"Stuart, what is the matter?" Noodle's melodic voice sings beside him. He lifts his eyes from the hem of his shirt and gazes over at her, seeing the worried lines that are criss-crossing her face and hating himself for putting them there.
"I was just thinking that you haven't had much freedom over the years," he mumbles in reply, casting his eyes down again. Not wanting to see the worry any more and trying to think of a way to alleviate it.
"I have seen far more of the world than most young people have in my time," she replies and moves a little closer. Placing a hand upon his, making him lift his head to look at her.
"That's not what I mean Noo. I mean the freedom to be who you are and learn from your mistakes and that," he moans, sliding down in the lounge until he's almost on the floor. She thinks about that for a moment then urges him to sit up straight again.
"So many things could have happened to me if I had not met you. There have been many times when I have felt that without you, I could not have become the person that I have. Regardless of how events occurred and situations moved the pieces that had been placed on the board. In the end I made much progress and steadily travelled across it. Perhaps I have not yet won the game that is life. But the game is not over yet Stuart. There is plenty of time for me to see the strategy and either intercept and take out my opponents pieces. Or divert along a new path and win the game," she says with a cheery smile. Stuart blinks at her while trying to work out what she means.
"Um, okay?" he replies and shakes his head. "No, I didn't get it," he adds, not about to start lying to her on top of everything else.
"Chess. Checkmate," she responds simply. The words filter down into place and it all comes crystal clear again.
"Oh," he grins and laughs. But the happy feeling is fleeting and the dark clouds loom back over his emotions. "But you were never given the time to walk away and-" She places a finger against his lips and shushes him.
"Stuart. I would have been alone without you three. I chose to do what I wished, and what I wished was to be back with you, almost from the moment when I was occasionally left to my own devices. To accomplish this I had to work my way through difficult trials and puzzles. Once I solved them, there was nothing else to stop me from doing anything but what I wished to do. Here is were I wish to be. Perhaps I have not lived the life that others have lived. But if I wished to have that life, then why did I go back to Kong after we parted? Why did I search the vast oceans with Russel to find Point Nemo? Why have I done everything that I have done, when there was nothing to stop me from walking away?" Stuart shrugs his shoulders listlessly, not quite sure why, when walking away seemed to be the easier option and the one that she should have taken. "Because I did not wish to walk away. If there had been nothing else left to do, then I would not have bothered coming to live with you here at Wobble Street. You three are my family, however it is made up. A family is a group of people who share their lives with each other. Be it a father and his sons. A mother and her daughters. A couple and their adopted children. It can even be a gay couple and a child. It does not have to be traditional to be considered valid. All of them are valid, because all of them have the one ingredient that they need to be correct. Love."
"Muds says that love is irrelevant," Stuart pouts sadly.
"Murdoc is a difficult man who has had a difficult life. He may say this, hai. However, deep down in the most hidden parts of himself, whether he wishes to acknowledge it or not, even he needs love. He is just not the kind to ask or hope for it. If it comes, then it comes. Not because he wasted his time searching the vast expanses, only to find that it was not there. But because it wished to find him without any effort on his part. One day, it may find him. And I am sure that by then he will be ready to accept it," Noodle explains softly, but with a voice that is filled with certainty.
"I'm worried that I haven't given you the choice, but that I'm making you feel obliged to say that you love me back," he finally admits and bites his lip. Noodle blinks at him in surprise, momentarily stunned by his suggestion.
"Of course not," she whispers back. "You gave me the chance to decide and I have been thinking very hard about what it would mean for me. I do not recall there was a marriage proposal attached to it. Unless I am mistaken?"
"What? No," the singer retorts sharply.
"Then why behave as though it is going to be the end? The end of nothing as I see. The beginning of something that will either grow and blossom into thoughts of that kind. Or it will explode like a falling star, shine brightly and blaze a path across the sky like a glorious phoenix. Then fade, hopefully to be replaced with respect and mutual trust," Noodle states firmly.
"I dunno why I said that. Cause I'm dumb I suppose," Stuart huffs.
"Stop that!" the young woman snaps angrily. Tired of seeing the waves of anxiety and self-conscious apprehension that Murdoc has rained down on the singer. He looks at her with wide eyes, not quite sure what he's done to upset her. "You are not dumb Stuart. You are quite simply modest and that makes you no less intelligent than anyone else. Perhaps you miss things and you do not follow everything through to conclusion before you speak. However I feel that this is because Murdoc has trained you to be unsure of the things that you think about and whether they are right or not. Nine times out of ten, you are. I have proven this myself. I speak, you become unsure. I clarify once and once only and instantly you understand. If you were dumb as you say. I would have to continue clarifying down to the point where I would need finger puppets, and you would still not understand what I was trying to tell you. Does that compute?"
"Yes," Stuart squeaks, hoping that it's the right answer. She softens and smiles at him, holding up her hands and waggling her fingers.
"See? And there is not a single puppet in sight," she purrs and slides even closer, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling his face close to hers. "I do care about you Stuart. You have always been a friend. I have Russel for intellectual pursuits, so why not have you for more... mm, recreational ones." For a moment the singer feels like he is looking at a young Asian version of the bassist. That thought melts away when the young girl presses her lips to his and draws him into a deep warm kiss that he can feel all the way down to his toes.
Relaxing into it and feeling her hands sliding up the back of his neck and into his hair, he sighs and lets himself slip sideways on the lounge until he's laying down with her straddling him. Pulling out of the kiss, the young woman purrs and slides her hands down his chest while sitting up, then continuing her hands up her thighs and stomach, she lifts her top up over her head and tosses it lazily across the room. Shuddering with excitement, Stuart lifts his hands shakily and moves them close to her pert breasts. Licking his lips and watching her shining eyes staring back at him full of lust, he hesitates when she pulls back and suddenly her bra comes away and is tossed aside as well.
The smell of her femininity sets his heart ablaze, mixed with the heat of her body and the warmth of her breath against his skin. With wave upon wave of electrified tingles sweeping out from each point where their bodies make contact with one another. Stuart feels giddy with excitement and awash with the desire to see her laid bare before him. She too seems to be filled with the same desire, and the pink flush of her skin is very telling of her anticipation. Every new touch of his hands and fingers , bringing a gasp to her lips, adding to the accumulative heat that their bodies are generating. So deep, so primal, so very hungry for more. The pulse and throb and thrust of intertwined limbs. Snaking bodies and tongues that probe down into the depths, in a desperate bid to taste and touch the inner core and become one with it.
"Oh shi-," he gasps when she snakes her body up and brings her chest within millimetres of his face. Then lifting up again and taking his hands in hers, she slaps them onto her breasts and encourages him to massage them. "Is this a yes then?" he whimpers, doing all that he can not to explode in his underpants and embarrass himself. Noodle stops wriggling above him and looks down into his eyes with her mouth twisted in a sneer of utter disbelief.
"Um, no. This is what I always do when I'm wagging a disapproving finger. It's just that I tend to let my breasts do the talking these days," she growls, then tears the front of his shirt open and bites him hard on the left nipple. "Now shut up and make love to me," she adds with a warm smile into his face. Suddenly the singer hears a bang and he furrows his brow at it.
"What keeps doing that?" he mumbles, only half paying attention to the young woman licking his neck.
"Stuart?" Noodle asks, then he hears a muffled noise. "Stuart, can you hear me?" she presses almost sounding urgent.
Sitting at the head of the kitchen table, Murdoc rocks back and forth on the back legs of his chair, grinning coldly in amusement at the furious drummer that is growling at him. Noodle is sitting next to the singer, who is staring blankly straight ahead like a zombie, with a slack jawed expression of surprise on his face. Rubbing the singers back with one hand while snapping the fingers of the other in his face, the young girl continues trying to snap him out of what looks to be a semi-comatose state.
"I mean it man. I wanna know what you've done to the cracker!" the drummer snarls, pointing at the singer. "He's been sat here spaced out and drooling for three days!" he then snaps, thumping his fist angrily against the table.
"Aaaow, he's fine. He just needs a day or two more and he'll snap out of it. He's done it before?" Murdoc shrugs with a large degree of unconcern and drops his chair forwards again.
"Before?" Noodle questions, looking sharply over at the older man.
"Yeah. I've been tapping his bonce for cerebral fluid for years and it hasn't done him any harm. Well, nothing that's really noticeable or anything," he replies and taking his bottle of rum with him, he walks confidently to the kitchen door then stops. "Right now, he's more than likely having a really nice dream. So stop fussing with the idiot and let him have whatever is passing for a reality right now. You never know. It might be a whole lot better than having to look at you two muppets at the moment," he adds with a wink, then continues on his way back upstairs to his room.
"Yo that is sick man!" Russel roars after him. While Noodle watches the way Stuart is mumbling under his breath while slowly falling sideways off the chair. She props him back up again with a sigh and tries to encourage him to eat some toast. Not having much success, she snaps a small piece off and opens his mouth, popping the piece in between his teeth then manually manipulating his jaws so that he can chew, while rubbing his neck to trigger his swallow reflex.
"Sticks and stones fat guts, sticks and stones," Murdoc laughs as he disappears around the corner.
Back in the depths of his mind, Stuart gazes up at the beautiful sight of the naked young woman above him. Happier and more comfortable than he has ever been and so glad that she wasn't about to let him talk his way back out of this. She lets her hand gently trace the line of his jaw and smiles back down at him. Letting the rhythmical rock of her body propel their physical enjoyment up into the stratosphere, high above them. Tipping her head back on her shoulders she moans, gripping his arm tightly in her other hand, as a wave of pleasure ripples through her. Stuart groans as well, hoping that this moment will be one that lingers with him for the rest of his life.
The End.