(RE)UNITED: PART FOUR (PROMISES KEPT)

She'd done everything in her power to get back from Montreal as quickly as possible. Of course it helped that she knew a pilot who flew his own plane. Rather than go to a hotel, she'd pulled out the copy of the key she'd had made the last time she'd broken into his house. Figuring he'd be happy to find her here, she'd made it as far as his bedroom to surprise him, only to find him fast asleep. Rather than wake him, she'd sat down in the chair in the corner of his room, opting to wait. After all the travel and all the drama of the day, she was unbelievably worn out and it didn't take long for her to drift off to sleep, completely oblivious that she was sitting in a pile of cat hair, having stolen the cat's favourite napping place. Her nose, however, it knew, and it started to twitch right away. It started to plug up. Her soft breathing turned into soft snoring. And then her eyes snapped open just as she almost choked on the loud gasp, an explosive sneeze escaping a second later.

"AHHHHHCHOO!" It turned into an expletive and then a soft cough as she blinked through her tears, feeling like another one was brewing already. She held her breath, looking towards the doorway where the cat sat watching her, visible in the glow of the clock on the beside table. "Shoooo," she whispered, feeling her nose twitch again. "Oh goddamni- ACHOOOO!"

All that noise from Nessa was enough to wake the dead, let alone the sleeping man five feet away from her. He practically jumped up, looking around fearing he was being bombed or something when he noticed that it was just tiny Nessa sitting in his room. Tiny Nessa with the cannon on her face, that is. He rubbed his eyes, blinking a few times as his eyes were still adjusting, trying to get his bearings. "Nessa?" His voice was soft, barely audible over her sniffing.

"Oh no..." she sniffled, rubbing at her nose with her hand, "I didn't mean to wake you up. I forgot about the cat."

"You probably woke the whole neighbourhood." He quipped, sitting up, reaching over and turning the light on the bedside table. "What time is it...why are you here?" The questions just tumbled out of him as he tried to piece together what was happening.

"It's early. I came back..." she sniffled again, "early." She frowned at how dumb that sounded. "I wanted to surprise you but the chair was comfy and I just needed to sit down and... I think it's almost five?" She squinted at the clock, the numbers blurring to her watering eyes. She sniffled again and then pushed up out of the chair. "I've got to find some Kleenex. Do you have any handy? I really need to..." she broke off, trying to hold back another sneeze and failing miserably. "AHHHHCHOOOOOO!" This one was loud and it doubled her right over.

If he wasn't awake before, that would have certainly done it. "Blow out my eardrums?" He asked, rubbing his ears as he tried to guess how she was planning on finishing her sentence. He vaguely gestured around the bed towards his bathroom that was attached, signaling she could find some in there once she managed to straighten herself up.

She blinked, nodded and then immediately shook her head. "No. I wasn't planning to do that." Before she could do more of that, she shuffled into the adjoining ensuite and found herself some tissues, loudly blowing her nose. Flipping on the light, she realized what had set her off - she was completely covered in cat hair. "Oh no." A desperate attempt to brush it off only made her itchy and then she was washing her hands frantically and rinsing out her still-watering eyes. "I need to borrow a shirt. I think. I've got fur all over mine." When she reappeared in the doorway, she was holding her own shirt in her hand, balled up and inside out to keep the evil fur contained inside.

Matt blinked a few more times, looking at her for a second. "Shirt, right...you can grab one in the drawer over there." He tilted his head towards the dresser in the other corner, sitting upright now as he checked the clock, fidgeting with it to ensure the alarm didn't go off, though it was still an hour away from that anyway. "So how was your trip?" The words came out innocently enough, but she knew he was anxious for a recap.

Nessa ignored the question for the moment, tossing her soiled top on the floor as she pulled open his drawer, pulling out one of his favourite vintage Shut Me Up tees. She pulled it on with a soft laugh. "Now this brings back memories." The shirt was so big on her it was almost a dress and the thought occurred to her that she probably had cat hair on her pants too. Unbuttoning her jeans, she turned back towards him, stepping out of them as they fell to the floor. "It's done. If that's what you're asking. I gave him back the ring and then I had him fly me here instead of going back to Scarborough."

Matt was distracted for a moment with the prospect of Nessa taking off her pants in his bedroom to hear what she said at first, catching on after a few seconds. "Oh, good. Well I'm glad that's taken care of, wait, you dumped him and then he flew you out here? What a dope." He shook his head with a chuckle. "You all good, now?"

"Maybe?" She shrugged, not really sure if he was asking about the allergic reaction or her emotional state. "I've got some extra antihistamines in my purse I should probably take..." she sniffled again. "I'm exhausted, though. Haven't slept in..." she looked at the clock, "well it's been... oh. It's only been twenty-two hours since I got up. Probably the flying then. I just feel completely drained." She walked over and sat on the edge of his bed, toying with the hem of his shirt.

"Well..." he started, getting out of the bed finally, ducking into the bathroom to get his robe, somehow standing there talking to her in nothing but boxers seemed like a bad idea, "We have time if you'd like to take a little cat nap." He paused, shaking his head. "Poor choice of words, but you get the picture, right?"

"I don't want to let you down. I promised I'd be back today and I pushed to be as early as I could so we wouldn't lose any more time..." her words trailed off into a jaw-cracking yawn, "training."

"Well you're not going to be much use training if you're dead on your feet Nessa, that's just going to get you sick again and then it's just a vicious circle." He said, walking over to her. "Get some rest and we can work on things after."

Her eyes were so vividly blue as they looked up at him. "Will you stay? At least until I fall asleep? I'll just sleep here. If that's okay?" Before he could answer, she crawled under the covers, settling in where it was still warm from his body.

"Stay? Well... I mean, it's my house, I'm not going anywhere, Ness." He joked, sitting on the edge of the bed and looking over at her. "You going to be able to sleep with all of the..?" He stopped, seeing her eyes had already closed and she was breathing softly. "Well never mind then. Goodnight, Ness." He leaned over and kissed her forehead as she slept peacefully.