Scooby Doo
The Courtship of Velma Dinkley
By Andy Fuller
This Story was inspired by Littlesoprano's 'Journey of Self Discovery' & 'Their First Christmas'
Thanks to Vicky, Ben G, Ben T, and Sandy for the Beta
Please note I'm British so take that into account with some of the spellings
Note:- Apologies for taking longer than usually but what with work and a bout of flu I've not really had time to work on the story.
Chapter 4 - A Right Lather
Ethan screwed his eyes against the bright light creeping through his eyelids. "What the." he mumbled. He slowly opened one eye and the other shot open seconds later as he found himself looking at the sun rising over the horizon. "Oh man," he murmured slowly as he tried to raise his hand to his face. As he did he sent the blanket draped over him and Velma to the floor. Ethan stared at it for a minute then looked down at Velma whose head was still resting on his shoulder and felt a small grin creep over his face. Velma's usually neat and tidy hair was a total mess while her glasses had slid down right to the end of her nose. Ethan now reached up with his free arm and pushed her spectacles back up prompting her to murmur softly and wriggle slight beside him. Ethan gave a chuckle and leaned down and pressed a kiss on the top of her head before he tilted his head so he could see her face a little easier. "Hey Vel, Vel I think it's time to get up."
"Wha.?" murmured Velma sleepily as she slowly looked up through half opened eyes. She now reached up nearly knocking her glasses off as she rubbed at the sleep in her eyes. "What time is it?"
"Almost seven," said Ethan glancing at his watch.
"Seven!" exclaimed Velma realizing for the first time that it was morning. "Jinkies, I must have been more tired than I thought."
"Your not the only one," admitted Ethan pulling a hand across his face. He could do with a shave he thought to himself as Velma now sat up and stretched. She now happened to see the blanket on the floor and turned to Ethan with a puzzled look.
"How did that get here?" she asked with a curious expression as she slid off the storage locker onto the deck.
In response Ethan just shrugged. "No idea," he said as he gave a small yawn before jumping off the locker himself. "Maybe there's a mystery there for you to solve," he added with a grin turning to Velma.
"Very funny," replied Velma in a sarcastic tone although there was an unmistakable twinkle in her eye.
"I thought so," chuckled Ethan. At this point he just happened to gaze aft and saw a hazy outline on the horizon. "Hey, is that what I think it is?" At this Velma turned and looked in the same direction before turning back to him with a grin.
"Yup, that's Bermuda," she confirmed with a nod. "I'd guess we're about three hours away."
"Two actually," said Chief Klatowski's cheerful tone from behind them making the pair jump before turning to see the Ship's Cook standing there, arms folded across his chest and shoulders shaking gently with laughter. "Sorry," he said raising his hands in supplication. "Couldn't resist. And it's nice to know I can still surprise people."
"Well you can," said Velma.
"Yeah I guess so," agreed the Chief. "Well anyway, looks like you two are up."
"How did you know we where here?" asked Ethan
"Skipper told me," said the Cook with a chuckle. "Anyway, enough of that. Why don't you two go and get ready then come down to the galley and I'll fix you some breakfast."
"I could go for that," said Velma with a nod.
"Me too, I'm famished," added Ethan.
"Alright then, that's settled," said the Chief. "You two go get cleaned up and I'll see you in the galley."
"Okay Chief," said Velma as the Cook now disappeared through the bulkhead door back into the ship before she turned to Ethan who was now standing behind her and reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck.
"But before we do any of that I have something else to do," she stated firmly.
"Oh?" enquired Ethan with a grin as he slipped his arms around her waist. "And what's that?"
"This," replied Velma before claiming her first kiss of the day. A second later she pulled back with a slight grimace on her face. "Yuck!"
"Yuck?" said Ethan raising an eyebrow and trying hard not to laugh. "You give me a kiss and you say yuck?"
"No, I didn't mean it like that!" said Velma quickly. "It's just.well." she stumbled over her words causing Ethan to grin broadly.
"Come on Vel," he teased. "I need a clue here. I'm not a mind reader you know."
"You need a shave!" blurted Velma then ducked her head to hide her sheepish expression. In the meantime Ethan's grin widened, firstly at Velma's statement, then as an idea popped into his head.
"Fair enough," he said squeezing Velma's hand. "So how about we go and see what the Chief's cooking up and after that you can give me a hand shaving." At this Velma's head snapped up, her eyes wide behind her glasses.
"You don't need any help shaving," she said firmly.
"Maybe I don't need help," admitted Ethan with a small smile. "But maybe I want it. So what do you say?" Velma now found herself looking into Ethan's eyes and realized that he was flirting with her again. Who was she to stop him flirting?"
"Alright," she said with more confidence then she felt. "But let's go eat first."
"Come on then," said Ethan as he led her across the deck. "Let's go find the Chief."
***
After a hearty breakfast the young couple headed back to Ethan's cabin where he got out his shaving gear. As he spread it out on the bedroom table Velma eyed it up cautiously. Luckily for her she'd seen most of the items before as her father still shaved 'The Old Fashioned Way' as he so often put it. Velma could even remember as a small child watching her Father shave. He'd even let her help put on the lather occasionally and a small smile crossed her face at the memory. Harold Dinkley was never the most emotional person but around his only child (especially when she'd been younger) he'd been a little more open with them. Velma now watched as Ethan switched on his lather machine.
"Shouldn't take too long," he said with a smile.
"Um-hmm," replied Velma trying not to sound too nervous. Ethan looked at her curiously detecting the slight hint of nervousness in his girlfriend's voice but decided not to say anything just as the light on the laver machine went off.
"Okay," said Ethan with a grin. "Let's get on with it shall we?" And with that he reached up and pulled a surprised Velma into his lap. "Come on then, let's do this."
"Okay," replied Velma sounding slightly more confident. She now set to work applying the lather over Ethan's face. That was the easy part and only took her a couple of minutes. She then pick up the razor carefully and turned to face Ethan suddenly feeling the nerves returning.
Ethan couldn't help it but the moment Velma turned to face him he felt the laughter bubbling up. Velma's expression was one of intense concentration, so much so that the tip of her tongue was sticking out of one corner of her mouth. Slowly his shoulders started to shake and then a snigger escaped. At this Velma who'd been leaning forward to start her task pulled back with a shocked look. "What? What have I done?"
"No.nothing," spluttered Ethan. "It's just.the expression on your face." At this he sniggered again. "It's absolutely priceless."
"Ethan!" cried Velma, a look of mock indignation on her face. "Right, now you're going to get it!" She now quickly turned and grabbed a handful of lather and turned intending to squash it into Ethan's face. Unfortunately for her Ethan saw what was coming and managed to deflect her hand so instead of his face Velma squashed the foam against his shirt leaving her palm print there.
"You are in such much trouble now!" laughed Ethan as he grabbed Velma around the waist with one arm and with his free hand grabbed a handful of lather himself.
"You wouldn't!" cried Velma, a broad grin on her face as she squirmed in Ethan's grip.
"Wanna bet?!" chirped Ethan and with that he brought his hand down on Velma's head cover her head with shaving foam. At this Velma gave a squeal and the pair now fell about trying to get each other with more foam.
Horace and Marilyn were making their way to the galley from their cabin when their heard loud squeals and cries of laughter coming from Ethan's cabin. "My goodness," exclaimed Horace shooting his wife a puzzled look. "What are those two up to?"
"I'm not sure," replied an equally baffled Marilyn as the pair approached the door just as another shriek of laughter filled the air causing both of them to jump slightly.
"Was that Velma?" said Marilyn in surprise. She hadn't heard her daughter laugh like that since she'd a small child.
"I think it was," said Harold in response. At this point he now reached up and knocked on the door just as more sounds of laughter filled the corridor. "Eh..Ethan? Velma? Are you two alright in there?" At this the laughter stopped to be replaced with hushed whispers tones occasionally interspersed with giggles before the door flew open and Ethan and Velma tumbled into the hall causing Harold to jump back. The young couple now slowly steadied themselves before looking up at Velma's parents with sheepish expressions. As they did Harold's eyebrows raised while Marilyn quickly had to raise a hand to her mouth to cover the grin crossing her face as she and her husband looked at their foam covered daughter and her boyfriend.
"Eh, hello Mother, Father," exclaimed Velma with a sheepish grin, foam glistening in her hair. "Sorry about the noise. Ethan and me were just having a.a.."
"Disagreement," supplied Ethan with a foam-faced grin.
"So I can see," said Harold who was barely able to keep a straight face. Marilyn wasn't much better as she stood beside her husband with her shoulders shaking gently as she fought down the laughter. "Well, as long as you two are alright. It just sound as if someone was being murdered."
"Sorry," said Velma meekly as she and Ethan shared another sheepish look.
"Yes well," said Harold with a small cough. "Just em.just make sure you clear up alright?"
"We'll get right to work Sir," said Ethan quickly while beside him Velma nodded firmly beside him.
"Good, good," replied Velma's father with a nod. "And while you're at it you better clean yourselves up too," he added turning his back on the pair so they couldn't see his broad smile. "Come along dear," he said quickly taking Marilyn by the elbow and the pair quickly headed down the corridor towards the galley. As they disappeared around the corner Velma and Ethan exchanged a look.
"Oops," said Ethan with a broad grin.
"Yeah," replied Velma with an equally big grin. Just then the sounds of muffled laughter reached them and the pair began to chuckle themselves.
"Well at least your parents saw the funny side," said Ethan making no attempt to hide his relief as he wrapped an arm around Velma's shoulders. He had been worried that Velma's parents might not be terribly amused with the whole 'foam fight' but it seemed from their reaction his fears had been unfounded. Beside him Velma giggled softly and nodded.
"Oh don't be fooled by all their formality," she said leaning into him. "Mother and Father have a keen sense of humour."
"So I heard," said Ethan with a chuckle as he gave Velma a quick squeeze. "Come on, let's clear up this mess."
"Right," agreed Velma as she now reached up and deposited a large dollop of foam on the end of Ethan's nose causing the pair to burst into laughter again.
As luck would have it very little of the foam had gone anywhere than onto Ethan and Velma so clearing up the room only took ten minutes allow the pair to then sort themselves out. Ethan, now properly shaven, was the first to emerge from his cabin in a grey polo and slacks and made his way topside where Velma joined him as the Seacutter slowly slid into Hamilton Harbor.
As the pair stood together on the Seacutter's deck they were totally oblivious to the two men watching them on the quayside through powerful binoculars. "There she is," observed the small of the pair lowering his binoculars.
"Who's the dude?" asked his taller colleague without lowering his.
"That isn't your concern Mr. Osgood. Your concern is to make sure phase one is carried out correctly, understood?"
"Right boss," replied Osgood lowering his binoculars. "Her parents right?"
"That's right," replied the small man as he reached up and smoothed down his iron grey moustache. "And for god's sake don't harm them. Their no good to me dead!"
"Don't worry boss," said Osgood confidently. "We'll get it right."
"You'd better," growled the smaller man in a tone that sent shivers than Osgood's spine. "Now go!" At this Osgood hurried off leaving his superior on his own as he now raised his binoculars again. "And once that's done I will the bait I need to eliminate Mystery Inc. and there will be no one to help you Miss Dinkley," he purred softly before lowering the glasses again and disappearing into the crowd.
By Andy Fuller
This Story was inspired by Littlesoprano's 'Journey of Self Discovery' & 'Their First Christmas'
Thanks to Vicky, Ben G, Ben T, and Sandy for the Beta
Please note I'm British so take that into account with some of the spellings
Note:- Apologies for taking longer than usually but what with work and a bout of flu I've not really had time to work on the story.
Chapter 4 - A Right Lather
Ethan screwed his eyes against the bright light creeping through his eyelids. "What the." he mumbled. He slowly opened one eye and the other shot open seconds later as he found himself looking at the sun rising over the horizon. "Oh man," he murmured slowly as he tried to raise his hand to his face. As he did he sent the blanket draped over him and Velma to the floor. Ethan stared at it for a minute then looked down at Velma whose head was still resting on his shoulder and felt a small grin creep over his face. Velma's usually neat and tidy hair was a total mess while her glasses had slid down right to the end of her nose. Ethan now reached up with his free arm and pushed her spectacles back up prompting her to murmur softly and wriggle slight beside him. Ethan gave a chuckle and leaned down and pressed a kiss on the top of her head before he tilted his head so he could see her face a little easier. "Hey Vel, Vel I think it's time to get up."
"Wha.?" murmured Velma sleepily as she slowly looked up through half opened eyes. She now reached up nearly knocking her glasses off as she rubbed at the sleep in her eyes. "What time is it?"
"Almost seven," said Ethan glancing at his watch.
"Seven!" exclaimed Velma realizing for the first time that it was morning. "Jinkies, I must have been more tired than I thought."
"Your not the only one," admitted Ethan pulling a hand across his face. He could do with a shave he thought to himself as Velma now sat up and stretched. She now happened to see the blanket on the floor and turned to Ethan with a puzzled look.
"How did that get here?" she asked with a curious expression as she slid off the storage locker onto the deck.
In response Ethan just shrugged. "No idea," he said as he gave a small yawn before jumping off the locker himself. "Maybe there's a mystery there for you to solve," he added with a grin turning to Velma.
"Very funny," replied Velma in a sarcastic tone although there was an unmistakable twinkle in her eye.
"I thought so," chuckled Ethan. At this point he just happened to gaze aft and saw a hazy outline on the horizon. "Hey, is that what I think it is?" At this Velma turned and looked in the same direction before turning back to him with a grin.
"Yup, that's Bermuda," she confirmed with a nod. "I'd guess we're about three hours away."
"Two actually," said Chief Klatowski's cheerful tone from behind them making the pair jump before turning to see the Ship's Cook standing there, arms folded across his chest and shoulders shaking gently with laughter. "Sorry," he said raising his hands in supplication. "Couldn't resist. And it's nice to know I can still surprise people."
"Well you can," said Velma.
"Yeah I guess so," agreed the Chief. "Well anyway, looks like you two are up."
"How did you know we where here?" asked Ethan
"Skipper told me," said the Cook with a chuckle. "Anyway, enough of that. Why don't you two go and get ready then come down to the galley and I'll fix you some breakfast."
"I could go for that," said Velma with a nod.
"Me too, I'm famished," added Ethan.
"Alright then, that's settled," said the Chief. "You two go get cleaned up and I'll see you in the galley."
"Okay Chief," said Velma as the Cook now disappeared through the bulkhead door back into the ship before she turned to Ethan who was now standing behind her and reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck.
"But before we do any of that I have something else to do," she stated firmly.
"Oh?" enquired Ethan with a grin as he slipped his arms around her waist. "And what's that?"
"This," replied Velma before claiming her first kiss of the day. A second later she pulled back with a slight grimace on her face. "Yuck!"
"Yuck?" said Ethan raising an eyebrow and trying hard not to laugh. "You give me a kiss and you say yuck?"
"No, I didn't mean it like that!" said Velma quickly. "It's just.well." she stumbled over her words causing Ethan to grin broadly.
"Come on Vel," he teased. "I need a clue here. I'm not a mind reader you know."
"You need a shave!" blurted Velma then ducked her head to hide her sheepish expression. In the meantime Ethan's grin widened, firstly at Velma's statement, then as an idea popped into his head.
"Fair enough," he said squeezing Velma's hand. "So how about we go and see what the Chief's cooking up and after that you can give me a hand shaving." At this Velma's head snapped up, her eyes wide behind her glasses.
"You don't need any help shaving," she said firmly.
"Maybe I don't need help," admitted Ethan with a small smile. "But maybe I want it. So what do you say?" Velma now found herself looking into Ethan's eyes and realized that he was flirting with her again. Who was she to stop him flirting?"
"Alright," she said with more confidence then she felt. "But let's go eat first."
"Come on then," said Ethan as he led her across the deck. "Let's go find the Chief."
***
After a hearty breakfast the young couple headed back to Ethan's cabin where he got out his shaving gear. As he spread it out on the bedroom table Velma eyed it up cautiously. Luckily for her she'd seen most of the items before as her father still shaved 'The Old Fashioned Way' as he so often put it. Velma could even remember as a small child watching her Father shave. He'd even let her help put on the lather occasionally and a small smile crossed her face at the memory. Harold Dinkley was never the most emotional person but around his only child (especially when she'd been younger) he'd been a little more open with them. Velma now watched as Ethan switched on his lather machine.
"Shouldn't take too long," he said with a smile.
"Um-hmm," replied Velma trying not to sound too nervous. Ethan looked at her curiously detecting the slight hint of nervousness in his girlfriend's voice but decided not to say anything just as the light on the laver machine went off.
"Okay," said Ethan with a grin. "Let's get on with it shall we?" And with that he reached up and pulled a surprised Velma into his lap. "Come on then, let's do this."
"Okay," replied Velma sounding slightly more confident. She now set to work applying the lather over Ethan's face. That was the easy part and only took her a couple of minutes. She then pick up the razor carefully and turned to face Ethan suddenly feeling the nerves returning.
Ethan couldn't help it but the moment Velma turned to face him he felt the laughter bubbling up. Velma's expression was one of intense concentration, so much so that the tip of her tongue was sticking out of one corner of her mouth. Slowly his shoulders started to shake and then a snigger escaped. At this Velma who'd been leaning forward to start her task pulled back with a shocked look. "What? What have I done?"
"No.nothing," spluttered Ethan. "It's just.the expression on your face." At this he sniggered again. "It's absolutely priceless."
"Ethan!" cried Velma, a look of mock indignation on her face. "Right, now you're going to get it!" She now quickly turned and grabbed a handful of lather and turned intending to squash it into Ethan's face. Unfortunately for her Ethan saw what was coming and managed to deflect her hand so instead of his face Velma squashed the foam against his shirt leaving her palm print there.
"You are in such much trouble now!" laughed Ethan as he grabbed Velma around the waist with one arm and with his free hand grabbed a handful of lather himself.
"You wouldn't!" cried Velma, a broad grin on her face as she squirmed in Ethan's grip.
"Wanna bet?!" chirped Ethan and with that he brought his hand down on Velma's head cover her head with shaving foam. At this Velma gave a squeal and the pair now fell about trying to get each other with more foam.
Horace and Marilyn were making their way to the galley from their cabin when their heard loud squeals and cries of laughter coming from Ethan's cabin. "My goodness," exclaimed Horace shooting his wife a puzzled look. "What are those two up to?"
"I'm not sure," replied an equally baffled Marilyn as the pair approached the door just as another shriek of laughter filled the air causing both of them to jump slightly.
"Was that Velma?" said Marilyn in surprise. She hadn't heard her daughter laugh like that since she'd a small child.
"I think it was," said Harold in response. At this point he now reached up and knocked on the door just as more sounds of laughter filled the corridor. "Eh..Ethan? Velma? Are you two alright in there?" At this the laughter stopped to be replaced with hushed whispers tones occasionally interspersed with giggles before the door flew open and Ethan and Velma tumbled into the hall causing Harold to jump back. The young couple now slowly steadied themselves before looking up at Velma's parents with sheepish expressions. As they did Harold's eyebrows raised while Marilyn quickly had to raise a hand to her mouth to cover the grin crossing her face as she and her husband looked at their foam covered daughter and her boyfriend.
"Eh, hello Mother, Father," exclaimed Velma with a sheepish grin, foam glistening in her hair. "Sorry about the noise. Ethan and me were just having a.a.."
"Disagreement," supplied Ethan with a foam-faced grin.
"So I can see," said Harold who was barely able to keep a straight face. Marilyn wasn't much better as she stood beside her husband with her shoulders shaking gently as she fought down the laughter. "Well, as long as you two are alright. It just sound as if someone was being murdered."
"Sorry," said Velma meekly as she and Ethan shared another sheepish look.
"Yes well," said Harold with a small cough. "Just em.just make sure you clear up alright?"
"We'll get right to work Sir," said Ethan quickly while beside him Velma nodded firmly beside him.
"Good, good," replied Velma's father with a nod. "And while you're at it you better clean yourselves up too," he added turning his back on the pair so they couldn't see his broad smile. "Come along dear," he said quickly taking Marilyn by the elbow and the pair quickly headed down the corridor towards the galley. As they disappeared around the corner Velma and Ethan exchanged a look.
"Oops," said Ethan with a broad grin.
"Yeah," replied Velma with an equally big grin. Just then the sounds of muffled laughter reached them and the pair began to chuckle themselves.
"Well at least your parents saw the funny side," said Ethan making no attempt to hide his relief as he wrapped an arm around Velma's shoulders. He had been worried that Velma's parents might not be terribly amused with the whole 'foam fight' but it seemed from their reaction his fears had been unfounded. Beside him Velma giggled softly and nodded.
"Oh don't be fooled by all their formality," she said leaning into him. "Mother and Father have a keen sense of humour."
"So I heard," said Ethan with a chuckle as he gave Velma a quick squeeze. "Come on, let's clear up this mess."
"Right," agreed Velma as she now reached up and deposited a large dollop of foam on the end of Ethan's nose causing the pair to burst into laughter again.
As luck would have it very little of the foam had gone anywhere than onto Ethan and Velma so clearing up the room only took ten minutes allow the pair to then sort themselves out. Ethan, now properly shaven, was the first to emerge from his cabin in a grey polo and slacks and made his way topside where Velma joined him as the Seacutter slowly slid into Hamilton Harbor.
As the pair stood together on the Seacutter's deck they were totally oblivious to the two men watching them on the quayside through powerful binoculars. "There she is," observed the small of the pair lowering his binoculars.
"Who's the dude?" asked his taller colleague without lowering his.
"That isn't your concern Mr. Osgood. Your concern is to make sure phase one is carried out correctly, understood?"
"Right boss," replied Osgood lowering his binoculars. "Her parents right?"
"That's right," replied the small man as he reached up and smoothed down his iron grey moustache. "And for god's sake don't harm them. Their no good to me dead!"
"Don't worry boss," said Osgood confidently. "We'll get it right."
"You'd better," growled the smaller man in a tone that sent shivers than Osgood's spine. "Now go!" At this Osgood hurried off leaving his superior on his own as he now raised his binoculars again. "And once that's done I will the bait I need to eliminate Mystery Inc. and there will be no one to help you Miss Dinkley," he purred softly before lowering the glasses again and disappearing into the crowd.