The face of Ben Jordan comes in to focus on the camera, a usual start for Ben as he gets set to talk about his recent days and of course his upcoming match. The camera moves out a bit to see him wearing a tight white shirt and blue jeans as he sits outside his house in Maine. Ben sits on a chair next to a wooden table, a tall glass of water with ice sitting in front of him. Ben picks up the glass, taking a drink from it before looking in to the camera.
"Good afternoon from..." Ben says as he looks up at the sky. "An overcast Maine. You know who I am and you should know how this works if you've watched my promos before. Usually I sit here and I tell you about a couple of days from my life and how things have been going and all that stuff. Well today, I sit here and tell you about one day, today, this morning to be exactly."
Ben wraps his fingers around the glass and smiles.
"It's been well publicized about my health." Ben says solemnly. "And first off, even with the trash talk and stuff, I'd like to thank everyone I work with for not throwing that in me boat. It's a very easy target to pick on, it's a very simple thing to try and rip me apart for, and all the matches I've had since this became public knowledge, I'd like to thank my opponents for not swooping down so low to dig me out for that."
Ben nods sincerely.
"Even you Caleb." He says with a slight smile.
Ben pauses to pick up the glass, taking a drink sip of the cold liquid.
"My promo last week got a few people talking, talking about me being a real person." Ben says quietly. "Not the good time Ben, who has been on your screen for years, laughing and joking and making a prat of meself, but the Ben away from the camera, the Ben just being a husband. Maybe because it's a side of me that doesn't make the papers so to speak, but every wrestler, it doesn't matter if you're just starting, or if you've been around for year, a personal life is something we all have and we're all entitled to. Today was a typical day in to my normal life. Well..."
Ben taps his chin, a thoughtful look on his face.
"When I say typical." Ben says thoughtfully. "It was but it wasn't. I mean not all people have to go to the doctor to find out life effecting things, but the rest was fairly typical. So yeah, today started bright and early for me."
7am
Ben moves towards the door of the Jordan residence, moving towards the front door, though the open planned house and past the kitchen. He decided to leave his wife in bed. She'd been a little down lately, not exactly the woman he thought he married. There was always a spark in Evie's eyes, but for some reason, she'd felt like the world had been stomping her down for no reason other than pettiness. It annoyed Ben that people could be so stupid, but he wasn't focused about the adults acting like children, his one concern was his wife. Ben knew she'd spent a lot of the night tossing and turning, not sleeping peacefully and decided that now she was in a deep enough sleep, he'd go about his day and be back before she knew it.
Ben's hand wraps around the door handle but he stops, feeling a pair of eyes on his back. Ben wrinkles his nose as he turns around to see his loveable pet akita, Bear, standing behind him.
"Bloody hell, you piss the bed or something boy?" Ben asks. "You're never up this early."
Bear puts his tongue out at Ben as Ben crouches to one knee.
"Don't be a pain in the jacksy today." Ben tells the dog. "And be gentle if you try to make friends with the turtles again, they're not used to a big furry thing slobbering all over them."
"I can relate, I wasn't used to that, and then I met you." Evie's voice can be heard saying.
Ben's head fires upwards as he sees Evie standing a few feet away from him. He clutches his chest.
"Blimey, where'd you come from?" Ben asks with a taken back tone in his voice. "I didn't even hear you sneak up."
"Light feet." Evie says as she walks towards him. "Helped in a past career."
Evie puts her arms around Ben's neck, hanging loosely from him.
"Sneaking out on me?" She asks as she looks him in the eyes.
"Nah." Ben says. "Just didn't really wanna wake ya. You was a bit of a night time ninja last night, so thought I'd let you sleep, go get done what I needed to and get back to ya before you knew I was even gone."
"You don't want me to come to the doctors appointment with you?" Evie asks, slightly disappointed.
Ben puts his arms on Evie's hips and sharply shakes his head.
"No need." Ben tells her. "It's only about the latest test results. Lots of medical jargon, letting me know if it's going, if nothing's happening, all that stuff. Doesn't need both of us to be bored listening to it."
Evie looks at Ben with her head lowered slightly.
"Don't worry." Ben says with a cheery smile. "I'll be back before you know it and we'll spend the rest of the day together."
Evie smiles and kisses Ben softly on the lips before pulling her head away.
"Let me know as soon as you can what the doctor says." She tells him.
"Of course." Ben replies. "Soon as I get out there."
Evie smiles at her husband as we skip forward just a little bit.
8.15am.
Ben sits nervously in the doctors office, sitting the opposite side of the desk to a middle aged female doctor, her name plate on the front of the desk reading the name Dr. Silvers. Dr. Silvers was the go to doctor in Bar Harbour, treating most of the residents through her small clinic. Although Ben had gone and been diagnosed in California, treatment had been moved to Dr. Silvers small clinic for the convenience of Ben. Five days of non stop treatment close to home, made things a lot easier to deal with. Being able to be treated and being home in the evenings with his wife, rather than across the country in California in hospital alone for five days, was a morale boost for Ben. He didn't like leaving Evie home so much on her own, but someone had to be in Maine for the day to day things, being able to be treated a few miles down the road and be home in time for a Sons of Anarchy marathon with his wife kept his spirits up.
"So Ben." Dr Stevens says, her eyes looking down at a file she has in front of her. "How are you feeling today?"
Ben exhales sharply as he looks down at the desk for a second before raising his head.
"Today, I'm feeling alright doc." Ben says with a half hearted smile. "I've had worse days. I think being off the treatment for over a week has helped me out a lot. Starting to feel a little bit like my old self."
The doctor smiles a little towards the Englishman.
"Good." She tells him. "You were taking more of the treatment in such a short amount of time, it was always going to have side effects on your body. It was a very big risk to have so much in a very short space of time. It was not recommended."
"But it hasn't killed me." Ben says, looking on the bright side.
The doctor looks uneasy as she shuffles in her chair, looking across at Ben.
"The thing is though Ben, it is killing you." She says in a serious tone.
A look of concern crosses Ben's face as he looks at her across the desk, a million thoughts rushing through his mind as he tries to pick one just to focus.
"What do you mean?" Is the best Ben can stumble through his lips.
"Well there's good news and there's bad news Ben." The doctor says. "The good news is the treatment is working and there is a huge difference between before you started the treatment and after. At the current rate, you should be looking at being a somewhat healthy man within a few months. You should be free of it and start the road to building your strength back to what it was, but the problem is, I don't think you can keep having the treatment as much as you have been."
Ben scratches his head, looking across the desk more than a little confused at the doctors words.
"I'm a little lost here, doc." Ben says, the confused tone in his voice backing up his statement.
"Ben, so much of the treatment, although is working, is causing damage to other organs and causing more problems that could start to show in the long term." The doctor tells Ben seriously. "It's starting to take a toll on your body. If you keep up the treatment as much as you have done so far, you will cause long term damage to other organs that will being on problems in the future."
Ben sits for a second, letting it sink in to his head what's been said.
"So what do you suggest I do?" Ben asks looking for a genuine answer.
"I'd suggest we stop the crazy five days a week treatments." She says. "It was insane that you decided on this and that your doctor in California agreed to such utter madness. I think we should cut it down to twice a week, Monday and Thursday, giving you longer recovery time in between."
Ben rubs his chin, looking at the doctor.
"Would that mean it would take longer to get rid of?" Ben asks.
"Possibly." The doctor responds "But overall, it will have better long term effects on your body. A few months extra treatment, to make you more comfortable as you get older would be a sacrifice worth making. You are making excellent progress, but it's better to do it this way for long term benefits."
Ben sighs, happy of the news that the treatment is working, yet a slight sense of disappoint that it will have to go on a little longer than he'd have liked it to.
"Ok..." Ben concedes. "Well cut down the treatment and hope it works out."
"We'll start from next Monday." the doctor says. "Give you a lot more time to let your body recover, maybe you can get another trip away in the meantime to relax."
"No can do doc." Ben says with a shrug. "Work a week on Sunday, gotta focus on that."
"Well try and get in as much rest and relaxation as you can." The doctor orders.
Ben nods his head and stands up, looking across at the doctor.
"Thanks doc." Ben says with a warm smile on his face.
"You're very welcome." Dr. Silver replies. "Say hello to Mrs Jordan for me."
"You got it." Comes Ben's response.
8.40am.
Ben sits behind the wheel of a car, a dangerous place to be if you believe anything that Jamie Dean says, just staring out of the window, looking slightly distance as he processes the news he's just heard. Snapping himself out of it, he reaches to the passenger seat where his phone sits. He picks it up and taps away at it, and moves to the contact list, seeing Evie's name on it. Ben takes a deep breath and hits the call button and hold it to his ear. He waits patiently until an Aussie accent can be heard at the other end.
"Alright darling." Ben starts putting on a cheery voice.
Ben waits to hear a response.
"Nah, it all went alright." He says to her as he bites his lip. "Treatment is working, but too much of it, messing with me a little bit, but nothing that can't be sorted out. Just gonna take a little more time than we expected but it's all good."
Ben was trying to be optimistic in a situation that disappointed him a little but he couldn't argue about the fact he was getting slightly back to full health, even if he hoped deep down that it would happen sooner rather than later. He knew if you didn't look on the bright side of some situations, they were liable to eat you up inside.
"Nothing I can't handle." Ben tells her. "But anyway, I'll be home in a bit, I'll bring in breakfast on the way back with me."
Ben waits for a second, once again waiting for Evie's response.
"I shouldn't be long..." He says with a nod of his head to himself. "Yep, love you too."
Ben presses the button on the phone hanging up and puts it on the passenger seat again, putting his hands behind his head and stretching backwards, working a few knots out of his back. He puts a hand on the wheel but his phone starts to ring again. Ben reaches down to see a FaceTime call from Jamie Dean. Ben picks it up and clicks the button and Jamie's face appears.
"Hey Ben." Jamie says with a grin. "Are you busy?"
"Not really mate." Ben responds. "Just sitting in the car, so probably not the greatest time if ya setting me up again to speak to the kids."
Jamie waves his free hand and shakes his head.
"No." He starts. "Just me checking in on ya. How are ya?"
Ben shrugs his left shoulder as he holds his phone in his right hand.
"Yeah, I'm alright." Ben says. "Just seen the doc for the latest results, see if all this hassle is worth it or if I should just go gracefully in to the night. Turns out I'm doing alright and things are going in the right direction for now at least so we'll call that a win."
Jamie smiles brightly
"Great news." Jamie says still grinning from ear to ear. "You're looking a lot better."
"That's probably because I ain't been pumped with poison for a while or been pulled about and probed with sharp things." Ben says with a laugh.
Jamie waves his finger at the camera with a huge grin.
"I can so say something wrong at this point, but I shouldn't." Jamie says raising his eyebrows.
"I have no fear of getting prodded by anything in the context of the joke you could make. Gay men don't find me attractive apparently, well one don't anyway." Ben says laughing.
"Oh I saw the show." Jamie says waving his hand. "What does Fenris know anyway?"
Ben and Jamie share a laugh.
"How's Mrs Jordan?" Jamie asks.
Ben's face changes to a frown as he looks at the camera.
"Oddly down." Ben tells Jamie. "It's like she's lost so much passion for everything lately, well, not everything but she's gone full pelt emo on so many aspects of her life. She's pretty much at the point where if she could avoid the world, she would."
"What's brought that on?" Jamie asks, a frown also appearing on Jamie's face.
"Just people I think that don't understand how things work." Ben says with a disappointed look on his face. "SCW idiots getting on her back without knowing she never signed full time there and mock her for everything. I'm sick of it to be honest. They don't see that if they try force her out, they force me, they force a lot of my friends there to think about who they're working with. She goes, I do too. People knocking her down, knock me down."
Ben waves his hand at Jamie.
"But I ain't worried about me." Ben says. "Worried about Eves though, you know what she's like when she loses her temper. People don't get beat up, they get maimed."
"Distract her." Jamie replies with a playful smile. "Let her watch you in the shower, that always used to cheer me up!"
"Yeah but..." Ben starts but trails off. "Wait, what?"
Ben raises an eyebrow at Jamie as Jamie bursts in to fits of laughter.
"I'm kidding..." Jamie says through the laughter, but his face changes to a serious look. "Or am I?"
"Knowing you, probably not." Ben says with a smile.
"You'll never know." Jamie responds. "But do something nice for her, unexpected, it might take her mind of things for a little while at least. Hmmmm, look at that, a gay man giving a straight man marriage advice."
Ben shrugs at Jamie
"Meh, you give good advice." Ben says with a smile. "I gotta cut out, but before I do, next week, I'm in California, can you get all the kids together, tell them you got a guest speaker in and I'll surprise them."
Jamie smiles widely as he nods slowly.
"I can do that, just let me know when." He says.
"Will do mate." Ben replies. "Have a good un."
Ben presses the button on the phone and throws it back on the passenger seat of the car.
"Surprise for Evie..." Ben mutters to himself. "I can do that."
9.25am.
Ben stands outside the front door to his house, his hands filled up. In one hand, he holds a bag, the promised breakfast, in the other, his arm is wrapped around a huge teddy bear, and in his hand, a dozen roses. Ben struggles to get his keys out of his pocket and eventually gives up. He wraps his knuckles on the door and waits.
"Just a minute." Evie's voice can be heard behind the door.
A wicked smile crosses Ben's face as he wraps his knuckles on the door again, holding the huge bear in front of his face.
"I said just a minute for fucks sake!" Evie voice can be heard yelling.
Another smile crosses Ben's face as he taps the door a third time, a split second before Evie opens it.
"Are you fucking deaf?" She says, her eyes not focused on who is outside.
"Well I do have stuffing in my ears." Ben says in a deeper voice, moving the bear from side to side.
"The fuck?" Evie says, moving the bears head to the side to see Ben smiling behind it.
"Funny story." Ben says with a smile moving the bear to one side. "I was standing there after I bought breakfast."
Ben puts the bag in Evie's hand.
"And this bear came up to me selling these roses." Ben says handing Evie the roses. "And he said that he needed a new home, and some Aussie to hang around with, so that she might smile and I sat there and thought to myself hold on Ben, you have a home, and you know an Aussie that needs to smile more, so I brought home the bear to see if he could make the Aussie smile."
Ben looks at Evie, a smile forming across her red lips.
"And it looks to be working." Ben says with a smile.
Evie puts the roses across her arm and reaches the free arm out to Ben, pulling him in the house and shutting the door behind her...
The camera cuts back to current Ben, sitting at the table, the glass of water half way down now.
"I can't show you anymore than that unfortunately." Ben says with an almost child like smile on his face. "Cause that will get this promo banned and probably an offer from Vivid."
Ben stifles back a laugh.
"So now that is what you call a decent morning." Ben says with a smile "And this afternoon, this is where we get down to business. This is where we talk about my next challenger. I know some people hate the fact that when people talk about a subject or a person, if it ain't about the match, it should be disregarded, it's an age old argument that will linger on for a long time to come, but tough titty to be fair cause I actually wanna talk about Ty the person first"
Ben reaches for the glass, taking a quick drink.
"I actually got a chance to have a drink and a chat with Ty the other day, after he beat Acquin. I know, shock, horror, two wrestlers facing each other should sit and chat." Ben says before putting his hands to the side of his face and opening his mouth 'Home Alone' style. "Yeah people, this is not the sixties where everything has to be hush hush, wrestlers do hang out together, doesn't matter if you're the good guy or the bad guy. Wrestlers sit there and talk, wrestlers go to bars, wrestlers become friends, they become family. Now I've never really got to sit down and talk to Ty West, regardless of being of the old hands here, or past it as Salco would say, but on Sunday night, I got to sit and have a chat with the man. I gotta admit, I don't dislike the man at all."
A wide smile crosses on Ben's face.
"Again, shock, horror, Ben Jordan actually gets on with people." He says with a slight chuckle. "I heard his story, I heard his struggles, I heard the judgement he gets and just being judged on his looks. He has looks to be proud of yet it's a target for every Tom, Dick and Harry to have a pop at. He has an interesting story that you should watch in his promos. He has an interesting story that will someday make a great SCW special, and we're not that much different really, other than he's a handsome devil and I'm just this."
Ben points to his own face.
"We both struggled through being broke before hitting lucky breaks." Ben starts. "We both felt the lows, before we even got close to the highs, and we both had the same goals. To be better than where we started. We both got that to some level, but I jumped up one better than Ty, and I know come Violent Conduct, he's gonna wanna do the same, because I got this."
Ben reaches over to a chair next to him and pulls the SCW Roulette title on to his lap. He lifts it up over his shoulder and continues.
"This championship right here." Ben points to the belt. "Is living proof of someone hitting their goals and bettering themselves, it's the one thing that makes your peers sit up and take notice and my peers have done exactly that. They've sat up and taken notice on what I have. They've taken noticed to the point where they see I've bettered myself and I know you want that feeling, but it's not gonna be easy at all."
Ben stops and taps his chin.
"It's not gonna be easier for either of us to walk out holding this belt." He continues as he taps his chin. "It's not like a respect thing but I have sat here for months mentally preparing myself for Tommy Crimson. I then switched and tried to get ready for Caleb Storms, because it seemed it was the way it was going to go. Now on two weeks notice, I have to prepare for you, and I'll level with you, you're a very different challenge than Tommy Crimson, and frankly, a million times better than Caleb Storms. You've made me think because you're a different kinda wrestler to them."
Ben looks down at the belt and back up to the camera.
"Let's talk about Ty West, the wrestler." Ben starts. "Ty West the wrestler is pretty damn solid with what he does. Every defeat, he's lost by the slimmest of margins and proved what he could do by facing Fenris at Summer XXXTreme. Seriously, Ty West could have been your world champion right now after defeating some serious talent to be there. So he fell short against Fenris, being honest, who doesn't fall short to Fenris lately? But it shows that Ty had the Jacobs to stand up to the man and run him seriously close. This shows what a top guy Ty can be. Future champion written all over him, but this..."
Ben puts his hand on the title.
"This is what I worked hard for." Ben says in a lowered tone, before speaking normal again. "This is why I spent time taking match after match, taking on everyone for years, no matter what division, no matter what kinda match, I took on the world to build myself up, to build up my experience to get to this. To be able to sit here and talk as a singles champion is why I spent, which feels like lifetimes, so much effort in to becoming the best Ben Jordan I can be and as much as you want to think you can take it from me, and as much as I like you as a person, I can't let you take this away from me without the biggest fight of your life."
Ben straightens up the belt on his shoulder.
"And I do mean the biggest." He says. "Not messing with ya, you'd need to bring everything at me to even get close to it. I know it's roulette rules and the match can be literary anything at all, but I'm ready for anything. I'm ready for the matches that are gonna leave me in bed for four days, I'm ready for the matches that I need to think about and not aimlessly swing weapons about. I'm ready for the lot. More importantly, I'm ready for you Ty."
Ben takes a deep breath.
"The way I see it, is like I saw it at Summer XXXTreme." Ben starts. "I'm stepping in the ring with someone I like, someone I respect and, but that bell rings and everything changes. I don't think who is on the other side of the ring, I think about the prize at the end. I know you'll reach your goals in SCW someday Ty, but this is not the occasion for you to do that. This is a big match for us both, but I'm gonna do all I can within reason to make sure I'm walking out of there with this title. I worked too hard to get it to give it away."
Ben glances at the championship again.
"There's gonna be no fancy entrances from me this time around." Ben confirms. "It's gonna be all business Ty. You're gonna get the throwback to when I was a world champion elsewhere, you're gonna get that very best me you can because it's where I've put myself right now. I'm coming in to Violent Conduct with all guns blazing. I'm coming in to Violent Conduct ready for battle, I'm coming in to Violent Conduct knowing that I can and will walk out of it with the SCW Roulette Championship. I don't fear anyone at all, and I won't fear you Ty, I won't fear that I'm gonna walk out without my championship belt."
Ben takes the championship and places it on the table in front of him.
"This belt will be coming back here with me Ty." Ben says in a firm tone. "It won't be leaving me for a single second. I'm glad you beat Acquin though, as I said to your friend the other day, I'm more than excited to be stepping in to the ring with you, it's a match I've wanted for a bit, I'm glad you didn't pull a Storms and demand it, I'm glad you earned it, but it doesn't really take away from the fact, that even though you have the motivation for this belt because it was almost in your hands once before, it won't be in your hands while I have it."
Ben picks the belt up and holds it in his hands.
"Anyway you lovely lot." Ben says. "I've chatted enough to ya all for one day. It's been a lot of fun as usual showing ya the stuff I've been up to and more fun talking to ya. Cheers for all the support and well wishes and Ty, best of luck to ya mate, you're gonna need it all."
Ben stands up, picking the belt up with one hand and the glass with the other.
"Later's people."
Ben winks and walks in to the house as the camera fades.
