The scene opened up inside the living room of the Thomas household. Seth was sprawled out on the couch with a rather large ice pack on his head. Needless to say, he wasn’t in a good mood. Ever since Cody’s attack on Adrenaline Seth has had a splitting headache. The slightest noise would make it worse, causing him to be more irritable than usual. Everybody in the house had been avoiding him for days, not wanting to give him any reason to go off. Even Jalie didn’t go around him as much, just doing what she needed to help take care of him. Jalie came in carrying another ice pack, switching it with the one Seth currently had. Little red dots were visible all over her back where her tank top didn’t cover. She seemed fairly sore, but happy. Seth on the other hand, was the complete opposite. He was sore and miserable.

“Here you go, baby.” Jalie said as softly as she could as she handed him the other ice pack. Seth took the one off his head and handed it to her.

“Thank you.” He whispered with as much of a smile as he could muster. Jalie blew him a kiss and headed back into the kitchen. Seth gently set the ice pack atop his head and closed his eyes. The camera cut to the kitchen, where Jalie was sat opposite Nick at the table. Red dots were visible all over his back as well, which weren’t covered by anything as he sat there in his tightie-whities.

“How’s Mister Pissy in there?” Nick asked, not really caring.

“Still the same.” Jalie answered, not sounding very happy about it.

“You thought he was difficult to live with before, huh?” Nick said as he rolled his eyes.

“This certainly didn’t help matters. Although he did deserve it for attacking Cody the way he did.” Jalie stated.

“Then why aren’t you staying over there?” Nick questioned.

“Because Seth came off worse this time.” She said while sipping her green tea. Although this thing between Seth and Cody originally had nothing to do with her, she still found herself caught in the middle of it. The mention of Seth around Cody was awkward and would put him in a bad mood. Now, the mention of Cody around Seth would set him off in one of his moods. It’s as though Jalie was walking down a very thin line. On one side was a man she has become fond of, considering him a brother. On the other was the man she loved, albeit he has been an ass as of late. No matter who comes out on top of this, Jalie will be the one to lose.

“So have you talked to Cody at all since Sunday night?” Nick asked, breaking the silence.

“No, I haven’t.” Jalie sounded disappointed. “And I doubt he’s going to call here with the chance of Seth answering the phone.”

“I’m sure he hasn’t been in the best of moods either, especially with the way he was humiliated Sunday night.” Nick stated. “You suppose he’s mad at you because you were too busy tending to Seth to help him?”

“I didn’t even know what happened until Monday afternoon.” Jalie shot back. “I was at the hospital all night with Seth. I wouldn’t have had to leave the arena if Cody didn’t attack Seth like that. Although Seth did deserve that. And Cody deserved what he got because he did that.” Jalie nodded, convinced. Nick looked at her utterly confused.

“So Seth got what he deserved for attacking Cody and Cody got what he deserved for attacking Seth, despite Seth deserving it?” Nick questioned.

“Yeah, something like that.” Jalie said as she slumped back in the chair. There were several minutes of silence.

“So are you going to go see how Cody’s doing?” Nick asked, finally breaking the silence. Jalie just sat there for a moment staring blankly at the table then suddenly blinked, shook her head and looked at Nick.

“What? Oh…” She said, realizing what he asked. “Yeah, I’ll probably head up there tomorrow.”

“But won’t Seth get pissed that you’re going to visit Cody?” Nick speculated.

“So? I still consider Cody a brother, despite what happened between him and Seth. I’ll visit him if I damn well please.” Jalie stated.

“You’re going to tell him that you’re visiting Carmen, aren’t you?” Nick assumed.

“Probably.” Jalie casually said as she took another sip of her green tea. “It just so happens that Cody lives in the same apartment complex so I’m bound to run into him.”

“You think that’s going to stop Seth from getting mad?” Nick inquired.

“No. But he can deal with it.” Jalie said with a nod. “He can’t tell me where I can and can’t go. I can take his feelings into consideration and not do something if it would bother him. But given how he’s taken nobody’s feelings into consideration except his own, he can kiss my ass.” She took another sip from her cup and set it down with a little force. Quietly staring out the window, it was obvious she was frustrated with everything that had gone on. In one swift motion she pushed the chair back and headed for the doorway.

“Where are you going?” Nick asked. Jalie stopped in the door momentarily and looked back.

“To inform my husband I’m taking a little trip tomorrow.” She told him. Nick made an uneasy face as she turned and disappeared from view.

“Hello fourth of July…” Nick said while shaking his head. He reached into his tightie-whities and pulled out a pair of ear muffs, placing them over his ears. How or why were there a pair of ear muffs down his briefs, you might ask? Well, if you find yourself asking that then you obviously don’t know Nick. He went about reading his crumbled and stained newspaper dated “November 16th, 1969” as the scene faded out.

--/Scene 2/--
Later in the week…

The scene faded in to the trashy suburban household of, well, lately just Seth Thomas. There was a powder machine on the front lawn, providing a nice white blanket over the yard; quite the contrast to the perfectly manicured green lawns lining the street. Seth had also taken the air conditioner from the living room and propped it up outside in the driveway on a pair of saw horses. Seth was bundled up in a ski jacket, ski gloves and a toque. The air conditioner was positioned directly on Seth, who was adamantly shovelling the driveway; ridding it of the fake snow. People in the neighbourhood would think him mad for going out of the way to create a climate that most come here to escape. Those people don’t realize one minor detail about Seth, he is in fact a Canadian. By now he would gleefully be waist deep in show and freezing his limbs off, and it wouldn’t bother him a bit. Jalie was the complete opposite. She grew up in the desert and wasn’t very good with handling the cold. So being the loving husband he is he figured he could deal with the heat better than Jalie could with the cold. But every year he would go out of his way to create a snowy day just because he enjoyed it. He was like a little kid when he was in the snow. Making a snow fort, building a snowman right on the front step so nobody could get in or out the front door, and pelting card as they went by with fake snowballs. Oh the confusion on their face when they got out to give him shit and saw that his lawn was covered in snow was very amusing for him. Usually Jalie would tough it out for one day and give in to his child-like obsession. But today, he was not around.

“You really are crazy, you know that?” Nick asked as he approached Seth. He stayed clear of the blasting air conditioner, wearing only a baggy pair of tightie-whities; quite the contrast to how Seth was bundled.

“Actually, I prefer the term “home-sick Canadian”. Seth stated while continuing to shovel the driveway.

“Where’s Jalie? doesn’t she usually come out for a while to indulge you?” Nick asked, looking around for a pink toque to be sticking out of the snow somewhere. Seth stopped shovelling. He leaned against the handle and looked at Nick.

“She’s still in San Bernardino.” Seth told him. A look of regret crossed Nick’s face that he even brought it up.

“You know about the accident then, huh?” Nick asked, already knowing the answer.

“Yep. And I didn’t find out about it from my wife or someone else in the house that she might have told…” He gave Nick a questioning look. “Instead I find out two days later on the news why my wife had to storm off to San Bernardino.”

“Because if she told you what had happened and why she was going you would’ve lost it on her.” Nick blurted.

“Would you have blamed me?” Seth shot at him. Little over a week ago the guy tried to kill me, then he storms off in a fit and gets into a car accident and Jalie immediately runs to his side. How long did she stay with me after Cody did that? Three days. How long has she been up in San Bernardino? Almost a week. No phone call. Nothing.”

“You should understand how frustrated she gets when you act like a raging bitch.” Nick pointed out.

“Do you know how frustrating it is having your wife leave for days, sometimes weeks on end, and not hear from her?” Seth exclaimed.

“Perhaps if you weren’t acting like a fucking psycho then she might want to talk to you. And you know she would never do anything with him anyways.” Nick added.

“I know. That’s not what bothers me.” Seth piped in.

“Then what does, exactly? That she would rather be around someone who isn’t going to question her every move?” Nick scoffed.

“Right. I forgot that I’m the bad guy here. Sorry.” Seth turned his back on Nick and went on with the shovelling. A moment later Seth was nailed in the back of the head with a snowball. He turned around in time to see the front door slam shut. He sneered and went back to his volunteer chore as the scene faded out.

-------------

The much anticipated Ultimate X cage match is quickly approaching. What is supposed to be the six top competitors in the AWA battling it out for the riches prize in the game. But due to management’s incapability to judge talent, that is not the case. But hey, two out of six ain’t bad, right?

But that’s not the only thing I have going on this Sunday. For some reason management has not only booked myself in two matches, but most everybody else as well. To me, it doesn’t make any sense. For example; a match between The Rumbler and myself doesn’t really seem fitting for the card. What purpose does it serve? He got beat by my wife last week, now they’re throwing him in the ring with me. What are you trying to do to the poor guy? Isn’t it bad enough he had his precious Chaosweight championship taken from him last week from Jalie?

I’m sure I’m one of the last people he wants to see on the other side of the ring. With the roll I’ve been on lately, there is no chance that he is going to stop me. Especially with my shot at the World title later in the same night. It’s more of a warm-up for me, if you really think about it. Now keep in mind, I’m not usually one to put myself over somebody just because I “think” I’m better then them. I let what goes on inside the ring decide that. But when a mediocre mid-carder is being thrown at me, what else am I to do? He can prance around with his Continental title all he wants, we all know it’s not going to last long. He just better start kissing Malone’s ass after this for not making it a title match.

Which funny enough this brings me to one of my opponents in the main event. Rumbler beat Arnette a couple weeks back for the Continental title. I don’t know how or why, but it happened. Arnette showed a lot of promise when I saw him in the ring, until I actually heard what he had to say outside it. Any man who claims they wanted to lose is full of shit. They say that because they can’t come to terms that they MIGHT BE HUMAN! I can’t fathom why you would purposely lose if you thought you are so superior to you’re opponent. Wouldn’t it look a little better for your sake if you just won quickly, as opposed to lose quickly? If you continue with the latter you’re going to turn into nothing more than an egomaniacal jobber.

Then again, I did think he was a little odd after hearing him refer to himself in third person all the time. Johnny Arnette this, Johnny Arnette that. You know who I really feel sorry for? Clayton Walker. He has to sit there and endure you all day. I wouldn’t be able to do it. I’d last maybe an hour listening to you constantly saying your name then “POW”, right in the kisser. “POW”, right in the kisser. “POW”, right in the kisser.

I really don’t understand why you’re in this match either. You haven’t been winning lately either. Why should you be rewarded for doing nothing but lying on your back and staring at the pretty lights in the rafters? Because you say you do, right? How can you sit there complain about being held back when you can’t seem to beat these “peasants” that are thrown at you? Instead you’d rather lay down and claim you’re above them. And as a fellow Canadian I must say, you are a fucking buffoon.

Speaking of buffoons, this brings me to my next opponent. What happened last week, Alex? Things didn’t go quite as planned, eh? Was you’re wife as disappointed in your performance after the show as I was during our match? Sure, you managed to prevent me from locking on Muerte Lenta but it didn’t stop me from getting the job done. You were too focused on stopping me from locking it on you didn’t see me coming with my nice little neckbreaker. I made you watch this hand while a smacked you with the other. Although it wasn’t quite as gratifying a hearing you squeal like a pig it still got me the win. Something you haven’t been too familiar with lately, have you?

So this poses the question of why exactly are you in the match as well? You’ve done nothing in the ring recently that makes you worthy of participating in a match like this, unless you count demonstrating how your wife is most comfortable as an accomplishment. My prediction is you’ll be too preoccupied with the post-match celebration that you’ll forget you still have to get past four other individuals. I say four rather than five because technically a Young brother doesn’t count. You’ll be gone second, only after whichever Young brother that makes it in.

Of all the people Williams decided to give this opportunity to, I really can’t understand why it was one of the Young brothers. Mike doesn’t even want in on the tag team match, let alone the main event. So it’s pretty much a given that Rick is going to end up in the main event. That is, if he sticks around long enough in the match to make it that far. We all know if things are looking down for him he’ll tuck his tail between his legs and run away, much to the manor he did with Adonis. There’s a World champion we can be proud of, eh?

So how exactly does it feel knowing the only reason you’ve been getting any attention lately is because you left your wife for someone has more talent in the ring than you do? If Brandi decided to up and leave you tomorrow nobody would care about who you are. So enjoy riding on the back of her skirt while you can, because it’s not going to help you this Sunday.

I have to hand it to you, Jimmy, you’re one persistent bastard. That may be the only positive thing I can think about you, but it’s something. I’m wondering though, exactly how much are you paying so you can read letters you get your buddies to write up uninterrupted? That’s definitely something worth watching there.

You know the first word that comes to mind when you’re name is mentioned? Tool. Not only do you look the part, but you act it as well. You consider Arnette to be your biggest threat because he’s lost a lot lately? It’s going to make him hungry? The way I look at it is, if he’s as hungry as you think he is he wouldn’t on the losing streak that he’s on. You have no judge of character or talent. How the fuck you got into the business is beyond me. You have no talent or knowledge of the sport. You’re better off to go back to being a lackey, or even stick to your pointless television show. You have no business being in a wrestling ring, and I’ll prove Sunday night.

And on to my last opponent for the night, and probably the one people have been anticipating the most. Where do I begin, Cody? One minute you’re Mister Cool then the next you’re in raging PMS mode. I’ve always known that even you don’t quite know what you’re doing. There are several matters that I must address with you.

First of all, this whole thing with Jalie. You, just like every other judgemental buffoon out there assume that I did what I did because I’m jealous of how close you and Jalie have gotten the last few months. That, my friend, is incorrect. I have several reasons why. Nobody knows Jalie the way that I do, not even you. If Jalie wanted you in any way, shape or form she wouldn’t keep it secret. She’s not the kind to cheat, and I know that. I know she loves me and I trust her. I know she’s not going to go gallivanting into the arms of another man, no matter how angry she is with me. You are the dip shit for even suggesting it. For someone who has dubbed myself as his brother you really don’t know me. If you did, then that thought would never have crossed your mind. For everyone else who has thought or suggested it, it’s to be expected of people sticking their nose in where it doesn’t belong.

Another reason being, if I were suspecting anything, I would have gone about things very differently. As a matter of fact, I probably would’ve done about the same thing to you as you did to me on Adrenaline. I wouldn’t have wore the mask and played that little charade if I had the intention of inflicting permanent damage on you. I have a little fun and everybody gets their panties in a bunch. Although it did affect our personal lives, the motives behind it were strictly business. That’s all it was meant to be. But you, being the hot-head that you are, chose to take it out of context and viciously attack me in the parking lot. You of all people should know that was the last ting you wanted to do. Considering every time we have faced off I have beaten you to a pulp. After all these years you think you would’ve learned that I am your kryptonite. No matter how good you have become, I will always find a way to beat you. I know it’s not an easy fact to live with, but you’re going to have to learn to deal with it otherwise you will just continue to be disappointed down the road.

You know one of the things I used to love when you would shoot your promos? The way you would constantly contradict yourself. I used to love picking apart you incoherent rambling and point out how stupid you really could be. Apparently some things never change. If you didn’t care so much about the title, then why are you so determined to beat everybody and win the match? It’s to prove everybody wrong. I know how it gets to you when everybody doubts you. You say the title means nothing to you, but I know better. It’s a constant reassurance to yourself that you are better than everybody else. If it didn’t mean so much to you then you wouldn’t be willing to go through hell to keep it.

You keep claiming that you know me, and know how I think. The truth is, you really don’t. If you did, then you would know this whole thing between us had nothing to do with Jalie and you would also know that I am not nearly as stupid as half the locker room. So far you have proven nothing when it comes to getting inside and fucking with my mind. You like to pride yourself on it when it’s nothing more and a fucking gimmick for you. To get inside and fuck with my mind you know to know how and why I tick. And so far I have proven that you know nothing of what you talk about. You just sit there and spew whatever is going on inside that thick head of yours without listening to yourself. I’ve heard this all from you before, time and time again. How many times over the years have I heard you claim to be the master of mind games? So many it’s pathetic. By the time you ask the questions, I’ve already changed the answers. I’ve had you guessing for years, and it continues this Sunday. I’m not impressed in the slightest with all your big talk because quite frankly you haven’t given me any reason to believe otherwise. Until you can actually enforce everything you say against me, you’re better off keeping your ramblings very brief. Less words you’ll have to eat later.