Post by The Ace on Feb 2, 2013 18:49:56 GMT -6
Emma Danielson felt out of place in Jake's Aston Martin. She shifted uncomfortably in the passenger seat as Jake Conway drives.
Emma: Where are we going?
Jake: I haven't decided yet.
Emma: Well, gee, at least I know there's a good reason why I left my truck parked outside the courthouse.
Jake: I told you, we'll go back for it, I just need to clear my head and I appreciate the company.
Emma: I hope it isn't stolen, that baby has seen me through a lot.
Jake: If it is, I'll buy you a new one...
Emma smiles as she looks at Jake with an expression of genuine surprise.
Emma: Seriously? You'd spend that kinda money on me? Surely you have better things to spend your money on than me?
Jake: I do, that's why it wouldn't be my money, it would be Bertie's...
Jake smirks as he looks at Emma, and she thumps him on the arm.
Jake: Owww....son of a...
Emma: Serves you right. Though now you mention it, being spoiled by the World Champion's money does sound nice.
Jake abruptly and rather decisively pulls up on Las Vegas Boulevard.
Jake: I've finally decided where we are going...
Emma: And where is that?
Jake: To spoil somebody else with the World Champion's money...
Jake and Emma enter a luxury lingerie store. Emma looks around, feeling rather outclassed by the ambience of the high class retail outlet - Agent Provocateur. She allowed herself a small smile as she thought about how this place sounded exactly like the kind of place Jake Conway would go to given his love of the spy genre. His love of scantily clad women however, that was something she knew little about but she felt she was about to get an up close and personal lesson on, whether she wanted it or not.
A young brunette woman spots him as they enter, dressed rather smartly with her hair tied back in a neat ponytail. Her smile brightens as she sees him and she runs up to him, embracing him as if he were a long lost brother. She kisses him on the cheek and he in turn returns the favour as Emma raises a eyebrow.
Woman: JAKE! How are you? Sorry to hear about all the stuff that's been going on with your brother. It was all over the news. So tragic...Laura was so young.
Jake: Yeah, we just came back from court as it happens. It wasn't exactly fun but at least the people responsible are going to jail.
Woman: Well, that's good at least. So what can I do for you today? Here to spoil the wife again, I assume?
The woman than looks at the considerably casual Emma Danielson.
Woman: Or does your friend here need my help to find her style?
Emma shakes her head and smiles.
Emma: No, no. I'm fine....I'm just here to help him spoil his wife...again...
The woman sighs with a practiced expectation and some residual regret that he had a wife to spoil.
Woman: Doesn't surprise me. He's always in here, ya know.
Emma raises an eyebrow at Jake, clearly she wasn't expecting such a stark revelation.
Jake: Well, gee, thanks Becky. You've made me sound like some sort of sexual deviant when all I'm trying to be is spontaneously romantic.
Becky giggles.
Becky: You're welcome.
Jake: So...yeah, anyway...I'm going to defer to your expertise here, Bex. What would you recommend?
Becky's attention is suddenly drawn to Jake's swollen lip, courtesy of the right hook from Jason. She had seen him in much worse shape and had come to accept such a sight as a common occurence in his line of work.
Becky: Special occassion is it? Or are you wanting to apologise for whatever you did that made her nail you across the face?
Becky grins at him, and Jake sighs.
Jake: Very funny.
Becky: We have some new stuff in our Valentine's range...some of it is quite kinky, I think you would enjoy it.
Jake: Every day with Kat -
Becky sighs, the kind of sigh that lets Emma know she was used to hearing what came next.
Becky: ...is like Valentine's Day. I know, I know...
Jake: Well, it's true. I don't need to be told on what day I should let my wife know just how much she means to me.
Becky cocks her head to the side and smiles at him, clearly taken by his affection for Kathleen.
Becky: Where are the rest of the men like you?
Jake: I'm a dying breed, sister.
Becky sighs.
Becky: Clearly.
Becky abruptly changes the subject back to the business at hand.
Becky: So I'm guessing you want something romantic yet sexy?
Jake: Yeah, anything new and rather unique might be fun too. In her favourite colour would be a bonus.
Becky: What's her favourite color?
Jake: Fuschia. Not pink. She's always been quite adamant to make that distinction.
Becky suddenly sparks to life as she rather excitedly takes him by the hand and leads him.
Becky: Perfect! I might have just the thing. Let me show you the new Lavelle range, we just got in. It'll blow her away...
Jake: Great! Let's hope she returns the favour...
Emma checks her watch, having opted to stay here and wait whilst Becky took Jake exploring. She sighs and shakes her head and puts her hands on her hips, when suddenly a very flustered and red faced Jake Conway returns, with Becky.
Jake: PHEW! BOY I THINK I NEED A COLD SHOWER NOW! THAT WAS...
Becky: I told ya, we have some great new stuff in.
Jake: Clearly. So you think she'll like it?
Becky: She'll love it....especially when she finds out you brought her the entire range!
Jake: Hey, I couldn't decide. So I thought why should I have to?
Emma volunteers to take the shopping bags from him, as she sits in the passenger side of the Aston, he passes the two bags along to her and she places them in her lap.
Jake: Thanks, Em.
Jake gets in, shuts the driver door and clicks his seat beat into place. Emma's natural curiousity finally comes to the fore as she roots around in one of the bags and pulls out the fuschia colored bra and eyes it curiously.
Jake: What do you think Em? Do you think she'll like it?
Emma: Why not? I would if a man ever brought me something like this, of course that would mean he'd have to find me at least moderately attractive first...
Jake: I find you very attractive, Em...
Emma: You're so sweet Jake, but you're married so you don't count...
Emma sighs as Jake shrugs off the comment. She looked at the bra again in her lap, and for one crazy moment it struck her just how annoyed she was that she wasn't the one who would ultimately model it for him and subsequently be ravaged in complete lust. For one crazy moment, she too lamented the fact that Jake Conway was married. It was not her color perhaps, but it was just her size.
Jake: Let's go get your precious baby back...
Emma smiles, dismissing the thought and shoving the bra back into the bag, out of sight, where it could no longer inspire her insanity.
Emma: Yes, let's...
The scene opens with The Ace sat in the middle of a room where the backdrop is a wall of steel mesh. A sledgehammer, with its head wrapped in barbed wire is hung on the left behind the former World and two-time NCW National Champion, and hanging from the mesh on the right, a steel roulette table rake. In front of The Ace was a wooden table, upon which sat a deck of cards and a lighter. The Ace leans forward, his hands clasped infront of him as he smirks at the camera.
You know, it really is a remarkable side-effect of this business that when a Pay Per View rolls around and a Championship is on the line, it makes so many usually logical, rational and dare I say smart men into fortune tellers. It seems for ten pounds of gold and five of leather, anybody can tell you your future. So many men in my position would tell you Andrew that you're about to lose your National Championship, they would absolutely insist that they will win, any other future doesn't even bear thinking about. I will do no such thing Andrew. I shall not tell you that my victory is a foregone conclusion, even if you think I already have. I've never insisted that you will definitely lose to me on Sunday, I have however strongly insinuated that if you lose it will be strictly because of the doubt and paranoia that you've built up in your own head. You have very strange ideas about the game you think I'm playing here, and it is strictly that which threatens to cost you the National Championship this Sunday.
You have grown so obsessed with the idea of making me reap that which you think I have sown, that you have a certain mental myopia about the seed of doubt that you currently have rattling around in your skull, bothering you at every turn....and since it continues to bother you no matter what I say or do, who can blame me for seeking to Ace-Plant it right in the centre of my Den at Metamorphosis? I will help it really take root, I will nuture it, I will help it flourish. Just as Roberto Verona did at Breaking Away last year. You carried your little seeds of doubt even then, back then you sought a distraction from it all, you pined over a woman you've never learned to fully appreciate. You grew out your little depression beard over her, and it cost you the World Heavyweight Championship. Now, you have the National Championship, you earned it by kicking me in the face last month, and rather than be happy about that, rather than be thrilled that your name was finally added to quite an exclusive list of Triple Crown Winners, you're doing it all over again.
Lamenting that which you have cost yourself all over again. You've lost two women, two women who you want me to believe were the most important women, besides Danielle Chase, in your entire little life, your best friend Emma and your baby sister Callie. You want to believe you've lost them because of me, that I've played some dastardly trick upon them to turn them against you, but the truth is Jacobsen, you've turned them against you all by yourself.
So do me a favour this week Andy, while you're sculpting your little scrawny chin fluff into a depression beard again, scratching your balls and frowning into the glossy sheen of a title you've never learned to appreciate, just like the women in your life, do me just one favour while you're watching Mystery Science Theatre all alone, just one - don't blame me for any of it. I did not steal away Emma or Callie, you pushed them away, you cast them out of your life. They came to me because I've given them new opportunities and new leases on life, something you've never endorsed for either of them, and don't say you have, lest you paint yourself the filthy liar that you want the world to believe I am.
If you had appreciated Emma, if you had just taken the time to reach out and take the beer bottle from her hand and told her every once in a while how beautiful she was and how lucky you were to have her in your life, you wouldn't now be in this mess. If you had taken the time to be a big brother to Callie, to support her decisions, even ones you didn't agree with immediately, like real brothers do, you wouldn't know be stewing over the fact that she made out with an older, but still damned attractive, distinguished British gentleman on live TV last week.
They say you never really appreciate something until its gone, and then its too late. So tell me Andrew, do you appreciate all that you've lost? Will you finally learn to cherish all that you have whilst you have it, or can we just save everybody the bother right now and just add the NCW National Championship to the long list of valuable possessions you will never quite appreciate until you lose it too? Will you finally thank me for taking the most important people in your life and actually making them feel it for once? You should. It's the least I can do.
In recent weeks Andrew, you've become so obsessed with just how much time you have left as the National Champion, and it is an obsession that has already cost you dearly. You flap your gums about how it doesn't matter who you face, that you are ready to defend that title against anyone and everyone, and for your sake Andrew I hope there is at least a kernel of truth to that, because if there isn't, and it falls to me once again to show the world just how much of a pathological liar you actually are, it will not end well. Not for you. Not this Sunday. Not inside my Den.
I will not presume to tell you any more about your future Andrew, I cannot predict it...the best I can do is offer you a glimpse of it. The best I can do is tell you the most likely outcome if you do not cease this fool's errand that you're on right now. You will not walk into my kingdom and presume to make a liar and a fraud out of me just because you so adamantly refuse to acknowledge that that is what you have become ever since you won the second greatest title in this even greater company. You cannot come face to face with a dragon and not expect your stupidity to get you burned. You see Andrew, you might think this match is all about my ego, that I chose the staple match of Metamorphosis to shamelessly promote myself, but the truth is Evolution doesn't need to advertise, and neither do you North Star - especially not when wehave such a fine publicist in Alex Jones who does not ever fail to plug our respective names for us.
The Ace jerks a thumb up and grins at the camera.
Appreciate it, buddy. Keep up the good work. Keep on saving those lower titles from mediocrity, whilst mediocrity itself moves on and fights in bigger matches for bigger titles way above your station, but hey, you're still young, right? You're only 29! Plenty of time to ascend the ladder left, if only you could get your piddly ass off the third rung and join us up here.
The Ace clears his throat.
I digress. You see Andrew, in many respects, there is no more classic a tale to be told inside a wrestling ring than the one we shall tell this Sunday...
The Ace picks up a card from the top of the deck and presents it to the camera - the Ace Of Spades.
You have the cerebral villain...the head...against....
The Ace draws a second card with the same hand, and now we see the Ace of Hearts infront, with the Ace of Spades tucked behind it.
...the classic hero...the heart...
It is an age old story. The most basic of internal human conflict infact. Some follow their heart. Others the head. One rules the other in every decision ever made in the course of a lifetime. Which will you allow to rule you Jacobsen come Sunday, and more importantly, which will the people see rule at Metamorphosis? Everybody wants to believe and follow their hearts this weekend, but as so often happens in life for most people, they come to accept the inevitabilty that the head rules the heart...and why shouldn't they? History has shown that I have broken many hearts, two of them in this very match in fact. I have broken my best friend Steve, and I have broken the man defined by his heart and that very title you hold, Joe Everyman. Quite the spectrum of opposition I think you'll agree, and most people would put you somewhere in the middle of that particular deck. This Sunday you have the opportunity to be so much more than a middle of the deck kind of guy. You could change people's perceptions of you overnight by beating me inside my Den, and whatever you might think of your own abilities and of me, I will not doubt that you could do it. You could turn the lights out on me for a third time, you could show me your heart...and if you do, you better pray that this old dragon doesn't have enough left in his final breath to make you....
The Ace deops his signature card on the table, holding on to the Ace of Hearts. In his free hand, he picks up the lighter, and brings it to life with a flick, he then sets the edge of the playing card alight.
Watch it burn.
The camera focuses on the slowly burning card as the scene fades away to the black of ashes yet to come.
Jake Conway pulls up in the Aston Martin into the drive way outside his luxury home. He takes a moment to take the bags that now occupied the passenger seat where Emma had sat, into his lap with a smile. He then honks the horn four times, causing Kathy to appear at the front door. He motions for her to come outside and she shakes her head in disbelief, but decides to indulge her husband as she closes the door behind her and steps out onto the drive way.
She makes her way round to the passenger side of the car, and Jake unlocks the door, so she can get in. Kathy stands, one unimpressed hand on her hip, the other on the door as she leans down.
Kathy: Where the hell have you been?
Jake: Get in.
Kathy sighs, as she shifts herself into the expensive vehicle.
Jake: Shut the door.
She does so.
Kathy: Now what?
Jake then dumps the bags in her lap, she looks at the Agent Provocateur branding and her annoyed demeanor dissipates almost immediately.
Kathy: So this explains where you've been, but it doesn't explain why...
She smiles at him, a sparkle in her eyes.
Jake: Do I ever need a reason to treat the sexiest woman in the universe?
Kathy: No, I just thought you might be trying to make it up to me after that stunt with Callie Jacobsen...
Jake: Well yes, there is that. But mostly it's because I love you.
Kathy then rifles through the bags pulling out the various items of lingerie that were in her favourite color. A small detail that had not gone unnoticed, and made all the difference.With the bra in her lap, tears start welling up in her eyes. Jake notices this and immediately grows concerned.
Jake: Honey, what's wrong? If you don't like -
Kathy shakes her head, stopping him mid-sentence.
Kathy: No....no, I love them....its just...I was so ready to be mad at you, to yell at you about spending too much time with Emma, then you pull something like this...
Jake smiles at his wife.
Jake: I have a confession to make. Emma was with me, I valued her opinion on my choice.
Kathy looks suddenly very earnest.
Kathy: Well in that case I guess I have a confession to make too.
Jake: What is it?
Kathy: Waiting for you, Jason got very drunk and in a total lapse of judgment, he kissed me. I slapped him for it, but part of me let him get away with it because of what you pulled on Collision and because you haven't paid me any attention in weeks...
Jake blinks, taking a moment to process the frankness of his wife's admission. He shrugs before meeting his wife's gaze and the two search each other's souls for a moment, before he finally responds.
Jake: Well....I guess that makes us even. I still owe Jason a penalty for this though. A legendary one at that...
Kathy had learned that the brother's referred to vengeful but ultimately harmless pranks as 'penalties'. A tradition they had kept since childhood to get back at one another. Obscenely childish perhaps but part of Kathy loved Jake precisely because she knew that whilst he would inevitably grow older, he would never grow up.
Kathy: It's at times like these that I feel that I really don't deserve you, you know...
Kathy then rifles through the various items. Suspenders, thong and bra, admiring each one carefully.
Kathy: 34-24-35....you remembered! See it's little things like that which remind me why I'm so hopelessly in love with you and always will be...
Jake: It's easy to remember the combination that opens my heart...
Kathy leans over and kisses him.
Kathy: A little cheesy, but I'll take it...
Jake: Now...what was that about wanting some attention?
Kathy raises an eyebrow, clearly surprised.
Kathy: What? Here? Now?
Jake: No time like the present...
Kathy grins, a mischievous glint in her eyes.
Kathy: Just so you know, I haven't made out in a car since the senior prom.
Jake: My, my, so many little oversights we must correct immediately....
The couple open the doors only to discard the bags and lingerie onto their drive way for the time being, space being at a premium wasn't going to stifle their most intimate desires. The couple shut the doors and melt into each other's embrace as the scene fades away.
Emma: Where are we going?
Jake: I haven't decided yet.
Emma: Well, gee, at least I know there's a good reason why I left my truck parked outside the courthouse.
Jake: I told you, we'll go back for it, I just need to clear my head and I appreciate the company.
Emma: I hope it isn't stolen, that baby has seen me through a lot.
Jake: If it is, I'll buy you a new one...
Emma smiles as she looks at Jake with an expression of genuine surprise.
Emma: Seriously? You'd spend that kinda money on me? Surely you have better things to spend your money on than me?
Jake: I do, that's why it wouldn't be my money, it would be Bertie's...
Jake smirks as he looks at Emma, and she thumps him on the arm.
Jake: Owww....son of a...
Emma: Serves you right. Though now you mention it, being spoiled by the World Champion's money does sound nice.
Jake abruptly and rather decisively pulls up on Las Vegas Boulevard.
Jake: I've finally decided where we are going...
Emma: And where is that?
Jake: To spoil somebody else with the World Champion's money...
Jake and Emma enter a luxury lingerie store. Emma looks around, feeling rather outclassed by the ambience of the high class retail outlet - Agent Provocateur. She allowed herself a small smile as she thought about how this place sounded exactly like the kind of place Jake Conway would go to given his love of the spy genre. His love of scantily clad women however, that was something she knew little about but she felt she was about to get an up close and personal lesson on, whether she wanted it or not.
A young brunette woman spots him as they enter, dressed rather smartly with her hair tied back in a neat ponytail. Her smile brightens as she sees him and she runs up to him, embracing him as if he were a long lost brother. She kisses him on the cheek and he in turn returns the favour as Emma raises a eyebrow.
Woman: JAKE! How are you? Sorry to hear about all the stuff that's been going on with your brother. It was all over the news. So tragic...Laura was so young.
Jake: Yeah, we just came back from court as it happens. It wasn't exactly fun but at least the people responsible are going to jail.
Woman: Well, that's good at least. So what can I do for you today? Here to spoil the wife again, I assume?
The woman than looks at the considerably casual Emma Danielson.
Woman: Or does your friend here need my help to find her style?
Emma shakes her head and smiles.
Emma: No, no. I'm fine....I'm just here to help him spoil his wife...again...
The woman sighs with a practiced expectation and some residual regret that he had a wife to spoil.
Woman: Doesn't surprise me. He's always in here, ya know.
Emma raises an eyebrow at Jake, clearly she wasn't expecting such a stark revelation.
Jake: Well, gee, thanks Becky. You've made me sound like some sort of sexual deviant when all I'm trying to be is spontaneously romantic.
Becky giggles.
Becky: You're welcome.
Jake: So...yeah, anyway...I'm going to defer to your expertise here, Bex. What would you recommend?
Becky's attention is suddenly drawn to Jake's swollen lip, courtesy of the right hook from Jason. She had seen him in much worse shape and had come to accept such a sight as a common occurence in his line of work.
Becky: Special occassion is it? Or are you wanting to apologise for whatever you did that made her nail you across the face?
Becky grins at him, and Jake sighs.
Jake: Very funny.
Becky: We have some new stuff in our Valentine's range...some of it is quite kinky, I think you would enjoy it.
Jake: Every day with Kat -
Becky sighs, the kind of sigh that lets Emma know she was used to hearing what came next.
Becky: ...is like Valentine's Day. I know, I know...
Jake: Well, it's true. I don't need to be told on what day I should let my wife know just how much she means to me.
Becky cocks her head to the side and smiles at him, clearly taken by his affection for Kathleen.
Becky: Where are the rest of the men like you?
Jake: I'm a dying breed, sister.
Becky sighs.
Becky: Clearly.
Becky abruptly changes the subject back to the business at hand.
Becky: So I'm guessing you want something romantic yet sexy?
Jake: Yeah, anything new and rather unique might be fun too. In her favourite colour would be a bonus.
Becky: What's her favourite color?
Jake: Fuschia. Not pink. She's always been quite adamant to make that distinction.
Becky suddenly sparks to life as she rather excitedly takes him by the hand and leads him.
Becky: Perfect! I might have just the thing. Let me show you the new Lavelle range, we just got in. It'll blow her away...
Jake: Great! Let's hope she returns the favour...
Emma checks her watch, having opted to stay here and wait whilst Becky took Jake exploring. She sighs and shakes her head and puts her hands on her hips, when suddenly a very flustered and red faced Jake Conway returns, with Becky.
Jake: PHEW! BOY I THINK I NEED A COLD SHOWER NOW! THAT WAS...
Becky: I told ya, we have some great new stuff in.
Jake: Clearly. So you think she'll like it?
Becky: She'll love it....especially when she finds out you brought her the entire range!
Jake: Hey, I couldn't decide. So I thought why should I have to?
Emma volunteers to take the shopping bags from him, as she sits in the passenger side of the Aston, he passes the two bags along to her and she places them in her lap.
Jake: Thanks, Em.
Jake gets in, shuts the driver door and clicks his seat beat into place. Emma's natural curiousity finally comes to the fore as she roots around in one of the bags and pulls out the fuschia colored bra and eyes it curiously.
Jake: What do you think Em? Do you think she'll like it?
Emma: Why not? I would if a man ever brought me something like this, of course that would mean he'd have to find me at least moderately attractive first...
Jake: I find you very attractive, Em...
Emma: You're so sweet Jake, but you're married so you don't count...
Emma sighs as Jake shrugs off the comment. She looked at the bra again in her lap, and for one crazy moment it struck her just how annoyed she was that she wasn't the one who would ultimately model it for him and subsequently be ravaged in complete lust. For one crazy moment, she too lamented the fact that Jake Conway was married. It was not her color perhaps, but it was just her size.
Jake: Let's go get your precious baby back...
Emma smiles, dismissing the thought and shoving the bra back into the bag, out of sight, where it could no longer inspire her insanity.
Emma: Yes, let's...
The scene opens with The Ace sat in the middle of a room where the backdrop is a wall of steel mesh. A sledgehammer, with its head wrapped in barbed wire is hung on the left behind the former World and two-time NCW National Champion, and hanging from the mesh on the right, a steel roulette table rake. In front of The Ace was a wooden table, upon which sat a deck of cards and a lighter. The Ace leans forward, his hands clasped infront of him as he smirks at the camera.
You know, it really is a remarkable side-effect of this business that when a Pay Per View rolls around and a Championship is on the line, it makes so many usually logical, rational and dare I say smart men into fortune tellers. It seems for ten pounds of gold and five of leather, anybody can tell you your future. So many men in my position would tell you Andrew that you're about to lose your National Championship, they would absolutely insist that they will win, any other future doesn't even bear thinking about. I will do no such thing Andrew. I shall not tell you that my victory is a foregone conclusion, even if you think I already have. I've never insisted that you will definitely lose to me on Sunday, I have however strongly insinuated that if you lose it will be strictly because of the doubt and paranoia that you've built up in your own head. You have very strange ideas about the game you think I'm playing here, and it is strictly that which threatens to cost you the National Championship this Sunday.
You have grown so obsessed with the idea of making me reap that which you think I have sown, that you have a certain mental myopia about the seed of doubt that you currently have rattling around in your skull, bothering you at every turn....and since it continues to bother you no matter what I say or do, who can blame me for seeking to Ace-Plant it right in the centre of my Den at Metamorphosis? I will help it really take root, I will nuture it, I will help it flourish. Just as Roberto Verona did at Breaking Away last year. You carried your little seeds of doubt even then, back then you sought a distraction from it all, you pined over a woman you've never learned to fully appreciate. You grew out your little depression beard over her, and it cost you the World Heavyweight Championship. Now, you have the National Championship, you earned it by kicking me in the face last month, and rather than be happy about that, rather than be thrilled that your name was finally added to quite an exclusive list of Triple Crown Winners, you're doing it all over again.
Lamenting that which you have cost yourself all over again. You've lost two women, two women who you want me to believe were the most important women, besides Danielle Chase, in your entire little life, your best friend Emma and your baby sister Callie. You want to believe you've lost them because of me, that I've played some dastardly trick upon them to turn them against you, but the truth is Jacobsen, you've turned them against you all by yourself.
So do me a favour this week Andy, while you're sculpting your little scrawny chin fluff into a depression beard again, scratching your balls and frowning into the glossy sheen of a title you've never learned to appreciate, just like the women in your life, do me just one favour while you're watching Mystery Science Theatre all alone, just one - don't blame me for any of it. I did not steal away Emma or Callie, you pushed them away, you cast them out of your life. They came to me because I've given them new opportunities and new leases on life, something you've never endorsed for either of them, and don't say you have, lest you paint yourself the filthy liar that you want the world to believe I am.
If you had appreciated Emma, if you had just taken the time to reach out and take the beer bottle from her hand and told her every once in a while how beautiful she was and how lucky you were to have her in your life, you wouldn't now be in this mess. If you had taken the time to be a big brother to Callie, to support her decisions, even ones you didn't agree with immediately, like real brothers do, you wouldn't know be stewing over the fact that she made out with an older, but still damned attractive, distinguished British gentleman on live TV last week.
They say you never really appreciate something until its gone, and then its too late. So tell me Andrew, do you appreciate all that you've lost? Will you finally learn to cherish all that you have whilst you have it, or can we just save everybody the bother right now and just add the NCW National Championship to the long list of valuable possessions you will never quite appreciate until you lose it too? Will you finally thank me for taking the most important people in your life and actually making them feel it for once? You should. It's the least I can do.
In recent weeks Andrew, you've become so obsessed with just how much time you have left as the National Champion, and it is an obsession that has already cost you dearly. You flap your gums about how it doesn't matter who you face, that you are ready to defend that title against anyone and everyone, and for your sake Andrew I hope there is at least a kernel of truth to that, because if there isn't, and it falls to me once again to show the world just how much of a pathological liar you actually are, it will not end well. Not for you. Not this Sunday. Not inside my Den.
I will not presume to tell you any more about your future Andrew, I cannot predict it...the best I can do is offer you a glimpse of it. The best I can do is tell you the most likely outcome if you do not cease this fool's errand that you're on right now. You will not walk into my kingdom and presume to make a liar and a fraud out of me just because you so adamantly refuse to acknowledge that that is what you have become ever since you won the second greatest title in this even greater company. You cannot come face to face with a dragon and not expect your stupidity to get you burned. You see Andrew, you might think this match is all about my ego, that I chose the staple match of Metamorphosis to shamelessly promote myself, but the truth is Evolution doesn't need to advertise, and neither do you North Star - especially not when wehave such a fine publicist in Alex Jones who does not ever fail to plug our respective names for us.
The Ace jerks a thumb up and grins at the camera.
Appreciate it, buddy. Keep up the good work. Keep on saving those lower titles from mediocrity, whilst mediocrity itself moves on and fights in bigger matches for bigger titles way above your station, but hey, you're still young, right? You're only 29! Plenty of time to ascend the ladder left, if only you could get your piddly ass off the third rung and join us up here.
The Ace clears his throat.
I digress. You see Andrew, in many respects, there is no more classic a tale to be told inside a wrestling ring than the one we shall tell this Sunday...
The Ace picks up a card from the top of the deck and presents it to the camera - the Ace Of Spades.
You have the cerebral villain...the head...against....
The Ace draws a second card with the same hand, and now we see the Ace of Hearts infront, with the Ace of Spades tucked behind it.
...the classic hero...the heart...
It is an age old story. The most basic of internal human conflict infact. Some follow their heart. Others the head. One rules the other in every decision ever made in the course of a lifetime. Which will you allow to rule you Jacobsen come Sunday, and more importantly, which will the people see rule at Metamorphosis? Everybody wants to believe and follow their hearts this weekend, but as so often happens in life for most people, they come to accept the inevitabilty that the head rules the heart...and why shouldn't they? History has shown that I have broken many hearts, two of them in this very match in fact. I have broken my best friend Steve, and I have broken the man defined by his heart and that very title you hold, Joe Everyman. Quite the spectrum of opposition I think you'll agree, and most people would put you somewhere in the middle of that particular deck. This Sunday you have the opportunity to be so much more than a middle of the deck kind of guy. You could change people's perceptions of you overnight by beating me inside my Den, and whatever you might think of your own abilities and of me, I will not doubt that you could do it. You could turn the lights out on me for a third time, you could show me your heart...and if you do, you better pray that this old dragon doesn't have enough left in his final breath to make you....
The Ace deops his signature card on the table, holding on to the Ace of Hearts. In his free hand, he picks up the lighter, and brings it to life with a flick, he then sets the edge of the playing card alight.
Watch it burn.
The camera focuses on the slowly burning card as the scene fades away to the black of ashes yet to come.
Jake Conway pulls up in the Aston Martin into the drive way outside his luxury home. He takes a moment to take the bags that now occupied the passenger seat where Emma had sat, into his lap with a smile. He then honks the horn four times, causing Kathy to appear at the front door. He motions for her to come outside and she shakes her head in disbelief, but decides to indulge her husband as she closes the door behind her and steps out onto the drive way.
She makes her way round to the passenger side of the car, and Jake unlocks the door, so she can get in. Kathy stands, one unimpressed hand on her hip, the other on the door as she leans down.
Kathy: Where the hell have you been?
Jake: Get in.
Kathy sighs, as she shifts herself into the expensive vehicle.
Jake: Shut the door.
She does so.
Kathy: Now what?
Jake then dumps the bags in her lap, she looks at the Agent Provocateur branding and her annoyed demeanor dissipates almost immediately.
Kathy: So this explains where you've been, but it doesn't explain why...
She smiles at him, a sparkle in her eyes.
Jake: Do I ever need a reason to treat the sexiest woman in the universe?
Kathy: No, I just thought you might be trying to make it up to me after that stunt with Callie Jacobsen...
Jake: Well yes, there is that. But mostly it's because I love you.
Kathy then rifles through the bags pulling out the various items of lingerie that were in her favourite color. A small detail that had not gone unnoticed, and made all the difference.With the bra in her lap, tears start welling up in her eyes. Jake notices this and immediately grows concerned.
Jake: Honey, what's wrong? If you don't like -
Kathy shakes her head, stopping him mid-sentence.
Kathy: No....no, I love them....its just...I was so ready to be mad at you, to yell at you about spending too much time with Emma, then you pull something like this...
Jake smiles at his wife.
Jake: I have a confession to make. Emma was with me, I valued her opinion on my choice.
Kathy looks suddenly very earnest.
Kathy: Well in that case I guess I have a confession to make too.
Jake: What is it?
Kathy: Waiting for you, Jason got very drunk and in a total lapse of judgment, he kissed me. I slapped him for it, but part of me let him get away with it because of what you pulled on Collision and because you haven't paid me any attention in weeks...
Jake blinks, taking a moment to process the frankness of his wife's admission. He shrugs before meeting his wife's gaze and the two search each other's souls for a moment, before he finally responds.
Jake: Well....I guess that makes us even. I still owe Jason a penalty for this though. A legendary one at that...
Kathy had learned that the brother's referred to vengeful but ultimately harmless pranks as 'penalties'. A tradition they had kept since childhood to get back at one another. Obscenely childish perhaps but part of Kathy loved Jake precisely because she knew that whilst he would inevitably grow older, he would never grow up.
Kathy: It's at times like these that I feel that I really don't deserve you, you know...
Kathy then rifles through the various items. Suspenders, thong and bra, admiring each one carefully.
Kathy: 34-24-35....you remembered! See it's little things like that which remind me why I'm so hopelessly in love with you and always will be...
Jake: It's easy to remember the combination that opens my heart...
Kathy leans over and kisses him.
Kathy: A little cheesy, but I'll take it...
Jake: Now...what was that about wanting some attention?
Kathy raises an eyebrow, clearly surprised.
Kathy: What? Here? Now?
Jake: No time like the present...
Kathy grins, a mischievous glint in her eyes.
Kathy: Just so you know, I haven't made out in a car since the senior prom.
Jake: My, my, so many little oversights we must correct immediately....
The couple open the doors only to discard the bags and lingerie onto their drive way for the time being, space being at a premium wasn't going to stifle their most intimate desires. The couple shut the doors and melt into each other's embrace as the scene fades away.