Dear friends,

This is the final chapter of the story of the first investigation of the future Mystery Inc. I'm no good when it comes to writing "farewell letters" so...

Enjoy!

VerMa

When Daphne told the good news to the rest of the gang, Shaggy, Maggie and Fred took one another's hands and did a wild dance of joy, laughing like crazy; meanwhile, Scooby jumped on Daphne's arms – which made her fall to the floor – and began licking her cheeks, wagging his tail with an incredible speed.

"Scooby, get off me!" the girl unsuccessfully tried to stop laughing. "Enough now, do you hear me? My clothes will get wrinkled!"

The puppy didn't obey. Soon, however, someone pulled him aside and then, a small, plump, warm hand took Daphne's palm.

"I'll help you up" a soft, shy voice offered.

Looking up, the girl saw Jeff.

"Don't bother, I can do it myself" she said curtly, withdrawing her hand from his grasp, and then swiftly jumped to her feet. Dance classes did turn out useful for something.

"Why are you still treating me so bad?" the boy asked sadly. His blue eyes filled up with tears. "And why is everybody looking at me as if I was a villain? I did return the parts that Red and I had stolen... Velma's parents forgave me... and besides, I hadn't even touched her..."

That was true. Red – who, as proven by the police investigation, had tried to poison Velma with sleeping pills, taken from his parents' first aid kit earlier – got expelled from the school and placed in a reformatory for half a year; Jeff, thanks to the negotiation of Mr. and Mrs. Dinkley, ended up only with being supervised by a probation officer. The day after the verdict had been brought in, Mr. Dinkley and Principal Abbott had a long conversation, which resulted in Jeff getting the opportunity to return to school. Of course, by that time, all of his friends (and not only them) already knew about his involvement in the case of the "monster" and wouldn't even talk to him. In fact, Daphne pitied him a bit but what could she do?

"What are you, like, doing here?" Shaggy asked sharply, suddenly noticing the would-be hero. "Do you, like, think that everything would be, like, as before?"

"After you and Red teamed up with aliens? No way!" Fred added.

"Fred, don't start it all over again" Daphne warned him. "And you, Jeff, better go away and don't come back."

"Say what?" Maggie looked at her reproachfully. "I thought you were smarter, Daphne... but I guess I was wrong."

"What do you, like, mean?" Shaggy didn't understand.

"You all should finally leave Jeff alone. You treat him far too harsh."

"Too harsh?! If Velma died, he'd be co-responsible for it!" Fred shouted.

"But it DIDN'T happen! Plus, Mr. and Mrs. Dinkley forgave him so I don't get why YOU don't want to do the same!"

For a while, there was silence. Finally, Daphne spoke timidly:

"You know, guys... she's right."

"Yeah" Fred and Shaggy muttered, blushing up to their ears.

"So you'll forgive me?" Jeff asked in a voice full of hope.

"Yes" said Fred, Daphne, Shaggy and Maggie, smiling at him.

"Ree roo" Scooby added, standing on his hind legs and licking the boy's cheek. (Tr.: Me too.)

x

It was Monday, November 16, around 8 a.m. The sunshine, coming in through a gap in the curtains, lit up a little girl, asleep in the midst of white sheets, and an exhausted woman – her mother – sitting by the bed and staring expectantly at the child's face. Then, a rather short, mustached man approached the woman and touched her shoulder.

"Let's go home, darling" he said softly but firmly. "Your shift ended twelve hours ago."

"I'm not going anywhere" the woman shook her head. "Velma has just moved."

"That's nothing new" said Mr. Dinkley. "As you probably remember, she began lifting her eyelids a week ago but as for now..."

"Look!" his wife exclaimed, grabbing his shirt and pointing to Velma who was as motionless as before. "She's wiggled her fingers!"

"I don't want to worry you, Allie, but I think you're seeing things because of exhaustion..."

"Be quiet for a moment" Mrs. Dinkley demanded impatiently. "Now I know where Madelyn got the talkativeness from... oh, look!" she called out when Velma moved once again.

The man and the woman took each other's hand and held their breaths. The girl slowly opened her eyes, then narrowed them slightly, staring at the two blurred faces.

"Mom? Dad?" she asked when two pairs of warm, strong arms embraced her.

"Yes, dear" Mom replied, kissing her freckled cheek.

"Why are you hugging me so hard?" Velma was confused. "I slept just one night."

"That's not true, Elfkin" Dad shook his head. "A bully, named Red Herring, almost poisoned you to death. The doctors saved your life but for over a month, you were in a coma."

"A coma? What does it mean?"

"This means that you slept as tight as the Sleeping Beauty" Mrs. Dinkley explained, cradling her daughter in her arms as if she was a baby. "Except that you were woken up by a good doctor."

"During all this time, Maddie kept asking about you and we didn't know what to tell her" Mr. Dinkley added in a stifled and a bit shaky voice. Velma reached out and touched his mustached face.

"Why are you crying, Dad?" she asked in surprise.

"I'm just happy, sweetie; happy that you woke up. You have no idea how much Mom and I were afraid we'd lose you forever..."

"Is this why Mom couldn't sleep earlier?" the girl guessed, pointing to the dark circles under the eyes of the woman who in the meantime had fallen asleep.

"We can put it this way" the man smiled, placing his daughter on the bed. "I'll be right back. I just must take Mom home and put her to bed" he added, grabbing his wife's waist; after that, he put her to her feet and, having thrown her arm around his neck, he led (or rather dragged) her out into the hallway.

x

A saying has it that bad news travels fast. I, however, dare say that the good is faster. That afternoon, Madelyn aroused interest among her friends by jumping, squealing and screaming with joy when her father told her that Velma had woken up. Within fifteen minutes, everyone in school (including the janitor and the nurse) already knew the good news and Shaggy, Fred and Maggie did their joy dance again – and this time, Daphne and Scooby joined them.

About two hours later, the grinning Mr. Dinkley cracked open the door to the room where lay Velma.

"Look who's come to see you, Elfkin" he said from the doorway.

"VELMA!" Fred, Daphne, Shaggy, Maggie, Madelyn and Scooby cried out. A moment later, the dog and the little Maddie hopped on the covers, and the others stood on both sides of the bed.

"Jinkies!" Velma exclaimed happily, hugging her sister and the puppy. "I'm so glad to see you, guys!"

"Like, we're happy, too" Shaggy assured her, along with Fred, Daphne and Maggie joining the group hug.

"It's for you" Madelyn announced, handing her sister a bit crumpled piece of paper, on which were drawn two smiling girls, surrounded by hearts and flowers. Over the heads of the girls was clumsy, childish scribble, forming two names: VELMA and MADDIE.

"You wrote it yourself?" Velma was genuinely surprised.

"Yeah" Madelyn replied proudly. "Dad taught me because he spent more time with me because Mom almost never came home because she was here with you and... and you know what? I missed you."

"I know" said her sister.

"You have a lovely teddy bear" Maggie remarked, picking up the plushie which sat on the nightstand, next to the bed.

"From Jeff" Velma explained.

"What?" Fred was amazed.

"An hour ago, he was here with his parents, apologized and gave me this bear."

"And... and you forgave him?" Daphne asked hesitantly.

"Of course. He had nothing to do with what Red had done so why should I hold a grudge against him?"

Daphne and the boys looked down without a word.

"Most of his friends turned away from him, hence the question" Maggie said quickly.

x

Velma came home on Wednesday, November 25. The next day, at Thanksgiving, Mr. and Mrs. Dinkley threw a pretty big (considering their household budget) party to which they invited their family, friends and the nearest neighbors. Velma, the undoubted star of the day, spent almost all this time trying to escape from the lap of her mom who was showering (or rather smothering) her with caresses and kisses. She managed to run off only when Uncle Cosmo started talking about the findings he'd brought to the museum from his last trip – and she was almost sure that he'd winked at her knowingly.

The next spring, the four fathers joined forces and built a little house on the tree, growing near the Rogers' house, and equipped it with all sorts of toys. They hoped that thanks to this, their children would never play detectives again. I must hand it to the kids that they managed to hide their hobby pretty well for almost three years; however, their parents eventually discovered the truth...

But that's already a new story and we'll tell it next time.

Yes, girls and guys, you read it right! I wrote "next time" which means that I have plans for a sequel, called Their meddling parents! I hope you were interested by this story enough to come back for the sequel... once it appears. The most probable date is July because my exam session is coming. :)

As always, I'd like to know your opinions.

See you!

VM