After flying home for the week, Mike spends days dreading Raw. It dominates his thoughts as he plays with his kids, it nags at him while he kisses AJ slowly in bed, it digs in during media calls and interviews for Miz and Mrs. He just can't shake it, and really he's never felt this level of dread before, even when his career was at the lowest of lows and he wasn't being used often or well. He thinks AJ notices but she simply holds him tighter, strokes her fingers through his hair for longer, and doesn't press the issue.
Then John calls. Mike exhales, examines his phone, and wonders if he has any updates on his health. Wavers on answering, but finally accepts just before his voicemail takes over. "Hey, Johnny, how's it going?" he asks, trying to sound calm, in control of himself. At ease with the potential of another Raw without John by his side as a kind of buffer between he and Maryse.
"Hey, Mike," John says and he sounds cheerful. "Going pretty good over here, how about you?"
"Eh, you know," he says. "Living the dream." He pauses, picking at the blankets pooling around his waist. "So how's your neck? Any updates?"
"Yeah, actually," John says. "Did all the tests, it's minor and just needs some time. I'm not cleared for competition, but I'll be back on the road this week. Have your back best I can." He pauses for a moment, and Mike thinks he can see the shift in his expressions as he sits there and thinks about what to ask next, how to word it. "Is, uh. Will Maryse be there too again?"
"Hm," Mike sighs. "As far as I know, yeah."
John breathes quietly for a few moments, and then, "Mike, do you ever regret it? Agreeing to... to do all of this?"
Mike sits with this question for awhile. Watches AJ sleep quietly next to him. Thinks about how bad off Maryse was when he agreed to do this so she had an easy in to work for WWE again, get some money coming her way again after her real estate dreams were dashed. "No," he says honestly. "I'll never regret helping a friend out. I just wish the ripple effects weren't so widely felt so long afterwards. You know?"
"Yeah," John says softly.
"Miz and Mrs. is fun, for the most part," he continues. "I get to work with my parents, and Heath and Maryse's kids are great. Terrors, because I see a lot of him in them, but still. Great. It's not that different from acting in a movie and pretending like we're all one big happy family. Doing it on WWE is different, that one is just on the fly, and I have no plans, and I can't..." He sighs. "I have to go where the moment leads me and try to make it all seem natural and not faked, and run the risk of my kids watching, or saying something that goes too far and hurts AJ. It's not great. That I regret."
John sounds sympathetic. "I understand. Hopefully it's not for much longer, Mike."
They agree on this but there's not much he can do about it. Maryse should be allowed to do whatever she wants, especially while their careers are still so intricately linked through Miz and Mrs., so he bites his tongue, squares his shoulders, and tries to look ahead to the week that's on the horizon.
Late Sunday night, however, his phone rings. Mike huffs out a breath, having just managed to get both Sara and George to sleep. He slips outside, not wanting to disturb the house, and answers as soon as he registers it's Maryse. "Hey, best co-star ever, what's up? Ready for tomorrow?"
"Hey, Mike," Maryse says with a strained kind of laugh. Before he can ask what's wrong, she barrels on ahead. "That's why I'm calling, just wanted to let you know I'm not going to be at Raw tomorrow."
Relief, curiosity, and worry course through him, overwhelming him. "How come? Is Heath ok? The kids?"
"Oh, well, yes, everyone's fine," she says. "I just need to make sure it stays that way."
"What do you mean?" he wonders, sitting down on the patio steps to listen.
She hesitates, then speaks slowly. "Heath is... I mean, he's close to starting PE to get back to wrestling strength, and he's anxious and... I guess he's been sneaking off to the gym. Swears he's been doing slow, low impact exercises, but it eats at me. It's so early, he's not been off of the crutches for that long, and..." She groans. "I need to be here with him, I need to make sure he doesn't ruin his recovery. I'm sorry, Mike."
"Oh, no," he says quickly. "It's fine, I swear. You do what you have to. Make sure he doesn't do anything dumb. I totally understand."
"Thanks, Mike," she sighs. "You're a great friend. I just worry about him so much, this all has been so difficult on him."
Mike's relief fades. He feels guilty. "Yeah," he says softly, thinking about the last year from Heath's perspective- getting released, fighting for an opportunity with Impact, just to get severely injured on his first match out, needing stomach surgery so serious that he couldn't even walk on his own for the better part of a month. "Hope it all works out and he hangs in there until he's actually cleared for this stuff."
"Hey, me too," Maryse says with a strained sort of laugh. "Thank you for being so understanding, Mike. I'll see you around."
"See you," he says, before putting his phone aside and looking up at the stars. "Huh."
Even when Raw consists of he and John getting pummeled with tomatoes, and a loss in six man action against New Day and Damien Priest, Mike can't find that he minds it too terribly. John's back and he doesn't have to push being in a relationship with Maryse and hurt both AJ and Heath with it. He honestly can't complain all that much.