Miz releases a breath and closes his eyes, leaning against a trunk in the hallway. Paige had made steps in clearing things up with PCB, at least for now, so he's more relaxed and calm. He's fallen into a half-doze when he hears footsteps come up to him, the person's impatience obvious even now. He's about to straighten up and pay attention when a heel digs into his ankle, causing him to jump. "What?!" he demands, glaring up at his Marine co-star.
Summer smirks and flips her hair over her shoulder before sneering at him. "Since I'm on your little MizTV later on, I want you to relay this little message for people beforehand." She leans in until her hair is tickling his face, causing him to wince away. "I have a bombshell that I'm going to drop..." Her nails trail down his cheek and he grimaces until she pulls away and walks off.
Not wanting a repeat of that, he finds Renee and requests interview time, just to say what Summer had just told him. Relaxing as soon as he's done with that, he heads back into the locker room and prepares for MizTV, checking his phone. AJ is spending more time with Star, so he's not as concerned leaving her behind, but it's still hard. He wishes he could spend more time with her, especially with the pregnancy progressing as quickly as it is. Soon his little girl will be here, and he'll be stuck on the road, doing all of this stuff and missing out on the most important thing of his life...
He sighs and cracks his neck, standing up. He paces around while watching Smackdown, Paige losing to Nikki. "Great," he mumbles. When it's finally time, he leaves the room and heads for the ring. He calls out Dolph first and they only talk for a few moments, Mike trying to ask him about Lana... just for Ziggler to go on about Mike not being a wrestler anymore, but being an ambassador. He narrows his eyes at the other man, gritting his teeth- he doesn't wrestle as much, but he busts his ass on houseshows, and if the Authority would ever give him the chance, he'd have his gear on in a moment.
But now is not the time for that, so he calls Summer out and stands back, letting these two and their petty little drama play out. Summer explains that she'd proposed to the wrong man, and Dolph interrupts, telling her that he's just that into her, bro (Definitely spends too much time with Zack Ryder, Mike thinks with a smirk), but she falls into belittling him before explaining there's a new man in her life, a better man. Mike grunts when Tyler Breeze comes out with a garish looking selfie stick. Mike wisely gets out of the ring and watches from the outside as Breeze beats Dolph down, using his selfie stick to slam Dolph's throat into the turnbuckle.
He smirks and shakes his head, heading up the ramp. Another show, successfully done, he thinks.
After Smackdown, he heads home, looking forward to spending the weekend with AJ. They go out to eat with Star and John both days, discussing the pregnancy and going out to buy more things for the nursery, and he's highly tempted to skip the PPV and spend Sunday in bed with his wife... until he wakes up to a text from Ricardo. I know you're not booked but I think you should be at Hell in a Cell tonight. He can tell Ricardo won't explain further, the man's a master secret keeper, and he wonders if it has to do with the whispers of rumors that Mike's heard about a certain Mexican aristocrat returning to the company. Something which Mike had ignored because it seemed so impossible to him... but the text makes him think it possibly is true.
So he goes. He taps his fingers against the steering wheel while waiting in traffic, pondering what to do. The arena seems quiet, despite the bustling, so he quickly joins into the flow and follows some production staff through the halls. There is a strange vibe in the air, and then he nearly trips over Zeb Colter's riding scooter, which had come out of nowhere in the crowd. "Hey!"
"Watch where you're going-" the old man snaps, before hesitating and staring at him shrewdly. "Ah. Miz."
Mike tilts his head, staring down at the bitter old man. He's just turned to get away from him when he stops short. Alberto Del Rio is standing, in the flesh, staring at him with a strange look on his face. "Well, the rumors were true, I see," he says blankly. They almost move in step as they leave the sea of people and find a quiet corner of the hall to talk. "So, you're back."
"Si," Alberto mumbles. He seems awkward, as if he's not fully pleased to be here, and Mike tilts his head, staring at him strangely. "This is a bizarre situation, Miz. I can't really explain it right now. But later, si? After the show."
"Fine," Mike mumbles, watching him leave. He'd seemed off since learning about AJ being pregnancy, not that Mike's a good judge of it. He never spent enough time with Del Rio to determine. As expected, he has nothing to do but he sits backstage and watches Alberto come out when Zeb Colter introduces him, his eyes narrowing. "No shit, what the hell is this mess?" He considers texting Ricardo but he'd just be waking up and Mike doesn't want to start his day off on such a bad note. The fact that Alberto would work with a man at least partially responsible for so much of Ricardo's pain in 2013... well... The only thing that would be possibly worse is if Alberto starts to work with Swagger as well.
Alberto wins the US title and Mike chews on this for awhile, pacing around the locker room. Paige also doesn't have a match and she comes out to support Charlotte after she'd retained her divas' title, but there's a darkness in her eyes that Mike doesn't find much comfort with. They meet up backstage afterwards and Alberto quickly abandons Zeb to find his own way around, Mike following him to the parking lot. "So do I have to wait until we go to my house to get answers, or...?"
"Si," Alberto says simply. He waits until Paige comes out, her bag thrown over one shoulder. She looks from Del Rio to Mike and back before wrapping an arm around Del Rio, hugging him. "Hola, Paige."
"Hola. Have you heard from Ricardo?"
"Si, he's enjoying his time in India very much."
"Yes he is," she says softly before slipping into the back seat of Mike's car. This leaves the passenger side for Alberto and Mike grimaces, not looking forward to this at all.
AJ is dozing on the couch when Mike returns, blinking in confusion when she stirs at Mike's soft kiss to find Alberto in the living room. "Look who re-signed with WWE," he whispers to her. She blinks and hums, burying herself more in the cushions, but he lightly wraps his arms around her and lifts her up. "To bed with you, sweetheart. We have some things to talk about." She doesn't look too happy about this so he promises to tell her everything in the morning as he walks her to their bedroom.
Once she's tucked in nice and comfortable, he returns to the living room before changing his mind and going to the kitchen, grabbing some coconut water and food for them to snack on. Once he returns, they all eat ham sandwiches and vegetable sticks, the silence almost strangling. Finally Mike finishes his second sandwich and looks up to find Alberto's eyes on him. "Explain."
Alberto sighs and looks up as Paige unfolds herself from the end of the couch, putting a carrot stick down and paying full attention to them. "I'm too old for this nonsense," he says simply. "At first I was eager to return to Mexico, to my people. But the international flights, and how undervalued I began to feel... and so very much else..." He looks up at Mike with a grim, self-depreciating smile. "I suppose all would agree working for WWE spoiled for me. I enjoyed being pampered and being treated like something that was important. But so many things have happened. Lucha Underground wasn't what I was expecting, and I bled more in the year I spent in Mexico than I did my entire time in the WWE." He closes his eyes. "My time in the WWE did not end well. There was so much bitterness and unhappiness on both sides, but..." He rubs a hand down his face. "I began to realize that I missed what I used to have. Making this decision with no chance of giving Ricardo another opportunity, at least for now, hurt more than you could imagine. But I needed to do something to continue doing what I loved. So when WWE showed they would be alright with bringing me back, I took them up on it."
"Did you give him advance notice at least?"
"Not enough," Alberto acknowledges with a weak nod. "I notified him this morning. It was wrong, I'm aware. He deserved more, as did the people in Mexico, but I felt like this was the best situation for me."
"How did he take it?" Paige asks quietly.
"I believe he was hurt, but I explained to him why and I believe he's fine with it."
"He's fine with you working with Colter?" Mike asks off of a scoff.
"There's more behind that as well," Alberto explains. "When Colter learned that WWE was trying to convince me to sign with them once more, he began trying to charm me onto his side. I was drastically against it for obvious reasons... but the more he wheedled, the more I began to feel this urge. I never told Ricardo, to be honest I never told anyone... but despite the fact that I defeated Swagger soundly at Wrestlemania, I never felt like I found closure with that entire situation. A pitiful match means nothing after weeks of seeing your best friend in unfathomable pain, barely able to walk... so when I decided to re-sign with WWE, I decided to accept Colter's offer to work together."
Mike shakes his head. "Another faulty revenge ploy, Alberto? You haven't learned anything from the last time you had some ridiculous plan? Ricardo was hurt deeply by that one too, what if this one does the same?"
"It won't! I have grown, I have learned. And he is in India until at least March, nothing can touch him," Alberto insists.
"Right," Mike sighs. He still doesn't like the sounds of any of it but, now that he's ate, and he thinks he understands Alberto's motivation- as ridiculous and fault as it seems- a bone deep weariness overwhelms him and he stands. "I'm going to bed to hug my wife. You two can take care of yourself the rest of the night, right?" Paige and Alberto exchange quick glances before nodding. "Thank God." Stretching out the kinks from sitting leaning forward for so long, Mike stumbles into his bedroom and stares down at AJ as she sleeps on, hugging a pillow to her chest. "Sometimes I'm really glad you're free from this ridiculous business," he tells her before kissing her softly and going to get changed for sleep.
Raw is probably the easiest event Mike's had in awhile. He sits backstage and plays video games, beating the Austin showcase and celebrating until... Austin himself arrives and they exchange insults until the hall of famer leaves, Mike's skin pale and his breathing a little rough afterwards. It's only then that he finds out Del Rio made it into a Fatal Fourway for the WWE title, and Paige had turned on PCB, attacking both Charlotte and Becky wildly after they'd lost to Team Bella.
He grimaces and buries his face in his hands before leaving the room to go see what damage control he could manage this time.