Snips

A/N: Suggested by my friend on Fanfiction (You know who you are :D). This is the chapter of Snips dubbed 'Silence Is Golden'.

Briar 4: Well, E-mails are quite easy to obtain now adays. I suggest trying for one on Gmail. com and going from there. No address or personal info is needed except for your name and date of birth. Fanfiction accounts are even easier to make and if you want I could help you make one.

Chapter Summary: Peabody breaks Sherman's trust and as a result, he is given the silent treatment by his pup.

P.S: I will be going back to puppy days after this chapter. Which basically means toddler Sherman and maybe some Sherman from the cartoon XD Anyway, check out A LIFE WITHOUT YOU if you want to see some of that.

Can you really blame him for worrying? The first night he leaves his pup home alone, all by himself, for an hour or two. Again, All by himself! It gave Peabody plenty of reason to worry and begin to feel unsure of his decision that 'Sherman is finally old enough'. It also made him regret his former words from a little while earlier, when he clearly stated to his son 'You're old enough now to be home on your own.' For corn's sake! He was only 7, and there was a list of things that could go wrong if left alone. Such as another WABAC incident, a break-in, a kitchen fire, a bathroom fire, maybe another toilet fire (yes, maybe another), or worst of all, the possibility of Sherman discovering that the lock code on the TV was just the first three numbers of their house phone and unlocking all of the channels that Peabody had blocked for a reason!

You know, like PBS Kids, the Disney Channel, The Discovery Channel, and Fox News. Useless stuff like that which would in no way help to further Sherman's education. Anyhow, that was not the important thing. The important thing is that Peabody now found himself in the air duct that ran through their home, hiding in the secret camera room he had set up for situations such as this in that very location. Why he had chosen the air vent for it's location, well lets just say he wasn't thinking too clearly at the time it was built.

"Now, lets see what Sherman is up too." Peabody muttered, looking through the plethora of screens for the one that his son would be on.

The boy was currently in his room, reading a book like a good lad would. Peabody frowned a touch, and panned in the screen a little bit more to see exactly what the boy was reading. The Metamorphosis, by Franz Kafka, which Peabody knew had been a school assignment (though he didn't agree with it). So basically, Sherman had been left home alone and was so far doing his homework, or maybe he had fallen asleep during it due to his lack of movement, Peabody couldn't tell so he again zoomed in the camera. Closer, closer, closer-

"Ow!" Sherman yelped as the camera lenses suddenly bumped his head. "What the- Mr. Peabody!"

Okay, maybe that was a little too close! Abort mission and run Peabody! That's all Peabody thought as he quickly leapt from his spot in the airduct and quickly scrambled for the part in which he came with Sherman approaching his location quickly. This was bad because not only had he broken his son's trust, but he had also just reviled the location of his secret hide away all in a total of five minutes.

"I thought you said you trusted me here alone!" Sherman called, loud enough for his adoptive father to hear. "I see that was a lie! I'm so mad at you t-that I'm never talking to you again!"

Sure, this claim did make Peabody frown and feel slightly guilty, but he figured that his son didn't mean it, and would more than likely talk to him later on that night. After all, Sherman was never one to hold grudges over something so trivial. Boy, was he wrong.

"Sherman, did you finish your reading homework?" Peabody asked, just an hour and a half after the incident occurred.

Sherman did not respond, instead he just stared blankly ahead at the TV in front of him, soaking up the half hour of TV time that he was permitted by Peabody. This is what the dog passed it off as being, and headed into the kitchen to start their dinner, which was finished as soon as Sherman's cartoon had ended.

"Sherman, its time to turn off the TV now." The TV was then shut off, but the boy remained on the couch, just staring at his reflection in the now blank TV screen.

"Sherman! Dinner is ready." Peabody called to his son, expecting an answer but frowning when his son did not reply, rather he simply got up and walked to the table and sat down, all while not speaking.

Dinner was unusually slow and dull as Sherman kept his vow of silence and ate his food without complaining. Many times Peabody had attempted to start a conversation but each time Sherman would either take in another spoonful of food or another sip of his fruit punch, or even just pretend like he didn't hear his father, so Peabody eventually just gave up for now. After dinner was over, Sherman got up and silently excused himself as he went back to his room to get ready for school the next day. Meanwhile, Peabody who was growing increasingly worried, decided to follow him just to make sure that this 'silent treatment' was for real. Quietly, he entered Sherman's room and found him laying his uniform out for school the next day.

"Sherman, have you finished your homework?" Peabody asked, taking note of his son's apparent neatness when it came to his uniform. "Also, do you have that permission slip you needed me to sign for you?"

The boy turned to his father and nodded his head, then slowly turned back towards his uniform again and went back to smoothing it with his hands. So apparently the silent treatment was for real, and this brought up a new problem, which was how Peabody was going to get his boy to talk to him again. Well, this was Mr. Peabody we were talking about, so the dog always did have an ace up his sleeve. One of those plans he was about to put into action.

"Sherman, would you like to play a game?" The dog asked, folding his arms behind his back and rocking back and forth on his feet. "Perhaps the game of life?"

Of course, that game was in fact Sherman's favorite, so even in his silence, the boy still conveyed his excitement by nodding his head rapidly and smiling widely at the suggestion. Within five minutes, the two were back in the livingroom with the game board set up between them. So far, Peabody's car had already gone to collage, adopted a son, and went to jail once (scary how accurate this game was) and Sherman was just getting a move on with his High school diploma. Now, it was time to put this plan into action, and Peabody quickly withdrew a card for Sherman and handed it to him. The card read:

'Say one thing to your father, or skip a turn.'

Sherman studied the card for a moment, then flipped it over and grabbed a nearby pen and quickly scribbled something down and handed it back to Mr. Peabody. The dog took the card and mentally face palmed when he saw what his son had written. 'Okay, Go ahead.' After this, Sherman handed the dice back to Peabody and the game went on like usual. The game ended with Peabody retiring first, and Sherman adopting a child of his own and getting his collage degree. The ginger haired boy then rose to his feet and walked away from the game simply, not even suggesting another round like he normally would. Well, looks like it was up to plan B.

"Sherman!" The dog called loudly for his son, rushing into the room suddenly with a device strapped to his chest. "Theres a bomb strapped to my chest and it will only deactivate if you say something to me! Please?"

Sherman stared up at the dog in shock, curiosity, and over all disappointment. He then got up from his bed and left the room promptly and closed the door. A short explosion followed, and this got the boy curious enough to crack the door and look in. If he wasn't so mad at his dad, then he would have laughed when he saw that the bomb did not contain gunpowder, rather it contained purple hair dye. Sherman instead rolled his eyes and walked away, leaving the stunned and purple dog just standing there in the room like an idiot. After recovering, the dog began to plot plan C, which involved simply calling the boy and waiting until he picked up to say hello. Even if Sherman did hang up, at least he would have talked to him.

Rushing to the livingroom, Peabody was about to pick up the phone to make the call when he stopped at the sight of a little yellow stick it, stuck to the telephone. On the note was something written in Sherman's handwriting with a frowny face next to it. It read 'Don't think about it. We have Collar ID (pun intended) :('

"Darn. I thought that would be a good idea." Peabody muttered, picking up the phone and dialing in a number quickly.

He was never one for phone trees, but desperate times called for desperate measures. Bringing the phone to his ear, he made quick work of calling all of the parents he knew and gathering a few ideas that they had for this situation and writing them down for future reference.

Mrs. Chien: Laughter is the best medicine. Maybe it'll work here too.

Peterson's: Maybe try and apologize to him?

Source 'Ursula' Code: Just leave him be and he'll snap out of it eventually.

Well, he decided to go with that first option and set out searching for his clown make-up (never know when you'll need that you know) and began to put this plan into action as well. hopefully plan- other letter, I think D- would turn out better than the other's did. Finally finding the kit in his bowtie closet, the dog made even faster work of slapping on the funniest clown face he could think of and without even a second glance he rushed to go find Sherman, who seemed to be waiting for him in the kitchen. Upon seeing him, the boy facepalmed at the sight of the purple dog in clown make-up. Not even a chuckle escaped from him, but a snap did escape from his cellphone as he pulled it out and quickly took a photo. Peabody didn't even try to be funny after that, instead he walked over and sat down in front of his son.

"Look Sherman. I am sorry for spying on you. I know how excited you were for your first night home alone, but to be honest I was worried." Peabody began, taking note of how Sherman folded his arms and pouted. "I know you're growing up, but to me you'll always be my pup, as generic as that may seem, I mean it and as your father I worry a great deal for you."

Sherman smiled softly, but still did not speak as he waited for his father to speak again. Just then, something clicked in Peabody's brain and he thought of the perfect plan to get Sherman to speak to him again.

"I would also like to add, that if you do talk to me again, then I'll make you those chicken nuggets you're so fond of and allow you to eat them in the living room." At this, Sherman visibly perked up a bit more.

"You drive a hard bargain, Mr. Peabody. But I'm not convinced." Sherman said suddenly. "Throw in an extra hour of TV time and we'll have a deal."

"Of course, but first." Peabody quickly rushed over to Sherman and attempted to snatch his phone away. "Don't you dare show anyone this picture!"