Jet lag. A little beat up from matches most nights. Tired from sightseeing between events with Maryse. On top of that, she's annoyed now because Heath and Rhyno weren't flown out for Raw after leaving the European tour after the Raw taping wrapped up for the week, so she hasn't seen him in days, pretty much the longest that they've been apart since they became more serious. Mike sympathizes with her, relieved that he's on this side of her anger when she begins snapping at Angle in French after his DQ loss to Ambrose, still smarting from the groin shot and having an interesting time of it just walking from the trainer's room to Angle's locker room to confront him.
"I don't like him," she sniffs dismissively after he mocks her mother language and downplays what Dean had done to Mike during the match. Mike's not too bothered, all too cognizant of the fact that he's endured so many ebb and flows with the Intercontinental title over the years that this is just another thing for him to work through.
"It's fine," he says, still walking gingerly. "Let's get some more ice and go to the hotel room. The sooner we get some sleep, the sooner we'll be home and you can see your guy again, and I can see how much Sara's grown since I left her."
Her eyes soften as she pats his arm. "Never easy, is it?" she wonders, leading him back to the trainer's office to get another bag of ice before leaving the arena, Mike glad to put it in his rearview mirror.
"Not really, no," he says quietly, picking at the top of the bag as he adjusts it and exhales, hating the cold but relieved for the discomfort to ease as well. "Especially with the spotty connections over there."
She smiles blandly, taking the driver's seat while he settles in next to her, and heads to the hotel. It's quiet in the car, especially without Heath's constant chatter or Rhyno working his way through another plate of crackers, and she sighs. "I miss him," she murmurs after a few minutes. Taps her fingernails against the steering wheel. "I know people think we make... an odd couple, but he makes me happy." She glances over at Mike with a small smile. "You know, the financial problems I was having that led me down this path may have been the best thing to ever happen to me..."
He chuckles a little, but understands. "Yeah, you probably never would've gotten to know him, other wise, huh?" She nods shyly and he pats her arm. "Don't worry about what people think of you and him. I know plenty think we're weird, and honestly, Heath's not that different from me. We're both ridiculous, goofy loudmouths so apparently you just have a type." When she laughs, he smirks, satisfied with the reaction. "Although he's a southern gentleman and I am a posh LA movie star."
She swats at his arm and rolls her eyes. "You are a midwestern gentleman," she corrects him with a toothy grin. "The boy can leave Ohio, but Ohio will never leave the boy."
"I suppose." Upon arriving, they walk side by side to their hotel room and she sighs sadly at the dark, quiet space awaiting them. "It'll be ok," he tells her, patting her arm. "At least we get good wifi here, so you can at least facetime with him." Giving her space to do just that, he ducks into the bathroom to get ready for bed, pulling out his own phone to pull up AJ's contact info.
She answers immediately, her face lighting up when she sees him. "Husband! I thought you forgot us!"
He laughs a little awkwardly, drinking in her face. "Never could, sweetheart. Just awful connection issues over in Europe this go around." He strokes the screen with his thumb, wishing he could really touch her. "So how have my girls been doing?"
"Good, great, actually. Sara's been crawling all over the place, and she's taken a few more steps but I think she's waiting for her daddy to be around to chase her through the house before she really gets confident in it." AJ beams at him. "John and Taya helped me babyproof a few things so we're prepared. When's your flight coming in?"
"About noon," Mike says. "I can't wait to see you both."
"We can't wait to see you either." She smiles, then yawns. "Sorry, it's been a long day. I imagine for you too, huh?"
"Yeah." He sighs. "I should get some sleep." He kisses his fingers and blows it at her, smiling when she catches them and repeats the motion to him. "Good night, sweetheart. Give Sara a kiss for me."
"Will do. Night, husband."
As soon as AJ's face disappears, he turns to the mirror and begins to brush his teeth, examining himself in the mirror. Once changed into more comfortable sleeping clothes, he enters the main room and smiles at Maryse as she puts her phone down with a more relaxed sigh. "Feeling better?"
"A bit." She smiles at him before going into the bathroom to do her own late night absolutions. When she comes back out, he's fast asleep and she smiles, leaning over to shut the light off before slipping into her own bed, drifting off almost as easily.
The airport is a mess the next day, as always, and the wrestlers loiter around, some talking and some listening to music. Mike meets TJ Perkins' eyes for a moment, not surprised to see Neville glowering from nearby behind him, and not for the first time marvels at the drastic change in his almost-protege since the man had returned to set fire to the cruiserweight division last winter. He almost feels proud of him. "Who would've guessed," Mike says to Maryse as she waits behind him, a bored, impatient look on her face.
"What?"
"That out of all of the people I saw something in, Neville is the one who would actually push through everything holding him back and become what I expected the others to? Hell, the guy even has a protege of his own now," Mike says with a smirk, watching Neville tug TJ's large headphones off of his head and talk intensely with him, probably about his match to come later that night at 205 Live, TJ nodding, his eyes flickering from Neville's face to the title belt sitting on Neville's shoulder. "Ridiculous."
Maryse raises her eyebrows. "He wasn't actually your protege, was he?"
Mike scoffs. "He almost was. Almost, Maryse. It counts." When she smirks up at him, he huffs. "It does! Either way, the mere fact that he denied me is probably why he reached this level when the others didn't. He had fire and determination that Sandow and Alex didn't."
Both men are a sore topic, for vastly different reasons- although, when Mike allows himself to really think about it, they both followed similar paths, now accepting acting roles, so maybe being around him had paid off for them in other ways- so she wisely keeps her mouth shut and follows him along to board the plane that will take them back to LA, where she can see Heath and he can see his wife and daughter after much too long.
Their eyes lock and she smiles at him, patting his shoulder. "Home sweet home, here we come," she hums.
He nods, turning to stare back at the plane that will take them there. "Finally."
When they land a few hours later, AJ and Heath are waiting for them and as Maryse dashes into his arms, Mike scoops Sara up with one hand and wraps the other around AJ, nuzzling against the baby and cooing over how big she's gotten since he last saw her, before leaning in to kiss AJ slow and long, their eyes fluttering as they rest forehead to forehead, smiling at each other. "I've missed you both."
"We've missed you more," AJ tells him, her teeth gleaming in the overhead lights as he brushes a thumb down her cheek, catching a stray tear. "Let's go home now."
He nods eagerly, taking her hand and allowing her to lead the way as he gets his first taste of LA air since leaving for the European tour almost two weeks ago.