It had been three months, since that first set of emails that started the countdown of the one hundred apologies.

Originally, with the joint project picking up. Bruce would add his sorry along with the data that was sent with the bi-weekly report. Adopting her recommended encryption method, and usually just wishing her a good day or some other smaller piece of light conversation. Earning it back in kind. Unnerving at first to Velma at his change in attitude, but it was far more welcome then previous interactions. Not unhappy when it was longer then just a phase. But as time passed, the messages started to get a bit longer, and more relaxed as the exchange grew.

But it was Velma one day, that really broke down the barriers between them.

She had struggled with one of the recent mysteries they had been on, and had already vented to the rest of the gang that had been apart of the whole event... That Velma felt like she needed to get it off her chest to somewhere else and used the hidden messages and new pen pal to ramble and get her thoughts on the page and out of her system. In her sleep deprived, frustrated state, she tacked on kilobytes of data to the secretive note that allowed her to rant about the people she had to deal with, and the criminals that they had captured.

Earning a groan and regret once she had finally slept and recalled what she had done the night before.

But on Bruce's side, he had just replied to her giving his thoughts and perspective about what she had told him about. Siting some types of similar string of characters he was forced to deal with at times as part of his business conglomerate. Surprising her with his response, and being the tipping point for their conversations. Him soon after, replying in kind with his own set of frustrations to her about an opening he was forced to attend, and the struggles of being famous.

After that, they had switched more to personal emails to send their covert conversations of private pen palling. Eventually focusing on embedding their files into images that were apart of edited cat videos. (Bruce mentioned he was more of a dog person, since he had a complex relationship with felines. But he didn't mind a cute cat video, or memes online.) Though occasionally Velma did send some Scooby vids that the gang had taken, when Scooby was being particularly amusing in his antics. Making it seem like they were just sending occasional social media re-posting, to hide the actual contents of the exchange.

Velma was bent over one such note when she didn't notice a growing shadow creeping up from behind. An invader in her personal space, safely back home. A certain, overly curious red head that was skilled at sneaking past Velma's defense and peering over her shoulder at the current writing.

"I KNEW IT!" Shouting in Velma's ear, making the woman jump up spooked and spun around to see a massive grin attempting to split her friends face in two. "I kneeeeeeeew something was up with you lately!"

Deer in the headlights, Velma's brain overclocked as she attempted to try to process the fright and the situation around her. Daphne, plus her knowing something, and loud, plus that grin... Making the poor younger woman's brain spin. Not helping the brunette in the slightest to deal with the situation.

"I... I have no idea what you are talking about!" Velma managed to put two and two together, gluing a sentence together to utter to her best friend.

Moving into a hug, Daphne swept up the petite, confused woman and spun her around happily in her bedroom. Daphne's womanly intuition had been driving her nuts lately, since she could tell there was something going on with Velma the last few months. Noticing tons of personal smiles to herself, and the occasional random blush that had been unprompted with anything that Daphne had outwardly observed causing it. And she had seem that look before... Granted, it had been a while for the reserved braniac, best friend.

But the fact that it was there, made Daphne's heart soar for her!

"You can't fool me!" Putting Velma down, Daphne used her now free hand to toss a hand at the laptop. "You are totally crushing in that letter!"

"I'm totally not... Wait, what?!" Blinking hard, Velma's brows knitted together and she had to snap her head around to look at her notes. Which just added to her bewildered look back to Daphne. Beaming a grin down at her. "How the heck did you know that was a letter?"

It was a string of seemingly random combinations of letters and numbers. it looked closer to some type of computer code format then anything that would look like a normal string of text. Especially since she was still in the process of writing the thing. So, Velma was shocked at Daphne's deductive skills that this was some form on person to person communication... Unless it's secretly Daphne doing her usual mental psychology voodoo, akin to magic to make her admit the truth past just loose conjecture and speculation.

"I guess you forgot that you taught me this method in High School. So, we could pass notes and talk even if we weren't in the same class." Daphne was about to question why it seemed to be confusing to Velma, but it had been some time since they had used this to pass notes in the hallways. Certainly was never questioned by any teachers that had came across the decoded message. Though there had been a few math teachers that thought Velma was passing her test answers to Daphne, but it wasn't often enough to make them stop the habit.

Velma's jaw dropped, and hung there for a bit while she recalled that it was indeed her fault for Daphne knowing this type of encryption. And since Daphne was skilled at pattern recognition, (though mainly using it for her fashion mentality) she had picked up the conversation rather quickly. Letting them make high school life a bit more manageable when they weren't in the same classes together, but still ran into each other in the hallways to be able to gripe about things in coded messages.

"Oh... I had forgotten."

"Well, it's been some time since we graduated. So, not had to rely on paper notes to talk."

Sitting on the edge of her own bed as she had totally forgotten about it. Leaving her mentally torn... Proud that her best friend had learned the skill at her request and still knew it... but it also caused a bit of panic since Velma wasn't able to hide it from her. And she was cleverly nosy as is already!

"So..."

"Who's the lucky guy your crushing on? Or girl... I won't judge as long as they like you back." Making sure to be supportive, no matter what. Hopping up to the bed as well, Daphne crossed her legs and placed her head in her hands eagerly. Leaning forwards and wanting all the delicious details. Ever the gossip. "You can tell me! I'll be good and not tell the guys about them!"

'Wait... she doesn't know who he is yet... oh god... how the heck will Daphne react when I tell her it's actually Bruce Wayne, that the letter is for? THE Bruce Wayne.'

'Though it is just a friendly letter... nothing more.' Spoke Velma's mind, in deep denial.

"I'm not crushing."

"Velma, you are totally crushing. The grin on your face is giving it away." Daphne snorted amused, seeing Velma cover her mouth in response to her accusations, digging her in deeper. And if her grin didn't give it away, her eyes did. Velma had a way of smiling with her eyes, when she was really happy. And it was really obvious to Daphne right now.

"What, it's good thing!" Daphne gushed, bouncing slightly on the blankets. "Come on, spill! Tell me all about them!"

Velma wasn't going to get out of this without giving Daphne a bone to chew on. Needing to toss out something, to make her happy and satisfy the red head curiosity.

"Well, we have just been exchanging letters for the last while. it started with a Waynetech file and it kinda snowballed from there. I don't get to see him much, but we have been just kinda pen palling back and forth."

"Ahhh... falling for someone on the staff at Waynetech, eh? They do have some pretty bright bulbs over there. But I'm guessing he's higher up, like one of the department heads, eh? Why you guys have to be all hush hush about it?"

'Curse that woman's intuition!' But she was slightly off the mark, enough for her to be able to run with it.

"Well, it's more of a bit of paranoia on our part. Just keeping the conversations on the down low and all that. It is really just normal letter between two colleagues."

"Suuuure... But I'm glad to hear it. Probably have to be all sneaky due to the head boss, eh?"

"Well, not sure what he would think about it..." Lying slightly, though she did wonder what he went through his head about their relationship at this point. While he still had moments of being a flirt, it was more directed towards her. Her want for attention directed her way... coming true. And she wasn't sure how to quite deal with it when she was there for their meetings, but it was not bad... Just unfamiliar.

"I see that look. I'll leave you two lovebirds be, so you can get back to writing." Sliding off the bed to her feet, She elbow bopped Velma on the shoulder and smiled. "Let me know if you want to talk about it more. I am all ears, but I don't want to get ahead of myself and stress you out. Take all the time you guys need, but please please... let me know if you need anything. I am always here for you, Velms."

Jumping off the bed, Velma moved to close the gap between then and gave Daphne a hug. She really did appreciate the support but wasn't sure her own feelings yet, still in the process of sorting it out especially with what Daphne had said. Daphne made sure to hug back, giving a little bit of an excited shake. Rocking her back and forth in glee, so happy for her! Eventually letting up when Velma did. Tossing a wave, and her intuition validated. Daphne left Velma to her own devices.

Leaning against the wall, Velma slid to a sitting position, placing a hand to her head.

"The playboy got me..." She muttered to herself, keeping it low in case Daphne was lingering. Or anyone else was passing by.

"I think I have fallen for Bruce Wayne."

"..."

"...Jinkies, how did this happen?"