Title: The Fred Chronicles- Grown up

Author: PianoRocknRoll (A.K.A Veritas4Eternity)

E-mail: BroadwayWannabekc. The Fred Chronicle's will be a 7 part series that shows Fred's POV throughout the movie- all the way to the end. This series is the prequel to the sequel I'm writing to "Drop Dead Fred." It's not required to read this first, but I'd recommend it.

Rating: PG- minorish language.

Pairings: None quite yet. As the chronicles progress, the pairing will change to Lizzy/Fred, and minor Lizzy/Charles, Lizzy/Mickey.

- - - - - - - - -

"I'm… I'm grown up." Fred felt his heart freeze painfully. Angrily, he whirled around to face his not so little charge who sat on the bed, observing him wit a great deal of fascination.

"Grown up?" Fred spat out harshly.

"Uh huh." She confirmed softly, eyes still burning into his.

"Grown up?" He repeated accusingly. He ignored the sharp pain stabbing at his chest. After all, he was Drop Dead Fred. So Snotface decided to grow up, did she? He could deal with this. Yes, Lizzy's special case had just become even more unique. Who had ever heard of an adult with an imaginary friend? Well… this could be interesting. He grinned wickedly, grabbing Lizzy's hand and dragging her down the stairs.

- - - - - - -

"Four… Five…" Fred heard Lizzy begin to count. Grinning gleefully, he ran to his favorite hiding spot: The Garden Shed. Now this was more like it! Maybe it wouldn't be as hard as he thought, reaching this older Lizzy; after all it had been her idea to play Hide and Seek! Fred chuckled lightly, ducking behind a rusty crate, crouching down low. She would never find him here!

Thirty minutes passed. Then an hour. Then two. At this point, Fred was nearly going out of his mind with pent up energy. Where the hell was Lizzy? Sure, she sucked at Hide and seek even when she was littler, but this was just pathetic. Why, when it was Fred seeking, he found Lizzy within two minutes! Of course, this wasn't exactly fair, seeing as how he always knew where Lizzy was- all imaginary friends knew where their charges were. Scowling, he reached in the back of his mind to try and locate Lizzy… She was… in her bedroom?

"Quitter." Fred mumbled grumpily, standing up and stretching his numb legs. Unfortunately, he stood up to soon, and his head collided with a wooden shelf directly above him. Cursing, he heard the dull sound of glass shattering. Once the pain dissolved, Fred glanced down to see what had broken. It seemed to be a glass jar with… was that a piece of paper sticking out? Ever the curious one, Fred reached down and grabbed the crumpled, worn paper and carefully opened it. His eyes widened as he realized exactly what it was.

"Dear Fred- You were my only friend…"

Fred read the note slowly, pain filling his heart.

"Oh Snotface…" He sighed softly. He had failed her… but maybe… maybe he could redeem himself in the eyes of this older Elizabeth? Reading the note once more, he carefully folded up the piece of paper and placed it gently in his pocket. Right by his heart.

- - - - - - -

Fred scowled as he sat in Lizzy's old room, staring angrily at the wall. Snotface was married. Married! SNOTFACE was MARRIED! No matter how many times he repeated this to himself, he simply couldn't believe it. He couldn't help feeling betrayed. It was supposed to be him and her, her and him! Not her and some… guy! And apparently not a very good one at that, if she was so unhappy; but he was willing to do anything at this point if it meant getting to go home.

There was no point in staying. Snotface had changed- she wasn't his Snotface anymore. She was an imposter; there was no way this shy, meek girl could possibly be HIS Lizzy. His Lizzy would have told the mega bitch to piss off the moment she tried to interfere with some crappy advice to get her stupid husband ba- wait a minute. A brilliant idea began to form in Fred's mind, and he clapped his hands together evilly, a well-known smirk pasted on his face. He would win back his Snotface yet! Grabbing a pen and paper, he began to write…

"Dear Lizzy,

I came by but no one was home…"

- - - - - - -

"Yeah well, you're going to leave because I'm expecting Charles." Lizzy said firmly.

"Oh, expecting Charles?" Fred asked, faking a hint of curiosity in his tone.

"Yeah." She said, smiling nervously.

"That's important!" I replied mockingly serious. "I'd better go, hadn't I?"

"Mm-hmm." She murmured absently.

"There's just one little problem…" Fred pointed out. "Charles isn't coming!" He said matter of factly. Elizabeth froze.

"What do you mean?" She asked, voice faltering.

"I wrote the note!" Fred cried gleefully. "Haven't got a husband! Haven't got a husband! Got a stupid haircut! Oh, look at my horrid stupid haircut everybody! Nya-nya-nya-nya! Looks just like her mother, another little Mega be…" Fred cut off sharply when he got a good look at Lizzy. "Hey it was only a joke!" He frowned as tears began to fall down her face. "Just a joke!" Walking over, he sat by her, and she promptly scooted away.

"Snotface? It was just a joke!" He said, beginning to get desperate. Anything to make Lizzy stop crying. In a wild attempt to make her laugh, he folded his ear down so it would pop. His Snotface would get a kick out of that! But when Lizzy's face remained blank except for the tears rolling down her cheeks, Fred reminded himself painfully that this wasn't his Snotface. Eyes lighting up, an idea struck him, and he reached into his pocket to grab his top-secret weapon in case of emergencies.

"Want a cookie?" He offered, smiling at her. At her grimace of distaste, he glanced down to see the Oreo smothered in dirt and dust. Hastily blowing it off, he offered again, only to have her laugh softly before hiccuping. "What's the matter?" He asked seriously.

Snotface sucked in a deep breath. "I really thought that Charles wanted me back…" She choked out, wiping the tears away viciously. Fred inwardly growled at the man who was hurting his Lizzy.

"What's so special about him? I mean, can he make you puke?" He asked, partially kidding, partially serious.

"Not like you can." Snotface smiled weakly at him, and he nudged her gently in the side.

"Nah!" Fred smiled back, but it quickly faded. "So… so what then?"

"Do you really want to know Fred?" She asked, brown eyes piercing right through his.

"Yeah." He replied sincerely.

A small smile spread across her face. "I love him." She said, eyes lighting up for a brief second.

Fred frowned, and sighed deeply. "Why?" He replied sulkily, staring at her, as her eyes grew dreamy as she explained how "romantic" and "sweet" Charles was. Ugh. Talk about sickening. And yet… he was captivated. No, this wasn't his Snotface… not by a long shot. But… maybe they could rebuild their relationship. Maybe… maybe this older Lizzy and him could form an even greater friendship! She had been his best friend then, so why couldn't she be now?

'Yeah.' Fred thought determinedly as Lizzy prattled on. He would not only reconcile Lizzy with her husband, but in the process he would rekindle their closer friendship. He would see his Snotface again if it were the last thing he did!