Father's Day

A/N: A side story to my PBS story 'Mother's Day'. Okay, so PBS was a cartoon that was introduced to me by my dad when I was way little, which was also around the time that my parents were getting divorced. If you can imagine, this show was a huge comfort thing to me, and since Father's Day is coming up, I only saw it fitting.

If you like this story, then please check out my other work for this fandom 'Life Without You', 'Mother's Day', and 'Snips, Snails, and Puppy Dog's Tails.'

HUMAN AU BY THE WAY! THIS ONE IS A HUMAN AU! And Zorra is about 6-8 months old now.

Early mornings in the park was something that Peabody had been accustomed to since long before he adopted Sherman. Sometimes he used to go to the park just as the sun was coming up as part of an early morning walk, or even a place of comfort in his formative years. However, after he adopted his son, he found that a park could be a place for fun and joy, as well as parental bonding with a parent and child. It was also a place that he found himself coming to more often with his apartment's newest arrival, Zorra Four. Well, honorable arrival, that is.

"Okay, Zorra." Peabody muttered, feeling the early morning sun shine hotter against the back of his pale neck. "Just a few more minutes on the swings, and then we'll return to the apartment, okay?"

The little girl giggled as she swung back in forth, kicking her legs as her way of telling the other to push her higher. With a gentle huff, he granted her wish and watched as the child flew back and forth, her blonde curls dancing in the breeze as her giggles continued. Soon, however, her feet stopped kicking and she looked at the older man and held her arms out, wanting him to stop her swing. Carefully, he did this, and lifted the girl out and to his chest as he turned on his heels and began to carry her back to the apartment.

"Well then, you've been on the slide today, and the see-saw, and now the swings. Perhaps now you'll take a nap?" He suggested, watching as Zorra looked around and waved good bye to the park.

Shaking his head at the completely absurd thought that Zorra would go down without a fight for a nap, he continued down the side walk until he arrived at the apartment, that was just a few minutes away from the park. Once inside the building, he made a quick b-line for the elevator and stepped onto the first one that opened, not wanting to risk any unwanted attention. However, he was never that lucky, as an elderly woman soon stepped onto the elevator with them. Sighing heavily, he muttered a quick 'Behave' to Zorra as the doors slid closed.

"What a beautiful little girl you have." The woman said, causing Peabody to mentally slap himself a little.

"Thank you." He muttered, feeling quite thankful when the woman's stop came and she got off.

With a sigh of relief, he made it up to his apartment with the little girl and hurried inside and shut the door before locking it. Once this was done, he walked over to the spot between his TV and his couch, where a little play mat had been set out earlier for Zorra to play on. Setting her down, he watched as the little girl joyfully crawled around to her toys, idly picking up a few of them to play with real quick before her mother came to pick her up. Watching her with amusement, Peabody would have begun to play with her, if it hadn't been for the limited time he had left with her that day and the fact that the phone was beginning to ring. Getting up, he went to get the phone from the couch side table.

'Mah!' Zorra cooed, sad that the attention was off of her as she crawled over to the phone and began to sniffle as she pulled at the cord to the phone.

Tangled up phone lines, and a crying child on the floor. These were not a few of Peabody's favorite things but since his neighbor had given birth, they were things he had to put up with. Balancing the cellphone between his shoulder and his ear, he attempted to lift Zorra yet again into her baby carrier but the baby refused to budge from her spot on the floor, and instead chose to grip the floor for dear life with her chubby fingers. With a heavy sigh, he half listened to the current conversation her was having, and half wrestled with the little girl and the phone's lines until at last he gave up and returned fully to the conversation.

"Peabody! Are you even listening?" A voice, belonging to an older man as well as one of Peabody's co-workers, called back through the phone, with a bit of concern present in his tone.

"Yes, I am still listening." He said, carefully maneuvering the girl's tiny limbs around his person in an attempt to hold both her and the phone. "I am currently attempting to get a child into a car seat."

"Is that so?" The voice asked with a voice that sounded amused.

"Yes, my daugh- Ugh, I mean, Zorra, is taking forever to get into her seat." He blamed the slip-up on his fatherly instincts that he had gotten from raising Sherman for all of those years, as he seemed to be doing that quite often lately whenever her mother wasn't around.

"Very well then. I'll leave you to it then, and I'll be seeing you in a little bit." The other said, suddenly hanging up the phone.

With a heavy sigh, Peabody clicked off his phone and looked down at the little girl who was now innocently looking up at him with her grey little eyes. Sighing heavily, he stroked her hair a little, trying to figure out why she was being so difficult today, but soon giving up and instead kissing her little head, causing her to giggle happily for a bit before settling down and tightening her grip on him ten-fold.

"I can tell that you're not going to let go of me anytime soon..." He muttered with a roll of the eyes, smiling lightly when Zorra shook her little head before nuzzling him playfully.

He couldn't honestly say that he wasn't used to this type of behavior from the little girl. In the time he had gotten to spend with her, the pair had done a good deal of what most would consider to be bonding, which mainly consisted of going to the park or even shopping. Today wouldn't be one of those days that he would consider to be bonding though, as he was simply babysitting the girl while her mother had some alone time to herself for a few hours before Peabody went to work.

"Well then, are you quite satisfied with yourself?" He asked, watching as the little girl baby to baby kiss as his shirt and arm. "Now, just because thats adorable, it doesn't mean that your little tantrum was okay.

Zorra pouted her little cheeks out, holding onto him tightly as he walked over to her baby seat and withdrawing a little stuffed bear. Carefully, he placed the teddy between her mouth and his arm, watching as she gasped and suddenly clung to her beloved toy.

"I'm glad you love your teddy." Peabody said softly as he watched her hug the thing so full of love before offering him back to Peabody to hold. "Mainly because it was a gift from me."

With a soft smile, he gently took the toy and began to move the teddy's little arms around above it's chubby body just to make the little girl laugh a little more. The Albino paused in their play, however, when he realized that there were still a few things he needed to complete before the thought of leaving for work was even an option. Quickly, the man rushed to the kitchen counter and plucked up a sealed envelope. Inside contained a key to his penthouse, which would be given to his neighbor from two floors down, as well as the mother of Zorra, Ursula Code. A knock on the door altered him that the woman was now here for said envelope, and for her child, whom Peabody had been babysitting.

"Coming!" He called as he headed to the door to unlock it, turning quickly to Zorra. "I'm going to give your mother a key to my house, okay, Zorra? That way you and almost live here and visit whenever you want to come over."

As the child giggled, the male opened the door quickly. Peabody's blonde neighbor/friend was soon reviled, her hair tied back in a rather clean ponytail compared to her usually messy one, her shirt still being one of Peabody's, and a new belt that she wore around the loops of her boot cut jeans as a proud statement that she had finally begun to loose some of her baby weight. Oddly enough, this clean and cut look normally meant that she was at her busiest, making Peabody feel a bit (but not so much) guilty for having her come all the way up the stairs for her child instead of him taking her down to her.

"Good morning Ursula, you are looking well this morning." Peabody greeted, casually handing her the envelope and patting her thin shoulder. "This is for you, mainly because you two practically live here anyhow."

"Thanks. I just woke up actually." The woman laughed at that first part before slowly bending so that she was eye-level with her daughter. "And sorry for having you babysit, but I just needed a nap... No need for a key, really."

"She was no trouble at all, as usual. I really don't mind having her over." Peabody said firmly as he adjusted the child on his person and sighed. "She doesn't seem to want to leave though is the reason for the key..."

"Really?" The older female asked, knowing full well that this was true. "Thats a little strange, don't you think?"

"I doubt it, but I haven't a clue what else could be causing her to act like this." He said as both adults looked down at the little girl.

Looking down at the little one, the two adults frowned softly, as she clung tighter to Peabody's shirt and cooed sweetly. As they stared, her little lips began to move and she began to make strange but still very cute squeaking sounds. Smiling, a light bulb went off inside of Ursula's head as she believed that she had figured things out for the most part.

"Zorra, do you know who this is?" She asked sweetly as she pointed over at the albino male curiously.

"Why ask her something like that?" He snapped, sounding both surprised and curious.

"Shes almost 8 months old now. Maybe she'll be able to answer us with a one worded response." Ursula cooed, trying to shush the male so that she could hear her daughter just a little bit better.

The little blonde's head turned suddenly as she looked up at the albino male. Of course, she recognized who this man was. He was always with her mommy, and sometimes just with her whenever mommy wasn't around. As far as her little memory reached, she remembered that he had been there since the day she was born, and sometimes if she thought hard enough, she could even remember his voice as being something that she would hear whenever she was in her mommy's tummy before she was born. With this in mind, she offered the adults a sweet and innocent smile, the little girl pointed up at him, and in her sweet little voice, she said her first actual, human word.

"Daddy!"