Author's note:

So you're probably wondering about the title for this one. I couldn't really think of a proper title for this one, so I ended up just naming it after a certain amusing comment which Daphne makes mid-way through the chapter.

Enjoy!

The fall leaves rustled in the cool night air, which blew a steady gust into Daphne Blake's window. As the breeze hit the exposed skin on her face, she slowly regained consciousness from her cozy slumber.

Stretching, the redhead released herself from the wall of heat generated by the sheets and walked down the hallway of her home, which felt crisp from the fall breeze streaming in through her window. She continued to make tired, clumsy steps towards the bathroom, until she saw a black, shadowy mass in the doorway.

Nervously, she took baby steps towards her destination. Inching closer and closer, Daphne could feel the fear welling up inside her pajama-covered stomach. All of a sudden, the shadowy mass turned into the shape of a human, whose identity sent chills down Daphne's spine.

It was Jim Sands, her boss, which she had just put in prison for kidnapping among many other crimes.

"Surprised to see me?" he grimaced.

Daphne couldn't talk or move, she just stared at the man who had consumed her thoughts ever since that dreadful night when he had kidnapped her and nearly ruined her life.

"This time, you're NOT going to ruin my plans." Jim smiled in a creepy manner, until all of a sudden, he extended his arms and lunged directly towards her.

Daphne woke up in a cold sweat, unaware she had been in a dream state. Panting to catch her breath, her mind slowly came to terms with the fact that it was indeed still the same night in which she had put Jim Sands away, and Beau Neville had only left her home a few hours ago.

Once her fear subsumed and her rational mind regained control, she instantly realized what she need: someone to talk to. She felt more alone than ever, especially once she came to the realization she didn't exactly have friends any longer which she could talk to at three in the morning. As far as she knew, Velma was still mad at her, Shaggy and her weren't exactly sure how they felt about each other after the night of cuddling at Twilight Cabin, and Fred...well, Fred was Fred. She liked Fred, but she felt they had grown apart ever since the gang split up. Besides, though she truly did care for Fred if she dug deep in her heart, Daphne didn't feel like Fred was exactly the right person who could sympathize with her about an issue like this.

The only concrete friendship she had at the moment was with her new coworker Isabel, and they had essentially just met, and the redhead didn't feel comfortable going to her house in the middle of the night. Who knows how Isabel might react, considering her extreme reaction to the incident during the Mystery Weekend.

Daphne felt too tired to think rationally about the issue, so she decided to attempt to stick it out through the night and figure out who she would talk to about her lingering fears in the morning. Pulling her beloved blanket Bea up over her head, Daphne repositioned her body until she felt fully comfortable, and eventually drifted off to sleep.

The sound of the phone ringing woke the redhead up from her anxious slumber.

Glancing at the clock, which read 9:59am, she picked up the obnoxious phone and answered with a monotone-sounding "hello?"

"Hey Daph, this is Nick," her coworker responded. "I just wanted to let you know that you can have as much time as you need off. Don't worry about coming back until you're fully mentally ready."

Daphne let out a seemingly laborious "kay, sounds good," before hanging up the phone. After a long stretching and yawning session, the redhead left the comfort of her bed and very slowly got ready for the day so she at least appeared presentable.

As the red-haired female finished primping herself in front of the mirror, her mind began to wander. Who would she process the events of her night of fright through? It was no delight to think about Velma, but Daphne's conscience pushed her out of her mental comfort zone. After all, she would have to forgive Velma at some time.

Continuing to dawdle against the inevitable, Daphne began pondering what would happen if she would ask Beau Neville to talk instead of Velma. After all, he did offer to spend the night with her if she needed someone (which in hindsight, was an offer she wished she would have accepted). She preceded to battle her conscience once more, which played Devil's Advocate and reminded her that Isabel had forgiven Saggy, Dred, Thelma (even if only partially), so why shouldn't she be a good friend and go talk things out with Velma?

The redhead had to force herself to stop obsessing and before her mind could further battle her conscience, she was already outside and walking towards her car.

"Dinkley's Mystery Books" is the three words that appeared on the sign which confirmed there was no turning back now. Closing her eyes and letting out a labored sigh, Daphne got up the courage to go into her friend's bookstore.

"Velma? I need to talk with you for a second."

No answer.

She could feel the anxiety practically boiling in her throat, yet she continued walking through the doorway of the brunette's bookstore.

The bookstore was packed with all kinds of literature, mysteries for children, mysteries for adults, horror books, and everything mysterious in between. It hurt Daphne's eyes seeing the thousands of titles which jumped off the covers at her. Glancing upwards, the redhead noticed a TV set, which had quite a fuzzy picture which appeared to need fixing. Oddly, the TV appeared to be tuned to a Spanish channel, as the screen showed a middle-aged Mexican man in fancy dress, with the words "¡Muy importante!" flashing on screen every few seconds. It befuddled Daphne why Velma would have a Spanish language channel on, but she supposed maybe it was a mistake.

"Welcome to Dinkley's Mystery Books, how may I - "

While walking out from the back storage area, Velma stopped her sentence when she realized whom she was speaking to.

"Velma, just let me explain!" Daphne pleaded.

"Actually, Daph, I was going to try to stop by the TV station to talk to you the other day. I've thought our argument through a little more and I want to apologize."

Daphne's spirits immediately lifted, knowing Velma wasn't going to verbally jump on her explanations like she had their past few encounters.

"I'm sorry I didn't think this through better the first time, but honestly, I was caught in the heat of the moment. I shouldn't have accused you of being greedy, but -"

"But what?" Daphne fired back, feeling like she was about to be attacked.

"You've changed since our trip up to Moonscar Island. You know, it seemed like the gang was going to get back together, but then you walked off to do your show again and left us behind as friends." Velma responded, in the calmest voice she could muster.

"Solving mysteries is fun, but it's just not profitable. Don't get me wrong here, I love solving mysteries. But put it in perspective here. If you had the option to solve mysteries, or have a super successful career as a TV host, which would you have chosen?" Daphne said, in a civil yet somewhat defensive manner.

"That's the issue. I would always choose friends, even if Bill Gates offered me a position as co-owner of Microsoft tomorrow. Money isn't an object with me. I'd rather live poor than live without friends."

"But...but...am I not allowed to pursue my dreams? We all agreed at one point that we were bored with the ghosts and monsters just being people in masks. Mystery solving with you all was the most wonderful thing I've done, but times changes. Solving mysteries was a big part of my life when I was younger, but we're growing up now, and I have my own dreams." Daphne explained, "And in my defense, I did agree to solve mysteries with you guys when I'm not working on my TV show."

"I said it then and I'll say it now, it's just not the same, Daph. I'm sorry I accused you of being greedy and trying to exploit me and my bookstore for your TV show, but I still think we all have different priorities now. Your priority is obviously your show, or you would've come to see me, and all of us more. Instead, we get these flighty visits from you every once in a while, and then you disappear to do your show again."

"So I'm not allowed to have goals in life?"

"No one's saying that, Daphne! I think it's wonderful you're pursuing your dreams. It's just that we've grown apart is all. It's nothing different from what we all went through before we went to Moonscar Island, around that time when Shaggy and Scooby had the jobs at the airport. I suppose it's only natural." Velma paused for a moment, while she thought of what she wanted to say next. "I'm so happy for you that you're doing what you love, Daph. It's just...I don't feel as close to you anymore. The five of us, as a gang, we used to be so tight-knit. Now we barely talk anymore. Don't you miss the good old days, Daph?"

"Of course, Velms! But I'm happy in what I'm doing now, and mystery solving just isn't something I want to be as big of a part in my life anymore. But, that doesn't mean we can't still be close friends!"

"That's just it, Daphne, like I said, I don't feel close to any of the gang anymore, especially you."

Unintentionally, Daphne had a puppy-dog look on her face in shock of what her friend, at least someone she considered her friend, had just told her.

"Does that mean you don't want to be friends anymore?" Daphne asked, bracing herself for the worst.

"No, no! Of course I want to be friends, but it's just…" Velma struggled to find the right words. "Our argument cemented that I don't feel very close to you anymore. I still want to be your friend, it will just take a lot of time to heal this issue. When the gang left, I was truly hurt that we didn't keep in touch more. That takes more than a day to heal."

Though Velma's argument was very rational and reasonable, Daphne still felt a mix of poutiness and anger over the brunette's words.

"I hope that's okay." Velma added, when she noticed Daphne was seemingly not giving any response.

"Well, sure Velma. We don't have to be friends if you don't want. I'll just leave you alone while you heal."

"Daphne, don't do this again! We can talk this out!"

"No, I think you've made your feelings about me quite clear." Daphne replied, trying to sound as reserved as possible. "Drop me a line once you heal!"

With her purple heels clicking on the tile floor, Daphne walked out in a semi-pouty fashion and got in her car. As the redhead drove away, Velma let out a big sigh, hoping her friend would come to her senses soon and think rationally about the manner.

Well, that didn't work. Daphne thought.

She had gotten so frustrated with Velma's remarks, she had almost forgotten that she still needed to process through yesterday's events with someone. She was too worked up to visit Shaggy, as she didn't know how to rationally handle their cuddle-fest without feeling awkward or angry with herself. That just left Beau and Isabel, which was quite a tough decision for the redhead to make.

The tough decision quickly became outrageously easy when she realized that Beau would likely be at work, and it would be incredibly awkward for her to go into a police station and ask if she could talk through her anxiety with one of the detectives.

She then realized Isabel would likely be at work too, meaning she would have to go into work despite that she had told them she wasn't coming in for a while.

Reluctantly, Daphne drove into the TV station and walked down the hallway towards Isabel's office. She was surprised by how many people stopped and asked her if she was alright, to which she lied and said she was fine.

Just as she was nearly away from the distracting people and to Isabel's office, Nick stopped her.

"Daphne? I didn't think you would come in today!"

"I didn't think I would either." Daphne replied matter-of-factly, at this point just wanting to get to Isabel's office and let her boiling emotions out.

"So, are you already going to start on the next show?" Nick questioned, which oddly annoyed Daphne.

"No, I'm going to be an emotional volcano and explode all over Isabel." she said in a sarcastic tone, despite that she knew that was actually probably what was going to happen.

"Sounds like fun, can I join?" Nick replied, though she couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic in return or not.

"Well, it would be nice to have a second person to talk to." the redhead stated.

Nick's response confirmed that he was initially being sarcastic. "Well...sure, as your trusted coworker and semi-friend, I'd be happy to be consumed by lava which is your angsty emotions!"

The duo quickly reached their coworkers' office and immediately caught sight of Isabel's vibrant hair, which was still blue just as it was when Daphne had last seen her.

"Daphne! I heard about what happened to you! I'm SO sorry! What can I do?"

Daphne's emotional volcano was boiling over causing her to be unable to think of what to say. In an instant, the volcano exploded when Daphne said the only thing she could think of to say: "Comfort me, dammit!"

"Awww!" the familiar squeak in Isabel's voice gave Daphne a bit of comfort. The blue-haired girl got out of her swivel chair and wrapped her arms around Daphne. Isabel's grip around her was a bit too tight, yet it felt strangely comforting to have another human's pressure around her.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Daphne apologized. "I didn't mean to blow up like that. You probably have a lot of work to do."

"I'm pretty much caught up right now. What I'm doing right now can wait. Besides, I'd love nothing better than to be the recipient of your teenage-like angst!"

Daphne wasn't sure if Isabel was joking or not, but nonetheless she was more than ready to get her inner thoughts out about the incident.

"You can just lay down on the couch over there." Isabel pointed to the blue couch which was adjacent to her desk. "Nick...um...you can have my chair."

"No, it's fine. I can stand, otherwise you have nowhere to sit." Nick said.

"I can just sit on the couch with Daph. What kind of friend would I be if I didn't let her use me as a pillow?!"

Though the idea of laying her head on Isabel was a bit odd, Daphne found her blue-haired friend's remarks to be quite adorable.

Lifting her head up for a minute, the redhead let her friend sit down before laying her head on Isabel's leg. Though the position was quite awkward, physically and socially, Daphne soon found comfort in her human pillow. While the human contact was comforting, she felt Isabel's flowery-scented perfume to be quite an overpowering smell. Not wanting to make her friend feel bad, Daphne avoided saying anything and continued to prop her head up on her friend's leg.

By the time Daphne got to the end of her story, tears were running down her face (and Isabel's leg, for that matter) as she told them of how Jim and his henchmen had forced her to nearly quit her television show.

"Daph, that's horrible." Nick responded sympathetically.

"That's so demeaning! I can't believe they would force you to do all that stuff! And even worse, being tied up and gagged the entire time!" Isabel said, who had gotten almost as emotional as Daphne.

"Thanks, guys. Can I sit up now?" Daphne asked, still feeling awkward.

"Yeah, sure! Whatever you want." Isabel said in a very relaxed manner.

Though she knew Isabel was a very touchy-feely person who loved to feel physically close to her friends through hugging and touching, Daphne really enjoyed her personal space and always felt claustrophobic being too close to another human.

Just when she felt like she had finally escaped Isabel's closeness, her perky friend suggested "do you wanna cuddle or something? Cuddling always makes me feel better!"

Daphne shivered at the thought of that. She presumed Isabel thought of cuddling as a friend gesture, but Daphne very rarely cuddled with anyone and generally considered it to be a romantic gesture.

"No, I'm okay." Daphne said, hoping her friend wouldn't persist.

"Cuddle me, dammit!" Isabel said jokingly, mirroring Daphne's comment when she had entered her office, as the blue-haired girl pressed her side firmly against Daphne's on the couch.

"Seriously, can you NOT touch me please?" Daphne snapped. "We're not dating, so you don't have to be all up in my personal space!"

Isabel look taken aback and quickly moved her body away from Daphne's.

"Daphne, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean anything like that; I was just joking! I just like cuddling with my friends to feel closer to them is all!" Isabel said in a very innocent manner, making Daphne immediately guilty for flying off the handle.

"I'm sorry, I'm just sensitive after what happened. Thanks for trying to be an awesome friend, Isabel."

Disliking the serious tone of the mood, Nick stepped up and said "But what if I wanted to cuddle?" in a joking tone.

"I've got that covered!" Isabel chirped.

"I was kidding!" Nick said, rolling his eyes at Isabel's eagerness to cuddle.

"Sorry, I'm a shameless cuddler. I'll cuddle with anyone I can!" Isabel replied in very bubbly tone, making her seem even more adorable. "Seriously though Daph, what can we do for you?"

They had actually already done a lot. It was amazing how much simply getting the haunting thoughts out of her head had relieved her and made her feel less alone in the world.

"I don't want to be awkward, but would you be willing to stay over a night or so, Isabel? I've been having these nightmares and…"

"Of course!" Isabel smiled.

"Just remember Daph, Jim is locked up for good and the experience is over. If you should take anything from the kidnapping, it's that you're stronger than ever before."

Nick's comment was quite cheesy, but it did give Daphne a sense of comfort.

"Thanks guys for all the help. I think I've talked as much as I can talk about this now, but I'll let you know if I never need to process through something again. This will probably take awhile to get over, so…"

Suddenly, it hit her. This was what Velma was feeling. Not angry, not jealous, but hurt. The redhead finally understood why her friend had been acting the way she was, and it felt glorious to finally comprehend the concept.

"So...what?" Nick asked, confused as to why his coworker had paused in the middle of her sentence.

"So, I need to get over to see another friend and let her know I'm alright."

"That's my Daph! Yeah! Girl power!" Isabel shouted randomly.

When silence overtook the room, the blue-haired girl immediately followed her comment up with "Too much?"

Nick nodded, trying not to laugh. "Too much." He confirmed with a smirk.

The crisp autumn air blew Daphne's hair around as she walked into the familiar bookstore which she had been in so many times.

"Velma?"

"Daphne! I was hoping you'd come back."

"I just wanted to say I know what you're feeling now, and I understand." Daphne humbly declared.

"I'm glad you did. I figured you'd come to your senses at some point." Velma replied in a matter-of-fact yet cold way.

"I also wanted to say, I understand if you need a while away from me."

"It's not that, Daph, I love your company. It's just, I won't feel as close to you for a while. I feel detached from you, if you want to put it that way. I want our friendship to be like it was though. Someday."

Daphne sighed, before realizing her friend was right. She didn't feel quite as close to Velma anymore either, but she didn't feel like she could control that.

"Someday." Daphne smiled, as she closed the door to the bookstore, causing the bell above the door to ding.

Another ding, different from the one in the bookstore, sounded as Daphne walked up to answer the door. A familiar cheerful voice greeted her when the door swung open.

"Hi!" Isabel said, as she dragged a purple suitcase behind her, which appeared to be the same one she brought up to Cerrie Mansion a few weeks before. "Where should I put this?"

"Just in the guest room is fine." Daphne pointed to a room with the door propped open, which upon far away glance prominently featured a large queen-size bed and a black nightstand.

"Aw, you mean we don't get to cuddle?" Isabel smirked.

"Don't push it, blue dude." Daphne responded, mirroring that same comment Saggy had said one morning to Isabel when she was acting cold and unaffected during the Mystery Weekend event.

Isabel giggled, before wheeling her suitcase into the room.

While watching her friend's figure disappear into the guest room, Daphne had a sudden realization: Isabel is a closer friend right now than Velma! She let the thought bounce around in her mind for a few seconds, pondering how odd it sounded considering her and Velma had been friends since they were young, yet she had only known Isabel not more than a few weeks.

"I brought a movie over!" Isabel chirped, causing Daphne to laugh internally at how her perky friend could turn any comment into sounding like she just won the lottery.

"Hmmm…'Lorde Sumley's House of Horrors?' Sounds intriguing."

"Well, I brought this one too." Isabel held up another DVD, which read 'Yogi Bear and the Arabian Nights.'

"No, I bet it's just some rip-off movie where Yogi's in it for 10 minutes and the rest of it is just filler!" Daphne said snarkily.

"House of Horrors it is then!" Isabel carefully grabbed the DVD out of the case and put it in the player, whilst Daphne sat down across from the screen on the living room couch.

As the movie finished, Isabel perkily jumped out of the seat next to Daphne on the couch and grabbed the DVD.

"Awesome, right?" she asked hopefully.

"Yeah, if that were real, it would be an awesome attraction to visit for my show."

"It is real though!" Isabel chirped, "There's a house up in Michigan of a famous horror actor, Lorde Sumley, which has all that spooky stuff. Thelma, Saggy, Dred and I wanted to go there actually, right before our gang disbanded."

"Oh, awesome!" Daphne said, suddenly unintentionally copying her friend's excitement. "We should totally take a road trip there someday!"

"Someday? Why not now? If there's anything you need right now, it's a distraction from the Jim Sands incident, and this is the perfect time! Let's go tonight!"

Tonight? She loved her blue-haired buddy's confidence to always try something new, but going at 9 at night didn't exactly line up with her weary body's wishes.

"Well…" Daphne lied, "I was going to do something with Velma tomorrow, so I'm not sure I can." Daphne hated directly fibbing to her new friend, but she really wasn't in the mood to go on a cross-country drive in the middle of the night.

"You and Velma are friends again?!" Isabel asked, her voice squeaking with excitement.

"Yeah, we patched things up this afternoon actually." Though it wasn't entirely true, to be fair she didn't exactly direct-out lie to her friend again. They had sort of come to an agreement about what one another felt.

"Cool, you should ask Velma to come with! Maybe you could invite the rest of the gang too!"

Daphne almost said "ugh" instinctively, as it was the direct opposite of what she wanted, but she gave up her tired mind's pride and agreed to go over to the gang's houses and leave in the morning.

"I'll be back later tonight, Iz." Daphne stated with a disgruntled tone, still not fully accepting of what she was about to do so late at night.

"Kay-kay! See you soon, Daph!" Isabel smiled, looking as if she were about to explode with jittery ecstaticness.

She hadn't been to Velma's house in a very long time, but she figured it was the most logical place her friend would be so late in the evening.

Walking up the porch stairs to the house which Velma was renting, Daphne was taken aback by the beauty of the old house. For a rental house, it was almost unheard of how well kept-up it looked by all its previous occupants. It even had a hint of Victorian beauty, which Daphne had always had a passion for. The stairs squeaked a bit as she walked up, surprising the redhead considering how nice the rest of the house looked. Once she approached the door, she rang the doorbell which was a very fancy model, with an elegant wood border around it.

"Daphne? What are you doing here?" Velma asked, looking confused as to why her friend would visit her at her house. As far as she could remember, the redhead had only visited the bookstore for as long as the gang had broken up.

Daphne giggled a bit with nervousness. "This is a funny story, but you know how we were talking about mysteries this afternoon?"

The brunette simply motioned a nod with her head, as if to instruct her friend to keep talking.

"My new friend at work, Isabel, wants to go on a mystery trip with me for my show, and…" Daphne got nervous upon the mention of her show. She didn't want to mention it once again, as Velma had just accused her of being too consumed by the responsibilities of being a television host.

She continued, with a brief pause between her last thought, "...I was wondering if you might want to come with?"

Velma stared blankly for a brief moment, until she realized she was zoned out, and looked at her redheaded friend. "Well, um...I don't want you to get the wrong idea here, but I can't just close the bookstore on such short notice. There are 10 special orders coming in tomorrow alone, not to mention all of my customers. Sorry, Daph."

Though she was a bit rattled by the orange-turtlenecked woman's comment towards her, Daphne replied "No, I totally get it. We can take a trip another time when I have time to give you more notice."

"I'm really sorry, Daph. I hope you and your friend Isabel still have fun!" Velma replied back, with a bit of sadness in her voice, knowing she had hurt her friend by her cold and impersonal demeanor.

"We will!" Daphne said, at this point just trying to stretch the conversation so it didn't end awkwardly.

Driving to Fred's apartment was certainly nothing Daphne was looking forward to. After Velma's reaction, she had no idea how Fred would take to the idea of working as a team again to solve a mystery.

The apartment complex was nice but modest. It appeared well maintained, but there were still certain aspects which didn't appeal to Daphne, such as the small storage units next to the complex and the chintzy wooden door which appeared to lead into the main entryway. The redhead got out of her car, and shivered in her short-sleeved shirt in the cold fall breeze. She always seem to over or under-dress for the weather, despite her otherwise terrific fashion sense.

Daphne pulled on the creaky wooden door into the complex, and was greeted only by the sight of a button with a large sign stating "INTERCOM" in all caps.

Unsure if she was doing the right thing, as she had also never visited Fred's apartment (which he got after the gang broke up) before, Daphne pressed the intercom button and was met with a nasally, grumpy-sounding woman's voice.

"Who are you here to see?" her voice authoritatively stated.

"Fred Jones." Daphne spoke, trying to meet the woman's crankiness with a civil tone.

"What apartment?"

"I don't know the apartment number, if that's what you mean. Can you look it up?"

Daphne could have sworn she heard the woman let out an annoyed sigh, before finally muttering "yeah."

"He's in apartment 199 on floor 8." the woman snarkily replied.

"Okay, thanks. Have a good day."

The lady didn't reply, but instead pressed the button which unlocked the door. The buzzer let off an ear-piercing screech from right above Daphne's ear.

Daphne walked up the stairs to get to the eighth floor which had apartments, but discovered Fred already waiting for her at the top of stairs on the fourth floor.

"Daphne! It's so nice to see you! How are you?"

It caught Daphne off-guard to see Fred being so rational and caring about someone else's feelings. This was a completely different Fred from the awkward, silly one which accompanied her and the rest of the gang to Moonscar Island, not to mention the Fred she'd known just a month ago who had fallen for a ridiculous email scam.

"Oh, yeah, I'm good!" Daphne vocalized finally, coming out of her mouth a bit more awkward than she intended. "I just came here to let you know that Isabel, the new girl at the TV station, is taking me on a mystery trip!"

"That's awesome, Daphne!" Fred replied, sounding as if he were excited, though she wasn't sure if it was exclusively for her or simply because of the possibility that he may be able to come along.

"Do you want to come with? We'd love to have another person along for the ride!"

"Sorry, Daph, but I have to participate in the search committee all this week for a replacement for Jim. I heard he got fired because he was making prohibited liquor in the company toilets!" Fred said, sounding completely serious.

Yep, Daphne thought, There was the Internet scam believing, monkey assistant hiring person who she remembered from a few weeks back.

"Uh, you know he kidnapped me right?" Daphne said, hands on her hips in disgust.

"Of course, Daph. I was just kidding."

She loved Fred dearly as a friend just as she always had, but he had a very odd demeanor and sense of humor sometimes.

"So, what happened to your chimp assistants?" Daphne asked, awkwardly trying to change the subject.

"Who told you that? I said that to someone that as a joke!" Fred answered with a dumbfounded look on his face.

This caused Daphne to ponder if the whole being an Internet sucker thing was a joke as well. Maybe Fred wasn't as dumb as she had come to believe in recent weeks.

"Well, I'll see you later, Fred." Daphne finally broke the long silence which ensued when she was zoned out, lost in her thoughts.

"Yeah, see you later, Daph. Let me know if you ever need to talk about the whole Jim incident."

"I will, enjoy your committee!" Daphne immediately regretted the last three words she had said, as it wasn't exactly the best way to respond to her friend who was clearly concerned about her. Maybe she was the one who was lost and confused, not Fred.

The wind swayed in the trees near Shaggy's house, which was a small, cozy looking home. The house was covered in what Daphne considered an ugly beige paint, and appeared to only be single level. She supposed it was all he could afford, considering him and Scooby were bouncing between jobs so much in recent months.

Daphne walked up the narrow pathway to Shaggy's home which was nestled between a few rosebushes and other plants which she couldn't identify.

Daphne knocked on the beige-colored door (which in her opinion, completely clashed with the house), which was quickly answered by a smiling Shaggy and Scooby.

"Hey, Daph! Didn't know you were coming, I would've baked a cake! Want anything to eat?" Shaggy asked. That was just like Shaggy, always thinking about the next time he would be eating.

"No, it's okay. I just wanted to talk for a bit." Daphne replied humbly.

"Oh…" Shaggy seemed offput by this comment for a reason the redheaded TV hostess couldn't identify.

Much to Daphne's relief, the odd silence between them was broken by Scooby's happy voice.

"Ri Raphne!" Scooby said, his tail wagging back and forth with excitement.

"Hey Scooby! Great to see you again!"

"Reah! Rot any Rooby Racks?" Scooby said, looking hopeful.

"Oh yeah, like, we just ran out this afternoon! I would go get some at the store, but you know, like, the job world calls!" Shaggy answered.

Daphne took the vague comment from her goateed friend to mean he hadn't found a job yet and thus didn't have enough money to purchase another box of Scooby Snacks.

Ironically, Daphne did have a box which she had forgotten about until now in her car. "Actually, I do, out in my car. I've been saving these Scooby Snacks for a long time!"

Daphne handed Scooby her car keys, and much to Scooby's happiness, he bounded out to Daphne's vehicle to enjoy a tantalizing treat.

"Why don't we sit down on the couch, Daph? You can have the seat by the window." Shaggy suggested.

Daphne sat down on the soft cushion, the draft blowing right into her face. She frankly didn't really like the seating location, as the breeze made her even colder and it was hard to hear what Shaggy said over the howl of the wind.

"So, like, what did you you want to talk about Daph?" Shaggy asked, awaiting a response.

She would have responded, but she couldn't hear a word her friend said over the gusts coming in through the window screen. Not wanting to offend Shaggy by saying the seat he offered wasn't good enough for her, she simply leaned forward closer towards his face.

The green-shirted man just stared blankly for a moment, as if he had seen a ghost. All of a sudden, reacting to Daphne's movement closer, Shaggy moved a little closer, then a little bit more closer, and before either of them knew it, Shaggy's lips were touching the redhead's.

For a brief moment, the two young adults seemingly didn't react at all, until Daphne pulled away after a few seconds of lip contact.

"Like, I'm so sorry, Daph! I'm so sorry! It's just, like, I got nervous, and you leaned in, and I thought with what happened that night at Twilight Cabin…" Shaggy's anxious babbling was only stopped by Daphne opening her mouth to speak.

Anxiety welling up again in her throat, Daphne blurted out. "It's okay. I...I liked it." She immediately regretted her response, but it was inevitably the truth.

"Like...like...what is it you wanted to tell me?" Shaggy quickly changed the subject, apparently unable to handle what he had just heard.

"Oh...my new friend Isabel and I are going on a trip together, so I won't be around Coolsville for a little while." Daphne commented nervously.

To make things even more awkward for the flustered friends, Scooby came in from Daphne's car at that moment. "Ranks, Raphne!"

"Yeah...you're welcome...well, I've got to go now! Isabel's waiting! Bye!" Her words came out clumsily and painfully awkward, like you see from a confused teenager trying to talk to their crush.

"Yeah, see you Daph!" Shaggy said, his words coming out faster than normal.

The last thing Daphne saw before Shaggy closed the door behind her was a befuddled look on Scooby's face. She didn't want to concern herself with the worry of if Shaggy would tell Scooby of what had occurred while he was out in the car.

As the breeze blew Daphne's hair while she got in her car, she wondered if Shaggy had enjoyed their kiss as much as she did.

Author's note:

And there's the part where you say "Awww!"

So hopefully you enjoyed this chapter. Admittedly when I first started it, I wasn't really sure where I wanted to go with Daphne's "recovery" from the incident. In my opinion it turned out just the right amount of time, yet still hinting that Daphne was still feeling some feelings of anxiety from the traumatic event. After all, you don't exactly see people who have gone through traumatizing events just instantly recover.

I suppose I should mention something about what happened at the end of the chapter as well. Despite what you may think at this point, I personally am not a Shaphne (Shaggy/Daphne) shipper. Though I'll admit there are some very interesting and valid theories out there about the two potentially being a couple, particularly in the 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo, I'm aware there is plenty of Shaphne fanfiction which come up with completely ridiculous scenarios of the two being together, many of which are completely against both characters' nature. If anything, the Shaggy/Daphne relationship will be a very minor subplot in this fanfic, if you even want to call it a relationship (as technically, neither have really admitted they like each other yet). Just think of it as two friends experimenting to see if their relationship as friends extends to something more, after all you do occasionally hear about friends wondering if they want to be 'more than friends' so to speak in real life. I am very committed to keeping both Shaggy and Daphne completely in-character, so you don't have to worry about me rubbing the relationship in your face.

And hey, if you still feel like it's going to be unbearable to see the two of them in a relationship, feel free to leave a review or PM me. I'm totally open to hear suggestions or ideas if you feel I could handle it in a better way.

Before I get into the references, I'd like to also briefly answer a few questions I received via PM between the time of posting this chapter and the last. Though I did answer both of the PMs, I'd like to include my explanation here as well in case others have the same questions (as quite frankly, they were both really good questions!).

"Your addition of Daphne's new friend Isabel is interesting, but I can't really tell if you want us as readers to see her as dumb or just socially awkward?"

Socially awkward, maybe. However, Isabel isn't meant to be 'dumb' or uneducated. From my perspective as the writer, I see her as someone with a really positive outlook on life, though she has a very quirky personality. She was intended to be complement the part of Daphne's personality which felt confused and friendless - Isabel is one of those types of people who are all about just being yourself and not worrying about what other people think of you. Daphne admires Isabel for embracing her quirks and feels the desire to have a free-spirited friend who helps her embrace her identity just like Isabel is able to do.

Speaking of dumb (and unrelated to the above question), I made the decision to tone Fred down a bit. While his silly personality was somewhat amusing, I realized that I made him a bit too silly to the point of being almost out-of-character. Hopefully my explanation for the monkey assistant thing made sense - it was just my way of trying to explain why Fred behaved the way he did and trying to put him back in character, so to speak.

"I really am enjoying your fanfic and writing style so far, but I can't help but feel the story would be a little better if the gang appeared more often."

I've actually debated on including the gang on a more regular basis, but I think you'll find there is an overarching story arc here as to why the gang shows up as minimally as they do. I don't want to ruin anything, but it has to do with the fact that every group of friends has something that causes them to gel, whether it's a shared interest, a common personality trait or even simply the fact that every person has their own understanding of how they 'fit' in that group. Though the fanfic is mainly Daphne-centric, you'd be surprised how important they are to the end of the story!

Hopefully those answers clarified things for anyone wondering, but as always feel free to leave a review or send me a PM if you have any comments, questions or suggestions!

As always, I did manage to slip several references into this chapter, but since some of them are a bit obscure I'll list them off here again:

A tad bit of word-play with this quote: "Who would she process the events of her night of fright through? It was no delight to think about Velma…" is a reference to original "Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?" series episode which is entitled "A Night of Fright is No Delight."

Another bit of word (or rather number) play regarding the number of Fred's apartment and the floor number. Apartment 199 on floor 8 combined is 1998, which is the year "Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island" came out.

This is an incredibly obscure reference from an episode of a show called Family Guy entitled "Internal Affairs." The show which was on the TV in Velma's bookstore, "¡Muy Importante!", is a reference to a fictional show which essentially satirizes the fact that pretty much any random idea gets a TV show now days, no matter how ridiculous or simplistic. The show is essentially comprised of five second footage of a Mexican businessman walking to various meetings or business matters with Latin music playing in the background, and after the five second clip, the studio audience randomly shouts "¡Muy importante!" (meaning "very important" in Spanish - the joke being how incredibly irrelevant and unnecessary the show is as it literally has no point whatsoever). I mainly included the reference for the silliness (not the satirization part), though I've probably taken the fun out of the joke by having to boringly explain it. At the time of posting this, I believe the 30-second clip of the scene I'm referencing is on YouTube if you want to watch it for yourself.

The movie "Lorne Chumley's House of Horrors" is a reference to The New Scooby-Doo Movies episode entitled "The Exterminator," which featured the gang and guest star Don Adams exterminating bugs in the house of a famous movie star Lorne Chumley.

As for the other movie with Yogi Bear and Daphne's comment about how the movie was probably "just some rip-off movie where Yogi's in it for 10 minutes and the rest of it is just filler!," hopefully know which certain Scooby movie I'm referring to here *cough* Arabian Nights *cough*