Fred knew two kinds of pain.
The sharp pain of impact, with floor, with bat, sometimes with dog if Scooby was lying in the wrong place at the wrong time. That kind he could cope with, because someone would invariably check he was OK and the pain didn't last, just faded. Give it a rub and it would all be better quickly. Sometimes Daphne would kiss it better, and then he'd almost be grateful that he'd been hurt, because whenever she so much as touched him the world seemed to get that little bit closer to Heaven.
And then there was the pain after that. The pain of being slapped on the back only for a bruise to heartily complain about it, or bumping against furniture only to rip a scab back open. Fred knew how to grit his teeth and ignore it, how to angle his body away so that any contact would be with undamaged skin. It would dissipate, and then he'd just be left with an unpleasant reminder not to let that happen again. It was just pain. It hurt. That's all it did.
And then Fred's life had been thrown into a blender, spat out the other end, and thrown in the dustbin.
A lie. His whole existence, his family, his world, everything, was a lie. One big web of deceit and hatred, of greed and disaster. The man he loved as a father- his biggest betrayer. Fred was left spinning in an unchartered sea, tears blinding his eyes as he walked away from the only woman he had ever loved.
This was a new kind of pain, he realised as he walked. The ache behind his ribs that wouldn't bank down, that stung his eyes as his gaze blurred, the rage and hatred and sadness and hurt swirling round his body. The pain of betrayal, the purest pain ever. No remedy, no bandage, except time and healing. The pain of leaving her. The pain of having his world torn out from under his feet and crumpled up in front of his eyes.
How he longed for the pain of being hit, or the pain afterwards. A pain his sore heart could deal with. Not this unremitting agony, this fury that he couldn't touch.
Anything but this.
He didn't register getting into the van, or driving away; he didn't register getting out again, not until he was crouched on the floor beside the road, retching his stomach out, tears dribbling down his cheeks. A passer-by handed him a tissue; Fred didn't know whether she'd seen him crying, but it was a tiny glimmer of help and he accepted eagerly, letting her help him up and seat him on a bench until his head had stopped thudding.
Her name was Laura. She was pretty. Brunette. Gave him some water and he glugged it down, desperate to be on the road again, needing to be as far away from Crystal Cove as the USA would allow. Or maybe… maybe even further?
His school had meant to do an exchange with a school in England, but at the last moment they'd pulled out because it was too expensive. Everyone had been so disappointed; Fred had whined for weeks, desperate to see somewhere new, experience this strange country he'd only ever seen occasionally on the news. But no, his father wasn't going on vacation to England, and neither was Fred.
Maybe England. Maybe they would hold the answers.
He had a bag, money, documents.
He had a chest that nearly doubled him over as he walked.
All set, then. One Fred Jones. One more lie.
They wouldn't let him on the plane. His documents were faked. Not that Fred was surprised.
He'd ended up in the local police department, answering question after question, so tired he could barely stand when a sympathetic young officer told him everything had been confirmed and offered him a bed for the night. He'd had a couple of messages passed on for him. One from a Mr Jones of Crystal Cove, begging Fred to call him. Another from a Daphne Blake, same place, asking if he was OK.
Fred hid in the little bedroom pointed out to him and dug his fingers into his arms, cutting the skin with his fingernails and the pressure, letting the pain wash over him, easing his emotions just for that blissful second until someone came in and squawked at him to stop. What do you think you're doing? Let's get the doctor in here… doctor! He…
The doctor just bandaged his arms and told him to sleep. Everything'll look better tomorrow, when you're well-rested. Don't worry, young man. It'll work out.
Tomorrow, the police officer who poked his head round the door to check him said, they would find out who Fred's real parents were, find them, and contact them, tell them where their child was. Fred wondered idly where they were as exhaustion took over.
He was so deeply asleep he didn't hear Mayor Frederick Jones being processed, his shouts that he wanted to see Fred, that he raised the boy for years, they couldn't take him away now, they couldn't, they couldn't. He didn't hear the door opening and someone slipping in, someone with four legs, but he did feel Scooby Doo curling up next to him and nuzzling into him, and he managed a tiny, precious smile as Scooby first made sure Fred was comfortable and then let himself fall asleep beside him, like a guardian angel in the night.
Brad Chiles and Judy Reeves were travelling over from Coolsville, Ohio.
Scooby refused to leave Fred's side.
The rest of the gang turned up and, after the police had finally managed to ensconce their marauding parents in a waiting room, were allowed to see Fred before he was placed into what everyone seemed to be calling 'protective custody'. He didn't tell anyone about hurting himself last night, and the doctor didn't mention anything. The gang held each other tight, no longer in their separate relationships, all bound as one, and reminisced, laughing and hugging and crying until someone came in and held out Fred's coat for him.
"We'll call. And text. You'll see, you won't be able to stop us," Velma told him firmly, hugging him before he could even so much as do his coat up. Shaggy yanked him into a hug as soon as she'd let him go, patting his back and whispering a request for any cool Coolsville recipes in his ear; Fred had to laugh.
Daphne was the hardest. He could barely summon the strength to let her go, to let other hands prise his precious girl out of his arms and take her away, away to shores uncertain. Just like him. At least they'd all be together, while he was in Coolsville. Shaggy's military academy had refused to take him after interview; Velma's parents had forgiven her. Daphne's parents had more or less come to terms with the fact that Daphne would never love anyone but Fred, and so had done a U-turn and decided to make life a little more pleasant for him.
Fred stood, and shivered, out of fear or anxiety or what, he wasn't sure.
They'd cried. He hadn't. He'd stood there and let them hug him, strangers, and yet so familiar. He hadn't given them the real reason for his bandaged arms. Even thinking about what he'd done sent a glow of shame to his pale cheeks.
Brad was more or less what Fred had expected: handsome, with an oblong face that once had held great joy, but now was lined with sorrow and secrecy. He hadn't shaken Fred's hand, had simply hugged him, and Fred preferred that. He didn't want them to be formal. He wanted them to treat him like a son, the son he was to them.
Judy… Judy had been a surprise. Still very beautiful, still slim and youthful, but with an air of sadness that told of her lost child. She'd had no restraint, pulling him towards her the second he'd stepped into the room, unable to stop crying.
He had a sister he'd never met, and even a little brother. His sister was at a friend's house and his brother was upstairs watching a movie. They didn't want to overwhelm him, they said. This had obviously been very traumatic for him.
They were getting to know him, asking about likes and dislikes, his friends, beaming when he spoke of Daphne. They were easy to talk to. Like they were friends of his too.
When they'd told him about their dealings with Mayor Jones, Fred had to leave the room, hiding in the kitchen to try and compose himself. Judy came to find him after ten minutes and threw her arms round him, letting him cry, letting him swear into her jumper as his hatred and anger and confusion poured out. It's OK to be angry. You've got lots to be angry about. He used you and we tried so hard to get you back, but he threatened us with jail, with taking Georgia and Max away. You have to understand, we did our best.
He didn't blame them. How could he? They'd lost their son for sixteen precious, irretrievable years. Other children couldn't plug the gap his abduction had left. And that was what he had to understand. Mayor Jones had never been a father to him. He'd been a captor. Nothing better than a kidnapper. Trapping Fred in Crystal Cove and a life he should never have led.
He liked Brad and Judy. He liked them a lot. And, when Max edged down from upstairs and Georgia came in, both very sweet and very shy, and he took them outside to play ball and talk, he liked them too. Georgia reminded him of Velma, intelligent and quirky, very witty and with a tongue that could cut diamond when she had a mind to use it. Max was a little less responsive, but very kind and very observant. Fred almost cheered when his little brother admitted he liked ghost mysteries.
But… Coolsville wasn't Crystal Cove. Georgia and Max weren't the gang. His fiancée was missing, his friends were missing, even thinking about the Mystery Machine gave him a pang in his chest. He was homesick for a home that had been a lie and had still been beautiful.
He tried to explain, and Judy did her best to understand. Brad was very much a father, laughing and joking, but when it came to emotions, he shied away. Judy explained that Brad's father had been very abusive, had beaten him for showing emotion, and so Brad kept it all bottled up. He had so much to learn about this new family and his new life, and he wasn't entirely sure he'd be able to.
When they gave him the opportunity to return to Crystal Cove, he didn't refuse it.
Daphne kissed him with such vigour he was left decorated from nose to chin with her lipstick.
Then Velma, Shaggy and Scooby crushed him into a group hug that winded him and broke what felt like every bone in his body.
He was a little worse for wear when they let him go, but filled with breathless delight and with a fierce joy he was certain he was never going to get from the company of anyone but these four people. Well, three people and lovable dog.
Crystal Cove was different. Whether it was simply Coolsville changing his viewpoint, or what, but as they walked around, Fred didn't think of these pavements or buildings as home. This was the place he'd grown up in, and would never look at quite the same again. A change of Mayor, a new shop, an old one closed down, and Crystal Cove had changed beyond recognition for him. The rest of the gang were unenthusiastic about it, pointing out the changes without much care for them. Since their leader's departure, they admitted, the life had gone out of the town, leaving them with a shell to fill with what they could. Which wasn't a lot, given what they'd been through.
None of them were the same, and Crystal Cove wasn't the same. Perhaps that was just it. Crystal Cove wasn't their home anymore. It wasn't the home of Mystery Inc.
It might have been the 'most hauntedest place on Earth', but it held little affection from the mystery-solvers now. Pastures new called.
Roll on Ohio.
Ex-Mayor Frederick Jones was sentenced to life imprisonment for child abduction and falsifying an adoption and documents to go with it. He was also convicted of criminal damage- destroying half the Spanish Church- and endangering lives. Fred didn't attend the trial, even though he knew Mr Jones wanted him to.
He was busy becoming Fred Chiles.
And, with Daphne Chiles at his side, he was doing a pretty good job of it.
It wasn't all plain sailing. Fred attended counselling most days, trying to make sense of everything that had happened to him, and refused to buy a house more than a block away from his parents, in case they disappeared as suddenly as they'd arrived in his life. Daphne was on hand every second of the day, and sometimes more if he needed it. Shaggy, Velma and Scooby were renting a place five minutes away; word had it that Shaggy and Velma were patching up their relationship very nicely indeed. Not a fairytale ending, but close enough.
Mystery Inc. had survived to fight another day, and each member breathed a sigh of relief every day for it. They swore they were closer now than ever before, having weathered the storm more or less together and come out the other side intact. It felt good, to look back, now, to laugh at their days in Crystal Cove as though it had all been a dream, one of those summer-afternoon fantasies where the heat drugs the brain and conjures up the wildest of adventures. The mysteries still came in, thick and fast, but Crystal Cove seemed to have lost its claim to fame: nothing ever came from there anymore.
The gang wouldn't claim to be unbreakable, because that wasn't quite true. But they did say, with certainty in their voices, that if they ever were parted, they would find their way back to each other. Because they might not be unbreakable, but they were most certainly unbeatable.
And that was what mattered, at the end of the day.
A/N: I won't claim to be SDMI's biggest fan, because I'm not. The animation gets on my wick, they've done Fred all wrong again, and Scooby's voice has gone funny (Frank Welker, perhaps you should re-watch the old episodes? Honest suggestion, it might help!). But I did love the plot-line, which to be perfectly frank was very carefully thought-out, very intelligent, and overall superb. And it left plenty of scope for the odd idle fanfic! So, here are my scribbled offerings, as I burn (almost) the midnight oil and wait for my humourous mood to return so I can write something a little happier. Greetings, from my tiny corner of England, and please remember to review! Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it. Jazzola :D