Hi!!!! I'm back with a new chapter! I've had this chapter finished for three weeks, but I never had time to post it! Sorry about the delay! There are at least four or five more chapters to go for this story, so don't think that it's going to be ending anytime soon!

Purple

"Daphne, you have a plan? This is one mystery I have no clue on..." Fred turned and looked beside him in the Mystery Machine at his girlfriend. She sighed and shrugged, looking out the van's window. The Mystery Machine was a van that the gang had bought with all the equipment they needed to solve mysteries, including tracking devices and identification tools. It was brightly multicolored, with various greens, blues, oranges, and yellows. The gang loved the van and no matter how hideous Daphne thought it looked, even she would never want to trade it in for any other car.

"I really have no clue on this one, either, Freddy. I mean, why Red wants to date Velma is the strangest mystery we've ever really encountered..." Daphne laughed. "She's not exactly his type, you know. She's too damn smart for the likes of him."

Shaggy stuck his head in the front of the van where Fred and Daphne were sitting. "Well, no matter what, this mystery is important! The others meant nothing, but this involves one of our best friends, so we have to do our very best, and we have to put in at least five hundred percent! Agreed?"

Daphne nodded. "Most definitely! Agreed!"

Fred grinned. "Words of wisdom, Shags. Agreed."

Scooby Doo looked over Daphne's chair. "Ri ragree, roo!"

"Let's do this, gang." Daphne slipped her sunglasses over her eyes. "Step on it, Fred. Let's give Red Herring a visit."

"You got it, Daph." Fred revved up the engine and roared out of the headquarters' garage.

"Rooby, rooby, roo!"

Velma stopped jogging as soon as Red was out of view and started to walk down the park boulevard, tears brimming in her eyes. "I don't want to date Red...but I don't want to be alone anymore...I'm so alone...oh, Patrick, why did you have to do this to me?" She sat down on a bench on the edge of the lake and started to cry. "I hate this." She covered her face with her hand, sobbing. "I've never felt this way before...why do I care so much if I have a boyfriend or not? I...I...I don't want to be like this, but I can't help it..." She reached into her brown shoulder bag and pulled out a tissue and blew her nose.

"Velma? Velma, is that you?"

Velma gasped and turned, seeing a short, redheaded man looking at her through wide rimmed glasses, his hand in the pocket of his plaid brown suit jacket. "Patrick! What..." She stood up and wiped her eyes. "What are you doing here?"

He smiled. "Hilary and I are here visiting my parents. She went shopping with my mom, so I decided to take a walk. Hey...are you okay? Have you been crying?" He walked up to her, standing only two inches away from where she stood. "Is there something I can do to help?"

She scoffed. "Yeah, sure. You're part of the cause, you idiot. God, Patrick, you're a real jerk, you know that? After dating for three months, you up and say you're engaged! Oh my God, you have no idea how mad I am at you! You were cheating the whole time we were dating, and what's even more awful, I actually thought...damn it; I thought you loved me, too! Patrick, I hate you now! How could you do this to me? I don't deserve this! I'm no better than anyone else, but at least I know I'm better than this sobbing...this sobbing...this sobbing girl I've become!" She took another tissue out of her large purse and wiped at her eyes. "Look, I have to leave. Goodbye, Patrick. I hope I never see you again." She turned and started to walk away, sniffling and wiping her nose and eyes.

"VELMA! Velma, wait, please!" Patrick ran up and grabbed her arm. She shrugged it off, but stopped walking and turned back to him.

"What do you want, Patrick? Can't you see you've already tortured me enough?"

"Velma...oh, Velma...Look...I...I..." Patrick sighed, shaking his head. "Look, Velma, there's no good way to say this, but...I liked you a lot, I really did, and for the longest time I thought it would work between us, but...Velma...I'm sorry, but you're just not the right girl for me...Hilary is, though. You're so obsessed with your mysteries and hanging with your friends, but...well...there was barely ever anytime for US, because you were always running off with Mystery Inc., off on some crazy expedition to solve a mystery. I couldn't handle it, so...when you were away, I met Hilary...and it just kind of...clicked that you and I weren't meant to be. So I'm sorry I hurt you, but I can't take back the past, Velma, no matter how much I might like to."

Velma looked up at him with pure anger flashing in her deep brown eyes. "Why didn't you just tell me that when you broke it off, Patrick? Why torture me this much, huh? I never want to see you again, Patrick, I told you that already...You make me feel bad about myself, and I don't like feeling this way at ALL. Goodbye, Patrick. Good luck with the blonde ditz you call your wife." Spinning on her heels, Velma rushed out of the park as fast as she could.

"Look, Freddy, there's Velma!" Shaggy pointed at the small girl walking down the Coolville sidewalk hugging her arms to herself crying. Fred spun the van into a three-point turn and stopped right in front of her. She continued walking, not noticing anything that was going on around her. Shaggy slammed open the van door and sped out, grabbing Velma's arm.

"Velmster, we been looking all over for you!"

She turned around, tears still freely flowing from her eyes. "Oh, hi, Shaggy. Sorry I look so awful...I saw Patrick in the park...and well...I..." She broke down and started sobbing again.

Shaggy's eyes filled with compassion and he led her back to the van, where she sat and drank half of Scooby Doo's chocolate milkshake (which he had said that he couldn't leave headquarters without)

When the gang arrived back at headquarters, Daphne made sure that Velma went straight to bed, telling her it was always best to take a nap to restore your eyes after you've been crying, which made Fred laugh, saying that Daphne and her "beauty tips" would be the end of Velma's eyes. He happened to receive a good stomp on his foot for this comment.

Shaggy had been incredibly quiet ever since they had picked Velma up, and hadn't said a word to anyone. He sat now with his long legs crossed on the purple couch in the living area of headquarters, his usually merry and happy eyes filled with anger, sadness, and confusion. Fred noticed his friend's mood and decided that in Shaggy's case, it was best just to let it be and let the man figure things out for himself.

So while Velma slept, Shaggy thought, and Scooby Doo sat watching TV, Daphne and Fred sat out on the back patio, gazing at the sunset and talking.

"You think Shaggy and Velma will get together because of this?" Daphne wondered, leaning back in a lawn chair.

"Well, Daph, I hope they get together, but I hope they don't just start dating BECAUSE of this."

She nodded. "Yeah, me, too."

The couple remained quiet for several minutes, just enjoying the scene before them and the company they had in each other. Fred observed Daphne for several minutes, just enjoying the serene look on her face.

"Daphne..." Fred turned to his girlfriend, trying to hide a blush that was creeping its way to his handsome face.

"Hmm?" She glanced at him and noticed the blush. She smiled. "Yeah, Freddy?"

"Well...you know....um...well, you know how the other night....when we um...well, we...you...you know...well, I...I was wondering...you see...we kind of left off at a point...because you said that you were tired...and well...I was wondering if...if you might just want to...pick up where we left off...." The blush now stained his entire face, causing Daphne to giggle.

"Freddy, have I ever told you that you're cute when you blush?"

"Huh? Well, um, well...no."

She smiled and stood up. "Well, doll, if you want to 'pick up' where we 'left off', then come inside. I'm not staying out HERE, you know..." She opened the sliding glass doors that led to the living room, and walked inside, leaving Fred to watch her walk away. He stayed immobile for about two seconds, then took off running.

Hi, again, all! R&R, I hope you enjoyed it, and well, this next chapter might come a LOT sooner than the last one did. Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about ya!