Mike is preparing to go home for a few days, spend time with his girls before Smackdown when his phone rings. Curiously enough, so does Maryse's and they exchange glances before heading off to separate sides of the room to answer in peace. "Hello?"
"Bonjour?"
Mike listens to the voice on the other end, his frown slowly easing as realization dawns. Marine 5 has been written and they want him to resume the role of Jake Carter for the third time! He laughs to himself, pleased with this bit of news. "Of course, it would be my honor," he says, glancing over as Maryse babbles in French, saying something very similar he thinks.
Once they hang up, they meet in the middle of the room, hugging each other. "I'm going to be in Marine 5!" they exclaim together, pulling away simultaneously. "Wait, what? You?" They continue speaking in unisom before releasing each other. "I... well, that's great," Mike says, licking his lips uncertainly. He wants to call AJ, invite her and the baby to come along... especially considering Vancouver is their city, but with Maryse there too... well...
"You should call AJ," Maryse tells him simply, patting him on the shoulders before walking over to her suitcase. "I will meet you downstairs."
A rush of gratitude fills him as he stares at her retreating back, his fingers teasing along the buttons of his cell phone. Finally he screws up his courage and makes the call, listening as the phone rings and rings. Eventually it clicks in and AJ yawns into the receiver. "Hello?"
He immediately feels two inches tall. "Sweetheart? Did I wake you up? I'm sorry."
"Hm, no, it's ok, I just got Sara Louisa down for her nap about twenty minutes ago... need to make lunch anyway, so it's fine." He listens as she mumbles and pads into the kitchen, and he can imagine her scratching at her hair and staring around blurrily while trying to figure out what she's hungry for. "What's up?"
"Well, um, I'm wondering if you'd feel like packing up Sara and coming with me to Vancouver." He pauses and releases a breath. "I know this is really last minute, but I was just informed that WWE Studios want me to revise my role as Jake Carter in Marine 5 and shooting begins next Tuesday. But before you say yes, you should know they want Maryse to have a role in it too. So she'll be there in Vancouver."
AJ doesn't say anything for a long time. "You can handle finding tickets for me and Sara."
A strange sensation creeps along Mike's spine and he's not sure whether to look forward to this or dread what's to come when Maryse and AJ are in the same hotel, but love for his wife wins out and he nods. "Alright, I'll do that. I'll be home in a couple of hours. We'll be heading out to Vancouver after Smackdown."
"See you soon," she says simply before hanging up on him.
It's cooler than he would've liked but, considering, he understands. Sighing, he pushes his phone back into his slacks pockets and resumes packing up a couple of things before heading downstairs to drive out with Maryse. The flight to California, thankfully, isn't long, and he finds himself breathing in the familiar air, taking in the familiar sights, before too much time has passed. He unlocks his front door and slips inside, finding AJ rocking Sara on the couch before looking up at him as he stares at them from the doorway. "My beautiful girls," he greets them quietly, wandering over to sit next to AJ.
When she hands Sara over to him, he stares down and marvels at the baby as she kicks and coos, their equally blue eyes locked. "Well, baby girl, you just visited Washington for the first time, now we're going to get you into Canada. How does that sound?"
AJ abruptly sits up. "She doesn't have a passport," she mumbles. "We can't fly to Canada with her without it."
Mike stares at her before looking down at the oblivious baby. "Well, Sara Louisa, looks like you're going on another adventure." He kisses the top of her head and pulls her little boots on before standing up and holding a hand out to AJ. "Come on, momma, we're going to the Passport Agency."
AJ looks lost even as she grips his hand and allows herself to be pulled up. "The what?" He winks at her, wandering around the house and collecting a few things before guiding AJ to the car. The drive is silent, AJ alternating between rubbing Sara's feet and making faces at Mike as he continues to refuse to tell her what he means while they drive at a crawl through LA traffic.
More lines are waiting for them at this Passport Agency as AJ finds herself somewhere disturbingly similar to the DMV. Once they get to the front of the line, finally, Mike takes over, showing the shrewd looking woman before them Sara's birth certificate, the plane tickets he'd bought for AJ and Sara, and his and AJ's drivers' licenses. The woman nods, glancing up at the baby as her eyes soften just a bit. "Take a number and sit over there, I'll call soon as it's processed."
"Thank you," Mike says, resting a hand on AJ's back and leading her over to the chairs. They sit and relax, watching people come and go as Sara dozes off in her carrier, disinterested in the bustle occurring around her.
Within three hours, they're leaving with Sara's new passport in hand, the baby now awake and waving her fist as a butterfly flutters close to her before darting away. Mike places her back in the car before holding her passport in front of her. "See, baby girl, now you can come to Canada with Daddy. Maybe we can find you a bit spot on Marine 5 too. You wanna be an actress?" He kisses her pudgy little fists as she coos and squirms around. "Of course you do, it's in your blood, isn't it?"
When he looks up, AJ is watching him from the front seat with a gentle kind of intensity. "You're really good with her," she says simply, her dark eyes locking on his before she cups his face and draws him foward in a slow, soft kiss. It's the most affectionate thing she's offered him since he first began this thing with Maryse, and he sighs into her mouth, fighting every instinct urging him to deepen the kiss, hold her tighter, take control of the situation right then and there and damn everything around them that makes this an even worse idea.
He regretfully pulls away and she half-smiles at him, watching as he shifts out of the back and settles into the driver's seat once more, heading for home.
-x
Vancouver is the same as the last time he'd seen it, but yet not. Because this time, Maryse is by his side, and Naomi is talking excitedly into her phone to her husband, Heath Slater, Curtis Axel and Bo Dallas babbling amongst themselves as they look at the impressive layout of Vancouver as it spreads out before them. You'd think none of them had ever been to Canada before, Mike thinks, but he can't blame them. Sure, they as wrestlers had all been around the world, but to actually be able to sprawl out, explore a bit, while they film a movie... there's a certain kind of novelty to it that he envies them. This being his fifth time in the city, it's not as impressive to him, but still. He gets it.
He gets it more when he turns around a couple of hours later and finds AJ and Sara coming out of the Vancouver airport, Sara asleep and AJ looking a little worse for wear. "Did she give you trouble?" Mike asks, taking the carrier from his wife and lightly stroking Sara's cheek with a finger.
"A little, she's not used to turbulence just yet. It was ok, though." AJ rests her head against Mike's shoulder for a minute before pulling away. "So what's the room situation?"
Straight to the point, his wife is. Mike smiles a little. "Well, you, Sara and I are going to have one room, Heath's rooming with Bo and Axel, and Naomi's rooming with Maryse." AJ's lips twist uncertainly and Mike shakes his head. "Don't worry, Naomi owes me one since my producer came through for her and got us both this gig. And once she gets a good look at this little one, I'm sure she won't say a word." He smiles lovingly down at Sara before looking up at AJ, something dawning on him. "Unless you don't want to share a room with me. Then you can share with Naomi and I'll take the couch while Maryse sleeps on the bed..." The words hurt, feel ilke knives stabbing through his throat, but he spits them out anyway, totally understanding if AJ still isn't ready to share a room, much less a bed, with him just yet.
But to his surprise, she shakes her head. "No, we'll stay with you. Lead the way." He swallows down the multitude of questions and does so, easing Sara into the rental car and waiting until AJ is belted up to begin driving. The hotel isn't far, traffic isn't bad, so they arrive much sooner than they would've back in California. After they drop her luggage off they go to explore, just to stop short on the ground floor.
The others are scattered around the hotel bar, Bo and Axel watching as Heath fiddles with a quarter, sometimes flicking it into a shot glass, but most times missing and complaining until the bartender retrieves it for him if it should fall behind the bar. Naomi and Maryse are sitting on stools, looking classy and sophisticated as they sip fruity drinks Mike's never learned the name of and as he leans in to order a soda for AJ, he catches Heath's eye. His costar smirks at him before his dark eyes trail down and rest on the carrier, face immediately lighting up. "Ah, you gotta baby, Miz? Can I see?" Before Mike can respond, Heath slips off of his barstool and kneels down till he can get a good look in at Sara. "Well, ain't you precious," he coos, leaning in and gently brushing a finger along her cheek.
Mike holds his breath, expecting the baby to cry and fuss, but instead she just stares up at him curiously. "Can I hold her?" Bo wonders, he and Axel hovering behind Heath too, and Mike ogles at the three of them currently turning to mush over his daughter.
"Nuh uh, I noticed her first!" Heath exclaims, before making exaggerated hushing noises at the other two. "Hush, you're gonna make her cry!" Turning back to the baby, who still looks more bemused than upset, he tsks. "It's ok, honey, ignore the mean men behind me. You and me, we're gonna be fast friends, huh?"
AJ swoops in then and Mike expects her to hoist Sara to safety, but no, instead she pushes Heath over to a nearby chair and, once he's settled in, eases the baby into his arms, showing him how to hold her properly. Once she steps back, Mike's thrown by the awed look on Heath's face. Underneath all of the loud, obnoxious southernness that is Heath Slater, the man's surprisingly good with babies, Sara's fingers tapping his lips and patting against his beard as he rocks her gently. Bo and Axel look as surprised as Mike feels.
Naomi gets a turn then, cooing and smiling down at the baby as Sara takes her in, wide eyed and as curious as she was with Heath at first glance. When Maryse is offered the baby next, Mike tenses up, expecting AJ to refuse or something, but no, to her credit, she merely sits there and watches rigidly as Maryse holds Sara close and whispers to her. "Beautiful little girl, aren't you? Yes... you look like both your mummy and daddy... lucky little thing. They love you very much, oui?" Maryse sighs and cuddles the baby for a couple of more minutes before Mike comes to take her, placing her back in her carrier.
"We should get her to bed," Mike says, surprised when he checks his clock and finds it's almost 9 PM. "It's been a long day. See you all bright and early tomorrow."
No filming yet, but they will be doing preliminary line tests and scene rehearsals and all of that fun stuff. His hand is warm on AJ's back, the other curled around the handles of the carrier as he walks her to the elevator. They're quiet on the way up and more so when they arrive at the hotel room, AJ leaning against the hotel door and watching as he changes Sara, carefully placing her in her sleeper and settling her in the crib the hotel had provided them with. He kisses her and rubs her stomach until she dozes off peacefully, thankfully undisturbed by the strange crib and unfamliar surroundings. "That's my girl," he whispers to her before going into the bathroom to handle his own night time rituals.
When he comes out, AJ is still standing there, watching him as he approaches her. "Hey," he says quietly.
"Hey." They stare at each other for a moment before that impulse from the other day, back in California, in the car, kissing each other and barely able to move away, washes over them again and she cups his face, inhaling shakily before pressing her lips to his. He sprawls his hands against the cool wood of the door, not wanting to force her, push her into something she's not ready for, and she makes a deep, unhappy noise against his mouth. "Touch me," she hisses out, arching against him when his hands immediately rest on her lower back. Their eyes meet and she smiles a little, the closest to a real smile he's seen on her face since Maryse had landed on their doorstep all of those weeks ago.
He sighs and kisses her, nipping at her lips as she idly scratches at his arms. "Do you forgive me?" he wonders, breath whooshing from him as she wraps her legs around him and stares into his eyes.
"I'll tell you in a little bit," she offers with a cheeky grin, swallowing hard when he supports her with one hand and presses the fingers of the other against her lower lip, kissing her once more, the depth of his heat and want and need soon leaving her a quivering mess. They may be in another country but, as he settles against her, warm and careful but still overwhelming them both with emotion and passion, it feels like coming home after a long time away to her.
Later, she's sprawled out across the soft sheets of the bed, surrounded by pillows, and Mike's lips are trailing lazily up her spine, her breaths slow and steady as her heart beats in time with each brush of his tongue against her skin. He's blanketing her now, nuzzling into her neck and kissing under her ear, before he whispers, "Do you forgive me?"
He sounds a little hopeful, and a lot broken, and it shatters something inside of her as she thinks about the last few weeks. Of his kissing Maryse and talking about how she's the perfect wife, and just how far he's taken this charade to help Maryse out. And it'll continue, more so now that they're in a movie together, and she hopes that they can trust Naomi, Heath, Bo and Axel with their secret as much as Mike seems to think they can. But she needs him, and Sara Louisa needs him, so she rolls over and stares up into his eyes, shifting to meet him halfway and they gasp as one when she kisses him, his fingers digging into her sides. "I forgive you," she says against his skin, touch turning gentle and soothing as his eyes fill with tears.
She slowly kisses them away before drawing him back into her, eyes fluttering shut at just how perfect it all feels now. Vancouver strikes again, she thinks with a soft smile.