Despite everything that's been going right, Puerto Rico and his relationship with Paige, moving back in with Alberto, Ricardo can't help but be nervous once he lands back in Florida and has to start preparing for his tag match that evening at the Dojo. He hasn't competed seriously since NXT Takeover with Kalisto, and it eats at him. He closes his eyes and grips the guardrail, trying to breathe. "Ay," he murmurs, his overactive imagination running through worst case scenarios- doing something that would cause them to lose... screwing up and seriously injuring himself, or someone else... getting booed out of the building, or... He jumps when a hand lightly rests on his back, Ricardo's eyes widening when he looks up to find Alberto staring back at him. "Oh, ah, El Patron!" he gasps, trying to look more put together... but Del Rio's always been able to see through him, leading him over to the chairs to sit down.

"Mi amigo, are you alright?" he asks, voice echoing in the empty room that soon will be filled with fans of wrestling, competitors showing their craft in the ring only feet away from where they're sitting.

Ricardo's eyes flicker from his former employer to the ringside area before he nods. "Si, of course, I'm fine. Never better-" But his words are weak, sweat beading on his forehead, and he knows that the depth of the lie is obvious in his eyes.

Alberto tsks. "Then why do you look like you're about to throw up, mi amigo?" He doesn't wait for an answer, lightly stroking Ricardo's neck as he leans closer to him. "Just breathe, hm? It'll be alright." Ricardo tries to listen, do as he's urging, but it's not helping, the younger man shaking his head as his breath comes out in panicky exhales. Alberto winces and guides him over so his head is between his knees, still stroking his flushed skin as he tries to ease him away from the impending panic attack. "Relax, mi amigo, breathe, you're going to do just fine."

Ricardo's fingers curl around Alberto's wrist, finally finding a full breath that stabilizes him, eases some of the pressure off of his chest as the steady thrum of his best friend's pulse comforts him, helps him to find a rhythm for his own breathing. "That's just ridiculous," he struggles to say, voice still a little weak. Alberto strokes his hair a couple of times before holding a bottle of water out to him, Ricardo nodding in thankfulness before he takes slow sips from it. "Well, if that says anything about how tonight's going to go," he mutters once his voice is a little stronger, breathing almost back to normal.

Alberto shakes his head, and nudges Ricardo. "You'll do perfectly fine. This just proves how badly you want it. I have every faith in you and your abilities, mi amigo."

"Gracias." He sighs and stands, relieved to find he's a little more steady on his feet. "Well..." Dusting his hands off on his wrestling gear, relieved to be back in the meticulously detailed garb after so many years without it, he turns to face Alberto. "I'm glad you're here, El Patron, but why are you here so early? The event doesn't start for hours..."

"Well," he says, resting a hand on Ricardo's shoulder as the younger man leads him backstage, head tilted to listen to him as they wander by people bustling here and there to prepare for the show. "I know it's very early, but I know how you tend to arrive this early to try to prepare, and I figured you could use a little extra support. I see I was right." He smiles and squeezes Ricardo's shoulder when he grimaces, taking another quick sip from the bottle of water. "Also this way, if you wanted to warm up a little bit before the event, I'm here. You helped me for many years do that very thing, I believe it's time I return the favor."

Ricardo looks up at him, shocked, and Alberto nods, smiling at his best friend. "Really? I... yeah, that'd... that'd alright," he nods, swallowing as they continue through the halls, finding a quiet place to sit and talk for awhile. "I think someone will be in the audience, filming all of this... I hope I can get their video to watch it back later, see what might need work in the future..."

"Sofia will be filming it," Alberto surprises him by saying, smile growing into a grin when he sees the surprise on Ricardo's face. "She's been looking forward to this night since you first told us, she enjoyed watching you in NXT, and she is truly eager to see you outside of WWE's restrictions, mi amigo. As am I."

"I hope I don't disappoint either of you," he says lowly. "This weekend or next..."

"Ah, yes, you've been announced in a match against Ray Gonzalez, hm?" Alberto sighs, leaning back slightly. "I had hope that I would be able to go to those events, but my legal issues... and AAA... we will have to see how it all works out. Perhaps some day in the future, I will find my way over there, but you will do fine as my representative, I'm sure."

"I'll do my best for you, El Patron. I promise." They fall quiet for a moment before Ricardo clears his throat, claps his hands on his knees. "So you're officially signing with AAA, si?"

"Yes, I believe I'll be returning to Twitter to announce it there so my fans will know what's going on with me. I have a flight out to Mexico to handle all of the red tape and legalities. I believe it will all go smoothly but I'd rather be there in person to assure of this." He frowns, only able to imagine the things that could wrong in the meanwhile. "Eh, ah, everything will be fine," he shrugs it off a moment later, glancing over to smile at Ricardo. "Everything is working out well for us, si, mi amigo? Me in Mexico, you in Puerto Rico... I feel more relaxed than I have in a very long time."

Ricardo nods. "Prepare yourself for many ridiculous tweets when you do return," he warns him. "I cannot count how many pointless things that have been said to me just since I left WWE..."

Alberto shrugs and squeezes Ricardo's shoulder. "We're used to such things by now, hm? Don't worry about it. I've much practice at ignoring stupidity on social media. I'm only there for the people that matter, anyway." He smiles over at him before standing. "Time is passing quickly, mi amigo, let's go check the ring out before people start filing in, si?"

Ricardo agrees, following him out to it and standing anxiously in the middle while Alberto finds some protective gear for his hands. When he returns, he nods at the younger man and stands at attention, hands held out for the kicks and punches that are to come, Ricardo falling into a groove as he feels the familiar old burn spreading through his veins, his muscles, every inch of him. He's missed this feeling, being able to compete in the way he'd love to, everything. Once he comes back to reality, it's because crews are doing last minute prep to the ringside area before allowing fans in, and Alberto smiles at him, pulling the gear off. "Gracias, El Patron, I think I'm ready now."

Alberto chuckles and brushes some of the hair out of Ricardo's eyes, shaking his head fondly. "You were truly focused, more than I've ever seen, mi amigo. You're going to do fantastic tonight."

"I hope so," he mumbles, a little abashed by Alberto's observation. They wander the halls, side by side, until Alex and Alicia arrives, Ricardo glancing between them for a moment before carefully schooling his face and forcing a smile as he greets them. Paige and Sofia joins them a moment later, the housekeeper wanting to wish Ricardo luck before she goes to find her seat. Unlike the others, who are either current or former WWE talent and would rather not deal with comments from those in attendance, she's able to blend in and enjoy the show with the other people there. She doesn't know any of the competitors in the first few matches, except for from random comments here and there from Ricardo, but she still gets into it, it rather easy in wrestling to find someone to cheer on or want to lose quickly.

By the time Ricardo's six man tag match begins, the room is full of people to the point that it's standing room only, and Sofia is so proud of him as she films him making his way to the ring, talking with his tag partner and the referee for a moment until the third man in their team joins them, clearly someone Ricardo doesn't respect. Their opponents then make their way to the ring and her eyes are wide as she watches closely, not wanting to miss a second of the young man's time in the match, holding her breath when he gets tagged in and works over his opponent, growing more momentum and clearly on the cusp of victory... when the third man in their team tags himself in and steals the victory from Ricardo. Sofia's eyes narrow as Ricardo argues with him, the heated confrontation turning physical as Ricardo beats him down until he leaves the ring, their third partner failing to calm the waters between the two men.

Ricardo isn't done yet though, he takes a mic but before he can even speak, someone yells out something about WWE not appreciating him, and this clearly does nothing to help his temper after having his victory taken away in such a fashion. He simply requests that the crowd not mention WWE ever again, and then proceeds to thank everyone, telling them how grateful he is before rolling out of the ring and heading right for her, hugging her warmly. "That win was yours in my eyes," she breathes into his ear. "Congratulations, Ricardo." He mouths a quick gracias before walking backstage, tugging his wrist tape off as he goes. Sofia, despite already having seen all that she cares about, remains for the main event nonetheless, knowing better than to disrespect the competitors by leaving early after all of her years spent working for Alberto.

Ricardo slips backstage and nods at the men waiting to go to the ring for their own match, immediately snagged and turned into Alberto's hug. "You did perfectly, mi amigo," he tells him. "Ignore the perro who stole your win from you, everyone who matters knows that that pin wouldn't have been achieved without you and your in-ring abilities."

"Muchas gracias, El Patron," he chuckles before turning to Paige, who also hugs him and lightly kisses him. "Thank you for being here, Paige."

She shakes her head fondly, kissing him again. "Where else would I be, silly?" She smiles up at him, relieved that he seems to be calming down slowly. "Success is a good look on you. But I'm not sure Il'll be able to be here for the September 19th event, it's the Smackdown before Night of Champions... but I'll see what I can do."

He sighs and strokes her arm, smiling at her. "As much as I'd like you here, I don't want you losing momentum or getting into trouble because of me. We'll film it, you can watch it later. It'll be ok, mi fuerza." She curls her arms around his neck and kisses him again, nodding quietly, before releasing him so he can talk to Alicia and Alex for a few moments, Alex's hand pressed against Alicia's back while she congratulates Ricardo as well, eyes shining happily at the competition she'd seen here tonight.

"I'm going to go buy a shirt, to remember tonight," she exclaims, leaning up to kiss Alex on the mouth. "I'll be back!" As she runs off, the roommates shift closer and watch her go before turning to exchange glances.

"Anything going on?" Ricardo mutters, reaching out to pat Alex's back when he shakes his head grimly. "Sorry, man. I hope things will work themselves out, one way or another, for you both."

"Me too," he sighs. "But hey, tonight's about you, not my weird issues. Come on, tell me all about it, I haven't seen much of you since you left for Puerto Rico Thursday."

"Alright," Ricardo laughs, eager to at least try to distract his roommate. While they talk, Alberto and Paige stand near each other, listening to the former ring announcer's excited chatter, all tension gone from him now that his first match has concluded, small smiles on their faces when they exchange glances.

-x

Alicia's bored. It's easy, sometimes, to get bored backstage. Her time on TV had fizzled out around the time AJ returned, not that she can blame that on AJ entirely. The Authority is notorious with abruptly losing interest in booking people in matches, or just plainly not flying them in. Look at Zack Ryder... at least she gets matches sometimes on Superstars, or Main Event. She smiles balefully as Heath and Titus walk by, arguing as always, over how Heath barks or something ridiculous like that. He stops short suddenly and turns to look at her. "Oh, hey, Alicia, how's it goin'?"

She blinks, surprised at this. "Oh, I'm doing alright, Heath. How are you?" He'd surprised her by splashing her with water when she wasn't fully expecting it for the ice bucket challenge, and she hadn't seen him since, so this is nice. Most had taken to avoiding her since she'd went through that phase of spilling popcorn and soda and whatever else she could get her hands on over anyone who crossed her. Which had only added to her boredom.

"I'm doin' alright-" He looks like he wants to stay, talk longer, but Titus is behind him, doing something and eventually Heath swats at him. "Stop pokin' me dammit, I'm comin', I'm comin'!" Turning back to Alicia, he forces a smile. "Hey, sorry but I gotta go."

"Alright, bye," she calls after him as Titus all but grabs him by the back of his shirt and drags him backwards towards the ring. She sighs and turns to watch the match on the monitor, wishing that Alex wasn't always on the panel and could spend more time with her. Not that he doesn't when they're at home but all of the hours sitting backstage, hoping for something to happen, for her to get booked somehow... She sighs, blinking as she realizes what's happening on the screen: Heath is getting beat up by the rabbit and Alicia almost giggles before Rose and the rabbit work together to throw Heath into the steel steps, the One Man Rock Band left laying there, clearly in pain.

Titus does nothing to help him, barely staying near him as he stumbles his way up the ramp, clutching his back and side with a grimace. Alicia bites her lip as Titus' anger at losing becomes more and more clear, Heath's rough breathing breaking through their continuous arguing. "It's all your fault!" the taller man yells at his partner. "If you'd just-"

"If I'd what, continued lettin' that bunny shake its... its fluffy ass at me? On national TV? I don't think so!"

"So you'd rather be beat up by a bunny on national TV?" Titus demands, mocking his southern accent. "I don't know why I bother-"

"Yeah well I don't know why I bother either!" Heath yells at him, both of them arguing nonsensibly for a few more minutes before Titus storms off, leaving Heath to lean against the wall, gripping his back and cursing under his breath. "Ugh, dammit..." He slams his fist against a metal shelf and grimaces as Alicia approaches him, her eyes wide. "Sorry 'bout that, my momma always told me to be a gentleman in front of ladies, but sometimes my temper gets the best of me." He smiles woefully.

"Don't worry about it, I've had my moments too." She smiles back at him before her brows knit together worriedly. "Um, are you ok? That looked like a pretty bad hit you took out there."

Heath blinks, surprised. "Eh, this? Oh, I'll be ok, don't worry about it. Trainer'll fix me up right as rain in no time, I'm sure." He smiles at her and begins to trudge down the hall, just to stop short when she begins to follow him. "Is there somethin' you need, Alicia?"

She shrugs, glances over her shoulder at where the panel partition is just visible. "No, you know, I just... there's not a lot to do since I'm not booked, I guess."

He smirks a little, a sympathetic look on his face, and shrugs. "Well, it ain't no party, really, but I guess if you wanted to come with to the trainer's office, make sure I'm still in one piece by the end of it..." Her eyes light up and she follows him down the hall, wincing whenever he grimaces and hisses out a tired breath, his back, side and head throbbing. "Damn bunny!"

By the time Raw ends and Alex ventures back to find Alicia, she's sitting on a trunk, Heath next to her eating bowls of ice cream and laughing amongst themselves. He stops short, frowning, before approaching. Alicia's eyes brighten when she spots him. "Hey, Alex." She slides off of the trunk and runs to him, her bowl still held close to her. "I have some ice cream here if you want it, it's still kind of frozen." She pokes at it with her spoon before holding it out to him. "I'm glad you're done, it's boring back here without you."

"I'm sure," he mutters, looking over her shoulder at Slater. Remembers the video he'd seen that they have yet to really talk about, and ultimately shrugs it off, taking the bowl from her. "Thanks."

"You're welcome." Her kiss is cool, and tastes of the ice cream, and he looks pointedly over at Heath, but the ginger isn't even looking at them, lost in his own bowl of ice cream as he tries to scrape out some chocolate chunks.

For a moment Alex doubts his worries. Just for a moment.

-x

Paige paces around Ricardo's bedroom, shaking her head. "I don't like this," she mutters. "Not at all. As if it's not bad enough with AJ after me, trying to force me to eat chocolates and claiming she dedicates her life to me, but now I have Stephanie McMahon just handing out title opportunities to the Bellas? Really?" She grimaces. "I've seen what the Authority's done to people they don't like, like Daniel Bryan... what if they do the same to me? I don't know what they think about me, I've never really had much dealings with them, what if..."

Ricardo's pretty sure she'll ramble for the rest of the day, or risk walking a hole in his floor- which where would Alex be with the security deposit then?- so he gets to his feet, grips her arms and lightly squeezes, smiling down at her. "Paige, I know there's a lot to think about regarding all of this, but you need to breathe, alright? Come on, sit down." He's glad when she allows him to lead her over to the bed, settling her down next to him on the end of it. They're side to side and she's breathing a little heavily when he wraps his arm around her and draws her in, letting her rest her head on his shoulder. "It's going to be ok. You've beat AJ twice, and that is quite the achievement. Whatever comes now, you'll handle it just like you do everything else."

"Thank you," she sighs, relieved that he'd somehow talked her down, helped her to calm down. "I just wish I knew more about the Bellas. I've never faced them, much less really paid much attention to their matches. Guess I'm paying for it now."

He lightly taps her nose and smiles. "Well, thankfully, we have the WWE Network here so you can watch back some of the Bella matches if you want." She nods, leaning up to kiss him, and he smiles. I'd only sit through a marathon of those matches for a couple of people. I hope it helps her to feel more comfortable in her chances, he thinks.

He's just cued up the network when his phone buzzes. He stops and turns, momentarily confused before he remembers- it's the alert that he put up not that long ago for any tweets made about Alberto on certain lucha websites. He smiles apologetically at Paige before collecting his phone and accessing the link, making a soft, happy noise when he sees the article confirming his former employer's having signed with AAA, talking about his non-compete clause being found unenforceable and announcing his first match back on September 14th, in a 6 man tag match. He smiles and shakes his head, wondering what it is about them and six man tag matches being both of their return matches. Felicitaciones! he texts Alberto before putting his phone down and returning to Paige, starting the video he had selected up, a more recent match of Nikki's.

She curls up close to him and watches intently, her body relaxing slightly as she realizes that a lot of their offense seems to depend on Twin Magic, which they clearly will not have at their disposal anymore considering they currently seem more eager to tear each others' hair out at the roots. "Huh," she mumbles after he returns from getting them some water to drink. "I think I can handle that."

"I believe you can too," he tells her, kissing the side of her head. "But you still need to be wary of them. Especially if Nikki has the Authority on her side. Even if they seemed to depend on Twin Magic a lot, they still found a lot of other different ways to win without it too so... I just want you to be watchful, careful." He smiles down at her as she nods, absorbing his warning.

"Thank you, I will be," she says finally, stroking his arm. "I think I want to watch more of these, however. And I know you have your open ring training to go to in a little bit..."

"Ah, yes, right," he says, glancing at the clock. "Gracias for reminding me." He shifts the laptop so she can see it easier before standing, leaning over to kiss her one last time. "I'll see you later then."

"Yes," she agrees, nodding. "Have fun with training."

"I will." He beams down at her, turning to leave the room.

She watches him go with a fond look in her eyes before shifting to look at the computer, a hateful frown overwhelming her face as she leans forward to start yet another video.

-x

The next afternoon, Ricardo is tapping a pen against a piece of paper, wracking his brain for anything he might be missing on his To Do list before the big move back home to Alberto's, when pale fingers wrap around his eyes and block his view. "Guess who?" a soft British accent whispers into his ear.

He smiles and tilts his head, releasing a soft breath. "Hmm, Mike's new makeup artist?" Paige pulls away and swats his shoulder and he laughs, twisting around in his chair and gripping her around the waist, pulling her towards him. "Well, this is a nice surprise," he tells her honestly, watching as she analyzes his list.

"You're going to be ridiculously busy for awhile, aren't you?" she asks, curling her fingers around his neck and leaning into him. He nods, pressing his face into her midsection, and she strokes his hair. "Well, not tonight. Tonight, I am treating you." She cards her fingers through his hair before pulling back just enough for him to see what's in her hands.

He blinks a few times before it registers with him. "Two tickets to Frozen on Ice?"

She nods, smiling. "Yes, so take tonight off from packing and training and everything else you're doing to come to this with me. After all, neither of us were able to go to Disneyland... so this can be just ours."

He stares at her and nods, smiling warmly. "It'd be my pleasure, mi fuerza." As she grins up at him, he sits back down and pulls her along, settling her on his lap while he presses soft kisses against her bare arm. "Muchas gracias."

Her warm fingers teasing through his scalp, she smiles and whispers, "That's my pleasure, Ricardo. You deserve a break, especially considering how you hit the ground running after you left WWE. I'm proud of you." He smiles and flushes against her skin, nuzzling closer to her. "But first, since I'm sure it'll be bothering you until you sort it out, let's go over this list and see that everything's in order so you can enjoy yourself tonight." She pulls the paper closer and starts to read off the various bulletpoints as he stares at it over her shoulder, his hands warm around her stomach.

After a night of watching Frozen on Ice (and observing Paige watch it, the lights and spectacle awing her and making her seem even more beautiful, a feat he hadn't thought possible), Ricardo has to set aside the list of things to do leading up to the move back to Alberto's house so he can prepare for his weekend in Puerto Rico. He does interviews over the phone, he hypes the match that he will be competing in in Alberto's name as best as he can, and he hopes that it all will go well. Paige sees him off again and he smiles at her, kissing her slowly, before getting on the plane to return, once more, to the islands. He thinks perhaps he can explore, see a little more than golf courses this time, but no... as soon as the plane lands and he disembarks, he sighs. It is raining. Of course. Which is just as well, as it allows him to go to the hotel and do more media, prepare for the event. He experiences many things he never had in the WWE, including being the focus of interviews and TV segments and everything else. As much as he had enjoyed working for Alberto, encouraging his career along, it had always left him wondering what if. What if me, what if I could be that guy... and now, he somewhat has a chance at just this very thing.

Puerto Rico gets Smackdown, which relieves him when he finishes with his media and turns the TV on in time to see Paige in the ring with Brie Bella, his eyebrows rising when he realizes that AJ and Nikki Bella are at ringside, doing commentary. During the course of the match, he learns that a triple threat match, AJ vs Nikki vs Paige, has been announced for Night of Champions for the Divas title match. The match itself ends quickly after AJ attacks Nikki, sending Brie to her sister's rescue and leaving her vulnerable for a Paige Turner from the current divas champion once she returns to the ring, allowing Paige to win the match. He smiles, staring down the flier advertising the event he'll be competing the next night. Now... to focus on winning my own match against Gonzalez tomorrow... For El Patron...