Chapter Text
It was late when the two got home, way later than they had planned. Lawrence opened the door for Linda as she stepped inside, cradling Perry. The puggle was asleep by now, looking quite content.
Linda turned to Lawrence as he walked ahead of her, “Do you think Vivian is still here?”
Lawrence peeked into the living room, and sure enough, their neighbor was asleep on the couch. Lawrence’s chuckle was enough to answer Linda’s question, and she peered into the room as well, her face softened. Bless her friend’s heart, she didn’t have to do that.
“Let her rest, we have a few things we still need to deal with.” Lawrence stated, motioning to the scratch marks littering his face. Linda glanced at her ankle and winced, she hadn't realized she was trailing blood into the house; that was going to be a pain in the ass to clean in the morning…
“You’re right…” She glanced down at Perry, gently checking over him. Other than his scars he didn’t have a single scratch on him. The little platypus slowly opened his eyes again and let out a tiny chitter, glancing around at his new surroundings.
“Welcome home, Perry…” Linda whispered.
The couple quietly went to their room, where Linda did her best to make a makeshift nest in a nearby laundry basket using blankets before setting the puggle inside and tucking him in. It wasn’t much, but it’s what they could offer right now. Linda promised she’d get him a better bed later.
She remained kneeled beside the basket while Lawrence cleaned himself up in the bathroom. Once he was done, he stepped into the bedroom and patted the bed, “Alright Ducky, let’s have a look at that ankle of yours.”
Linda rolled her eyes before she complied, sitting on the edge of the bed. Lawrence proceeded to kneel in front of her and gently lifted her injured ankle so he could have a better look. Lawrence inhaled a sharp breath.
“Goodness, Linda… that dog did a number on you…”
“How bad is it?”
“Well… physically it looks bad… but.” He gently moved his hands, testing different areas, “Let me know if it hurts when I touch it or move it.”
Despite his effort to be as gentle as he could, Linda couldn’t hold back her winces. Then, as he tried to move her ankle, she let out a pained gasp. He stopped, his face softening.
“Oh, Ducky… I’m sorry… here, let’s get that wrapped up.”
After the two finished dressing their wounds, they settled down for bed. Linda moved the laundry basket closer to the bed, wanting to be close by in case Perry needed anything at all. As Lawrence went to turn the light off, he caught her looking at the basket, her body still a tad tense as she watched over the puggle like a hawk.
Lawrence let out a sigh and rolled onto his side, gently pressing close to Linda’s back. “Love… he won’t go anywhere… I’m certain we’ll hear him if he needs something. You should get some slee-“
“That’s… not what I’m worried about…” Linda murmured.
“Then what are you worried about?”
“…Everything. What this means for us.. for our family..”
“How so?”
“Lawrence… We stole from a secret facility that makes genetically modified animal spies… there’s a lot to worry about… we could be putting our family in grave danger… not only that, how are we supposed to… adjust Perry to our family? We can’t just… treat him like a pet.”
Lawrence took a deep breath and gently pulled Linda closer to him, “Ducky… I know what we did tonight was… admittedly, crazy… but look at us, we made it out… things might be confusing right now, but we will figure it out, we always do.” He then pressed a gentle kiss to her cheek. “Tonight, let’s just… breathe…”
Linda took a breath, trying to calm her nerves before settling back into her husband’s embrace, “Okay…”
Lawrence smiled and sat up for a moment, adjusting the pillow that cushioned Linda’s ankle, “Does that feel alright?”
Linda nodded in response.
“Good…” With that, Lawrence settled back behind Linda, holding her close, “I love you, Ducky…”
“I love you too… Wren..” Linda added with a small grin.
Despite some thoughts still warring in Linda’s mind, exhaustion soon pulled at her eyelids, and she, along with Lawrence, drifted off to sleep.
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“MOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!”
Well, that was certainly not how Linda wanted to wake up this morning; what could her daughter have even been screaming about—
The blood…
Shit, the blood—
Linda was already up and out of the bed before she knew it. She could hear Lawrence barely mutter something to her but she was already out the door and heading towards the stairs. She could hear Vivian was awake now as well, trying to console Candace the best she could.
Linda called out, “Candace, sweetie! It’s okay-“ she didn’t have time to catch herself as her ankle gave out on her on the very last step, and she fell to the floor with a thud. “Ow- biscuits- this damn ankle-“
“Linda?!” Vivian turned the corner and peered into the foyer, seeing Linda slowly try to pull herself to her feet. “Linda, ¿Estás bien? What happened?” Vivian asked, carefully helping Linda up.
“S-Sorry Viv… we were going to tell you we were home but we got back late and you were asleep and-“
“Linda, I’m not worried about that as much right now, what I am worried about is your daughter screaming about a blood trail through the house-“
“MOM!” The young red headed girl ran into the room, hugging onto her mom’s legs, and Linda had to do her best not to wince as her ankle shifted again.
“Mom! T-There’s blood everywhere! A-Are you or dad hurt?! Did someone break in?! Di-“
“Easy… easy… Candace… your dad and I are okay… we just kinda… um…”
Vivian noticed Linda leaning rather heavy against the wall, and caught sight of her bandaged ankle. She hissed through her teeth, “Oye… What happened to your ankle?”
Linda bit her lip, “Ah- right… well about that-“
“Ducky? Are you alright?” Lawrence said as he approached the banister, “I heard quite a bit of commotion, did you fall?”
“No- I’m fine.” Linda insisted before looking down at her daughter. “We’re okay, sweetie… just… accidentally tripped at work, that’s all. We were so tired that we didn’t realize I was making a mess everywhere I walked…”
“Okay…” Candace said softly.
Vivian smiled gently at Candace. “Candace, querida, how about you go ahead and settle down in the kitchen? I want to talk to your parents for a moment. One of us can make you breakfast after, okay?”
Candace hesitated for a moment before nodding, “Okay, Miss Garcia…”
Once Candace left the room, Vivian turned to Linda and crossed her arms. “So, are you going to tell me what actually happened?”
Linda gulped, “Eh.. what do you mean, Viv?-“
“You looked as if you were chased in the woods,” she then pointed to Lawrence right as he made it down the stairs, “and he looks like he got attacked by a goddamn chupacabra!”
Lawrence paused, clearly trying to process the conversation that was happening, “Good morning to you too, Vivian..” he murmured.
“Look… we…” Linda looked at her husband and, seeing he was waiting for her to come up with a lie, she continued, “When Lawrence and I were heading home last night, we.. found a baby platypus that was all by itself and was about to be attacked by coyotes so we…”
Vivian raised an eyebrow, “You all fought.. coyotes?”
“We weren’t trying to, they chased us.” Linda replied with a huff. “One of them bit me..”
Vivian pinched the bridge of her nose, “Did you go to the hospital? You know, for possible rabies?”
“Yesss… we did, that’s why we were out late.”
Vivian chuckled, “well… I’m glad you two are alright… however it doesn’t seem like they tended to your ankle well if it was still bleeding.”
“She accidentally popped a stitch, I fixed it.” Lawrence said, cutting in. “I offered to carry her so she’d stay off her ankle but, you know how stubborn she can be..”
Vivian’s lips quirked into a grin, “That I do know..”
Linda cleared her throat, “Anyway… after we took care of that, we took the puggle to a wildlife sanctuary, so hopefully they should be okay now.”
Vivian shook her head, “I know you two have a love for animals, considering you work with them, but you really ought to be careful.”
Lawrence nodded, “We know, we’ll be more careful next time.”
“Thank you again for watching the kids, Viv, we really appreciate it, truly.” Linda said with a small smile.
Vivian smiled back, “Of course, it’s no problem at all.”
A buzzing sound coming from Vivian’s pocket pulled her focus away as she took her phone out, answering the oncoming call. “¿Héctor? ¿Todo bien?”
Linda continued to listen as Lawrence went to the kitchen, probably to get Candace breakfast.
After finishing her call, Vivian sighed, “Well, I better get home. Héctor has to get to work, can’t leave Isa by herself, you know? It was nice seeing you all, I hope your ankle gets better, Linda.”
“Thanks Viv, and hey, I owe you one. If you ever need me to watch Isa, don’t be afraid to let me know. I know Héctor works a lot, and even moms need a break every once in a while.” Linda insisted.
Vivian managed a small smile, “Thank you, Linda.. I’ll talk to you later.” With that, Vivian left the Flynn-Fletcher home.
Linda turned her head in time to see Lawrence re-enter the foyer with cleaning supplies.
“Candace has been fed, I’m gonna go ahead and try to get this floor cleaned up before the boys wake up. Speaking of, do you mind checking in on them?” Lawrence paused before adding, “All three of them?”
Linda nodded, “Of course, thanks hun.”
As Linda went up the stairs, she decided to check in on Perry first. When she entered their bedroom however, she was stunned to find that Perry was… not in the basket?
Gone. He was just… gone.
Okay, Linda, let’s not panic, he’s a tiny baby platypus, he couldn't have gone far, surely? Linda thought to herself, trying to remain calm.
She checked everywhere she could in the bedroom: under the bed, the closet, bathroom, everywhere. But yet, she still couldn’t find him.
Okay, now she was starting to panic. Where in the world could he be???
She stepped out of the bedroom, looking around in the hallway till she spotted the boys’ bedroom. The door was cracked open, which.. it never usually was. She approached the door, taking a tiny peek inside as she scanned the room, hoping to find the little puggle.
And when she finally spotted him, her heart melted.
Perry was snuggled under Phineas’ arm, the boy still fast asleep in his bed. Whenever Phineas stirred, Perry chittered and snuggled closer to the boy. Ferb was laying in Phineas’ bed as well, one hand resting on Perry’s back. One of the poor boys must have had a nightmare. Whenever that happened, they would always go to each other for comfort.
Linda stood there for a moment, just appreciating the sweet little moment between the boys, her boys… but now this made things a bit more complicated; how was she going to retrieve Perry?
Linda quietly approached the bed, reaching her hands down towards Perry to pick him up.
“Mum?”
Linda froze and looked over at Ferb. He hadn’t moved, but his eyes were now open. He was always a light sleeper…
“Hello, Ferb… I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you.” She leaned over and ruffled his hair.
Ferb glanced down at Perry before looking at her again. Despite Ferb not being much of a talker, she was slowly beginning to understand him in other ways, like his body language. She remembered fondly how easily he and Phineas got along when they first met, even with limited communication. If she didn’t know any better, she would’ve been convinced that her son was psychic.
Linda smiled softly, “Curious about your new little roommate, huh? It’s… a bit complicated to explain but… this is Perry, your father and I are taking care of him.”
Ferb gently pet Perry, his eyebrows furrowing at the scars on his body. Linda frowned a tad at his worried look.
“He’s… in a bit of rough shape, but we’re going to take good care of him.”
Phineas stirred and opened his eyes some. He smiled at his mother, “Oh, hi mom.” He pointed at Perry, “A critter snuck into the house, can we keep him?”
Linda snorted, “Perry here came from our work. We’ve been asked to care for him so, in a way, yes we are keeping him.”
“Soooo is he a new pet?” Phineas asked.
Linda hissed through her teeth, “Well… how do I explain this…” Her mind was a bit stuck, how was she supposed to explain the complications regarding Perry. He was definitely not a normal animal, and she didn’t want to treat him like a pet. After a bit she cleared her throat.
“Perry is… special. He’s not exactly like other animals…” She thought about the other OWCA agents for a moment. She always found it… a bit disturbing how smart and human-like they were. Of course now she understood why… “He’s kind of like us, in a way. He’s a lot more intelligent than a regular platypus.”
“Like… human level of intelligence?” Phineas asked, his eyes beaming.
“Yeah… actually he most likely will. So, he’s not exactly a pet… more like-“
“A brother?” Ferb asked.
Linda blinked for a moment, “Yes… that’s.. if you want to see him that way.”
“Woahhhh a new brother! Awesome!” Phineas gently picked up Perry, “I’m a big brother now!”
Perry let out a yawn, the tiny puggle slowly opening his eyes. Phineas let out a tiny gasp, which made Linda worry. She had forgotten to tell them about his wonky eye, but she knew she taught the boys to be kind despite one’s differences. Still, she knew they were curious-
“Look, Ferb! He’s looking at us both at the same time!” Phineas said, amazement in his eyes. “He must like both of us!”
Perry let out a small chitter, causing Ferb to give him a small smile, and for a moment, Linda thought she saw Perry smile back at him.
She felt a weight ease from her chest; she could breathe again. Perhaps, this wouldn’t be as complicated as she worried it would be. Sure, she still had to explain things to Candace, and raising Perry was not going to be an easy feat. But, moments like this made everything feel lighter.
Maybe from an outsiders’ perspective, her family may seem… unusual… but it was her family, and she would never change it for the world.
…Maybe everything will be okay after all.