Ricardo's ankle is throbbing. To the point that Alicia will barely let him out of the house and when she does, only if Alberto is nearby to keep an eye on him. So they go out at some point, to distract him, keep him busy. They stock up on as much as they can, mostly food items and other necessities to send over to Puerto Rico. There are a lot of things in their cart but it doesn't feel like enough. Ricardo scrubs at his face, sits down on a bench that Alberto had pointed out to him, and sighs.

"Up," Alberto says briskly, patting his leg and Ricardo grimaces, doing as suggested and laying his bad leg across Alberto's thigh. He unlaces Ricardo's shoe and winces sympathetically when Ricardo lets out a soft hiss, the swollen area red and clearly painful. "Mi amigo," he mumbles, lightly massaging his leg. "You need to take better care of yourself. Letting a little weasel like Spud do this to you."

Ricardo barks out a faint, pained laugh, his head thrown back as he tries to breathe through it. "Wasn't Spud's fault," he mumbles. "He was fine, I was the one who was rusty and paid the price for it." He rotates his foot gingerly and raises an eyebrow at Alberto. "We are both well-versed in all of my various ankle injuries over the years."

Alberto bites his lip, staring down at the leg that, only a few years ago, had been broken and re-broken by Jack Swagger. "Si," he says faintly. "Thanks to me that you would have to endure that."

"Hey," Ricardo says, nudging him with his foot. When Alberto looks up, he offers him a weak smile. "I never blamed you for that, ok? It was Swagger's doing, his fault. You did the best for me that you could. I understood that."

"I'm still not sure why I began to fail so thoroughly at that, mi amigo," he says quietly. "Protecting you from that company used to be all I cared about and in the end... I became the biggest cause of your pain and I can never apologize enough for that."

Ricardo gingerly pulls his leg away. Pushes his pant leg down and sits up next to Alberto. "I think," he says slowly, "that even though I loved her, and I think she loved me, Paige and I were never right for each other. And who knows, somewhere down the road it could end up that Alicia and I were wrong for each other too, but right now, we make each other happy and... I can't picture my life without her. She makes me laugh when not much else can, and I feel... at peace when I'm with her." He stares at his hands, twisting together in his lap. "I suppose what I'm trying to say, Alberto, is perhaps everything shook out the way it was supposed to. Me with Alicia, you with Paige."

Alberto exhales, presses his knuckles into his eyes. "I always forget how forgiving you are, mi amigo. How accepting, even when I don't even come close to deserving it." He rubs Ricardo's neck. "But I suppose I should know that instinctively after so many years, hm?" He nudges at the cart full of donations for Puerto Rico and smiles at his best friend. "Come, come. Let's get this stuff where it's going and then I think I want to go home for awhile. Paige is at the Performance Center," he only says this with a little bitterness, to Ricardo's amusement- "and I believe a certain housekeeper would like to baby you, if you're up for it, mi amigo."

Ricardo chuckles, his eyes lighting up at the thought of seeing Sofia, having one of her famous meals. "Si, I'd like that." He limps after Alberto to the car and pauses, staring over at him. "Gracias, Alberto." When his former employer looks up at him, confused, he smiles faintly. "For never giving up on me. On this." He motions between the two of them and Alberto's face lights up.

"Never, mi amigo. I believe you're stuck with me."

Ricardo smirks, getting into Alberto's car. I think I'm ok with that.