Things feel different. But yet, the same. Alicia is now 30 years old, she and Ricardo had shared their first kiss... but despite all of this, they carry on like normal. She continues to train for her upcoming return, he continues to do the little things he needs to do before dedicating two months of his life to training those in the UK. They barely acknowledge the kiss, only sometimes sneaking peeks at each other with small smiles on their face when it's obvious what's on their minds, their eyes flickering down to each other's lips here and there before they return their focus to their food, or TV, or whatever they're doing at the time.

At some point on Friday morning, Ricardo is reminded that Alberto is currently in India. He breathes in and out a few moments, staring at the words, digesting them, remembering his own time in India. The six months he'd spent there changed his life completely. He'd distanced himself from social media, he'd learned that his best friend was involved with his fiancee, he had moved here with Alicia, and now he was risking another burgeoning relationship to go off again to train and wrestle in another country. He presses his face against the wood table he's sitting at and groans, jumping only slightly when soft, warm fingers brush against the back of neck, kneading and lightly scritching, causing him to sigh lazily.

Alicia settles in next to him, a worried look on her pretty face when he sits up to stare at her. "Is everything ok?" she wonders softly, lifting his hand and kissing his palm slowly. When he pushes his phone towards her, she stares at the pictures and videos, various tweets about Alberto in India. "Oh," she says quietly. "Does it make you miss that place?"

He ponders her words for a moment before shaking his head. "No," he says slowly. "Not in the way you might think. I miss it like anyone would a place that was their home for six months, but I'm in no real hurry to return. It just reminds me of how many changes a place like that brought to my life." His fingers lace with hers like they've always been there, and she smiles gently at him. "And I'm a little worried." Her brows furrow and he exhales faintly. "What changes my time in the UK may bring me." His thumb, calloused from years of wrestling and training, brushes over her knuckles and makes her shiver.

Her smile doesn't waver however, as her fingers trail up his arm to rest on his jaw lightly. "You don't need to worry," she tells him sweetly. "Nothing important will change. I'll still be here when you return." She winks at him and he sighs, leaning into her. "I promise."

"Gracias," he murmurs into her shoulder.

They sit like that for a few minutes before Alicia pulls back. "Come on, I have an idea." She squeezes his hand before dragging him up and out of the house. Active Nutrition Florida is a place he's been to in the past but it's been awhile. There are a lot of people loitering around inside and out and it's not hard to pull together a quick soccer game. Ricardo blinks at Alicia, who grins back at him. "I know you said you used to play this, so I figured it would be a nice distraction. What do you think?"

His quick hug before jogging onto the field is all the answer she needs as she settles in to watch, not quite willing to sacrifice her rehab even for something like this. Ricardo is a little rusty but even depending on muscle memory, it's obvious how good he must've been when younger, before nagging injuries and other horrible things in his life slowed him down. The games are long, the competition fierce, and after a couple of rounds, he swaps out to let someone else play and sinks down next to her, sweaty and breathless, but grinning like it's the best day of his life. "Thank you for thinking about this," he tells her, leaning over and kissing her, Alicia sighing at his taking the initiative this time. Pulling away with a sheepish laugh, he wipes at the arm he'd leaned against for the kiss with a dry towel, shaking his head. "Sorry, I'm all sweaty and gross from the games..."

"Trust me, it's fine," she tells him, eyes wide and fixed on him. Her kissing him had been inpromptu and with no real thought out plan, but this... now... the look on his face, how it had felt when he'd gently touched her... it's so different from how things had started with Alex. She's pretty sure she's the one who should be thanking him. She settles for leaning against him and watching the rest of the game, his arm around her shoulders.

-x

Alberto is bone tired when he gets off of the plane from India, but there's life thrumming under his skin, the soft, almost spiritual warmth that India had brought him, returning him to his roots, reminding him of everything he'd lost when he was first with WWE, what he had regained that year after being released, just to be swayed by a large offer of money which causes him to lose it all over again worse than the first time. At least when he'd first gone to WWE, Ricardo had been by his side. This time he had not only ruined everything with Ricardo once more, he had also lost a fair share of self-respect for himself. The truthful words Mike had spoken to him before leaving to return home to California with his wife and daughter have haunted Alberto for the past week. People may call Seth Rollins a sell out, he thinks grimly. I am the real sell-out.

There are gifts. Some things for Sofia, a couple of trinkets for Paige, and something he thinks needs to be delivered right now, despite the late hour. The moon is high in the sky when he arrives at Ricardo's new residence, Alicia sitting on the steps leading to the apartment while Ricardo lays in the sand at her feet, listening to the waves. Alberto watches them for a moment, startled by the ease between the two of them. He'd never seen them alone like this before. After a moment, Alicia looks up and sees him, resting her hand on Ricardo's shoulder before gingerly pulling herself up and ducking into the apartment.

Ricardo watches him warily as he approaches and settles in next to his former best friend. "What do you want, Alberto?" No El Patron stings. As does the suspicion and hurt in his voice. But Alberto doesn't flinch, nor get up to leave. He sits there and watches the waves for a moment before reaching into his bag and tugging out a pile of letters. Some in faulty English, most in Hindi. He watches Ricardo's face as he sifts through them, lost in emotions and memories. "My students," he breathes, recognizing the handwriting, remembering some of the language well enough to read a bit here and there. "How..."

"It is not easy getting time off from the rapid fire scheduling WWE makes on these things," Alberto sighs, leaning back against the stairs. "But I wanted to see your hard work for myself. So I found a moment and went to CWE. One of your students noticed me and realized who I was, next thing I knew a bunch of the little per-..." He freezes, staring at the suddenly dangerous look on Ricardo's face. "Ahem. A bunch of the students were surrounding me, waving letters and things they wanted me to give you, so here they are. I was considering buying you a souvenir but considering you were there much longer than I, I figured these letters would be more valuable to you in the long run."

Ricardo hugs the letters to his chest, not quite able to meet Alberto's gaze. "I see. Gracias, this does mean a lot to me." He closes his eyes. "I'm not ready to forgive you yet, however." Finally looking over and up, he sucks in a deep breath. "I wish for every happiness for you, Alberto. And... for Paige too. I just can't sit here and pretend that it doesn't hurt me, deep down inside, whenever I think about you two."

"I understand. Trust me, I do," Alberto says. "It wasn't... supposed to be this way. Neither Paige nor I intended for this to happen." He sucks in a deep breath, exhales it slowly. "I don't want to cause you any more pain, mi hermano. I hope that tonight will be the building blocks towards us becoming friends again, but if you need more time, or perhaps if what I've done is one thing too many, I understand. I've definitely put you through too much the last few years." He rests his hand on Ricardo's arm for a moment, stroking where he'd injured Ricardo's arm back when they'd wrestled for the last time. "No matter what you think, we were still brothers then, and we are still brothers now. Even if you never forgive me, if you're ever in trouble, if you ever need me, you know how to reach me."

Alberto smiles sadly down at him, taking one last opportunity to lean over and briskly kiss Ricardo on top of the head before pulling himself up to leave Ricardo with his thoughts and the cherished letters.

After he drives off, Alicia joins Ricardo a few moments later and, when he starts to shake, crumpling the letters in his hands, she rescues them, scoots closer and hugs him tight, making soft noises against his neck in an attempt to calm him. "I've got you," she breathes, hurting for him as his breath hitches against her. "It's gonna be ok. I've got you."