So far, our second honeymoon was going better than I ever imagined. Even though I am wrestling Himatashii on SCW’s Summer XXXreme tonight, that is only the start of the festivities. We’ll be returning to port Monday and hop on a jet to pick up Adina so we can enjoy the Wrestlestock activities before defending our UGWC Cooperative Championships against the Dark Destroyer and Captain 80s. I look over at Kyra sitting on the other side of our dinner table. “What are some of your goals right now?” I ask Kyra as the flames from the candle placed in our centerpiece dance across her face. As the look of confusion crosses her face, I can see her trying to figure out why I’m asking. “Like, what are your dreams?”

 

 

 

 

 

 

His question surprises me. I mean it’s not like we’ve never talked about anything like this before. Have we? As I sit back in my chair, I glance across the table at him, trying not to look as surprised as I feel on the inside. “I… Um.” I manage to stammer out, my mind racing a thousand miles a second. As much as we’ve been through, I guess I’ve never really sat down and really thought about what he’s asking. “That’s a really good question.” I can’t sit here and say that no one has cared about my goals or my dreams, but I can’t for the life of me remember a moment in which anyone has asked me what they are. Our eyes meet, and just like every other time I see him, I can’t help but to smile. Ken Davison – the man never ceases to amaze me, always showing me things that I never knew existed – Until I met him. Things like common decency. Like treating another person like an actual human being. It’s strange, and admittedly, that embarrasses me a little. “I.. I guess..” I finally say, feeling a bit of heat rising to my cheeks as I look away and towards the window. “…It’s silly though…”
I can’t imagine a world where anything she could ever want would be silly. “So what if it is? I’m sitting here and I don’t even have a goal anymore. Won the gold. Married the girl. Other than trying to being the best husband and father I can be, I don’t really know where I’m going.” I can only tell her the truth. “My goals have been relatively short sighted, mostly because I was worried about screwing it up. I guess more worried about not screwing it up.”
”I get that. I really do. I worry about the same things, you know? I mean I didn’t marry JD thinking that I was ever gonna get divorced. But I’m me…” My voice trails off and I shrug my shoulders. “I’m me, and yet I found someone who’s even better, and treats me better than I could have ever imagined. I don’t wanna fuck this up.” I let out a sigh and tuck a piece of hair behind my ear while I think about what I want to say next. It’s hard to verbalize what I want, or what my goals are but unlike in the past – I actually want to try. “I want to be happy. I want to be better than I was in the past. I spent so long being so angry at everyone and everything. Letting my life fall apart just because I didn’t believe I deserved anything more than that. But now.. I want to be the best example to Adina, and our future kids… And I want to always do right by you.” I finish my sentence and I finally pull my gaze back to his, trying to gauge his reaction.

“Listen here you little shit,” I say. Before I realize it, I am letting out a bit of a laugh so I can try to hold back the tears. I’m sure she’ll be able to see my eyes watering. I was not ready for this to get emotional this quickly. “I don’t understand how any of that is silly. Other than your questionable taste in men, which let’s face it, I didn’t exactly make a good first impression, but outside of that, I can’t find a single flaw in you.” I reach out and take her hand, doing my best to alternate between maintaining eye contact and looking away to hide my tears. “When Crystal passed away, I felt all of that anger, that hate, and I threw it everywhere, at other people at myself… wherever I could let it out. But it was never enough… I was never enough. We’ve both got baggage. I guess we are just lucky our baggage matches.” I feel my face contort, not quite sure what it’s doing as I purse my lips. “All I’ve ever wanted was someone who loved me and supported me and accepted all my flaws. I had that and lost it. Now I’m sitting here across from my wife. Do you know how weird that feels to say because I swore I’d never love anyone else? Once I showed myself to let this, to let us happen, this became the goal. Now, I just want you to take me wherever it is you want to go.” ‘And, there you go again,’ I think to myself. ‘A classic case of diarrhea of the mouth and constipation of the brain on full display for Kyra to see. Got to love word vomit.’

Watching him, I feel my own eyes welling up with tears. Before him, I never would have thought myself to be an emotional person, yet here we are. “You’re fucking crazy if you think I’m going anywhere without you.” I say with a chuckle as a single tear sneaks out of the corner of my eye and falls down my cheek. “As for wherever I want to go… I’m gonna have to get back to you on that. But for now.. Here is perfect.”

“You know, I wasn’t expecting to turn into this emotional mess. How does this shit always happen?” It was a fair question. Two years ago we were the two hardest asses in Carnage Wrestling. Now we were the two biggest softies in the UGWC. “Promise me one thing…” I say, my voice trailing off. “Make sure I die first. I couldn’t live without you.”
I shouldn’t be smiling, but I am. Sometimes I feel like I shouldn’t be this lucky either, but here I am, living out my very own Lifetime movie happy ending. I squeeze his hand and shake my head. “I’d love to, but how about we just burn that bridge when we get to it, hmm? We’ve got a long time to worry about any of that.” At least we’d better. I might not be saying it, but the prospect of being without him isn’t something I want to think about. After a few seconds of silence, I let out another sigh and tilt my head to the side, shooting him a mischievous grin. “Besides, we’ve got a lot of bridges to burn before then.”

The Davisons are sitting back in the locker room prior to Ken’s match, so he is appropriately in his ring gear. Kyra’s looking fine in a pair of dark denim shorts and an orange halter top. It’s probably a good thing that she’s not coming to the ring, Ken would be completely distracted. Since she’s not under contract with this company, Kyra is going to have to sit at ringside. That match, however, is still half an hour away. Right now, Ken and Kyra need to handle some Baltimore Elite business.

“They say those who forget history are doomed to repeat it. Yeah, last time we met, the Baltimore Elite dispatched of the Dark Destroyer and Captain 80s. Last time we met, our championships weren’t on the line, despite the fact that we asked to defend them. Now, I am hoping that our opponents will step up their games to warrant the Coalition’s decision to give them this opportunity. Boys, I feel as though I should warn you, the Baltimore Elite will not be stepping up our game, because we operate at an elite level, no matter the opponents, no matter the circumstances, no matter if there is a championship on the line or not.”

“We take a lot of pride in holding these belts. I mean I’d hope that much is obvious but you never really know. We never really got our chance to show Carnage what we had, considering technically we held the belts there for less than an hour.. If it even counts. But regardless, I don’t care who the powers that be put in front of us, be it Eden Morgan and Gabriel Baal or you two.. I don’t take this shit for granted. Not anymore. So like Ken said, we’re always ready and we’re always at the top of our game – it’s up to you two to get up to our level.”

“That is the very simple truth of the matter. We are the standard. We are the ones who brought stability to this division. We are in the middle of one of the best Cooperative Championship runs this company has seen in a long, long time. We don’t intend to let that slip away.”

“And if you’re tired of hearing us say it? Step up. Show us there’s more to you than the jokes that everyone else makes at your expense. Show us that you might have ridiculous names but beneath all that, there are some true fucking contenders that can not only reach the bar we’ve set for every other team in the Cooperative division, but can exceed it. I ain’t stupid enough to bank our win at Wrestlestock, but I will say this… Do better, motherfuckers. Do better. You’ve already had one match against us. You had your chance to take some notes and tighten up your game plan for the next time. Well, the next time is here and we’re ready. Are you?”

“I want to come down to the ring and I want to fucking kill you, both of you. Not in the literal sense, but when you go out there week after week, some us multiple times a week, you realize right quick it’s either you or them. If you’re not thinking that in your head, then what are you doing in that ring? If you’re not thinking that you’re going to go across and you’re going to kill this guy — and you’re going to annihilate this guy — what are you doing there? I know that the two of you are coming because you want to take these championships. These championships help put food on the table. Do you think I am going to allow you to walk in here and take food out of my daughter’s mouth? Not on your fucking life.”

“Now, if you’ll excuse us, Ken’s got another motherfucker to kill before we get to our next scheduled destination… You two.. And Wrestlestock.”

Ken stands up, placing his hand firmly on Kyra’s shoulder as the two of them stare down the camera as the picture fades to black.