It was a cold winter night, that Velma found herself with too many things on her mind, yet unable to focus on anything in particular. Her thoughts were like a runaway train, and the only thing she could do was ride it out until it came to some kind of stop. She had tried to sleep, but it was no use until her mind calmed down. And not wanting to wake anyone, she moved herself into the nearby living room.

Light snow was falling, and it gave Velma the perfect distraction from the buzz of her brain. Stealing a few pillows from the couch, she piled them on one corner of the front bow window to get a front seat of the frosty phenomenon. Hopping up on the sill, she arranged them under herself so she was comfortable, hanging out the window in her Orko O t-shirt and a pair of pajama pants.

And it was here that Scooby had found her.

Padding across the living room, he had been out for a late night snack when he caught her silhouette in the moonlit window. It surprised her when his big head moved into her peripheral view. Shooting her big eyes of concern, she quickly soothed his worry when she smiled and gave him an affectionate ear scratch. Not wanting to leave one of his people alone, Scooby placed his head in her lap.

He would have tried to climb on her legs, but he had once tried that and it hadn't ended well, so at least he could let her know that he was there by keeping her company. And he wouldn't knock the free petting he was bound to receive.

Between the petting and the snow, Velma's mind slowly trickled into a lull. But now that her mind had become still, she was able to allow herself the tranquil feeling that had been seeping into her. And it didn't help that Scooby somewhere along the lines had fallen deeply asleep, and she dared not move him and wake him up. His big head provided soothing warmth against the light chill in the air, seeping in from a small crack in the window frame.

So there she sat petting and watching.

Scooby's deep sleep breaths fogged up part of the window she was sitting by. While it did take up a good amount of space on the window, there was still enough for her enjoy the view at the edges of the haze. Lazily as she watched, her finger traced some rough designs of the few flakes that fell within view before melting against the heat from the other side of the glass. But after a few doggy sleepy sighs, the doodles went the way of their frozen counterparts and only left a faded reminder of what had been doodled before. Not that Velma minded, since it just gave her more room to doodle another one she spotted.

She had lost track time long ago, not that it mattered to her anyway. But it put her in such a relaxed state that she all but jumped out of her skin when a hand fell upon her shoulder. And while all her instincts told her to jump to her feet, the weight of Scooby's napping head made her reaction muted. With only the feeling of her insides jumping for a loop inside her gut, rather than the rest of her body moving and waking the Dane. Her head whipped around, and widened at the form that was attached to the hand that hovered nearby.

It was Shaggy…

No doubt noticed that Scooby hadn't come back from his snack run, he probably rolled over and found the Dane missing and sought his fuzzy pal out. This led him to find him dozing upon the youngest member in the living room window.

Lightly sighing, and mentally grumbling at the timing of Shaggy, she couldn't get mad at him for just getting her attention. But it surely shocked her, and wasn't she expected. Opening her mouth, she was about to say something when she caught herself. Not wanting to speak, she then chewed on the inside of her mouth as she pondered her options. Thinking of a way to communicate without waking up the sleeping form upon her lap.

Shaggy looked on, head tilted as she was thinking and he waited for her mind to catch up with her thoughts. But he knew her well enough, to see the wheels turning. Pushing aside the idea of hand gestures, as she might also wake Scooby up if her hand motions got too heated, she turned back to the foggy window as her only option for communication to the other man.

-Hi!-

She wrote lightly on the glass with a finger, turning to point at it and smiled at Shaggy. Though she hoped he was awake enough to read. Sometimes he was a bit zombie when he first got up unless it was about food. And as this was not, she had to wait to see how quick his response time was. And hoped that Scooby's sleepy sighs didn't make her message vanish before he got to read it.

Blinking and leaning over to stare at her writing, it took a second before it clicked. Only a mild cotton fuzz clogged his brain from waking up, making the delay only take a few more seconds than normal. Grinning, he nodded and leaned over the Dane to write his own, sloppy hi back.

How Velma had tucked her knees up to support herself and then eventually Scooby's head, she had only taken up a bit of the bow window. So Shaggy was able to slip into the other side and settled himself against the woodwork. There, they both watched the snow fall lightly for a bit, enjoying the stillness and soft sighs sounding in the night.

Looking down at his sleepy companion, he then looked up at where Velma had picked back up her snowflake doodles. Leaning over, Shaggy choose a foggy corner that was at arm's length to use for his question. Drawing a normal looking bed, (ignoring that he and Scooby slept on a giant pile of beanbags and pillows) he sketched the shape and then made a big circle around it and sent a small line in a diagonal mark across it. Then drew an arrow towards her.

Pausing from her own doodles, she looked at what he had drawn.

'Bed… and a slash across it. So not bed…. Oh, does he mean that I can't sleep. Yeah, that must be it.' She thought to herself.

Nodding, she then moved to try to draw a shape of her own head, to make some type of picture with her brain doing something… but each attempt she tried, didn't quite say what she wanted. She was annoyed at herself for not being better at Pictionary… then she would know what to draw to get her message across.

Tilting his head to watch her actions, and try to deduce her random scribbles… he got the message. Tapping one of her hands, he smiled and then drew his own version of he thought might portray what she wanted. Smoothly tracing across the glass, he made a simple sketch of her hair and face. Making sure to add her classic glasses frames to show that it was her. He then made some wiggling lines coming out of the side of her head, like smoke coming out of her ears. Then he made a small question mark beside the drawing, to ask Velma if that is what she meant.

Shaking her head in approval, Velma tried not to chuckle. That was exactly what she was thinking, but hadn't been able to put it into the right visuals. Well, at least a visual that would get her message roughly across. Sure, she could re-draw the snowflakes with ease, but making a little head representation of herself, was hard. At least without some form of reference, or a mirror.

Chewing on the edge of her lip, she concentrated on her next set of pictures once Scooby had huffed away her previous scribbles. Drawing a bed like Shaggy had, she did the same circle and crossing out as he did, wondering if he couldn't sleep either. Though she then added the word 'or' and did her best to make a little sandwich image. With two pieces of bread stacked on top of little lettuce bits and a line for some type of deli meat. Because knowing him, he could have been hungry and that is why he woke up to find Scooby gone.

Smiling, Shaggy circled the sandwich, then made an arrow from it to point at the crossed out bed, then arched another arrow over his previous one to aim straight at the sleeping Dane on her lap. Basically letting her know that her thought was exactly right. He was hungry, then couldn't sleep so he moved to wake up and fix his hungry problem when he noticed that Scooby was gone and went to investigate.

Amused, Velma was enjoying herself. Having a conversation without saying a word. It was entertaining and interesting way to talk to Shaggy. And the grin he had on his face, showed that he was having fun too.

Waiting for Scooby to get rid of her pictures, she then redrew the sandwich. Circling it, she then make a physical action to point at him, before doodling a question mark to finish her sentence.

Waving his hand vertically, he waved off her question with a negative action. Then continued by making the actual American Sign Language motion for eating, (because he made it a point to know how to say eat and food in as many languages as he could, just in case) and then placed his hand by his chest and waved the hand away in an arc to do a gesture that she took for 'later'. She didn't think it was a real ASL sign, but it was a good enough motion for her to grasp what he meant. He then pointed at her, and tucked both hands beside his head to make the motion for sleeping. Including some light snoring at the action. Earning a smirk from her, and an eye roll.

Wigging her hand in a horizontal rotating motion, it was the best idea she could think to represent her 'so so' response. Well, besides actually writing it out. She then echoed his 'later' hand gesture with a quiet snicker. Though she made sure to only let out one or two, before stopping, not wanting to wake Scooby up.

Mimicking her 'so so' motion slowly, he looked at his hand before it finally dawned on him what she meant. Placing a closed fist upon the palm of his other hand in realization. But then got a confused look, and then wrote out on the fog his question.

-Why not?- Then he drew the smoke coming out of her ears, and then the crossed out bed. As if to ask if the smoke was preventing her from sleeping. If her mind was the problem.

Taking a moment, she thought about how to answer him. Bringing up a hand to lean against the edges of her lips, her mind went to work. A single finger laying horizontally across her mouth enough for her teeth to daintily chew on her knuckle as she pondered her reaction in hand gestures and dog breath doodles. Eyes downcast and unfocused as her mind put all the pieces together.

Looking up to catch his eye line, she started her long pantomime to explain. Placing an open hand upon her chest, she wanted to indicate herself. Pointing her two fingers downward, she used them to 'walk' across the air for a bit before pointing at where she was sitting. Then she leaned over and circled the fading brain smoke image. Adding an Ellipsis, she then pointed to Scooby and made the walking motion again. Opening both hands, she put her palms down and lowered them at the same time to indicate that he sat down on her. Tapping her (…)'s on the window she then placed two hands against her head, copying Shaggy's sleeping gesture and then pointing to Scooby. Pointing to herself, she then drew a heart and crossed it out, making an arrow to a small alarm clock with little bells on the top like the one that Shaggy sometimes woke up too, and crossed it out as well. Finally adding a small peace sign and then gently petting the top of Scooby's head.

Eyes eagerly locked on her, Shaggy watched as each piece of the story was motioned. Following her as she told the tale of how she got there, and what had happened between her and Scooby. But the last part was a bit confusing at first. Crossed out heart, then a not alarm clock, plus peace sign and Scooby? It wasn't something too complex, but it took him a bit to work out how the pieces worked together. But then it finally clicked!

"Ah hahaha!" He laughed out loud, spooking Velma after so long of just silence between the two.

"Is that all? Why didn't you say so?"