Chapter 01

"I don't understand." 12-year-old Natalie was clearly confused and getting emotional.

Timmy's hand went up again, "Are Fred and Daphne my grandparents, too?"

Shaggy thought about telling the boy again that he didn't have to raise his hand but, at this point, why? He just answered the question, "No, your mother is our biological daughter so we're your biological grandparents."

Natalie's effort to hold back tears was beginning to falter, "So, it's just me." Nan moved down to the floor, sat next to her daughter, and put her arm around the girl's shoulder. Shaggy had a memory from three decades earlier except it had been Nan on the floor and Velma sitting next to her.

Natalie drew strength from her mother's embrace, "Why did they leave?" Shaggy could see the despondency being replaced by anger - another flashback to the younger Nan.

"That's a long story, and we're going to tell you all of it. And then we'll answer all of your questions. But this isn't a kid's story. It's an adult's story. And there will be things you might not understand. When there are, stop us and ask questions. We'll explain as best we can. Can you do that?"

Both children nodded.

Shaggy waited for them to be quiet for a moment and then began, "It all started with Scooby Doo. Back before your mothers were born, Fred loved Daphne and they were together. I loved your grandmother and we were a couple. And Scooby Doo was alone. Now Scooby wasn't a little bit alone. He was a lot alone. More alone than anybody else in the whole world…"

Natalie was leaning against her mother's arm, "Why?"

"Because Scooby was a dog… but not really. And Scooby was a human… but not really. So, he was both… and he was neither. And there was no one else in the entire world like him. That made him very, very sad."

Timmy leaned forward, "But, on the television shows, he didn't seem sad."

"No," Shaggy smiled wistfully, "Scooby wanted people around him to be happy so he pretended to be happy. He laughed and joked when inside he was lonely. Then he met a woman named Amanda. Amanda was a human but she was a very strange human…"

"She wasn't that strange." Velma interrupted.

Shaggy continued, "She was strange enough that it looked like she might be someone that could be with Scooby. And she had a little girl named…" Shaggy drew a blank.

"Bettie." Velma inserted.

"Yeah, Bettie. And Scooby Doo fell in love with them both. And they loved him. But then, because of some bad people, Amanda and Bettie had to move away. It was only supposed to be for a little while and then they would move back. Scooby never talked about it, but we all knew that he thought about the day they could all be together again every day.

"During this time, Scooby and Daphne and Fred and your grandmother and I all worked together. We were detectives."

This got Timmy excited, "Like on the television show!"

"Something like that. But we weren't chasing monsters and ghosts…"

Timmy smirked, "Who was chasing who?"

Shaggy returned the grin, "I had them right where I wanted them. But back to the story. We were all working together and we loved each other like a family. And then the family began to grow. First, Nan was born and Fred and Daphne not only had each other but they also had Nan. And they loved Nan so much! Then, your grandmother and I found out that we were going to have Sarah…"

Timmy interrupted again, "Grandma was pregnant with Mom."

"Score one for your fifth-grade teacher. Yes. Your grandmother was pregnant with your mother. Scooby still had nobody. Nobody but the hope that, someday, Amanda and Bettie would come back to him."

"At that time, Velma and I shared an apartment with Scooby Doo, but with a baby on the way, we wanted a house and a yard. Fred and Daphne already had that. So, we bought a house. It was big enough for Scooby to come – he could have had the whole basement to himself. But he wanted Velma and Sarah and I to be our own family with our own home. He would stay in the apartment and be 'Uncle Scooby'."

"We kept working. Being detectives and solving cases and helping people. Everything was going great. Everybody was busy and everybody seemed happy – even Scooby. We would all go to the park together and Scooby would run while Fred played with Nan. Velma and Daphne would talk and talk and talk. And I would eat the picnic food." He let out a contented sigh at the memory.

"Then one day, we all got to the office and Scooby didn't show up. We called him and he didn't answer. After a few hours, we went to his apartment and knocked. Still no answer. I had the spare key, so I opened the door."

The children were mesmerized and hanging on every word.

Shaggy reached over, picked up the large Bible which had been a gift from some distant cousin in California and set it in his lap. He opened it and pulled out a yellowed piece of 8-1/2 x 11 paper.

"Scooby was gone. His stuff was gone. The refrigerator was cleaned out. Everything. It was like he had never been there. Except for his computer, his phone, and this piece of paper. It was a note from Scooby Doo."

Timmy jumped in, "Phones and computers are what you had before A-Eyes."

Shaggy nodded as he unfolded the yellowed piece of paper. He lifted it up and began to read, "Dear Shaggy, Velma, Fred, and Daphne. It is time for me to go. You will probably want to know why I left. The reason is simple. I'm sad - all of the time. I wake up sad and I go to sleep sad and I'm sad all the time in between. I even dream sad dreams. I know, now, that if I keep living the same life, then I will spend every day for the rest of my life sad and depressed. Hopefully, making a change will help me to see life as something other than an endless, lonely desert. But, even if nothing changes for me, at least you won't have to watch me slowly drowning in a pool of sorrow. I know you love me and that would hurt you to experience with me. I love you too much to inflict that on you."

Shaggy stopped for a moment, blinked his eyes, sniffed, and kept reading, "As you can see, I have left my phone and my computer. Since you people are detectives, I hope that my leaving these will be a sufficient clue for you to figure out that I do not want you to follow me, and I do not want to be found. Maybe someday, my life will be such that I can see you again. But I am not making that as a promise. Such promises tend to get broken. Like hearts.

"I have loved you all for my whole life and will continue to love you until the day I die. Love, Scooby Doo."

Shaggy handed the piece of paper to Natalie and allowed her to hold it and look at it with her own eyes. She scanned it for a moment and then handed it over to Timmy who had to hold it close to get a focus on it through the thick lenses of his glasses.

Sarah put the train back on the rails, "So, Scooby Doo was gone, and you were trying to figure out why and where…"

Velma took up the narrative, "Right. It didn't take me long to break Scooby's password…"

"It was Bacon#Sizzle^01. All of his passwords were Bacon#Sizzle^01." Shaggy volunteered.

Velma pushed on, "I checked his recent browser history and found the last article he had read. It was a wedding announcement of Amanda with some guy in Michigan where she had moved. There was a collection of photographs of Amanda, Bettie, and this guy laughing and smiling together. We knew Amanda so we knew that her expressions meant little, but Bettie was truly happy and clearly loved this man. The last of the comments in the comments section was one which read 'I am glad you are happy. Congratulations on your new life. – S. Doo'. I wasn't able to find anything else on the computer." Velma's voice trailed off.

Shaggy started again, "Scooby was right. As many mistakes as we had made, we did love him. We loved him too much to let him go off and be alone when he was obviously depressed. He needed people around him who loved him, even if he didn't see that in the moment. Velma emptied his phone of the recent numbers that he had called or had called him. A lot were spam…"

Timmy again, "What's spam?"

"People trying to sell you stuff. It was outlawed years ago. Like I said, Velma found some phone numbers she didn't recognize. And they were spread all over the country. It was decided that we had to follow those clues and go after him. But Velma was over eight months pregnant and was about to have Sarah any day. So, she and I couldn't start traveling around the country. But we also couldn't wait for the trail to get cold."

Shaggy looked right at Nan and Natalie as he spoke the next part, "Fred and Daphne decided that they would go after our friend. The plan was for them to be gone for just a few days. It was even agreed that, if a week passed and they still hadn't found him, they would come home. He was a talking dog, for goodness' sake! He would leave a trail.

"They left Nan with us and took off after Scooby. Daphne cried her eyes out just thinking that she would be away from her baby for a handful of days. And then they left. They called us for the first two days with little to report and then Sarah was born…"

Velma jumped in, "And that was a little more complicated than we would have liked. We were busy at the hospital for three days. And when we were able to check our phones, Daphne had called a couple of times leaving messages worried about my and Sarah's health. There was nothing else."

Shaggy finished, "And that was the last we heard from them."

There was a silence in the room for a few moments. Then Natalie turned to Nan and gestured to Shaggy and Velma, "But you call them Mom and Dad."

Nan answered, "When I was very young, I didn't. Your grandmother and grandfather told me to call them Velma and Shaggy. They told me every day that Fred and Daphne were my parents and that someday they would come back. I got tired of all of my friends asking why I called my parents by their names. When I got to be your age, I realized that I had no real memories of Fred and Daphne. Just the television show. All of my real memories were of your grandparents. I told them that I was going to call them Mom and Dad – because that's what they were to me. I wanted to be normal."

Velma scooted off her chair and sat on the floor next to Nan and wrapped her arms around her. She then opened her arms wider and included Natalie in the hug. The three generations sat in each others' arms for a moment while the room remained in silence.

Natalie suddenly looked up, "Then that means that Mr. Jones is…"

Nan answered, "My biological grandfather. Fred's father. And your great-grandfather."

"And Mr. Blake is Daphne's father. That's why we go to visit them."

xXx

At the age of 97, Barty Blake no longer played a major role in the day-to-day operations of Blake Industries. Delilah ran the company now, but she was 67 and was beginning to have dreams of a quieter life which didn't include 80+ hour work weeks and regular battles with a Board of Directors who saw the lack of an obvious Blake heir as chum in the water.

Dawn Blake had died about ten years before in a car accident. Alcohol and drugs were involved which surprised no one. Barty had taken that loss personally and blamed himself for putting his daughter on the path that led to her own self-destruction. Although Nan had been told years before that she was Barty Blake's granddaughter, she was shocked to find out that she had been named the sole heir in Dawn's will. They had never been close. Other than Daphne, none of the Blake girls had ever conceived or adopted a child. The remainder of her aunts informed her that she was so named in all of their wills, as well.

Barty and Delilah had sat Nan down separately and explained to her that his will left all of his company stocks to Delilah and that her will, in turn, left everything to Nan. Which meant that, at some point in the future, Nan Blake was going to have a controlling interest in Blake Industries and be the richest woman (and possibly richest person) in the world.

Barty's personal losses had softened him, and he let her know that she could either plan on taking the helm of the company, or she could sell off all of those stocks and have a fortune which would take care of her and her progeny for generations. It was her choice. Delilah offered that, if she wanted to take over the company, Delilah would train her and start whenever she was ready.

At the time, 25-year-old Nan had begun to cry and ran from the room. A week later, she had eaten dinner at the Blake Mansion (which was now an informal affair where there was actual laughter and the barbs being slung were witty rather than scorching). After dinner, she had asked to speak with Barty and Delilah. She had told them that she wanted to see what she could do on her own in life first and then maybe she would come back to them. They had both hugged her and said they would be there. The Blake Clan had changed.

xXx

Shaggy continued with the story, "And Mr. Blake offered a huge reward for information on Daphne, Fred, and Scooby along with hiring private detectives in every city that was on the list. None of them found anything."

Timmy looked over at Natalie, "That is so cool! You have mystery grandparents!"

Velma spoke solemnly, "Timmy, we solved mysteries for many years. One thing we found out was that most mysteries left people sad or hurt. You will live a happier life if you just stay away from mysteries. Your grandfather and I were much happier after we got out of the mystery business."

Shaggy agreed, "Certainly a lot fewer visits to the emergency room."

Natalie looked at Velma, "Were Fred and Daphne nice people?"

Shaggy watched Velma carefully, wondering what her answer would be. Velma glanced at him and then back to Natalie, "They wanted to be. And after your mother was born, I think they really were. But, regardless, they are our friends, and we love them dearly."

"So, you think they're still alive?"

Velma nodded, "Yes. I think that every day. Sometimes I have to force myself but it's the first thing I do when I get up I the morning. I convince myself that out there, somewhere, they're still alive and we'll see them again."

Nan made no effort to hide the bitterness in her voice, "If they are still alive and they never came back, then they're not nice people. Not nice at all."

Shaggy and Velma made no effort to argue. The argument with Nan about Fred and Daphne had waged for years. Neither side was going to change their position. But they loved each other just the same.

To Natalie, this was an emotional drama which required everyone to focus their attention on her. To Timmy, it was a mystery which was fun and exciting and needed to be discussed and discussed and discussed. This resulted, to no one's surprise in a loud fight followed by a competition to see which of the children could by whinier in their efforts to sway the adults to their side of the argument. They both lost and ended up alone in their rooms. It had taken almost three hours for them to be sentenced to solitary confinement for fighting since they had arrived. It usually took half that time.

The adults gathered around the kitchen counter with the women sharing mugs of hot tea sweetened with honey (they were being decadent). Reggie was on his third beer (he was on vacation). And Shaggy was preparing an apple pie (Velma's had been declared a disaster and thrown away).

Sarah looked at Nan and then to Velma, "Were we that annoying?"

Through the years Velma had perfected a myriad of facial expressions but sometimes returning to the emotionless stare of her youth paid dividends. She dropped that deadpan stare on her daughter with both barrels.

Sarah cringed, "Mom! You know it gives me the heebie-jeebies when you do that."

Shaggy smiled, "What your mother is trying to tell you in her own inimitable way is that 'yes', you two were totally that annoying."

Reggie took a swig of his beer, "And that's because she's too polite to tell you that you still are."

Velma raised her hand and Reggie high-fived it. His wife was less pleased and punched him in the arm.

Nan took a long sip, "I remember what it felt like when I found out."

Sarah was the quickest to match Nan's more somber mood, "But it's going to be easier for Natalie. She's got you. There's no question about where her biological mother is or why she never came back. No mystery. You're right here."

Shaggy looked at the two younger women, "She just needs to know she's loved."

Nan shook her head, "No. It's not about being loved. I was always loved. You loved me and I never doubted that. It was about not knowing. Was I rejected by parents who wanted another life more than they wanted the one that included me…"

Velma spoke up, "I know that's not true."

"But that's not any better. Did I lose parents that loved me as much as you two loved me? Were their dying thoughts filled with loss and sorrow knowing that they would never see me again? Never see me grow up and experience life?"

Velma's voice dropped, "I will not accept that they are dead."

Nan looked her in the eye, "There is no logical scenario that allows them to love me as you say they did, have never returned to be with me, and still be alive."

Velma's voice now became a whisper, "Sometimes life isn't logical."

Sarah turned her head in shock, "Did Velma Dinkley, PhD just say that?"

Velma didn't hesitate in her response, "Velma Dinkley has lived a long life and now I know that – while I still believe that everything can be explained – we are not always going to get to know the explanation."

Nan's mood darkened further, "So, you're getting me emotionally ready to never find out what happened to Fred and Daphne?"

Shaggy was now staring into his mug, "You know that Velma and I won't be hurt if you call them your mother and father."

"I know that, but it wouldn't be accurate. You are my mother and father, and I don't think that would change even if they came back."

Velma shook her head, "Don't say that. What name or title you call us would never change how we feel about you. But if and when your parents return, they will be your mother and father."

"It's been thirty-five years, I doubt that will ever be put to the test."

They were stopped by the sound of two doors opening upstairs. And then the soft footfalls of two pairs of stockinged feet coming down the stairs. The adults turned to see the two grandchildren standing at the bottom of the stairs. This was a normal part of the tradition. After being sent to their rooms, the kids had started texting each other choreographing the performance that would get them freed from their house arrest. They were holding hands which was new. Everyone thought that was a nice touch.

Timmy was the designated spokesperson, "We're not fighting anymore."

As one, all of the adults shifted their gazes onto Natalie, "Do you agree?"

Natalie nodded, "Uh-huh."

"Then maybe…" Shaggy stood with a serious expression, "It's time…" The kids were now getting excited. They knew this part. Shaggy finished, "For the party to start!"

Sad talk about rejection and lost friends and relatives was sidelined for the rest of the night.

xXx

At the end of the night, Velma was lying on her side of the bed facing toward the bathroom while Shaggy brushed his teeth. Since it was just toothbrushing going on, the door into the bathroom was open. It was far later than they usually stayed up which was normal when the daughters visited. When the grandkids had been younger, everyone had stayed up until the kids passed out and then it was bedtime. Now, the kids had more stamina than any of them and especially more than poor Grandma and Grandpa. At 11:00, Shaggy had stood and announced that he was done for the evening. Velma rose without speaking. Her drooping eyelids gave her agreement. That gave the middle generation the excuse they needed to get up and go to bed, as well. The kids were left alone to explore the house, watch holovision, raid the pantry, and do whatever else trusted tweens did when left untended.

As sleepy as Velma had been moments before, sleep eluded her and she sat up on the edge of the bed, "Shaggy, we need to talk."

He spit out into the sink, "What about?"

"About Fred, Daphne, and Scooby."

He stopped and turned slowly toward her, "Okay-y-y-y-y. What do you want to talk about?"

"It's cruel for Nan to not know."

He stepped from the bathroom, sat next to her, and wrapped his arm around her shoulders, "Yes, it is."

She leaned her head against him, "We have to find out."

He spasmed, "Say what now?!"

"We need to figure out what happened to them… find them."

"But Vel, that's crazy!" His arm never left her shoulders.

Her head remained resting against him, "I know. It makes no sense. If a missing person case goes cold after 48 hours, what has happened after 35 years?"

"Exactly. It's impossible."

"Do you know what's more impossible?"

Shaggy didn't know the answer, but he knew from being with Velma for fifty years that her logic would be unassailable. He prepared himself for it, "What?"

"Seeing Nan continue to suffer like she's suffering."

There it was.

He nodded, "How do we even start?"

"We start with Scooby's phone records just like Fred and Daphne did."

"Where is all of that stuff? The attic?"

"No, I wouldn't put it all of the way into the attic. It's on the top shelf of my closet. It's the brown cardboard file box with the white top."

Shaggy was still sitting with his arm around his wife and didn't realize that the description of the box was also a request to get up and go get it. Velma lifting her head from his shoulder, staring up at him, and saying "Ahem" got the point across.

He stood, "This box isn't too heavy is it? You know about my back."

"It's within your ten-pound lifting limit."

He made his way into the closet and looked around the upper shelves until he spotted it. Spinning it around on the shelf, he saw the words 'Scooby, Fred, and Daphne" written with black marker in Velma's handwriting. When he pulled it from the shelf, he got a face full of dust and started coughing and spitting.

He heard Velma's voice from the other room, "It might be a little dusty."

Her eyes were twinkling as he walked over to the bed and carefully put the box down on her side. Two could play at the dust game. The twinkle dulled as she swatted at the bed with her hand to get the dust off.

Shaggy grumbled, "Now my lungs are probably full of dust mites and they're laying eggs all over the place. Then their young will probably eat their way out through my chest. I hate dust mites."

"Everything you said except for the last sentence is complete fabrication. What is this thing you've always had with dust mites?"

"Have you ever seen a magnified picture of a dust mite? They're… they're… Yeesh." A shiver went up Shaggy's spine.

"Of course, I've seen picture of dust mites and… they're pretty creepy looking. I'll give you that one."

She opened the box and thumbed through various papers until finding a notebook, "Here are my notes from that investigation. In the days before he disappeared, Scooby had made four calls to Birmingham, Michigan; four calls to Los Angeles California, two calls to Vancouver, British Columbia, and two calls to Washington DC.

"The calls to Michigan were two different numbers both of which were burner phones. The calls to Los Angeles were to an attorney's office and another burner phone. The calls to Vancouver were also to a burner phone. And then the calls to Washington DC were to the Department of State."

She continued to read, "The attorney's office in Los Angeles refused to speak to us at the time stating that they could neither confirm nor deny that Scooby was their client and could not speak with us regarding the matter but that nothing they said should be construed as an agreement that they had ever met or had a conversation with Scooby Doo. The weird thing was that it was boilerplate. It really meant nothing."

"The Department of State was the usual bureaucratic runaround. We didn't have enough information for a computer search to yield anything. They said that our only other option was to make their request under the Freedom of Information Act, and they would get to it sometime within the decade. The burner phones were all dead ends."

Shaggy nodded, "I remember most of that. The burner phones in Michigan were near where Amanda Black lived, so that's where they headed."

"Right. In their second call, they said that they met with Amanda, and she had not seen Scooby. That was the last report we got."

"So. What do we do?"

Velma put the musty papers back into the box, "We start in the same place. With Amanda Black."

That was what Shaggy had expected, "When do we start?"

"As soon as the kids leave."

"And we don't tell them?"

"No, if we find something then we'll fill them in." Velma thought for a moment, "We'll just tell them that we are going to celebrate our retirement by doing some traveling."

"I guess that's not false."