SIEMBRA
A Sequel to Narcos
Chapter 1: Limón y Sal
Title: Limón y Sal
Rating: 18+ (M)ature
Warnings: Some language in English and Spanish, mentions of alcohol
Word Count: 2235
Pairing: Javier x Female OC
Masterlist || Next Chapter
A/N: I’m so upset that we didn’t get more of Javi in a Season 4 of Narcos. So, I’ve decided to explore what Javi’s life would look like when he returns to Laredo. I try to stay true to the plot of all three seasons of Narcos. Note that there is no Y/N usage as I'm creating original characters and narratives within the context and timeline. Spanish translations are at the bottom.
“What else is a guy like you gonna do?” Javier Peña thought about that question over and over. But when he got back to Laredo, he realized that maybe there was more to life than chasing the bad guys.
Chucho dropped the letter on the wooden kitchen table before going to wash his hands. Javier glanced over as he took his final gulp of coffee.
“Not another one, pop,” he huffed.
“You won’t know until you open it.”
For weeks he’d gotten letters from journalists asking for interviews. Everyone wanted to know about Escobar’s final moments in the words of the agent who took him down. But Javier hadn’t been there to see it and those requests for interviews were a constant reminder of that. No one seemed to care about Cali, or worse, the government's involvement with them. People usually liked victory stories and Cali was a reminder that they'd lost the so called war on drugs.
He picked up the envelope, surprised to see it was from his alma mater. Then he smirked. He had no plans to make any donations.
“Jenny called earlier when you were out on the ranch...,” Chucho said as he spread some butter on the bread.
Javier nodded. Jenny was the first old acquaintance he’d seen since he returned to Laredo. They had gone to the same high school. Not that he paid much attention to her then. He was a senior headed to study sociology at Texas A&I University while she was a freshman. It wasn’t until he returned to Laredo after college that he got a better look at her. She went to the local community college and worked as a teller before she settled at her current job as an administrative assistant for an industrial construction company. Everyone thought she’d marry the manager. He was ten years her senior with a good retirement pension and some connections in Houston. After two years of unsuccessful dating and a pregnancy scare, Ken transferred to another office and Jenny kept her position with minimal drama.
On the day Javier landed in Laredo, Jenny was dropping off her older sister Joana at the airport. As Chucho parked the truck by the terminal, he caught his son talking with her, and Chucho, being the man he was, invited Jenny for dinner that evening. Since then, she had become a customary guest at the Peña household for weekend lunches. Javier had only seen her twice before. The more recent was at Danny’s wedding…the other, a decade ago, on the day of his wedding to Lorraine. Before getting on the highway, he stopped at the bank. "A big day, huh?” She smiled, wishing him congratulations. “What can I do for you today, Javier?” He was there to remove his funds and leave the country.
Jenny had a Texas drawl, a habit of giggling, but keen intuition. She noticed the discomfort in Javier’s face when she first asked him about “catching Escobar and that other cartel.” From that point on, she didn’t mention Colombia again. Instead, she complained about her job. Life in Laredo was slow and there wasn’t much room for growth at the industrial plant.
“You consider goin’ back to school, mija?” Chucho asked over a cold beer.
“I just don’t know what I’d study…,” she answered.
Javier listened quietly as he watched her wash the dishes. She shook her hips to the cumbia coming out of Chucho’s radio. He didn’t know that she lacked the courage to approach him at Danny's wedding after she saw him talking to Lorraine. It wasn’t really her intention to say hi to him at the airport terminal either, but her older sister teased her, saying she had nothing to lose. And her sister was right. Javier slowly inhaled from his cigarette as he took a good look at her and reached in for a hug. Her hair had grown to her waist, and he liked the way she looked in blue cowboy boots.
“Fancy seein’ ya this early in the afternoon,” Jenny kissed him on the cheek as she stepped away from the lobby entrance.
Javier shrugged and placed the bag of conchas in her hand. “I was running a few errands for pop. Figured I’d drop these off while they’re still fresh.”
She sniffed the bag with a smile. “I’ll save one for ma. You got any plans for later? She’s been meanin’ to cook up a chicken fried steak.”
Since Jenny had broken it off with Ken, her ma had been pushing her to settle down. And it’s not that Jenny didn’t necessarily want to settle down. She saw a future with Ken until she caught him in bed with a girl from Georgia. When Javier returned to Laredo a year ago, it didn’t take long for Jenny’s ma to find out. At the time, she didn’t think it concerned her. Jenny had never mentioned him before. She only heard about Javier from the women at the church group Mrs. Peña belonged to. When she found out Jenny was spending Saturday afternoons eating tacos and sopa de borrego at the Peña ranch, she started to inquire more about the man who left his bride at the alter to catch some drug lords down south. Out of all the men in their town, her Jenny had been handed two cards from the same bad deck – Ken, a man who faked commitment and Javier, a man who had no shame in avoiding it.
Javi scratched the back of his neck, his eyes tracing her figure, still thinking about the letter he had been ignoring. “Can’t say no to that. See you at seven?”
“And maybe we can sneak out after for some shots,” she winked at him. Jenny loved tequila with lime and he enjoyed feeling her dance against him after she chased her shots with lime and salt.
Her yellow pencil dress made her blue eyes stand out. Javier patted her hip before she walked across the lobby back to her cubicle. She turned around to wave at him, passing by the mailman who noticed Javier. He shook his head to himself as he pushed the cart towards her desk. Won’t be making it to the altar for this one either I bet, he thought to himself as he dropped off a stack of mail.
•••
Eduardo received a call at one in the morning. He had to get out Mexico.
“What did you expect was going to happen?” The voice on the other end said callously.
“Change. That’s what is supposed to happen when the truth is published.”
“Listen, the newspaper isn’t firing you. You’ll be able to write, but that can only happen if you’re not dead.”
Eduardo held the phone between his ear and shoulder as he rushed through his apartment shoving some of his belongings into a luggage case.
“There’s a place in Guadalajara I can stay…But I’ll need to make a few phone calls...”
“Eduardo, I don’t think you understand what I’m saying. You’re not safe anywhere in Mexico.”
His hands shook as he flicked on the light switch. Books were scattered across his dining room table. He knocked off a few notepads as he searched for his passport.
“How the hell am I supposed to enter without a visa, Mauricio?”
“Listen to me, Eduardo. We have a few columnists reporting from across the border. You need to fly there. I got a person who will help you pass the checkpoint into Texas.”
“A la verga con el checkpoint,” he spit out, “Then what? Where do I go? What do I tell my family?”
“We’ll handle it. Get yourself across the border first. You’ll be able to continue writing. Most importantly, you’ll be alive. I’ll call Doña Maria once I know you’re safe.”
“Why do I have to hide for writing the truth?”
“Because this is Mexico…You knew what you were up against when you started investigating that story.”
“Pero Mauricio…”
“That’s enough, Eduardo. I think I already woke up my wife. Do what I say. We’ll handle any loose ends, but you need to go. We can’t lose another reporter. I’ll have Antonio pick you up at 5 to take you to the airport. That should give you enough time to pack and organize.”
The line disconnected and Eduardo rushed to his desk to scribble a note. Then reconsidered whether that would be a smart move. He crumbled up the piece of paper and went to the bathroom. Under the brightness of the mirror lights, he traced the bags under his green eyes. He hadn’t slept properly in the past week. He reminded himself to take in a few deep breaths and combed his wavy brown locks back before putting on a fresh button down and jeans. He was unable to get rid of the discomfort of the damp sweat on his back.
•••
“Already signed the lease…” Javier stroked his mustache.
“You didn’t have to make a decision so fast. You’re free to stay at the ranch as long as you need.”
“It’s fine, pop. Can’t hurt to see where it goes.”
“I’m just sayin’ mijo…” Chucho took a sip from the can of beer.
“It’s something different. Pay is fine, gives me time to think about my next move.”
“You know you have to read and grade work, right?” There was a tinge of humor in his father’s voice.
“Better than stakeouts and chasing dead ends,” Javier sighed as he looked out from the porch.
“You tell Jenny yet?”
“Not quite.”
“Distance doesn’t have to be an issue. I used to enjoy the long drive to see your mother on the weekends before we got married.”
“Pop…,” Javi squinted uncomfortably. “At least let me settle in Kingsville for a while before I pull the trigger,” he smirked.
Chucho never failed to make Javi laugh. He had already left one woman at the altar in Laredo, yet his father still had faith in him to get it right the second time around.
•••
“Alo?” Her voice was still heavy with sleep.
Eduardo breathed into the phone without responding.
“Alo?”
He jumped at the knock on his door and hung up, grabbing his backpack and luggage case. Antonio, Mauricio’s editor, opened the trunk of the ’85 Impala and threw Eduardo’s belongs inside.
“Here is your ticket. When you land, you’ll see a man with a red briefcase reading from La Nueva Capital at the exit terminal.”
“Am I supposed to say anything to him?”
“Show him your ticket, he’ll have the papers you need to pass the checkpoint. On the other side of the border, Cesar, one of the journalists, will pick you up in a white Ford Bronco.”
“Sea la madre…,” Eduardo mumbled to himself as he lit his cigarette and took a final look at the sleeping city, fearing it would be the last time he’d see Mexico City.
•••
This wasn’t the way Javier wanted to tell Jenny that he’d taken the job as adjunct professor at Texas A&M University Kingsville – on the phone, as he drove northeast on the highway, already an hour away from Laredo.
Despite lacking a master’s degree, his alma mater couldn’t resist offering the teaching position to the agent who took down Escobar. With Agent Peña teaching a course in the sociology department on terrorist networks, the university felt they’d be able to attract more students.
It was a drastic change for Javier – a man who liked to do everything on his own terms. And while he briefly considered settling into local law enforcement, the prospect of dealing with bureaucratic bullshit was enough to accept a meeting with the university. Without giving it extra thought, he looked through the circulars for an apartment near campus, and within a few days, he signed the lease.
It wasn’t until he got back to the ranch that night after the meeting with the sociology department that he even thought how it would affect whatever it is that he had with Jenny. He wouldn’t really call it a breakup. There wasn’t exactly anything to break. He never actually asked her to be his girlfriend and she never pushed him on anything more than family dinners and some late-night drinks at the bar. He never made her any promises, but there was something in the way she’d hold him while they kissed. Expectations. She wanted to believe that enough time had passed. He was older, he’d gotten everything he wanted to get out of his system with as many women as he could and now he was back in Laredo for good. The time he gave her had to mean something. And he knew that. It did mean something. It just wasn't something he could put to words.
“Does that mean you’re gonna make me drive all the way to Kingsville on the weekends?” she smirked on her end of the line. Javier couldn’t tell whether she was whispering from the office phone or frowning.
“More than happy to make the drive to Laredo...,” he paused. “Besides, I’m not teaching every day and I’m already worried about leaving pops on the ranch by himself again.”
“I’ll check up on him. You know that.”
“I’ll call you when I get there so you can have my apartment number. And listen, I’m sorry about breaking the news to you over the phone. I –“
“You know I’ve never asked you to change who you are, Javi.”
At that moment he couldn’t tell if that stung him or made him feel better.
"Tell me something...," there was hesitation in her voice. "Do you want this to work out?"
His hand gripped the steering wheel. "Yea. Yea I do."
A decade ago, he drove at ninety miles an hour on that same highway, anxious to leave Laredo behind. It took him a moment to come to terms with the notion that this time, he had no reason to run. Or maybe, he just didn’t have anywhere to run to.
Next Chapter
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Translations:
A la chingada: Mexican slang for “to hell”
Sea la madre: slang equivalent to saying “goddamnit”
Mija/Mijo: term of endearment for a girl/boy
Conchas: Mexican sweet bread
Pero Mauricio...but Maurico
Limón y Sal: Lime and Salt. Limón can also be translated to lemon, but in Mexico it is used to express lime.
Doña: Mrs.
Sopa de borrego: lamb soup
La Nueva Capital: The New Capital
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