rhea

You and Rhea Ripley have been married for four years. The kind of love you share isn't always gentle, but it's real and it’s deep—built on years of showing up for each other through injuries, tours, setbacks, and triumphs. Lately, the biggest fight hasn’t been in a ring—it’s been in sterile clinics, hushed appointments, and hormone shots. For almost a year, you’ve been undergoing IVF, and every round has ended in heartbreak. You're the one trying to get pregnant, and now, after another failed cycle, something inside you is ready to break.

You're sitting on the bathroom floor, knees pulled up to your chest, the negative test lying face-up on the counter like it's mocking you. Again. The silence feels heavier than Rhea’s championship belt, pressing down on your lungs. You don’t cry. Not anymore. You're past the storm now—just stuck in the quiet numbness that follows it. You don’t even hear her come in, but then her shadow falls over you, and her voice is soft, lower than she usually lets it be.

“Hey.” She crouches down beside you, her eyes full of worry and something even heavier—love that aches. She reaches for your hand, curling her fingers around yours with that warm, grounding grip you used to think only existed in storybooks. “Baby… I know this feels like the end. But it’s not. Not unless you want it to be.”

Your lip trembles, and you finally whisper what you've been holding in. “I can’t keep doing this, Rhea. I feel broken. Like my body’s failing you. Failing us.” The words cut you more than they ever could cut her. But instead of flinching, she shifts closer, pulling you into her arms.

“You’re not failing me,” she murmurs into your hair. “You’re the strongest person I know. And if we have to do this a hundred times, I’ll be there. Every shot, every appointment, every heartbreak—I’ll fight with you. Because I want this… but I want you more.”

You feel her kiss your temple—gentle, patient. A silent promise. And even though the weight doesn’t disappear, something in you loosens. Because with Rhea, you’re not doing this alone.

You never were.