A/N: Hey guys. I'm back and I'm more annoyed than ever with the librarians at my school. So I think I mentioned in chapter two that my laptop was only at 26%, well I found out that it was because of a glitch in my charger/Motherboard so my laptop will never charge no matter how long I keep it on. Well, I took it in to the library and told them what had happened and even brought in one of the chargers to prove that it didn't work. They said that since it wasn't from the school it probably messed with the system but that is stupid because its the same charger, just from a different laptop and I told them my sister's laptops are fine but mine isn't. Never the less, they still said they were charging me for the charged battery -_- Three times this week! I swear! Anyway, I'm going to get this sorted out.

Sorry, I'm ranting, anywho, just wanted to point that out in case I write rage in this chapter.

Rage was the only word that Peabody could think of using at the moment as he read through the rest of the article, or at least what he could before the clipping was cut off. The rage came from not only the contents of the article, but also the thoughts in the back of his mind which quickly reminded him of how difficult that this search would be now. If the child was missing without a trace then that meant that he was without a lead to Sherman.

'Have you seen this child? Sherman is a young child and former inhabitant of the HardRock Orphanage. He was last seen leaving the Orphanage with his newly adopted family, the Petersons. The family reported him as missing just three days after the adoption and the child has not been seen since. The child has red hair, brown eyes, and is roughly 4 feet in height. He was last seen in the family's new home in California. If you see him, please contact-'

"Petersons..." Peabody muttered under his breath as he folded the paper. "Of course..."

Mr. Peterson had been an old rival of the dog back in their collage years. He was also against Peabody when it came to the adoption of Sherman, and was the one person who seemed to make it a sport to rub the failed court date in the dog's face. If he was still at it, then he definitely scored the touch down in this moment. This really enraged Peabody as several scenarios of what the truth behind Sherman's disappearance might have been began to race through his head. He linked the adoption and the move to the plan in the disappearance of the boy. After a bit though, he didn't really see the logic behind this, but the ranting made him feel a little better.

"Did the orphanage do a background check or did they just send a child home with the first man they saw in a suit!?" Peabody exclaimed, frowning as he opened the clipping again and began to read through it again. "Mr. Peterson is not mature enough to handle even his own child!"

He glared at the name until it began to blurr and warp. Blinking, he tossed the piece of paper onto the coffee table and rushed off to his bedroom and began to pack a bag. The boy was said to have last been seen in California, which was quite a distance away from Peabody's penthouse. With a heavy breath, he looked around the room and began to pack everything he thought he would need. He then zipped to his laptop and began to book a hotel to stay in when he got there. There was just one problem though.

Booked Solid until April 27th.

"Oh God..." The dog muttered as he flipped through all of the hotels listed, all which read off the same thing. "This can not be coincidental!"

He slammed his laptop shut and then banged his head on it and shook his head. Upon looking up, he turned to look at the hanging wall clock. He hated that old thing souly due to its old fashioned appearance. It reminded him of that God forsaken time machine (Which he would never rebuild again, even if he did get Sherman back) which had caused all of this. It was five PM sharp when it dinged loudly and the little figures popped out of the coo-coo clock and began to dance. It was the same dance they always preformed at five o'clock on the dot, no matter what was changed, that point in time was always the same with that clock...

"Could it be..." Peabody stood and went to the clock and wound it back a minute. "That..."

Instantly the figures zoomed back into their appropriate spots and only returned at five on the dot when the clock was wound back. Time was keeping the pieces from moving at any other given time, from going anywhere else other than their stands. The time and pieces were intertwined and time was the controller in all of this.

"This is a fixed point..." Peabody's lips twitched into a strange little smile as he realize that on this line, he was never meant to have Sherman. "Well played time... But you seem to forget-"

He suddenly removed a figure from the clock and held it in his hands. It was a little wooden carving of a puppy dog with polka-dots. The minute passed and the figures appeared again, minus one dog that was no longer in the path of that event. With a soft laugh, he set the clock down and stood up. He slowly then returned to his bag and lifted it up.

"This is Mr. Peabody you are dealing with." He spoke to himself as he grabbed his house keys and headed towards the front door, determined to out-whit time itself.

Next stop: California.

Meanwhile:

A little red-haired boy looked down at the article in his hands. It was a clipping from the Have You Seen Me section of the newspaper. The child this week being himself. Looking around the dark area was in, he slowly closed his eyes and tried to call back the one thing that always gave him comfort when he was frightened. It was the memory of a dream, or at least what he thought was a dream, of a little white dog, and his crazy little time machine.