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Candace looked around at her bedroom, at the posters of bands like Tiny Cowboy, The Bettys, and the Paisley Sideburn Brothers. She had outgrown them at some moment she hadn’t noticed in her desperation to bust her brothers.
It was strange, how a few simple, sincere words had managed what two years of therapy had been unable to do. She had been shocked enough to actually stop and think about what she was doing, and why it had felt so necessary to her to make sure the boys got busted for doing what came naturally to them.
What’s going to happen when they grow up and have their own lives? What are you going to do then?
She looked at herself in the mirror and smiled. She wasn’t going to wait for them to grow up. She was an adult now. It was time to live her own life.
Candace had made her decision subconsciously, even before her boyfriend - her real boyfriend, not Jeremy - had voiced what he admitted was wishful thinking. Her therapist had said a change of scenery would do her a world of good. The change was simply going to be a lot more permanent than the therapist - or anyone else - would have expected.
Phineas and Ferb would have to go on creating amazing things without her. She had a world to conquer, and the Tri-State Area would be a good place to start.
Candace looked around her childhood room one last time and suddenly realized how very pink it was. It was a little girl’s room, and she had been happy in it. She was a woman now, though, and the color was starting to grate on her nerves. She laughed to herself as the image came to her: It looks like a unicorn was detonated in here!
She would leave the posters, the plush toys, the music boxes, and all the red-top-and-white-skirt ensembles. It was time for a change. Green was an interesting alternative. Green, black, maybe some white and a few touches of purple. He’ll like that, she thought.
Closing the suitcase with the few possessions she was keeping, Candace dialed her cell phone one last time. She was leaving it behind, as well. She’d give the new number out to everyone once the brouhaha died down... no. Not brouhaha. A bona-fide uproar.
Once the cab company had given her an estimated arrival time, she went to say her goodbyes. She slipped into the sleeping boys’ room and kissed both Phineas and Ferb. She even rubbed Perry’s belly gently as he lay curled up under Ferb’s arm.
She stopped at the door to her parent’s room and left two kisses on the hardwood veneer. She’d made the mistake of walking in on them once. Once had been more than enough.
Day was breaking as the cab turned down Maple Drive and stopped in front of the house. She waved the driver away and slid the suitcase into the back seat with her. It held everything Candace needed from her old life for the new one.
The driver’s voice was gruff but amicable. “Where to, Miss?”
“Doofenshmirtz Evil, Inc. That weird-looking tower downtown.”
“Sure. Say, aren’t you a little young to be calling a cab at this hour?”
“No,” she smiled. “No, I’m not. I’m eighteen.” As of midnight, but I’m still eighteen, she reassured herself. They can get as mad as they want to, they can’t force me to go back. We won’t have to sneak around any more.
The taste of freedom was intoxicating.
Candace paid the cabbie and left a generous tip. The ride up the elevator dragged on forever, floor after floor after floor passing with agonizing slowness.
He was an early riser, she knew, and she had promised him an answer today.
He opened the door shortly after she rang the doorbell, in the purple bathrobe and panda slippers she found so adorable on him. “Candace?” Heinz Doofenshmirtz rubbed his eyes, obviously taken aback. “Isn’t it a little early for you to come by?”
“Well,” she answered, suddenly terribly insecure. What if he changed his mind over the last week? What am I going to do? She took a deep breath and looked him in the eye. “I’m here in answer to your question.”
He blinked several times, taking in her confident pose - she was faking the confidence but he didn’t need to know that - and his mouth made a little silent “oh,” as he saw her suitcase.
“You… are you sure about this?”
The hope in his eyes almost made her melt. “Im sure.”
He took her suitcase and set it to one side, but much to her confusion he didn’t let her in. Stepping outside, he picked her up suddenly, making her squeak in surprise, and carried her over the threshold. “This time I’m doing it right,” he declared as he managed to kick the door closed and carried her into the bedroom.
A couple of hours later, as she dozed under soft sheets with the scent of waffles coming in from the kitchen, Candace was certain Heinz Doofenshmirtz was indeed doing everything right this time around.
Agent P was going to be in for one hell of a shock - but she wasn't in his host family’s house any more.
Candace was eighteen, and her life was beginning.