That was quite a normal afternoon. As usual Fred came home from work, having stopped at grocery store on his way. He definitely had to talk seriously with Shaggy and Scooby. They were able to empty the fridge in a half of a day and food wasn't becoming cheaper. He was sure that when the girls saw the bill from the store, they would kick up a row again. Unless Velma got a migraine, of course. She kept getting it more and more often recently. He and Daphne had to confer again and somehow make Velma see her oculist.
Having put the food into the fridge, Fred realized suddenly the apartment was strangely quiet. Usually by this time Velma was home already, cleaning all surfaces she was able to and tidying up the morning mess, left by four persons and a dog. Only sometimes, when she had more work, she would sit down in front of her laptop and not stir from her lab. This time, however, Mystery Inc.'s apartment was in complete mess and Velma was nowhere to be seen. An open laptop, buzzing quietly, was all Fred found in the lab. This really worried him. He looked for her almost everywhere in the house and still didn't find any trace of her. Then, he heard a quiet blubbering from the bathroom. It was Velma, curled on the floor and shaking from crying.
"Velma, what happened?" Fred asked, kneeling down next to her and hugging her.
She didn't reply, though. She clung to his chest for dear life and started sobbing uncontrollably. He gently made her stand up, led her downstairs and made a cup of hot chocolate for her. It took Velma half an hour to stop crying.
"Will you tell me eventually what had happened?" Fred handed her a couple of handkerchiefs.
"Nothing" Velma replied, wiping out the rest of tears.
"Velma" Fred looked seriously into her eyes "we both know you're a poor liar. We've known each other for too long. Please tell me why you were crying."
"Like, what? Velma was crying?" Shaggy echoed, having just come back from work with Scooby. "Why? What had happened?"
"That's what I'm trying to learn" Fred told him. "I couldn't calm her down in any way for a half an hour."
"Okay, I'll tell you" Velma groaned. "Go to my lab and look at my laptop. And then, turn it off. I don't want to see THIS anymore."
Fred and Shaggy did what she'd said but soon, they regretted it. To tell the truth, all that was on the screen was just a web searcher's site but some of the suggested links hinted to Velma's alleged homosexuality.
"Oh..." Fred didn't know what to say.
"Scoundrels..." Shaggy muttered, clenching his fists.
The friends exchanged glances, nodded, closed the laptop and secretly took it to kitchen to show it to Daphne as a corpus delicti if she learned about the case. Then, they came back to Velma beside whom sat Scooby.
"Have you seen it?" she asked, upset. The guys just nodded. "How am I supposed to live with this now?" Velma clung to Shaggy and started to cry once again. "That's awful! The one who invented it had to have sick mind!"
"Don't be so sensitive" Fred told her, stroking her back. "They keep writing obscenities about Daphne and me, too, but do I care since we all know it's not true?"
"Like, and I? Did I care when I read I was taking dope?" Shaggy supported his friend.
"You could pretend it's nothing at all and Fred and Daphne are married anyway! But I'm single and I can't defend myself because nobody will believe me!"
"Ri'll refend rou, Relma" Scooby promised, jostling the girl's hand. (Translation: I'll defend you, Velma.)
"Me, too" said Shaggy.
"And you always can count on me and Daphne" Fred added. "Stop blubbering."
"Thanks, guys. You're the best pals in the world" Velma smiled through tears.
"Like, you're welcome, Vel" Shaggy said quietly, looking at her as if he saw her for the first time in his life.
Then, the front door banged. Daphne just came home.
"Shaggy, why are you sitting like that?" she asked angrily. "It's your turn to cook dinner today!"
"Zoinks!" Shaggy sprang to his feet. "Like, sorry, guys, I totally forgot!"