"I don't feel very comfortable with this," AJ confesses to Mike, blinking up into the darkness as he traces idle shapes against her arm. "Things are so... contentious right now." She rolls towards him and cups his face, staring up into his eyes. "You stay where it's safe, and do whatever you need to do to come home to us. Understand?"

He nods. "Yes ma'am," he agrees, pressing his lips to her palms. "Don't worry, sweetheart. Everything's going to be fine." Whatever nervousness he has about the situation too, he keeps to himself until she's fast asleep in his arms, lips still held tense in fear of what's to come. He lightly kisses her forehead and tucks her close to his chest, stroking her back. "I love you," he whispers into her hair.

Closing his eyes, he nuzzles into her and sighs tiredly, wishing things weren't always such a struggle, so complicated. What's the point of competing to be possibly the Best in the World when it's scaring her like this? he asks himself, subconsciously listening to her breathing and thinking about the next week, how he could make things easier for her.

The idea comes to him close to 5 AM and he thinks about time differences and other things like that before hoisting himself out of bed and walking quietly outside, leaning against the porch railing as he places a few calls. "Hey, I know it's early, but I have an idea and I need your help to make it all work..." It takes some maneuvering but his idea comes along easily enough and he grins, resting his head against the cool siding of their house. "Thank you," he murmurs.

Hanging up, he scoops a quietly fussing Sara up and walks her into the bedroom, depositing her on AJ's stomach and laughing as he goes to the bathroom to start the day. It's going to be a long few days but he's going to do his absolute best to distract her for as long as he can, starting today with her favorite breakfast and a long walk around the beach before leaving Sara with Taya and John and taking her out to her favorite restaurant downtown. Truth be told, he needs some special things to take his mind off of what's around the corner as well.

-x

That Tuesday, Mike hosts Rey Mysterio on MizTV. It goes about as well as can be expected, especially after Rey says he wishes he was on TruthTV instead. Mike stews over it while they wrestle, his frustration with everything leading to him losing. He grits his teeth and hits the mat before making his way backstage where Asuka is waiting for him, wide eyed and compassionate even as she rambles on in Japanese, Mike getting the vibe behind her words even if he's not sure exactly what she's saying. He lightly pats her shoulder and nods at her, struggling to find a smile. "Thanks, Asuka," he murmurs, following her back to his locker room.

They both stop and exchange glances when they find Aiden English sitting on a trunk outside of Mike's room, holding his head in his hands. It's clear by how he's sitting that he's in a pretty fair amount of pain and Mike walks up to him, resting a hand on his shoulder. "Hey, man, wanna come in? The couch is comfortable enough in there."

Aiden blinks a few times. Then nods. "Yeah, sure. Thanks." It's slow going, takes both Mike and Asuka to help him down, guide him into the room, and he collapses awlwardly into the couch as soon as Mike eases him over to it. He drops an arm over his face and breathes heavily as Asuka gets some ice and Mike helps him press it against where Rusev had stomped his back before locking in the devastating Accolade.

Mike is thumbing through his phone alerts while Asuka is preparing for her match with Naomi when Aiden speaks up again, his voice low, more than a little broken. "I really miss him, you know?"

They both stop, look at each other again. "Yeah, I do," Mike murmurs, thinking about everyone he's been close to just for things to fall apart, friendships to fade away. Alex, Sandow, even Neville on some level. He sighs and shakes his head. He sits down next to Aiden and shrugs. "You're welcome around here whenever you want, man. I get it. I do. Us misfits have to stick together, right?" He smiles over at Asuka and she nods, finishing off her preparations by shrugging into her colorful, untied kimono.

"Hai!" she says, before going off on another Japanese tangent that Aiden looks dazed by too.

Once she breezes out of the room, Mike laughs fondly, shaking his head. "You'll get used to it," he promises Aiden before getting comfortable to watch his Mixed Match Challenge partner work her way through the Smackdown women.