A/N: Human AU: Drabble 1: In The Morning

There was a poem about swings.

She could remember that much, and was proud of it.

However, that was just about all that she could remember clearly at the moment as she dug her keys into the hard bark of the tree beside her. It was something she had begun to do a while ago, but she had all but forgotten why she did that, just that she would only do it every five minutes, counting out the seconds in her head first before dragging her house key back through the tree's surface. Why she was counting the time may have been forgotten, but she figured that it had something to do with her waiting for 3:00 to arrive.

"Only... 37 more scrapes and I should be golden." She mused, kicking back her legs back at forth, smiling just a little brighter as her tire swing began to gently move her around in the directions that her legs went in.

Her tire swing, which was attached to a rather high branch on the tree she was currently carving up, had been a Christmas present for her. That much could be remembered without her even having to try... Or so she thought.

"Its a good swing... Hm... You know, theres a poem about swings." Dory said out loud, to no one in particular for no reason in particular." Its a shame I have to scratch up this tree though, but how else will I know when five minutes have gone by?"

Another slash was added, though it was quickly crossed out by a quick, X shaped stroke. Only 4 minutes had gone by, so that one didn't count yet.

"I wonder how long I've been here for."

If she had the patience to count all of the marks, then she would have know that she had been out there for about 4 hours and some minutes, probably. She didn't though, so to her she had been here forever and a day.

"Ugh! I wish I could remember what I was waiting for!" Dory whined, leaning back further on the swing, only to pull herself back up quickly once she realized that she was sitting on top of the swing and would fall off if she leaned back any further than she already was. "Hm... Maybe I should call someone and see if they know."

Reaching into the front pocket of her dark blue overalls, she withdrew her cellphone and unlocked the screen as carefully as she could with her free arm, all while still holding her key between her fingers. Despite having a voice app and a speed dial, Dory always felt more comfortable with switching her brain to autopilot and just typing in the first number that jumped into her head manually. Her family's numbers were easy enough for her to commit to her memory anyhow, so she was able to skillfully dial in that one familiar number that she always called whenever she needed help with something.

"H-" Whatever Marlin was going to say would forever be lost in existence, as Dory cut him off almost instantly.

"Oh! Thank goodness you picked up. Hows work?" She blurted out, forgetting all about what she had called him about.

"Um, fine-" He was once again cut off by a frantic Dory, who didn't have time to listen since another five minutes had gone by, and she quickly scratched the tree with her key.

"Not important! That means that theres only 36 five minutes left until three!" She announced, suddenly remembering why she had called in. "Which reminds me! I've been scratching the tree- You know, the one that my swing is on? Anyhow, I've been scratching it every five minutes and I don't remember why."

"Why wou-"

"Not now Marlin! We have more important questions to ask ourselves! Like why does the Earth rotate around the sun close enough that its hot but not unbearable unless you're in Florida or Texas?"

"Dory-"

"Or why does the caged bird sing? Have you ever read that book? I have and I still don't understand it." Dory admitted, kicking back and forth on her swing again. "But what I do understand is this other thing I read, which is this adorable poem about swinging and- Oh wait! Now I remember!"

"Thats very good, Dory... What did you remember?" Marlin asked calmly.

"Oh! I just remembered that I'm on my tire-swing, and its really high up, so I'm kinda stuck on it and that scared me, but then I remembered that poem while I was just sitting here and realized that swings aren't so scary and that I would just have to wait until 3 so that you or Nemo could come home and help me out, and while I was waiting I started keeping time in case I died while on this swing so the police would know the exact hour that I died when they come to investigate my murder- Oh wait... No, that last part was an episode of Detective Conan that I tried watching before I got bored of it and came out here. Nevermind. I remembered why I'm here."

"... Do you still need help off of the swing, Dory?" Marlin wasn't going to be the one to question everything obviously wrong with Dory's rant, mainly because this was how she remembered things better and for that they both considered her length rants to be a positive thing.

"Yes. Yes I do. Because its still really high up and I never noticed before. Probably because I'm sitting on top of it and not in it this time, which was a mistake and remind me to never do it again." Dory concluded, using her key hand to hold the rope so that she could hold her phone better.

"Fine... I'll head home in a min-" Marlin was cut off yet again, not that he wasn't used to having that happen whenever he would talk on the phone.

"Okay, but you better hurry be- Oh shit!" Dory yelped, accidentally letting go of the swing to swipe her key at the swing and successfully sending herself tumbling down to the ground with a loud Thump!

"What happened!?" Marlin exclaimed.

"I let go of the swing and fell off." Dory explained, sitting up and rubbing her head. "I'm okay though."

"Are you sure you're okay? It sounded like you landed pretty hard."

"Yeah. My spine broke my fall." She joked, stretching herself up before picking up her fallen key and heading back towards the house. "No need to come home early now, I guess."

"Okay. I'm glad you're not hurt, Dory." Based off of the tone he was using, Dory could assume that he was teasing- Or relieved for real, she couldn't tell.

"I know you better. You're just glad I got myself off of the swing." Dory smiled a little to herself, before quietly slipping into the house and clicking off the phone.

It was nice to be back inside the air conditioned house, instead of sitting outside on a sticky tire swing while the sun beat down on her. Better yet, she still had 33 five minutes to herself before anyone got home- 32-

"Gah! I forgot I'm inside!"

Dory announced, almost slashing at the closest thing with her key to mark the time once again.