Wednesday, Thursday and Friday afternoon, Mike stews. Considers all of the things he'd like to do to Ambrose, to Ziggler. He tries to keep his temper in check around AJ, but it's hard. Her title glistens tauntingly from over her shoulder, or around her waist, and it makes it hard to touch her, look at her. She's understanding however, gentle with him, and he winces when she appears to be walking on eggshells around him. Paige isn't on Smackdown that week, apparently taking a bit of a recovery period after that attack on Main Events, which means AJ has nothing to do but sit backstage and try to help Mike keep it together before his match, stroking his hair and murmuring soothingly to him.
His actual match, however, is a mess. He tries to be successful, taking out his tension and anger on Ambrose, but even when Kane and Seth Rollins comes out, it's not enough. Mike's hit with Dirty Deeds and pinned. Sandow follows him backstage and there's an echoing hit after Mike grabs a clipboard from a nearby table and slings it into the wall, barely noticing as it embeds itself in the plaster, but he pays this no mind either, storming back to the divas champion's locker room. AJ stays in a corner and watches him with worried eyes as he grabs his things, forces them into his bag, and... slumps over it, the anger and disgust leaving him behind, empty and grasping at something, anything to hold onto. She ventures towards him and gingerly wraps her arms around him from behind, pressing a kiss to his neck as he shudders and groans. "I don't know what I'm going to do," he whispers.
She hugs him tighter and strokes his chest, nuzzling into his neck. "It'll be ok," she responds quietly. "You'll be ok, mi carino."
He wants to believe her so badly, but it's hard. He had crashed and burned so seriously after Ziggler had won the title back after barely a day, he's not sure he'll ever be able to recover fully. He almost wishes he could get another movie deal, something... anything... to break free of this losing streak that he's in. To stop floundering so terribly. But that would also mean leaving AJ for who knows how long, and he can't bring himself to face that, either... He closes his eyes and rests a hand on hers, leaning into her as she kisses his face. "I love you," he breathes, slowly rebuilding his strength, not wanting to add stress to her title reign in its infancy. Not wanting to worry her needlessly.
-x
After a quiet weekend in California, AJ and he walk hand in hand to the arena for Raw, AJ leaning up to kiss him before they venture towards the match board. It's towards the top, he has another opportunity at the Intercontinental title... a triple threat match against Ziggler and Cesaro, but that's immaterial. He smiles, relieved. All of his chances aren't wasted after all. Glancing further down, he finds that AJ too has a match- with an unknown opponent of Paige's choosing. She looks a little worried but when he glances at her, she holds her head up high and smiles at him, squeezing his hand. "I feel like it's going to be a good night, sweetheart," he tells her softly.
"I think so too." She rests her head on his arm as they walk down the hall towards her locker room, both ignoring as Sandow spots them and falls into line, mimicking Mike's actions as best as he can.
Both are wrong, unfortunately. Mike eats the three count in the triple threat and slowly makes his way backstage, sore and humiliated as AJ tsks over him, cupping his face and gently kissing him while leading him to her locker room. He breaks away, however, when they pass the Authority's locker room and he barely remembers what he's saying, Sandow and he both yelling at HHH, until H tells him maybe he could do his straight-to-DVD movies from the unemployment line. This causes Mike to freeze and he stares at the Authority as Sandow is placed in a match with Sheamus, HHH then kicking them out of the room.
AJ looks fearful too, unsure what had just happened in the office, Mike's grimace growing with each step they take back to her locker room. She tries to comfort him, help him to relax, but his heart is racing and he feels a little sick. The mere thought of leaving WWE, of losing his dream so suddenly... He wonders if this is a fraction of how Del Rio had felt the month prior, or perhaps if he had just not cared following Ricardo's departure. Ponders if his own viewpoint would've been the same if something like this had happened closer to when John had left... But he'd always had other responsibilities... Alex, and the movie opportunities being with WWE had opened up for him, and... now AJ, of course, traveling with her, and being there for her no matter what her divas title aspirations bring her. He cringes and kisses the side of her head, not even wanting to imagine leaving her to make her way through this business alone. permanently.
They sit curled around each other until it's time for AJ's match and she slowly slinks away from him, leaning in to kiss him once more. "I'll be back soon," she promises him before adjusting her title belt and skipping from the room, Mike's eyes locked on her until she's out of sight.
He then turns to the monitor and watches her entrance with a faint smile, eyebrows furrowing when Paige comes out and announces AJ's match will be against her new best friend... Alicia Fox! His jaw drops. "Wait, what? Who?" He wishes for a wild moment that the monitor has a DVR so he could rewind and make sure he hadn't heard things, but no that's definitely Alex's girlfriend with Ricardo's girlfriend, heading to the ring to face off with his wife. "No friggin way," he groans, scrambling for his phone. He hesitates before placing the call, however, remembering. Alex is on the panel, and Ricardo generally has training sessions with his dojo on Monday, so there's actually no one to call who could possibly shed some light on this situation. "I thought this was part of the reason why Ricardo was moving out of Alex's apartment this week, because Alicia and Paige hated each other," he mumbles, shaking his head. "Ugh..."
The match doesn't last long, AJ attacks both Paige and Alicia, but Alicia quickly gets the upperhand and keeps it, defeating AJ within minutes. Mike's jaw drops again and he stares blankly at the screen as Alicia and Paige attack his wife, leaving her laying on the mat. He rushes to the gorilla position once he regains some control of his body, both wanting to confront Alicia and also be there for AJ, but he's too late- Alicia and Paige are both gone already, and AJ is being helped backstage, where he shoos the trainers away and gently lifts his wife up, brushing her hair over her shoulder. "Come on, sweetheart, let's go to the trainer's office," he whispers into her ear. "Jason will take good care of you while I watch Sandow's match, alright?" He hates leaving her for any amount of time when she's disoriented, but it can't be helped... especially after Sandow had been right by his side, getting into The Authority's face. It would only be fair to return the favor, of course.
So he lays her down on the cot and kisses her forehead before going to do commentary during Sandow's match. He tries to help, somehow, but it's not enough. Sandow loses and Miz can do nothing but watch, yet again, as another part of the night goes to hell entirely. Thankfully none of them are needed for Main Event so Mike books the tickets back to California and he holds AJ as she doze through the flight, her sleep restless and unhappy even as she clutches the divas title. "It'll be alright, sweetheart," he tells her softly as he drives to the house. "Today, we'll do whatever we need to do errands-wise, and then tomorrow... I'm thinking breakfast in bed and a Buffy marathon. How's that sound?"
She tilts her head to look at him and smiles wanly. "Not a Sex in the City marathon?"
He laughs. "No, this is your choice and I know you've been talking about wanting to watch hours of Buffy lately, so..."
"Buffy it is then." She curls her fingers around his and squeezes his hand. "Thanks, Mike. It sounds perfect. I'm looking forward to it."
He grins at her, pulling up at the house while imagining spending all day in bed with her, the biggest thing to worry about that entire time to make sure the DVD player still works and they have plenty of snacks and drinks. "So am I, sweetheart."