Christmas comes and goes so quickly that it's hard to take in everything going on. They spend it at Mike's new house, he, Alicia, Mike, AJ, Maryse, Heath, John, Taya, Alberto, Sofia, Tamina, the kids, a few of their pets, all filling the rooms with laughter and content chatter. There are many varieties of food and so many gifts that they could all barely fit under the tree. Ricardo closes his eyes and listens as his friends, his second family, surround him with happiness and noise, and he smiles when Alberto joins him, nudging a glass of hot cocoa into his hands. "Gracias, El Patron," he murmurs, sipping from it and looking up at him. "i'm glad you came."
Alberto's eyes twinkle at him. "I am as well, mi hermano." He hesitates. "Perhaps the last year before..." His words drift off but Ricardo sees him watching Heath surrounded by his children and Sara, eager to get a peek at the baby in his arms.
"Perhaps," he agrees, eyes slipping over to rest on Alicia as she giggles and chatters excitedly with AJ and Taya, Tamina off to the side listening with a half-puzzled look on her face. "One can hope." Imagining having a child of his own to dote on and play Santa for in a year's time leaves him warm and hopeful, especially when Alicia looks up and catches his eye, smiling softly at him that hints she feels the same way.
They're still standing there, quietly enjoying each other's company, when Mike and John join them, Mike slinging his arm around Ricardo and dragging him away from the fireplace. "Gifts!" he insists and Ricardo chuckles, glancing back once more at Alberto before dropping down on the couch across from Heath, laughing harder when Mike proceeds to 'chase' Sara and Monroe back and forth from the tree to pass out gifts to the names on the labels.
His eyes soften as he watches Mike kneel down next to Monroe, hand rested lightly on her soft curls. "This one's for your daddy, go give it to him, ok?"
The little girl clings to the box proffered to her and rushes over to her daddy, beaming up at him when Heath takes it from her. "Thanks, darlin'," he says, leaning over to kiss her on the forehead before lightly pushing her back towards Mike and the tree.
Ricardo shakes his head in bemusement at the pile of things he's received this year, pretty much everyone in the room getting him and Alicia something- some entertainment, some useful things for their home, a couple of things for the dogs, and wrestling themed items that he can't wait to start implementing into his training and teaching, and... The best gift, he thinks, is clearly Sofia's, a quilt with patches from California, from Florida, Texas, Mexico City, India, England, and all of the places in between that he's been, places he's considered home, places that have ingrained themselves into his skin through a lifetime of hard work and dedication to this business that they all love so much.
Alicia leans in and kisses him, tender, lingering. "You good?" she whispers and he nods.
"Unbearably so," he says, and it's an odd comment, but it's true, and her eyes soften as she strokes his face. "Merry Christmas, Alicia," he says softly to her.
"Merry Christmas, Ricardo," she hums back, smiling at him with so much love and joy that it far exceeds any of the physical presents piled by his hip.
The happiness stays with him, spreads even further, when he walks out PWU champion a few days later, the belt gleaming at his side, solid and cool under his fingers whenever he reaches over to touch it, still in disbelief that all of this is happening. Maybe, Ricardo thinks, as he drives home afterwards, Alicia in the seat next to him, and Sofia and Alberto in the backseat, talking excitedly amongst themselves, Maybe 2020 will be my year.
