Chapter Text
Teresa let go of Tony, moving forwards through the rickety, old open gate and up the set of steps into the front doorway of the house. She didn’t have to move too far before she saw his figure, silhouetted at the end of the hall. Her heart stopped in her chest.
Three months without James Valdez had been way too long.
“James?” she stood, shaking like a leaf with her voice to match. The butterflies in her stomach flying around faster and faster. She needed to hold him again like she needed the air in her lungs.
The man smiled to himself before turning around and moving towards her, faster than he’d ever moved before. He picked her up by her waist and held her, burying his face in her neck. Twirling her around as she gripped onto him so tightly. Teresa’s chest was still sore from her bullet wound, but she didn’t care. She was never in pain when she was with him.
When he eventually put her down, he had tears in his eyes. James had been waiting for this day ever since he watched her drive away, almost dead in the back of a van. He wasn’t religious, but he prayed for many days after, hoping that he didn’t kill her that night.
Teresa’s plan was ridiculous, but he could see the sense in it, even with all of its risks.
What if he had actually been killed that night when the van driver reversed into him? He knew that he had to cause an accident which could have been serious enough to kill him. The single headlight on their tiny sports car was on purpose, James smashed the other before he left the house. The pills that he took to slow his heart rate down (so that anybody would think he was dead upon arrival) worked, and the underground hospital took care of him to bring him back to good health.
If one of them were to die, it should be in a fight to save the other’s life.
Teresa then had to tip off a funeral company to bury a coffin weighted with rocks, approximately matching James’ dead weight, and then pay them again to keep quiet about it all. Teresa visited the grave every other day to keep up appearances of a grieving widow.
As far as the community was concerned, Anne’s grandson was dead and buried. Anne of course was informed on the plan. She didn’t like it and she had her doubts, but she agreed to play her part. She put on a brave face and detached herself a little from the community, only really allowing visits from Teresa and her ‘son’ Tony. Tony pretended that his father had died, something which he already had experience with. Teresa had told him that if all went according to plan, then he would be moving to live with Anne whilst Teresa recovered. Both Anne and Tony agreed to this, and began to spend more time together in the month leading up to Teresa’s departure from France. Anne taught him how to cook traditional French cuisine and pastries, while Tony helped her around the house and garden.
Once James was well enough to leave the hospital, he made his way to a port to board one of George’s ships. His destination: the old gas station. George had organised transport for James to the nearest town. George’s man dropped him off and James began the long, two-day hike to the gas station. Teresa had taken a gamble in picking this spot to meet Devon. The only place for James to nest and wait was about 200 yards away. Even in the midday sun, that would have been one hell of a shot, and James was in darkness, with only one chance to get it right.
When Teresa told him that she wanted him to put a bullet in her chest, James nearly had a heart attack. He held the sides of her face and swore that he could never hurt her. Teresa shook her head, “I know, but I need you to do this.” She gripped onto the front of his shirt as his hold on her face loosened a little.
“There’s no other way?” He sighed, the worry in his voice was apparent. His hands trembled a little on her cheeks.
Teresa shook her head, so subtle that he might have missed it. James sighed again, heavily.
Teresa stood up onto her toes and kissed him, wrapping her hands up around the back of his neck and meshed her fingers into his hair. He kissed her back with a fair force and passion. He couldn’t believe that her life was literally going to be in his hands. They’d been in tense life or death situations before, but this one was by far going to be the worst of them all. Everything they had built was at stake.
Teresa’s last risk, was that she was counting on Devon to nest a sniper on the roof of that building, and that Devon wouldn’t try to kill her himself. They had agreed to a peaceful meeting, meaning that no weapons would be brought along. She’d told him she was going alone, but knew that he would still bring at least a couple of guards with him.
James showed up to the meeting point the day before the meet, waiting for a contractor to show up early to scope out the gas station. It turns out, Teresa was right, and James took out Devon’s man before Teresa or Devon arrived.
When they were together in France afterwards, one of James’ first conversations with Teresa went something like this:
“What did you do with the contractor?”
“It wasn’t easy dragging him off of that rooftop, but I buried him near the gas station. With any luck, the CIA will believe that he’s just gone off the grid. His payment will have been transferred to an account, they do everything online these days. You could have picked a spot to meet Devon which was a little less remote, it took me nearly two days to walk there.” He jokes to Teresa, as if it was a difficult thing for him, the military man, to do.
“I know, but it had to be believable. That was one hell of a shot.”
“Well, I am one hell of a sniper.” Teresa laughed at that but agreed with his remark. He both nearly killed her and saved her life with that one hell of a shot.
Teresa got to the gas station first. In the darkness, she could see James with a large flashlight above the building, using flashes like morse code to indicate to her where he wanted her to stand. A sort of ‘one light for left, two lights for right, no light to stay still’ kind of thing. Teresa marked the spot he had indicated with a small stone and waited for Devon’s arrival. This was the first contact she’d had with James in a month. She wished he was closer so that she could be near him. Knowing that he was there, 200 yards away, keeping her safe. That was enough for her.
She played Devon’s game, going along with the lines that he was feeding her. It was turning into a habit of hers to make Devon believe that he had the upper-hand in their confrontations.
In reality, she had no idea where El Santo was, and when they were planning this whole operation, they figured out that he might not have showed up to meet Devon after all, since she never got any confirmation. She thought that this was the reason why Devon raided her warehouse and swore to come after her, but there was always the risk with him that it was about something else.
When Teresa thought that the timing was right, she lowered her hands from across her body to her side. This was her signal for James to fire. It was well placed and clean through, in an area where he knew she had a chance of surviving, but still looked like an intended kill shot from a contract killer 200 yards away.
James watched and waited for Devon to leave, banking on the fact that it would be the contractor’s job to bury Teresa. As soon as Devon got into his car and it began to drive off, James called Pote and Javier, who were waiting with a couple of Taza’s reservation doctors, about two miles down the dirt road in the opposite direction, out of sight. They came speeding up the road to help Teresa, before it was too late.
James left most of his things and rushed down the side of the building, running as fast as he could to help her. He took out gauze from a first aid bag and immediately applied pressure, packing her wound until the doctors arrived about 30 seconds later. The last thing she said before her lights went out was that she loved him, as he held her in his arms.
Teresa drove off in the back of the van with the doctors. Pote had promised him that he’d take care of her, and that she would rejoin him in France. There was nothing else James could do now. To avoid any suspicion that either of them were alive, there was to be no contact between James and anybody else in Teresa’s team. After all, a dead man can’t text.
James stayed behind in the states for a couple of weeks after Teresa was shot, to make sure that everything was okay and that they’d gotten out clean. He kept an eye on Devon, and pretty soon Devon disappeared altogether, severing his connections with the government. When James thought it was safe, he made his way discretely back to France and joined Anne and Tony on the coast. It was too suspicious for him to show up to see Teresa, and somebody had to make sure that Anne and Tony were kept safe.
Javier was left to take care of the safe house, and it wasn’t long before any trace of them was wiped from the property and it was sold on to a wealthy family in the wine industry.
———————
It was nine months since James shot Teresa to fake her death and escape the business.
Javier was back in Mexico, and George and Taza were officially running, alongside Boaz, the Phoenix-Sinaloa corridor. Devon’s problem was with Teresa, not George or Taza or Boaz, so the Colombians continued to be their supplier.
Pote had taken some well earned time off after dropping Teresa at the house by the coast, making his way down to Spain for a while.
To the rest of the world, Teresa Mendoza and James Valdez were dead. They opted for new names when they were anywhere but in their own house. James was now called Peter, named after his grandfather, and Teresa went by Maria, her mother’s name.
Teresa and James had bought a large house in Switzerland. Tony was living with them, and James had persuaded Anne to come along too. Pote spent a few more weeks in Spain before coming back to them. He vowed to never leave Teresa’s side, so that’s the promise he honoured… even if it meant he had to make room for James.
It was done. Teresa had successfully gotten James, Pote, Tony and herself out safe, away from the drug business.
The beginning of the end.
———————
[Sometime in the future, when everything was settled. Approximately 3 years later...]
James slips an arm around Teresa and picks her up by the waist, lifting her down the short steps from the beach house to the sand. Teresa is screaming his name with laughter as she hovers at his side, kicking her legs around. “James what are you doing!?” The feeling of the gold on his ring finger was cold on her side.
Their fake names, passports and identities that George had sent them from Arizona allowed them to have a small ceremony in their back garden. George and Javier travelled from the states to attend their big day. George nearly screamed with excitement down the phone at Teresa when she told him the news of her engagement.
Pote walked Teresa down their make-shift isle in the garden, scattered with white rose petals, towards James, something which he never thought he would get the chance to do in his lifetime.
Their back garden had been decorated with white roses, lilies and germinis, and pretty string lights had been draped all around. Their wooden archway that James stood under was covered in flowers and white ribbon, and there were handmade candle lit lanterns placed all around.
Tony held the rings for them, whilst their golden labrador was sat at James’ side, a black bow-tie to match James' placed on his collar. James couldn’t decide between Pote, George, Tony and Javier, so chose their dog as his best man instead.
Anne stood with George and Javier (whom she’d taken quite a shine to) as they watched Teresa walk to James, dressed all in white. A few of their new friends were behind them, looking on towards the happy couple.
In the privacy of their home and the company of their old friends, Mr and Mrs Valdez has a certain ring to it that made each of them feel warm and full of butterflies inside. James had never been so happy in his entire life as he was the day they said ‘I do’.
Oh, apart from the day that his son was born, Tomás.
Tomás was never going to be a Valdez by name, but he was definitely a Valdez by blood. He had the same dark hair and curls as his father, but his skin and complexion was all Teresa. He was born about 7 months after their wedding. Teresa and James both cried when they found out about him in the first place. “I guess it's a good job we got married then” Teresa joked at James, before being pulled up into the best kiss of her life. Pote cried so many happy tears that he automatically started baking a cake. Tony was over the moon to be becoming an older brother, and already started picking out baby names.
James made his way cautiously down the steps. As soon as his feet touched the warm white sand, he put her down and immediately threw her back up over his shoulder, holding onto her by the back of her knees, and accelerated towards the water.
“JAMES NO WHAT? NO, JAMES!” Teresa squeals as she’s being jolted up and down on his back, playfully slapping his rear end as he runs with her, putting a huge toothy smile on his face.
He doesn’t slow down at the water’s edge. Instead, carries her a few metres into the water before throwing her down — “James!” She screams as she hits the water, making full use of the new red two piece she’d bought especially for the trip. Even after having a child, she still looked amazing.
James is stood laughing as she comes up from underneath, the gentle waves coming forward to hit into them both. His upper body is still dry, so Teresa takes the opportunity to grab at the waistband of his swimming shorts, pulling him with a surprising force down into the water with her, the sound of his body making a clap as he breaks the small tidal wave. Now it’s Teresa’s turn to laugh at him, and before they know it, they’re frolicking around in the water, splashing each other like school children. They’re both soaked through, yet James’ hair somehow was managing to still stay dry. Teresa had noticed how his shorts stuck to him when they were wet, that was something to think about later...
A slightly stronger wave knocked James over. He was a couple of feet further out than she was, so Teresa initiated a cat and mouse chase along the beach, making a run for the other end.
There was nobody else around on this private stretch of coastline they’d hired for two weeks.
The getaway was James’ idea, he knew Teresa needed it but to be honest, he needed it more. Being the gentleman he was, he was the one offering to get up each night when Tomás was crying as a baby, needed changing at 2am, needed to be fed at 4am, or had a bad dream as a toddler. He made sure that he was the father to Tomás that his father wasn’t to him, a good one.
James had arranged the whole thing. It was the first time he’d had a holiday in well over 20 years. He’d forgotten what it felt like to not have to worry about work or business, though he still worried about how his son was coping being looked after by abuelo Pote back home. So he found the most secluded and beautiful stretch of beach in Italy that he could find. He told Teresa over dinner, which he himself cooked at the house. She was quite excited to hear that he’d booked them a two week getaway, just the two of them.
Teresa made a quick dash towards the north end of the beach, with James following her a few paces behind. He didn’t have to slow down to let her win, she had enough speed to outrun him any day, but her few yards advantage didn’t help his cause.
Teresa was teasing him as she ran. She turned to run backwards, trying to prove that he wouldn’t catch her, no matter what she was doing. This idea soon backfired on her as she tripped over her own feet and rolled backwards down into the sand. James let out a loud chuckle as he watched her fall down. He shouldn’t have laughed, but under the circumstance of her clumsiness, he couldn’t help it.
He slowed to a gentle jog towards her, defeated, sprawled out like a starfish in the sand.
James lowered himself into a press up-esque position over her. When she opened her eyes, all she saw was his. Those beautiful brown eyes that she’d admired for so long. It was so easy for her to get lost in them.
“Well that went well” James said snarkily to her, enough distance between them for them both to start to catch their breath comfortably.
Teresa had to smile at his remark. “Yeah, exactly how I planned it” she replied, both of their mouths turning up at the corners.
Teresa moved her hands up his sides and onto his biceps, wondering for how much longer he’d be able to hold himself up for. If he came crashing down onto her, she wouldn’t mind it that much.
After what felt like eternity of just looking into each other’s eyes, James bent his arms to close the gap between them. She brought her hands up to the back of his neck, before stretching her chin up so that her lips could meet his. It was pure bliss.
Their next few minutes were spent just making out in the sand, their hands everywhere. Doing this in the middle of a beach was a first for both of them.
The faint breeze of wind began to pick up. James knew where this encounter was headed, but he wasn’t too fond of the idea of getting sand in all kinds of odd places, and so pulled up and away from Teresa.
“What’s wrong?” - Teresa asked, her hands holding either side of his face.
James let out a small breathy smile and looked to the sand — “I spent half my life picking sand out of some terrible places in the desert, I’d rather not have to do that again.” He looked to Teresa with an eyebrow raised and a smug look across his face.
Teresa bit her bottom lip and tried to hold in a giggle. She nodded her head, she understood what he was talking about.
He stood to his feet and held out a hand to help her up. She took it and then remained holding it as they began to walk back to the beach house, interlocking their fingers while they walked. Teresa moved her left hand across her body to hold onto his wrist, above where their hands were interlaced. Her diamond engagement ring and golden wedding band to match his, shone in the sunlight.
As they got to the bottom of the steps, James stopped and bent down to scoop her up into his arms. She placed a gentle hand on the side of his face, turning it towards her to give him another kiss. He’d never been loved this way before Teresa came along, and oh my gosh did he enjoy it. He carried her up the wooden steps and through the open double doors, the wind blowing the long hanging nets into the house with them.
And the rest of the evening?
Well, the rest of their evening was amazing to say the least.
A few days over 9 months later, their daughter, Margot, was born...
and their lives were officially complete.
The End