After a few tense days spent at home, overseeing Mizdow supposedly taking away all of the cameras in their home- Miz growing more and more infuriated when he realizes that there had been almost thirty cameras scattered around their home- AJ reluctantly kisses Mike goodbye as he leaves on Thursday,stunt double in tow, for Smackdown's first night scheduled back in years. "Take care of yourself, husband," she tells him, looking warningly over his shoulder at Mizdow.
"And you do the same," he tells her, kissing her again before he hesitantly takes his leave, gripping Mizdow by the collar and dragging him out of the house.
It's a relief for Mike when, after a tense flight and equally as awkward drive, they arrive at the arena to find they're scheduled for another six person tag match with Alicia Fox against the Usos and Naomi. Mike listens to the diva talk proudly about how she'd beat Naomi on Raw, the fact that her arm had been tied behind her back mattering very little to any of them. Mike is just glad for any opportunity to see Naomi humiliated, considering how she'd been tricking him to see her husband to victory. And yes, Mike had been mostly using her for AJ's benefit, but it would've been in her favor if it had worked,so in his mind, what he'd done was nearly saint-like compared to her actions.
His glee holds when they win, Alicia helping him to pay Mizdow back for the camera nonsense with a few fake out tag attempts of her own. Unfortunately he's in such a hurry to get away from the Usos after the pinfall that he doesn't realize Alicia is laying on the floor outside of the ring, recovering after squaring off with Naomi before tagging Mike in, until he stumbles over her and almost faceplants on the ramp because of it.
As she regroups and stumbles towards him, all he can do is cup her face and, between asking if she's ok and apologizing profusely, is mutter, "Alex is going to kill me..."
Alicia's laugh only makes him feel a little better as they walk back to the trainer's office, Mike insisting she get checked out. "I'm fine, really," she repeats even as Mike guides her over to a cot and Jason begins to check her pupils and reaction time.
When her phone rings, Mike grimaces, finding it in the corner with the rest of her things, quieting handing it over to her. His eyes are locked on Alex's name flashing insistently on its small screen. "I am so dead," he says again, standing next to Mizdow with his arms crossed.
As she listens to Alex, his voice audible clear across the room, Jason finishes his exam, nimble fingers dancing across her skull in a search for bumps or anything else worrisome. Mike's heard his name echoing out of the cell phone a fair few times by now, flinching each time, but when Jason finishes and stares at Alicia patiently, she puts the phone on speaker. "What's the verdict, Jason?" Alex's voice immediately dies off into silence.
"You may have a little bit of a headache, so take some ibuprophen if needed, but I see no sign of a concussion or serious trauma." The abrupt release of tension in the room is almost dizzying as Mike slumps against the wall and tries to remember how to breathe normally again.
"I told you I was fine," Alicia says, taking the phone off of speaker again to continue their conversation in something resembling privacy. "Yes, A-Ri. I'll see you soon... Love you too... and don't spend the night worrying, ok? I'll stay off of the floor and Mike won't trip over me again, and we'll be great." She's laughing again as she hangs up, but she meets Mike's guilty gaze with an eyeroll. "Don't even try apologizing, Mike," she tells him. "We both know it was an accident."
He grimaces at her as she hops off of the cot and walks over to him, hugging him tightly. "I was sure I was a dead man," he mumbles into her hair, not even minding when she starts to laugh again.
"Not while I'm around," she tells him with a warm smile. "It would make AJ sad, and mean that I'd failed as a bridesmaid."
He can't help but grin back at her, so glad for the true friends that he does have.
-x
After another weekend of live events and strained silence with Mizdow, Mike is thankful for Raw Reunion. There are legends, people that he'd grown up watching and aspiring to be coming and going, and he's feeling so... starstruck- or as much as a movie star of his calibre could be, anyway- that it takes him awhile to realize he hadn't seen Mizdow in a long time.
He asks various techs, one of them finally directing him to the Authority's office. He takes a breath, already dreading the thought of going in there to probably get ridiculed or belittled, before squaring his shoulders and going inside to find Mizdow, except that he looks like X-Pac... Annoyance growing, he interrupts the two men crotch chopping and tells them, in no uncertain terms, that Mizdow is his stunt double... But in the end, nostalgia wins out and he tries to join in with DX and NWO, just to be stared at incredulously by everyone in the room. Gritting his teeth, a vital part of his childhood crashing down around his feet, he grabs Mizdow and once more drags him out of the room, stewing. "You know how they say never to meet your heroes? It's disgustingly true... unless you're meeting me, because I'm awesome and not some washed out jerk."
After losing to Jey Uso, Mike's certain that his night won't be getting any worse... until he talks to AJ on the phone once they're back at the hotel and it's quiet, both men about to fall asleep.
"... I've been talking over my latest results with Jason and my doctor and they agree that it's too early for me to return," she tells him, voice quiet. Anxious. "My neck isn't healing as quickly as we'd thought, and... it's just..." She falls silent when he releases an almost painful sounding breath. "I'm so sorry," she murmurs, prior guilt for not telling him when she was first injured returning with a vengeance.
He doesn't say anything for awhile. Finally his heavy breathing drifts into words, slow and painstaking but entirely him. "We're booked ina match on Main Event, but I'll be home on Wednesday and I'll take care of you..." He hesitates. "Thank you for telling me, sweetheart. I love you."
She nods, fighting painful tidal waves of emotions as she responds, "I love you too, mi carino."
Neither are aware that, states apart, both are staring blankly at the ceiling as they drown in each other's pain, tears quietly trailing down their faces.