Sometimes it's also easy to forget something like a holiday. With all the modern commercialism, a single day can seem to extend beyond when it is supposed to take place. Mostly due to stores getting into the swing of things to make as much money as they can. You can tell when something is coming when a month in advance they have big blow out sales in stores and car's being sold off by the lots for this or that celebration holiday.
It was one such a time when Valentines seemed to have crept up upon the residents of a little house in Coolsville. Like many others, the holiday was spammed in every corner store and out in the streets. Buy flowers here, candy there...Forgetting over the years of what the holiday might have originated. With it so apparent all over the place, the gang had totally forgotten the actual day as it snuck upon them and was almost done. Fred had spent most of the day fighting with a repairman about the car, while Shaggy had been helping out a bake sale with Scooby. The girls had spent the day in the dark room, working on a batch of photo's of Daphne's she had taken for a contest that was coming. It was only late at night for dinner that they all had gathered together.
Sending a smell to wake the whole house up, Shaggy and Scooby had come home with enough time to make a nice meal for them all. It was simple, but as simple as Shaggy could possibly make it, which tended to only be a three course meal.
Soup and salad was the first, a nice rich home made chicken soup had been made from scratch with the little bits of chicken that Shaggy had carved from the bigger birds that went into the main course. Also in the soup were some cooked carrots, leeks and good sized potatoes. Topping with some light sweet and sour dressing and some cashews, the salad was relatively simple but a nice start to the meal. Making up the main course was a two part meal. The main chicken had been stuffed and marinated with a nice white wine while the darker bits had been diced and laid lightly over the whole thing. They had light seasoning to add to the marinated bits of the other chicken. Overall it was a nice compliment to each other, ending with a batch of fresh, oven baked Chocolate chip cookies.
Being a Semi-Vegetarian, Shaggy would sometimes consume poultry and fish, though only on rare occasions or when his body was low on something. He just helped himself to more of the salad and soup then the main course. And dessert was always a plus.
"Like' Come and get it gang!" Shaggy had hollered down the hall where it echoed along the house. It took little encouragement since the smell had sent the message to the rest long before they had even been finished. Velma was the first, trotting up the basement stairs a bit before Daphne, who appeared a few seconds later. Fred came soon after, having the longer trip from the study all the way in the second floor.
Taking up their usual roles, they split about the kitchen collecting enough of the necessary dinner equipment. Daphne gathered the cups, while Fred fished about for the proper silverware. Velma grabbed the plates and moved about the next room over, setting the table in the dinning room. Though it was a grand oak table that seemed to be able to sit many people, most of the plates seemed to be spread just to one side. Trotting around, Scooby placed various trivets around the table to protect the wood from the heat of the pots and pans. What followed was like a organized dance. Plates, cups, silver wear and food seemed to move into their proper spots as the four people and one dog wove back and forth getting the dinner ready. They knew each other so well that it was almost to done to a unheard beat, moving in and out with a flowing balance. It took little time to set up the meal and they were soon sitting.
"Dig in guys." Shaggy said as he plopped himself into the cushion of the seat under him. The others followed, going so far as Scooby had sat down along side them all and was busy tying a bib around his neck. Though this wasn't uncommon for the Dane to do, anyone not already used to the dog might think it strange. As the food was picked up and passed out, conversation was soon to follow.
"Awesome spread Shag..." Commented Fred, "... Any special reason?"
Pausing from fishing around his big pot for some potato's, Shaggy paused and gave the question a thought. Placing a hand, the cogs in head went to work. Cranking around, the beatnik turned to his furry companion to his left. The Dane looked up from his meal and shrugged his shoulders.
"Ri r'ont row." Scooby admitted, not being able to think of anything. Looking back to Fred, he shrugged himself.
"Nothing special that I know of. I can't think of anything special." He gave his goatee an absentminded scratch before he went back to finishing for his potato's.
"OH!"
Exclaimed Daphne, making the rest of the turn to her direction. "Don't take all of those potato's Shaggy, I haven't gotten any yet!" Shaggy smiled and then took the last one off the ladle he was using before passing the pot over to her. Velma's brow was furrowed, it seemed the question was bugging her. She was concentrating so hard that she didn't notice Scooby holding out the pot for her to pass it across to Daphne.
"Earth to Velma... Come in Velma." Daphne waved her hand in front of the girl snapping her out of it.
"Oh, sorry Daphne." Velma took the extended pot and passed it over to Daphne. "I feel like I'm forgetting something, but for the life of me I can't recall what it is."
Taking the pot, Daphne went at the bowl grabbing a few of the potato's and carrots before she sent the pot back. Stirring the broth she thought about it as well, but gave up in exchange for her stomach protesting to be fed.
"You'll remember it eventually, don't worry." Daphne said between chewed mouthfuls. Making sure to swallow and speak before she added more food into her mouth. It wasn't lady like to talk with your mouth full, but that didn't say anything about stuffing your mouth before and after the conversation. Velma took some chicken and sliced it to put on her plate before nodding.
"Yeah, you know your right. But it's going to nag me till I remember." Velma added, tapping her lips with the back side of her fork. Though she gave up for now, hoping it came to her while she ate.
And ate they all did. As usual, Shaggy had made massive portions. Salad, chicken, soup... Everything was Grande sized, and even with them all having been occupied all day there was plenty of food left over. The plates before all of them bore the seal of the Clean Plate club, and bellies sat comfortable and full.
"Phew... Good stuff." Fred grunted as he moved. He had ate more then he expected but it was good and worth the over stuffing.
"Thanks for the meal." Complimented Daphne. "Hat's off to the Chef..." She made the motion of tipping her hat, though she had nothing on her head beside her bright orange hair. Looking up at her hand, she giggled. "Well, if I had a hat."
"Rah ruh." Scooby nodded in agreement, tapping his full stomach and grinning like a content cat. Which was funny for a dog to do, grinning like a feline. But few could compare the look better then a content cat as an example.
"Alright... Now who's going to help me clean up?" Shaggy said, holding himself by his appeased stomach and getting to his feet. Scooby was quick to agree and Daphne decided to join them. While the three of them worked on wrapping and refrigerating the leftovers, Velma and Fred moved to the dishes. Fred took the dirty job, and then handed them off for Velma to dry.
With most of the food put away Scooby trotted to the oven, pawing it open to release the irresistible smell of fresh baked cookies. They had been sitting in the oven just waiting for dinner to finish. As the tantalizing smell wafted over to where Fred was cleaning the dishes, it hit him and he groaned.
"Oh man Shag... You had to go and make some cookies?" He grumbled. "... I'm not sure I have enough room for some, but those smell so good."
"I know what you mean." Whined Daphne. She had made a pig of herself and forgot about the cookies.
"Well, we could always go for a bit of a walk and take them with us to eat when we have worked off a bit of the dinner." Suggested Velma.
"R'ut... R'ut..." Scooby shot them a watery eyed look from over the pan of cookies. "... R'ey rould ret rold!" He had a good argument. Cold cookies weren't as nice as straight out of the oven. But with all that the gang had eaten, cookies were not small enough to fit.
"Well, like how about this?" Shaggy spoke up, trying to offer an ultimatum. He walked over to where Scooby had been holding up the tray and picked up a random cookie to shake in his hand as he spoke for emphasis. "Why don't we leave the cookies here." He pointed to the floor to signify the house. "...And then go out for a walk to work off a bit so by the time we get back we'll have gotten hungry enough for the warm cookies?"
With a closer inspection, the cookie in Shaggys hand seemed to be a certain shape. Daphne seemed to notice it.
"You know... that looks like a heart." She pointed to the cookie.
"Oh! You know..." Fred brought a hand up to point at the cookie. "... I think that is a great idea Shaggy. A nice walk might be nice, since the night shouldn't be that bad out. And the cookies can wait for us at home so when we are done they should still be warm."
Shaggy nodded and placed the cookie and tray back into the oven. Everyone agreed with the plan and filtered out of the kitchen to gather up loose jackets to combat against the mild chill that was hanging outside. With night already fallen, the dark was chilled but not full out winter gear type of weather. Gathered all at the door, they headed out and started down the street.
"So where are we going?" Velma wondered, having been quiet for a while since her mind was still seemed to be preoccupied with her nagging feeling. Fred straightened up and pointed down the street all important like.
"That way!" He declared, though with no specific reason in all actuality. He was being dramatic, and thought it got a smile out of Velma and Shaggy, and a chuckle from Scooby, Daphne just seemed to roll her eyes.
"Come on Ryouga... " Daphne muttered as she started moving, though she was joking. But it was fun to pick on Fred. He sulked for a second before picking up the pace behind her. Shaggy and Scooby turned to Velma.
"R'aroga?" Scooby asked the question on both him and the beatniks mind. Velma smiled and shrugged. "As long as I'm not Akane I'm happy." She moved to follow the other two. Turning to one another, the pair shrugged and trotted after the gang.
"Hey!"
"R'ait r'up!"
Light conversation perked up as they moved about the streets. With it being late night, there was little besides them, fireflies and the street lights. They talked a while as the streets moved on from one block to another before they found them selves before the town park. It was a little park, surrounded by a light forest. The forest was kept as a kind of extension of the park, though they really didn't consider it a part of the park. The park was more flat with little cute bushes, community gardens and a little bit for the kids to play on things. Swings and such, along with various contraptions to occupy little kids with stuff to climb around and into. A bit more complex then back in the days of monkey bars and slides.
Running off ahead, Scooby aimed straight for the playground. The Dane bounded around and was soon getting himself tangled in the various cargo nets as he tried to reach the top of one of the slides.
"Scoob..." Shaggy sighed as he moved to untangle the overgrown puppy. Scooby laughed sheepishly and waited for Shaggy to free him. Walking up to the area, Fred Daphne and Velma leaned on a nearby fence to watch the two. Once the dog had gotten untangled, he pounced upon his scruffy haired companion and knocked him to the ground.
"Hey!" Shaggy shouted as Scooby had moved to Shaggys shoes and took one in his mouth. With an expert twist, the shoe came right off and the Dance danced out of the seeking grasp of Shaggys hand.
"Why you..." Grumbled Shaggy as he gave chase after the furry thief. At first he tried hopping after Scooby, but he soon lost his balance and ended up placing his socked foot deep into the sand around the playground to get his footing. Sighing, he gave up not getting any more sand in his sock and just took the whole thing off.
"A little help?" Shaggy looked over to the three lounging and watching. He was going to need more then his two hands to catch the four pawed menace. Laughing, Velma moved away from the fence and sat down on a nearby bench to take off her shoes. She didn't want to get any sand in her shoes and socks, so she thought it more logical to take them off before hand. With no fear anyone taking them, she left them on the bench as she moved to assist Shaggy. The sand was cold at first, but as soon as she spent a short time giving chase, she barely even registered it was cold. Sand was going everywhere as the two tried to corner the bounding thief, but with the various playground pieces, it was hard to pin the Dane dog to retrieve the stolen shoe.
Fred soon felt too amused to not join in with the chase and he discarded his shoes and socks to try to help the other two with catching Scooby. They were closer, but even with three people it was still not possible to catch their four legged pal. A joyous tail wagged as they paused to take a breath, Shaggy sitting in the sand panting while Velma and Fred had decided to lean against one of the slides for support.
"R'ome r'on!" Barked Scooby, a smile sticking out from either side of the captured shoe.
"Oh Phooey..." Sighed Velma, obviously tired from trying to catch the over energetic Scooby. The sand wasn't helping either. To help prevent little kids from hurting themselves, the sand was deep. She actually approved of the sand better then some of the more modern rubber floors that some of the other parks were using. But Sand seemed to her a better impact absorber for small children rather then a solid piece of rubber.
"Hey Daph..." Fred called over to her. "...Why don't you want to join in? Don't think you can catch him?" Fred added with a bit of a teasing tone. Daphne shot him a raised eyebrow before grinning.
"If you are going to do something right, you have to do it yourself." She commented in a confident tone. Pushing off the fence she had been enjoying their rowdy antics, she moved around it to the edge of where the grass stopped and the sad began. She didn't even move to take off her shoes. She instead reached into her pocket and pulled out something.
"Hey Scooby..." She started before Fred interjected.
"... That's cheating!" He felt like she was cheating, but he would have preferred to have thought about it himself and might have saved them all some time. Thought it was fun.
"Cheating or not..." Daphne smiled before holding up the thing she had taken out of her pocket. "... Scoooby... Want a Scooby snack for the shoe?"
Sitting between her fingertips was a chocolate flavored Scooby Snack. The Dane's eyes lit up as he dashed across the sand to where she was standing, sending a spray of sand behind him towards the others.
"Hey!"
"Watch it!"
"Scoob!"
Skidding to a halt, the dog was straight at attention with the shoe in mouth and hungry belly at the ready.
"Trade." Daphne offered, putting her other hand out for the shoe. The shoe landed with a squishy thunk in her hand as she tossed the treat behind him. Excited, Scooby snapped around to catch the treat in the air.
"Rum rum! Rankies Raphy! I Rove rou!" The Dane gushed.
"That's it!" Velma exclaimed. All eyes turned on her.
"That's what we have been missing all day. It's Valentines day!" She felt happy that she finally remembered what it was, but checking the time she found they only had a few more minutes left till it was over.
"Oh... Shoot your right." Daphne said with a sad tone in her voice. Usually she had always looked forward to celebrating Valentines, but she just got so busy this time around she had totally forgotten about it.
"Oh man... well it's not all that bad." Shaggy commented. He had gotten up and moved over to take the soggy shoe out of her hand. "...We at least had a really nice meal together!" Ever the optimist Shaggy had added. He was right, plus they also were having a nice night even though it wasn't much then a walk and a bit of fun on the playground.
"...But... Valentines is..." Daphne started before Velma intruded.
"Chocolates, roses and all that?" She offered.
"Yeah!" Daphne nodded, having missed everything. Though not really seeing what she was really missing was right in front of her.
"Well..." Fred spoke, leaning over from where he was to point at one of the gardens nearby. "I bet there are more then a dozen roses in there. And they will continue to be there several weeks from now and everyone can enjoy them." Daphne couldn't find anything she could comment against that. Plus a fresh, living rose did tend to smell better then one that was cut and treated to live just a bit longer then normal.
"Do you have any more Scooby snacks?" Shaggy asked out of no where. Daphne was a bit surprised with the request and pulled out the small emergency bag out of her pocket. As soon as he could, Shaggy it out of her hand politely and then went around to them all giving them one. He gave Daphne one before noticing he had one left between him and Scooby. When he was about to break it in half, Scooby put a paw up and pushed the treat to Shaggy. Shaggy smiled and patted Scooby on the head.
"Thanks pal." Turning to Daphne he held up the one he had. "Well, you got the roses, and these ARE chocolate. And all your friends are here. What more do you need?"
Looking down at the treat she spent a few seconds with her attention on it and the question.
What more do I need?
"Well... I guess you're right Shaggy." She held up the treat to them all. "Here's to us!"
Nodding the rest of them held up their treats in a toast before they all ate their one little treat in the best company. Coming together, they all gave each other a group hug. Laughing, they eventually broke the hug just in time for the clock to strike midnight.
"Happy Valentines guys..."
Sometimes it's not the holiday that makes the difference, but what you decided to do with your time and who you decided to be with.
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"Hey guys... You know the cookies are going to be cold by the time we get home..."
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Happy holidays!