Mike rubs at his eyes and sighs, glancing over at a peacefully sleeping AJ with a small smile. The house is quiet, everyone within its walls fast asleep, but he just can't relax quite enough to get there himself. Everything feels on the cusp of change- the doctor's told them she could go into labor at any time, everything in wrestling is in flux, and he's not sure when he's going to catch his footing properly in all of the constant shifting in both personal and private. Not to mention John's hint still weighing on him from the week prior.
He's still staring at the ceiling with a frown on his face when AJ stirs and rolls over, pressing against his side and slowly rubbing her hand over his abs. "Stop thinking," she says sleepily and he closes his eyes.
"Sorry if I woke you," he whispers to her, pressing a kiss to her temple.
"You didn't, I've been awake for a couple minutes," she says, leaning into his warmth. "I've been sleeping too much, it's lost all appeal for me." He smiles a little as she shifts into a sitting position, hand sprawling over her stomach. "Talk to me, Mike."
He shrugs, unsure what to say. "I don't know, things just feel like they're on the head of a pin, about to spin drastically out of my control and it's just... wild. Between you and the baby, everything happening in wrestling right now, Ricardo and Alicia now living here, stuff with John..."
She blinks. "What's going on with John?"
He realizes he hadn't told her and swallows. "Oh. Uh. Well, there are these whispers going around..." He leans in and says it very quietly against her ear and her eyes widen. "Yeah. And he might've been screwing with me, or he might've kind of confirmed it and I don't know how to feel about it."
"Wow," she says softly. "How long's it been?"
"Eight years," he responds automatically and her lip twitches. "Hey, I was his final match, it's hard not to remember this stuff."
"Of course," she responds fondly. "So in an ideal world, would The Dirt Sheet ride again?"
He shrugs. "Hell if I know. He's changed a lot since then, hell, I've changed a lot since then. Maybe? I'm still waiting for official confirmation of anything. Either way, ..." His words fade away and she chuckles.
"It'll be nice to have your best friend back."
"Yes, exactly," he agrees with a soft sigh. "It would be..."
She cuddles up close to him and resumes gently stroking his ribs, down his abs, then back up, and he closes his eyes, giving in to her ministrations. "I love you, husband," she mumbles into his shoulder, and he smiles.
"I love you too, sweetheart," he tells her, finally feeling sleep start to creep in along the edges of his awareness.
Monday is madness. There's pyro being tested, and so many people running around, trying to make things perfect. He talks to everyone he can about MizTV, wanting it to be perfect, and then he's told about Saudi Arabia at the end of the month and feels everything in him freeze. The match itself being promoted sounds amazing- and it's fantastic that he'll be the one trusted to announce it, but. But. AJ could have their child at any time, and the last few weeks of the pregnancy had been worrisome as it was between her being put on bedrest and everything else. Having to be so far away, with the possibility of her having their child then...
He stares at the sheet of paper running down the match info for so long that finally the backstage tech shifts uncomfortably. "Is there something wrong with it?"
Mike's head shoots up. "Oh, no, this seems fine," he says, voice distant and eyes barely focusing on the words before him.
"Go talk to Flair, he said something about knowing who the leader of his team would be already,"
"Ok, thanks," Mike says, forcing himself to pay attention, abide by the suggestion and go to Flair's personal locker room. Charlotte is in there, and he nods at her with a small smile, before greeting Ric with a genial handshake and hug. "How's it going, guys? Great to see you." He's faking, and he thinks Charlotte can tell because she frowns a little at him, but Ric continues on in his usual way, dominating the room with his bodascious claims and loud voice, wide motions with his hands, and Mike slowly feels himself settling, calmed by Ric's familiar actions.
When he leaves, he has the information he'd wanted, and he adds it to his notes before running everything down a few more times once he's back in his locker room.
The show itself goes well enough. Drama, a messy beatdown, the event with the five on five match pushed as well as can be expected, and Mike steps aside and watches as Seth and Orton make their way to the ring, just for Corbin and Rusev to get involved as well. And thus, he thinks, the first four competitors have been decided.
But through everything, the main thing he keeps getting stuck on is...
Why didn't anyone choose me?