Ricardo breathes easier in LA. Plays with his niece and nephew as best as he can, his knee still acting up. He hugs his mom and his sister, watching as they tsk over him and try to feed him as much of his childhood favorites as they possibly can the couple of days that he's with them. "Mi hermana, mind if I take the kids to visit AJ Mizanin and her daughter?" he asks around noon on Sunday, smiling at her as she thinks about it for a moment and then nods.
"I remember her," she says. "She was nice. How old is her baby by now?"
It takes a second for Ricardo to do the math, squinting in thought. "Eight months." He exhales. "I can't believe it's been that long." He chuckles and shakes his head before turning to the children. "What do you say, little ones? Want to go visit a friend of mine?"
"Si! Yes! Si!" the kids chant, clattering their dishes excitedly as they finish an early lunch, Ricardo and his sister chuckling as they work together to clean up.
When away from the children's eyes for a moment, Ricardo's mom slinks in and hugs him. "I am sorry things have been hard for you lately, mi hijo," she says softly. "But I am glad you have friends who are helping you through this. And you know you can call any time. I will listen."
He smiles shakily at her, leaning in to kiss her cheek. "Gracias, madre. I know. My schedule is just so haphazard, I don't want to disturb you while you're busy or the kids are asleep. Don't worry about me, I'm doing ok."
She pats his cheek and smiles sadly at him before turning and clapping her hands briskly. "Alright, let's get these two packed up and out of here so I can have some peace and quiet, si? Si?"
Ricardo laughs and watches as his family runs around, packing up little snacks and toys, stuffing drinks in the sleeves of a bag, the typical things the kids can't go without. Once everything is put together, the kids are still full of energy and excited while the adults look like they could use a nap. Ricardo hoists the bag up, balancing carefully on his bad knee while he swoops down and scoops Liam up, grinning as he squeals and laughs before settling against Ricardo's shoulder. Once they're all comfortably in the car, he waves at his sister and mother before pulling out into LA traffic, some low children's music playing on the radio.
While struck in traffic, his mind wanders and he leans over to talk to the kids in the back. "Hey, guys. Do you want to see a picture?"
Natalia reacts more strongly than Liam does, the little boy more interested in a bug crawling around the window. "She's pretty!" she exclaims, trying to reach for Ricardo's phone to get a better look at his picture of Alicia.
Chuckling, he allows her to take ahold of the device, looking up as people begin to honk. Exhaling in aggravation, he drives forward two feet before the traffic congests again and then he stops, turning back to regain his phone.
"Is she your girlfriend?" Natalia asks, eyes so similar to his own boring into his face.
"She's a good friend, it might grow into more," he murmurs, face feeling suspiciously hot as he swipes his screen to darken the screen.
"What happened to Paige?" she wonders, kicking her feet against the edge of the car seat, barely registering her uncle's discomfort at this question.
"She, uh. She decided she liked someone a little better than me, so... I let her be happy," he finishes lamely, smiling painfully when Natalia looks up at him.
"Well, I like you the best, Uncle Ricardo," she chirps, so mature past her age that it chokes him up even further and he makes a note to give her the biggest hug as soon as they get out of the car. "Much more than LIam, all he cares about is bugs and yucky things." She sticks her tongue out at her oblivious brother and Ricardo laughs for the first time in a very long time, relieved when the traffic begins to move steadily once more a few moments later.
AJ looks surprised when she opens the door to find the three Rodriguezes on her front step but she smiles and welcomes them in, leaning down to hug Natalia and give Liam a fist bump. "Sara should be waking up from her nap soon," she tells Ricardo. "It's good to see you." She hugs him quickly, then turns to look in at the kids. "God, they're getting so big."
"Tell me about it," he exhales. "I definitely do not see them enough." He smiles at her. "I wish I could stay long enough to see Mike, but I'm heading back to Florida tomorrow. Maybe I'll be able to catch him the next time WWE makes the cycle."
She nods and pats him on the arm before heading into the living room to play with the kids for awhile before Sara wakes up, lightly running her fingers through Natalia's hair and imagining what she'll do when Sara will be this age, all of the things they can do together. She smiles and then looks up when the baby starts to cry. "Oh-"
"I can get her, if you don't mind," Ricardo offers. "I have experience with babies."
AJ considers it a moment then nods, "Alright. If she's too fussy, just say you need me, I'll hear it on the monitor."
He nods and manuevers through the house to find the nursery, pausing in the doorway to look at Sara. She's gotten so much bigger since he'd last seen her, and he coos softly as he walks inside, giving her a minute to adjust to this strange face peering down at her. "Do you remember me? I'm Uncle Ricardo. Your mom gave me permission to come help you get ready for the rest of the day. How does that sound, huh?" He reaches out for her and, although she looks suspicious, she allows him to lift her up and walk her around the room, talking quietly to her. Once she's comfortable in his arms, he finds the clothes AJ had set out ahead of time, easing Sara out of her sleepwear and into the soft shirt and pants combo, making sure everything is clean and comfortable and just right before he takes her downstairs.
The kids are around the kitchen table, watching wide eyed as AJ prepares Sara's lunch- small pieces of banana and grapes, with a tub of apple cinnamon oatmeal waiting nearby with a spoon. "What is that, Uncle Ricardo?" Natalia asks quietly, pointing to the baby food.
He chuckles, handing Sara over to her mother and watching as AJ kisses Sara on the forehead and greets her cheerfully before settling her in her high chair and starting to feed her. "It's baby food, just like I ate when I was Sara's age, and like what you and Liam ate."
"I didn't eat that," Natalia says, crossing her arms over her chest. "I know Liam did, but that's because he's a boy. Boys like yucky things like that."
Ricardo's eyebrows raise. "Well, Sara's a girl and she seems to like it well enough," he points out, the group of them turning to look as Sara eagerly downs another bite of the mushy concoction.
"She's little, she doesn't know no better," Natalia insists.
"Well, neither did you," Ricardo laughs, sneaking out and tickling her as she squeals and thrashes around, trying to get away from him. This noise and movement distracts Sara from eating and she gapes at them, lips wobbling abruptly. "Oh. Uh oh," Ricardo breathes, noticing. "Sorry, Sara, it's ok, don't cry. We're just being silly."
Once things are calm and quiet, the baby relaxes and allows AJ to feed her a bite of banana, her lower lip still extended in a miserable kind of pout. "Don't worry about it," AJ says. "She gets used to noise when her daddy's here, but when it's just us, it's usually quiet so she doesn't know what to do at first when there are people around and stuff. She'll be ok."
Even so, Ricardo still feels awful and, after letting the kids hold Sara for a few moments, he guides them back out to the car and puts them back in their car seats. "I'm really sorry again," he tells AJ and Sara, lightly stroking the baby's cheek. "Maybe when she's a little older they can be friends."
"I'd like that," AJ tells him, smiling slightly. "And don't be so hard on yourself, kids get pouty and cry a lot. She's already forgotten about it. Haven't you, sweetie?"
Sara waves her fists, staring at Ricardo curiously, and he smiles down at her before leaning in to kiss her forehead carefully. "I'll see you, Sara. Continue being a good girl for your mom." His smile is awkward when he faces AJ once more. "Bye, AJ. Thanks for letting us just drop in like this."
"No problem, it gets quiet and lonely around here without Mike sometimes. You're welcome any time."
Even so, Ricardo is somewhat relieved to drive away, find a local park and let the kids expend the rest of their energy before he takes them home.
He heads back to Florida the next day but gets stranded after some standard flight snafus, forced to spend the night in Arizona. Alicia chuckles once she's sure he's ok, settled in for the night at a nearby cheap hotel, the two of them talking until Raw ends and she has to go to get some sleep before flying back to Florida. "I'll see you in the morning," he promises her.
"Looking forward to it," she says softly, blowing a kiss at him before wishing him a good night and hanging up.
He exhales and closes his eyes, sprawling out on the uncomfortable bed and trying to ignore the throb of pain in his knee. It's getting worse but he hopes it just holds on a little longer, because he has bookings this weekend, and then more things to do with Combate Americas.
Unfortunately, this doesn't happen. He's not sure what he's done exactly, but every day, the pain is a little more intense, the stiffness harder to shake off... and he's leaning more and more towards getting looked at, making sure he hadn't really jacked up his ACL or anything else during one of his dates over in England. He keeps this from Alicia, not wanting to worry her, especially when he finds her poring over paperwork early one afternoon. "What's that?" he wonders, lightly rubbing her back as she exhales and sits up.
"Some more red tape with my divorce from Alex," she says, rubbing her eyes. "The last bit didn't get filed because he moved and didn't tell me."
"Wha- huh?" Ricardo stares at her, flabbergasted. "Where'd he go?"
"LA," she says with a bitter laugh. "Apparently he's trying to get into acting."
"AJ nor Mike will like that when they hear it," he exhales, sitting down heavily next to her. She nods vacantly, turning to face him.
"Hey, are you ok? You look kinda pale," she says, resting a hand on his knee. His grimace doesn't go unnoticed and she looks down. "Ricardo?"
"Knee's just been kind of touchy lately, I'll be alright." But she proceeds on, massaging lightly, careful when he hisses in pain and working around as best as she can in an attempt to make him feel better. Finally he rests his hand on hers. "Stop, please. I'm ok, it's just... it's one of those things, you know?"
She cups his face, stares into his eyes. Observes how exhausted and pained he looks. "Is this keeping you up at night?" He bites his lip and her face falls. "Ricardo, maybe you should get it looked at... this isn't good."
"I know," he breathes, leaning into her.
She kisses the side of his mouth and nuzzles closer. "Promise me. Promise me you'll get checked out if it keeps hurting like this."
"I will," he promises, dreading it already but hating the look on her face even more. "I promise, Alicia. I'm sorry."
"You don't need to apologize," she tells him softly. "I just don't want you to make yourself worse with the schedule you keep and everything."
He nods, aware that there's one other thing she's oblivious to. His old neck injury that had nagged him during his run-ins with Sheamus and how the pain had returned with a vengeance after a bad landing following a dive out of the ring a couple of weeks ago. Just add it to the list, he thinks to himself with a rueful sigh, slipping his fingers between hers and trying to smile enough to calm her. "I'll be ok."
"Damn straight. I'll make sure of it," she says, resting her forehead against his and sighing softly when he kisses her, her complicated divorce and his aches and pains forgotten for now.