Ricardo sighs after he competes in his final match for California. He'd lost against Brian Kendrick the night prior, but regrouped and won a triple threat match. Alberto and John are waiting for him backstage, Morrison clapping his shoulder while Alberto loosely hugs him, the three men watching the rest of the event quietly while he cools down.
Once it's over, he wanders around and thanks the higher ups of Vendetta Pro before rejoining his friends and walking to the car with them. Alberto settles in the back seat and rolls his head to examine Ricardo as he sits next to him. "How are you feeling, mi amigo?"
"I'm alright," he says. "Kendrick was a good challenge... and I'm proud I won tonight. It's good preparation for next week."
"Ah, yes, Puerto Rico," Alberto says, his fingers warm and soothing against Ricardo's neck as John drives back to his apartment, where they're staying for their brief stay in California. "It is about time you receive a title opportunity, too many of them have been pulled away from you at the last moment."
Ricardo nods grimly, picking at his nails. "Si, but it's alright. I knew my opportunity would truly come, with time. I'll do my best not to let this one slip through my fingers." He falls quiet then as Alberto continues to work over his neck, the long drive spent waiting for traffic to move giving him time to doze off.
By the time they arrive, John bids them good night and ducks into his bedroom, needing to be well rested for his various projects over the next few days. Alberto and Ricardo exchange glances and smiles before Ricardo turns towards the living room. "I want to watch Total Divas for Paige, but I know you probably won't want to. I'll try not to disturb you when I go to bed myself. Or I could just fall asleep on the couch..."
"No, I'm not having you sore and cranky to start your week out. Especially with all of the training I know you intend on doing. I'll just read until that show is done." He claps Ricardo on the back and heads for the guest room.
Ricardo smiles and shakes his head, slumping down on the couch and finding the E! Network, settling in to watch. The show before it is still droning on so he ventures into the kitchen and finds some coconut water, returning just in time to see the show finally starting. He tilts his head and watches as Natalya shows disgust and anger at Paige constantly 'assaulting' her during their matches, his eyebrows raising when Natalya returns the favor at the end of the episode.
The preview for the next episode, showing Rosa turning her attention towards Paige, does nothing to calm his nerves. During the time that Alberto had been somewhat interested in the woman, there was so much speculation around the internet that Alberto would replace Ricardo with her. He doesn't hate her or wish her harm, but she brings out an ugly side of him where he feels like he's unworthy, it had made things tense between he and Alberto for a brief while, and he doesn't want to risk the same ugly emotions to come between he and Paige.
Shutting the TV off, he trudges back to the bedroom and peeks inside, glad to find Alberto is still awake so he doesn't feel guilty digging around his bag for some sleepwear before he goes to get ready for bed. He doesn't feel like sleeping but he doesn't want to disturb Alberto with his problems so he lays down and drapes a thin sheet over himself, rolling away to face the wall.
Alberto doesn't say anything for a few minutes before putting his book down and approaching him, resting a hand on his shoulder. "I know you're not asleep, mi amigo. Are you alright?"
"Si," he murmurs. "Just tired." Alberto still doesn't move however, continuing to rub his back. Ricardo can never deny his former employer for too long so he rolls over and stares up at him. "Would you have ever replaced me with Rosa?"
"What? No!" Alberto blinks rapidly before poking his jaw. "What's going on, Ricardo?"
"Total Divas," he admits through numb lips. "This week's episode, Paige was doing all of these things with Natalya, and next week, Rosa shows interest in Paige, and... it just brought back a lot of old insecurities for me." He sits up and hugs his knees to his chest. "I trust Paige, she told me about the Natalya thing, and her reasoning behind it... but she never mentioned the Rosa stuff. I'm not sure what to think about that." He stares at Alberto. "You never talked about Rosa either, but there was so much speculation about what you would do if things became serious between you two."
Alberto stares at him and shakes his head. "I never talked about it because there was never anything to talk about, mi hermano. You were my best friend, even if I rarely treated you as such, and I never would've fired you for a woman. If I had known you felt that way, I would've specified that the online rumors were exactly that- rumors from people with no knowledge of anything." They sit side by side for awhile and finally Alberto nudges him. "You should talk to Paige about this, she'll be able to reassure better than I ever could about her intentions with Rosa."
"I know you're right," he sighs. "Gracias, El Patron." They sit for awhile, Ricardo's eyes finally starting to droop as exhaustion claims him. Alberto sighs and helps him lay down before moving over to the other bed, marking the place in his book before turning the light off and turning towards Ricardo, watching him sleep for awhile before he too dozes off.
After a quick farewell to John the next morning, Alberto and Ricardo both are on an early flight back to Florida. They spend it quietly, Ricardo in contact with his dojo and people in Puerto Rico, preparing for a long week ahead of training and other things needed to be done before his title opportunity for WWC.
It begins in earnest for him as soon as they land, Ricardo waving at Alberto before he gets into his car and drives off for the dojo for a night of training. Tuesday is more of the same, and Wednesday. He barely sees any of Alberto, or Paige once she returns from traveling with WWE, every night he returns home he barely makes it to his room before he collapses into bed, fast asleep. Although he's worn out and exhausted, he feels good and confident in his ability to walk out with gold this coming weekend.
Wednesday is even more tiring, in a good way, and by the time he returns home, he can barely keep his eyes open, much less observe anything around him so he startles awake when warm arms curl around his body and Paige's lips press against his cheek. He turns and stares at her, eyes wide. "Where did you come from?"
"I've been waiting for you to come home," she tells him quietly, stroking his midsection. "I've missed you, love. We've barely been able to talk since your trip to California." He wraps his arms around her and hugs her close, inhaling her perfume as she settles against him.
He wants to say so many things, return her comments and so much more, but flashes of memories of Rosa and Paige repeat in his mind and he pulls back, staring down at her. "What is this about you and Rosa?"
She stares up at him, abruptly shocked. "You watched this week's Total Divas... I thought you wouldn't be able to due to your matches..."
"I wanted to watch the replay to see what you were up to this week. I knew about the things with Natalya, but Rosa?" his voice loses a lot of its strength and she falters, staring up at him worriedly. He strokes her face for a moment before pulling his hands away. "I understand her attraction to some people, but there's a bit of a history between us... I used to think I was going to lose my job, lose Alberto as my friend because of her. And now... she's possibly interested in you?" He shakes his head. "It makes me feel like I'm that Ricardo again all of those years ago, reading comments online about Alberto probably going to fire me and only having Rosa accompany him to the ring, and whatever else. I trust you, I promise I do, it's improbable, but when you don't tell me these things, yes I do have doubts... and I can't shake them, I'm sorry."
Paige's eyes are full of pain and sympathy for him as she cups his face and leans in, kissing him softly. "I'm so sorry, love. I should've told you when it happened... it just felt so irrelevant to me, and you were going through so much at the time. I've never seen Rosa as anything other than a friend, and I didn't want to add to your stress." She strokes his face and nuzzles closer to him, their noses touching. "The next time you have any doubts, come to me... I will reassure you, I promise you. I only love one person in this world, and that's definitely not Rosa." She smiles at him as tension slowly drains from him, his head hanging while he rests against her. "My poor, exhausted love. Come, come." She adjusts him to be laying more comfortable against the pillows and wraps her arms around him, stroking his shoulders down to his chest as he dozes. "I refuse to allow my lack of foresight to cost you your title this weekend. I promise you, you don't have anything to doubt." She kisses him and rests against his shoulder, turning his TV on and keeping it down low as she finds Hey Arnold! and watches it with a fond smile on her face.
He rolls his head against the pillow and stares down at her. "I can imagine your favorite character is Helga," he yawns, stroking his fingers through her long hair. "She reminds me of you a little..."
Paige grins up at him. "Which makes sense that I suppose you empathize with Arnold. Both of you fight for what you believe in, and you're both fairly mature and intelligent... Luckily for me, you're not so blind when someone likes you." She leans back up on her elbows when it goes to commercial and kisses him.
"And lucky for me you're not the kind to have a shrine of my things hidden in your closet." He's slipping, staring at her through half-lidded eyes, and she finds it hard to look away from his sleepy expression.
"That you know of, love," she teases him softly, rubbing her nose against his. He looks like he wants to say something but she shakes her head at him, stroking his hair. "Close your eyes, love. Go to sleep, I'm not going anywhere."
With a sigh, he listens and she cuddles up close to him to watch the rest of Hey Arnold before going to sleep herself.
She has to fly out for Smackdown the next night to have Natalya's back leading up to their tag match against the Bellas at the Royal Rumble, so they still have very little time together but as soon as they're awake, she drags him out to take a leisurely walk around Alberto's grounds before breakfast. "I wish I could be there with you Saturday," she tells him. "Please Skype me as soon as you're done, I want to see you with that title belt."
"I will," he promises her, squeezing her hand. "Muchas gracias... your certainty in me succeeding at this will make me more determined not to let you down."
She smiles at him, sadness in her eyes. "You could never let me down, love. Especially not over a title. I just want you happy, and I know how being champion can help with that. So no matter how Saturday goes, I believe that you will do amazingly, but if you don't become champion, don't think that it will affect how I feel about you."
He nods, struggling to swallow normally through his emotions. "Thank you, mi fuerza. I will keep that in mind." As she leans in to kiss him, he finally accepts her certainty in him, hoping that it will be enough to keep him strong over the weekend, whatever may come for him.