Brandon wondered what had happened to his sex life.
A little over a year ago, he got married to Lauren. After 6 months of living together and incredibly passionate sex, he had thought that it would continue that way after marriage. But things had gone down hill after the honeymoon. From twice a night, they were down to four or five times a week and never with the excitement or passion they had previously known.
Tonight Lauren was just not interested in making love. She said it was late and she had an important meeting tomorrow and had to get in early to work to prepare for the meeting.
Perhaps it was the burden of work and careers that had taken the edge off of their relationship. She was looking at another promotion and her department was expanding. Brandon was busy at work with a new project and sometimes worked late. But he always made time to be with Lauren and missed the deep emotional connection they used to share.
They had talked about kids and had decided in a few years they would both like to have two children, a boy and a girl. But first they had to be secure in their careers with enough money to afford a nice house so they could raise their kids properly. Not that they would ever be rich, but they did want a few of the nicer things in life. And who knows, Brandon secretly bought a few lottery tickets occasionally and was hoping for a winner.
As they lay in bed, Lauren turned on the TV to watch the late night local news. Tonights lead story was a jewelry store robbery that was foiled by an unknown hero. Brandon tried a joke about the word "jewelry" was so 1980's and how the proper term was "bling" and that in 10 years there wouldn't be any more jewelry stores, only bling stores. Lauren hushed him and said be quiet, she wanted to hear the news.
Evidently, the unknown hero had restrained one robber but three others had escaped. No loot was missing. Police were questioning the captured robber.
Brandon noticed how intently Lauren had followed the story and commented about how the unknown hero had done excellent work in preventing the robbery and capturing one of the robbers. Lauren got a look of disgust on her face and said the police would get nothing from the captured henchman since all henchmen are stupid and that the mastermind of the robbery was already planning his next move.
After watching the weather and seeing that no rain was forecast for tomorrow, Lauren had a change of heart and decided tonight was a good night for sex. Brandon was pleasantly surprised to find that not only did they make love but there was a bit of a spark for a change.
The city had changed in the past 5 years. Too many criminals, not enough police. At first, neighborhood watch type organizations like the Guardian Angels sprang up. But these organizations were ineffective. This was followed by "heroes", mostly young men in their late teens or early twenties. They patrolled the streets looking to stop crime while dressed in their superhero costumes. Last night's jewelry store robbery was prevented by a new hero called "The Badger" who took credit for it in a late night phone call to the local TV station.
Lauren was correct. The newspapers the next day wrote about the previous night's jewelry robbery and said the captured robber was unable to provide the police with any substantial information. The only thing he told them was that "Diamond Dennis" planned the robbery but he had no idea where to find "Diamond Dennis" or even a description of him. That meant no plea bargain and 5 years in the big house for the captured robber.
