More pages were consumed, watching along as the Time Traveler explored and dealt with the hardships of the novel. But as she working through chapter five... She smelled the strong hint of vanilla. Sniffing the air, the scent distracted from her novel. Brows scrunched together, Velma shifted her head to the side and found herself looking at Shaggy snoozing beside her. Pajama cap and all, pompom wiggling with his even breathing as it rested on his face as he slept. Apparently sneaking into her room while she was lost in time. Probably the cause of the whiff of vanilla. Or at least one of the two causes of the smell. Looking further over her shoulder, she noticed that there was a bunch of brown fur was also on the bed at the edges of her vision. Figuring there was a Dane to go with the fuzz behind her.

"When the-"

"You totally didn't notice them crawling into bed as well, did you." Answered Daphne from the middle of her back. Apparently have been woken up from her nap.

"It does seem like that, yes. I just noticed the smell of vanilla."

"Oh, I think the pair were baking some cookies. At least the pair took off their baking aprons before crawling in and under me. Well, Shaggy lifted my legs up to lay them across his chest before he fell asleep. But Scooby is kinda, oozing. Good news is, we might have fresh baked cookies!"

"As he does. But Ooo, cookies."

"I'm surprised you didn't notice all the wiggling I made as he was trying to get under me."
"Well, I'm captivated by the Time Traveler I guess."
"Reading Time Machine again? I thought that book bit the dust?"
"Not yet, but it's getting there. A few pages fell out when I was about to bring it to the bed for reading. So, I think I might need to get a new one-"

Interrupting her train of thoughts, was the sound of grunting and shifting on the bed. As a huge head of Scooby hovered into her view over her shoulder to set loose a wave of facial bathing under the enthusiastic tongue of the dog. Happy to see her, and making sure she knew it.

"Reeeeeeeeelmaaaa." He cooed washing her face more, making her turn her head back and flail a bit at the doggy bath she was receiving. Trying not to shake too much, to ruin Daphne's pillow. Sure, she was happy to see him too, ignoring the impromptu bathing session. But it wasn't like she hadn't seen him all day. They all ate breakfast together as usual. So, it had only been a few hours. But in doggy years, it had been FOREVER!

"Alright! Alright Scooby! I'm glad to see you too. Now can you quit it?"

"R'ok Relma. R'I love rou."

"Yes yes, I love you too."

Giving her one more slurp, he then laid back down and rested his big head on the back of her neck. A paw stretching into her view and up on some of her pillows as he settled. Between her and where Shaggy was still out cold. Snoring lightly as he rested. Used to Scooby shifting around, that the commotion hadn't woken him up at all.

"Glad he can sleep like this at home." Velma said aloud, mainly talking to Daphne. Shaggy went through so much on a Mystery, it was great that home was a place he could pass out like this. Though with Scooby now on her neck, it made it harder to look around and see her own bed. So, Velma was kind of just talking and hoping for a response from her back.

"Yeah, he came over and collapsed out cold once he was on the bed and under my legs. And I was hugging Scooby, till he moved. Now he's laying on my arm, draped across my middle and tail lightly wagging off the bedspread."

"Aw." Reaching back as well as she could, Velma tried to pet Scooby. Just earned a happy puppy sound back. She could feel him drifting off as well, since the slack in his body was increasing and head on her was just drooping into her. So, he was becoming another deadweight on the bed.

"As I was saying from before. I need to see if I have a new copy of the Time Machine in my store I can swipe." Velma started to get back to her train of thought she had before Scooby cut in with his overwhelming love.

"Such a bad owner, stealing from the inventory."
"Yes, so terrible. How dare I enjoy my own store with my own money. But if I don't have one, I might ask the bookstore guys if they have one. So, I can support them by buying it from them, rather then amazon."
"Oh, shush, you love amazon. But yeah, totally for supporting independent businesses."
"Yeah, eventually. I might just put it in the dinning room to become a fixture there. Maybe swap it out with another book that is in there."
"Sounds like a plan... And speaking of that. I hear you out there! I just can't see you past Scooby, Fred."

"Hm? Fred's here?"

Turning her attention away from Daphne, Velma could barely hear the light knocks that Fred must have been making from the door frame of her room. Trying to be polite and wait to be invited in.

"What, are you a vampire or something, get in here and join the pile!" Called Daphne from on her back. Wiggling to do something, but it was hard for Velma to tell what. Possibly waving at him with her one free hand, over Scooby who was pinning the other, maybe. But Velma figured she should say something. With it being her room and all.

"Yes, if you are there Fred, you can come in. Might as well, since everyone else is here."

"Thanks. I wandered into the kitchen and found some cookies cooling, but no bodies drooling in wait. I came to look for them and didn't expect to find them in here. And well, Daphne just mentioned a plan? What plan did I walk into?"

Listening to Fred talk as he moved into the room, Velma tried to track him by sound in her head to see where he was. And felt the bed dip as he was sitting at the edge of the bed by her feet. Though Scooby seemed to have been roused by Fred coming in, as Velma felt him get up from her neck and move. And some small grunting from Daphne as he must have crawled over her or something to get to Fred to say hi.

"Yes yes, hello to you too, Scooby." Hearing the sounds of slurping, Velma flinched as Fred must have been getting the same treatment she had gotten. Not unhappy to have him off of the back of her neck, but sometimes Scooby licks were gross. Things you put up with as a dog owner though. Or dog adjacent owner, which was basically the same thing.

"It's not a 'plan' plan Fred. Sorry to burst your bubble. But more that I need to retire my copy of The Time Machine to maybe the dining room shelf, kind of plan."

"Oh yeah, didn't that get stepped on with the Ghasty Ghoul of Gladstone, making him slip when he was chasing the guys?"

"I don't think so... Oh! That was The Picture of Dorian Gray that took out the Ghoul in Gladestone. And thankfully the book wasn't too damaged on that one. Though that was in the military airport around there, as it had to so something with the fuel or something that the criminal was after."

"Such a nerd. But yeah, that sounds right." Wiggled Daphne from her back. "What about the stupidly named Mythical Monster from Montana... Why do these stupid criminals like alliteration so much?"

"No, that was my copy of Fahrenheit 451, which was funny since we were dealing with a guy trying to burn letters in the old ran down post office. Trying to make sure certain will didn't make it to the rightful inheritor. But I think it's more what the local news ends up calling the criminals for the newspapers. Need something catchy. Can't just be called like, George. Beware! I am the dreaded George!"

Velma tried her best to shimmy her arms in front of her in a mildly threatening way. But between the pillow and how she was buried, it wasn't a very convincing or moving impression. That kind of suited her gag that she was going with.

"What would you do if we ran into a Monster actually WAS named George?." Fred chuckled. "Alliteration makes the name more impactful! You should know that from all your journalism stuff, Daph. Though it was funny the one time my trap failed and Velms got so flustered that she chucked the massive book she had with her, and took out the guy. Beaned him right in the head!"

"I was desperate. And since we were near the van at the time, I just reacted and tossed the heaviest thing that was close at hand. It worked..."

Velma grumbled, and since it was one of the more recent mysteries. The novel was still under evidence with the local law enforcement that had come to the scene later. She hoped they would have at least kept her bookmark in place. Though she did still have her notebook, since it was too complicated to read the book without a place to record each character's many titles and names. Reminded her of the trouble she had with the Wheel of Time series as well.

So many characters and names to keep track of!

"Speaking of Velms. Hey Velmster, can I steal your legs? Everyone looks so comfortable but I wanted to ask before I just laid down." Always polite, Fred was being nice enough to ask before stealing a spot on her bed. But at this point, she was pinned down anyway. Might as well toss another body into the pile.

"Sure Freddie. Have at, I'm not going anywhere." Velma said with a chuckle. She might have been able to extract herself when it was just Daphne. But it had become more of a game of pickup sticks and her chances of getting out without everyone else being effected was low. Can't topple the pile by sneaking out.

"Thanks Velma. Hey Scoob, move your butt to let me in."

Velma felt the bed shift as Fred moved to sit more on the bed. With the sounds of doggy huffing and movement of the Dane moving, she then waited a bit before Fred finally laid down on the back of her knees. Using the dip between as a headrest. She was really thankful that she wasn't wearing a skirt, less she worried about flashing Fred. So, PJ's for the win! She might have turned him down, had she not been wearing pants. Or at least asked for a blanket over her backside for him to lay without her being paranoid.

As everyone settled in their spots, Velma wandered back to reading her novel. Though it was hard to get really ramped up into the tension of the book's climax while she was literally buried in warmth. Thankfully it wasn't oppressive, but it was comfortable enough that it took the edge off the story. Literally buried in love of her friends, who decided her room was the place to be. As well as laying on her was a necessity as well. Though Shaggy was napping next to her, he was at least tangled in the rest of the mess on the bed. So, it counted.

And with the set complete, Velma wandered back to her book.

She didn't know how long she had been reading by the time she had finished The Time Machine. Closing the cover, she moved her attention back to the weights across her body. Turning to glance over her shoulder, a haunch of dog thigh sat in her vision. With Scooby toebeans hovering in the air as the Dane was rolled over on his back. Or at least she assumed that was the direction that the rest of the body was in. He could be quite a doggy pretzel sometimes with his sleeping postures, so without seeing the rest of him, it was hard to know where all the limbs ended up. It did seem that his tail was draped over Shaggy's face from where she could see next to her. But as long as it wasn't in Shaggy's mouth, that was fine.

But it was hard for her to look any further then that. At least from just over her shoulder. She needed something to help her...

Reaching to her desk, she fumbled around the best she could without jostling too much to get at her cellphone. It took a bit, but finally her fingers came across her cellphone. Sliding it from the surface of the nearby counter, she shifted it over to her grip. Turning on the camera, she fiddled with it till she used an option that she didn't often use unless she hit it accidently. The front facing camera.

Flinching at seeing the bed muss that was her own hair, she tilted the camera away from herself to see exactly what was the mess behind/on her. As usual, Scooby was splattered on top of them all. With a bit or part of the dog across all of them. Paws to the sky like a dead cockroach. Enjoying being able to spread out over the gang at max stretching capacity. Twisting the camera, she traced Shaggy beside her. He was laying his head on top of one of her many pillows, with Daphne's pajama'ed legs across his chest, and it seemed that Fred had managed to get his own legs under Shaggy's. Not sure if the other man had woken up for that, but it seemed that he was still asleep either way.

Daphne was still out on her back, as she traced the woman's sweatpants up to the oversized team jersey that she had on. Scooby's back seemed arched over her middle, and her red hair was still napping on Velma's back. And laying beside her, was Fred. Who started on the back of her knees, like he asked to be allowed to lay his head. And Scooby's large head was draped across the man's gut. And Fred was also in his bedwear.

"What is this... Pajama nap party in my room?" Velma whispered to herself.

"Oh geez... You guys." She sighed softly, shaking her head at them. What was a woman to do when her gang decided to crash on top of her?

Looking at the camera, she considered it. Taking in a breath and snorting it out lightly from her nose, she made her decision. Trying to angle the camera the best she could to get the shot... Velma used the front facing camera to do a rare selfie. Taking a bunch of shots she could, hoping that at least one would look good. Before clicking her phone off. She would send them copies later, but right now she was stuck. And she didn't want to wake up anyone by a text message. So, to let them sleep, she would send it later.

Putting the smartphone on top of the novel, she tried to move as little as she could to place the two on her nearby desk. Getting them safely out of the way, she figured she only had one thing left to do. Join them. Tucking her arms under her pillow, she placed her head on top of it. Settling into the fluff, she could hear the symphony of even breaths from the rest of them, and let it lull her to sleep. Hoping that she wouldn't be too stiff when she woke up...

But at least there was cookies in their future!