A/N: I recorded Scooby-Doo and the Witch's Ghost and have watched it multiple times in the past week. This involves my two favorite parts of the movie: when Velma asks Fred why he always pairs off with Daphne and when they're trailing the Hex Girls and he tries to explain himself as she kind of leans in to kiss him. And I don't own any of it, by the way.

Velma had been teasing when she asked why Fred always paired up with Daphne when they split up for a mystery but the thought stuck in Fred's head for a simple reason. He had often wondered about that too.

In the beginning he had written it off as protectiveness. That was how it was with Velma and he more often grouped the three of them than just him and Daphne. He had met Velma first of the group and she was like his little sister. It fit how they had met. He had teased her for being a brainiac but then beat up the other kids in the sand-box for calling her four-eyes.

He wasn't being entirely in denial when he said that. He did want to protect Daphne. But it was more than that. He needed to protect her. He didn't know what he'd do without her. And upon further examination of that declaration he realized that it wasn't just that he didn't know what he'd do if she died, it was how lost he'd be if she simply left.

At first he thought it was partly caused by the way they had met. He met Shaggy soon after Velma, thanks to Scooby running into him, and they had quickly become buds, daring each other and doing things together that could be considered stupid but was really just dangerous, even with a purpose in mind.

That was how he met Daphne. He and Shaggy were ten and they climbed the twenty foot oak in the park. Actually, they didn't climb it. Shaggy and Scooby climbed while Fred spotted them from the foot of it. He did his job well for, when Shaggy fell out of the top branches, Fred broke his fall. They were laying there when a well-dressed red-headed girl approached and stood over them.

"Shaggy? Scooby? What are you doing?"

Fred gazed up past the bodies pushing themselves off of him into the face of an angel. After pulling the boy and his dog off of Fred, she crouched down beside him and asked if he was all right before helping him to his feet.

"Like, Daphne, what are you doing here?" Shaggy asked, and Fred let the name roll around in his mind. Daphne. He liked it.

"My daddy went out of the country so my nanny brought me here to play. What were you doing in a tree?"

"Freddy here dared me to climb it. I'm okay. But, like, it's gonna hurt in the morning."

"Reah," Scooby pitched in. Daphne giggled.

"Well next time don't take dares. It's nice to meet you Freddy."

He had just chuckled nervously and tried to make conversation. It turned out she had met Velma ages ago and Shaggy and his pup through the genius girl. The five had grown up together and, as they grew older, it became obvious who were the closest in the group. Velma and Daphne were girlfriends and Velma eventually showed signs of liking Shaggy in a more-than-friends way. Shaggy and Scooby were so close that they'd do anything for each other, and Fred found he was still good friends with Shaggy. But he discovered that his best friend was the red haired angel. The one he couldn't lose, the one he needed to survive, the one that he had fallen in love with.

And these were all of the reasons that he always paired off with her. Because he wanted to be near her and he needed to know that she was safe.

A/N: I wasn't sure, but I think that's a good place to stop. There is going to be one more chapter, which I hope to get up by tomorrow at the latest.