Alicia grunts. Pats Ricardo's head. "Your phone's going off," she murmurs into his side and he stirs too. "Ricardo."

He sighs, flops over, touches it. It's a text. He squints at it and shakes his head, not that surprised to find it's from Alberto. Asking him how he's doing, which is something he's taken to doing since their first semi-civil conversation a couple weeks ago. It'd be almost sweet if it wasn't so very tenuous. But Ricardo keeps his temper, breathes in and out a few times, and sends the standard "Doing fine, Alberto. Was asleep" text and moves on. Ricardo's on a schedule, of course, waking up, eating breakfast, seeing Alicia off, then spending the day doing whatever before going to train students at night, and then going to bed at an almost sane hour, when his insomnia allows. So of course it's Alberto now, on the wrestler's schedule, mucking things up and waking them both up on Alicia's last couple of hours before she has to leave.

Ricardo sighs and leans into Alicia's mouth, softly kissing her. "Lo siento," he murmurs. "I'll tell him to be more careful when he's texting in the future."

Her mouth quirks up into a smile and she lightly tickles up his sides. "Future, huh? You think this'll continue happening?"

Ricardo licks his lips. Closes his eyes. Nods. "Yeah, I do." He nuzzles into her. "I'm... not really comfortable with just giving in and letting him back in like before, but I think... maybe texts sometimes are ok. Does that make sense?"

She runs her fingers through his hair, kisses him gently. "Yeah, I think so. I mean, he was such a big part of your life for so long. If you guys can be friends again, I think it'd be good for you. But no, I wouldn't expect you to trust him as easily as you did before. He hasn't earned that privilege yet."

Ricardo exhales. "You don't think I'm being too hard on him, do you?"

"No." She strokes his cheek and smiles down at him. "You have to recover on your own time, and he'll just have to accept that. I think he should be happy that you've made this much progress in maybe, some day forgiving him." She leans in, lightly kisses his temple and whispers, "You know me, I'm not the forgiving type, so I'm really impressed by you." Rubs her nose against his and smiles down at him, eyes gleaming. "But I should've known. You've already been so patient with me, between the Cedric thing and now Noam. Most would probably say neither me or Alberto deserve you, and they'd be right."

She leans in and lightly kisses him, feeling his hands creep up her back. "I need to go soon," she says regretfully into his mouth.

"I know," he says with a pout, still touching her. She closes her eyes and smiles, leaning in to kiss him.

"I'll make it up to you later," she promises, regretfully pulling away and kissing his hands as he tries to stop her. "Love you, Ricardo."

He sighs, drops back against the pillows and nods. "Love you too," he says, watching as she gets dressed and prepares to leave for another WWE tour. He rolls onto his stomach once the door shuts behind her and presses his face into the pillows. "I definitely do not miss that."

He lays in bed for awhile before squinting over at his phone, a small smile creeping along his face as he realizes something. Gets up and collects some clothes, getting dressed as well. The drive to Alberto's house is slow, Ricardo overthinking and almost talking himself out of doing this a million times, but he exhales and presses the button to the gate, waiting until Sofia speaks into it. "Hola?"

"Hola, Sofia, it-" He's not even said more than that before the gate is being opened and Sofia greets him at the door, the puppy racing around her feet, so much bigger than when Ricardo had left him here. He laughs and drops to his knees, hugging the door and petting him enthusiastically, watching as Sofia collects herself before throwing her arms around Ricardo. "I have missed you," he tells her, patting her back before allowing her to drag him inside.

There is, of course, a large breakfast waiting and for a moment, Ricardo panics, thinking perhaps Alberto and Paige are here after all, but she quickly soothes him. "They are handling business in Texas before Alberto tours India with TNA."

"Thank you," he says in relief, sitting down across from her. "So, how have things been, Sofia?"

She's always overly honest, especially with him. "Lonely," she murmurs. "But I hear that you and Senor are texting again. That is... progress." He takes her hand and she smiles at him. "I know he has deserved all of your anger, and I don't blame you for staying away from the house. I have just missed you, mi hijo." She stares down at the dog as he pants against her leg, a smile spreading across her face. "Although this little guy has helped immensely."

She serves Ricardo some coffee and brings some bagels and omelettes over and Ricardo quickly tucks in, thrown by just how badly he's missed her cooking. She chuckles fondly when he can't even speak, forced to make an OK symbol with his fingers. "So," he exhales once he's swallowed his latest huge bite of bagel and jam. "I... have decided to retire from active competition, and I am focusing solely on training people now. I think it's best for my health right now."

She strokes his knuckles and nods. "I have heard about that, as long as it makes you happy, mi hijo, I'm happy for you. And I'm glad you're thinking about your health. You have been through a lot the last few years."

"Si," he exhales, turning his hand to squeeze hers. "It's nice to be on something of a schedule again, and be able to spend more time at home." He sips from the coffee and looks outside for a moment. Avoids looking out at the pond where he and Paige used to spend so much time. "Now that I am, maybe I will be able to do this more often."

Her face lights up in a way that tells him yes, yes he will. "I would like that, mi hijo." She offers to top up his mug and he shakes his head with a small smile, aware that she probably misses having more people to dote on. Alberto being more busy now than ever in the past, she's probably by herself more than she cares for.

"I'll see what I can do about it then," he tells her with a small smile. "Unfortunately I have to go right now, and think about tonight's training session." He gets up, pets the dog a couple of times, and kisses Sofia on the cheek. "Gracias, for always making me feel welcome, Sofia, even when I'm less than considerate towards you. I won't go as long without coming to see you, I promise."

She cups his face and searches his eyes, shaking her head. "Don't feel guilty, mi hijo. You've done what you've had to to stay healthy. I understand. I'm glad you have Alicia to assist with such matters." He blushes under her fingers and she chuckles, kissing him on the cheek in kind. "I will see you soon."

"Si, you will," he promises. "Adios, Sofia."

"Adios, Sofia."

Leaving is hard, harder than he'd expected, staring back at the house in the rearview mirror as he goes. Regaining his relationship with Alberto still feels a little like walking a tightrope. But being able to talk to and go see Sofia whenever he wants, that just feels right, and leaves him in a lighter, happier mood for the rest of the day.