A/N: For Awesome Person, Guest, StoriesUnleashed, and Clara the Clear.
A combined idea: Sherman's first dose of the horrors of the real world. Peabody tries to explain how not all people are this way.
Side Note for Guest and SimonDiamondDoll: I think Mother's day may be the story that would suit you best :) Mainly because it involves Sherman getting a little older and a possible baby sister if I am cruel enough (Ace up the sleeve)
Disclaimer: I own nothing but a box and Briar Lily belongs to Guest.
P.S: The Tarzan idea is going to be touched upon as well in the next chapter 'All That You've Caused', in which Sherman and Peabody show Penny the underlying chaos that her little 'teasing' had caused. Slight AU of how they confront her in the movie.
Sherman had never been allowed to watch TV after eight O'clock. At that strict time limit, the timer on the TV would force it to shut off and signal to the ginger that it was time for bed. It had been like this since day one and for the longest time, Sherman accepted it. He accepted it for the longest time until that one day out of every year came that he found himself laying in bed, unable to sleep.
Believe when he said that he honestly tried everything he could to get to sleep, but unlike all of the other four times (Again, one time out of every year), he found that sleep just wasn't an option tonight. After counting seven sheep, the artificial stars on his ceiling, and the number of cars that drove past his penthouse window, the boy found himself even more awake than he was before.
"Ugh! I'm never going to get to sleep!" The five year old groaned, tossing himself quietly onto his bedroom floor and sighing. "Theres only one more thing I can think of!"
And that one more thing, sadly involved a TV. As Sherman had discovered from days of watching TV with Mr. Peabody, nothing put him to sleep faster than one of Peabody's boring new channels. From what he could hear from down the hall, now would be the perfect time to sneak out and listen to a little bit of whatever news cast the dog was currently watching. He would have to be quiet though, so putting on a pair of fuzzy socks, Sherman quickly slipped out of his bedroom door and quietly slid down the hall until he made it to the edge of the hall.
The living room was a diagonal line away from his spot in the hall and he could just barely see the TV. It was currently being blocked by Peabody's armchair, which had been turned to face it. The dog could be seen leaning on his arm with his head down, signaling that what ever he was watching must've made him just as tired as Sherman wanted to be. Taking this change without really thinking about it, Sherman tip-toed as quietly as he could to the TV and sat down behind the armchair, so that he was hidden from view and yet the TV was not.
"And in other news, a child by the name of Briar Lily or Briar 4 as she prefers to be called, has been removed from her New Orleans home after running away from her abusive household." The female newscaster was saying in a serious tone. "The little girl is four years old and currently resides in the HardRock Orphanage in New York, after hitching a ride from a local cab driver, who found the young girl in an alley way."
The photo Sherman saw after this shocked him. Briar Lily was she's a 4 year old girl with long, shiny black hair, dark skin, and grayish-purple eyes. She wore a dirty and torn purple nightshirt and she was stretched thin, like she hadn't seen a bit of food in her life. Several bruises and scratches littered her smooth skin and the photo had been taken in a dirty alley way where the girl was apparently found. She almost looked like a skeleton, one that would usually haunt the nightmares of a child come Halloween night. Following the photo, was an interview with the little girl.
"Can you tell us what your home life was like?" A male newscaster asked, placing the microphone in front of the seemingly startled girl.
What ever she was saving, Sherman hadn't a clue. According to the subtitles, she was speaking a form of Lousian (At least that's what he thought it was called) French and the only word he did understand was Mere and Pere, or mom and dad in English. Slowly, the girl's face began to melt into one of resentment for her parents. This both shocked and confused Sherman.
"W-why would her mommy and daddy hurt her like that?" The five year old asked, not fully understanding the situation. "I thought parents were supposed to love their babies!"
Slowly, his attention was taken away from the TV and instead turned on the sleeping dog. His brown eyes scanned over the dog, taking note that without his red bowtie and glasses (both were removed for the night), the dog looked like, well... A dog. This frightened Sherman mainly because he knew a lot of regular dogs that would try to attack him, and this memory soon reminded him of another terrifying fact. Whenever he would mess something up, or do something terribly wrong, his adoptive father had a tendency to growl at him, and ball up his fists like he wanted to hit something.
"A-and I'm not even his real son!" Sherman gasped, having been told of his adoption long ago and just now understanding what it all meant. "Which means he doesn't have to love me like normal parents would!"
His eyes suddenly flashed to the TV again, wanting to see what else the newscaster had to say about the girl. On the screen, there was a photo of a man and woman who looked nothing like Briar. The woman was tall, with pale skin, black hair that ended in waves, and bright red lips. She wore a purple dress and black heels with a pound of make-up completing the look. The man next to her was a short man with pale skin, black hair/mustache, and wore a black trench coat and matching hat.
"Briar was adopted by this couple, shortly after her second birthday." That was enough to make Sherman's heart stop, and then start back up going a hundred miles an hour.
He was suddenly very afraid, mainly because he couldn't trust what he couldn't explain to himself. He didn't fully grasp the situation the little girl was in other than what he could understand of it and that was the part of her being adopted. That was the only part that he could relate back to his own life, and that was the only thing that he really did grasp about it. The little girl had been adopted, and her parents did not love her, so they hurt her. Dread suddenly laid heavy on his heart, and he did the one thing any five year old would do at a time like this, and that was cry as loud as he could.
"W-what!" Peabody yelped, suddenly jerking himself awake and looking down at the small child. "Sherman!"
Sherman looked up at the dog, momentarily silencing himself for a moment, only to burst into another round of tears and began to back away quickly from the dog. Peabody frowned and stood up, all while grabbing his glasses and returning them to their rightful place on the edge of his nose. Very confused, he looked from the boy, to the channel the TV was set at. The Newcast was almost finished with it's latest story, but the words that flashed across the screen gave the dog the only clue he needed to figure out what had happened. Child Abused by Adopted Parents.
"Oh my." He muttered, reaching for the remote and promptly shutting off the TV.
Slowly, he set the remote down and approached his clearly shaken child. Real life and the things that went on in it was not something he wanted to discuss with the boy at this ungodly hour. Perhaps in the morning maybe, but not now of all times. Slowly, he kneeled in front of the little one and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. He wasn't very good at comforting though, so he just stopped at that and waited for Sherman to either calm down or speak. When he finally did begin to speak, his voice was more of a shaky whimper.
"W-why would they do that?" Sherman sniffled, wiping his eyes gently as he looked up at his adoptive father. "They really hurt her!"
"Some people are unfit to raise children, Sherman. That's why I think they should plead their case in court like I have done." He responded, helping the little boy to his feet. "That's the sad truth behind things."
"W-why don't you act like them?" Sherman piped up suddenly, remembering what had added to his earlier fright. "You don't hit or bite or anything."
Peabody paused and attempt to process what had just been asked of him. What didn't act like the parents on the television set. He frowned when he remembered the similar situation Sherman had been just five years earlier, and he understood the boy's curiosity of the matter. With a gentle sigh, he picked the smaller boy up in his arms and carried him back over to the armchair.
"Sherman, I am not abusive because I have common sense, as well as a patience that is needed to raise a small child." He explained, walking calmly over to the DVD case and began to flip through it. "Some people are like that because they are mentally unwell or do not know any other way to raise a child. It doesn't make it right though and frankly I am disgusted by anyone who thinks it is. Besides, I love you to much to ever consider such a treatment."
With this, he began to flip through the educational DVDs he kept until he found the special set that he only let Sherman view on special occasions. Flipping through that one quickly, he extracted a well known Disney film and held it out long enough for the boy to see before turning to put it into the disk player. After this, he returned to the arm chair and sat next to Sherman.
"I also don't act that way because I am a dog." Peabody finished up, pulling the boy into his lap and stroking his hair.
"What do you mean?" Sherman piped, sitting up a little bit.
"Well, most dogs only have two natural instincts when it comes to their puppies." The dog explained, sitting back a little bit in the chair and reaching for the remote. "A calm and nurturing side, and an overly protective side. Most anima- Well, here. I will let the movie explain."
The movie chosen was Tarzan, and the scene skipped to was when Tarzan was first discovered in a crate by his adoptive mother. It reminded both the adoptive father and boy of the day they first met one another. It had been in an alley way though instead of a ship. Either way, the movie brought immense comfort to the small boy as he watched the orphaned boy being raised by a very loving animal, and he soon found himself drifting to sleep. Peabody smiled softly down at his boy and then frowned softly.
'There are so many terrors of the world... I'm going to have to teach him about them sooner or later...' He thought, looking up at the screen and remembering the horrid words written on it just an hour earlier. 'That there are people like that... Who would've hurt him if they got to him instead of me... Or even now'
He looked down at the little boy cuddled at his side and smiled again. He could never hurt that little boy, he loved him to much and it made him feel blessed that it had been his home that Sherman ended up in and not someone unknown. He thought about the little girl as well, and remembered hearing about her being in the HardRock Orphanage and made a mental note to make some calls to make sure that she was taken care of properly.
'Not everyone is like that though. I'll make sure that he knows that as well.' He ran a paw through the boy's red hair and shut his eyes.
Acting on instincts again, he brought his puppy in closer to him, to insure his safety. This wouldn't be the last time Sherman found himself in a similar situation. No, it was far from the last, but every time he saw something on TV that frightened him, or couldn't fall asleep at night, his adoptive father was always there to comfort him. Further proving Peabody's point, that not all people were cruel and incapable of love, but also that the rest of the time... News TV was pretty boring when they weren't talking about depressing things.