The first event in India goes so well. Ricardo's overwhelmed by pride in his students, and more than a little relief that his taking this risk by moving to India for six months is paying off. He lays in the ring and stares up at the ceiling afterwards, listening to the quiet of the room. With the students and the crowd gone, it's so peaceful and calming here. He meditates for a few moments before finding his phone and looking up results from TLC.
He winces upon finding that Paige's lost again, sighing. Poor mi fuerza. He runs through the rest of the results, happy for Alberto that he's retained the US title against Swagger. Nothing else in the results really interest him so he gets out of the ring and heads outside for some fresh air, enjoying the mild weather. He stretches his arms out and enjoys the sun for awhile, looking up to greet his students as they return for another day of training, all excited after their successes over the weekend. "Come on, guys, let's get this party started," he says with a welcoming grin, urging them inside.
-x
Paige gives herself some time off. She needs it. Between things happening with her family, her constant gnawing missing of Ricardo, and constantly failing at regaining her divas title, she decides she deserves it. With Alberto still on the road, she only has Sofia for help and that's more than fine, it gives her some leeway as she unearths so many Christmas decorations that it makes her head spin a little. "Whoa," she mumbles.
"It's a large house," Sofia says with a soft smile. "We have always had lots of decorations, and that's good because I think it'll be a good distraction for you." She softly hugs Paige. "Let's get started, si?"
"Yes," she says, the two of them setting on organizing the boxes and sorting what they want where. "We should work our way in, so let's decorate the porch and windows first." There are dozens of lights for this purpose, and the two of them quickly put them in the windows, over the pillars leading around the front of the house. Decorating the foyer means lots of garland on the staircase, soft golden lights gleaming against the wood. Mistletoe is hung up here and there and Paige frowns up at it, fighting the urge to tear it to pieces.
Sofia seems to notice and takes the sprig from her, going to hang it up in the kitchen. That's where they decorate next, placing a small battery operated tree in the cupboard where Sofia keeps the more precious dishes that Alberto had brought back from Mexico. She turns it on and they watch how the lights gleam against the glass and the tinsel, Paige starting to relax as the Christmas lights sooth her, distract her from her sadness.
It's a long, tiresome job, and by the time they're done, it's almost 2 AM. Every room in the house is decorated, even the guest bedrooms because Miz and the others would be arriving within a week for the annual holiday party. Paige hesitates outside of Ricardo's room, where she's still sleeping, surrounded by his things and his rapidly fading smell. She turns to look at Sofia, who quietly hands her a small box that had gone forgotten this entire time. Paige flushes when she sees the handwriting on it is Ricardo's careful, small scrawl.
"These are ornaments Ricardo collected over the years, some were his parents', some were ones he bought, and some are ones Alberto gave him." She smiles at Paige. "If you are as exhausted as I am, you're probably not interested in looking through them right now, but in the morning, if you want help decorating his room, please let me know." She hesitates. "There's a small tree in Ricardo's closet, you should be able to find it easily enough." Hugging Paige again, she backs away. "Good night, mi hija. I'll see you in the morning."
"Good night," Paige says softly, ducking into Ricardo's bedroom. She leans against the door, hugging his box to her chest. Far from feeling ready to sleep now that she's got more of Ricardo's belongings in hand, she rests the box on his bed and kneels next to it, slowly opening it. There are ornaments of all shapes and sizes inside, red and green, silver and gold predominate colors. There's an ornament with pictures of the group, before she joined it, surrounding a Christmas tree, and even Alberto doesn't look that disgusted to be standing next to Mike for once. She smiles a little and wishes they could update this picture with all of the newer people- her, and Star...
But then again, AJ would be seven months pregnant in it and she'd never forgive me for that. Shaking her head, she gets up and starts to dig through the closet. Upon finding the box, she pulls the tree out and sets it up in the corner of the room, quickly putting the lights on it. Her second- third- fourth wind is quickly fading away but she works for as long as she can until her eyes close and she realizes she's all but sleep walking, putting ornaments and garland here and there. "I better stop before I make a complete mess of this," she yawns, putting the box under the tree and slumping down into the mattress.
Staring at the lights softly flashing against her face, she sighs. "I love you, Ricardo. I hope you have a good Christmas over there." She falls asleep within minutes.
The next morning, she wakes up before Sofia and finishes decorating the tree, placing a star with multicolored lights on top. It's the final step and now every inch of the house looks gorgeous and very festive. She scrubs at her face, bone weary and depressed. "Now if only I could feel festive," she sighs sadly. Grabbing her phone, she wanders around and turns all of the lights on, before starting from the outside and wandering the porch before going from room to room, filming all of it as she goes. "Hullo, love. I'm not sure what you're doing for Christmas, but Sofia and I just finished decorating and I wanted to show you all of it. It's beautiful, isn't it?" Her voice fails her for a moment as emotions choke her.
"But it all feels so empty without you, love. Total Divas begins all over again in January, and I'm glad you're not here for it. I never wanted to cause you pain, I never expected things to go this way and I'm so sorry, Ricardo. I can never apologize enough for it all." She closes her eyes and sits in his room, scanning around and showing off his tree, the garland covering his dresser and soft snowflake ornaments hanging against the window, reflecting the sunshine as it fills the room. Training the camera back on herself, she wipes the tears from her eyes and smiles waveringly at the blinking red light telling her she's still recording. "I love you so much, Ricardo. And I miss you even more. Have a nice holiday, and I'm so proud of you and all that you're accomplishing over there. Keep it up, and I can't wait to see you in March when you come home."
She blows kisses at the screen before ending recording and sending it to him as a video message. Collapsing back into bed, she hugs his pillow to her chest and pretends that she can still smell him, feel him next to her. Tears leaking down her face, she releases a shuddery breath and tries to smile. "Happy Christmas to me," she says bitterly.
