Marine 6 had barely wrapped when Mike's phone was ringing. He grimaces down at it before leaning in to kiss AJ. "Hey, sweetheart, I'm sorry about this but I guess WWE needs me to go on a USO tour with Alicia. Can you fly home with Sara Lou ok?"
She blinks up at him, yawns, snuggles into the pillow, then finally seems to give his words proper weight. "Yeah, we'll be ok." She pouts. "You're not coming home for Christmas?"
He shakes his head regretfully before easing in and lightly kissing her on the lips, massaging her back. "I'm so sorry." She sighs and he kisses lower, down her throat, along her shoulders. Feels her arch and sigh at his soft ministrations. "Forgive me?"
"I guess," she mumbles, pressing her face deeper into her pillow as his kisses grow heated, lower. "Damn, Mike," she exhales roughly as his fingers stroke her soft skin, waking her up the rest of the way. "You make it hard to stay mad at you, you really-" Her voice dies away as he nibbles in the places he knows she can't help but respond over, tongue soothing her, and she moans lowly, digging her toes into the bedding. "Fine, you're forgiven."
He beams and rolls her over, stretching out over her and entangling his fingers in hers as he kisses her deeply, his warm, solid presence making her tingle from the top of her head to the tips of her toes. "I love you, sweetheart."
"I love you too," she keens, wrapping her legs around him and sighing, deciding to worry about spending Christmas with Sara fretful over the sudden lack of her daddy later, enjoying this moment now while it lasts.
Mike's sad as he sees his wife and daughter off, back States-side, before taking his own flight to meet up with Alicia and everyone else involved in this USO tour. She lights up as soon as she sees him, squealing and running over to hug him. "Raw hasn't been the same without you! How's AJ and baby Sara?" she wonders, barely giving him a word in edgewise as she proceeds to tell him about Axel and Bo running around annoying everyone without him.
He laughs and hugs her back, shaking his head. "They're great. The movie's been great. I'm looking forward to heading back and regaining what's mine." Seeing her reminds him of Reigns' victory being the thing that heralded his temporary exit from the WWE. He's glad that Bo and Axel are holding down things as best as they're able without him, but still. It's an ugly itch under his skin, having to leave on such a low note. Shakes it off, reminds himself he'll be back soon to make things right again. "How's Ricardo doing? Everything with Paige get straightened out?"
She loses some of the light in her eyes at this but nods. "I think so. She did talk to him, and apologized, but he's still faithful to me. I think."
Mike pats her back. "Trust me, he'd never do to someone what Alberto and Paige did to him. He's a good guy."
She beams. "You're right. I just... I guess I'm easily paranoid, especially with my history."
"Understandable," he says. Barely understands what went down between her and Wade, or the entire weirdness with Noam, but he can guess how deeply those hurts and uncertainties linger deep within her. "Well, he'd be a fool to ruin things with you, and Ricardo is anything but, so another reason you're safe." She tosses a sincere smile over at him, not one of her usual manic ones, or the excessive ones used to shield her from reality. He smiles back at her and squeezes her arm. "Now come on, let's go distract from soldiers and make some people very happy on these holidays."