She's My Collar

By: KKM

Disclaimer: I do not own the Gorillaz or any related characters/songs. Gorillaz are © Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett.

Last Time:

This only made her cry harder, though Russ never realized why. Even after everything she'd done to him, 2D was still protecting her from harm. Through his anger he'd still made sure that she was taken care of and felt loved. What had she given him in return? Only heartache. She was both thankful and completely distraught by this revelation. She loved him so much still but had no idea how she would ever fix this. What if he really did leave the band? Then everything really would be her fault. She felt like her world was crumbling around her.

"I-I loved him," she croaked against Russel's chest. "I-I love h-him and n-now he's g-gone."

This revelation made Russel's heart go out to her even more. "We'll get through this, Noodle-gurl," he whispered, kissing the top of her head as if she was a little girl again. "We'll help you."

But as she hugged him tighter, she wasn't so sure he could.

Chapter 13: Hallelujah Money

"I'll get it!" Russel shouted when he heard the doorbell ring from the hallway. A few hours ago, they had wrapped up a particularly frustrating rehearsal. For once it wasn't their egomaniac leader's fault. In fact, Russ got the idea that the older man had been just as irritated as he was about the whole thing. He wasn't even sure what had went wrong. One moment they'd all been playing through a few of their newer songs. It hadn't been as harmonious as usual. Noodle kept strumming away with the verbosity of a moody tiger which was giving their songs an edgy undertone so they had continued on without much complaint. But then 2D had started missing his cues due to the weird tempo and everything had fallen out of whack from there.

2D had been the first to crack as he'd stepped away from his microphone and keyboard to openly glare at her. The singer had actually yelled at the young guitarist! He'd voiced his frustrations that she wasn't paying attention to what she was doing and how she was screwing up the vibe of his music. She'd been just as relentless as she removed the strap of her Les Paul and practically shoved it at Murdoc before marching up to the blue haired man complaining that it was his fault for sounding so dispassionate and blaming him for being a jackass about it.

All the time they were fighting, Russel and Murdoc kept shooting each other looks of annoyance and confusion. They opted not to join the fight as it seemed this had been building for a while. Neither of them knew exactly what had been said between the two best friends, but it was clear that whatever it was had been bothering the younger two members for weeks. They'd both been irritable and hardly seemed to ever stay in the same room with each other for very long. 2D always seemed to have a bitter cloud hanging over him ever since he'd announced his breakup with his mystery girl and Noodle had been depressed and borderline bipolar since her friend had died. Russ was seriously thinking about forcing the two to go see a therapist if this continued much longer. He'd wait and talk it over with Muds later when they were alone.

The doorbell rang again and he rolled his eyes before grasping the door handle and pulling it open to greet their unexpected guests. "Yeah, yeah. I'm right here. No need to-" his words cut off abruptly when he realized it was two police officers and the band's lawyer Gordy Rodgers on the front step. "Uh… Gordy, what's going on?" the drummer asked, sounding uncertain as he stepped out of the way to let them in.

Gordy Rodgers was a portly looking man with slightly balding wheat colored hair. He always gave the impression that he was out of breath and had a nervous habit of scratching his nose when he ran into the more irritating problems that seemed to follow the band throughout the years. Today he was wearing a rather hideous looking yellow tweed suit that made his look more like an obese walrus than the top-notch lawyer he was. His suitcase was clutched in a tight grip and currently overflowing with papers as if he'd packed it in a hurry. He gave Russel a long-suffering sigh and stuck his nose up at the police officer who was eyeing them both in distaste. "They've come to try and take Murdoc," he sniffed in a rush. "But this won't hold up in court, I'm telling you!"

"Tell that to the judge," one of the cops retorted with a snort, handing Russel the warrant for the green man's arrest.

"God damnit, what's that ol' cracker done now?" Russ groaned as he took the offered piece of paper and quickly started reading it over. After he got about a page in, his grip on the paper tightened and he took a deep breath before bellowing at the top of his lungs causing everyone to jump. "MURDOC, GET'CHO ASS UP HERE!"

Upstairs, Noodle had been picking at her guitar-calloused fingers with somewhat of a grimace on her tired features. Nothing was going how she wanted. The day after 2D had sent Russel to console her, she'd tried to corner the singer into talking to her but he'd been very good at avoiding her lately. If she would enter a room, he would suddenly exit. It wasn't even the silent treatment that was bothering her. He wouldn't look at her. Never had she felt so horrible and worthless before. And over something that had been so completely misunderstood and blown out of proportion. She had no idea how she was supposed to fix this.

Even worse, she knew that 2D had gone out to the bar with Murdoc at least two times that she was aware of. She'd sighed in relief each time he'd returned alone looking drunk and angry as Murdoc boisterously led his newest conquests to his notorious Winnebago. She wasn't sure what she'd do if he actually brought someone home with him. A small flutter of hope warmed her heart each time he'd come back empty-handed. She knew he was hurting just as bad if not worse than she was. She just needed time to figure out a plan to win him back.

The Axe Princess was not about to silently admit defeat. If 2D would not talk to her, she would make him talk. Practices were the only place that he could not escape her. So like today, she would purposely mess up or do things simply to bait him. Today she'd been very successful in angering him. His face had turned beat red and the veins in his neck had practically popped out in his rare display. Hot puffs of air had assaulted her face with each shout and she'd given it back to him twice as good feeling a strange sense of relief from finally being able to express all of her pent up stress. Even though he'd obviously been pissed too, she could tell that he'd felt the same way. They hadn't been best friends for so many years for no reason, after all.

She flinched in surprise when she hear Russ's angry yell followed by several shouts coming from downstairs. She cocked her head to the side, curiosity getting the best of her as she slid from the zabuton cushion she'd been sitting on and stood heading for the door. Apparently she hadn't been the only one roused from her sanctuary.

2D was already standing in the hallway looking over toward the stairwell with a deep frown on his face as if he was trying to decide if he should go see what was happening or not. When he heard her door open, his head jerked toward her and he furrowed his brows at her. It took her a moment to register that his dark eyes weren't gazing at her with his normal ire, but more inquisitively. She raised her own brows at him in surprise and shrugged, silently conveying to him that she had no idea what was going on. That seemed to be enough for him as he turned back toward the stairwell and narrowed his eyes in the direction of the obvious confrontation. He cautiously led the way until they were both about half way down the stairs. Then they both turned in unison, leaning against the rails to watch from a safe distance. They knew from experience that it wasn't a good idea to put themselves in the middle of a scuffle between Russ and Muds. It was best just to lay low and observe from afar.

"Mr. Rodgers and the cops? This can't be good…" Noodle trailed off. Beside her she watched as 2D winced at the sound of her voice. He didn't reply, but he also didn't move away from her either so that was a somewhat win, wasn't it?

Sighing, she tuned in to the commotion below.

"Murdoc, what the hell is this!?" the large drummer was growling as he clutched the now very crumbled papers tightly in his hand as he waived them into the older man's face.

"Now, now," Murdoc was saying, waving his arms in front of the bigger man as if to calm him down. He did not seem very confident about it though because he was steadily moving backwards until his back thumped against the wall unintentionally cornering himself. "S'alrigh' Russ, just a simple copyrigh' issue. Nothin' ol' Muds can't fix."

"COPYRIGHT ISSUE!?" Russel bellowed in a disbelieving voice. "They've got you for stalking and blackmail, you old coot. And to Grace Jones, no less! What were you thinking? She's one of our features. This jeopardizes everything!"

"Well, yesssss. About that," Murdoc chuckled nervously, tapping his fingers together, "I hadn' actually gotten 'round to convincin' her to be on board yet." He visibly flinched when he watched Russel's face morph from disbelief to fury. "But tha's wot I was doin', yeh see. She agreed teh have tea with me an' I decided to use it as an opportunity to negotiate."

"You absolute fool." Russel spat, shaking as he tried to keep himself from kicking the older man's ass in front of two cops and a lawyer. "You stole her underwear and tried to blackmail her with it? Really Muds!? I'd already convinced her to feature, you numbskull! Now she's getting a restraining order from you. Do you know how much convincing it's going to take to get this shit fixed?"

Murdoc had the decency too look embarrassed and was about to open his mouth to say something before he was interrupted by one of the police officers. "Well, you'll have plenty of time to think it over in prison for breaking your probation," the man snickered.

Murdoc gave the man a cocky snort. "Oh please, that's what good lawyers are for. Right Gordy?" he smirked.

But gordy wasn't smiling, in fact he looked rather fidgeting. "Well… if convicted it could get reduced to nine months on good behavior," he frowned, giving Murdoc a rather serious look.

"Kuso…" Noodle muttered under her breath. Her fingers twitched nervously, accidentally brushing 2D's hand beside her. He frowned and quickly jerked his hand away before refocusing on what was going on below, his frown deepening in concentration. Noodle sighed, sparing him a quick glance before shifting on her step and following his gaze.

Murdoc had paled considerably until he'd resembled something akin to a seasick crocodile. But just as quickly his cheeks began to flush with an almost frightening display of outrage. "NINE BLOODY MONTHS!? Gordy, I go' an alb'm teh release. You lot can't do this ter me!"

"I'm afraid we can and we will, Mr. Niccals," the officer said with a nasty smile as his partner stepped forward mockingly swinging the handcuffs on her index finger lazily. "Is that resisting arrest, I hear?"

Murdoc's eyes widened comically at that, knowing that if they marked that down on their little pads of theirs he could kiss his early release goodbye. "N-no, officers. In fact, I think I'm ready," he said, changing his tune before giving Russel a meaningful look. "Take care of the kids, love?" he made a poor attempt at baiting the bigger man with humor.

"Fuuuuuck," Russel groaned, wiping some sweat from his forehead before stepping away from the Satanist. "You owe me big time fo' dis. And don't you dare think I won't forget," he said sternly motioning for the police officers to do their jobs. "I'll have to call everyone and make sure no one bounces out because of this," he said, suddenly looking drained.

"I'm sure you'll do fiiiiine, Lards," Murdoc reassured him, making a show of acting like everything was all hunky-dory. The female officer cuffed him with a sharp click and he gave her a flirty chuckle that she ignored with a sneer. Then he turned his mismatched gaze up to the concerned other half of his band and offered a cheeky smile. "Awwww, will yeh miss meeee? I'll be back'for ya' know it."

"I'll get this all straightened out, Mr. Hobbs," Gordy promised, looking annoyed as the officers led the cackling bassist away.

"Just let me know what happens. I need to make some calls," Russel sighed before stomping away toward the basement where they assumed he was going to the makeshift office they'd made down in the recording studio.

Soon everyone had left and only Noodle and 2D remained as they were on the stairwell. Noodle glanced over at 2D's concerned face and frowned. He looked both tired and worried. "Too-" she cut herself off when she saw his eyes start to narrow again. "2D," she amended quickly. "You okay?"

"M'leavin," he muttered coldly, stepping away from her has he clunked down the rest of the stairs. He looked back up at her when she hadn't moved and seemed to falter at the stricken look on her face. He paused a moment frowning at her strange reaction. He hadn't been any colder than he usually was toward her. Then his words from a few weeks ago echoed through his damaged mind and he winced.

'I'll stay 'till this damn album is done fer tha' band. But afta' this, I'm gone.'

Murdoc was going to jail for nine months and who knew what Russel was going to do in the meantime. 'She finks yo' gonna' leave too,' he thought to himself. 'An maybe I should…' But as always, something in his mind prevented him from doing what he should do and he spoke a vague reassurance that had her staring at him in bewilderment. "I'll be back," he said simply.

Then she was left alone to her troubled thoughts.

A/N: Well that just happened. Like I said, I wanted to keep kinda with what's revealed in the interviews. This one is mostly channeled from what happened in the Murdoc 2D live interview. Murdoc mentioned he went to jail for a "copyright" issue for nine months. Sounds like an excuse to me lol. So I paired it with his joking about spending a wild night with Grace Jones. She'll actually be in a chapter later on.

The song title for this chapter made me giggle a bit. Not because of the song – that's rather beautiful and serious. But because every time I think of Murdoc anywhere near money I imagine that his happy place would be something similar to Scrooge McDuck swimming in a poll of gold and big bills. Close your eyes, you know you could see it too.

Oh the irony of chapter 13 mostly being about Murdoc. I feel like he'd be proud of that... weirdly that wasn't planned. I just now noticed it rofl. Maybe I did that subconsciously.

As far as 2D and Noodle getting back together, it will happen I promise. It will just take a little time. With how fast I update this story I can tell you that I don't think you'll have to wait long no matter how excruciating it feels. Hang in there!