Paige looks sleepy as she leans against Ricardo, the two of them watching Total Divas quietly. It's the episode where Paige fights to get a tattoo before ultimately changing her mind after talking it out with Natalya, Alicia and Rosa, all of them ultimately convincing her that a tattoo wasn't worth her career. Ricardo laughs as she pouts up at him, his fingers tracing where the purple ink would've sprawled against her pale skin. "I still think it would've looked incredible," she grouses.

"I think so too," he tells her, glancing towards the TV where she's laughing with Alicia and Rosa, the temporary tattoo visible.

Sitting up so she can look at him, she runs her fingers through his hair and smiles at him. "You were the only one who didn't fight me on it... thank you for that. It helps to know that when I do take that step that you'll be alright with it."

He grins down at her and kisses her lazily. "Whatever makes you happy, mi fuerza. Besides, I like these." He lifts her hands and kisses the small tattoos she had gotten to prove she still has some control over her own body.

Settling back in his arms, Paige watches the last part of the episode, Ricardo's fingers curling around her own during the last commercial break. After the episode ends, the ad for next week's two-part finale airs and she tenses when she registers which episode is getting teased. Footage of her on vacation with Alicia and Rosa, and getting involved with some guy. She sits up and turns towards him, watching as he stares at the TV. "Ricardo..."

"Who was that?" he asks lowly, brows furrowed as he peers at her.

She shakes her head. "Please, it wasn't what it looked like-"

"Then what was it?"

She closes her eyes and rubs a finger between her eyes. "Listen, love, there's so much footage I can't tell, but that preview made everything look... worse than it actually was. Remember how the preview for tonight's episode showed Natalya seemed jealous of Tyson's photo shoot, but they had edited the footage to look like that, and she was actually supporting him?" He nods slowly, her eyes showing relief as she cups his jaw and leans in, lightly kissing him. "Same situation. It's not the way that they made it seem, and as soon as I see what they've done to the footage, I'll explain what exactly happened. Alright?"

"Alright," he murmurs, deciding to give it up. For now.

She nuzzles against him before getting to her feet and reaching out, gripping his hand and tugging up, trying to pull him to his feet. "Let's go to bed. I'm exhausted and you look pretty wiped out too, love."

He nods, following her quietly to his room. Before leaving the living room, he glances uncomfortably towards the TV one last time, brows furrowed.

-x

Paige flies out to Raw the next day, leaving Ricardo with a kiss and promise to be home as soon as possible. She's amazed and pleased to find that she's been put in a divas title match against Nikki later on, not bothered by the prospect of being by herself when Brie is in her sister's corner. I can take both of them, she thinks determinedly, staring at herself in the mirror as she analyzes her makeup. And she does, for awhile. But Brie is vicious and costs her the match, kicking her off of Nikki when she's so close to winning that she can taste it. The beat down that follows is more annoying than painful, it taking all in Paige to defend herself against the twins, when a familiar theme song blasts through the arena and she looks up, the Bellas' attack stuttering to a stop as AJ races down to the ring, diverting their attention from Paige until she can get to her feet and help out, the two of them together quickly ridding the ring of them.

Paige stares at AJ as she tilts her head and grins at her, utterly confused. AJ skips backstage once the Bellas are out of sight and Paige follows, still staring at her. "Hey, AJ," she calls, the diva turning back to look at her.

"Yes?" she asks sweetly, skipping back towards her.

"I, uh, well, I didn't know you were returning," she says with an awkward laugh, leaning in and hugging her. They had parted as friends, or at least Paige thought they had, so she's relieved when AJ hugs her back. "Glad you're back, it was getting tiresome, fighting the Bellas on my own."

"I can only imagine," AJ muses, brushing her hair out of her eyes. "Well, anything you need, you know where to find me."

"Thank you." They smile at each other, AJ continuing on down the hall, before Renee catches her to question her. Paige eventually cuts in, re-inforcing how they had once been frenemies, barely able to hide her grin when AJ stares innocently at her. Once done with the interview, they leave side by side and Paige mumbles, "I'm glad we're friends again."

"Me too." AJ grins and nudges her as they enter the divas locker room.

They spend the next couple of days together, giggling and discussing Alicia's engagement and Paige moving into Alberto's house. Mike seems pleased to not be stuck alone with Mizdow, and Paige is equally as happy to have some time outside of the typical makeup/relationship/Total Divas conversations that she normally finds herself trapped in with the others.

AJ is more like her, with interests outside of those things, which she suspects is why they had trouble getting along at first. "So I'm wrestling Brie Thursday," AJ tells her from where she's sprawled out on the bed, staring out of the window.

Paige nods. "I heard." They lay quietly for a few minutes and Paige eventually sighs. "I'm gonna have your back, AJ. If you want me out there, I'm there. It's the least I can do after Monday. Fair is fair, and all."

AJ peeks over at her and grins. "Yeah, sounds good. Thanks, Paige." Her voice lowering as she peeks over at her husband, she explains, "Mike's main worry is, of course, my neck... but he's also worried that they could re-aggravate my neck. Which is understandable. So anything you can do to help him feel more comfortable, I'd appreciate it."

"Yep, I'll be there," she promises, holding a hand out and grinning when AJ fistbumps her.

AJ's proven correctly when Paige is waiting at the gorilla position with AJ, Mike nearby, and the British diva can see the relief in Mike's eyes, feel it pouring off of him in waves. For this reason, Paige keeps a careful eye on everything, the reality of AJ's injury rattling around in her mind. She had been gone for three months, and injured longer than that, so of course Mike's scared...

Paige's vigilance alerts her to Nikki trying to get involved, and allows her to run over and keep Nikki out of the ring, AJ quickly getting the win afterwards. As the Bellas again retreat, embarrassed and defeated, Paige and AJ grin at each other in the ring. "'Grats, AJ," Paige calls out over the audience's buzz.

"Thanks," she answers, tilting her head at the younger diva. "Now I don't know about you, but I want to go find my significant other and make sure he's prepped before his tag match."

After Monday, there are a great many jokes Paige could make, but she wisely keeps it to herself, not wanting to ruin the camraderie she and AJ are growing with time. "Alright, see you," she says, following after her as she skips backstage ahead of her. "Speaking of significant others," she muses, staring down at her phone where a picture of her and Ricardo, surrounded by piles of her boxes, is acting her wallpaper.

He's going to be spending the next few weeks going from England, to Germany, to Australia. She already misses him, her own schedule so busy with pre-Wrestlemania activities that it makes her head spin. She doubts they'll be able to see each other much for awhile, but both of them understand it's just the way of the business. Even so, she sends a text to him with a kissy emoji before heading for the exit, eager for some sleep.