The Couple: Mike Donovan & Shana Sloane
Duration: 1984-1985
How They Got Together: A chance meeting at Burnell’s led to Mike inviting Shana to come to Doug’s birthday party, which led to him giving her a ride home and inviting her on a date, which led to their “getting to know you” conversation dissolving into a fight about Vietnam. Nevertheless, the pair managed to make it to a second date.
The Obstacles They Faced: Her past with (and enduring love for) Jim, the fact that she was spying on Dane’s behalf, Harry’s desire for vengeance against her, Jonathan’s plot to use Shana to corrupt Jim’s soul, and Mike’s lingering feelings for his ex-wife, Noreen.
Number of Times They Wed: They were supposed to marry in 1985, but called it off before making it down the aisle. Having realized that he was still in love with Noreen, Mike broke things off. To add insult to injury, he broke things off at her bridal shower.
How They Ended Up: Mike and Shana broke up for good after his confession. He and Noreen officially reconciled and not long afterward left town together
Their Story:
When Mike and Shana first begin dating, they both have a lot of other things on their minds. Mike is just recently divorced from Noreen, their split caused largely by the issues stemming from Mike’s PTSD, and out of a brief fling with Ann; Shana has just arrived in town at Dane’s behest and is installed in AE as a corporate spy, and she’s come back into the orbit of former lover, Jim. It’s her past with Jim that causes early problems in her new relationship, as the two grow closer while collaborating on a charity fashion show and Mike becomes jealous of the closeness between them. However, just as Jim begins trying to distance himself, Mike drifts back towards Ann, offering her comfort and support as she copes with the sudden death of her husband, Roger.
Mike and Shana break things off and he and Ann begin seeing each other again, but Isabelle discourages Ann from pursuing the relationship and, self-conscious about the class difference between them, Ann breaks things off again. In the meantime, Harry Sowolsky has become fixated on Shana and makes two attempts to rape her. On the second occasion, Mike and Jim arrive to rescue her and Harry shoots Jim before being taken down by Mike. While Jim is left lingering between life and death, Shana has to reckon with her feelings for him and is hopeful that they may have a future together when he briefly comes to and whispers her name. However, his brush with death has only affirmed his faith and when he comes to, he tells Shana that he’s committed to his priestly vows.
Both having been burned, Shana and Mike begin seeing each other again, but though he’s begun therapy to deal with his PTSD, Mike continues to have nightmares about his friend, Gage, whom he accidentally killed when they were in Vietnam. Although Shana urges Mike to open up to her and let her help him through his trauma, Mike pushes her away until the burden becomes too much for him to bear and he confides in her about Gage – and then picks up his gun intending to kill himself. Shana talks him out of it, comforting him as he breaks down over the trauma of the past, and the two are brought even closer after Harry kidnaps Shana and Mike rescues her.
Mike and Shana finally begin to move forward and become engaged, but discover a new conflict as a result of his new job as AE’s head of security and his siding with the striking workers in the company’s cosmetics division. At a meeting with the workers, Mike makes promises on the company’s behalf and Shana, made temporary Chairman of the company as a result of Cabot’s failing health, reads him the riot act. Mike quits his job in response, but though he and Shana are able to work things out, her focus is firmly on the company, which has been taken over by Dane and the Beecham brothers.
While Shana otherwise occupied, Mike welcomes Noreen back to Corinth and the two begin spending a lot of time together, as she’s staying with his parents while looking for a place of her own. When it comes out that their divorce was never finalized, Mike promises Shana that he’s going to take care of it so that they can be married as planned, but the closer the wedding day gets, the closer Mike finds himself getting to Noreen. When Patrick and Rose go away, Mike decides to surprise them by doing some wallpapering in the house and the tensions run high between him and Noreen as they spend time alone together. They sleep together and, though they initially agree to forget about it, they find themselves unable to keep away from each other and have an affair. When Jim discovers what’s going on, he confronts Mike, who realizes that he needs to end things with Shana. Because his first attempt to break up with Shana is interrupted, Mike ends up having to call things off at the bridal shower, leaving her humiliated and angry.
Loving (1983-1995) 