Mr. Peabody stood there in the kitchen, his cell phone pressed against his ear, on the other line was officer Barley of all people. The officer had called to check up on both Peabody and Sherman.

"So, Mr. Kirkland got released from the hospital. I hope he got my gift basket." Mr. Peabody spoke to the officer, he was met with a hearty laugh.

"Well, if he did, I don't think I'll be knowing anytime soon, Joel quit."

"Oh, well, it doesn't surprise me."

"It didn't me either, but the way he quit, oh, Peabody you should of been there." Officer Barely started chuckling on the other line, this made Peabody laugh a bit.

"How'd he quit?"

"In the most unique way I've ever seen. He stormed in, everyone went quiet when he did so by the way, he just grabbed his stuff from the desk, looked everyone. Then in the loudest voice I have ever heard that man use, screamed 'I F-ING QUIT!' then just left."

Peabody snorted then laughed, he could hear Barely laugh as well, after a few seconds of laughing, the finally calmed down enough to speak.

"So, how's Sherman doin'? Anymore nightmares?" Barely asked, Mr. Peabody could hear the tik tak of keys being pressed on the other line.

"Nope, those stopped months ago, you were kind of right about the therapist helping."

Please don't get on my back about the whole F-ing thing, it wasn't cursing, he literally said it like F ing see not cursing.

"What do you mean by 'kinda right?'"

"Well, she helped for the most part, but in the end she wanted to give him sleeping pills." Peabody explained as he walked into the kitchen.

"And?" Barely asked, that caused Peabody to blink, he figured if anything Barely would be with him on this.

"And? I don't think giving him pills will help anything, as I told her, it just masks the problem." He told the cop, grabbing a cup from the cabinet, he, Peabody, walked over to the fridge and filled the cup with Ice and water.

"Mask it, put a cape on it, let it fight crime! (1) Anything is better than having that kid suffer."

"Hey, the nightmares stopped that night, he doesn't need pills." Peabody told the officer flatly, not liking the tone the officer was now giving him, there was a silence on the other line, then, the officer spoke.

"...Right, take this from a guy with three kids, nightmares are tricky devils, don't think just because he hasn't woken you in the middle of the night, that the nightmares just stopped." Barely said, Peabody opened his mouth to retort back to the officer, but Barely spoke quickly. "I gotta go, Peabody, Hey, kid's birthday still next week?"

"His birthday is the same day every year."

"Yeah, Yeah, Smart-aleck. I'll probably see you then."

"Wait, why?"

"Gotta go."

With a final click, him and Barely's conversation was over. Peabody frowned and place his phone down on the counter, why would officer Barely want to come to Sherman's birthday? He shrugged, maybe the cop was just concerned for the boy, though he doubted it.

Peabody looked at the time, placing the cup down he stretched a bit, he should go now to pick up Sherman, skip the traffic of parents picking up their kids. Making sure he had everything he need, Phone and keys, he walked towards the elevator, clicking the button, he waited for the elevator to rise up. While waiting, he found himself thinking.

'Just because he hasn't woken you in the middle of the night, doesn't mean that the nightmares just stopped.' Barely's voice rang around his head, what if it was true? Peabody wouldn't put it behind Sherman to suffer silently. The elevator dinged, snapping Peabody out of his thoughts. Walking inside the elevator, he pressed the bottom button to go down, and waited. It went down, luckily nobody else had to use the elevator. Once in the lobby, Peabody walked outside and sighed, it was starting to warm up.

Getting to his moped, Peabody hopped in and strapped his helmet on, the engine came to life, he smiled and then drove off. The vehicle hummed down the busy street, maneuvered around some of the slower cars, it didn't take too long before he came to his first stop light. He stopped and waited, his body vibrating along with the moped.

'Is Sherman still having nightmares...No, of course he isn't! Sherman would tell me if he was! Barely doesn't know what he's talking-'

The screech of a horn shook him out of his thoughts, looking up, he saw that the light had turned green, going straight, he sighed, he needed to focus more on the road and less on Sherman. Breathing out slowly, he stopped at a stop sign, the school just up a head. Once the road was clear, he started forward.

Finally, he got to the school, stopping the moped, he turned off the ignition and waited.

'I should talk to Sherman again, I just need to see if everything is alright, nonsense! Sherman is fine. At least, he always SAYS he fine, I don't know if he's alright in his head...I should invite a device to read his mind. Heh, talk about invading his space-' Once again, he was thrown out of his thoughts by the sound of the school bell ringing around the school yard. He straightened up a bit and waited for Sherman.

He smiled broadly, Sherman was talking to Penny again, he, Peabody, knew that for those hard two months that Sherman wasn't really as talkative as he once was, he would be real quiet, but once those walls started to fall, he started talking again, it made Peabody wonder how Penny was feeling about Sherman as of late. But, now it was looking good.

Sherman waved goodbye to the blonde girl and ran up to the moped, Once the helmet was one and he was strapped in, Peabody turned the engine and took off. He drove in silence, Sherman didn't speak and neither did Peabody. In fact, they hardly spoke at all that day, not when they made it to the penthouse, not when they were in the elevator going up. they barely talked at dinner. It wasn't until Peabody was tucking Sherman in did they finally have a conversation.

"Sherman, is everything alright?" Peabody asked, Sherman looked down at his hands

"Yeah."

"Sherman."

"No..."

"Well, what's wrong, tell me."

"I'm scared."

"About what?"

"James..."

"Oh...Well, Sherman, you don't need to be scared, he's not coming back. He's locked up with no way of getting out."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive."

"Ok. If you say so."

"Now, get some sleep. Tomorrow is Friday, and then it's your birthday." Peabody said happily, he turned the light out.

"I love you, Mr. Peabody." Sherman said as he turned a bit in his bed.

"I love you to, Sherman."

Gently, Peabody shut the door and walked towards his own room, Yes, Saturday was Sherman's birthday, Peabody knew what he was going to do. Naturally, there was going to party, some of Sherman's friends will be coming over cake and presents. But, Peabody's present was going to be, naturally, a trip in the WABAC, he was thinking of maybe the 1920's a time of dancing, poetry, parties, and music.

Sherman should like that, Peabody hoped, for now though, it was time for bed. Stretching, he walked towards his room, he stopped momentarily though, something didn't feel right, he didn't know what thought. After a few seconds, he just shrugged and walked to his room, it was probably nothing.

Then again, every time he thought it was nothing. It always wound up being something.

Ok, so I totally forgot this.

(1)- I stole that line from two and a half men. Charlie got hurt and wanted medication and Alan only said that meds mask the pain, and charlie goes "Mask it, give it a cape, let it fight crime, i just want the pain to stop."