It was actually the best Noodle had slept in 2 weeks.

That wasn't saying a whole lot. For the first few nights sleep had never been deliberate, dipping in and out when survival demanded it. Most often in the living room, with occasional spouts in her bedroom, the kitchen, 2D's room and the roof. The first night, the three of them were in the living room until late morning. The police had been at Kong for hours, questioning Russel and Murdoc, but especially Noodle, needing to verify this wasn't some long-calculated murder of her best friend. They didn't say that, of course, but questions like "was he holding any financial or personal control over you?" And "were you wanting the band to go in a direction he didn't agree with, or vice versa?" weren't hard to see though.

When the three finally had went upstairs it was nightfall. Murdoc made some thoroughly Irish coffees with a little of his strange Bazaar infusion, and they sat on the floor in a circle, mostly saying nothing. Sometimes Noodle would begin to cry, a cry which turned into a wail when Russel attempted to comfort her, before returning to silence. They began to inadvertently take turns drifting off, head in their hands. When Murdoc slept, Russel talked about the light he'll always have over them and the world. He told Noodle to remember everything, especially the times he made their worlds so much better. Occasionally he tried to plan how to manage things going forward, but he found it too hard to say, and Noodle too hard to listen to, so it usually petered off. When Russel slept, Murdoc told stories. Stories she knew, stories she didn't, ones where 2D was idiotic, or irritating, or simply impish, but every story, no matter how aggravated Murdoc became in his retelling, ended in a moment of beauty, or wonder, or understanding, causing Murdoc to clear his throat repeatedly and make a fresh batch of Irish coffee. 2D was, at least Murdoc thought, someone who'd always be alright. They'd all gone through hell in their own ways, but 2D carried no regret or resentment for anything, or anyone, who had brought that hell upon him. That, Murdoc told her, is what makes great soldiers. Someone who you know, no matter what, is going to be alright.

Until he isn't.

Noodle drank more while Russel slept.

She told him stories too, though she found herself getting self-conscious at how less violent and lewd hers were than his. Stories like when he'd burst into her room already 3 seconds deep into pitching an album told from the perspective of a fish, after learning that humans descended from them. Like the time they were getting drive-thru Starbucks and the car in front had robbed the place, leading them both to conclude that drive-thru's needed big barriers like Ferry's do. And the time she flipped a pancake too hard and it stuck to the ceiling, and the next morning 2D had painted the ceiling black to look like the night sky, with the pancake being the moon.

"That lost us our deposit." Russel murmured as he awoke.

That unity between the three of them dissipated as the days went on. Russel had a funeral to plan and statements to issue, and by day 3 Murdoc was gone. Noodle had taken to sleeping in 2D's room, attempting to string together melodica tunes until she had enough energy to cry herself to sleep.

This nights sleep, however, was the most normal nights sleep so far. That was a worry in itself.

Noodle arose and threw on the same tracksuit she'd been wearing every day bar yesterday's funeral. As always, Russel was in the kitchen when she arrived, a pot of coffee already on.

He looked up from his book. "Morning baby girl. How you feeling?"

"I'm ok." She poured herself a cup and sat at the table with him, enjoying a moment of nonchalance.

It couldn't last. "You don't go out last night, did you? After."

A bitter smile briefly appeared on Russel's mouth. "No. I wanted to but, no."

She nodded. "What are people saying?"

"I haven't really checked." He lied.

"Russ?"

He put a coaster on the page in his book and set it down.

"Better than you might think. Most people seem to understand, I think. There's always gonna be…assholes. So I'd still stay away from all that for now if I were you, but know it's not as bad as what's probably in your head."

She smiled a little. "Thanks."

"Lotta celebrities on your side, too."

"Chasing clout."

He chuckled. "Shameless. So, any plans today? I was gonna head soon, take a walk near Surrey Hills, clear my head. Might be good for you too."

Getting out the house was objectively sensible. Noodle had long finished 2D's zombie DVD collection, attempts at making music were going horribly, and she was down to her last pack of cigarettes from Murdoc's secret stash.

Even so, the thought of being seen by anyone, even the birds overhead, was still too much right now.

"I think I'd rather stay and get things straightened out here. My room's a state and I wanna start sleeping in there again from now on, plus the place generally needs a bit of care."

"I've been cleaning it."

"Your clean isn't my clean." She insisted, begging him to take the hint. He nodded.

"Aight. I'll be off soon. Shouldn't be more than a few hours. Call me if you need me to pick you up anything, or just…"

He trailed off. It's like she was a child again, terrified to leave her on her own.

"Just anything. Ok?"

She popped up and gave him a hug.

"Thank you, Russel."

The cleaning was initially a lie. But what started as the bare minimum to say she had done it, was becoming quite the nice distraction. Headphones were on and there was a lot of new music Noodle needed to catch up on. With the bathroom done, it was time to do the kitchen. Noodle grabbed some bits of fruit that were on their last legs and whipped together a quick smoothie. She tasted it and hummed. Something else was needed. She eyed Murdoc's vial. There was still a couple bottles in the cupboard, both bottles being distinctly different shapes, giving it that slapped together potion look. She shrugged and tipped some in her smoothie and tasted it again. It had a knack for making everything taste better.

"How does it do that?" She mumbled to herself. She gulped down half of it and began spraying the counters.

"Sorry it took me a while, there anything I can do?" 2D asked behind her.

"Hoover the hallway if you want, one of the plants got knocked over so there's soil just—"

Noodle froze.

As calmly as she could, she set the spray bottle down and slowly turned to the sound of his voice.

There he was. Slightly slouched, as gormless as she remembered, a perennial spare part that managed to fit everywhere. He stood by the table, head ever so slightly cocked. He wore the same clothes from that day.

Noodle's mouth open and closed a few times before any sound finally accompanied it.

"D."

He smiled. "Hiya love. How you feeling?"

She thought about moving closer, but something stopped her.

"Not…great. I think I'm imagining you."

He twiddled his fingers nervously. "That's not good. You sure? I don't feel very imaginary."

He looked around the room. Noodle refused to take her eyes off him, lest he might vanish in an instant.

"What do we do, how do we find out…" he murmured, still looking for clues. He pointed at her suddenly. "Oh, I know! Ok… what am I thinking right now?"

"That's…not how it would work even if you were real."

"Ah, that's a good point. Um…boo!" He lifted his hands high into the air in mock menace.

Still looking at him, Noodle took her phone out and selected Russel in her contact list, selecting video call. He answered quickly.

"Everything ok Noodle?" He was trying to shake off a nervousness in his voice. "I can't FaceTime right now, I'm driving."

"Yeah, are you able to pull over a sec? It's important."

"Sure."

Noodle waited for what felt like an eternity as she heard Russel's car come to a stop. 2D bounced on his toes, seemingly just as anxious.

Russel turned on the video, his large head and torso covering most of the frame.

"What's up?"

"I need to show you something. I'm ok, I think, but I might have lost my mind a little."

Russel nodded, pre-emptively expecting the worst. "I'm ready baby. No judgement from me."

"Right." She switched the camera to rear facing. "I just need to know if you're seeing what I'm seeing."

A strange thought hit Noodle that she wished she had cleaned the kitchen and dining area before this happened. That way, when Russel didn't see 2D, she could pass it off as being paranoid that the kitchen was still filthy. Seeing dirt everywhere was much more accepted socially than seeing dead people.

"Is that Russ, have you got it on me?" 2D asked, and waved. "Don't worry about us mate, just keep doing whatever you're doing!"

Noodle looked away from 2D for the first time to check Russel's face. She could see in the corner of her phone, 2D's unmistakable stick figure.

Russel gave away nothing for an agonisingly long time. He blinked, and moved closer to the screen. Then finally;

"What the fuck…"

That was all the confirmation Noodle needed. She moved closer to 2D, terrified, but not knowing if it was of him or of herself. She could hear Russel talking about how he was turning around and to keep an eye on him, but barely any of it got through to her as she inched towards him, stopping a couple feet away.

She reached out a single finger and prodded him in the chest, aiming for the indent in the middle she remembered vividly from their past hugs.

The finger connected. He swayed backwards slightly and looked down at where she'd poked. He looked back up at her.

"Y'alright?"

She flung herself into him, wrapping her arms as tightly as she could around his waist, then his back and shoulders, making sure every bit of him was real. She threw her headphones off and buried her head in his chest. Tears that had been waiting to emerge finally arrived, as Noodle pulled his head down to weep into his shoulder.

He hugged back, far more gently than her own. "I hope you're not scared. I'm sorry if you are." He said softly.

She took his lowered stance as an opportunity to feel his head. It was all in one piece. She pulled back and looked intently at his face. No sign of any injuries.

"I am a little." She coughed out with a laugh. She pulled his forehead down and kissed it, before trying in vain to wipe the tears that were covering her entire face at his point. "Oh my god, Toochi…"

2D held his shirt up for her. "Here."

"Thanks." She took his shirt and dried her face on it, making him sway once more as she rubbed her face vigorously.

She stepped back. Her tears remained on his shirt. Noodle shook her head.

"What the hell's going on?"

"What the hell's going on?"

"That's what I said."

It was a couple hours later. Russel had made it back within half an hour and, against Russel's wishes, Noodle had tried to call Murdoc. When he hadn't answered, she sent a picture of 2D with Russel's phone in frame showing today's date. He was home in about an hour. Russel had immediately had Murdoc up against the wall for turning half the world against Noodle, but with a surprising strength, Murdoc had wriggled free and shoved Russel aside to see for himself that he wasn't being had on.

They'd sat 2D in the living room, at least one pair of eyes on him at all times. Occasionally they came up with new reality tests, like making him a tea, which he accepted and drank graciously. They had asked about the day he was killed, which he didn't remember very well, but then he didn't remember many other days they asked about either.

When Murdoc arrived, he showed little sign of shock or joy and grabbed 2D's face, inspecting it like a judge at a dog show.

Russel stood far away from Murdoc, still a long way from being able to move past what he had done to Noodle. Noodle sat on the opposite sofa, an annoyance building for her bandmates.

"My first thought was that you made yourself another cyborg." Russel huffed.

"See this?" Murdoc flicked at 2D's ear.

"Ow!"

"Cyborg wouldn't feel that. Also would've broken my finger most likely. Sure it isn't you?" He pointed the same finger at Russel, "You sure you didn't grief another one of your dead chums into existence?"

"Do what you just did again, Muds."

"What, this?" He flicked 2D's ear in the same spot.

"OW!"

"They don't take physical form. No matter how much you want them to, trust me. Besides, I wasn't even here when he came around."

"So what is then? Clone? Secret twin?" Murdoc turned to 2D and slapped him on the back "Shit mate, if I'd known there were multiple ones of you I wouldn't have been so careful all these years!"

"Shut up." Noodle said quietly.

Murdoc turned to her and raised an eyebrow. "All in good fun, love. Forgive me for being in a jubilant mood, but through some satanic intervention, my singer is back!" He turned to 2D and eyed him suspiciously. "You still sing, right?"

2D nodded.

Noodle growled.

"My god, anyone would think you were angry we got a new 2D!" Murdoc chuckled, "A better one most likely, though that wouldn't be hard, lets face it."

Noodle was angry. But not at Murdoc's implication of further violence. It was the entire conversation, the demand for an explanation, the need to find out what this 2D was. She didn't want a cyborg, or a ghost, or a twin or a clone. She didn't want anything except the real 2D to be here right now, where everything before didn't count or didn't matter, because he was back now, and it'll just be something they all laugh about from here on.

"This calls for a pint I'd say!" Murdoc called out, a click of his fingers breaking Noodle from her thoughts.

"That's not a good idea." Russel stated, "It's probably still to early to leave him."

"Who says we're leaving him, he's coming too, aren't ya?!" Murdoc slapped 2D's back again. Noticing Russel's incredulous look, he grinned. "I'm not thick. We'll disguise him for now, keep people from getting excited. One of Noods' wigs and some sunnies, no one'll be the wiser. Not to mention, looks like she hasn't been outside in weeks, she could do with it" He jabbed a long thumb in Noodle's direction.

"Sounds good." She said quietly, not looking up at him.

"There, see? Now, I'll grab my fags and then we'll be off"

Murdoc grabbed 2D by the face and kissed him on the mouth with an exaggerated 'mwah'.

"Absolute freak." Murdoc told him, before shimmying past Russel and jogging to his room.

"You sure about this?" Russel asked Noodle as she looked at 2D, far less joyful than a couple of hours earlier.

"Think it's a good idea." She mumbled.

Russel sighed. "I'm gonna talk to him before we head out. Just a talk though, I swear."

"Do what you want." Noodle said with a shrug.

Russel thought about saying something, but instead turned and left.

2D watched him until he was out of sight, then bowed his head.

"I think they're angry at me" he said quietly.

Her face softened immediately "Toochi, no. They're just confused. We all are."

"I think you're angry too. I can't really tell, but I think you are."

"I'm not…" She started, then tried to think of a more honest response. "I'm angry at the idea of you not being you. Even if that is most likely the case."

"I think I'm real."

"I know you do, and I believe you. That's what makes this really difficult."

He looked up at her. It was his turn to have tears in his eyes.

"I'm sorry you're going through this."

As much as Noodle didn't want to admit it, a little of the anger was reserved for that, too. It felt like a big prank at her expense, that she'd gone through two weeks of hell just to have him pop back up like nothing happened.

It wasn't fair to think like that, in her opinion.

"You haven't done anything wrong. This isn't your fault."

His tears were coming faster now, beyond the point of hiding. "It is. It is…"

She jumped off the sofa and crouched close to him.

"Listen to me…" She began.

He sniffed. "I'm sorry."

Noodle heard the sound of a crash before she saw it. A black car smashing through the wall behind 2D.

He was seemingly unaware, looking into her eyes as the car connected with his back.

"Noodle? Noodle, you ok?"

Russel was staring at her. Based on the ceiling and the smell, she was near the kitchen counter.

"Oh thank god, baby what happened?"

She sat up and looked around, bewildered. The kitchen counters were open and there was a half drunk smoothie on the counter.

Russel looked closely into each eye, then checked her head for wounds or bruises.

"You seem ok." He said finally. "Must've just passed out. I was worried you were gonna work yourself too hard today, I knew I should've said something"

"I didn't…there wasn't…"

She tried to get to her feet, which Russel quickly aided. He followed as she went to the living room. It was empty.

"I'll take care of the rest of this, girl. You should go lie down."

Noodle nodded, still spaced out. She started for her room, then lit up and headed back to the kitchen. She opened the cupboard where the tea bags were kept.

One box. Sealed and unopened.

Russel rubbed the back of his head.

"Want a cup?"