Woo! Final chapter! Finally! Thanks so much for hanging in there with me, everyone! I appreciate the patience-And happy New Year to you! Feel free to leave any feedback you find suitable!
The red bow tie had been exchange for a black one, and perfectly accented the rest of the tuxedo top. Not one for vanity, but—Who was he kidding? He'd spent enough on the tuxedo, and looked and felt great as a result of it.
"Not bad at all," he smiled at his reflection in the mirror and whistled his way across the breezeway of the resort. There was Joan of Arc, being calmed by Cleopatra after being offered a baked Alaska from the buffet. Aristotle was helping himself to even more of the wine while Freud and Jung shot each other icy glares from across the large marble room.
"Peabody!" da Vinci held his own glass of wine as he greeted the dog with an embrace, "How wonderful this all is! It is so good to see you again my friend, and at such a happy moment!"
"Why thank you Leonardo… And thank you for the lovely sculpture!"
"What?! Who told you?" da Vinci asked with equal parts shock and amusement. Both looked over towards the table of gifts, namely back behind it, at the large, oddly-shaped wrapped present with the single red bow atop it. "…Well, your registry was a bit of a mystery, Peabody. What on Earth is a microwave? Ah, there's that Michelangelo. I must go give him a piece of my mind. I shall see you at the ceremony!"
"See you then!" Peabody waved him off idly, stopping dead in his tracks at the looming shadows that towered over him. He jumped back at the presence of the gigantic Agamemnon, and was too slow to dodge the embrace of the soldier.
"Haha! Peabody! Been way too long!"
"I could… Say the same…" Peabody grunted, squirming out of Agamemnon's grasp and hopping down to the floor. He couldn't even remember sending out an invite to that time period…
"Tell me, how is Shermanus? Has he proven himself a fine warrior? Gone on any conquests lately?"
"Warrior? Why… Yes! He just defeated a level… Ten… Ogre in a dungeon last week…" Peabody didn't mention that this had been in a video game.
"Excellent! Great thing you've got goin' on here! You know… This is almost as nice as my wedding…" Agamemnon said as he looked out at the party in front of him.
"Your wedding?" Peabody's blood chilled as Grunion stepped out from behind Agamemnon, and he found himself stifling a growl underneath his tuxedo collar.
"Oh, relax," Gunion huffed and reached down to adjust the dog's crumpled tuxedo. "I came here for the shrimp cocktails… And to… Maybe… Well, thank you…."
"Thank me?!" Peabody could barely believe the words, and his own voice cracked like the ice sculpture Ugh, the inventor of the wheel, had dismantled earlier in the day.
"You brought us together," Grunion protectively gripped onto Agamemnon's arm and gave him a seductive wink. Peabody felt the bile rise in his throat, replacing what had been the growl formerly, as he watched her plant a kiss on the soldier's cheek. "Come on, mama's goin' back to the dessert table."
Agamemnon furrowed his brow and smiled, "More of those little puff pastries?"
"You know it, tiger," Grunion nudged him, and Agamemnon gave a wink to Peabody as he was led away to the table.
The dog then rushed off to his destination as quickly as he could, in hopes that no one else would stop him or, worse yet, inflict more mental trauma upon him.
Rigby had just finished adjusting the veil when she heard a knock on her door, followed by Peabody slipping in through it. Immediately she stormed over in the new dress and began to push him back, "Na-ah, no way. You know that's bad luck!"
"I don't believe in luck! And we're already technically married!" he exclaimed, and after a few seconds more of pushing she resigned to letting him through. He shut the door behind him and for the first time looked her over in the dress. "I… Wow."
"Not too bad, right?" she shrugged and looked down at the long white shirt. "It's… A little tight, but with two people wearing it I guess it's to be expected. Here, help me put on this necklace. You can be useful if you're gonna stay in here."
"R-Right…" he found the necklace laying on a vanity in the dressing room, and pushed aside the veil to clasp it.
"What'd you come in for, anyhow?"
"I… I was just thinking… After everything and… I suppose I just wanted to say that... Well, that I love you. I love you, Kim," his voice was weak at the end, and Rigby froze from her adjusting the veil. His tail, which had previously been wagging, drooped as he saw no response. "Was the timing bad for that? I never know if the timing's bad for that."
She spun around, and for the second time in twenty minutes Peabody's spine was given a workout by the embrace he was held in.
"Best wedding gift ever. Now get outta here so I can finish already! Shoo boy, shoo!"
He backed out of the door, a grin plastered on his face, and bumped right into his son as he did so.
"We're ready, Mr. Peabody!"
"The minister is there?"
"Yup!"
"And the rabbi?"
"Yeah-huh!"
"And Mr. Beethoven's ready with the music?"
"It took a little shouting to get to his attention but we did it!"
"Wonderful! Now just be sure you have the ring and I'll meet you out there!"
"Righ—The ring?" Sherman choked, feeling a tightness around his own bow tie suddenly.
"Yes, the ring… Sherman… You have it, don't you?... Sherman…?"
"Places everyone!" the wedding planner shouted as she stormed down the hallway in search of stragglers. She muttered something into her headset before motioning to the two in the hallway. "Papa Goose and Baby Goose are in the nest. Repeat. In the nest."
"Baby Goose?!" Sherman snapped as he was led along by her.
"Sherman, where is the ring?" Peabody whispered to his son. He had to whisper. The only other alternative for him at that moment was to shriek. "S-Sherman…"
"You promise you won't be mad?" Sherman asked as they were led out to the back where the wedding had been set up and the numerous guests were all seated.
"…I promise…"
"I may have dropped it down the sink after Penny tried it on and it got stuck…."
"You… You may have…?"
"I promise it was an accident! You're not mad, are you Mr. Peabody?"
"Thank you for your honesty, Sherman…" Peabody said through a forced smile as he stood at the aisle beside his son.
"Psst… Sherman! Sherman!" from the other side of the aisle Penny waved her pink and white bouquet in an attempt to get her friend's attention. Beside her, the maid of honor, Marilyn, dressed in matching light pink, joined in the waving until the boy shot his head over to them.
"Huh?"
"Here!" Penny tossed a small box across the aisle, and Sherman opened the black box slowly to find a golden band looking back up at him.
"Mr. Peabody!" the boy showed off the ring to his father, and Peabody heaved a sigh of relief. Marilyn winked towards the genius, who in turn placed his paws over his heart briefly in a silent gesture of gratitude.
The bride walked down the aisle with minimal tripping on the skirt of her gown, not being used to wearing anything so ornate. Rigby longed for the shorter green dress waiting for her back in her changing room, but this barely was a thought to her as she stood and repeated the words from the minister and the rabbi underneath the white chuppah in the spring afternoon. This followed by Peabody, who unfolded and recited the wedding vows he'd carefully written. These caused a majority of the audience to tear up, including Jung and Freud, who shared a box of tissues.
"And I'm supposed to one-up that how?" Rigby snorted a laugh when he'd finished. "Eh, what can I say but you're a good dog, great husband, and a terrific dad."
Sherman gave a slight roll of the eyes, and Penny caught this and shook her head while smiling.
"…Oh whew…" she whispered when he finally slipped the simple gold ring on her finger. "I was… Kinda hoping it wouldn't be that big and fancy…"
"You weren't?"
"I'm not exactly the fancy type," she chuckled, examining it and grinning. "It's perfect."
Marilyn smiled down at her friend knowingly, and joined in the cheering when the ceremony finally finished.
This was followed by the tossing of the bouquet, which many of the female guests gathered around for. Rigby tossed the cluster of flowers into the air, only to be puzzled by the silence that followed her throw. She turned, gradually, and saw her new husband standing there in front of the women, on all four, looking as though he'd just landed from a jump. The bouquet was in his mouth still, and he looked down at it, cleared his throat, and tossed it back to his wife.
"Do over! Do over... I'm sorry, I'm sorry, that just... I wrote my doctoral thesis on fetch, you can't just expect me to..." his excuses trailed off before he finally shook his head and stepped away from the group, his back turned as Rigby tossed the bouquet again.
It was of great discussion and controversy over the years when Mother Theresa caught it and gave a cheer.
"That should be it, Mr. Peabody!" Sherman exclaimed as he helped his father load the last suitcase into the back of the WABAC.
"One two three…. Hrm…." Peabody shifted his weight on his feet and started to count the luggage again
"Got it! Last piece!" Rigby tossed the leather bag beside the suitcases and took her seat, cross-legged, in the WABAC. While only a week after a wedding, she was clearly larger and walking more slowly than before, favoring a stance with her paw over her rounder stomach.
"Kim, I thought you agreed no work while—"
"It's just a sketchbook and some inks, Hector," she spun around in her chair and smiled.
"Fine… D-Don't do that too much, you'll jostle the baby! Sherman—"
"I've got my stuff all packed for Brandon's house!" he exclaimed.
"Brandon?"
"Yeah… I thought I'd be staying with him while you guys were off for the week? Is… That still okay?"
"Well… Kim, what do you think?" Peabody reached out an arm and stopped Rigby's spinning in her chair abruptly. She looked knowingly to her husband and made a few purposefully exaggerated noises, like she was debating the idea a bit. This was a few too many for Peabody, who grew impatient and let go of the chair so Rigby could resume her spinning around.
"Well…." Rigby stopped her spinning and looked across at her son. "It just doesn't seem like it'd be a trip without you, Sherman!"
"What?" Sherman gasped, immediately lighting up and not even noticing his hopping up and down. "You mean it?! I can come!?"
"Go on and get your things! We don't exactly have a schedule, but I'm anxious to get a move on. The sunset at the shores of Sicily aren't to be missed!"
"Thanks mom! Thanks dad!" Sherman called out as he ran out to get his own suitcases.
"…Dad…?" Peabody muttered to himself.
"Eh, you call me weirder," Rigby chuckled and shrugged. "You know he's gonna find a letter addressed to "Kimmy-Cat" one of these days and have a lotttt of questions."
Peabody's shoulders flinched, and he made a small grumble as he returned to entering in a date to the WABAC, "…You know, I thought about upgrading the console…"
"You get so embarrassed!" she rose and joined him at the console. "How about I design it, you build it, and Sherman tests the durability?"
"And Pearl?"
"Pearl can do whatever she wants," Rigby replied, gently placing a hand on his shoulder. "We both did and we've turned out relatively okay!"
"I'm back!" Sherman threw his bags atop his parents' own luggage and hopped into the seat beside Peabody.
"You have your seat belt on?"
"Sure do!" Sherman replied, tugging on the fastened belt.
"Then let's be off!" Peabody looked across at his family once more, wondered how they all had been so lucky, and flew off in the WABAC.
THE END
