Part one of a four part series. I am making all the pairings that are popular. Though personally this is my preference for Pairing. Others are coming soon. I still might fix this later, since it still doesn't feel exactly right like I want it to. My first romance, so give me a break.

It was a while before I realized I loved her.

We have known each other for so long, I was surprised when this thought popped into my mind. At first I tried to ignore it, but I couldn't be away from her smile for too long. Her laugh just kept bringing me back. Her voice echoed in my mind for countless hours on end, taunting me. It is impossible to ignore, useless to run away from, but hardest to confront. She isn't one to jump into a relationship. She would be scared… Heck, even I'm scared. But how do I deal with this nagging feeling that I can't quiet?

"Are you alright Freddy?"

She asked me using my nickname; I'm torn on how to answer it. Do I tell her, or do I just keep it inside me. Looking into her eyes, I shake my head and smile.

"It's nothing. I was just thinking…."

Thinking about you… Was how I wanted to finish it, but I bit my tongue and held back my thoughts. I could have drowned in those deep dark eyes she has but I mentally tore myself away from looking at her, to prevent her from suspecting anything. The only problem with that is she is a detective; she didn't need a clue to know that I was hiding something from her. But her only response was biting her lip and giving me this look of hopelessness for not being able to help me.

"Well… If you need someone to talk to, you can always talk to me."

That offer cut through me like a knife. I wanted to just blurt it out right then and there, but approaching her head on like that was the easiest way to scare her off. But that was the last thing I wanted to do. She meant too much to me to have her uneasy in my presence like that. No, I had to think up a plan. Working out the best way to bring the question about and the right situation to talk to her in. Not to mention, she had to be ready as well. Her luck so far hadn't been very good and the only person she had really liked had not worked out in the worst way, so I knew this was a fragile subject to her. Ben Ravencroft seemed the only man that actually was out rightly interested in her. Interested was the right term; though he only wanted to use her for her brain in solving something he could not. A battle with a Witch followed by banishing him and his new position as Warlock, sealed his fate and crushed poor Velma's heart. I wasn't going to let that happen again.

I gave her my best smile, trying to push all her valid doubts away.

"Thanks. But I'm all right. No worries!"

That seemed to satisfy her for now… But how long could it last? How long could I last?

I had been able to hide it for a while, but it reared it's head again when we were together alone. Shaggy had taken Scooby to visit some relatives and Daphne had gotten an invitation to see a friend in Hawaii, so we had the whole house to ourselves on a crisp winter weekend.

As usual, she had curled up on the couch where she loved to sit. The couch by then had been worn in so much on that one side that it dipped in where she always was. Wrapped in a blanket, she was captivated in the newest book she had gotten. I had occupied myself with the fire in the living room, wanting to keep the house warm; I also wanted to keep my eye on her. The house was big and I would rather have her in plain sight than being able to sneak up on when I would think she is nowhere around. The plan was to bring it around in a very common conversation, and slowly see what her thoughts were on the subject. Testing the waters was best. Maybe if I went about it in a round about way, she wouldn't get suspicious and ask any questions. Maybe If I keep her nose in the book, it would be easier to get answers out of her while she is mildly distracted.

I waited for just the right timing. Poking and prodding the fire, I bid my time, waiting just for the right moment. I gave a sideways glace her way. She didn't notice, she wouldn't have noticed even if I stared at her fully, with the face she was making. It seemed she was into a really good part, and she was chewing on the inside of her mouth unconsciously as the plot was reaching a high point. Now was the time to strike…. "Velma I was wondering…."

BOOM!

The sound of the boom had caused the power to shut off. The winter storm started to rage, pulling on the nearby cables and snapping a few that connected the power. The whole house shut down, silence echoing in the large house, except for a few crackles and pops from the fire. Velma looked up from her book, and stared squinting at the ceiling, as if her slightly annoyed glare would scare the lights into coming back on. After a second of glaring proving useless, she got up.

"Freddie, I'm going to go turn over the generator in the basement, I'll be right back." And she was gone… before I could even get up.

The moment ruined, I got up to move to the archway that leads to the stairs of the basement. I leaned on the wall, looking into the darkness that she ran down. Leaning my weight against my arm, my eyes lingering in the spot where she had disappeared to.

"Great… Brilliant plan Freddie…" I muttered out loud to myself in annoyance. I banged a closed fist against the arch. Flinching, I shook my hand and complimented my intelligence another time. Placing a hand to my forehead, I slumped against the wall, sighing. "Trying to ask Velma while she is distracted if she thinks she's ready to get into another relationship. Genius idea. Why didn't I just flat out ask her when she would be free? Or maybe yet, why not just tell her flat out…. I like you Velms!"

The shuffling of feet behind told him he just won the noble prize for idiocy. His jaw stopped open as soon as the words left his mouth. It just hit him that he was talking out loud, and not in his mind as he thought at first. The halls echoed behind him, as if to make sure she heard his last statement over and over again. He paused, not knowing what he should do. The last thing he expected was the sound that came from behind him.

She was laughing.

Turning around, Fred found himself looking at Velma. One hand was to her mouth, and the other seemed to be clutching at her stomach. Fred shook his head mouth still agape. This was the last, actually not even a reaction he expected out of her. A look of utter confusion was plastered over his face as he waited for her to explain. Because he couldn't get two words put together in bafflement of her reaction. She bit down on her bottom lip as she tried to calm herself down from her sudden outburst. Once under control, she addressed him.

"I should have known. The clues were right in front of my nose, but I wasn't looking at them clearly enough. Jinkies Fred. I really never knew you felt that way."

Fred turned away, so that's why she was laughing at him. She had put all the pieces together and figured out why he had been acting so odd lately. He felt so stupid. He walked into the room, and settled on the couch. He placed his head into the palms of his hands, covering most of his face not wanting to look at her.

"I won't blame you if you hate me now…"

He said though his hands, muffling his response. When he had moved back into the room, she had followed. What had been left of her mirth, died down as she watched him beat himself up over his outburst. She came over and sat next to him. Her hand wavered as she fought against herself and placed a concerned hand upon his shoulder. He flinched, but got calmer at her touch. It was soft, and seeming more relaxed then he was feeling right then. She squeezed his shoulder, trying to reassure him.

"…I liked you too. Well, not liked as past tense as I don't anymore, but I did have a crush on you for a long time."

She was surprised that she even spoke those words aloud to him. But it was the truth; she had really liked him before. But how did she like him now? She was unsure her feelings, and even more so in this tense and rather odd predicament. Her hand slid off his shoulder to rest into her lap, as she couldn't bring herself to look at him, paying more mind to her skirt wrinkles. He wasn't exactly looking to make eye contact either. Nor could he find the words. He was a bit surprised that she liked him, even if it was once. Though with the unsure tones in her voice, it didn't seem that she didn't 'not' like him either. He was unsure how to direct the conversation now. The only sounds from the room was coming from the fireplace, crackling and offering the only comfort in the silence. Fred was again surprised when she continued.

"It's… Just hard I guess." She seemed to be mentally weighing each word she spoke as she said them. "…Relationships. I mean… All the guys I really liked… Never seemed to work out. Be…"

She bit her tongue and could feel tears welling up, she fought hard against the flow of emotions coming up upon her as she thought of him. How she liked him so much, yet how things turned out. Fred knew whom she meant, and it didn't even have to take the beginning of his name to know exactly who that was. He got up, and moved to the archway leading to the hallway, eventually to the kitchen.

"I'll get us something hot to drink."

He wasn't abandoning her, but he knew better then to approach that subject. He knew just how much it affected her. And he thought the best thing was to let her calm down without his presence there as reminder to why that was brought up. Velma brought up a hand towards Fred's back turned, silently asking him not to leave. Yet she knew that she wasn't ready really to tackle her feelings for 'Him', so maybe it was best that she calmed down and pushed the painful memory away. She knew it wasn't good to leave it like that, but she knew it was still too early to forget.

Fred didn't take long, but slowly poked his head into the room to see her state. She had moved from the couch to the fireplace, warming her hands. He disappeared and returned with a blanket and the drinks. He came up behind her, and draped the blanket around her before he gave her a cup of hot chocolate.

"To warm you up."

He added, as she took the cup. He took a seat next to her, but giving her enough room. Sipping on his cup, he joined her staring at the fire. There was a long pause. The room danced in the firelight, and the snow bore down on the outside of the house, making the house groan. Nature trying to break the silence that existed between them as they both gazed into the fire.

"So… Now what?" Velma asked, sneaking a glance at him as she took a sip, trying to not seem to be looking at him. She was trying to get a reading on him, her detective sense jumping to guard her insecurities. She was pretty sure that he wasn't joking about it, but was unsure really how to go about things.

"Hm?" He hummed as he watched a bit of wood glow bright as the fire centered on it.

"Oh… Well… I don't know." He said softly into his hot chocolate, rubbing the back of his other hand holding the cup. He meant it. It wasn't like he was going to say something like 'sorry for admitting my feelings.' Or 'Ah, just joking.' He wasn't the kind of guy to mess with someone like that. Even more so to do such acts to Velma. She meant too much to him, and he couldn't stop kicking himself for blurting it all out like that.

The wind was intense, making a racket as it banged around tree's outside against the house. Fred shivered as some small gust of air from outside sought refuge in the house. The small motion wasn't unnoticed. Velma looked over and noticed that he was just wearing his usual white sweater, not even having the blue shirt on underneath. She also didn't miss the unconscious rubbing he was doing, trying to warm his arms up. She looked to herself, wrapped in her own comforter that Fred must have taken from her room. The blanket he had thoughtfully brought so that she wouldn't be cold, but forgot something for himself.

He always did that… She thought to herself. …Doing things, and looking out for us. Looking out for me. He's always been here for me, and he still is. Sitting here making sure the fire is warm and that I have something. Yet he doesn't even think about himself.

She curled into her blanket a bit more, trying to think things out. Normally thinking was her strong point, but to her this was more complicated then a simple quantum physics equation. More complicated then anything she came across, with to many unknowns to have to factor in to the equation. But… Its not like things are really going to chance much, would it? She wasn't sure. Countless things went through her head as she watched Fred out of the corner of her eye tend to the fire. He put aside his cup, mostly drained anyway, to rub both hands together. He knew the silence wasn't good, but he couldn't think up of anything to say with how deep he shoved his foot into his mouth. He gave a shiver again, mentally chiding himself for not wearing more.

It took him a second to realize what was around him. A warm feeling was enveloping his cold backside, since the fire kept at least his front warm. He felt something lightly bump against him as the warmth spread across his shoulders. It was the blanket, along with Velma sitting next to him. She had scooted herself closer to him, to be able to stretch the blanket around him, warming him up. He was surprised, but not ungrateful for the gesture. She was leaning on him, resting against his side. Her body seemed a bit tense, but was slowly relaxing and leaning on him more. Not that she was heavy or anything, but it was strangely nice, and oddly comforting. She seemed to have made up her mind, weighting the options and considering the consequences. The finisher, letting herself lay her head on his shoulder. His eyes widened at whole thing, but he was happy. He didn't know how long it would last, but he wasn't displeased it was there. Though he wasn't sure if this was going to be ok. If this was even right to do. He knew he liked her, but he didn't want to force her to make up her mind right then and there. He treasured her too much to force her into something she didn't want to do. Though how to ask, was the difficult part.

"Are… Are you sure this is ok?" He tentatively asked her, his voice a whisper. As if he spoke to loud, he would scare her away. "I don't want to force you into something. Just because of my feelings."

"Freddy, I think the last thing you could do was force me into something I wasn't willing to do on my own." She retorted to him, giving him one of her sideways looks. He had to laugh, she had proven stubborn in the past and usually never budged in her convictions.

"I think that I can't just dwell in the past, and not consider the future." She was cautious with her wording. "It's not that I don't like you. I do… But the hard part is seeing how much I like you… And how. I mean... you're like family. You all are. Shaggy, Scooby and Daphne. We have been through so much, and so much has happened. I don't want to ever loose you guys."

"You… You won't loose me. Even… Even if we try this… and it doesn't work out. Nothing will really change. You will still be you, and I will still be me. Nothing will stop me from caring about you. Though whither it's just making sure your ok, or 'being' there for you. Nothing can change all the years that we have spent together and how dear you are to me."

Fred admitted to her. It was the best thing he could think of saying. It was straight out of his heart. She pondered his words, not doubting the truth in them, but trying to weight her own thoughts and feelings against them. She knew he meant a lot to her too. They have lived together, with the rest of the gang for years. Most of their child hood and all of the life they had led up to now. She couldn't see her life without him, or the gang. But how would it feel if they became more then just good friends. Her brow furrowed, showing how much she was thinking about it. He was watching her intensely, but trying to hide how much he couldn't take his eyes off her. She was so serious, but he knew how she felt. Or at least a bit of how she felt. They were like family. How would it feel to make family into something more? Would it be wrong? But he couldn't ignore the feelings he had. Even more so given his inept ability to think silently. She was thinking a while, scrunching her face up as she figured out all the angles. She always made this funny nose wrinkle as she thought hard; he found it funny how she was so concentrated. He leaned over and pressed a finger lightly into her brow, bringing it up to normal height on her face.

"If you think to hard, your face will stay like that."

She gave him another one of her sideway glares, but the grin pulling on the side of her mouth gave away her ruse of pretend annoyance. She swatted away his hand as he pulled it away and awaited her response.

"But… What about Daphne?" She paused, afraid to continue.

"You two… You two always looked right… for each other." She paused another agonizing length of two seconds before continuing.

"…Why me?"

She always doubted herself. Not knowing what possible reason he could like her. It was a natural reaction after the Ben incident. And how he pretended to be nice to her, only to use her. She was able to fight the feeling off better since Fred was still up against her, and she was surrounded by a protective like feeling of warmth from the blanket and the fire. Fred's expression softened, and he turned back to look at the fire as he spoke.

"I don't think it could ever work between Daphne and me. I mean, maybe it could… Had she not been like the sister I never had." He lingered on the idea, and then shook his head.

"People always paired us up together in high school, thinking that we made such a great couple. But, all the time I spent with her, the more I became protective of her. When guys would hit on her, I would be jealous. If anyone approached her, I would usually step in. That mainly gave off that I really liked her, but in fact I just wanted to protect her from being hurt. I… I was so focused on her, I… I forgot to be that protective of you. I… I feel ashamed I never really spent as much time making sure you were all right, as much as I did for Daphne. She… As you well know, has a tiny bit of trouble keeping out of trouble."

"Tiny bit?" Velma rolled her eyes.

"Alright, she has a good amount of trouble avoiding trouble. She's a magnet for it. Whither it's a trap, monster, ghost or ghoul, she was always getting into something. But, since it happened less to you, and you always seemed even in the toughest situations more calm then the rest of us, I… I forgot were human too. I think I took for granted that fact." He paused, picking up his cup to spin what little was left in the cup around in circles on the bottom.

"Ben… That was just wrong. And it took that to really open my eyes, and see you for more of the person you really are. I… I feel bad it took that long for me to see how much you were just like the rest of us."

She was unsure what to think. She never felt calm, or relaxed during the many times they were hunting a ghost or something. She always felt things would be fine as long as they were all there. She was calm because she wasn't alone. The rest of the gang was always there. And that fact always had been the most calming feeling she ever could have. She never felt strong, or particularly brave, but there were times that she felt as long as they were there, she had nothing to worry about. Fred stopped playing with the cup and continued.

"…I never… I should have thought more about you. To protect you from that happening."

"…It happened Fred. There is no sense in beating yourself up about it. It's over and I really should move on. Maybe… Maybe it isn't a bad idea for me not to go through this alone. But it's not your fault; I didn't always open up to you guys. I usually tried to deal with my own problems on my own. Maybe… Maybe it's time to lean on you guys more. Lean on you more." She leaned a bit more on him to add to her point. " I'm not alone I know that. But maybe it's me who took you guys all for granted."

"…So… You are ok with this? You think it will work?" Fred asked cautiously, moving his head over to look at her. She brought up her hand to rest on the side of his arm by her face, covering the lower half of her face hiding behind it. Her glasses' were reflecting the dancing flames across her thick frames.

"…It's worth a shot. I mean, it's not like we can forget this all happened."

"Well, if you wanted, I could try… Because I don't want you…"

"No Fred. It's not going to change the fact that you said it. Nor will it change the fact that I do like you too. I… I'm just not as..." She placed a finger to her lip, giving him a look out of the corner of her eye. "Loose lipped as some of us in this room." Her dry humor coming out, he had to laugh at that.

"Ah, yeah. Brilliant move on my part, eh?"

"A stunning performance."

"Should I make an encore?"

She leaned away from him to raise an eyebrow at his response. "…No." She didn't even know how to throw a quip back at that. Though he didn't seem serious, nor seemed to have an idea of what to add that could add an encore to what he had said earlier. She shook her head and leaned back against him, watching the fire start to die down. She felt like, even though the day had been unexpected, it wasn't such a bad thing. Maybe it was worth it. Though she was not sure how the rest of the gang might react. Though Daphne was going to have a field day about it. She could feel it. And the impending doom of her intervention if the two of them were going to plan a first date or anything relationship related. Did she really know what she was getting into? Oddly enough, Fred's thoughts echoed her own, he was unsure to break the news to the gang, nor what to do next. His plan was to see what she thought about relationships, not get the ok to have one. That really wasn't what he expected to happen, though since it did, he was looking forward to the future and where it would take them.

The wind and snow seemed to die down, letting the house rest in peace from the battering it had from the blizzard. The fire popped and crackled as Fred prodded it into a shower of sparks that floated up the chimney to float freely into the night. He was debating to get up from the comfortable position when Velma's voice broke into his thoughts.

"…Just what were you going to say as a counter to the encore bit?" Her curiosity nagging at her.

"Oh, I don't know." He tilted his head to think of a good answer. "Maybe something probably like; 'I'm carrying your baby' Or 'I have a long lost evil twin you don't know about.' Those always work in the soaps."

Fred reasoned. Velma snorted and whapped him on the shoulder. It smarted from where she hit him, but he was happy her mood seemed more cheery. He grinned, enjoying her response to his ideas. She couldn't stop he grin that broke across her mouth. It was more then just her usual tight lipped smile, this even had a few pearly teeth showing.

"…Oh Freddy…"

"What?" He said innocently.

What have I gotten myself into? Oh well… Velma said with a sigh.

It was too late to turn back. All that they could do was take the first step, and see what the future held for them. Their… Attempt at Romance.