Ken Davison was in home mode, still recovering from the deathmatch against Ragdoll and Cervantes. Most of his time with Kyra Johnson had become monotonous, with them sitting at home and doing whatever training their bodies could handle on any given day. As it was, Kyra was off somewhere else in the house, having just argued with Ken about him trying to overdo it because of how he was feeling. It had ended with a ‘Fine. Do what you want.’ Which, as every man in a relationship knows, when a woman says ‘Do what you want,’ you do NOT do what you want. Today, however, was the exception.

“Let’s see here,” Ken murmurs aloud. “Game night… that’s something. Spa at home… Not really Kyra’s cup of tea. Pretend you’ve lost power for a cute date night… that sounds like the opposite of fun.”

“You and mama could do that.” Adina’s little voice breaks his train of thought. “I think she’d have fun.”

“Oh really?” Ken questions Kyra’s little diva in training.

“Yeah. You and mama can make a blanket forts and tell scary stores and make s’mores in the fireplace and make stuff from the fridge before it goes bad.” Adina makes air quotes as she finishes one of the longest run on sentences in recorded history.

Ken raises an eyebrow. Kyra’s baby has become a little girl, showing glimpses of maturity and coming up with the occasional kernel of wisdom, like this one.

“You might be onto something. I think we just need to figure out how to get your mama in a better mood.”

“S’MORES!”

“Okay, okay. I get it.” Ken chuckles as he picks up his phone. “Gotta let your mom know we’re running to the store. Run and get your jacket.”

“Okay.” Adina bounces away as Ken looks down at his phone.

“I kind of like the Nerf gun fight idea.” Adina reappears while Ken texts Kyra. “Hey, kiddo. Remind me to pick up some…”

“COCOA!!”

“Some toilet paper.” Ken sighs. “And some cocoa.”

“YAY!”

Adina squeals as she pulls Ken out the door by his arm. He reaches back long enough to grab his jacket before being dragged out the door.

“Sorry about that.” Kyra says, closing Ken’s text message – revealing the face of a man in glasses.

The man waves dismissively. “No problem, Ms. Johnson. Now where were we?”

Kyra didn’t answer right away as she stopped to listen for the front door of the house to close, and a few seconds later she heard Adina yell something from downstairs and then the door seemingly closed – Telling Kyra that she was by herself in the house.

It wasn’t that she was being secretive. She really had nothing to hide from Ken or Adina. They both knew Kyra was a mess, but she didn’t like needing the help.

“Kyra?”

The voice coming from the other end of the line brought her back to what she was doing.

“Oh, yeah.. Sorry.”

She didn’t like needing the help of a therapist even more. But here she was. She sighs and shakes her head. “He’s been pushing himself too much, especially after Horizons and I – I just don’t think he needs to be pushing it.”

The man nods his head. “I see. And why do you feel that way, Kyra?”

Kyra rolls her eyes. “Oh, I don’t know.. Because I’d really rather he not drop dead from another heart attack because he didn’t give himself enough time to heal up.”

“Feel free to tell me I’m wrong, but I think there’s a bit more to this, Kyra.”

“Oh, do tell, Doc.” Kyra spits back sarcastically.

The doctor, who’s been working with Kyra over the last month or so takes her snark in stride and continues on with his thoughts as if she hadn’t said a word. “I think you’re worried about something happening to Ken, in much the same way that something happened to Lucy. You’re worried that if he pushes himself too far, it’ll be your fault.”

Kyra feels her cheeks heat up a bit, her brain buzzing as she lets out an indignant scoff. “Well, here’s what you’re missing.. What happened to Lucy IS my fault.”

“And didn’t you say that Ken basically signed with the company that you’re both employed by because you didn’t want to ‘take a break from wrestling’?”

Kyra’s eyes widen.

“I..”

“Relax, Kyra. I’m not telling you that you are at fault for any ‘What if’ scenarios that you’ve thought of concerning your fiance. I’m just saying that–”

“That he’s pushing himself because he doesn’t want to let me down…” Kyra finished the sentence, but the doctor on the other end sighed softly and shook his head.

“Maybe he did, maybe he didn’t – But whatever Ken did, that was his choice. His reasoning is his own and you have no responsibility for that.”

When he finishes, Kyra just sits back on the chair she’s been sitting on and tries to think about what he said. Deep down inside, she knows he’s right but accepting that is much, much harder.

“Yeah, that’s a hard pill to swallow.” She finally says, putting her free hand up to her temple and sighing. “I feel like.. Even if I don’t want to, I’m just one wrong step away from destroying everything I love.. again. And I don’t want that to happen to Ken and I.”

“It doesn’t have to, Kyra. You have the tools and the knowledge to make the choices that’ll make things better. But it’s not something you’re going to get right every time. But that’s why you’re here. I’m here to help you learn how to read your own cues and understand how to interpret and resolve your feelings.”

Feelings. Kyra isn’t a fan of having them, let alone ‘resolving’ them. But she had to do something, anything to stop the guilt and the anxiety over the things she’s done.

“I’ll give it a go. I mean, I’ll try.”

The doctor gives Kyra a kind smile. “Fantastic. I’m glad. Let’s get started, shall we?”

Ken’s baby, his old Grand Am, absolutely sucked in winter weather. Being the occasionally responsible adult, he recently purchased a Jeep Grand Cherokee specifically for the season. After making sure that Adina was buckled in properly, Ken gets in the driver’s seat and starts warming the car up.

“Why is mommy upstairs talking to that guy?”

Ken and Kyra were always honest with Adina. The question here is how honest did Ken want to be? He didn’t think it was appropriate to share how Kyra’s lack of was due to her nightmares, or how it affected their relationship. He had even started wrestling for another company to give him and Kyra some breathing room. Kyra saw it as Ken pushing himself. Ken saw it as self preservation. Kyra and Adina were his world and the biggest part of that was taking care of his world. Answering this question properly was of the utmost importance.

“Well, your mom hasn’t been sleeping.”

“I know!” Adina exclaims. “She never sleeps in her room.”

Ken looks into the mirror for incoming traffic before pulling out.

“She’s got stuff that she needs help with and he is going to talk to her and try to help with that.”

“Why can’t you help her?”

“I wish I could.” Ken sighs. “I wish I could.”

Adina looks quite vexed with Ken’s answer.

“But you’re supposed to help mama with everything.”

“I wish I could,” Ken repeats.

“Then why don’t you?” Adina raises her voice, catching Ken off guard. This was going to require some finessing.

“You know how I’m trained to be a wrestler. I don’t know how to handle what your mom is going through. This guy is trained to listen to people and help them work through their feelings.” Ken crinkles his nose. “I don’t like it either, baby girl. But it’s what your mother needs.”

“STARBUCKS!” Adina shouts.

‘Thank God for short attention spans,’ Ken thinks to himself. Five minutes and one hot chocolate later, Adina seems satisfied. Ken, not so much. He drives to the store in silence, uncertain of what he’ll come home to.

Ken Davison and Kyra Johnson stand in one of the bedrooms in the house that Ken had converted to a studio. The walls are decorated with some of their merchandise, various championships, and most importantly to the two of them, a shadow box with a photo Ken in the middle of the ring proposing to Kyra during Carnage Wrestling’s final show backed by a piece of the ring mat from the event.

The two sits comfortably on a couple of cherry oak finished wooden stools, both are still a little worse for wear, but mostly recovered. The two are wearing a pair of matching Baltimore Elite t-shirts. (Now available at the UGWC Shop for the low, low price of $24.99 plus shipping and handling!) Kyra goes to talk, but Ken puts his hand on her knee and mouths something to her. She nods her head and allows Ken the chance to speak.

“I’d like someone to explain to me how things work around here. How is it that Sloane Taylor seems to get opportunities like the one she got at Horizons? Does someone up in the office start of with “Who do we feed to Hastings this month?’ and pull a name out of a hat? I understand that Sloane is a damned legend around these parts. But when she stepped into the ring with the Baltimore Elite she came up short. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that Sloane shouldn’t be competing for the World Championship. She won Keeper of the Keys. What I am saying is that when Kyra and I step in the ring against that quality of opponent and walk out victorious, we should be recognized.”

“Furthermore, we went through hell against Ragdoll and Cervantes. Not only did we go through hell, we stopped, slapped Ragdoll on the ass and told Cervantes to make us dinner. What does that get us? Another cooperative match against Sloane Taylor and a random partner. I have said time again that we want those cooperative titles. We have said since day one that we wanted to get another shot at Incendium, who came out of suspension or came back from whatever bullshit reason they weren’t around and are just given a Cooperative title shot? Merry fuckin; Christmas.”

“I almost feel bad for you, Sloane. Almost. You just can’t seem to catch a break, can you? I mean first, Hastings messes you up. Then you come back in a blaze of glory and work your ass off to get the big match against him, for the world title no less… And you fizzle out. That’s gotta be rough, you know, with all those people cheering you on and believing in you and all that shit. But these things happen, 2022’s gonna be better, right? Wrong. Because here you are.. Once again with UGWC’s random partner of the week and you’re against us. Tough break, huh?”

“I don’t know a lot about you, but I know that you’ve been out of action for the last six months. Knowing that it was Hastings that put you out and I am willing to bet that you’re pretty damned salty about that. I know that I would be. Davey, you need to make damned sure you check your anger at the door because I somehow doubt that you’ve been paying attention to us during that time. So, I’m going to cliff notes things for you. The Baltimore Elite came here carrying the flag of our former employers when we got here. That’s a part of who we are and if you or Queenie want to revisit that, you can rewatch Horizons to see what happens when we do. What separated my lady and I from each and every other wrestler in the locker room is that we do this for survival. We didn’t come here for glory or fame or fortune. We came here to beat some ass and provide for our family.”

Ken tears up a little bit, doing his best to hold back his emotions.

“We have a daughter at home that looks up to us. She has watched as we have been scratching and clawing to prove ourselves here. We have made it a point to show her what hard work and perseverance will do for you. When you fight for yourself, you eventually fall short. When you live you life for someone else, when you are willing to give your dying breath for someone, you are truly empowered. Those Cooperative Championships represent something that I can’t even put into words.”

Davison stands up and turns away from the camera, bringing his hand up in front of his face. Perhaps he realized it was the first time that Ken had said ‘WE have a daughter’ instead of ‘Kyra has a daughter.’ But there is something affecting him.

“Oh, but I can. They represent us proving once and for all that we’re not, and we never have been what many of you see us as.. Carnage rejects. They represent us sending yet another message for the world to see.. That we’re here and we’re not going anywhere anytime soon. And.. they represent our truth.”

Ken turns back to the camera, placing his hand on Kyra’s shoulders. His eyes are red and puffy, but he has his emotions back under control.

“Sloane Taylor… Dave Rydell… this isn’t anything personal. We are simply the type of people who tell the world what we intend to do and then we do it. If either one of you two has your focus anywhere else, whether it’s at the beating that Hastings gave each of you or are looking past us to the beating you feel Hastings is owed, then we will put you down. We know what we have to do. We don’t care if we are facing Sloane and dollar store Maggie Lockheart. The two of you, yeah, you’re good. But you aren’t elite.”

Suddenly, there is a somewhat loud click of someone flipping some fuses as everything goes dark.