Ricardo does lose but Sofia merely hugs him, a smile on her face as he rejoins her. "I'm sorry you lost, Ricardo... but that's alright, I know you'll do well next time." She pulls back and cups his jaw, examining his face. She grows content that he's not taking the loss too terribly, and curls her hand around his arm as he walks with her outside, relieved to begin the drive back to Alberto's quiet home.
"Thank you for coming with me," he murmurs, grinning tiredly at her. His body is still getting adjusted to training more regularly, much less actually wrestling at least once a week, but it's the good kind of tired, the good kind of soreness.
She finds his hand in the darkness and squeezes it. "If you need me to take over driving, Ricardo, por favor, just tell me. I know you have to be tired after that match."
"Nothing I haven't handled before," he says, shrugging. "Don't worry about it, Sofia. I'll get us home safely." She nods, having no doubt in him. He holds true to his promise, relieved when he finally pulls up to the gate and puts in the security code, driving up to the house. As soon as they walk past the front door, Ricardo quietly hugs Sofia. "Buenos noches, Sofia," he whispers to her before turning and stumbling back to his bedroom, dropping his bag on the floor and immediately collapsing into bed with a soft sigh.
As much as he'd missed wrestling, he had missed this house... this room... his bed. It feels nice to have both of them back in his life. He sinks deeper into the mattress with a smile and immediately falls asleep. However, his rest seems to only last for minutes when a soft hand rests on his arm and he sits up, gasping and struggling until his senses catches up with the rest of him: sun is streaming in through his windows, he's tangled up in his sheets and Sofia is standing over him, with a guilty look on her face. "Lo siento," she whispers to him. "I didn't want to wake you, Ricardo, but... it, um... Paige's mother is here to see you."
He gapes at her and struggles to free himself even more, relieved when the housekeeper assists him. He stares down at the crumpled clothes he'd fallen asleep in and groans, catching a glimpse of his wild hair and sleepy face in the mirror. "Oh no," he mumbles.
She strokes his arm and shakes her head. "I'll stall with Mrs. Knight, you change your clothes, splash some water on your face... it'll be ok, Ricardo." Before he can respond, she hustles out of the room and he can hear her address Saraya Knight as he tries to get his body moving to do as she'd suggested.
It seems to take a lifetime, his mortification rising as he digs through his closet and pulls out a decent looking shirt and slacks, wondering why it has to be today- why his girlfriend's mother had to come so early, and... and... He takes a deep breath and shakes his head. "It's fine," he mumbles. "I was friends with the Knights long before Paige and I actually began dating... I mean, I was invited to Saraya's birthday party..." Not that that little fact helped when she was moved up to the main roster I actually started having feeling for Paige, he thinks, hanging his head and groaning anew. "Man... what is wrong with me?" Squaring his shoulders, he quickly pulls on the fresh clothes, sprays on some cologne, and ducks into the bathroom, brushing his teeth and splashing his face with cool water before combing his hair back. Guess this is as good as it's going to get...
Saraya Knight, thankfully, doesn't seem offended in the slightest, chatting cheerfully with Sofia. When she spots Ricardo, however, she gets to her feet and greets him, clasping his hands. "Hello, Ricardo. I'm sorry to come this early in the morning, especially since I know you competed last night, but I wanted to come see you while I had a moment."
He smiles at her. "It's fine, Mrs. Knight, I'm sorry I made you wait..."
Whatever he is thinking about saying next is stopped by her finger on his lips. "Now, Ricardo, we've discussed this before. You can call me Saraya... It's fine." She smiles at him and for a moment, beyond the red hair and lack of piercings, he can see so much of Paige in her.
"Ah, si, I nearly forgot." He tries her name out, glancing at Sofia. "Saraya." As she beams at him and sits back down at the table, dragging him over as well, Sofia immediately rests a cup of strong, black coffee in front of him, winking at him discreetly before she escapes back into the kitchen to check on whatever smells so nice in there. He takes a long sip from the mug before turning back to his guest. "Is there something you need, Saraya?"
She sits for a moment, allowing him another pull of coffee, before sitting up straighter and resting her fingers around the curve of her own cup. "Paige and I have been discussing the dojo that you've been training at. I plan on staying in Florida for a few days before I return to England..." Her eyes, so similar to her daughter's, fixes on him and he swallows as she leans forward. "I would like to help train the students there, if we could work something out with the staff there." It takes a moment for the words to register with him and she waits patiently, understanding that he's not quite caffeinated yet, well aware of his issues with insomnia and everything else thanks to her daughter.
He blinks a few times, runs his fingers through his hair, tilts his head and finally speaks. "Que?"
She chuckles, reaching out and cupping his hands once more. "I want to train the students at your dojo if we can work something out. What do you think?"
He stares at her for a long moment before shaking himself back to awareness. "Si, of course, they'd jump at the chance, Saraya. That'll be amazing, gracias."
Her grin is soft and fond of the younger man. "Considering how happy you make my daughter, it's the least I can do." His resulting firey red blush only makes her grin even wider as she pats his hands, not wanting to annoy Paige by leaving her boyfriend a babbling mess. As she sits back and smiles thankfully at Sofia as she rests plates stacked high with scrambled eggs and whole wheat toast in front of Saraya and Ricardo, the housekeeper smiles back, the two women quickly clicking over a mutual fondness for the sheepish ring announcer staring pointedly at his plate, trying to calm his blush before picking up his fork.
-x
"I'm sorry she surprised you like that," Paige apologizes to Ricardo the next day, sitting backstage at Raw, waiting for AJ's match against Alicia, kicking her feet lazily against a trunk. "I told her to call first, or something, but you know my mum... gets something in her head, and..."
"It's fine," Ricardo says, watching Saraya in the dojo's ring, commanding the attention of the early arrivers, various students already surrounding the ring, listening to her intently. "I'm really excited, actually. It's a great opportunity for the people here to learn the UK style of wrestling, you know?"
He can almost picture her smile as she responds softly, "Yeah, I know. I'm happy she wanted to do this for you. She's always liked you, I knew she'd be fine with our relationship. It seems natural when you really think about it, we've known each other since before I joined NXT."
He thinks about the young woman Paige had been when he first met her, and what she's grown into- what they've become-, and smiles as well. "The best thing that ever came out of my time in the WWE."
She giggles softly but before she can respond, he hears Alicia in the background, voice growing louder as static issues from Paige's phone and she releases a soft breath. "Sorry, Ricardo, I have to go... Alicia and I have some... things to go over before her match."
"Alright," he responds. "I'll see you soon. Bye, mi fuerza."
"Count on it. Bye."
He listens until the connection dies, then turns his attention back to Saraya as she shows Santana Garrett how to do moves more effectively, a content look in his eyes as he inches closer to the ring. He'll be heading home to California soon to compete for a championship at Vendetta Pro, he's watching one of the women he respects the most teach his fellow competitors, and Paige's voice is still fresh in his mind. Life is good.
Until, anyway, a phone ringing on Tuesday morning wakes him up and he grunts, squinting around. The house is quiet again, Alberto having flown out to Tijauna to handle AAA business, so he grabs it quickly before it can disturb Sofia. "Hola?"
"Hey, Ricardo."
"Morrison?" He sits up, rubbing his eyes and squinting outside. "What's going on?" It's barely daybreak, and Morrison suddenly curses.
"I'm sorry, man, I forgot the time differences, it's barely 2 AM here and... ugh, well, I feel really bad now. We can discuss this in the morning- er, you know, later in the morning-"
"No, John, it's fine, what's going on?" he asks groggily, dropping back against his pillows.
"Well, I've been invited to come do a demonstration of OOYM fitness at Santino Marella's battle arts academy up in Canada this weekend, so..." John hesitates. "I agreed that you can stay at my apartment, and the invitation is still open to you. I'll just need to figure out who to give my key to so you can actually, you know, enter. Sorry, man. I wasn't expecting to have anything out of state to do... but I'll let you know what I figure out."
"Oh," Ricardo murmurs. "Alright, John, sounds like a plan."
"Ok, again I'm sorry about this. I'll let you get back to sleep. Good night."
"'Night." He hangs up, drops his phone by his pillow and rolls over, yawning deeply before sinking back into the pleasant darkness of sleep, too bone-weary to really overthink everything right now.
-x
That Friday, Alex drops his bag outside of the main locker room and turns to kiss Alicia, the two of them sighing into each other's mouths as he settles her against a trunk and rests his hand on her hip, smirking slightly as the other tangles in her hair, holding her close. She tugs on his jacket before pulling away, shaking her head. "Alex, do you still have my hairbrush?" she murmurs, relieved when he nods. They continue to kiss, tangled up in each other before wrestlers walk past them, whistling sharply and causing them to break apart reluctantly. He smiles down at her and leans over his bag, unzipping it and digging around inside for her hairbrush. Immediately, his brow furrows and she tilts her head. "This is Mike's bag," he groans. "We must've mixed them up at the airport..." Hoisting it up, he turns back to her. "Sorry, Foxy. I have to return this, then I'll get you your hairbrush."
"Alright," she says, smiling at him as he walks back towards AJ's locker room. Her eyes drift as something flutters out of the bag, landing at her feet. "Hey, Alex, I think you-" But he's already gone and she shrugs. "Oh well." Leaning over to pick it up, she skims it before an evil smirk crosses her face. "Oh, Paige is going to love this." It's a love note to Mike, from AJ, and Alicia quickly runs it back to the divas locker room, throwing an arm around Paige's shoulders as she greets the former Divas champion. "You were looking for something to talk about in your interview later? Here you go."
Paige too realizes the gold this note could be after skimming only a few sentences, and the two women lean over it, quickly scribbling a revised version of the note on a blank piece of paper, switching everything about Mike until it sounds like it could fit better as an exaggerated version of AJ and Paige's former friendship. As soon as they finish and proofread it a few times, ensuring that nothing's slipped through the cracks, Alicia winks at Paige and snags the original, skipping back to the trunk where Alex's warm hands and lips had been leaving her breathless and wishing that they had a personal locker room like AJ and Mike. She sighs and leans back against it, waiting for him, smiling as he rejoins her a few minutes later, her arms wrapping around him as soon as he approaches her. "Something dropped out of the bag, I tried to stop you," she whispers, holding the note out to him. They had been so painstakingly careful with it, they had even folded it back the way it had been before Alicia had read it, just so no one could guess what was going to come up on the app within the hour.
"Thanks," Alex says, his eyes widening as he stuffs it in the pocket of his jacket. "I'll return it to Mike soon." He hugs Alicia, nuzzling into her hair, and sighs. "Good luck tonight, Foxy."
"Thanks," she murmurs to him, feeling sympathetic towards him as she examines his eyes. He's in a tough position, stuck between her and AJ. She adores him for always sticking by her, no matter what she's done since before they'd become official. "I love you, A-Ri."
His grin makes it all worth it, the feel of his teeth and tongue teasing her between kisses even more so. "I love you too," he hums into her mouth, his fingers warm against her jaw as she moans softly in response.
Although Paige tries to distract AJ again, this time it backfires and Alicia loses, but the British diva is there to help her up and backstage, neither of them overly pleased... but it doesn't matter, Sunday, Paige will make AJ pay for everything, and besides it was clear that the app interview had done what it needed. AJ's tweets following this prove that she's unsettled and Alicia giggles next to Paige as they sit side by side on a plane, Alex watching them warily as they tweet back and forth with the current divas' champion. When Paige suggests she would stop ruining songs for AJ if AJ returns the divas' title just to get no response, the two best friends nudge each other, smirking. "Figures. I'd be happier getting it back the good old fashioned way, anyway."
Alicia nods, resting her head on Paige's shoulder for a moment. "And I'll be happier to watch that, as well," she smirks.
-x
Ricardo stares around at the familiar halls that Vendetta Pro's event is being held at, taking deep breaths. There are old posters of him here, in his mask... before his WWE days, and he smiles, resting a hand on it. He's not sure what the night will bring, and he can't help but feel a little lonely, with all of his friends either traveling out for Hell in a Cell, or in Alberto's case, still in Tijauna... John had left his key behind with his super, so Ricardo had stayed in his apartment the night before, pondering what he'd done wrong in his last couple of matches, trying to figure out a way to not repeat the loss in his championship match against Little Cholo.
He's still examining the full length poster of what he had once was when a hand taps him on the shoulder. "Excuse me," an overly nasally voice asks, loud and grating. "Can I take a selfie with you?"
Ricardo wonders how the security possibly slipped enough to let a fan backstage when he turns, pondering how best to let them down easy, when he realizes there's more than just one person standing behind him. Miz, Alex, Alberto, Sofia, Paige, AJ, even Alicia, are surrounding him, and he gapes at them. "Wha- what?"
Mike laughs and hugs him, clapping his back. "Your face, man!" Pulling away, he squeezes Ricardo's arms and shakes his head. "You really think we're going to let you compete for a championship for the first time since leaving WWE all by your lonesome? Hell no. We've even made a truce... isn't that right, girls?" he asks, shooting a look towards Alicia and Paige, who nod warily, pointedly not looking at AJ. Mike stage whispers as he turns back to Ricardo, "I decided as long as they don't kill each other, this day'll be a success."
Ricardo feels oddly choked up, staring at them all, taking time out of their schedules preparing for the carnage of Hell in a Cell to come see him, watch him compete and Mike's face softens as he realizes why he's so quiet. As he hugs him again, tighter this time, Ricardo clings to him. "Thank you," he mumbles into Miz's shoulder as the others join them, patting Ricardo on the back and wishing him well with his match, their chatter helping to ease his nerves and bringing a smile to his face. "Thank you all."
