A/N: This one's from Murdoc's point of view. I enjoy seeing thing from inside the different characters heads. I hope I'm getting their personalities across well and that the story isn't wandering too much. Gimmee some input! And as always, enjoy!

Chapter 11

camera one

It was another gorgeous Californian night. They just didn't have nights like this in England. The stars were so bright they were visible through all the city lights. The moon hung in the air like piece of art. The air was just on the uncomfortable side of warm, giving the female guests the perfect excuse to wear as little clothing as possible.

Still. He was feeling a bit bored listening to the same gossip as yesterday. He'd half-heartedly chatted with the few directors that had shown up this evening, made pleasantries with almost all the guests, well, most of them. There seemed to be all the same hangers-on from the last party. He was looking for something new to catch his attention and hopefully keep him occupied tonight.

His eyes scanned the garden. There was a group of young women in the pool, batting a ball back and forth being eyed by an equally young group of guys hanging around the edge of the pool like jackals waiting to pounce. There was a mixed group of slightly older guests hanging around the small bar and grill beyond the pool. The smell of the kabobs reached his nose tantalizingly, but he was hungry for something else. Over there in the grass was Wee Jimmy and his little gaggle of hippy friends. "Oh, Satan, he's got that stupid guitar." Jimmy looked up and noticing Murdoc, began waving for his attention but the bored attention seeker just rolled his eyes and turned away.

He looked toward the mansion and paused as Lihn stepped through the patio doors in a short flowery sundress, her hair was down and shown like silk in the light spilling from the doorway. He grinned as she stumbled a bit, almost dropping the glass in her hand, then he scowled as Russel came through right behind her, holding her hand. She turned her head toward her companion, laughing at something he'd said and Murdoc imagined he could hear her lilting voice from where he was standing. His eyes traveled down her body as she moved, and he concluded that he was hungry for Asian cuisine. He'd been serious when he said he thought she was after something and that he didn't think she was really who she claimed, but he seriously wanted to get her into the sack as well. It was part of the reason he'd invited her on this little adventure. He also figured Noodle might get a bit upset about losing the first lead into her past that they'd found, but mostly he wanted to 'hit that'.

The self-made leader of the band had spent the last week concentrating on networking for the movie he was wanting to make and he'd almost forgotten about his new quarry. Now she was spending way to much time with the American drummer. He had figured he was going to have to keep her away from ole Two Dents and was more than a bit surprised when he'd caught her snogging with Lardo the night before. And while his light-hearted teasing gotten a laugh from his guests, he didn't think it had won any points with Lihn. In fact, after their little 'meeting' this afternoon, he was pretty sure she hated him, which only made the game more interesting. Looked like he was going to have to start putting some effort into this chase.

He needed to find his hook so he was going to have to get to know her a bit. Sometimes just taking the time to act interested in a bird did the trick, but he could tell she wasn't going to be that easy. Intelligence and looks weren't a combination he usually ran into to but he loved a challenge. "First, I've got to get 'er away from Tubbs."

He glanced around the garden at each of his guests. Was that Ike Turner chatting up that dark haired girl? Murdoc downed his drink and excused himself from the group he was standing with and made his way toward his guest. He knew that Russel, the musical connoisseur, was a fan of the old school musician. If he could get the two talking, he could draw Lihn away practically un-noticed.

It was child's play. He introduced Ike to Russel and the two were soon locked in a discussion about musical… something or others. Murdoc had stopped listening before they'd even started. He pretended to be interested for a few moments, waiting for the attractive Japanese woman to achieve that glassy-eyed look of polite dis-interest before making his first move.

He looked at the almost-empty glass in her hand. He moved close and nudged her with his elbow. "Come on, I'll pour you another drink." he said to her, gesturing toward the house. She looked at her new beau uncertainly. "He can go on like 'at fer hours." Murdoc explained, "He won't even notice you've gone." he took her by the elbow and she allowed him to steer her toward the house.

"I'm still angry, you know." she said matter-of-factly, giving him a stern look.

"Aw, come on, Doll. You can't be mad forever." he drawled. "Tell you whot, you can sit in on the next session, eh? You'll see, there's nothing' ta worry bout. And I talked to Jimmy," he lied, "Just a mis-understanding, like I said." she gave him a dis-believing look, but said nothing.

They stepped inside to the sounds of the piano being played. Apparently someone had coerced 2-D into playing for them on the spindle legged piano near the bar and the radio had been shut off to oblige, even voices seemed to be hushed as he played. Sure enough, there was a crowd of tanned, nubile bodies surrounding the piano, each trying to catch his eye as his fingers danced across the keys.

Lihn's gaze was drawn in his direction like a mosquito to a bug zapper, making her forget to be angry. "He plays very well. Hungarian Rhapsody, yes?"

"Yup, 'at's it." Murdoc groused, "He always whips 'at shit out to impress the ladies. 'Sa bit disingenuous 'f you ask me. He was always grousing' 'bout how his Mum made him learn classical piano." He nodded his head toward the pianist surrounded by adoring girls, "You don' see 'im complaining now, do ya?"

She smiled broadly, "It is a good quality, being able to turn a negative into a positive."

He turned his dark head toward the piano, "Yea, 'D's always been good fer that." he nodded at the bartender who immediately pulled a bottle and two glasses of ice from below the bar and handed them over. "I mean, jus' look 'at those dents in 'is face. Any other man'd be ruined. Not 'D. He rocks them shits like a god." he shook his head, chuckling, "They actually made him better lookin'!" he cackled as he made his way toward an empty yellow couch.

He sat placing the glasses on the coffee table and screwed the cap off the bottle. He glanced up at her. She was watching 2-D, slightly swaying in time to the music, humming and vocalizing softly to herself. Her right hand fidgeted with the seem of her sun dress. Damn, she was fine! Her voice was lovely too. Maybe if he offered her a backing vocal line on one of their tracks she'd relax a bit with the whole 'Noodle thing'. He still needed to find out what was up with that.

She'd come all that way to supposedly find her niece then asked to stay with them? He thought she must be broke, looking for a free ride. Telling her to buy her own plane ticket to LA was a test to find out. Even then, he supposed she could have a bit saved up, after all, she'd made it to England from Japan, but when they hit Rodeo Drive she began spending money like it was water. He didn't even know where she was putting all the stuff.

Maybe she'd gotten in some kind of legal trouble and had to leave the Japan. But with the money she was throwing away she could've have gone anywhere. Maybe she really was the girls aunt. They had been in Japan some months ago, she could have seen a tour poster or something, but there was still something fishy going on. He'd tried to talk to Noodle about it, but the girl was being all 'pre-teeny' lately, ice cream and sweets didn't do the trick anymore. And there was still the language thing, but that was getting better since her 'aunt' showed up. "Guess I'll just 'ave to get closer to Lihn, and find out fer m'self." he thought devilishly.

"Sit with me." She looked as though she were going to change her mind and leave. "Come on, we 'aven't 'ad a chance to chat since we hit the States."

She still looked uncertain but she sat, accepting the proffered glass. She gave an approving look as she sipped from the glass. "Brandy, nice."

The rocker gave his own look of approval. "Was afraid you'd be one of those fruity, umbrella in the cup, kinda gals."

"There is nothing wrong with an umbrella in your cup, Mr. Niccals." she paused to sip from her cup. "If it is raining!" she smiled.

"Ha! Exactly." He laughed. He took a swallow and looked at her over the edge of his glass. "You're not what I expected from a lady scientist."

She adopted an attitude of annoyance, "Let me guess? It is because I am beautiful, young, and have a sense of humor, yes? Well, let me tell you something. First," she held up one finger, "I am not that young, and second," she held another finger aloft, "I was something besides a scientist, you know?"

"Yea? Whot?" he asked uncertainly, silently wondering how much she'd already had to drink.

"I was a person." she said quietly, all trace of annoyance gone. "I'm sorry, Murdoc." she looked at him sheepishly and put a hand on his arm apologetically. "I should not have snapped at you. But after so many years of being left out because 'she would not want to go' or 'she would not like that, she is too science-y'" she made a goofy face making her host laugh out loud. "I have become a bit bitter." she grinned wryly.

"This could be my hook" he thought. "And whot sort of things did they leave you out of? Parties? Movies?"

Lihn took a deeper drink, feeling real annoyance at her memories. "Clubbing, karaoke, just going for a drink! What do these people think I do at home?"

"And whot do you do, luv?" he inched a bit closer each time he asked a question.

"Just normal things, I watch television, play video games, listen to music, you know, normal things." she shrugged.

"Whot kind of music do you love? I mean, besides Gorillaz, of course."

It was Lihn's turn to laugh. "I am sorry, I had never heard of your band before."

"Yea, that reminds me." Murdoc said, turning suddenly serious. "You say you've never heard of our band, but someone had the presence of mind to put Noodle in a crate and ship her to my address, with no memories and the only skill that was sure to make me wanna keep her round. Sounds a bit planned, don' it?"

Lihn looked thoughtful, "It does actually. Which only makes it more likely…" she seemed to be talking to herself.

"Makes whot 'more likely'?" he pressed.

Lihn looked as though she'd said something she hadn't meant to. "More likely than what?" she replied.

"Whot?" Murdoc was confused, "No, whot you said."

"What did I say?" Lihn looked confused as well.

"You said, it makes it more likely."

"More likely than what?"

"I don't know! YOU said it."

While they'd been chatting someone had turned the radio back on and Mick Jagger was singing of his love for dark skinned girls. "Is that the Rolling Stones?" Lihn asked distracted. "I love them. I got to meet them once. May I have more brandy?" She held out her empty glass.

"Um. Yea." She kept right on talking as he poured more into her glass feeling as though he'd lost control of the situation.

"Do you know who else I have not listened to in a long time?" the tipsy woman asked, "The Clash! It has been ages since I have listened to a Clash album."

Murdoc perked up again, "You like The Clash?" she nodded sipping from her glass. "One of my favorites. I'd 'ave never took you fer a fan. Don' exactly fit the stero-type, eh?"

"Oh come on, Murdoc!" she gave him a playful shove, "Who does not like The Clash? They are so…" she seemed to flounder for a word, "real." she nodded, satisfied with her choice of word. Murdoc smiled genuinely. "I can hear their influence in some of your music."

"I thought you said you hadn't heard of us?"

"I had not, But Noodle gave me a disc to listen too. Well, two actually, she also gave me the G-Sides. She is quite proud of it."

Muds was more comfortable now, this was a subject he excelled in. "Ah, so whot's yer favorite, then?" he asked.

Her eyes seemed to un-focus as if she weren't seeing the room they were in. "Broken."

The rock star snorted, "Sorry, Luv, not one of ours."

She smiled a strange half-smile, "Because you haven't written it for me yet." her eyes re-focused and she gave her head a small shake. She looked at the glass in her hand as if wondering how it had gotten there then took a drink. She glanced up and noticed Murdoc staring at her amused. "I'm sorry, what were you saying? I seem to have had a bit too much to drink." she giggled.

"Haven't written it for her yet, hmmm?" Perhaps this would be easier than he thought. Girls were always hooking up with 'D and Rus, then discovering what they were missing. "Nothing important." he told her. "'Ere, whot say we dig up another team and go upstairs to the game room and knock some balls about." he winked at her, making her laugh again.

She seemed about to agree but her attention was snatched by something across the room. "Who is that young man that seems to be chatting up, Noodle-chan?"

Murdoc's head snapped in the direction she was looking, his eyes narrowed. "I don' know, but I'm gon' find out." he growled. He stood, lighting a cigarette and stalked in the young guitarist's direction.

"Noodle!" he called brightly, he walked up and put an arm round the shoulder's of the blonde, tanned young man. "Who's your friend 'ere?" He asked blowing smoke directly in the fellow's face.

Noodle only rolled her eyes and adopted a look of annoyance. Her 'friend' coughed a bit and answered, "Name's Zeke, Mr. Murdoc, Sir. It's a real pleasure to meet you!" he held up his right hand and the older man shook it without letting go of the boys shoulder's. " Noodle and I were just discussing how different your sound is compared to other popular songs today."

Murdoc feigned a look of interest, "Were you? How interesting." then his expression changed to one of annoyance, "Must 'ave been pretty one-sided, her not speaking English and all."

"She speaks well enough to get her point across." the boy smiled and winked at the young girl, making her blush.

Her guardian, however, was enraged. The balls on this kid must be enormous! he couldn't believe the boy was flirting with her right in front him. His grip tightened on the skinny boys shoulders. ""At's good! Because if I thought you were trying to chat up my young, impressionable, thirteen year old, band mate, whom I have come to think of as a daughter," he pulled the boy tighter, "I might have to consider making you a eunuch. You know what a eunuch is, dontcha boy?" The boy shook his head, his eyes widening with worry. "Ah! Well, they were often used to guard royal harems. Big, strapping young men. See," he paused to hit his cigarette, "the testosterone swelled up they're muscles, much like a steroid, because it had no where else to go seeing as how their junk had been cut off." he made a flicking motion with his cigarette as if he were cutting something with a knife. "You understand whot I'm sayin', Boy?" he asked sinisterly.

The boy, Zeke, nodded his head vigorously. "Yes, Sir."

"Good!" He said brightly, clapping the boy on the back. "Now, if you'll look in this direction, I believe you'll find a whole gaggle of girls your own age, willing to discuss any topic you like." he gave the young man a small shove, "Go on then."

Zeke nodded again and moved off in the direction indicated without giving Noodle a second glance.

Murdoc turned back to Noodle's enraged face intending to give her a warning about 'guys like that', but instead got an earful of angrily spit Japanese and clenched fists. "Darlin', stop" he raised his hands trying to calm her, "You know I can' understand what you're sayin'…" he started.

"Understand this!" she shouted in English and stomped on his foot hard before storming off.

"Argh! These are genuine Cuban leather, brat!" he let out in pain grabbing at his foot. He watched as she stopped by Lihn shouting more Japanese and Lihn answered her back. He couldn't understand her but she nodded in Murdoc's direction and then in the boys direction, then she threw her hands in the air as Noodle screamed something else he couldn't understand, stomped her foot and stormed out of the back door, rudely shoving past people.

Murdoc started after her, but when he passed Lihn, she reached out and took his hand shaking her head, "Give her a minute."

He wanted to tell her to fuck off, but he looked around the room and noticed the guests who'd stop to pay attention and deflated a bit. "Kids. Am I right?" he said loudly. A few people nodded their heads and everyone seemed to go back to their previous conversations. "Fucking kids." he breathed with more feeling.

Lihn looked up at him from where she sat, still holding his hand. She gave it a squeeze and grinned. "I know she is angry, but what you did, it was… good, sort of. You had good intentions, but you embarrassed her. She feels you are treating her like a child." she explained.

"She is a child." he said hanging on to her hand.

"Yes." she said thoughtfully, "but she is expected to behave grown up in so many situations, it hard for her to accept that she is still a child in other situations."

" Yea, 'cept when she wants to get out of doin' things." he groused.

"Well, she is a child!" she smiled at him. "And do not worry, I will go check on her. Make sure she is not trying to make up for it with someone else!" she winked at the slightly panicked look on his face and pulled herself up off the couch. Murdoc caught her as she nearly fell over the coffee table in her inebriated state. He pulled her upright and she caught herself, placing her hands on his upper arms, laughing. "Perhaps, I should give her a minute!"

Murdoc smiled back, pleased with the current situation. "I think you should give her a lot of minutes." he chuckled.

To his disappointment, she righted herself and backed up a step. She leaned down, reaching for her glass, and nearly tumbled again. But instead of Murdoc catching her, strong hands grabbed her by the waist from behind. "I think maybe you've had enough." a strong New York accident chided her.

Her smiled widened and she turned his hands, wrapping her arms around him. "There you are!"

The British rocker scowled as he realized that Russel was going to get the pay-off for all his hard work. And scowled even more when Russel addressed him.

"What d'you say to Noodle?" he huffed angrily, "she come outside clearly upset and all she said was you're name."

"Don' fuckin' worry bout it." he answered, irritated. He made to walk off but Rus grabbed him by the arm.

"Watch 'at shit, Muds. Nood's ain't 'D, don't you be fuckin' wit her." he said threateningly.

Murdoc went livid. How DARE he accuse him of hurting Noodle. Sure he pushed 2-D around a bit, but he thought of the younger man as little brother. Brother's got into scraps sometimes, he and his older brother, Hannibal fought almost every day when they'd still been speaking. But to imply that he would purposely hurt Noodle, emotionally or physically was drawing the line. He jerked his arm from the other man's grasp and turned swinging.

But he didn't connect with Russel's face as he expected. It was clenched in the palm of a small Japanese hand. He hadn't even seen her move, but she was facing him, still between the large man and himself, her hand a little above her head holding his. Her eyes were stern, she was no longer smiling. She didn't even seem tipsy any more.

"How'd she do that?" she shouldn't even have been strong enough to stop him like that. He glanced around the room, no was even looking at them. It was almost as if they weren't even there.

Lihn let go of his hand and turned to Russel, looking up into his face, she said one word. "Go."

Russel glanced at Murdoc with murder in his eyes, then turned and stalked out of the room, followed by the small woman. She turned and gave him a very disappointed look, then moved out of sight.

There was something about that woman, and he was going to find out what. But first, he was going to head outside and make sure Noodle wasn't talking to another guy.