Ricardo stares at his hand as he gets out of the car upon arriving back at Alberto's mansion. He grimaces and rubs his knuckles with his good hand, examining the way his two figures are held together to ease in the recovery of his broken finger. "Alright, let's get this over with," he mumbles, lifting his suitcase with his good hand and pushing the door open, standing in the entry way and listening. The house is quiet but he can sense Sofia is in the kitchen.

He's barely taken a few steps when Sofia leaves the kitchen and heads his way. He holds his breath as she gets her first look at him, her smile quickly fading as she notices his hand. "Mi hijo! What happened?" She gently cups his hand and brings it up to get a closer look, her brow furrowed.

His shoulders slump and he lets his suitcase drop from his good hand. "I lost the title match, and I slammed my hand against the turnbuckle... It'll be ok, just needs some time to heal."

She hugs him for a long moment before pulling away. "You are still competing tomorrow night then?" When he nods, she tsks softly and cups his face. "I'll be there for that one, si? If you need me for anything, come find me in the audience." He smiles at her and she reaches up, kissing him on the forehead. "Now come, let's get some ice for your hand, hm?"

It's swollen and bruising, beginning to throb as his pain medicine wears off so he decides that this is a good idea, kicking his suitcase out of the walk path before joining her. He hasn't been sitting at the table for long when Alberto comes out of his office and smiles at Ricardo, gaze darkening when he notices his hand. "I broke my finger," he admits, releasing a breath when Sofia rests an ice pack against Ricardo's hand. "Lost the match too... but perhaps I will have better luck tomorrow night."

"I have no doubt you will," Alberto tells him softly. Sofia bustles around, making something to eat for them, and when she serves them and sits down as well, Ricardo smiles at seeing that it's salad with strips of chicken hidden in the piles of lettuce, something easy enough to eat one handed. "Gracias, Sofia," Alberto murmurs, Ricardo echoing him after taking a bite.

They eat quietly for awhile, Ricardo shifting his hand as the ice melts between his fingers. He doesn't say anything, however, not wanting to disturb Sofia while she's working over her own meal. He can tell she's going to resume fussing, however, so he gets up long enough to put his plate in the sink, rinsing it off, before returning to the table. "I'm going to take a nap, I think. Gracias for the meal, Sofia, and for taking care of my hand. I'll see you both later."

"Rest well, mi amigo," Alberto says, looking up from his plate.

Sofia swallows down some lettuce and nods. "Si, Ricardo, I will check in on you in a few hours."

Alberto and he exchange small smiles before he heads to his room, relieved to sink back onto his mattress and stare up at the ceiling. His hand is throbbing worse than before, the ice wearing off already. He closes his eyes, remembering that his bag is still in the living room, when there's a faint knock on the door. He grimaces and rolls towards it. "Come in."

Alberto peeks in, his lips twitching up into a small grin. "I believe this is yours," he says, settling Ricardo's bag on the floor. Before the ring announcer can say anything, Alberto grabs the pain pills from a side pocket and shakes out a pill, handing over a bottle of water to Ricardo. "Here, mi amigo. I can tell you're in pain." He sits next to him on the bed, listening as Ricardo swallows down the medicine, rolling over onto his back and yawning.

"I don't like these pills," he mumbles. "They make me feel all fuzzy."

"I know, I'm the same way. But sometimes they're needed, so don't try to tough it out, si? Neither Sofia nor I like to see that look on your face." He pats his arm and stands back up. "I'll let you rest, but I'll be across the hall if you need anything."

"Mm hmm," Ricardo sighs. "Gracias."

"De nada, mi hermanito." Alberto smiles at him before walking out of the room. Ricardo's asleep within minutes.

Ricardo tries so hard on Saturday. But the referee loses his mind and makes a bad call and Ricardo finds himself on the losing side of things for the second time in three nights, officially losing out on holding three belts. He cradles his aching hand to his chest and tries to breathe normally for a few moments before rolling out of the ring and stumbling backstage. A quick shower, another pill, and he joins Sofia and Alberto by the entrance ramp. "Let's get out of here," he tells them quietly, unable to look up from the floor.

Sofia reaches out and cups his jaw, making him look at her. "It's ok, mi hijo. You'll have more title opportunities. This loss wasn't your fault." She looks as annoyed towards the referee as he feels and he smiles mirthlessly at her, leaning forward to bury his face in her shoulder as she strokes his hair and kisses the side of his face.

Sleep is hard to find that night, his losses weighing on him, but he's glad to see Sunday dawn, having a couple of busy days full of training ahead of him until Paige returns to Florida. He's not looking forward to watching Total Divas, but it'll be nice to have her in his arms once more.

-x

Alex paces around the apartment, his knee only twinging a little now and again. He had been cleared to train for his return to wrestling a few weeks ago, which had made him ecstatic. Just in time for wedding plans to begin in full swing, he thinks. But none of that matters right now, it's early Tuesday and he's waiting for his wife-to-be to come home. She would ordinarily remain with the Bellas, but since Cena had broken his nose on Raw, Nikki had left to be with him... and then Brie had called Alex.

He can't remember the last time he'd talked to the woman, if ever, but as soon as she tells him that it's about Alicia, he pays attention to her rambles. "... she has a concussion." His heart sinks as Brie continues babbling. He had seen her land wrong early in the match, but he had assumed she was fine when she continued mostly normally.

"Dammit," he hisses, hating himself for thinking something was wrong but not rushing to double check. "Some fiance you are," he tells himself, staring at his reflection in a mirror.

Mike brings Alicia home a couple of hours later, helping her walk up the yard to the front door where Alex is waiting, holding her close before he leads her through the apartment and settling her on the bed. "How are you feeling?"

She yawns and hums. "I'm ok. Just a little dizzy, I guess. But I'll be ok."

He wraps her up in his arms for a few more minutes before hearing Mike wandering around outside. "I'm gonna go talk to Mike for a few minutes, but you lay down and I'll be back soon, alright?" She nods balefully and he kisses her gently, leaving the room. "What happened?" he demands.

Mike sighs and runs a hand through his hair. "She was really disoriented after the match, it was clear something was wrong so I stayed with her while the trainer looked her over. She's got a minor concussion, and by what I've seen her symptoms are typically confusion and some dizziness. She thought I was you for a second, but that passed pretty quickly. Just let her rest and here's the number of the trainer in case you want to talk to him." Mike passes over a business card with Jason's number on it. "I'd stay longer, but I have to go handle Tough Enough stuff, so..."

Alex nods, staring at the card for a moment before lunging forward and hugging Mike tightly. "Thank you for taking care of her when I can't, Mike. I know I don't make it easy, and she doesn't either sometimes, but you're always there whether we deserve it or not."

Mike hugs him back, the both of them reflecting on how long it'd been since they'd had a decent moment like this- since before Alex had tweeted mocking AJ's retirement all of those months ago. "I know," he sighs in an overly dramatic fashion. "It's a hard life, being me." He pulls back and slaps Alex on the arm. "Glad to see you're off the crutch, man. We'll talk soon. Bye."

"Alright, bye." He walks Mike out of the apartment and watches as he drives off before returning to Alicia's side. She's fast asleep, her head half-buried in the pillows, when he lifts her up and hugs her close, relieved that her breath is steady and cool against his flesh. "I'll take care of everything, don't worry." The wedding is close, so close, and he knows she'd had appointments on every day she wasn't traveling for WWE. He lays her back down and finds her purse, pulling out her calendar where she'd diligently written down everything. He reads her loopy handwriting before looking up at her. "This one I can definitely handle." He laughs and leans over to kiss her before heading out to handle as much as he can before Total Divas.

When he returns later that afternoon, her eyes are blinking sluggishly and he kisses her. "Alex, where were you?" she wonders, sitting up as he props pillows behind her back. She then realizes the time and gasps. "No, no, I had appointments for the wedding, I-"

He hugs her before she can lunge out of bed and make her apologies to those she'd stood up because of her concussion and not being able to keep her eyes open for too long. "No, no, Foxy, it's fine. I handled them." He tilts her face and kisses her deeply, waiting until she tastes the sugar on his lips. She pouts at him, realizing what this means as he smirks down at her. "But I did more than that... I made some selections for our big day."

She looks wary. "Like what?"

He leans over and picks up a plate, revealing a selection of cake slices. "We're going to have a one-tier chocolate cake. And then there's going to be a second tier of cupcakes of a variety of flavors because I couldn't make a choice." He holds a forkful of the fudge cake to her lips and watches as her eyes close at the taste. He smiles and offers her another bite, before leaning over and lightly kissing the frosting off of her lips. "Lemon, red velvet, vanilla... If you want to add any flavor, the baker said we just need to call him."

She beams at him. "It sounds great. Thank you so much, Alex. I don't know how I'm going to handle the rest of the appointments when I can barely keep my eyes open for five minutes."

"I'll handle it," he shakes his head, wrapping his arms around her. "I just want you to lay back and relax, ok? Any food samples, I will bring back some so we can choose together. Unless you think my taste is good enough after the cake thing."

She laughs and kisses him, eyes sparkling. "I love you so much."

"I love you too," Alex murmurs, nuzzling into her. "It's going to be a great wedding, I promise you. Everything you deserve."

-x

After Tough Enough and Tough Talk, Mike and Paige return to the mansion once more, tense and quiet. Ricardo cringes as Mike walks past them with barely a hello to Ricardo, heading into his room and shutting the door securely behind him. "Bloody hell," Paige snaps, "Using his save on that... that woman. Why, I don't know. I will never understand men." Ricardo's about to protest when she leans up and kisses him. "Except for you. I know I have very little to worry about from you, and-" She then stops short, realizing his hand. "Oh, love..." She cups his hand and brings it up to her lips, kissing his palm gently before pressing it against her chest. "I'm so sorry. Does it still hurt much?"

"A little, but it's not bad," he sighs, this true as she continues to kiss around his bandaged together fingers. They soon deviate back to the living room to turn on Total Divas, Ricardo's hold on her tightening when Kevin is shown for the first time. Alicia and Paige argue a lot after Paige bails on from 'moving in' with her, and Alicia makes some very pointedly insulting comments towards Kevin, Ricardo fighting not to cheer her on while Paige shakes her head.

The show is almost over when Paige leans her head against Ricardo's shoulder. "There's something I need to tell you before this final scene." Ricardo tenses against her and she sighs. "It's nothing that'll affect you directly, I think. But you still need to know. So my obsession with having something that'll make them keep me on the show and fabricating this whole thing with Kevin? Alicia realized that it's the best way for her to have sustainability on the show too, so... this is what's going to start with this scene, if it's what I think it'll be."

Ricardo can only gape at her, unable to imagine the two of them working together after everything he's seen from them the past few months.

-x

On the TV screen, Alicia is fussing over seeing Wade Barrett, taping monitors and insulting his beard, but she ignores it as she talks to her fiance. "...Paige created this fake boyfriend to stay on the show, while still seeing Ricardo. And it made me think, I have nothing to make me interesting for this show. They could kick me at any time, like they did Cameron and Rosa. I wish I could've told you sooner, but between the wedding plans and your recovery, I just... couldn't find the time."

Alex is about to ask what she's doing, or what she's going to do, when the Alicia on the TV confesses to Paige "I think I still love him." The 'him' being Wade Barrett... Paige's reaction is close to what Alex wishes he could do- a solid punch to the wall behind her. But instead he scrapes his fingers through Alicia's hair until she can look him in the eye. "What are you doing?"

"It's nothing, I promise. And I am so sorry, there's only one man in this company I have feelings for. And that's you. I promise I will make this right for you, somehow. Just please, don't leave." She cries easily, feeling varying levels of disgust with herself. "I'm so sorry, I never should've done that. I love you, and I don't want to lose this. Not now, not so close to the wedding. Please, Alex... please."

"I'm not leaving," he mumbles into her hair, kissing the crown of her head. "But I really need you to tell me these things right away. Please... otherwise, I'm not sure how long we're going to last. And that would break me because I want you by my side for as long as possible."

She nods viciously, her eyes wet with tears. "I promise, anything I know, you will know. And one good thing about my concussion, I may get time to relax and spend time with you instead of moving on to the next city. We may even get a real honeymoon. That's good right?"

He nods, a wan smile on his face speading into a full on grin at the mention of their honeymoon. "Yes, that's good, Foxy." He kisses her.