A/N: I don't own the wrestlers! I do own Pixie and Betsy. As always, it's meant in fun.

The Mizard Of Odd

Chapter 51: Miz Deals With Doubts

They stopped for dinner at a little roadside restaurant. The parking lot was nearly deserted, something that would normally have given Miz pause but which made him thank his lucky stars this time. He was tired of listening to Punk and Christian argue in the back, and doubly tired of the songs that Matt kept making up and singing loudly in the passenger seat. Not for the first time, Miz said, "Could you stop that, Jeff? I've got a headache," as they pulled into the parking lot.

"But it's Betsy's favorite song!" Matt protested, holding up the fish who was swimming in his much depleted blue water.

"That's what you've said about every song," Miz muttered, pulling the SUV into a parking space and waiting for Jeff to park beside them. "Hey, Jeff, how about you ride with the other Jeff again?"

"No!" Matt said, pouting. "He tried to eat Betsy!"

Miz sighed. "Then maybe I can ride with him," he said, as he slid out of the car. "Let someone else drive for a while." He followed Mark, Matt, Punk and Christian onto the sidewalk of the restaurant and waited for Jeff, Randy and JJ to get out.

"That was fun," Randy said.

"Oh?" Miz asked, and Randy smiled. "What did you do?"

"I'll tell you what he did," Jeff said. He joined the others, rubbing his elbow. "That psycho bit me!"

"He hasn't died yet because I used the slow acting venom," Randy said.

Miz turned to Jeff. "Don't worry. He's not really poisonous."

"I know," Jeff said, shooting a murderous glance at Randy. "But I'd still like to kill him for biting me."

Randy smiled at Jeff. "I was getting revenge on Betsy's behalf."

"Yay!" Matt said, throwing his arms around Randy and hugging. "Thank you, Randy, you're the bestest and my hero and Betsy's, too!"

Jeff rolled his eyes and muttered, "I do not sound like that. And I'm not Spongebob!" he snapped at JJ, who finally joined the others.

JJ said, "Sorry, Spongebob."

Jeff gritted his teeth and stared at Miz. "Have you been dealing with this the whole time?"

"This and worse," Punk confirmed. "Hey, do you think this place sells Pepsi?"

"Only one way to find out," Miz said. He pushed the door open and stepped into the restaurant, the others filing in behind him.

"Welcome to Louisa's!" the hostess said.

"Do you serve Pepsi?" Punk asked her.

"Sure!" said the hostess.

"All right," Punk said, turning to the others. "We can stay."

Jeff shook his head and they followed the hostess to a table. He sat next to Miz and when the others were engrossed in their menus, Jeff said, "I don't know how you deal with this. I thought Matt was okay, but he went crazy on me, and then that thing with Orton and that JJ guy… who the hell is he, anyway?"

"Cena," Miz said.

Jeff turned to stare at JJ, tilting his head and squinting. "Really?" he said. "I don't see it."

"Maybe if you took less drugs," Punk muttered from Miz's other side.

"Oh, okay, Mr. straightedge addict," Jeff said. "I'll listen to you."

Punk sat back, arms crossed, and pouted. Miz sighed. "It doesn't matter."

"I like crazy as much as the next guy," Jeff said, "but you guys are a bit overboard. Not you personally, Miz, but the rest of these guys…" He shook his head. "And I haven't seen Mark Henry say or do anything weird yet."

Punk snickered. "It's only a matter of time."

"I'm a baked potato!" Mark announced.

"And there it is," Punk said. He turned to Mark. "Getting baked is a bad idea, Mr. Potatohead. Maybe you should consider the straightedge Jesus as your savior. I'll have some nice Pepsi in just a minute…"

"Punk!" Miz snapped. "Don't you dare!"

Punk glared at Miz. "You know, you could try to be more supportive of me! I'm trying to save Mr. Potatohead's eternal soul and you're worried about me getting a little Pepsi on the rug!"

"I'm worried about you getting us kicked out of here!" Miz said.

Jeff watched the two of them argue for a moment before pushing his chair away from the table. "If you really cared…" Punk began, then paused. "Hey, Jeff, where you going?"

"I'm Jeff!" Matt said.

"I mean the other Jeff," Punk told Matt.

"To get some fresh air," Jeff said.

Punk looked at Miz. "Maybe you ought to take his keys, make sure he doesn't run off on us."

Miz sighed. "Look, Punk, it's his choice to come or not. Besides, there's nothing wrong with getting a little air. Do you want us to order for you, Jeff?"

Jeff said, "Nah, I'll be back in a minute."

Punk and Miz watched him walk out. "Well, that's the last we'll see of him," Punk said. "And good riddance."

"I don't think it is," Miz said. "I think he probably needs time to take it all in."

"And then to run like hell," Punk muttered. "And I honestly can't blame him. We probably look like one of his bad drug trips, except he can run from us. But it's not like we don't know where he's headed."

"If he does go, we're not chasing him," said Miz firmly. "Everyone should get a choice."

"Why?" Punk asked. "We didn't."

"That's different," Miz said. "This is all about us. He and Matt used to be close, but other than them being brothers, it has nothing to do with him. So if he wants to run off and leave us here, it's his choice."

"You realize though, if he says something to Dixie about this, he could be putting us in even worse danger. Think of what Vince did when you found out, and just imagine what he'll do if he knows the competition knows."

Miz shuddered. "I hadn't thought about that," he said.