It only took the always-intuitive Daphne about a minute to figure out that something had changed between Ethan and Velma, but other than a teasing comment about their chipper attitudes, she kept her observations silent. Though the signals might have been lost on a less romantically-tuned person (and were certainly lost on Fred, who had been in a strange kind of daze ever since he’d come to wake her up) to Daphne they were completely obvious: the private little smiles that flashed between them, the way they couldn’t seem to stand close enough to one another, the overlong glances... She didn’t know exactly what was going on, but she had an idea that it was far more than the fact that they’d cheated and opened a few presents from one another early. Ethan was giving off the wonderful scent of Cool Water, and Velma had obviously just used some kind of sweet-smelling orange-and-vanilla bath product.

The rest of the group trickled downstairs as the work in the kitchen progressed, and by the time the turkey had been placed in the oven and the ham covered in glaze and cloves, everyone had arrived. Shaggy, usually a late riser, looked the sleepiest of the lot, but he soon perked up when everyone found places around the room and prepared to tie into the stockings and presents. Freddy lifted down each stocking and handed them out before lighting a fresh fire in the fireplace, and in no time a cheery blaze was up and going. Ethan had deflated the air mattress and most of the gang sat on the floor, wrapped up in their blankets from the night before. Everyone still wore pajamas, even Ethan and Velma, who’d had the opportunity to dress post-shower. It just seemed more festive that way.

Scooby was undoubtedly the most excited of the group and leapt up, dancing on his hind legs and clapping as Freddy placed his stocking in front of him. It was bulging with treats, which were quickly revealed to be Scooby Snacks of various flavors. The dog just about went wild, gobbling down the crunchy biscuits before Daphne even had time to snap a picture with her digital camera. Scooby sighed, his tail thumping against the carpet contentedly.

Everyone else’s stockings consisted mainly of favorite candies and chocolates, though there were some small gifts as well—mostly of the "gag" variety. The entire group laughed as Shaggy found a package of razors in his stocking, and continued as Velma uncovered the infamous glasses strap. There were a few practical things as well, such as some guitar picks for Shag and Ethan, but perhaps the best stocking-stuffers were down at the toe of each. Everyone (human, anyway) discovered a packaged sprig of mistletoe, and wasted no time in putting them to use. Scooby might have uttered a "roh rother" or flopped one of his big paws over his eyes had he not been trying to sniff out more Snacks under the tree. His search was successful, and in no time at all he lit into a second box, having unwrapped it in seconds.

Taking a cue from their dog, the rest of the group settled into opening their gifts—and a ton of gifts there were. The packages spilled out from under the tree in a huge mound that spread out over the surrounding floor. The sounds of tearing and rustling paper were overridden by those of happy conversation as the gang enjoyed one another’s company and thanked one another for their presents.

Not too surprisingly, one of Velma’s first presents was a book. "What’s this?" she inquired curiously, turning it over in her hands and looking at the cover. The glossy cover was a deep red, with the title spelled out in gold-embossed, large cursive.

"I think it’s called a book, Velma," Fred couldn’t resist commenting, bringing an eye-roll from the book’s new owner.

"Oh, it’s really good," Daphne assured her, then paused, smiling. "Especially round about page 130."

Intrigued by the promise of new reading material, Velma immediately flipped to the recommended page and began skimming it rapidly. Midway through, she stopped abruptly, then looked up to see that every one of her friends was watching her with an expectant expression. Off her look, they all burst out laughing.

"Jinkies, Daph, this is a romance novel!" Velma announced needlessly to the room, blushing as red as her flannel pajamas.

"Velma—it’s called The Princess and the Pirate! What on earth did you think it was?" Daph giggled in reply.

"I don’t know..." Velma began awkwardly. "A historical fiction?" This caused even more laughter, and she hurriedly closed the book and looked once again at the cover. It was plain; it certainly didn’t look like any romance novel she’d ever seen. After studying it a second more, she noticed a strip of border behind the cover, indicating a second, inside cover. Opening to it, she found herself faced with a stereotypical romance novel picture—a brawny, muscular pirate, his white shirt blowing in the wind, was holding onto a long-haired brunette woman, who was dangling limply over one of his arms. The only thing exceptional about it was that the pirate looked incredibly like someone of her close acquaintance...

"Take a look at the guy," Daphne prompted her. "Doesn’t that look like someone you know?" The cue was unnecessary, for her friend had already commenced smiling at the picture. There was no doubt about it—the goateed pirate looked incredibly like Ethan, albeit with longer hair. He’d been leaning over her already, trying to snatch a few sentences from the now-notorious page 130, without much success.

"Is there something you want to tell me?" she asked him with the driest tone she could muster.

He shrugged good-naturedly. "I never told you about my stint as a pirate? Oh, yeah—I was big." Velma rolled her eyes again in reply.

"Thank you, Daphne," she told her friend, meaning it.

"You’re welcome," was Daph’s cheery reply.

"Yes, thank you," echoed Ethan, winking. Velma hit him.

"Hey!"

"Why don’t you open a few of your presents, Daph," Velma changed the subject. Daphne had been so busy playing the good hostess alongside Fred that she’d only opened a few.

"Okay. Where’s one from you?" Velma crawled a few paces over to the tree and fished out an appropriate box, then found another two. Ethan took advantage of her temporary absence to do some quick reading while Fred helped Velma find more presents under the tree for his girlfriend.

"Jeepers—you didn’t have to do all this, guys," Daphne commented on seeing the huge-and-growing pile they were making in front of her. "But I love it!" Each person had brought several presents for everyone, though most of Daphne’s gifts bore a label with Fred’s name. As planned, she opened a present from Velma first, carefully slitting the wrapping paper on the small box with a fingernail.

"Ooo, a flashlight—thanks, Velma! Freddy’s always hogging ours," she half-teased, looking the new instrument over. "But what’s this big red button on the side?"

"It’s a panic alarm," Velma explained. "Push that and a siren goes off that you can hear in three counties. You know—just in case you get captured." Velma struggled to keep her expression serious, and it worked, for Daphne looked up, eyes wide. "I’m kidding!"

"Oh!" Daphne exclaimed, starting to laugh along with the others in the room. Her formerly frequent captures were a running joke among the members of Mystery, Inc. Even funnier, many of the "ghosts" in their cases still tried to come after the delicate-looking girl, only to get an unpleasant surprise in the form of some serious martial arts moves.

"Your real presents are in the other boxes," Velma went on, nodding to the pile of gifts. Daphne opened a second package and drew out a beautiful lavender skirt-and-jacket business suit.

"This is perfect!" the redhead squealed. "Did you pick this out yourself?"

Velma could have come back with a sarcastic remark at that, but chose to let it go, simply nodding in reply.

Mary Jane was also happy with an abundance of new outfits that she’d received—mostly bell-bottoms, peasant blouses, and cut-off tops—though practical Velma had given her a much-needed pink, quilted winter jacket and Daphne had chipped in some stylish fringed leather boots. She was watching the happy proceedings when she felt Shaggy slip a smallish box into her hand. When she turned to face him, his always-sweet face looked almost shy.

"Another one? You’re spoiling me, Shaggy," she smiled. He’d already given her some clothes, a hammock, and an adorable plush dolphin—she loved stuffed animals. Smiling beguilingly all the while, she opened the new package, then looked down to discover that the box held some beaded jewelry—jewelry that looked expertly and creatively home-made. The pieces were so well made, in fact, that, had she not known Shaggy was skilled with crafts, she would have thought they were professionally done.

"Did you make these yourself?" she asked him, touched that he would spend so much time and take so much care with a gift for her.

"Like, yeah," he answered quietly, and there was no mistake about it—he sounded shy. "Are they okay?" He’d spent some long hours deciding what to make and then crafting the pieces, and he was so anxious to know if she’d like them. He loved giving homemade gifts as they were much more personal, but because of that very fact he sometimes felt anxious when his presents were opened—there was so much of himself invested. Not that Mary Jane would ever express open displeasure with something he’d made for her, for the sweet-natured girl didn’t have a hurtful bone in her body.

"Oh, Shaggy these are beautiful!" she enthused, leaning forward and giving him a radiant smile for emphasis, followed by a kiss on the cheek. "I love them!" Proving her point, she drew from the box the two woven bracelets—one of beads and leather, the other of hemp—and slid them onto her wrists, then lifted up the intricately-beaded hair ornament to admire it. It was meant to be woven into a braid or twist, and she immediately planned on doing just that when she got ready later. "Thank you."

"You’re welcome," Shaggy answered, happy as a clam. He’d been almost sure that Mary Jane would appreciate a home-made gift, and it was so nice to have it confirmed—and to see her so happy. He knew there were some girls that wouldn’t want any kind of jewelry except the kind that came from an expensive store, and he loved knowing that his girlfriend wasn’t like that, preferring a gift that came from the heart instead. She was, just like him, totally non-materialistic, and that was one of the reasons he was so crazy about her.

"Here, open one from me," she guided him, handing him a thin, square package. Shaggy didn’t need any more prompting and eagerly tore into it. Non-materialistic or no, he loved presents—giving and receiving.

"Zoinks!" he exclaimed happily, discovering three records under the wrapping paper. "I’ve been looking for these forever!"

"You know that record shop we went to on the beach?" Mary Jane reminded him. "I found them there." She didn’t mention the fact that she’d had them special-ordered; the records were fairly obscure and hard-to-find, even through the internet.

"Thanks!! Hey, look Scoob!" Shaggy called to his friend, waving the records in the air. Scooby, who was gorging himself on a another box of Scooby Snacks that he’d just received from Daphne, looked up, tail wagging. Fred took advantage of his temporary food diversion to give him his own gift. The way Scooby was chowing down, it might be his only chance.

"Here Scoobs," he addressed the dog, placing a large gift bag in front of him. "Oh, and this one’s for you, Shag," he added, coming across another box. Shaggy worked on his present while Scooby plunged his head into the bag, thinking to come away with another mouthful of some delicious treat. Instead, he emerged from the bag holding what looked like a calendar in his mouth. He flipped it face down in front of him, looking at the small sample pictures on the back, finding immediately that it was a Great Dane calendar!

"Take a look at ummm... ‘Miss’ November," Fred cued him. "I thought she looked just like that girl dog you’ve been eyeing in the park." Scooby had had a huge crush on a lovely fawn-colored Dane ever since coming back to Coolville.

"Rank you," Scooby sighed dreamily, opening the calendar and gazing at the picture—which indeed did look remarkably like the dog of his dreams. Everyone in the room smiled and "awww"-ed at Scooby’s slightly goofy, love-stricken expression.

"Like, and thanks for this, Freddy!" Shaggy added, having unwrapped a special pizza oven. "I can hardly wait to try it out. Like, whatdya think, Scoob?" The dog didn’t reply, for once unmoved by food. "Zoinks!" Everyone laughed.

"Here, Eth, you haven’t opened one in awhile," Fred said, coming across a package from him and giving it a light toss in Ethan’s direction. It landed atop a small pile of gifts that he’d already opened—some shirts and CDs from various members of the group. "Eth...Ethan?" The young man was totally engrossed in The Princess and the Pirate. Velma’s attention diverted by the goings-on, he’d managed to put away quite a few pages.

"Ethan!" his fiancé exclaimed, finally noticing.

"What?" he asked innocently, looking up at last. Unable to be stern in the face of Ethan’s puppy-dog expression, Velma started giggling.

"Freddy has a present for you," she informed him, having meant to give him a teasing reprimand. Not needing any more prompting, Ethan opened up the gift.

"Cool... thanks Fred!" he said immediately on seeing two different black woven bracelets, each with a different color of large bead in the center. "I had a bracelet like these but I lost it on Spooky Island. These are great."

"You’re welcome. Oh, here’s one for you, Velms," Fred continued, handing over a medium-sized box with an almost gleeful smile of anticipation on his face. Velma regarded his expression with a suspicious one of her own while she opened the box, then looked down into it. It held an orange shirt, a gift which was relatively to be expected—Shaggy had already given her three orange t-shirts. After lifting it from the tissue paper and holding it up, however, she saw that it was not the typical shirt at all. For one thing, it looked very small, and for another, it had an incredibly low cut v-neck. Velma caught on to Fred’s joke immediately, even as he started laughing—the shirt was an exact copy of the one she’d worn on Spooky Island.

"Very funny, Fred," she said, barely audible over his amusement.

"Do you get it?" he asked needlessly.

"Yes, I know—it looks just like the one from Spooky Island." Velma might have sounded annoyed, but it was evident that she really wasn’t. She could appreciate a good joke, even it was on her.

"No—no... it is the one from Spooky Island!" Fred corrected her, eyes twinkling.

That did surprise Velma. "But how—I purposely left it behind in the closet!"

"And I purposely got it out of there before we left! Come on, Velms, I knew you were going to do that. I mean, I’ve known you since you were wearing a diaper. Since they brought you home from the hospital..." he added, then grimaced. "Your dad put you in my lap and when I tried to hug you, you spit up right on my ascot."

"I was trying to tell you something, Fred. Obviously you didn’t get the message." She looked at him, eyebrow raising, while everyone else joined in the teasing. Twenty plus years later, Fred still hadn’t given up on his favorite, unconventional neckwear.

"I didn’t know you’d gone fashion expert, Velms," Fred joked right back, to which Velma pretended to act cross. "Your real present is down in the box," he told her, getting his laughter under control. Velma fished down further into the tissue paper and discovered a new computer program that she’d been wanting.

After that, the group commenced finishing up with the dwindling mountain of presents. Shaggy received some tagless t-shirts in his favorite olive green, v-neck style from Daphne, then opened up a computer program from Vel that could store and print out recipes. (The gang was not quite so enthusiastic as he was at the prospect of testing out some of his more "inventive" recipes before entering them into the computer. Try as they might to be good sports, his pineapple chicken with anchovy-and-marshmallow sauce just never sat quite right with their stomachs.) One very noisy package for Mary Jane turned out to be a beautiful hand-painted tambourine from Shaggy, and, following in the musical theme, Scooby received a set of new drumsticks from Ethan. The Dane was actually an excellent drummer, though he practiced more often on spare pots and pans then he did on an actual set.

A good hour later, the mounds of presents had turned into messy piles of wrapping paper and piles of gifts in front of each guest. Only the largest gifts, held back for last because of wrapping difficulty, remained. As the others went off to retrieve the hidden presents or check on the turkey in the kitchen, Velma stopped Ethan, who was rising from his seat next to her on the couch. In her hand was a small silver box, tied with a simple ribbon.

"I got this for you a month ago," she explained privately as he worked open the loose bow. "It seems a little more special, now." Lifting the box lid, Ethan saw, lying on a pad of cotton, an intricately engraved silver-and-onyx man’s ring. He loved rings and often wore a few silver-and-black ones, but this was far beyond the inexpensive ones that he bought at his favorite heavy-metal stores. This would have come from a jewelry store, and was of the finest quality and workmanship.

"Wow," was all he could say. "Velma, this is..." He looked at the ring for a moment, then slid it onto his left ring finger. "Here. It’ll be my engagement ring." Velma smiled softly; she’d hoped, when she remembered about giving it to him that morning, that he’d want to wear it that way. He was still looking down, twisting it on his finger contemplatively. "I feel bad, though—if I could get you one today, I would."

"It’s okay," she assured him for the second time that morning.

"Tomorrow," he promised, then kissed her. "I do have something else for you. I better go get it." The others were starting to re-enter the room, cutting off their private moment as it was.

"Don’t wait," he called to Fred, who was coming into the den just as he jogged out of it. It was going to take awhile for him to get the present ready.

Since none of these presents were wrapped, the gift-giving process went rapidly. Not even able to hide it behind her back as she came into the den, Mary Jane simply handed Shaggy his new leather guitar case, though she did dress it up a bit with a big bow. He beamed at the thoughtful yet practical offering—his old case was practically falling apart. Meanwhile, Daphne was surprised by another present from Freddy. He’d already given her tons of clothes, her favorite perfume, and some jewelry—actually, the feminine equivalent of what she’d given him. His main gift had been a man’s silver bracelet that he was already wearing. Drawing his hands from behind his back, he presented her with some kind of wooden display rack.

"They let me use the old woodshop at the high school," he said in explanation. "It’s a display rack for martial arts belts."

The expression on Daphne’s face was something to see—one of incredibly delighted surprise. Her eyes and mouth opened wide, and then her lips curved out into a smile.

"Fred, thank you!" she cried, bouncing right into his arms and making it very hard for him to hold onto the gift that had prompted the reaction. She was thrilled, and showed her enthusiasm by giving her boyfriend an emphatic kiss. She never brought it up now, but Freddy’s comments about her being helpless back before the Spooky Island case had hurt. Granted, she had to admit that back then he had a point, but that didn’t make it any easier to take. He’d never say such a thing now, and not only because the words were no longer true. It was because Freddy had changed, and he’d changed into someone she could love and be with—like the guy he’d been back in high school before his ego had taken over. During those rough years, he would have been threatened by having a girlfriend who could fight off the bad guys or do anything for herself—Velma had occasionally made similar comments after Fred had acted particularly badly and stolen her credit. Her comments, which were usually pretty vehement and sarcastic and often led to one of her exasperated "men!" speeches, had been to the tune that Fred couldn’t handle a capable woman or one with brains; Daphne had attributed it to her theory at that time that Velma liked Fred but didn’t want to admit it. Still, it had been true. Only falling out of fame had humbled Freddy enough so that we they finally met up again on Spooky Island, she’d seen that he had changed. That’s when she’d given him another chance, even though he was nowhere near where he was now. But she’d loved him, even when he was in the worst of his behavior, and her instincts had been right. The gift was a kind of confirmation that he supported and accepted who she was now. Of course, he still got lots of opportunities to exert his masculine strength and protection— on mysteries he still walked in front, keeping both girls out of harm’s way, which even Velma had to admit was sweet. (She’d tried to feign annoyance during their last case when Fred had had to rescue her two times from the ghost, but anyone could see she secretly was loving it. Word of Daphne’s martial arts prowess had reached the ears of some of the ghouls, who decided to go after Velma instead, particularly during her "sans glasses" moments.) Daphne had also retained her propensity for falling into trapdoors, martial arts master or no.

While Fred was still receiving some thank-you kisses, grinning from ear to ear, Ethan came back into the room, holding Velma’s last present—a gleaming, orange bass guitar—behind his back as best he could. Over the past few months he’d been teaching her how to play the instrument, and even though they didn’t have much time together for lessons, she’d worked on her own and progressed quickly. The only thing was, all he’d had to teach her on was an old bass guitar that he’d bought second-hand.

Even before Ethan had brought the guitar out and laid it gently in her lap, Velma’s mouth dropped open in surprise. "Oh, Ethan... this is... this is too much," she almost stuttered, while everyone else in the room echoed her surprise with impressed murmurs and exclamations. She knew very well how much a new guitar cost, especially a top-notch one like this obviously was.

"Nah," Ethan shrugged, despite the fact that the guitar had indeed been expensive. He’d easily been able to afford it what with his signing bonus at the record company, and at any rate, money didn’t mean much to him. "Besides, you’ve gotta have something better to practice on than my old one."

"I..." Velma started, still not knowing quite what to say. "Thank you," she finally said, leaning to kiss Ethan and put her arms around him as best she could with the guitar across her lap. "Thank you," she repeated in his ear.

"Why don’t you try it?" Ethan asked softly but eagerly when she was finished embracing him. "It’s tuned and everything."

"Okay," Velma immediately agreed, swinging the guitar into the correct position and giving the strings a few experimental strums before going through some chords. Her playing was flawless, as was the deep, rich, tone quality of the guitar’s sound. Ethan smiled at both observations. He’d spent a lot of time in his favorite music store, testing out guitars and picking out just the perfect one for her. He wanted only the best for his Velma, and it made him happy to know that he could give it to her.

"She’s so talented," he stated for the benefit of the entire room, as Velma started playing the bass part to "House of the Rising Sun." He’d thought it would be a good song for her to learn on, and he had played the main guitar part while they were having their practice sessions. She’d made a lot of jokes about the song not being the height of romance, but they still played it well together. It had been one of his most-requested songs back in school.

Shaggy and Scooby were also familiar with the song and began to sing and howl the melody, respectively, while Mary Jane swayed along. Daphne, sitting a little bit farther back from the group, was watching with a smile on her face. Freddy was watching too—but he wasn’t paying much attention to the song. In fact, he could barely hear it over the pounding of his heartbeat loud in his ears. He knew that this was the right time.

"Daphne?" he asked his girlfriend quietly, coming up to stand at her side. "Can I talk to you for a second?"

"Sure, Fred," she answered, looking up smilingly into his face. "What is it?" 

Right before her eyes, his entire expression changed. "I uhhhhh..." he faltered, wishing fervently that he'd thought of some better plan. "I have another present for you!" he exclaimed a moment later in a burst of inspiration. "It's... in the other room."

Daphne didn't have the heart to tease him abut his flimsy explanation. Of course she knew what was going on. She only smiled again—more softly this time—rose from the loveseat, and let him lead her from the room.

On to Part 6

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