Chapter 2

"Well, class, here we are," Mr. Ray stopped and let the kids off his back. "It's the remains of an ancient pirate ship."

"Wow! Cool!" The whole class said at once.

"Feel free to explore, but stay in groups and don't go too far." Mr. Ray warned.

Nemo found his friends: Tad, a butterfly fish; Pearl, an octopus; and Sheldon, a seahorse. They went inside the pirate ship.

"Whoa! This is neat," Sheldon said excitedly.

"I bet the EAC would have been cooler though. Isn't that right, Nemo?" Tad asked.

"Yeah, but it takes like a day to get there. So, I guess this is okay too." Nemo tried to look on the bright side.

After awhile, they all heard Mr. Ray calling for the class to gather together for a history lesson. They all listened as he talked about the pirates who used to sail the Seven Seas. After the lesson he let them explore again, but before he did, he decided to tell them what they would be working on when they got back from spring break.

"Now when you all get back from spring break, we'll be learning how the family history of every fish is unique. What I would like each of you to do is write a report." The class groaned. "The first 3 parts should be written as paragraphs in an essay. The topics of the 3 paragraphs should be as follows: about your dad, about your mom, and how they met. So very simple really."

Nemo looked around at his classmates. He was beginning to feel uncomfortable. "And the fourth part will be a speech you will give in class," Mr. Ray continued. "You may pick your own topics, but it must have something to do with you and your parents. Now, just so you all have something to look forward to, on the day you're all supposed to give your speeches, we'll throw a party and invite your parents. How's that sound?" The whole class cheered. Everyone except Nemo. "Now, go have fun. We'll be heading back soon." Once again, the young fish scattered and explored the ship.

Back at the anemone, Marlin was slowly pulling out his wife's old things. Things he thought he'd never have to make himself look at again. Dory came over to him, "Are you okay?" Marlin shook his head yes. "So, um, how did it happen?"

"I'd rather not talk about it, Dory," Marlin answered.

"Oh," Dory looked down, feeling bad that she had asked. "Okay, I'll leave you alone for awhile." She turned and began to swim out of the anemone (although it was never an easy task as she had to wait for the tentacles to be just wide enough for her to get in and out with minimal stinging.)

"Wait." For some reason, Marlin didn't want her to leave. For once he felt as if he needed her to stay with him. Without warning, he began to tell her what happened. "It was almost 8 years ago. My wife and I were about to be parents. You can imagine our excitement. There were over 400 eggs, but we were ready. Well, at least she was. Me, I was worried, but what else is new? Anyways, we had just moved into this anemone. I was the one who insisted we live by the drop-off. My wife wasn't as insistent. She knew all the dangers the open sea could hold, but she stayed because she knew it was what I wanted." Marlin stopped to make sure Dory was still paying attention. To his surprise, she was. He continued, "I had been…uh…playing with my wife. I was chasing her around and she swam out of the anemone and I followed her out, but froze when I saw her staring straight at a barracuda. I urged her to get back in the house. But then I saw her glance down at a grotto where our eggs were. I told her they'd be fine, but…but," He stopped for a moment.

The memories seemed to haunt him. He felt as if he were reliving the entire experience. Yet he made himself go on. "I don't know why she did it. We could have had more, but…she couldn't be replaced! Before I could stop her, she dashed toward the grotto: the barracuda was right on her fin. I swam with all my might; I just had to save her. I fought the barracuda, but in an instant, I was flung into the anemone and everything…went black." Dory gasped as Marlin continued. "I don't know how long I was out, but when I came back around, I rushed out of the anemone. Coral wasn't there. The grotto was empty. She wasn't there either. I cried out for Coral…Coral! Coral! Coral!" The memories were stronger now than they'd ever been. Before he knew it, Marlin was crying, still calling for his wife.

Suddenly, he felt a fin on his head. He thought he heard Coral's voice for just a moment. There, there. It's alright…" He looked up to see that it was Dory. "It'll be alright, Marlin."

He couldn't believe what had just happened. He'd not only embarrassed himself with his unstable memories, but he'd also mistaken Dory's voice for Coral's. He wanted nothing more than to change the subject. "Hey! Wait a minute! You just called me Marlin," the fact struck him suddenly.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Dory apologized. "Is that not your name?"

"No, no. It is my name. It's just, you've never used it before. You've never called me by my name."

"Oh. Do you not want me to?" she asked.

"No, I mean, yes you can. Do whatever you want. It beats Mr. Grumpy Gills," he laughed a little.

"Okay. So what happened after you found your wife gone?" She wanted to hear the rest, which surprised Marlin a little. He had assumed she would have forgotten by now what they had even been talking about.

"Well," he hesitated. "I turned and was about to swim away and never come back, but then something caught my eye. There was one, tiny egg left. It had been slightly hurt, but at least it was still alive. I carefully picked it up and that was the day I promised I would never let anything happen to it; to my Nemo."

"Wow, that's sad," Dory said honestly.

"You know, Coral was the one who wanted one of the eggs to be named Nemo, but I never got to find out why," Marlin commented.

"Probably something to do with her friend, uh, that princess fish's grandpa," Dory offered.

Marlin looked at her with disbelief. "Sometimes I wonder if you're even from the same planet," but this time he wasn't frustrated. In fact, he found it to be somewhat amusing. "Dory, you're something else."

Dory looked confused. "But I thought I was a fish. What else could I be?" Marlin just laughed. For the first time, in a long time, he was enjoying himself with Dory.

Marlin, Nemo and Dory swam together. The sun was just about to set.

"So how was the field trip?" Marlin asked his son.

"Just great," Nemo replied unenthusiastically.

"What?" Marlin teased. "Not as good as Mr. Ray made it out to be?"

"No, no. That's not it. The field trip was great. It's just, well, something else." Nemo answered.

"Nemo," Marlin got serious. "Don't keep secrets from me. I can't be there for you if you do. What happened? Did you get in trouble?"

"No," Nemo said."

"Get in a fight?" Marlin continued guessing.

"No."

"Fall in love!" Dory chimed in. Marlin looked at Dory in confusion, but then at his son anxiously, dreading that he might say yes.

"Ew! No!" Nemo said quickly.

Marlin gave a small sigh of relief under his breath. He wasn't ready to face that problem with his son just yet. "So what is it?" Marlin asked again. "And no more stalling." By this time, they had reached the anemone, but hadn't gone in yet.

"Okay," Nemo began his explanation. "Mr. Ray said that when we get back from spring break, we have to study how each fish's family history is unique. We have to write a 3 paragraph essay and give a speech. And on the day we have to give our speeches, we're going to throw a party an invite our parents. It's bad enough knowing I'll be the only one there with just one parent, but what's worse is that the topic of the second paragraph in the essay is supposed to be about our mom. I don't know anything about mom!" Little Nemo looked as though he were on the verge of crying. Marlin didn't know what to say. Now he did wish the problem had been Nemo falling in love.

He glanced at Dory. He wondered if she still remembered the story from earlier that day, but before he had time to doubt that she did, Dory spoke up. "Hey, what a coincidence, Neeno. Your dad was telling me about your mom today. Isn't that…" she stopped herself when she saw the tears in Nemo's eyes. "Oops, maybe I…" she didn't finish.

Nemo turned to his dad. "How could you? You told Dory? You've haven't even told me! And she was my mom!"

"And she was my wife, Nemo. I was going to tell you too," Marlin responded quickly.

"Yeah right. When? When I'm dying or something?"

"Now that was uncalled for, mister," Marlin disliked even the thought of losing Nemo. "Do you want me to send you to your room?" Marlin asked threateningly.

"You don't have to! I can get there by myself," Nemo said defiantly and then swam into the anemone.

"Was it something I said?" Dory asked innocently.

"No, Dory. It's never your fault is it?" Marlin answered harshly, not caring that he was hurting Dory's feelings. "And I guess that it's not your fault that, thanks to you, my son will probably never speak to me again. You know what, Dory, just go home. I don't know where you came from, but wherever it is, just go find it and please…stay there." Tears swelled up in Dory's eyes. She turned and swam away crying.

Marlin entered the anemone glumly. He swam over to the boxes he had been going through earlier. He stumbled across a picture of him and Coral. He stared at it motionlessly. Suddenly, the picture of Coral turned into a picture of Dory. He couldn't believe his eyes! He closed them, shook his head and the picture, and then opened them again. Once more, it was a picture of him and Coral. It had apparently just been his imagination. "But why?" he thought.

Suddenly he realized what he had done. He had told Dory to go away forever! His heart began to race. He had to find her and apologize. She couldn't have gotten too far!

Author's Note - So dramatic, yes? Lol. I honestly think that after this point Dory gets more and more out of character...so you've been warned.