A/N: My apologies for this being a bit late. I was out most of the day yesterday, and then too tired to finish writing it to the degree I felt it deserved so... it's being posted late but yeah, here we go. Hope you all enjoy! Also with this chapter, Back to Basic is now over 400,000 words long. It wouldn't be possible without you, the readers, so thank you all so much!

A-Ri smiles faintly as he stares up at the stage of the Pink concert. He's still worried, uncertain where things will go with Miz from here- his former NXT mentor had been distressingly quiet ever since whatever happened in the hotel with AJ Lee, barely speaking, sleeping or eating until they had to go their separate ways, Mike off to promote Marine: Homefront while Alex reluctantly returned to Florida. As much as he enjoys concerts, he's just barely able to focus on the show and eventually ducks aside to exit the arena and get some air by the concession stand.

He's still standing there when there's a soft sound of a throat clearing behind him. He steps aside, thinking it's someone wanting to walk around him, but the person doesn't budge and finally he turns to look. The dark haired man staring at him somehow looks familiar but it doesn't click completely with him. "Hello?"

"Hola," the man greets him just loud enough to be heard over the echoing music and general noise of the crowd around them. "I'm Memo Montenegro. I think... I've seen you around NXT, si?"

This does click with Alex on a few fronts, his eyes widening as he nods. Del Rio's brother, of course. "Oh, hey, man. Sorry, my mind's just elsewhere right now."

"No problem. Er, are you in line for concession?"

"Oh. Nope, go ahead."

Memo nods, then glances back at him. "Eh, is everything alright?"

"Yeah, everything's fine." He forces a smile. "Just needed a minute. It's kinda hot in there."

"I see," Memo says slowly. "Ok, well see you around."

"See you." As he walks off, Alex presses his hands to his face and shakes his head, wishing that this night had done what he'd hoped it would and succeed at distracting him for at least a few hours. "Ugh..."

Miz shakes his head as he wanders back towards the locker rooms. He'd thought he had a good chance, really, 2 out of 3 falls against Antonio Cesaro, but the Swede had come out on top again, beating him for two of the falls and yeah, he's sore, but he's more aggravated than anything. March was supposed to be his month, 2013 the best year of his life with Marine 3: Homefront finally being released, but so far it was shaping up to be anything but. He hasn't even seen Alex yet tonight, adding to his unhappiness, but considering how he's been acting, he thinks it might be just as well. No need for both of them to be miserable. Realizing that being around all of his fellow competitors right now would probably be foolish, he finds a trunk in a quiet part of the arena and sits down on it, his head lowered as he considers everything, his first wrong move, and everything that had led him to this moment.

His thoughts are disrupted, however, when the door across from where he's sitting crashes open, Alberto Del Rio leaving his room hurriedly, Ricardo Rodriguez standing alone in the doorway, gaping after him. "El- El Patron?" He looks unsettled, frowning, and Miz can just see over his shoulder into the personal locker room, where the monitor is visible from where he's sitting, Swagger and Kolter on the screen harrassing Jim Ross. When Miz coughs faintly, Ricardo spins towards him, blinking. "Oh. Miz. Hola."

"Hey." Ricardo glances over his shoulder at the screen once more before venturing out into the hallway and sitting down next to him. They watch quietly as Alberto makes it out in time to help JR, handing him his hat and glaring warningly down at "We the People" as they retreat.

Once the show goes to commercial and things seem to quiet down, Ricardo turns to look at Mike, unsettled by his silence, utter stillness. "Are you alright?"

Mike blinks a few times, turning to glance over at him. "Oh. Yeah, sure. Why wouldn't I be?" The words come out a good deal more bitter than Miz had intended them and Ricardo blanches as he looks away, staring at his hands.

"What happened, if you don't mind my asking?"

"I told AJ about how... I used her."

Ricardo licks his lips, remembering some of the story off of what he'd been told over the past few weeks. "I see. She... didn't take it well?"

"You could say that," he grunts. "She... went back to Dolph. And I don't blame her, they just don't have the bad start that we do."

Ricardo nods, understanding all too well about regrets and how they can eat one alive if allowed. He's not sure what to say, if there is anything to say, to make Mike feel better. When Del Rio returns, looking somehow both accomplished and unhappy with the whole situation- tension becoming a constant part of the man since Swagger and Kolter began their rhetoric, far from pleased with the open refusal to accept their people into the country that Alberto had called home for years now-, Ricardo looks at Mike with a hesitant smile and pats him on the arm, murmuring a hurried, "I'm sorry, Mike," before getting up to join his employer.

Mike's fine with being alone. He still has a lot to think about, after all. Even more to sort out. However, his thoughts are disrupted again when Alex appears before him, his body tense and sadness in his eyes. "Hey, man, you wanna get out of here? The show's over anyway." Staring at him in some surprise, Mike takes a breath and then nods, some of the nonstop thoughts revolving around everything from Monday quieting as he slowly stands and follows Alex outside.

Mike and Alex end up working the Raw house show tour that weekend, driving around Canada's roads that Sunday night as they head on down to New York for the Raw taping the next day. Alex has just taken over driving when, thumbing through the texts he'd missed out on while maneuvering around the pitch black scenery, Mike swallows and stares, shaking his head. "No way..."

"What is it?" Alex wonders, focus still locked on the road ahead. Mike doesn't answer immediately and the younger man glances over at him. "Mike?"

"AJ tweeted that Dolph proposed to her at the house show tonight in front of his parents," he finally responds, hands tight against his cell phone as it creaks in protest between his fingers, voice lifeless. Alex takes a deep breath and starts to turn the car towards the shoulder of the road, Mike immediately snapping, "No!" When he hesitates, slowly easing up on the wheel, he closes his eyes. "Just don't. I don't want... I don't want to stop, just... keep driving." Alex nods reluctantly, straightening the car out once more. They've gone a few miles in silence when Mike glances over at his best friend. "Thanks," he murmurs lowly, only just releasing his cell phone as they near the border.

"Sure, man." Alex takes a breath as he prepares to enter New York, handling everything automatically while he dwells on Mike's broken words, painful murmurs that'd ate through him. So much for the period of time around Marine 3: Homefront being good for him, he thinks grimly.

Once they finally arrive at the hotel a few hours later, Mike sinks onto his bed and sits there, staring blankly ahead. Alex does his pre-sleep rituals as quickly as possible, unsurprised but saddened to find his friend unmoved once he returns to the room. "Bathroom's free for you," he offers quietly, sighing faintly when this still doesn't garner a response. He sits across from Mike, watching him for a few minutes, wishing desperately that Mike could talk to him about everything that's been going on with AJ, and that text, everything else, but he also has learned over the years that pushing him into any kind of conversation will usually just backfire. Morrison'd impressed that upon him quite regularly so finally, he gives up on waiting. "I'm going to grab some sleep, Mike. If you need anything, I'm here, ok? Just... wake me up."

Mike does nod faintly so Alex takes it as a bit of a victory and crawls under his sheets, clicking the lamp between their beds off and casting the room in shadows, his eyes closing as he tries to find some degree of rest before they have to resume all of this once more too early in the morning. It doesn't work, however, as Mike's disinterest in sleep seems to extend to Alex, leaving him staring into the darkness for the better part of the night, searching out his friend in the darkness every time he awakens after checking the clock and grimacing at just how slowly the time is passing. Mike only moves a few times through the hours, either staying on the bed or peering out of the window or sitting silently by the desk. It hurts to watch, knowing just how much this whole AJ situation is still eating him alive. Alex shakes his head and buries his face in his pillows, wishing that things could've ended up differently for the Most Must See Superstar.

Monday morning dawns freezing and bright, Miz barely bothering to grumble about the weather as exhaustion deeper than the usual he feels weighs him down, Alex peering over at him with a pained look on his face. It's clear that AJ's tweet from the night before still weighs on his mind, his hand unsteady as he stuffs his phone in his pocket, avoiding the mobile web apps that he usually is on whenever he has a free minute just in case he should run across some other piece of news he'd rather not learn of about the Smackdown houseshow that it'd happened at. Or pictures, GIFs, videos, whatever else some fan might upload to the massive expanse of the Internet.

"What do you wanna do this afternoon, Mike?" Despite the event being hours away, most still arrive with plenty of time to spare to film things, have interviews, take advantage of photo ops, whatever else needs to be done. But Alex rarely has anything to do but sit around and today, Mike's being given a bit of a break since he's been and will be on more press junkets to do with Marine 3 for the next few days. And if anyone could find something interesting to do with free time, it'd be Mike. Normally.

But, as they enter the arena, Mike stops outside of the door and looks around. "I want to wait for AJ."

Alex's jaw drops. "Wha- what?"

"Not to talk to her, no. But..." He hesitates, licks his lips. "It might sound kind of ridiculous, but I need to see... I want to see her, with him, like... that."

"Why?" His voice squeaks a little, making him sound like a teenager, but he's too disturbed by Mike's prospects to even flush. "Mike-"

"Closure, Alex. I mean... I knew before, but this'll... I don't know, cement things the rest of the way for me, I guess." Dull blue eyes look up to meet Alex's worried ones and he smiles wanly. "Does that make any sort of sense?"

It's odd, but it does. "Yes," Alex finally whispers, hating the thought of Mike suffering any further upon seeing AJ with Dolph's ring on her finger, but the logic makes some sort of horrible sense. "I'll sit with you," he offers.

Mike doesn't say anything one way or another about that, sitting down on a ledge across from where they'd just come in at and Alex has just joined him when it opens, both men's heads shooting up... but instead of the trio they're looking for, Alberto Del Rio and Ricardo Rodriguez enter, both their clothes covered in a thin sheet of icy moisture but looking happy none-the-less, equal grins on their faces as they talk back and forth in rapid-fire Spanish, Mike only picking up some of it, especially Niagara Falls. Despite the happiness on Ricardo's face, he's visibly shivering and Del Rio looks almost as chilled, casting a quick glance around the surrounding area. He guesses what's about to happen when Alberto's dark eyes drop on him and Alex, resting a hand between Ricardo's shoulderblades and leading him over to them. "Amigo, sit here for a bit, I see catering from here. I'll bring back something warm for us to drink, si?"

Ricardo looks about as surprised as Mike and Alex both feel at the suggestion, swallowing. Even he's still growing used to the newer, kinder man that employs him. "El Patron, I can-"

"No, amigo. You only recently had the flu, I don't want you getting sick again. Stay, rest. I'll be back momentarily."

Once he leaves, Rodriguez swallows faintly and turns to face the other two. "Hola," he greets them. Mike raises an eyebrow at him, his lips twitching into a small smile for the first time since the week prior. "Wha- what is it?"

Reaching out, he grips the younger man's ice encrusted hat and tsks at it a bit before batting it against the side of the wall, shaking loose a pile of ice and snow before pressing it back into place on top of the startled ring announcer's head. "There."

Ricardo flushes, only now realizing just how much snow, ice and slush they'd tracked into the arena from the Falls, too wrapped up in the beauty they'd seen and pleased to get warm once more to notice. "Oops." He shakes his head, wincing as the arena cleaning staff, somehow aware of this already, sets to work on the entrance, sweeping up as much of the mess as they possibly could so no accidents would be suffered by those entering the building to begin work. Clearing his throat awkwardly, he tilts his head at them. "May I ask why you're both sitting out here?"

Miz closes his eyes, tilting his head. "I guess you saw Ziggler propose to AJ." Ricardo looks blankly on, a confused look in his eyes, and Mike frowns. "At the Smackdown house show last night?"

Blinking rapidly, Ricardo shakes his head. "I- I don't know what you mean... there was this one thing, but it- it wasn't a marriage proposal, if that's what you're talking about." He stares on as Mike pales, wide eyes boring into Ricardo's with something that looks almost crazed, the ring announcer shifting away from him. "It- it..." He sucks in a deep breath and shakes his head, wondering how much of what he wants to explain might make things worse for the superstar staring at him. "Ziggler did get down on one knee, yes, but- he didn't ask AJ to marry him... he just- he wanted to know if she'd... she'd wear his wristband."

Alex twitches as Mike stares on in disbelief. "He... that... is all?" He shakes his head. "No way. No. Way."

Ricardo nods and Mike turns to glance at his friend, still in disbelief of what he'd just heard. Their eyes have barely locked before both men break out in stressed laughter, finally releasing some of the tension from the past few days, not to mention from the past few hours. "Dammit. I can't believe..."

Alex sighs, wiping a hand up his face and through his hair. They're still sitting there when the trio walks through the entrance a little while later, honestly looking like they think they own this place- and Mike sees it- the garish pink band wrapped around AJ's wrist. He holds his breath as they walk by, Big E. staring at him warningly as AJ and Dolph both all but ignore him, for different reasons. He swallows slightly, listening as their footsteps slow, then stop, Alex also keeping his eyes straight ahead. But Ricardo glances behind them quickly before looking away. When the three resume walking away, Dolph's mocking laughter echoing back to them, Ricardo stands and walks over to what they had been staring at- the board with the show's scheduled matches and segments, something Miz hadn't really noticed until this moment. As he returns, an odd look on his face, Mike blinks at him. "What is it?"

"You have a match against Ziggler," he says lowly, watching Mike's face.

"Well, that explains a lot." His hands tighten against his slacks as he considers this, all of the resulting tension that will come from being in range of Dolph and AJ again, not to mention what she or Big E. could possibly do to disrupt the match. He wishes he could invite Alex out, or something, but the kid's been involved in enough of his drama lately... He's dwelling on how best to handle this when the door slams open once more, another chilly wind brushing over him. He doesn't bother looking up until Alex nudges him and he finds himself staring at Ric Flair, who's watching him with his hands on his hips, his words not even registering with the Awesome One as something clicks with him.

"I have a match later," he tells the Naitch as soon as he stops talking. "Wanna accompany me?"

"Whoo!"

As Flair struts around, Mike blinks and laughs, shaking his head slightly. "Guess I'll take that as a yes."

Even with the knowledge that Ziggler hadn't proposed, that it'd all been a false alarm, Mike equally dreads and looks forward to the match that will be held fairly early in the card. As he prepares to leave, the three already in the ring and AJ hanging all over Dolph as always, Ric stands by the gorilla position, waiting to be announced out. Alex follows him as well, stopping at the curtain. "Hey, Mike, good luck out there."

He half-smiles, knowing that, even with Flair out there with him, between being distracted by AJ and trying to keep an eye out for any attacks by Big E., he'll probably need it. "Thanks, man." Clapping Alex on the shoulder, he turns and heads to the ring, staring at the three as they await him, AJ's dark, emotionless gaze locked on him, looking so cold that he shivers before losing himself once more in the adrenaline that he always feels before a match. As he introduces Flair, that rush and the after-effects of the tension he's been feeling for much too long now causes him to speak without thinking, saying something about how Flair makes his corner look much better than Dolph's, his eyes closing briefly when he realizes just what words had escaped his big mouth. Way to go, Mike, he grimaces.

But he forgets for awhile, losing himself in staying ahead of Dolph as best as he can. As loath as he is to admit it, the guy is good, and with AJ and E. as distractions on the outside, well... Sure enough, this comes into play as AJ gets on the apron and appears to be trying to help Dolph away from the approaching Mike, his eyes immediately locked on her, wondering what she's doing- the distraction lasts just long enough until he realizes that Big E. isn't in his range of sight, turning quickly just to get punched while the referee is busy getting her off of the apron. He half-watches, ears ringing, as Flair takes on the much larger man. His chops and other attempts at offense do nothing against the enforcer, so Miz scrapes together whatever remains of his energy and shoots through the ropes, dropkicking Langston and allowing Flair to get away.

The world tilts almost immediately as he senses Dolph behind him, trying to get a victory via rollup, and he thinks perhaps it's over, but no- he breaks free and manages to lock in the Figure Four, laughing to himself as the man taps. He closes his eyes and takes a breath, watching with a heavy heart as Big E. and AJ recollect the Money in the Bank holder, forcing a grin nonetheless as Flair joins him.

Despite being invited to come along with Ric to one of his many parties, Mike decides to hang around at the arena and keep an eye on the show with Alex. No matter what drama's going on in his personal life, it is still the road to Wrestlemania and he's curious what might happen. In the end, he, like so many others, is a fan of wrestling at heart, and he's intrigued to see what, if anything, will come of Undertaker's return tonight. They're wandering the hallways, taking in the subtle tension in the air that only seems to multiply weekly every time Wrestlemania season arrives, when they hear something not heard in a long time, and something neither had thought they'd hear again. "What the-?" Mike mumbles, wondering what he'd missed while busy seeing Flair off.

As they approach, Alberto Del Rio's angered voice only grows in volume, what they see when they finally arrive only serving to piss Mike off further. He's yelling at Ricardo in the middle of the hallway, all but cornering him, many people stopping and staring and it's so reminiscent of what had happened for years, until his apparent attitude change recently, that Mike feels a little ill. No one had ever done anything to defend the ring announcer in the past, not liking either man enough to bother or care, this kind of thing happening around them all many times. Hands clenching into fists, Mike rushes forward and pushes them apart, standing between the two men. "Hey!" he yells at Alberto. "What the hell are you doing?" He can feel Ricardo's anxiety coming off of the younger man in waves behind him, his breathing heavy, and it only serves to make him angrier.

"This is none of your business, Miz. Get out of here." He's still boring holes into Ricardo over Mike's shoulder and the Most Must See Superstar shakes his head, not liking being dismissed or ignored so easily. He plants his hands strongly on Alberto's shoulders and pushes harder, sending the startled Mexican back even further before he lunges forward, pushing Mike back roughly in response.

Ricardo's frantic hands pressing against Mike's back keeps him from tripping over himself, reinforcing what Miz is doing here, and why. He shakes his head slightly as Alex approaches, ready to get involved if needed. "Yes it is my damn business when you're screaming at him in the middle of a damn hallway where anyone can see, hear it!" he spits, glowering up at the angered Mexican. "He's my friend. Weird thing is I thought he was yours too, but not if you still act like this towards him!" This causes Alberto to falter and he glances uncertainly over Mike's shoulder, the look on Ricardo's face, how badly his hands are trembling finally seeming to register with the older man, his face falling.

"Ay," he groans, turning away and scraping his fingers through his hair.

"What the hell happened?" Mike repeats, not wanting to let all of this go.

Ricardo stares at the ground, unable or unwilling to answer, until finally Alberto speaks up, his voice weak and sounding suddenly so tired. "Swagger attacked the legends. I... went after him afterwards, but Ricardo and referees held me back. I do not understand why- why he stopped me. Swagger deserved what I was going to do to him."

Mike grimaces, glancing over his shoulder at the downhearted ring announcer before turning to face the champion once more. "Then why not ask him calmly, while not screaming at him?"

Alberto stares at him before looking over at Ricardo as well, swallowing when he realizes just how badly he's mismanaged all of this, letting his anger overwhelm him once more to poor Ricardo's detriment. "Fine. Move." Mike stares at him for a long moment, judging his ability to withhold from making more of a spectacle of this whole thing, before nodding sharply and stepping aside to join Alex, only doing so because he'll still be close enough to intercede should Del Rio overstep yet again. "Ricardo," he says quietly. "Can you look at me?"

The ring announcer sniffs, miserable, but eventually scrapes together the will to do so, his wet eyes peering up at his employer. "Si?" he asks, voice cracking halfway through even that small word.

Del Rio sighs, his face softening even as he shakes his head, hating himself for causing this again. But he still wants answers. "Why, Ricardo? Why did you stop me? Don't you agree that Swagger would've deserved everything I'd have done to him back there?"

Ricardo looks like anything could break him at this moment, and his voice reflects that, but somehow he pieces together the strength to stammer out an explanation. "Of course, El Patron. I- I just, you've already been suspended once this month, and..." He struggles briefly, his hands trembling only harder as he frets, but the more he talks, the easier the words seem to come. "I didn't want a repeat of that, Swagger having a reason to go to Booker T and request you be suspended or... anything. Your title reign, your career, was disrupted enough while you were trying to defend me against Big Show... I didn't want it to happen again. That's- that's the only reason I tried stopping you. Lo siento, I shouldn't have overstepped."

Mike watches as the World Champion visibly deflates, smacked upside the head with the fact that Ricardo had his best interest at heart with his actions, as always, and sighs heavily. "Ricardo, mi amigo... come here." When he reaches out, Ricardo stiffens instinctively, and Mike wonders just how the ring announcer had endured those brutal years when Alberto had been so obviously insufferable. Stilling his movements, Del Rio sucks in a deep, pained breath and shakes his head. "Por favor, Ricardo."

Hesitantly taking a step forward, Ricardo swallows and glances over at Mike before turning to face his employer again, stepping even closer while Alberto waits patiently for him to do so. As soon as he's within reach, Alberto sighs and rests his hands on his upper arms, smoothing the sleeves of his tuxedo while peering into his face. "You don't need to apologize, mi amigo. That falls on me, I should know by now you only ever set out to help me. I am just frustrated, and Swagger and Kolter's words and actions make me so angry... but it doesn't give me the right to take it out on you. I know this, it's just... I fall back on bad habits sometimes, and you know I am still trying to be better."

"I know," he whispers. "I do, El Patron."

Alberto sighs and pulls him closer, ignoring as he once more tenses up while wrapping his arms around him. Ricardo relaxes after a moment, gingerly returning the hug. "You forgive me, amigo?"

"Si, of course."

"Gracias."

Mike half-smiles, relieved to see that at least those two were able to work out their issues, and nudges Alex. "C'mon, kid. Let's go."

"Alright." Alex follows him to the locker room, where he begins to pack up his things while the show drones on around them. After everything, some of his interest in what's going to happen for the rest of the show has faded, but they are still there when Del Rio's match begins and it's a much calmer looking Ricardo that introduces him. "They look better now," the younger man offers as Mike watches them.

"Yeah. That's good." He resumes reorganizing his bag as Alex turns his attention to watch him.

"Are you going back to LA at some point this week?"

"Yep. I get a couple of days before Smackdown." He looks up, eyes narrowing at the look on Alex's face. "Why, what are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking we drop in on Morrison and bring along a copy of Marine 3, just for him." Alex grins as Mike considers this, figuring that if anything will cheer Mike up- even a little- it'd be throwing popcorn at John while he goodnaturedly snarks at Mike's movie.

"But you've already seen it three times by now," Mike points out, his having almost made it a game to see how many times he could force Alex into watching the advanced copy he'd received the week before it actually came out on DVD.

"Yeah, well, I learn something new each time I watch it," he smirks. "But seriously, what do you think? Sound like a plan?"

Mike considers his haphazard LA plans as they stand now- which just accounts for a number of errands that get overlooked while he's on the road, vague media for WWE and Marine 3, and ... a lot of quiet time which probably means he'd get stuck dwelling yet again on the dead-end subject of AJ Lee. He looks up at his best friend and smiles, nodding. "Sure, kid. Why not. And let me guess... You have a flight to LA booked already?" Alex coughs and Mike laughs. "What would you have done if I said no?"

Alex just smirks. As they set out to leave, he wraps an arm around Mike's shoulders and leans against him. "Hey, guess who I met in Florida?"

"Who?"

"Del Rio's brother."

"Oh? How did that go?"

A-Ri shrugs slightly. "Only talked for a minute, but he seemed ok, I guess. Kinda quiet, considering."

"Huh."