"I don't know what to do," Mike says, sprawled out in the sand and looking up at the sky overhead as John stretches out next to him, listening as he does yoga poses, still ridiculously limber and energetic even after all of these years. "Shane is still holding these secrets over my head, and I almost feel like he's getting off just letting me worry about when he's going to reveal all to the world and destroy everything for me, AJ, Maryse, Heath and the kids.." He wants to say something about AJ's news, but it's too early, they'd decided to keep it between themselves for now. Too risky, he thinks, closing his eyes with a sharp sigh.

John rolls onto his back and looks over at Mike. "Well, that could be enough for him. Maybe he never intended on telling the world, maybe he likes seeing you stressed out and unable to focus on your career because of what he's threatening you with. Who knows, McMahons are never really 100% there, are they?"

"True," Mike mumbles. Sifts his fingers through the sand, watching it trickle out between his thumb and pointer finger. "I think I need to confront him though, try to get answers. Something."

"Maybe be careful with that, if you make him too angry, he might say something you'll both regret," John warns him.

Mike's never been one to be overly careful, however, and John and he both know it. "I'll try," he grimaces. "No promises though."

John sighs softly, nudges him. "C'mon, man. Let's go get our wives. I want to get something to eat."

"Alright," Mike agrees as they regroup and head back to John's apartment to get Taya and AJ, Sara Louisa settled sleepily against Mike's chest as they debate where they all want to eat at most. He makes a couple suggestions but mostly just sits and strokes his daughter's hair, chest tight at the thought of his decisions ever hurting her. He looks up when AJ's hand softly slips into his and squeezes gently, a small, sad smile on her face.

"Ok?" she asks him softly and he nods, discreetly shifting their hands under the table to rest against her stomach. She's not far enough along to be showing, but he can tell by the way she's caring herself now, the small smile that crosses her face sometimes when no one's looking. She's always beautiful, but she was radiant when she was pregnant with Sara, and she's just as gorgeous now.

"I love you," he tells her softly and her smile grows, loses some of its edge as she sighs softly.

"I love you too."

As he cradles his daughter and feels the steady warmth of his wife, currently pregnant with their second child, under his hand, Mike's not sure how it's all going to work out, but he knows, no matter what, that things will end up ok. No matter what Shane says or does.

-x

Mike's just flown out for Smackdown when he gets an email. A long, rambling mess, signed Vince McMahon at the bottom, informing him that he's officially being moved over to the Raw brand as part of the Superstar Shakedown. It's fine, Raw and Smackdown are being held in the same arena this week, so he doesn't have to change his plans too drastically, departing the plane and immediately getting an Uber to the arena for Raw that night. He nods at other people on the Raw brand he hasn't seen for awhile, and hesitates over Zack with his tag belts, Hawkins at his side. "Well, you've held it longer than 24 hours this time at least," he says, some smarminess worming its way back out once more.

Zack twitches, standing to stare him down, Hawkins halfheartedly trying to stop him, when Mike lifts his hands, not wanting to take this any further. "Look, I... never mind. That was a long time ago. Congrats on winning these belts, yeah? I'm proud of you, man."

Zack hesitates, eyeing him for a long, tense moment. "Thanks, bro," he finally says and Mike nods at him, walking past him before he says or does something else to make this worse.

He continues wandering until the show starts, glowering at a monitor as Stephanie and Shane start the show off. Mike paces, gritting his teeth, listening to the disgusting things they're saying, the lovefest between the siblings making him ill. Finally he can't stand it anymore, unable to hold back any longer, and rushes the ring, brawling with Shane all over ringside, into the crowd. He feels something hard crash into his skull and he only notices the blood once he gets into the ring, Shane stumbling up the ramp away from him, swinging a chair and breathing heavily as he glares down at the man still affecting so much of his life- to the point that he can't even enjoy the beginning weeks of AJ's pregnancy properly.

"This has to end," he mumbles to himself, digging his fingers into his eyes. "But how..."