Mike stares down at Sara Louisa while she sleeps peaceful, chewing absentmindedly at his lower lip. Between John being in Columbia, and everything happening so quickly with Ziggler, he feels a deep sense of panic that he keeps trying to ignore, to focus on things that he can do something about- like this match with Dolph, and keeping his family together, and making sure that nothing goes wrong for Maryse or Heath because holy shit she's eight and a half months along now, and AJ is about six months along, and...

Mike sighs, glancing behind him when AJ walks in, wrapping an arm around his waist and tucking in as close as she can, considering. "Can't sleep?" she murmurs, pressing a kiss to his shoulder.

"No," he whispers, turning and resting his hands gently on AJ's lower back. "Sorry if I woke you."

She shrugs, leaning into him. "Nah, I'm kinda restless myself." She eases up and kisses him, smiling a little. "Summerslam weighing on you?"

He nods. "Yeah." Wrestlemania had gone poorly, but thanks to some quick thinking and fast actions from Heath, they'd all been spared. For now. But now with Ziggler lurking, there's clearly something he's planning and Mike isn't sure he can do this again. Face AJ, face Maryse and Heath, and Monroe and Sara, and be aware that he's just failed them all yet again. "AJ..."

She pulled back and looks up at him, a soft, affectionate look on her face. "Mike," she tells him lowly. "You haven't signed the contract yet. You can think of a plan B if you need to. We will not hold it against you."

He exhales. Hard. Squeezes her lightly. "A plan b, huh...?" he muses, already racing through possibilities. Match stipulations, guest referees, making it a handicap match, or... "I think I'd better talk this over with Shawn," he says, watching as AJ nods, muffling a yawn against her palm. "But for now, momma needs her sleep." One last glance at Sara and he rests his hands on AJ's hips, guiding her back down the hall to their room where he holds her and kisses her and whispers to her until she drifts back off, sleep eventually claiming Mike too as he ponders how to approach Shawn the next time he sees him.

-x

Shawn meets him outside of LA a couple days later, smiling and looking much more at ease than Mike thinks he has any right to. But of course, Shawn has no idea half of what's at stake with this Dolph stuff, how beyond it goes just his pride and Mike's. Mike wouldn't even consider half of this but they had bonded at Marine 6 taping, and for that, Mike feels more at ease around him than he feels around most people. Film an action movie and get some of the closest friends you can for life, who would've guessed it? he thinks. "Shawn, we have to discuss Summerslam," he says lowly, glancing around. It's secluded enough, this little patio dining area that Shawn's selected for them so Mike continues when Shawn nods. "Dolph has an ulterior motive beyond what's going on with you and I, I think."

Shawn shrugs, sipping from some iced tea. "What could that possibly be? He's stopped yelling it should've been me every five seconds, so that's a positive, I think."

Mike takes a deep breath and releases some of the tension held in his body before laying it all out there. His partnership with Shane, the secret he'd revealed- Shawn's eyes sharpen and his jaw drops a little when Mike explains the truth behind Monroe Skye and his own marriage and child- how Shane had used it against him. Why Dolph is now wrapped up in everything. "I maybe shouldn't trust this secret to yet another person," he says lowly. "It's bitten me in the ass more than once, but I don't know what to do. What steps to take. And Shawn, you've been in the business a lot longer, you've seen and experienced more than I may ever. So... I'm asking your opinion. What should I do from here because I don't know if I have it in me emotionally or physically right now to do what needs to be done to scare Dolph off from all of this. If he... if he says something, if he reveals the truth, if I fail..."

Shawn holds a hand up, looking almost gleeful. "I have just the thing, I think." He tugs his cell phone out of his pocket and mumbles a bit, pressing a few buttons, his grin only growing as Mike watches closely. It's ringing, he mouths after a moment and Mike sighs, sitting back impatiently. "Oh hey! Yeah, it's Shawn..." He sits up straighter, suddenly looking serious. More intense than Mike thinks he's ever seen him. "So you remember the last time we talked, you said you wanted a second opportunity in ring after that whole thing against Unde-..." He coughs. "Yeah, that. Well, I think I have just the thing for ya, Bill." His grin returns, smug and triumphant, as Mike gapes at him.

In the end, Bill Goldberg's name ends up on the contract, and Mike feels like he can breathe again as he looks forward to Ziggler getting taught a serious lesson at Summerslam.