After re-orienting to the house, Mike and AJ go out. Walk hand in hand on the beach and reminisce over their wedding before turning towards John's apartment. He's there, his car is in the drive, so they head up. Mike has his key and he unlocks the door, allowing AJ to head in first. His fingers trail on her back as she walks into the living room, watching John move fluidly through his yoga sets. He doesn't seem to notice them for awhile so Mike kisses AJ on the side of the head and guides her into the kitchen, asking her to get coconut water for the three of them.
Once she's gone, he stands behind John and watches him segue into another pose before rearing back and swatting him in the back of the head as hard as he dares, immediately pulling Morrison from his place of zen. He scrambles to his feet, looking like he's about to attack Mike, but the Awesome One has the advantage and takes John's feet out from under him. John's sprawled out on the ground when Mike sits on his legs, pinning him against the carpet. "Mike, what the hell?! Get off of me!" he all but screams, writhing around.
"Not until you tell me why you threw Del Rio through a window," he responds calmly. "Don't get me wrong, there's many things I'd have loved to do to the man over the years, but that? Really?"
John grunts. "Lucha Underground is my world. He had no right coming in there and acting like he was the second coming of lucha. I'm finally showing people what I can really do in a ring, and the last thing I needed was him coming around and belittling me. Look, I didn't mean to make things worse for Ricardo, but it's business, it's nothing personal unless Del Rio makes it so. I don't think he'd love you coming here and beating me down on his behalf either." Kicking fruitlessly against Mike's weight, he sighs. "Get off of me, man."
Finally, Mike obliges and stands, holding a hand out to John. Once they're both on their feet, AJ enters the room with the bottles of coconut water, staring from her husband to John. "We're fine," he tells her, holding an arm out to her. She snuggles up against him and offers the bottles around, tilting her head at John. "I guess we'll leave if you want to get back to yoga," he said, turning AJ towards the door.
"No, don't- stay awhile, man," John calls out. "It's been awhile, huh? How did the movie go?"
Mike beams and turns around, relieved that John had stopped them, settling in on the couch for a badly needed catch up with his best friend. They still need to figure out the Del Rio situation but for now, it's nice to put it aside and just talk to John, face to face, with AJ curled up next to him.
After spending most of the evening at John's, Mike lays next to AJ and stares at the ceiling, listening to her breathing. Soon, he'll be back on the road with WWE, only getting to see her a couple nights a week, and it eats at him... but he loves his career. He turns to watch her sleep, wondering if she still understands that, after how things with her own career concluded. Sighing, he sits up a bit and draws her over from the mess of pillows she's laying in, settling her against his chest and brushing her hair out of her eyes. "I love you, sweetheart," he mumbles, eyes troubled as she settles against him, releasing a soft little sigh. "I just hope it'll be enough..."
After a weekend of exploring their favorite California spots, Mike wakes up on Sunday morning to find AJ hovering over him with a tray of breakfast and a sweet smile, leaning in to kiss him. "Time to wake up if you're going to have any hope of making your flight, husband," she tells him sweetly, setting the tray over his legs. Sitting down next to him, she starts feeding him eggs and fruit, smiling at him as he sips from a mug of coffee, waking up bit by bit.
"I'm gonna miss you," he tells her once the most of his breakfast is ate. She leans in and kisses him, smoothing her fingers over his jaw. "The last few weeks were pretty amazing..."
She nods, brushing her nose against his. "They definitely were, husband. But we'll have more of them in the future. Right now, you need to go show WWE who the true most-must see superstar is." She beams at him and pulls away, picking up his tray. "Better get dressed. It's getting late."
As she leaves, he checks the clock. His eyes widen. "Dammit!" He scrambles towards the closet to do as she'd suggested, shocked at how fast time had passed while they had breakfast. They barely have time to make it through LA traffic, then find his gate and share a quick kiss before he has to go through TSA and everything else to make his flight. He looks over his shoulder before turning the corner and mouths I love you to her, watching as she echoes him before he walks out of sight.
The flight isn't that long, but it's boring, and he taps his fingers against his armrest until the person in the next seat glares at him. When they finally land, he all but runs for his rental, glad to be back on the road, even if it's Texas and not California. Traffic at least is moderately better and he finds himself at the arena before too long, not that surprised to find Paige waiting outside for him. "AJ let you know when my flight would be in, huh?" he greets her, pushing his sunglasses down on his nose to look at her.
She smirks at him and slaps a hand against his back, walking with him inside. "Something like that," she admits. "She knew how much I missed my co-star! Didcha miss me too, Mike?"
He laughs drily and rolls his eyes at her. "Might miss you more if you and Tamina weren't trying to send my wife into hysterics every week."
Paige has the good sense to wince and look guilty at this. "Well, y'know," she says slowly, brushing her fingers through her hair anxiously. "Tamina just picked the wrong horse to back, but I'll put an end to that tonight when I win back my divas title."
"Right..." Mike rolls his eyes, about to turn towards the locker room when-
"MIKE!" He stops short when there's a flash of blonde and Summer Rae all but launches herself into his arms, causing him to drop his suitcase in shock as she grips him. "You're back, why didn't you call me? I would've picked you up from the airport," she coos, playing with his hair and glaring cattily at Paige. "It's too bad we couldn't act together in Santa's Little Helper, I felt like we could've grown from the amazing chemistry we had in Marine 4."
"Uhhh," he struggles, thrown by her mere presence, much less what she is saying and doing. Their working together had been a business arrangement, as far as he was aware, so he's not sure why she's all over him now.
"Amazing chemistry?" Paige repeats, laughing. "He used you as a human shield and you died. It was pretty much my favorite part of the movie. Now get the bloody hell off of him before I grab your hair and pull you off... then tell his wife what you're doing behind her back."
Summer sneers, stepping back from Mike and brushing her hair over her shoulder. "You're still with her, huh? Well... the Authority has asked me to welcome you back to the WWE, Mike, so I'll see you out in the ring later!" She blows him a kiss before walking off and he grimaces.
Paige looks disgusted too, but Mike draws her attention from Summer. "Look, ignore her. You focus on your title match, I'll take care of Summer. It's fine."
"It better be," she grouses, getting in Mike's face. "Listen I know you're a good guy, but I also know what this business can do to relationships and marriages. If you hurt AJ, I'm gonna hurt you... understand?"
He swallows, intimidated by her. "Yes, ma'am, got it." Paige's words are fresh in his mind when he goes out to the ring later. He's nice enough to Summer, giving her a seat and urging the crowd to be nice to her, but once Daniel comes out, he admittedly forgets her. Barely lets his old NXT rookie get a word in edgewise before trying to give him tips about how to be a good spokesman while injured, and other suggestions. Apparently Daniel being sidelined again has left him with even less patience for Mike's suggestions because the next thing Mike knows, he's inviting a couple of unfortunately familiar faces to the ring and Miz watches on in perplexed annoyance as Sandow- dressed like a Macho Man rip off- and Axel- dressed like Hogan- come down.
He's barely taken a step towards them when he finds himself down on the mat, staring up at the lights as Summer Rae stares at him from outside of the ring. She huffs and rolls her eyes, flipping her hair over her shoulder before flouncing off. "Good riddance," he mutters, though that wasn't exactly how he planned on getting rid of her.
Paige does little better in her attempts to get her divas title back so they meet up at the hotel later, sharing exasperated glances before trudging up to their hotel room. They had decided to share, since it makes the most sense to them. Without Ricardo or AJ, their options are limited and neither want to be alone. Paige proves to be a good roommate because she keeps to herself, the only sounds coming from her being laughter from texts with her mother, Alicia or Rosa, who are close thanks to Total Divas. They both share calls with Ricardo and AJ, Mike grinning at how light the former ring announcer sounds while talking to her. Alberto at least seems to be doing alright, which is good, and he only holds onto his phone for a couple of minutes after calling AJ before Paige domineers it to talk enthusiastically with AJ about her book and everything else that's been going on.
He listens to them talk with a smile on his face before his exhaustion overcomes him and he falls asleep, unaware of when exactly Paige finishes talking and takes the phone from his slack fingers, hanging it up for him.
Raw is about as annoying for both of them, Mike having a brief moment of happiness when he sees he's been put in for a title match against new Intercontinental champion, Ryback. Except he's just entered the ring and begun to prepare for his first move against the large man when his former tag partner, Big Show's, music starts to play. He gapes at him as he lumbers into the ring, glares at them both, approaching Ryback... before turning sharply and punching Mike low, in the chest. He wheezes and collapses backwards, feeling like he's about to pass out as each breath sends sharp pain through his ribs and up to his collarbone.
He rolls out of the ring, not wanting to be attacked again, when he hears Big Show tell Ryback no one but him will beat The Big Guy for the title. He groans and hisses, shaking his head. "We'll see about that," he moans as a referee finally approaches to help him up and back to the trainer to get checked out.
Paige loses another attempt at winning her title back after Nikki calls on that old cheating standby, switching places with Brie, so they meet up at the hotel once more, annoyed and bitter. Instead of going right up to talk to their significant others and catch some sleep this time, however, they end up at the bar, drowning their sorrows side by side. "I miss winning," he grouses.
"I miss Ricardo," she sighs. They exchange glances before clinking their glasses together and downing the bitter liquid in one go, desperate for its affect to hit their bloodstreams sooner.