Disclaimer: I don't own anything except the plot. And probably not even that.

A/N: Here it is! The (not quiet so) long-awaited Miz/Mickie story! For all new readers, this is a spin-off of my other series, though you should be able to pick up the back story rather quickly. Also, I don't really write romance stories so my apologies if this completely sucks. Anyway, here it is!

Four wrestlers stared at the screen in shock. Though none of them could say that they were overly surprised by the announcement, they hadn't been expecting it either. "I can't believe he's finally retiring…" Mickie murmured.

Jericho snorted. "About time he did. Why the hell has he been sticking around this long? It's not like there was anything for him to do."

"Yeah, but you're going to miss him," Miz said.

"Never said I wasn't."

All of them were going to miss him, although they were some of the few people who would. Many people in the locker room still felt that it was Jeff's fault that Vince McMahon had been forced out of the company, though in reality it was Vince who had wronged Jeff, Matt, and the small group of four lonely outcasts.

Hunter interrupted the silence. "Come on, we should go talk to the guy. Telling the fans you can't wrestle once is hard enough. I can't imagine what it must be like to have to do it twice."

They met up with Matt and Jeff just outside the locker room. "Don't say anything," Jeff said when he saw them. "Please, just don't."

"We weren't planning to," Mickie told him gently.

Hunter nodded. "Get your stuff, say whatever goodbyes you want-" Jeff snorted. "-And we'll leave. Maybe find a place to hang out and-"

"Actually, if it's all the same to you, I'd rather not go anywhere tonight," Jeff interrupted. "I have an early flight tomorrow and I still need to finalize some things with Stephanie.

The goodbyes were said then and there. They were quiet and quick, enough to comfort their friend without making it seem like a permanent separation. Jeff disappeared into the locker room, with Matt not far behind. The four remaining exchanged a quick look before Jericho went inside as well; until Jeff was on that place the next day they still felt like they had to look out for him. The other three dispersed, some to prepare for a later match and others to try to figure out how their coworkers felt about what had transpired, partially to soothe their own curiosity and partially to see where they might stand with the others in the future.

Later that night, long after the show was over and when most people were finally starting to go to sleep, there was a soft knock at the door to the hotel room that Miz and Jericho were sharing. "It's unlocked," Jericho called.

The door opened and Hunter walked in followed closely by Mickie, who shut the door behind her. Meetings like these were rare, mostly because they were largely pointless for day to day matters, but also out of fear of some of the other wrestlers assuming that they were plotting to "overthrow someone else". Rare occurrences, however, called for rare meetings to talk about what they would do next.

Hunter began the discussion. "I talked to Stephanie. Seems like Jeff only told her about his retirement right before Raw, but she had been expecting it for awhile.

"It wasn't any secret that Jeff was starting to become unhappy," Miz pointed out.

"Yeah, well, from the sounds of it none of the other higher-ups were too happy to hear his announcement. Stephanie has no problem with Jeff retiring but she still has to work out a deal for his merchandise sales and try to smooth things over with everyone else."

"So basically there's discontent among the officials and be prepared for some backlash?"

"Basically, yeah."

"Then why the hell didn't you just say that in the first place," Jericho muttered.

Mickie rolled her eyes and elbowed him none-too-gently. "Well what did you find out, then?"

"Nothing new, really. Not too many of the guys seemed all that surprised when he walked into the locker room, but some of them did look like they wanted to talk to him."

"But no one did, did they?"

Jericho shook his head. "Nope. Looks like, even with Jeff gone, people are afraid to take his side in what happened."

"That's basically what I overheard backstage too," Miz said. "A lot of the guys seemed to be upset that Jeff's career really was over now because of Vince, but none of them wanted to actually talk about it."

Hunter sighed. "Keep low for a couple of days then, at least until this blows over a little bit. None of us need people to hold new grudges against us, not when they're still pissed about Vince." He stood up, stretched, and made his way over towards the door. "I'm going back to my wife. See you guys in the morning."

Jericho looked between Miz and Mickie, the latter of whom showed no signs of leaving anytime soon. "I'll just… take a shower, or something," he said before walking away, the bathroom door slamming a few moments later. He knew that the two of them had grown close and didn't want to be around for the touchy-feely moment that was bound to ensue.

"How're you holding up?" Miz asked softly after Jericho was gone. He could easily tell that diva was upset about something.

"As well as could be expected, I guess," she murmured. "It's just… Vince really did it, you know? Jeff had to retire because of what he did. I hate the thought of him winning."

"He didn't win," Miz said forcefully. "He's gone, and we're still here. Jeff only left because he wanted to, not because Vince forced him to. Besides, if Vince had actually achieved what he wanted to, don't you think we would have been fired already?"

Mickie shrugged and wiped furiously at her eyes, doing her best to not cry. She had changed in the past few months, going from the carefree diva she used to be to a more quiet and withdrawn version of herself. She had stopped complaining about everything that was wrong, having decided that if the others were strong she needed to be too. Jeff's retirement didn't change any of that.

Miz, however, had the uncanny ability to see through her façade even when Hunter and Jericho honestly thought that everything was alright. He pulled her into a hug just as she finally broke down and started crying. He held her tightly, rubbing soothing circles on her back until she finally started to calm down again.

"Promise me you won't leave too," she murmured.

"Don't worry. I'm not going to leave you," he told her quietly. "I'm not going anywhere, ever." He silently added, Not as long as I'm in love with you.