After a few long days of filming, Mike finally comes up for air on Sunday evening and takes a breath, finally checking his phone for something other than alerts from the studio. He's scrolling through tweet alerts when he realizes with a pang- it's Alex's birthday, and he'd been so wrapped up in learning lines, stunts and various other things that he barely glanced at a calendar, much less registered the date. "Dammit," he hisses, just pressing speed dial 2 when he notes a text from an unknown number. Curious, he returns to his texts and stares at the screen for a moment before smirking. "Well, then."

Putting the phone down, he finds his laptop bag and sets up the machine Morrison and Alex had given him for his birthday and sets it up, directing it to Skype and sitting back to wait for it to load. When an invite screen pops up, he hits the enter key and watches with an inane smirk as the screen lights up. He tilts his head, finding Ricardo Rodriguez staring back at him, an uncertain look on his face, obviously unaccustomed to the chat program as he gapes at the monitor. "Hey, man. That phone number yours?"

The ring announcer grins sheepishly as he registers that it'd worked, the background moving in a jerky fashion while he walks with the laptop in hand down a hallway, the general buzz of the building leaving Miz wistful. "Ah, si, si, it was. I realized after I sent it that I forgot to say so. Lo siento."

"No problem. So what's going on? Everything alright?"

Ricardo grins. "Si, Miz, everything's good. I just- I had an idea and decided to put something together- it's Alex's birthday, you know?"

"Yeah, a lot was going on... I was just about to call him when I noticed your text," Mike admits, shifting in front of his laptop. Before anything else can be said, there's a soft pinging sound as their Skype screen splits, Morrison appearing on the other side. "John?"

"Mike?"

Both blink before, "Ricardo?"

He grins, eyes gleaming in the harsh light overhead. "Hola. As I was saying, it's Alex's birthday, so... I thought I'd spare you both some international charges." Mike and John both growing curious as Ricardo pushes a door open and enters a room, settling the laptop down on a bench nearby, their suspicions are confirmed when he turns it around and there's Alex, tearing tape off of his wrists and not noticing the screen at first. "Eh, Alex?"

"Yeah-" He looks up, eyes widening when he notices his friends. "Hey!" He leans closer, grinning, and adjusts the screen so he can see them better. "You set this up, Ricardo?"

Mike grins as the younger man confirms. "Happy birthday, kid." While John echoes the sentiment, Alex looks like he can't get any happier, considering he'd looked kind of low just a moment earlier, but somehow manages it anyway when Ricardo ventures to the door, peering out into the hallway and murmuring something in Spanish. A moment later, Del Rio of all people comes in, looking somewhat uncomfortable as he hands over a plate of German chocolate cupcakes to Ricardo, who smiles in thanks to his friend and rejoins Alex.

Mike and John watch from California and Vancouver respectfully as Ricardo takes over their usual roles in the festivities, some of their guilt being alleviated at Alex having to be alone on his birthday when a candle is pushed into one of the cupcakes and lit with a lighter, Del Rio still lurking around in the background as the former NXT rookie stares at the cupcake, deep in thought for a moment, before blowing the candle out. Once done, he looks from the laptop screen to Ricardo and Alberto, his eyes shining. "Thanks, guys."

Leaving Alex to talk with Mike and John, Ricardo collects a couple of the cupcakes and joins his employer, handing over one of the sweets. "Gracias for helping me with this, El Patron," he murmurs, reflecting briefly on how, barely six months ago, Alberto would've never taken the time out of his schedule to do anything for anyone else, birthday or not.

He grins, unwrapping the cupcake after nudging his friend. "De nada, mi amigo."

After an exhausting flight, they're all back in America, relieved to see Ohio, and Alex smiles wanly as he ponders being in Mike's homestate alone. It must show on his face because...

"So the mystery of Mike's abrupt disappearance makes sense now," a somewhat familiar, female voice breaks into his thoughts. "Off filming another movie, is he?"

He sighs, turning slowly to face the off-balanced girl. "AJ."

Her head is tilted as she examines him, her confidence clearly on an upswing since Ziggler had cashed in on Del Rio and she'd won #1 contendership for the Diva's title. "Any idea how long he'll be gone?" She smirks. "The shows are so much more enjoyable without him around..."

"No clue," he says dully, trying to walk past her. He's barely made it a few steps when her hand snakes out and wraps around his bicep, holding him in place. He looks over and down, their eyes locking as she peers up at him, a dangerous look on her face. "Let me go, AJ. I'm not Mike, I won't be swayed by your act..."

"Oh really?" she asks in a fakely sweet tone of voice. Her lips stretch into a toothy smile as she sighs. "Poor, poor Mike. When he returns from this movie, there won't be anyone for him to use for his own agenda. I hope he'll be watching Raw tonight, either way." Tsking, she releases him and starts to skip away, the smirk on her face growing as if she has not a care in the world.

He grimaces and turns away, trudging back to the locker room to wait for Raw to begin. Not for the first time, he's relieved for Mike that he has this time to himself, however much Alex may miss him. Any time away from AJ, especially after how low he was upon losing the Intercontinental title so abruptly, is a good thing, especially right now, with the girl now focusing her bitterness in cruel ways after seeming to be fine with just ignoring all of them the past few weeks. He sighs and presses his fingers in his eyes, unwittingly echoing her pondering about just how long Mike would be gone...

In Canada, it's a pleased Mike returning to his hotel room after a ridiculous day spent on the track, practicing stunt driving on his day off. He thinks perhaps if he'd known with a little more advanced notice that he would've returned to America, gone to Ohio and been present for this week's Raw, maybe confront Barrett, but he'd not had the time, only told they wouldn't be filming the day before. Maybe next week, I can make something work, he considers, staring at his remote as he walks into his hotel room. He hadn't been able to stomach a lot of WWE since leaving the states so abruptly, but decides perhaps he could give it a try tonight, still pondering how quickly Del Rio had moved on from his own loss.

He sighs and, decision made, turns the TV on while wandering around the room, dropping this and that off. He'd ate at the same diner he'd frequented during filming Marine: Homefront, a couple of the staff there recognizing him even after all of the months that have passed, so now he wants to do little more than watch as much of WWE as he can stand before collapsing into bed for some sleep before getting back on the early morning filming schedule.

The show starts with Del Rio's music and- Ricardo Rodriguez dressed in Zubaz, his ankle brace thankfully gone now, Mike's jaw slacking when he realizes... the younger man's in a triple threat match against Zeb Colter and Big E. Miz sputters and shakes his head, gaping at the screen as the ring announcer enters the ring, Zeb immediately ducking back out, leaving him to deal with Big E. on his own. After a bit, Swagger, Ziggler and Del Rio all get involved, just for Big E to get slung out of the ring as well in the melee. Colter almost sneaks a win but AJ gets involved, keeping the ref from counting the fall, and...

Ricardo grabs the older man, rolling him up and getting the three count, cementing Alberto's choice for the title match at Extreme Rules. Mike's eyes widen some more even as he laughs at his friend taking a running start off of the ropes and sliding on his knees along the ring, celebrating his win before grabbing Del Rio in a hug.

He's pretty sure the show will just go downhill from here so he turns the volume down and only partially pays attention while he skims his lines for the next day, barely focusing on the actual words on the page. He can't help but wonder why, exactly, AJ had stopped the referee from counting Colter's pin but not Ricardo's, considering she was right there the whole time...