One-Shot #4: Meeting Sydney

(Phase 2)

Hey Guys! I'm sorry if the last chapter was lacking, I didn't like it very much. I have just been having a hard time finding inspiration for my chapters. So, if you guys have some suggestions that you think I should write, definitely tell me! You can review and put your ideas in that, or you could PM me. Also, you'll probably notice that I changed Sydney's age to be older, and I know that the timing makes absolutely no sense, but I wanted to make her more mature than what I originally intended. Thanks, and I hope that you enjoy this next chapter! Let's go!

2D looked outside through the window of Kong Studios, his mind focused on the heavy rain falling and making noises on his windows. He subtly smiled. He loved the sound so much, it was so soothing to him. He watched the dripping rain fall on the windows, and saw the larger drops form into small dots on the glass, then slowly drip down and collect at the bottom of the window frame.

He was alone for the weekend, as Murdoc was out on a "business trip" (2D just assumed that he was going out to bars and sleeping with women), and Noodle and Russell had taken a trip back to New York together so that Russell could visit his hometown and see his friends. Stuart sighed and diverted his gaze from the window back to his bedroom door. He got up from the beanbag chair and began to walk towards it, as he figured he might get a snack and watch a movie.

After his long and lanky limbs tripped over piles of clothes and trash, he made his way out of the room, through the car park, and up the stairs. He looked around the kitchen and sighed. Piles of dirty dishes, empty rum bottles, and a bunch of Noodle's toys were sitting in the room, scattered everywhere. How was he supposed to find anything in this dump? (It was quite a hypocritical thought, as his room was the messiest in the entire studio, but he was much more used to it.) He eventually found a microwave popcorn box and decided that it would do. He shuffled his hand around in it until he felt the plastic wrapping, and pulled it out.

Lighting began to strike outside as he shoved the unwrapped popcorn into the microwave. He could hear it loudly popping, and he could smell the buttery flavor as it aerated around the room. He heard the soft beeping noise, and pulled the steaming bag out of the microwave. He poured it into a large bowl, and walked towards the den. Thankfully, this room was much less messy than the kitchen.

He pulled out a small disc from it's box (He was watching a rather stuffy Romantic movie, which he honestly did not care for. However, after Murdoc's recent outburst, that was one of the only movies that wasn't shattered or in the garbage.) Although he could still hear the movie playing softly, his gaze still drew itself to the loud rain hitting the window. Just then, he heard a loud knock on the door.

Curious, he picked up the remote and paused the movie, lifted the popcorn from his lap, and got up to answer the door. The hallway leading up to it looked long and scary as the lighting struck again, followed by loud claps of thunder. He placed his hand on the cold doorknob, and twisted. The door flew open, smacking the person who opened it in the face. The cold winds flew into the room, allowing for some of Noodle's drawings to scatter all over the floor.

2D straightened himself, rubbing his cheek where the door had made impact with his face. He looked around, hoping to find a clue to who had knocked on the door, but there was nothing at eye level. However, he found success as he looked down to the floor.

A small girl, looking about 11 or 12, was leaned up against the door frame on the outside of the house. She had a puncture mark on her neck, and looked like she was in a deep sleep. Whoever left her here must have drugged her, he thought as he stared at the mysterious child. Her hair was covered by a dark hoodie with a Black Sabbath album cover on it. She was wearing some uncomfortable looking wet jeans, and dirty black gym shoes. However, her face was round and sweet, and her eyebrows had an unnatural bluish color. Sitting next to her was a basket with a blanket and a note.

2D was startled by the scene in front of him, but he did his best to stay calm. He picked up the soaking note and unfolded it. Inside, printed neatly and largely, was this note:

Dear Stu:

I know that you probably don't want to hear from me after what I did, and I know that you are probably really confused right now. What I did was unspeakable, and I know that you don't want to forgive me. But, I really need your help right now. Because the girl you are looking at is your daughter, Sydney.

2D looked up in shock. He felt like he was going to pass out on the spot. Him, a parent?! How? Why? He had so many questions, but he knew that none of them would be answered anytime soon. He reopened the note and continued to read, hoping for some of his questions to be given answers.

She is a sweet little girl, and I am ashamed that I couldn't take care of her. But I know that you have the money and assets to do it. Please take her. She is so much like you and she was very excited to meet you.

From, Paula Cracker.

P.S. I gave her a bit of medicine, it will be a couple of hours until she wakes up. Also, I don't know why her hair is like that. I know that your hair isn't genetic, but it just grew that way.

2D rolled his eyes. She thought that he was stupid, didn't she? Thought that she could coax him into taking her child, and respecting her? He knew that all of those kind words she had said were all for show. However, he knew it also wouldn't do any good to leave this freezing child outside. He put the note back in the basket, hung it on his arm, and then scooped up the child to take her inside.

Now that he could focus, he noticed that this child had some rather strange features. She was smaller than average, and had almost white skin, it was so pale. She looked thin, like she hadn't eaten in weeks. Also, he remembered that Paula had said something about her hair in her note. He lifted off the hoodie to reveal bright, azure colored hair, that was rather similar to his own.

Well at least now I know that she's my kid, he thought. He brushed a little bit of it away from her eyes, and gave a slight smile. He carried her down the hallway, and through the car park. He carefully hovered through his room, trying not to trip. He laid her down on his unmade bed and began to think.

What the fuck am I supposed to do with this kid? I don't know how to cook for a kid, let alone raise them! I wish Russell were here. He would know what to do. I don't have much of a choice, I don't want to put her up for adoption, 'cause that's just cruel. He looked back to the sleeping child and made up his mind. I'm gonna be the best dad she could ever want. His attention was captured as the small child stirred, it looked like she was waking up. He propped himself up taller in his chair. He watched as she opened her eyes and sat up. She rubbed her neck, as she was clearly in a lot of pain. He then noted her eyes.

One of her eyes was brown, with black speckles in it. Her other eye was the same, but part of it was striped with blue. She looked at him fearfully, backing slowly away from him. He noticed this and tried to comfort her. "Hey," he said timidly. "There's no need to be afraid." Realization struck her as she slowly began to ease herself into the situation.

"Dad?" She asked, her voice cracking and weak. He nodded his head at her, giving her a toothless grin. She gave a timid smile back to him. He chuckled at her rather pretty appearance, he couldn't believe that this girl was his daughter. She shivered a bit, as she was obviously very uncomfortable and cold. He realized that he still hadn't brought her anything to keep her warm, so he stood up.

"You stay 'ere," he said. "I'm gonna get you some dry clothes." She nodded in approval, and he trudged back up the stairs to Noodle's room. They were about the same size, so he figured that he could give her some of Noodle's clothes until he could go out to buy her some of her own. He picked out a red shirt with grey sweatpants, and started down the stairs. However, he dropped the clothes when he heard an ear-piercing screech. He rushed towards the sound, only to be confronted by the sight of Sydney wielding a gun and shooting at several zombies that had entered the room through the windows. 2D could only stare at her, open mouthed and in shock. When they were all dead on the floor, she put the gun back in it's holster on her hip and looked back at 2D.

She had a split and bloody lip and there was a bad black eye forming at the top of her cheek. She wiped her sleeve across her mouth and spoke. "I always keep a gun on my belt, you have no idea the things she did to me." He just nodded in understanding, while she got up to go clean her lip off.

"Wait," 2D said. She whipped her head around to look at him. "I brought you some clothes, thought you might need them." He smiled at her, and she gratefully accepted the clothing. But then, another question rose in his head. "What kind of things did Paula do to you?" He instantly regretted saying this, as her face fell and she looked down at her feet. But then, she looked up at him and smiled cheekily.

"You have no clue how many men she tried to sell my virginity off to," she said simply. He smiled. She had a little bit of his cockney accent, but mostly sounded American like Paula. "Every single one of them got a bullet to the foot." He was surprised, but mostly amazed at the kid's aim. She had shot each one of those zombies down on her first try. She exited towards the bathroom to get changed. 2D decided that he would take this opportunity to call up Russell and ask about what he should do with the kid.

2 DAYS LATER….

2D took the rest of the weekend to spend time with his newly discovered daughter. He decided not to tell Murdoc, as he would probably stab him through the phone. However, Russell was surprisingly very supportive of him and told him what to do with Sydney through text. Thank goodness she could cook, and very well too. 2D was surprised, her food was almost as good as Russell's!

He learned more about Sydney herself. He learned about her past with Paula, and how she was practically a maid to her. He learned about her taste in music, he had no idea that she knew all about Gorillaz! And she had no idea that her father was the lead singer in the band. She also listened to Black Sabbath, The Clash, and The Human League.

She learned more about her father as well. She told him all about his friends, and she was very excited to meet them. Well, everyone except Murdoc. She couldn't wait to scare the shit out of him with all of her pranks that she was so used to pulling. Russell sounded like a nice guy, and as for Noodle, she couldn't wait to have a friend that was her age.

Today was the day. She would get to meet everyone, and she was rather nervous. What if they don't like me? She thought. What if they hate me because of what my mom did to their friend. She fiddled with her hands as she waited by the door. All three of them would be walking through the door any second now. (Russell and Noodle had to pry Murdoc out of one of his bars, so they were all coming home together.) Just then, the door opened.

In walked 3 new figures: One of them was very large, and she identified this as Russell. He was a large, African-American man with milky, glowing white eyes. His eyes were quite scary to most, but she thought that he looked nice. There was a small Japanese girl who looked about her height, who was wearing a red shirt with jeans. She predicted that this was Noodle, and she got a bit more excited. However, that excitement washed away quickly after seeing the last person. A shorter man, about 5' 6", who had a slight greenish-toned skin color. He was dressed in all black, with a gold inverted cross hanging around his neck, and he had a cigarette hanging out of his mouth.

His mismatched eyes were drawn to her, and she glared at him. He looked taken aback that there was another person in the house, and he turned towards the stairs. "HEY! FACEACHE!" He yelled. "WHO'S THE KID?! WHO THE FUCK IS SHE AND WHY IS SHE IN THE HOUSE?!" Almost out of nowhere, she felt anger rising in her. She was seeing red. How dare he call her father that? After how nice her newly discovered dad had been to her? She stomped over to him, and grabbed onto his turtleneck, pulling his head down to her level.

"How… Fucking… Dare… You… Call… My Father THAT." She whispered firmly to him.

"What do you mean 'dad'?" Murdoc answered, now looking more confused than annoyed.

All at once, 2D walked down the stairs, only to be met by Murdoc's furious gaze. "He-hey Mudz," He said quietly.

30 MINUTES LATER…

It had been a few minutes since Murdoc's big outburst, and everyone was tense. Currently, Sydney was being restrained by Russell and Noodle inside a room. She could hear her father's cries of pain as Murdoc punched him in every single place he could. She had tears forming in her eyes as she heard Murdoc leave the room. Almost immediately after she rushed towards the entryway, only to be confronted with a hideous scene.

Her dad was sprawled over the floor, his hair matted with blood. He had bruises covering every inch of skin that he had, and he had cuts and slash marks all over his face and neck. He had two black eyes, and he had one huge gash on his side. She gasped and screamed for Russell and Noodle. They rushed into the room, only to see Sydney crying on the floor next to her unconscious father. Immediately, Russell snatched her up and took her away from the sight, while Noodle dragged him over to the couch to mend his wounds. She cried and kicked and screamed to be brought back to her dad, but it was no use. Russell had arms of steel. Her hair fell in front of her face.

Finally, Russell set her down in the kitchen, distracted with finding the first aid kit. She quietly sneaked out, no longer intent on finding her father, but now she wanted to find Murdoc. She remembered her dad telling her something about his Winnebago, so she decided to look there. Sure enough, she found him lying on a couch-like bed with a bottle of rum in his hand.

"OI! You! Get the fuck out of my winne!" But she didn't listen, and instead strode over to him, her eyebrows scrunched together. She pulled out the gun hidden on her waistband, and aimed it at his head. His eyes widened in shock.

"You ever do that to my father again," she said. "Just remember this." She gestured towards the gun. Satisfied with her scaring-the-shit-out-of-Murdoc session, she left the Winnebago and re-holstered the gun. She sprinted back up to the living room, to find Noodle wrapping bandages around her father's abdomen. She saw her fumbling with the gauze, and decided to step in.

"Here, let me help you." Noodle was a bit startled, as she hadn't seen Sydney enter the room, but she handed her the gauze. Sydney worked quickly and rather effectively, when she was done wrapping the bandages it looked like a real doctor had done it.

"Wow, how did you do that?" Noodle inspected the job, impressed.

"Paula used to beat me a lot, I have experience mending wounds," she said simply.

Noodle was taken aback. She… she was 2D's daughter with PAULA? She was in shock. She couldn't believe that Russell hadn't told her about that part. She got up, determined on finding Russell.

10 MINUTES LATER…

2D had woken up, and Noodle brought everyone to the living room (Well, everyone except Murdoc). 2D could barely move, so they had to bring out the dreaded wheelchair and wheel him into the room. They decided it was time for some proper introduction. Everyone introduced themselves, and they all learned more about each other. Everyone was astounded by Sydney's stories, she had had a very rough childhood.

Noodle and her went to watch a movie immediately after the talk, and 2D and Russell smiled at each other. They were excited to have another girl in the house. 2D still had a lot to learn, but he would pull through.

Somehow.

Alright! So there's the new chapter. I hope that you guys enjoyed! PLZ PLZ PLZZZZZ REVIEW! I haven't gotten any response and I could really use some feedback. Thanks!