Disclaimer: The characters do not belong to me, they belong to themselves, their gimmicks belong to Vince McMahon and WWE. Based around the song "Landslide" by Fleetwood Mac.

To read the original version with song lyrics go to: bitter-solemnity. com /fics /IBLYTL.php (just get rid of the spaces).

Distribution: If you want it, ASK. Don't just take it and post it somewhere.

Summary: The conclusion. Find out what happens when Stephanie and Chris confront each other.

A/N: Thank you to all that reviewed, and will review my fic. Thanks for taking time to actually respond. I appreciate it.


"Stephanie."

"Hi Chris."

They both stood there awkwardly, wild thoughts running through both of their minds. Jericho was shocked to see her standing there, while Stephanie's mind was racing thinking of what she could possibly say to make him understand. After a few moments that seemed to stretch on for an eternity, Jericho broke the uncomfortable silence.

"Steph, what are you doing here? You're supposed to be getting married," Jericho said, a haze of confusion still surrounding him.

"I-I couldn't do it," Stephanie said, voice quivering, "I woke up this morning, and I realized I couldn't marry him, I just couldn't."

Jericho stood stunned, he didn't know how to respond to that, so many different thoughts and feelings raced through his mind, trying to decide which one was right. He was a mixture of elation, worry, fear, and relief.

"Why?" was the simple response he managed to utter.

"Like I said-"

"No, not why did you decide not to marry him, why are you here?" he said cutting her off.

"Because I had to tell you something, I needed to make you understand. I needed you to listen."

"I'm listening," Jericho said crossing his arms, and leaning in the doorway. She was still outside on the step. She took a deep breath to calm herself before she spoke again.

"I love you, I'm still in love with you. I never stopped loving you really, I just thought I had. I woke up this morning and I had dreamed about you last night, about us, and I tried to push those thoughts out of my head, but they kept coming back, and I realized it was because I'm still in love with you," Stephanie explained in one breath. She hung her head down afraid to see Jericho's reaction.

"If you loved me so much, then why did you leave me? Why did you walk out on our marriage?" Jericho asked defensively, "If I mean so much to you, how could you stomp all over my heart?"

"I'm so sorry Chris, I wish I could take it all back, I wish I hadn't made such foolish choices, but I did, and I can't change that," Stephanie said with remorse, looking up at him.

"That still doesn't answer the question Stephanie."

"I thought I didn't love you anymore...I thought you didn't love me," Stephanie said letting her gaze drop to the ground.

"Not love you? How could you say that, I loved you more than life itself."

"I thought we were in a rut, a stalemate. I thought that we had simply fallen into a routine, day in and day out pretending to love each other, pretending to care-"

"I never pretended with you!" Jericho said angrily, Stephanie sighed deeply.

"I know that! Ok, I know that now! I made a mistake, I didn't realize what it really was..." her voice trailed off.

"And what was it?"

"Contentment," Stephanie said with a soft smile on her face, her gaze going off into the past, thinking about how it used to be, "I didn't realize that it was pure happiness. I mistakenly thought we were in a rut, but we weren't, we were...perfect."

"Perfect?"

"Yeah, perfect. We were so good together Chris, so right for each other. I'm such an idiot for leaving that behind."

"Yeah, you are," Jericho said his lips turning up into a very small smile.

"I just wanted to come here, and tell you, to get it off my chest."

"Thank you, I really needed to hear that," Jericho said sincerely.

"Yeah?"

"For the longest time I didn't know why you left me, what I did that was so wrong you wanted to end what we had. I didn't know why you stopped loving me," Jericho said shaking his head as if to clear his head of such thoughts, "I'm glad we're finally able to put the past behind us, and maybe finally I can get on with my life."

"Oh," Stephanie tried to hide her disappointment when Jericho had said he was finally able to move on with HIS life. Some part of her still hoped there could be a life together for the two of them.

"What's wrong?" Jericho looked at her imploringly.

"Nothing."

"Don't try to lie to me Stephanie, I know that something's wrong, now tell me."

"Chris, it doesn't matter, ok, I was just thinking about something, it's not important really," Stephanie said unconvincingly. Jericho took her chin in his hand and turned her face towards his. She blushed under his close scrutiny of her face, and she could see something in his eyes, but she didn't dare hope that it could be love.

"Stephy, tell me," Jericho said using his old nickname for her. Stephanie still got a tingle of excitement whenever he called her Stephy. She didn't want to admit the truth to him though; she was so embarrassed to feel this way. She loved a man who didn't love her, and would never love her again. But as she stared in his eyes, she couldn't help but let the truth out, no matter how damaging his reaction would be to her. He took his hand off her chin, but she could still feel the warmth of his touch on her face.

"I, um, I was just hoping that there would be an, um, us somewhere in there," Stephanie stuttered out, tears welling in her eyes.

Jericho looked at her in shock, wondering if he had heard right. She wanted to be with him again. She wanted to be a family again. His mind conjured up thoughts of their future together, and how good that sounded, a future together. He thought he was dreaming, this was way to good to be true, had Stephanie really just said that she wanted to be together again? Even in his wildest dreams, he never could have imagined a more perfect moment.

Stephanie looked at him, and couldn't decipher his emotions. He stood silently for a few minutes, and she took that as a rejection. She angrily brushed away a tear that managed to escape from her eye. Of course he wouldn't want her back, she had been the one to leave him, the one to file for divorce. He had so many reasons to not want her back, so much justification for simply slamming the door in her face. She took a deep breath, and forced herself to say the next words.

"Um, I guess that means a no," Stephanie started, her voice unsteady, "I, uh, just needed you to know I still loved you, and I guess it was stupid of me to think that you would forgive me. You have every right to turn me away, I was wrong on so many levels, and what I did transcends stupidity. So, I guess I'll be leaving now, cause everyone is probably wondering where the hell I am, and I really shouldn't be away for too long," she concluded before turning to walk away, so he wouldn't have to see the tears that were now falling freely from her eyes.

Jericho stood there digesting what she had just said. Wait, he hadn't rejected her, but she thought he had. Would the confusion of his life ever end?

"Stay," he called out.

Stephanie froze. She didn't dare turn around. Had he just asked her to stay? Maybe she hadn't heard him correctly or something.

"What?" she asked, still refusing to face him.

"I said stay."

She slowly turned around and looked at him through teary eyes. He hadn't rejected her! He still wanted her. He opened his arms to her, and she ran to him without hesitation. He engulfed her and wrapped his arms tightly around her. She wrapped her arms tightly around his waist, not caring that he was holding her too tight, just happy that she was in his arms again. She had missed this so much, and she hadn't even realized it. In that moment she knew that she was home.

Jericho hadn't dared hope this moment would come, and now that it had arrived, he was still surprised beyond words. She had come back to him. She was in his arms, and it was like a dream come true. No, it was better than a dream come true, it was reality. He embraced her even tighter, letting his head rest on top of hers.

They stayed like that for a few moments longer, just reveling in each other's touch. When they finally broke apart, Jericho smiled down at her. She returned the smile just as enthusiastically.

"So was this your wedding dress?" he asked, looking down at her simple off- white sundress.

"Yeah," she said with a laugh, looking down at it herself.

"You look beautiful." She blushed, before taking in the wrinkled pajamas he was wearing.

"You look awful," she said smirking at him.

"Hey, the love of my life was getting married today, did you expect me to look good?" Jericho said with a chuckle, Stephanie giggled at him, "So where exactly are our kids?"

"They're with my mom, we're going to have to tell them about all of this you know."

"Who? The kids or your parents?" Jericho said winking at her.

"Both, I suppose."

"You know who's going to have a good time rubbing this in our face don't you?" Jericho looked at her.

"Oh God, Kurt is going to have a field day with this," Stephanie said shaking her head.

"Eh, we'll deal with it," Jericho said pressing his lips on hers in a passionate kiss. Stephanie had missed this so much, and responded hungrily. He pulled her into the house, and shut the door behind him.

And so they lived. Maybe not happily, maybe not ever after, but the fact remains that they lived. Oh, and Kurt gloated for about two months.

THE END

A/N: Corny? Probably. Sappy? You betcha. Would I have it any other way? Absolutely not. Like the Beatles song "Hey Jude" says, 'Take a sad song and make it better' and that's just what I did, I took a sad story and made it better. Hope you enjoyed reading it, as much as I enjoyed writing it.