Mike's glad to be home. His back is still throbbing, bruises from each and every chair shot visible on his skin. AJ hovers over him as he sets his suitcase down and collapses right into bed on his stomach, Sara staring at him wide eyed. "I, uh, had her with me while watching Raw and I think she could tell Daddy got a little hurt," AJ explains. "She was pretty fussy for the rest of the night. I think she'll want to be held."
He grunts but tugs her closer, kissing the side of her face while she pouts at him, her pudgy fists patting against his face and arms. "I'm ok, Sara Lou. Just-" His words die away as AJ eases the tank top he'd only just managed to squirm into for the airport that morning up, and moans softly as she begins to massage around the worst of the marks on his back. "Need some rest," he grits out, squeezing her quickly before plopping her against the pillows and playing with her feet while AJ continues to massage him. "Daddy'll be just fine."
He smiles when she coos, relaxing into his arms and babbling to herself. He's so focused on the massage that it takes him a minute to realize she's actually saying words. Not a surprise, she's been speaking or close to it for a bit now, but he thinks he hears something distinct and looks up. "Daddy," she exclaims, clapping her hands together and he swallows.
"AJ, did she just-?"
AJ laughs. Rubs her hands up and down his spine, warming it. "I was wondering how long it would take you to notice." She leans in and kisses his spine. "She began saying daddy a couple of days ago. Still waiting on mommy, but mama's pretty good."
He sits up, ignoring the bite of pain, and hoists Sata up in his arms, kissing her. "Say it again, huh? Daddy missed it the first time."
She tilts her head at him, gnaws on her fist, and then grips his shirt, stretching it out. "Daddy," she says, almost plaintively, and he beams down at her.
"So awesome," he mumbles, kissing the top of her head and rocking her back and forth as she settles against his chest. AJ laughs at him, kissing the side of his mouth, before resuming her massage, careful not to disrupt their father-daughter moment.
-x
"Heath's birthday is tomorrow," Maryse tells Mike on Friday.
He blinks at her, tilts his head, and then shrugs. "Alright."
"I think we should do something for him."
Mike smirks at her. "I have a feeling he might have a happier birthday if it's just you celebrating it with him, if you know what I mean."
She rolls her eyes, swats at him. "Shut up. But seriously, all of his friends... food, cake, music. Please? Your locker room would be perfect for such things."
He sighs. Adjusts his Intercontinental title against his shoulder. "Fine, fine. We can... plan something. I'll even take Rhyno off of your hands afterwards so you can have some alone time. Alright?"
She nods. Confidence wavers and she swallows. "Uh, I feel like... I should tell you something, Mike," she says. She squirms a bit then faces him. "I went to Kurt Angle and I convinced him to give Heath a shot at your Intercontinental title. I knew you didn't want to face him while you were busy with Dean Ambrose, but I honestly felt like he deserved it. So I went to him, and he agreed, and..." She grimaces. "I'm not gonna apologize, because I don't regret what I did, but I owe you a lot so I feel like I should be honest with you."
Mike stares at her for a minute. Then reaches out and rests his hand on her shoulder. "I knew what you did," he admits. "And I was kind of glad for it. I'm supposed to be the scummy guy everyone hates. I couldn't just give Heath what he wanted without looking weak, so I didn't. But thankfully you handled it for me." He smiles at her. "I agreed with you, he did deserve it, and I'm glad he can at least say he's had that opportunity. Who knows, maybe he'll have more some day."
"I hope so," Maryse says, leaning on Mike. "So anyway, that party..."
"Yes, yes," Mike laughs. "The party."
It's simple, really, just the nine of them- Axel and Bo lurk around in the corner, eating the food and talking quietly amongst themselves, and Titus, Apollo and Tozawa are also there, Apollo and Titus talking loudly about the tag match he, Heath and Rhyno just had, while Tozawa watches on in a bewildered kind of way. There's multiple boxes of crackers, quite a few cans of cheese, and drinks all over the place, with a decent sized cake in the middle of it all.
"Promise me I ain't gettin' a face full of that," Heath calls over the general din, Rhyno shaking his hand next to him.
"Now would we do a thing like that to the birthday boy?" Titus yells back, laughing uproariously.
"No, we're not wasting that cake on your face, sorry, Heath," Mike responds. "Personally, I want to eat at least a slice of it before my match, so no funny business around the damn cake."
Bo and Axel immediately look away, trying and failing to appear innocent. Mike rolls his eyes at his Miztourage and quickly moves to cut the cake, just in case.
Raw that week works out the way Mike would've wished. He, Bo and Axel beat Seth and Dean down with chairs and leave them laying, Mike taking Seth out with a skullcrushing finale onto one of the chairs before hitting Dean a few more times. He then grabs Maryse and they bail, rushing out of the side exit before either Ambrose or Rollins could try to get their revenge.
Even the news that Angle's put them against Seth and Dean on next week's Raw does nothing to diminish Mike's pleasure with how the night's gone. In fact, he's riding high until he arrives home the next day to find John and Taya sitting on his couch, neither looking all that thrilled with things. "What's going on?" he wonders, picking Sara up from where she's pounding her fist against her playpen.
"Taya was stripped of her AAA championship," John says quietly, gripping his fiancee's hand. "And uh, Star has it now."
Mike sits down across from them and shakes his head. "What?"
"It gets better," she offers, finally speaking up. "We're going to compete in TNA."
All Mike can do is stare, both pieces of news seeming unfathomable to him. So he repeats himself. "What?"