Sorry it's taken me so long to update this! I've been really busy with stuff! Still, better late than never I suppose!

Disclaimer: I don't own the Boosh, or Mike, Noel or Julian. Man, I wish I owned Julian…

"Howard…"

Howard blinked, looking around. Everything seemed foggy; he could just make out vague shapes around him. What had happened? Had it gone wrong?

"Howard…"

And who was that?

"Howard you Ball-bag." he felt a light slap to his face and blinked, gasping. Suddenly the fog seemed to lift and he found himself sitting on the ground next to the river. Only Noel wasn't there anymore. Naboo was watching him anxiously. "You ok?"

"Fine. I'm fine, Naboolio." he looked around. "Did it work?"

"Of course." Naboo said indignantly, as if the idea of a spell of his going wrong was unthinkable. Howard rolled his eyes. Then the severity of the situation hit him again and he looked around desperately.

"What now? Shall we go?"

Naboo shuffled his feet. "You should, yeah."

"Ok, then…wait, what do you mean I should go? What about you?"

"I need to stay here. Keep the portal open. If it closes, we could be trapped."

"And you couldn't have told me this before?!" Howard bit back his anger. "Ok, fine. What's the address?"

Howard pulled the collar on his coat up higher as he walked past someone. They didn't even glance at him, but he still felt like everyone was staring. He knew he must look like a right tit, dressed in a coat, hat and sunglasses, but he knew he couldn't be seen. If anyone recognised him as Julian, things could get awkward.

He checked the piece of paper Naboo had given him, before looking up at the street name. This was it. He felt a sudden unexpected rush of fear. What if Vince wasn't here? What if Naboo had got the address wrong, and he never found him? Or worse, what if he'd got the address right but Vince didn't want to see him? Or wanted to stay?

Howard shook those thoughts out of his mind and strode purposefully towards the right house number. This was ridiculous; of course Vince would want to see him. Wouldn't he? Wouldn't he have missed Howard just as much as he himself had missed Vince?

Feeling strangely nervous, Howard pressed the doorbell. He stood there for several seconds, heart pounding in his chest, before pressing it again. Just as he was beginning to think there was no-one in, he heard movement inside, and a moment later the door was pulled open by a harassed looking man.

Mike, Howard realised.

When he laid eyes on Howard, the flustered expression faded and he looked immensely relieved. "You took your time!"

"I'm sorry?"

He shepherded him into the house. "I was expecting you back about 10 minutes ago. How come you rang the bell? Lost your key?"

"Um…Mike, I'm not…"

"Vince! Ju's back."

At the mention of Vince, all thoughts of correcting Mike as to his identity paled into insignificance. He hurried into the living room and stopped dead, breath catching.

Vince was sat cross legged on the floor in front of the TV, playing on a video games console. Howard couldn't see his face, but he could just imagine the expression on his face; eyes focused, his tongue poking out of the side of his mouth the way it always did when he was concentrating hard…

"Hey Julian." the younger man called, not taking his eyes off the screen.

Howard didn't reply, couldn't reply.

Seemingly wondering why he'd gotten no response, Vince turned his head as far around as it could go without his eyes leaving the screen, then quickly looked over his shoulder at Howard, before looking instantly back at the screen.

A second later, his entire body seemed to freeze.

Slowly this time, he turned his head away from the screen and looked at Howard. The car he'd been controlling crashed and burned, but Vince seemingly didn't care. He put down the controller and stood up, walking over to Howard, his eyes roaming his entire body. He stopped when he was right in front of him, looking directly into his eyes.

"Howard?" It came out as a half choked whisper.

Howard smiled, feeling a tear escape his eye and run down his cheek. "Hey, little man."

Vince reached up a hand and wiped the tear away, then let out a small sob and flung his arms around Howard's neck, burying his face in his shoulder. Howard tensed briefly at the contact, then brought his arms up around the smaller man's body, hugging him tight. It was nice, just him and Vince together again; not arguing or bickering…

Vince pulled back and grinned at him, his eyes watery and bright. "You have no idea how much I…I really…oh, Howard, I…" he rested his forehead against Howard's and closed his eyes, letting out a small hum of contentment. Howard felt his heart skip.

"Vince, I…"

He was interrupted by the front door slamming and a familiar voice calling out. "Mike? You still here? Sorry I took so long, traffic was a nightmare…"

"Julian?" Mike sounded confused. "But you just came in…"

A second later, both men burst into the living room, freezing in surprise at the sight of Howard and Vince together. Howard awkwardly removed himself from Vince's embrace and held out his hand. "Julian, I take it. Howard Moon. We spoke on the TV."

"Yeah, I…um…remember." Julian took his hand and shook it, looking slightly amused, but very puzzled. "I'm sorry, what…um…how are you here?"

"I've come to get Vince. Take him home."

Julian and Mike instantly both perked up. "And Noel?" Julian asked.

"He should come back once Vince leaves." Howard glanced at the clock. "Come on, we need to go. If me and Naboo stay here too long, it could be dangerous."

"Naboolio!" Vince yelled, running forwards and picking the shaman up in a hug. Naboo greeted this unexpected display of affection with his usual blank look, and Vince blushed slightly. "Sorry."

The shaman grinned. "Alright Vince?"

"Genius! Now that Howard and you are here everything's all good!"

Naboo smiled at Mike and Julian. "Hi. I'm Naboo."

"Yeah, I know." Mike said. "You…honestly have no idea how weird this is for me."

Howard grinned. "You think this is weird? You should have seen Noel's face when he met Tony Harrison!"

Julian snorted with laughter. "Now that I would have paid to see!" he looked at Naboo, more serious now. "What about Noel? Howard said he'd come back once Vince left?"

"Yeah. Should be pretty instant. Are you two feeling ok?"

"Not really." Julian admitted. "Headache. And…to be honest, that rivers looking pretty tempting."

"Ok, both of you need to ignore that urge." Naboo told them, "It's just because Howard and I are here. It messes up the balance." He looked over at Mike, and saw him watching Howard and Vince who were stood off to one side deep in conversation. "You're going to miss him, aren't you?"

Mike smiled. "You know, I didn't think I would, but I am. I really am."

"What if…what if there was a way to lose your memories of him? Go back to how it was before? Would you take it?"

"No. meeting Vince has changed everything. My whole perspective. I wouldn't lose that for the world. Why?"

Naboo dug in his pocket. "I need you to take these." He handed Julian and Mike a small blue pill each.

"What are they?" Julian asked, eyeing it warily.

"They're to…to…" Naboo sighed, feeling guilt twist his stomach. "They're to combat the sickness from me and Howard being here. Take them…take them after we've gone. After you've phoned for the ambulance."

Julian shrugged and pocketed it with a smile. "Oh. Ok."

"Looking forward to going home then?" Howard asked. Vince grinned at him.

"Yeah! It's been great here and everything, but I've missed all the craziness, you know?"

"If it's any consolation, it's been pretty quiet. I've not had a single death threat or been kidnapped since you left!"

"Good." Vince said seriously. "That's our thing, getting into crazy adventures. I don't want you doing anything even remotely adventurous with anyone else!"

Howard laughed, but he was only half sure Vince was joking. Vince waved over Howard's shoulder, and Howard followed his gaze to where Naboo was talking to Julian and Mike. "You going to miss them?"

Vince sighed. "Yeah. It's a shame they won't be able to come visit." he smiled. "Still, what do I need them for? I've got you. And Naboo and Bollo."

"Yeah…"

"You two ball-bags ready?" Naboo asked, surprising them both.

"Yep."

"Ok; Vince. It's very simple; all you need to do is throw yourself into the water."

Vince made a funny choking noise. "What?!"

"It'll be fine." Naboo assured him.

"You have to, Vince, or you won't be able to get home." Howard told him.

Vince looked at him for a second, and then nodded. "Ok."

"Great." Howard smiled.

"See ya, Julian! I know I thought you were a freaky stalker, but you're actually really nice. And I'm sorry about…um…you know."

"No problem." Julian told him. "It's forgotten. Bye, Vince." he stepped forwards and wrapped his arms around the younger man in a friendly hug. Looking over his shoulder, he caught Howard's eye for a split second before the other man looked away. "Talk to him." Julian whispered, so only Vince could hear.

"What?"

"Howard. Talk to him. I think you might be surprised."

Vince pulled away, looking at him with a confused expression. Julian smiled encouragingly, and Vince grinned, suddenly looking slightly bashful.

He turned to Mike. "Mike! It's been great! I'm going to miss you."

"You too."

"And I know you cant exactly say bye to your mum for me, but tell her…tell her it was nice seeing her."

"I will."

"Bye." Vince said, smiling sadly and patting his shoulder.

"Yeah." Mike frowned suddenly and gripped his stomach. "I don't feel so good."

Naboo looked alarmed and glanced at the sky, which had very quickly turned an ominous shade of grey/black.

"Shit." he muttered. "We've been here too long already. Vince, hurry up!"

Vince nibbled his lip nervously, looking into the dark depths of the river. "And this'll definitely work, yeah?"

"Not definitely. But it's the best chance we've got."

Vince looked up. "So, if it doesn't work I might not see you again for ages?"

"No. But we'll find something, I promise."

"Right then." Vince turned to Howard and grabbed his face, crushing their lips together. The kiss lasted for over 10 seconds, before Vince pulled slowly back. "See you on the other side." he said quietly. He gave Julian a quick conspirative glance and a wink, and then took a deep breath and threw himself into the water.

Julian looked at the others and had to fight down the urge to laugh. Mike and Naboo were wearing identical surprised expressions, and Howard was stood completely frozen, blinking in shock.

"Erm…portal?" Julian murmured, poking Naboo's arm. The shaman shook himself.

"Right. Yeah. Gotta go home. Call for an ambulance now, Noel should be back any minute."

"Right. Bye then."

"Bye." he turned. "Come on, Howard!"

The older man still stood frozen. Naboo heard a crash in the distance. Looking around, he saw a crack in the road that he was sure hadn't been there before… he felt himself go cold. "Howard, hurry up!" he said urgently, a hint of panic entering his usually monotone voice.

Howard looked around and stared at him blankly, then seemed to snap out of it. "Yes! Sorry." he looked at Julian and Mike. "Bye. Thanks for looking after Vince."

"You're welcome."

Howard joined Naboo next to the portal, and together they walked back through to their world.