Snips, Snails, And Puppy Dog's Tails
A/N: Good Morning everyone! As you might have noticed, I am in a piss-poor mood. So to make up for that I am going to write the story I love most :D Oh, and also I'm going to point you all in the direction of my other story 'Things Better Left Unsaid' because its basically Peabody's story leading up to the adoption of Sherman and yes Mrs. Chien is present in the story and there is fluff all around. She also makes an appearance in 'Mother's Day'.
Anyhow, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter. So without further delay (HAHAHAHAHAHAHA, Sorry) allow me to introduce, Mrs. Chien Part 2.
Chapter Summary: Sherman finally meets his grandma and the estrange aunt he didn't know he had. When you find out who it is, then the motives of this person later on will start to make sense.
P.S: I made Peabody have a last name because I didn't like the thought of Sherman's last name being Peabody because it just felt odd.
If theres one thing Peabody hated more than plane rides, it was hotel rooms. By the time they left the airport, Sherman was already becoming fussy and just wanted to lay down in an actual bed and go to sleep. With Mrs. Chien's house still being some distance away, Peabody thought it best to just get to their hotel and stay the night so that's where they were now, and Peabody was obviously very unhappy by it. Sherman on the other hand was none the wiser.
"These places are always so filthy." Peabody muttered as he sprayed the bed with a bottle of disinfectant, then placed down a rubber lining, and then Sherman. "I don't care what the reviews say."
He sighed and went to the diaper bag to get his son ready for bed. This required a quick change of diaper/clothes, a new and warmer blanket, a quick story reading to calm the boy down, and then a basic talking to of what was to happen in the next few hours.
"Now Sherman, we'll stay here for the night, and then tomorrow morning we'll drive to grandma's house." He tried to explain to the boy, going to the phone and plucking it from its stand (Only to wipe off the entire thing with a baby wipe. Sadly, his cell phone had died and he would need to use this while it charged.), "I'm going to call her right now to tell her."
With that being said, Sherman turned his full attention to the phone and watched carefully as the number was pressed into the key-pad. He heard it ring, once, twice, then three times before it flipped over and a familiar woman's voice spoke. Sherman squealed in delight when he realized who was on the other line and he quickly quieted down so that he could hear her better.
"Peabody?" Her voice began, sounding rather happy. "Where are you calling from? How was your flight?"
"From the hotel, mother." Peabody said, sharing the same amount of happy. "We are staying here for the night, but we should be at your house tomorrow morning around ten. As for the flight, well, allow me to explain this with censored words."
Flashback for the Fans:
"Let me tell you something-" Sherman's ears were covered for this next part. "Sir, I have it up to here with misconceptions that just because I am a dog, I have an owner and will misbehave along with my child! I've just spent the past hour driving to this God forsaken place and had to put up with *Jack Frost, drivers and then the security guards gave me *Ship all because I did not want to take off my bowtie because it is technically the only piece of clothing I wear that keeps me from looking like one of those dogs who lacks an intelligence! Then I get on this plane and the only one to cause any trouble is you with your smart*arse comment!"
"D-du-" The man began but was suddenly cut off by an angered Peabody.
"Don't you care cut me off! I'm not finished with you! Because right now I am on the way to visit my mother, who is not a dog mind you and all I want to do is relax for the rest of this plane ride because I know she will want to catch up and meet her first grandchild when we arrive, but thanks to you I am now beyond pissed off and probably will be that way for the rest of the trip because of stupid people like you! So I kindly suggest that you keep your dumb*arse comments to yourself or else I'll get really really angry! Then you will have an angry dog to deal with!"
End Flashback:
"You cleaned everything off before you set the baby down, right? I don't trust those places being clean and I don't want Sherman becoming sick." Chien said, concern laying heavy in her tone for her only grandchild as she ignored the story her son had just told her.
"Everything has been cleaned off, mother. No need to worry." Peabody said, though he knew that the woman would just end up worrying anyway.
The woman took a deep, unsure breath before the sound of a shaking head soon followed. After a short bout of silence, the woman finally spoke up again.
"Oh, alright. Speaking of clean though, I just got off the phone with Ursula, and she says that everything is going just fine." Chien's tone suddenly changed to that of a humored yet nervous voice. "Though, she might have mentioned a small toaster fire."
"Again!?" The word shot so quickly out of Peabody's mouth that he didn't even have time to process them.
An awkward silence fell, followed by a quick breath from Chien before a sudden yelp escaped from her. Peabody held the phone away from himself to avoid going deaf as the woman began to exclaim her concerns based off of this new information.
"What!? This has happened before!? And you have Sherman in a house of flaming toasters!?" Now it was Peabody's turn to have that tone from before.
"Mother, I assure you that the toaster fire the first time accrued in Ursula's apartment. The woman may be crafty when it comes to building her own appliances, she is not handy when it comes to using store bought ones." Well, that didn't sound convincing or reassuring at all. "Sherman was not present during either of those."
"You all need to be put in bubbles." The woman stated bluntly, placing the phone on speaker suddenly. "Anyhow, so Sherman did find on the plane ride? Is he sleeping now or is he having trouble?"
"He did just fine on the plane, though your voice seems to have woken him up and excited him quite a bit." The dog explained, casually switching the phone to his other shoulder and approaching the baby's side. "He seems to recognize your voice."
"Aww, well is there anything I can do to help him sleep?" Both the mother and the dog seemed to have the same idea on what to do next, though they did not say this verbally yet.
"Actually, there is." Peabody began, picking up Sherman and cradling him in the crook of the arm that held the phone. "Do you remember that song we used to sing some years ago?"
"I do believe I do." Mrs. Chien responded, clearly smiling on the other end of the phone. "Sing it with me, if you remember."
Sherman looked up fondly at the phone and his father and shut his eyes intently as he waited for his lullaby. Seconds later, the room was filled with the light singing of the two parents. One over the phone and the other holding the child close.
"I pray you'll be our eyes, and watch us where we go. And help us to be wise in times when we don't know..."
The Next Day (I couldn't resist):
The house was a simple house, with a beige colored front door and a dark tan enterer. The roof was a simple black one with square tiles running all along it and windows varying in shapes and sizes littered the front of the house. Standing on the porch, there was a medium build woman with long blackish blue hair that fell down her back and was caught in a loose bun. Her skin was a light olive color and her eyes were the same shade of emerald as her adopted son's. She wore a light purple blouse and a multi-prink black and dark purple skirt and black heels. Upon seeing the rented car pull up to the front stoop of the house, she rushed to the bottom of the steps and waited.
A white dog, wearing a red bow-tie and glasses, exited the car first before crossing over to the passenger side of the car and opened the door. He withdrew a baby carrier, which the woman could see contained a small child with brown eyes and a mess of fiery hair. She tried to contain her excitement as she waited impatiently at the base of the porch as the dog walked up the narrow pathway leading to the front door of the house. Upon their arrival, she swept both of them up into a tight hug.
"Oh! My babies are back." She cooed, referring to the both of them as Peabody attempt to get out of his mother's hold. "I missed you so much!"
"Mother! Control yourself." Peabody gently scolded as he straightened himself out, only to hug his mother tightly in his own hug. "Though I did miss you too."
Mrs. Chien finally pulled out of the hug and giggled happily, before turning to Sherman's carrier and looking down in wonder at the tiny boy. He blinked in equal wonder at the woman above him, reaching his tiny fingers up in a vain attempt to grab hold of her and hug her. Instead, she bent a little and unbuckled the boy before picking him up and holding him close to her chest. She didn't speak at first, and Peabody was quick to assume that it was just the shock of finally getting to hold the little boy. He took this time to formally introduce the two.
"Mother, this is Sherman Chien, and Sherman, this is Mrs. Chien." He introduced the two, gesturing to each person as he spoke, pausing briefly as a thought occurred to him. "Mother, I don't suppose you've heard from Clarisse, have you?"
Ah, Clarisse, the only daughter of Mrs. Chien from her late husband. Peabody never did consider her much of a sister, mainly because by the time he had been adopted she was already out of the house and well on her way to starting a new life for herself. The two did talk on the phone however, and Clarisse always took this time to express her hatred of the dog she could hardly bring herself to consider as a brother. These phone calls did not end well, ending with a harsh insult towards the other, and eventually turned to nothing more than phone history.
"Yes, she got married last spring actually." Mrs. Chien explained, rubbing her cheek against Sherman's as she spoke. "I don't see it working out though. The man she married is quite an oaf."
Peabody rolled his eyes back in his head when he heard this. Of course she hadn't invited him nor contacted him about her marriage. Not that he cared anyway, if what his mother said was true then she would probably go through a very unhappy marriage and that was just fine, for she more than likely deserved it after the year of being cruel to her 'little brother'. Though not physically, she always found a way to verbally harm the dog, through more ways than just expressing her disgust towards him. She also targeted their mother in this act of bullying and would leave the older woman in tears the more she spoke of how stupid she had been to adopt a dog in place of a boy for a son, claiming Peabody to be nothing more than a waste of time to everyone.
"Maybe you've heard of them." Mrs. Chien's voice suddenly broke through the dog's thoughts. "They are social workers in New York. Last name, Grunion?"
Peabody thought over the name for a moment, trying to bring to memory any instances where he had heard the name. There had been a Smith, Jones, and Lunis on the scene when he had attempted to adopt Sherman, but the name Grunion just didn't ring a bell. He answered his mother with a shake of the head and then indirectly with a sly remark in place of an answer.
"No, and I doubt I will." He said with a soft smile, while adding "I intend to raise Sherman accordingly, and doubt that a social worker will ever be needed during his upbringing."
The baby took this moment to giggle happily, waving his tiny arms about as a tiny butterfly from the outside world took his nose as it's perch, only to fly away when he reached up to grab at it. Chien tried to keep her composure and not double over as she held in a fit of giggles from the baby's adorable display. After a few calming breaths, she lead the pair back into her house and into the living-room, which was lined wall-to-wall with baby toys. Peabody held back the urge to face-palm as the two humans crossed into the living room and sat on the floor while playing with the toys.
"I thought you said you would not become the type of grandmother who spoils their grandchildren." He said sternly, walking to the spot where his two favorite people were.
"Well, I lied." Mrs. Chien said with a brief shrug. "Deal with it?"
The dog shook his head anyway and dropped down to his knees next to his mother, with Sherman in between them, happily playing with a glow worm doll. Sherman hugged the creature close to his stomach and squeezed it hard enough to make the little light go on inside it. This seemed to mesmerize the baby as he held the doll at an arms distance to see the light shine even brighter. Mrs. Chien giggled at her grandson's antics and kissed his tummy gently before standing back up again.
"Well, I have lunch in the kitchen if you two are hungry." She said, smiling softly as she picked up her grandson again, toy and all. "Then we'll let Sherman play with his toys and we can catch up."
"That would be lovely, mother." He said in a matter-of-fact way. "I can't wait to tell you all that has happened in the past years. It really was quite eventful."
"Is that so? I can't imagine it being to eventful, other than Sherman." She said good-heartedly, causing Peabody to smirk a little.
Mrs. Chien was one of the few people that Peabody would trust enough to tell about the WABAC, and he couldn't wait to see his mother's reaction to such an invention, so with a knowing smile, he followed her into the kitchen, with a list of stories he was dying to tell her, even if she did not believe a word of them.
"Believe me mother, it has been quite the adventure." Peabody began, about to use one of his famous puns. "One might even say that it-"
Mrs. Chien sensed the oncoming pun and cut him off with a sharp round of laughter before ending with an 'I don't get it.'