Disclaimer:  Scooby-Doo and all related characters and elements (including the character Eric) are owned by Hanna-Barbera.  This is a strictly not-for-profit work.

Author's Notes:  First off, this a 100% movie-based fanfic, so much so that it doesn't make sense in the context of the cartoon personalities.  (If you haven't seen the movie I'm really not trying to discourage you—read away!)  It basically gives one explanation as to Fred's totally altered personality in the live action film—and a few other scenes in the movie.

I originally meant to write this in full-on narrative style, but quite honestly my other fic, Journey of Self Discovery, turned out to be a rather large undertaking in this regard... oh, for those of you that are reading that one—yes, I am doing to finish it (I like it much better than this one, too.)  I may turn this into a full narrative if there is enough interest in the story and I have time.  As it is, this is meant to be a monologue-style fic, as if Fred was speaking, so the "conversational grammar" is intentional.  Oh, and yes—writing as Fred was pretty hard...

Fred on Fred:  The Untold Story

By: Littlesoprano

Oh, man I never thought I could mess up this bad.

            I mean, let's face it, I'm not really known for messing up.  Fred Jones—leader of Mystery Inc—the guy that's always got the answers.  Always got the plan.  Mr. Cool.   Mr. Confident.  Right?

That's what I thought.  Until tonight, anyway.

            None of this would have happened if I'd just done what I was supposed to do in the first place.  This wouldn't have happened if I'd just stayed with Daphne.  I mean, that's how it's supposed to work; everyone knows that.  Captain of the football team....baseball team... most popular guy in school—you go with the most popular girl in school.  Okay, so we're not even in high school anymore, but you know what I mean.  Daphne is my type and I'm hers.  Well, we tried it.  You'd think after all those years of flirting back and forth things would have worked out between us, but the truth is there just wasn't anything there once we actually started dating.  That, and... well, you'll find that part out later.  Let's just say it didn't work out.  She agreed, and that's why when we broke up it wasn't a bad, messy split.  It wasn't even really a breakup, if you think about it, because we weren't a couple.  We just tried going out for about a month, and that was it.

            Sometimes I wonder if she knew the truth all along.  Daphne is really tuned in to that kind of thing.  Maybe, even though I tried so hard to hide it, she figured it out.  Woman's intuition.

 Maybe she knew all along that I had a thing for Velma.  Had?  Have. 

Yes, you heard me right.  Velma.  There.  It's out.  Shocker, huh?  Yeah, I know.  That's not how its supposed to work.  Most popular guy in high school with the brainiest (okay, let's say it—nerdiest) girl in the class?  I don't mean that as an insult to Velma—don't get me wrong.  Yeah, she's dorky, but that's just sort of how she is, and she doesn't care.  And you know what?  I really don't either.

So why did I do what I did if I didn't care?

Sorry, I'm moving too fast here.  Let me explain.  I like Velma just how she is.  Like I said, I know she's nerdy and her clothes aren't in style an all that.  You'd think I'd care about that, 'cause those things mean a lot to me, but I don't.  She's kinda like... well, you know in those old movies where there's this plain librarian or old maid or something and then she puts her hair down and takes her glasses off and all of a sudden she's wow-looking?  I could always tell that Velma was just as pretty as Daph, but it was sort of exciting that it wasn't as obvious.  Like a mystery—and you know how I like mysteries!  (Okay, I'm gonna spell it out for ya— I just plain have a thing for dorky chicks.  Is that so bad?)  Plus, Velma is just kinda exciting to be around personality-wise.  I'm used to girls going along with everything I say and acting like it's so great— I'm not going to say I don't like that.  But Velma... well, she'd follow my lead on mysteries and everything, but I always liked how she would argue and have her own opinions.  She's got that sharp sense of humor that's really fun to test out.  Not that I did it very often—she and I really didn't talk a whole lot.  Out of everyone in that gang, she and I were the least close.  I didn't really think much about why that was before—but now, I think it was.... well, I think I was afraid.  Whew.  I get afraid—who knew.  I'm not supposed to do that, either.  And why was I?  'Cause I could feel the tension between Velma and me, and I knew what would happen if I got too close.  I didn't know if she felt it, 'cause as smart as she is, she really doesn't know a whole lot about guys and going out.  That's Daph's department.  But I felt it, and I knew.  If I let myself get close to her, everything was going to come flying out into the open and I just couldn't let that happen.  Why?

Because, like I said, that's not how it's supposed to be.  I know this is going to make me sound like a huge jerk—maybe I am.  I acted like one tonight.  Heck, I've been acting like one for months now.  And it's all because I didn't want people to know how I felt about her.  'Cause even though I like Velma how she is, I was too afraid of what other people would think if she was my girlfriend. 

I know.  Go ahead and say it.  I was being a stupid idiot.  Well, you haven't heard anything yet.

So did I like Velma that entire time—all those years?  Yes.  I did.  And all those years I covered it up until I could barely feel it anymore, and the worst part was that I kinda used Daph to do it. All that flirting and the "let's split up, gang"s.  I knew what people thought of that, and I let them go right on ahead and think it.  I will cut myself a little slack, though—I did like her, too.  I wanted to so much that my feelings came around after awhile— Daphne is obviously easy for a guy to like.  I mean, we did go out.  You know what, though, I think some people always did see through it.  They started to notice that Daphne was doing most of the flirting and sometimes I just didn't seem to notice.  Oh, I noticed all right, and I liked it.  It's just hat sometimes my mind was somewhere else....  And as for that splitting up business, I liked being with Daph, of course—I mean, what guy wouldn't?  But my real reason was that I knew darned well what would happen if Velma and I were ever alone for very long.  The tension would get so bad that I wouldn't be able to hold down all my feelings for her anymore.  So I kept us apart... purposely at first and then just out of habit.     

            But of course it happened anyway.  It had to, or I wouldn't even be in this mess right now.  It was about three months ago, and Velma was dating Eric— a computer genius guy at the state college.  I guess it would be pretty obvious that they might go out, them being so similar... and the thing was, even Velma thought it was too obvious.  But anyway, I got jealous, and it surprised me because by that time I'd pretty much convinced myself that I didn't even like Velma anymore.  What a joke.  I hated being jealous, too—I'd never felt that way.  I mean, I'd never had a reason to before.  I've never had a problem getting any girl I liked to like me back.  Maybe that's part of the reason I'm so crazy about Velma—she's kinda unattainable, you know?  I like a challenge.  But back to the story.  She was dating Eric, and I was jealous.  Okay.  Of course I was covering it up, and I did it so well that I think I began to forget it.  I had a lot of practice—I'd been doing the same thing with my feelings for Velma for years by that time.  Then one day we were all out on a mystery.... and Daph wasn't there.  Out of town.  That had never happened before.  And we had to split up, two and two.  I couldn't split up Shag and Scoob—I mean, come on.  That would be so obvious.  So I had to go off with Velma alone for the very first time.

            I'd like to say that I was my usual cool, collected self, looking for clues and going about my business.  But no, I couldn't keep my big mouth shut.  I had to go and ask Velma about Eric, and how they were doing.  More than anything I wanted to hear her say that she wasn't really that into him— and it happened.  Turns out she didn't really want to date him anymore—he was  a sweet guy, she said, but too much like her.  She said that everyone assumed that was the kind of guy that she wanted... and that she hated that because she wanted a  totally different kind of guy.  'What kind?' I asked.  Stupid, stupid, stupid.  'Cause the next thing I know, she was describing a guy that sounded.... well, a lot like me.  Strong.  Confident—even a little bit of a show-off.  Good-looking.  Really masculine.  I mean, hey— that's me, right?  And that's what I said—'Hey, Velms, you just described me.'  I knew I was being cocky, and I knew she was going to give me a hard time about it.  (I think she liked it when I acted that way, though—she just wouldn't admit it.) 

            But this time, she didn't roll her eyes or mutter something under her breath like I thought she would.  She just looked down at the ground and said—real quiet—"yeah, Fred, I guess I did."

            I couldn't believe she said that, and then she looked up at me... and I knew she felt exactly like I did.  She bit her lip and looked almost a little scared, like she wanted me to say something.  The tension between us was about tripled by that time, and I knew she felt it just as much as I did.  All that practice I'd had putting back my feelings just went right out the window then, and there wasn't anything I could do.

            There wasn't really much I could say, either, even though I knew I should just start joking with her, just like I would have done before.  But I couldn't cover up my feelings then, the tension was exploding.... and she was staring at me in this almost.... well, I don't want to say begging 'cause that sounds awful, but that's really what it looked like.  It was like she could look right inside me and see all that I had been keeping away from her, and she was just asking me to let it go.  Or maybe she was asking me to just return her feelings, 'cause she told me later that she'd loved me that whole time, too, but she didn't show it until that day because she didn't think I'd like her back.  But I guess she felt the same way I did right then, because she couldn't hold back any more than I could.

            I bet you've already figured out what happened next.  I don't know if I kissed her or she kissed me or what happened, but the next thing we knew, that was exactly what we were doing.  It was like some force drawing us together, and we were just trying to hang on for the ride.  Oh, and I know a "gentleman never tells", but I've gotta say this—it was the absolute World Series of kissing.  Incredible.  Hey, we had a lot of years to make up for!  Anyway, I have no idea how long we were at it, but let's just say that after a half hour we were supposed to go meet up with Shag and Scoob—and for the first time in the history of Mystery, Inc. Velma hadn't found a single clue.  (Not unless you count that really inconveniently-placed secret panel, anyway.)

            And that's how it all started between us—yep, started.  It wasn't like we got it all out of our systems right then and that was it.  I think I had it half in my head that that's exactly what would happen, even though.... you know, I don't think I would have wanted that, though it would have been so much easier.  I wanted to be with Velma, and have her for my girlfriend.  But I guess I also wanted to have my cake and eat it too... because, well, when Velma did ask me later that night if I wanted us to be together I told her yes, but... I just didn't want everyone to know yet.  Would you believe it, I just happened to have a real convenient reason for that, too—I'd just broken up with Daphne a month before (again, if you could really call it a breakup.)  Our relationship was well-publicized, though (Mystery Inc was getting pretty famous by that time) and I explained to Velma that I didn't want everyone to think that I was some kind of player, dating both girls in the group only a month apart. 

            Sounds really noble, huh.  And she believed me—well, it was a good reason.  You know what, I believed myself, too.  What was I going to do—admit to myself that I was being a jerk who was too scared of what everyone would think?  Plus, there was some truth to it.  I always used to get a hard time from the guys at school about being so lucky—having both of the Mystery, Inc girls.  I even used to laugh about it—I was so proud about my reputation of being good with the ladies.  The guys knew it had a limit, though—say anything crude about either Daph or Vel and I'd stop it right there.  I didn't want people saying those kinds of things about Velma and me.

            See, my motives weren't all bad.  It wasn't really a bad thing to want to keep our relationship low-key for awhile, at least until the media buzz about me and Daph wore off.  But I still made a stupid mistake—the first of many I was going to make, and believe it or not, probably the smallest.  Velma agreed with me and said that she understood—and after all, we could still be together when we around the rest of the gang.  Well, what do you think I did?  I went into this whole other speech, trying to convince her – and myself—that we should probably just keep it totally to ourselves for awhile, because otherwise word would get out and defeat the whole point.  And wouldn't it be fun to have a secret relationship?  Velma smiled at me but I could tell she wasn't going for it.  And why should she have—I was wrong.  I know that now.  Finally, though, I said something about how I wasn't sure how Daph would take it, even though our break-up had been mutual.  Well that did it for Velma.  People might not know it, but she has a really soft heart, and there's no way she would risk hurting her best friend.  So she agreed.

            Having a secret relationship did turn out to be fun, at least for a while.  I'd write her little notes and slip them into her pocket when we were out on mysteries and the rest of the gang wasn't watching, or get really bold and whisper messages in her ear.  I bought a set of walkie-talkies for the group to use when we were out on assignments, and somehow no one noticed that she and I always seemed to be the ones using them.  (They were supposed to be used to check up on our plans when we were baiting a trap for the ghost—not a whole lot of that happened.  One time we did feel really bad because Daph got captured and we were so busy chatting about other stuff that we forgot the whole rescue effort.)  Obviously, we talked on the phone a lot, too, but the best was when her parents went out of town—since they're marine biologists, they go out on research trips a lot.  I was over there with Velma every day, and I think it was the best week of my life.  We watched TV together, cooked, played board games, sang along with the oldies station on the radio...  I know not all those things sound 'cool,' but I had a good time, even though my friends probably would never let me live it down if they knew I did that stuff.  Once I sang one of her favorite songs to her when it came on—it was that Frankie Valli song "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You."  I did all these hand motions and just sort of belted the song out—I probably looked like a total dweeb, but she liked it.                         

            About a month of this went by... actually a little less than a month.  And then, of course, we got found out.  Found out—that makes it sound like we were doing something wrong, and we weren't.  The only thing that was wrong about it was that after a whole month, I still wasn't man enough... ouch.  Okay, you get my point.  And Velma never pushed me about it, though I knew she was getting impatient, and I didn't blame her. 

            So how did it happen?  Well, we'd all just solved yet another mystery, this time at a big abandoned warehouse, and afterward we headed for our cars out in the lot.  Daph had her own car and sped off for home right away, but the rest of us had some sorting out to do.  Velma's old Volkswagen was in for some repairs (she really ought to think about a new car, honestly) – and guess who had graciously volunteered to drive her in earlier that evening?  Also, the Mystery Machine needed some new tires, and I was going to take it in the next day, even though Shaggy actually drives it (when we're not on a case that is—then of course I take the wheel.  I'm the leader, after all.)  He really knows nothing about cars, though, so I said I'd take care of it.  The simplest thing was for me and Shag to switch cars (though I'm pretty possessive of my new BMW) and so that's what we did. 

            Velma and I didn't leave the lot right away, though.  With an opportunity like that, who could blame us?  I guess I don't have to tell you that we settled into making some serious time  (or as serious as Velma would let things get, which really wasn't very, but I wasn't complaining.)  Yep, right there in the front seat of the good ol' MM. 

            Of course, Shaggy would have left his last box of Scooby Snax in the van.  Him and those dumb snacks! 

I'm guessing we'd been in there about ten minutes or so when he came back—but being a little preoccupied I wasn't exactly looking at the clock.  I didn't see the door swing open, either—and Velma couldn't have, 'cause she'd taken her glasses off.  (They were totally fogged up anyway, so there wasn't much point.  Too bad the windows weren't, too, 'cause then Shaggy would have known to have... well, knocked or something, instead of just barging in.)  Sorry, I know I sound like I'm coming down hard on Shagster, and it wasn't his fault. 

Well, the second the door opened the dome lights came on, finally getting me and Velm's attention.  We automatically broke apart and shot to opposite sides of the van, but Shaggy had already gotten a pretty good eyeful of the situation.  He just sorta stared at us while Velma fumbled with her glasses and I re-adjusted my ascot.  Poor guy was so embarrassed, and Velms was, too—but neither of them really looked... upset.  I was the only one who acted like anything was wrong.

            Oh, man you should have heard me try to explain myself out of that one... but come on, what can you really say?  The situation was pretty obvious—making out is making out.  Finally Velma took over and told Shag the whole thing... and she scooted right over next to me on the seat when she did it and took my hand.  I nodded and tried to look like I was going along with it, like everything was okay.  It wasn't.  I don't mean with Shaggy, either.  He seemed to take it in stride; I don't remember exactly what he said, but it was a lot of nice stuff about us being together, even though he was still beet red from having busted in on us.  No, the problem was all with me, and I didn't even really know why at the time.  Velma could see how freaked out I was, and when Shaggy finally retrieved his Snax and made the best exit that he could she pointed that out.

            I did about a pathetic a job trying to convince her that I was cool about everything as I had done trying to convince Shag... well, whatever it was I was trying to convince him of.  What a mess.  She knew I was scared about us being found out... and what really hurts me now is that I think she knew way back then the reason—even though I couldn't admit it to myself.  But if she did, she never said so, and she didn't accuse me or make some big ultimatum, like maybe a lot of other girls would have.  She just said that she was glad Shaggy knew, and that she wasn't going to keep us a secret anymore.  What I wanted to do about it, she said, was up to me.  But she loved me and didn't want to hide it.

            That's when everything fell apart.

            Okay, maybe not all right away.  But that was the trigger that set everything off.  What Velma said was right, of course.  I'm not denying that.

            But I denied her.

            I didn't mean to.  I honestly didn't mean to.  I know you won't believe me once I tell you what I did, but please hear me out.  Just.... hear me out.  'Cause this is where I really, really messed up...

Oooo... cliffhanger!  Well, what do you think?  Unconventional, yes...  but I think a few of the Fred-Vel scenes in the movie could back this up.  (Believe it or not, I'm actually more from the traditional Shaggy-Vel viewpoint, but I felt like doing something different.)  Review please!