After a pleasant few days, Alberto goes back home and life returns to normal. Ricardo and Alicia take long walks along the beach, she holds steady to her vow to avoid social media, finding that it actually encourages her addictive personality and makes her thirst for more vices than just living does. They spend time with his family, Alicia bonding quickly with his sister and mother, the kids always underfoot as they try to get Ricardo to show them new wrestling moves. He grins every time they clap and exclaim at his ability to tangle them up in strange, new submission holds- not enough to cause them pain, but leave them unable to move until Ricardo decides to shift their limbs or roll them over.

He thinks about the day that he and Alicia will have children, what they might want to do- modeling, or sports, wrestling, artistry, science, maybe history... the possibilities are endless, and it's awe inspiring. He's still lost in thought over it all when Alicia joins him, rests her face against his and stares down at the papers he's aimlessly staring at. "Whatcha thinkin' about?" she asks, voice sugar sweet and light as she peppers kisses along his jaw.

"The future," he murmurs, curling his arms around her and drawing her closer to him, kissing her properly on the mouth as she hums and wraps her arms around his neck, stabilizing herself.

"I like to think about that too," she says, a soft, easy grin on her lips.

"Oh yeah? What do you see?" he wonders, honestly curious as he looks up into her beautiful brown eyes.

She hums, trails her fingers down his shoulders and sighs. "I see us growing old together," she tells him, rubbing her nose against his. "With a big family. Kids and grandkids as far as the eye can see."

He chuckles a little. "I like that," he murmurs, trailing his fingers up and down her back as she closes her eyes and breathes against his lips, kissing him slowly.

"So do I," she whispers. "So do I."

-x

The sun is bright overhead, weather warm but not overwhelmingly so, and Ricardo sits in the sand, listening to Mike and John bicker goodnaturedly about something a few feet away. AJ, Taya and Alicia are a few feet away, giggling and scrolling through something on their phones. He yawns and stretches, enjoying the peace and quiet of the day, surrounded by his friends and no expectations or responsibilities trapped on his shoulders right now. Breaks are nice, he doesn't get many of them, always busy running from one thing to the next, trying to keep ahead of something. Be it money, or personal problems, or his own health.

This is the longest his life's been going smoothly for a long time. He loves it. And if there are voices whispering in the back of his head that this is the calm before the storm, well, he valiantly pushes them away and focuses on his friends, determined to let their happiness drown out every doubt and worry he could ever have.

Because really, right now, life is pretty damn good.