A/N: Sorry for the delay on this, I've been sick for a couple of weeks and only now getting back on my feet so I promise to be caught up in my weekly fics before I start NaNoWriMo! Thanks for your patience.
After Spirit Squad had worked their magic, leaving Ziggler thrown and lost in the memories of his past failures, Mike thinks he has No Mercy in the bag. There's no way for the man to shake it off, to recover. He'll make him pay for everything he's ever done to Mike, to AJ, to all of them. He has a couple of days at home before the PPV, holding Sara up and bouncing her lightly on her feet, babbling to her. "See, Daddy is going to make Ziggler lose this weekend, and then he's going to go away forever and ever, and Daddy is going to continue to be Intercontinental champion forever, and that's going to be your keepsake if you decide to join WWE in about twenty five years," he tells the baby with a loving smile.
"You think she's going to want to be a wrestler?" AJ wonders.
Mike settles the baby in his lap and rests his chin lightly against the top of her head, looking up at AJ. "I don't see why not. Her mommy changed everything when it comes to womens' wrestling, so why not? By the time she's old enough, the women might out-sell the men. How does that sound?" he asks the baby, grinning when she babbles and slaps her fists together, wide blue eyes locked on AJ as she kneels down in front of her little family, pulling Sara towards her.
"Whatever she wants to do, I'll support her," AJ murmurs, kissing Sara's forehead. "Call me selfish but I'd like her to open a puppy rescue." Mike grins at her and she hums, closing her eyes and clearly picturing it. "It'd be so adorable," she sighs. "And I'd be her vice president."
"A vice president for a puppy rescue, huh?" Mike chuckles affectionately, brushing some hair out of AJ's eyes. "You two would probably rescue all of the puppies."
"Well, that would be the plan," AJ beams at him, leaning in to kiss him. He chuckles and cups her face, deepening the kiss before pulling away when Sara starts to fuss, tickling her and kissing her little fingers when she flaps her arms around. "Now come on, husband, we should go get some sleep. Certain champions need their rest so they can be on top of their game to retire a certain annoying person."
Mike beams at her and stands up, leaning down to take the baby and walk towards the nursery. "Yeah, an early night sounds good." He shivers slightly when AJ's hand brushes up his spine, her smirk full of promise as she turns to the kitchen to prepare a bottle to ease Sara to a good night's sleep.
Once AJ joins Mike, her hair is swept up in a ponytail, face washed, teeth brushed and comfortable pajama pants contrasting cutely with her tank top. She crawls up the bed and rests against his shoulder, smiing up at him. "So... tell me all that you're planning on putting Ziggler through this weekend?"
Mike chuckles and kisses the top of her head, unsurprised when she squirms over and sprawls out on top of him, her lips pressing to his throat. "Well, first I'm going to punch him a couple of times, show him who's boss, you know..."
She hums, listening as he describes his strategy to her, each promise of violent and step closer to defeat causing her to reward him with kisses against his collar bone, his neck, sometimes his lips. :That sounds ... awesome," she says, squeaking when he grips her and reverses their positions, brushing her hair out of her eyes once more and kissing her tenderly.
"Not as awesome as you," he breathes against her lips, grinning as she pulls him closer and kisses him back.
-x
That Sunday, Maryse is waiting for him when he arrives at the arena, nerves nowhere to be seen for either of them. "You good?" she asks him. He nods and walks determinedly into the locker room to change his clothes, prepare to retain his title belt once more. Thankfully she remains quiet as he prepares, Heath nor Rhyno coming around to interrupt, lost in preparation for their own title match.
Mike and Dolph's match is late in the card so Mike and Maryse watch the tag title match from the leather couches, Maryse almost biting her painstakingly manicured fingernails as she watches, close to losing her mind as the Usos come close to win. Finally, finally a gore leaves the Usos helpless and Heath and Rhyno retain, tears beading in Maryse's dark eyes. "He's worked so hard for this," she confessions with a wavering little smile, gripping Mike's wrist as he pats her cheeks dry. "I didn't want to imagine his losing the titles so soon. Now as soon as you retire that nasty Ziggler, everything will be perfect."
Perfect. It's a word that echoes in Mike's head as he finishes changing into his gear and walking out to the ring. At first his plan goes perfectly. Every attempt at offense he withstands, quickly turning it around on Ziggler and making him struggle even harder to regain control. Everything works up until the Spirit Squad come down- Mike's plan quickly crumbles under his feet, the men and Maryse all getting kicked from ringside. His getting superkicked and pinned leaves him floundering, grabbing at the ropes and struggling to make sense of it as Ziggler prances away with his title belt, laughing and yelling smugly at salvaging whatever of his worthless career remains.
Mike remains in a daze, neither Maryse nor Kenny or Mikey's voices able to cut through his wayward thoughts. He can barely function until he's laying in bed and Maryse is pressing his phone into his hands, AJ's voice forcing him back to the land of the living. "I failed," he says in a vague monotone.
"No, you didn't," she says soothingly. "Your plan was foolproof. I remember. It was just badly timed, that's all. Bad luck. You'll get him next time."
"Right," Mike exhales. "Right." AJ's soothing confidence in him holds him together, encourages the cogs in his brain to start turning again. He decides, against his original thoughts, to keep the Spirit Squad around a little longer. They may come in handy. We'll see.
When he looks up, Maryse is smiling hopefully at him. "You look better," she says softly.
"I feel better," he exhales. "This isn't the end. I'm getting my title back."
Her lips, now cleared of the garish lipstick that she usually wears to the ring, twitch up into a smile. "Of course you will." She rubs his arm before turning to go to bed, looking as exhausted as he feels.
Prod at Ziggler's ego, make him want to face the Spirit Squad, then no matter how the match goes, attack, leave Dolph vulmerable, let Kenny and Mikey have the last word. That's Mike's plan. And it should've worked, really, would've been perfect... but then Heath and Rhyno run down, they chase the two men off before the beatdown could really commence, and Mike stares from the ramp, incredulously, aware of Maryse's own confusion as she looks at Heath from here.
"What was that?" Mike hisses to her as they walk up the apron. All she can do is shake her head, clearly as mystified as he is.
It's an interview after the fact that Mike happens to hear, Heath explaining he'd done it to be a hero to his kids, and Rhyno had done it because he doesn't like male cheerleaders. Mike's jaw ticks as he weighs this, ponders how badly Maryse would want to kill him for putting her in this awkward situation if he would want to pit Spirit Squad against Rhyno and Heath, a little revenge for interfering in his business like this.
She'll get over it, he decides, reaching for the phone to contact Daniel and convince him to see things Mike's way.