Their meeting is the next day. It's not even somewhere public. Some park between their houses, in a neutral zone. Ricardo watches people walking their dog and wonders how his puppy is doing, quickly shaking his head. Sofia clearly loved him, would dote over him obnoxiously so the dog is probably much better off than he himself is this moment. When Alberto arrives- surprisingly only a few minutes late, Ricardo can't take his eyes off of him. Despite the rumors and stories going around, he looks... good. Sharp, in control, in a way that only Alberto could even when things were spiraling out of control.

"Hola, mi hermano," Alberto attempts, sitting across from him.

"Hola." Ricardo's voice is strained. This is weird and, not for the first time, he wonders if it was a mistake to agree to meet Alberto at all. His heart is alternating between racing and beating too slowly and he hopes that this doesn't lead to a relapse that would put him back in the hospital or something. He sips from a bottle of water, its sweat on his hand the only thing grounding him the longer they sit there.

"I saw your instagram post," is what Alberto chooses to start with. "Mi hermano, I wish you were there with me for my successes... if I had thought it would be what you wanted, I would've extended an invitation, but-"

"I don't," Ricardo exhales, barely able to meet Alberto's eye. "I wasn't thinking, I was at concerts all day and I was sort of drunk. Things have changed, we can't work together anymore, I understand. I can't trust you anymore and you probably think I'm washed up, only good for commentating MMA and-"

"This is not true!" Alberto insists, leaning forward and snagging his hand, forcing him to look him in the eye. "You are much more than that, Ricardo. You... you're training people, si? Making good wrestlers out of the next generation." He squeezes his fingers almost too tight, the way Alberto used to do when he was worried and Ricardo wasn't making sense to him, like after his ankle was broken, or after the suspension. "It is an honorable thing, after everything that this business has taken from you, that you insist on giving back in any way possible."

The usual heat floods his veins, up through his face, at Alberto's compliments, but it's mixed with a sick sort of dread now because it was always the nice Alberto who would turn around and do the most awful things- leave him with bruises all over his body as a severance package, fall in love with Paige, etc. He gingerly pulls his hand away and looks down at his feet, waiting for the next attack or... something. It doesn't come, Alberto continues to just sit there patiently, watching him, and finally he looks up, pain in his eyes. "I miss you," he admits. "Or rather I miss the Alberto who was my best friend, my brother. Who I thought could never hurt me."

The pain in Ricardo's voice is reflected in Alberto's eyes and his touch is gentle, both of them ignoring when Ricardo flinches at his fingers resting on the crook of his elbow. "I miss him as well," he breathes out. "I miss our friendship. And I know I have a lot to make up for, perhaps too much after all this time, but I'm choosing to take today, you agreeing to meet me here, as a good sign that perhaps... it's not too late. That I can maybe have something of a relationship with you again some day."

Ricardo's mouth is dry. Nerves, anxiety, the lingering ill feeling that's been with him since coming into contact with Alberto again. He feels just shy of a panic attack, forcing another sip of his water and hoping that it won't come spewing out of his mouth within seconds. Thankfully it doesn't, but Alberto seems to be waiting for an answer. Finally Ricardo shrugs, still unable to fully meet Alberto's eyes. "What's the old saying?" he intones through numb lips. "Never say never?"

Alberto doesn't hang around for much longer beyond that, not wanting to push his luck. He smiles at Ricardo, lightly rubbing his shoulder before turning to leave with a quick wave over his shoulder. Ricardo watches him leave, continuing to sit there until his heart rate evens out and he stops feeling like he could throw up. He's still not sure if making inroads with Alberto right now is the best idea he's ever had, but what's done is done. He gets to his feet and heads home to Alicia.

WWE that week is in California. He thinks about going with Alicia, spending time with his mom, trying to make sense of their failed journey west... but the inclination fades quickly, he kisses her goodbye and then sits on the couch whenever he's not training people, holding his head in his hands and struggling to think. Nothing really makes sense anymore, everything is muddled and difficult, and this is the closest he's come to feeling when he left WWE in a long time.

Raw sees Alicia back, wrestling again, and walking out the victor with her tag partners, which makes him smile. WIth the 205 drama behind her, she at least seems to be getting her feet back under her as a competitor... but then the phone call comes in early Tuesday afternoon. She sounds hesitant, almost weak. "Ricardo... I'm at 205 live."

His heart sinks but he tries not to read into it. She'd been on the show for weeks, of course she would want to return one last time, see what's going on- he's just about to say as much to her when-

"I think I want to continue working with Noam."

He thinks he must look like a fish out of water, gaping ahead blindly as she waits for his reaction. A reaction which never comes because his heart is doing that thing again where it doesn't know whether to beat or not beat, and he's struggling just to breathe.

"Look, I know it's ridiculous but I feel kind of bad how I treated him a few weeks ago," she says, talking fast in that way that she does when she's trying to convince herself of something just as much as she is he. "We're not going to be anything more than friends- you know, like James Ellsworth and Carmella? but I just... I feel like I need to do this, he looks like a kicked puppy and I... I can't just leave him like that."

Ricardo's hands tense and relax, tense and relax, and he's not sure what to say, what to do. She's still talking quickly, and he's just barely listening to her voice rise and fall as she tries to get a reaction from him.

"Please say something," she finally begs when it's been close to five minutes and he's just sat there quietly the entire time. "Ricardo? Are you ok?"

He's decidedly not. But he'd fought so hard for Paige, and that relationship had crashed and burned from the moment he pushed a ring on her finger, and Alicia and Alex's marriage had died a slow, painful death because of how controlling and angry Alex had ended up. He refuses to make the same mistakes, trying to breathe steadily. "Fine," he whispers. "Fine. You... you do what you feel you have to."

"Ricardo-"

"But," he cuts in, closing his eyes, unable to believe he's doing this. "I want to meet him." Get the lay of the land. See if this person could possibly accept the situation for what it is- Alicia working with him as friends, nothing more, nothing less.

"Of- of course," she says, sounding surprised, maybe a little fearful. "I'll... I'll talk to him, we'll figure out a time."

Ricardo nods. Murmurs a hushed goodbye before hanging up, unable to talk any longer. His head is pounding, his body feels clammy. He forces down some tylonel with some sips from a Gatorade bottle, and lays down to try to doze until his next training session.

When he finally watches that night's 205 Live back the next morning, all he can think about is how thrilled Noam looks to have Alicia back by his side, even when she hoists him up and carries him around like he weighs nothing.

The meeting, as it comes to be called, happens on Thursday. After everyone's been relaxing at home for a day, and before the cruiserweights- and Alicia- have to fly out to England for Raw and 205 Live. Noam is shorter than Ricardo expected, somehow, jittery and nervous as he looks around their apartment. His accent is a little rough but Ricardo can figure out most of what he's saying after a few seconds, his face expressive and awkward in a way that would almost be endearing if Ricardo wasn't so worn thin by everything going on around him.

"It's a great place," he chatters. "Lotsa sunlight, and that water outside, whoo. I bet you two get a lotta swimming in." He falters a bit when he sees Alicia's fingers loosely coil around Ricardo's, an interesting flush covering his pale cheeks. "So, uh, yeah, I didn't know she was seein' someone, y'know? If I had, maybe... I'd a done something different." The way he says it, Ricardo's pretty sure he wouldn't have, but it doesn't even make him angry anymore. Alicia is gorgeous, anyone would want to try to win her over.

The more time Ricardo spends with Noam, the less worried he becomes. The guy's young, new to America, and some friends would probably do him good about now. He strokes Alicia's knuckles with his thumb and offers her a faint smile, his silent way of saying that he accepts this now. He and Noam may never be friends, but this meeting had done its purpose. Eased Ricardo's nerves about Noam's ability to move in on Alicia and made Noam face the facts of Alicia's personal life. After a quick lunch of egg salad sandwiches and some chips, Noam takes his leave of them and Ricardo sighs, fingers bracing Alicia as she settles in his lap. "Alright?"

"Si," he says quietly. She leans in and kisses him, long and slow, gentle and teasing, and he exhales, relieved that his heart rate stays somewhat normal, even when she eases his shirt off and kisses along his collar bone, down his chest. Her lips are warm against his ribs, soft little nips and licks leaving him trembling under her, when he decides to go for broke. Everything with Alberto is still up in the air, but the Noam situation seems to be settling, and now... he figures he might as well just say it. After watching TNA live, and seeing how Alberto's career has finally moved well beyond him, along with how his health's been- the hospital stay had opened his eyes to some hard truths about what he's endured the last few years- he thinks it's time. "I'm retiring from active competition."

She freezes against his skin, looking up at him with shocked eyes. "What?"

"I will still train people," he says softly, fingers running through her hair. "I will do all I can to make this business better, and help the people just starting in it, but... my heart is not in it anymore to actually wrestle myself. So... I think that's it."

She looks sad for him, even as another weight is lifted off of his chest, and slowly eases up to kiss him on the lips, petting his hair. "Anything you need, I'm here for you."

"I know," he exhales, smiling up at her as she kisses him again, eyes fluttering when she slowly settles against him. "I love you, Alicia."

Her face lights up from the pensive focus she'd been showing a moment earlier and she presses more kisses against his lips, his nose, his cheeks, his jaw. "I love you too," she murmurs right into his ear, lacing her fingers with his.

So much is changing, it's hard to grasp onto anything for longer than a few moments, but as he watches her through hooded eyes, he's pretty sure he's going to be just fine.