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“Ferb,” Phineas breathed, “she’s so tiny.”  Ferb couldn’t think of much to do except nod in agreement.

Their niece lay squirming and crying on the padded table in front of them, and Ferb would admit he was struggling to not reach out and scoop her up, even though they weren’t supposed to do that yet.

Instead, he pulled out his phone, snapped a bunch of pictures, and then sent them all to the group chat with their friends.

Isabella responded immediately, an “OMG!!!!!” with a whole bunch of different colored hearts and squee-ing emojis.  Buford sent a response a second later, a short “I approve of this small human,” along with a thumbs up.  Baljeet asked to know her size and weight and whether or not she was in the healthy percentile.

Ferb sent a quick response to Baljeet, then put his phone away and turned back to face Amanda again.  Phineas at this point had reached out and was running his hand over her fingers.

“She’s so small,” Phineas whispered.

Ferb smiled a little, slightly amused that Phineas of all people had been rendered nearly speechless, but also totally understanding.  She was, in fact, very small.

“Ferb,” Phineas said suddenly, turning to him.  “We have uncle responsibilities now, we have to take this very seriously.  We have to tell her all of Candace’s embarrassing childhood stories and let her get away with way more than Candace and Jeremy do so she thinks we’re cool.”

Ferb snorted, grinning at him.  “Somehow I don’t think Candace or Jeremy would appreciate that very much.”

“But those are our uncle responsibilities, Ferb,” Phineas said, getting a mischievous gleam in his eye.  “They can’t be mad at us if we’re being responsible.”

Ferb laughed again, shaking his head.

“Also we have to teach her all of the best ways to build stuff.  We should start with wiring, cause that could be bad if you mess it up, but we can leave the framework stuff up to her.  I’d actually love to see what she comes up with before she learns how it’s all ‘supposed’ to be done.”

“I don’t know if she’ll be super interested in building things for a couple years, Phineas,” Ferb said with a pointed smile.  “She might never be, actually.  Xavier and Fred were the ones who seemed more interested when we visited the future, and they won’t be around for a bit.”

“Well that’s true, but that doesn’t mean it’s fair to only teach them,” Phineas said, looking back at Ferb.  “Amanda doesn’t have to be interested, but I’m not going to not give her the opportunity just cause that’s what I expect from secret future knowledge.  I’m not going to treat Candace’s children any differently from each other, thank you very much.”

He prefaced this with a firm nod, and Ferb had to admit he had a fair point there.  He didn’t want Amanda to think any opportunities weren’t available to her.  They could offer the same things to each kid and let them tell them what they preferred, or let them ask for something else.

“How much have you thought about this?” Ferb asked with a curious look at Phineas.

“I’ve been thinking about this since we met them in the future, Ferb,” Phineas said, like that should be obvious.  “We’re uncles now, we have to take this very seriously.”

Ferb smiled at him in part amusement, part fondness.  Phineas certainly wouldn’t have to worry about that, he was clearly very serious about this.

Ferb turned and smiled back down at Amanda, who at this point had mostly stopped crying and was instead making small noises and shifting around, looking very unhappy with her situation.

Both of them stood there for another minute just looking at their niece, who continued to squirm and fuss.

“She’s so small,” Phineas whispered again, and Ferb smiled over at him.

A knock came on the door the next second, and both of them turned to see their dad poking his head in.

“Candace is awake, boys, if you’d like to see her,” he said.

“Oh heck yeah!” Phineas called, turning around with a grin.

“Is she doing alright?” Ferb asked.

Dad laughed a little bit.  “As well as she can be, considering,” he said, and they all headed out and down the hall as the nurses headed back in the room with Amanda.

Candace’s room was just down the hall, and she was in fact sitting up in bed when they all walked in there, Jeremy sitting at one of her sides and Mum at the other, and Perry curled up on Candace’s lap, looking up at her as if he was watching for anything she’d need him for.  For an animal that didn’t do much, he really could be very sweet.

“Next time,” Candace was saying to Jeremy as they all walked in, “you’re having the baby.”

Jeremy chuckled and leaned in to press a kiss to Candace’s forehead.  “I’ll see what I can do.”

“Candace!” Phineas called, rushing over towards the bed and ending up next to Jeremy.  “Do you know how tiny Amanda is?”

“I do,” Candace said weakly, leaning her head back on the pillow.  “And I’m gonna need you to take it down to about Ferb’s level, Phineas.”

“Whoops, sorry,” Phineas said with a sheepish smile, lowering his voice.  “She’s just so little, and I already love her so much.”

“I do too,” Candace said with a soft smile.

Ferb walked up along with their father and joined Phineas on the other side of the bed, as Dad headed over next to Mum.

He gave Candace a gentle smile that she returned, reaching out and ruffling Ferb’s hair before smiling at him and Phineas both.  “I’m glad you guys are here,” she said.

“Me too,” Phineas said, and Ferb nodded in agreement.  “How are you feeling?”

“Exhausted, hungry, like I just had a baby,” Candace said, looking up at the ceiling.

Their mum laughed from the other side of the bed.  “Welcome to the wonderful world of motherhood,” she said.

Candace gave her a small smirk.  “Thanks.  It gets easier from here, right?” she asked, and Mum and Dad both laughed.

Jeremy leaned in and kissed Candace on the forehead again, murmuring something that Ferb was pretty sure was some kind of expression of pride.  The two of them took a minute to smile at each other, and then Candace turned back to face everyone.

“Okay, I need another nap,” she said.  “Everybody out.  Not you,” she amended at the last second, grabbing Jeremy’s arm.  “Get up here in this bed and cuddle with me.”

“Demanding, aren’t you?” Jeremy asked, raising an amused eyebrow.

“I already told you, you’re having the baby next time.  You can get special treatment then.”

Jeremy laughed a little again, then climbed into the bed next to Candace, moving Perry gently so he could continue laying on top of her while they both laid down.

Their Mum leaned over and gave Candace a kiss on the top of her head, smiling down at her for a second, and Dad did the same a second later before the two of them headed out.

Phineas turned back to Candace one last time, leaning in and giving her (and Jeremy too, mostly due to proximity) a quick gentle hug, while watching to be careful of Perry.

“Ferb and I are gonna be awesome uncles for her,” he said, grinning brightly at Candace.  “Just wait.”

Candace smiled at him, and then at Ferb too, looking fond.  “I don’t have to,” she said.

Ferb felt his chest swell with all of the joy this day had brought, and he moved forward to give Candace and Jeremy a hug of his own.

Candace hugged him back, then reached over and pulled Phineas back in, and all four of them sat there for a moment together.  After a second, Perry crawled up in between them all and perched himself on Candace’s shoulders, wrapping himself around her almost as if joining in on the hug himself.

“Okay,” Candace said finally, picking Perry up and handing him off to Phineas.  Ferb could hear the wetness in her voice as she gently pushed them all back.  “I wasn’t kidding about needing another nap.  Both of you out.”

“I’ll call you when she wakes up,” Jeremy said, giving them a nod as he wrapped his arm around Candace.

So with that, Ferb followed Phineas and Perry out the door, giving a wave behind as Candace was already curling into Jeremy to fall asleep.

Perry looked behind them as they did, not seeming to want to leave.

“Aw, I know bud,” Phineas said, holding Perry out slightly so he could talk to him.  “I want to stay there too.  But Candace needs her rest.  Hey, you haven’t met Amanda yet, have you?  I should ask the nurses if it’s safe to bring you into the room.”