Sponge: Welcome back, and thank you so much to everyone who left such kind reviews! I am overwhelmed with gratitude. Last week's chapter, "The Parting Glass," shares its title with a traditional Scottish song that's been covered by many artists – including the High Kings! This chapter's pretty long, so we're going to get right into it. Warnings: kissing, amorous touching, and ~implied~ sexual activity. It's not enough to warrant an M rating, but I wanted to make sure you knew. Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Scooby Doo characters. They belong to Cartoon Network, Warner Brothers, and Hanna Barbera.

Chapter 17: If My Heart Was a House

"I can't believe you packed a whole tent, and we didn't realize it," Velma said incredulously, shaking her head.

They were in the Mystery Machine, on their way to Shaggy's erstwhile hometown of Vista Heights, where there was apparently a small park and campground. Shaggy had been planning to camp there with his friends ever since Fred had first mentioned the idea of the road trip, and he'd kept it a secret all this time.

"Well like, once I saw how much Daphne had packed, it was easier to hide it under her luggage," Shaggy teased.

Daphne reached for the heretofore forgotten Vigenère cipher, crumpled it into a ball, and threw it at him. Everyone laughed – they were all in much better spirits, now that they were all out of danger and they knew Leon Berger and Professor Pericles would soon be behind bars, if they weren't there already.

"How big is the tent?" Fred wanted to know.

"We'll all fit," Shaggy promised. "It's like, pretty roomy."

"Rokay," Scooby conceded. "Rut no funny ruisiness."

Everyone chuckled again.

Fred followed Shaggy's directions to the Vista Heights Regional Park, driving down quiet, tree-lined roads until they arrived at the entrance.

"Good evening folks," said the groundskeeper who met them at the gatehouse. "Camping with us this evening?"

"Like yes," said Shaggy from the backseat. "Just for one night. Are there any sites available?"

"Only one," the groundskeeper replied. "Site 5. Just follow this road down past the camp store. Your campsite is the one at the beginning of the woodland path." He handed them a pass for their rearview mirror, plus a printout of the campground rules. Then he took their payment.

"If you need anything from the camp store, it closes at eight-thirty," the groundskeeper told them as he took Fred's cash. "And the light's fading fast, so you'll probably want to set up your tent as soon as you get to your site."

"Thanks," said Fred.

The groundskeeper smiled, "Have a good night!"

It wasn't long before they reached their campsite. It was a quiet, peaceful place. A stone fire pit was set up in the middle of the site, surrounded by several dark brown Adirondack chairs. A wooden picnic table with attached bench seats sat close by. The woodland trail the groundskeeper had mentioned began a few feet away and meandered into the nearby forest.

"Okay," said Fred as he parked. "Let's unload the Mystery Machine and get the tent up while we still have light."

Together they brought their luggage and sleeping bags out of the van, revealing the tent that Shaggy had packed. It had indeed been hidden under Daphne's suitcases.

It didn't take the group long to pitch the tent. They worked together and had it set up in no time at all.

"Well done," said Nova when they were finished. Shaggy was right – it certainly seemed large enough for all of them to fit.

"I'll start putting everything inside," said Fred, glancing over at the picnic table, where they had piled all their sleeping bags and suitcases.

"I can help," Daphne offered. "The two of us should be able to take care of it."

"Like in that case," Shaggy spoke up. "Is it cool if I beg off?"

"Why?" Daphne chuckled. "Do you have a date?"

In lieu of answering her, Shaggy turned to Velma. "Like, wanna go for a drive? Just the two of us?"

Velma blushed, pleasantly surprised. "All right," she said, a bit mystified.

Shaggy looked at Fred. "Is it all right if I like, borrow the Mystery Machine?"

"Sure," Fred replied, tossing him the keys. "Take your time."

Now Shaggy faced Scooby. "Will you like, be okay alone for a little bit?"

"Rof course," Scooby assured him. He wouldn't be alone – he'd be with Nova, and Fred and Daphne. But he appreciated Shaggy's intent.

"All right. Great." Shaggy turned back to Velma and offered her his elbow like a fancy gentleman. "Madame?"

"God you're weird," Velma chuckled, taking his arm and following him to the van.

The pair of them got in and drove off. The others watched the Mystery Machine recede into the distance.

"Scooby," Nova spoke up quietly once the Mystery Machine was out of sight. "Do you think you'd like to go for a walk with me? Maybe down the woodland trail?"

"Rokay," he replied eagerly.

Nova explained to Fred and Daphne where she and Scooby were going. "We won't be long," she told them. "We just want to explore a bit."

Fred and Daphne agreed, and together, Scooby and Nova set off down the trail.

It was quite a pleasant summer evening. The fuchsias and crimsons of the sunset had begun to fade to a deep midnight blue as the dogs walked together.

"Thank you for coming with me," Nova spoke up once they were out of Fred and Daphne's earshot.

Scooby nodded. "Rye'm glad you rasked me," he told her truthfully.

"I'm glad too," Nova replied with a smile. "I like your company."

A pleasant warmth spread through Scooby. What could he say? He enjoyed her company as well.

"And," she continued. "I wanted to speak with you privately."

Scooby frowned. "Rhat rabout?"

"Well, I couldn't help overhearing Shaggy," said Nova. "When we were in the warehouse."

"Reah," Scooby agreed. He'd heard him too. It had been impossible not to. He'd empathized with Shaggy, of course. Honestly, Scooby himself shared the feelings Shaggy had mentioned. Scooby often felt frightened and cowardly when they were solving mysteries. He knew Shaggy did too of course, but he hadn't realized to what extent. Shaggy – his Shaggy – felt like he didn't matter to the gang. It broke Scooby's heart to hear it.

Nova glanced sideways at him. "I imagine that must have been difficult for you to listen to," she went on. "I know any time Brad and Judy talk themselves down, I can't stand it. I think they're wonderful…in my eyes, they can do no wrong. They've spent the past several years thinking they were terrible parents for leaving Fred behind. But…to my mind, that's what makes them good parents. They did what they had to do to keep their child safe."

"Rye know," Scooby told her. And he did, truly. After meeting Pericles face-to-face, he understood more than ever why Brad and Judy would have never wanted him near their son.

"I know you do," Nova replied. "And that's my point. I believe that we, as dogs, can see things more clearly than our humans can. Their thoughts and feelings are often clouded by factors that we don't always experience. So, we don't see their flaws. Unless a human is truly evil, I can always find something redeeming in them. That's why we feel this compulsion to comfort them when we sense they're upset, even if they don't say anything outright. We're their dogs. They're our humans. We love each other unconditionally, you know?"

Astonishingly, Scooby understood exactly what she meant. He'd always been pretty in tune with Shaggy's emotions, but he realized now that it was also true about each member of the gang. It was why he'd felt so protective of Fred, so frightened for Daphne, so concerned for Velma during this entire road trip. During the entire time they'd been a gang, really.

"Anyway," Nova continued. "All this to say…I got the sense that Shaggy feels that way a lot. That you both do."

She was so intuitive. Did it come naturally to her, or was it just another side effect of the serum? "Rye guess," Scooby admitted.

Nova stopped walking and looked at him seriously. Scooby turned to meet her gaze.

"I disagree with you both," Nova told him.

Scooby sighed. Intuitive though she was, Nova had only known him for two days. She couldn't possibly understand the depths of his cowardice, how he'd always rather run away than stay and solve the mystery. He was about to argue this point with her when she went on.

"Having courage doesn't mean that you aren't afraid," she told him. "It means that even if you are afraid down to your very bones, you act anyway. Bravery isn't the absence of fear…it's persisting in spite of it." She gazed at him. "Isn't that what you do? Every time you solve a mystery?"

Scooby had never really thought about it before. Even though every time they solved a mystery, he'd rather run away…he always stayed, despite his fear.

"Res," he admitted.

Nova continued to look at him with her serious, penetrating gaze. "Then," she said at last. "That makes you the bravest dog I know."

x.X.x

"Where are you taking me?" Velma asked from the front seat of the Mystery Machine.

"Like it's a surprise," Shaggy answered with a grin.

The sun had finally dipped below the horizon, and the stars were just beginning to peek out in the twilight.

"Give me a hint?" Velma wheedled.

Shaggy shook his head. "We're almost there, anyway," he told her. "You'll like, see soon enough."

Velma chuckled and gazed out the window at the passing scenery. Eventually, they turned onto a gravel path that ended at the edge of a low cliff. A wooden beam separated the Mystery Machine from the steep slope in front of them. Shaggy parked and killed the headlights.

Velma furrowed her brow, confused. "Where are we?" she asked. There wasn't anything particularly noteworthy that she could see – just some trees and shrubs. Tire tracks on the ground indicated that theirs was not the first car that had visited this place, though it was the only car there now. The view from up here was nice enough, though it was hard to see much of anything as the sky continued to darken.

Shaggy grinned and got out of the van. "Come on," he said, climbing onto the Mystery Machine's roof. "I like, wanna show you something."

Velma opened the door and slid out, gazing hesitantly up at Shaggy. "What is it?" she asked warily.

"Velma," said Shaggy, laughing as he reached a hand down to her. "Like, just come up here!"

She sighed and grabbed his hand. He helped her up onto the roof of the Mystery Machine, then pointed past the wooden beam and down the slope.

"Look," he said.

She looked.

And gasped.

At the bottom of the hill was a small grove of trees. There wouldn't have been anything exceptional about it, if not for the hundreds of twinkling fireflies that gently swarmed around in the tall grass and the tree branches, blinking on and off like yellow, phosphorescent stars.

Velma couldn't tear her gaze from the phenomenon. She didn't know why it was so breathtaking, but it left her speechless for several moments.

"Jinkies," she finally whispered.

Shaggy beamed from ear to ear. "I knew you'd like it," he murmured.

"How do you know about this place?" Velma asked, still gazing awestruck at the fireflies. "It seems pretty off the beaten track, you know what I mean?"

"It was just like, one of those places that kids in this area grew up knowing about," Shaggy replied with a shrug. "I used to come up here with Brannen when we were in ninth grade, and in the beginning of tenth grade before I moved away to Coolsville." He gestured to the shrubbery behind them. "We'd uh…hide in those bushes and smoke weed."

Velma smirked and shot him a sidelong glance. "How romantic," she teased.

He nudged her with his shoulder. "Most of our classmates did come up here to like, hook up with each other," he admitted. "But neither of us had many romantic prospects at the time so like, we would just come up here to get high. We were usually the only ones here and even if we weren't, no one else noticed us cuz they were like…you know. Too busy with other stuff." He shook his head. "I can't tell you how many times I like, saw something that I definitely shouldn't have seen."

Velma raised her eyebrows. "What was the worst?"

Shaggy chuckled. "Probably fall of sophomore year, when some senior's pickup truck pulled up and he got into the flatbed with the girl I was seeing at the time."

Velma gasped, her eyes widening. "No!"

Shaggy nodded solemnly. "Like, yep," he told her. "That was how she dumped me."

"That's awful!" Velma exclaimed.

Shaggy shrugged. "I mean, it kinda sucked at the time, but it wasn't like, shattering. We were in tenth grade, and we'd only been together for like, three weeks."

"What was her name?" Velma couldn't help feeling morbidly curious about this girl Shaggy had dated once.

He paused. "Like, don't laugh."

Velma quirked an eyebrow. "I'll do my best."

Shaggy sighed. "Her name was Googie."

Velma furrowed her brow. "What?"

"Her name was Googie," Shaggy repeated, trying not to chuckle at the incredulous grin on Velma's face.

She continued to stare at him. "Googie? Are you serious?"

"Like, I swear to God."

"That cannot have been her real name." Despite her promise, Velma had dissolved into giggles. She clapped a hand over her mouth, as though to stop herself.

Shaggy couldn't help it. He laughed too. "Like you're probably right," he admitted. "But she went by Googie."

"Wait." Velma removed her hand from her mouth and held it up, staring at Shaggy mouth agape. "Are you telling me you dated this girl for almost an entire month, and you never learned her real name?"

"I never needed to!" Shaggy insisted.

The pair of them cracked up so hard that tears had begun to leak out of their eyes. They didn't know why it was so funny, but it took them a long time before they stopped laughing.

Once they'd calmed down, Shaggy looked out at the fireflies again, still blinking in the growing darkness. "I saw a lot of things on this hill when Brannen and I would smoke here," he told Velma. "And like, I always sort of thought about the kinds of things I might do if I was ever up here with a girl. But I gotta say…laughing together at the name of my ex-girlfriend was not something I ever imagined."

Velma chuckled and gazed down at the fireflies too. She still felt that morbid sense of curiosity and couldn't help asking. "Am I…the first girl you've ever brought here?"

Shaggy looked at her. "You're the only girl I've ever brought here," he told her truthfully. "Honestly you're like, the only girl I've ever wanted to bring here."

Velma bit her lip and smiled at him. It made Shaggy's heart race.

x.X.x

"All right," said Fred, smoothing out his sleeping bag. "I think that's everything."

Daphne nodded and glanced around. She was sitting in the tent, on top of her purple sleeping bag. "You think everyone will be okay with the sleeping arrangements?"

Fred sat down on his blue sleeping bag, which had been rolled out next to Daphne's. He glanced down the row – he was first, then Daphne, then Velma, then Shaggy. "I think they'll appreciate this," he told her. "And I'm sure Scooby and Nova will be comfortable wherever." He glanced at her. "Hey…do you remember when the gang went camping with Mayor Dad that one time?"

"Of course," said Daphne, smiling at the memory – and at Fred's name for his adoptive father. "Memorial Day weekend, junior year. It rained on the last night, and we all got soaked."

Fred nodded with a chuckle. "I'm sure we'll be much more comfortable tonight."

Daphne grinned and lay back on her sleeping bag, gazing up through the mesh ceiling of the tent. "Oh Freddie, look!" she exclaimed, pointing.

Fred lay beside her, looked up, and frowned. "Ah, we forgot to put up the roof fly," he murmured.

Daphne giggled and swatted his shoulder. "No, I was talking about the sky," she replied.

Even through the mesh ceiling, the stars sparkled gorgeously. They'd come out in full sometime while they'd been unpacking, and though the sky wasn't completely dark yet, it had faded to a stunning ultramarine which somehow seemed to make the stars shine brighter than ever.

"It's beautiful," Daphne breathed.

Fred blinked and looked away from the sky into the shining face of his girlfriend. "Yes," he agreed softly, gazing at her. "The most beautiful thing I've ever seen."

Daphne felt his eyes on her and smiled. She turned so she was on her side, facing him.

"I was so afraid this afternoon," Fred confessed, reaching out for one of her hands. "When you were hanging from that chain…I thought you were going to die."

Daphne knitted her brows together and pulled herself closer to him. "I was scared too," she admitted. "When Pericles was strangling you. I thought you were going to die."

Fred rubbed his throat, as though remembering. "This whole trip…" he began, then paused.

Daphne frowned. "What?"

Fred sighed. "It's just…it's made me realize how much I need you. How much I don't want us to be apart."

Daphne felt her heart breaking. She didn't want to be apart either. But what choice did they have? Fred was staying in Coolsville, and Daphne was going to New York. It was at least an eight-hour drive each way.

"Are you…worried?" she asked him.

Fred blinked. "About what?"

Daphne took a deep breath. "I don't know. The future, I guess. I mean…we're so young. All my life, I grew up hearing about how you should never get serious with your high school relationships because they were always destined to fail. My sisters told me never to settle down right away, and even my own mom said I should play the field. And I mean…look at my parents." Daphne's eyes had begun to sparkle with tears. She hadn't even realized she'd been so anxious about this. "They started as a high school relationship, and now they're in the middle of this nasty divorce. I don't want to end up like them. But I worry about it all the time. What if we're trying to force this?"

Fred gazed at her seriously. "Do you feel like it's forced?"

Daphne shook her head. "No, of course not. Just the opposite. Being with you feels like the most natural thing in the world to me…I don't want to be apart from you either. I love you Freddie, truly. With my whole heart. But…what if one day, love isn't enough? What if we grow up and resent each other and we can't get back what we had? What if we end up like my parents?"

Fred paused, thinking. He'd never been as good with words as Daphne was. He'd certainly never been as in tune with his emotions. But knowing that she loved him so much that she was already thinking about their future together gave him an idea.

He shrugged. "What if we end up like mine?" he replied.

Daphne blinked at him.

"Brad and Judy started as a high school relationship too," Fred went on. "And they've been together all this time. They had to make a lot of hard decisions together, it's true, but their relationship seems stronger than ever." He shrugged again. "Maybe that's what a successful relationship is. Making decisions together. Choosing each other."

Daphne smiled shakily. "I do choose you, Freddie," she told him in a whisper.

A tear escaped from her eye, and Fred caught it with his thumb and softly caressed her cheek.

"The other night," he said. "I told Velma that I was terrified of saying goodbye to you. But…it's like I said to Brad and Judy earlier. It's not goodbye. At least, it doesn't have to be. As long as we love each other, we'll never truly be apart. And I think we can keep up our relationship. Even if it is long-distance."

Daphne nodded. "It would be pretty easy for me to hop on a plane for a weekend back in Coolsville," she told him. "Or for me to get you on a plane for a weekend in New York."

Fred smiled. "I think it'll be hard, at first. The long distance, I mean. But if we're honest, and we keep choosing each other every day, we'll make it work." He cupped her face. "I love you, Daphne. I've loved you since we were in ninth grade, and I can't imagine that I'll ever stop loving you."

Daphne's heart felt too large for her chest. It was bursting at the seams with all her love for Fred. She couldn't imagine that she'd stop loving him either.

"I love you too, Freddie," she murmured before closing the small gap between them to kiss him softly.

He kissed her back, his heart on fire. Instinctively, he moved his hand behind her and unzipped her dress – slowly, in case she wanted to stop him.

She didn't want to stop him.

Daphne broke the kiss and sat up, swiftly removing her scarf and pulling off her dress. Fred sat up too, discarding his white sweater before bringing Daphne back to him, gently holding her against his bare chest and kissing her deeply. His skin felt electric as her hands moved down his body, and his breath hitched when she hovered over the button of his pants.

"Do you want…?" she murmured.

"Yes," Fred groaned, because God he wanted her, not just because they'd talked about having sex for months now with no results, but because he wanted to show her how deeply he loved her. He wanted to hold her warm body in his arms and feel her soft skin beneath his and know for certain that they were meant to be together. That they belonged with each other. That they belonged to each other.

She was his. And he was hers.

Before he let her undo his pants, he pulled a condom from his duffel bag.

x.X.x

Meanwhile, Shaggy and Velma were still on top of the Mystery Machine, gazing down the slope at the fireflies. The sky above them had darkened into an inky black.

"Do you ever miss it out here?" she asked, gesturing at the beautiful scenery around them.

"Like I used to," he admitted. "But there's…I don't know. A lot of sadness associated with this town, you know?"

Velma nodded. She knew Shaggy was thinking about his baby sister.

"The anniversary's coming up," Shaggy murmured. "Tomorrow."

Velma's heart froze. Of course. The next day was the twelfth of June. She'd totally forgotten it was the anniversary of Sugie's death. Shaggy had told her once last summer.

"She's buried here, right?" she asked, though she knew the answer.

Shaggy nodded. "Well not like, here." He gestured around at their gorgeous surroundings again. "She's in a cemetery in town."

"Would you…like to go see her tomorrow?" asked Velma. "After Stanford?"

Shaggy paused. He hadn't been planning to take his friends to his sister's grave. That seemed a little depressing. But then again…

"Like, that might be nice," he said at last. He looked at her. "Thank you."

Velma nodded. "Of course," she murmured.

They were silent for a while, staring at the fireflies.

"You know," Velma said finally. She was about to say something she'd never admitted to him before, and her cheeks heated up in anticipation. But now seemed like the right time to tell him, so she pressed on. "The day you told us about your sister was…the first time I thought I might be falling in love with you."

Shaggy glanced at her. "Like, really?"

Velma nodded again, feeling the redness in her face deepen. "You were so vulnerable. You shared all these extremely emotional, personal things with me. It was hard not to fall in love with you after that."

Shaggy shook his head, stunned. It staggered him to realize that she'd loved him for so long. "We like, weren't even technically dating yet," he murmured. "That was back when we were in the musical, still just hooking up in the practice room."

Velma chuckled, and her blush receded. "Simpler times."

"Maybe," Shaggy agreed. "But not better times." He took her hand.

They sat in comfortable silence again.

"For what it's worth," he went on after a few minutes. "The first time I realized I was in love with you was when you performed Rhapsody in Blue at the spring concert last year."

Her mouth quirked into a gentle smile. "Seriously?"

Shaggy nodded. "Like, seriously." He sighed. "I should have told you then. I like, shouldn't have waited until the prom. If only I'd –"

"Shaggy," Velma interrupted. "I forgive you. You've apologized for this so much already."

He exhaled. "I know. I just…I wish I could change the way I acted, you know?"

"I know," Velma assured him. "And I appreciate that." She squeezed his hand.

"I think I was like…afraid," Shaggy confessed quietly. "To be falling in love with you. Not just for Scoob, but like, for myself too. I'd never felt something so…intense before. It scared me. So for a long time I like, didn't even admit to myself that I had any feelings at all for you. I wasn't brave enough to admit it so I just like, pretended they didn't exist. Until we were cast in Next to Normal. It was like, impossible for me to ignore them during the musical."

Velma glanced at him sideways. "Did you have feelings for me before the musical?"

"Like yep," Shaggy replied. "Way before."

Velma was astonished. She'd always thought that the musical had been the catalyst for Shaggy's romantic feelings towards her. "How long had you had feelings for me before that?"

Shaggy chuckled. "Will you think I'm like, a total sap if I told you that they started the day we met?"

Velma looked at him incredulously. "Really?"

Shaggy nodded. "In Sra. Rodriguez's class, when we were talking about Spanish names. I thought it would be like, stupid to call myself Salvador, because it means 'savior,' but then you said –"

" – that my Spanish name was Valencia, which means 'strength,'" Velma finished for him. "And then you challenged me to an arm-wrestling match, didn't you?"

Shaggy laughed. "I mean I don't remember it exactly like that," he said. "But like, I do remember my heart beating super-fast."

Velma smiled and leaned into him. "I had no idea you'd liked me for so long," she murmured.

"From the moment we met," he whispered back.

Velma took her head off his shoulder to glance at him. "That wasn't the moment we met," she told him.

Shaggy frowned. "What are you talking about?"

"We met before that," said Velma.

"Like, when? In homeroom? Because I don't know if I count that – I mean, Fred told me about you, but you and I didn't like…you know. Interact or anything."

Velma shook her head. "It was before that, too."

Shaggy's frown deepened. "Okay I have like, officially no memory of this."

Velma chuckled. "On the bus that morning," she began. "When we arrived at school, I stood up to move into the aisle, when out of nowhere, this…tree of a person wearing a green shirt whammed into me and almost knocked off my glasses. He didn't even turn around, just kept walking and muttered –"

" – 'like, sorry,'" Shaggy said with her, stunned. He remembered that – being in such a hurry to get off the bus on his first day at Coolsville High, that he hadn't watched where he was going and had hurtled into a small girl wearing glasses. "Zoinks, that was you?"

"That was me," Velma replied with a smile.

Shaggy shook his head. "Shit. I can't believe I did that. What an asshole I was."

Velma laughed. "Well, that memory really takes a backseat in my brain," she told him. "I have much more pleasant memories of you from that day that I prefer to think of instead."

Shaggy smiled and pulled her close again. "Like such as?"

"Oh you know," Velma said with faux modesty. "Nothing big. You eating lunch with me. You saving my life from a monster in the woods." She paused and bit her lip. "You drawing me in study hall."

Shaggy remembered that too. He remembered the embarrassment of Velma catching him, and then the thrill of pride that flooded him when she complimented the sketch.

"I still have it, you know," Velma whispered. "After you gave it to me, I hung it up on my bulletin board over my desk at home."

"I know," Shaggy told her. "I've been in your bedroom."

That statement made them both smile and blush. For awhile they didn't say anything, just sat there together, gazing at the fireflies.

Then, Velma spoke. "I should give it back to you."

Shaggy turned to look at her. "What? The drawing?"

Velma nodded.

"Like why?"

She hesitated. "Well…" She adjusted her glasses and glanced away. "You know. It might be nice for you to have something to…remember me by."

Shaggy looked at her, confused.

"I mean," Velma said, still not looking at him. "We're going to different colleges. You're going to meet all kinds of new and interesting people. You've already met some of them." She hated, hated, that her insecurity was coming out in this way. But all of a sudden, she couldn't stop thinking about Mary Jane, the student at Roosevelt they'd met in Chicago. How many more girls like her were there, girls who were beautiful and funny and sexy and infinitely more extraordinary than Velma? Who in their right mind would want a mousy geek like her when they could have a bubbly beauty like Mary Jane? Especially if Velma was over two-thousand miles away.

"I just…" she said softly. "I don't want you to forget me."

Shaggy didn't know she was thinking any of this – not the specifics, anyway. But the anxiety was plain on her face. He would have been lying if he pretended not to feel it, too. He had no idea what would happen to them in the fall – whether they'd make it or not. All he knew was that he loved her fiercely, and that even if he searched for the rest of his life, he'd never find someone more interesting or more wonderful or more perfect for him than Velma. He didn't need a drawing or even a photograph to remember her. She lived in his heart, took up so much residence there that it hardly had room for anything else.

She had done so much to quell his anxieties and insecurities in the warehouse. It was time for him to return the favor.

"Like how could I ever forget you?" he whispered at last. He pulled her into an embrace. "You're the best thing that's ever happened to me, Velma. I mean it."

She wasn't looking at him, so he gently took her chin and tilted her face up towards his.

"I spent like, so much time pretending that I didn't have any feelings for you, and then I spent even more time pretending that they weren't as deep as they were," he said. "Because I was like, afraid to admit it to myself. To Scooby. To you." He took a deep breath. "But I don't want to be afraid anymore. I'm not afraid anymore. And I'm not afraid to tell you that I have never loved another person as much as I love you."

She gazed at him in the starlight. "I've never loved someone this much either," she confessed in a whisper. "And you're right…it is scary."

Shaggy lay down on the roof of the Mystery Machine, tenderly bringing Velma with him. She rested her head on his chest, feeling the soft fabric of his green shirt beneath her cheek.

"We'll like, take it one day at a time," Shaggy promised her. "But I'm tired of pretending that this relationship isn't important to me. That you aren't important to me. Because you are. You're like…my best friend. My soulmate. My hero."

She glanced up at him. "That's what I said to you," she whispered.

He gazed at her. "You like, have no idea how much that meant to me," he told her earnestly. "When I was terrified in that warehouse, you made me feel brave. Because when you're with me…or like, when I know you have my back…it makes me feel…invincible. Like I can do anything. Even something as hard as going to a different college."

Unbidden tears welled in Velma's eyes. "I don't want this to be the end," she mumbled, failing to choke back her tears.

"Then it won't be," Shaggy replied.

He kissed her softly, and she kissed him back. She felt his arms wrap around her, holding her close to him. She gripped him tightly in turn.

They were on the precipice, they felt it. Of the Mystery Machine's roof. Of the cliff. Of the end of high school. Of the beginning of something big and important that neither of them could name.

And they didn't know what the future would bring for them, or the rest of the gang. But that didn't matter right now. All that mattered was each other.

And for now, that was enough.

Sponge: THE END! (Except not really because there'll be an epilogue). I can't believe we're almost finished! Review if you please, and don't forget to guess where the chapter title comes from – FOR THE LAST TIME!