bust them. But the truth went much deeper than that. The truth hurt, and the fifteen year old girl never spoke of it to anyone. Not even Stacy knew the true reason behind her busting urge. It wasn't so much wanting to get her brothers in trouble and wanting to keep them from getting hurt. A trampoline to the moon? Hundreds of things could go wrong, and Candace didn't want to see her brothers getting harmed in any way. It was much more than sisterly concern though; she was terrified at the thought of anything happening to them.

Yes, the truth hurts. And when we're alone, it can come back to us. And so Candace closed her eyes and unwillingly thought back to that horrible day six years ago...

It was a warm June night, just into the beginning of summer. Candace was happily walking home from the park with her three, almost four year old brother. Phineas was holding onto her hand and walking as fast as his little legs could carry him. It wasn't quite dark yet; only around 7pm. The two kids had gone to the nearby park to play, and now they were headed home just in time for a quick cartoon and then it was off to bed. They were halfway home when it happened.

A van turned onto the street, moving slower than it needed to. It came up behind the young siblings, trailing behind them, so far unseen. There was no one else about, so there was no one to see what was happening. Then so fast that neither of them could do anything about it, the side door opened and two grown men came out and grabbed Phineas and Candace, picking them up and throwing them into the van. They didn't have time to even scream before the door was closed and the van was speeding away. Just starting to realize what was going on, Candace started kicking and struggling against the men. Phineas, having no idea what was happening, started to cry. All he knew was that there were two strangers that had grabbed him, and that his older sister looked scared.

Candace found herself being held down to the floor of the van, unable to even struggle anymore. She heard her brother crying and called out to him. Phineas tried to stand up and get to his sister, but he was roughly shoved down by the other man. He crawled as far as he could away and cried in the corner. Candace tried to get up, or do anything, but she was only nine years old, and completely helpless. She screamed, only to find her arm being sharply twisted behind her. She shut up and the pain went away.

About ten minutes later they young siblings were dragged out of the van and into a house in the middle of nowhere. Candace was still struggling and Phineas as still crying. He called out his sister and she tried to get to him but the men were too strong. They were both brought inside and tossed onto the hard floor. Candace rushed over to her brother and held him close, shielding him from the world. Phineas buried his head in his sister's shoulder and hugged her as tightly as he could. She tried to tell him that everything would be okay, but suddenly one of the men pulled Phineas out of her grasp. She screamed and tried to run to him, but the other man held her down against the ground. She cried out as Phineas was shoved against the wall. He collapsed onto the ground and curled up into a little ball, trying to be as small as he could.

Candace screamed and fought as hard as she possibly could. Phineas heard her and stood up, starting to run over to his sister, but the man grabbed him by the back of his shirt and lifted him up off the ground. Phineas was scared and confused and didn't like what was happening one bit. He was too young to comprehend the full situation, except for the fact that something was wrong. He mostly knew this by how his sister was fighting.

Candace kicked out and made contact. The man doubled over in pain and the young girl jumped up and ran over to her brother. The other man laughed as she tried to help him, making her even more furious. She threw a punch at his stomach and the man dropped Phineas. She grabbed her brother and tried to make a run for the door but was intercepted by the man who had been holding her down before. He grabbed them both and threw them across the room. Candace twisted her body to take most of the impact when they hit the wall, so that Phineas was shielded from the worst of the blow. They fell to the ground and Candace didn't think she had any fight left in her, until one of the men grabbed Phineas again and tried to take him away from her. Her eyes blazed and she jumped up, ignoring the screaming pain in her back, and lunged at the man.

She found herself held back as Phineas was taken across the room. They called out to each other and struggled to get to one another, but the men were too strong. Then to Candace's complete horror, the man holding Phineas picked up a metal bar from the ground and swung it around at him. It made contact with Phineas' left shoulder. He screamed and started crying again. The man laughed and swung again, and again. Candace kicked out and fought harder than she ever had but she couldn't get up. She screamed at the men, telling them to leave her brother alone; that she would take it all. This got their attention. The man stopped hitting Phineas and threw him down. He tried to stand up but was too weak. Candace was picked up and brought across the room. The other man took her and Phineas managed to get up on his knees, only to find himself being picked up and carried away from his sister. He was completely helpless to do anything but watch as his sister was beaten right in front of him.

Candace cried out in pain every time the metal bar made contact. Through the tears in her eyes, she could see Phineas being held back. He was crying and reaching towards her. She had to remember that all this pain was for a reason; that she was taking it for him. The beating continued. Candace started losing consciousness from the pain, but the sight of her brother kept her awake. Finally, after what seemed like forever, the beating stopped. She was carried over to another door and tossed inside. She lay there, wishing that she could just fade away so that the pain would go away. She heard the sound of someone else being thrown in, and then the door slammed shut. Her eyes opened a crack to see Phineas hovering over her, scared to touch her lest he hurt her even more. There was no light source in the room, but the light from beneath the door enabled them to see each other. Although it took a few minutes, Candace saw the terror in her brother's eyes and managed to get herself up into a sitting position, leaning against the wall for support. Then, ignoring the pain that came from it, she reached out to him and held him close. Phineas cried quietly and hugged his sister, horrified at the scene he had just witnessed. Candace held him as close as she could without hurting them both anymore.

They waited. At one point Phineas fell asleep for a few minutes, only to awake screaming. Candace rubbed his back and hummed softly to him; a lullaby that their mother often sang to them when they had nightmares. They both stayed awake after that. The men never came back; the young siblings were left alone for hours. They didn't speak much. Phineas once asked Candace what was going to happen. She had no idea, but she told him that everything would be fine as long as they were together.

A few hours after they had been left in the room, there was a commotion outside the door. They waited; scared beyond belief that something more was going to happen. Then the door opened and half a dozen police men came in. The kids were still confused and scared. Candace, despite the horrible pain, picked up her brother and carried him out to an ambulance. When the paramedics saw how hurt she was they tried to take Phineas away to help her. Phineas started screaming when he was pulled away, and Candace fought against them to get back to him. Realizing that it would cause them more pain to resist, they allowed to the siblings to stay together the entire time. When they reached the hospital they were put in the same room. Phineas was well enough to not need a bed; he only had some bruises, while Candace was attached to an oxygen device and had the nurses working on her. Phineas never left her side. When he saw a nurse pull out a needle, he became terrified that they were going to hurt his sister too. Candace whispered once again that everything was going to be fine, and so Phineas didn't try to stop them as they worked on her. Sometimes he had to look away at the things they were doing, but he held onto her hand the entire time until the nurses left. Candace was still awake, refusing to sleep and leave her brother alone.

When their mother arrived, she couldn't stop crying. The nurses had explained to her not to even try to separate the siblings, and so she simply knelt beside where Phineas was standing and stayed with her kids. When Phineas got tired, Linda pulled a bed over next to Candace's. The kids finally slept, still holding onto to each other through the night.

It was a week until Candace was let out of the hospital. Phineas had refused to leave the room the whole time. He remembered her saying that everything would be okay as long as they were together, and so he stuck by that. Once, Linda suggested that they return home, but he wouldn't budge. She left them briefly to get supplies they needed. Phineas did let go of his sister's hand, but he only left the room to go to the washroom. He slept next to her every night she was there. When they returned home, he was scared to sleep alone, so his bed was moved into Candace's room and they stayed in there together.

Over time they grew comfortable again with being apart. As Phineas grew older, he eventually forgot the horrible events that had taken place when he was young. But Candace never forgot. It was because of what happened that she felt so protective. She had almost given her life to save her brother from harm, and she would do it again, a thousand times if she had to. The subject was never brought up anymore. One day, they would tell Phineas was happened, and he would feel closer to his sister than he ever had since that day. But for now, Candace had to hold that memory on her own. She always felt a need to protect her brothers; both of them. She tried to bust them every single day for their own protection.

Candace Flynn never forgot, and it was because of that, that she never felt at peace until her brothers were completely and one hundred percent safe.

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