Due to popular request and ahem blackmail…here it part two. Enjoy!

Title: Fangs: A Rat's Tale

Author: Elizabeth

Category: GL

Summary: Mr. And Mrs. Polansky meet Fangs.

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: I do not own Joan of Arcadia or any of its characters. This is all in good fun.

Rabbi Polansky knocked on his daughter's door and waited for her to answer before going in.

"Grace I…" he froze seeing a rat sitting calmly on her stomach eating a cookie. He looked at Grace, who was reading a book. "Um…what's that?"

Grace rolled her eyes. "It's a scorpion, dad."

Rabbi Polansky shook his head. "When did you buy a rat?"

"Three days ago." She answered.

"And how did I not notice this?"

"You were working and mom's too drunk to notice."

"Grace…"

"Done talking dad." Grace said looking down at her book.

Rabbi Polansky shook his head. "Grace, why didn't you tell me about this?"

Grace glanced up at her dad. He looked like he really wanted to talk to her. Grace sighed and closed her book. She cupped Fangs in one hand and put him in his cage. She sat up on her bed.

"Would you really have let me get a rat?" she asked point blank.

Rabbi Polansky chuckled in disbelief and shook his head. "You would have gotten one anyway."

"Answer the question dad. Yes or no?"

He shook his head. "I guess not."

"So…when I'm not with the Geek or Girardi or Rove, I'm here and I have absolutely no one to talk to. By the time I get home, mom is already on her second bottle of wine and I'm stuck having to make sure she doesn't puke. I needed something to keep my mind off of this when I didn't have my friends around to bug me."

Her father didn't know how to respond to that. He didn't have any excuses to give her.

"It's…it's hard, Grace. On all of us but we have to work together on this."

Grace raised an eyebrow. "Work together? So you going to work and staying there until midnight and me staying here and half dragging her to bed is working together?"

Rabbi Polansky sighed. "Honey…"

"Um I'm going to head out to see Luke in a bit so…"

"Right." He nodded and went over to the rat's cage. He waved slightly. "Hello there. I hear you're a new member of the family?"

Fangs regarded him and then bared his teeth. Rabbi Polansky jumped slightly and looked at Grace, who smirked slightly.

"Don't worry. He does that to everybody who's not me or Luke."

He just smiled slightly and shook his head before leaving the room.

Grace got ready to head to Luke's and she went over to Fangs. "Don't into any trouble, okay? I'll be back later."

Fangs looked at her as she left.


When Grace got home, she immediately went upstairs to check on Fangs. When she went to her room, she saw the door was ajar. She pushed it open and saw that Fangs' cage was open.

"Oh no. Fangs!" Grace went through her room searching for the rat. She ran into the bathroom and checked every nook and cranny. She ran downstairs and looked everywhere, fearing that somehow her mother had found Fangs and…no she would not go there!

After Grace went through the house a second time, she heard her mom scream.

"Mom! What's wrong?" she ran into the laundry room. On top of the washer sat her mom holding a blue shirt to her chest with one hand and her other hand was pointing into the laundry hamper. Her eyes were as wide as saucers and her mouth was quivering.

Grace went over to the hamper to see Fangs innocently sitting on a pair of pants.

"There you are!" Grace bent down and held out her hand. Fangs crawled up her arm and settled on her shoulder. Grace looked at her mother. Sarah gave her an incredulous look

"Wha…how…where…what is that Gracie?"

"It's Fangs, my pet rat. Isn't he cool?" Grace gave Fangs a smirk and looked at her mother.

Sarah took a deep breath. "When did this happen?"

"Three days ago."

Sarah shook her head and got off the washer going into the kitchen. "I need a drink." She muttered.

Grace just nodded and looked at Fangs. "Well what do you think?"

Fangs just put his head down and fell asleep. Grace nodded. "Fair enough."