#Chepe/Pacho

[purplesong1028]

A Forest Tale

Chapter 2: Wine and Dine

Rating: General Audience

Paring: Chepe/Pacho

Words: 3,872

Fantasy, AU, !Fox Pacho, !Shapeshifter Pacho

The next day, Chepe wakes up in the morning when sunlight shines through the thin slit between his curtains. He takes a shower, brushes his teeth, and gets dressed as usual. As he walks out of his bedroom, he almost believes yesterday was nothing but a crazy dream. There’s no monster, no magic, life still makes sense, and he’ll see the fox lounging by the couch under the sunshine as usual.

But it wasn’t a dream.

He sees the fox, no, Pacho apparently, sitting by the dining table, slowly sipping a cup of coffee as the maid stands next to him with a confused expression.

Fuck, he better didn’t do anything too weird.

“Buenos Días Carmen!” Chepe greets her cheerfully, playing it casual. “I see you’ve met our guest?”

“Sí señor.” Carmen smiles apologetically, shaking her head a little. “I must have been tired recently. I don’t even remember when Mr. Herrera came.”

“Really? Shit, are you getting old or what, darling?” He laughs it off, giving her a hug from the side. Carmen is a very nice woman and she really doesn’t deserve this. “Well, how about you take today off and have some rest? We’re going out later anyway.”

“No señor, that’s not necessary…”

“Hey, I insist, hm?” Chepe gives her a friendly wink. On the back of his mind, he realizes he’ll also have to make up some cover story for the fox’s disappearance. He’ll just pretend it’s missing and tell the guys to look for it later. He pays them enough for an occasional useless task.

Carmen nods and walks away, obeying his order, but not before bringing plates of breakfast from the kitchen for both of them. Once they’re completely alone, Chepe finally addresses the huge problem in front of him.

“So, still human, huh?”

“As long as I want to be.” Pacho shrugs a little, looking down at the cup of coffee in his hands. “This tastes terrible. Do humans really like it?”

“Well, many of us don’t drink it for the taste. It helps us to stay awake.” Chepe smiles a little, amused by the innocence. “What do you like to eat then? Or do you eat at all?”

“I don’t need to. I get my energy in other ways, but I’d like to try what you eat.”

Honestly, Chepe is quite curious about how exactly they get their energy, but right now, he has an idea for something far more interesting. “So you’ve never eaten any human food before at all, yeah?”

“No.”

“Wait wait…” He moves the plate away as Pacho is about to cut the sunny side up eggs with a fork. “No, you’re not going to have your first human meal like that.”

“Why not? It’s what you’re having.”

“It’s good, but you can have it any day, alright?” He gets up and walks into the kitchen, grabbing an apron.

“Look, Gilberto and I have been trying to settle this shit for decades. His grandma had a recipe for huevos pericos, and my grandma had hers. Since you haven’t tried any food at all, you’ve got no preference, no bias! You’re telling me today, whose recipe is better, got it?”

“I guess?” Pacho follows him into the kitchen, curiously touching the wares. “Is that important?”

“Oh trust me, it’s very important.”

“I see. I do hear people are very particular with their food.”

*

It’s by no means a complicated dish, probably one of the first things Chepe learnt to cook, but as Pacho leans on the counter, watching him intensely as he takes out a few eggs and tomatoes from the fridge, he’s suddenly overtaken by a great urge to show off. Damn, now he wishes he had picked something more difficult to make.

He cracks the eggs, and dices the tomatoes more quickly than needed. But what really catches Pacho’s attention seems to be the stove.

“Humans invented fire, right? After that, they could eat cooked meat, which made them get sick less often.”

Chepe pours the tomato chunks into the frying pan, mixing them with the scrambled eggs. “Yeah! But where the hell did you learn all that?”

“As I said, I’ve been listening to humans talking for over 500 years. You people talk all the time about random stuff.” Pacho shrugs, moving closer. “Smells really good, whose recipe is this?”

“Well, this part is actually the same, seasoning is what makes all the difference.”

“Seasoning?”

“Yeah, like the stuff we put in our food, to make it more flavorful?” Chepe picks up the salt. “Ever heard of this? Salt? or sugar?”

“I know sugar is the sweet one.”

“That’s right! And salt is the…salty one, guess that doesn’t really help.” Chepe snorts, sliding the salt across the counter to Pacho’s direction. “Feel free to taste it, just a little though. It doesn’t taste that good on its own”

From his side vision, he watches Pacho lightly touch the salt with his fingertips, and then licks them. Chepe can’t help but notice how pink his tongue is.

“You’re right, this doesn’t taste good at all. You put it in your food?”

“Yup! That’s one of our magics, you know?” He grabs a plate from the cabinet. “Alright, this is Gilberto’s, but don’t try it yet. You need to wait for both to be ready.”

Pacho takes the finished plate of food from him. “Is there anything I can do?”

“No! You don’t even know what salt is!” Chepe laughs out. He hasn’t felt such pure joy in a long time. It’s not that he doesn’t enjoy his life, but there is something special about a completely naive person, not in a bad way, like a clean sheet of white paper, ready to be written however he wants.

Maybe that’s one of the reasons people want to have children? But then he remembers this motherfucker has lived for over 500 years, and that knowledge suddenly becomes more disturbing than ever. He quickly shakes it out of his mind, and goes back to his own recipe.

*

By the time Chepe pours the second huevos pericos onto the plate, Pacho’s already sitting by the dining table again, twirling a fork between his long fingers. The movements are visibly faster and more complicated than any regular human's. Maybe only a magician can compare.

“Are you always that fast with your hands?”

“I’m just faster than humans.” Pacho brings the fork to a prompt stop with his thumb and index finger. “Stronger too, I think.”

“Yeah yeah, we get it, Superman. What else? You can’t get hurt?”

“I can, just not easily. What’s Superman?”

“…Never mind,” Chepe places the second plate in front of him, really doesn’t want to get into American comics, which he doesn’t even know that much about, “just try the food.”

Pacho looks down at the two almost identical plates, and sticks his fork into one. He takes a sweet long time chewing the food before he swallows, and then does the same with the other one.

“So?” Chepe asks, actually getting a little bit nervous with all the expectation and suspense. Well, he’s not ashamed. This is about his abuela’s honor.

Pacho glaces at the plates again, and then looks back up at him with a smile. “I think yours is better.”

“I knew it!” Chepe laughs out wholeheartedly. “Fuck, I wish I could tell Gilberto right to his face, but then I’d have to tell him about you!”

“I’d prefer if you don’t? At least not for now.”

“I’m not.” Chepe waves him off. “No one’s going to believe it anyway. They’d think I’ve gone mad.”

“I saw Gilberto and Miguel, from your memories. I know you’re very close.” Pacho quickly eats up the food, clearly enjoying this new found activity, yet somehow his manners are still quite elegant. “Remember that time when you had a very nice dream on a couch?”

“Huh, so that was you.” The words came out a little harsher than he intended. But really, who can blame him? Hearing someone admitting literally going into your dreams is not a pleasant feeling at all.

“Yes, but I didn’t cause any harm, I just wanted to…”

“No, you need to get this.” Chepe interrupts him. “You didn’t cause any physical harm, but going into my brain without my permission? That’s a big no.”

“I won’t do it again if it bothers you.” Pacho shrugs, finishing up a plate. “I just wanted to know you.”

“Ok?” Chepe leans back into his chair, now feeling a little curious. “Then tell me, what did you find out? What do you think you know about me?”

“I only looked for good memories. They just seem like…” Pacho makes a vague gesture like he’s trying to find the right words, an incredibly vivid human behavior. “You are the happiest when you’re around a few people you really like.”

Chepe doesn’t know what changed on his face, but something must have betrayed him, because Pacho immediately adds more explanations.

“Or love, maybe. Whatever that means for humans.”

“Love?” Chepe snorts, “for God’s sake, your second day of being a human, and you’re talking about love.”

“I know it’s one of the most powerful human emotions.” Pacho stares into his eyes. It doesn’t have the overbearing power like yesterday, but the unmasked inquisiveness and enthusiasm almost carry magic on their own. “I wonder what it’s like.”

“Well, no one can help you with that.” Chepe takes a sip of coffee to hide the uneasiness in his chest. He feels dangerously exposed, and rightfully so, who wouldn’t in front of this brain-reading monster? But there’s also something else, something more unnerving that he can’t even identify.

“You can only find out about love on your own.”

*

To Chepe’s favor, that brief talk of love seems to get the new human into some deep thoughts, so they finish the rest of their breakfast more or less in silence.

“Yesterday you said you would use your magic to help me, when I need it, right?” He speaks again as Pacho finishes both huevos pericos.

“Yeah, what do you want me to do?” Pacho says that in such a casual manner, as if he would happily do anything he’s asked.

“Let’s take a little trip. You’ll see when you get there.” Chepe gets up, walking across the large dining room into the long corridor leading to the main living room, which is connected to the front entrance.

“Buenos días, patrón.” The two guards standing by the door greet him politely.

“Buenos días. I couldn’t find that fox earlier. We need to go take care of some business, can you guys look for it?”

“Sí, patrón. Claro.”

Pacho shoots him a confused glance at first, but it soon turns into a knowing smirk.

“That was clever.”

“Didn’t have a choice, did I?” Chepe unlocks one of his humble cars, a Chevrolet Blazer.

“I’ve seen those on the streets, but never been in one.” Pacho carefully runs his fingertips along the car, like appreciating an artwork. “They changed a lot over the years, right? At first you people used horses to drag it, and then it turned into a machine, and the machine became faster and faster.”

“Sure, that’s a nice way to sum it up.” Chepe chuckles, and gestures at the passenger seat. “Come, get in! I’ll show you how fast it can go.”

Pacho picks up a jacket from the seat before getting in. “Is this supposed to be here?”

“Oh, you can just throw that on the backseat.” Chepe turns the key, and then seeing his denim jacket, he suddenly realizes something that never crossed his mind before.

“Look, don’t take this the wrong way, but why do you have clothes on? You didn’t have any when you were a fox, so where the fuck did the clothes come from?”

“I don’t.” Pacho settles in comfortably, now studying the dashboard. “It’s an illusion.”

“It’s a…” Chepe’s stunned speechless, which at this point isn’t rare anymore, but still, this one fucking hits differently. “Let me get this straight. You’re sitting in my car naked?!”

“Yeah, technically.”

“And if someone touches you…” Chepe slightly leans backwards, physically distancing himself from the possibility. “What would they feel?”

“They’ll feel the clothes, not my skin. Illusion isn’t just about sight.” Pacho finally turns away from the dashboard and shifts his attention back to Chepe. “Is this a problem? I created the illusion because I thought being naked was rude for humans.”

“Yeah, keep it! Please!” Chepe puts a hand up, genuinely worried that this asshole will just drop the illusion. Then he lets out a long sigh, and runs the hand down his face. “Alright, change of plan. Let’s go get you some real fucking clothes first.”

At first, Chepe wanted to go straight to his regular store, just for some casual shirts and jeans, any clothes at all would do. But as they come to a red light, he looks at his new houseguest— really takes a serious look, and he can’t deny that Pacho’s human form is incredibly good-looking. Sunlight shines through the side window, emphasizing the nice angles of his well-defined facial bone structure. Even in a fake plain red shirt and black pants, this guy could easily be a model on the cover of a magazine.

The light turns green, and Chepe takes a U turn.

“Were we going the wrong way?”

“No, just changed my mind.”

*

This high-end designer tailor shop is really more of Gilberto’s thing. Chepe only comes here when he needs really nice clothes for special occasions. Well, what occasion could possibly be more special than buying clothes for a 500 year old shape-shifting, mind-reading monster?

“Don Chepe!” The owner comes out with the biggest smile, welcoming them into the office. What’s his name again? Ronaldo? No, Roberto. “Come on in, please! I didn’t know you were coming. I would have cleared the store.”

“No, that’s ok.” His first intention is to dismiss it, but then he looks over at Pacho, who’s obviously never been to a clothing store, or any store before. “Actually, yes, some privacy would be nice.”

“Of course, just give me a few minutes. I’ll be right back. Melissa will be happy to serve you a drink.” Roberto gestures to his pretty secretary.

“That’s alright, thank you. We can pour our own drinks.”

“Oh, ok um…we’ll be right back then.” Roberto taps Melissa on the shoulder and leads her out of the office.

“Don’t do anything too weird, alright?” Once they’re alone, he turns to Pacho, who’s feeling the leather on the armchair. “Gilberto would not be happy if I had to kill the owner of his favorite store.”

“Kill him? Why?”

Chepe simply stares at him with a blank expression.

“Oh, you meant if he finds out? You don’t need to kill him for that. He’s just one person. I can make him forget, or make him think he’s dreaming.”

“Yeah I get it, you can fucking do anything, but let’s try to avoid that, ok? Just…” Chepe takes a deep breath out of frustration. “Just don’t do or say anything that a human can’t.”

“Sure, no problem.” Pacho answers with ease, and Chepe can just tell that he’s distracted with the decanter on the table.

“Hey, I’m talking to you!” He snaps his fingers. “Seriously, don’t be weird, understand? Oh! And don’t get naked outside of fitting rooms!”

“Fitting rooms?”

Chepe covers his face with both hands. Fuck, he’s gonna have to kill Roberto later…

“Did I upset you?”

“Upset? No.” That’s not a lie. Upset really isn’t the right word, but he doesn’t know what the right word is, if there is even a right word to describe whatever he got himself into.

“When people say drink, they mean that, right?” Pacho points at the decanter. “Alcohol?”

“Not always.” Chepe answers with a flat tone, practically given up at this point. “But yeah, we meant alcohol earlier.”

“Can I try some?”

He’s not sure why Pacho’s asking him for permission, since the drink isn’t his. “I don’t know if this one’s good. If you want to try alcohol, I’ll let you have some of mine later.”

“Great! Looking forward to it.” With that, Pacho goes back to being curious about everything else in the room, and Chepe just hopes he won’t have to answer any precise questions about tailoring or fashion.

“Gentlemen, sorry for the wait.” Thank God Roberto comes back in time.

“Are we ready?”

“Yes!” Chepe gets up from the leather armchair, and walks out of the office faster than he once left the police station. “My friend here is just looking to grab a few things. We don’t need tailoring today.”

The quicker they get done, the less room for error.

“Oh, I can certainly find quite a few options for this handsome gentleman.” Roberto briefly eyes Pacho up and down, then leads him to an area of shirts. “We can start here if that’s alright with you? What are you looking for today? Formal? Casual?”

Chepe is about to cut in, but Pacho actually doesn’t seem to need any help. “I’m still deciding. Why don’t you show me what you have first?”

“Of course. So over here, these are our best dress shirts. Whichever ones you pick, we can tailor them for you, but you might not even need any adjustment.” Roberto gives Pacho’s upper body another long glance, professional yet appreciative. “Your measurements should fit right into the samples.”

“How about this one?” Pacho stops in front of a golden shirt with colorful patterns. “This feels very nice.”

“Ah yes! This is 100% silk imported straight from China, and made by our Italian designers.”

“Silk?”

“Si señor. I guarantee it’s pure, high-quality silk. It’s so smooth that it will barely feel like another layer on your skin.” Roberto gestures at the fitting room. “Here, would you like to try it on?”

“Fitting room, I see…” Pacho looks at Chepe with a subtle knowing look, and he returns it with a small nod. Great, as long as no one gets naked in public.

“Yeah, I can try it on. Do you have anything else similar?”

“Certainly! Please follow me this way.”

They walk together to another area, just like a regular business owner and a customer, not suspicious or weird at all to any random bystander. Chepe smiles and shakes his head. Well, maybe he worried a bit too much, and that’s funny, cause it’s not like him at all.

“Sir, would you like to come along?” Melissa’s gentle voice pulls him away from his thoughts.

From here, he can still vaguely hear Roberto passionately unloading all his fashion knowledge onto Pacho— probably the only client who cares enough to listen to all that.

“No, I’m good. Maybe you can bring me that drink now, hm?” He smiles at Melissa with a little wink, and enjoys her little blush as she nods and walks away.

*

Talking to a pretty girl over a drink is always nice, but it gets less nice when it lasts over 30 minutes. Usually something else would have happened within 30 minutes, for better or worse, but right now he can neither take her home or walk away. He’s stuck here while a magical creature is enjoying the first ever shopping spree.

Chepe is just about to go check on things when he sees Pacho walking over to him. The store has an expensive marble floor, and at this moment it looks like a runway, not that he’s ever been to a fashion show, but it can’t be better than this, at least not with male models.

Pacho’s shirt is a blatant neon pink, or hot pink, either way it’s a color that Chepe would never consider on clothes, but it goes inexplicably well with Pacho’s tanned skin, and the subtle patterns made with thin golden threads bring out his brown eyes. The blazer and pants are a lot simpler, both plain light beige, fitting perfectly on his shoulders and hip. All three pieces are silk, which would probably look silly or pretentious on anyone else, but right now, it shows nothing but elegance and charm.

“Wow, that is…” Melissa ends up speaking before he does. “Sir, you look absolutely incredible.”

Chepe looks at her, the woman who’s been flirting with him for half an hour, now staring at Pacho like a starstruck schoolgirl that just met her favorite rockstar. Normally, he would have felt somewhat frustrated, but in this case he honestly can’t even blame her.

“So? What do you think?” Pacho asks him, but not really asking, more like a way to fish for his compliments.

Chepe throws an arm into the air. “I think the lady just spoke for all of us.”

“Great! I’ll get these ones then.”

“Wait, just these?” Chepe says incredulously, almost feeling a little offended. “Man you’ve been in there forever, and this is all you’re getting?”

“What’s the problem? This is the best one.”

“If you’re planning to stay here for a long time, you’ll need more than one shirt, jacket and pants, right?”

Pacho gives him a confused look, and at this point, he knows this is when a question is coming, so he waves Roberto over, promptly ending the conversation before Pacho could say something like why would I need more than one shirt.

“We’ll just take everything he tried. Thanks.”

“Of course! We’ll get them ready for you right away.”

*

The employees offer to put the dozen bags in his car, but Chepe declines. Letting random people get inside his car is never a good idea, however harmless they might seem. Pacho also doesn’t want any help; in fact he seems to really enjoy carrying each bag himself.

“We’ve known each other for a long time, yeah? So you know how it is.” Chepe leaves a final comment to Roberto as he’s paying the multi thousand dollar bill. “No one else needs to know anything.”

Thinking back, that really wasn’t a smart move. But at the moment, he was too concerned about anyone finding out about what Pacho is, that he completely didn’t realize there was a whole other way to interpret the situation.

“Sí, claro.” Roberto slowly, carefully looks between him and Pacho. “tus secretos están seguros conmigo, Don Chepe.”

*

Pacho doesn’t stop touching his new clothes on their way back.

“This texture, silk? How is it so smooth?”

“Funny that you asked. It actually comes from an animal. We just call them silkworms.”

“Really? Humans just know all the ways to use us, right?”

He turns to look at Pacho, expecting to see some bitterness or anger, but there’s nothing besides simple curiosity.

“Just look at those.” Pacho stares at the skyscrapers in fascination, as they slowly fade into distance. “No magic would have built them. Only humans could.”

“We can come back another time if you want.” The words come out of his mouth on their own, as a strange rush of soft emotion fills his chest. “Check out the view from the top.”

Pacho looks at him like he’s worth more than all the skyscrapers combined. “Yeah, I’d really like that.”

@ashlingiswriting @yourlocalspacewitxch @kesskirata @mandaloria314 @cheesybadgers @cositapreciosa @criatividad-e @cherixrosa @alreadywritten @marrianena @amane-otaku @sikkui @narcolini @tinylittleobsessions @drabbles-mc

[garbinge]

Watching Time

Pacho Herrera x Chepe Santacruz For the @narcosfandomdiscord October Prompts. Day 9 - Day of Gay: Create anything devoted to an LGBTQ+ character. Summary: Morning bliss with these guys. Word Count: 800 words Warnings: All my fics are 18+, regardless of content. Alludes to sexual situations. A/N: I had so much fun with this!!!! Also I PROMISE to catch up on everyone's fics!!! work has been crrrraaazzzzyyyyyy but I'm hoping to catch up soon!

Taglist: @drabbles-mc @justreblogginfics @narcolini @hausofmamadas @ashlingiswriting

“You know that bike is going to kill you one day.” Chepe was shirtless, leaning against the headboard of the bed as he lit a cigarette. 

“You think about that bike more than you think about me.” Pacho was walking back from the bathroom, his short boxer briefs being the only thing on his body. 

“I think about you on that bike.” Chepe said as he looked Pacho up and down, the smoke exhaling from his mouth. 

“If I wanted to be safe I would have chosen a different profession.” Pacho was now getting dressed. The disappointment was apparent on Chepe’s face as Pacho went from naked to fully clothed. 

“You can retire.” Chepe’s eyebrows were raised now, like the idea he had was so brilliant he was wondering why he didn’t come up with it sooner. 

Pacho didn’t even entertain that comment with any response let alone a glance in his direction. He continued getting ready, placing the gold watch that Chepe gifted him a few months back. 

“I’ll buy you more watches. It’ll be great, you can stay home and watch the time pass, very peaceful, it’ll add years to your life.” The frown on Chepe’s face wasn’t one of disconcert but of ease, like his request was reasonable. 

“And waiting for you to come home will take them right off.” Pacho was turning around to look at Chepe now as he buttoned his sleeves with cufflinks. 

“Come back to bed and let me take all of that off.” Chepe was pushing the blanket on the empty side of bed down as an open invitation to Pacho. 

Pacho leaned forward, his knee touching the mattress so he could reach Chepe’s face. Inches away, tensions high, Pacho moved his hands up to the button on his shirt and closed his eyes to leave a soft, tender kiss on Chepe’s lips. As he pulled away, Chepe leaning in for more instinctually, Pacho spoke up at a whisper. 

“No.” 

Chepe’s eyes blinked open immediately, the frustration and shock were quickly moving in and leaving a less than happy expression on his face. Pacho took the whole thing humorously, a chuckle left his mouth before he finished buttoning the silk peacock blue shirt and kicked off the bed. 

“A la gran puta.” The words weren’t yelled, just mumbled as a slightly disgruntled and now sexually frustrated man realized he got played. 

“I’ll make it up to you tonight.” Pacho was still smiling, clearly satisfied with his act of teasing.

Chepe just rolled his eyes and waved his hand in a dismissive way, not to blow him off but to show he was still grumpy regardless of the promises to come. 

Pacho quickly made his way over and kissed Chepe again, the movement was so swift that Chepe was taken off guard by it but quickly took his hand to cup Pacho’s face. It was the hand with the cigarette still in it, so he was careful where his fingers landed but wasn’t going to miss the opportunity to kiss Pacho goodbye. Their passionate embrace lasted a few seconds before Pacho pulled away to speak against his lips. 

“Burning my shirt is just going to piss me off, not keep me here longer.” 

Chepe smiled now, “You’re fun when you’re mad.” 

The comment earned him a slight push just before Pacho made his way to the bedroom door. Chepe stayed in bed, laughing while he brought the last of the cigarette to his mouth, fully relaxed and at peace with the morning he shared with Pacho. The sound of the door opening but not closing made Chepe look over to see Pacho taking one step backwards, hand still on the door as he looked over his shoulder towards Chepe. 

“You know, you love laying in bed so much, I’ll buy you watches and maybe you could retire.” The smirk was growing on his face while it was fading from Chepe’s. “Feel free to watch the time while you wait for me to get home.”

Before another word could be spoken from either of them, Chepe grabbed one of Pacho’s silk pillows and threw it at the door that was rapidly closing on the other side. His laughs could be heard as he descended down the stairs. 

Chepe annoyingly looked around the room and the bed before making the same frown he had early, one of ease, like Pacho’s request was just the slightest bit reasonable. 

“I could watch the time.” He shrugged as he slouched more in the bed and lit up another cigarette as he brought his arm up to check his diamond dial watch that Pacho had gotten him for his birthday.

“Feel the years being added to my life as the seconds pass.”

[artemiseamoon]

Draft release: That one time

Pacho x Chepe ~ Chepe x f reader

An: no I am not writing reader inserts anymore, sticking to that choice. This is an old unreleased draft.

Words: 2189

Warnings: drinking, sexual activity

Read in full on A03

Hours after dinner, you, Chepe and Pacho hang out in the backyard. It was a perfect night, the moon full above and a nice breeze in the air. You were sitting on one couch, cuddled up against Chepe, and directly across from you both sat Pacho.

The two were reminiscing and sharing old stories. They were laughing about this one memory and if you didn't know both of them, you would believe the story was made up. It sounded too out of this world to be true, but you could imagine the both of them younger and up to lots of trouble. In the current story, Chepe was about 26 and Pacho also in his 20s but younger than Chepe.

As the story built, and they took turns filling in the details, that night from the past got crazier and crazier. Then, out of nowhere, you made a comment out loud that you meant to keep to yourself,

"Please tell me it ended with you making out."

As soon as you realized you said the words aloud, you clasped your hand over your mouth. "sorry." you muttered.

It's Pacho's daiquiris, you'll blame that. They're delicious and deadly.

Before your embarrassment could build any further, you noticed the look Pacho gave Chepe before taking a drink from the glass in his hand.

"Wait, no - " you lowered your hand and turned to Chepe, "wait...I saw that look!"

Read more on A03

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More Narcos

[cositapreciosa]

Your narcos fics are so good to read! I just finished reading the new chepe one which I loved. I could so easily picture everything. I’m not sure if you take requests but if you do could you maybe write a pacho one at some point please. The way you wrote him felt very accurate to show and it made me want to read one about him lol. If you don’t do requests no worries, just wanted to let you know I enjoy your writing🫶🏼

Thank you so much!!!!😍

I would loveee to do another Pacho one! 🤩 I do take requests, please please please do feel free to send me a Pacho idea ❤

[morallyinept]

A full transcribe of JAVIER PEÑA'S dialogue/lines from the TV show NARCOS.

S3/E10 - GOING BACK TO CALI

Includes full dialogue, and dialogue from any deleted/additional scenes available.

I've created this as a point of reference when writing for Pedro's characters, and I hope you find it useful. Even if you just want to read the dialogue. 🖤

FULL MASTERLIST OF PEDRO CHARACTERS DIALOGUE

☝🏻Dialogue has been fully transcribed by myself using reference to original scripts (if available), audio subtitles and using my own two ears. Therefore, mistakes can be made, however I have tried to be as fully accurate as I can. If you spot an obvious mistake, please kindly let me know. Where audio is not clear, I have marked with *inaudible* Scenes are separated for ease of reference.

FULL SCRIPT DIALOGUE:

(Narration) The Colombian government was quick to claim victory. The arrest of Miguel Rodríguez and the surrenders of Pacho Herrera… and Chepe Santacruz… looked like big wins in The War on Drugs. But they were bullshit. The only real victory belonged to the godfathers of Cali, safely ensconced in a Bogotá jail, still billionaires, submitting to a justice that they had bought and paid for. They didn’t need to build their own prison. The minimum security wing of La Picota would do just fine. They wouldn’t be there long. 

__________________

Don’t worry about it. 

(In Spanish) Hello.

Can we talk?

I checked with the embassy, finishing up paperwork this afternoon. You’re on a flight tomorrow. First thing. Guillermo Pallomari. You have any idea where we can find him? 

Gilberto and Miguel Rodríguez gave six million dollars to Samper’s presidential campaign. So unless we get Pallomari in the States testifying on the cartel, generating new indictments… 

The godfathers won’t stay locked up. 

Well, witness protection services will provide security as long as you need. 

With who?

You’re right. 

__________________

Once we step off this plane, whatever goes down is on me. We are way off the well-lit path. 

__________________

(In Spanish) Good afternoon. 

(In Spanish) I’m looking for Fredy Moya. 

(In Spanish) Thank you. 

(In Spanish) Excuse me. You work with Patricia Pallomari? Javier Peña, DEA.

That so?

You have any idea where I can find her? 

No, but her husband is. There’s a warrant out for his arrest and a pretty substantial reward. Any information is helpful. 

__________________

(In Spanish) It’s okay. 

(In Spanish) Calm down. 

We’re here to help you. 

Okay. 

Lower your gun. You understand? I'd put the safety on. 

Do you want to sit? 

__________________

The Colombians have a warrant for your arrest. 

And the cartel wants you dead. 

The only way you survive this is if we get you out to the United States. 

We have your ledger. You decode it for us and you testify on what you know… and we make sure that you and your family are safe. 

I’m not sure. We have a program that-

It wasn’t very hard for us to find you and it won’t be hard for them. Do you understand that? This is your chance to keep your family alive. 

This is the only option you have. Do you understand that?

Okay. Why don’t you pack your things, as little as possible. 

Okay! 

__________________

Go help your kids pack and let me talk to your wife. 

(In Spanish) I know about Fredy Moya. It’s none of my business. 

(In Spanish) You realise what happens if they find you? And your kids? 

(In Spanish) Mrs Pallomari, if you stay, you die. Understood? 

__________________

We’re on our way down. 

Salcedo, we’re in the lobby now. Are we clear?

Salcedo. 

Jorge, we clear or not?

Copy. 

All right, stay close. 

Get down! Get behind the car! 

(In Spanish) Over there! 

What the fuck happened?

Let’s move! 

He saved your life! Get in the fucking car! 

__________________

You’re wanted by the CNP. We can’t aid the escape of a fugitive so you’ve gotta fly yourself out. 

You have to pay for the plane. Whatever you have on you. 

It’s just a technicality. So that it’s not kidnapping. 

Okay. 

__________________

(Narration) Guillermo Pallomari had a lot to say. And he said it in federal courtrooms from Miami to New York City. And people were interested in what he had to say, especially about the cartel’s influence with the Colombian government. So that government went on the defensive. But the damage was done. The U.S. House and Senate began making noise about decertification, turning Colombia from an ally in the The War on Drugs into an enemy, threatening to choke off the vital foreign aid that served the shadowy interests of both nations. And that scared people. Enough to see justice finally done? Well, governments don’t work that way... 

But that’s as far as it goes? We drew up a draft indictment outlining President Samper’s ties to the Cali cartel. 

Some part of me was holding out hope, I guess. 

Yes, sir. 

__________________

(Narration) Another deal. A compromise. A charade. A way for governments who don’t give a shit about the war they’re supposed to be fighting to go on pretending they’re winning it. But it can’t be won. It’ll never be won. At least not until people see it for what it is. Not until they know the truth. 

(In Spanish) Press the button. 

(In Spanish) Javier Peña, DEA attaché in Colombia. 

__________________

(Narration) And so the truth got out. The news that the Cali cartel had donated to the president’s campaign… in exchange for virtual immunity… turned Colombia upside down. And when the highest ranking DEA agent in the country went on the record and said not only did the United States know about it, but we allowed it to happen, they couldn’t hide from it anymore. 

Are you saying that it isn’t?

Good. They’re responsible. We all are. 

Well, at least people know the truth. 

I understand, sir. 

I resigned from the DEA this morning. 

__________________

(Narration) The Colombians called the scandal “Proceso 8000.” And it set into motion a series of events… that finally brought the reign of the Cali godfathers to an end. Chepe Santacruz never did make it back to New York. Without the government’s guarantee that their sentences would be minimal… Chepe decided that prison wasn’t the best place for him to be. And so… he released himself and set out in search of new alliances, with partners who could help him rebuild the empire. You won’t believe who he chose. Predictably, it wasn’t much of a partnership. It seems the Castaños expected a larger contribution to their cause than Chepe was comfortable making. So the alliance died quickly. And Chepe Santacruz’s wild ride came to an end. 

(Narration) Pacho Herrera didn’t fare much better staying in jail. Vendettas in the drug game never end. And Pacho’s war on the Salazar’s made him some lifelong North Valley enemies. And as for the Rodríguez-Orejuela brothers, political pressure from the U.S., and a disgraced Colombian president who needed to prove he was tough on Narcos… brought back the only effective weapon we have in The War on Drugs: extradition. All out of favours and unlikely to find more, they will spend the rest of their lives in a U.S. prison.

(Narration) The good guys didn’t do much better. Back in Colombia, Jorge Salcedo was publicly branded a rat. 

The danger that he put himself in to ensure the success of our operation… 

(Narration) And in the States, despite testimony that he was instrumental to our efforts to capture and prosecute the Cali godfathers, he still had to plead guilty to felony conspiracy charges. And from there, Jorge Salcedo… the guy who had the most to do with bringing down the Cali cartel, disappeared into the Federal Witness Protection Program, somewhere in the U.S. A prison of its own. 

__________________

Of him. My first assignment out of the academy was a task force that searched for him in Guadalajara. 

Yeah, well… we’ll make new ones. 

“The real enemy?” 

__________________

Come on, Pop, give me that. 

(In Spanish) Stubborn. 

(In Spanish) So… Do you have to fix the fence every time a storm hits? 

Dad. I’ve done enough. I’m through. 

__________________

FULL MASTERLIST OF PEDRO CHARACTERS DIALOGUE

[furious-rogue-stuff]

Heat Chapter 37: Everything

I’m back-back-back, back again~! 🥴 Pedro’s hosting SNL, dominating media, claiming 2023 as his year, and I’m over here ready for some more Heat, baby 😁

Pairing: Javier Peña x OFC | Javi x Querida

Disclaimer: Written in 2nd person narrative, you can safely assume our heroine and love/lust interest is a Latina, written by a Latina. Here's my philosophy on my writing, for further context.

Rating: Mature/Explicit 🔞

Word Count: 19,500+

Summary: You’ve been each other's safe harbor, so when the spectacular circumstances that lead to the end of the Cali cartel's influence oust everything you have Javi had been looking forward to, can your gravitation survive the fallout of events?

Warnings: Javier Peña being the our flawed AF king. Graphic descriptions of sex, including explicit depictions of unprotected sex. Mentions of hurt/comfort, resentments, toxic coping mechanisms, heartbreak and hidden motives. Descriptions of pining, light dom/sub play, cum play, size kink, praise kink, and dirty talk. Allusions to triggering events, vindictive behavior, foreboding threats, and emotional trauma. Some Protective!Javi, Dom! Javi, Sub!Reader, Wrathful!Javi. In the vein of Narcos being a bilingual show, and Javier Peña being fluent, I felt it was apropos to include Spanglish and Spanish throughout.

Heat Masterlist

Previous chapter - Chapter 36: Pésame

Chapter 37: Everything

After the capture of Miguel Rodríguez, things seemingly fall into place, as if they'd always been planned that way.

You go into work the next day and hear about how Chepe Santacruz surrendered to the authorities and was taken into custody to La Picota, and by the following afternoon, after a purported massacre at a Norte del Valle ranch, Pacho Herrera is arrested at a church without incident.

All four Cali godfathers were in prison. By all appearances, the Cali cartel had been subdued and their operation had been halted.

Javier doesn't tell you anything to make you think otherwise.

Instead, he spends these days seemingly finalizing work on the case, but in reality, he and his agents are gearing up resources for the tracking and capture of a missing asset:

Guillermo Pallomari. The Cali cartel accountant. The only person left alive – and on the lam, who could decode the ledger and unravel Cali's web of influence – and hopefully keep all four godfathers locked up for real.

You know about Javier's plan to locate and secure the man into DEA custody, but you don't know why he seems so intent to do so without the assistance of CNP, nor why he's so sure he has to get Pallomari to ensure the government doesn't go through with the surrender deal after all. At one point, you'd assumed he would eventually tell you everything that transpired that day – the sequence of events that had left him feeling so demoralized after what should've been a celebrated success. But then days go by and he doesn't detail a thing.

Really, there's no true opportunity for you both to sit with everything and discuss it. Not with how busy you both are. Passing like two ships in the night. Only when you're in each other's arms are you figuratively at port, and even then, you relish the time making love and wanting to get lost in each other. During the mornings, you'd give each other brief updates on where you both were at work. Javi used the time to check in on you about things back in Medellín while you both got ready for the day. He'd assure you things were going fine on his end, and you wouldn't push him.

It was your chance to share a quick, unguarded moment – not to do a deep dive.

Javi wasn't really lamenting that. Not when he wanted to bury his feelings and tend to yours as best as he could.

It'd been easy for Javi to bury the details of what happened the day they'd caught Miguel Rodríguez, and while he sensed you hoped he would eventually tell you, he had chosen to obfuscate. To let you believe he'd moved on from it and discussing it now would only drudge the self-loathing and acrimony back up.

His ability to keep that to himself was made all the much easier by the fact you were trying to cage your own feelings up as well. Things were still raw for you, but you'd had to deal with your grief the best way you knew how – by bottling it up, and compartmentalizing it into the deepest, most secluded shelf within yourself. It was a necessity for you to do so.

Combined with the swiftly approaching deadline of Ellis leaving with Anita and her family to Puerto Rico, all of the upheaval of preparing for the departure at work, fiscal bureaucratic responsibilities needing your attention, and the obligations you have to deal with regarding your grandmother's estate, you simply have no room to let the sorrow take hold of you for long. Even when the realtor calls to let you know the apartment you'd loved was no longer available, you hadn't let the pang of sadness stew in you for more than a few seconds before you thanked her for the update and said you'd be in contact once you were ready to look at more places.

You'd mentioned it to him, but Javier had nodded and changed subjects. Choosing to treat everything not part of 'the now' as something neither of you should dwell on.

He chooses to act like he hadn't crumbled before you and needed your grace to stitch him back together, and when he quickly redirects away from himself and his work to ask about you and yours? Or when he scoffs at your mentioning of his "takedown of Cali" being the talk of the embassy, you don't take umbrage, especially with the latter. You know him well, and figure he's deflecting because boastful accolades make him cringe, and he'd rather take the shine off of himself and focus on your success.

After all, you have your own milestones to celebrate these days.

The pilot program has been a success, and with the close of this first round, you are touted by the ambassador for achieving such a formidable goal – and under budget. It's such a lauded achievement, that your department gets the proposed funding to add headcount and expand operations for the next fiscal year. And when you walk into the conference room for the big bi-annual interagency head of department meeting this very morning, you are surprised by the series of claps you receive when you come through the door.

Everyone congratulates you, shakes your hand, and share varying well-wishes for more to come for your department. The Mil Group and Centra Spike fellas especially shower you with cheers, and you are smiling irreverently as they propose a big happy hour get-together to celebrate for real when Javier comes into the room – in his dark gray suit and with the blue and gold-striped tie you'd steamed the wrinkles out of for him this morning – hair already tousled from him running his fingers through it in pent-up stress.

It's times like this you wish you could go to him and kiss the frown off his handsome face. But, instead, you all sit once the ambassador enters.

You can't help notice how Javi goes out of his way to sit closest to the door, and avoids Crosby's gaze. He swivels his nonchalantly about the table before connecting with yours briefly to then force himself to look down at his watch busily.

He's so tense. You internally frown, wondering if something big is about to go down at this meeting, which would explain why he looks like he'd rather be anywhere else—

The ambassador calls your name, and when you snap your attention to the head of the long, oval conference table, he smiles. "—Fantastic work, as always. State Department is so pleased, they're already trying to poach you from here! I hope if anyone over there tries to snake their way to you with a direct offer, you'll kindly tell them to buzz off," he jovially remarks and jokes, earning a few wry chuckles from around the table. He then directs his gaze over at Javier as he drawls, "And, as you all know, congrats are in order for Agent Peña and his team. Without his tenacity in capturing the Rodríguez brothers, the rest of the Cali leadership wouldn't have folded up shop. Great work."

Everyone claps to that, including you, and Javi tries his best not to squirm under the terse praise, forcing a half smile to the people sitting closest to him that pat him on the shoulders. You know he hates this, but there's something in his dark coffee-brewed eyes that is almost pained by the acknowledgement. But as quick as it was given, so was the attention diverted away to other bureaucratical topics.

By the end of the meeting, you intend to weave over to him and suggest having a one-on-one in your office, but the ambassador comes over and thwarts you. Once he's finished regaling you with some of the positive comments he'd received from heads in DOS, you look back and see Javier is long gone from the room.

This morning, he'd mentioned spending the day meeting with his guys in order to go over tactics for the Pallomari case, so you decide to risk the impropriety of going up to see him without an appointment as an excuse. Instead, you enter the DEA department with a to-go tray carrier with four coffees and a couple of creamers, stirrers and packets of sugar nestled in the center. However, when you find the secluded meeting room they tend to use for these hush-hush sessions, only Stoddard, Feistl and Van Ness are in it.

"Hey, fellas! I come bearing caffeinated bliss," you chime congenially as you enter, smiling brightly when they look up from the mess of papers and files strewn over the table and gawk at the coffee cups as you set them down on an uncluttered corner. "Where's your fearless leader?" you jibe as you hand Stoddard his cup.

"He stepped out for a quick call," Stoddard answers and eagerly preps his coffee with the cream and sugar he likes. He sips from his cup and practically swoons before he tells the other agents, "You guys, if you haven't had the director's coffee, you've been missing out."

The two junior agents are dressed casually, wearing jeans, sneakers, and well-worn t-shirts under very busy-looking patterned button down short-sleeved shirts. You don't see how Feistl ogles your hourglass shape as you're carefully removing the cups from the carrier to hand one to his partner before handing the other to him.

"It's not my coffee, but yes – it's excellent, and I wanted to give you my congrats on your successes, and show my appreciation by bringing you guys a little pick-me-up," you sardonically lilt as you hold out the tray with the creamers and sugars after you've removed the remaining cup meant for Javi.

"Thanks!" Chris gives you his most winning smile as he plucks a creamer and two sugar packets, along with a wooden stirrer, from the tray. His features are covered in dark stubble, and the Hard Rock Café t-shirt he has on under his garish palm-leaf print button down looks rumpled, like it'd been on the floor rather than in a drawer before he'd pulled it on that morning.

Dan politely takes the tray from you so you can hold the remaining cup in both hands less awkwardly, nodding his thanks and doing everything to not look at your cleavage thanks to his tall stature that gave him a perfect view down your sage-colored crepe V-neck blouse, even from his vantage point on the opposite side of the table. And when he pivots to place the tray down on a storage cabinet, his geometric-print button down shifts to reveal more of his shirt, and you notice the logo on it.

"Oh! Is that the Red Hot Chili Peppers?" you inquire, smiling wryly when he balks before looking down at his Blood Sugar Sex Magik shirt like he's just realized what he had on.

"You know 'em?" the tall man inquires with a charmed little smirk pulling at his pouty-pink lips, eyeing you now as if impressed.

"I mean, don't let the stuffy outfit fool you, agent. I have many a band shirt in my collection as well," you jibe and wink at him. "I saw them live once. Right before I came down here. I've been meaning to get that album," is your affable remark as you put a hand on your hip and continue in light conversation – expanding on the concerts and music festivals you've both been to, not noticing the amused glower Chris is shooting his partner at being able to chat you up like he's secretly wanted to for a while.

You do notice how Stoddard glances at the door behind you, and before you can turn, Javi is drawling, "Are you trying to poach my agents into the next round of your pilot, director?"

Raising your brows innocently, you turn and scoff, "Poach them? Never. No, in good time, you'll all be unable to avoid my department, and will fall in line just like everyone else."

Stoddard chortles into his coffee cup while Chris grins behind his hand and Dan flattens out his lips comically at your audaciousness.

Javier just grunts and gives you a challenging look, so you hold out the coffee cup and smile angelically as you chime, "I bring coffee as a show of good will. I'm gonna need it to convince you to let us on-board the rest of your staff before the year ends."

He accepts the cup and has to fight the impulse to pull you close so he can plant a kiss on your goading, rouged lips. Instead, he nods his thanks before inquiring, "Actually, got a minute? I wanted to go over something mentioned during the meeting earlier."

"Of course," you remark before turning and giving each of the men a smile goodbye. "Good luck, boys!"

While the three men remain in the conference room and exchange varying degrees of amusement – including Chris elbowing Dan and bouncing his brows crassly at him while Stoddard shuts the conference door, Javier gestures for you to walk ahead of him in the hall as he directs you to a different room just off from his office. It's a small room with horizontal blinds giving privacy in a department with a lot of vestibule-styled conference spaces. It looks like it's been outfitted to be a make-shift audio equipment surveillance room, so the lights were low-lit when he flicked them on, and there were two swivel chairs tucked into place by the retrofitted work station.

As soon as he shuts the door, Javi plops the coffee cup down on the counter and pulls you into his arms before kissing you with all the bottled-up passion he'd been stowing since seeing you earlier.

Gasping a giggle, you pull back to saucily whisper, "Javier! This is much too risky—"

"I don't give a shit," he retorts gruffly and picks you up so he can whisk you to sit on the countertop, shoving a swivel chair out of the way so he can stand between your parted thighs. You swoon, feeling so aroused and titillated by his possessiveness, as well as his masculine scent and the heat of his body pressing up against you. "Been dying to kiss you," Javi husks as he paws his touch from your waist up to cup your face before burying his hands in your hair and tilting your features up so he can press salacious kisses over your cheeks, jaw, and neck while you pull him into you and stifle a breathy sound of delight. "Looking so fucking sexy, showing all of us up earlier," he husks after teasingly flicking his tongue along your bottom lip after you exhale needily. "Making my guys lust after you—"

You hiccup a scoffed sound before pulling back and giving him a sassy smile. "Oh my god, you're so ridiculous," you scathe sardonically and affectionately wipe your lipstick prints from his mouth. "Tan celoso—"

"Goddamn right, I am," Javi grouses in that gravelly pitch that makes you ache between your thighs for him. "You don't see the way they look at you," he murmurs heatedly, pursing his lips when you tenderly caress the back of his neck and hum amusedly. "I'm serious—"

"I don't care how they look at me. I only belong to you, querido," is your silky murmur, eyes sultry as you teasingly nuzzle his cheek. "Now, I don't want to keep you. I just came up to see why you were so grumpy," is your soft musing as he rests his forehead to yours and encircles your waist. "I know all the attention annoys you."

"…Just could do without the bullshit, is all," he rumbles in an even tone before shaking his terse mood off. "Thanks for the coffee and smooches, preciosa," is his purr now before he presses a doting kiss to the top of your hairline.

"Well, I didn't intend to smooch you, chulito," is your snicker as he leans back and grunts smugly at you. He has a blush-toned apricot lipstick smear on his chin, so you beckon him closer as you slink off of the countertop and smoothen out your pencil skirt. "Come here, and let me get you sorted so it doesn't look like I had my way with you in here," you drawl cheekily.

Javi chuckles and lets you swipe your thumb to remove the smear before you smoothen out his collar and straighten his tie. "You say that like it's a bad thing," he laconically quips, and you snicker irreverently before leaning up to nose his lapel, and end up huffing with a grunt. "What?" he asks when you lean back and pout.

"You got my perfume on you!" you admonish in a hushed tone and idly make sure you don't have lipstick smudged outside the line of your lower lip before scrunching your nose at him blowing a raspberry at your worrying as he brushes his fingers to comb your hair back into place behind your ears.

"I don't plan on letting anyone get close enough to sniff me, mandona," he jibes as he leans against the counter and picks up the coffee cup to take a long pull.

"I saw that room, chavón," you coolly drawl, adding with musing humor, "Not gonna be able to help smell each other once the coffee runs out."

He hums at that and showily pats his free hand down the side of his blazer to make sure he has his cigarette pack. "I'll have a smoke to camouflage your sexy scent," he rumbles in a canela-brined timbre before towing you with a hand at your hip to lean into him when you purse your lips at his plan. "I can't wait until everyone knows and we don't have to sneak around anymore," is his sincere mumble, leaning close so he can nose into the hairline at your temple.

"So do I," you murmur and lean back, eyes twinkling as you sigh, "Not much longer now."

Javier grunts, and leans his forehead into yours. "I might be late tonight, so don't wait up," he tells you in a smooth baritone.

You nod, wanting to kiss him so bad, but the risk of getting anymore telltale proof of your canoodling on him keeps your desire in check.

He lets you slip from his embrace, but gently caresses his touch to your cheek. Quickly, you turn so you can kiss the inside of his palm and give him a mischievous smile as you bat your lashes, hands teasingly skimming down to lightly graze your touch over his tensing abs as you purr, "Alright, Don Celos. Try and keep that in check so your guys don't get wise to you."

The searing look he gives you is too gratifying. "I'm outta here before I punish you for being such a sexy little atrevida," is his gruff drawl before picking up his coffee cup and exiting first to make sure no one notices you both breeze out and go your separate ways.

While you stride out and turn down the hall to make your way out of his department, Javier is already lighting up a cigarette and taking his time to make his way back to the small conference room.

By the time he's saturated enough of his person with the clinging smoky scent and is settling in for a long day of planning with his agents, you're riding down in the elevator, head full of daydreaming thoughts involving life after this last supposed hurdle.

Of course, that is quickly swept aside when your cell phone rings once you're about to settle in at your desk. The estate attorney reels you down into a heavy sadness as he updates you on the latest, and confirms with you the need to meet in person to sign documents and finalize things. With an upcoming bank holiday and other bureaucratical legalese you need to deal with, he suggests you taking a trip to Medellín and getting your family together in order to complete required steps for passing the property over to them. He offers to make himself available the next few days, so that spurs you into calling your aunt with the news, and after some more tender discussion about the house, you end up agreeing that flying down the following day and having the weekend to get these things done would be best.

Ellis is more than happy to cover things while you're away, so you book a flight and make it all the way home to Javier's at the end of the day before realizing he might take umbrage to you going out of town on such short notice. It nags you as you get out of your work outfit and put on a slinky purple housedress. And when you busy yourself with washing the dishes you've both let accumulate in the sink, it keeps needling you. It doesn't let up, even as you tend to the laundry that's piled up. The stress it conjures up has you ironing his dress shirts on autopilot while you ruminate.

You're so preoccupied with your thoughts about everything that when you're hanging up all the freshly ironed shirts into his closet, you absently bump your hand against a box tucked onto the top shelf, causing it to tumble down.

Managing to catch it with minimal fumbling, you scoff at yourself and are about to pop it back onto the shelf, but the wobbling weight of it and the rattling of the contents within grab your curiosity.

You've never really snooped through Javier's things. Well, there was that time you'd had to search for a hamper, and then hunted for those raunchy pantaleta keepsakes he'd squirreled away. But it wouldn't be too terrible to take a peek inside the box, right?

Pulling the lid of the shoebox open, you look in and find a few folded up visa documents, a laminated prayer card of the Virgin Mary, a glass paperweight with a painted-on relief of La Virgen Santa, a red-beaded rosary, a postcard-sized envelope, and three photographs. With a fawning sigh, you wander to the bed and sit, place the box onto the surface and carefully retrieve the photos so you can peer at them more closely.

Two of them are already familiar. Your smiling expression as you posed for the picture Javi took of you in Cartagena is mirrored on your face now as you look from it to the photo of you both lying side by side on the bed. That weekend floods back to you in warm memories that stir a tingle into your heart, making it skip a beat. But it's the third photo that has you fawning now.

Javi is smiling brightly in it while leaning against a green wooden barn fence. He's standing next to an older man who's wearing a white cowboy hat, standing as tall as Javi, but with a greying moustache. His features are distinguished, but exuding a warm easygoingness to him that you've seen the resemblance of in Javi's expression countless times. They're both wearing light coats and standing in what's obviously a horse pasture on the Peña ranch during a cooler season, considering the overcast sky in the background and the brown horse idling behind another barn fence within its paddock in the back.

"You wanna come to Laredo and meet my Pops sometime?"

Your heart flutters at the recall, and you smile fondly at the photo. The envelope gets your attention next after you return the pictures to the box. Retrieving it, you note the neat handwriting scribbled in bold penmanship on the front, with several stamps denoting it's come from stateside. You can't help smile that it's postmarked from Laredo, Texas, and after cataloguing the address and the name Jesus Peña, you return the envelope to the box and fawningly sigh.

Hours later, Javier drives down into the garage and parks in his spot, feeling dead tired. He lumbers out and makes his way up to his apartment, annoyed but rescind to the next phase of things he has to undertake the following day.

He's not looking forward to telling you about his plans to go to Cali.

No, he is begrudging the fact that all the planning of the day had boiled down to one conclusion: They needed Jorge Salcedo to help them locate the rogue Cali accountant. Feistl and Van Ness were reluctant to admit it, and Javi recognized their protectiveness as being the main factor for resisting recruiting the man into their last-ditch effort to keeping the Cali godfathers locked up permanently. It made sense, especially after the man and his family almost met their demise. They felt personally responsible for putting them in harm's way, so Javi had agreed to be the one to go personally to Salcedo in the morning to ask for his cooperation.

As he lopes down the hall from the elevator towards his door, Javier worries that he'll have to finally tell you what happened, in order to justify his somewhat covert operation in Cali. When he unlocks the door and enters the apartment, he finds the space dark, save for the ambient glow of the television. Once he locks up and sets his things aside on the credenza, he lets his eyes adjust to the dimness, and makes out your sleeping form, curled up on the couch. He approaches quietly so as not to startle you awake.

It looks like you'd put your head down on the armrest and simply dozed off unintentionally. Telling by the glass of water and the plate with half of a sandwich sat on the coffee table, he thinks it's safe to say that you'd decided to wait up for him after all.

"Cariño," he murmurs softly as he sits on the edge of the cushion and gently tucks wayward strands of hair behind your ear before brushing his fingertips along your jaw. You stir and hum as you unfurl from under the throw and adjust to blink up at him. "Sorry to wake you," is his rumble as he leans over to kiss your forehead. "I told you not to wait up—"

"I know," you sigh after you yawn and sit up, scooching close to him so you can curl into his side as he loops his arm around your waist. "How'd the rest of the brainstorm session go?"

"Not ideal…we have a plan, but we'll need to get Salcedo to help us. I'm going over to the hotel he and his family are being guarded at in the morning to get him on board," Javier tells you soberly, steeling himself when you pivot to look up at him worriedly. "We're going to Cali as soon as I get him to agree."

"Oh," you retort softly before pensively looking away and resting your head against his shoulder, trying not to get lost in the smoky scent clinging to his collar. "Ok…well, I guess we'll both have our hands full the next few days," is your musing remark. Javi grunts curiously, so you sigh and resist the impulse to cuddle into him protectively to instead sit up and look into his dark eyes as the glowing cast from the TV illuminates his handsome face. "The estate attorney? He called with an update; wants to take advantage before the bank holiday to finalize things, so I'm flying out to Medellín early in the morning," you pause when Javi's features tense up. "I'm sorry, I know it's short notice—"

"No, it's alright. I just wish I could go with you," Javi retorts as he rubs his palm along his cheek before pinching the bridge of his nose with a tired exhale. "I'll drive you to the airport—"

"Oh, you don't have to," you assure, but Javier shakes his head and scoops you up in both arms so he can pull you onto his lap and embrace you with a contrarian grunt.

"I'm taking you. Do you have someone picking you up once you land?" he asks and holds you close as you loop your arms around his shoulders so you can card your fingers into the back of his hair while he nuzzles your jaw.

"Since everyone will still be at work when I get there, I was going to just take a taxi—" you begin to reply.

"Not a chance," Javi mutters with finality and leans back so he can eye you, the authority of his glare so fierce that you feel a shiver skitter down into your tummy. "I'll arrange for someone to pick you up and drive you to where you have to go—" he starts to state firmly until you pout at him, so he assertively insists, "After what happened last time? Either you have an armed escort I trust, or you're gonna cancel and wait until I can travel with you. There's no way you're going without me ensuring your safety, querida."

You feel heat simmer in your chest before tickling a yearning burn down into your core, making you shiver slightly as you nod obediently and bite your bottom lip.

It shouldn't turn him on to see your breath hitch and features flush from how his intense, albeit provoking gaze gets you before he drawls almost goadingly, "Really? Not gonna argue with me?"

"Well, if you're going to be a jodón about it," you scoff and daringly nudge him as you shift to straddle his lap. He chuckles, eyes crinkling fondly at you as you loosen the knot of his tie with a sassy flare, undoing it while he caresses his hands to the small of your back. But then your gaze becomes sheepish, and you divert it to where you're working the buttons of his collar open. His hands cup the small of your back, and he thinks about how insufferable it'll be – being separated from you, when you lean close until your lips graze his, and whisper, "I wish you could come with me, too…"

He encircles your waist and kisses you, full lips capturing yours tenderly before pressing his forehead to yours. "I know, corazón," he sighs and just holds you, nosing into your hair and getting soothed by your soft perfume.

You hug him, nuzzling his neck, breathing his skin; melt into him when he starts caressing his touch along your sides. He kisses your shoulder where the housedress has slipped down to expose the round of it, and you tingle from the heat that zings down into your core.

The glow of the TV pulls the contouring shadows in around your face when you lean back to sultrily gaze at him before brushing your lips sensuously along his cheek. "I have a surprise for you," you purr and kiss the corner of his mouth, smiling when he shakes the lustful daze off in order to give you his undivided attention. "Can you guess what it is?" is your teasing lilt.

His brows arch as he leans back and stares at you before glancing around at the dark apartment. "Uh…did you clean?"

"Yes, but that's not the surprise," you chuckle and lean back to balance your seated position onto his thighs.

He grunts and eyes you curiously, until the ambient glow from the television catches on your silhouette, backlighting you. That's when he notices it, and his eyes flare up to yours.

"…Fuck me, querida. Are you bare under this little dress?" Javi husks, voracious gaze flicking back down your body to stare at the revealed swell of your breasts under the cotton fabric to see the unmistakable press of your hard nipples against it. And when his hungry stare ventures down to the hem, he realizes you've sat in a way to avoid pressing your crotch over him. His eyes flick back up to you and they're dark with lust, features carving into that smoldering look that makes want pulse into your center. "Show me," he orders in a low rumble that tickles excitement up your spine.

You nip at your bottom lip as you pull the hem of your slinky house dress up your thighs to reveal that indeed, you are completely nude underneath, and the lowlight provided by the TV illuminates the slick heat honeying your cunt.

He's enthralled by how wet and flushed you are for him already, admiring the soft curls on your mound and how inviting your glorious pussy looks, when you chime, "To your liking, mi patrón?"

Javier's eyes snap up to bore incandescently into yours as he sweeps you up against him and effortlessly stands, large hands cupping your ass and forcing you to squeal and loop your limbs around him as he rushes to take you to bed.

"After this morning?! Teasing me the way you did? And you still have the audacity to be a naughty little thing – showing me how wet with need your pussy is – asking if I like it?!" Javi is growling freshly as he bounds across the space before tossing you onto the bed. You exclaim with carefree delight as you bounce on the surface and scramble up onto your elbows to watch him hastily remove his blazer as he kicks off his shoes. "Tan chingona y coqueta, when you know how fucking wound up you get me—" is his surly snarl as he unbuckles his belt and swiftly discards it in order to hurriedly undress.

While he's not looking, you sit up to lean back on your haunches and shed your dress overhead and off before brazenly tossing it to sail in the air and land on his head. He snorts and turns when you laugh impishly and watch him flick the dress to the floor before he cocks a challenging brow at you.

"Come here," you purr and crook your finger beckoningly at him.

He does so, loping over while busily unbuttoning his dress shirt whilst eyeing you smugly as he nears. The bedroom is dark, and the only illumination is coming from the open opaque drapes. The window beyond them lets in the moonlit night that filters through the sheer curtains. You look like a sprite, sitting up on your knees, completely nude and alluringly gazing at him.

Once he's within reach, you snag the open front plackets of his shirt and tow him closer so you can dutifully tug the hem loose from his partially undone slacks, leaning in to brush soft kisses along his exposed sternum as you unbutton the shirt cuffs for him before pushing the garment off of his shoulders.

"I want you, hermoso. But I also want to take it slow so we can savor it, since I'm going to miss you so much," you murmur, staring up at him through your lashes as he shrugs the shirt off to the floor.

"You just don't wanna get punished after being a fuckin' tease," he rumbles puckishly and holds out his wrist so you can take his watch off for him while he smirks at you trying to keep your plush lips from pulling into a cunning smile.

"I love how you think being a bossy grouch in bed with me is punishment," you snicker as you remove his watch and scamper over to the foot of the bed to reach the dresser and place it on the surface. At Javier's charming chuckle, you turn back and watch him unzip his pants while he wryly shakes his head at you.

"Fine. I'll dominate the hell out of you some other time, then," Javi drawls in a gravelly tone as he sheds his slacks, then removes his socks one by one before tossing them in the empty hamper to stand in his gray skivvies with his hands on his hips. "Now, you c'mere," he orders in a grouse and smirks when you prowl like a tigress back towards him before sitting on your knees so you can hook your arms around his shoulders and lean into his warm, broad torso.

Pulling you against him more, Javi kisses you, relishing your little mewl of yearning as he claims your mouth voraciously with his own. He seamlessly hoists you up so that you can wrap your legs around him as he clambers onto the bed and balances you in his hold before easing up on the passion of his kiss to lay you on your back and hover over you. The moonlight and the glean of the city's lights illuminate your nude form now stretched out under him, and catches on his broad shoulders as he sits up to cup his hand between your thighs and touch your tingling center.

You hiccup a whimper when his fingers glide through your drenched folds before parting them. He groans lustfully, "Fuck, you're so wet," pausing to admire how the slick dampening your cunt gleams in the lowlight. He presses his thumb over the hood of your clit and grinds against it just right, just like he knows you like it, and watches you shiver with pleasure as you simper out a little noise of need. "Gonna make sure you come so hard that you soak my fingers, preciosa—"

"Mmph! Javi," you react to his declaration, clinging to him and trying to shove his underwear off with your feet so he can be totally naked and on top of you. "Oh, take this off—"

"I thought you wanted it nice and slow?" he taunts, slipping two fingers into your silken cunt. "Something about savoring it?" is his leering drawl as he curves his thick digits up to brush that spot you can't quite reach yourself, drawing out a moan from you. "Keeping 'em on is the only thing stopping me from railing the fuck out of you like I want—"

You arch and toss your hair back on a groan, blushing at how a new wave of arousal floods your sheath and makes the squelching of your cunt being finger-fucked by him even louder than your panting breaths. "You want that?" is your pitchy mewl as you tighten your grip on his biceps before undulating your hips in time with the plunging pace of his fingers. When his eyes narrow on your luscious smirk, you goad, "C-Can't control yourself any other way?"

His fingers are yanked from your eager pussy so quick that the needy whine that comes out of you has you writhing in flustered heat, but you jolt when he reels back, thinking he's going to leave you like this, but then see he's rushing to get out of his boxer-briefs. He's kicked them off and yanked you by your waist up into his lap in seconds, and before you can gather your wits, Javier is grinding you down on his throbbing, ramrod cock.

Your cry is of titillated hunger, feeling singed through by how the thick of him has stretched you so good while your yearning cunt clenches around him.

He groans, arms encircling your waist tight and keeping you flush to him as you bury your face in his neck. "Feels like you're the one who can't control yourself, malcriada," he husks against your ear, exhaling an amused chuckle when you squeeze your arms around his neck and protest with a weak hum. "Huh, that doesn't sound convincing, mi amor."

Oh, he's so damned cocky. You decide to get him back the way you know will have him caving to you instantly.

You clench your floor muscles around his cock hard and graze your teeth down the side of his neck before nipping the slope that connects to his broad shoulder, then suckle with a lascivious hum.

The world spins and your back hits the bed before you've finished blinking, and Javier has buried a hand in the back of your hair and fisted the strands possessively as he moans shamelessly before he snaps his hips back and slams his thrust full force into you. You see stars and arch as you cry out, nails digging into the backs of his shoulders as you cling to him.

His pupils are blown out when he plants his free hand next to your head so he can adjust the cant of his thrusts in order to barrel into you with abandon in this new angle that has his cock hitting the cluster of pleasure nested within you dead center, over and over until you are spun up into an incinerating orgasm.

"Fuck! Oh god-oh god—" you wail, completely lost to the throes of your climax as he prolongs it and watches you sob, "Jah-Javi!"

He bows his head into your chest with a snarl of accomplishment as you gush warm slick in your raucous release and whimper airily. His cock is pulsing with need, but he slows his pace in order to draw you down from the stratosphere of pleasure and start working you back up.

"Tan brava," he huskily growls against the valley between your breasts before he nuzzles your sweaty skin and trails his tongue down to trace the cup of your left tit, where he leaves a love bite on the swell of it. "Eres mía, tiernita," is his molasses thick purr before he nuzzles over to your right breast and suckles hard on your nipple.

Your pussy clenches around his throbbing shaft as your breath catches in your throat. "I'm yours, Javi," you drunkenly cry as you bury your hands in the back of his hair and arch into his mouth. "All yours," is your sigh when he frees your nipple and traces the tip of his tongue over the pebbled flesh.

Javi teasingly grazes his teeth over your studded nipple, earning a breathy gasp to catch in your chest. "Yeah, you are," is his velvety purr before he suckles the underside of this breast, then nips you lightly before soothing the bite with his tongue. It's a possessive show of dominance, and it makes your silken sheath clench around him.

When his gaze flicks up to you, his eyes are smoldering with desire, and you think he's going to fuck you with abandon. Instead, Javier adjusts so he can hook one of your legs over his forearm and hold you open to him as he rocks into you, then out, then back in – setting an exquisite pace, taking his time so he can feel his cock grind against every ridge inside of you. He wants to feel you pulse around him as he fucks you nice and slow – to watch you clench around him and get revved up into a titillated tizzy.

You grip the bedding and arch when his thrusts angle upwards, bringing him to rut against your thrumming clit in time with the plunge of his cock hitting your pleasure point nestled deep inside you.

Javi thinks he can hold out. That he can get you to climax again before he chases his own need, but you moan and gaze up at him in the throes of your pleasure before you reach for him and pleadingly grip his chest. The whimper you let out inarticulately beckons for him – to have him on top of you and his mouth claiming yours while he fucks you so good.

He gives into it. Leans down to capture your lips and delve into your hungry mouth as he gives into the carnal desire zinging through him. You passionately kiss him back, sucking on his bottom lip before mewling when he rapaciously drags his mouth away to suckle hard on your sloping muscle.

"Javi!" you cry out in ecstasy, overcome by the ravenous pleasure as his thrusts have you careening over the edge into another blistering orgasm.

Your pulsing cunt clamps down on him and floods over with your climax, stoking a ferocious pride in his chest at having you come apart so fiercely. But the moment you whimper rapturously under him and drag your nails down his back? Javi loses the tether of control and fucks into you with need, pace stuttering under the onslaught of his pleasure overtaking him as he comes hard inside of you, groaning your name hoarsely while in the height of his bliss washing over him.

The taut heat that flutters in you when he spills his release is amazing, and you moan a sated sound when he loses coordination and clumsily unhooks your leg from his hold as he collapses on top of you.

The sound of the air-conditioning kicking on muffles your staccato breath and his ragged panting against your neck, and the cool air soothes your scalding, heaving bodies as you both recover from the euphoric and sublime high of falling into bliss together so ardently.

Once he's able to think straight, he grunts huskily before propping himself up so he can nuzzle a path up from your neck to your lips, where he presses adoring kisses before smiling against your cheek at your satiated sigh as you languidly rub his sweaty back.

"Nice and slow is fucking hot," he husks puckishly before brushing his nose impishly against yours.

You giggle breathily and graze your teeth over his plush bottom lip before suckling the morsel with a sensuous hum. "Told you, guapito," you silkily murmur, earning a hum from him before he starts trailing kisses along your jaw. You comb your fingers through the back of his hair and let him kiss a path down your neck to the love bite on the slope towards your shoulder.

The heat of his mouth when he presses a tender kiss over it makes you tingle and swoon.

When he can move, he shifts up and off of you to lie on his back next to your nubile form, taking a deep breath and letting it out through his nose. You turn your head so you can kiss the top of his shoulder. He smiles, and you admire his moonlit profile, fawning over how handsome he looks when he's relaxed – savoring the post-coital serenity that gravitates you two closer to each other.

It remains while you both shower, basking under the warm water and your tender, soft touches.

While you dry your hair, Javier goes out to the living room to make a call. Once you're done and in your cozy robe, you find him on the couch in just the towel he'd tucked around his trim waist, finishing the other half of your sandwich.

"Oh, that's gone cold! I'll make you a fresh one, babe," you tut, but he takes your hand before you can rush off and pulls you in to sit on his lap while he shakes his head.

"Nah, this is perfect," he assures when he's done chewing his current bite. "All set for tomorrow. Trujillo will pick you up at the airport in Medellín—"

"I don't want to trouble him, Javi," you sigh, and he rolls his eyes before finishing the sandwich with two big bites. "Doesn't he have a shift to work?"

He grunts before swallowing. "Shit in Medellín is so low threat now that they've scaled back on hours, so a lot of the guys are picking up side gigs. I owe him big time, and he has the flexibility, so quit fretting," he drawls and gives you a cheeky squeeze before patting your thigh. "You get in bed. I'll shut things off."

Smiling, you relent with a musing hum and peck him on the lips before getting up and loping on tired, sore muscles to the bedroom. By the time Javier has shut the TV off, brushed his teeth, hung up the towel from around his waist onto the rack, and turned out the bathroom light in order to feel his way back into the semi-penumbra of his bedroom, he finds you sans robe and fast asleep on his side of the bed, illuminated by the dim nocturnal glow sifting through the sheer curtains. He snickers at the sight, figuring you must've been so tuckered out that you slid into bed with the intention of shimmying under the covers over to your side, and just didn't make it before dozing off.

He crawls onto the bed and eases himself under the covers next to you, and finds himself easily drifting off to sleep once you've snuggled closer to him and looped your arm around his waist.

The next morning, the rays of dawn filtering through the curtains slowly stirs you and have your eyes fluttering drowsily. Your cheek is resting on Javi's chest, and you realize he's awake when you feel his fingertips caressing lazily along the back of your shoulder. You stretch your legs and sidle against him, not in a rush to part with his warm skin.

"We never keep the drapes open. Waking up and being able to watch the sun come in, seeing the light warm you, was nice," Javi murmurs, timbre rough with disuse.

You hum, kissing his chest before tilting your face up to his while you glide your affectionate touch up from his side to his other pectoral. His eyes are warm pools of dark chocolate with flares of chestnut as the sunlight accentuates his handsome features. His tousled strands of hair that stand askew are earthy cocoa shades, dark brows relaxed while the stubble along his jaw makes a scraping sound when you cup his cheek. Your thumb sweeps over to trace his full lips after skimming over his moustache, and he grunts softly when you scratch affectionately at his cheek while you smile.

"It's not as nice as my view right now," is your smoky purr as you caress your fingertips up to trace along his brow before brushing them up his forehead to toy with the unruly whisps of hair fanning across it.

His eyes close and he sighs serenely, always soothed by your touch. You take advantage and lean up to kiss him chastely on the lips. Javi encircles his arms around you when you go to slink away, pressing you against him so he can chase your lips and deepen the kiss.

When he pulls back to comb his fingers through your hair and gaze lovingly at you, admiring how the sun catches in your hair and casts you in golden relief, you smile brighter, feeling that effervescent feeling of contentment that only Javi gazing at you so is able to stir up in you.

"I was thinking. Maybe we can take a trip – after everything here is settled – and you can take me to Laredo?" you find yourself blurting, then quickly becoming sheepish when his expression softens with surprise. "You know, take you up on your offer to meet your dad?" is your elaboration, and when his eyes crinkle in confusion, you scoff and smirk, deadpanning, "Ah, you don't remember that, huh?"

His eyes narrow in concentration and his brows scrunch together, but he still parcels, "Sure I do."

"Such a liar," you snicker before shuffling up against him to playfully bop him on the nose with your finger before gliding it down to his lips in order to trace his bottom lip when he pouts. "You said it when I brought your drunk ass home after movie night. Asked if I'd want to go to Laredo and meet you dad."

Javier wracks his brain, and can vacantly remember staring down at you in the elevator, and you smiling alluringly.

Before he can retort, you sardonically sigh and go to maneuver away. "Oh well, never mind then—"

Sparing a glance at the alarm clock and seeing there's ample time to spare, he rolls so he can be on top of you. "C'mon, drunk or not, you know that's what I want, cariño. We'll do it," Javi insists, soulful eyes lowering to your lips as he rumbles, "Let's do it."

When he leans down and tries to kiss you again, you chuckle and coquettishly turn your face, smiling when huffs. Tracing your touch down his neck to the hickey you left on him, you change the subject by chiming, "We should take advantage of being up early, stud. I'll finish packing, then make breakfast—"

"Fuck breakfast," he interrupts boldly and tosses the comforter back so he can sit up and pull you along with him. You squeal comically at being bare in the very chilly room, and cling to his warm form, which earns a smug chuckle from him and his hands to wander over you possessively. "C'mon, we have plenty of time," he drawls in a honeyed timbre that turns an octave lower when he grinds you down on his lap as he whispers, "Need to have you, querida."

Want blooms in your core and spikes arousal down into the clutch of your cunt as you feign absentmindedness. "Oh? How so, dulzón?"

His coffee-brewed eyes narrow and his mouth pulls into a cunning smirk. "I was gonna get on my back and let you ride me, but now that you wanna play, and pretend to be a silly girl?" he rasps in a dark pitch, the kind that rakes desire over you like sinful silk, and you feel yourself get shamelessly wet as he suddenly manhandles you onto your hands and knees on the bed, facing the wall.

Your breath catches excitedly in your chest as he hitches up behind you and spanks his hand down on your plump glute. "I'm gonna dominate the fuck out of you instead, malcriada," is his grouse against the back of your ear before he nips it lightly and ruts his cock against the tight cleft of your ass.

Yes, there's plenty of time for Javier to possessively fuck you on all fours while the early morning comes through the curtains, washing you in golden light as you arch before him and beg, "Oh please, please, please!" while he pounds your pussy from behind and grips his hands tight on you shoulder and hip. And he takes his time crowding over you to leave a fresh love bite to the back of your neck as he rails you so hard that you can't even hear anything over the loud squelch of your cunt being plundered jubilantly by him along with the filth he's growling gruffly into your ear.

"That's it. That's my girl. Fucking take it," he rumbles, tone assertive yet loving as he hammers his cock into you with rough abandon, getting high on the power you've allowed him to take, alight with how you moan and flood with warm slick and clamp around him.

He groans as you whimper desperately while mindlessly rocking your hips back and arching, features melting into the throes of ecstasy as you cry, "Javi!"

Your pussy ripples around his throbbing cock as you're propelled towards the precipice of orgasm, and it springs cloying savage need in him – pace becoming feral as he growls, "Yeah, j-just like that. Take it, fucking take all of it—!"

Pleasure tears you asunder into a blazing climax that has you tossing your head back and grappling to ground yourself as if you're grasping to not fall blindly into bliss for real, gripping his wrist at your waist and the pillow before you as you wail his name. The way you gush your orgasm and writhe has Javier primally triumphant. It's also his undoing, because he tries to soothe you by nuzzling your neck, but ends up wrapping his arms around you and chasing his own fervent release when you moan, "Give it to me, Javi."

His mind hazes over when he fills you with his cum and hunches over you, drunk on the high and lightheaded as you melt down onto your tummy and take him with you. You turn your head dazedly to seek out his mouth with your own, dragging your lips across his jaw and cheek before he hums into kissing you. Javi then nudges his head affectionately against yours and exhales an accomplished sound before curling you both sidelong to recover – sweaty and sticky as you both lie in post-coital repose, pressed skin-to-skin as you lounge in the afterglow.

The bliss of it – being taken apart by him and pulled back together by his doting kisses and adoring touches – is short-lived when he lifts his head enough to look at the clock again and groans. Not enough time. Never enough time…

It weighs on him, and while you both rush to shower and get ready, he finds himself reluctant to part with you, especially with the foreboding feeling pressing in on him.

Javier doesn't know where things will go today, or how securing Pallomari will turn out in the long run, but moreover, he doesn't know how he can reconcile the truth he knows – how the deck has been stacked against them from the start.

He doesn't want to tell you.

Even so, when he drives you to the airport, the truth of it sits like a weight on his tongue, but he endeavors to keep that buried down. So, when he pulls up to the departures entrance of the terminal, he gets out and chivalrously takes your bag out of the car in order to give it to you on the curb. Before he's finished placing it down, you've wrapped your arms around his shoulders, hugging him tight and kissing the side of his neck before leaning up on your tippy toes in your leather flats to kiss him with unabashed love.

His hand buries in the back of your hair and deepens the kiss, pulling you into him by the small of your back.

The anxiety that springs up in your chest is lancing, and you internally admonish yourself as you pull back and caress his cheek. "I love you," you susurrate before melting a little when he leans down to press his forehead to yours, arms encircling you tight to him. When you nuzzle him and sigh, he holds on to you, not wanting to part, and you find that the worry needles up in your chest again, and it has you pleading softly, "Please, Javi. Please be careful. All of you need to watch your backs."

"Don't worry, querida. I promise, we'll be careful, and all this shit will be over soon," Javier proclaims, kissing you one last time before he forces himself to let you slip from his embrace. "I love you," he tells you, and you smile with genuine serenity, because you believe him.

You trust everything he's said, so you collect your purse and suitcase, playfully caress your touch to brush his hair back from his forehead, and lilt, "Buena suerte, agente."

He watches you stride off into the terminal, and once you're out of sight, he gets in the car and drives himself to the Hotel Centro Internacional, where Jorge Salcedo and his family are currently holed up, under DEA security protection.

While you make it through the terminal towards your gate after getting your boarding pass, Javier parks at the hotel and steels himself for a difficult conversation. He's not had much personal interaction with Salcedo direct, not since finding out during the San Jardín raid that he was the C.I. codenamed Natalia. And since, he's had his moments of trepidation about the man. Truthfully, he feels guilt for what could've happened to him had Feistl not insisted on storming the building. But the persistent part of him compartmentalizes the guilt and justifies the experience only lending itself to being a great motivator for convincing Jorge to help them locate Guillermo Pallomari.

And, once he gets the man one-on-one up on the terrace of the hotel to chat? As soon as he's confirmed that the paperwork is almost ready at the embassy and that he and his family will be on the first flight out in the morning, Javi hits Salcedo with the question.

"Guillermo Pallomari. You have any idea where we can find him?"

"No. Why do you need him?"

Javier details how the Rodríguez brothers gave 6 million dollars to the Samper presidential campaign, and makes it clear that without Pallomari testifying in the states – going on the record in order to generate new indictments, it's not likely that the Cali godfathers will remain in prison. Salcedo doesn't balk. If anything, he's exasperated, and makes it clear his top concern is about his family's safety. Javier thinks the man is going to hedge back – turn him down, but then, he looks him in the eye and tells Javier the biggest lead. That Pallomari's wife was having an affair with a man at her office. That the phones in the cartel safehouse he'd stashed Pallomari and his family had been tapped.

Then, he hits Javier with the question: "And he can keep them in prison?"

"We find Pallomari or the godfathers walk."

"You're not going to find him without me," Salcedo counters, resolute.

Javier can't help acerbically huff, before slightly smirking as he chuckles, "You're right."

Salcedo is resigned, but stressed. He tells Javier he's in, but wants to discuss it with his wife. So, once they head back down to the hotel room, Javier leaves him to it and calls the fellas with the update while he waits out in the hall. By the time he and Jorge are in the car, driving to the airport in order to meet Feistl and Van Ness at the cargo plane hangar to ride down to Cali together on a chartered flight, you're just landing in Medellín.

You exit the terminal and see Trujillo, dressed in plainclothes, with a light jacket that hides his shoulder holster and badge. He waves you down, and you hustle through the crowd to greet and thank him.

"—I'm so sorry Javier troubled you—"

"No trouble at all!" he assures and places your bag in the backseat before opening the passenger door for you.

Once you're in the vehicle and driving down to your appointment with the lawyer, you take the chance to call Javi and check in.

He's just finished securing the secondary charter to be on standby for the extraction in Cali when his cell phone rings. Signaling that he needs to take the call, Javi strides to the side of the open hangar and answers, "Peña."

"Hey! Just calling to let you know I made it in, boss man," you chime affably into his ear, and the tension in his shoulders subsides. "Everything ok on your end?"

"Yeah. Just about to board the plane. I won't be able to check in the rest of the time I'm down there," he tells you, hand on his hip as he paces. "I'll call you once we're back. It might not be until late, though—"

"That's fine. I want you to call and let me know you're all right as soon as you can," you insist, then sigh fretfully. "Please be safe, mi amor."

"I will, querida. You take care, ok?" he assertively rumbles, and when you hum in agreement, he husks, "I love you."

"I love you too, Javi."

"We love you very much, Peñita!" Trujillo shouts good-naturedly so Javi can hear, and he blows a raspberry while you giggle irreverently.

"Take care, and talk soon," you retort before you both exchange goodbyes.

He feels a little lighter after the call, and with renewed pep in his step, he rushes back into the hangar and is soon boarding the plane with the other three men.

The flight to Cali gives him a lot of time to think, and the closer they get to their destination, the more he can feel the collective tension amongst them.

So, as they begin their descent, Javier assures, "Once we step off this plane, whatever goes down is on me. We are way off the well-lit path."

Minutes later, they land in a provincial airfield with a single runway tarmac. Deboarding, they get in the waiting SUV Suburban and start prepping for the day – divvying up portable radios and handguns. Salcedo rejects Dan's offer to carry one of the pistols, and while Chris drives, Javier goes over the plan once more. As he details how they'll split up so they can try to track Pallomari's location via Salcedo's wiretap connections at the telephone company, you're just arriving to your grandmother's – well, now more officially, your cousin's soon-to-be-house, after finishing with the attorney. Your aunt is already there when you arrive, so you assure Trujillo that you'll be fine, and after you confirm some updates with him, he gives you his card with his cell phone number on the back and insists that you call him if you need anything.

You spend a while sitting in the kitchen catching up with your aunt about things regarding the house, the changes in the accounts for the utilities, and your plans for packing up things. The subject regarding sorting through decades of memories and personal effects starts to bog you down in the mire of overwhelming sadness when mercifully, your cousin arrives from work and gives you a needed reprieve. While your aunt makes an early supper, you and your cousin work around the house together, dusting and cleaning while you talk. Every so often, your mind wanders to Javier, and you have to quell the anxious worry that fizzles up within you. He's going to be safe. He said this'll all be over soon. Trust him.

What you don't know is that Javier is just linking up with his agents and Salcedo after successfully baiting Fredy Moya – who called Pallomari's wife and warned her of the DEA coming around asking questions and looking for her, and with the call he made traced to an apartment north of the city, they were on their way there. Unbeknownst to them was that the man would seek out David Rodríguez to trade information, and that with David torturing it out of him, it was now a race to get to Pallomari.

Parked on the street and remaining in the SUV as a lookout, Salcedo places his radio in close reach and takes the driver's seat as the agents head up to the apartment building in formation. Feistl takes the lead, with Van Ness covering him and Javier at their rear, making sure no one can sneak up on them. They hustle up the stairwell and locate the apartment door. With a nod of consent, Chris bangs on the door. They can hear muffled rushing and anxious chatter from within, so Javier gestures for Chris to try to enter. Finding it locked, he decides to kick it open, and once he does, Dan is at his side as they come in weapons drawn, shouting for Pallomari to put his gun down.

Javier breezes in between both agents with his DEA badge up, coaxing the harried man and wife to calm down, and assuring them he's there to help. Once the wife makes sure their sons are safe and closes the door to the bedroom, she and Pallomari warily sit in the living room to talk with the three agents. Really, it ends up being an exasperating session of haggling and semantics between Javier and Guillermo. He's barely keeping his patience – everything in him is simmering with the annoyance of controlling his temper while the man questions about what kind of house they'll get, even having the gall to say that his family are accustomed to a certain square footage. But when Javier tells him he has no option other than what he's presenting him, and that this is the only way to keep his family safe? Guillermo seems to get it, so Javier tells them to pack their things, but the wife – Patricia – begins to spiral. She rambles about needing a week to get her affairs at work in order, that they need to give them a week to get things organized, that she cannot just up and leave like this. Her voice gets harried and the more Guillermo tries to diffuse her, the more hysterical she becomes.

Before Javier's even realized it, his temper has boiled over, causing him to bellow, "Okay!" rendering the couple into stunned silence while Chris and Dan bristle where they stand at the ready. He realizes he needs to rein everything in quickly, so Javier tells Guillermo to go pack his children's things while he talks to Patricia. As soon as her husband is out of earshot in the next room, Javier hits her with, "I know about Fredy Moya. It's none of my business—"

"You're right. It's not your problem," she snaps back.

"You realize what happens if they find you?" he levels evenly. "And your kids?"

She flounders, getting frazzled, insisting she can't just leave without saying goodbye. That they're in love. Javier then tells her with finality that if she stays, she will die.

That sinks in. She nods and rushes to pack, to corral her two sons and hustle them to get ready to go while she hastily gathers belongings and shoves them into a suitcase. Javier feels that cagey tension ebb in him, but he knows there's still ways to go. Dan and Chris start pushing them to pack it up to leave, and once Guillermo snaps at his wife that they're done and there's no more stuff to grab, that it's time to head out, Javier radios in to Salcedo.

"We're on our way down."

Chris leads the way down the stairwell to the first landing overlooking the lobby and halts so Javier can sprint down ahead of him to get to the door and radio to confirm, "Salcedo, we're in the lobby now. Are we clear?" There's no immediate response. Javier attempts again. "Salcedo." Still no response, so he radios more adamantly, "Jorge, we clear or not?"

There's a pause before the radio engages. "All clear."

"Copy," Javier confirms before turning to the others and pressing, "All right, stay close."

Javier is the first out the entry door, and once the Pallomari's come out, Dan and Chris flank them to check both sides of the intersection before confirming nothing is amiss. Up ahead is the SUV. It'd been raining when they'd driven over to this part of the city, so the windshield was covered in condensation and water. The pavement smelled damp all around him, and there was no breeze. Everything seemed still – until the gunshot.

They all take shelter behind the nearest car at the opposite side of the street, huddling down at the curb. Javier ducks down and peers around it to see Jorge unload his pistol down into a man on the ground next to the open passenger door he'd seemingly fallen out of. Once the shooting stops, Javier bounds over cautiously and recognizes the now dead sicario to be Navegante.

Staring at Salcedo, he barks, "What the fuck happened?"

With his arms outstretched in a stance of compliance, Jorge gestures to Navegante. "He has the keys."

Without missing a beat, Javier looks over his agents and shouts, "Let's move!" before kneeling to scoop up the car keys Navegante dropped, tosses them to Chris, and rushes with Dan's help to drag the dead man's body away from the car to the opposite side of the street while Patricia screams at her kids not to look and Guillermo irately questions why Salcedo is there. "He saved your life! Get in the fucking car!" is Javier's barked response as he orders everyone to get in, shoving the nervous man to the back seat while Dan piles the kids to the back and Chris jumps into the driver's seat, with a stunned Jorge getting in behind him.

They're speeding off and away as the sounds of police sirens grow nearer. Javi spares a look at the side mirror and watches Navegante's lifeless body disappear with distance. The depraved, sadistic satisfaction he gets knowing the bastard who'd kidnapped you – that had been the triggerman-for-hire to every lowdown fucking cartel – had been gunned down and left on the wet pavement like he'd done to countless others? It should make him question his morals. But for once, Javi feels gratified, and is sure he'll sleep just fucking fine tonight.

The sendoff of Pallomari onto the chartered flight that would ferry him and his family stateside into DEA protective custody went seamless, all things considering, and once they were off the runway, he, Jorge, Dan and Chris boarded their waiting plane and headed back to Bogotá.

They're not even finished deboarding the plane when the unmarked SUV with the security detail ferrying Salcedo's wife and daughters arrives to board the other awaiting jet Javier had coordinated. Stoddard was in tow with their embassy documents, so with paperwork in hand, Javier ushers Jorge and his family onto the other plane.

"Chris and Dan are going to escort you. They'll see to making sure you all have everything you need," he's telling Jorge as he hands him the documents. "Take care of yourself."

Jorge shakes Javier's hand, nodding curtly. "Thank you, Agent Peña."

After huddling with Chris and Dan one last time, he shakes both their hands and pats them on the back before gesturing for them to climb aboard. "Stay in touch. My old partner, Steve Murphy, will meet you on the tarmac when you land," he tells them before joking to Dan, "Try and be more patient than I was with Pallomari."

"I can't make any promises, boss," Dan quips before hustling up the plane's stairs and ducking his tall frame in to enter the cabin.

"Thanks for backing us, boss," Chris tells Javi with a nod before he follows his partner up into the plane.

Javier rides back with Stoddard to the office and hears more great news.

"—David Rodríguez was gunned down in a drive-by, along with several of his associates."

Again, it shouldn't please him so viscerally to hear, but he feels the warm embrace of sweet retribution come over him, and by the time he gets to his apartment, only a few hours before dawn, Javi is buzzing.

Your cell phone rings loudly on the bedside table, and you groan, rolling over to face it when panic leaps up in you. Javi!

Scrambling up and reaching for it, you answer, "Hello?"

"It's done."

You feel a wave of vertigo before excitement punches it away once your anxious mind registers how teeming with exuberance Javi's tone is. "You got him?"

"Yes. He'll be in court testifying in a sealed grand jury in a couple of hours. My guys are escorting Salcedo and his family into witness protection," he tells you in a rush, breath stuttering before he rumbles, "It's done, everything I needed to do…"

Your heart soars, and the happy tears that crest your eyes dampen your lashes as you flutter them. "Oh, I'm so proud of you, Javi!" you gush, absently wiping at your cheek when a couple of tears drop. "You've worked so hard, have done everything – gone above and beyond to succeed and make a difference. You should be proud," you tell him, overcome. When he exhales tensely, you scoff derisively, "Oh my god, c'mon, chavón. Don't make the first thing I do when I see you be to wring your neck and browbeat you! You should be proud, dammit."

His husky, honeyed chuckle makes you smile. "I am, chingona! Just wish you were here. Dying to put my arms around you," he retorts with sincere, albeit crooning warmth. "I know it's late, so go back to sleep—"

"What're you wearing?" you interrupt sultrily.

Javi hums a gruff sound of protest. "Fuck, don't tease me like that, baby—"

"I want to know what you're wearing, guapito," you silkily press and lean back in bed, tingling from the heat of your arousal for him, still sore from the sexy romp that morning and now idly caressing the love bite he left on the sloping muscle connecting your shoulder. "Paint a picture for me."

His snort is rueful, but he answers in a canela-brined drawl, "I just got home. Wearing the same clothes from this morning: dark blue jeans, a button down – the one you said is nice and soft…"

"The chambray blue one?" you chime, pressing your thighs together. He grunts in confirmation, and you can hear him shuffle backwards onto a soft surface. You picture him stretching out on his bed.

"You wearing that sexy batita?" he husks ruggedly, which makes excitement flutter in your tummy.

"I wouldn't call it sexy, but yes – I'm in the batita, all alone in bed," you sigh, wishing he was there with you. That he was hiking up your nightgown and settling between your welcoming thighs. His huff becomes muffled by the heavy yawn he lets out. "Oh, I'm such a jerk. You haven't slept! Go take a shower and get some sleep, mi amor."

He grumpily hums, but you can hear the smirk in his voice when he drawls, "Alright, you wicked little tease. I'll call you tonight. I love you."

"I love you too," you murmur. "Goodnight, stud."

Javi chuckles. "Goodnight, querida."

You find out the breadth of Javier's successful raid later that afternoon when you and your cousin finish going to town hall and transferring over the utility accounts into her name. The covers of every newspaper on the newsstand tell of a violent night in Cali, of the DEA spiriting away sources who've turned evidence and testimony against the Cali cartel, of grand jury indictments and U.S. federal backlash to come against the Colombian government amidst charges of corruption.

And when you get back to the house? You are glued to the television as the evening news details how financial evidence presented to a U.S. grand jury implicated members throughout all echelons of government – public officials throughout the entire country – as being on Cali's payroll. And when they splash a bulletin that alleges possible knowledge of said corruption within the halls of the Nacional Palace and that the surrender deal was entertained for so long in bad faith? Your mind flashes to how distraught Javier had been after capturing Miguel Rodríguez. Did he know? That the corruption went all the way up to the President? Is that why he was so disillusioned—

The ringing of your cell phone makes you jump, and you rush to quickly retrieve it from the coffee table and answer it.

"Hey, corazón. How are you?" Javi's rich baritone washes over you, subduing all the questions that had been galloping wildly in your mind.

"Better, now that you've called," you tell him honestly, smile clear in your voice. "I miss you."

"I miss you too. Everything with the house go alright?"

"Yeah. I just have an appointment in the morning to transfer a few more things. I'll have to come back soon to start packing things up and seeing what we should donate, what they'll want to keep in the house, and what will go in storage…" you feel a lump start to tangle in your throat, so you clear it and sink back into the couch. "I was just watching the news."

"Hmph, yeah. I got a meeting with Crosby in the morning about it," he mutters, and you can make out the click of his lighter before he inhales and puffs out the smoke from his freshly lit cigarette. "What time is your flight?"

"Not until the afternoon, and I figured you'd be busy, so I'll take a cab," you tell him, and at his grumble, you tut, "Nope, I don't want to hear it. Trujillo was a great escort, but now that you've effectively nailed the Cali cartel for good, I think I'm free and in the clear of ever getting snatched up—"

"Not by the assholes from before, no. They're dead," Javi tells you in a tone he's never used with you before. It's a mixture of cutting and gloating, and it raises the little hairs on the back of your neck. He seems to catch it, at least by how he reproachfully huffs at himself. "I'm sorry, that wasn't right—"

"They're dead?" you ask, the macabre curiosity prickling you to know more as you sit up straight.

Javi hesitates, annoyed with himself for being so callously flippant. He sets his cigarette down on the lip of his ash tray and scrubs his fingers over his moustache before dragging them down to his chin. "Navegante? I saw it happen for myself. He got taken out…and the little fucker who'd ordered it, David Rodríguez – he got killed along with a few of his guys in a drive-by," he tells you, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his desk. In a low, bass-pitched baritone, he confesses, "I only wish I could've been the one to pull the trigger—"

"Javi," you breathe out, pitch tremulous. "It's over. We don't have to worry about them anymore. You kept your promise, and now it's done. There're just good things to look forward to, and it's up to us what we want those things to be," is your assurance, and hearing it said so concisely but with so much hope fills Javi up with your loving, protective grace. "I love you, Javi," you susurrate, and he exhales in relief, eyes closing as your words wrap around him.

He says your name with amorous feeling before telling you, "—Te amo con toda mi alma. So much so, that as soon as we can, I'm taking you home. Want you to come to Laredo with me, because, well, fuck – I'm going to need a vacation after all of this, and I can't be without you."

Your effervescent laugh is charmed and loving, and it makes him feel so deserving. That he's done what he needed to, and is now worthy of the life he wants to build with you.

"I want the same, Javi. I can't wait," you retort, the cheeky smile evident in your tone as you add, "And I can't wait to get my hands on your baby pictures, finally!"

He laughs, and it feels so good to laugh after everything, and even though he sees some heads turn towards his office, he doesn't care. "I'll see you tomorrow, hermosa."

"Good luck with Crosby. Bye!"

Javier feels like he's free of the proverbial albatross he'd hung around his neck since he'd agreed to come back to Colombia. All the acrimonious fury, the stress, the failures and disenchantment haven't gone away, but have become less potent within him. The loathing and doubt go quiet, allowing him to tie up bureaucratical matters in regards to the Cali cartel investigation, and by the time he's getting ready the next morning to head to the embassy and meet with the ambassador, the hope he feels sits prominently in his chest, pushing him forward – holding out that full justice will be served to all who deserve it.

But, of course, nothing is as it seems, or goes as it should.

Crosby comes in smug. For some reason, Javier knows immediately things are not going to go as he'd hoped.

"Y'know how many times I've gotten a call from the Department of Justice and State the same morning?" the man drawls, pausing to smirk as he adds, "Count 'em on one finger. Guess we have you to thank for that." Javier glances down at the conference table, already steeling himself for how this is going to go. "I'm headed over to the National Palace right now to make it clear to President Samper himself that the godfathers stay in jail. At least for the foreseeable future."

"But that's as far as it goes?" Javier queries, and when Crosby narrows his glacial stare on him, he forges on with, "We drew up a draft indictment outlining President Samper's ties to the Cali cartel."

"Alleged ties," Crosby counters, expression sharpening as he presses, "And I suggest you keep that draft to yourself. The DOJ's not going to topple a government, Agent Peña."

Javier's expression hardens, and when he has no retort, Crosby gestures glibly as he goads, "You can't tell me you're surprised by that."

"Some part of me was holding out hope, I guess," he rumbles, hands folded together over the table to keep them from fidgeting in his perturbation, left thumb tapping absently while he trains the muscles in his face to remain as stoic as possible. But his jaw has been ticking – corner of his lips twitching against the deep scowl that wants to take over his features.

Crosby is snarky as he lopes around the conference table, gesturing wryly at Javi as he simpers, "Well, you should tell that part to grow the fuck up." Javi is forced to keep his gaze low, for fear of giving the man the furious look that speaks volumes for how he currently feels. His lips purse as the ambassador drawls, "No, I mean it, Agent Peña. You should be happy. You played the system like a goddamn fiddle."

Javi looks up at him then, head slightly cocked to give him a sidelong glance as Crosby gives him a resigned, musing smile. "You won," he tells him, good-naturedly pattings Javi on the left shoulder as he rounds behind him, and makes his exit.

Disillusioned and debased by the conversation, Javi mutters distantly, "Yes, sir."

He's alone when he says it, the ambassador long gone and not intending to pay the DEA country attaché any more of his time.

Or so he thinks.

The entire exchange demoralizes Javier all over again. But now, it's far more denigrating, because he's being told that his complicity is expected. As if he has no choice in the matter. That everything he'd undertaken, every decision and outcome truly had not mattered, because it'd long been decided that sacrifice and injustice were the small prices to pay for corruption, greed, and political dominion – that everything was fungible as long as those with the right authority did what they were told.

He was supposed to take the win, look away, and move on.

It takes the entire smoke break out at the embassy steps, looking faraway as he stares vacantly at the street beyond, to make his decision.

Javier would not be complicit.

After making two calls, he drives over to El Tiempo, and meets with Carolina. She has a tape recorder, and after she sets it down and warns him of the consequences that will befall him once he goes on the record, she tells him concernedly, "You're going to pay a price."

With an unruffled, albeit ruminating look, Javi tells her, "Press the button."

The story is able to run by the evening news. El Tiempo drops the issue within less than a couple of hours of Javi's interview, and by the time he gets back to the embassy, all hell has broken loose in the DEA. Calmly, Javi finishes clearing out his desk, and manages to keep his stoic ease as Stoddard rushes in with a flurry of questions, updates, and a demand from the ambassador's office that he report upstairs to him immediately.

"—What's going on, sir?! Is it true?" the young man exclaims, about to unravel a litany of questions when Javi holds out his hand.

"You were a great deputy, Stoddard. Thank you for all your work."

Neutralized, the man dimly shakes Javier's hand, and watches as he places his cell phone and satellite phone on his desk before exiting his office in order to go up to the ambassador's.

Now, it's Javi's turn to be glib.

He has no illusions. Nor has he thought beyond this point about what happens next. But as he sits across from Crosby, and goes through the motions, he is so resigned to his decision that he can't allow himself any thought further on what this means for him.

What this will mean for you.

"I want you gone, Peña. So do the Colombians."

Javier's faraway as he nods and replies, "I understand, sir."

There a terse, resentful pause between them before Javi gives a curt nod and stands, beginning to exit towards the door.

"You know…any aspirations you had for your career…just got dragged behind the barn and shot," the ambassador levels, almost ruefully, at Javier.

Turning, Javi weighs that, lips slightly parted musingly, before he retorts, "I resigned from the DEA this morning."

Crosby looks taken aback, and with one final once over, Javi turns and resumes his exit, without a cursory glance backwards, as he leaves. He returns to the DEA department only long enough to grab the box filled with her personal effects, and exits out the side door to avoid the chaos he's unleashed as staffers field calls from counterparts at DOS and DOJ.

You're completely oblivious as you exit the gate with your carry-on suitcase and purse. Swinging the strap of your purse to be cross-body over your silver silk blouse, you're hurrying through the crowd in the terminal to make it out and grab a waiting cab, eager to get to the embassy, catch up on some work, and then rush home to shower Javi with celebratory kisses and hugs. As you round towards the main causeway of the terminal, where amenities like the newsstand, airport bar and lounge, and giftshops are, you've just pulled out your cell phone and turned it back on. You start when it begins to ring immediately, so you slow in your rushing pace and answer.

"—Holy shit, girlie! Where are you?! Did you just land? I've been trying to call—"

"Whoa! Yes, I just got off the plane. What's going on?" you query, feeling trepidation well in you at how harried Ellis sounds.

"You gotta get to the embassy. Shit just hit the fan and it's pandemonium here after the news broke—"

As you hurriedly resume your pace and listen, your gaze fans over the newsstand you're about to pass when you stop dead in your tracks, almost bumping into other hustling passengers as they now breeze by you. Every single newspaper's cover overrides your previous thoughts. But it's the El Tiempo headline that sucker punches you.

"—No one knows what's going on and the rumors are insane—"

"I'm on my way, Ellis. I gotta go!" you tell him quickly and hang up as you shove the phone in your purse and retrieve your pocket book to fish out enough money to pay for a copy, tell the man to keep the change, and snag the issue of El Tiempo up as you now bustle with your things towards the exit.

Once you're in a cab, you skim the intro of the story while you anxiously dial Javi's cell phone. It rings as if the call cannot be completed, so you try his satellite phone, then his office phone, and when none work, you call his apartment number. It rings and rings, but no one answers. What's happening?!

Unable to do anything but be ferried to the embassy, you vacantly stare down at the article before the analytical part of your mind takes over, skimming through.

By the time you arrive at the embassy, you feel like you're in an alternate universe.

Highest-ranking DEA official goes on the record…

U.S. government complicit in knowledge of rampant corruption withing Samper administration…

Tapes reveal how a campaign contribution of six million dollars went into the Samper presidential campaign, funneled by an art dealer acting as a liaison between the current president's staff and Gilberto Rodríguez in exchange for virtual immunity…

DEA country attaché Javier F. Peña went on the record with this reporter to disclose the U.S. government's lack of interest in holding Colombian officials accountable for flagrant corruption….

When you enter your office and ditch your belongings, Ellis gallops in. "Jesus Christ, kid. What the fuck is going on?!"

"I'm going upstairs," you tell him as you rush around him and head to do just that, calling over your shoulder, "I-I'm going up and asking him what happened—"

"He's gone."

Your leather-flat-clad-feet skid as you pause in the middle of the department's workspace and whirl around, not believing you heard him right. "What?"

"We just heard. Javier resigned from the DEA this morning. When the news about the article hit, he went up and told Crosby, and then he left," Ellis tells you haltingly, as if the information will cause you duress.

It's then that you feel the eyes on you. Devon and Jackie peer over from their stations, and the techs who are at their cubicles try to divert their gazes when you fan your stare about.

The world shrinks in around you.

Rushing back into your office, you yank out the copy of El Tiempo from your purse and look for the reporter credited with the interview.

Carolina Álvarez.

Your mind inundates you with recall after recall. The business card with her name on it that had been on Javi's coffee tables so many months ago. How cagey Javier had been when you'd pressed him on talking to a reporter for leads. It all shakes loose into jigsaw pieces that fall into place, allowing your mind to come to some troubling, horrible conclusions.

Javier never gave said conclusions thought. Didn't think about what would happen now that he'd committed career suicide, albeit with a reprieving flourish of quitting before going on the record and napalming things.

In all honesty, he'd been so brought low by the ambassador this morning, that he hadn't thought about what would happen now that he was out at the embassy, or how any of this would affect you.

All he knows is that he has to be out of the apartment in forty-eight hours, and he figures it was only a matter of time before the Colombians revoked his visa. He was wondering if they'd do it immediately and send CNP to collect him and deport him back to the states when he hears the key going into the lock of the front door.

Snapping out of his stupor and standing from where he'd been sitting on the bed while dimly sorting through his important papers he keeps in a shoe box, Javi hears the door open and the rushing footfalls over the jangle of keys as you burst in.

"Javier!" you call out as you drop your purse and keychain to the counter to sprint through the apartment.

You come to a halt in your frenzied pace as he appears in the doorway of the bedroom.

He's sans his blazer and tie – dress shirt rumpled with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. The look in his eyes is haunted, and he vacillates, tense and conflicted before you.

"Javi, what happened? What the hell happened?!" you exclaim, incredulous and shaken as you stalk towards him. "They're saying you quit—t-that you quit your job this morning, and that you leaked things to the press—"

At your harried expression, Javi approaches you now in order to explain himself, hands slipping around you in attempt to ground himself. "I know, I'm sorry…everything's happened so quick. I'm sorry for not telling you first—"

"It's true?" you shy away from his embrace, staring in shock. "After everything…after all that's happened, everything we've talked about…how could you do this?" Your eyes plaintively stare at him, and when Javi diverts his gaze shamefully, you snap. "You quit before you went to that woman—that reportera, because you knew you were going to do this? Why? Why would you do this?!"

"They gave me no choice! After everything – they were going to let the government walk after they took a fucking campaign payoff from Cali for blanket immunity!" he exclaims, tempestuously smacking his palm into the wall as he shouts, "They wanted me to be complicit and ignore what they've done—what they'll continue to do unless they're stopped and held accountable!"

You are dismayed and left reeling, truly stunned into disbelief.

"You just destroyed everything we had here," you exhale, backing away from him. "Did you always know you were going to do this? Were you biding your time until now?"

"What?!" Javi is aghast. "No—"

"You've been talking to that reporter since the beginning! And now she's the one you go on the record for, and firebomb your whole life here without even thinking of letting me know?!" you accuse, hands curling into fists as you begin to shake with your fury. "You've never intended to do this—to make a life together, did you?"

"That's not true!" Javi shouts and rushes forward, but you back away and shake your head at him. "Goddammit, that's all I've cared about—"

"You didn't even tell me what happened after you caught Miguel Rodríguez, because you knew since then that you were going to do this. That if things didn't go the way you dictated that they should that you'd expose it all, at the cost of your fucking life here! You knew that no matter what, there was nothing else you could do to force the issue aside from hanging yourself out to dry—to sacrifice your fucking career and make yourself the goddamned martyr, without ever thinking about what would happen to us! What would happen to me," you pause, tears catching in your throat as you waver in your upset whilst Javier woefully flounders before you for what to say. "I trusted you, and you didn't trust me to be honest with what you were doing, with what your intentions were and what you were willing to do to get the results you wanted—"

"No, dammit, none of that is true! I never intended to do this," he tells you emphatically, and you scoff, furious now as you rush past him to the bedroom, smacking his hands away as he tries to stop you. "—Wait, wait! Please, just listen to me, querida!"

Javi whirls and follows you, quickly becoming disheartened when he sees you retrieve your duffle from the closet and start yanking items from hangers to be tossed in a pile on the bed. "I don't want this! I never meant to hurt you or not think about how this would affect you—"

"THAT'S EXACTLY IT! You didn't THINK about me or how this would affect me!" you scream, vehemently incensed as you rail, "Did you think I would drop everything for you and follow you home?! Abandon my life here and just shack up with you in Laredo until you decide that's not enough for you either?!" Irate now, you level him with, "That I would give up my entire fucking life here – throw away everything I've worked for and leave the only family I have left that matters to me – all because you don't care about your own fucking reputation or career over your immature moral principles about what should happen in a country that's not yours?! How dare you presume to tell me about complicity when you think yourself above all authority enough to discard the people around you in the fallout of your fucking decisions!? You're complicit in forcing an issue that was not yours to mandate! You did your fucking job, but you want to be judge, jury and executioner! It wasn't enough to take down the cartel and take your retribution. Doing your job successfully and coming home in one piece wasn't enough. Oh no, not without you deciding to do everyone else's job, and fuck the consequences—!"

Javier stands there, shoulders slumped, gaze wilted and expression downtrodden as you tear him asunder, and when your voice cracks, you whirl away from him to hide the tears as you squeeze your eyes shut and feel them roll down your cheeks. You resume shoving the items you'd retrieved from the closet into the duffle before fumingly going to the dresser drawer and hefting everything out of it to be unceremoniously thrown in the bag.

"I love you so much…please, I don't want to lose you."

You pause with your back to him after shoving the last of your belongings housed in the bedroom into the duffle. His proclamation was the most upset you've ever heard him, and it hurts your heart, but you find yourself shutting that part of yourself off now.

"Why did you do this. Tell me the truth," is your shaky demand, voice thick with your resoluteness.

He doesn't know the answer. Not the right answer that will keep you there. But he has to try, so he breathes out a tense exhale before blurting, "Because I couldn't live with myself if I let them get away with it."

It hurts. Somewhere within you – that you've walled off now in order to preserve yourself from the devastating fallout, something tender – withers and dies at his answer. Because it's not that simple, and it kills you that he would feel that way. But it also devastates you to know being with you wouldn't be enough for him to hold his head high and know he'd done enough.

"I understand."

The flat, hollow response creates an ache in his chest, propelling him forward. "Querida—"

You hastily shove the duffle flap shut and zip it closed before whirling on him when he's approached you from behind, desperate to pull you into his embrace. But you keep him at bay by swinging the duffle as a buffer between you, and then pivot around him to exit the room.

"Fuck's sake, please stop!" Javier thunders, and you made it to your keys and purse before you halt in your retreat. "I didn't think beyond resigning and sitting down for the interview. I didn't care anymore, because everything that's wrong here isn't just with the cartel or the administration. I've been a part of what's wrong, and I couldn't let it go on. But that doesn't mean I wanted it like this. I never wanted anything else but the life we've talked about – I still do! I just wanted to be worthy of it—"

"You're never going to be satisfied. Whether things change here or not, it was never up to you," you cut in, voice hushed but scalding with your repressed anger. When he doesn't say anything, you wipe at your face and turn to stare at him, and Javi's heart breaks at seeing how bereft you are. "It was Medellín, then Cali, and after it'll be something else – someone else you burden yourself with taking down, no matter what it costs. You still think it's all on you—I see it in your eyes. Even everything you did today, it wasn't enough. Nothing will ever be enough," you pause when your breath stutters and you swallow down what you want to say; what's booming in your head.

I'm not enough for you.

"No matter what, you will never be content, and you'll keep lying and omitting what you really feel, hide the things you believe you need to do. Because you don't want me to know or have a say—"

"I swear, on my life, that's not what I want!" Javi adamantly swears, moving to excise the distance that's suddenly eroded the gravitation between you. "I just wanted it to matter—"

"And I hope it does," you whisper as you mechanically grab your purse and keys from the counter, unable to look at him any longer. "But I can't do this anymore…I've had enough with not being enough."

Javi is decimated, relegated to standing on locked legs as his throat constricts and a devastating pang wreaks through him at your words.

You dazedly work two keys off of your keychain and leave them on the counter before turning to the door, going on autopilot as you exit with your belongings and don't look back.

At the sound of the door clicking shut, Javier's breath stammers raggedly out of him, and before he's realized it, he's sunk down to the floor and propped his back against the wall, taking his head in his hands as he tries to reconcile all the damage he's done.

"You're going to pay a price."

He doesn't know how long he sits there, but when he dejectedly looks up, his apartment is dark, the haze of twilight heavy in the space. It's an even longer time before he snaps back into himself, having gone into a bit of fugue state after his mind walls up his heart, for fear he'll fall apart under the weight of everything tangling around it.

By the time he's had a cigarette and stared out into the void of the bustling traffic of the avenue under a starless night sky from his open bedroom window, Javi hears it.

The self-loathing creeps in like an old friend, ready to tell him all the truths he's chosen to ignore about himself.

It was only a matter of time before she saw it. Everything she said was true. You just couldn't see it for yourself. You never wanted to. Because if you did, you'd know everything was pointless—

The phone in his apartment rings. Javi is so out of it, that it takes him a moment to register it and turn from the open window in his bedroom to lope out into the main room and answer it. When he does, he irrationally hopes it's you, and it weighs like a stone in his chest that quickly drops into his stomach when it's not you.

"Jav, what the hell is going on, man?"

It was Steve. Only Steve. You ruined everything with her, because you don't deserve her—

"—Just what the fuck did you go and do now, Jav?"

His partner did always have a way with words. "Sounds like you already heard."

"Leave it to you to take a big win as a failure of epic proportions…"

They talk for a while, and mercifully it's not until close to the end of the call that Steve asks him.

"What about her? How're you going to make things work?"

"Well…I'm not. It's over," Javi mumbles, hoping saying it himself would lessen the blow, but it doesn't. If anything, it makes him want to crawl inside of the whiskey bottle he's currently overpouring himself a glass of, and never come back out. He gives Steve the cliff-notes of what happened.

The first glass of whiskey goes down like nothing, and when his former partner asks what triggered him to think things between you both were totally FUBAR now, Javi tells him while he pours himself a double to try and take the edge off. The more he drinks though, the more he volunteers, telling him how things came apart at the seams between you earlier, and the loathsome part of him grinds it deep – the feeling of being adrift.

"…Like you said, there's still loose ends. Even if shit hadn't gone down the way they did today, I'd have to be gone, work stateside for a while until all the indictments and cases were in full swing—"

"Javi…listen to me. You fucked up. Royally fucked up here. But you can't just walk away—"

Hackles rising at that, Javi growls, "I didn't walk away. She did, and I can't fucking blame her, and I can't fix it—"

"You let her walk away. You didn't fight for her, didn't give her a reason to believe you wouldn't do this shit again. She's given you chances before, right?" Steve presses, and Javi reluctantly huffs. "C'mon, man. She's worth it, and you're going to hate yourself if you don't try…"

While Javier grapples with his guilt and how to move forward, you're completely drained, lying on your bed with only the lamp on your nightstand on. It's been hours since things had gone sideways without warning. That seemingly everything you'd been working towards in your personal life had dissolved – sifted through your fingers like they'd never truly existed.

Ellis had called you, but aside from telling him you were alright and would see him the next day, it was crystal clear that you didn't want to talk, so he'd let you off the phone, and you'd been thankful.

Now, once you've forced yourself to get up from wallowing to start unpacking your suitcase and duffle, you allow your mind to go blank and concentrate on the mundane task.

It's a while later when you're mechanically finishing with the ironing for all your rumpled work clothes from the duffle bag, and you've just gotten done sorting everything into the closet, that you feel a bout of profound, unsettling emptiness.

A knock at your door startles you out of your vacant daze. Tiredly, you pad on bare feet down the hall, dimly thinking it might be your downstairs neighbor checking in after you'd gone so long without staying at your apartment.

You don't expect to open the door and find Javier standing in the lowlight, eyes red-rimmed and still in his clothes from earlier. The five-o-clock shadow on his jaw and cheeks is darker now, and so are his eyes as he stares at you with plaintiveness from under his brows. Disarmed, you look up at him forlornly.

"Most of what you said? You were right. But you were fucking wrong when you said this isn't enough," Javi is blurting out to you, pressing a hand on the doorframe and the other on the door itself in case you try to slam it shut in his face. When you just stare at him with incomprehension, he insists, "I think you're scared of what this could be, and what happened today is your excuse for breaking things off—"

"…Excuse me?" you hiss, balking up at him. "Are you fucking drunk?"

"No!" Javi snaps and rails, "I don't fucking expect you to give up your life here. I never even asked you to do that! You always say my job isn't me, so why are you fucking pushing me away like this?! I love you, goddammit—"

You are floored by his audacity, and Javier notices too late how your shoulders wind back with fury and you level him with a seething stare. "You have the fucking gall to come over here and put this all on me, again?! Like you always fucking do?!" is your slashing accusation, truly irate now as you shove him back from the threshold of your door and harangue, "The one who is scared here is you, you fucking cabrón! You show up at my door after everything you've put me through? Not just today, but over and over again the entire time I've thrown in with you?!"

Javi's expression sets into a hard mask, but his tone is teeming with suppressed angst as he draws out between clenched jaw, "We can make it work. You're pushing me away before we've even tried—without even trying to give me the benefit of doubt. You automatically decided I'd been lying to you. Didn't even give me a chance to explain—"

Incensed, you excoriate, "Explain?! That you poured your guts out to another woman on the record without a single thought about what would happen or how that would demolish everything we've planned together?!" You're spiraling into a level of rage you've not been at in a very long time, and before you can lose yourself to it, you scoff, hold out your hand, and demand, "Give me back my key, and leave."

That sobers Javier up.

He digs into the left pocket of his gray slacks, retrieves his keychain, and fumbles to remove your apartment door's key from the bunch. "I'm going to keep trying. I'll keep trying, and I'll hold out until you talk to me and give me another chance," is his hushed growl as he plucks the key from the ring. "I'll tie up loose ends on Cali and then we can focus on making this work, and talk about—"

You snatch the key from his fingers and sneer, "There will always be loose ends. Always something else to justify your impulsive, destructive fucking whims, and I've had enough of it. Just pretend I'm a loose end you can skip trying to resolve."

With that, you slam your door shut and lock it.

But you don't pull away from it.

Javier leans distraughtly into the other side of the door, and rests his forehead in drunken frustration against its cool surface while he feebly props his hands on either side of the frame. "I'll prove it to you. You matter to me, querida. I love you, and I'll keep trying to win you back. I'll fix things and earn back your trust. Just don't shut me out…"

Tears are running down your face, and you discard the key to the side table hastily so you can run down the hall and bury your sobs into a pillow.

The liquor is finally hitting Javier enough that he has to force himself to resist the urge to slide down your door and sleep it off. Instead, he trudges down the steps and stalks out of the courtyard into the gusty breeze to get in his SUV and sober up. Once he musters the concentration and sobriety to drive back to his apartment, he sullenly goes upstairs and makes his way to the door before he stumbles up through the cold and dark space.

He finds his way to his room and crawls into bed, forgoing undressing, and passes out face-first on his stomach.

As unconsciousness begins to weigh him down, he sends up a silent plea.

Please don't shut me out of your life forever…

You don't hear from Javier.

In the days after the story breaks, rumors at the embassy are rampant and fierce, but with the political fallout from the exposure of the article, Javier's notoriety is quickly replaced by other headlines that impact relations with the Colombian government. However, it's during this time that you relent, sit down, and read the entire article that put everything into motion.

Seeing that Javier alleged DOS and DOJ were aware of the corruption – that the ambassador had played him a tape given to him by the CIA, documenting the deal Santiago Medina brokered with the Samper presidential campaign and Gilberto Rodríguez? It fills you with cold, sickening dread.

After all, if Crosby knew about the Colombian president being in Cali's pocket and kept playing along – as if something that nefarious didn't justify severing all ties between the U.S. and the Colombian government, what if he'd known everything Stechner had been up to. Could he know Stechner gave my name to the Cali cartel? That they'd snatched me up as an indirect favor to the CIA station chief, in order to try to knock me down a few pegs?

It made you question your convictions. Put everything you'd ever thought about the politics, wielding and dealing at the embassy into a new, discordant perspective.

And if this is how you felt, you can only imagine how torn and betrayed Javi had felt.

Just when you're feeling inundated by your guilt and resentment, Marisol approaches you at the end of the day and waves you over into a secluded corner of your department.

"I didn't want to tell you this…" she prefaces before divulging how over a week prior, on the night Javier's agents had apprehended Miguel Rodríguez, he'd been in his office's bullpen, all alone, just staring at the suspect board. One of the custodians had walked by and seen him and thought it odd. When they'd circled back around a few minutes later, Javier was no longer alone.

The CIA station chief had been talking to him. From what they saw, Javier looked none too happy, and the little the custodian heard and could understand, it sounded like Stechner had patronized Javier, because the seasoned agent had given the balding man a withering look before turning and stalking away from him.

Your heart aches, knowing just how much Javi had wanted to defend your honor and get retribution against the man for everything he'd done, and the fact he'd come to kick Javi while he was down? And that at his lowest, Javi didn't take the bait, and walked away from the bastard?

You thank Marisol for telling you, and before you can muster the composure to keep your tears at bay, she leans in for a hug, squeezes you tight, and whispers in your ear, "Go get your guapo descarado."

It was the encouragement you didn't know you were longing for.

You get your purse and rush out of the embassy, driving over to Javier's and yearning to undo everything that you allowed to untether you both apart. The traffic is heavy, so in your impatience, you opt to park on the street across from his building, dash over to it and down the parking garage ramp to head up to his apartment's floor. You sprint down the hall and feel your pulse racing as you get to the door and knock on it.

There's no answer.

You knock again, and again, trepidation growing in you, so you knock once more and call out, "Javi, it's me," then strain to hear through the door.

"Excuse me, señorita," a voice calls down from the apartment on the opposite end of the hall. You blink over and see a man dressed like he'd just come home from the office, peeking from his open apartment door at you. "The man in that apartment moved out."

Your senses dull over at hearing that, mind straining incredulity. "…When?" you find yourself asking.

"A few days ago. They've already posted it up as available for lease," he retorts, looking curiously at you.

At your vacant nod, he frowns and goes back into his apartment, leaving you alone in the chilly hallway.

Wavering, you lean back into the door and bury your face in your hands, stifling a sob as you realize what you've done.

You've pushed Javi away, and he's left.

You're all alone, and it's your fault.

You never got to tell him that he was enough.

________________

Read Chapter 38: Enough

Spanish-English Glossary:

Tan celoso = [You're] so jealous

Querida/querido = Affectionate term, akin to expressing one's want and desire

Preciosa = Gorgeous; precious

Chulo/Chulito = Cute guy; little cutie

Mandona = Bossy lady

Chavón = a man that's pestering you

Canela = Cinnamon

Don Celos = Mr. Jealous; a "Don" is used as a title of respect for a man with a high reputation, so she means it like a "sir", so aka "Sir Jealous"

Atrevido/Atrevida = Daring man/Daring woman

Pantaleta = Panties; undies; skivvies

La Virgen Santa = The Virgin Mary; The Virgin Mother

Cariño = Darling/sweetheart

Jodón = pain in the ass [male]

Corazón = Heart; pet name to signify how deeply you love someone

Mi patrón = My master/boss

Tan chingona y coqueta = Such a badass, flirty lady

Hermosa/hermoso = beautiful (female); beautiful (male)

Malcriada/malcriado = Brat/spoiled

Mi amor = My love

Tan brava = So feisty; So tough; refers to a "tough girl" 

Eres mía, tiernita = You're mine, my tender little girl

Guapito = affectionate way of calling a man handsome (in the diminutive term)

Dulzón = Sweetheart [male]

Buena suerte, agente = Good luck, agent

Batita = Nightgown

Te amo con toda mi alma = I love you with all my soul

Reportera = Reporter [female]

Cabrón = Asshole

Guapo descarado = Handsome cad

Thanks for reading! Please consider leaving a comment and sharing your feedback. I would be eternally grateful. 

[hausofmamadas]

ALL ABOARD THE POBRECITO EXPRESSWAY | The Man, the myth, the OG Pobrecito, Javier Peña

♫ To the tune of One for the Road by Arctic Monkeys ♫

✧

Wow, okay Jesus H Christ. I made another thing? A thing I never thought I’d make. Bc frankly, I’m an insufferable contrarian to my grave, despite the fact that I hate hipsters. I do see the irony. I don’t really— Okay, look. Listen. Doing a massively popular fanfav character has always seemed like a lot of hoopla? There’s already so much content out there, and I’m always like my favs have to be randos that only had like 3 lines in the whole show “Meeeh, what do I have to say that hasn’t already been said. What do I have to add that hasn’t been done yet?” tbh I’m not at all confident that another One for the Road Javier Peña edit isn’t already out there bc the combo is like PB&J

But there is good news porque por lo visto, parece que tengo un bien chinga de cosas que decir about our Javier Peña. He is, as everyone knows, a multi-faceted man: he’s a lover, hes a fighter, but most importantly he is the OG sad!boi, sad sack, bury my feelings in any woman within a 5mi radius bc I prefer that to processing trauma bc who needs sanity or true human connection and King Pobrecito, for which we members of the Narcos/Nmx Fanfic Writer’s Discord have dubbed him, Conductor of the Pobrecito Expressway.

Oh praytell, what is the Pobrecito Expressway? So veryfuckingglad you asked you didn’t, shhhh. It is a train driven by Javi head engineer is naturally, Walt Breslin that dutifully shepherds passenger cars of similarly precious, forlorn pobrecitos from the Narcos/Nmx franchise.

Now, to be a pobrecito, one must have:

a) sad puppy eyes b) a personal life in shambles c) a will to succeed at all costs including their sanity and at the expense of those around them d) Many Problems, not entirely of their own making but that are undoubtedly exacerbated by the their inability to reconcile their emotional natures with the toxically masculine environments they are immersed in namely The Law and/or a Life of Crime.

And let me do tell you, there are many. Actually it might be easier to list those not on this crazy train. Hmm, so btwn the 2 shows, it'd be: Steve, Kiki, Benjamin, Miguel who did try to board the train but everyone hated him so much, they threw him off the back, Pacho, Chepe, Gilberto altho Navegante does, from time to time, end up rail hopping and everyone’s always yelling at him bc he is neither Big Sad, nor does he have a ticket. Oh, and I feel like it goes without saying, none of the incredible women are on this train. No, they’re enjoying champagne on a private jet pa’ todas las pendejadas they’ve had to deal with.

But yeah, basically everyone else is there. All food groups equally represented. Just moping from passenger car to the restaurant car, chain smoking, trying to untangle themselves from the red string they’ve been pinning to their walls, or trying and failing to remember how many drinks they’ve had and if there’s enough blow on the train to make them feel sober enough to continue drinking (you know who you are…. Rafa, Ramón.) And at the head of this train of absurdity is a one Javi Peña! A light(?) in the dark, to show them the way thru Pobre-dom. Which is to say he has no guidance, no idea where he’s going, doesn’t have a license even to conduct a train, pero se fue alaverga and we out here and no one’s crashed yet so! yay?

Anyway, I’ll shut up now. Here’s the thing I made.

✧

✧

taglist: @narcolini @ashlingnarcos @cositapreciosa @purplesong1028 @mandaloria314 @artemiseamoon @thesolotomyhan @narcos-narcosmx @tinylittleobsessions @salt-is-a-terrible-currency @anunhealthydoseofangst @criatividad-e @dashavau @cherixrosa @complete-nonsequitur

[meeedeee]

Los Morritos Mensitos de Narcos | My Boyfriend's Back by The Angels (FANVID)

Fandoms: Narcos (TV), Narcos: Mexico (TV)

Graphic Depictions Of Violence

Javier Peña

Steve Murphy (Narcos)

Joaquin El Chapo Guzman

Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo

Amado Carrillo Fuentes

Benjamín Arellano Félix

Ramón Arellano Félix

Cochiloco

Rafa Caro Quintero

Héctor Luis "El Güero" Palma Salazar

Hector Guero Palma

Jorge Salcedo

Kiki Camarena

David Barron

Pablo Escobar

Gustavo Gaviria

Walter Breslin

Walt Breslin

Guillermo Calderoni

Victor Tapia

Pacho Herrera

Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada García

Arturo Beltrán Leyva

Miguel Rodríguez Orejuela

Horacio Carrillo

José "Chepe" Santacruz Londoño

Chepe Santacruz

also tried to make this as blorb egalitarian as possible

HOWMever

DESPITE my BEST efforts

it for sure still skews have on Nmx ju... (Feed generated with FetchRSS) source https://archiveofourown.org/works/40881267

[shadow-assassin-blix]

A Picture is a Poem without Words

Chapter 17

A/N: Boy....it’s been a minute eh? Well. I am trying to get back into the habit of writing again. So we shall see how that goes. Dresses and shoes mentioned are from Pinterest. Lace dress (x) Party Dress (x) Shoes (x)

Warnings: Canon typical violence. Many allusions too smut, but nothing to great in detail.

Taglist:  @yungkvte  @mcrmarvelloki  @realm-of-azrael and @shootingthroughthesky0905  @mikeisthricedeceased

The next several days passed by in a blur. Blix hardly ate and slept far more than usual. She would wake up crying, after a night filled with nightmares.

On the morning of the 5th day, she woke up with a heavy sigh. She slowly sat up, looking around her room. After the second night of nightmares, she began sleeping in her room and not Pacho’s not wanting to worry him. Or wake him constantly.

Blix dragged herself from her bed, taking a long shower to wake herself up. Once she was done, and dried off, she stared blankly at her closet.

‘I want something comfortable but… not slobby.’

She spotted a sundress that she hadn’t worn in a while: a white lace mini dress that was made of soft materials.

She slowly slid it on, slipping on some white flats to match.

Blix sat at her vanity, looking at her reflection wincing slightly at how tired and puffy her eyes looked. She looked down at her makeup, deciding to keep it simply with some pink lip gloss. She slid on her shark necklace and the shark tooth earrings that matched. She brushed her long mane of hair and twisted it up into a simple bun.

Taking a breath, she nodded at her appearance, before standing up and walking out of her room.

She quietly walked downstairs, looking around, trying to spot Pacho in the crowd of guards.

She finally spotted him, near one of the couches, talking to Chepe.

Blix slowly strolled over to him, smiling softly at guards who greeted her. Once she was standing next to him, she slowly reached over and held his hand in hers. He looked down in slight surprise, his own smile forming on his face as he gripped her hand tightly.

“Good morning little fox. It’s nice to see you out and about with us,” Chepe commented leaning over to kiss her forehead.

“Needed to get out of my room. Some sunlight. What’s happening right now?” Blix asked, her voice slightly hoarse from her crying.

“Just a meeting about security surrounding the party. We need to be highly aware of who we let in or near it. Don’t want anyone from the DEA sniffing around,” Pacho softly explained, wrapping an arm around her shoulders, pulling her close to him.

“Knowing them, they’ll plant someone whose low level as like wait staff. Look for anyone who has family that’s been struggling financially,” Blix replied, curling into his side.

The two of them nodded in response, Chepe smirking slightly as he walked off.

“Shall we go out? I think it’s been a while since I’ve taken you out on a date. I want to be a bit selfish today, and keep you to myself,” Pacho whispered to her, giving her a small kiss.

Blix smiled at him, kissing him back, with a nod of her head.

“Yeah. I wanna be selfish too, and keep YOU to myself,” Blix whispered back.

“Then let’s get out of here. Get you something light to eat for breakfast, and then we will go,” Pacho said leading her into the kitchen.

She quickly grabbed a granola bar and a bottle of water, following him out to his Corvette. She ate her food and drank her water, as the two of them drove away from the house.

The two of them drove around the countryside, just enjoying the sunshine and fresh air. Blix held his hand, leaning her head back, smiling contently.

She felt her hand being lifted, and looked over at him, watching as he kissed her hand a few times.

“It’s nice to see you smile, darling,” Pacho commented sweetly. “Was wondering if I was ever going to see it again.”

“Sorry if I worried you. I just…needed to be alone. Needed to…process everything. It’s strange no longer having to go to work anymore. It’s actually kind of freeing,” Blix replied, leaning over to kiss his shoulder quickly.

“But now, you work fully for us. Stress levels may not be much different, but the benefits are much better in my opinion,” Pacho joked.

“Oh? What benefits would that be?” Blix asked him with a teasing grin.

“Oh, we will explore those… intensely… all night long if need be,” Pacho answered, his voice low and seductive.

Blix giggled at him, shaking her head.

The two of them simply continued their drive, cruising through the city. Blix bit her lip, as she noticed where they were.

“Turn left here,” she suddenly directed him, making up her mind.

Pacho looked at her with mild confusion but followed her directions, eventually driving into the parking garage of a large apartment complex.

“Where are we?” Pacho questioned as they got out and made their way into the elevator.

“My secret place,” Blix answered softly.

They eventually got out on the top floor, stepping into a hallway that only had two doors. Blix made her way toward the door on the left, opening it with a key card that she dug out of her bag.

She stepped inside, leaving the door wide open for Pacho to follow in behind.

“So. No one knows about this place. It is my home away from home. I have it under a pseudonym. You are the only person I’ve ever shown this place to,” Blix explained to him, as they stood in her living room.

Pacho looked around curiously, his eyes wandering over to the wall of pictures she had. Blix noticed the small frown on his face, and knew he was staring at the one of her and Javier dancing.

She walked over to the wall, and took it down, along with a few others that were of just her and Javier. She took the pile over to a closet, setting them down in the first empty box she came across in it. She looked over the remaining photos, and gently pulled down one from the wall that was of her and Horacio with his family. It was his birthday, and although he insisted on not wanting to celebrate it, they had a small party.

Julianna wanted to take a family photo together, and Blix stood off to the side, watching with a smile as the four of them lined up. Julianna had them wait, looking around before spotting her. Julianna waved her over, claiming, “I said I wanted a family photo, get over here.” Blix had meekly walked over, not expecting that. She stood next to Horacio, with the kids in front, and Julianna tucked into his side, smiling brightly. Horacio threw an arm around her shoulders, resting it there while his other held Julianna close to him. Blix had made bunny ears with her hands behind the kids’ heads at the last moment causing many laughs when the photo came out.

Blix smiled at it softly, holding it to her chest, turning around to face Pacho.

“This is me showing how much I trust you. How much I love you, and you alone. Javier was my past. You are my future. Is it a future where I may still get shot at, or caught in an explosion? High probability. Am I willing to face all of that if you’re by my side? Yes,” Blix vowed to him, switching to English.

Pacho stepped up to her, taking the frame out of her hands, tossing it softly onto the couch. His hands then cupped her face, staring deeply into her eyes. He leaned his head down to rest his forehead against hers.

“I thank you for showing me this. I know your trust has been betrayed too many times in the past. I promise to never take it for granted or let you down. I want you to always feel comfortable coming to me for anything. And… you’re right. I’ve had some doubts since you informed me that Peña had returned. That maybe apart of you was missing him and wanting to go back to him. Especially when you stayed alone in your room for so long and avoided my touch for days,” Pacho said with a sigh, as his hands slid down to her waist.

“I’m sorry that I made you think that. Honestly… he hasn’t been a blip in my mind in months. Hell. He drunk called me the night that Gacha was killed to tell me he had regrets. Yet… I felt nothing during that conversation. All I could think about… was you. I’ve been yours and yours alone for quite some time,” Blix confessed to him, pressing a soft kiss to his lips.

Pacho looked at her with mild surprise.

“That long my love?” Pacho inquired, not quite believing it, switching back to Spanish.

She nodded her head yes, “I’m yours, and you’re mine. Nothing is going to change that.”

Pacho smiled at her in response, leaning down to kiss her. The kiss was passionate and breathtaking. Blix slowly walked backwards to lead the both of them toward the bedroom. The back of her legs eventually hit the side of the bed. She pulled away for a moment, to catch her breath and gently shrug off the dress she wore. Pacho took off his shirt, and pants, kissing and nipping at her throat as he did so.

Once he was mostly undressed, she took a step backwards onto the bed, standing on her knees. Kissing him multiple times, as she ran her fingers through his hair, as he shoved off his boxers haphazardly.

“Hands above your head darling,” Pacho ordered her, his eyes darkening as he watched her lay down on the bed.

She did as she was told, biting her lip softly. She gently grasped the bars of her bed frame to keep her hands from moving as Pacho crawled on top of her.

He gazed down at her, brushing her hair away from her face; his eyes held so much emotion within them.

“You belong to me, as I belong to you; mind, body, and soul. Not going to lie, I never thought you would take permanent residence in my heart when I first met you, and yet…” Pacho confessed kissing her softly.

“Does it upset you?” Blix asked him with a small smile.

“Not one bit. My world is full of darkness and pain… being with you makes my life brighter,” Pacho answered her, his hand running up and down her side.

Time melted away as the two of them spent part of the day wrapped up in each other’s arms chasing their highs, multiple times. The two of them didn’t clean up and get dressed before making their way back out to his car, until the sun began to set. They went to a small restaurant to eat dinner, finally returning home well after dark.

The two of them took a proper shower, smiling softly at one another as the water poured over them. Once they were both cleaned and dried off, they crawled under the covers, not bothering to get dressed. Blix fell asleep, tucked into his side, her head resting on his chest.

Pacho looked down at her, brushing her hair away from her face.

“If you only knew… that I’d burned the whole world down for you, if it meant your happiness,” Pacho whispered as he too fell asleep minutes later.

Blix woke up in the wee hours of the morning, not quite sure what had woken her. As her brain registered everything, she could hear the sounds of rain pouring outside, and an ache growing in her shoulder.

Blix sat up slowly, rolling her shoulder trying to work out the pain. After a few minutes of trying to gain some sort of relief, she gave up, sighing heavily.

She stood from the bed, grabbing a robe to cover herself up as she made her way downstairs in search of some ibuprofen.

As she walked into the kitchen she could hear a couple of guards talking out by the indoor pool area. She planned to ignore it until she heard her name being dropped.

“…Do you really think they’ll keep her around now that she no longer is a federal agent? What use is she to the brothers? I mean, from the looks of it she just seems to be entertainment for Pacho,” She heard a guard state to another.

“You haven’t been here very long brother. One she still has connections that not even the brothers know about I’m quite sure. As for Pacho? Don’t let him or Diego hear you say that she is ‘just entertainment.’ Last guy who insulted her and Pacho heard about it, the guy wound up becoming fish food. I don’t even think she knows about it to be honest,” She heard Maurice’s voice that time.

Blix paused in her movements to get medicine as she thought about what was said. In some ways, the first guard was correct. She had no purpose now. She didn’t have the safety net of being a federal agent to protect her from them killing her.

She shuffled her way back to bed, medicine forgotten as she was hit with a sense of dread.

‘They… they wouldn’t…right? Not after this long? Or… rather… Pacho wouldn’t allow them to do anything…right?’

Her thoughts were running rampant as she stepped into the bedroom. However, every thought stopped the second her eyes landed on Pacho, who was on his back, the covers barely covering him.

Blix.exec has crashed.

When she finally realized that she had been standing there ogling gazing at him for several minutes, she simply shook her head and tossed her robe off to the side. She rejoined him under the covers, adjusting them a bit to re-cover him. She curled up next to him, sighing softly as his arms wrapped around her.

“You okay my queen?” His voice low and full of sleep. “You took a while to rejoin me.”

“I’m good. Just…overthinking as usual,” she whispered to him, kissing his chest.

“Hmm. We’ll talk later about that annoying habit. For now,” Pacho turned onto his side, pulling her as close as possible to him, arms wrapped around her securely.

Blix shook her slightly at him, and with a small hum, she returned the gesture, wrapping her arms around him as well.

She fell asleep slowly, shoving her worries away from her mind.

When she woke up again it was to Pacho and Diego having a low conversation.

“I’ve had to talk to several of our men and calm them down after the incident at the docks. They all seem to think that she may have been involved. Despite the fact that she has nothing to do with DEA. They would believe it more coming from you, Pacho,” Diego informed him.

“I’ll take care of it. I know, and the brothers know she wouldn’t do anything to harm us. The only DEA agent she even spoke to the most was Pena, and he hasn’t been in Colombia in over a month. She wouldn’t go to anyone but him, so no. She’s not involved,” Pacho voice was firm in his reply. “Plus, she doesn’t know about all of our locations in America, yet.”

“if you’re gonna talk about me, should probably do so when I’m not near you to hear,” Blix rasped softly as she slowly sat up.

She held the covers to her chest, as she looked between the two men.

“Sorry, my queen. Some men are just… paranoid. Most of them trust you, and know you wouldn’t do us any harm,” Pacho tried to assure her.

Her frown deepened the more he spoke, and then the conversation she overheard last night crept into her mind. She looked away, trying not to show her worries.

Pacho stared at her for a long minute, before softly telling Diego to give them a minute.

Once they were alone, Pacho reached out turning her head back to him.

“What happened?” Was all he asked.

Blix looked down, biting her lip for a moment before telling him what she had heard.

“…and I kept help but think that they have a point. I got you the deal y’all wanted. It’s basically cemented. What further use do you have for me? Especially when I am no longer a federal agent? I ju-” Her rambling was cut off by Pacho kissing her.

Blix didn’t react, at first, not expecting it. Pacho pulled away slightly, staring into her eyes.

“First and foremost, you are not entertainment. You are my Queen. A Goddess among mere men. The Lady of Cali. Being reduced to mere ‘entertainment’ means you are replaceable. You’re not. Secondly, you’ve proven your value beyond being a federal agent. You have more valuable knowledge and talent than half the men in the entire cartel. Let me tell you something. You have so much power, that many people fear you. Escobar. During that party, do you know what he said to Gilberto?” He waited for her to shake her head. “He said to be careful working with a woman who shows such fierce loyalty. She would burn the world for him. I would hate to see what she would do as an act of revenge.”

Blix stared at him, not fully processing what he was saying.

“Hell, both of the brothers have talked about leaving the empire to YOU. Have YOU run it in silence, while we serve our time, because you are the only one who would be capable of doing so. Now. Tell me… Does that sound like we plan to get rid of you at any point?” Pacho asked her his face serious.

Blix blinked rapidly at that, “They… they what?”

“Yes. Now, get rid of those doubts. You’re not going nowhere. You’re mine and staying forever,” Pacho ended his small tirade with a nod.

Pacho pulled her up to stand before stating, “Now, we have much to do, My Lady of Cali. Party is in two days, and you still need a dress; Marta will be arriving in a few minutes to help take care of that. I need to go strangle some of my men and have a firm conversation with the rest.”

Blix nodded her head, before grabbing his arm to stop him from leaving just yet.

She quietly thanked him, leaning up to kiss him, that he happily returned. She whispered against his lips a soft ‘I love you’ before making her way to the closet to get dressed.

His closet had slowly become a combination of both of their clothes the past few weeks. His room was slowly turning into ‘their’ room. Her bedroom was more for when she needed space and time to herself at this point.

Blix got dressed into some pants and a Beatles shirt with zip-up hoodie over it. She tossed on some boots, after grabbing a random pair of socks before going downstairs. Marta was just entering the house when she arrived in the living room. The two exchanged greetings, leaving soon after.

The two of them drove into downtown Cali, parking in one of the garages that was owned by her father. They strolled down to the high-end shops and began their search. The first three stores, they didn’t find anything that looked good.

Blix was standing in the dressing room of the fourth store, looking at some of the dresses with distaste when Marta appeared next to her suddenly with a large smile.

“I think I found the one!” she exclaimed with a giggle.

She handed over a strapless, soft blue dress, with a corseted bodice and light off the shoulder sleeves.

Blix tried it on, showing it off once she had the lacing adjusted properly.

Marta squealed, “You look so sexy in that! Pacho won’t know what hit him!”  

Blix lightly twirled, the skirt, though short, fluttered delicately.

“I agree. I like the simplicity but sexiness of it. Now, to find some shoes to go with it,” Blix noted with a smile, stepping back into the dressing room to change back.

She delicately carried the dress with her to the shoe section, trying to find a pair that matched the dress.

Blix eventually spotted a pair of light blue leather high heels that matched it quite well. After getting the size she needed, she went to pay for her items. However, Marta had already taken care of the bill.

“You’ve helped me with so much. Plus, I owe you for helping me with wedding plans,” Marta waved her off, when Blix protested.

Blix sighed, shaking her head, before conceding. The two of them got brunch before returning to Pacho’s house.

Marta waved goodbye from her car as Blix strolled into the house with her bags; Blix returning the gesture.

Pacho was sitting on the couch, reading quietly. Blix looked around, trying not to think too much about the men that were cleaning the floors; remnants of something red being mopped up.

One of the few maids that worked for Pacho offered to take her bags from her. Blix thanked her as she handed them over, asking her to place them in the closet.

Blix strolled over to him, gently ducking under his arms, as she placed herself in his lap. She curled up into his lap, as he softly chuckled at her.

“Hello, my shark, find an outfit for the party?” Pacho asked her as his free arm wrapped around her waist, pausing in his reading as he spoke to her.

“Indeed. I think you’ll like it a lot. Do… do I wanna know what happened while I was gone?” Blix hesitantly questioned.

“Nothing. Just clearing up some misunderstandings is all,” Pacho replied casually, his eyes returning to his book.

She shook her head at him, before glancing at the book he was reading. Don Quixote.

Blix smiled, biting back a small laugh as she read the title. She closed her eyes, listening to the sound of Pacho’s heartbeat letting it lull her into a light sleep.

The next few days passed by in a blur of colorful decorations. Soon, it was the night of the party and Blix was getting ready as Pacho gave last minute orders to his men.

She had just finished curling her hair and was putting the finishing touches to her makeup when Pacho finally walked into the bedroom to change.

“Oh? My Queen has yet to put on her dress? Do you plan to go in just this robe? While I wouldn’t mind, I’d have to rip out the eyes of every man who looked at you,” Pacho teased her, gently playing with a lock of her hair.

“Making sure I don’t get anything on the dress. I’m about to change,” Blix smiled at him.

She got up, walking behind her folding partition to change. She had the dress hanging, with the shoes directly below it. Tossing the robe she was wearing to hang over the top of the partition, she gently stepped into the dress, sliding it up her body. She took a moment to adjust the corset, making sure it sat securely around her.

Blix quickly stepped into the shoes and waited a moment listening to Pacho’s footsteps as he got ready. When they finally paused, with a small tap to the floor, letting her know he was done and waiting.

She slowly stepped out from behind the divider with a small smile, that grew as she watched Pacho’s expression.

His eyes widen, jaw slightly dropped, as his gaze took her in. She walked up to him, noting his eyes darkening as she got closer.

“What do you think? You like?” Blix asked coyly standing directly in front of him.

“I am currently debating whether or not my presence is necessary… Since I’d rather toss you on that bed and punish you for wearing something so sexy. Now, I’m going to have to kill every man who even glances at you,” Pacho answered, his voice dark.

Blix shivered at his tone, finding it very attractive. She leaned over pressing a kiss to his jaw, before twirling around him, sauntering out the door.

“Are you coming darling?” She cheekily called over her shoulder.

By the time she reached the top of the staircase, Pacho caught up to her, smacking her on the ass once he did.

She playfully glared at him, as the two of them walked down the stairs together. Pacho smirked at her, his arm wrapping around her, his hand resting on her hip.

They met Diego and several of the men that were going with them at the bottom of the stairs before heading outside. Pacho shrugged on black leather jacket that was tossed to him, before handing her a jacket that looked just like his but in feminine form.

Blix slipped it on as Pacho led her over to his motorcycle a moment later. She looked around and saw multiple motorcycles and the men getting on them.

“Thought we were a cartel not a motorcycle gang?” Blix inquired with a smirk.

Pacho simply smirked back, before holding out a hand to help her straddle the back of it. She adjusted herself for a moment, wrapping her arms around him tightly as the bike rumbled to life.

The ride to Gilberto’s home was swift and soon they were dismounting the bikes, scattering every which way as they entered the party.

Pacho and Blix made their way into Gilberto’s office where they were greeted by both brothers and Chepe. Chepe handed Pacho a bottle of whiskey that Blix immediately recognized as American. Blix shook her head as they cracked it open and poured themselves a drink from it.

They offered a glass to her, and she took it with a sigh, “More of a bourbon girl but it is a sin to waste good whiskey.”

Chepe chuckled loudly at her response as Pacho simply pulled her into his side, the five of them toasting a moment later.

She listened quietly as Pacho mentioned Claudio Salazar and wanting to solve unfinished business. She gently squeezed his hand, noting the fury behind his eyes that seemed to be brewing. Gilberto firmly informed that now wasn’t the time just yet; Pacho accepted his answer, but she could tell he wasn’t happy by it.

The five of them walked outside to join the party, making the rounds, greeting several men and their wives. The entire time, Pacho never once let go of her hand as they strolled around the backyard.

Blix noted there were many politicians and military officers sprinkled throughout the party.

“DEA eat your heart out. If any of them saw the number of government officials that were here, they would die of shock,” Blix mumbled an eyebrow raised as they passed one.

“I’m sure they would. Guess it’s a good thing none of them here… nor any other federal agents,” Pacho responded lowly.

Blix turned to look at him, pausing in her footsteps. When Pacho stopped as well, she leaned against his body looking into his eyes.

She pressed a kiss to the corner of his lips, “Even if I was one, still wouldn’t betray you.”

“Never said anything ab-” Pacho began to deny.

“I know, but I also know you quite well too. A small part of you worries that I’m playing some sort of long game. That I plan to betray you once I gather all my evidence. I hope to continue to disappoint those thoughts of yours,” Blix whispered, kissing him on the lips properly.

Pacho gently grasped her chin, deepening the kiss for a moment. The two of them broke a part a minute later, smiling softly at one another.

Pacho retook her arm, and they continued their stroll through the party for about an hour before Gilberto finally called them off to side to make the announcement.

Blix stood by Pacho’s side near the stage as Gilberto and Miguel announced the future of the Cali cartel: 6 months of uninterrupted production and sales, before minimum jail time.

Blix watched the crowd, noticing a couple of faces looking displeased at the news. Many appeared to be alright; some even looked excited.

The party lasted for a couple of hours more, before Blix found herself back in Gilberto’s office, sitting on the arm of the leather chair that Pacho sat in.

The five of them were listening to the tapes of the four sicarios that they had felt would try to betray them. Claudio Salazar being one of them.

The Gentlemen discussed their fates, as Blix listened to them.

“Do you disagree with anything we’ve said Blix?” Miguel eventually asked her, turning all eyes toward her.

“They’re a threat. If we don’t deal with them now, then they are going to do something drastic to either stop the deal or get one of us killed. The Salvadors have already proven in the past that they don’t give a shit about whose throats they step on to get a leg up,” Blix answered calmly.

Pacho’s hand, which was resting on her thigh, gave it a small squeeze in appreciation.

The others nodded in agreement before making the calls to get rid of them as fast as possible.

Pacho stood up suddenly and ordered a car to take Blix home before he stepped out of the office.

Blix gave a look of confusion before standing up as well and following him.

“Why are you sending me home? Why can’t I come with you to take care of Salvador?” Blix questioned as she caught up to him.

“Because I do not need you to see that side of me,” Pacho replied his voice quiet.

“You’re sidelining me… because you’re worried that I’ll what? Be scared of you? Judge you? Handsome, you have yet to judge me for my dark parts. Why would I do the same for you? I am going and that’s that,” Blix said, with a firm nod of her head.

Pacho watched her walk past him to his motorcycle, getting on it and waiting for him. She didn’t notice the small smile that crept up on his face as he watched her. He eventually followed her footsteps, kissing her briefly before straddling the bike.

The two of them, plus the rest of the men who came with them, rode off going toward a small bar in the middle of nowhere.

Once they stopped, Blix followed slowly behind, letting Diego be at Pachos’ side, and quietly held Pacho’s jacket. He kissed her forehead swiftly, before going further inside. She watched from the doorway, as Pacho changed the music to ‘Dos Gardenias’ and make nice with Claudio. She smirked as she watched Pacho and Diego dance, noting everyone stopping to watch them.

She chuckled as she watched how uncomfortable Claudio became every time they kissed.

Blix straightened up as she watched Pacho walk back over to Salazar, smashing the bottle onto his head. His men then rushed over as the crowd dispersed, grabbing both Salazars.

She led them outside, where his men tied up Claudio with ropes, and tying the other sides to the backs of their motorcycles. Diego held down his brother, forcing him to watch.

As his men got him secured, Blix strolled over to Pacho holding his jacket open, politely assisting him in putting it back on. Pacho turned back around to face her, his hands moving to cup her face. She placed her hands over his, looking him directly in the eyes. Pacho kissed her on the lips firmly.

She kissed him back, her hands moving to the collar of his shirt and jacket, gripping them tightly.

He pulled away far too soon for her liking and watched as he inspected the work his men did. Once he was satisfied he sauntered back toward his bike, his hand grabbing hers, pulling her along. The two them hopped onto his bike; she listened to him rev the engine drowning out the sounds of Claudio pleading.

She focused on the sounds of the engine, ignoring the sudden screams as Pacho started to move forward. He lurched the bike once, twice, and by the third time he was gunning it. There was a pause in movement before they were freely driving off.

He drove a bit before stopping to quickly cut the rope off near some guards that had been stationed a half mile down. They quickly grabbed the arm that had been ripped off, tossing it into the back of a trunk.

The two of them left soon after, driving back home. Once the motorcycle was parked in the garage, and both of them were inside the house, Pacho turned to her.

“I was not trying to sideline you to be cruel. I wasn’t sure how you would react to my brutality. Diego was also unsure about how you would feel about our little display. Not going to lie… I was afraid that it would cause you to run off. Or that you would look at us differently. However… I apparently had nothing to worry about,” Pacho confessed to her, his hand reaching up to play with a lock of hair.

“Again. You’ve seen my callousness and didn’t judge me. In fact, pretty sure you found me extremely sexy when I was like that. Well… turnabouts fair play. That was probably one of the sexiest things I’ve ever seen you do. Now… can we go upstairs finally?” Blix asked him with smile. “Besides… I don’t think you’ve realized something.”

Pacho gave her a look of suspicion, trying to figure out what she was referring to. She smiled secretively walking away, glancing back at him several times as she led him upstairs to their bedroom. She had kicked off her shoes as she entered the room, turning to look at him as she walked backwards to the bed.

He tossed his jacket onto a chair and removed his shoes as well, still looking at her curiously. She lifted her hand up, signaling for him to come hither with a single finger. She watched him step forward, pausing when he was directly in front of her. She took his hand, and placed it on her thigh, making sure it was under the skirt of her dress.

Pacho squinted a bit, his fingers spreading out. He realized a moment later what she meant.

“You… you’re not wearing underwear..” He breathed out, his eyes fluttering shut as a groan escaped him.

She undid the corset, allowing the dress to crumble down her body to show she wore nothing underneath the dress.

When he opened his eyes, noting the fabric that was now resting on his hand, his eyes darkened as he realized what she was trying to tell him. She had worn absolutely nothing under this dress for hours. It explained why she wasn’t in the mood to dance a great deal and why she would carefully sit down.

He tugged the material of the dress down, to allow it to pool at her feet before he stripped off his shirt.

“On the bed beautiful,” He gently ordered her as he removed the rest of his clothes.

She bit her lip before following his command, trying to hold back her grin.

A moment later, he was guiding her down on to her back, kissing her passionately. He broke away to kiss down her neck, nipping lightly at the skin.

She ran her fingers through his hair, as he worked his way down her body, kisses and gentle bites everywhere.

He glanced up at her when he reached her stomach, small pecks placed on it, tickling her.

“Shall I make you see stars my love?” Pacho inquired with a teasing grin.

“Please do,” Blix answered with a small sigh.

“As my Queen wishes,” Pacho murmured against her skin.

Pacho proceeded to do that well into the evening. Neither of them aware of the chaos unfolding elsewhere.

Javier’s POV

Javier was quietly trying to enjoy his whiskey without interruption, but it seemed fate was against him.

He listened to Stechner explain the situation, trying hard to not lose his cool.

“In fact… it was a certain former FBI agent that presented the deal. Apparently, she and Mr. Herrera have gotten quite… close… over the past year and a half,” Stechner said nonchalantly.

“Excuse me? What… what the hell are you talking about?” Javier demanded, not wanting to believe what he was hearing.

“Oh yeah. Agent Blix Lage. Or I guess, former Agent Blix Lage, has become quite cozy with Pacho. In fact, there’s even been whispers that they call her the Lady of Cali. She never told you?” Stechner asked arrogantly, smirking before adding that the operation he had going on that night was a failure.

Stechner left, leaving a couple of pesos and a fuming Javier.

‘She wouldn’t. I know she had troubles with him before but… but she wouldn’t…’ Javier didn’t know what to think anymore.

Javier decided then that he would try and confront her tomorrow. He wasn’t sure what he would say but he knew he had to hear it from her.

For the time being… he was just going to do what he did best.

[narcos-narcosmx]

Watching, well rewatching Narcos Mx is too much at this point. I’m pulled in too many directions.

Today’s goal is my Amado x ofc oneshot (it’s been in my drafts for a year, fixing it up and competing it) it features Acosta

Me watching:

👀Ohhh that’s some good Miguel inspo (Sin fic)

👀 Pacho I cannot be distracted by you right now dammit! I have too much to do! Stop.

👀Oh my, I hate you but love you Calderoni (my Calderoni fic which heavily features the smash & grab crew ) also why was he going so hard in S1:E4 😂 damn *

👀Ohhh look my sweet Benjamin, one day I gotta expand that drabble

👀Oh sad boi Walt Breslin, one day I’ll pull one of your drafts out and finish it too PLUS I’m sorry what I’ll put you through next chapter of After this is over (Calderoni fic) *

👀Ohhhh my queen my wife Maria, I love you, I didn’t forget about my idea for you and hope to do it one day

👀 poison when he appears in 1.5 🤤🤤🤤🤤 AND the classic scene in 1.6 😍

👀Ohhhh Rafa you chaotic romantic, one day I’ll pull that drabble out of my drafts and finish it (him and Chapo at the pool in 1.5 😂, he’s so sappy, the third time, that’s so specific 😂)

Plus one day I’d still love to do something focused on the Cali Cartel AND can we talk about how goooood Pacho and Chepe look in 1.5???? Plus the way Chepe looks at Isabella 😍 AND the smirk she gave him??? I also wish we saw more of Chepe and Pacho’s friendship. AND her that outfit she was wearing when they were taken??? 🔥🔥🔥

I’m only revisiting season one and two this weekend, but I still do wish Walt narrated S3.

Also, I just want to hug Mika and check up on her. Has anyone written any Mika Fics? I haven’t seen any. I just want her to be happy and supported.

Okay, almost done, toward the middle of 1.5, that Miguel and Pablo encounter 👀 still gives me chills. His whole vibe there brings me back to Loud Silence, my first ever narcos based fic.

[dowscal]

Narcos booooiss <3

Narcos icons (part #1) edited by me.

Please like or rb if you use / save. Thank you.

[purplesong1028]

A Forest Tale

Chapter 1: Mystery and Deal

Art by @amane-otaku

Rating: General Public

Paring: Chepe/Pacho

Words: 2,207

Fantasy, AU, !Fox Pacho, !Shapeshifter Pacho

Chepe takes a trip to the forest at least twice a month during the hunting season. Colombia is blessed with fertile land for a variety of plants and animals. That has been working out pretty well for him, especially the plant part, but hunting is one of his biggest hobbies ever since he was a teenager. It’s a shame that he can’t get Gilberto and Miguel into it, but he’s the coolest one anyway.

About a month ago, he took a trip that was supposedly no different from others, but he didn’t come home with a dead deer, birds or rabbits. He came home with a fox— one that was very much alive.

He was aiming at an enormous bull when some ruffling noise came from behind, and when he immediately turned to pursue the disturber, he found nothing but a beautiful creature with flawless dark red fur and warm brown eyes. He lowered the rifle, laughing at his own paranoia. Chepe didn’t try to shoot the fox because there was no reason to. He couldn’t eat the meat, and he hated those hideous fur coats, so he simply turned away, hoping he could still find that magnificent bull he almost killed.

However, the fox apparently had something different in mind, relentlessly trailing after him despite his aggressive attempts to stop it. At one point, Chepe literally fired a shot at its direction, which would have scared off any animal, but this fucking fox either had no survival instinct, or was secretly a fox ninja, because it didn’t move an inch! In fact, Chepe was pretty sure the animal gave him a confusing stare, as if it was wondering what the weapon was.

He didn’t believe in shit like destiny or fate, but he did know a stubborn asshole when he saw one, and there were only two ways to deal with them: killing them, or giving in.

*

When Chepe brought it home— brought him home, the maids absolutely had a field day, taking turns to hold the new pet in their arms, not shutting up about how pretty he was. Honestly, Chepe had to agree with them on that. He hadn’t seen that many foxes in real life, but this one didn’t even look like an animal living in the wild, more like some bored rich person’s exotic pet.

But it wasn’t just his appearance that stood out; it was the entire demeanor. Chepe knew this sounded completely insane, but sometimes he didn’t even feel the fox was an animal at all. He always stayed nearby when Gilberto and Miguel came over, and Chepe could swear that the fox was actually listening to their conversations. Also, the spoiled brat insisted on sleeping in a bed, a human’s bed. The first night he actually jumped up to Chepe’s bed and settled in right under the blanket. They fought for about 20 minutes, until the fox finally gave up and walked out of the bedroom, only to be found in one of the guest rooms the next morning. Most importantly, Chepe had never seen him eat anything! The maids and chef tried everything possible; they talked to three different vets, and all they could come up with was maybe it would go out to find food on its own. Yeah, fuck those expensive experts.

Sometimes though, Chepe felt nice to have the fox near him, more than nice, happy. He couldn’t explain it, couldn’t even describe it other than it being a pure, transcendent blissful emotion. Once he fell asleep on the couch and had the most heavenly dream. It was like a movie with all his best life memories, when his parents bought him a new toy on his birthday, playing silly games with Gilberto and Miguel when they were kids, the first time they had money, how they built their business from the ground as partners and friends…

When he woke up, the fox was lying peacefully on his chest.

“What are you…?” He whispered.

The fox didn’t answer, but Chepe just knew he understood.

*

“What the fuck are you?!”

As Chepe shouts that, he can’t help but remember saying the exact same thing a few days earlier. But fuck, this sure feels different now! He forces himself to take deep breaths, grabbing the big cross on his necklace out of sheer instinct—— definitely not his proudest moment.

But what the hell is he supposed to do, when a fox literally turns into a grown ass human being, in a puff of smoke, right in front of his eyes?!

“The cross doesn’t work, Chepe. I’m not a vampire.” The fox, no, the man, the monster speaks perfect Spanish, like a human living in Colombia his whole life. “Plus, I’m not trying to hurt you. You want to know what I am, right? I’m just letting you see the truth.”

Never in his life has anyone said to him, “I’m not trying to hurt you.” But he’s too astonished to feel offended at the moment. “Ok. So this is the real you? Or is the fox…how do you…”

The man laughs, fucking laughs. “I can explain everything, alright? But both this and the fox are the real me, if that’s what you want to call it.”

Yeah, like that explains anything. He has a million questions, but he decides to go with the first one that comes to mind. “How did you learn to talk?”

“It takes a long time for us to become strong enough to transform into a human, so I’ve been listening to you people talking this whole time, for more than 500 years.”

“What?! You…” It's 11 in the morning, and he’s not nearly drunk enough for this conversation. “You’re telling me that you’ve lived over 500 years?”

“As a fox, yes, but only a few months as a human.”

Chepe honestly doesn’t know which one is worse.

“Chepe? Are you in there?”

As if this isn’t already bad enough, he hears Gilberto’s joyous voice coming through the hallway leading to this living room.

“I’m busy, Gilberto! Come back later.”

“Busy with what? It’s not even noon yet!” Of course Gilberto doesn’t care. The bastard is probably even hoping to walk in on something embarrassing for him.

“Oh, hello! I didn’t know you had another guest.” Gilberto looks at the stranger, and then back at Chepe. “What, you’re not gonna introduce us?”

“You’re Gilberto, right?” The fox man walks over to Gilberto before Chepe can stop him. “Pacho Herrera. Nice to finally meet you in person.”

They shake hands, and from now on, Chepe can never look at the word “in person” the same way again. Also, how the hell does he have a full name? Is there an ancient fox family, like vampires or something?

“Nice to meet you too! Please excuse me for a moment.” Gilberto smoothly leads Chepe a few steps away from Pacho, and lowers his voice. “Who is this guy? Is he in the business?”

“No. I met him during a hunting trip.” Technically that’s not a lie.

“Ok, but he knows me, and he knows where you live? What did you…” Gilberto pauses mid sentence, looking like he just realized something. “Wait, have you been smoking stuff?”

“What? No.” As soon as he denies it, Chepe knows why Gilberto’s asking. There’s an interesting lingering smell in the air, an earthy, natural scent. But he wasn’t smoking anything, not even cigarettes. Then he remembers the puff of smoke earlier when the fox turned into man. That must be it.

“Ah, actually yeah.” He decides to just go with the lie. “We were just having a smoke or two, nothing serious. I’ve known him for a while. He’s not in the business though. He only buys, never sells.”

Well, better to have Gilberto believe he knows a rich junkie friend than a fox monster.

“Hijo de puta.” Gilberto rolls his eyes, but visibly more relaxed. “Why didn’t you just tell me that, hermano? Got me worried there for a second.”

“Well, it’s before noon.”

“Like you ever cared. I’ll leave you guys to it then, but take it easy, alright? We have that meeting tomorrow.”

“Yeah yeah, of course.” Chepe agrees perfunctorily, urging Gilberto out of the room.

*

“I think I should tell you I heard all that.” Pacho speaks again as Gilberto leaves the house. “My hearing is more sensitive than humans’.”

Chepe silently walks over to the bar to pour a drink, and when he turns around, he has a loaded pistol pointing at the mysterious creature. “Alright Mr. Fox, or whatever the fuck you are. Sit down, and let’s have a talk, hm?”

“I thought we were already talking!” Pacho isn’t wincing at all, just like how he was in the woods a month ago. “You don’t need to do that, and I doubt you can kill me with that gun.”

“Well, I’m willing to try,” Chepe unlocks the safe, making a crisp sound, “and I have bigger guns.”

Pacho glares at him, a very real human expression. Then he sits down on the couch, seemingly more out of frustration than fear. “Fine, what do you want to know?”

“Everything. Start from your name.”

“I obviously didn’t have one. Why would I? I just made it up.”

That effectively makes Chepe forget the next question in mind. At this point, he should just be expecting every sentence coming out of this creature’s mouth to be a bigger surprise. He does find some humor in it though, because honestly, Pacho Herrera isn’t even close to the worst name someone can come up with on the spot.

“Why did you follow me?”

“I’ve seen countless hunters in the woods, and most of them were awful, so I’ve killed quite a few.” Pacho says that emotionlessly, like confessing to murders isn’t a big deal at all. “But you were different. I followed you multiple times, and you always had the cleanest shots; you never killed what you didn’t want to take.”

“You respect us. You seem like a pretty good human to be around.”

Chepe can’t believe his ears. All this, because he is an ethical hunter? And if he weren’t, this motherfucker would have killed him off in the woods?!

“Look, it’s really not as complicated as you might think.” Pacho looks into his eyes, and right there and then, he feels absorbed from the inside of his head, as if those brown eyes carry gravity on their own. This is raw power beyond humanity’s understanding, and all of a sudden, he feels like an idiot standing there with a gun.

But the pressure only lasted for a split second before Pacho’s eyes went back to regular warm brown. “Feel that? In your words, I guess you could say I can manipulate minds. Very few of us were born with a gift of special powers, but we need to work for it. It takes a couple hundreds of years to absorb enough energy from nature to fuel our own powers.”

“Ok…? Then what’s the deal with changing into humans? Is that just how you manipulate our minds to see?”

“No, of course not. This is how I look as a human. Foxes are not the only gifted kind, you know?” Pacho’s lips curve up into a tiny smirk, like he’s just sharing a little gossip, instead of changing Chepe’s entire world view. “I’ve also met two snakes; I’ve heard of birds but never seen one myself. None of them can manipulate minds, but I suppose they have other powers. Anyway, the point is: all of us can turn into humans once we are strong enough to do so, and that has nothing to do with mind control.”

“And?” Chepe lowers his gun and takes a sip of the whiskey, “That still doesn’t explain why. What’s the point of looking like a human?”

“Are you serious? All of us want to see what it’s like. You people…” Pacho gestures around the house, looking at him like he just asked the stupidest question. “We all live on the same land, but you humans built a whole different world on top of it. Who wouldn’t want to be a part of that, and know how it feels?”

That leaves a strange feeling in Chepe’s chest, like a tight soreness, not painful, but a very uncomfortable tension.

“So for your kind, all this power, all those years, all you want is to live like a human?”

“Is that unreasonable?”

Yeah! That makes no sense!

“Isn’t that a waste of your powers, your gifts?”

“Why? They can be very useful in human’s world.”

Well, that’s the truth. But that’s also the fucking problem.

“So what do you want from me?”

“Well, I was thinking now that you know I can look like a human, you can show me how to do these human things.” Pacho shrugs, “In exchange, I can use my power to help you, if you need it.”

“Alright, I see.” Chepe drinks a large gulp and puts his glass down. Now he kind of gets it, why these special gifted beings haven’t taken over the world yet.

“So the first thing about being a human: you need way better negotiation skills.”

@sikkui @ashlingnarcos @yourlocalspacewitxch @kesskirata @mandaloria314 @marrianena @alreadywritten @cherixrosa @cheesybadgers @cositapreciosa @criatividad-e @narcolini @drabbles-mc @passionatewrites

[cregan-starks]

Bringing back my old post ‘cause I’m right

Steve’s low and threatening voice reflects Escobar’s reign of terror perfectly, Javi’s smooth and subtle voice reflects the gentlemen of Cali’s character and methods, while Walt’s deep and somber voice fits the War on Drugs in Mexico like a glove

[angeliqueexxo]

PLZ I CANT GET OVER THESE GIFS

[cositapreciosa]

Masterlist

As always it's the fictional, not the real deal, enjoy xx

Mexico

Amado Carillo Fuentes

Affection - Amado Carillo Fuentes x reader

By proxy - Amado Carillo Fuentes x female!reader

Ismael 'El Mayo' Zambada

Safehouse - Ismael 'El Mayo' Zambada x reader

Como La Flor - Ismael 'El Mayo' Zambada x reader

Burning Bridges - Ismael 'El Mayo' Zambada x gn!reader

Pacho

Brown eyes - Pacho Herrera x reader

Colombian gold - Pacho x gn!reader

Chapo

Juro Que - Joaquin 'Chapo' x reader

Arturo 'Kitty' Paez

In training - Arturo ' Kitty ' Paez x reader

Salvaje - Arturo 'Kitty' Paez x female!reader

Head first - Arturo 'Kitty' Paez x female!reader

Rafa Quintero

Nightcall - Rafa Quintero x gn!reader

OG

Eduardo Sandoval

Rain season - Eduardo Sandoval x reader

Mañana por la mañana - Eduardo Sandoval x gn!reader

Chepe Santacruz

Red lipstick - Chepe Santacruz x female!reader

Javier Peña

Honey - Javier Peña x gn!reader

Jhon 'El Límon' Burges

Mamita - Jhon 'El Límon' Burges x reader

Gustavo Gaviria

Bittersweet - Gustavo Gaviria x reader

WIPs

No title yet - Pacho x GN!Reader final result here

[morallyinept]

A full transcribe of JAVIER PEÑA'S dialogue/lines from the TV show NARCOS.

S3/E1 - THE KINGPIN STRATEGY

Includes full dialogue, and dialogue from any deleted/additional scenes available.

I've created this as a point of reference when writing for Pedro's characters, and I hope you find it useful. Even if you just want to read the dialogue. 🖤

FULL MASTERLIST OF PEDRO CHARACTERS DIALOGUE

☝🏻Dialogue has been fully transcribed by myself using reference to original scripts (if available), audio subtitles and using my own two ears. Therefore, mistakes can be made, however I have tried to be as fully accurate as I can. If you spot an obvious mistake, please kindly let me know. Where audio is not clear, I have marked with *inaudible* Scenes are separated for ease of reference.

FULL SCRIPT DIALOGUE:

Congratulations, Danny. 

(In Spanish) Congratulations. 

The last time I saw Danny, he was riding a big wheel down the sidewalk. 

Hey, Luis. 

Thanks, Luis. Have a good night. 

Hola, Paco. 

(In Spanish) Everyone in Laredo is at this thing. 

Be right back, Pops. 

Hey, Lorraine. 

I had some time off. 

Actually, I’m… uh… I’m trying to quit. Doing the Nicorette thing. 

Listen, Lorraine… I just wanted to say I’ve thought about things… and I'm real sorry about all of it. 

I know what I did. I was, urm… It was wrong. 

Randy. How are ya?

Yeah, I just… I wanted to say hi. 

__________________

I’m not a hero. 

(In Spanish) Dad, I don’t know. It got ugly. 

It was right here, wasn’t it? The last time we had this conversation. 

Nope. 

Cali. 

__________________

Gracias. 

__________________

(Narration) I’m not a hero. There were some in the hunt for Escobar. A lot, actually. But it’s tough to see them through all the blood. To kill a monster, sometimes you have to get in bed with other monsters. If that surprises you, pick up a history book. It’s what we do. The enemy of my enemy is my friend, until he becomes my enemy again. When that happens, God help them. The day Pablo went down, the Cali Cartel became public enemy number one. And the fact that they helped us bring him down didn’t mean shit. 

(Narration) And that’s exactly what happened. While the whole world was focused on Escobar, Cali’s operations had grown exponentially. Differing from their rival in every possible way. Where Pablo sought the love and protection of the masses of Medellín, these guys rubbed shoulders with Colombia’s elite and called themselves “the Gentlemen of Cali.” And whereas Escobar craved the spotlight, these guys stayed in the shadows, perfecting the game, building complex smuggling and distribution networks through Mexico, Europe and the Far East, without leaving so much as a fingerprint. 

(Narration) Even the people working for them didn’t know it was Cali coke they were moving. It was fucking Cocaine Incorporated. And they ran it like a Fortune 500 company. So, without further ado, meet the management team of the Cali Cartel: Pacho Herrera, head of distribution and security. He led a team of young psychopaths who would do anything he asked. Chepe Santacruz-Londoño. Grew up with the Rodríguez brothers. He was in charge of U.S. operations and responsible for Cali’s crown jewel: New York City. He actually lived there, under an assumed name, of course. 

(Narration) Cartel’s number two was operations chief: Miguel Rodríguez. Miguel watched over all the money coming in, and what bribes they were paying out. And last but not least, cartel CEO, the man with the plan: Gilberto Rodríguez. They called him the Chess Player, because he was always one move ahead. They were the pinnacle of trafficking evolution. Apex drug dealers. And being number two allowed them to quietly grow into the biggest cocaine cartel in history. Except now, that was over. Now that the guy that occupied our attention was gone, they were number one with a fucking bullet. And there was no chess move that would get them out of it. But I was looking forward to seeing them try.  

__________________

Tell me what you do again?

I drive myself. 

Never met him. 

(Narration) Just because we’d been focused on Escobar the past few years, didn’t mean we were completely ignoring the Cali godfathers. 

I want updates on Duffy and Lopez on where we’re at with Cornerstone ASAP. 

I don’t want summaries. Where’s everything else?

(Narration) We had agents on them the whole time. Good agents. And recently, we had gotten lucky. 

You got some kind of medical condition?

(Narration) The latest break in the case against Cali came from a joint Customs-DEA operation called Cornerstone. And it put a lot of mid-level Cali guys behind bars in the States. And while they weren’t eager to help us, you could always count on some poor relative in Colombia, who would do whatever it takes to get their brother or son back home. And if that sounds harsh, that’s because it is. The DEA doesn’t fuck around. 

__________________

Hot. 

Yeah, well, I guess they couldn’t wait to get rid of me. Sir, this operation in Miami, Cornerstone, shook some leads loose. Could be a break on Cali. 

No, but it put an asset in play. Could shed some light on their next move. 

Sir, the uh, the CIA station chief… he and I have history. I’m hoping it won't be an issue moving forward. 

I’m not sure I share your confidence. 

__________________

Stoddard! 

__________________

(In Spanish) Whiskey. Dry.

I’m good. Thanks. 

__________________

You signed off on me coming back to Bogotá.

What the fuck is that supposed to mean? 

Oh, come on. You don't care about American streets or dead Colombians. 

So… what’s the play?

And these fucking guys walk?

So, what the fuck do you need me for?

And that’s enough for you?

__________________

(Narration) Turns out that break from Cornerstone wasn't much of a break. Cali spent a billion dollars a year on payoffs. That’s “billion,” with a B. Which bought eyes and ears everywhere. Anyone visiting Cali was ID’d and background checked before they put their bags down. Walk into a police station, they know about it. Get into a taxi, they know. Make a phone call, forget it. They basically own the fucking phone company. Operators were told to pay close attention to calls that came from places of interest, like, say, the U.S. Embassy in Bogotá. Get a call from them… you got flagged. And from that point on, they were on you. It was like the Soviet Union with nice weather. Even called it the Cali KGB. 

__________________

(Narration) When Pablo Escobar killed you, he wanted everyone to know about it. But the Gentlemen of Cali… they did that differently too. They wrapped your body with chicken wire and dumped you in the Cauca River. When you bloated and your body expanded, the wire cut you into little pieces… for fish food. Not very “gentlemanly,” but it did the trick. And that’s all they wanted. You and whatever your beef with them was… vanished. Forever. No body, no crime. No murder statistics, no problem. I suppose that’s for the best. It makes it easier to look the other way. To let them fucking slide. To pretend that these guys weren’t just as evil as the guy that came before them. And to a country that had seen enough of the drug war… maybe that worked for Colombia. It certainly worked for the Cali Godfathers. Because God forbid anyone thinks they’re the bad guys. 

__________________

FULL MASTERLIST OF PEDRO CHARACTERS DIALOGUE