Hello everyone! Here is the next chapter, sorry for the delay! A special thank you to everyone who has favorited and followed this story, and a very special thank you to Dreamcatcher-Megan, OCGirl94, Spring-Heel-Jacq, Guest, bleazel158, RC, Supermikeyninjalady and The-DetectiveSmartie for reviewing! Thank you again for your constructive criticism! Also, a most especial thank you to everyone who reads this story :D

CHAPTER FIVE

Mr. Peabody sighed, and rubbed his forehead. He was sitting at his nice, clean desk in his room. Sherman was standing right next to him, and Mr. Peabody regretted that he hadn't noticed the boy sneak up on him.

"Whatever am I going to do with you, Sherman?" He asked.

Sherman only giggled in response. He was covered head to toe in mud, with a few leaves and sticks attached. He had to keep rubbing at his eyes to keep the mud out of them.

"Come on, then. Let's get you cleaned up," Mr. Peabody said, picking up the messy child and carrying him into the bathroom.

Sherman only squealed and threw out his arms in protest, unintentionally getting some bits and pieces of mud onto some of the paperwork on the desk.

Mr. Peabody ignored the mess, for now.

"How on earth do you manage to get so messy without leaving the apartment?" Peabody wondered out loud.

Sherman didn't answer, probably because he couldn't speak yet.

"Tomorrow, I'm going to take you to the Roman baths," Peabody promised, "Maybe then you'll learn some good habits on cleanliness."

He brought the child into the bathroom. With ease born from long practice, Mr. Peabody managed to turn on the bathtub, set it to the right temperature, take out all the toys from under the sink, place the toys in the tub, take off Sherman's muddy clothes, prevent Sherman from falling into the tub, pull out a clean towel and fill the tub with bubble bath-all within the space of a few minutes.

"Alright, Sherman. In you go!" said Mr. Peabody, slowly helping the boy into the tub.

Sherman immediately started splashing and playing with the toys.

"Here!" said Mr. Peabody, handing him a toy boat, "Remember Christopher Columbus' ship?"

Sherman laughed and splashed his arms.

"That's right!" said Mr. Peabody, "His ship was bigger, wasn't it?"

Sherman dunked the toy ship under water, crew and all.

"He had three ships that were with him, you know," said Mr. Peabody, "The Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria. Which ship do you think we were on, Sherman?"

Sherman played some more in the bathtub, while Mr. Peabody told him stories of some of their adventures, and what they meant.

Finally, after some time, Mr. Peabody decided that Sherman was not only good and clean, but had tired himself out sufficiently. So he took the boy out of the tub and dried him off before carrying him out of the bathroom. Sherman, with his clean clothes and hair, looked like an entirely different boy than the one Peabody had carried in.

"There!" Said the wet Peabody as he placed Sherman down in his bed, "Have a good nap, Sherman. We'll play more later."

As Sherman yawned, Mr. Peabody walked back to his room and viewed the mess. Gathering a mop and bucket, he had the house cleaned up within seconds. He sat down at his desk again, and began to rewrite some of his papers that had too much mud on them to read.

"Let's see," he said to himself, "Aha! That's right. This page is for the manual."

He crossed out some of his notes and rewrote the entire page, supplying from memory the mud-covered words that were illegible.

Present Day

Sherman threw open the door to Mr. Peabody's room, and ran inside.

"Woah," said Penny, "This is his room?"

"Yup," said Sherman, ignoring the many, many bookshelves filled with books, "The file cabinets are over here."

"How come these aren't in the library?" Penny asked.

"Those? Oh, they're just the books he's written himself," Sherman said, "He doesn't like them out in the open, but he likes to have them close in case he wants to rewrite them."

Penny tore her eyes off all the books and ran over to Sherman, who was standing by the eighth file cabinet.

"I thought you said these were always locked," She asked.

Sherman paused, then looked at her sheepishly.

Penny playfully wacked him on the head. "You mean you never checked!" she teased.

"Let's hope this one opens," Sherman said, pulling at the file cabinet. It opened, almost to his surprise.

"What's inside?" Penny asked.

Sherman reached in, and pulled out a small stack of papers.

"Um, it's a story I once wrote," he said, looking at his childish handwriting, "The hat on the mat? I don't remember making this. I guess Mr. Peabody kept it here."

"That's it?" Penny asked.

"Hang on, there's something else," said Sherman, reaching inside again.

The cabinet was above his chest, so he was standing on tip-toe to reach in. He pulled out a thick bundle of papers.

"That's it, it's empty now," he said, closing the cabinet.

Penny gasped. "Sherman, look!" she said, pointing to the papers in his hands.

He turned the bundle over, and his eyes went wide.

"It's an instruction manual," he said.

"For the WABAC," Penny finished.

Sherman sat down right then and there on the floor, and opened the book.

"I didn't know he wrote this down!" He said, flipping through the pages.

Something fell out, and Penny grabbed it off the floor.

"Look at this!" she said, "Sherman, if you are reading this, then something has happened to me and I am no longer able to travel with you."

"Let me see!" said Sherman, and Penny gave him the paper, "This book, and a book I wrote under the name P. Body, should help you find the answers to any questions you have about the WABAC. It is my greatest wish that you continue having great adventures."

"It's signed, Yours, Peabody." Penny read.

"That's not fair!" Sherman said, throwing the book onto the ground, "Mr. Peabody left this here for me a long time ago. That means he went back and published the book a long time ago, too. He's not really stuck fifty years ago! We're back to the beginning again!"

"Hang on," said Penny, gathering up the manual and sticking the paper back inside it, "This could still tell us what happened to him!"

Sherman sniffled, and took the book back.

"You're right," he said, "Where do we start?"

"Well," said Penny, "Let's start with what we know. Mr. Peabody left in the WABAC, but hasn't returned yet. And he hasn't told us which time he's stuck in."

"So," said Sherman, thumbing through the book, "Let's find out what the manual says about the WABAC not working."

"Why don't you look at the table of contents?" Penny asked, watching Sherman turn the pages.

"There isn't one," Sherman said, "This is all written by hand."

He finally turned to a page that he deemed appropriate. "This could be it," he said, "In the event that the WABAC breaks down in some other time, there are multiple ways to fix the problem and/or call for help. One entirely appropriate way to deal with the situation is to write a message to someone in the future asking for aid."

"It just doesn't make sense," said Penny, "If the WABAC had broken down, Mr. Peabody would have left us some message about it."

"Exactly!" Sherman said, "So what happened?"

The two of them stared at the manual.

"Maybe we need the other book too," Penny said, "The one we got at the library."

"Why would we need that one?" Sherman asked, "We have the manual."

"Well, he wrote them both, didn't he?" Penny said, "There has to be some reason he did that."

Sherman agreed, so he pulled out the library book and Penny started to look at the manual.

"If anything looks like a clue, write it down," said Sherman.

"Right," said Penny.

They poured over the books without success until, sometime later, Sherman's stomach growled.

"Hungry?" Penny asked.

"Maybe," he said grumpily.

"We should get something to eat again," said Penny, "It's no good searching for clues on an empty stomach."

"Didn't we just have lunch?" Sherman asked.

"That was a long time ago!" Penny said, "I'm getting hungry too. Maybe we should head back."

"I don't know," said Sherman, "We didn't look over the apartment for more clues yet."

"Well, let's get something from the fridge," Penny said.

"They cleaned it out, remember?" Sherman said, "They didn't want the food to spoil."

"Come on, Sherman. I'm hungry too!" Penny said, "Let's find something to eat!"

Just then, the doorbell rang.

"Wait here, I'll get it," said Sherman.

He walked over to the elevator, but Penny decided not to listen to him and followed him anyway.

The elevator door opened and, to their extreme surprise, there in front of them was a pizza delivery man.

"Uh, is this the Peabody residence?" He asked.

"Yeah," said Penny, "But we didn't order any pizza, did we Sherman?"

"No, we didn't," said Sherman.

"It was ordered for you," said the pizza delivery man, "Paid for by your dad."

"My dad?" Penny asked, "He sent us pizza?"

"And a drink," said the pizza man, handing the pizza and a soda to Sherman, "Have a nice day! And don't trouble with the tip."

The pizza delivery man then entered the elevator, and its doors closed before him.

"Well, that was nice," said Sherman, "Remind me to thank your dad later."

"But how did he even know we were here?" Penny asked.

"Don't know. Let's eat so we can get back to work," said Sherman, taking the food into the kitchen, "Come on, Penny! We have to search the apartment before we leave."

"Right," said Penny, "I'll get the plates, you get the cups!"

They opened the pizza-which was a plain cheese pizza-and between the two of them they had soon devoured it. As soon as they were done, they began searching the entire place from top to bottom, paying special attention to the empty room which used to house the WABAC.

"I don't get it," Sherman said, "We've searched this place three times now, and we haven't found anything."

"Well, what are you looking for?" Penny said, "The Mr. Peabody of last year couldn't know that in the future he'd be stuck in the past."

"So, you think that might be why we can't find any traces of him?" Sherman asked, "Because the Mr. Peabody who's stuck knew he couldn't let himself know about it?"

"Maybe," Penny said.

Just then, her phone rang.

"Hello?" she answered it, "Oh, hi Dad. We're still at Sherman's place."

There was silence. "What?" Penny asked, "Um, alright. Bye Dad."

"What happened?" Sherman asked.

"We're in big trouble, Sherman," Penny said, "My Dad sounded really mad on the phone."

"How come?" Sherman asked.

"I don't know," said Penny, "He just said he was on his way over, and he told us to stay where we are."

Sherman gulped.

"Alright," he said, heading for the elevator, "We'd better go upstairs to meet him."

"It's just, what could he be so upset about?" Penny wondered as they got into the elevator.

Within minutes, she had her answer. The next time the elevator door opened, it was to admit Mr. and Mrs. Peterson into the apartment. And neither one looked happy.

"Penny. Sherman." said Mr. Peterson, "We've been looking all over town for you."

"Oh," said Penny. Sherman was just as confused as she was.

"What made you think you can just walk across the city to this apartment?" Mrs. Peterson said, "Don't you know it's dangerous?"

"I should have taken up the court's offer to get you a bodyguard," Mr. Peterson complained, "Even though that court is a nuisance. We were worried sick about you!"

"B-but Dad!" said Penny, "You let us walk to the library alone! And the courthouse! We thought it was fine to come here too."

"Yes," said Mrs. Peterson emphatically, "We let you walk to the library and the courthouse. But those are both near the house. We never gave you permission to walk this far! What were you thinking?"

"You know, maybe I can still take up that offer of a bodyguard after all," Mr. Peterson thought out loud, "Don't you know that we have to appear back in court in two days? Why did you both run off like that?"

"Wait!" said Sherman, "Hang on! Didn't you send us pizza?"

Mr. and Mrs. Peterson looked very confused.

"Pizza?" Mr. Peterson asked.

"Yeah!" said Sherman, "A pizza guy came up here, and said that you paid for the pizza!"

Mr. and Mrs. Peterson looked very worried.

"Honey," said Mr. Peterson, "Take the kids home. I'm going to make a call and get that bodyguard after all."

"Come on, kids," said Mrs. Peterson, "Gather your things. We're going home."

"B-but we're not done!" said Sherman, grabbing the WABAC manual while Penny grabbed the library book.

"Oh yes you are!" said Mrs. Peterson, "You're heading home. And the only place we will even think of letting you go to is the courthouse and the bank."

"The bank?" Penny asked. Turning to Sherman, she whispered, "Did we tell them about the bank?"

"Yes, the bank," said Mrs. Peterson, leading them both by the hand into the elevator and holding onto their hands even as the elevator went down, "Mr. Williams called and told us what you're doing, Sherman. And while we don't like that you walked to the bank alone too, Paul and I think it's a great idea to create those hospitals. But going to the bank is not a reward; it's necessary only for legal procedures."

The elevator finally opened, and Mrs. Peterson led them to the Peterson family car. Which was parked right next to the car Mr. Peterson used for work. Apparently, the both of them had come frantically to the Peabody apartment from two different directions.

"Now get in," she said, "We will discuss your punishment later."

Sherman and Penny dutifully entered the car.

"Sherman," Penny whispered, "If my dad didn't send us the pizza..."

"Do you think...?" Sherman half-asked.

"I don't know," Penny said, "The pizza guy did say the words your dad. Maybe he wasn't talking to me."

"Penny," said Sherman, "We might have our clue after all!"

"But what does it mean?" she asked.

"And if he knows where we are, why doesn't he tell us?" Sherman asked.

"No talking back there," said Mrs. Peterson, "You are both in a boatload of trouble, so stay quiet."

So, of course, they did.

Mrs. Peterson began driving, and Sherman suddenly dropped the manual. Actually, it fell from where he had been holding it.

"Do I hear noises back there?" Mrs. Peterson asked.

Sherman bent down and picked up the manual. But as he did, a piece of paper fell out.

It was the same one that had fallen out earlier, the one which started with the words Sherman, if you are reading this.

Sherman started to put it back in the manual, but he realized with a start that the back of the paper had writing on it too. He showed it to Penny, and she looked at him confused, as if to ask what it meant. He shrugged his shoulders, and the both of them looked silently over the paper.

It read: 4-26-25-26-24 9-22-7-6-9-13.