Wednesday

"Two weeks before Wrestlemania, can you believe it?" Mike asks Heath, carefully leaning over the porch railing to watch the cool evening wind whipping through the grass below. He's still babying his ribs after going through the barricade, but none are broken thankfully. Just bruised enough to hurt like a bitch at the slightest movement.

Heath shakes his head, a pensive look crossing his face. "Two weeks till Maryse is due too," he says quietly, sipping from a bottle of beer. Mike watches as he sighs and pushes away from the wooden lattices before turning around and resting his elbows against it, staring at the clouds overhead. "If I'm not here for it, she prolly won't forgive me... to be honest, I'd prolly not forgive myself..."

Mike sighs and remembers the stress behind Sara's birth, how close he came to not being there for that miraculous moment of seeing her take her first breath, being the first to look into her eyes, feel her fingers, all of that newborn stuff that he so easily could've missed. "Hey, I managed to be there for Sara's birth, don't lose hope, man. It'll work out. One way or another."

Heath smiles vaguely. "I hope so," he sighs, finishing off his beer before excusing himself and going inside to check on Maryse.

AJ meets him in the doorway on her way out, slipping past him to continue out where she joins her husband and pats Mike's hand, snuggling into him as he hugs her close, shielding her from the wind. "Heath alright?" she whispers, gazing out at the deepening twilight.

"Worried," Mike admits. "That he's gonna miss the birth because of Wrestlemania." AJ nods in silent understanding and Mike turns to her, cupping her jaw and searching her eyes. "How mad would you have been with me if I'd missed Sara's?"

"Mad enough that I'd never consider having another," she snarks before stroking Mike's cheek, eyes softening as she takes in the thread of fear in his eyes. "I'm kidding. I don't think mad is the word, I would've been disappointed but I know the business, so I would've understood." She interlaces their fingers together and kisses his knuckles. "Either way I know you're the best dad you can be to our little girl and that's the most important thing to me."

He laughs and draws her in, kissing her. "I love you so much."

"I love you too."

His grin is full and wide. "Now that considering having more kids thing you mentioned..."

She laughs and swats at him, leaning into him as he runs his fingers through her hair and kisses her again.

Thursday

Heath wakes up to find Maryse pacing at the foot of their bed, hands splayed out over her lower back. "Can't sleep?" he asks sympathetically, not surprised when she shoots him a grumpy look.

"No! Your baby is kicking, kicking, kicking and I keep having braxton-hicks, and-" she begins spitting out French while struggling to turn around, her stomach making this venture a bit trecherous.

Heath takes her complaints in stride. "C'mere, Maryse," he says softly once the deluge of words die away. She huffs, twists her hands in her nightgown, and carefully walks over to sit next to him. He guides her to sit with her back facing him and begins to massage her gently, focusing on her lower back and hips. He smiles when he's rewarded with a soft whimper and breathy moan, the tension slowly easing out of her as he works his magic with her tired, stressed muscles.

"Ahhh," she sighs, easing back into his hands. "Please don't stop that." He kisses her neck and she groans. "Nor that," she breathes, and he lifts a hand to tilt her face, kissing her on the mouth for awhile, her lips parting as he deepens the kiss and swallows her moans and whispers when he shifts his hands and lightly rubs her stomach and thighs, feeling her shiver and blink. "Heath," she sighs, reaching up to stroke his face. "You make me feel so good, no matter how tired and annoyed I am." She smiles at him, exhaling as he nuzzles into her, kissing her again and again. "I love you."

"I love you too," he murmurs into her glistening skin as she hums, eyes fluttering at the feel of his hands still massaging her tension away, his lips leaving her warm and drowning in the deep sensations of his affection.

Friday

"Hey, Morrison," Heath calls out as he picks his way over the beach, attracting a lot of attention from beachgoers as he makes his way over to the rocks John is currently meditating on, doing a handstand. Heath marvels at this for a few minutes before climbing gingerly up. It's slick and wet and he's uncomfortable the higher he goes, but he's almost there, just has to get a grip and shift his body up onto the ledge John has claimed, when- his fingers slip and he lets out a muffled yell, feeling the world shift beneath him... just to come to a jarring stop abruptly, his body hanging as John leans over and grips his forearm, already tugging him up to safety.

Once on secure ground, Heath digs his fingers into his knees and pants for breath, John rubbing between his shoulderblades briskly. "No way to bring your baby into the world, with a couple of broken legs, man," he teases him, grinning as Heath looks up at him balefully.

"That's why I'm here," he says. "Maryse. I'm worried I won't be here. And if the labor's bad, I just..." he twists his hands nervously. "Mike told me you were with AJ and made it a lot easier for her. Could you... like... do the same for Maryse? I would do anything-"

John searches his face. "Honestly, I was able to help AJ because she trusted me and was comfortable in my care. I don't know Maryse except through Mike, she probably wouldn't even think to call me, would she?"

Heath looks defeated at this. "Prolly not," he admits wearily. "I'm just so damn scared. If something happens and I'm not here-" he angrily scrubs at his face, suddenly choked up by emotions.

John touches his back, guiding him down to sit. "AJ will be here for her," he tells him kindly. "And by what I've heard and seen, Maryse is a strong woman who has taken good care of herself this pregnancy, right? Has the doctor given any indication that there's something to worry about?" Heath shakes his head and John smiles. "See, there you go. Everything will be fine." He pats Heath on the back. "You need to relax though, my friend. Close your eyes and take a few deep breaths and I'll help you back down these rocks."

Heath laughs, a broken, wet sounding noise, but a laugh all the same. "Thanks, John."

"Anytime."

Saturday

AJ and Maryse stand side by side at the airport, seeing Heath and Mike off for another set of houseshows. They exchange glances and AJ smiles. "C'mon, mama. Let's go get some fries. My treat." There's a food court nearby that they sit in front of, Sara's stroller between them as she sleeps on, the two women downing an almost obscene amount of fries and ketchup while they people watch. "So," AJ says. "Blonde or red?"

Maryse forces her eyes away from a mother playing with her baby nearby and frowns. "What?"

"When I was alone during my pregnancy, I imagined my baby- who she would take after, me or Mike, what would be uniquely her. What do you think about your baby?" AJ explains, pointing a fry at Maryse's stomach.

"Red," she says quickly. "I... I know ginger children are teased a lot, but there are enough blonde people in the world and it doesn't seem fair that the redheaded gene will be gone entirely in a few decades so if I can do anything to keep that from happening..." she rests her fingers where the baby kicks. "Yes, a redhead. And I think she will probably have brown eyes either way between Heath and I." She smiles. "Beyond that, as long as she's happy and healthy, I will gladly accept her for who she is, no matter what."

AJ chuckles and grips Maryse's hand, leaning forward. "You're going to be a great mom, Maryse."

"I hope so," she breathes, squeezing AJ's hand back with a trembling kind of smile as she fights her emotions, not wanting to cry publicly. Again.

Sunday

Maryse sleeps over at AJ's, listening to Sara's babble speak, the baby still learning more words as she toddles around the couch that's become Maryse's homebase when she stays over while Heath is on the road. AJ is preparing lunch in the other room so Maryse winces when Sara stumbles and crashes into the couch, immediately starting to whimper, threatening a full on sob fest. "Oh, poor baby!" she coos, hoisting her up and looking her over. "Where does it hurt?" she follows Sara's plaintive motions of her hands and is relieved to find nothing serious. "Would kisses make it feel better?"

Sara's eyes- so similar to Mike's- narrow as she debates this, then she nods, Maryse kissing her elbow and knee, before pressing a gentle one to her nose and forehead, smiling tenderly down at her as she dries her tears with her fingers. "Au- autee Mars," she babbles, resting against Maryse's shoulder.

Maryse smiles, running her fingers through Sara's soft brown hair. "That's right, baby. Auntie Maryse." She hugs her close and imagines how it'll feel when it's her own baby she's holding like this.

Monday

"I got this feeling," Heath mumbles. "Just can't sit still. I dunno why." Rhyno has a match against Elias but even Mike pulling one over on Seth and Finn with help from Bo and Axel hadn't distracted him. He'd been increasingly antsy all day.

Mike scrubs at his face. "Look, deal with Rhyno's match and I'll see what I can do, ok?" He'd been planning this already so, as soon as the twitchy Heath leaves with Rhyno, Mike places a call. "Everything in place? ... Great. Perfect... Yep. See you in about an hour then."

When Heath returns he's understandably cranky and too busy bitching about Elias to observe the looks on Rhyno and Mike's face as they wait him out. He closes his eyes and exhales roughly, about to fall back into pacing around Mike's locker room when Rhyno grips his shoulders and guides him to his fully packed bag. "Time for you to go, Heath," Rhyno informs him.

"What!? Where'm I goin'?" he demands, growing more flustered as Mike hands him the keys to his rental. "Mike...?"

"Consider it a gift from one father to another," Mike tells him. "I know Wrestlemania week is going to be crazy and none of us will get to see much of our families so I rented you a private plane. It leaves in about half an hour, one way to California so you get every minute in that you can with Maryse. Ok?"

Heath gapes at him. "Wha-?" His eyes fill with tears as he digests what he's being told. "You did that for me, Mike? Really?" He lunges forward and hugs him tightly, almost knocking him over.

Rhyno chuckles and lightly pries him off of Mike. "Time to go, Heath," he says.

"Oh. Yeah. Right," Heath swallows. "Thanks, again, Mike!" he calls once before disappearing out the door.

Rhyno and Mike exchange glances, chuckling before sitting down to watch the rest of Raw.

Tuesday

Heath arrives well after midnight. He isn't surprised to find the house dark, so he's quiet as he walks in and puts his things down, and even quieter as he walks to their bedroom. She's asleep, thankfully, so he tugs his clothes off and leaves them on the laundry pile before sinking in behind her, wrapping an arm around her and kissing her bare shoulder before closing his eyes and falling into a deep sleep. He wakes up a few hours later to her extracting herself to go to the bathroom and when she comes back, he smiles as she stops short and realizes. "You're home!" she gasps, sitting on the bed and cradling his face as he smiles sleepily at her. "How? It's so early!"

"Mike rented me a private plane so I could be back as soon as possible to spend time with you since next week is going to be stupidly business." He rests his hand on her stomach and laughs when the baby kicks, looking up at her. "Both my girls doing good?"

"We're great," Maryse smiles, cuddling up next to him as best as she can, considering, and closing her eyes. "I definitely owe Mike one."

"We both do," Heath sighs, rubbing her back. They cuddle and doze off and on, talking softly, until it's late morning and Heath hesitantly gets up to make breakfast. Maryse follows him, but when he tries to serve her some of the pancakes, she shakes her head. He pauses, eyeing her. "Aren't you hungry?"

"Not really," she says. "I'll eat later, I promise." She sits and watches him eat, rubbing her stomach as he chews through a huge stack of syrup-drenched pancakes, then kisses her on top of her head as he goes to shower. She doesn't move, however, until another pain- like the one that'd woke her up to find Heath asleep next to her- shoots through her stomach and radiates into her lower back, stronger and a little longer than before. "Ok, those aren't braxton-hicks," she gasps, a flutter of realization coming to her as the pain eases off. She forces herself to wait until Heath is out of the shower and dressed before joining him in the living room, holding his hand securely in hers, hoping she can get this out before another contraction. "Heath?"

"Yeah?"

She squeezes his hand. "I'm having contractions. They're still pretty far apart, but they're growing in intensity and... I think we're very close to meeting our baby girl." He gapes at her and she smiles for only a few seconds before- another sharp pain stabs through her and she moans hard, trying to breathe through it. It's only when the agony subsides that she realizes she's been digging her nails into Heath's hand this entire time. "I'm so sorry!" she gasps out, stroking his poor abused hand.

He ignores this, however, cupping her face with one hand and her stomach with the other. "How far apart?"

"Now? About 15 minutes," she says. "It had been about every half an hour." They had heard not to go in unless contractions were very close together so they stare at each other, unsure what to do. Her bag's packed, she's as dressed as she needs to be, honestly, so there's not much else to do but sit and time them, neither of them able to focus on TV or anything else that they try to use as a distraction. So Heath keeps an eye on the clock with full dedication, holding her hand through every second of pain and not complaining once. By the time contractions are ten minutes apart a few hours later, Maryse rests her head on Heath's shoulder. "I know it's early but LA traffic... Heath, please..."

So they go. And she's wise to push them leaving early, because there are a few traffic jams along the way, Heath counting under his breath and holding Maryse's hand as she grits her teeth and fights the urge to push, breathing in and out like they were taught to. They make it just in time for contractions to hit a couple minutes apart, and even the nurses seem relieved to see her, especially once they get her settled and start to examine her. "It's almost time to push, I see, Maryse," her OB GYN tells her gently.

"Already?" she breathes out, reaching for Heath, and he meets her eagerly.

"We're really gonna meet our baby soon," he laughs, kissing her palm. She stares up at him and he brushes his finger down her cheek. "Don't be scared, you're doin' perfect, Maryse. Ain't she, doc?"

"Yes, you're doing quite well. Another contraction is coming," she informs her, all of them watching as it peaks, then ebbs away slowly. Checking again, she nods. "You're fully dilated, Maryse. On the next contraction, I need you to push."

Maryse groans and allows herself to be adjusted into a position more suited for that, staring up at Heath as she breathes and tries to stay calm, just to bear down as soon as the contraction stabs through her, her nails biting into his hand once more as she pushes with what strength she has left. It's an uncomfortable cycle of breathing between contractions, pushing during them, and struggling to stay hydrated with the ice chips the nurse gives Heath to spoon into her mouth.

Heath watches on in amazement as, finally, just shy of midnight, their baby daughter comes crying into the world, her fists bunched up in protest at this new, bright, loud, cold reality she finds herself in as he carefully cuts the umbilical cord as directed. Maryse is beyond exhausted but she stirs when they lay the baby on her chest, her smile so wide and beautiful that Heath is even further in awe of them both. "I love you," she tells him as he presses a soft kiss to the baby's head, turning to kiss her as well.

"I love you too," he exhales, resting his face against hers. "Marry me." Impulsive, just slipped out, but he'd been thinking about it for awhile. When he pulls back to look at her, he grows nervous to find her staring thoughtfully at him. "Maryse...?"

"I was wondering what was taking so long for you to ask," she laughs softly. "Of course I will. Happily." She cups his face and kisses him until their baby girl fusses. "Did you choose your half of the name?" she wonders once the baby is calm again, soothed by their touch and soft voices.

"Of course I did," he says proudly and she smiles up at him.

"Well, then, welcome to the world, Monroe-"

"Sky," Heath adds, lightly brushing his fingers along his baby girl's back.

"Slater." They grin at each other, the last few pieces of their family puzzle coming together as Monroe Sky stares up at her parents with eyes almost as dark brown as her daddy's, Heath already thinking about what kind of ring to get his fiancee.