Mike feels nauseous. He'd had Heath, Maryse and the two little girls flown out immediately, to stay in the relative safety of their California home. It's less isolated than Texas, and even if Heath's on the road, then Maryse will have AJ, Alicia, Ricardo, Taya and John to depend on. He only feels marginally less agonized with everyone together under one roof, but even then, he can't bring himself to travel out for Smackdown, so he stays. He does agree to shoot an interview, but it's promised that it'll be kept short and professional, and he's staring into the camera, eyes wide and blue and deadly serious as he discusses Bray targetting his family, when he hears something.
Maryse yelling, a scrambled, blurry picture on the baby monitor. He scrambles, follows her through the halls, and they both freeze, terrified, at Monroe's door. "Where did you get that?" Mike demands, gripping a doll version of one of the puppets, gnashing his teeth together and struggling not to tear his hair out as Monroe cries and clings to Maryse, visibly confused.
The cameras thankfully shut off, then, and the crew leaves a few moments later, the eerie vibe to the house enough to run anyone away. "I'm sorry," Mike breathes, hugging both Maryse and Monroe close. "I'm so damn sorry, this place was supposed to be safe for you guys."
"It's- it's..." Maryse stumbles over her words and looks up helplessly. "Mike, please. I know he thinks- targetting us because of Miz and Mrs makes sense, but... not my babies. They're so little." She clings to Monroe, steps over to Madison's crib where she'd thankfully slept through the entire trauma. "Not my babies," she repeats, tears dripping down her face.
The others had made themselves scarce to avoid getting seen by the camera crew, or accidentally getting caught on camera, and once everyone returns and hears what happened, an eerie silence fills the living room where everyone had congregated to talk it out. "Oh my God," AJ breathes out, hugging Sara close and rocking George's carrier with her foot. "Maryse, I- I'm so sorry. This was supposed to be safe for you and your babies-"
She sniffs. Shakes her head. "I know what happens in WWE sometimes. I mean, it's not like this is the first time Bray has targeted Mike." She stares at him. "But I can't go through this. It's not fair to my children. It's not fair to Heath, or to me. Mike, you need to do something."
"I will," he promises. "I swear, I will."
Heath stares at them from where he's kneeling by Madison's carrier, jaw tense, eyes dark and angry. He gets to his feet and wavers for a minute before storming out of the room, muttering viciously to himself.
"Heath!" Maryse cries after him, voice trembling, but before she can stand, Mike rests a hand on her shoulder.
"I'll go after him," he exhales. "Just stay here, be safe." AJ shifts closer to her and Mike shoots her a grateful glance before running after Heath.
It takes some looking to find him, but once Mike does, he breathes a little easier. They stand on the patio, staring up at the stars overhead for a few moments, before Heath turns towards Mike, his dark eyes deadened of all emotions. "Ya promised you'd keep my girls safe, Mike."
"I know I did," he says numbly.
"Does this look like keepin' 'em safe, Mike?" He gets in Miz's space, pokes him in the chest. "They ain't yours, Mike. Why do they have to suffer just 'cause of some TV show ya'll do together?" His accent is getting thicker, deeper, the angrier he gets.
"It's not fair," Mike says. "I'm so-"
"Your apologies ain't worth shit, Mike," he says quietly, cutting him off. "I don't wanna hear it. Ya know what I do wanna hear? I wanna hear that you're gonna end this thing with Bray so me and my girls can go back to our lives in Texas safely. I wanna hear that my babies aren't gonna be traumatized by some weird ass demonic freak with supernatural powers because you had to get yourself involved in whatever's going on with Daniel Bryan. That is all I care about right now."
Silence surrounds them while Heath's dark eyes bore into Mike's desperate blue ones. "Alright," he breathes out. "I understand. I... I'll try my hardest, I swear. I'll end this Sunday. I swear to you, he'll never touch them again."
"You'd better," Heath tells him quietly. "I know a lotta people think I ain't worth much because I don't get a lotta matches anymore, but I think I've proven I've got some fight in me still." He pushes Mike back and walks past him. "If somethin' goes wrong and my girls're hurt 'cause of it, I'll never forgive you, Mike."
Mike watches him leave and sags back against the railing. "I know you won't," he mumbles. The thought is sobering, saddening. When things are good, Heath is one of the funniest, more loyal guys he knows. To lose it... like this... He bites his lip, squares his shoulders. "I will fix this."
After a couple days lost in thought, trying to work out a gameplan against Bray, TLC comes around. Mike tries not to be scared, tries to feel confident in his mess of match ideas and strategies. As soon as he's in the ring, however, it all goes out the window. He fights as hard as he can, but The Fiend is just a little too cunning, a little too fast, a little too invincible. Mike feels it all slipping away, scrambling, struggling, flailing- and...
He loses. He's laying there, breathless and desperate, and lost, and The Fiend is standing over him with his large mallet, and the crowd is noisy and- then Daniel Bryan is there, Daniel Bryan is attacking The Fiend, and Mike scrambles away to safety, pressing his face against the floor. Hoping, pleading with anything that might be listening that this'll be enough, this'll be the distraction needed to make Bray leave Maryse and the kids alone. That Daniel back will give The Fiend direction that isn't to torment his family.
For a wild, pained moment, Mike is almost relieved he hadn't won so this could all end for him, despite the guilt swirling within him for the selfish thought, because Daniel has a family too, Birdy not much older than Sara right now.
But it's all he can focus on. All that makes sense to him. Please let them be safe now, he thinks while struggling backstage, unable to even look back at what might be happening in the ring.