Alicia laughs, happy and free as she dances around him, Harley barking and scampering around her legs. Ricardo smiles and watches, content to put his phone down and forget all of the bad that's going on in the world for a few minutes, enjoying the brisk air on his face as he watches his wife enjoy herself in their backyard. "I have a match this week," she tells him with a happy grin, leaning over to kiss him.

"Oh, yeah? With who?" he wonders.

"Tag match with Jinder against Ember Moon and Apollo Crews." She shrugs and makes a face. "I'll have to deal with those ridiculous Singh brothers again, but it'll be alright." She mulls it over for a few moments. "I have a good feeling about it, I mean we did make it to the finals of Mixed Match Challenge season 2. Anything's possible!"

Ricardo smiles, a little. "That's true," he says, toying with her soft blonde hair as she settles in his lap, Harley dropping down at their feet, panting quietly.

She presses a soft kiss to his lips and searches his face. "You good?" She worries about him, he knows. His moods come and go, the state of the world and his own health leaving him struggling, but he nods, squeezing her. "If there's ever anything you want to talk about, or if you think you need help-"

He feels bad, for a moment, about all of things he says on Twitter, knowing she can see it, probably worries more than she lets on to keep him from censoring himself. "I swear, I'm fine," he says. "I just get in my own head too much sometimes. Especially when I can't sleep." He kisses her shoulder and smiles up at her. "Try not to worry, I swear I'm alright. Especially right now, with you in my arms."

She leans her head on his shoulder and kisses his neck, sighing softly. "You'd better be," she hums, nuzzling deeper into him as he rubs her back soothingly. They can only enjoy this moment of peace for a little while longer, as she has to get up, start to pack for Raw.

He follows her, watching quietly as she puts some carefully folded clothes in her suitcase, along with her usual hair care supplies and everything else. As soon as she finishes, she joins him on the bed and cuddles close, breath warm against his cheek. "I love you," she tells him softly.

"I love you too," he tells her, lips parting in a soft gasp as she tangles her fingers in his hair and kisses him deeply, humming as his hands graze along her hips, holds her close. "I love you so much."

She eases against him like a wave of comfort and security, and he sighs softly as she squeezes his hands, eyes fixed on his, her touch soothing, distracting him from all of his physical aches and emotional minefields. Time becomes meaningless, her partnering up again with Jinder a distant thought, as she giggles against his jaw, warm and joyful as he brushes his knuckles against her flesh, watching her through hooded eyes as she sits up and smiles down at him, so beautiful and fixated on him that it takes his breath away as he wonders yet again how exactly he'd gotten so lucky.

After she leaves to the airport to fly out for Raw, he's wandering around the house in a pair of his most favorite sweats, waiting to leave for his next class, when he hears a knock at the door. Glancing down at Harley, he shrugs and heads for the door, pleasantly surprised to see Maryse there, baby Monroe in her arms. "Oh! Hey. I didn't know you were coming over," he says, blinking at her. "Did you... I mean, Alicia's not here, she just left to fly out to Raw like an hour ago."

"Oh, I know," she says with a small smile as she adjusts the baby. "Say hello to uncle Ricardo," she tells the little girl as she coos and waves her pudgy fists around, eyes so similar to Maryse's fixated on Ricardo. "Alicia and I were talking, actually, and she suggested I come to you for advice. I've actually been considering getting Monroe here a puppy so she can grow up with a pet all of her own, and Heath thinks it's great, so I thought perhaps you'd have a better idea of a good place to adopt a puppy."

Ricardo gapes at her, shaking his head. "I should've known Alicia was planning something," he mumbles. "If you give me a few minutes to get dressed, I'm sure we can figure something out," he tells her.

"Of course," she agrees, bouncing Monroe on her hip as she waits, leaning over to pet Harley as she pants up against Maryse's leg, staring up at her with soulful, dark eyes. "I hope my baby's puppy is as sweet as you are," she coos.

Ricardo returns in a long sleeved sweatshirt and jeans a few moments later, and they leave together, Ricardo taking her to the nearest pound he can think of. There are a number of dogs there of various ages, but it's the puppies that eat at both of Maryse and Ricardo, tumbling around each other in cages and making soft little cries as they all struggle to get closer to the humans peeking in at them. "There are so many," she whispers. "And they're all so little..."

It's sad and Ricardo feels a stirring deep inside of him as he watches Maryse interact with the little dog, most of her attention on a small, golden furred puppy that snuggles happily against her hand as soon as she touches the cage, Monroe watching the puppy with a look of awe on her young face. Maryse makes soft noises at her daughter before walking up to the nearest worker. "What do I have to do to start the adoption process? I'd like the little golden one if that's at all possible..."

As she walks off, Ricardo stays still, staring into the cage at two small, wiggling masses of dark fur that seem to be calling to him. He's still looking at them when a haggard woman comes up and peeks in too. "They're siblings, you know," she says. "Just recently brought them in, someone's dogs had puppies and they didn't want them, so here they've been. Probably get taken soon, puppies never seem to last long until the people realize they're a lot of work and bring them back."

Ricardo nods, his heart aching for the two little creatures. He wasn't planning on this, not even sure how Harley will take to them, or what Alicia will think of it all, but they're so little, so desperate for love, that he looks over at her. "I'll take them."

She blinks, surprised. "Well, let's start you with a questionaire and we'll see if they're a good fit," she says, leading Ricardo over to where Maryse is currently filling out a questionaire. "Here we go," she grunts, sliding a paper over to him. "I'll be back in a few minutes."

Ricardo smiles at Maryse as she mulls over the various questions. "I kind of did this out of order," he confesses, tapping his pen against the table. "But I'm sure it'll work out."

She pauses over trying to describe the dogs they already own and looks up at him with a smile. "I hope so. For both of our sakes."

Still, Ricardo has hope and he asks to take the puppies out of the cage, immediately enamored with one as it snuggles into his hand, taking a picture of it. The other puppy is a little more skittish, and Ricardo takes a picture of it wobbling around by itself, sending them both to Alicia. I think we're going to have a few new members of the family soon.

He's not sure how she's going to respond, but he just has a sense as he watches the puppies that everything's going to work out just fine.