Mexico. It's weird being there without Ricardo or Del Rio, Mike's dark blue eyes peering out at the land that's rushing past as a bus takes them to their designated hotel for the next day or two. AJ's head is resting on his shoulder and he's smiling, stroking her neck, as he begins to ponder the next ten days. First, the usual events... then Hell in a Cell, where he'll hopefully win the US title from that smug Sheamus, and then, if all of their schedules allign well, a birthday party in Los Angeles the week following since Ricardo will be competing in the state at the same time as the PPV. He sighs, knowing that, somehow, something will probably try to come up and ruin all of his careful planning. It always does, he muses, remembering all of the prior 4th of Julys that had been held at other times because John had been in Canada, or Miz had been in China, or what have you.
He shrugs it off when AJ looks up at him, concerned, and forces a smile, kissing her lightly. "You alright?" she asks softly, stroking his jaw.
"Yeah, I'm fine, just wondering which way John's and my birthday thing will get jacked up." He chuckles faintly and kisses her nose. "But either way, it'll be ok. We'll have it somehow, sometime."
"Yeah," she nods, leaning up to kiss him. As they snuggle back together to wait for the trip to end, her mind wanders to her divas title and his wanders to his potential title, the two of them both wishing for the best possible outcomes this coming weekend.
-x
Mike is sitting backstage at Smackdown, watching AJ face off against Layla while Paige does commentary with Alicia standing by her side. He's on the phone, watching Layla try to get revenge for what AJ had done to her on Monday while talking to Ricardo. "Yeah, sorry I won't be in California to watch you compete at Vendetta Pro... if not for Hell in a Cell, you know I would be."
"Of course, Mike. I know." Ricardo's smile is audible in his voice and it helps Mike to feel a little less like a terrible friend. "I'll be alright, I know you'll be rooting for me."
"Damn straight, we all will be," Mike nods, eyes widening slightly as AJ beats Layla just then. Ricardo falls silent too, so he suspects that the former ring announcer notices as well when Alicia tries attacking AJ just to get flattened... until Paige intervenes and attacks AJ, helping Alicia up. As they skip around the ring, Mike's voice grows darker, his good humor fading away. "I gotta go. Bye, Ricardo." He's gone before the other man could say anything, halfway to the ring within seconds.
AJ seems ok, though angrier than she has been about the situation, and he wraps her up in his arms before lifting her bridal style and carrying her back to the trainer's office, just to make sure she's alright. She huffs and hugs her title close to her as he examines her as best as he can from this awkward position, making sure she's comfortable on the cot before settling in next to her. "I'm so sick of them," she confesses to him lowly. "I just... want to be able to defend my baby, without their dramatics and pathetic attacks... I don't know why that's so hard."
"I don't know either," he whispers, thinking about how complicated his situation is, that he needs a stunt double just to protect the moneymaker so he can leave sometimes and make movies, not have a scarred or wounded face to detract from getting cast in big budget films. He holds her, tries to calm her down, until it's time for yet another six man match with him and the Dust Brothers against the Usos. He stares absently at Stardust as he circles Mizdow and himself suspiciously, mumbling something about the constellation Gemini, Goldust finally arriving in time to pull his brother away and remind him that their match is only minutes away.
Mizdow looks incredulously at Miz but, before either of them could say anything, Stardust rounds once more on them and hisses at them, releasing a shower of glitter and who-knows-what-all-else that coats their jackets and makes Mike cough. Mizdow moves quickly and hands him a bottle of water, trying to dust him off before they make it to the ring, Mike even less happy now as he glares at his tag partners, Win or lose, he decides grimly, I'm not tagging with them again.
Their loss re-inforces his decision, especially when he arrives at Raw the following Monday to find that yet again, another six man tag match is scheduled for all six of them. He sighs and rolls his eyes, glancing down at AJ as she too stares, unimpressed, at the match board. "Alicia again," she says drily. "Yay."
"Lucky us," Mike sighs, turning to walk down the hall towards her locker room. He holds the door open for her and smiles as she slips inside, quietly following her and shutting the door soundly behind them. "Well... I can't imagine how this evening will go." She curls up next to him on the couch and buries her face in his shoulder, disinterested in commenting. Silence works for him too so he simply strokes her hair and tries not to think too much about everything.
His match is in the first hour, AJ's right after his, so he's at least glad for that, planning on leaving early so they can relax and hopefully fly home early, spend a few days decompressing before Hell in a Cell. "I hear Paige and Alicia are getting tossed into Total Divas," AJ tells him after awhile. "Maybe it'll distract them from my baby..."
"Maybe," he murmurs, kissing her forehead. "I can kind of see Alicia wanting to be on that show, but Paige? Kind of a weird fit, huh?"
AJ shrugs and watches The Authority talk in the ring, sighing when Mizdow comes in to prepare for the match, Mike moving to do the same. Her gaze shifts to them as Mike painstakingly places his sunglasses on his head, Mizdow echoing his actions with only a second between their actions. She smirks and gets to her feet, offering Mike a kiss before he leaves, AJ settling back in to watch. When Mike asks for a second, he hops down from the apron and declares that Mizdow will be in the match, settling in behind the commentary table. She raises her eyebrows and chuckles, aware that he wasn't willing to tag team with Star and Goldust again after the last couple weeks.
Her lips part in some surprise when Mizdow eakes out the victory, Mike having a complete meltdown at the commentary table. She doesn't know whether to laugh at him or go meet him at the gorilla position, finally deciding to meet him halfway. He's still all over Mizdow, as if he's never seen someone win a match before, and she giggles as he almost walks right by her. "Um, Mike," she calls out, unable to keep her grin at a sane level when he turns sharply and looks at her.
"He won!" he exclaims, picking her up and spinning her around as she laughs and clings at him.
"I have one question," she finally says, her arms wrapped around his neck. "Did you see a mouse at ring side or were you really that happy?"
He makes a face at her before leaning in to kiss her. "Good luck with your match," he says against her lips, sticking his tongue out at her as she turns and skips towards the ring.
She's not intimidated, certain in her own ability to defeat Alicia, with or without Paige, but even so, when she throws Alicia out of the ring and Paige starts pushing her around and yelling at her, Alicia giving as good as she gets, AJ can't help but be distracted from her goal. She stands against the ropes after Paige throws Alicia back into the ring and yells down at her, gravity failing as AJ is tipped over onto her back and pinned, gasping in disgust as Paige and Alicia hug, Paige knocking the off-balanced diva to the floor in her enthusiasm. As she pulls her back up and drags her backstage, AJ glares down at them, in disbelief that she had lost because of such a lame trick.
She storms into her locker room, Mike standing to try to comfort her, but she ignores him, kicking off her sneakers and sending them into the opposite wall with an angry yell. "How does this keep happening?! Stupid British tart," she cries out, the once pet name for Paige now sounding angry and ugly. Mike's arms wrap around her and stops her rampage, holding her tight against his chest. "I can't lose my baby," she hisses, her nails digging into his forearm. "I can't, I can't... I won't..."
"Don't think like that, sweetheart," he murmurs into her hair. "This was just a fluke. They do this stuff because they're scared of you, and know they don't have much of a chance one on one. You're going to be fine, I promise you."
She breathes heavily, her eyes welling with tears as she absorbs his encouragement. "Thank you," she breathes, twisting around in his arms to kiss him. "I love you, Mike."
"I love you too." He strokes her back with one hand, brushing the tears from her cheeks with the other. "No matter what, we're both going to be ok." When she nods, her eyes clearing a little, he smiles down at her, relieved that she seems to be believing him. Now as long as I can keep her optimistic for the next few days... everything will be alright for real..