Ha! Well, they did it.

Those two crazy kids went and got married, and it was beautiful. It was everything Ken and Kyra could have ever hoped for – And more.

But they were ready to come home when the time came. The honeymoon was lovely, and they’d both enjoyed a few days laying out on the beach and a few other things that came along with the territory (Wink Wink). But there was work to be done, and first – they had to stop and pick up the most important part of their little family. Kyra only hoped that nearly a week with her father didn’t spoil her too much.

Kyra could only imagine how that went.

Now, JD loved Adina. He loved her more than Kyra had ever seen JD love just about anything. Maybe it was the fact that she was his only daughter, or maybe it was how much she looked like her mother… Either way, Kyra knew Adina was in good hands, even if they were the hands of a man she’d fallen out of love with.

Kyra turned to Ken as they approached the door of JD’s Pensacola home.

“You really didn’t have to come in here with me.” She said, almost pleading – hoping that her ex-husband and her newlywed husband wouldn’t… well, you know.

Surprisingly enough, this kind of shit was known to happen around Kyra. She couldn’t fathom why.. But why didn’t really matter right now.

Ken shrugged his shoulders.

“We aren’t going to sit here and play games with him. We’re married. This isn’t some fling. It’s permanent and we’re going to have to get used to it.”

Kyra cocks an eyebrow.

“JD and I. Not you and I us.”

“Fine. You’re right. As always.” Kyra stuck her tongue out at him as she turned around and knocked a few times on the door. A few moments later the door opened.

“Mommy!” Adina shrieked as she ran into Kyra’s arms. “You’re back!”

She looked up to see Ken and she shrieked again.

“Daddy!”

Ken knelt down and embraced her as well.

“Hey baby girl, where’s your father?” Kyra asked, peering around Adina’s head and into JD’s home. “He doesn’t just let you answer the door for anyone… Does he?”

Adina pulled away and shook her head. “He saw you guys through the window.”

“Did you have fun?”

“Yeah! I got to see a bunch of people, and Tyler and Taylor! Daddy got me a bunch of new toys to play with when I’m here and.. And–”

Kyra stopped her, or else they’d be there all night on JD’s front stoop talking about everything they did and she didn’t necessarily want to be here any longer than necessary.

“We’ll talk about it on the way home, okay? For now, we” She shoots Ken a glance, “wanna go see JD–I mean Daddy and thank him for watching you.”

Adina nodded her head and released her grip on Ken and Kyra before she took off back into the house. Kyra and Ken followed through the door, not really knowing what to expect when they walked in, but much to their surprise, JD was simply sitting in the living room by the window, sipping on a drink when they entered the room. Ken kind of gives Kyra a look.

“Um, should I be the one saying something?”

Kyra returned his look. There wasn’t any doubt that the air in the room was thick with… tension? Had to be tension. Kyra cleared her throat. “Hey, JD. How you doing?”

“Not as good as you, I’d presume.” JD retorted, all without taking his eyes off of Kyra, that is until she shrugged her shoulders. “Did you two have a nice… honeymoon?”

His emphasis on the word irritated Kyra, but she didn’t let it show. She simply smiled at him because she knew it would annoy him, even if only slightly. “We did. Didn’t we, Ken?”

“Yes, sir. We did.” Ken knew the game Kyra was playing, though it wasn’t a game to him. Kyra was married to him now. If it were a game, that would mean he won, at least by his estimation.

“Good. That’s good.” JD replies, his eyes flickering up only slightly to look directly at Ken. “I didn’t expect you back so soon. Baby girl and I had a few things planned, but.. Next time, I suppose.”

Kyra shrugged again. “Yeah, well.. Duty calls. And we missed the little shit.”

Adina perked up. “Brown word, Mommy.”

“And?” Kyra replied, this time sticking her tongue out at the five year old. “But yeah, we wanted to stop by and grab her before we headed to Chicago.”

“Oh, you’re still working for that.. UGWC, is it?”

Kyra nodded.

“Well we were going to surprise her when we got there… But we wanted to bring Adina with us, or else we–”

Kyra interrupted Ken as he paused. “Or else we’d have let you have another few days with her.”

JD smirked as he nodded his head.

“Understandable. Wouldn’t want to let me have her for too long, huh?” He replied, still smiling. “Maybe I’ll get with you sometime soon and arrange to get her again.”

“You know you can get a hold of me anytime, John Dustin.” Kyra replied, using his full name to show him she means business. “You know I don’t mind you seeing her, but I’m not gonna hunt you down either.”

JD nodded his head once more.

“I know, KJ. I know.” He casted another glance in Ken’s direction as he rose to his feet. “You’re happy, yeah?”

His question was directed at Kyra, even though his eyes were trained on Ken.

Kyra pulled in a short breath as she watched them staring at one another. “I am. And so is Adina. We’re good. But we’ve got a long trip ahead of us, so I think we’d better get going.  Thank you for keeping an eye on her.  We really appre–”

Ken took a step forward and cleared his throat, drawing both their attentions. 

“Um… if I may. I know this might not be my place, but she’s your kid, too. If you ever want to see her, even if it’s our time, just reach out. Not trying to… yeah… I, uh, I think I’m just going to shut up now.”

Kyra smiled at Ken while JD simply stood there for a few moments, making things even more awkward. But eventually he approached Ken, and surprisingly enough put out a hand.

“Take care of them. I know better than just about anyone that a happy Kyra is better than an unhappy Kyra.”

Kyra rolled her eyes.

’Don’t I know it.’ Ken wisely keeps as an internal thought as he does the respectable thing and takes JD’s hand. “Well, so far so good.”

 

Why they opted to drive all the way back to Baltimore (before they trekked it to Chicago for Synergy) with an excited five year old in the backseat was beyond them. It felt like she talked for hours upon hours about everything that she and JD did while they were away. And then her stories turned into many varying questions about what Mommy and Daddy did while they were away.

They fielded most of them without having to change the subject (there are just some things a five year old doesn’t need to know about, yanno?).

Finally, though – A couple of hours outside of Charm City, little Miss Adina Claire was fast asleep in the backseat and Ken and Kyra finally had some time to decompress.

“It’s almost a shame we didn’t have more time, you know?”

Ken nods, understanding what Kyra meant as she continues.

“But I’m also ready to get back to work. I mean Montague is always fun to go up against. I never know what I’m going to get.”

“Not going to lie, if I wasn’t so set on the date I would have considered moving the date up and doing this in Greece while Sin City was out there. Then again, that was when your Maid of Honor was still prepared to slit my throat in my sleep, so…. Yeah.”

Kyra shakes her head. “Yeah, probably best we didn’t do that.”

“We’re running a bit behind. You want to go with the good old fashioned set up the phone and record on the go?”

Kyra slides her phone out of her pocket. “Might as well.”

And in a few moments, and a bit of ingenuity later – They were set to go.

“Howdy. I know ya’ll have just been on the edge of your seats, waiting for Ken and I to do our thing. Admittedly, we’ve been a bit busy, but don’t you worry. We’re here now, and we’re more than ready for anything that good ol’ Monty and Zane can throw at us.”

“What can we say about Montague Cervantes that has not already been said? It seems every time that you cross paths with the Baltimore Elite there seems to be some mixed results. Thus far, our only defeat as a team has come at your hands. Of course, it was the Piercing Media media Empire that took the loss. When it came to that direct contact, that face-to-face confrontation, Kyra and Ken Davison walked into your playground, into the circus with your little Ragdoll, where you got to be the ringmaster, and still, it was the Baltimore Elite that took center stage.”

Ken’s eyes, though on the road, still show his intensity.

“But we know you’ve always got tricks up your sleeve. Don’t think we didn’t see what happened in your little match with my sister. Just know, Showman, that it doesn’t matter what you pull out of your little bag of fuckery… We can, and we will foil it. But you’ve got yourself a new teammate this week, don’t you? I didn’t forget about you, Zane. Even if much of the UGWC has. I may not have been around these parts for long, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t at least know of some of the things you’ve done… Most notably, holding all three singles belts.. At the time… all at once. I gotta say, that’s an impressive feat to put onto that resume of yours. But something tells me that you don’t work well with others, hmm?”1

“One thing I pride myself on is being real. I struggled when I first came to this company. That was then, this is now. Kyra and I have found our stride. We have represented this company with pride. We have asked for the best, faced the best, and beaten the best. While the two of you are good, damned good, individually, that does not equal success as a team. The thing is, we know our worth. We know our value. We proved to the coalition, to the office, to the doubters, what our worth was. Can you say the same, Zane? Is being thrown into a makeshift tag team with Cervantes really what you want? Don’t you want more? UGWC doesn’t see your value.”

Ken checks the road quickly before turning to the phone. He points at the camera while looking at it, then turns his attention back to his driving.

“There was a time, not too long ago, that I saw the value in someone else. I took that woman and I put her on a pedestal. Then that woman showed me my value. I see your value, as well. You think you know your value? Prove it to us.”

“Can you honestly say that to both of you, you know? Montague who lets motherfucker one and motherfucker two help you to a draw.. Don’t you think you’re better than that Monty? Whatever floats your boat, but you see we don’t need extra help to kick your asses. So at the end of the day, whatever happens.. Think about what you’re doing to your value when you can’t even take a loss like a man.”

Kyra shrugs her shoulders once more.

“That shit is fitting to plummet. But what do I know? What do either of us know, honestly. You’re gonna take our words and twist ‘em whatever way you need to to make you feel better about yourselves. I ain’t here to feed you comforting words to help you sleep better at night. I’m just here to fight.”

Ken nods his head in agreement.

“Let’s see how this works out for the two of you, facing one of, if not THE most cohesive team that this cooperative division has ever seen. When people want to wrestle, they don’t step to us.”

Ken grins devilishly. 

“But when they want to fight, they come to us.”

“So step into our parlor, fellas.   Let the Cooperative champs give you the fight you deserve.”