April 11, 2014

The musical clink of glass against glass served as a prelude to a soft chuckle before the newly topped up wine glass made its way to her lips. She took a slow sip, savouring the sweet taste of the expensive Beaujolais before letting her head fall back in ecstasy. "You know, I could get quite spoiled with this sort of treatment."

"And well deserving at that. I like to spoil you as much as you do me, my dear." That was the response of Alex Houser as he was situated behind his fiancée in something of a private 'meeting of the minds' between the two. "We can arrange this nightly if you like."

Nessa let out a contented sigh that was almost a purr, leaning back against him. "I think that would be divine— I could use the downtime after all this relentless training." She took another drink of her wine before setting it aside, the glass clinking against something. "Two high-profile matches in back-to-back nights? I'm going to be positively destroyed after Sunday. And if that's not enough to keep me awake at night… the fact that I still haven't made my decision most certainly is."

"Between Kyle and Amy's offers, I presume?" He already assumed that was it, but in fairness, his mind was not entirely on business in their current predicament. "If so, I'm not sure that it requires a tremendous amount of thought if it were me. But elaborate on what is causing you the conundrum." He sat the glass down on the porcelain surface and pressed a kiss to the side of her neck before embracing her as he sat behind her.

"It's just…" she let out a sigh, feeling herself melt into his embrace, "I feel torn. I've weighed the pros and cons at least a million times in my mind and it all comes down to one thing— well one person, really."

Alex nodded, definitely knowing who this was regarding. "Mika." He replied. "You know something I've always wondered about Mika." Another kiss now to her jawline. "Why does she need you?" The question sounded a little harsh, but he explained most quickly. "She's part of a group of women who have clearly shown they have no problem helping one another. I don't understand why exactly she needs yet one more person to ally herself with. Can't one be friends personally and leave it there? Mixing business and friendship is rarely a recipe for success."

Nessa cocked her head, seriously considering the question for a moment. "Honestly, I hadn't thought about it. I always just assumed that she wanted me in her group because she knows that she can trust me."

"Well I can certainly understand that. There would be no one in that group I'd rely upon more than you. But in her predicament, isn't it a bit odd? I understand wanting your friend involved, but in a way, doesn't that do a disservice to the rest of the misfit toys surrounding her? Honestly...I've always thought you far superior ringwise for the fact you don't require all the things she does to ensure her success." Alex's bias towards his fiancée was obvious as a nail in the foot. "Just seems to me she is really padding things. That way if things fall awry, she has candidates to blame. That's what she is doing now."

Alex narrowed his eyes for a moment as he continued. "I'll give you a shining example. This tag team is clearly falling apart at the seams. But she hasn't replaced Leona with you. Why? Because if it continues to fail, it's her fault or possibly yours. Whereas if she were interested in resolving this issue, she'd have asked SVW management to replace Leona in the tag title match immediately rather than waiting it out."

"You're right," Nessa said softly, a look of dawning horror on her face, "God, how did I not see this before? She's trying to use me as a p-p—" she almost choked on the word, "patsy. All this time, she's been telling me how much she needs me and how much she wants me to be by her side when she reaches the pinnacle. I guess I was missing the key element there— it was never about me being there to share in her moment of triumph."

Alex nods rather knowingly with a look on his face to make it even clearer. "So let's say her team fails at Fearless. Well then, it's not her fault. It's because of the problems between you and Leona that have driven some wedge likely. You are her scapegoat. Because if she really wanted to, I'm sure her manager would replace Leona in the team at her request. Why wouldn't he? He wants his group to have championships, and he'd want them in the best possible scenario to make that happen. But clearly she hasn't requested it. Why should she? She has a perfect reason if it doesn't work. And if it does work and they somehow manage to win, then it's all because of... great leadership." Alex added with a roll of his eyes.

"And you know what else? I think she wants to keep me under her thumb," Nessa turned her head, looking at her fiancé with panic in her eyes, "I think she sees me as a threat to her legacy with the Pride Championship. When I win on Sunday, she'll be the first to congratulate me, I'm sure and then the scheming will start. If she has me in her group, she'll have a reason to meddle in that opportunity or worse yet— send in Leona to screw things up again and then laugh it off as a hazard of the business when I fail!"

Once more, a knowing nod from her fiancé. "Yes indeed, my pet. Mika Demidov needs you. You do not need Mika Demidov. And if you turn her down, you can cite not wanting to mix business with friendship and still keep your friend. If you wish. But if the choice is between continuing to play tag-along to Mika or working with fellow Canadian women such as Amy and Mileena Savage, the choice to me...is clear. Besides…" He whispered. "Didn't Kyle say he had to run all his team's bookings through Nick? So if that's the case, he can't do any more for your career than Nick will allow him to do. In which case, what is the point?!"

"And how much of a stink do you think Mika would make if my star began to shine brighter than hers, and I started to steal the spotlight and Kyle's precious favours?" Nessa reached for her glass of wine, downing the rest in a gulp. "At least Amy has no stake in things. She's not an active competitor and she came to me first. At least with her, I know what I'm getting into— we're a lot alike, I think."

Alex agreed with a smile as his arms sank below the surface and wrapped around her body, hugging her back against him. "Absolutely. Amy actually knows what it takes to become a world champion. How many world titles has Kyle ever held? How many of his talents have challenged for one even since the group's formation ages ago? Amy is the clear choice to me. And there's less chance of her playing favorites as well. Kyle has to keep a balance of making his team happy...all of them….and not going too far past Nick or be reprimanded. I'd rather not see you get put aside for partisanship."

Her eyes narrowed as she considered this new wrinkle. "Nor would I, darling. When I told Mika that I came to SVW because of her, that was a teensy bit misleading. Sure, she made signing on the dotted line sweeter because there's at least one person I know and don't hate in that locker room… but…" she paused, "well you know why. We discussed it at length before When Worlds Collide, after all."

"Mhmm." He answered, his attention had been diverted after hugging his fiancée against him. The water surrounding them sloshed as more than a few million bubbles started to float away on the air inside the hotel's luxurious tub. "Now if we have that settled, what say we focus on more enjoyable things?" It was more of a rhetorical question as he kissed her lips warmly and set aside her glass as he did so.

"You took the words," she kissed him gently in return, "right out of my mouth, darling."