"Florida?" Alicia squints up at him and Ricardo nods slowly.

"Yeah, late November. I can cancel if I have to," he hedges. "But it's money and opportunity, and..." He lightly strokes her cheek, resting his hand on her forehead, watching as she shifts and tries to get comfortable. She's very far into her pregnancy now, finding it hard just to sleep, and he hurts for her, between the constantly interrupted attempts at rest, and the Braxton Hicks, and... just everything. He hates adding stress to her shoulders, but there are things she isn't even aware of yet that he may decide not to tell her about because, well, it's pointless at this stage.

She sighs and nuzzles into his palm before murmuring, "Yeah. We'll talk about it more later, ok?"

He nods and lightly kisses her. "Is there anything I can get for you?"

She exhales slowly. "Some water? I guess."

She's miserable, nothing's making her happy right now, and he stares at the calendar on his way to the kitchen to get her a drink. Counts the weeks, does the math in his head. Considering her due date, she may have almost a month left of this and he sighs wearily, exhausted for her at the thought of it.

"How is she?" Sofia asks softly and Ricardo turns to look at her, exhaling slowly.

"She's not great," he says slowly. "I mean, she's unable to sleep well, she's uncomfortable no matter how she lays, she keeps getting Braxton Hicks... I don't know if she can take another month of this."

Sofia steps closer and hugs him gently, rubbing slow circles against his back. "She will," she says softly. "She will. We'll do our best to make things easier for her in the meanwhile." She smiles up at him and pats his cheek. "You're going to be such a good dad, mi hijo."

"I hope so," he mumbles, another reason for anxiety prickling against his skin at her soft words. "I didn't have much of an example set as a child."

Her eyes soften and she smooths her fingers over his eyebrows, grinning up at him when he huffs a little bit. "Trust me, you're a good person, Ricardo. This child will be lucky to have you and Alicia both."

He hugs her again before excusing himself, continuing on to get Alicia her water, mind whirling with all sorts of thoughts and feelings.

-x

Alicia is having a virtual baby shower in the other room, Sofia helping her with the presents that had been mailed in a few days earlier, Maryse, Tamina, AJ and Taya all on separate screens giggling and joking with her. The power of Zoom, Ricardo thinks with a slight grin when he hears Alicia shriek with laughter about something. He turns his eye back to his own screen and smirks at Mike, John, and Heath. "Well, boys, what are we going to do tonight while the ladies have their fun?"

"Poker?" Heath drawls.

"Virtually?" Mike shoots back, and Heath falls quiet, thinking about it. "Let's just talk for awhile until we think of something else to do."

"Sounds good," Ricardo says, settling against the couch and dragging the laptop closer so he can see his friends better. "What do you wanna talk about?"

"Life," Mike shrugs. "How are things going your way, daddy-to-be? I remember the first time, it's always a mess of worries and anxieties."

Ricardo exhales and glances away before turning back to the screen to find Mike waiting, and Heath nodding sagely. "I mean..." He hesitates, thinking about everything he's been feeling and dwelling on, and... "I gave up a trip to Egypt," he blurts out, paling as he realizes the truth he'd just put out into the world verbally for the first time. Something he hadn't even told Sofia.

"Excuse me?" Mike asks with a disbelieving sort of laugh.

Ricardo closes his eyes and kneads his forehead. "Si, well. You remember when I went to India to train students there?"

"Yes?"

"Some school in Egypt wanted me to come over and spend months training their students." Ricardo kneads his forehead at the thought of it, yearning for something he knew could never happen. Not now, in the midst of a pandemic, with Alicia so close to delivering their first child. He looks up and exhales shakily, taking in the expressions on his friends' faces. "Does it make me a bad person..." He hesitates, lips trembling ever so slightly. "That I sat here and thought for hours about ways to possibly make this work because I would do almost anything for an opportunity like this, to travel and take in new places and cultures and..." He exhales slowly, relieved that none of his friends are rushing to interrupt him, letting him speak his peace. "Either way you cut it, I'd be leaving Alicia and our newborn in the middle of a pandemic, and I just... I couldn't do it." His hands are trembling, the truth finally out there, his self-loathing for this one moment of weakness obvious in his eyes as he waits for his friends to lambast him, and...

"I'm proud of you," Mike finally says and Ricardo's head shoots up in shock. "It's a hard choice, always being pulled between your career aspirations and what all you want to do for your family. I'm lucky because AJ gets it, she understands, but Alicia... yeah, considering the circumstances, you definitely made the right call, but it's understandable too that it hurts and you wish things could be different- better timing, or maybe just a situation where you could bring Alicia and the baby with you. Something." He shifts forward and looks Ricardo in the eye as best as he can from screen to screen. "You have nothing to feel guilty about. You chose them. There are some out there who would've been offered this, thrown their hands up and said, hell yes, and been gone within the week. You did not do that."

Tears fill Ricardo's eyes, and even more so when John says, "Hell yeah," and Heath lifts up the beer he's drinking in something resembling a toast, "Here here."

"You guys," he chokes out. "You're really the best."

"We know," Mike smirks. "Now, let's leave this heavy stuff behind and talk about something more interesting. Like how I'm going to defeat Otis and be Money in the Bank champion for the second time in a row after tomorrow."

Ricardo laughs and sits back, content to watch as Heath and Mike start arguing about how it's Ricardo's night, and the conversation should be directed by him, John interjecting here and there in agreement with whatever loudly spoken argument Mike provides. I really am lucky, he thinks, snorting softly as the argument ebbs and flows, Mike eventually getting his way. As always.