"Santa's Little Helper, huh?" Ricardo murmurs, reading the paragraph describing the movie curiously. "So which of you will win that title?" he asks Paige, lightly brushing his fingers through her hair as her head rests in his lap, sprawled out across the Puerto Rican beach lazily. There's a few hours before the WWC event begins so he had dragged her out to the beach, considering what a beautiful, sunny day it is.

She smirks up at him and shakes her head. "You're cute, Ricardo, but I'm not going to spoil it for you. You have to wait and watch it with everyone else."

He pouts but she's unrelenting so he sighs and resumes looking around at things on his tablet. "Total Divas season 4, huh?" Between traveling around Europe and everything else going on, he'd been behind on news, or at least on discussing it with her, so a lot of this is new to him.

She nods against his leg and chooses then to sit up, cupping his face. "I won't forget my promise to you. If anything happens that you deserve to know about, I will tell you first before anyone else. I promise." He nods against her fingers and she smiles sadly at him. "I risked losing you once because of this show already, I will not make that mistake again."

Pulling her into him, he kisses her and smiles slowly. "I'm glad. I don't want to lose you either," he tells her.

"That's not possible," she sighs. "Besides, how many people would offer to take me to Puerto Rico at a moment's notice?"

"Not many, I hope," he laughs, leaning over to kiss her. "So are you ready for the European tour?"

"I think so," she nods. "I still have a little bit of packing to do once we get home, but... yeah. I'll miss you so much though." She cards her fingers through his hair until he catches her hand and kisses her palm, staring down at her.

"I'll miss you too," he whispers. They lay for a bit, staring deep into each other's eyes, lost in the moment. "I can only imagine how Mike's feeling, having to leave AJ behind in the states for so long, so soon after her retirement..."

Paige's eyes dull as she nods. "Yeah." She leans against him and sighs. "It's too beautiful to feel this sad," she finally declares, grabbing his hand. "C'mon!" Pulling him to his feet and dragging him towards the water, she laughs when he stumbles and almost trips, just to turn around and grab her, holding her close as waves lick at their ankles. The water's cool, but she doesn't mind... even when he lifts her and drops her into a deeper part of the water, causing her to sink underneath the waves for a moment before breaking through and gasping, staring up at him incredulously. "Hey!"

He grins at her and walks towards her to help her but, almost expectedly, she grips his wrists and pulls him into the wake next to her. He gasps and glares at her as she giggles and makes her way over to him, wrapping her arms around his neck and leaning in, kissing him. It's wet and hard to keep their balance and it's perfect as she sways in time with the water against him, not minding who's watching their abrupt make out session. "I love you," she tells him, closing her eyes as he presses her closer and kisses her again.

"I love you too," he murmurs to her, smiling so wide that his teeth glisten in the bright sun overhead. Despite everything going on around them, she thinks this is the happiest she's seen him in ... possibly forever, and it makes her heart lift that she's a part of this moment.

It ends all too soon, however, as the sun begins to sink in the brilliant blue sky and he has no choice but to lift her out of the water, drawing her back towards the hotel where they change and prepare for the event. She wears a soft, dark blue dress with black swirls lost deep in the fabric that reflects her dyed hair nicely, makeup soft and shoes a pale cream. She makes such a striking appearance that he drops his shoe and gapes at her in amazement when she comes out of the bathroom, lips dry as he swallows thickly. "Mi fuerza," he mumbles, getting to his feet and holding her hand, eyes devouring her as she spins for him, the dress floating prettily back into place against her pale legs. "You look too pretty for a wrestling event."

She smiles up at him. "Maybe, but I think I look just right to cheer on my boyfriend." Hugging him, she kisses him warmly. "Kick some ass out there, love."

He nods, still a little dazed, before going to finish getting ready to leave for the arena. Parting from her once they arrive is hard but he trusts her to take care of herself in this crowd of wrestling fans, changing into his gear. He's standing in the ring, watching as Diego from Los Matadores makes his way to the ring, taking advantage of the vacation from WWE to compete in his family's wrestling federation, Primo Colon sneers at him as they lock up. Ricardo fights hard, he does, but it's not his night. Primo walks out victorious to return to the States and his job with the WWE.

In the past, that might've bothered Ricardo more than it does currently, but he's too happy in his life to really care. Especially when he walks backstage to find Paige waiting for him, unwilling to sit in the crowd any longer after his match. She hops off of a trunk and wraps her arms around him, kissing his face. "Alright, love?"

"Si, I'm fine," he says, hugging her back. "Ready to go?" She nods, trailing after him as he leads her down the hallway. She waits outside of the locker room while he changes into street clothes, nodding at the various workers who go back and forth, and once he's ready, he wraps an arm around her shoulders and guides her outside. It's still deliciously warm, the sun only just set, leaving the sky a dark blue bleeding towards black. "Let's go somewhere to eat."

She realizes then that he's wearing slacks and a buttoned down shirt instead of the jeans and t-shirt he'd come in wearing and she smiles up at him. "Are we going somewhere fancy?"

He shrugs. "Maybe." She huffs and pinches him, causing him to laugh jerkily, and he leans in, parting her lips with a gentle finger. "Why waste such a beautiful dress on a wrestling event?" She's about to answer when he kisses her, holding her close. "You're alright with walking, right?" She nods, eyes locked on him, and he smiles. "Great, let's go. It's a beautiful evening so I thought we could walk to the restaurant, then take a taxi back to the hotel if you want."

"That works," she murmurs, surprised a bit by how at ease he appears in Puerto Rico. Even with a loss, he seems happy here, more peaceful than she's ever seen him in Florida or California. She likes it, wishing he could always feel like this. When he smiles down at her, she smiles back and squeezes his hand, determined to do what she can to make that happen.

-x

Upon returning to the States, Ricardo sees Paige off on another flight to Texas for Raw before heading for home, eager for some rest and regrouping with Sofia and Alberto. He's just drove by the dojo, slowing down to read the posters on the door, when he realizes what one of them says. "Training with Saraya Knight on Tuesday? No kidding?" He smiles to himself, turning his car towards the mansion. As soon as he's parked outside of the gate, he fumbles around for his phone and dials Paige's number, listening to it ring in while he puts in the code to be allowed inside. Driving through carefully, he smiles when she answers.

"Hullo?"

"Hola, mi fuerza, guess what I just saw?" he asks, stopping the car and pulling the key out. "Tuesday's being called Paige appreciation day, since it's your first anniversary of being in the WWE, and your mom's going to help with training at the dojo." She doesn't say anything for a minute and he can imagine her sitting on the plane, flushing harshly at the news, disbelieving that people care about her and her career that much to honor her first year of being on the main roster.

"Bloody hell," she mumbles. "I can't believe any of this. Well, you get to spend more time with my mum. Try to make sure she doesn't traumatize the students."

He laughs. "She'll be fine, I'm sure. She was a perfect teacher the last time she helped with training."

"She is pretty amazing, isn't she?" she concedes with a smile. "Thank you for letting me know, love. We'll talk soon, alright? My flight's about to take off."

"Alright, mi fuerza. Have a good time in Texas."

"I will. And you have a good time catching up on sleep, love. Bye."

"Bye," he says quietly, hanging up and getting out of the car. He walks into the house and hugs Sofia, grinning over at Alberto as they come to greet him, eager to hear all about Puerto Rico. As much as his misses Paige when she's on the road, being at home, helping Sofia cook and arguing goodnaturedly with Alberto over Real Madrid and Man U always makes him feel better.

-x

WWE is very complimentary of AJ Lee on Raw, discussing her retirement and thanking her for the last few years. Ricardo and Del Rio exchange glances before shrugging, watching Paige come to the ring for her tag match with Naomi against the Bellas. It gets messy at the end, the twins accidentally attacking each other, but Paige and Naomi win, and that's the important thing. After the show ends, Ricardo's phone rings and he answers it, unsurprised to find it's Paige. "Hullo, love," she greets him.

"Hola, mi fuerza. How was it?" He had spent a lot of the show wondering how the backstage vibe was without AJ, especially for Mike and Paige.

"Weird," she admits, guessing what he's talking about immediately. "I only caught a glimpse of Mike but he seems as lost as I am, if not more. No one expected this, it seems. Tamina's back though, so that's kind of... strange."

"I wonder how she feels about AJ leaving before she could be cleared to compete," he muses before shrugging. "Well, I'm glad you won, and I can't wait to see you defeat them all in the battle royal next week too."

She laughs softly. "Not that you're biased, love."

"Who, me? Not at all," he exclaims. She yawns then and he winces, realizing just how late it is, especially after all the traveling she's done lately. "I should let you go though, sounds like you need some sleep."

"Badly," she agrees. "Call you tomorrow."

"Ok. Good night, mi fuerza."

"Night-night, love," she says softly.

He smiles. Paige will be flying out to Europe soon so he won't be seeing her again until that tour ends- a couple of weeks, at least- and he already misses her, but he knows she'll enjoy the time among her people, as he had when he was there a few weeks ago.

"Everything alright, mi amigo?" Alberto asks, returning with drinks for them both and nodding when Ricardo thanks him.

"Si, it's fine," he smiles.

"You prepared for Paige appreciation day tomorrow?" Del Rio asks, a bit of a teasing smirk on his face as he nudges his friend.

"Of course I am," Ricardo responds. "Besides, Saraya likes me, she'll take training easy on me... right?"

Alberto pauses, then smirks. "Sure, mi amigo. Whatever you say."

Ricardo groans softly, then shrugs. "I'll survive, I'm sure."

Alberto wraps an arm around him. "I have no doubt," he murmurs, putting his teasing aside for the moment. "And Paige will be back before you know it."

Ricardo nods, clinging to his reassurances. "Si."