Romantic Interlude
Shaggy and Velma lay side by side in their sleeping bags, looking up at the stars.
Scooby lay on top of his own sleeping bag on Shaggy's other side. He was asleep and snoring.
"Like, I'm glad Scooby's not jealous of you any more," said Shaggy. "Going through that final monster deal underground pulled us all together."
"It was good to solve a mystery again today, too," said Velma. "We always feel closer when we finish a case."
"Like, this time it was monsters disguised as a human, not a human as a monster," said Shaggy.
"It was still a monster disguise case, pretty much like old times," said Velma.
"Like, we ought to stay one more day in Gravity Falls and see if another mystery happens," said Shaggy.
"It would test my theory that we have a case-causing curse," said Velma. "Especially if it's a normal case, like an old man Withers disguised as a monster. Not gnomes or anything supernatural."
"I'm glad those gnomes didn't have a paralysis touch, like the fake Gnome did," said Shaggy.
"They were horrible enough without that," said Velma.
"You weren't tempted by their offer to be their eternally young queen?" Shaggy asked.
"Ick. That would be hell on earth," said Velma. "Besides, I think we have eternal youth already."
"You're kidding," said Shaggy.
"I think there's something magical about all those mystery solving groups that formed around Crystal Cove, something that gave them endless youth as long as they were together. Like that group of monks, the Fraternitas Mysterium. It was 135 years from when they met the vanishing conquistadors to when the old city of Crystal Cove fell into the sea, but they lived to see it happen."
"That's weird. I never thought about the dates," said Shaggy.
"Now that the evil thing is gone from Crystal Cove, my mind is clearer, and I remember more years in high school than we should have had. At least ten more. We repeated our senior year over and over, without seeming to age at all," said Velma.
"Hey, I guess you're right. I remember. Like, I might have been held back, but you wouldn't have been," said Shaggy.
"One time you said it seemed like we'd been teenagers forever. Another time Fred said he wasn't sure what graduation even was," said Velma.
"Like, Groundhog Day, but it was like Groundhog Year instead," said Shaggy.
"What our poor parents must have gone through," said Velma. "No wonder they were all a little crazy before things changed."
"The only real friends we could have had were each other. Every other classmate moved on and forgot us," said Shaggy.
"Marcie remembers several years of friendship with me, but that's new with the time-line change. Did your new time-line self have friends?"
"I found about a dozen girl's phone numbers on my cell phone at home," said Shaggy. "I think that version of me was popular on the dating scene, along with being a master chef."
"It doesn't seem real," said Velma.
"Like, it wasn't," said Shaggy. "Those memories are somebody else's. Don't be jealous of what never was."
"You either, about Marcie," said Velma.
"Were you more than friends?" asked Shaggy.
"Even if I could remember I wouldn't kiss and tell," said Velma. "Let's call it a no. The only person I've ever really gone for is you."
"Same here, for you," said Shaggy.
"It'll always be Daphne and Fred, and you and me," said Velma.
They kissed and snuggled together in their joined sleeping bags.