The only reason Mike feels comfortable leaving AJ behind with the various divas is because they remain on their best behavior after Raw, and she hadn't had any serious problems with them when he wasn't around. None that she told him about anyway. Also with Tamina to keep everyone in line, he's sure his wife will be alright until he and Paige can return from Florida after Tough Enough.
Still, getting on that plane in the morning is pretty awful. Paige stares at him from the seat next to his, tilting her head. "So we meet again," she says drily, his saving Amanda at the expense of Mada the week before still clearly fresh on her mind.
"Indeed we do," he says, considering grabbing his earbuds and listening to music for the flight, but he imagines that that'll only make things between them worse, so he keeps quiet and thumbs through a book he'd bought just for this reason. The hours pass quietly and he's relieved when they land and arrive at the arena, greeting Jericho, Byron, Renee and Daniel. The hours leading up to the show itself are the most peace he's had since leaving home and he finds a quiet corner and stretches out, closing his eyes and dozing off after a few minutes.
He's still laying there when Paige kicks him in the foot, waking him up. He frowns and rubs his eyes, blinking at her blearily. "What?"
"Time to get off your lazy arse and get ready for the show," she tells him, only teasing a little. "And try not to bungle it all up this time, yeah?"
He rolls his eyes at her but it's clear that he had somewhat, a week prior. Amanda's ego is out of control due to what he'd told her the week prior about her looks, lording it over the other women in the house, and although it kind of bugs him, he thinks maybe he'd let her sweat for awhile. So he teases putting her in the bottom three before the show goes to a commercial, but his real answer is obvious: Chelsea had blatantly ignored the judges' commands and while ego could possibly get you somewhere in the business- look where it'd gotten him, after all- not working with other people could get you or someone else hurt. So he puts her in the bottom three and he's relieved when she's eliminated.
The entire time, however, he feels Paige's eyes on him and it makes him nervous. She doesn't say anything to him until the show ends, her hands on her hips as she walks up to the car. "You are a bloody fool," she tells him. "If you had truly put Amanda in the bottom three after saving her last week, you would not be breathing by the time we make it back to Alberto's house." She shakes her head incredulously before unlocking the car and dropping down into the driver's seat.
Mike rolls his eyes and reconsiders letting her drive this time, not sure if he will be walking out of this still alive. At least we'll all be in California tomorrow, and Paige will be distracted from killing me by the fact that she's sharing the house with quite a few of her arch-nemesis. Once she's curled up on the couch with Ricardo for another week of Total Divas, Mike retreats to his bedroom to call AJ and then get some sleep.
He feels the tension drain from his body as soon as the phone clicks and AJ's voice fills his ears. "Hello, sweetheart," he murmurs.
"Hello, husband. Survived another Tough Enough?"
"Well, Paige may have made a couple of threats of bodily harm, but yeah I'm unscathed." He smiles. "She's currently watching Total Divas with Ricardo." He gets comfortable, propping a couple of pillows up between his back and the headboard. "So how are things going over there? Everyone minding their manners?"
"Team BAD is in one room, and the CB part of PCB is in another," AJ reports. "Everything's been going ok, Tamina is doing well at keeping Naomi and Sasha away from the others. And Alicia and I've been keeping each other company." She smiles. "I'm really happy having them here."
"I'm glad," Mike says. "I wasn't sure how things were going to go but seems like it's going ok after all." He yawns and runs a hand down his face. "Busy week ahead, huh? Fly home tomorrow, Ultima Lucha, drag all of the guys out on Thursday so you ladies can have your bachelorette party for Alicia, and then Raw on Monday, Tough Enough, then the wedding..." He sighs. "I'm tired already." He pauses, thinking about how sleepy AJ's been on a low-key day. "Do you think you'll be alright for the next week of all of this?"
"Yeah, I'll kind of have to be," she says. "Don't worry, once it's all over, I'll sleep for about a week. I'll only wake up to talk to you on the phone while you prepare for Summerslam. How's that sound?"
"I guess that works," he smiles. "I'm kind of wiped out too and it's going to be great fun getting Del Rio and everyone else ready to go in the morning, so I should go get some sleep and you do the same, sweetheart."
"I will," she promises. "Goodnight, husband."
"Night, sweetheart." He puts his phone down and rolls onto his stomach, drifting as he listens to the sounds of Sofia, Paige, Ricardo and Alberto wandering around outside of his room, getting ready to fly out to California in the morning. He yawns and buries his face in his pillow, looking forward to seeing AJ the next day.
Sofia is up before any of the others that morning, leaving a line of coffee cups on the table for them while she finishes packing. Mike is the first awake, pouring himself a cup and grabbing some pancake batter that she'd mixed together the night before in preparation for what a rush this morning would be. He starts cooking up piles of pancakes for all of them, wanting to get this show on the road ASAP. Alberto comes in next, blurry eyed and barely with it until he inhales a mug and a half of coffee. Ricardo and Paige walk in together a few minutes later, both looking relieved to grab the mugs and pour themselves some, immediately downing it.
Mike smiles when Sofia enters the room after leaving her suitcases by the door with the others', joining him to check on the pancakes. "How are they looking, Sofia?"
"They're looking sufficient," she tells him, winking before she moves over to sit at the table and let him finish, pouring Ricardo a fresh cup of coffee before her own.
"Gracias," he murmurs, drinking half of it down. After only a few more minutes of sitting and eating as Mike serves them, they're up and out, all eager to get to the airport.
"You did shut the stove off, right, Miz?" Alberto asks when they're at the car.
"...Yes?" Mike says. Sofia ducks back in quickly to double check, then they're off, Alberto staring suspiciously at Mike in the rearview mirror. The airport, as always is a madhouse, but they make it through. Mike's pretty sure it was Alberto's doing when he and Alex get stuck in commercial and the rest of them get first class. He rolls his eyes and crosses his arms over his chest. "Whatever, I didn't want to sit with them all anyway."
Alex seems lost in thought but eventually nods. "Yeah, me neither."
Mike stares at him for a minute. "So how's your rehab going?"
"Eh, it's going," Alex says, a dark look crossing his face. "I hate being away for so damn long, but what can you do?"
Mike nods and searches for a more cheerful topic of conversation for them to pass the time. It used to be so easy to talk to him, Mike thinks grimly. What the hell happened?
Ricardo looks a little guilty when they meet up in the LA airport later on, but Mike shakes his head and smiles at him, not holding it against him. "Let's go drop everything off at the house and pick up the others so we can go to the temple. It's getting late." He drops a hand on Ricardo's shoulder and leads him out of the airport, purposely not watching as Alberto leaves to take a rental car so he can make it to the temple early to prepare for his and Morrison's match, since it'll be starting the night off.
"You're going to be rooting for Morrison, aren't you?" Paige asks, playing with her longer blue hair as they wait by the car for him to unlock it.
Mike glances at Ricardo, before shrugging. "Well, I assume that that would be common knowledge."
"Yeah, it was," Ricardo chuckles, his eyes still a little dull as he gets into the car.
The ride there is silent, tense, but as soon as AJ and Alicia join them outside, Tamina tagging along just because, Mike feels more cheerful, hugging his wife close. "How are you?" he whispers to her, hand trailing down to rest against her stomach in what's become a weekly check. "And this little one?"
"We're fine," she mumbles, hugging him tightly. "So are we ready for some Lucha Underground?" A chorus of yesses greet her and she grins, clapping her hands together. Sometimes she misses wrestling, and going to events like this helps her to feel at least a little less like she's on the outside looking in. "Then let's go." They're divided into two cars, AJ, Mike, Alicia and Alex in one, Sofia, Tamina, Ricardo and Paige in the other, and Mike's not sure they're going to make it in one piece, but luckily when they all park and get out, none of them look any worse for wear.
John and Alberto had gotten them seats for the night, Mike a little smug to find that Johnny had gotten somewhat better seats for him, AJ, Alicia, Alex and Tamina than Alberto had managed for Ricardo, Paige and Sofia. Probably because Johnny and Dario Cueto currently get along better than Alberto and Dario ever had. AJ holds Mike's hand as he guides her up the narrow stairs into the seats, making sure she's as far away from any potential for violence as is possible, keeping her close to the wall. While they wait for the show, Alex excuses himself and Alicia watches him go with a small frown before turning back to chatter excitedly with AJ about the card. Not only will the Morrison vs Alberto match happen soon, but Star's match will be later on in the night and she will have a chance to win the Gift of the Gods belt.
It's a huge night for all of them and Mike can't help but feel anxious for his friends. He's looking around, enjoying the vibe of the temple, when Alex finally returns. He has a stack of Lucha Underground shirts and AJ's eyes light up when he hands her one. "It might be a little big, they were out of some sizes," he says awkwardly.
"It's perfect, don't worry," she says, putting it on. "Thanks." She catches Mike's eye and grins, clearly planning on wearing the large shirt all through her pregnancy now. There's one for all of them, including the three a few rows back so Alex goes to deliver them too and Alicia leans over as soon as he's gone.
"Guys, does it seem like he's acting... off to either of you?" she asks, frowning slightly.
Mike stares at her before peering back at his former protege. "He's a little quiet, I guess, but I figured he was just tired from the flight and rehab."
"He actually seems nice now," AJ comments, smoothing her hand over her new shirt. Mike smiles knowingly, aware that it's one way to touch where their baby is growing, something that AJ keeps doing in amazement as she grows a little larger every week.
"I guess," Alicia murmurs. "Just being overprotective. Never mind." She turns back towards the ring just as he returns, wrapping an arm around her.
When the show starts a little over an hour later, Morrison and Alberto make their entrances and prepare for the match, eyeing each other with more than a little dislike. It's intense, a lot goes on in a short period of time, and Mike finds himself sitting on the edge of his seat as the two men beat each other down, doing move after move, desperate for a win. It looks like Alberto has it, Mike's heart starting to sink when there's a flash of color and- "OH shit," he exclaims, jumping to his feet while the others look at him in confusion. Alex realizes too and gets up as well, the two of them tugging at each other's sleeves. "MELINA?!" they cry out together, turning to look at each other in shock before turning back to watch as she clobbers Alberto with his AAA Mege championship and opens him up to Morrison hitting the renamed Starship Pain and defeating him. "Holy-" Mike curses violently and shakes his head.
Alicia and AJ, neither one around for the Melina days, watch on in surprise at their men's reaction to this development. When they collapse back into their seats, AJ rests a hand on Mike's arm and tries to catch his eye. "Hey, hey, what's going on? Why's Melina getting involved such a big deal?"
He sucks in a deep breath and shakes his head. "Melina and John have been off and on for longer than I've known him," he explains to her. "I don't know why she's here, but Star isn't going to like this at all."
Understanding dawns on both her and Alicia's faces and they watch quietly as Morrison leaves, Melina leaning all over him. "Uh oh..."
Star is backstage, her match preparation null and void as she watches John and Melina talk down the hall. Her Latina temper getting the best of her, she storms forward, parting the crowd like it was the Red Sea, before grabbing Melina and turning her away from John. "Dejar de tocarlo," she snaps at the other woman. "Estamos juntos ahora , ¿por qué estás aquí?"
Melina tilts her head, an infuriating smirk on her face as she examines Star. She merely laughs and winks at John. "She's pretty, John. I'll see you around." Her hand lingers against his chest as she takes her leave, Star stewing in embarrassment and pain as she glowers up at John, tears in her eyes.
"Star," he says, reaching out for her. But she brushes past him, her heavy breathing the only thing he hears as she storms out to the ring for her match. He can do nothing but watch as she and the other competitors lose to Fenix, her distraction obviously causing her.
After the final match, the two groups re-connect outside and wait for the others to join them. John and Alberto come out a few minutes apart, Alberto hugging Ricardo and nodding at Paige as she congratulates him on the match, win or lose. Sofia smoothes a finger over his forehead, tsking softly, when he turns and catches John's eye. The others tense, Mike gripping AJ and pulling her behind him where he hopes she'll be safer, when John steps forward and stares at Alberto tensely. Alberto meets him halfway and they stand quietly, examining each other.
"We don't know when Lucha Underground is going to continue, if it does," John says simply after a few minutes. There had been a rumor that funding was becoming a problem to stay in business, if the network would renew, but this is the first time Mike hears that it's possibly true. "There's no point in our continuing to have this anger. If Lucha Underground returns, maybe we'll see but for now... truce?" He holds his hand out and Alberto hesitates, looking back at Ricardo, Sofia. Ahead to Mike and Alex.
Finally he nods. "Fine. I believe you have bigger problems than me now anyway." Star's absence had not gone unnoticed by any of them.
"Right," John sighs. He turns sharply, seeing something glinting in the moonlight, and spots her. "STAR!" As they watch, he chases her down and tries to hug her, clearly desperate to explain, but she stands there tensely and punches his chest and shoulders, shaking with tears and anger. Mike holds his breath until he brushes her hair away and stares into her face until she nods, allowing him to lead her towards the car, the luchadora reluctantly agreeing to talk.
"Hopefully they'll be ok," AJ mumbles, pressing her face against Mike's chest as he hugs her.
"Yeah." He kisses the top of her head before turning to the others. "Alright, let's get out of here. These women have a bachelorette party to prepare for and us guys need to get our sleep in so we're well rested to stay farrrr out of their way."
"Haha," AJ says drily but giggles anyway as he urges her on to the car.
The next day, once the men have all left, John still looking a little bummed out because Star won't talk to him, Alicia, AJ, Paige, Sofia all meet up in the living room of Mike's house. "So Tamina is planning on coming later, but for now, it's just us," AJ says. "The others are at Smackdown. Apparently they're going to say that Paige is on Tough Enough business so we're all good."
Paige laughs and shrugs. "Seemed like the easiest way to get the night off without fans being all 'GRRR' when I'm not there."
"You don't even like me, so I'm glad you're going to all of this trouble to be at my bachelorette party," Alicia coos, draping an arm around Paige's shoulders.
"I'm only here for AJ," Paige says snootily, trying to shrug Alicia off playfully.
Alicia pouts and AJ chooses then to step in. "So what do we want to do, ladies? Go out? Stay in?"
"In," they all echo immediately.
"I was hoping you'd say that," AJ grins, nodding at Sofia. They go into the kitchen and return with platters of snacks and trays of drinks, setting them around. "So we have food and drinks, and now... entertainment..." She turns on an iPod dock, some of Alicia's favorite music playing.
"Oh, we are so dancing later," she exclaims.
"Great," Paige sighs, smirking as Alicia rolls her eyes. "But in the meanwhile, what are we doing?"
"Truth or dare?" AJ asks, only half kidding. She lifts her hands when everyone groans. "I'm kidding. We can find something better to do." Turning to Alicia, she smiles. "What does the bride to be want to do?"
"This is going to be a looooong night," Paige sighs, buries her face in Sofia's shoulder as the housekeeper laughs and runs her hand through her hair. But even she has fun as they play games and eat, simply sitting around and talking through the quieter moments. Not long after Tamina and the others return from Smackdown, Alicia gets up and drags AJ with her, dancing around the room with her to one of her 'absolutely favorite songs'. AJ giggles and keeps up with her until finally they give up, Alicia collapsing back onto the couch next to Paige and yawning.
"This has been fun," she says quietly. "I know that most bachelorette parties involve clubs and strippers or whatever else, but I'm still a little out of it from my concussion so this was pretty perfect... thanks, guys."
"You're welcome, Foxy," AJ says. "It was my pleasure hosting this. And Sofia, thanks for helping with the food and drinks."
"I was happy to do it," Sofia responds, smiling. "Thank you for inviting me."
"Of course we invited you, what would a girl-party be without Sofia?!" Alicia wonders, hugging the housekeeper. "Half of my wedding plans wouldn't be coming together without you." They grin at each other, the party quickly ending a few minutes later when Mike returns with a staggering drunk Alberto and Alex. Sofia helps Alberto to bed while Alicia takes over Alex's care.
AJ and Mike work together quietly to clean the living room up, exchanging glances every now and again. "What happened?" she finally asks.
"Hell if I know, Alex's been acting weird since we left Florida. I have no idea what happened, he doesn't seem like he wants to talk about it but I've told him I'm here if he ever does. I hope it's not about the wedding." He reaches over and holds AJ's hand. "We know how tense things can get surrounding one of those, huh?"
"Yeah, but ours worked out pretty nicely," she murmurs, smiling when he kisses her hand. They toss away the last of the trash and she hugs him, kissing his neck. "Go to bed, Mike. I'll be there soon, I'm just gonna sit out here for a few minutes in case Alicia needs anything."
"Ok," he says. "I'm going to miss you so don't take too long." He kisses her before leaving and she walks back over to the couch, sitting down and closing her eyes.
Hand sprawling over her stomach, AJ releases a breath. "You know, this life is crazy but it's really fun sometimes... I can't wait until you're here to experience all of this with your daddy and me. We're going to take such good care of you. I promise." She continues to rub her growing abdomen until she hears a door slam and rushed footsteps running down the hall, her brow furrowing. The room's half lit, and Alicia doesn't seem to notice her as she rushes inside and curls up in a chair, crying so hard that it seems like she can barely breathe.
AJ gets up and walks slowly towards her, not sure if she's welcome right now or not, but Alicia's crying so hard that it's breaking AJ's heart and she lays down next to her, glad that the chair she'd choice is so huge that they both can fit. Wrapping an arm loosely around her, she cuddles closer. "What's going on? Alicia? Are you ok?"
Alicia unfolds herself and rolls over, burying her face in AJ's chest and sobbing hard. She doesn't say anything, just crying and crying as AJ strokes her fingers through her hair. It feels like it takes an hour until she calms down slowly, hiccuping and sitting up, wiping her eyes. "I'm sorry," she breathes. "It's nothing, I'm fine." AJ reaches up and brushes her cheeks, dark eyes grim and terrified. "I promise, AJ. I'll be fine. Thank you for holding me." She sniffs and stands up, stumbling a few steps before regaining herself and squaring her shoulders as if walking into a fight. She turns at the doorway and swallows hard. "I'll see you tomorrow."
AJ wants to say something, do something, but like Mike, she finds herself frozen, uncertain what to do to help her friend, if there's anything she can do. So she lets her go, helplessly tangling her hands together before staring down at her stomach, imagining this pain should she ever have to comfort Sara Louisa in a similar fashion. "Oh," she breathes out, tears leaking from her own eyes before she gets up and heads to bed. Settling in next to Mike, she's glad the lights are off as she buries her face in his back. He's asleep but stirs enough to roll over and wrap an arm around her, drawing her into his comforting warmth. She clings to him and thinks about how quickly their evening of relaxing fun had turned bad, for reasons she's still not sure about.
The weekend passes quietly. Alex still seems subdued and Alicia seems sad, but there's a steely kind of determination in her that AJ can't remember ever seeing before, but plans for the wedding carry on, the two of them keeping their heads together as Alicia asks for advice, running everything by Sofia to make sure it can be put together by Wednesday. Since the wedding will be held by the very trees that Alex had proposed to her by, Sofia is in charge of a lot of it, making sure that Alberto's staff gets everything looking perfect for them.
By the time the house empties out for Raw, AJ and Alicia both are satisfied that the wedding is fully prepared and the two women hug. "I'll see you on Tuesday," Alicia tells her cheerfully.
AJ nods, searching her eyes once more. "You're sure everything's ok?"
"Yeah, everything's fine." She kisses AJ's cheek and turns to walk to the car. "Thanks for always being a good friend, AJ."
"Any time," she murmurs, watching as the cars slowly leave. Sighing, she shrugs and returns to her quiet, empty house and leans against the door, taking it all in. "Well, it's just us two again," she says to her stomach, softly rubbing it in a way that she hasn't had the privacy to do very often the past week. "Hopefully the first wedding you get to go to will go off without a problem..."
-x
Mike watches, preparing backstage for MizTV, as Team Bella defeats Team BAD in a six diva tag match. He hums and adjusts the grey wrap around his neck, anticipating sharing a ring with his former NXT rookie once more. Once it's time, he makes it to the ring and gives the crowd what they want, introducing Daniel Bryan as quickly as he can. But Daniel exasperates him on a good day, daring to ignore him when he mentions Tough Enough. So Mike tries to take control, returning the show to what it should be about- himself, thank you very much- just for Daniel to make fun of Santa's Little Helpers. He grits his teeth and rolls his eyes skyward as the general chants for Daniel draw on and on.
Trying again to take command, he asks Daniel about if he thinks Ryback should forfeit his title to the proper champion- again, himself- just for Big Show to interrupt. They've barely said anything to each other when Ryback's music hits, the Intercontinental champion returning. Mike rolls his eyes but gets out of the ring, Daniel next to him, when the two larger men start squaring off, but before things between them can get truly intense, his center of gravity shifts as he's gripped and tossed into the ring. Oh, son of a ... Daniel, you stupid goat! he thinks, laying there and staring ahead blankly before he decides just to get it over with and move.
He hasn't made it too far before Big Show slams him down, leaving him to stagger to his feet, confused, just to get clotheslined by Ryback. He stirs and groans, his body throbbing in time with his heartbeat. Hope you're happy now, Daniel, he thinks, squinting up at the lights overhead. This is the thanks I get for helping you so much in NXT and giving you this platform tonight...
He painfully rolls over and out of the ring, relieved to see the others are all gone, leaving him to walk alone up the ramp as the audience mocks and belittles him. He ignores them, however, glad to push his way past the curtain to find Paige waiting for him. He casts a suspicious glance towards her but she holds her hands up. "Let's forget about Tough Enough for now," she suggests softly. "Let's get out of here, yeah?"
He relaxes, letting her take over as she helps him walk out of the building. "Thanks, Paige," he mumbles tiredly.
She nods. "Sure, Mike. I mean, really, there's only a couple weeks left of the show... no point in letting it really cause problems between us. Ricardo nor AJ deserve that, so let's be nice, yeah?"
"I'll try," he promises. She squeezes his midsection as they walk side by side to the car, unaware of the tired eyes watching them.