After having ordered and paid for Daphne's milkshake, Fred turned it over to her. "You sure you don't want some Freddie?" Her voice was so soft and calm Fred felt that he had never heard it that way, though at the same time, he knew that he had, at least a thousand times before. His gaze transferred down to the young woman before him, her bright, beautiful eyes were already looking up at him and both noticed, immediately turning a bit pink on the cheeks, and turning aside from the sight of the other.
Eventually the two recovered from their hormones and smiled at the other, "I'm alright; I bought it for you to enjoy anyway, Kitten." Daphne thought for a moment, "Kitten," it had been her pet name ((1)) from him for quite some time now, about four years ago to be exact, she was fourteen and he, fifteen.
The thought of it took her back to the memory of the day she had received the name. It was around fall and a previously-obese-seeming cat, which was being taken care of in the tree house of Shaggy's back-yard, had just given birth to kittens. Fred did not mind taking care of them, though he didn't see why they needed another animal when they already had Scooby-Doo, as if he belonged to every member of the gang. Velma was slightly allergic to the cat dander and therefore was not able to take one of the six home and Scooby felt as if he was getting replaced, hence why Shaggy did not at least one, either.
Finally there was Daphne. She had changed much over the years, each of the teens had when one took the time to think about it. Velma had a slight change, where as Fred probably took credit for the largest; even still, Daphne was no longer the little girl who thought she was able to have all that her heart desired within a moment's notice. In fact, she had learned quite the opposite, in that the only way the Blake family held money was by not spending much of it and leaving most of it to grow interest within the bank. She felt bad that the others could not have the kittens, and though she wished for one herself, she felt it unfair no matter how much they protested.
The gang decided to place the kittens out on the sidewalk within a box, right out side of the store which Fred's father owned. Soon enough each one of the kittens had been removed, all except for one. Not exactly the smallest of the liter, but definitely the oddball out. It was the only one of the speckled kittens who had a color fur of yellow with a hint of red, creating an illusion of slightly orange coloring.
Daphne felt sorry for the kitten and picked it up, cuddling it within her arms. As an hour or two went by and still no one took the kitten as it's own Velma was ushered away by her parents, stating that she was off to a family get-together with a few of her cousins. Not much later the Roger's came to pick up there son and his pup, who had to take his little sister to the doctor's because of a cold she had. Fred and Daphne remained behind, attempting still to find a suitable household for the kitten.
"Poor little thing, no one wants it. Probably because it's hair coloring made it look so different from everyone else." True enough, without actually stating it Daphne was speaking her feelings about herself by speaking of the cat.
Somehow, Fred managed to pick up on this and scooted his seat closer to hers, "I think they just might be scared because they don't want to hurt it. It's was the most beautiful one, Daph, and having something like that to call your own is definitely something that anyone would love to be able to do." Even though she wasn't aware if he had picked up on her usage of the cat to tell her feelings, she blushed lightly, sending a glow to light up her face. Fred's arm slowly moved around her shoulders and rested their, not even realizing that he had positioned it to be so.
Soon enough Fred did realize as their moment was interrupted by a freckle-faced little boy with dark brown hair and large, chocolate-colored brown eyes that went straight to one's heart. "Hi! My name's Timmy, I'm five today!" He exclaimed this with such pride he had made Daphne bite her lip to hold back a laughter at how adorable she found him to be.
"Hey there, Timmy, happy birthday," Fred said as he rustled the young boys hair.
"Are you giving away that kitten, mister?" he asked with a blinding smile as he looked up to Fred.
"Yep. He's the best-looking one we had, and I'm guessing he was saved just for you."
"Wow! Can I take him daddy, please?" he questioned, looking a few feet behind him to where a man with a friendly look came walking up.
"Alright Timothy, but you have to take extra special care of him, you'll have to feed him and look after hi-."
"I will, I promise!" he shouted before his father could even finish the sentence. Then, he carefully took the kitten into his arms as Daphne lowered him. "Thanks!" Timmy said as he, his father, and their new kitten rushed off to their automobile.
"Aww" Daphne sighed as she watched Timothy run off, caring deeply for the kitten. "I think he was the most excited one to get a kitten that we saw all day!" She stated as she and Fred closed their chairs and folded up the cardboard box.
"That's what I mean, Daphne. You see...there may be something, or someone, who isn't getting "taken" by anyone right now an it causes that ...let's just say it's a person, a girl." Daphne blushed, wondering each moment if he had known her intentions. "Well, this girl doesn't look like everyone else, and for that, well, she thinks that no one will ever love her, or even that she's not pretty at all." He looked down at her and the same thing that would happen four years later, when he handed her a milkshake, happened then. As they recovered from their blushing states he continued, "But the truth of the matter is, she's the most beautiful one there is, and when the person who she's meant to be taken by comes, he's going to be the most excited guy in the world!"
Fred had been walking her to the Blake Manor as he was saying this to her and as he finished they came only a few yards away from the gate. 'Perfect, maybe I have just enough time to tell him that-' She stopped her train of thought and began to do instead of thinking of doing. "Freddie...back there, you know...at the shop, I was really talking abou-"
It was then that they reached the gate and Fred quickly picked her up off the ground, his own height varying greatly from her own, and stated, "I know...Kitten." With that, he placed a gentle kiss upon her lips, setting her down afterwards and then, all the while looking back at her sweetly surprised face, he made his way home.
They never spoke of that day to another after that, but what was established that day had grown progressively, and the nick-name never wore off. Neither of the other members of the gang knew the story behind it, but only the fact that Fred referred to her as it, and no one else was able to do so. As she was pulled back to the present day she stated, "Thanks Freddie," all the while attempting to suppress a laughter at the silly way the memory made her feel and the warmth of the touch that she felt as Fred held her hand in his own at the current moment.
((1)) I loathe puns and did not mean to make this such. Sorry about it to anyone who hates them as much as myself, but I could not find another way to write the sentence, though I'm sure I will once I publish this chapter. -minor groan-
