Chapter 4
The next morning the gang woke up and sat at the breakfast table still talking over their latest mystery when a familiar figure appeared in the room.
"Hello Captain Dinkley, how are you doing?" Velma asked.
"Terrific Velma, terrific; how about yourself?" he answered.
"Fine, fine and by the way Fred, Daphne and I slept like babies; well now that Mr. Collins in jail" Velma replied.
"That reminds me, how long are you going to stay here now that the mystery's over" Captain Dinkley wondered.
"Well, that's what I wanted to tell you Captain Dinkley; Fred, Daphne and I are heading home today after we eat breakfast" Velma replied.
"Oh, what are you going to do with Dinkley Hall then?" he asked.
"Well it's kind of a surprise that I wanted to tell you about; last night I contacted the local historical society and told them about this place and you, they jumped at the chance to acquire the property and get this: they're going to turn it into a combination tourist attraction/museum, a haunted museum" Velma explained.
"That's wonderful Velma, I'm so glad that I'll still be able to hang around the castle" Captain Dinkley replied.
"Yeah, just think captain people from all over the world will come to see this place and to see you a real live ghost" Daphne remarked.
"Really?" the captain asked.
"Of course, you would be surprised how many people are interested in the super natural and haunted places" Fred commented.
"Thank you kids you're the best friend a ghost ever had" Captain Dinkley said as he shook each of the gang's hands.
After eating breakfast, Fred Daphne and Velma packed up their luggage into each of their rental cars; but before they left they each said one final goodbye to their new ghostly friend.
"Well Captain Dinkley we have to get going now" Fred remarked.
"Yeah, we have to head to the airport and then fly back to the US" Daphne commented.
"We sure had a lot of fun here though and we'll remember you for a long time to come" Velma remarked.
"Thanks Velma, you're one of the nicest mortals I've ever met" Captain Dinkley replied.
"And even though we still don't really believe in ghosts, I'm sure glad I got to meet you captain" Velma said with a smile.
"Thanks kids I'm sure glad I got to meet you too" the captain said smiling back.
"Time to go gang and good bye Captain Dinkley" Fred commented.
"Good bye kids and thanks" Captain Dinkley replied.
The gang walked back outside the house and each of them got into their respective rental cars; they started them and drove out of sight as Captain Dinkley waved at them from the castle window.
Later the gang arrived back at the airport, checked in their rental cars and bought tickets for a flight back to the USA; they did so and after waiting a while the gang boarded the plane as it took off back to America.
Fred, Daphne and Velma would go onto have many more adventures during the time that the gang were all doing their separate things, but throughout the whole time that Velma traveled with Fred and Daphne she still thought of her ancestor who was a scaredy cat ghost as well Dinkley Hall and what she had told her friends about Shaggy and Scooby as well.
Velma waited and waited to tell Shaggy her feeling but she had to wait quite a while until the gang reunited; eventually the gang did reunite as they traveled to Moonscar Island in Louisiana as well as traveling all over the world to many other places where they solved many more mysteries, both with real and fake ghosts and monsters; overall Velma couldn't be happier that Mystery Inc. was together again; plus she desperately wanted to tell Shaggy how she felt about him.
After the gang traveled to Moonscar Island where the bespectacled girl found herself attracted to a police detective named Beau Neville, then the gang went to Massachusetts where Velma and the rest of the gang ended up solving a mystery with the intelligent female sleuth's author idol: a horror writer named Ben Ravencroft, who ended up using the gang to find a spell book for him, then Shaggy and Scooby fell in love with a girl and Golden Retriever named Crystal and Amber respectively, but they were devastated to learn that they were aliens from a distant galaxy; Shaggy and Velma were each completely distraught about their most recent admirers/love interests that eventually they decided to take some time off from love and romance, but deep down in her heart Velma knew she had genuine feelings for the cowardly teen, feelings that if she didn't tell Shaggy soon she might not get to tell him ever; so on one November evening Velma went over to the house that Shaggy, Scooby and Scrappy were living in to talk to him.
While sitting in the living room of the house watching television Shaggy heard a knock on the front door; he went over to answer it and got a surprise after opening it.
"Velma, what brings you over here?" Shaggy asked.
"Well Shaggy I wanted to talk to you about something" Velma replied.
"Sure Velma, come on in" Shaggy said.
He closed the door as he and Velma walked into the living room; Shaggy was curious as to why Velma was visiting him and asked her about it.
"So Velma, what did you want to speak to me about?" he asked.
"Well Shaggy, it's kind of private and I don't really want to talk about it in front of Scooby and Scrappy" Velma replied.
"OK, well we can talk in my bedroom that should work" Shaggy commented.
"Sounds good" Velma said.
"Scooby, Scrappy; Velma and I will be in my bedroom if you need us, you guys can watch whatever you want" Shaggy replied.
"OK Shaggy" Scrappy said.
Velma and Shaggy walked down the hallway and into Shaggy's bedroom; Shaggy closed the door so they wouldn't be disturbed, then he and Velma walked over to the bed and sat down.
"So Velma what brings you over here?" Shaggy asked.
"Well Shaggy it's kind of complicated but it all started after the five of us took some time off from solving mysteries and you guys took the Mystery Machine" Velma said.
"Yeah, sorry about that we needed the Mystery Machine for our travels; if I had a regular car I would have used it" Shaggy replied.
"It's ok Shaggy I don't mind; anyway after you guys left it was me, Daphne and Fred as you know" Velma explained.
"Right, I understand" Shaggy replied.
"Well, as it turns out Daphne, Fred and I had plenty of adventures just like you the two of you and Scrappy and during one of them we traveled to England where I inherited my ancestral family home" Velma explained.
"Wow, I went to my ancestral family's home too a long time ago, mine was in Austria though" Shaggy replied.
"I'm guessing something happened while you were in Austria right?" Velma asked.
"Yep, this creepy guy used an old family medallion to transform me into a Werewolf" Shaggy replied.
"That's nothing Shaggy, at my ancestral family home the caretaker dressed up as a ghost in order to scare me off so he could take over the castle and top it all off the three of us met a real ghost" Velma remarked.
"A r-real ghost?" Shaggy asked nervously.
"Yep, and not only that he turned out to be an ancestor of mine: a ship captain who sailed the English seas during the 1600's" Velma replied.
"Like it's too bad I wasn't there, I wouldn't mind meeting him some day" Shaggy remarked.
"Don't worry, we'll go back there someday and you can meet him" Velma replied.
"Like groovy, for once I'll get to meet a friendly ghost" Shaggy remarked.
"Yeah, anyway there's something that I told Fred and Daphne about you that I've never told anyone else" Velma commented.
"Like what's that?" Shaggy asked.
"Well, it's kind of personal; you see after finding out I had an ancestor who was a cowardly ghost I came to realize that maybe you and Scooby being chickens wasn't such a bad thing after all" Velma explained.
"Velma, you've never mentioned that before, are you sure that you have no problems with me and Scooby being cowardly?" Shaggy asked.
"Of course not, everybody has things that they're afraid of and you guys are no exception; but do me a favor Shaggy and don't tell Fred, Daphne, Scooby or Scrappy about this ok?" Velma replied.
"No problem Velma" Shaggy remarked.
"Thanks Shaggy, you're a wonderful friend" Velma replied.
"No problem, now what else did you want to tell me?" Shaggy asked.
"Well, I told Fred and Daphne that for many years now I've had a kind of a crush on you Shaggy" Velma remarked.
"A crush? Velma, you've never mentioned that before, that's really nice of you to say that" Shaggy commented.
"You're welcome Shaggy and I really do mean that, you've been such a good friend to me for so many years and I figured it was time to tell you how I felt about you" Velma replied.
"No problem Velma and you want to know something?" Shaggy asked.
"Sure, what is it?" Velma replied.
"Well, to tell you the truth all these years I've felt exactly the same way Velma, you've always been such a cool friend to me too, thanks for being there for me for all this time Velma" Shaggy said.
"You're welcome Shaggy and thanks for being there for me too" Velma replied.
"Like no problem Velma, no problem" Shaggy commented.
Shaggy and Velma each stood up from the bed and gave one other a friendly hug; the two of them then looked and smiled at each other as they opened the bedroom door and walked back into the living room.
The two of them then realized that no matter what happened in their lives they would always be best friends and would always be there for each other; while the both of them knew that they would be life long friends they also realized that maybe just maybe they had genuine feelings for each other and maybe someday each of them would be able to share those feelings with one another, not to mention they might be able to bring those feelings out into the open and maybe they would be just like Fred and Daphne, that is to say that they would be boyfriend and girlfriend, but for now Shaggy and Velma were the best of friends and nothing in the world, not a ghost, not a monster or not even if either of them fell in love with someone else would break up that friendship.