The shot was deafening. I knew I was screaming but I couldn't hear anything. All I could see was 2D falling and all I could feel was Murdoc's hand, tightening on my arm and then, oddly, releasing me. 2D's body fell gracefully, in a beautiful arc head to toes. Everything blurred as more tears filled my eyes and spilled down my cheeks. I was frozen, free from Murdoc's grasp but unable to make the move to make sure 2D was still alive.

For a moment I just stood, staring at the motionless body, sniffling as my tears dried up as quickly as they had come.

"Stu?" I quietly asked him. He didn't move and I let out a moan of sorrow. He was dead. He had to be. No one could take a shot like that and still be alive. "Please wake up, Stu. Please."

A long moment passed and I began to realize that he wasn't going to get up. Then, like a miracle from Up Above, he began to stir and his big beautiful eyes opened. Just like that I was thawed. Quick as a flash I was by his side, examining his body for any bullet wounds and coming up empty.

"What happened?" He asked, making his own routine check for wounds. "Why am I not dead?"

I gave a wet laugh and pulled him into a kiss. "I don't care. Just as long as you're still here."

I tried to pull away to help him stand but he had other plans. Pulling my face up to his he kissed me again, long and hard. I didn't complain, for one heart stopping moment I thought I had lost him forever. Finally after what seemed like a lifetime he pulled away from me and smiled up at me.

"We're ok." He said, wiping a thumb across my cheek. "We're ok."

I smiled at him and quickly kissed him again. Before we could get caught up in another moment 2D pulled away.

"Wait. We're ok." He stated.

I looked at him confused. "Yeah, I thought we established that."

"No. We're ok." He stated again. "Why isn't Murdoc trying to make sure we're dead?"

I hesitated. That was a good question. Why wasn't Murdoc finishing the deed? Why wasn't he still terrorizing us? I turned back to look at the bassist and nearly fell over.

Russel was grinning at us from over the building. His fist was clenched and was hovering above the crumpled heap that was Murdoc. Noodle was waving from above his head.

"Hey guys!" She was yelling at us. "Long time no see, huh?"

I could feel more tears well up in my eyes and leak from the corners. They were really there. We were saved. As the happiness bubbled up I found myself laughing uncontrollably. It wasn't soon after that 2D joined with me. I couldn't blame him. We had both been positive we were going to die and now there was no stopping us.

It had taken us a few minutes to get set up. Since 2D and I weren't rushing to get to the boat before Murdoc spotted or caught us we took our time gathering up our few belongings and stealing a few weeks worth of food from the kitchen. Russel had said they had no idea where the nearest land mass was but we figured if we kept going straight we'd run into something sooner or later. We both agreed to cross that bridge if we came to it.

After much consideration (mostly involving Russel and 2D being strongly against it), we decided we would take Murdoc with us to the mainland. He had been out in the middle of nowhere for far too long and if a change of scenery didn't help him then there were always doctors we could take him to. 2D said flat out that there was no way Murdoc was going to be in the same part of the boat as me which I understood (and in all seriousness there was no way I was going to hang out with Murdoc anyways). After we had gotten that figured out and packed everything else up we decided to set sail.

"He's all locked up." 2D said as the island grew distant in the horizon.

We had found a small room in the bottom of the boat perfect for keeping Murdoc prisoner. 2D had managed to find some handcuffs that weren't fuzzy (seriously, we went through about 10 pairs before we found a pair of regular handcuffs) and chained Murdoc to the wall before the Satanist could regain consciousness.

"That's good." I murmured, staring out at the still shrinking island.

2D wrapped his arms around me and placed a dry kiss on my shoulder. "Something the matter?" He asked, rubbing a thumb across my abdomen.

I tore my gaze away from Plastic Beach to look into 2D's enquiring black eyes. "Is it weird that I think I'm actually going to miss that island?"

"No," He said, grinning at me, "I think it's very normal. After all, it wasn't the island's fault Murdoc was such a swine."

I laughed and turned in 2D's arms. For a moment we just kissed, savoring the feeling of being together and finally away from danger. I heard Noodle giggle and Russel scoffed.

"So I see you fixed things." He stated plainly.

I smiled up at him and nodded. He grinned.

"That's good." He murmured.

Noodle snuggled down into Russel's head. She looked at me and I looked at her.

"You sure you don't want to stay in the boat tonight?" I asked worried she might fall off in the middle of the night. I couldn't lose Noodle again. I'd already lost her twice.

She shook her head, "No, I'm accustomed to sleeping on Russel's head. Plus, I'm the only thing that keeps his nightmares away."

We sailed for hours, the island had finally sunk into the horizon and all that we were left with was the sun in the blue sky that melted into the ocean. It was beautiful for awhile but after staring at it for hours and hours there wasn't much to comment on.

Murdoc had woken up and was screaming bloody murder. 2D tried to get him to quiet down; he told him he was going to lose his voice and what good was that going to do him? Murdoc didn't listen, he just kept screaming until he finally went hoarse and all we could hear was him pulling relentlessly at his chains.

2D had retired to the bedroom and, after changing the sheets (it was Murdoc's boat after all), fell into it sighing in relief. It had been a rough couple of days after all. For a few minutes we just laid there, talking about anything and everything. Then, once we had run out of things to say, 2D wiggled down the bed until he could have a conversation with my stomach.

"Hey there," He whispered, running a loving hand over my belly. "You're not very big yet but don't worry. You've got a few months in your mum before you meet your daddy."

I ran a lazy hand through his hair and he placed a kiss on my bellybutton.

"I'm going to be the best daddy you ever have. I promise." He whispered. "I love you already."

I giggled and he looked up at me, the happiest smile I had ever seen playing on his lips. I grabbed hold of his collar and pulled him up to me. I kissed him with everything I had; trying to say everything I wanted to say without actually saying it. Finally, 2D decided he was going to take matters into his own hands and we made love in Murdoc's boat, drifting in the sea, in the middle of nowhere.

And it was beautiful.

So we lost. Brutally. I didn't even see the end of the game. I just know we lost.

But you don't care about that. You care about Elle and 2D. And I have a proposition for you. I see fanfiction authors do/get these all the times and I decided to just do this for fun. You guys all like writing (obviously). Ok, you write how you think Love You So Much These Days should end and send it to my inbox and whoever's is the best (which I already assure you, its going to be super duper hard because you are all excellent.) I will put in my story. That's right you can be a part of Love You So Much These Days.

Fun, yes?

I should probably make sure I know how to use my inbox first...hmm. Well, lets try the inbox and if it doesn't work then I will give you my yahoo email. Sound good?

Awesome, stay classy guys.