Roses

Summary: He gave her 11 roses, 10 real and 1 fake. He told her, "I'll love you till the lastrose dies"

Disclaimer: I do not own Scooby Doo, or the Roses quote…

It had been a week since Fred and Daphne had admitted that they had a crush on each other, and Fred was still confused. Fred had no idea why he had confessed that he had a "crush" on Daphne because he knew this was not the case. He didn't just "like" her. He loved her. Although he had a pretty good idea as to why he didn't proclaim his love for Daphne, because, however confident Fred was, around Daphne, the confidence was gone. I mean, it is one thing to tell someone you have a crush on them, and it's a whole different story to tell them that you love them. Fred knew that he had to do something about it. He had to tell Daphne how he really felt, and it had to be in an extra-special way. He got up from the teal couch he was sitting in, got into his car, and drove to the library. He'd only gone to the library once, when Velma was sick and asked him to go for her, so he had no idea where he would be able to find anything. Fred sauntered over to the checkout counter.

"Excuse me?" Fred stammered.

"What can I help you with?" the checkout lady, Sarah Addison, asked while looking up from the book she was reading, Anna Karenina.

"I was wondering where I could find the Romance Help Do-It-Yourself type novels," Fred whispered quietly, for fear of somebody he knew catching him at the library checking out a self-help romance book.

"Um, they would be in the non-fiction section, call number, 482," Sarah answered, while getting back to reading Anna Karenina.

"Thanks," replied Fred. He strolled over to the 480 call number section, and looked for 482. His eyes quickly stopped on a book entitled, Romance for Dummies, he thought that suited him well, so he picked it up. When flipping the pages of the novel, he noticed that this book was not what he was looking for. Instead of about tips of telling somebody you love them, it was all about "getting intimate" with your girlfriend/boyfriend: and as much as Fred did want that, he decided that first thing was first…he had to tell Daphne his feelings for her. Fred quickly put it back on the shelf and continued browsing. During the hour he was in the 482 section, Fred had picked up forty-five books, all about 'how to get intimate'. And that was definitely not what he was looking for. He sighed and drove back to his house. When he arrived, he noticed that Daphne was sitting on the porch, reading a magazine. His muscles tensed up, his heart beat fifty times a second, and he got butterflies in his stomach. This was his chance; his chance to tell Daphne how he really felt. Daphne looked up from her magazine, smiled, and waved at Fred. Fred smiled and waved back, thinking about his plan of attack. He walked on the pathway to the front door of his house.

"Hey, Daph," Fred greeted. "What brings you here?"

"I just wanted to stop by," She grinned and arose from the wooden bench she was sitting in.

"Well, why don't you come on in then," Fred directed. He led Daphne into the home that he shared with Shaggy. Shaggy was out with his girlfriend, Casey Salisbury; they had gone to the Malt Shop. The living room was the first room they came to, so Daphne and Fred sat down on one of the teal couches.

"Freddy? How are you?" questioned Daphne. Fred was caught staring at her; thinking. He was thinking of the perfect way to tell his girlfriend that he loved her. Once he noticed that Daphne was waiting for a response, he mentally slapped himself and replied,

"I'm great," He smiled and then added, "I can't wait for our trip to New York City in two weeks,"

"Me either," She answered. "It is going to be so fantastic," Daphne slid closer to Fred. "The shopping there is great!" Fred laughed. It was a typical Daphne moment.

"And I take it I'll be the one carrying your shopping bags throughout Saks…" Fred murmured.

"Don't worry, I'll get you something too," She looked Fred up and down as if to study his features. "I think a nice black Armani tux would do you justice,"

"I bet," Fred replied. Fred thought for a moment on what his next move was going to be. He thought of kissing Daphne, although they already had kissed several times, he wondered if this time would be different because he actually knew he loved her…probably not. Oh well, it was worth a shot. Fred put his arm around Daphne and leaned in to kiss her. She noticed this sudden movement and moved in closer to him too. Their lips touched, and Fred's hand caressed her cheek. Daphne put her arms around his waist and closed up the gap between them. They continued kissing for the next few minutes, until Fred interrupted.

"Do you want to go to the park with me tomorrow?" He asked. At first, he had thought about telling her during one of their mysteries, but, Fred's brain seemed to melt when they solved mysteries. He couldn't figure out why; maybe it was because he was with Daphne. Fred was certain that he could never tell her during a mystery. After all, not only did his brain melt, all of his thoughts were centered on setting a trap. Fred had gotten better at coming up with traps, though. Currently, only about 50 of his traps did not work. But, on the plus side, Fred was absolutely 100 positive that he was going to tell Daphne that he loved her at the park. They would go to the park for a picnic dinner, and then stay there and look at the stars. Maybe even swing on the swings and slide down the slides; you know, be real kids again.

"I'd love to, Fred," Daphne answered before hugging him and getting up from the couch. "I have to go,"

"Where are you going?" Fred interrogated, concerned: He wondered if she had a date.

"I promised Velma I'd help her clear out the attic," Daphne grinned and waved back at Fred, who was still sitting on his teal couch.

"Bye, Daph," Fred stated.

"See you tomorrow, Freddy," Fred stared at the floor, and when he looked up, Daphne was gone. He rose up from the sofa, went into the kitchen, and grabbed a cup of coffee. He had some heavy duty thinking to do, and he needed to stay awake for it. Just at that moment, his roommate, Shaggy shuffled through the door.

"Hey, man," Shaggy greeted.

"Hi, Shaggy," Fred dazedly replied.

"Like, what's wrong?" questioned Shaggy. "Daphne, right?"

"How did you know?" Fred asked, still in shock that Shaggy knew of his dilemma.

"I have a girlfriend," Shaggy smiled, "Casey, remember?"

"Well, how'd you tell her that you love her?"

"I told her between the 4th and 5th course of our 7 course meal," Shaggy explained.

"Great," Fred stifled a little laugh. "Some help you are,"

"Wait, a minute, you want my advice?" Shaggy gasped. "Oh, how the great have fallen,"

"In fact, I do need your help," Fred boldly stated. "I need a romantic way of telling Daphne that I love her,"

"Hmm…"

"Yes?" Fred impatiently commented.

"I have a plan," Shaggy chuckled. "I've always wanted to say that,"

"Get on with it," Fred urged.

"You know those quotes," Shaggy started. "The ones that talk about the perfect boyfriend,"

"No…"

"Well, girls seem to get all mushy whenever they hear about them, or read them, or whatever,"

"So…?"

"So, you find a quote, that makes your heart tingle, and do whatever that quote says," Shaggy clarified.

"Do you really think that'll work?"

"Definitely," Shaggy grinned. "Look on the internet for the quotes, that's the best source for things like that,"

"Thanks, Shaggy," Fred beamed, "Thanks a lot," Fred walked upstairs to the office. He turned on his computer and waited for the internet to load. After about ten minutes of waiting, the internet box opened. He typed in Google and hit the enter key. Then he typed in 'love quotes' and waited for Google to process his results. Once that happened, there were ten pages of websites with love quotes. Fred picked the first choice. He read through the quotes for awhile, trying to decide which one made his heart tingle. It was a toss up between these two quotes about roses. One was: A rose is a symbol of my love for you. Its petals shine in beauty, its thorn show its pain; and the other was: He gave her 11 roses- 10 real and 1 fake and he told her, "I'll love you till the last rose dies." Fred thought over his choices for awhile and finally picked the latter one. He just sat at his computer screen for awhile after that, letting himself be fully absorbed by the love in his heart. Then, he resulted to go to the flower shop to pick up eleven roses. When, he got there, he browsed the collection of roses to make sure he picked the prettiest and reddest roses of them all. All of a sudden, a florist, obviously pregnant, approached Fred.

"Need any help?" she asked.

"Well, I'd like to purchase ten red roses," He answered. "I've already picked them out, if you don't mind,"

"No, I don't mind…" The florist collected the roses that Freddy had picked out for Daphne and started to wrap them up. "Do you need anything else?"

"Uhm…I need a fake red rose,"

"How many?"

"Just one," And with that, the florist went into the back of the store, and came back carrying a fake flower.

"That'll be eleven dollars," she stated. Fred handed her the money, and the florist gave him his flowers.

"Thank you," He whispered on his way out the door. He climbed into his car and checked the backseat to make sure that the picnic blanket and basket were still there. They were. Fred started to feel nauseous…and nervous. He hoped that Shaggy had given him good advice. Once he finally made it to the park, he grabbed the supplies that were in the backseat and set them up on a perfect spot on the grass. The red checkered blanket made the whole place seem so picnic-y. After he finished setting up everything, Daphne arrived. Looking stunning, or so Fred thought...

"Hi, Daphne," Fred greeted. "I made hamburgers, a salad, and watermelon,"

"Sounds delicious," Daphne grinned. She sat down on the blanket, snuggled up to Fred, and grabbed a hamburger. "Mmm, Freddy, this is really good!"

"Thanks," he stated. He looked to his left, the side Daphne wasn't pressed against, and saw the roses. He decided this was the time. "Uhm…Daphne, I got something for you…" He snatched the roses from his side and held them up for her to see.

"Freddy!" Daphne exclaimed. "They're beautiful!" She grasped the flowers and held them to her chest. Then, she smelled them and let the exquisite odor fill all her insides and cleanse her soul. "Fred…why is one of them fake?" she commented.

"Because…" Fred took his roses back so he could present them to her properly. "I wanted to tell you," He took a deep breath. "That I will love you, until the last one dies,"

"Oh, Freddy, that's so sweet," She murmured. "And, I'll love you until it dies too,"

"Forever and always, right?"

"Forever and always,"