Author's note: okayy so this is the sequel to 'They'll tear us apart if you give them the chance'. You can read this separately if you like, but there will be a lot of references to the other story, so I do recommend that you read that first. :)
Thank you again to everyone who liked my last story, and also to the people who said that they were going to read this, I hope you like this one as well :D
Fred sat in the classroom grinning, Daphne had been in school for just a few days now, and tonight, straight after school, they were heading outto get to work on the mystery at the Wilson's place. Taking into account everything that had happened in the Blake household, Daphne seemed to be handling it very well, she was perhaps even cheerier than she had been before it all began.
At this point, a lot of people were now in the room, awaiting their first lesson; religious education. Fred watched students from every single social group enter the room, but still couldn't spot Daphne. Velma and Shaggy walked in, taking their seats in front of him, turning around as they always did to make a conversation.
"Like, hey man." Shaggy greeted, his usual goofy smile plastered across his face.
"Hey Shag, you seen Daph this morning?" He asked, feeling uneasy at the red head's absence.
Shaggy shook his head, his unruly hair flying all over. "Like, no man."
"I haven't seen her either." Velma stated, her brow furrowing slightly, "Do you think she's okay?"
Shaggy noticed the concerned look on both of their faces, his own face showing a similar expression, but decided it was best to push it aside and said, "She's probably, like, just late, she, like, does live further away than us."
"Yeah I guess you're right." Fred muttered, lowering his head to his desk slowly., receiving a sigh from both Shaggy and Velma.
The rest of the lesson was agonisingly slow as Fred stared at the clock, his excitement slowly fading. His mind was constantly racing as he thought about where Daphne could possibly be, was something wrong? He'd been thinking like this ever since the incident with those three thugs. He'd always worried about her, whether it be at school or on a mystery, but since what happened, his imagination had been running wild. It drove him insane knowing that she could be in danger and he didn't know what was going on. 'What if she's been attacked?' He thought, 'What if she's been kidnapped! She could be locked away somewhere waiting to be rescued while her captors...'
His thoughts were suddenly cut off as he heard the door slam shut. Daphne was here. "Sorry I'm late sir." She apologised politely, scratching the back of her head nervously.
The teacher sighed, looking up at the clock, "That's fine Daphne, just please go and sit down and try to catch up."
Daphne simply nodded in response and wandered up to her seat, dropping her bag onto the floor and slumping into her seat. She didn't say anything to Fred, Velma or Shaggy, instead she pulled out a pen and started scribbling down notes. Her eyes were red and slightly swollen, as if she'd been crying, one of her cheeks a lighter shade of pink than the other. Fred watched her, curious of what had happened, yet still worried about her.
"D-Daph?" Fred murmured softly, leaning in closer to her. "Are you okay? You look a bit...upset."
Shaking her head she looked up, her eyes glazed over with unshed tears. "I've just had a little...disagreement with my Father this morning." She said, her voice shaking.
"What do you mean my 'disagreement'?" Fred asked, raising an eyebrow.
Daphne sighed, her eyes lowering to the desk, "He still doesn't want me to solve any mysteries." She said glumly.
"W-What?" Fred gasped, his eyes widening slightly, "Even after everything that's happened, he still wants to keep us all apart, what happened to 'We can't thank you enough'?"
Shrugging Daphne looked up, "I told him I was still going," She muttered, "I told him I would never stop solving mysteries with you guys." She paused, sighing softly as she gave Fred time to take everything in. "So then he said I was being stupid, that I'd never be able to make a decent career out of it, then he-"
"Slapped you." Fred finished.
"W-what? How did you know that?" Daphne gasped.
"Your cheeks still a little red." He said softly, gently stroking her cheek, frowning. She winced at his touch, backing away slightly.
"Yeah, well, then Mother stepped in and the argument got a lot worse." Daphne murmured, moving back closer to Fred, longing for his touch again despite the pain it caused her.
"Did he hurt her too?" Fred asked, taking Daphne's delicate hand in his.
She shook her head violently, "He'd never hurt Mother, he's scared of losing her again." Daphne said distantly, becoming lost in the thoughts of when her parent's almost divorced, something she'd only ever told one person about. "Then of course, because Delilah's home for the week, she just had to get involved."
"Oh." Fred murmured softly, his mind still stuck on the comment about her Father, not wandering why he was scared of losing her, but why he was scared of losing her again. There was obviously more to the Blake family than he knew about.
"I'm still coming with you though." Daphne said, "I'm sick of him telling me what to do, look at what a mess it got me into with..." She paused, her breath catching in her throat slightly as she thought of the boy she was so deathly afraid of, "Red."