This is the last chapter for now—Take a look at the author's notes at the end if you want some more information, though! Also let me know thoughts on a sequel. It may happen, it may take some time… But as of now I have some interest in doing one.

"Mr. FitzRoy, I think you should get up here!" Peabody called out after he and the cat had rushed back up onto the deck of the ship. "We're going to need to get the WABAC secured… And we're going to need to reef those sails, if we're not too late already."

"What do you need my help with?" Rigby called out over the increasing winds and sounds of feet rushing up the stairs.

"Help me steer. I'm going to need all of your extra weight!" Peabody called out as he rushed to the wheel.

"…So we're really going to start this with talking about my weight?" she snapped as she climbed atop the wheel on all four paws, and used her claws to dig into the wheel and keep balance.

"It's not—Oh, just move it forward!"

"On it!"

"Mr. Peabody, what's going on?!" Sherman asked through the heavy winds as he ran up with Penny and their friend. Darwin stood behind to two children, a hand on either of their shoulders as he attempted to maintain both his balance and theirs on the deck. This was becoming increasingly difficult as the rain began to pour down.

"Just a mild storm—Definitely NOT a hurricane! Sherman, you and Penny go downstairs with Charles and attempt to secure everything you can down. We're going to need a few members of the crew to also secure the WABAC."

"I want to help up here!" Sherman protested.

"You'll be an even bigger one down there!" Rigby chimed in as she rushed forward atop the wheel, losing her balance for a moment but climbing back up. "You'll be saving Mr. Darwin's work!"

"Come on," Darwin led the children away from the wheel as some of the crew rushed forward and began to throw ropes over the WABC.

"Well done, Miss Rigby!" Peabody called out. "Now… Mr. FitzRoy, when you get a moment!"

"Yes!" FitzRoy slid over, gripping the wood in front of the wheel.

"I must be honest, I'm not certain the direction of this storm, or how we'll faire. What I am certain of is that this is indeed a hurricane in our presence. And I'll need someone to care for my boy in case of a worst-case scenario. Now… Going back to Sherman's liking of you, Rigby, and my certainty that you wouldn't merely want fame or fortune, I'm going to make a calculated risk," Peabody started to turn the spinning wheel to the left, and Rigby quickly turned and started to run the opposite direction. "You're the captain of the ship, so you can marry people, correct, Mr. FitzRoy?"

"What!?" the cat yelped, falling off of her place on the wheel and sitting up from the spot on the deck she'd landed on. "You're asking me to make a commitment during a storm on a boat?! Are you trying to KILL me?!"

"No, I'm asking if you'd like to by my wife! I've been seeing a wonderful therapist. We'll sort through all of the trauma later, I promise!"

"What happened to being friends?!" she climbed back atop the wheel and started to run in the direction Peabody turned in the storm.

"I can come back later if you have to work some things out," FitzRoy shouted over the howling storm.

"No, no, I assure you we're fine!" Peabody called out. "We're always like this! Just like cats and dogs!"

"Would it even count?! I'm Jewish!" called out the cat, nearly toppling off the wheel again.

"Really?! Sherman would love Hanukkah!" Peabody exclaimed. "I need him to be with someone I know who would appreciate him. We'll work out the details later, but for now will you marry me before we make it into the eye of this?!"

"Fine! But we're doing a real ceremony when we get back!" Rigby shouted over the storm.

"You'll need witnesses!" FitzRoy gave shout as he nearly slid off of the deck.

Peabody, who already struggled with the wheel, watched as a set of hands, human hands, on either side took it, and he looked to his left and right, and saw a soaked Sherman and Penny on either side of him. Sherman gave a smile and a nod, and Peabody exchanged this with the boy before the four all made a rough turn to the right, attempting to still veer away from the storm. Water overcame part of the deck, and again FitzRoy started to slip a bit.

"All right then!" FitzRoy struggled to keep his hold. "Do you, Miss—"

"Kim!" Rigby shouted, nearly falling off of the wheel again, only to be gripped by the back of her dress and propped back up by Penny. "And yes!"

"And you, M—"

"Hector! It's Hector!" Rigby shouted.

"And the answer's yes!" Peabody added, reaching out to grab FitzRoy as the man nearly slid away from them.

"All right! No objections!?" FitzRoy called, and Peabody glanced back to his boy.

"Nope!" Sherman shouted with a smile.

"Just get it done with!" Penny demanded.

"All right then—I assume you know the rest?" FitzRoy asked through the rain beating against his face.

Rigby reached out, gripped the dog by his shirt collar, brought his muzzle to hers briefly, and then resumed her run before nearly falling off of the wheel.

The dog in turn, even in spite of the storm, found the time for a brief whistle of surprise.

"I feel like this will be the beginnings of something great, Mrs. Peabody!"

"I'm keeping my maiden name!" the cat snapped. "And I kind of think the same, too!"

"So do I call her mom, Mr. Peabody?!" Sherman asked in a shout.

"I don't know! You'll have to ask your mother!" Peabody answered, bracing himself on the soaking wet deck even more assuredly than before.

"You—SHERMAN!" the shriek came from Rigby, and soon after Peabody, as the boy lost his grip and with one rock of the ship vanished over the side of the Beagle, seemingly into the darkened ocean below. Penny went to rush to him, only to have Peabody pull her back.

"Help!" was the last word they heard before he disappeared.

"I've got this!" Rigby hopped off of the wheel, and Peabody watched in terror as the she ran after the boy. Peabody soon after let go of the wheel, and FitzRoy was quick to catch hold of it, and continued to man it along with Penny.

Peabody, meanwhile, rushed over to the deck, feeling a pit in his stomached as he glanced over, expecting, at the worst, a sea of black, anger, and nothing.

But when he looked down he saw the cat gripping onto Sherman with one arm, and with the other gripping onto the edge of the deck with all of her claws dug into the wood.

Peabody acted too quickly to allow himself to feel relieved—Hurriedly he pulled Sherman up as Rigby started to help the boy up, and then the dog lifted up the cat back onto the side of the ship. The cat clutched onto him for a second, shaking but saying nothing.

"You're all right," Peabody whispered. "You did wonderful."

"I made it?" she asked, her eyes wide and dazed as he gently pulled her off of him.

"Of course. You're a Peabody. We always make it. Sherman! Penny! Come on!" Peabody led them into the arms of Darwin, who stood in the doorway of the passageway and quickly squirrelled then back downstairs.

"You too," Peabody ordered Rigby, whose paw he'd still gripped onto.

"What?!"

"I'll be all right!"

"Then why'd you marry me if you knew you'd be all right?!"

"In case it turns out I'm lying!" he answered.

"Don't you dare make me a widow," she warned as she pushed her forehead to his, before also venturing downstairs after the children and the naturalist.

"Mr. FitzRoy!" Peabody rejoined the captain back out near the wheel, and pointed ahead. "Follow my directions, I believe I know a way out here!"

Rigby finished passing out the towels and blankets to the children, and ran a towel through Sherman's hair. She knelt down as she noticed his expression, and attempted to smile reassuringly as best she could, "…He'll be all right."

"Yeah! Yeah, he will be!" Sherman nodded, sneezing and sniffling. Rigby wasn't sure if she wasn't trying more to convince him… Or herself.

She nestled in between the two on the ground, reaching over and adjusting Penny's blanket on her shoulder. Darwin, meanwhile, paced back and forth, shuddering as he heard a thud from the leaky deck above.

"Probably just hail," Rigby said nervously, flinching as she heard another thud. "Hail got just that big in Ohio, too! Bigger!"

"Yeah… Probably hail," Penny said with a clearing of her throat to the nervous Sherman.

"Yes! That's certainly not out of the question!" Darwin nodded. "They were like this back home in England!"

There was more rustling and crashing from above, with Rigby keeping a paw on either child's shoulder, trying to protect them as much as she could.

And then a calm—The rocking of the boat became more of a bobbing. Darwin occasionally looked out the small porthole, until he squinted, and gave a small, tired smile.

"Sunlight…" sighed the man with relief.

The door leading up to the deck burst open, and one by one, the soaked FitzRoy and Peabody trudged downstairs, the dog finding himself nearly tackled by the boy and the cat.

"I think we've sorted it out! And I think you're both choking me!" the dog said with a laugh and a gasp.

"You know I was thinking about getting married," Darwin said to FitzRoy offhandedly as they watched the group, who was now joined by Penny, who slowly found herself drawn into the hug.

"Do me a favor and don't do it during a storm," FitzRoy replied jokingly, and glanced at Darwin's hands. "What've you got there?"

"Some drawings I found in my room."

"Those are mine…" Rigby answered, having broken her hold from her new husband. "I remember learning to draw from a book with yours in them…"

"I'm afraid I don't draw… But I do like these quite a bit. May I use them?"

"D-Definitely! They're yours!" Rigby replied excitedly, her own tail flicking back and forth in happiness.

"…Wait… If Darwin didn't draw then…" Penny glanced over to Rigby, and Peabody raised an eyebrow as he thought this through for a moment.

"I don't think you learned to draw from Darwin… I think you learned to draw from you," the dog exclaimed with amusement.

"Mr. Peabody! Can I keep him?!" Sherman shouted as he continued to ride atop the back of the slow-moving, puzzled tortoise while Penny videotaped the event.

"Certainly not! We wouldn't have the room!"

"We can always see about a smaller one!" Rigby added, stretching out on the beach next to Peabody. "So, my turn, right? All right… Favorite music."

"Mozart, followed by Beethoven."

"I like Norwegian death punk," that cat answered with an assured nod, and found it impossible to keep a straight face at Peabody's stunned expression. "Kidding! I'm kidding! But I do like some pop. Hopefully that's not too "commoner" for you."

"I can work with that. Most disliked chore."

"Cooking."

"Oh, I can definitely work with that. I would actually prefer if you left the cooking to me."

"I think this'll work," the cat admitted, tilting her head. "Just take time for now, huh?"

"Well, the most difficult part is out of the way," Peabody rose from his spot in the sand and began to dust himself off, and then reached out a paw to Rigby, which she accepted without hesitation. "Sherman! Come on! Time to go!"

"Bye!" Sherman patted the head of the tortoise he'd been riding on, and Penny slid off of her own puzzled tortoise that she'd climbed atop of.

"My parents aren't going to believe any of this," Penny snorted as she climbed into the newly-charged WABAC, that had been repaired, reenergized, and brought onto the shore through a combined effort of Peabody, Darwin, and FitzRoy's crew.

"Thank you again!" Peabody shouted out to the ship, and in the distance Darwin and FitzRoy both waved the group off. "Now, Penny, I know this is excitingly news, but I would be grateful if you didn't tell anyone as of yet."

The blonde girl cringed, and did her best to conceal the phone she'd been typing on, "Umm…. Oops?"

"Penny….." Peabody slapped his forehead and sighed. "So much for that…"

"Guess I'm going to have to get used to people knowing about me… At least a little bit…" Rigby sighed.

"It's okay, you'll have us!" chimed in Sherman. "Mr. Peabody's good at keeping people safe!"

"Yeah… Yeah, he is. Looks like I'll have to get you a birthday gift now, too," Rigby chuckled to herself.

"I think you gave it to him already," Peabody responded quietly to the cat.

Three months later

"Can I look now?"

"Not quite yet," Peabody replied, winking to the awestruck Sherman at his side.

"Is this one of those surprises like, "I'm going to teach you what credit is" or is it more "I fixed your easel"?"

"A little bigger than an easel. All right, now," he removed his hands, keeping them on her shoulders; he wanted to be a part of this. Rigby looked about her bright surrounding, her mouth hanging open. "…You told me I could do whatever I pleased with the building once it was repaired. I thought an art school would be appropriate."

Rigby walked into the entryway of the silent, tiled main floor, looking up with her paws covering her mouth.

"I think she likes it, Mr. Peabody," Sherman chuckled.

"I'd say it's a success," the dog replied casually, watching as she wandered over to a plaque.

"Karen Rigby School of Art and Photography," she read aloud, and the dog only looked back and shrugged, as if he'd done something as simple as carried in the groceries for her.

She spun around to the two and sped to them, taking both in and embrace, purring loudly enough for both to hear.

"I… I have something for you, too… But it's back home," she said quietly to Peabody as they walked out, and the dog raised a single eyebrow.

"Really now…?" Peabody cleared his throat and loosened his bowtie a bit, "…Sherman, why don't you walk ahead a little? We'll catch up to you."

"Nothing like that!" she nudged him on their way out of the tall and newly-painted building. "You'll see."

It was when they returned home that Peabody saw exactly what she was talking about.

"I hope it's good enough," Rigby waited to hear the verdict as she waited to hear Peabody's opinion on the piece—A painting of him and Sherman, who was still a toddler. It was a simple enough scene, similar to a photograph she'd seen. Peabody was spread on the floor, reading a book, while the baby squirming in one of his arms, nibbling a bit on one of his long ears.

"It's excellent," the dog replied, and turned around with a playful smile. "And I think the placement's perfect."

"I'm glad you think so," she stepped closer to him and reached down for his paw, which she took hold of.

"I should start on dinner."

"Maybe we should go out!" Rigby suggested with a gasp, looking away from Peabody as she spoke. "I heard there's a new Chine—Pizza? Pizza place. On 141st—151st! I heard it's got an arcade too."

Peabody spun around, just quickly enough to see the cue cards Sherman had stuck out of his room.

"You're going to spoil him…"

"You didn't? Come on… You built him a time machine. I've gotta outdo that somehow," the cat laughed and patted the dog on the back.

"I think you do things in your own way. And I've grown fond of that," admitted Peabody, who shot a glare at the gagging noise that came from Sherman's room. "You'll be glad you were exposed to an environment like this one day, Sherman!"

"It's nice you got to see him grow up from a baby…" said Rigby thoughtfully, leaning against the dog just a bit. "You know, that got me to thinking it might be nice if down the road—"

"Sherman!" Peabody's voice was frantic as he called out to his son. "Come along! We're going out for pizza!"

"Okay! One second!" the boy shouted, and what followed were a series of crashing noises from his room—He emerged, his hair unstyled and one of his shoes untied, waving a paper in one of his hands.

"What? It'd be like that movie with the little dragon-donkey mutants," Rigby joked quietly to the dog.

"I thought you didn't watch movies."

"My stepson's been catching me up to the outside world."

"I'm absolutely not doing diaper duty anymore. Or a litter box. Or newspaper—Sherman took long enough with that method."

"You're also not driving my car," she replied, taking the keys he had started to reach for.

"The last crash worked out well enough for you. I'd say it was a smashing success," Peabody chuckled to himself, and Rigby gave a groan.

"You're lucky I'm… Fond of you, Hector…" Rigby muttered.

"And I'm quite fond of you, Kim. Sherman, are you all ready?"

"Yup!" Peabody noticed, as the boy ran towards them, that he'd added his own picture to the wall. Although crudely drawn in colored pencils, Peabody could still make out the white dog, black and white cat, and the redheaded boy in the center.

The genius, the dog—Mr. Peabody—Walked into the elevator of his home with his family in tow, making sure the shut the lights off and look back and the picture one last time on the way out.

The end

AUTHOR'S NOTES

-My real identity: in reality I've been a member of the online fanfiction community for nearly fourteen years. I thought this project was a little different than anything I'd done before, and I wanted the freedom of anonymity when working on it. If actually started as a joke between some friends that I'd write it… Anddd then I did. And loved it. I might work in the future with this pen name, too!

Chapter 1:

-Louis Wain: Wain was an artist famous for his drawings of anthropomorphic cats, which later and later got more psychedelic in style due to worsening mental illness. Fun stuff. This author's been trying to get some signed Wain postcards in her art collection for some time now ; )

-Rigby: Okay, I'm a fan of "Regular Show" I'll admit, but I was thinking more along the lines of "Eleanor Rigby" since, like the lady in the song, Rigby is a bit of the lonely sort (not that she minds it!).

-Rigby's description: based off of an outdoor feral I looked after who passed away earlier this year, down to the eyes. I thought it'd be a way to honor him.

-The restaurant Rigby thinks Peabody works at: If you Google map it, it's a Dunkin Donuts.

-The curious lack of pronouns: If you read back, you'll see that for several chapters there just aren't any pronouns to identify Rigby's gender. This is in part I wanted to make it a bit of a surprise when she was revealed to be "Kim" and partly because I wanted her place in Sherman's mind to shift from "guy friend" to "potential game changer" and for him to maybe see her as a little bit of a threat to his and Mr. Peabody's relationship.

-Jackson Pollock: An artist known for really abstract, large paintings. I drew inspiration for Rigby with Pollock's method of painting to juxtapose with the methodical Peabody. Perhaps more on this later.

-The Little and Seville: Yes this is a nod to both Stuart Little and Alvin and the Chipmunks in the same chapter as these fancy art references.

-Rigby not liking sweets: Cats can't taste sweet. I know, saddens me, too.

-Pavlov and the bell: Pavlov's dog. Considering a dog was used as a guinea pig for this experiment, this is why Peabody seems to react poorly to this joke.

Chapter 2:

-You gave me fleas!: Cats are usually cast in stories as finicky and clean freaks. I sort of wanted to "turn the tables" given Peabody's somewhat neurotic nature. For the record, yes, it was Rigby's fault.

-Snoopy: I couldn't resist.

Chapter 3:

-Mach 2 of the WABAC: Based more on the original machine, which was more of a door, complete with a welcome mat. I like to think Peabody made a standby after the incidents of the movie.

-Paris August of 1911: It was actually through the dumb luck of research I learned the story about the Mona Lisa being stolen! It was stolen by an Italian national who wanted it to return to its home country. And yes, indeed, it took a DAY before anyone noticed its missing.

-The Rangers: Well, they're a New York team, I figured Peabody would be a fan.

-Kimberly: I went with one of the most feminine names I could think of, something that purposefully WOULDN'T suit Rigby and cause her to want to use her surname more often.

-The coincidence conversation: No notes here, but that was a pain to write. I kept second-guessing myself the entire time!

Chapter 4:

-Freud: In all reality, Freud is probably the LAST person Peabody would go to in these situations; nearly every theory Freud ever put forth has been discredited by major educators and authorities. But I thought the character was well-known enough to make for some funny imagery.

-Jung: A psychiatrist whom Freud was once best friends with but ultimately had a terrible falling out with.

-Skinner and his box: B.F. Skinner was a controversial behavioral psychologist who invented what's known as an "operant conditioning chamber" or "Skinner box". Basically it was a box used in training an animal to provide a desired response based upon a signal.

-Brazil: A major song is "Aquarela do Brasil" in the film's soundtrack. What better than to have a setting in Brazil!? I figured if it was Peabody's theme that he'd have some sort of affinity to the place. Casino da Urca has actually been featured, albeit briefly, in the 1943 film "Saludos Amigos" which features the character… José "Joe" Carioca.

-Tango: The song I had in mind for this dance number was "A Evaristo Carriego" which, unfortunately, wasn't written until 1969. Oh, well, I can dream.

Chapter 5:

-Shootout at the O.K. Corral: It last only thirty seconds, and we still don't know WHAT caused it. I think it was just really warm out and everyone got a little agitated that day.

-Colorblind: Google how a cat sees the world if you happen to get the time. It's really pretty interesting. Now imagine seeing the Sistine Chapel, of all things, before and after. It was like a new world opening up to Rigby, to whom color and art are so important. Hence a better title was born!

Chapter 6:

-Goemon Ishikawa: my first published fanfiction (under the pen name "J. Lucy-Daisuke) was for the "Lupin III" series. This included a relative of Goemon Ishikawa, Goemon Ishikawa XIII. This, combined with the fact that Goemon was also close with his son, as Peabody is to Sherman, made him a fine candidate to make a cameo. Legend has it that Goemon was executed for being a thief in either a vat of oil or water, and his held his son over his head to keep the boy out of harm's way (in some versions the boy survives this).

Chapter 7:

-How much do you weigh?: While Maine coons are usually long-haired and I saw Rigby as short-haired, they're the largest breed of cat out there, and I thought this would give her less of a height different to Peabody. She still is a bit on the chubby side for a female Maine coon, though.

-The explosion: I'm not sure if this would actually set off an explosion, but I don't have any evidence of the contrary (please, NO one attempt to prove me right or wrong)

Chapter 8:

-Eating cat food: Honestly this just made me giggle, so it was kept in.

-Sainted: It was a young Mother Theresa he was referring to. The more you know…

-Hector: I've been watching this cartoon since the Regan administration and NEVER knew he had a first name. But apparently according to a cartoon shot for U.S. bonds this is his first name. I do rather like the name, though! I thought Rigby could use this for more special occasions (sort of like how Sherman refers to Peabody as "dad"). It seemed to have more impact that way.

-I have a boyfriend!: Senior year prom was a rough one for me.

Chapter 9:

-Ted. What a jerk, amirite? Really though, no real notes for this.

Chapter 10

-The Galapagos lizards: Darwin indeed DID think they were spooky.

-The ex-boyfriend: It's Top Cat. That's canon now.

-nigh: hey, a typo! Some editor I am.

Chapter 11

-Darwin and marriage: Darwin, after his journey, struggled to figure out if he wanted to get married, even making a pros/cons list. He decided on the pros and got married (yay)… to his first cousin (eep…).