A/N: Just a quick Happy Thanksgiving to all of my American readers, and happy Thursday to the rest of you! I appreciate each and every one of you!
AJ leans over the locker room couch and smiles down at Alicia, tilting her head curiously. "So eight diva elimination tag match at Survivor Series, huh? Do I even have to ask what you're going to do?"
Alicia smirks up at her, her long legs hanging over the armrest of the couch as she ponders the question. "Hmm, well, I'd say... do whatever I can to make Paige regret pretending to be my friend for all of those weeks, and bringing a wedge in between our friendship." She hesitates for a moment and then grins. "As for what that actually entails, guess you'll have to wait until Sunday."
"Hmph, you're no fun," AJ pouts down at her before turning as her husband and Mizdow enter the locker room, lost in their back and forth as Mizdow mimicks Miz's actions. She rolls her eyes before clearing her throat loudly, Miz then Mizdow's heads whipping up to look at her. She steps past Mizdow and grips Miz by the collar, grinning up at him. "Hello, husband. Remember when I said before we arrived earlier that I'd need a favor?" He nods dumbly down at her and she smirks. "Come on then, let's do this before your tag match." She drags him into the bathroom and shuts the door firmly in Mizdow's face before he can follow.
"I doubt either of us would really want to know what they're doing in there," Alicia says, kicking her heels lazily against the side of the couch as Mizdow turns to look at her, perplexed and lost without having any direction in what to do now.
It seems to take a long time and when Mike finally shows himself again, he looks disheveled, his hair all over the place... but his grin grows when he spots Mizdow. "C'mon, let's go out there and show what we can do as a tag team."
They leave and Alicia sits up, shaking her head before she rolls off of the couch and heads for the bathroom door, knocking sedately on it. When AJ urges her to enter, she peeks inside just to pause for a moment before bursting out laughing in disbelief at what she's seeing. "Well, that was unexpected," she murmurs, returning to the couch while still giggling.
Mike's grin has disappeared when he returns awhile later, fresh off of the loss against the Los Matadores and Mizdow seems far from pleased as well, his dark eyes tracking his tag partner even as he flaps his arms in aggravation while mouthing Mike's complaining to AJ, who soothes him before leaning up to kiss him. "I'm sorry, Mike. I know you'll have better luck on Sunday... but right now, I have to go show off your handiwork." She winks at him and offers him another kiss before pulling away and skipping out of the door, Mizdow's eyes tracking her without Mike's influence, which gets him slapped upside the back of the head.
"Idiot," Miz mumbles, Alicia giggling from where she's settled, still waiting for Alex to be able to join them.
AJ is dressed like Nikki, ball cap and all, and although she feels awkward trying to mimic her entrance sashay, it's worth it just for the look on Nikki's face. With Mike's help, she had also added other, exaggerated ... enhancements, to her chest and butt, and it helps protect her during the match at times. When Brie's assistance does no good and AJ wins, she laughs all the way up the ramp, glad that that's done. She'd been annoyed when they had mocked her ring entrance and gear and everything, and as much fun as it was to pay Nikki back in kind, she'll be ecstatic to go back to her regular gear, her regular entrance, everything else. For a moment, though, a grimace of doubt crosses her face and she considers Sunday, when all of the fun and games are over with and it's her baby on the line.
She grips the title a little tighter, unable to consider losing it again... especially to a Bella. Paige had been one thing, Paige she had some sort of grudging respect for. The Bellas... well, the Bellas were the same tramps they had been before they'd left, just with a reality show and significant others with pull in the company, both exes of hers no less. She grouses a few moments longer before she reaches her locker room, pushing the door open and staring at the people inside. Miz and Mizdow are practicing the mirror technique again, and Alicia looks close to falling asleep on the couch. Until, at any rate, AJ enters fully and drops her divas title upon Alicia's midsection, waking her up with a huff. Mike immediately pulls away from Mizdow and rejoins her, stroking her arms as he leans in to kiss her. "Wanna help me out of this so we can go back to the hotel soon?" She smirks up at him and he nods, eyes fixed on her as he follows her into the bathroom, once more shutting Mizdow out so they can have some privacy.
Her arms wrap around his neck as he leans down to free her from the padding, tossing it aside as she sighs, relieved to have the itchy material off of her skin. "Poor Mike," she murmurs, his hands shifting to find the other padding, quickly tossing it to the ground as well before she leans up and nuzzles against his throat. "Losing to those nasty bullfighters... but I know you'll beat them all Sunday, mi carino."
He presses closer to her and nods, resting his forehead against hers and staring into her eyes. "Thanks, sweetheart. Imagine, we'll have two locker rooms again after Sunday..." His hand presses against her lower back and steadies her as they kiss, her soft sighs and whispers muffled even as a smile spreads across her lips while she clings to him.
Come Sunday, Mike's actually right for a little bit. His match is first up on Survivor Series, Alicia and AJ both helping each other get ready for their individual matches in her locker room, while watching him and Mizdow. It looks like Mike's going to lose, AJ's dark eyes locked on the TV while Alicia tries to fix her makeup after she'd messed up applying it due to a close call in the match. Alicia has just finished when Mizdow tags himself in and pins Stardust, successfully winning the tag belts. Mike gapes at his partner for a long, tense moment, before the win dawns on him and he rushes forward, collecting both titles and brandishing them around in success, Mizdow watching on with a grimace before lifting his bare hands and getting cheers from the audience, a direct opposite of the boos that Mike's receiving...
But it doesn't matter, Mike looks ecstatic and AJ grins so hard that it almost hurts, Alicia pausing to look over her shoulder and blowing a strand of hair out of her eyes. "Do I even dare continuing with your makeup, seeing as it'll probably just be messed up even worse once he gets back in here?"
AJ chuckles weakly, seeing the wisdom behind the grumbling comment, and grabs the makeup from Alicia. "Let's do your makeup really fast instead then so you're good to go for your match, and we'll worry about finishing mine up later." She quickly applies what makeup the much more flashy diva wants, relieved when Alicia finally deems it satisfactory, hugging AJ before she runs out to meet up with the rest of her teammates. As soon as she's alone, she realizes that she hasn't seen her husband yet, which is odd, as Mike always comes to her right after a win of any sort. "Hmm," she frowns, sitting down to hold her title once more. Just in case...
-x
Just down the hall, Mike and Mizdow stand side by side in front of the tag team champions' locker room, frowning at the door. Neither are certain if they want to see what the Dust Brothers may have done to the room before the title match, though both know it needs to be looked at. "Maybe we should wait until tomorrow, when they won't be able to do anything to it, or-" Mike hasn't even finished the sentence, however, when Mizdow takes action again, same as he had in the tag title match, and grips the door handle, pushing it open. "No wait!" Mike cries out. "What if it's their-" But before he can finish speaking, Mizdow steps forward and disappears, the door snapping shut behind him. "... Their strange dimension or whatever the hell that is..." He stares at the door, eyes wide in terror that his stunt double had just gotten himself sucked away into the deepest reaches of space and time, or whatever it may be... "Oh, this is not good," he moans. "I've seen enough science fiction movies to know how this ends..."
But he can't leave the foolish Mizdow to die alone, so he gingerly opens the door and stares into the darkness before squeezing his eyes shut and stepping forward. He's barely taken three steps when he feels gravity failing him as his body pitches forward. He lets out a scream that, should he survive this, he'd never admit to anyone in the future... but then arms wrap around him, holding him upright and he gasps for breath, his eyes shooting open just to realize that the lights have been turned on and... it's an ordinary locker room, all signs of any mysterious nonsense that one would expect from the Dust Brothers long gone. He stares around at their surroundings for a moment before looking up to find that it's Mizdow keeping him from busting open his moneymaker on the floor. "Mizdow! You're alright!" he exclaims, throwing his arms around his tag partner and hugging him once he's back on his feet.
"Of course I am," his tag partner says, looking slightly confused as Mike quickly pulls away and begins to walk around the locker room, a pleased look on his face.
"Damn, it's good to have a locker room all my own again. No lies, I love sharing a room with AJ, but I prefer it when we're both champions..." He traces his fingers along the soft leather couch before his eyes widen. "Oh, dammit, AJ! I forgot to go talk to her after winning... I hope she has time before her match." They quickly leave and race through the halls towards her room, Mike scooping her up into his arms and kissing her as the weight of both tag titles press into her sides, causing her to giggle.
"Congratulations," she tells them, casting a quick glance at Mizdow before turning her attention back to her husband. "I thought you got lost for a minute there."
"Eh, you know, we had to check out the tag title locker room, see what the Dust Brothers might've done to it."
Her nose crinkles cutely as she purses her lips at him. "Did you throw a rock inside or something, make sure it was stable before you went in?"
"I would've if I had the opportunity," he comments, casting a grumpy glance towards Mizdow. She giggles again and leans in closer to him, kissing him hard on the mouth before wiggling free of his grip. "Aw, is your match coming up this soon?"
"Yep. Wish me luck." She adjusts the tag titles against his shoulders, pressing quick kisses to each bronze plate before repeating the action against her own belt before turning for the door.
"Good luck," Mike murmurs softly as she leaves, turning to watch the TV to see how her match goes.
Which, it's done in the blink of an eye. AJ is in the middle of the ring, watching Nikki and Brie, before the bell rings and Nikki simply stands there. It takes a second but finally AJ realizes Brie is on the apron, holding her baby close. Her eyes narrow as she walks over to the ropes, trying to take her belt back, demanding to know what Brie's doing, when the Bella twin grips her and tugs her in closer, kissing her hard. It's weird, cold and sloppy, and she doesn't like it, her arms flailing until Brie finally frees her and she stumbles back, right into Nikki who slams her down with a forearm, winding her. She's still shocked from the kiss and dazed from the attack when she feels herself getting lifted up and internally she's screaming, but there's nothing she can do as sharp, jarring pain shoots up her midsection.
Somewhere, distantly, she can sense the ref's hand hitting the mat, the one, two, three of her failure counted out next to her head, and there's absolutely nothing she can do about it. She's still motionless, her eyes shut tight, as the Bellas celebrate the title victory over her. Tears drip down the sides of her face into her ears as she lays there, unwilling to admit that this is reality. It's only when a ref tries to help her up, carry her backstage, that she comes to, begins to fight. All but punches him away from her before she gets to her feet outside of the ring and stumbles up the ramp, fresh tears filling her eyes.
Mike is waiting for her, she sees him out of the corner of her eye as she walks towards the locker rooms, but he has her things in hand so he stops her with a warm arm around her waist, leading her to the tag title holders' locker room before she can go trash the divas' locker room. She immediately pulls away from him and grabs her bags out of his hand, closing herself up in the bathroom and locking the door behind her. Tears dripping down her cheeks, she stares at herself in the mirror and breathes heavily, finding her toothbrush and toothpaste. There's a strange, bitter taste in her mouth, and it's not just the defeat. It's the taste of Bella and she wants it gone, she wants all of this gone, so she squirts out paste all over her brush and roughly begins to run it over her teeth, her gums, her tongue, every inch of her mouth that Brie may have come into contact with.
The longer she stares at herself, the harder she cries until she can barely breathe around the brush and lather of toothpaste. Tearing it out of her mouth, she throws it at the glass before collapsing against the counter, sobbing and choking against the ceramic. Almost immediately, arms wrap around her and lift her, holding her over the sink. Cool water cupped in a hand is pressed against her lips and she quickly rinses and spits, shuddering as oxygen fills her lungs once more. She leans back against Mike and sobs harder, her body feeling too light without the title weighing her shoulder down. But that's not the only reason she feels bad, clinging to her husband's shirt which she realizes absently is the one she'd given him the week prior. "Oh God," she wails. "I'm so sorry, Mike. She kissed me, and I couldn't do anything, I just froze- all I could think about was you, and..."
He shakes his head, lifting her up onto the counter and stroking her hair. "Ssshhhhh," he whispers, kissing the tears off of her cheeks. "It's ok, sweetheart. Don't worry about it, I know you didn't want that, I know you didn't want any of that. I'm so sorry you lost your title." She stares at him through bleary, red eyes and he sighs, pressing her head against his chest.
"Karma really is a bitch," she whimpers, her nails biting into his shirt.
"No, just the Bellas," he tells her softly. They sit there quietly for a few more minutes, Mike allowing her to cry against him until finally she pulls away, wiping at her face with her fingers. He wets a paper towel and helps her, gently ridding her skin of the salty tear tracks. "Are you ready to leave?"
She nods, desperate to avoid the mocking stares and comments from the other divas and superstars. "I just want to sleep."
"I know, sweetheart. Let's go." He kisses her before helping her off of the counter, guiding her into the main part of the locker room. Alicia is waiting, hugging her gently while Mizdow obligingly grabs the bags and stands by Miz, waiting. Despite the brand new tag title belts weighing their bags down, they're subdued as they walk to the car, AJ's head ducked as they surround her, blocking her from view as best as they can.
Mizdow drives while Mike stays with AJ in the back, holding her hand quietly until they're at the hotel, where he leads her right to the room and straight to bed. She watches him blurrily as he pulls her shoes and jeans off, allowing her to curl up in bed comfortably while she waits for him to join her, which he does within a matter of minutes, his arms snug and protective around her. She sniffs and kisses his throat, closing her eyes while he strokes her back. She's not sure she can sleep but his warmth and steady breathing eases her until she dozes off, his presence actually helping her to stay asleep despite her restless murmurs, tossing and turning in his arms.
The next morning, she wakes up and stares at Mike's sleeping face, sighing softly. She feels beaten down and weary, but she knows she has to keep fighting. Even so, she doesn't want to have to face things so soon so she's content to lay in his arms and listen to her husband's breath, draw out the time until they have to leave for Raw for as long as she can. Eventually he does wake up, though, and she smiles at him. "Hey, sweetheart," he greets her, leaning in to kiss her. She cups the side of his face and holds him in place, not wanting him to say it, but finally he gently pulls away and smiles down at her. "Sorry, sweetheart, but we have to get ready to go to Raw..." She moans and he cups her face as he kisses her into silence. "Just think, tomorrow we leave for Florida for Thanksgiving... That'll be fun, right?"
She sighs. "Fine, let's go get this over with."
"That's my girl." He leans in and brushes his nose against hers as she huffs at him.
"You owe me when we get to Florida. You owe me a lot."
"I always have," he calls after her as she heads for the bathroom. His words make her smile as she ducks into the shower, reluctantly preparing for the show in a matter of hours.
Raw does very little to make her feel better. For one thing, Mike and Mizdow have a rematch against the Dust Brothers for the tag titles and she's sitting in worry over how Mike might react if he loses another title within 24 hours... but his title reign is the furthest thing from her mind when he hits hard off of a back drop and remains collapsed by the steel steps, a doctor checking on him. She can barely focus on the match whenever the camera shifts off of her husband until Mizdow looks like he's about to get overwhelmed by the Dust Brothers, just for Miz to get a quick tag in and hit Stardust with the Skull Crushing Finale to victory.
AJ's relief mixes with her happiness for her husband, still not enough to keep her from swatting at him halfheartedly when he returns to the tag team champions' locker room, glowering at him. "Never do that to me again, I was terrified something was really wrong with you," she huffs, throwing her arms around him and hugging him tightly anyway. "Jerk..."
"Sorry," he whispers to her. "Go handle your business and we'll go back to the hotel and I'll make it up to you."
She purses her lips at him before turning to go get ready for her match against Brie. She's still feeling off after the PPV, unable to rid herself of the worry that either twin might try something ridiculous like the night before to steal a win from her, and in the end, it costs her. She spits angrily into the mic, telling the twins that two of them aren't worth half of her. She ends her time in the ring by effectively insulting them and their significant others in one simple, biting sentence. Her anger eases a little as soon as she's back in Mike's arms, the ride back to the hotel not quite as somber this time.
Their night's not quite over, unfortunately, as she's sprawled out on her stomach, Mike's hands warm and steady against her back while the conclusion of Raw drones on behind them, his massage helping work out the tension and pain she's been feeling for the past few days... when there's a grating noise on the TV, startling both of them as Mike releases a desperate curse, turning to stare at the TV. "No, no, no damn way," he mumbles desperately, watching as his worst fears are confirmed: The Anon GM will be hosting Raw the following week.
"Wasn't that confirmed to be Hornswoggle?" AJ wonders, sitting up and staring at him as he gapes at the TV, horror struck. "Aw, poor baby..." She wraps her arms around him and kisses the side of his face, reflecting on what he'd told her about when the Anon GM had targeted him after he had won the Money in the Bank briefcase. "It's going to be ok... I'll protect you, I promise..."
As he turns to stare at her, blue eyes deep and dark with worry, she sighs and kisses him, hoping that Thanksgiving will hurry up and get here, so they both can relax and leave their troubles behind for a few days, while hanging out with their group of friends..