I've been writing a post apocalyptic survival story for about a decade...and recently started posting the latest version on a tribe. There are various characters and couples in it.
My wife asked me what qualities two people should share if they had to get through a survival situation. We know several couples from the former soviet republics...and after several years they are now telling us horror stories of the breakup of the Soviet Union. While we in the west cheered...those people suffered. No food, on infrastructure, black marketeering...not for profit...for survival. Trees in parks being chopped down for firewood. And suddenly alot of firearms for sale by starving soldiers.
Some couples made it. Others fell apart. The tough ones, (and I mean mentally tough) did anything to survive...along with eating a dog, the also continued studying. The engineers and computer geeks made it out.

My wife and I have been through the wringer in our nearly 30 years. Homeless our first year...yep...living in a fucking tent with a puppy and a kitten on BLM land, poaching fish from a college pond, eating wild greens, using wild medicinal plants, and shopping lifting peanut butter and tuna (We paid the store back a year later...with a note explaining what the cash was for.).
We lived in border line poverty for about 10 years...but our kids were never hungry...though we weren't to proud to buy clothes at the Salvation Army. We had food, a rented house for 13 years (drafty, old, haunted, and only one bathroom was safe), jobs. But we always remembered that year...and our love. Equally important was respect. I respect my wife and her abilities. I never degraded them. Trust was a major factor. We trusted each other. I trusted her long range plans...she trusted me in emergencies. We didn't harp at our flaws...we supported our strengths.

Now we are solidly in the middle class. The dog and kitten grew up, grew old, and died. Our girls grew up and have good lives...if a bit hard at times due to income taxes and tuition.
But still we plan...just in case it all collapses. We have our food...bought or grown...stored for a long rainy day....propane...wood for our oven to keep warm...guns for protection....water to drink...and some wine to celebrate...medicines and herbs for our health.
And we have the knowledge that while neither of us are part of the pretty people...we trust each other. Maybe that's what a couple should have.
Trust. Respect. Love. In that order. Together, I think it's unbeatable.

CG