Darkness...
I can't remember what happened... What's happening...
I feel like I was being carried, but I couldn't focus on anything.
Everything feels fuzzy...
I feel like I'm moving... or more like something I'm in is moving....
Fluttering his eyes open, Fred's world was slowly coming into focus. It was dark around... Though it seemed more like night time rather then his vision going on him. It took a while for his eyes to center on the floating shape that was above his head. As his vision cleared, he was able to see the relief flood on the face behind the thick frames. Hovering over him, Velma was upside down to him... Or was he the one that was upsidedown?
Trying to sit up, Fred was pushed back down by Velma. Her strong grip kept him in place as he weakly fought against her.
"Calm down. It's ok. You have a fever and need to rest." Velma reassured him, batting at his forehead with a bit of cloth. Though it was hard for him to see what she was using. His head felt like it was filled with cotton, and thinking was hard. For the life of him, he couldn't remember what happened.
"Are we..."
"Like' we're in the Mystery Machine." Came a floating voice from up front of the van. It was hard to hear over the engine, but Shaggy was cheerily taking up the spot for driving, since Fred wasn't able to drive.
"Ah, the fearless leader is finally awake. Poor Velma was worried, fuzzing over you like a mother hen. She even sacrificed her sweater for you."
Daphne snickered as she turned to lean over the back of her seat. She had joined Shaggy up at the front and had been playing navigator since Velma was watching Fred. Wiggling a finger, Fred caught a bit of the gesture and brought his eyes to look at her sleeve that was hovering nearby. From the middle of her forearm, the sweater was missing it's sleeve and cuff. In trying to get his fever under control, she had tore off the material to use as a soak rag to place on his forehead. Catching her face as they passed a street light, she was blushing a bit.
"Well, it wasn't the only one that was confiscated..." Velma murmured in response.
Slowly bring his fuzz filled head around, (he didn't dare move too fast) he noticed that he was in fact covered in her sweaters. They served as a blanket to cover him as they traveled home from a mystery. Having use their normal blanket they kept in the van for one of his brilliant plans. Which reminded him...
"What happened? I don't remember anything after setting up the plan. I think we caught him, didn't we?" Looking up, he let Velma bat his forehead a bit more before she shifted her weight to dunk the cloth into a makeshift bucket for some cooler water. It was then he noticed that she shifted under him... His head was resting in her lap. Wide eyed, he wondered how long he had been resting like this. Her legs must have fallen asleep ages ago.
"The plan, like worked!" Chirped Shaggy from the drivers seat, eyes on the road.
"Yeah, for once." Chuckled Daphne, "We caught him and were about to unmask him when you passed out on us. Though the cops were understanding, we were able to finish up and get you into the van. We'll be home soon. Just passed into the Ohio border a few minutes before you woke up. We'll be home in no time."
That must have been while I felt like I was being carried.
"Ah... Good. We caught him." Fred sighed, happy that the crook was brought to justice. But then his world started to shake. Looking up, he found Velma trying to hold back her laughter. Which was making her legs, where his head was, shake.
"What?" He asked, curious. That and he hoped she would explain and stop giggling. It was a bit too much for his head at the moment.
"You silly man. More worried about if the crook was captured then your own health? That's probably why you got a fever in the first place. Heh. Shaggy said you weren't sleeping too well. We can't have our leader overworking himself. We were worried about you." She paused, then muttered to herself though he heard it rumble through her legs. "... I was worried about you."
"Well, I'm in good hands. And... Well warm sweaters. Man, it's really warm though. How do you wear these things anyway?" He felt like he was in a sauna, but at the same time he was shivering. Which was probably why Velma felt to bury him under the sweaters.
"Well, it's more then just my sweaters... There is a little bit of, well, alot of Dane in there too." Velma giggled, pointing at the curling end bit of brown tail that poked by one side of his face. Snaking a hand out from under the mass of sweaters, he was about to free it enough to give the tail a light tug.
"Ruh?" Came the sleepy response from beyond the mass of orange. Fred could feel the weight shift unevenly as the dog slowly turned around. Arching up over the mass of clothing; the dopey, half awake muzzle stared at Fred for a few seconds as the information was processed through the fog of sleep. With eyes snapping open, the Dane finally realized what he was seeing.
"R'eddy! R'our ra'wake!" With a bark, the dog bathed his face with happy kisses, excited that one of his buddies was awake.
"Aw come on Scoob... I'm ok. I'm ok. Don't drown me before I get a chance to get all better." Unable to fend the hyper dog with one hand, he pleaded instead. With a bashful grin, Scooby stopped and laughed.
"Reh reh... Rorry."
"It's ok Scoob. Thanks." Giving the Dane a head ruffle, he was happy they all were looking out for him. It certainly made it easier to relax under the blankets. Seeing that Fred was ok, Scooby got off but didn't go too far. Snuggling up against one side of the mass of blankets, he stayed close enough just in case he needed something.
With his mind at ease, Fred relaxed against Velma's lap. Though it seemed like the lap was relaxing a bit as well. The tense feeling that was in her legs seemed to be melting, and he felt alot more comfortable. Peering up, Velma seemed to be relaxing her whole body, no doubt since she had been tending over him all worried. He had noticed, that Velma tended to become quite tense even though she looked more relaxed. A few times, he had managed to convince her to let one of them work out the kinks and knots she made in her shoulders from the work she did.
Bringing his free hand up, he was having trouble aiming it towards her, being upside down and brain full of fluff. But his actions caught her attention and she darted to attention. Hands flew up to grip his as she looked over worried. He gave her hand a reassuring squeeze and smiled, just at her.
"Thanks." He said so only she could hear. Her body relaxed and she sighed a bit, thankful that it had been just that and nothing bad. Pushing his hand further, he used her own hands to guide him towards her face. He rubbed her cheek with the back of her own hand, wiggling a finger free from her grip to lightly stroke her cheek. He was worried about her too, he didn't know how long she had been putting up with his sick frame.
"Do you need to move your legs? I bet if you help me, I can sit up so you can put your legs straight."
"I'm fine." She responded back quickly, not thinking about herself. Moving his hand in hers, he took the lone free finger and flicked her nose.
"Help me move. You need to have circulation in your legs. I'll try to move myself, I think it just will work better with your help." He started to move and she sighed. There was no helping it, so she looped her arms under his shoulders and helped to get him sitting up. But just as she started to try to move him the rest of the way, Shaggy hit a massive bump which threw everyone in the back.
Sweaters went flying as the three in the back reacted. Fred was thrown at Velma, who shifted her legs straighter to brace against the floor. Her arms wrapped around him to hold him from tumbling. Scooby, since he had fallen back asleep, flew a few inches off the ground and flailed wildly for a few seconds, tossing orange left and right before settling. Wide eyed, Scooby found the back of the van splattered with orange sweaters and now red skirts that had been thrown from the open suitcase that Velma had forgotten to close prior. It really hadn't crossed her mind that they might be hitting a bump and Scooby would have fell into it and tossed things everywhere.
"Sorry!" Called from the front of the van. Shaggy pushed a sweater off the top of his head that had landed after the bump. He didn't notice the pot hole till too late, and didn't have time to warn the others.
"Really Shaggy... Sheesh." Daphne blew a few strands of hair out of her face that had gotten pushed out of place by the few bits that had landed on her. "You guys ok back there?"
"Rorry... Ree hee hee." Laughed Scooby as he saw the disheveled Daphne turn back to look for them.
"Thanks Scooby. What about the other two?" A bit of concern inching into her voice. It was hard from the front seat to see past the second row of seats before the back started.
Like a tidal wave of orange, the two had been covered by the sweaters. Fred found himself after the chaos, being held in a light embrace. Strong, but gentle arms were around him, keeping him from sliding too far. He had been flipped over, and saw that Velma had tucked her head into his chest. She was still braced, wedging her shoulders against the floor and back of the seat, in an act to prevent them both from slamming against the seat. He was rather comfortable, but she didn't look so much. But in his weak state, he couldn't break her grip to straighten them out.
"Um... As comfortable as this is for me... I think you look like you could be in a better position." He said softly to her, not wanting to spook her from her posture and possibly hurt her more then she looked.
"Oh..." Looking up, it was hard to see her face too well in the darkness of the sweaters. But he could have sworn it glowed a faint color of blush before she moved. Pushing against the fabric, Velma unearthed herself before digging Fred out. It would teach her to not pack a few weeks worth of sweaters in one bag. It was a deceiving amount of material that fit in a small suitcase. Thankfully, her more personal items were in another compartment in her suitcase, or the whole back of the van would be glowing with a faint tint of embarrassed red.
Shifting in her seat, since she was waiting for a response from Velma, she turned around and went to her knees to catch a glimpse of her friend. One thing that was bad about so much sweater in one place, static. Velma's hair looked worse for the wear, and Daphne couldn't help but to laugh.
"Oh man, I wish I had my camera... Fred you dog. I turn my back for a few seconds and you take advantage..." Daphne wasn't able to finish her sentence when she had to duck out of the way for a rolled up sweater flew at her head.
"Don't you dare finish that sentence, Blake. I have plenty more where that came from." Velma said sternly, but the passing street lights couldn't hide the blush that formed across her face. Velma snorted and moved back to fussing over Fred, tucking several bits of her 'ammo' underneath him to prop him up. it was useless cleaning them up until they stopped.
Fred didn't have enough energy to resist, not that he had any reason too. Not much else you can do when you're sick. And he had already did something similar when she was sick, so it was his turn to be the pampered one. The idea was rather appealing, though he couldn't wait to be in his own bed. Nothing beat your own bed when you were sick.
Velma was muttering to herself as she tucked Fred in. It was the first time that his orange ascot didn't seem out of place, as his normal white and blue was covered up with her matching orange. She was distracted when Shaggy hit another bump, causing her to fall forward. A shouted 'sorry' came from the driver but they were a bit distracted to notice.
Fred was ready this time, instinct surpassing brain fuzz to send his arms through the sweater blanket and catch her against him and the blankets. Surprised, she found herself laying partly on top of him, with the only thing separating them was the layer of sweaters. Her glasses started to fog up, as his breath and body was still hot from the fever.
"Sorry..." He released her to let her shift up to adjust and clean the fog off her glasses.
"Not your fault. I fell on you..." She muttered softly so no one else would hear.
"You're nice and warm though..." Fred added lightly. She looked over at him quickly, but he was looking away. Picking at the edge of one of the sweater cuffs that sat next to his head with a free hand.
"Hm... Well... Logically the best place to be for bumps is the lowest elevation." She said, adjusting her glasses after she put them back on. Leaning back down, she laid against him, but more on one side. Shifting her body to bring it close to him. Sharing body warth so he could get better, of course.
"Ah, yeah. Logical." He said bringing his head back to shoot her a grin. He didn't mind in the least, and she was warm. Yep, she was warm to help him get better. "...Works for me."
She squinted at him annoyed for a few seconds before letting up. A bit of a pout crossing her face before she gave in, letting a small snort exit her nose, she snuggled against him and relaxed. He was sick after all, she would be a bit more lenient this time. After all, she had a few things in mind once they got home. Payback... He wasn't going to weasel out of it, not when he owed her one for last time she was sick.