(RE)UNITED: PART ONE (IT'S A START)

When she got out of the car this time, it was at least daylight. Humid as hell, cicadas buzzing in the trees in a way that reminded her of summer camp when she was a girl. Squaring her shoulders, she pushed her oversized sunglasses up her nose and marched to Matt Stone's front door. It was really starting to feel like a habit - the kind that she should probably check herself into rehab over if it got much worse. She rang the bell, taking a sip from the salted caramel mocha frappuccino she'd stopped at Starbucks for on her way out to the suburban sprawl that he called home.

"Here goes nothing," she murmured under her breath, lifting her hand to ring the doorbell again. The door opened rather quickly and she was soon face to face with the man she had visited not too long ago, a visit that did not end on the happiest of tones for either party. His expression was blank, at first, as if this was to be expected, but of course he had no idea that she was in town or, even more to the point, in the country. He had given up on keeping tabs on her awhile ago, though he had heard about some far away event that she was slated to appear on that would undoubtedly brisk her away for some time.

As a few moments passed, his expression altered to more of annoyance than emptiness, whether that was an improvement or not was anyone's guess. "Hello, did you forget something here? I hope it wasn't those expensive shoes you got, my maid sure does like to steal other people's shoes."

Nessa heaved a sigh, shaking her head. "I suppose you could say I forgot something. Yes. Definitely." She looked down at the drink in her hand, "I would have brought you something but I wasn't sure what you're into these days." She sniffled, nose twitching as she glanced back over her shoulder at the empty street. "Could I come in for a moment? I promise I won't take up too much of your time."

He could have given her a witty remark about how much time she had already wasted of his, but instead he just backed out of the door to allow her to enter, waiting for her to pass before closing the door behind her. "What is it, Nessa? Shouldn't you be having your Kangaroo rabies shots or something?"

"I changed my flight. I leave from here... in..." she glanced down at the rose gold fancy watch on her arm, "twenty-two hours from now. At least it's Sydney. Not Melbourne. So there's a silver lining, I guess." She bit her lip, looking at him for a few seconds before she actually just blurted it out, "what are the odds that you'd be interested in wrestling in Toronto. With me?"

"The odds?" He asked, numbers flashing in his head for a moment as he thought it over, thinking that she meant against her rather than what was likely on her mind. "Well if you want me to go to Toronto with you so that I can beat you in a match, just name the date and I'll clear my calendar."

"No. That's not quite what I had in mind. I was thinking more along the lines of putting the band back together." She smiled, trying to recall the sales pitch she'd come up with on the drive. "Kenzi Grey has gone out of her way to annoy me - she's currently holding the tag team belts and I thought..."

"The band?" He asked, interrupting her pitch before it could even take off. "The band as in the team you and I did for literally one match earlier this year before you decided that it wasn't the best idea you'd ever had? That band? You'll forgive me for not reserving the tour bus right away."

"Hey, to be fair Phoenix fired us and I got discouraged, okay?" Nessa shook her head. "You're the only one I trust, Matt. You know that."

"I am?" He questioned, looking at the ring on her finger. "I would think some people in your life might take exception to that declaration, wouldn't you?"

She followed his gaze, blushing slightly when she caught his meaning. "I meant in the ring."

"Not with a ring, got you." He quickly replied to her comment, rolling his eyes. "So let me get this straight, cause there's a lot of moving pieces to this, you want me to work with you up in Toronto because this Kenzi person has been picking on you?"

She frowned, "when you put it like that, it sounds pretty stupid. I just thought it might be fun to put that stupid bitch in her place and take away those belts she's been flashing around like they make her worthless ass important. She's started this group on Twitter called 'The Cool Kids'. One of her friends threatened to give a girl a miscarriage - they're classless, talentless trash, Matt."

"Uhhh..." was the only thing he could think to project upon hearing that news, the sheer stupidity of the statement too much for him to process in any quick manner. "Well as much as I'd like to be like the cool kids, I don't know what's cool about, essentially, threatening to murder some baby. I'm pretty sure that's illegal. If you're pro choice, good for you, but I can't think of anyone sane who would be pro murder. I hope she dies." He pauses for a moment, hearing that out loud. "Metaphorically speaking, of course."

She couldn't help but laugh at that, nodding. "Of course." Nessa swirled the green straw in her drink, mixing the remains of the whipped cream with the last dregs before slurping it down. "So. Would you be interested? And if you're about to say no... instead consider what I could do..." she lifted her hand up, rubbing at the tickle in her nose. "Sorry. What I could do to change your mind."

"What you could do to change my mind?" He questioned, choosing to ignore her nose rubbing, though part of him thought she only did that to raise that damn ring up. "I don't know what you're thinking could be incentive for me to do this, but you have piqued my interest, so go on. Convince me."

"High calibre opponents. There are global championships... ones that encompass all the promotions. We could get a shot at them too. And less travel." She started ticking them off on her fingers, "the commute to Toronto isn't as bad as flying all over the USA, right? The tag division is actually good. And I've already had a good singles run so you don't have to worry about me shifting my focus. I'd be 110% dedicated to the team."

He watched as she rattled off all these different reasons, the most telling though was what she viewed his priorities as with naming championships towards the top and her dedication was bottom. "Well if you remember the last time I was in Toronto to see you, it didn't go so well for me, so why would now be different? In fact, given the circumstances now, I would think I would be even less of a priority for you now than I was before."

"You're not." She didn't even hesitate in saying that, shaking her head. "I know you don't believe me and I...."

"This is a pretty bold of you to make if you already know I don't believe you." He interjected just as quickly. "Now I'm all for talking someone's ear off, I do it on a daily basis Nessa but you need to have a reason behind it. Are you going to stand here, in my foyer no less, and tell me the only reason you want me to go with you is so you can knock this Grey lady down a peg?"

"It's not the only reason." She sighed, sniffling slightly, "but coming out with the whole 'I miss you' line is just so overplayed between us."

"Well I'll give you points for creativity, the whole 'this lady's friend wants to abort this other lady's unborn child' line is at the very least original. Though I feel like for someone who knows me as well as you do, your persuasion could use some work."

"Well, can't say I didn't try." She tried to remain positive but the gleam in her eyes had faded. "I just thought you might not have really..." she trailed off, shaking her head as she sniffled again.

He paused for a second as if expecting her to finish that thought before volunteering some potential endings. "Thought I might not have really anything better to do? I might not have really fought you on this given our history? Might not have really given a damn about how I've been treated in the past? Might not have really what, Ness?"

"Wanted to never see me again." She supplied the ending with a sigh. "If I told you I need you, would it matter?"

"Well it certainly wouldn't hurt your odds." He said with a slight chuckle, leaning up against the wall now, watching her fish for the right combination of words.

"I do, Matt. Honestly. I need you." Tears shone in her eyes as she tried to blink them away, swiping at her nose again. "I never know what to say with you anymore. It's like I rehearse these moments in my mind and then when I get here, I just end up drooling and stumbling over my words like some lovestruck teenager."

He rolled his eyes when he saw her start to cry, he expected her to, of course, it was one of her 'go to' tactics to get her way, something he saw plenty of times when they were dating years ago. "Whoa, hold up a second, you rehearse conversations with me? Who are you getting that would be half as witty as me to practice with? And furthermore, you planned ahead for this and decided to wear that?" He was just having fun with her now, enjoying this more than an upstanding person would.

She looked down at the simple tank top styled blouse and capris she had on, frowning. "What's wrong with what I'm wearing?"

"You look like a soccer mom. Certainly not the aspiring tag team champion you've come to represent yourself as. I feel like your SUV might be drawing the attention of all of the single fathers in the neighbourhood right now."

"It's six thousand degrees out. I can't be expected to maintain high fashion in this unbearable heat." She sniffed disdainfully, her nose twitching in the aftermath. "Besides, I..." she hesitated, murmuring, "I'm going to sneeze," before turning away from him, letting loose a window-rattling one as promised.

Matt's eyes widened and he took a step back from Nessa instinctively as she turned away, threatening to blow his door down. He stayed back away from her, trying to lean over to catch a glimpse of her face to see if the coast was clear or not.

"Sorry," she sighed, "stupid allergies are usually fading by now. But with this weird weather, I get to suffer a little longer." She turned back, staring at him for a few seconds before holding out her empty Starbucks cup to him. "Could you throw this out for me?"

He looked at her for a lingering moment, finding this to be a little amusing at this point. "Now this is interesting..." He says, taking the cup from her hand, a brief moment of their hands touching in the process made his next comment even more potent. "Your new tactic is to do the one thing I hated the most about being with you followed by asking me to be your personal butler. Why, Miss Wall, I believe your skills are slipping."

She shrugged, watching him while she pulled the engagement ring off her finger, slipping it into her pocket. "I'll break it off with Michel if you come tag with me." She said the words firmly, her gaze unwavering.

Her words hung in the air for a moment before Matt just dropped the mostly empty cup on his carpet, not even flinching when the container popped open, his eyes locked on Nessa's. "What?" He asked, not ironically but believing that he had to have misheard her.

"You heard me," she replied, just a hint of that usual Ness snark in her tone. "If it means having you back in my life, even if just to wrestle alongside you... I'll do it. Won't think twice, either. I mean it, Matthew. That's how much I want you - how much I need you."

"Wow," he said after a moment of looking at her to see how sincere she was. "So in order to get me to be in a tag team with you, you're willing to throw away your engagement to your fiancé? Just throw away your love life, just like that?" He stressed the word love as he still didn't understand how she could love that idiot.

"I..." Nessa shook her head, sighing, "I don't want to marry him – I mean, at first, it was my dream come true. I liked the idea of being engaged, even if it was to the wrong person. So yes. I'm willing to put an end to something that I should have done before it got this far. I'm willing to go back to being alone, pining for you." She sniffled, looking sheepish for a moment.

"I can't understand how you could even stand him, let alone agree to marry the guy. I remember you telling me awhile ago that you thought he was stalking you or something at a wedding, then the next thing I know you're dating the guy." He paused, just hearing what she said at the end. "Why would you be pining after me?"

She simply stared at him for a few seconds before sighing. "You honestly don't know, do you?"

"There are a lot of things about this about this past year that I don't know, so if you wouldn't mind filling me in, that would be great. Though, if this is going to take some time, I might suggest moving towards the living room."

Nessa laughed, almost a giggle. "I'm not hearing a 'no, get out', so I guess we're making progress?" She looked towards the living room with a hint of a smile on her lips. "We should talk. Everything clear and out in the open. No more silly games."

"I agree, that seems best." He nodded and walked back to allow her the room to get by. "If you want to consider this progress, sure, but I still haven't agreed to anything more than hearing you out."

"It's a start." Instead of walking past, she moved in closer to him, resting her hand on his arm for just a second. "Right now, I'll take what I can get... and," the word almost caught in her throat, "appreciate it."

"Well that's..." he stopped, deciding against making a sarcastic comment right then, just heading towards the living room with her so they could hash this out. "To starts, then." He said, holding up an invisible glass.