A/N: As promised, here's my second update of the week. This draft was originally intended to be the final chapter of Salt Skin. A casual warning that this has mild nsfw content, so if you're not comfortable with anything suggestive, save yourself the trouble of reading any further. I'd like to make a quick note also regarding the quality of this draft: Don't be alarmed by all the ellipsis and excessive explanatory paragraphs. I wrote this little gem back in 2011, which was when I used an earlier style of writing that I like to cringe at today. I can't count the number of times I've gone back and tweaked this in the past..Nor can I tell what exactly I tweaked re-reading it now (...It's always been the literal example of a rough draft). But it has some endearing content that I can't resist sharing. This will be my second to last draft...I have one more that I'll post as a bonus next week. Again, thank you all so much for your loyalty to my work. With news spreading about Gorillaz return with Phase 4, I'm hoping that maybe I'll have fresh ideas for stories. You never know, right?

For now, enjoy reading!


-07-

[Phase 3]

She sat down on the edge of the bed. It was 3:37 a.m...

She remembered through the haze of her memories how many 3 a.m.'s she had spent with him in the past. All the horror movies, all the song writing, all the late night junk food, and all the many times she had fallen asleep with him next to her.

He had always given her a comfort she couldn't find in anyone else. He was her wonderwall, and if she had ever been scared or upset, bad mood or good mood, he had always said the right thing or made the right action to make her feel at ease with herself and the world again.

He had told her..."Come stay with me, then. In Essex. I've got a flat in the city and you can have the guest room. I'll...I'll take care'a yeh. Til yeh know what yeh want to do. Whu'do yeh think?"

She had nowhere else to go. Russ was getting used to his normal body mass again in physical therapy in the States and Murdoc had been taken to a rehab in the tropics.

She had no way of supporting herself. The money generated from the Plastic Beach Album had been sent to a vault in London. 2D had access to it, but she preferred not to ask for hand-outs.

She had no family, other than the distant professor in Japan whom she didn't feel close enough with to request a place to stay. There was also the risk of revealing herself to the Japanese government and she didn't want to put the professor or herself in danger.

The only true family she'd ever had was Gorillaz. And now the only remaining member of that family was offering her a place to stay.

She accepted on the grounds that she wouldn't become an intrusion on his life.

2D had been stuck on Plastic Beach for well over a year. He had no such life to be intruded on. Now that a record had been made, the funds would be enough for him to live off of without having to work. After staying in a rehabilitation center for a few weeks and then going on a couple talk shows about the incidents that occurred during the final days of Plastic Beach and Noodle's return to Gorillaz, she found both herself and 2D catching a flight to England.

So there they were.

Noodle left the guest room of 2D's apartment, unable to sleep.

She entered his room and sat at his bedside. She wasn't sure why. Perhaps because the wind outside was howling, the rain was pouring down, and she was waiting for that first roll of thunder to initiate the fear she still possessed in storms.

She felt his body shift. He was awake.

Silence flooded the room and monitored breathing commenced between them.

Without even needing an explanation... "It's ok."

Noodle turned to try and see him through the dark.

"It's ok. I'm right 'ere."

He knew.

Noodle felt something inside her ignite. Something similar to the way she felt during the collapse of Plastic Beach. The Island crumbling around them, the water rising, huddled between his limbs. Yes that feeling, there it was; the feeling that had kept her going all those years.

"Can you see me?" She asked him quietly, bringing her knees up to her chin.

"I can always see yeh."

Silence enveloped them again for a moment. Then she felt the blankets lift.

"Yeh welcome to sleep here if yeh like. I can take the sofa."

She looked across the room at the love-seat sitting against the far wall of the bedroom. She made no response as she crawled into the covers opened for her. As she sunk into the mattress, 2D swiftly started to get up. Noodle frowned solemnly, pressing her lips together. Before she let herself watch him leave, she made an attempt to catch his wrist. Nearly missing, her fingertips captured a patch of his skin.

He turned and looked down at her quietly. She couldn't see his face, but thought process was certainly in effect.

A few moments more and he settled back into the bed alongside her. Propped up on his elbows, he watched her cautiously. She was on the pillow next to his.

They had slept alongside each other countless times before. On 17 hour flights, on long car rides, tour buses across countries, couches, hotel lobbies...and many, many tile floors. But they had never thought of nor felt the need to share an actual bed. There had never been a strangeness about it, it just hadn't been necessary. Perhaps they had simply known that there was a line that wasn't to be crossed; A boundary that couldn't be abridged. Whatever their reasons had been in the past, the barrier that had been put up between them had suddenly been shattered by the simple act of lying down next to each other.

2D finally lowered himself onto the mattress, staring over at her. She was facing him, but he couldn't tell if she was looking back at him or not.

There was a momentary feeling of wrong. He had known her since she was a kid. And now they were entering foreign territory.

What calmed him was the fact that she and him were truly not that far apart in age now. What 23 was to 11 certainly wasn't what 32 was to 20. He wasn't old enough to be her father, at least. They had shared nearly everything together. They had been best friends and comrades. Through every chaos, they had seen each other through. And now they both finally seemed to have grown up from their former selves.

What lay before him was neither a little girl, nor a teenager...but a young woman who accepted him the way no one else ever had. The person he had wanted to see and talk with. The person he had simply wanted to sit beside for so long. There she was, next to him.

There didn't seem to be any real boundaries anymore. Just one, which was the air they breathed between them.

His hallow eyes began to adjust in the dark. Her outline became clearer.

She was awake, but her eyes were looking down, nearly closed. It was then that he saw the shimmer of wet on her upright cheek.

In reaction, he reached over and laid the palm of his hand there.

Noodle peered over at him. Her face was warm and damp. His thumb brushed across her cheek, wiping away tears.

Salt skin.

He unnervingly gazed over at her.

She didn't move. How could she? He was right there. She felt her heart begin to thump loudly in her chest.

2D's mind hazed over. It seemed as if they were involuntarily moving closer…but he couldn't differentiate or control it.

Noodle felt herself quiver, losing grip of the surrounding world.

Slowly, carefully inching their way nearer and nearer until their lips were just centimeters apart.

There was slight hesitation. Slight thought of backing down.

Noodle felt 2D's breath on her mouth.

What was happening?

One last sharp intake of air and their lips met.

It was warm. And soft. Possibly the most delicate touch of lips either of them could initiate. It was an action similar to tip-toeing on hard wood floor, trying hard and putting struggled effort into barely brushing the ground with ones feet.

They lightly held their lips together for a moment. 2D could feel Noodle shake a bit.

When they at last pulled apart, their lips clinging together and then slowly releasing, 2D came to his senses and quickly sat up.

"Oh my god, shit, what 'ave I-…ahh I…Oh geez, I…I'm sorry, I'm so sorry…"

Noodle sat up now too. She could feel herself having to find strength she didn't feel she had.

She could fight zombies, sling around swords and guns, endure years in hell, perform in front of millions of people, shoot down pirate jets in flight, and attack weapon-enhanced cyborgs, but this was something she had to build up courage for.

"I should'a gone to the sofa, I'm such an idiot, I'm so sorry Noods, I-"

She lunged forward without a second thought, pressing her lips firmly against his to muffle his panic.

This time her kiss was stronger; more endeavored with intent.

2D froze.

There were feelings suddenly that had never been there before. Or perhaps had been there, but had lain dormant until that instant.

At first he didn't know what to do, whether to pull away or to let this continue. It wasn't long before he couldn't control himself any longer. Her lips felt so good and the blood-pumping organ in his chest was wavering out of control. He closed his eyes and kissed her back, placing his hands on her wrists which still held his face.

He pushed in closer, his lips slowly beginning to devour hers, encouraging her to do the same. Every second that passed, more passion ensued. Noodle felt her face flush red as his tongue slid across hers.

What was this? This was madness! Her band mate…her best friend…this was him on the other end of that kiss.

Noodle reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him against her in an embrace. She loved this…she loved this! She had missed him so much. And now he was right there, passionately engulfing her, kissing her as if he had been waiting for her, for this moment.

She could feel both their hearts erupting beneath their chests. The room was spinning.

2D laid his hands on her shoulders, running them up her neck and through her messy hair. He then reached under her arms and held her.

The emotions surging through him were completely new. It was brilliant. The way he shivered every time she tightened her arms around him, the way her frame felt against his.

His hands wandered down to the edge of her tank top and then slid upwards and brushed her skin. He was about to lift the shirt off when he stopped himself. Despite the fact that the barrier had obviously been lifted between them, it didn't stop 2D from knowing certain limits. This was Noodle…This was, possibly, the most important person to him. He wasn't about to make some sort of unforgivable mistake. He may have been a dimwit, but he wasn't stupid.

Their mouths released one another and Noodle peered up at him.

2D breathed in and out, looking straight at her. His hands were lying in her lap, atop hers.

The expression he saw on her face was different than what he was used to seeing. She was saying something without speaking. And although he thought he could understand it, he had never felt so confused.

It was then that silence was met with the soft sound of rustling fabric, as Noodle lifted her shirt up and pulled it over her head, revealing her bare chest.

2D's breath caught in his throat as the tank top was dropped to the side.

Her breasts were small and perky and her eyes were now hidden behind her dark fringe.

2D felt completely irresolute now. She was so young… To touch her, to be near her in such a way. He wanted nothing more than to protect her from it. From that world that adults shrivel away in.

He reached up and pushed some hair out of her eyes so that they were visible to him again. He could see her bruise on the right side. She was looking through it at him. He cupped her face with his hands and rubbed her battered cheek.

She parted her lips to speak, but no words came out. She wanted to say so many things, but there were possibly no words to express what she wanted spoken.

She could tell he was starting to draw a line. He wasn't going to touch her. For the first time in her life, she wanted something more than anything. She wanted what 2D feared…But there was no reason to fear it. Not anymore; not now.

Noodle knew that if she didn't take charge, there would never be another chance to do so.

To make up for her lack of verbal context, she reached for his hands, which were still cupping her face.

2D glanced into her eyes, seemingly lost.

She then led his hands down her neck, across her shoulder blades, and placed them over her breasts.

He was now quivering, as if he were touching something breakable; something he shouldn't.

She held her gaze up at him. His touch felt so good. She wanted more of it…

Noodle was caught off guard when he went in towards her mouth again with his own.

Once more, they began to kiss as his fingers wandered away from her bosom, across her belly button, around her spry hips, and up her spine to the neck line.

He pulled her closer than before, to feel her skin against his.

Noodle felt her cheeks burning red. To be touched like this by him was thrilling. And the way her small bust felt pressed up against his chest made her feel safe. In fact, now that she thought about it, she couldn't remember a time where she had felt safer than this.

After a few moments of exploring her bare skin and kissing her neck gently, he leaned her back and laid her down delicately on the sheets beneath him.

He stared down at her.

She was beaming up at him, as if the glow she had been missing since her youth had finally resurfaced.

2D had a faint memory then of Noodle when she was younger, staring out at a vast skyline, where the setting sun illuminated a desert horizon. He had walked out to watch the sunset with her and a few others during their NA tour in 2005. The bus was nearby. He had peered down just in time to see her eyes glancing up at him. She had this look on her face… It was… what was it? He believed it was happiness. It was the first time he had seen her that at peace with the world.

And right there, beneath him, he saw that face again after so many years.

He realized then what he had known for so long… Perhaps all along.

Noodle reached up and put her hands behind his neck, trying to pull him down to her. However, he resisted and sat further back.

She sat up and crossed her arms over her chest to cover herself.

2D sat on the edge of the bed now; his hallow eyes staring into the surrounding darkness. Before long, he stood up and walked across the room.

A burst of lightening lit up their surroundings suddenly, but the thunder was barley perceptible.

"…" Noodle broke through the silent air with a hesitant breath. She abruptly felt insecure…perhaps this was all some sort of mistake?…Or a misunderstanding? She began to feel foolish.

He returned to the bedside a moment later and outstretched his arms toward her. She grew bemused.

It was then that she felt him drape a blanket across her shoulders to conceal her bare upper body. He left one of his hands resting on her arm.

Through the darkness, she saw his face. A sober expression was there, one she had never quite seen on him before.

His hand moved from her arm to her right cheek. She could feel the tender skin of her bruises beneath his fingertips. His touch was light and delicate.

Noodle found her voice again, feeling apprehensive. "2D…-"

He drew close to her. She said nothing more.

When they were almost so close that they could have touched noses, he inadvertently put his lanky arms around her, wrapping her up and holding her there against him. One hand lay on the back of her head, pressing her face into his shoulder. The other was wrapped around her back, keeping her in a sheltered position.

He could feel her heart pounding. And he came to realize that his too was doing the same.

He had been with so many other women… He had experienced the things in life expected of a 32 year old man. He had lived and grown from those experiences, and had found himself amongst them.

But despite having experienced so much….. Despite having lived through times of love and pain, torn apart numerous times and put back together again… All of it could have never compared to the way the person with him now made him feel.

Everything else mattered so little. And all he had worked, suffered, and subsisted for up until that very moment seemed to have all been for the girl that arrived in that FedEx crate. Even if it was something he had not intended. Even if, in his wildest dreams, he wouldn't have been able to predict it. One way or another, it turned out this way.

The girl who had seen him when no one else had; who had relied on him when no one else would. Who had believed in him, understood him, and grew as a person with him, when all the world seemed distant and cruel.

There had been Noodle: The visionary, the spirit; the light that elucidated the darkness that was Gorillaz. The one he had depended on when all else seemed hopeless. The one that took his hand when everything felt empty and cold.

The years spent without her were dismal and blank. The uncertainty of her survival, of her remaining life, had sent him into pain killer and alcohol binges. The feeling of helplessness, of grief…..the constant image of the flame-engulfed windmill and the feeling of his heart sinking in his chest as he watched it descend from the sky.

From the panic, to the realization that she was gone; An innocence lost to the world of unbridled media and greed, to a society deprived of morals and truth. And the unending turmoil that haunted him for the years after; The sheer truth that he could have put a stop to things if only he had known…Known of Murdoc's selfishness, or known of the demise ahead of El Manana.

Now the evidence of Murdoc's arrogance was scarred across Noodle's face. And every time he saw those wounds, his gut churned with anger and frustration, and the unvarying self-inflicted hate he possessed for himself having not been able to save her.

He felt himself losing grip; the thoughts racing through his head building up. He pulled back from her enough to rest his forehead down on her shoulder, his eyes tightly closed. The headache of unending regret loomed in on his cluttered mind.

Noodle felt his body quiver. She lifted her hands and placed them on both sides of his head, lifting him so that their eyes were level.

He peered over at her, lost in his own cloud of anguish.

As if knowing what flooded his mind, she pushed her forehead up against his in an attempt to share his suffering.

They stayed like that for some time; breathing in, letting composure fall over them again.

"Noods…"

"…Yeah?"

The singer fell short of his voice for a second, not able to think of anything to say. Only one thing stood out in his mind. "…You're-…my medicine. When you're close to me."

Noodle lifted her eyes, recognizing the spoken lyrics. Before she could let out another breath he spoke again, almost inaudible:

"Them words weren't written for Plastic Beach."

Noodle listened carefully.

"They were written…a long time ago...for you."

When he looked into her eyes, he realized that she probably already knew where On Melancholy Hill had originated from. The ripped out pages in 2D's old scribbled lyric book would tell that story.

He reached up and tightened the blanket around her shoulders, keeping his eyes averted from hers.

His mind and his heart were screaming two different things:

His mind reminded him of the Noodle from the past; the Noodle who had been his band mate and friend. He told himself that if he cared for her as much as he knew he did, then he would preserve her. To not taint her, to not bring her further confusion or grief, for that was the last thing he ever wanted.

His heart, however, spoke differently. He couldn't ignore or neglect the way he felt… or the way she possibly felt, the truth behind which he had hid for years. The fearful and yet necessary revelation he so needed to reach in order to be able to function.

Now that everything was factoring in at once, 2D ceased the confrontation between mind and heart and took a look at the Noodle in front of him.

The ever-growing silence was beginning to take toll on her. Feeling unveiled and on-edge, she clung to the blanket around her for support.

When she still didn't feel any comfort come to her, she tightly shut her eyes and leaned into him heavily, hiding her face in his chest. She was beginning to feel embarrassed and unsure of herself.

2D knew somehow within that fleeting moment that revelation had to come now. Or else let the seconds slip into minutes and then the entire chance be lost. Noodle would get up and leave the room and they would continue moving ahead…together, but separate; in a band that may or may not reunite, in a world that may or may not exist the next day. And yes, eventually she would go on with her life. And maybe they would not see each other again for a long time…until the band does some sort of psychotic reunion tour and they only call each other by unfamiliar stage names…

Noodle sensed that the moment was passing by as well and began to anticipate the worst. Not being one to accept defeat, she deemed to initiate the rejection and closure rather than hear it from him. Perhaps they were, in all actuality, just friends. Perhaps all of this was a very large and fangled mistake she had made in order to quell her insecurities. Perhaps she should have never come to his room? Perhaps… she should have never come to him at all?

Had she somehow managed to disregard all margins from the start? What part of her made her think that this was right? Had she not seen the immoral in bonding with a man so much older than her?

Feeling more and more like an idiot, she peeled herself away from him and began inching backwards off the bed.

2D felt the immediate cold air hit his bare chest where she had been nestled.

Noodle grabbed her shirt and slid it on promptly, reassembling the blanket around her shoulders afterward. She was now getting off the bed, the floor creaking, and a sensation like ice hitting her toes. She kept her eyes averted from him, standing in the dark.

2D knew this was it. His only chance was slipping away. If he let her go now, they would never come to terms with this thing keeping them wondering, keeping them waiting. Keeping their bond the way it had been all those years… growing and growing, until it begs to burst at the seams.

How could he let her leave when she had just re-entered his life? Could he remember a time where he had been happier than the moment that mask came off to reveal her face? Noodle…the real Noodle. Flesh and blood.

Could he imagine a life without her in it again? After all he had endured, after waiting so long to see her again?

He couldn't. He couldn't imagine it at all.

Noodle turned away from him at that moment, heading for the doorway back to the guest room.

He was losing her…

No, he didn't want that! He didn't!

Without thinking, he scrambled off the bed and tumbled to the floor, his feet having gotten tousled in the sheets. This didn't stop him. He lunged forward and grabbed Noodle's wrist from his entanglement on the ground.

She didn't say anything, nor did she question his spastic actions. She instead stood very still, keeping her back to him.

2D breathed in and out, catching his breath. He kept his eyes on her, squeezing her wrist firmly.

He searched for a word…any word at all!

Noodle waited.

Lightening lit up the room, followed seconds later by thunder.

He felt her tense up.

It was in that moment when the lightening lit up the room, creating shadows around them, that the spark finally caught blaze. She and him. What they were to each other, what they had always been to each other.

She was as much his person as he was hers. Why had it taken so long to realize that?

Noodle's body was knotted with nerves and fatigue. She was tired; tired of pretending, tired of acting brave, tired of searching. Tired of facing the world as if it were one big obstacle after another, with no goal to reach at the end.

2D still struggled to find his voice. He occasionally made sharp intakes of air, as if attempting to speak, but each time he cut himself off.

What was he trying to say?

He held his breath.

A clash of thunder and lightning ignited. Noodle gave up; unable to pretend any longer. She spun around and plummeted into his arms, knocking him over.

He immediately grabbed her and held on as she dug into him.

They sat on the floor in a pile, 2D's arms tightly shielding her. He bit his lip and shut his eyes. Noodle was there. He could feel her heart pounding. He let everything else around them vanish, and found his voice.

"I love you."

Noodle said nothing. Instead she kneaded her fingertips into his back. She understood by the stiffness in his voice that he didn't just mean he loved her as he had when she was a kid.

She felt herself being invaded by an intense emotion; one she had tried to subdue throughout her adolescence. That emotion she got when she was close to him, when their eyes met…or when they accidentally brushed skin.

Her heart grew heavy, seeming to thump more loudly than usual in her chest.

The sensation of fluttering lightly crawled up from the pit of her stomach up her rib cage like a xylophone.

She found it difficult to breathe, as if it would disrupt the emotions surging through her if she were to let air escape her lungs.

"I love you…!" 2D said again, this time more assertively. His embrace was as firm as he could get it.

Thunder rumbled.

"An' I'm not lettin' yeh go, you're…you're my-…I-…I can't do this anymore. Not without yeh. 'Cause…you're my best mate. Yeh know? You're …my only-…You're-.."

"Stuart." Noodle interrupted.

He pulled back. She could tell he was besieged for words.

"Usoda." (Translation: "Shut Up.") She was smiling.

Thunder rolled softly in the background. He said nothing else, leaning forward and resting his head against her chest.

There was a wave that fell over them both. Some sort of disclosure.

It was silent, but it was also loud. The ringing in their ears. Echoing.

What now? What now that they were finally on the same page?

She reached up and ran her fingers through his hair, letting herself accept that he was truly there.

He lifted his head to gaze up at her from where he crouched.

Oh, that's right. There was nothing left now, except this.

He smiled at her.

She smiled back.

No more salt skin.

x