Finally! Guess who swims her way into this chapter? I know you've all been waiting so patiently for her! I'm glad you guys like this story. Though, I've been sucked mercilessly into the Monsters Vs. Aliens fandom. Just posted a new fic for that. I blame Hugh Laurie/Dr. C.

~Cel

Chapter Ten: The Fifth Best Day…or was it Sixth?

"Oooooh, Friiiitooooh!" The unmistakable singsong voice of the Regal blue tang woman echoed throughout the clearing. Nemo giggled, swimming towards his auntie as she darted towards him, a delighted grin on her face. Her garnet eyes were bright, and her grin seemed to stretch all the way around her freckled face. However, she slowed her pace for a moment, looking down in confusion. Her lower lip stuck out in a thoughtful pout as she realized that she had gotten Nemo's name wrong once more. She racked her brains for his name, knowing that it was hidden in there somewhere!

"Oh, wait, I mean Nemo! Yeah, that's it! Nemo!" The unmistakable blue tang shouted, waving one long, yellow and black fin. In her other fin it appeared she was carrying something flat with what looked to be a sloshy green blob on top of it. Nemo waved back to Dory with his good fin, half-hoping that she had her own fins too full with…whatever that was. Dory was notorious for her loving, yet crushing embraces. Nevertheless, Dory darted right up to Nemo, enveloping her dear little clownfish in one fin, squeezing the life out of the poor boy. Nemo blinked and managed a smile up at the grinning tang.

"I-It's good to see you too, Dory." Nemo gasped, patting her fin with his good one. Marlin shook his head, a smile on his lips, as he swam forward quickly and rescued his boy from Dory's iron-like grip. Dory didn't look offended in the least. She just continued grinning like the whole world was at peace and that his was the best day of her life. Gill watched from a close distance, his ruby gaze looking upon the whole scene with slight amusement. So this was the famous Dory. In watching her, Gill realized that Marlin had been quite far from over exaggerating. His description fit this woman quite perfectly.

"Well, Carlos, your father here told me that you were feeling a little down in the dumps. You lost a friend that had…oh, wait a minute…just a second…" Dory trailed off, tapping her lower lip thoughtfully with the tip of her free fin. Her brow furrowed, and Marlin and Nemo shared and amused glance at this perfectly normal behavior from Dory. She thought for a few more seconds, knowing that what Marlin had told her was bouncing around up there…"Oh! Got it! Your friend had protected you while you were in P. Sherman, 42, Wallaby Way, Sydney. Soooo," she sang, holding up what she had been carrying around in her other fin proudly, flashing Nemo a delighted grin. "I decided to cheer you up by making you a cake! It's made up of things you little fellas like to eat. See, it's got sweet algae, some salty seaweed, just a dash of plankton," Dory began to list off each and every ingredient she had made into the sloshy green blob resting on a round slab of broken coral.

As the two amused clownfish looked closer, they could see now that it was indeed some sort of cake. Dory continued to mutter on, caught in a tangent that would be sure to quickly change into a new subject. Nemo, however, could only grin widely at his beloved Dory and dart forward. He pressed his good fin into Dory's side, nuzzling her cheek with love.

"Thanks, Dory." He said, while Dory looked all choked up at the affection. Marlin quickly confiscated the plate and cake before Dory could absentmindedly toss it behind her to embrace her little fella. As soon as both of her fins were free, Dory wrapped them around Nemo's small, plump little body, sniffling (a little pathetically).

"Oh, you are the sweetest, cutest, adorablest little fella this reef has ever seen!" Dory wept, her voice becoming increasingly shrill with each compliment paid to the little one. Nemo winced, but patted Dory's side, smiling widely. Marlin chuckled and patted the tang as well, shushing her comfortingly. Dory sniffed, so very overcome with emotion. She opened her eyes, and they fell on Gill, who had been watching the entire thing with a gentle smile on his face. He had quietly slipped up to the family, finding that he wanted to really meet this delightful, confusing woman. She seemed most fascinating. Dory smiled absentmindedly, releasing Nemo. She darted right up to the Moorish Idol. The blue tang didn't seem one bit frightened or nervous about his looming presence, or his fearsome appearance. She continued to grin happily, quite ready to make a new friend. Dory swam up to Gill until she was nearly nose-to-nose with him. His eyes widened slightly as he backed up a little, prompting Dory to swim even closer.

"Hi, I'm Dory! What's your name?" She asked brightly, her maroon eyes still staring into Gill's dark crimson ones. He blinked, managing to back up a few more inches from the Regal blue tang.

"Uh…name's Gill." The Idol said slowly as Marlin swam up quickly, taking one of Dory's fins gently in his own and tugging. He looked like a mother gently reprimanding a little girl.

"Now, Dory," he said gently, "we've talked about this, now. Some fish have their own little bubble, and they don't like –" However, Marlin was unable to finish his lecture as Dory yanked her fin from his fiercely. Marlin stumbled, nearly dropping the cake, as Dory gasped loudly and sharply, her fins pressed to her cheeks in amazement.

"Oh my gosh! Do you mean that this is the Gill? The one who helped Cato when he was trapped in P. Sherman 42 Wallaby Way Sydney and we all thought that he was dead because he's an old man but he really isn't and he is now in the ocean and he is really alive and he was black-and white and had a name that was funny because we all have gills and you are Mr. Grumpy Gills and now he is heeeere?" Dory exclaimed, speaking so quickly that the three boys around her could barely unravel the words. They all looked at her with wide eyes and raised brows, quite startled by her sudden outburst (though this was perfectly normal for Dory). There was a moment of silence surrounding them as they all stared at an awed Dory. She continued to stare, open-mouthed and wide-eyed at Gill.

Suddenly, there was a flurry of blue blur as the tang darted forward. Before the Moorish Idol floating before her could do a single thing, Dory's yellow and black fins were wrapped around him. He froze, blinking and staring straight ahead. Dory looked as if her long-lost family member had made it back to the reef and reunited with her. Her grin was immense, her eyes shut tightly as she squeezed the tough veteran.

"Oooh, I knew you would come home! I knew that you would come home to Weebo! No…wait, that's not quite right. Ummm…Nemo! Yeah! You'd come back to him! He missed you so much and was so sad. He thought you had died! So I made him a cake to cheer him up, but you are the best present he coulda ever gotten! Oooh, this is just the fifth greatest day of my life!" Dory exclaimed, as if Gill had come back to the reef and reunited with Nemo just to make her happy. The old Idol coughed, blinking and glancing sideways at Dory. Marlin and Nemo were clinging to each other, doubled over with laughter. Marlin was laughing so hard that tears were flooding his eyes and his sides ached terribly. Nemo was giggling at Gill's expression, as if an eel had just swam up and given him an electrical jolt.

Suddenly, Dory's eyes snapped open. The bright, garnet-colored eyes zoned in on Marlin, who was wiping his eyes with a fin and trying to calm his laughter. Dory gasped dramatically, bringing one of her fins to cover her mouth. In an instant, she released a bewildered Gill and darted right for Marlin, scooping him up and twirling him in the air.

"Whaaaat, Dory!?" Marlin cried, trying to squirm his way out of the silly woman's fins. She refused to relinquish him from her grasp as she continued to dance delightedly with him.

"Did you hear all that stuff I remembered?! I remembered all that, about Bill and Bimbo and all about the day! My memory is getting super better! Oooh, this is now officially the sixth best day of my life! Oh, wait…was it fifth or….seventh I had said? Oh drat….oh, let me think a minute…" Dory paused, her eyes fixed intensely on the fine taupe sand beneath them. She bit her lower lip, tapping her forehead with the tip of one fin. With the other, she still held Marlin suspended above her head. The clownfish most certainty did not look amused.

"Dory…put me down." Marlin said flatly, glaring down at her as she thought deeply about whether or not this was the sixth or fifth best day of her life. Dory looked up at him, blinking innocently and giving him a small, albeit adorable smile that usually won Marlin over. She gently placed him back on the ocean floor, patting the top of his head lovingly. Nemo giggled, watching the scene, while Gill swam up beside him, looking upon Dory with raised brows.

"Is she always this…uh, eccentric?" Gill asked Nemo. The little clownfish lad looked up at him in confusion.

"What does eck…eck–sen–tric mean?" Nemo asked curiously. Gill chuckled lightly and opened his mouth to answer when a very annoyed Marlin chimed in.

"It means that she is a crazy lady who really needs to be quite for a moment." Marlin said, his voice hardened as he glared up at the blue tang, who was belting out a painfully familiar song right in his ear. Great, now it was going to be stuck in his head for the rest of the day. Brilliant. Gill and Nemo laughed gently as Dory looked completely oblivious to Marlin's aggravation towards her rather bizarre, overly cheerful, and loud mood today. Dory then caught sight of Gill once more in mid-song. She smiled widely, swimming over friendlily to the Moorish Idol. He didn't back up this time, but he raised a brow at her in question. She swam up nearly as close as the last time. She stuck out her left fin, beaming in a pleasant, kindly way.

"Hi, I'm Dory! What's your name?" She asked, blinking her bright claret eyes and waiting for an answer, her fin still stuck out towards the surprised Idol. Gill couldn't help the corners of his mouth turning upwards. This girl had spunk and was delightfully forgetful. Marlin was right – she was exhausting. Nevertheless, Gill reached forward with his left pectoral, gently enveloping Dory's fin in his own. She began to shake it when Gill bent forward. He decided that he liked this girl, despite her peculiarity. She had a good attitude and seemed to look on the bright side of everything. Marlin must have been very blessed to have her on his journey to find his son. So, he was going to make a good impression, even if this was something he had rarely done even in his youth.

"My name is Gill." He said, deepening his gravelly voice even further and pressing the tip of his lips to Dory's fin. She squealed like a little girl looking, absolutely delighted. She blinked flirtatiously at him, grinning widely and fanning her face with her other fin.

"Oh, my, what a gentleman!" Dory said, giggling. Nemo was doubled over behind her, trying to muffle his uncontrollable giggles with his good fin. Little snorts escaped him as his little body shook with laughter. He had never expected tough, hardhearted Gill to kiss somebody, even if it was just Dory's pectoral fin. Nemo knew that Gill was merely being playful with Dory, but that was the affect that the blue tang woman had on her victims – she always seemed to melt their hearts.

Marlin, however, wasn't laughing at all. He was staring at the two with an expression that looked like his heart was broken. His fins hung at his sides and his brows furrowed over his wide eyes. This strange fish with a scarred face as hard as stone was acting like a gentleman to Dory, even though he had just met her. Marlin felt incredibly guilty, knowing that he had never acted like that to her. He frowned, casting his gaze on this stranger, who was looking quite amused with Dory's overly dramatic reaction. His fearsome ruby eyes then caught Marlin's own eyes. The flustered clownfish man quickly looked down, fiddling with his fins.

Gill blinked, wilting a bit. It looked like he had already offended the father of Nemo with this act towards his Dory. Of course, what an idiot! Marlin traveled across an ocean with Dory, and probably thought that this intrusive Idol was interfering. While Dory was talking excitedly to Nemo about how his new friend was such a charmer, Gill coughed discreetly. Marlin glanced up at the harsh noise, looking up at this man named Gill. The Idol shifted his eyes to Dory then back to Marlin, and winked.

Before the clownfish could say or do anything, Gill gently tapped Dory's fin. She turned to look at him with a large, absentminded grin. Gill had to hold in a laugh, thinking that she had probably already forgotten him again.

"Dory, I think your friend Marlin has something to say to you." Gill said quietly, gesturing to the embarrassed and confused clownfish floating behind her. She quickly turned her tail to her new friend and Nemo, who was still giggling into his fin. She grinned down at Marlin, her garnet eyes sparkling in the slowly dancing shafts of light moving in synch with the pulsating waves above them. Marlin coughed and desperately racked his mind for something to say to Dory as she swam up to him.

"Yeeeees, Margo?" Dory sang, swaying gently in the currents that wafted throughout the reef, looking completely at peace with the world. Marlin coughed again, biting his lower lip. He then reached forward with one fin, taking Dory's delicately in his own. He brought it forward and tilted his head down, gently pressing his lips to her fin.

"You…um, look nice today." Marlin said hoarsely, the only compliment he could think of for Dory at such a terribly short notice. Nemo caught sight of this scene, and froze for a second before burying his face into Gill's side, his entire body quivering with laughter. Gill patted the boy with his left pectoral fin, trying to hide his own chuckle of amusement. Dory, oblivious to the two other fish behind her, squealed again and scooped Marlin into her fins, squeezing tightly. Marlin gasped, his gills compressed.

"Oh goodness, aren't I getting all kinds of spoiled today!" Dory said joyfully, swinging her beloved clownfish in a circle around her.

"Dory, Dory! How many times do I need to tell you?" Marlin cried, trying to squirm his way out of the Regal blue tang's grip. His eyesight blurred as he became rather dizzy. "Fish who are forty-two years old do not like to be swung around in circles!" This time, Gill couldn't help but keep in his light chuckle, watching the entire scene with a smile on his face. He found that he really liked Dory, despite her bizarre being. She seemed like such a sweet girl who would do anything for her clownfish friends.

"Oh, okay." Dory said, letting go of Marlin. She still smiled sweetly at him, probably on the verge of forgetting the last twenty seconds of her life. Marlin coughed and brushed himself off, casting an indignant look up at the cheerful blue tang. The clownfish sighed and turned to Gill. He opened his mouth to say something when a delighted call echoed throughout the clearing.

"Sharkbait!"