There's a pause. Then a short giggle, almost breathless. "Wait," AJ says incredulously. "Repeat that?"
Mike sighs. "I'm trapped in a small room, and there's a group of people outside trying to get me free, but so far, no go."
Silence echoes back from the other end of the phone line and then AJ huffs out a laugh. "Uh," she says. "How?"
"I don't know!" He throws his free hand up in disbelief. "The lock was busted, it shut behind me, and no one realized until I couldn't get out and they couldn't get in. Raw's starting soon, I don't know if I'll be able to do anything tonight."
AJ laughs. "Oh my god," she mumbles. "Well, I mean. What are your options?"
"Nothing really," he says. "No windows or screwdrivers or anything else in this room. They can't get it from their side. I'm stuck."
"Huh," she muses. "Well, that's messed up."
"Good thing is we have water and stuff, so I'm not going to like, pass out from dehydration or something."
She huffs. "Good to know."
There's a pause of noise outside, then Mike coughs. "Ugh, I think they're going to try to make me crawl through the vent in this door. Do you really think I'm going to be able to fit through that?" he calls out to them. He listens to the various responses to that and sighs. "They think I can fit," he tells AJ. "Well, if you get a call in awhile that they had to call the fire department to get me unstuck, you'll know what happened."
She laughs. "Please keep me updated."
"Yes, ma'am." He hesitates, once more eyeing the grate as they work at prying it open for him. "Love you, AJ."
"Love you, Mike. It'll be fine," she says reassuringly.
He hangs up and puts his phone down. "God, I hope so," he mumbles.
Somehow it works and he finds himself back out among the living, exhaling deeply as the various people who'd been struggling to free him for the better part of an hour claps him on the back and begins fiddling with the door, making sure no one will succeed at getting trapped in there again until it can be replaced.
For once, Mike is relieved to not have a match that night, not quite in the right headspace to focus on having Truth's back against Judgement Day or anyone else right now. It feels nice just to hang out and bullshit with DIY and Truth a bit.
-x
After all of that, the week passes quietly. Normally. Almost boring. So what happens on Friday morning, yeah, that's on Mike. He really doesn't take much time to watch Ring of Honor. After all, he's busy with his kids, his wife, media events, and whatever else comes up responsibility wise. Sometimes he'll marathon a few episodes, see what Johnny and Taya have been up to, but... yeah. They were playing on the beach at the normal time that Ring of Honor airs. Sue him.
The sun's barely risen, they're all still asleep, when there's a knock at the door. Then the bell rings. Then more knocking. Mike moans and almost falls out of bed, stumbling all the way from their bedroom to the door- which is a pretty lengthy path, it's not a small house after all!- and squints at the security feed until he realizes who it is. "John?" he asks, pressing the green button to unlock the door. He blinks as Taya and John flounce in, dragging in two young men behind them. "Uh. What's going on?" He's still trying to wipe the sleep out of his eyes enough to get a better look when it finally clicks with him. "Wait, aren't those Dalton Castle's Boys?"
Brent and Brandon Tate make distressed noises, clinging desperately to each other with such despair on their faces that Mike almost feels sorry for them.
"Yep!" John says cheerfully, slinging an arm around Taya. "We've adopted. Say hello to your godsons, Mike."
Mike can do nothing but stare, suddenly overwhelmed by the bonedeep need to go back to bed and leave all of this in his nightmares.