Shaggy was the first to awake early the next morning. The sun was rising in the sky and the bright rays stabbed into his eyelids. He was aware of two things simultaneously.

The first thing was that he was hungry. Extremely hungry. The second was that his left arm was asleep. As he looked over to find out why, he saw Velma nestled on it, still fast asleep. Her glasses had been placed up by the rear window, on the small ledge. He had to admit without them she really looked pretty. To his eyes anyway.

The events of the previous night came back to him then. The gang breaking up, Velma crying, then kissing him. Them making love. Her body, that had been so sweet to the tongue as he had lapped at her neck. It all rushed back in just under three seconds. Shaggy looked down to find himself partially dressed, his pants were on but his shirt was tossed to the floor of the car. Velma was dressed again, and curled up next to him for warmth.

Embarrassment filled him now. He hadn't been able to stop what had somehow gotten started last night. He should have controlled himself better. His mother has certainly raised him with better morals. He was ashamed of his actions. He would apologize fully to Velma when she awoke and hope that she didn't think that he had used the situation to take advantage of her.

He tried to free his arm without waking her, but at the first movement, her eyelids fluttered open. She found herself in a panic as she began searching for her glasses. "My glasses!"

Shaggy reached up with his good arm and handed them to her. She put them on and glanced nervously at her surroundings, trying to figure out why she was sleeping in her car. Her eyes fell upon Shaggy.

"Like, sorry, Velma." He said as he tried to shake the blood and feeling back into his arm. "I didn't mean to wake you."

"Shaggy?" She squinted through her glasses at him. "Where are we?" She had barely asked the question before she remembered the previous night. His lack of shirt and her own disheveled appearance confirmed that something had definitely occurred.

Her hands flew to her mouth. "Oh my…" Her eyes grew as wide as the glasses that covered them. "Did we?" She indicated the space between them with one finger.

He felt his face redden as he nodded. "Yeah, Velma." His voice was very quiet as he admitted what had occurred. "We did."

Now the air hung heavy with those words. Velma couldn't help staring at his bare chest, and pieces of last night flitted through her mind. His chest pressed against hers. Slow careful movements. His arms wrapped around her back.

Shaggy tried to shake off the feeling of unease as he reached down for his shirt. Velma saw the marks her nails had made on his back as she had clutched at him in passion. Now it was her turn to blush. Shaggy finally retrieved his shirt and shook it out. As he put it on his eyes met hers.

Velma was fumbling with the hem of her skirt. She didn't know what to say to Shaggy now. She remembered throwing herself at him, desperate to prove that she was needed, wanted and loved. That much she remembered clearly.

He broke the silence first, ducking his head sheepishly. "I'm, like, gonna go check on Scoob." It was not the most appropriate of exits, or even the apology he had wanted to say. It was a cop-out and he knew it. He had to get some fresh air to his cluttered mind. He opened the car door and stepped out, leaving Velma to stare after him in surprise.

It was the most awkward situation he had ever found himself in, well next to the time he had been found by the whole gang skinny dipping in the lake while he and Scooby were supposed to have been finding clues to the Sun Spring Ghost three summers ago. The water had just beckoned him, and Scooby had already jumped in, so…

Daphne had snickered and giggled, while Freddy had rolled his eyes. Velma had blushed and had tried not to show her amusement at his situation. Shaggy had turned beet-red, and had fumbled his way back to his clothes, all too aware of all the eyes on his pathetic scrawny teenage body.

Today he felt much the same way, only this time there was only one set of eyes, and he could feel them boring into his back as he left the car. Last night had been incredible for him but how do you go about putting that into words when the most he could say was 'like, wow' and hope she would get the meaning?

He found Scooby sound asleep on the front seat of the van. That was not the only thing he found. When he opened the door, he noticed that none of the interior lights came on. The van's battery was dead. It had been drained by his mistake of leaving the running lights on last night.

Scooby jumped up at the sound of the door opening. "Raggy!" He leapt into Shaggy's arms and licked at his face.

"All right, Scoob. Enough." Shaggy managed somehow to get out of Scooby's embrace. Kissing Velma had been much better.

"Rere have ru been?" Scooby questioned. He had seen Shaggy and Velma get in the back of her car, and then nothing. The car had rocked some and the windows had been steamed up. Scooby had no desire to investigate in the dark of the night. He had curled up on the front seat and had fallen asleep.

"I was with Velma, pal." Shaggy didn't bother to elaborate. Scooby would not understand. "She was upset. We fell asleep." He moved past Scooby to reach into the van and pop the hood. "Now I think our little nap has gotten me into trouble."

Velma had mustered up enough of her usual bravado to finally step out of her car. She had fixed herself up as much as possible, using the brush in her purse to comb her hair back down. She still wanted to talk to Shaggy about what had happened and what had now changed between them. She found him looking at the engine of the Mystery Machine and scowling.

"What's wrong with the van?" She asked him as she came to his side.

"Dead battery," he answered. "I left the running lights on when I found your car last night. I forgot to turn them off before we went to sleep." He felt his face warm at the statement.

"Not a problem." Velma stated. "I've got jumper cables in my trunk." She started to turn away to get her keys. "I can jump you."

His eyes widened at her offhand remark. She stopped walking and mentally reviewed what she had just said and realized it's double meaning. Now it was her turn to blush.

It as a full minute before she found her voice to speak. "Umm, Shaggy? I think we need to talk."

He nodded and stopped fussing over the engine. As he walked toward her, Scooby followed him.

"Alone." Velma stated clearly. Scooby whimpered once, then looked up to Shaggy.

"Just for a bit, okay?" He petted the canine. "Then we can get breakfast."

"Rokay." Scooby stopped walking and returned to lay down in front of the Mystery Machine.

Velma walked back to her car and sat upon the hood, her legs hanging down. She looked at the grass covered ground for a few minutes then up to where Shaggy was hanging back at the back of the car. "You need to come over here, Shaggy."

He did slowly, knowing that this was his time to make his apology and give his explanation. Yet as he approached her, all he could see was the sunlight glinting off her hair giving it copper highlights and making him want to kiss her again. He swallowed as he finally stood in front of her.

They both spoke at the same time –

"Shag-"

"Velma-"

He gave a shy smile at her. "Go ahead."

"No, you first." She said while watching him closely.

He swallowed again, nervousness overtaking him. "I just wanted to," he paused trying to think of words that would explain how he was feeling inside.

She waited patiently, trying not to reach out a hand to him. All she wanted right now was the feeling she had last night of acceptance to return, yet all she could feel right now was butterflies flitting nervously in her middle.

He brought his hazel eyes up to her brown ones. "I wanted to say I was sorry."

"Sorry?" That was not what she had been expecting at all. He was sorry for what they had done?

He saw the hurt flash across her face and settle in the shape of a frown. "No, no… Velma. Not sorry like that." He felt awkward now, and very much out of his element. "I meant I was sorry that I didn't control myself better. You deserved much more than what you got last night for your first time." He sighed and kicked a stray rock away from the car.

"Shaggy," she said carefully and took one of his hands in her own. "I should be saying that to you." She couldn't believe she was still flustered over this subject as she felt her face grow warm again. "After all I was the one throwing myself at you."

He shook his head. "Still, my mom always told me to be a gentleman, and last night, like, I was anything but." He gave her hand a small squeeze. "I really do care for you, Velma, and I did not mean for things to go that far. I never want you to think that I would take advantage of you."

She squeezed his hand back. "Thank you, Shaggy. That means a lot to me." She pulled him close now into a gentle hug which he returned, his hands caressing her back again. After a moment they broke apart, but didn't release hands. "I meant what I said last night," she told him as she smiled at him. "I love you, Shaggy."

He bent over and placed a gentle kiss on her lips. "And I love you, Velma." When he finally moved away he nodded towards the van. "Now can we get this machine on the road? I'm sure your parents are, like, very worried about you."

The return to reality made Velma gasp. As nice as it was in Shaggy's arms, he did have a point. Her parents probably had the police out looking for her, and would be sure to be very worried. "Jinkies. I forgot about them." She hopped off the car and got her keys. "Come on, Shaggy, let's get you back on the road."

It only took moments before they had the van started. Scooby had jumped back into the front seat next to Shaggy. Velma had returned to her car after nodding to Shaggy to follow her. She knew she was going to need his help in explaining to her parents just where she had been all night and why.

With a final smile and a wave, she drove off, confident now that although the gang had broken up, she wasn't completely alone. Shaggy loved her and the thought made her glow with new excitement.

Now if she could just keep herself out of trouble with her parents, and get the rest of the gang back together, things would be just fine.

-To be continued