Hosting Summerslam. Not exactly what Mike had anticipated after winning the tag titles at Wrestlemania, but it's a good enough role. Especially in his former home state of Ohio. Getting to see his kids running around, tiring out their grandparents, makes it worth it. George and Sara seem happy, and AJ is content to visit with his mom while the kids run around the kitchen, wide eyed and giggling when George sneaks them cookies when they think AJ isn't looking.
Summerslam itself goes well. Or does until Austin Theory and Greyson Waller try to interrupt. Beating them down with help from Jellyroll, of all things, is the last way Mike expected to spend his evening, but it is what it is. He laughs afterwards, hoisting Sara up as she runs into his arms. "Hi, sweetie," he greets her, pressing a kiss into her messy brown hair. "How are you?"
"I'm fine," she says, pressing her face into his shoulder. "George fell asleep, daddy."
Mike laughs and rocks her a little. "You're looking a bit sleepy too," he teases her. "AJ, I think I'm done here, you wanna go soon?"
"Yeah," she says, George cradled in her arms. "We probably should before he gets woke up and gets very cranky."
Mike chuckles. "Alright, let's go then."
She leans down to grab her bag and smiles up at him. "Well, did you have a good time tonight?"
"Yeah," he says. "I did. Can never complain about getting to beat up Austin Theory and Greyson Waller, after all."
She shakes her head, smiling up at him as they finish collecting their things and prepares to head out so the children can go to bed and sleep peacefullywithout the sound level of the arena bothering them any further.
Sunday is a relaxing day spent playing with the kids, AJ and his parents laughing at Mike being as much of a goofball as he can accomplish after a week's worth of media and other responsibilities due to his Summerslam duties.
Unfortunately whatever relaxed state he'd achieved over the weekend is lost after flying in to Baltimore for Raw and finding himself teaming with R-Truth against Theory and Waller. Things look promising at first, but Truth never fully changes, and he tags himself in when Mike actually has all of the momentum, and the next thing he knows, he's laying on the outside of the ring, dazed, and they've lost. He blinks hard and scrambles back into the ring, trying to make sense of it, but damn, it's humiliating that after months of trying to keep Truth from risking their titles without talking to him about it first, he's still doing things like this, costing them matches and making them both look absolutely foolish. But he tries to shake it off, squeezing Truth's shoulder in a half-hug as he watches Theory and Waller celebrate their victory.
Frustration and bitterness wells up within him and he wishes he'd just stayed in Ohio.