A few weeks went by and Mary was getting into her new job. She also had restored her identity after having been declared legally dead for so many years. Unfortunately, part of that was beginning to deal with back taxes, as well as fines for getting legitimate employment under a false identity. She had a good set of lawyers, which meant she was beginning to sort everything out accordingly. This of course meant that it was now public knowledge that she had returned, and had been receiving plenty of adoration for coming back to the WWE. She was still staying with Ted, and they still shared a bed most nights, but they still hadn't even begun to discuss if they wanted to get back together or not. It didn't matter much to Mary, though. After spending years apart, it seemed that they were both happy just simply spending time together. At the same time, Mary was also spending a lot of time with The Miz. She traveled with her old boyfriend, but when it come to breaks and stuff during shows, she was always with the other man. It had gotten to the point where she could start dating either man, but she wasn't in any sort of rush.
It was the week before Elimination Chamber, and yet again, Ted wasn't being used on screen at all. Mary was running her fingers through her now two-toned hair as she walked through the halls of the arena as she stared at the screen of her phone. She had recently gotten a phone call that she never expected to get, but she was at least in a place in her life where she could handle it. She bit her lip as she avoided the main locker room, knowing that was where Ted would be as she was on her break. She walked over to where she was hoping Miz would be hanging out in catering and walked over to him, biting her lip. "Hey..."
Miz looked up with a smile when he heard Mary's voice approach him. His smile quickly faded as he took in the look on her face. "Hey Mare, what's wrong?"
Mary took a deep breath, finally putting her phone in her pocket. "Can we go somewhere and talk? I need a favor."
Miz nodded, standing up and placing his hand on the small of her back as they walked out of the room to look for a private place to talk. Once they found a private corner, they sat down together. "So what's going on?"
"Are you free Wednesday and Thursday? I need to go to Florida," Mary bit her lip, as she looked down.
"Yeah, of course, Mare," Miz nodded. "May I ask what's in Florida?"
Mary slowly looked up, nodding. "My son."
"You..." Miz blinked in astonishment, "your son? Does Ted know?"
Mary shook her head, biting her lip. "He's almost four. I had him while I was living in Tallahassee. I gave him up for adoption, and the couple who got him just happen to be fans. They agreed to not give up my secret so long as I would take him back if there were ever a time that they couldn't take care of him anymore."
Miz nodded in understanding, "and I take it you got that call today?"
Mary nodded, letting out a soft sigh, "so can you come?"
"I think that I have a house show appearance on Thursday, but I should be able to get out of it," Miz smiled, taking her hand.
"Well, don't get yourself into trouble. We probably won't be far from where it is. So I'm sure we can do both that day," Mary smiled.
…
Mary told Ted that she needed to go somewhere for a couple of days, but she neglected to tell him that she would be going with The Miz. She figured that she would just tell him everything at once, because it would be better that way. It was Wednesday night when Mary and Miz arrived to the hotel in Tallahassee. They got into their room, which only had one bed, and set down their luggage.
Miz looked around, raising an eyebrow. "Mare, you got a room with only one bed."
Mary nodded as she turned to The Miz with a coy smile. "It appears that I have."
Miz walked over to her with a cocky grin, bringing an arm around her waist. "What about..."
Mary cut him off by bringing a finger to his lips. "Let's not think about that right now, and just work on tonight."
Miz nodded, kissing her hungrily as he picked her up, walking over to the bed.
…
Ted sighed as he listened to Mary's voicemail message for the third time in the past ten minutes. "Where is she? She said she would be landing an hour ago."
Billy took a calming breath, placing a hand on his best friend's shoulder. "She used to live there, Ted. Maybe she ran into an old friend and went out, or something."
Ted nodded, tossing his phone onto his bed in the hotel room he was sharing with Billy for the night. "You're right, man. I guess that I'm still paranoid that I'm going to lose her again every time she leaves me."
"That's because you still love her," Billy nodded as he sat down on his bed.
"I know I do. I never stopped. Not even while I was with Kristen," Ted sighed as he looked over to a sleeping Tate in his travel playpen. "And I think that she knew it."
"There was a part of you that loved Kristen as well, Ted," Billy nodded. "I believed that. Why else would I stand with you when you married her?"
Ted nodded, "that's a good point. I think that it was just because that Mary was my first love and we never had a full resolve from that is what made those feelings linger over the years."
"And now that she's back, you've found yourself falling all over again," Billy grinned as he sat back against the pillows.
"I just wish I could tell how she feels," Ted sighed as he laid down.
"Have you not looked into her eyes? Have you taken her actions for granted? She she spends a lot of time making friends at work, but when it counts, she barely leaves your side. This is only the second time she's left since she's been back," Billy laughed. "She loves you, man. She just feels guilty for what she did."
"I guess I should tell her that I forgave her a long time ago," Ted chuckled, shaking his head.
"Yeah," Billy nodded, "that could be a good start."
…
The next day, Mary and The Miz drove up to a house that she hadn't seen in years. She spent a lot of time there while she was pregnant, but she had only kept in touch over Skype since moving on from Tallahassee. She took a deep breath as they walked up to the door with The Miz at her side.
A pregnant woman in her thirties answered the door with a smile on her face. "Hey Mary, I see you've brought a friend with you."
Mary nodded with a smile, "Charity, this is Mike. Or well... you of course know him as The Miz."
Charity nodded, "come on in, he's almost ready."
Mary smiled as they walked inside and Charity lead them into the den where Charity's husband was sitting. "Hey Darren," she grinned, sitting down on the couch with Miz.
Darren looked up, "hi Mary, I see you've made friends since going back to the WWE." He walked over to them, shaking each of their hands. "Darren Michelson."
Miz shook the other man's hand. "It's good to meet you."
"And you as well," Darren nodded. "It's Mike, right?"
Miz nodded, "I'm mostly just here for support."
Darren smiled as a small boy ran into the room. "Is mommy here yet?" The boy paused, blinking as he looked to the man sitting with his birth mother. "Awwwwwwwessssssooooommmmmeeeeee!" He did his best Miz impersonation before running over to Mary and jumping into her lap.
Mary laughed, hugging her son. "Yup, Mommy is friends with The Miz. Isn't that cool?" She grinned as the boy nodded. "Mike, meet my little boy, Marcus."
Marcus tilted his head, "Mike?"
Miz nodded with a laugh as he shook Marcus's little hand. "My real name is Mike Mizanin, buddy."
"Can I just call you Miz?" Marcus pouted.
"Of course, little man," The Miz laughed. "I don't mind at all."
Mary got up as The Miz played with Marcus and looked to Charity's belly. "I guess it's safe to assume that this is why you've asked me to take him back?"
"I hope that you don't take this as looking as bad parents," Charity bit her lip. "It's just that we were starting to struggle, and when we heard that you had finally stopped running and went back to your family, it was the right time."
Mary nodded with a smile. "No, it's fine. I think we all knew that this wasn't going to be a permanent situation. That's why we arranged things so that Marcus knew that I was his mother all along. I believe that I'm finally ready to be a mother now. I'll just keep him with me until at least the fall, then I can decided whether I want to keep him on the road with me and get a tutor, or have him spend the school year with my parents."
"Well, he doesn't seem to mind much that we're pulling him out of school right now," Darren nodded. "So he should be fine staying on the road with you. Are you going to get him a tutor for the rest of preschool then?"
Mary nodded, "which really shouldn't be too hard. I can have him start to socialize with the wrestlers' kids and stuff."
"Sounds like a plan," Charity smiled. "So we'll be keeping in touch? Where should we send the rest of his stuff?"
Mary blinked, looking down for a moment before swallowing visibly and biting her lip. "Um... I'll give you my parent's address, but give me some time to actually tell them first?"
Darren chuckled, "so who all actually knows about Marcus?"
"Honestly?" Mary laughed at herself, shaking her head. "Just Mike at the moment." She paused for a moment, letting out a sigh, "I'll figure it out." She shrugged as she jotted down her parent's address on a piece of paper that Charity had handed her. A few minutes later Mary, Miz, and Marcus left the house with a couple of suitcases for Marcus and began to make their way to the airport.
…
A few hours later Mary met up with Ted, Cody, and Billy at the SmackDown house show, while Miz went to the RAW show. Mary made her way to the locker room after dropping off Marcus's things at Ted's bus and bit her lip as she walked up to the men in her life as Chelsea walked up holding Tate.
"You were with Mike, weren't you?" Ted looked to Mary accusingly, not noticing the small boy beside her.
"As a matter of fact, I was," Mary shrugged.
"Did you f-" Ted began to bellow, causing Chelsea to slap her hand over his mouth with as much force as a ring announcer could.
Mary took a deep breath, looking down as Marcus hid behind her. "Are you serious, Ted?"
"Just answer the question," Ted sneered.
"Ted..." Chelsea nudged him, pointing to the little hand wrapped around Mary's leg.
Mary took a deep breath, picking Marcus up. "I'm sorry baby boy. I promise Ted isn't always that mean."
Marcus peeked out from his mother's chest and looked over to Cody, grinning. "Cody Rhodes!"
Mary giggled, nodding. "Yup. He's one of mommy's friends. Actually," Mary took a deep breath, "can you take the kids for a bit, Codes?"
Cody nodded as he took Tate from Chelsea and Mary put Marcus back down and nudged him over to Cody. Mary took a deep breath, looking up to the prying eyes before after Cody walked away. "I um..."
"You have a kid?" Ted was visibly trembling, tears burning his eyes.
Mary nodded, "I sort of initially gave him up for adoption, but it was an open adoption. They knew who I really was, and agreed to that I could have him back if I was ever ready. Now that I'm back into the swing of things and they have a kid of their own coming, we figured it was time."
"So I'm an Aunt?" Chelsea grinned, hugging her sister.
Mary nodded, returning the hug. "He's going to be staying with us for a while. I may have him go to kindergarten at our old elementary school and let mom and dad take care of him in the fall. I haven't decided yet." She paused, looking over to Ted. "That's... okay, right?"
"Yeah..." Ted waved her off. "Of course it is," he turned on his heel, walking a way to think about what had just occurred.
Mary frowned as she watched Ted walk away, frowning. "Fuck..."
"He'll be okay, Mare," Billy placed his hand on his older sister's shoulder. "Just give him time to process it. I mean hell... you have a kid, Mary. You've been back for weeks, and you are just now telling us."
Mary nodded, "I know that I should have said something sooner. I just... didn't know how to bring it up." She sighed heavily as she hung her head, silently praying that this wouldn't be the thing that she lost Ted for good over.
