Halloween comes and goes and before Ricardo is fully prepared for it, he finds himself facing off with the dreaded holidays. Alicia chuckles as he stumbles into their bedroom, collapsing face first into bed. "Our first holiday season with three children all old enough to be aware of what's going on," she teases him. "You're already overwhelmed, huh?"
"Getting there," he grunts, exhaling as she settles in next to him and rests her head on his back, humming lightly. "Give me a few weeks, I'll adjust."
She laughs, scratching lazily up and down his spine. "Well, if it helps, Sofia and I are a little panicked too. But we'll all figure it out. It's early yet, at least. At least all three of them are young enough to be forgiving if we mess something up."
"Do you think we will?" Ricardo asks, slowly rolling over and wrapping an arm around Alicia's waist. "Mess things up?"
"No," she says after a few moments. "I think we'll do the best we can. Like we always do." She rests her chin on her arm, staring up at him. "I think worrying excessively about it right now is counterproductive. The years we'll really have to worry about is when all three of them are preteens, mouthy and bratty. These years will be the easiest out of all of them."
He laughs at her. "Our children? Bratty? Please." He scoffs, then squirms away when she pinches him, smirking as he grabs for her wrists. "Alicia!"
"Ricardo!" she teases him. "Our children will be little terrors, too smart for their own good. I mean, look at their parents."
"Creative, intelligent little messes," Ricardo sighs. "We're in so much trouble."
She giggles, crawling up the bed to hover over his face. "It'll definitely be an adventure," she murmurs, kissing him.
"I love every adventure I get to experience with you," he tells her, lightly running a hand up her side, drawing her in and holding her in place, sighing into her mouth.
"Same," she hums, brushing her hair away to lean in to him, gasping softly as he traces shapes against her hips. "I love you."
"I love you too," he says, gripping her chin and staring deep into her eyes. "Always have, always will."
She smiles, pressing against his lips in another devouring kiss, pushing aside their individual and similar worries for the holidays to focus on this moment, this spreading warmth between them.