After leaving Sara with John and Taya, AJ and Mike go for one of their rare trips out alone. He's usually so busy and she's reluctant to leave the baby behind, that this is a treat. They never go far, just a couple blocks away- neither are willing to brave LA traffic for too long while away from Sara, but still. There's a mall nearby and they wander around it, looking at the stores, chuckling at the baby clothes and toys, sometimes buying little things for Sara but usually not bothering because between Alicia, Taya and Maryse, most of the baby clothes get handled- to AJ's relief-, and Morrison, Heath and Ricardo keep them drowning in toys.
AJ makes a face when Mike pulls her into Claire's boutique, teasing her with gaudy, ridiculous earrings before she drops a purple and red headband on his head and laughs, aware that Mike's obliging her as he kneels down enough to let her adjust it to her preferences. "There, you look so pretty," she teases him.
He stares blankly at himself in the mirror before snagging her around the waist and hoisting her up, kissing her. "You're lucky I love you," he mumbles, placing her back down safely and tugging the headband off. FYE is next and they ogle at the ridiculous prices of things before returning to the main aisle, hands interlaced. Mike drags her into an arcade and she watches him lose pathetically at crane games before pulling him to the quarter games, paying for a two person ultimate fighter game which he loses at also. "It's just not my day," he sighs as she laughs at him, kissing the pout off of his face a moment later.
"At least you still have your looks," she teases him. He huffs at her, snagging her hand and resuming their walk, peeking into other stores here and there. "So... what do you think you'll be doing for Mania?" she wonders, swinging their hands between them and smiling when he glances at her.
"I'm not sure. Maybe a match against Cena, depends on what Daniel does," he says, intoning Daniel's name mockingly. "Think Maryse wouldn't mind getting in there against Nikki. She's been training some with me and Heath."
AJ nods, rests her head on his shoulder. "Sometimes I miss WWE, sometimes I don't." She exhales softly. "I wouldn't trade what I've got now for the world though."
He kisses the top of her head, smiles. "I wouldn't either."
His words are somewhat prophetic, in a way. Daniel does finally speak up about his issues with Cena and Nikki, after Maryse lays bare all of the drama she'd endured with the Bellas back when she was trying to return to WWE originally. Lays her soul out there, declares her intentions... and Daniel places them in a mixed gender tag match for Wrestlemania. Mike and Maryse facing off against Cena and Nikki. It sounds weird, but Mike thinks he's ok with it. An opportunity at retribution against Cena for all he'd taken from him, and Maryse's chance at getting payback against Nikki for the lost opportunities that had left her nearly destitute when Mike had agreed to help her get back in WWE.
He's not thrilled with anything, because it's Daniel and of course Daniel has a biased agenda in all of this, but still. They'd gotten what they wanted, so when Maryse and he run into Heath later, he steps aside and listens to her talk to Heath about everything, thinking about all that he'd like to do to the leader of the Cenation. He stares at the calendar hanging in the hall and exhales roughly, nodding. Two and a half weeks. 19 days...
Rubbing his hands against the Wrestlemania jitters that are beginning to settle there now that he finally knows what he's going to be doing that night, he glances over at Maryse and watches with a vague smile as she throws mock punches at Heath's hands, demonstrating what she'll be doing that night to one Nikki Bella.
Heath cheers her on before she hits one that really stings, his yelping and pulling back causing her to fluster and grab at his hand with worried apologies, kissing his palm and stroking his fingers tenderly. "I'm fine, just startled me," he finally says, clearly giving it a minute after enjoying her attention. She clicks her tongue at him before hugging him tightly, Heath chuckling into her hair. "You're gonna do great," he mumbles.
"I hope so," she whispers back.
"Of course you will," Mike says, re-joining the party and throwing an arm around both of them, dragging them close to him. "How can you not with the most must see superstar of all time as your tag partner?"
She laughs while Heath stares at him incredulously. For a moment Mike feels bad because they have their Wrestlemania match, while Heath will probably be thrown into the Andre the Giant Battle Royal, despite all of his hard work the past few months. He pats Heath's arm and then excuses himself, deciding to give them proper alone time so he can go call his wife, let her know what's going on.
When he glances back, he knows he's made the right decision because they're leaning close to each other, talking quietly, and Heath looks much more relaxed now that he's not interrupting their time alone. "Ah, young love," he mumbles before pushing the door open and heading out into the chilly night to have some privacy of his own.