Alex grimaces as he and John ease Mike back into his LA home, settling him down on the couch where Ricardo and AJ are sitting, the girl resting a hand on his shoulder and soothingly rubbing circles in his skin. "What'd they say?"
"Pretty much the same as the ER and trainer said," John says softly. "But further examination of his tests and his physician said it also looks like he has a pinched nerve."
AJ sucks in a deep breath as Ricardo glances from Mike to John, well remembering that that kind of injury had led to John needing surgery and time off while he was still contracted to the WWE. "What does that mean?" he wonders worriedly.
"Means he'll need to take it easy for awhile," Alex speaks up, staring at his former pro. "We asked if it may require surgery but the doctor says not at this time, should heal on its own. They'll keep an eye on it, and if that proves to be wrong, they'll handle it."
"One plus is Mike's wrestling style isn't as intense as mine was, so he probably will have a better chance than I did of it actually healing on its own," John offers with a wary smile, blinking innocently when his former tag partner grumbles wearily at him.
Alex sighs and squeezes his friend's shoulder, making Mike look over at him. "I have to leave for Main Event now, I'm doing commentary with Josh. Take it easy, yeah? I'll be back tomorrow, unless they randomly decide they need me for Smackdown."
Mike nods, closing his eyes. "Be careful with what you say," he says tiredly, speaking from experience on a number of fronts.
Alex nods, watching as AJ smiles wanly and presses a kiss to his cheek, curling up against him. "I will, don't worry. See you guys later." As he leaves to a chorus of byes, he sighs and closes his eyes. "Well, here we go," he mumbles, dreading entering their tense-filled work environment.
Thankfully Main Event goes alright, uneventful, and he arrives back at LA mid-Thursday just as AJ and RVD are leaving for Ohio, unsurprised by the fact that he's not needed for Smackdown. Mike spends the rest of the day sleeping, still affected by the medicine prescribed to him, so Alex, Ricardo and John pour over his DVD collection and talk quietly through the night until one by one they go to bed, wondering what the next day- and Smackdown- will bring.
Mike seems more with it and even seems hungry, eating most of the ham sandwich and potato chips that Ricardo brings him, blinking at his friend for a moment. "Hey, where's the sling?"
The ring announcer smiles slightly and gingerly rotates his arm. "I checked in with a local doctor, and he said I seem to be alright, and could take the sling off, as long as I take it easy for a couple days longer."
Mike grins at him, picking aimlessly at the couple of chips left on his plate. "I'm glad, man. Hey, what do you think the chances are of John allowing me to sit in my own living room to watch Smackdown with you all tonight?"
Ricardo chuckles. "I'll talk to him about it," he promises, leaning over to collect Mike's plate.
"Thanks." He leans back against the pillows, closing his eyes. He has no doubt that John will have even more of a problem with what he's planning for this weekend, his focus on Texas- the weekend house shows calling his name. Injury or no injury, the doctors hadn't said he couldn't compete... But first he has to make it past watching Smackdown tonight, seeing what the higher ups have in store for his fellow competitors...
And it's not really great from the start, more frustrating than anything as Vickie announces the elimination match, Ricardo tense next to him when she includes RVD in it, worried for his friend. Mike reaches out with his good arm and awkwardly pats his shoulder, lips pursed thoughtfully as he glares at the TV screen.
AJ wrestles before the elimination match, defeating Naomi, but it only serves as a minor distraction as they all wonder what will possibly happen to the eleven men in the elimination match. Rob is the fifth man out, the four before him losing in two minutes or less to the rampage of the three men, and Ricardo leans forward to watch, his eyes dark with anxiety and worry as he wishes that he was there to help, or at least support the man...
But RVD does well, about to leap off of the top rope to the outside to splash Reigns, the other two down around the ring, when HHH's music hits and puts a halt to everything. "No, no," Ricardo mumbles, growing more distressed when this leads to Roman regaining control of himself and throwing Rob viciously onto the barricade wall. "Ay, I should've been there," he breathes, fingers digging against his mouth as the screen goes dark, commercials picking up. "Rob..."
"Wouldn't have wanted you there," John says simply. "He wouldn't want you to get hurt any further. I think he'll be ok, looks like he was just dazed. Don't worry too much until you know otherwise, alright?"
Ricardo stares from John to Mike to Alex, who all seem to be in agreement, before nodding wearily. "Alright, si. I'll try..."
They all watch closely as RVD is shown a little later in the trainer's office, HHH coming in to apologize and talk to the trainer, who says Rob will be sore, but ok, and Ricardo immediately begins to breathe a little easier. He even grins when HHH announces that Rob will face Del Rio in a rematch for the World title at Battleground, but all happiness and relief fades when Del Rio lunges out from the corner of the room, attacking Rob viciously before slamming a case against his upper back, leaving him unconscious on the floor.
Ricardo is on his feet, hands pressed into fists at his side, and it takes Alex guiding him back to the couch for any sort of realization to come back to him. "No," he mutters. "Rob- he, he wasn't moving. At all... Do you think- he's ok?"
"I don't know," Mike says honestly. "We can try calling him in a few minutes but let the trainers do their thing. I'm sure if it's something serious, the commentators will tell us." He squeezes Ricardo's neck. "Relax, man. He's gonna be ok, he's an ECW guy, right? He's been through worse, I'm sure."
"Right, of course," he breathes, glaring at the TV as his former employer comes out for his match against R-Truth with more anger than any of them had ever seen from him.
Despite his friends' varied attempts at keeping him at home, Mike goes ahead anyway and flies out to Texas, relieved that he passes by the weekend without any guilt-inducing texts or calls from AJ, who is busy on the Indiana and Illinois tour and seems unaware of what he's done, before traveling to Chicago that Monday with no further injuries, though he can still barely move his neck or one arm.
AJ greets him at the arena, arms crossed over her chest as she stares at him, head tilted. "So I hear tell someone went to Texas when they should've been at home resting," she says simply, an edge to her voice.
Mike chuckles. "Erm, well... yeah, that happened. How was your weekend?" She rolls her eyes at him and he coughs. "Look, I talked it over with WWE doctors and they cleared me. I wouldn't have risked it if they hadn't. See, I walked away without any... other... scratches on me."
She sighs and leans up, staring at him, gauging the honesty behind his words. "Yeah, well, just be careful, huh?" She shakes her head and kisses him gently, feeling as he smirks against her lips. "Idiot." His smirk turns into an exaggerated pout, causing her to laugh in exasperation. "Come on, let's go find your friends," she finally urges, taking his hand and leading him carefully down the hallway.
The night starts off early, as HHH remakes Vickie's idea from Smackdown, instead making it a pure 11-on-3 elimination match with RVD stuck in the middle of it, and also making a WWEActive poll with RVD, Ziggler and Truth options against Randy Orton for later that night. Thankfully Rob looks alright after Friday, even speaking up when HHH is in the middle of his spiel, and afterwards they all watch as Alberto picks apart Kofi Kingston in a match, setting the mood for the rest of the matches involving those against The Shield later that evening.
Unfortunately, Mike has his own problems, interviewed by Renee Young about the past week and his injuries, when HHH finds a way to force himself into that too, telling Mike there'll be a MizTV segment tonight, Big Show his guest. Mike only has time enough to make it slowly back to the locker room and hold AJ for a few minutes, who is even more worried now, before waving halfheartedly at his tense friends and continue out to the ring, immediately vowing to get payback on Orton for the beatdown he'd fed him the week prior in front of his parents, then calling Big Show out. His mouth gets him in trouble almost from the start again and he's not surprised as Big Show grows more and more annoyed listening to him, remembering their tag team and how short lived it'd been since Big Show couldn't stand his nonstop talk.
Mike's just told him to step up, stand with the others against HHH and Stephanie, demanding that he stops letting her demean him, when- her music begins to play. Her smug face and hateful words haunt him for days afterwards as she reiterates again and again in his mind how he's only good for media events, called upon for this opening and that, and dammit, he wants to believe it's not true but there's no falsehood in her gaze. She believes every word she's saying, and then... she tells Big Show to knock him out. He turns slowly just to meet his former tag partner's fist and everything goes dark, the man awakening a few minutes later to the trainers and doctor leaning over him, asking him questions, trying to ascertain his awareness.
He's in and out, only just aware of AJ's warm hand clinging to his, until he hears RVD's music hit, the man the 'winner' of the poll for the match against Orton, and he forces his eyes open, watching the match. Even when Ricardo's new, bright yellow shirt blinds him, he only closes his eyes a few moments before resuming watching it, breathing heavily through the throbbing in his jaw that seems to be pulsing down to meld horribly with the pain that had been a constant companion the past week in his chest and arm. Orton, as he had done with him, forgets quickly that it's an actual match and just takes to dismantling Rob, throwing him into the barricade wall after he tries a 5-Star, the match ending by double countout. After that, it's like everything stops mattering to Orton as he tears the padding away, lifts his opponent up and slams him into the beams that comprise the barricade wall.
Mike's worry for Ricardo and RVD both grows until Orton storms after a lurking, terrified Ricardo, the ring announcer almost tripping over himself in his rush to get to safety, hiding by the top of the ramp to watch. Orton then throws Rob into the steps and walls once more before slinging him into the ring, where he then DDTs RVD from the top turnbuckle. Finally satiated, he leaves, allowing the referees and trainers to try to assist him. But it all goes to hell again when Alberto comes out of nowhere and attacks his Battleground opponent, locking in the armbar twice before finally releasing him, laughing as the referees yell at him.
When RVD is brought into the trainer's office, Ricardo's distressed apologies echo through the room, Mike wishing he could stand and join them, comfort him. Finally he coughs and calls out, "Ricardo, come here a minute. Let the trainers do what they need to, man."
There's a soft sniff and the ring announcer peers around the makeshift curtain the trainer had put up to give Mike and AJ some privacy, his face falling as he catches Miz's eye, hesitantly joining him at the cot. "Are you ok?"
"Yeah, just a bruised jaw to add to the list of fun injuries I've got currently." Mike squeezes his arm. "Rob'll be ok too. Just take it easy, huh?"
Ricardo's just nodded miserably when AJ leans over and kisses Mike carefully. "I have to go, I want to talk to Stephanie about this match she's put me in," she tells him, bite in her voice. "Wish me luck."
"Good luck," he says, watching as she goes, eyes dark with worry about what she could possibly say to the woman after what she'd done this evening. "Be careful." He glances over as Ricardo takes the now vacated chair and stares at his hands. "Hey, it'll be ok. We'll all get through this mess one way or another."
The ring announcer nods grimly. "Of course, you're right. It just... I wish things weren't so complicated right now... I miss when things were... at least a little... simple..."
Mike feels for him, he does, but he can't remember the last time things really were simple, so he doesn't say anything, just pats Ricardo on the back until he spots AJ with Stephanie on the monitor, the apparent owner of WWE throwing a cheap dig in at AJ and her relationships through HHH's new DVD set. AJ is nonplussed, however, and, looking like she wants to say so much more after everything else going on this evening, proceeds to ask Stephanie about the ten divas tag match later on, clearly trying to get out of it. Mike knows this isn't going to go too far, his worst fears confirmed when the response given basically is compete or risk losing her championship reign, which quickly shuts AJ up and makes the girl backtrack, quickly leaving the office to get ready for her match.
He's not sure if it's just everything catching up with her or she's distracted by what's going on with him, or just a little bit of both, but AJ loses in two minutes to Brie Bella of all things, and he winces as Tamina Snuka carries her from ringside, AJ coming to at the ramp and looking behind her to the ring, clearly unsettled. Thankfully when she returns to the room and the trainer finishes examining her, she seems ok, if a little quiet, and he holds his good arm out to her, smiling faintly when she tentatively walks around Ricardo's chair and curls up against him, just small enough to fit comfortably next to him on the cot. He holds her quietly and the three of them watch as the 11 on 3 elimination match begins, quite a few of the eleven looking beat up or a bit off of their game after the matches held earlier.
So much so that RVD is the first eliminated and Ricardo releases a heavy sigh, shaking his head as he pats Mike on the arm and stands to go meet up with an even more beat up Rob, alternatively relieved that the night's all but over for them all and feeling worried for his injured friend, what this'll mean for his chances against Alberto, and what the next few weeks will bring for them all as they all appear to be targets of the McMahon Helmsleys...
AJ finally speaks up a minute later, head still warm against Mike's shoulder. "What a mess everything is becoming."
He strokes her hair gently, sighing softly. "Yeah..."