Eobard cleaned up around headquarters, disposing of all the pizza boxes and empty wrappers him and the rest of the Clue crew littered throughout the place. He knew it would've been easier had he asked for help, but there were other things on his mind that needed mulling over, and mindlessly picking up trash seemed like the perfect time to do so. There was something he needed to discuss with his mentor, but he wasn't quite sure how to approach the situation as it was a delicate one. So much so, Stone wasn't even sure if he should bring it up in the first place, but knew that, if he didn't, he would regret it for the rest of his life.

"Anybody up?"

An exhausted Steven Cooper's voice filled the kitchen as the door swung open and The Trooper walked in. He dragged his feet over to the table and plopped down in the chair Steve from Blues Clues had been sitting in. Cooper looked from the back of Eobard, who was in the process of washing dishes from earlier, to the game board, the only thing Stone had left to put away.

"Did people ACTUALLY show up to this thing?!" Cooper asked, assuming he was going to be the only one.

"Yep," Eobard responded, trying his best to control his emotions. Having The Trooper here wasn't making the conversation he needed to have with him any easier. "And they actually had a pretty good time, too!"

"What about you?" Cooper questioned, picking up Miss Scarlet's piece and looking it over. "Did you have a good time?"

Eobard let out a sigh, putting the cup he'd been cleaning away before reaching for the next one. "It was alright," he answered half-heartedly. "Would've been better had you actually made it."

Cooper could hear the hurt in his partner's voice but, little did he know, it had nothing to do with whether or not he showed up to play a menial game of Clue.

"Gee, I'm sorry, kid," he apologized, placing the game piece back on the board. "There was a mix up at the airport and, somehow, I ended up in a serial killer's acid trip, instead. Got good ratings, though, better than anything BOB's ever done. Turns out the Brotherhood of Bumblefucks can't even beat Nick Jr!"

"Yeah," Stone coldly replied. "I heard."

Cooper's demeanor shifted, feeling the full brunt of Eobard's emotions. The Trooper knew he'd let his partner down once again, but unlike Tag Team Turmoil, the events that led up to this particular failure were beyond his control.

"Are you really THAT upset I didn't get to play your silly little board game?" an irritable Cooper, burdened by a conversation of his own he needed to have with Stone, burst out. "You know I wouldn't dodge you just to not play something, hell, I put up with that entire damn tourney 'cause you asked me to!"

"I'm not upset you missed out on Clue," Eobard admitted, holding back tears. He tried to tell The Trooper what was bothering him, but nothing came out besides a couple salty droplets that dripped into the mug in his hands.

"Then what the hell IS your problem?!" Steven barked, unaware of the fragile state his partner was in. "You've been riding me since the moment I stepped through that door and I wanna know why!"

Without a word, Eobard Stone turned and tossed an open envelope onto the kitchen table directly in front of Cooper. The Trooper picked it up and inspected it's contents, a bill addressed to him from an Arthur Dent Memorial Hospital, the very same one that had given him his diagnosis.

"When were you planning on telling me you had cancer?!?"[/color] Eobard cried out, the cup in his hand overflowing with tears. [yellow]"Were you gonna wait until after we won the Titles, or die defending them?!"

The cat was out of the bag.

Cooper had every intention of telling his partner about his prognosis, but not until the gold was strapped around their waists. At that point, it wouldn't matter if The Trooper's body failed him or not, because their names would already be engraved in the record books. Whatever happened next would have no bearing on what they already achieved.

Despite this, Steven Cooper wasn't too thrilled about Eobard finding this out under any other terms besides his own.

"You opened my mail?!" an offended Trooper snarled. "What the fuck?!??!!?"

"I figured Tag Team partners were allowed to," Stone defended, the life completely drained out of him as if HE were the one with cancer.

"Spouses can't even open each other's mail!" Steven shot back, flailing the letter around angrily. "What the hell were you thinking?!?"

"I thought it was a routine examination!" Eobard emphasized, wiping the moisture from his eyes. "I expected something along the lines of cataracts, or erectile dysfunction, not your fucking death warrant!"

"Okay, first off," Cooper began, making sure his partner has his facts straight. "Ain't no ED for SC, got it?" A still emotional Eobard wiped a few more tears from his eyes and nodded, a slight smile forming at the corner of his mouth. "And, second, even if that were the case, do you really think I'd want you to know about it?!? There's a reason it's called doctor/patient confidentiality, and it's not because the patient's confident the doctor's gonna take him for all he's got!"

"You're right," a calmed down Stone said, blowing his nose into a paper towel in an attempt to regain his composure. "I'm sorry."

Cooper, in a forgiving mood, shrugged it off. "Ahhhh, hell, kid," he replied before admitting to something, himself. "Ain't like I've never read a Playboy or two of yours straight from the mailbox."

Eobard(who'd always believed the sticky pages were a manufacturing issue) was a little disturbed by this revelation; but not as much as he was by the inevitable demise of EXP. Not at the hands of Them No Good Bastards, or even an up and coming Tag Team looking to do to them what THEY were about to do to the current Champions, but a disease. A cowardly lump neither of them could swing at, or deliver their finishers to.

"Well, either way, I'm glad I found out," Stone proclaimed, pulling out his phone and looking up Derrick Diamond's number.

"What are you doing?" a concerned Cooper questioned.

"Canceling the match."

Eobard's answer sent shockwaves throughout Steven's body, causing him to leap forward and snatch his partner's phone out of his hands. "Like hell you are!"

Stone didn't appreciate his mentor stealing his stuff, probably about as much as Cooper appreciated him opening his mail. "What the fuck are you doing?!?"

"Preventing you from making the biggest mistake of your life!"

Stone wrestled for his phone, but not TOO hard in order to keep from hurting his friend. "To hell with that!" Eobard insisted, grabbing for his cellular device. "We gotta get you to treatment right away!"

"I ain't goin' to no treatment, kid!" Cooper informed his student. "Have you ever seen what that shit does to ya?!"

"You mean keep you alive?" Stone sarcastically remarked. "Gee, wouldn't want THAT now!"

"Alive???" Cooper exclaimed with a chuckle. "You call constantly throwing your guts up and being nuked like a God damn baked potato life?!? Nuh uh, not me! I've hardly been living as it is, I'm not tossing away what little I have left! I would rather die than live like that!"

The Trooper's words pierced Eobard like a knife, but not enough to keep him from trying to get Cooper to see things his way. "How would you feel if you found out your father was dying?"

The question caught Steven off guard. "Father? What the hell's my father got to do with this, kid?"

"Just answer the question."

Cooper thought about his dad, who was already long gone. "I can tell you what I said when he DID pass," Steven spoke, coming to the realization it was exactly the same response his kids would have once HE was gone. "Good riddance." Tears began forming in the Trooper's eyes, the tough guy persona Eobard had always known slowly fading away. "Like with alot of things, I ain't exactly the best example."

Stone shook his head, disagreeing with the harsh view Cooper's always had of himself. "You've been a fine example to me."

Cooper could finally see what Eobard was implying, although he didn't understand why. "Don't say that, kid. I ain't ever been a father; not one worth havin', anyway."

"You've been more of a father to me than my actual dad ever was," Eobard admitted, more tears beginning to flow. "As far as I'm concerned, he's been dead since the moment he laid hands on a bottle. I've already lost him, I can't afford to lose you, too."

"You think I'm like a father, Eobard? Well, guess what? I haven't left much of anything for anybody and, when I go, it's gonna be a funeral with an attendance of one. I've always been looked at for what I don't have, for everything I ain't done! Can't you let me have this?! I couldn't give my kids a goddamn thing, please, let me give you this! After the match be damned, the world be damned, Avalanche be damned! Please, let me do this for you!"

Eobard couldn't believe how much this meant to Cooper. After all the things he said, The Trooper sounded MORE like a father than ever before! He wasn't trying to win the Tag Team Titles as some last ditch effort to keep his career afloat, but as a way of jump starting his partner's. And at the end of the day, what could be more fatherly than that?

Stone smiled, seeing how important this was to his mentor. "Okay," he agreed. "The match is on." Cooper matched Eobard with a smile of his own, only for the Game Master to lay down one, simple ground rule. "As long as you get treatment afterwards."

Steven let out a groan, having thought he'd already made himself perfectly clear on his opinion of getting his cancer treated. "Come on, kid............."

"Those are my terms," Eobard emphasized. "Otherwise, don't bother showing up 'cause I won't be there!"

Steven knew how important this was to Stone, but wasn't quite sure if he was willing to put himself through that kind of torment. "You'd be throwing away your chance of holding gold, kid."

"I don't care," Eobard reinforced. "If my partner isn't gonna be around to defend the Titles with me, then I don't want 'em!"

Cooper knew he was backed into a corner. As much as he didn't want to go through the torture of treatment, he wanted the Tag Team Titles more.

"OK, kid," Cooper conceded, extending his hand. "You got yourself a deal!"

Stone grabbed hold of his partner's hand and pulled him in for a hug. The Trooper didn't know how to respond, as it was the first time anyone had shown him any sort of affection in what felt seemed like forever. He wrapped his arms around Eobard and embraced him like his own son. The two of them stood there, realizing this match was bigger than any sort of Championship OR rivalry could ever be. This was about life, and the fight that goes along with it. It doesn't matter if it's some guys in a lockeroom, Them No Good Bastards, or even cancer, everyone has their own battle they're struggling to come out on top of. Luckily for these two, they have each other to make it over whatever hurdles life decides to throw at them.

After a long, awkward embrace, Steven finally let's go of Stone and turns his attention towards Clue. "So, is this a 2-player game?"

"You CAN play with 2 players," Eobard informed him, wiping away the last of his tears. "It's kind of lame, though."

"Any lamer than I would've already expected it to be with more?"

The Game Master grinned, knowing exactly where The Trooper was going with this. "Probably not."

"Well, oKAY!" The Trooper exclaimed, rubbing his hands together and sitting down at the table. He reached forward and picked up a piece, showing it to Eobard and asking, "Can I be this one?"

Stone squinted, looking at the character he'd always been ever since learning how to play Clue. "Colonel Mustard?" He took a second to consider whether or not he was willing to give up his favorite piece before giving Cooper an answer. "Sure!"

The thought of having a member of the military on his side seemed to pump The Trooper up. "A colonel?! Now THAT's dandy!!! Would you believe I had an invisible dog and North Korean War Criminal's cousin trying to convince me a notebook is dandy?!"

"No," Eobard laughed, setting up the game and handing the rulebook to Cooper. "But you'll have to tell me ALLLLLLLL about it!"



"Them No Good Bastards used to remind me of my no good teammates, but then I realized their sense of humor was below that of a high school level. I mean, my God, a bunch of Yo Mama jokes with my name plastered all over them? I didn't think y'all were the type to steal your material from the internet, but I suppose that's part of what makes you 'no good,' huh?"

"You know what? You guys ARE good.............. good at deceiving the masses into believing whatever bullshit the two of you pull out of your ass! Accusing the fuckin' GAME MASTER of copying you for playing something he's loved since before he could walk. I can see right through the two of you and I hope, one day, others will too. Anybody can print off a couple fake Magic cards and pretend to have fun playing with them, the difference is, I'm doing it for the love of the game, not some pathetic attempt to get inside my opponent's heads! Also, if you want to get REALLLLLLLL technical about it, I was doing the Magic: the Gathering promo welllllllllll before Bobby Bourbon decided to get in on the action, but nobody wants to talk about THAT! Can't say I blame 'em, though, BOB's been making a name off stealing other peoples' ideas and making them their own! You don't think I could've made my own XWF cards complete with your ugly mugs on 'em, too?! Not only could I do it, I could do it BETTER, complete with some Photoshopped dicks in your mouth and a measly 0 Power with no effects whatsoever."

"But I don't NEED to stoop to your level, Bastards, I have my own game to play and it's more complex than anything EITHER of you are capable of comprehending. While the two of you struggle with checkers, I'm mastering chess. I may look like some idiot who doesn't have a clue what he's doing but, the reality is, it's all part of the master plan. Nobody expected the Arm Collectors to become Champions but, not only did they WIN those belts, they took 'em off one of the most decorated tag teams of all-time! Mr. Cooper and I may be nothing more than a Steve Justice or Hanari Carnes to you, but considering a couple of Arm Collectors was all it took to dethrone Apex, it should be MORE than enough to dethrone you!!!!!"

"You called us out for not handling our separate ordeals together, as if we had any sort of choice in the matter. Life happens, fellas, it's not always something you can plan for. I didn't ASK Mr. Cooper to skip game night in order to guest host a children's show, nor did I invite any other Steve besides Sayors to show up to play Clue! You're not always in control, something the two of you are gonna find out the hard way you've gotten your asses kicked by a winless jobber and a man who is literally dying! Seems like something that'd get you kicked out of BOB, something you yourselves said is ALWAYS a possibility. By the time we're done with you, Miss Fury's gonna take the BOB back from Bobby Bourbon, leaving him as simply Robbie. Who, if I remember right, was no better off than I was before leeching off the bWo's success. But, hey, hang around TK long enough, and you'll eventually learn how to suck the right dicks, too! Afterall, there's a reason Jesus showed himself to TK, he's a modern day Mary Magdalene!"

"Neither of you seem to understand the preparation Cooper and I put into this match. They call him The Trooper for a reason, and it's felt like basic training since the moment we began. You look at our matches and assume you've seen all we can do, when the reality is, we're capable of SOOOOOOOO much more! A good coach knows you don't expose your entire playbook in the preseason, and we've only run a handful of plays; come Warfare, you're gonna get the entire book!!!!!! Because neither of us have anything left to lose, we either leave with the belts Wednesday night, or face our demise. Because EXP's greatest foe isn't Apex, the Disintigrators, or even Them No Good Bastards..................... it's mortality. Nobody can pin the grim reaper, but we can certainly kick out of a couple of his attempts before we fall."