Hello, everybody! So sorry for being so late with this update. I had finals and a few other things to take care of. But I finally have free time for a few weeks, so I can update more often.

Well! This is chapter seven, but we're only about half an hour into the movie…I wonder if I'll finish this story before my break is over? Maybe not…Perhaps it'll be done by something in February, or March at the latest. I hope you all stick around until the end!

Now, I borrowed somewhat heavily from Ronnie343's story for this chapter too. By the way, she updated "His Little Boy", so check out the next chapter!

Disclaimer: Finding Nemo does not belong to me at all, everyone.


"The wheels on the bus go round and round! Round and round! Round and round! The wheels on the bus-"

"Would you quit singing?" Marlin hissed as the other passengers on the bus sent glares at him and Dory, mostly Dory.

"My, you must be some life of the party, huh?" Dory responded sarcastically, "Don't you have your own car?"

"I told you before, Dory," Marlin said slowly, "I left my car back at the Hall of Science. They've probably towed it by now…"

"Aw, too bad," Dory said in a comforting tone, "Did you need that car for something?"

Marlin shot Dory a look but chose not to respond to the innocent statement. Why was he still letting her come with him? Her short-term memory loss would be one hell of a hindrance on this blasted trip…

She can translate Russian…Marlin reminded himself as Dory decided to sing the great hits of Stevie Wonder, much to the other passengers' annoyance. I just need her to tell me what was written on that paper and she'll be out of my hair…

After several minutes, the bus came to a stop near the neighborhood where Marlin and Dory had narrowly escaped Bruce. Marlin gulped once before he disembarked, Dory, who was humming brightly, right behind him. As the bus pulled away, Marlin could have sworn he heard cheering from the passengers…

"Well, now what?" Dory asked as she looked down at Marlin.

"Now, we try to figure out where that paper could have gone," Marlin answered. He turned to face Dory, putting his hands on her shoulders and looking at her face, "Dory, I need you to concentrate. Where did you last see the paper?"

"What paper?" Dory asked obliviously.

Marlin bit back a harsh remark, instead trying to go about this patiently.

"What paper do you think I mean?" he asked her.

Dory furrowed her brow and bit her lip, looking deep in concentration. After a few moments, Marlin was starting to lose all hope when Dory's face lit up.

"Oh, wait!" she exclaimed, "Um, I think the paper was flying towards…that building!"

Marlin followed the point of her finger. In the distance, many, many blocks from where they were, was a dark red building, surrounded by a few other rectangular buildings.

"Of course it's all the way over there…" Marlin groaned.


An hour…One full hour…That's how long it took the pair to finally reach that stupid red building where Dory swore she last saw the paper. Marlin was panting heavily by the time they reached the area. He leaned against a building, enjoying the cool sensation on his skin. Meanwhile, Dory was skipping about, a bit of sweat on her face and her cheeks somewhat pink, but otherwise unfazed by the long speed walk.

"I need…to get…in shape…" Marlin panted.

"Nonsense!" Dory disagreed, "You're practically a stick, Martin!"

"Marlin…"

"Right!"

After taking a few deep breaths, Marlin stepped away from the building and started to look around for any sign of that piece of paper, the one and only clue he had to finding Nemo. Dory quickly mirrored his actions, though she spent a lot of time getting distracted by interesting things that others had dumped in the alleyways.

"Wow, this is pretty shiny!" she exclaimed as she picked up some oddly shaped object that was sparkling from the sunlight.

"Dory, focus!" Marlin scolded, "We need to find that-"

Marlin's voice cut off when he saw it, laying there just a few yards away…A piece of paper…But was it his piece of paper?

He sprinted towards the paper when he felt a slight breeze in the air. It was not going to escape from him yet again! He snatched the paper as it had begun to dance upon the wind.

"YES!" Marlin shouted when he looked and saw those familiar symbols and the logo on the paper, "Dory, I found it!"

"Great!" Dory replied with a grin, "Found what?"

Marlin didn't have it in him to feel irritated at her, only feeling happiness that his chance at finding his son had increased.

"Alright, Dory," Marlin said with renewed energy as he held out the paper to her, "I need you to tell me what that writing says."

"Gotcha!" Dory said as she took the paper in her hands and looked it over, "Ooh, look how funny these symbols are. This is why I like Russian! The words look like-"

"Dory!" Marlin shouted.

"Okay!" Dory responded, "Geez, sorry, Mr. Grumpy Pants…Now, let's see…"

Before Dory read off the first few words on the paper, she saw something out of the corner of her eye.

"Hey, look, how neat!" she exclaimed as she walked towards it, her grip on the paper loosening as the wind picked up.

"Dory, no, the paper!" Marlin yelled too late.

The paper slipped out of Dory's grasp, not that she noticed much, and floated away. Marlin chased after it, reaching up and jumping as the wind carried it just out of his reach. He shouted at the paper to stop and come back, fully aware that it was silly to believe it would listen to him. But he was a desperate father, and his one chance at rescuing Nemo was flying out of his reach.

"No, come back!" he yelled, only to come to a stop.

The wind died down and the paper slowly floated back to earth. The reason that Marlin wasn't going after the paper was because it had landed somewhere in a darkened alleyway. The alleyway was giving off a dangerous aura, an aura that made Marlin take a couple steps back, staring at it nervously. Dory came up to him, unaware of the problem she caused.

"Check it out!" she exclaimed, holding out what she had found, "It's an origami swan. Now who would throw away such a cute little thing? …What're you doing?"

"It's gone…" Marlin groaned, his hands gripping his hair, "I've lost the paper…"

"What, you drop it?" Dory asked.

"You dropped it!" Marlin yelled angrily, adding more solemnly, "That was my only chance of finding my son, and now it's gone!"

Dory glanced over at the darkened alleyway and then looked back at Marlin. She grinned a little before putting her face just in front of his, much to his discomfort.

"Hey there, Mr. Grumpy Pants," she said in a baby tone, "When life gets you down, you know what you gotta do?"

"I don't wanna know what I gotta do," Marlin replied as he took a step away from her.

Dory paid this statement no heed, instead choosing to clear her voice and start singing, much to Marlin's disbelief.

"Keep moving forward, keep moving forward! Keep moving forward, forward, forward. What do we do? We go forth!"

"Dory, no singing," Marlin grumbled as Dory took him by the wrist and pulled him towards the alleyway, only for Dory to start singing more operatically.

"We keep on going!" she sung on, somewhat badly at this point.

"Dory…" Marlin said as the pair walked through the darkness.

"When there're troubles ahead~"

"Dory, don't-"

"You keep your head held high and-"

"I'm gonna get stuck with that song!" Marlin shouted before realizing, "Ah! Now it's in my head!"

"Sorry," Dory stated sheepishly as the two were fully engulfed by the darkened alley, unable to see each other at all.

After a few moments of silence…

"Dory, do you see anything?" Marlin asked.

"Ahh!" she screamed, "Something's got me!"

"That was me!" he told her as he released his wrist from her grip, "I'm sorry."

"Who's that?" she asked in a childlike tone.

"'Who's that'?" Marlin repeated as they walked through the dark, "Who else could it be, it's me!"

"Are…Are you my conscience?" Dory inquired.

Marlin was fighting a strong impulse to just turn around and leave Dory in the alley. But, unfortunately, he was too decent a guy to do that…

"Yeah, I'm your conscience," Marlin said in a mysterious tone, "We haven't spoken for a while. How are you?"

"Can't complain," Dory replied.

"Lucky you," Marlin mumbled, adding more loudly, "Now, Dory, do you see anything?"

It was quiet for a minute, so quiet that Marlin thought that he had somehow lost Dory as they were walking through the alleyway, which was slowly becoming brighter as they approached the opposite end. As he opened his mouth to say something, Dory spoke.

"No, but I hear something."

Marlin was about to ask what she meant when a noise interrupted him. It was small and faint, but he had definitely heard something.

…A yip…

"Hey, conscience, am I going insane?" Dory asked in a tone that was unusually calm for someone questioning her mental health.

"No, I hear it too," Marlin said as the yipping got louder.

As the pair finally stepped into the light, they were greeted by a very adorable sight…A small German Shepherd puppy chewing on some unseen object.

"Oh my God, how cute!" Dory squealed as she rushed forward and scooped up the little creature in her arms, holding it close as it yipped a little louder and licked her hand.

"Dory, it could have rabies," Marlin warned as he stepped close to her and observed the puppy.

"Aw, he's such a little sweetie, isn't he?" she cooed.

Marlin made the mistake of looking at the puppy's big brown eyes. He felt the corners of his lips slowly turn upward and he reached a hand out to the puppy, slowly petting it.

"Well, he is pretty cute," he admitted, all thoughts of the paper leaving his mind.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing?" Dory asked playfully as the puppy began to squirm in her arms.

"Who's a good boy?" Marlin asked in a childish tone as the puppy started to lick his hand.

"He's a good boy, of course!" Dory said happily.

"He is, isn't he?" Marlin stated, feeling happy for the first time in days. It was a wonderfully good feeling, "Yes, he is! Yes, he is! Yes, he-Good feeling's gone."

Dory followed Marlin's gaze and her eyes widened. Just a few feet away from them, growling viciously and locking its eyes on the pair, was a very big German Shepherd.

Marlin and Dory both screamed in terror before racing back the way they came, the adult dog letting out a series of loud barks as it ran after them.

Marlin and Dory ran faster than they had ever done so before, making sharp turns and zigzagging here and there in an effort to escape the furious hellhound. A small yip caught Marlin's attention, despite his fear, and he looked at Dory's arms…She was carrying the puppy.

Marlin put two and two together.

"Dory, drop the puppy!" he ordered as the pair made another sharp turn.

"What?" Dory shouted, "We're going to abandon the poor baby?"

"No, Dory, don't you see? That demon dog is his mother!"

Dory glanced over her shoulder at the canine and then looked at the puppy. Her eyes widened with realization.

"Oh, did we take you from your mommy?" Dory asked the puppy in a baby voice.

"Put him down, Dory!" Marlin yelled.

As Dory nodded and was about to drop the puppy, trying to figure out how to do so safely while she and Marlin ran for their lives, Marlin noticed something that the puppy was chewing on…A piece of paper…

A piece of paper with a very familiar logo…

Before Dory gently dropped the puppy, Marlin reached out and snatched the paper from the puppy's mouth. The pair kept running a little farther before seeing that the mother dog had stopped chasing them. As they came to a halt, breathing heavily and sweating up a storm, Marlin glanced over at the two canines.

The puppy was whining sadly, looking at the drool drenched paper in Marlin's hand. His mother licked her baby affectionately before growling once more at the two humans. Marlin started to take a few steps back, reaching out and grabbing Dory's hand.

"Run," he whispered.

"But, we gave her back her baby," Dory insisted.

"Dory…" Marlin said warningly as the mother dog began to bark angrily once more, "RUN!"

The two humans let out loud shrieks again as the chase recommenced, the mother dog gaining on the pair and the puppy trying to keep up with all of his might.

"Dory, here, read it!" Marlin yelled as he forced the paper into her hands.

"You want me to read and run for my life at the same time?" Dory retorted.

Marlin groaned, knowing she had a point. As the two ran this way and that, Marlin looked down a nearby alleyway and saw his solution.

There was an alleyway that led to a dead end. A chain-link fence blocked this alley and the fence had a sliding door on it…An unlocked sliding door.

"I have a plan," he muttered.

Before Dory could ask him what he was planning, Marlin put his plan into action. A plan so utterly stupid and reckless that he briefly wondered if he was channeling his teenage self.

He grabbed Dory and opened the door on the fence. He swiftly pushed Dory inside and shut the door behind her. Just then, the mother dog came barreling towards him.

"Read, Dory, I'll distract her!" he told her as he took off, the mother dog following him as he had hoped.

"I'm sorry!" Dory shouted over the noise of Marlin running around and the dog barking, "Could you guys keep it down? I can't concentrate with all this racket!"

Marlin noticed a ball lying on the ground, beaten and forgotten. He grabbed it and tossed it at the dog, who caught it in her jaws.

"Thank you!" Dory said appreciatively as she looked at the paper.

The puppy had done quite a number on the paper. There were holes all over it and it was drenched in drool. Some of the words were hard to see.

"Whoops!" Dory said as the wet paper broke in two in her hands.

"Dory, read already!" Marlin shouted as he ran around in circles and figure eights.

"Okay, okay," Dory said, "Mr. Bossy, sheesh!"

Dory started to mumble to herself as she slowly deciphered the smudged lettering on the two halves of the paper, Marlin's panicked screams, the mother dog's furious barks, and the puppy's excited yips in the background. After a few moments…

"Okay, the first sentence says, 'Remember that building from your previous assignment?'" Dory told the redhead.

"What the hell does that mean?" Marlin yelled, "Keep going!"

As Dory went back to translating the remaining words on the first half of the paper, Marlin used all the upper body strength he had to pull himself on top of a dumpster. The dog was unable to follow him up there, but was trying her hardest to do so anyway.

"The second sentence says, 'We'll be staying there from now on'!" Dory shouted.

"That still doesn't make any sense!" Marlin replied as he reached into the dumpster and pulled out a long piece of wood. He thrust it at the dog, trying to push her back, "Back! Get back! Bad girl, you're a bad girl!"

"Excuse me?" Dory said indignantly, a hand on her hip, "After everything I'm doing-"

"Not you, Dory!"

"Not me, what?"

"READ!"

Dory flinched at Marlin's tone before she set her eyes on the second half of the paper, which was considerably less smudged.

"Okay, I think I got it!" she exclaimed.

Marlin couldn't take it any longer. He jumped off the dumpster, wincing momentarily from the landing before racing towards where he had made Dory stay, the dog right behind him. He slid open the door and grabbed one of the halves of the paper, crumpled it up, and threw it at the mother dog and her son.

"Here, you can have it!" he yelled before pushing Dory behind him, just in case.

The mother dog came to a halt as the puppy went over to the crumpled paper. He sniffed it once before happily taking it in his mouth and walking off. The mother dog followed her son, but Marlin could have sworn that she glared at him before heading off.

As soon as the canines were out of sight, Marlin's fear caught up with him. His legs wobbled before he fell to his knees, his body shaking.

"I almost died, I almost died," he repeated. But then he realized something, "I almost died. I almost died, but I didn't."

He hopped back on his feet, filled with sudden energy.

"I didn't die!" he cried gleefully.

Dory was about to ask Marlin why he was so happy when he suddenly turned around and hugged her, laughing aloud.

"We're alive, Dory!" he exclaimed, letting her go after a moment, "We did it!"

"Y-yeah," Dory answered, sounding a bit flustered by the hug.

"So, what did the paper say?" Marlin asked, running a hand through his hair.

"'Remember that building from your previous assignment? We'll be staying there from now on. The Capital of Silicon Valley'," Dory said casually. Dory clapped her hands over her mouth as she gasped. Marlin was surprised when she suddenly placed her hands on either side of his face, "I remembered what it said! I usually forget things, but I remembered it that time!"

Marlin let out a slight chuckle by how completely and totally happy Dory was by remembering the words on the paper.

"That's great," Marlin told her, "But where's the Capital of Silicon Valley?"

"I don't know," Dory responded with a shrug, before adding excitedly, "But who cares? I remembered!"

As Dory laughed and started skipping around, Marlin was deep in thought. The Capital of Silicon Valley…He felt like he had heard that phrase before…But where?

"We need a computer," he whispered, "C'mon, Dory, I think I saw a library a few blocks back."

Dory trailed after him, still repeating the words from the paper over and over, getting more gleeful each time over the fact that she remembered. In her hand was the other half of the paper. She pocketed it without a second thought as the two tired adults headed off to a library, one step closer to finding Nemo.


And the chapter's done! Man, I'm tired. So, as you can see, I changed things up somewhat and I borrowed a bit from the other story, but it's mostly original. I hope you liked it! By the way, a quick Google search of the Capital of Silicon Valley will get you the answer to where in California Nemo is being held.

Alright, next chapter, we're back to hanging out with Nemo and the Tank Gang!

Please read and review! Thank you!