Life Without You
A/N: I'm back folks! Sorry for the long break but I had started this story, and then started on three other stories so I never really got back around to this one since it seemed as though people had lost interest in it. Anywho, I'm back and I'm back with another update to this story because I looked at my reviews and saw that six people did review that chapter then it was only fair to update.
P.S: My mom is so funny when shes on a plane. Unless shes with my step-dad then she will flip out and panic XD I know that's mean but she told me that once she was so anxious that my step-dad traded his drink ticket to sit next to her but the guy ended up giving him both of the tickets, stating that my step-dad 'Would need them more than he did'.
Airports in general were enough to give the dog the creeps. Ever since he was a pup they just didn't sit right with him. He believed his fear had all begun on the second trip he ever took in a plane and the airport lost his bag, the altitude would have been smoother if they took off from the side of the Rocky Mountains, and he ended up being locked in an airplane toilet room just to calm himself. Regardless of his fear, he knew he would have to suck it up if he ever wanted the chance to see his boy again. So here he was now, in a plane, sitting in a seat, breathing into a paper bag as he tried to calm his nerves.
"Hey buddy?" A fellow passenger asked as he nudged him with his hand. "You okay?"
"You know, I really wish I was." The dog gasped, tensing a bit from the nudge. "I'm not a very good flyer as you can tell."
"And I can." The passenger commented with a shake of the head as they reached into their bag and withdrew a slip of paper. "Here, take this."
Peabody rose an eyebrow and unlatched one paw from the leather arm-rest long enough to snag the paper and then looked down at it. It was a free-drink-ticket, which were tickets mainly given out to adults on a flight for free alcoholic drinks. Normally, the dog would have just refused to ticket and have gone back to hyperventilating into that paper bag, but today was a special occasion. Its not everyday that you go onto a rescue mission to find your son on an alternate timeline due to a trip in your 'flying space-apple' altering the timeline you were on and preventing your son from being yours. What, that doesn't happen to anyone else? Anyhow, he took the ticket anyway despite his better judgment and held onto it for the time being.
"Thank you for this." He said with a nod of the head. "I apologize in advance for anything I do during this flight."
"Think nothing of it." The passenger laughed, withdrawing a magazine from inside the holder rack attached to the seat and buried into it, apparently finding it far more interesting than the dog. "Happens to the best of us."
The dog took a deep breath and took to staring down at the piece of paper in between his fingers. For some reason, the little bit of reading material helped somewhat with his anxiety, that was until he handed it over to an attendant and took a straight shot of what he thought might be vodka or whiskey. He hadn't been very clear when the woman asked what he wanted, just pointed to a random glass on her cart because he was to inexperience with alcohol to really know what it was, then that's when the small bit of reading material stopped working.
"Feel better?" The passenger asked with a slight snicker when viewing the dog's actions.
"Nope." Peabody responded, though his tone did not convey that anything was in fact wrong at all.
"I take it your a lightweight?" A nod answered this. "Why did you take it then?"
"Listen, if I had to choose between my anxiety keeping me grounded and flying, then I'd the latter." Peabody explained, taking another sip of his drink.
"That leads to my next question: Why are you flying anyway?" The dog tensed when he heard this. "Must be someone or something pretty important to cause you to do this."
Peabody paused and drew in his lip a bit. He couldn't possibly explain to this person what had happened, for the story itself was so unrealistic that he would more than likely be dubbed insane. The WABAC was no longer in existence, so he would never be able to prove what he said was factual, so coming up with a story fast, he turned to the man and smiled softly.
"I am going to see my son, Sherman." He said simply, his smile faltering only the slightest at the sound of the boy's name.
"Your son, eh?" The passenger laughed softly and shook it's head slowly. "I take it hes adopted? Pretty sure I heard of a case or cartoon like that."
"Of a dog adopting a boy? Being the father of a human child." Peabody summed up, shaking his head slowly. "It might as well have just been the latter, a cast of pure fiction."
"Is that so?" The response came suddenly, almost automatically. "Can I assume you mean that metaphorically?"
"I wish you could." Peabody said, shaking his head with a heavy sigh. "He won't see me as any kind of father in this world unfortunately."
A dull silence followed, leaving an uncomfortable tension between the two and only breaking with the passenger let out a soft chuckle. Peabody's eyebrows knitted together slightly in confusion but he assumed that he would get an explanation in a moment or two. The chuckle came to an end and the person beside him turned to him with a knowing grin stretched across his lips.
"Ah, I see." The man said with a nod and yet another chuckle. "You hear about stuff like this a lot with children, fights happen and next thing you know they're all orphans."
"That is spot on, actually." Peabody said with a shake of the head. "That is why I am hoping to make amends, before I don't have any more chances."
A wider smile sprouted on the other's lips as he listened intently to what Peabody had to say. Nodding his head in a reverse fashion of the dog, he closed his eyes and smiled.
"You and I have the same quest in mind." He said simply, eyes fluttering ever so slightly before sliding shut again. "Funny thing about children... No matter how much time has passed, and no matter what happens... They always know who cares about them... Who their real families are..."
"Is th-" Peabody turned and frowned when he saw the passenger's breathing even out and realized he was now at rest.
Shaking his head yet again, he leaned back in his chair and folded his arms over his stomach idly. The plane ride would last another hour before they reached their destination. All the while, Peabody found himself thinking about what the other had just said. Maybe it was from the drink, but he suddenly felt a tad giddy when he thought of it.
They always know who cares about them... Who their real families are...
Was it at all possible that this may have applied to Sherman as well? That he remembered Peabody as much as Peabody remembered him?
Maybe he did, but this lead to a new problem, one that left Peabody with a new and much more intense anxiety that no amount of vodka could get rid of.
Which Peabody would Sherman remember?