Sponge: Welcome, my darlings, to the beginning of the long-awaited finale of the Origins series! If you've been with me from the start, I applaud your commitment. If this is your first time tuning in, don't worry! While this does pick up immediately after the last story, Three To Get Ready, you don't have to have read the other stories in this series to enjoy this one, though there will be some fun Easter eggs for those of you who have read through all of the others. There will also be more references to Scooby Doo: Mystery Incorporated. We'll be doing the chapter-title contest again, where I'll be titling the chapters after famous songs. If you can guess where the song comes from or who originally sang it, you'll get a mention in the start of the next chapter! Also, as I said, there will be a real-life mystery-solving element in this story, so be on the lookout for those clues. The clue is embedded in the chapter, but I'll also put it down in the end author's notes.

Now, let's get started! Warnings: language, mentions of death and divorce, and some kissing. Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Scooby Doo characters. They belong to Cartoon Network, Warner Brothers, and Hanna Barbera.

Chapter 1: I Play the Road

"A road-trip?"

Shaggy Rogers nodded at his mother, who had just asked the question. His Great Dane, Scooby Doo, gazed at her stoically. Shaggy glanced around at the other people in the room – his best friends, Daphne Blake and Fred Jones, and his girlfriend Velma Dinkley. They all wore similarly serious expressions as they looked at their parents. Everyone was sitting in Velma's living room. She had just thrown a party to celebrate their high school graduation, which was the reason everyone was here. But now the party was over, and Shaggy and his friends wanted to talk to their parents about their idea.

"Like yeah," he said to his mother. "You know, the gang and I are all going to different colleges in the fall. We want to see where everyone will be."

"Obviously we all know Coolsville University already," said Fred, gesturing to himself. Coolsville U, the local college, would be his home come the fall. "But Daphne will be in New York, and Shaggy will be in Chicago, and Velma will be in California."

"Velm's going to Stanford," Shaggy told his parents. "It's like, right near Vista Heights."

His parents exchanged a glance. Shaggy and his family had moved from Vista Heights, California to Coolsville, Ohio about two years ago, and he had quickly become inseparable from the other people in the room when they discovered their shared love for solving mysteries.

"I don't know," Mrs. Dinkley hedged. "Four teenagers and their dog driving across the country by themselves? I'm not sure how comfortable I am with that idea." She glanced at her daughter, who was the youngest of the group. Though everyone had just graduated from high school, Velma was only sixteen. Fred and Shaggy were both eighteen, and Daphne was seventeen.

Velma sighed, wondering how to calm her mother's worries. She'd always hated being so young, but especially now. While the other parents seemed hesitant, her parents were the only ones who were outright anxious.

"What if we promise to call home every time we arrive in a new state?" Velma asked. "Or send a text?"

This seemed to mollify the parents, and they relaxed a little.

"Can we all confer together?" asked Fred's father, gesturing to the other parents. Mr. Jones was the mayor of Coolsville, and his politician-speak often crossed over into his everyday vernacular.

"Of course," said Daphne, rising.

The rest of the gang stood as well and followed her out of the living room. In the kitchen they found Velma's sisters sitting at the table and watching a baby monitor. Velma's older sister Dottie was twenty-five and had an almost two-year-old daughter named Lorelei. A crib had been set up for her in the bedroom of Velma's younger sister Madelyn, who had just turned fourteen. Both Dottie and Madelyn were watching Lorelei's chest rise and fall on the screen of the baby monitor, but they looked up when the gang entered.

"Any luck?" Dottie asked. She'd been in the room when the gang had first brought up the idea of a road-trip to their parents.

Velma shrugged. "They're talking it over."

"That's a good sign," Dottie told them.

"Where's Bill?" asked Fred, looking around the kitchen. Bill was Dottie's husband, and Lorelei's father.

"He went to take out the trash," Dottie replied. The front door opened at that moment, and Bill himself walked inside.

"You want me to put fresh bags in the garbage cans?" he asked Dottie.

Dottie shook her head. "I already did that," she told him. "But you can help me wash some dishes." She got up from her chair, leaving Madelyn sitting alone with the baby monitor.

Shaggy sat down in the chair Dottie had just vacated and watched the sleeping Lorelei on the screen. Madelyn noticed and glanced at him.

"She's cute, isn't she?" she asked him.

Shaggy nodded slowly. Watching Lorelei reminded him of being ten years old and watching another baby on a similar monitor. He'd had a younger sister for a very short eight months, before she died from what was most likely an intestinal obstruction. Her name had been Margaret – Maggie for short – but Shaggy had always called her Sugie. If she'd lived, she would have been eight years old now.

He didn't spend much time around children, but when he did, he often found it hard to look away. Sugie had died overnight, and as a kid, Shaggy had convinced himself that if he'd been watching her in the hospital, she would have made it. Of course, he now knew that this was not true – there wasn't anything that could have been done for her. But he still watched Lorelei breathing on the baby monitor as though something would happen to her if he looked away for even a second.

Scooby came over and laid his chin on Shaggy's knee, and Shaggy put a hand on his head without looking up from the baby monitor. Scooby had joined the Rogers' family shortly before Sugie died, and he knew exactly what Shaggy was feeling.

The rest of the gang knew about Shaggy's sister as well, and all came to watch the baby monitor with him. Daphne and Fred stood behind him and Velma pulled up another chair to sit on his other side. She reached out and intertwined her fingers with his.

Shaggy felt a thrill go through him. Holding hands with Velma in full view of people they knew gave him a strange sense of pride.

For the past year or so, the two of them had been in a secret relationship, and only recently had they made it public. Of course, their timing wasn't great, since they were about to go to colleges that were over two-thousand miles away from each other. Fred and Daphne were in a similar boat – they'd been together for much longer than Shaggy and Velma, but they were also going to different colleges.

That was part of the reason they all wanted to go on this road-trip. For the past two years the five of them had spent almost every waking moment together (not counting a couple months this past spring when they'd been fighting), but they were about to be separated now by both distance and time. The only ones who'd still be together were Shaggy and Scooby, but for the others, four years and several thousand miles apart would be a lot. And because they'd all spent two months fighting just before they graduated from high school, they felt they had to make up for lost time.

The reason for their fight had been a stupid one. It had been all about secrets and hurt feelings and pride. If one member of the gang had apologized right away, the whole thing may never have happened. But it had. They may have still been fighting even now, if they hadn't needed to band together to rescue Velma. Last month she'd been abducted by a young man named Leon Berger, who had gone to high school with Dottie, and though he'd been three years her junior, he'd been infatuated with her. He'd discovered Velma's relation and wanted to use her to get to her sister. Luckily, the gang had arrived to save the day before any real harm came to her.

Their fight had had one positive outcome – it made the gang realize how much they cared for each other. How much they needed each other. It confirmed what they had known from the start. They were a family, the five of them. They always had been.

The mayor appeared then in the doorway between the kitchen and the living room. Everyone turned to look at him, and Shaggy finally wrenched his gaze away from the monitor.

"All right, you can come back in," he told them. "We've made a decision."

The gang followed him back into the living room and took their seats again in front of the parents.

"So," the mayor began. "After some deliberation, we've decided that you can go on your college road-trip together. And we will all finance the journey."

Everyone in the gang breathed a sigh of relief and outpourings of gratitude issued from their mouths.

"We do have a few stipulations, however," said Shaggy's mother. "First, please docall us every time you enter a new state. Also please keep the gas tank in your van full – don't wait until you're at a quarter tank to fill up, just in case something goes wrong. And please stay together at all times – no splitting up for any reason."

"Even if we're solving a mystery?" asked Fred.

"Man like, we're going on a college road-trip," Shaggy laughed. "Why would we be solving a mystery?"

"Because it's what we do," Velma reminded him with a chuckle.

"So when should we leave?" asked Daphne.

"How about tomorrow morning?" Fred replied.

Everyone stared at him.

"I don't know…" hedged Mrs. Dinkley. "Isn't that a little…soon? You really should plan a bit more. And you need to pack."

"It's not so late," said Fred. "We can pack now, get a good nights' sleep, and head out in the morning."

"Where's your first stop?" asked Mr. Rogers.

There was silence.

"Ah…" Fred stammered. "I…I guess I didn't think about that." He looked at the others. "Maybe New York?"

The mayor cleared his throat. "How about this," he spoke up. "The kids pack, then they come to my house, and I help them plot their route. They can spend the night and leave in the morning. How does that sound?" He looked at the teens a little apprehensively, though Fred couldn't imagine why. Maybe his father was worried that the other parents wouldn't like this plan?

It turned out no one needed to be nervous about that.

"Oh that's a marvelous idea!" said Mrs. Rogers.

"Yes," agreed Mr. Dinkley. "Thank you, Fred Senior. We really appreciate that."

The mayor shrugged humbly, and the gang grinned at each other.

Since Shaggy and Scooby only lived one street over from Velma's, they decided to stay while she packed, and then she would come to their house to help them pack before Shaggy's dad dropped them off at the Jones'. Shaggy was glad they decided this, as Velma packed several things that Shaggy wouldn't have remembered otherwise.

"Right like, remind me to pack my toothbrush," he said to Scooby as Velma returned from the bathroom with hers.

She looked at him incredulously. "Would you honestly forget to pack a toothbrush?"

"Like dude," Shaggy told her. "I once packed a suitcase full of Scooby Snacks and potato chips, and nothing else. Forgot to pack clothes."

"Rit's true," Scooby spoke up.

Velma giggled as she tossed her toiletry kit into her duffel bag. "When was this?"

Shaggy glanced at her sheepishly. "Two years ago, when we moved here."

Velma laughed out loud. "Be serious!"

"Like I am being serious!" Shaggy told her, also laughing. "My mom didn't realize it until we were in Kansas. She was so mad – we had to like, track down the moving truck to find my chest of drawers so I could change." He nudged her with his shoulder. "If you'd been there though, there was like, no way you would have let me get away with that."

Velma shook her head at him, still grinning. "How in the world did you ever get on without me?"

Shaggy looked at her and smiled softly. "I didn't," he told her sincerely.

They gazed at each other; the packing forgotten for the moment. Shaggy was telling the truth – he'd missed Velma fiercely during the brief time in the spring that they'd been broken up. It had been painful in multiple ways to be apart from her, especially since they'd been so angry. He desperately wanted to make up for lost time with her. This road-trip would certainly afford them that opportunity.

Scooby cleared his throat conspicuously, and Shaggy and Velma glanced away from each other. Truthfully, Scooby didn't mind their relationship – in fact, he was happy for Shaggy. But damn, those longing glances were bound to get annoying.

"I'm excited to see Vista Heights," Velma said to them, counting the pairs of socks in her bag. There wasn't much she knew about Shaggy's erstwhile hometown, apart from the fact that his sister died there, and it was where he'd started smoking marijuana – a habit he had since quit. She was eager to see the place where her boyfriend had grown up.

"Me too," Shaggy agreed. "We like, haven't been back since we moved, right Scoob?"

"Reah," Scooby nodded.

"There's a lot of memories there," said Shaggy. "Both good and bad."

Velma glanced up at him, and knew he was thinking about his sister. Instinctively, she reached for his hand.

He smiled softly at her and pulled her into an embrace. He could feel their hearts beating in time with each other as he held her close. He had missed this – he had missed her – so much more than he would have thought possible. He couldn't believe how much time he'd wasted before. Forgetting for a moment where he was, he brought his arm around her waist to hold her flush against him. Then he bent his face to hers and kissed her tenderly.

He felt her lips move against his, soft and sweet. Her fingers grasped the front of his shirt, and he moved one hand up to her face and caressed her freckled cheek with his thumb.

"Rahem," said Scooby pointedly.

Shaggy and Velma broke apart sheepishly. The dog was shaking his head, but chuckling.

"Like sorry Scoob," Shaggy apologized. He noticed out of the corner of his eye that a pink blush had tinged Velma's cheeks, and he smiled slightly at the sight. He brought an arm around her waist to pull her closer to him.

Scooby rolled his eyes, still chuckling. "Rit's rokay," he told them. "Rome on. Ret's pack."

x.X.x

Fred had a suitcase open on the floor of his bedroom and weighed two different nets in his hands. "Which do I want to bring with me?" he mused aloud. The two nets had the same tensile strength, but one was slightly bigger than the other – nine feet by twenty-five feet, as opposed to three feet by twenty-five feet. Which would make the most sense to bring along?

As he wondered, his phone rang on his desk. He tossed both nets into the suitcase and picked up the cellphone to see Tony Moretti's name on the caller ID.

Grinning, Fred answered. "Hey Tony," he greeted him warmly.

"Jonesy!" Tony exclaimed in his familiar New York accent.

Fred could hear his smile through the line. Tony was a kind and happy person, and a good friend to the gang. He'd been at the party earlier that evening when the gang had discussed the road-trip, and Fred was sure that's why he was calling.

"What'd your folks say about the road-trip?" asked Tony.

Fred chuckled. He'd been right.

"We're good to go," he replied. "The gang's gonna come by tonight and my dad's going to help us plot a route."

"Nice!" Tony cried happily. "Any idea where you're gonna start?"

Fred shook his head. "Not yet. I think it would make the most sense to start in New York and work our way back west, but we need to talk to my dad first. I think we're going to try to meet up with Holden Walsh while we're there, do you remember him?"

A slight buzz from the phone let Fred know he'd received a text message, but he ignored it to continue talking to Tony.

"Oh yeah!" said Tony. "'Course I remember! He was in the musical with us two years ago."

When they'd been juniors, the gang had been in the school play, Next to Normal, at the behest of Daphne. They'd gotten closer to Tony during the rehearsal process, and made a new friend in Holden, though he had graduated the previous year.

The doorbell rang from downstairs and Fred peeked out the front window to see Daphne's mother's car driving away. He grinned at his girlfriend's arrival, then frowned. Daphne's parents were going through a rather acrimonious divorce, and it seemed like neither of them had much time for their youngest daughter these days. Mrs. Blake, who was the parent who had attended the party this evening, hadn't even seemed to care much about the road-trip – and clearly, she couldn't be bothered to stick around until Fred answered the door.

He seethed slightly at Daphne's mother's behavior, but then shook himself. He was just happy Daphne was here, and he knew she was happy to get away from the drama of her home life. He would gladly provide her comfort and distraction, whenever she needed it. The thought of her suffering even a little was unbearable to him.

"Hey Tony," said Fred. "Daphne just got here, so I gotta go."

"All right," said Tony. "Have a good time!"

"Thanks man," Fred replied. Then he hung up the phone and dashed to the door to greet Daphne, determined not to mention either one of her parents unless she brought them up first.

"Wow," said Fred when he opened the door and saw her standing there. "Only three bags?"

She giggled and shoved him playfully as she walked inside. "Don't make fun of me, I packed in a hurry."

"I know, I'm impressed," he told her, closing the door behind her. "You're the first one here."

Daphne's eyes glinted. "Oh?"

Fred leaned in to kiss her before Daphne had even had a chance to put her bags down. The ultimate distraction.

They had talked about consummating their relationship back in the spring, but the gang's untimely breakup had nipped that plan in the bud. Now that Daphne and Fred were back together, they desperately wanted to get their original plan back on track, and they felt as though they'd have ample opportunities on their road-trip. But that didn't mean that they weren't overtaken by the heat of the moment.

Tongues tangled and teeth nipped as they kissed open-mouthed right in the Jones' foyer, completely caught up in each other. Fred gently pushed Daphne up against the door and placed an exploratory hand at the collar of her dress. He snuck it under her scarf and down towards her perfect chest. She gasped when his fingers made contact and then sighed into their kiss.

Even after two and a half years, the feel of Fred's lips, the taste of his tongue on hers, always sent Daphne into a dizzying stupor, muddling her brain until she forgot which way was up, confusing her senses until all she felt, all she knew, was him. It electrified her blood and heated her skin. It was all she could do to keep herself tethered to reality by clutching his ascot, closing the distance between them as much as she could. He was the only real thing in the world to her.

KNOCK KNOCK

With a groan, the two of them broke apart and glared angrily at the front door, reality an unwelcome intrusion. Daphne fixed her hair while Fred opened the door and Velma, Shaggy, and Scooby entered.

"Like what's to eat?" asked Shaggy.

"Reah!" Scooby agreed. "Rye'm rungry!"

Velma eyed Daphne and Fred suspiciously. "Fred, your ascot is messed up."

Fred glanced down. The ascot had indeed become undone while he and Daphne had been fooling around. Embarrassed, he fixed it while Daphne and Velma giggled.

As everyone headed into the den, dragging their stuff along, Fred's cellphone buzzed again in his pocket. He'd forgotten about the text message he'd received while he was on the phone with Tony. He figured it was a congratulations message for his high school graduation, but it came from a number he didn't recognize.

"What's that?" asked Daphne, noticing Fred's confused frown.

"Heel 7," Fred read the text message out loud.

Velma furrowed her brow and reached for the phone. "Who's it from?" she asked.

Fred shrugged. "I don't know. Not anyone I have in my contacts."

"Maybe it's like a wrong number?" Shaggy suggested.

"But what does 'Heel 7' mean?" Daphne wondered.

Fred shrugged again. "Who knows? Like Shaggy said, it's probably a wrong number."

The mayor entered the den at that moment, and the strange text message was forgotten. "Oh good, you're all here! Why don't you all have a seat?" His tone was upbeat, but Fred sensed something else underneath. Something was strange. Not wrong, necessarily, but still weird. Fred couldn't quite place his finger on it. It was like that strange apprehension he'd sensed back in Velma's living room.

Now that Fred thought about it, something had seemed off about his father all day. He'd made a very touching speech at the graduation party that evening, but it seemed to Fred now that there had been something hidden behind that too. Something almost…regretful, or bittersweet. Fred had chalked it up to his father being emotional that his only son had graduated from high school. But the mayor wasn't a particularly emotional man.

No one else in the gang could tell any different at first, and they sat on the wide leather couch. The mayor took a seat on a cozy armchair, and it was at that moment everyone else finally realized that something was amiss. The mayor wasn't quite looking anyone in the eye, which was very unlike him.

"What's going on, Dad?" asked Fred.

The mayor finally glanced up at him.

To Fred's astonishment, his father's eyes seemed watery.

"Oh, I'm not ready for this," he muttered so quietly that only Scooby heard. The dog furrowed his brow and stared quizzically at the mayor, who cleared his throat.

"There's a story I need to tell you, Fred," he began. "A story that perhaps I should have told you a long time ago, though I was asked not to. But…I think it's time you knew."

Everyone just stared at the mayor, simply waiting for him to go on.

Mr. Jones sighed. "I know the timing is abysmal," he said. "And again…I'm so sorry. But with the road-trip, and your graduation…I wouldn't feel right if you went without knowing."

The others remained silent, but now there was an anxious tension in the room.

The mayor cleared his throat again and reached into a pocket inside his suit jacket. "About nineteen years ago," he continued. "I was getting ready to run for the mayor of Coolsville for the first time. Shortly before the election season began, I was approached by a couple in need of my help. It's time I told you about them."

Fred noticed the thing in his father's hand was an old yellowed photograph. He reached out to take it, and studied it with the gang. The photograph was of a blonde teenage couple. The young man had short, buzzed hair, and the young woman's hair was pulled up into a perky ponytail.

"Who are they?" Fred asked.

The mayor took a deep breath, as though bracing himself. "Their names are Brad Chiles and Judy Reeves, and they're your birth parents."

Sponge: Thanks for reading! So sorry for this cliff-hanger, but hopefully your appetite has been whetted for the rest of the story, coming this summer. In the meantime, be sure to add this story to your alerts so that you can read the next chapter right away when it drops on Wednesday, May 12th, at or around 10pm. Also don't forget to guess where the chapter title comes from, and review if you please!

This week's clue is the text message Fred received that reads "Heel 7."