Chapter 55

During that week, preparations were made by the Guns to help move AJ into Chris and Alex's house in Detroit, after the disaster that occurred at AJ's old place. There was no doubt that she was still broken up about her father disowning her, but the Guns – her guardians, were there for her every step of the way, and that alone always put a smile on the Diva's face. Fast forwarding to another Monday, the gang was back at another arena, where both she and Mickie learned that their titles were on the line that particular night.

In their locker room…

"Hey guys, I gotta thank you again for helping me move everything into your place. You two are absolute angels." AJ smiled, hugging them both.

"Hey, sis, it's your place, too. After Alex told me about what went down at your folks' place, it was only fair for you to live with us instead." replied Chris. "You'll be way better off, that's for sure."

"Yeah, and besides, we'll take care of ya. Before you know it, you'll feel like you've lived there for years." agreed Alex, giving her a kiss.

"Oh Guns, you have no idea how much I appreciate this. If I didn't have either of you, I'd probably be living out of my car or something. Wouldn't be the first time, anyway." she sighed, taking a seat on the bench.

Both Guns took a seat on either side of her.

"What do you mean?" asked Alex, lacing his fingers with hers.

"Well, we really never were the richest folks on the block. I remember us having to move from place to place since my folks could never find steady jobs, and, y'know, times were hard. At one point, we pretty much did live in my brother's van." she explained. "Then, once he joined the military, things started looking up. My folks found decent jobs, we were able to get a nice house…before I decided to move out."

"Oh wow, that is rough, babe." Shelley replied with a sigh. "I kinda know where you're coming from, though. I remember having to work about two jobs just to balance our income and then deal with school at the same time. At age 17, I felt like I was 35."

"Aw, Shells…" the Diva began sympathetically.

"That's bad, but I bet that neither of you could beat what I had to deal with growing up. Try picturing yourselves in a small, two bedroom apartment with a mother who eventually disappeared to become a stripper, an alcoholic father who's passed out drunk every night, and an older brother who…actually, I haven't seen him in over 5 years ever since he ran away to join the circus." he paused thoughtfully.

"Yeah, dude, you do have the saddest childhood." Alex scoffed a bit.

"So does that mean you spent your time all alone?" AJ asked, feeling sorry for him.

"For a little while, yeah. But once my pop started in bringing in random women who he each addressed as 'my future stepmother', I just had enough and bailed outta there." he continued.

"Then what happened?" she asked.

He smiled. "Simple. I moved in with Alex."

"And then my folks got so pissed that Chris and I were being these crazy smart asses, so they kicked us both out, we found jobs, and eventually we moved in our own place together." answered Shelley.

"And now I get to join ya." AJ smiled at the two of them. "Looks like the three of us really do have more in common than we think, boys."

"Well of course! We're Guns and the Guns stick together no matter what!" he exclaimed, smiling.

After that, the three bumped fists and imitated an explosion sound. "Whoosh!"

"Haha, that's always fun. So, AJ, you excited for your title match tonight?" asked Chris.

"I'm surprised that Mickie and I even need to defend our tag titles tonight. It's pretty rare to have a Championship match that's not on a PPV, but either way, I'm ready." she replied, before turning towards the door.

"What's wrong?" asked Alex.

"I dunno, it's just…I don't feel like I deserve to hold this belt anymore."

The boys exchanged confused looks.

"Why should we be the tag champs if Mickie and I barely speak anymore—no, wait, if SHE barely speaks to ME anymore? Is she still even a Gun like the rest of us?"

"Uh…" Alex shrugged, unsure.

"Hey, like I said, she's doing her own thing with Jericho, so…if she wants to move on to something new with him, we have no right to stop her. As long as she's happy, then that's all that matters." replied Sabin.

And right then and there, Mickie stopped by the room and poked her head into the doorway. She was ALL smiles. "Hey, AJ, ready for our match?" she asked.

The tiny Diva crossed her arms, confused. "…Sure. Mickie, listen, are you feeling ok?"

"What are you talking about? I feel great!" she exclaimed, taking her hand. "Later Alex, later, Chris, wish us luck out there!"

After AJ was practically dragged out, a stunned Shelley and Sabin looked at one another.

"…Weird." they concluded.


So moments later, the girls' match against Eve and Beth Phoenix (who somehow earned another No.1 contender's spot) began, and the action went back and forth for the most part. There were some great high spots from AJ and Mickie, with Beth proving her dominance, and Eve being the spoiled brat that she always was. Of course, she attempted to cheat every way that she could, to no avail. Once the match was winding up, things were about to turn crazy…

Beth attacked AJ first with a military press which transitioned into a slam to the mat. She quickly went for the cover, where the tiny Diva kicked out at two. Determined to keep her down and to win back the Diva's tag titles, the Glamazon capitalized with a slingshot suplex to the smaller Diva's body. While the blonde stared down at her opponent with a sneaky grin, AJ slowly crawled towards Mickie's corner, where, to her surprise, the Country Diva halfheartedly held out her hand for a tag.

"Mickie!" she called, desperately reaching out.

But before she could even attempt to tag in, Beth dragged her to hers and Eve's corner, where she tagged in the Latina. With a wicked smile, Eve sent a rough knee to AJ's midsection, while she was held down on Beth's knee. She yelled out in pain, but didn't give her a chance to recover before dragging her into the middle of the ring and performing a reverse STO, but before she could go for the pun, AJ fought back and managed to kick the Latina off of her, retaliating with a hurricanrana, followed by a spinning heel kick. She quickly went for the cover, but of course, Beth had to jump in and double team her. Mickie finally leapt inside of the ring to even out all of the chaos, but once she aimed for either Beth or Eve, her leg shot out and sent AJ down with a roundhouse kick!

"OH!" exclaimed the crowd.

Mickie backed away, not knowing what the hell just happened, when Eve smiled wildly and covered AJ for the 1…2…3 count.

"AH!" Eve squealed, shoving past Beth and snatching the tag title before the ref could even hand it to her, while the crowd grew in jeers and Lillian announced, "Here are your winners and the NEW Diva's tag team champions, Beth Phoenix, and Eve Torres!"

The referee held up both Divas' arms in victory, as both Beth and Eve laughed mockingly towards their defeated opponents, rolling out of the ring and heading up the ramp. Meanwhile, a shocked and dazed AJ sat up to send a glare towards Mickie, who strangely didn't really look that sympathetic.

When they got backstage, the Guns were the first to meet with them…

"Ah, girls, I can't believe what the hell went on out there." Alex announced, taking AJ's hand. She couldn't take her eyes off of Mickie.

"What happened?" asked Chris.

"Yeah, I'd like to know the answer to that, too. Mickie, did you screw me over on purpose?" she demanded, a little angry.

"Why would I do such a thing, April? It was an accident, I swear!" she exclaimed.

"You didn't seem that sorry."

"Look, I was aiming for one of our opponents, I didn't mean to kick you by any means necessary!" Mickie continued, before taking her hand. "But you know, maybe losing the titles is a good thing for us."

Her eyes widened. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?" she asked, a little hurt.

Continuing with her odd behavior, Mickie replied by smiling, giving her a hug, flashing a smile towards the Guns, and then heading down the hall.

The three watched her head off, stunned.

"Okay…who the hell drugged her orange juice this morning?" Alex asked slowly.

"I have no idea, but I've never seen her act this strange before." replied AJ, shaking her head.

"You know what? I think that I'm going to have a little chat with her." announced Chris, an all too serious look on his face.


Meanwhile, Mickie lightly knocked on Jericho's door, where he greeted her with a smile and a huge kiss. "Aw, congrats, Mickie! See, I told you that losing the tag title is the first step to getting out of AJ's shadow. You're now the independent woman that you need to be." he told her.

She nodded. "I do feel much more liberated." she replied with a small smile.

"Good! Embrace that feeling, baby, because you deserve it. Now when Money in the Bank rolls by, all you have to do is win the briefcase, win the Diva's title, and you'll finally get your chance to shine on your own again."

"Yeah. But you're wrong about one thing."

"What?"

"I'm Mickie James. I'm nowhere near being a *scoffs* Diva. I'm a woman, and this woman intends to bring back the Women's Championship." the brunette replied, smiling confidently.

Jericho's smile echoed hers once he replied, "That's my girl. Us Champions are going to rule this place together."

"I hope we will." she replied before they leaned in to share another passionate kiss.

"Ah, I'd hate to stop all this, but I gotta head out in a few for the main event. Wish me luck, ok?"

"You don't need luck. You're the Best in the World." she grinned.

He chuckled. "Damn right, sexy babe. I love you."

"I love you, too."

Flashing her a smile, he grabbed his WWE title and headed out, with Mickie standing in the doorway and watching him head off. From the opposite direction, Sabin saw her before she could see him. "Hey, Mickie."

She turned around, smiling. "Oh hey, Chris. What's up?"

"Well, uh, I kinda wanted to ask you that. Listen, are you feeling all right?" he asked.

"Of course I'm fine, what do you mean?"

"I mean, you've changed into a totally different person lately! What's gotten into you? Did you really screw AJ over to lose the titles on purpose?"

"Accidents happen, Sab, AJ needs to realize that."

"That's bull, Mickie. You've been turning on all of us, and Alex and AJ are beginning to think that you're leaving the Guns."

"Well, is that what you think too, Chris?"

He sighed. "All I told them was that you were with Jericho, and it was your choice to be with him. Even though I hate it."

"Oh, Sab, I appreciate your concern, but everything's going great for me! Jericho's done so much for me lately and I love him for that." the Diva replied.

"But he's brainwashing you!" he argued. "Before you got involved with him, you were still our friend. He's changed you into a completely different person."

"Uh, you should talk, Chris, you were acting like a totally different person when you were keeping the secret that you had cheated on me, remember?" she challenged back.

The Detroit native was quiet for a moment, while Mickie's expression softened. "Oh Sab, I didn't mean that. I'm sorry."

"It's all right, it's the truth." he shrugged.

Then, she reached up and gave him a kiss on the cheek, before heading off.

Lightly touching his cheek, he couldn't help but to smile for her, silently deciding to himself that no matter what the others may have thought of her, she would always be his Sweet Mickie.