Therapy

By: a.mild.groove

Disclaimer: I do not own anything associated with Gorillaz. All rights reserved to Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett.

Summary: After the publication of "Rise of the Ogre" the band begins to fall apart due to conflict with each other. For the mere sake of keeping his band together, Murdoc of all people, forces them to go to therapy together.

Chapter One

A middle aged man sat stoically in a leather wingback chair in the center of a low lit office shaded in warm reds and dark shadows. He was dressed in a grey, pinstriped suit and his spectacles were poised near the tip of his nose as he glanced over them at the silent foursome in front of him. He sighed patiently to himself and discreetly checked his watch in vain. Another sigh brought his eyes to the small stack of paperwork he had in his lap on each of them. The oldest man, the one responsible for booking the rest of the poor therapist's sessions, was the reason the other three were present. He knew who they were from the simple fact that his daughters were fans to the highest degree, but it was beyond him the reason they were in his office for therapy. He mentally shrugged to himself; he was a family therapist and a band that lives together under the same roof can be easily defined as a family.

He leafed through the papers in his lap until he came across the girl's files: Noodle. He did his best to hide a smirk as he glanced over her personal information; she was a spitfire that one and he had a mindset to blame the other guitarist for her hatred. He glanced at the vacant, blue-haired man and the larger vacant man, both seemingly comatose, before clearing his throat delicately and disturbing the bitter silence in the room and gently saying, "Noodle," he said making eye contact with her and smiling politely, "Can you tell me why you're here?"

As was expected, she scowled menacingly at him and hissed, "I have no fucking clue. Ask him," she said jerking her head to her left where Murdoc sat. The therapist glanced to where Murdoc sat and couldn't help but notice the pained look that crossed the older man's face before an angry scowl replaced it and he scoffed at her, "Yeh know damn well why yo' 'ere brat!"

"Murdoc…" came a deep, rumbling growl from the larger of the two vacant man. The therapist raised an eyebrow in question; quickly deducing that the girl was probably favored by the large drummer and the bassist was on his hit list. Clearing his throat again, he lifted the paperwork and shuffled it together in a neat pile before placing it back down on his thighs and leaning forward, "I apologize, that was a question with a more than obvious answer. I know why all of you are here and the reason why all of you are here together is so I can tell you how we are going to proceed with your family therapy," he paused to check his watch again, "Since Mr. Niccals has book my entire day just for this particular case…and it's eight in the morning…I have all day to meet with all of you individually to let you ventilate your anger and problems with each other with privacy. From there, I can determine if one of you needs to meet with me with one another or maybe three at a time or all four. Either way, after today I'm hoping to see some sort of progress. Everyone understand?" he asked gently, making eye contact with the four of them individually. Each of them nodded.

The therapist straightened himself, "Ok good, I'd like to begin…or continue by introducing myself—"

Noodle frowned at the balding man in front of her and mentally sneered; maybe if the idiot had done that in the first place he wouldn't have made a fool of himself. This is a waste of time…

"—My name is Dr. Lacey. You four: Murdoc, Noodle, uh…2D and Russel are here because one of you has noticed the conflict that is occurring between the four of you. If I understand this correctly, this is something that has been a problem since the formation of your band but worsened after the publication of your biography, am I correct?"

The four of them nodded and Dr. Lacey smiled. This was good, if all four of them were responsive to him that meant all four of them would participate in their individual sessions.

Dr. Lacey cleared his throat again and looked directly at Noodle, "Noodle I would like to start with you."

Shit, she rolled her eyes and sighed; a trait typical of a young woman her age, but nevertheless she nodded. The therapist smiled again and clapped his hands together once, "Great! You gentlemen can go about your business for the next hour, but please be back in the waiting room by nine o'clock sharp, alright?"

Murdoc, 2D, and Russel stood and made there way out of the office; Russel glancing back at Noodle with nervous pity before shutting the door behind himself. Dr. Lacey leaned back once he heard the door click shut and retrieved his pen from his jacket pocket and picked up a clipboard of paper off the floor next to his chair.

"There's a lounge chair over there if you'd like to lie down while we talk, Noodle," he said pointing with his pen to the leather, cushioned chair that acted as a bed for most patients.

Noodle sighed through her nostrils and shook her head gently, "No thank you."

♠

Outside, Murdoc sat in a cold, leather chair in the waiting room that was positioned closest to the office. His body told him to get the hell over himself and smoke, but his mind fought back and told him to stay where he was. Russel thundered past him towards the door that led outside, pausing in front of the bassist to glare down at him.

"Wot?" Murdoc hissed, glaring back at the big drummer. Russel shook his head and continued walking, a silent 2D following him as they left the office.

♠

Dr. Lacey clicked his pen, poising it over the paper in front of him, "How old are you, Noodle?"

She sighed, becoming more and more convinced that this was a pointless endeavor. Her age was written on the paperwork sitting in his lap and she knew he'd read everything on him. Now he was just being cheeky. Nevertheless, she humored him in hopes that it would make the hour shorter, "Twenty," she said.

He nodded and wrote it down which made Noodle roll her eyes again and mutter, "This is ridiculous."

Dr. Lacey cleared his throat again, "Noodle, the next question I'm going to ask you is a personal one and a serious one. This question is most likely the basis for your problems involving your band mates, understand?"

"Yes."

He stared into her eyes for a long moment before whispering, "Which of your three band mates, do you hate the most?"

Without even a second's hesitation or a moment to rethink her answer, Noodle responded, "Murdoc."

A/N: Ok so I need a slap on the hand for starting another story without finishing my other one, but I'm hoping this will spark some inspiration. I'm open to all comments, critique and flames, but please let me know what you think! I hope you enjoyed! ♠