The world changes. Not slowly, not bit by bit, but within a matter of hours. Mike stands in his hotel room, picking anxiously at his lips, and thinks about his kids, his wife. Everyone important to him on the other side of the country, waiting and hoping for things to shake out alright. "I can't believe this," he sighs, turning anxious blue eyes onto John, who is frowning at his phone, scrolling through another article.

"I know," he murmurs. Florida is to be the home for WWE events for the foreseeable future, and Wrestlemania is currently somewhat up in the air, though the thoughts of not having one is so bizarre. Though in this circumstance... John eventually looks up and meets Mike's eyes. "What do you think?"

"I think I wanna be home with my family," he admits. But flights aren't necessarily safe, and he knows they can't just stay in this hotel for the next few weeks, no matter what the final verdict regarding Wrestlemania ends up being. "But that probably isn't going to happen any time soon. What are we going to do?"

John chuckles. "Lemme make some calls." Another benefit to things being in Florida, there are a lot of NXT and WWE guys who live in the area, so Mike sits back and watches as John calls a few people. Some can't, some won't, but then his eyes light up and he beams. "Yeah, man? That's amazing, you're the best. Thank you so much! I definitely owe you one. Ok, yeah, we have to check out and then we'll be by."

"So who is going to be graced with our presence for the next few weeks?" Mike asks and John smirks at him. Dread immediately eases down Mike's spine as he's shooed over to start packing.

Checking out doesn't take too long and they're on the road before Mike is fully prepared to face whatever hell John's throwing him into, unable to get a proper answer from him about who or where, no matter how he moans and whines and tries to trick John into revealing. He falls silent, however, as soon as he realizes. "Zack Ryder? Seriously?" They'd had a bumpy history, he'd taken his Intercontinental title barely a day after the man had won it, but ultimately Zack is a pretty stand up guy, had recently tried clinging to the positives in things. Still, it's ludicrous to Mike that he'd so willingly invite him into his home.

"Yep, but I think he still thinks I'm dead, so don't be surprised if he starts boasting about hosting a ghost."

Mike stares at John, who grins serenely at him. "You are ridiculous," is all he opts to say and John's bark of laughter is the last thing he hears before he gets out of the car and goes around to grab his luggage.

Zack greets them at the door, a somewhat strained grin on his face. "Hey, bros. Welcome to the Ryder abode. Su casa is mi casa and all that. Come on in, I'll show you guys to your rooms. Give you a tour of the place."

"I feel like he's going to find a way to murder me in his toy room," Mike mutters to John, who chuckles and claps him on his back as they proceed through the house, peeking into rooms and ultimately settling in the guest rooms with their luggage. The first thing Mike does once alone is call AJ.

"Hey, husband," she says. She sounds tense, a little shaky, and his heart aches to be with her. "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine," he rushes to assure her. "How about you? The kids?"

"We're fine. This is so bad," she murmurs to him.

"I know, I'm so sorry I can't be there with you right now." He leans back against the headboard and stares at the ceiling, breathing in and out slowly. "AJ..."

"Are you safe? Where are you?"

"John called Zack Ryder, he's been kind enough to host us for awhile."

"Wow," AJ murmurs. "I can't say I expected that."

"Me neither, to be honest." Mike chuckles a little. "The only thing stranger would've been if I ended up staying in Ziggler's place or something."

"Oh, God no," AJ laughs, the sound beautiful to Mike's ears.

"We'll get through this, sweetheart. And I'll get home to you and the kids as quickly as I can," he promises her.

"I know," she says softly. "You stay safe, ok? I'll be alright. Taya's here, and Ricardo and Alicia. Don't worry about us. We're good."

Mike exhales softly. "Alright." He hates letting her go, but it's close to lunchtime in California and he knows she has to keep the kids on some sort of a schedule so he reluctantly ends the call and stands up, looking around at what's to be his home for awhile. "Well, here we go," he murmurs, dusting his hands off on his pants and going to find his friends.

Being in the Performance Center for the first time, goofing around and just letting off some steam with their sort of silliness, underlines just how bizarre things are going to be for the next while, as they stare out into the empty seats surrounding them, no one to respond to their digs and insults, or groan and laugh at their jokes. He's not sure how to feel about it, or about much of anything right now.