Ricardo frowns at the computer screen, tapping his fingers against his thigh, bored of waiting. "Hey, Alicia?" he calls out into the silence of the house.
There's a moment's silence, then, "Yeah?"
He exhales. "Did I get the time right? I was supposed to Skype with Mike at 1, right?"
"Yeah," she calls back. "1 PM sharp." There's some rustling from the other room, and she joins him, a frown on her face as she eyes the blank chat screen before them, checking the clock and shrugging when she sees it's 10 past. "Huh. Well, I hope he's alright." They all know how much of a struggle the last couple of weeks have been for the man, what with his knee issues and everything else that came from Wrestlemania Backlash, but still it's so uncharacteristic of Mike to be late for anything... "Maybe I should call AJ? Make sure everything's ok?"
Ricardo's in the process of responding when there's a flicker from the monitor, and finally, the chat screen loads up a view from Mike's webcam. "Oh! Hello?"
Mike appears on screen a minute later, looking breathless and a little windswept. "Hey, guys! Sorry I'm late, had a doctor's appointment I couldn't miss." His grin is sharp and all-encompassing and Ricardo eyes him.
"I'm guessing it was good news?" he ventures, lips tugging up into a grin of his own as Mike laughs, his eyes gleaming visibly even over the grainy screen.
"Yes! It was," he says happily. "My ACL tear is just partial, I'll be able to recuperate without surgery, and I can resume some WWE things in the meanwhile. Hosting MizTV and the like." His smile softens into something more sincere and Ricardo chuckles softly.
"I'm happy for you, Mike," he says. "That should teach them to doubt you, huh?"
"Damn straight," Mike laughs. "Nine months, pshaw, do they not know who the Miz is?"
"Apparently not," AJ says off screen, appearing over his shoulder a minute later, wrapping her arms around him cheerfully to get a better view. "Hey, Ricardo, Alicia."
"AJ!" Alicia grins, leaning over Ricardo's shoulder to get see her friend better. "Hey, we really need to set up a playdate. Maybe we can include Heath and Maryse and their kids too. Just make a big playdate out of it."
"I would adore that," AJ says, giggling a little at her friend's exuberance.
Ricardo and Mike sit back, content to let their wives claim their Skype time briefly to talk about their kids, Alicia's designs, and AJ's new comic book series, and everything else in between while they interject here and there, grins on their faces.