Ice Cream and Board Games

Perry chattered happily as Phineas and Ferb tried out their latest invention on him. Doofenshmirtz's inator had been unstable that morning, and had blown itself up before he could even get there.

He certainly couldn't say that he minded the extra time with his owners. He'd been lounging around all day long, while they'd been putting their latest contraption together, and of course, stopping to pet him every once and a while.

A car door slammed, and a familiar voice called, "Hey guys!"

Perry lazily blinked one eye at the speaker, while Phineas and Ferb waved. Phineas, of course, did all the talking, "Oh, hi, Annie! How was work?"

She set her grocery bags down, and came over to inspect their work, "A little slow, but I can't complain. Looks like you two've been busy!"

Phineas beamed, "This is the Platy-pamper-er! We made it for Perry, to make up for not seeing him during the vacation."

"Aw, that's sweet!" She reached to pet him, but drew her hand back with a chuckle. The assortment of gloved, mechanical hands had that covered, "That's one happy platypus!"

Phineas grinned, "Yeah, nothing but the best for our favorite monotreme! Right, Ferb?"

The other brother gave a thumbs up. Annie picked up the groceries again, and explained, "You mother said she'd be running a little late. She asked if I could pick up some groceries, and get your snack. Want anything specific?"

Phineas turned off the machine, and ran to get the door for her, "Oh anything's fine!"

Perry hopped down to follow them, and Ferb picked him up, and carried him into the house. Behind them, there was a loud crash, and the sound of scraping metal. Everyone turned to find that the Platy-pamer-er had vanished without a trace.

Phineas didn't seem fazed, "Huh. Well, it's a good thing you weren't still on there, boy!"

Annie set the groceries down on the table, and scratched her head, "I wonder what happened to it?"

Phineas shrugged, "Probably the same thing that happens to all of our inventions. Oh well! Looks like it's back to petting Perry the old fashioned way!"

As she put the food away, Phineas asked, "So, you seem to like animals… why don't you have a pet? You even have a pet door!"

She laughed, "That just came with the house. My job has me moving around a lot, and didn't seem fair to put an animal through that."

"Oh." He pondered this for a second, then smiled again, "You need a pet like Perry! He doesn't mind traveling!"

She giggled, "He's pretty perfect alright; but unless you guys are offering to sell him, that's not an option."

Phineas shook his head, smiling good naturedly at the teasing, "No way! But, as long as you're here, you can share Perry! You are his official pet sitter, after all!"

She searched for a place to put the cans, "Aw, thanks Phineas! I'm honored!"

With that problem solved, Phineas asked, "So, why do you have to move around so much?"

Perry's looked quickly from owner to pet sitter. Careful, Phin! Don't be so curious!

Annie didn't even blink, "I work for a big corporation. They've got offices all over the world."

Must be her official cover. Of course, Perry could see the truth behind it too. He knew all to well about her part time cover job as a secretary.

While she'd talked, she'd put the groceries away, and was now searching for the promised snack.

Perry couldn't help hoping he'd be included in the deal; the only thing Annie couldn't make look appealing was worms and insect larvae. He shuddered at the thought.

"Hmm, how 'bout a couple of ice cream sundaes?"

Phineas and Ferb both nodded, and she set to work whipping up a topping, "Great!"

Phineas asked, "Hey, do you want to play a board game or something?"

She nodded, "Sure!"

Phineas beamed, "Cool! We've got a couple… come on, Ferb, let's go get them!"

Perry watched them race off, then uncrossed his eyes and stood up. He walked to Annie, and pulled on her pant-leg imploringly.

She smiled, and handed him the mixing spoon, taking out another.

As he lapped the caramel chocolate concoction off from the spoon, she cocked her head, "Well, how is it?"

He gave her a thumbs up.

As the boys pounding feet on the stairs warned of their return, Perry dropped to all fours again, flipping the spoon back to Annie, who caught it almost without looking, and tossed it into the sink. She turned to the boys, "Oh neat! Skiddley Whiffers! I love that game!"

Perry smiled as the conversation continued; Annie had only moved in a few days ago, but she was just one of those people that you took an instant liking too.

As they settled down on the floor with their ice cream, -four bowls in all, to Perry's satisfaction- Annie looked around and asked, "Hey, where's Candace?"

Phineas rolled the dice, "She went to the mall when we told her we were just going to make something for Perry today. Hey boy, you wanna be the jeep? We can roll for you!"

Perry chattered, then went back to eating his ice cream.

Phineas laughed, and put the piece down with the nose and the fedora. He took a spoonful of ice cream, "This is really good!"

Ferb gave a more polite nod.

Annie smiled her thanks, chose her piece, and they started playing.

Perry watched happily from the sidelines. After he finished his ice cream he got up, and crawled into Annie's lap.

She stroked his head gently, and laughed with the boys as his chatter became almost a purr, and his eyes closed.

Phineas reached to pet him too, "Oh, Perry! Sometimes, you can be pretty lazy, even for a platypus!" He chuckled again, taking any sting out of the words. He looked up at the girl holding him, "He sure seems to like you, Annie."

She nodded toward his empty bowl with a wink, "I bribe him shamelessly."

Linda came in as the group let out another round of laughter, "Well, what's going on in here?"

Annie waved, as Phineas replied, "Oh hi Mom! We invited Annie to play a board game!"

She frowned, "Now I hope they didn't pressure you into this!"

Annie shook her head, "Not at all, Mrs. Flynn-Fletcher! You've got a pair of really great kids here."

Linda smiled, "Well, we certainly think so!"

Phineas beamed, "Annie's really great, too, Mom! And you've got to taste the ice cream topping she makes!"

Annie blushed, "Aw, it's just something I found on-line."

Phineas went on, undaunted, "And we showed her our invention today, and she's really quick at putting away groceries, and she's funny and nice, and I'll bet she's just awesome at supervising group trips…"

Annie glanced down as Perry snickered. She gave his beak a warning tap, and the smirk on his face vanished.

Linda crossed her arms, "Phineas, I'm sure Annie has better things to do than to take you kids to Wacky World."

Annie shrugged, "If you okayed it, I'd be more than happy to. Sounds like fun! I'd just have to get the time off from my boss, which can be difficult. I'm sure I could a few hours in the afternoon off though."

Linda considered it, "Well, I'll have to talk about it with Lawrence, but thanks for the offer!"

Annie's pager suddenly went off. She read the message that flashed across the screen, and sighed, "Look's like one of my co-workers couldn't make it in again. Sorry guys, look's like I'll have to pull out."

Phineas shrugged, "No problem! We can finish later. Sorry you have to go though."

She scooped Perry up, and handed him to Phineas. The monotreme responded by snuggling into his owner's shoulder.

Linda offered, "Feel free to stop by any time!"

Annie stood up, "Thanks for the offer Mrs. Flynn-Fletcher. I may have to take you up on that. See round guys!"

After she left, Linda crossed her arms and smiled down at her son, "Phineas, were you trying to butter her up to get her to take you to Wacky World?"

He shook his head, "No, mom. She really is amazing! It's kind of like having an aunt right next door!"

"Aw, that's sweet. Why don't you guys get this game clean up? I think we'll eat out tonight."

Phineas held their pet out, "Can Perry come?"

She nodded, "Sure!"

Phineas hugged him, "Great!"

Perry chattered happily. Life is good.

A/N: Does anybody read these disclaimers, or could I put about anything here, and Disney would be like, "Oh, SHE owns this? We'd better pay her for it! Either way, I don't.

So yeah, this is Season X (For experimental? Like AJ? Never mind!)

Please review!

Thanks for reading!