"I think it's best if we get a fresh start in the morning," Fred suggested as Daphne and Velma followed him down a hallway away from thee Spooky Island reception desk, room keys in hand.
If they were being honest with themselves, it felt all too normal- Shaggy and Scooby had wandered off to find food, Fred was in the lead. They didn't want it to feel normal. If it felt normal, then it would be harder to stay angry.
At least that's how Daphne viewed it. Had she not spent the last two years working day in and day out to improve herself? She didn't need them. As long as she reminded herself of that, there was nothing holding her back from solving this thing on her own. She needed to stay angry. If she let that up, even for a moment, her work would be worthless.
"So they assumed we were all, well, that we were all a little friendlier than we are," Fred said as he inserted a key into the lock of room 125. "So there's two connected rooms, each with one bed. I'm fine sharing with the Shagster if you two girls are fine sharing."
Velma and Daphne both shrugged but said nothing. Daphne paused for a moment, letting Velma pass her into the room before struggling to pull her overloaded luggage cart into the narrow doorway.
"I'm going to go back down to reception and see what I can get from the some of the workers. Why don't you two check out some of the rides and activities and see if there's anything unusual," Fred offered.
"What happened to get a good night's rest?" Daphne asked, placing her hands on her hips as she Fred approached the door.
"Well, I was thinking you all might want that. I've got a plan to follow," Fred dropped his voice, smirking. "Perhaps you'd like to joinme?"
"Um, I've already got a plan, Fred," Daphne lied. "I don't need you to offer options for me. I know what I'm doing."
Fred raised his hands to indicate he didn't care, before turning and leaving through the door.
"You want the left side of the bed, correct?" Velma asked quietly as she pulled her carry-on over to the corner.
"Yes, I do," Daphne said, taken aback. "I didn't think you'd remember that."
"I remember everything," Velma muttered. She dropped her backpack off her back onto the small table. She pulled out the chair at the table and sat down.
"What are you doing?" Daphne asked as she clicked open one of her suitcases. "I thought you said you were going to' solve this one first'?"
"I could wait until the morning and still solve it first," Velma said, not looking up as she opened her laptop. She pulled an ethernet cord from her bag and plugged one end into the wall and the other into the device. "Which is what I'm planning on doing. I just need to check my email first. Making sure there are no work emergencies or anything."
"I see. I think I'll do that too."
Velma raised an eyebrow but said nothing.
"Mmmm. And where, uh, where is it that you're working?" Daphne asked, trying her best not to sound too curious.
"NASA," Velma answered automatically. "Working on a hydro-powered missile defense system. I signed an agreemet that if they would precept me for research for my PhD, I would work for them for three years. I defended my thesis last year, so technically I am now Dr. Velma Dinkley, PhD."
Daphne nodded. She wanted more than anything to congratulate her. Daphne knew that securing a doctorate was a lifelong ambition, but she also knew Velma's desire for credit and to be a part of things and how it not only shaped their previous relationship in Mystery Incorporated, but also ended it.
"What about you?" Velma asked, snapping her laptop shut to prevent Daphne from seeing her empty inbox. "I heard you were in China?"
"Yes," Daphne nodded. "I took a year off and focused on myself. Went to China and spent a year learning kung-fu. Got a black belt. Meditated a lot. Found my inner strength."
"Good for you," Velma said flatly. "Now that you have returned stateside, will you return to the PR firm you were at before?"
"No, no," Daphne shook her head. "I-I resigned before I left."
Daphne pulled back the cover to the bed and sat down. She unzipped one of her gogo boots and pulled it off, before repeating it with the other foot.
Silently, both women performed their nightly routines. Velma took a short shower before taking her place on the right side of the bed to read before falling asleep. Daphne took a long shower until the water ran cold. She would have done her typical routine of blow drying out her hair, but she was so exhausted her eyes felt like they were ready to roll back in her head.
She dressed in a pink silk nightgown and brushed her teeth. She set her eyemask atop her head, ready to be pulled down as soon as she was in bed, and then placed a Breathe Right strip over her nose
Velma had already turned out the lights and pulled the covers up over her. Even without her glasses on, she could see Daphne's shadowy figure approaching and rolled away from her. Daphne pretended to ignore this as she slid into the bed.
"What's on your nose?" Velma mumbled from the other side of the bed. Her voice was muffled partly because were faced was pressed into the pillow and also slightly because there seemed to be something in her mouth.
"How could you possibly tell I had something on my nose? You can't see anything without your glasses on."
"My eyes have already adjusted to the dark and I can tell there is a dark mark somewhere in the vicinity of your nose," Velma muttered. "I assume you put something on it as it wasn't there before you went in the bathroom."
"It's a nose strip thing," Daphne snapped. "Someone pointed out to me that I snore."
"I could have told you that."
"Oh yeah. Well what's in your mouth?"
"A nightguard," Velma replied, looking back over her shoulder. "My dentist said that I grind my teeth, presumably due to stress."
"I could have told you that," Daphne said haughtily, her sneer masked by the darkness.
Daphne turned over on the bed, so that her back was to Velma's.
Velma sighed deeply through her nose.
Don't give in. Don't be the weak one. Don't show how much you missed her. Think about the mystery. Review the facts. Think about the mystery... review the facts...
Repeating the words like a mantra in her head, Velma closed her eyes tight. But inevitably, pictures, memories like video clips started to swim through her mind. The colors and voices swirled around her head, coming to rest on the very last time she saw Daphne.
It was that night with the Luna Ghost, but after they went their separate ways. Velma was sitting alone in her car, watching the others drive away, angry hot tears streaming down her face. She wanted to talk to someone. She needed to talk to someone. But without the gang, she had no one.
On the other side of the bed, Daphne repeated her own mantra in her head.
Breathe in, two, three, four. Breathe out, two, three, four. Focus your breathing. Focus your mind. Breathe in, two, three, four. Breathe out, two, three, four...
Though her memories did not swirl as fast or hard as Velma's did, she too was flooded with emotion. She too thought of that night when they split up. Returning to her parent's home with her suitcases. Taking a hot bath in their giant Jacuzzi and wondering what would happen to her tomorrow.
"Can you believe it's been two years since we split up?" Daphne said at last.
"Only two years?" Velma asked, trying to add an edge of sarcasm to her voice. "I barely noticed. What with all the work I was doing."
"Well, me too. I mean, I didn't even have a calendar during my year abroad. And it wouldn't have mattered if I did, you know. I was so invested in my training that it didn't matter."
Velma gulped, her resolve fading. The memories of her time at NASA started to race through her head.
"It wasn't good," she said, tears starting to fall from her eyes. "I didn't make any friends. They, they didn't include me in anything. They laughed at me behind my back. I worked alone and that was all I did. I just worked, so much. I had to go to therapy for self-esteem. I had to take medicine for anxiety attacks. It... it was terrible. I hated every minute of it. I-I hate every minute of it."
"I used China to run away," Daphne. "The PR firm... it-it was a nightmare. I didn't resign. I couldn't take the pressure and broke down. And I was so ashamed that I ran off to the other side of the world. And it was no better. The training, the training distracted me but the meditation was... it was awful. Sometimes when you try and find yourself, you find what you don't like about yourself."
Then, as if given permission, Velma began to sob.
"I'm so sorry I broke us up," she said through gasping breaths. "I'm so sorry I was so concerned with myself that I couldn't be part of the team."
"It wasn't you, it was me. It was all of us. We... we were tired and stressed and... and we couldn't take it anymore. We're all to blame."
"But I was the first to quit," Velma sobbed. "It felt like the straw that broke the camel's back, and I fell for it. I-I wasn't strong enough to keep going. I failed us. I failed us all."
Daphne turned over and hugged Velma from behind, her own hot tears rubbing off on the back of Velma's nightshirt.
"You let us go," she said. "You let us all go. We needed a break and you knew that. You let us all go."
"And look how we ended up," Velma sighed. "Look what we did."
"And look where we are now. We coudn't stay away. And here we are again. Together. We had our time alone and now we're back because we couldn't stay away from each other. We just couldn't do it."
Velma continued to sob, as did Daphne. They held each other and sobbed for half the night, before both of them fell asleep.
And the next morning, they set out on their respective mystery-solving plans alone, as if the previous night had never happened.
But it would not be the only night in their journey in which it would happen...