Ken Davison’s eyes shoot open. He looks around the darkness of his bedroom, trying to get his bearings. He glances over and the faint red glow of the numbers on his alarm clock: 3:37. He rolls over to find the other half of the bed not only unoccupied, but cold. This means Kyra has been out of bed for quite some time… again. His beloved has not been sleeping right for months and Ken just goes along with it, figuring that Kyra will open up about it when the time is right.

’That time had better be soon,’ he thinks to himself as he turns his body. His eyes shoot open as they hit the cold floor, missing his slippers. He grabs his robe off the bedpost and stands up, tying it around the waist and walking downstairs, forgoing his slippers.

Down in the living room, Kyra sits by herself on the sofa – her eyes heavy with exhaustion. She wanted so badly to go back upstairs and lay down, but she just couldn’t do it. So she relegated herself to simply sitting on the couch, staring off into space until she heard Adina get up in a few hours. Then she’d have a distraction to keep her mind off of the thought of sleep.

Ken nears the bottom of the staircase, the creek of the bottom step catching Kyra’s attention. He looks over at Kyra with an exasperated look on his face. He’s not angry with her, quite the opposite. He’s been worried. Ken makes his way over to the couch and gently sits down next to Kyra.

“What’s going on? This has been going on for, what, a month and a half? I’ve sat here, waiting for you to open up, but I don’t know if I can take this much longer. I hate seeing you hurt.”

Ken sits there watching as Kyra stares off into space.

“HELLOOOOOOOO!!!” he says while snapping his fingers. “Earth to planet KJ, This is your captain speaking.”

Nothing. Defeated, Ken puts his arm around Kyra and pulls her in. She nuzzles up against his chest, showing that she’s not totally despondent. Ken strokes her hair to try to comfort her, not knowing what else to do.

“I’m sorry.” Kyra finally said into his chest, sighing deeply.

In the moments where she could think clearly, Kyra knew she had to come clean about what had made her so out of sorts, if not for her sake, but for Ken’s. The patience he had with her was beyond amazing, and she knew she was a lucky woman. But how long would that last?

Her sleepless nights wore on him just as much as it did herself.

And she had told Lucy she would tell Ken. Kyra just wasn’t used to feeling this out of control. And part of her worried what Ken would think of her when she finally told him what had been ailing her.

“You know that no matter what it is, I’m not going anywhere,” Ken said, as reassuring as he could muster. “After all we’ve been through, I cannot picture my life any other way. You are my world. I would do anything for you. I mean, do you known anyone else who’s significant other has tried to murder their ex-boyfriend live on pay-per-view?”

Ken was always especially proud of that match. Back in the Carnage days, he had faced Jack Michaels, Kyra’s ex, in a match where the only way to win was for their second to throw in the towel. Ken won by continually jabbing a screwdriver into his adversary’s arm. That wasn’t what made him proud. The source of his pride was the fact he wanted to win that match, not for himself, but for Kyra. No one had ever made Ken feel so selfless.

“All kidding aside, mama, I’m worried about you. I’m worried about us.” Ken was making sure to choose his words very carefully. “I don’t want this to be something that you hold in and cause things… I don’t know. I just know when I hold shit in, it never ends well.”

“I know.” Kyra said, pulling away from Ken so that she could look him in the eyes. “And I’ve got a real bad habit of doing just that. But it’s not because I don’t trust you, or anything like that.”

Her chest tightened as she felt the corners of her eyes stinging with tears. The lack of sleep was making it harder and harder for Kyra to keep her emotions in check. Ken sees this and grabs a tissue so he can wipe the tears from her eyes before they fall. Kyra hates crying.

“It’s because we don’t trust ourselves. We both put up our walls because of… reasons. We don’t need to talk about them. It’s hard to let those walls down. I get that. Just…” Ken hesitates. Sometimes he struggles to find the right words. “When shit hits the fan, it comes down to the two of us. I know things with Lucy haven’t always been the best. I’d like to think she’d be there, too. But, honestly, I don’t really know her that well, so I’m not going to count on her. It’s you and I against the world. I’m not sure what else I can really say.”

Ken can see Kyra is holding something back. He doesn’t know what or why, just that it is happening.

“You know when Carnage shut down, I was done. I never told you that, but I was ready to retire. I had my moment in the sun and I was ready to ride off into the sunset. Hell, I was done the moment that I beat Amber for the World Title. After my heart attack, I wanted to prove to myself that I still had it. All I wanted was one more World Championship, then I found something better, more valuable, than any championship. I found you, which led to finding US, which led to everything I hold dear. So, whatever it is that’s troubling you, lay it on me, mama. I can handle it.”

Kyra nods her head, and takes a deep breath. Before she can say anything, Ken starts talking again.

“Wait, there’s something else. After Carnage closed, I didn’t know if we would survive as a couple. Carnage was so much of who we were at the time. I worried that without having that to connect us… yeah. I was scared shitless. I probably shouldn’t be sitting here pressuring you to tell me what’s going on when I hid that. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay..” Kyra said, laying her head on Ken’s shoulder. “Besides, you haven’t been pressuring me. You’re just worried. Hell, I’ve been worried too. I just don’t know how to express it.”

Kyra stopped and sighed again, wrapping her arms around his arm and squeezing it tight.

“…Everytime I go to sleep… I relive what I did to Lucy. Except she didn’t get as lucky as she did that night.” She closes her eyes and pauses for a moment, trying to keep her composure. “What kind of person does what I did? I’m terrible.”

“I don’t know exactly what you did, to be honest, I don’t want to know. You and Lucy seem to be on speaking terms now. I mean, if you weren’t, why would she and Rogan randomly show up. I know I sure as hell didn’t give her my address. Have you talked to her about how you’re feeling?”

“I almost killed her, Ken.” Kyra said, her voice strained. “I’m the reason she’s got that scar on her neck. I put her in the hospital for… God only knows how long. But that’s why they showed up the other day… I needed to make sure we were okay. I was hoping it would help the dreams…”

Tears begin streaming down her cheeks. “But it didn’t.”

“Well, she didn’t try to stab either of us in the back, figuratively or literally. I mean, I knew things were strained, but she talked to us before Incursion and then she came over here. So, how bad is it really? You know what, fuck that. It’s bad enough that you’re losing sleep over it. That’s all I need to know. What can I do to help? If we’re going to make this whole tag team partners in life thing work, then your problems are my problems. How can we make this better?”

Ken does his best to dry Kyra’s eyes, but like playing tennis against a brick wall, you just can’t win. He gently pulls her a little closer, trying his damnedest to let her know she doesn’t have to face this alone.

“I don’t know…” Kyra replies, wrapping her arms around him. She wished she had a solution, but the only thing she could manage to think was that she just wanted it to stop. “I just don’t know, Ken.

“You’re going to make me sound like a fortune cookie or something. ‘We are not what happened to us, we are what we wish to become.’ That’s a quote by Carl Jung. We don’t have to fix this now, but we need to work on it. I’m tired of waking up and being too hot because you didn’t steal the blankets.”

Kyra simply nodded. “Okay.”

What more could she say? She felt like the luckiest woman in the world, even if she was a tired, sobbing mess in this man’s arms. She couldn’t ask for anyone better than her ‘partner for life’, and that was a fact.

“Why don’t we try to get some sleep? Right here, we don’t have to move.”

Ken doesn’t wait for her to answer. He kisses her softly on the forehead and continues caressing her hoping that she would eventually get some sleep. It didn’t take long for Kyra to relent to her heavy eyes, and she fell asleep on Ken’s shoulder.

Now standing in front of the cameras, Ken Davison and Kyra Johnson stand side by side. A familiar brick backdrop in the middle of Baltimore stands behind them. They are wearing matching black t-shirts with the Baltimore Elite logo on them. Ken looks over at Kyra who gives him a slight nod.

“Another week, another chance to prove our tag team prowess against a tag team that isn’t even a tag team. It seems like someone in the front office had some kind of vendetta towards us. Is it because we came in here carrying the banner for a company that no longer exists? I swallowed my pride and went to Johnny Hitmaker who supposedly purchased all of the old Carnage contracts. He had an entire list, a litany of tag teams that he has some kind of problem with and he can’t get us a match with any of them? I am getting sick and tired of the disrespect that we, as a team, receive.”

Kyra smirks and tilts her head to the side.

“It’s almost like Johnny’s about as worthless as I thought he was. But that’s not what we’re here to talk about. Besides, this could be fun… Even if it isn’t exactly a match on our list of dream matches. Cop boy and he who’s named after a piece of big machinery. Where should we begin?”

“Don’t get me wrong. I don’t have any kind of issue with our competition. It’s not that I think that they aren’t capable. The issue is that we came here with a very specific purpose in mind. We don’t want any just random team you can throw together. We want the #CoolKids. We want the Piercing Media Empire. We want Incendium. We want real teams. We didn’t come here to face Special Officer Doofy and Bob the Builder.”

Kyra chuckles and shakes her head.

“No, but if UGWC wants to keep sending their little ‘throw together’ teams in our direction, I guess we’ll just have to keep reminding everyone of who we are, and what we want. Which I have no problem with, in all honesty. I mean, I’ve already had the ‘honor’ of beating Liam ‘I can’t stop saying cunt long enough to actually find one’ Davies’ ass a few weeks ago, but this time I get to bring along a friend.”

Ken raises his eyebrows in question, but Kyra pats him on the arm.

“No, no.. I didn’t mean it like that. But come on, babe.. Don’t tell me it isn’t at least a little tempting to punch that fucker in the face. He’s awful mouthy for a ‘rookie’. And he’s made no qualms about feeling so free, now that he’s not an officer of the law. Now he gets to break all the rules and do whatever he wants… And maybe that’s true, but that’s not the way this is gonna go on Monday, Liam.. You see, we’re gonna do whatever we want to you and your little build-a-buddy.. And you’re gonna lay down and take it.”

Kyra smiles sweetly.

“Can we do that later?” Ken tries to whisper but the microphones pick it up anyway. “We’ve already talked about our problems, now I want to talk about yours. Of course, we also have to mention Bulldozer. In high school he was voted most likely to do nothing with his life and here he is, living the dream. He and Liam have the exact same amount of experience as a tag team as I have feeling bad about beating your asses.”

“It’s kinda funny though, how full of yourself you are, Bull–No. I’m not saying that name. I just can’t. You come waltzing in here, like you’re some big draw for a company like UGWC – Like everyone and their brother should be down on their knees, bowing to the greatness that is… you. I mean confidence is great, bud, but what are you doing? Just makes me wanna put my boot through your face and let you know what the truth is. Honey, you’re not even on the ladder. You’re not even the dirt beneath the ladder. That being said… You and Davies might just be a match made in heaven.”

Kyra shrugs her shoulders.

“But Ken and I? We’re a well oiled machine, and I look forward to burying you two even deeper because we might not be the biggest names UGWC has, but we’re well on our way to showing why we should be… and if that’s gotta happen by breaking the two of you even more than mother nature already has? So be it.”

“That having been said, it is time for us to do what we do best. We are going to make an example out of you, the same way we did to Maggie and Sloane and the same way we did to those two time traveling twats that disappeared from our timeline after we embarrassed them. The fact of the matter is when you step into the ring with the GKD, “Godly” Ken Davison and “The Ultraviolent Goddess” Kyra Johnson there are always consequences. It’s time for the two of you to find out exactly what those consequences are.”

“Sounds like we’re all done here… You wanna go do that thing you were talking about earlier?”

She shoots Ken a devilish grin. Ken grabs Kyra by the wrist and pulls her playfully off camera leaving nothing but the bare brick wall on the screen.