"Doing ok?" Alicia whispers, leaning over to kiss Ricardo's cheek.
"Yeah," he says quietly, tracing his pencil down a list of events the hosts of which have informed him that they will probably be canceled should things progress much further. He looks up at her and smiles a strained sort of smile. "Looks like you're gonna be stuck nonstop with me for awhile."
She tsks and reaches out, curling her fingers around his. "Trust me, that's more than fine with me." She winks at him. "If I didn't like being in your presence, I wouldn't have married you."
He chuckles and trails his fingers over the ring resting comfortably on his hand. "Oh that's right," he teases. "You did do that, didn't you?"
She presses more kisses against his face and jaw, along the bridge of his nose, down to his lips, before easing away. "Yep," she says, unable to hide the pride in her voice. "And I haven't regretted once since I said I do." She trails her fingers along his lips and smiles at him. "I hope you never have either."
"Nope," he says softly. "Best decision I've ever made." He reaches out for her and, when she curls up in his arms, hugs her close. "I love you so much," he murmurs into her hair and she smiles against his shoulder.
"I love you too," she hums.
They watch Smackdown that week because Heath has been making sporadic appearances- competing against Daniel Bryan, which is quite the throw back to the first season of NXT, which is celebrating its tenth anniversary. "I think next time we all can, we should go play bowling," he says. "Between us, Heath and Maryse, Mike and AJ, John and Taya, there's more than enough people to have some fun." He mulls it over and makes a face. "Of course, that's going to be more difficult, we may have to wait awhile, but I'm sure we can make it work some day."
"Yeah," Alicia says, nuzzling into him. "I'd like that, it'd be fun to do something as a group and not just a couple of us here and there. We all only really get to hang out around holidays and stuff."
"Yeah," Ricardo murmurs, pressing a kiss to the crown of her head. "Of course we'll win."
"Oh there's absolutely no question," she giggles, just for their teasing and boasts to fade away as Heath loses, for the second time, to Daniel.
Ricardo sighs, grimacing for his friend, tempted to shut the TV off, but only leaving it on on the off-chance that Miz or Morrison will appear again before the night concludes. Alicia watches him for a moment before shifting to squeeze his fingers. "You're a good man, Ricardo Rodriguez," she tells him quietly.
He smiles down at her and shrugs, trying to brush the compliment away. "You help me to find a reason to be," he tells her and she looks a little choked up, pressing her face into his shoulder and trying to resist the tears welling up in her eyes.
"I love you," she finally manages to say, a smile overpowering all of her other emotions.
"I love you too," he breathes out cheerfully, brushing his fingers through her hair and turning his gaze back to Smackdown.
There are still things to worry about, and fear, but right here, right now, he's relieved that they have each other, no matter what's to come. Always, he thinks, pressing a gentle kiss to her lips as she finally unearths herself to smile weakly at him.
