Alicia feels well enough to go to work this week, and she leaves him with a lingering kiss that he can feel the after-effects of it all the way down to his toes for awhile afterwards. He's still muddling through all of the nonsense he has to figure out for the move to California, rubbing at his forehead. His mom had been helpful, where she could, but so much of it are things that he has to focus on that it's almost a relief when the doorbell rings.

Getting to his feet, he trudges down the hall to the door, lightly toeing the dog as he walks past him, running his fingers through his hair and grimacing when he catches on a couple of tangles. "Dammit," he mumbles, freeing his fingers just in time to answer before the bell rings again. He freezes as soon as he looks out, peering up at Alberto. "Oh," he mumbles faintly.

Alberto smiles weakly and shuffles around. "Hola, Ricardo. May I... come in?"

Ricardo struggles with it for a few minutes before nodding wearily, stepping aside and letting him walk past. They walk side by side into the living room and Alberto clicks at the new puppy, sitting down and clicking his fingers at him, smiling when the puppy hops up onto the couch and curling up in his lap, Alberto's fingers lazily stroking up and down his back. "Alberto, what do you want?" he asks, too busy and frazzled to deal with this right now.

Alberto looks up from the puppy and shrugs. "I was coming to wish you a happy belated birthday. I considered texting you, but that didn't feel... right. I came here, but you weren't home... for days, so I assumed you were out of town."

"Mike had a party for Sara Louisa's first birthday and invited Alicia and I," Ricardo says softly. "Then we stayed a few days and they had a small party for my birthday. Then we came home, but Alicia's been sick, so it's been busy here."

"And you're moving back to California," Alberto says.

"Alicia and I both are, yes," Ricardo confirms. "I'm trying to sort out all of the legalties of it. It's... a lot to consider, especially when I haven't done this in about eight years."

When Alberto hired him. "You don't regret it, do you?" Alberto asks, picking at his fingernails in a rare show of anxiety.

"Regret what?" Ricardo asks, barely able to look at him. "When I moved here to work for you? No. I don't regret it. I had a few good years in WWE, I gained experience in training people to wrestle, and now I've got a pretty good relationship growing with Alicia. I have no real complaints." He'd purposely not mentioned Alberto, or Paige, everything still a little too rough to focus on, but the more he looks away from Alberto, the more he imagines the hurt look on his face. "I also don't regret our friendship. I miss the way it used to be, but it brought me some good things too, before everything fell apart. And I'll always owe you for that, Alberto."

"You don't owe me anything," Alberto shakes his head, also kind enough to keep Paige out of the conversation. "I've never been very nice to you, even when you deserved it the most. I'll never be able to make it up to you." Ricardo doesn't say anything and Alberto grimaces. "Mi hermano, I thought I'd let you know ahead of time. I'm thinking about signing with TNA, but we all know how their contracts are..."

Ricardo stares at the wall for a moment longer before turning towards him, holding a hand out. "Do you have it with you? I'll give it a look." Alberto hands him a group of papers, sitting back while Ricardo reads it over a couple of times. "I'll underline a couple of things I'd talk to your lawyers about. It doesn't look too awful, considering. I think they're trying to impress you." He hands the papers over. "Just be careful, alright?" Everyone had heard the horror stories about TNA, and it makes him a little uncomfortable.

"Si, I will, gracias, amigo." Alberto pats him carefully on the back, putting the contract away and standing up. "Well, I think I'll get out of your hair. If you need anything before you move to California, just let me know, por favor. I'll be happy to help you."

Ricardo nods distantly, walking with him to the door once Alberto had gotten free of the dozing puppy. "Hope everything in TNA works out for you, Alberto," he says, gripping the doorway so tightly that his knuckles are white.

"Gracias. See you later, mi hermano," he says quietly, turning and walking towards his car to leave.

Ricardo watches him go before closing the door and leaning against it, exhaling. "We're gonna be ok, puppy," he mumbles, reaching back to slide the lock into place before returning to the piles of work he has ahead of him to finalize his move back home.