"It doesn't matter what I do," Mike tells Sara sadly. "Every thing I try, every match I compete in... I end up losing... I can never regain what I once had... it's so frustrating, baby girl." She stares up at him, eyes bright and the softest blue he's ever seen, and he loves her so much it hurts. "I never wanna disappoint you, but it seems to be all I'm good at... letting people down, hurting them..."
She stands on his legs and he instinctively braces her, holding her steady as she pats his cheeks and smiles down at him. "Daddy," she says, a row of baby teeth showing as she speaks.
"Yeah, baby," he says, still in awe that she's growing up so quickly- speaking, and walking, and soon she'll be in pre-school and oh God he's feeling smothered as he thinks about everything he's missing out on. AJ's asleep so this is one of those rare times they get alone together, Sara unable or unwilling to sleep.
She moves her hands aside, clapping happily and then plops down, Mike adjusting her so she sits more comfortably on his lap.
"I'm gonna try my hardest to be world champion again," he says, kissing her soft brown hair. "So you can see your daddy's someone to be proud of. But I dunno if I can. This might be as good as it gets." He closes his eyes and rocks her back and forth, wishing things were differently. That things hadn't fallen apart so steeply with Shane and everything else.
He's miserable, drowning in his self-doubts and everything that's gone wrong the last few months, when Sara shifts, looking up at him with her beautiful smile. "I love you, daddy."
He freezes, stares down at her. "You..." Tears fill his eyes as she beams up at him, so beautiful, so pure, so precious, that he can't believe he'd helped create her. "I love you too, sweetie. So much." He kisses her cheek and hugs her close. "Thank you so much. Daddy really needed to hear that."
He may never win another match again, be kept far away from being champion for as long as he continues wrestling, but he has a beautiful wife, and a sweet daughter, and another child on the way, so really, things could be a lot worse. I just have to keep telling myself that, he thinks, looking down at Sara as she cuddles up against his chest and yawns, finally looking like she could drift off at any time.