Leaving on the week of a holiday is always rough. Especially when it's Valentines Day. Mike sighs and leans in, kissing AJ lightly on the mouth. "I'll be home in time to give you the best day I can Thursday, I promise," he tells her. He slips out while she's still asleep, looking in on Sara for a moment, brushing his fingers through her curls as she sleeps on peacefully. "I love you, baby girl," he tells her, kissing her cheek before tiptoeing out of her bedroom and going to collect his luggage. The house is still quiet and peaceful when he makes his way out to the Uber waiting, nodding at the driver as he settles into the vehicle.

The flight to Smackdown is quiet, boring. Mike dozes through some of it and catches up on his schedule for the next few weeks while waiting to land. By the time he reaches the arena, his eyes are bright, his grin is as sincere as it ever gets, and he's all but bouncing in his shoes to see Shane again, figure out what exactly was going on last week that his partner couldn't even be at his own show. He's walking towards the locker room when he spots the man himself, unable to stop himself from calling out. "Aha, there he is right this moment, my co-bestie, Shane O'Mac!"

Shane laughs and meets him with a quick hug and fist bump, careful to keep his coffee from spilling all over the place. "Hey, Mike. What's going on?"

"Ah, ya know, same old, same old. Wife and daughter were sleeping at home last I saw them and now I'm here in one piece, so no real complaints. How about you? How'd last week's... business go?"

Shane narrows his eyes warningly at him. "Everything last week went great, but Mike, I'm seriously not supposed to tell anyone what's going on, so-"

"Ah come on, Shane! We're the best tag team in the world! Why would I betray your trust?"

Shane blows out a breath, swayed a bit by how Mike's had his back the last few weeks, never leaving his side no matter how often they get beat down or punked out. "Alright," he concedes. "So I received a call from the NCIS:LA people a couple weeks ago, and..."

Mike gapes at him once he finishes explaining his role, how taping it had gone, everything else, lips easing up into a pleased grin. "See, man, I knew it! You and I work together for a few weeks and you're already getting TV offers!" He claps Shane on the arm. "Of course, it's not as impressive as a move role, but here, here's my agent's card, you call him and he'll take really good care of you, and-"

"I don't really think that's necessary," Shane says with a weary laugh, almost as if he'd expected something like this response the last few days.

"Oh, pshaw!" Mike says enthusiastically, draping an arm around Shane's shoulders. "Trust me, the sky's the limits for ya! With me by your side, coaching you, you'll have so many TV offers and movie deals that you'll be doublebooked trying to fit them all in!" He grins as Shane cringes at the thought, dragging him down the hall, still talking excitedly about it all, and the prospect of them both filming in the same movie or TV show.

Finally, Shane clears his throat. "But for tonight, let's focus on McMizTV, and facing off with the Usos on Sunday."

Immediately, Mike changes gears. "Yeah, right. Let's do that." He finds a tech, and they quickly tell him what they need for the show later, which isn't much- just a mat for the ring and a couple of chairs, everything else will just be them handling business the way they always do- face to face with the Usos.

Which, it could've gone worse, Mike reflects later as they walk side by side backstage, quiet and lost in thought about everything that had been said, how the Usos had snuck in superkicks on them when their guards were down. "Hey, Mike, I'm sorry, I should've been paying more attention-"

Mike waves off Shane's apology, rubbing his jaw gingerly. "No, don't do that," he says. "I was facing in their direction and they still surprised me. It's fine." He squints, looking over at him for a moment. "We'll get them back for that on Sunday."

Shane nods, briskly rubbing Mike's shoulder before squeezing his arm. "Damn right, we will," he says.

Mike nods, hoping that their determination will be enough against the Usos and everything they bring to the ring, the bond that they have.