Well, as you might expect from the previous chapter, this is *sniff* the last chapter! This was a lot of fun to write. Maybe I'll write another down the road. A special thanks to everyone who reviewed the previous chapter: FlamyAngelwings, Guest, OCGirl94, Dreamcatcher-Megan, XXPay4XtraShippingsXX, bleazel158, The Consulting Panda, Indri08, RC, snowangel420, ZBoss, Viscount Edmund Allenby, Jacq, Guest, Shizuku Tsukishima749 and Guest!

Also, a very special thanks to everyone who has ever reviewed! Your comments and constructive criticism deserve more thanks than I can give. And, a super-special thank you to everyone who has favorited and/or followed this story! Last but not least, to all you readers out there, thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing. And hopefully you enjoyed solving some of the puzzles as well.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

"Mr. Peabody!" Sherman exclaimed.

Unfortunately, his exclamation was muffled by virtue of the fact that he had enveloped his face into Mr. Peabody's fur.

"Oh Sherman, it's so good to hold you again!" Mr. Peabody said, "I really missed-Sherman, are you all right?"

Mr. Peabody pulled the boy away from him to look into his eyes.

"There there, Sherman," he said, wiping away a stray tear, "It's alright, I'm here now."

"It's really you," Sherman said, pulling Mr. Peabody into another hug.

"Of course I am," said Mr. Peabody, "Sorry I took so long. The WABAC Return is a real energy zapper. It took hours for the WABAC to build up enough energy to open the door. It didn't help that I was a little weak myself..."

"You mean it worked?" Sherman asked, "Penny and I did it? We brought you home?"

"You did indeed, Sherman!" Mr. Peabody said, "You built the machine from my notes, remember? Naturally it was going to work."

"But where were you?" Sherman asked, "Or when? And why were you gone?"

"All in good time, Sherman," said Mr. Peabody, closing the front door and starting to walk down the hallway, "Everything will be explained. Now, where are the Petersons? I must thank them for taking care of you."

"In the living room, talking with Mr. Wall," said Sherman.

"Wall?" said Peabody, halting in mid-step, "Who is Mr. Wall?"

"He's not very nice," Sherman explained, "The court sent him over to check up on me here, but he doesn't like the Petersons at all."

"He doesn't?" Mr. Peabody asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Not, he's very mean to them. And he kept trying to tell me you're dead, and he said the Petersons were idiots to believe that you're alive."

"He said that, did he?" Mr. Peabody questioned, a small fire hidden in his eyes, "That's it. I'm putting a stop to this entire charade right now."

"Huh?" Sherman asked.

"It's bad enough that I disappeared, but the antics of the court only made things worse," Peabody explained, starting to walk down the hallway again, "There were so many breaches of the law that another court wouldn't know where to begin. By the way," he stopped again and faced Sherman, "I'm very proud of the way you handled everything, Sherman. Especially what you did yesterday."

"Thanks, Mr. Peabody," Sherman said, "But how did you know what we were doing?"

"I'll explain later," said Mr. Peabody, walking down the hallway again, "First, we have some business to take care of."

Sherman was a little surprised that Mr. Peabody seemed to know the layout of the Peterson house, but since he was heading in the direction of the living room the boy dutifully followed behind him.

"Sherman!" cried out Mr. Wall from somewhere ahead of them, "You've had plenty of time to send away the person at the door! If you can't do a simple chore like that how do you intend to live here? Come back here before I-"

He stopped suddenly, at the very moment when Mr. Peabody entered the room. The Peterson parents and Penny followed his line of sight, and gasped. There, standing in the door with his hands at his waist, was Mr. Peabody, glaring at Mr. Wall.

"Before what?" Peabody asked.

"M-M-Mr. Peabody!" Wall said, looking very shocked.

"You're alive!" Mr. Peterson exclaimed.

"Are you all right?" Mrs. Peterson asked.

"Sherman, you did it! We did it!" Penny cried out.

The three Peterson members ran over to where Mr. Peabody was standing, and began congratulating him on his health.

"No," said Mr. Wall, bringing everyone back to the present moment, "No, you can't be alive! You-you're dead!"

"I most assuredly am not," Mr. Peabody said, "I've come to get my boy, Sherman. Now if you would kindly leave the Petersons alone-"

Peabody didn't need to say anything else, because at that point a very flustered Mr. Wall tore past him, intent upon leaving the house.

"JUST a minute!" Mr. Peabody yelled, "I am not done with you!"

Mr. Wall was already partially out the door, but Mr. Peabody tackled him from behind and rolled him onto the floor.

"Listen," Peabody said, sitting on the man more than twice his size, "I have a message for you to take to the court in charge of Sherman's well-being. They had better start finding new jobs, because by this time tomorrow they will all be out of office."

"You can't fire-"

"I can do anything," said Mr. Peabody, "A simple phone call will suffice. Would you like an example? I think the President is usually in a meeting at this time, but he'll be more than happy to-"

"No no, I'll take your word for it," interrupted Mr. Wall, starting to shake uncontrollably, "J-just let me go, and I'll deliver the message."

"Good man," said Mr. Peabody, patting Mr. Wall on the head as he stood up. As soon as that man was free he ran out the front door, slamming it behind him.

"Can you really fire them, Mr. Peabody?" Sherman asked.

"I'm not going to fire them, Sherman," Mr. Peabody explained, "They're all going to step down of their own accord."

"Huh? Why?" Penny asked.

"Well Penny, think about it," said Mr. Peabody, "That particular court only cared about one thing: money. As soon as they realize I'm back, all of their selfish decisions about Sherman will be revealed, and they'll be forced to step down."

"You mean Judge too?" Sherman asked.

"Yes, Sherman. Especially the judge," said Mr. Peabody, "And you forgot the word 'the'. It's the judge, Sherman. You can call him by his name, you know."

"He has a name?" Sherman asked.

"Mr. Peabody," said Mr. Peterson, "Would you mind telling us what happened?"

"Not at all, Paul," said Mr. Peabody, "Although it might take a while."

"Then why don't we all go to the living room?" Mrs. Peterson asked, leading the way.

Everyone sat down in the living room, and Sherman sat down practically on Mr. Peabody's lap. As soon as Penny was comfortably seated on Peabody's other side, Mr. Peabody began.

"First, I want to thank you for taking such good care of Sherman," he addressed the Petersons, "And I want to thank you, Penny, for helping to rescue me."

"You're welcome," Penny said brightly.

"How did they help you?" Mrs. Peterson asked, confused, "Didn't you just get here?"

"You see," said Mr. Peabody, "I was returning from a personal errand when I became stuck within the WABAC. You remember the WABAC, don't you? Well, a long time ago, when Sherman was very young, I created a manual for the WABAC. I also wrote a children's book on time travel, for the purpose of leading Sherman to the manual's location. The book was placed in the library, and it contains a series of hints written in conjunction with the manual. Together, the two books contain the answers to any problem the WABAC might face."

"Wow," said Mr. Peterson, astonished.

"The children didn't entirely know this," said Mr. Peabody, "They only discovered things one at a time. I wrote most of the library book in code, and together Sherman and Penny uncovered the clues I left them. These two," he hugged them, "finally built the one thing I needed to return, and here I am."

"But Mr. Peabody," said Sherman, "That doesn't explain what happened."

"Yes Mr. Peabody," said Penny, "What about those things you did, like sending us pizza?"

"That was really you?" Mr. Peterson said.

"Yes, that was me," said Mr. Peabody, rubbing the back of his neck, "I'm sorry for alarming all of you. I merely thought the children might be growing hungry."

"But how did you do that when you were stuck in time?" Sherman asked, "When were you, Mr. Peabody?"

"Not when, Sherman. Where. I was right here the entire time."

The room fell silent.

"What?" Sherman asked.

"I never left you," said Mr. Peabody, "At least, not when I had a choice."

"What are you talking about?" Penny asked.

"The WABAC hit turbulence, to put it simply," said Mr. Peabody, "It took everything I had to make it home, but when I got there-well, it is difficult to explain. The closest thing I can say is that I was on another plane of existence. You might say I was in the fifth dimension."

"What does that mean?" Mrs. Peterson asked.

"It means," said Mr. Peabody, "That until the children activated the WABAC Return, which pulled the WABAC back into its proper state of being, I was stuck. It took me a few days to figure out what had happened. By the time I realized the WABAC didn't have enough energy to pull itself back, you were taking Sherman into your home. A while later, after the international search for me ended and I was declared dead, I finally figured out a way of creating an alternate source of energy for myself."

"Was that around the time you sent us the pizza, Mr. Peabody?" Sherman asked.

"Yes Sherman," said Mr. Peabody, "I was able to call the pizza company using the phone in the WABAC. It drained a lot of energy to do so, but I daresay it was worth it. It was much easier to send an email to Mr. Williams, the data transfer between dimensions took up far less energy."

"So, every time you did something like that for us, you used up energy?" Penny asked, "Is that why you only helped us out some of the time?"

"Yes, that's exactly right!" said Mr. Peabody, "Of course, as time went on I discovered ways to save energy. I was able to start touching actual objects again, if I was careful. Letting go of an object at the wrong time was disastrous. If you remember, Sherman and Penny, I wrote out a numerical code for you on the back of a loose sheet of paper in the manual. I accidentally let go of the pencil before I should have, and it disintegrated."

"Whoa," said Sherman.

"You see," Mr. Peabody said, "The ripple effect caused by the WABAC's arrival in that dimension created windows of opportunity, and at certain times I could touch objects from this state without losing too much energy."

"When did you do that?" Mrs. Peterson asked, leaning forwards in her chair with anticipation.

"Whenever I could," said Peabody, "For example, take the night you were asleep in Whiner's house, Sherman. I spent the night with you, and the next morning I was downstairs listening to Whiner's plans. I learned that you needed to be awake in order for Whiner's associate-who I now recognize as Mr. Wall-to deem you worthy of handling your money. So I went upstairs and took advantage of the ripples to wake you up."

"Wait!" Sherman said, "That was-that was you shaking me? And you broke that vase!"

"Yes," said Mr. Peabody, "It did the trick, didn't it? But the largest window took place in the courtroom. I was fully aware of Whiner's true intentions for you, and I-"

"You're the one who pulled me!" Sherman said, "You pulled me out of the room and into the closet!"

"Naturally," said Mr. Peabody, "I had to be very careful that time. I had calculated the precise amount of time the window would last, and it was just enough. I turned off the lights and briefly pulled you into my own state of being. There was just enough time to get you into the closet."

"So that's what happened," Penny said, "I was still holding onto Sherman when he ran off-or, I guess, when you lead him away."

"It was easy enough to accomplish," said Mr. Peabody, "After I grabbed Sherman, we just walked right through you and out the door."

"Wait-did you say we went through Penny?" Sherman asked.

"You could do that?" Mr. Peterson asked.

"It was another dimension, remember?" Peabody smiled, "That's how I got you into the closet, Sherman. The door was already locked; I just pulled you through it."

"But why did you hide him in the closet?" Mrs. Peterson asked.

"Because I did not want Mr. Whiner to get his hands on him," Peabody said emphatically, "That crook is the last person on the planet who should care for my son. That's why I sent a cab for you, Sherman, at the police station. Even though that cost me a lot of energy at that point, I wanted it there in case you managed to run away from him."

"So," said Penny, "Because you were invisible around us, you heard everything we said, right?"

"Yes," said Mr. Peabody, "That is, up until the point where you made the WABAC Return. I had to enter the WABAC before you pressed the Return button, so I had to leave you then. I was able to quickly send you a warning that your time was limited by recording a conversation between Whiner and the police, and then I called you and played back the recording. After you pressed the Return button, the WABAC and I had to recuperate for a while. When I heard this morning that you had won your case against the court, Sherman, and that you were back here at the Petersons, I was very glad to hear it. Of course, I didn't expect Mr. Wall to come and try to coerce you away."

"But Mr. Peabody," said Mr. Peterson, "Why didn't you just call or email us, or the children, and let us know where you were?"

"I'm afraid that wasn't possible," said Mr. Peabody, "What would have happened if I had? The police would have said Sherman and Penny were imagining, or you and your wife were crazy. In addition, it would probably have placed undue pressure on whomever I told. I thought it was enough if Sherman and Penny knew I was alive, and could help me by building the WABAC Return."

"But you could have told me, Mr. Peabody," said Sherman, squirming in his seat to face Peabody, "If you didn't want me to tell anyone I wouldn't, but I really, really wanted to know where you were."

"I know, Sherman, and I'm sorry," said Mr. Peabody, hugging the boy with one arm, "I thought it was better this way."

"Well," said Mrs. Peterson, standing up from her seat, "What's done is done. I think that, since Mr. Peabody has returned and we now have two heroes in the family"- here she smiled at both Penny and Sherman-"now is the perfect time to celebrate. Mr. Peabody, Sherman, would you like to stay for lunch?"

"Thank you, but I think we should be leaving now," said Mr. Peabody, likewise standing up, "Sherman and I have some catching up to do."

"Of course," said Mr. Peterson, "We understand. Can we invite you over for dinner this Friday?"

"We would be delighted," Mr. Peabody said, "Come on, Sherman. Go pack your suitcase upstairs. We're going home."

Within fifteen minutes everything was packed, and Mr. Peabody placed Sherman's suitcase in the sidecar of his scooter.

"I'll see you soon Sherman," said Penny, "It was a lot of fun finding your dad and everything. Want to come over to play sometime before Friday?"

"Sure!" said Sherman, "And you can come over to my place too."

He stepped into the sidecar. Mr. Peabody was already waiting, and took off as soon as Sherman was settled.

"When we get home, Sherman, I want to take you to see the gardens," Mr. Peabody said.

"Gardens?" Sherman said.

"Don't you remember? I promised you that we would visit the hanging gardens of Babylon."

"But Mr. Peabody!" Sherman argued, "Isn't the WABAC broken?"

Mr. Peabody actually laughed.

"Of course not!" He said, "The WABAC is perfectly fine. It's just a matter of-oh, never mind. The point is, we can leave right away if we want to."

"Maybe we should wait a few days first," Sherman said.

"If doing so makes you feel more comfortable," Mr. Peabody said, "But Sherman, you have been traveling in the WABAC almost your whole life. Why stop now because of one storm?"

"I guess if you put it that way," Sherman said, "We can go today. But Mr. Peabody, I've been thinking. Why were you using the WABAC at night without me anyway?"

Mr. Peabody looked a little sheepish.

"That is not a normal occurrence," he said, "But, well...I realized we had never been to Babylon before, and I wanted to introduce myself to the King before we visited the hanging gardens the next day. I almost took you with me, but you were already asleep. Perhaps it is a good thing I didn't take you after all, or we might both have been stuck in that other dimension. Any other questions?"

"Um, yeah. How come you never told me that the entire bank belongs to you?"

"Because there was no need for you to know," said Mr. Peabody, "And since I am here now, it's my job to worry about these things."

At that point they reached the penthouse.

"Mr. Peabody, people are staring at us," Sherman whispered.

It was true. People on the streets were staring at them with open mouths.

"Let them look!" Peabody spoke in his normal voice, "We'll be in the front papers tomorrow anyway, so they might as well get used to us. Come, Sherman. Let's get inside."

They both ignored the stares of all the passers-by, and rode the elevator up to their floor.

"Ah, home!" Mr. Peabody said as the elevator door opened, "Still just the same as ever. Why don't I make us lunch, Sherman?"

And after all this time, that one question was the moment when Sherman finally realized that Mr. Peabody was truly home.

THE END