After a good night's sleep, Mike kisses AJ awake and fumbles for his phone, texting Alex and Alicia and inviting them over to Del Rio's for brunch. Alicia, probably having some idea of what this is about, must convince Alex because he agrees after about ten minutes of silence. Mike smiles down at his sleepy wife and kisses her again before picking her up and carrying her off to the bathroom.
Once they finish in there, clean and ready to greet this day, Mike is glad to see no one's left the table yet, all of them feeling a little lazy after a busy Monday, so he settles next to Ricardo and glances over at Sofia. "Hey, Sofia, do you mind setting a couple more places? I've invited Alex and Alicia over."
The housekeeper hums and nods, smiling over at him, but Alberto immediately bristles, looking up from the newspaper he's perusing to mostly keep from being social this early in the morning. "Whose house is this again, Mike?"
Paige looks like she desperately wants to say something but Ricardo grips her hand and shakes his head, casting a quick glance at Alberto. Mike sighs and shakes his head. "It's yours, obviously, but I have some news for everyone, and they kinda need to be here for it."
Alberto grunts and chooses to ignore them all, returning to his oh-so fascinating article about pesticides or something- he's not really paying attention- until Sofia serves a quick brunch of eggs and ham, toast and bowls of fruit. They've barely touched it when the doorbell rings and she goes to get it, ushering Alicia and Alex into the kitchen and serving them fresh. Juice and coffee is poured for everyone and she then joins them. The group eats quietly for awhile, conversation slow and meaningless until they've ate their fill.
"So, Mike," Alex says, sighing as he shifts, his knee protesting the movement slightly. He's mostly healed and preparing for his return once more, but it's slow going. "Why'd you invite us over?" He casts a curious glance at the grumpy looking Alberto, trying not to smirk too obviously at the tension following this question.
Mike finds AJ's hand and squeezes it before turning to look around the table. Sofia, Ricardo and Alicia already know, and can guess what he and AJ are about to say, but they still look excited, eyes gleaming with happiness for the couple. Alberto, Paige and Alex have no clue, varying degrees of uncertainty and distrust in their dark eyes. "So," Mike sighs, lifting AJ's hand and kissing it softly. "A lot of things have been going on lately, some bad... some good... and some of that... well, AJ and I have some news for you all."
Alberto scoffs, looking like he's about to lift his newspaper and return to the articles there. "Just spit it out, you're getting a divorce, ay? Well, you've lasted longer than I expected."
Sofia and Alicia look beyond offended. "El Patron!" Ricardo chides him.
Something about their reactions, and the horrified looks on Alex and Paige's face, though... Mike and AJ echange glances before falling into giggles. Hers partly from hormones, his from the pure anxiety of telling everyone. "No," he chokes out. "No, we're not getting divorced." Clearing his throat and wiping his eyes, he scoots his chair back and draws AJ into his lap, entangling their fingers together. "In fact, it's the opposite. Our little family isn't splitting apart... it's actually growing..."
It takes a minute. Then Paige whispers, "Oh my bloody God" and Alex lets out a choked little gasp, Alberto's paper dropping from his fingers and floating harmlessly to the floor. "You're pregnant!"
AJ tilts her head to look at Mike before facing their friends, grinning. "Yeah, I guess that's what that means."
Paige and Alberto gape while Alex stammers and stutters. "How?!"
Mike buries his face in AJ's hair and shakes his head. "Alex, you've been married long enough to not need that talk, I would imagine," he grouses, pulling back to roll his eyes at the other man.
Alicia is laughing and tugging at her husband's collar, drawing him over to her to shut him up with some warm kisses. "Goof," she says lovingly, patting his face.
Paige reacts next, standing up and approaching them with an awed look on her face. "I'm gonna be Auntie Paige?" she asks, her hands hovering over AJ shakily.
"Yep," AJ chuckles, adjusting herself on Mike's lap and reaching out for Paige's hands, resting them on her stomach. She searches Paige's face as she closes her eyes and takes it all in. "Amazing, huh? I'm about three and a half months along."
"Bloody amazing," she murmurs. "Have you felt anything yet? Like, kicks, or...?"
"Might be a few more weeks," AJ says. "I read that for first time mothers, it's usually easier to tell around month five. I guess this little one is just a bit too small, and I'm too inexperienced, to know if she is moving around yet." She rests her head back against Mike's shoulder and they watch the awe on Paige's face. "Some day, this'll be you, my little English muffin," she offers with a small smile.
Paige freezes and glances over at her shoulder towards Ricardo, whose face is bright red, and coughs. "Perhaps," she says softly, smoothing her hands over AJ's shirt before returning to her seat.
The group sit quietly for a few moments, digesting all of this, when Mike turns to look at Alberto, who hadn't moved from his frozen position after the paper slipped from his fingers. "Nothing to say, Del Rio?" he asks with a vague smirk.
This brings Alberto back to life and he leans over, collecting his paper from the floor, before folding his hands together on top of the table, staring at them with an intense, sincere look in his eyes. "Congratulations," he says softly. "The baby is going to be quite lucky." AJ and Mike are the ones frozen this time as Alberto stands up and heads for the basement training area. He stops in the doorway and looks back at them, his brows furrowing for a moment. "If you ever require anything to help with the little one, just let me know." And just like that, he's gone, his heavy footsteps heading down the stairs out of sight.
Mike coughs. "Well, that's the nicest he's ever been," he murmurs, kissing the back of AJ's head. She nods and slowly they all disperse to do their own things.
-x
"I can't believe you didn't tell me," Paige chides Mike as they walk side by side into the arena for Smackdown that Thursday. It's been so long for either of them that they've almost forgotten what Smackdown's logo looks like, Mike shrugging and laughing as she elbows him.
"Well, neither AJ or I felt like jumping the gun... if something had gone wrong, you know..." He falls quiet, pondering that and how awful it would've been if she had lost the pregnancy so early. But no, they had made it through the first trimester, when things were at their most delicate, and now they're here. Telling everyone and making plans... Even having to do MizTV with Dolph and Lana later on can't take away his good mood.
"But you guys told Alicia, and Ricardo? Sofia I get, she's the mothering type, and I would tell her anything too, but Alicia knew before I did?!"
"Sorry," Mike laughs. "That was AJ, not me. You're not going to complain to Momma about who she happened to tell first, are you?"
"Well... Noooooo," Paige sighs. "I guess when you put it that way..."
They walk on in silence for awhile before Mike glances at her. "So how are you doing? With Ricardo about to leave and all?"
She shrugs listlessly. "It's a process," she murmurs. "Some days, we feel closer than we were before... and some days, I feel like I can't even reach him physically or emotionally." She trudges along a few feet before looking up at him. "I don't even want to imagine what the six months that he'll be in India will be like. It's going to be so lonely... even though Alberto and Sofia both want me to stay at the house..."
He reaches out and wraps an arm around her, hugging her close. "You'll be alright. AJ and I went through some painful time apart, and look at us now. If it gets too hard, just remember we're here for you. Whatever you need."
Paige nods and leans against his shoulder, sighing. "Thanks, Mike. Dunno what I'd do without you."
He leaves her at the locker room set aside for PCB and turns just to run almost right into Summer Rae. Stopping short, he stares into his Marine 4 costar. "Whoa, nice shiner," he says thoughtlessly.
She sneers at him, blinking. "Yeah, sure. I need you to do something for me."
"I'm not sabotaging MizTV just so your bear of a boyfriend can get his hands on Ziggler," Mike sighs, trying to get past her.
"No, no," she says, frustrated. "I have something I want to say, Miz! And I know how you like drama on your show, this will definitely provide that!"
He searches her eyes for a few moments before shrugging. "Fine. What do you want?"
"I want to be out first on your little show. Then you can introduce Lana and Ziggler, but let me have my say first."
He rolls his eyes. "Fine. I'd better not regret this." Leaving her behind, he goes to change his clothes and prepare for the show. Once he makes it to the ring, he introduces her and begins to question her about what they'd seen on Monday. As she explains how she'd lied, he tries not to fall asleep, quickly tiring of his former costar's act. He dislikes Ziggler more, however, so when he and Lana make their way to the ring, Mike pointedly comments on how normally he'd introduce his guests first, but they ignore him.
Summer takes over again and plays a clip of when she and Dolph made out last year during her problems with Fandango, claiming all sorts of things that Mike could've gone his entire life without knowing. Finally Lana attacks and Mike bails, watching out of the corner of his eye as the two women fight, Ziggler trying to break them up. He smirks as he walks up the ramp and backstage, proud in succeeding at hosting yet another controversial MizTV.
Paige doesn't have a match and, as soon as Charlotte defeats Tamina, gets ready to head back to the house with Mike. He's glad now that AJ had convinced him that it'd be fine if they both came to Florida, since the tropical storm had ended up being next to nothing in the long run, so he can spend another night with her before they return to California just so he can prepare to leave again for another week's worth of events. She seems to read his mind as she curls up close to him in bed and buries her face in his shoulder, murmuring in sleepy contentment.
When they fly out to Baltimore, Mike can't help but feel like there's something in the air. It feels weird here, a kind of tense dryness to the air. His suspicions are proven warranted when he receives a phone call later that night while running his finger down his schedule, frowning over all of the autograph signings and media events, AJ's doctor appointments, and the usual WWE events that he's booked for. "Hello?"
"Hey, Mike?" Paige sounds oddly sheepish and he blinks. "I need your help with something."
He's outside of a restaurant within the hour, peering out at Alicia and Paige with an amazed look on his face as they scoot into his car. "So um, what's going on?"
"Well," Alicia says weakly,"um, we were... discussing things... and this person was filming us, so we asked her to stop, but she kept on... and one thing led to another, and drinks were thrown and we were kicked out of the place. We were planning on walking home later on, but considering, neither of us felt that comfortable... so we called you."
Mike catches Paige's eye, trying to figure out why she was out here with Alicia, before giving up on the idea, too tired to work out their weird drama. "Alright, let's go back to the hotel." He begins to drive, relieved when the women remain quiet. Once Alicia escapes to the room she shares with the Bellas, Paige and Mike go to their room. "So do you want to talk about it?"
"Not really," she says quietly, rubbing at her eyes. "Can we just go to sleep?"
"Yeah, sure," he agrees, watching as she pads off to the bathroom. "Things just keep getting weirder and weirder..."
-x
Paige's series of bad luck continues when she wrestles, and loses to, Sasha thanks to Naomi's distraction. He has a match against Cesaro and it goes about as bad, ending in a double count out after Big Show came out, clearly displeased after last week. Mike tries to resume the match, but Big Show stops him, leaves him cornered with no choice but to let the match go. As soon as it's over, he races through the crowd away from the giant, leaving Cesaro to his mercies. He laughs all the way to the back, then ducking outside.
He waits in the car, ducked down just in case Big Show should come look for him, until Paige can come so they can leave. "Trolling Big Show is kind of fun," he whispers, tired of the silence. "Not as much as being champion, but it'll do for now, I guess..." He smirks.