Ricardo has sympathized with Mike for quite awhile now. First, when he married AJ, then when Sara and eventually George joined them. Having to leave his family behind for wrestling always seemed almost unfathomable- almost cruel- to him. Now, he has Alicia. He has Andre. He gets it in a way he thought he never would. And yeah, sometimes he's ok, lost in the middle of an interesting chain move, or watching a couple of unknown wrestlers honing up their crafts by training together in the middle of the ring.
But then there are the moments. When he's sitting alone in his hotel room, aware that it's dinner time, Alicia and Sofia probably splitting their time between eating and making sure Andre is fed, and he smiles with a bittersweet gleam to his eye. Usually, he'd be there to help out, offer an extra set of hands. Sometimes he'd even feed Alicia when she looked really exhausted by everything. Andre still hadn't mastered sleeping through the night for the most part, and they were all just hoping someday soon he'd be more than a night or two here where they could sleep through the night again.
He sighs, leans his head back against the wall and stares at the ceiling. He should be asleep, but these thoughts continuously spiraling throughout his mind. He doesn't want to call and bother them, though. Not when they're eating. His fingers hover over the phone... close, so close, then-
the facetime alert rings out into his quiet room. He jumps, a little, then gawks at it. Scrambles to answer. "Alicia?"
She smiles at him. "Hey, Ricardo, we were just missing you and thought maybe hearing your voice would be nice." He can hear Andre fussing nearby and feels his heart crack a little, the boy sounds miserable, like he's been wailing for ages.
"Is- is something wrong?" he asks, eyes wide as he leans closer. "Andre, is he-?"
"He's fine," Alicia sighs softly. "I think new teeth are coming in, that's why he's cranky." She hoists the baby up so he's in sight of the camera and eases her fingers into his parted lips, rubbing his gums. "Poor guy."
"I'm so sorry," Ricardo says, all too aware he couldn't do much for the baby while there, but at least it'd be another set of hands while Alicia looks like she could nod off sitting up.
'"It's fine," she says, smiling at him. "I just thought maybe hearing your voice would help calm him down, and look."
Ricardo gazes at the baby, a warm adoration spreading throughout him as he finds his son staring at the computer screen. It's temporary, the baby still not quite there in focusing on things yet, but still. It's a beautiful moment, and Ricardo swallows hard. "There's one more day," he says. "I'll begin driving home as soon as it's done. I swear..."
Alicia smiles at him. "I know you will. Drive safe, Ricardo. I miss you."
Ricardo exhales. "I miss you too, both of you. So much.. See you soon."
She smiles at him. "See you very soon," she corrects him gently before the video feed cuts to the sound of Andre getting fussy again.
He sighs. Closes his eyes. "Just another day, Ricardo. It'll be fine."
It's hard work, but it is, he enjoys himself again, and before too long, he's tucked back into his car, driving a quickly as he can to get back home to his wife and son.
