AUTHOR'S NOTE !: words in italics mean that they are spoken in spanish!!!!

FORTY ONE.
( girl, you know you make my cold heart warm with a touch. )

"God, you have such bony elbows," Emmy groaned as her hand massaged her neck. "Barely got any sleep last night."

"You snoring into my shoulder tells me otherwise," Robby teased. 

She immediately slapped his shoulder. "Shut up."

Johnny then emerged from the small shop with burritos. "All right. How we looking?"

"Uh... I think I got it matched up to my phone," Robby told him. "Only a few miles to go. Looks like a lot of bars and restaurants." He then flashed his dad his phone. 

"Are we really gonna go into every single one? I mean, who's the say Miguel hasn't found this Hector guy yet?" Emmy frowned, crossing her arms. 

Johnny hummed, glancing around them. "Here, let's ask this guy. Hola."

"Oh, God," she immediately muttered. 

"Español?" the man walked towards him. 

"What?" Johnny cluelessly replied. 

"Español?"

"No. America."

"Mexico," the man then pointed at their van. "You're in a tow zone. I need you to move the van."

"Gracias. Gracias. It's custom decal," Johnny took a bite out of his burrito.

"I don't know Spanish but that's definitely not what he said," Emmy leaned in closer to Robby. 

"I want man. Hector the Salazar."

"I don't know a Hector Salazar. You have to move the van, please."

Johnny turned back to the two teens. "I think this guy wants money."

The man began to shake his hands. "No, no money. Move the van."

"No, you cannot have the van. It's a very special van. You tell me, donde Hector Salazar, I give you dineros, si?"

"Okay, I'm gonna take a wild guess here and say that he doesn't know who the hell Hector Salazar is," Emmy winced as the man walked away. 

Johnny just shook his head and walked back towards them.

"If Hector is so dangerous, I don't think we should be throwing his name around," Robby commented. 

"Hey. We gotta shake the tree to get the apples," Johnny said.

Emmy furrowed her eyebrows. "That's a weird way to say it."

"Or we could climb the tree ourselves," Robby added. 

"What does that mean? What tree?" Johnny asked. 

"I'm sorry, do you not listen to yourself when you talk or ⎯ " Emmy was cut off by Robby rushing past her. "What are you doing? Oh, shit!"

Emmy rushed after him, seeing their van getting towed by the man Johnny had just talked to. 

✸

"Wait, you're in Mexico?"

Emmy glanced back at Johnny and Robby who were talking to the people who had towed their car. "Yeah. I can't even believe it either."

"Everyone's been asking about where you are. Even Silver's losing his mind over it."

"I swear, when I come back, I'll sort that out myself. I just need to help with this one thing."

"Okay. But please try to hurry. This whole paying the ref thing is all I can think about and you're the only one who I can talk about it with."

"Don't worry, Tory. I'll be back soon."

"Emmy!" she glanced over her shoulder, seeing Robby waving her over. 

"I gotta go," she spoke into the phone.

"Okay. Love you."

"Love you too."

She quickly turned back around, jogging over to Robby. "Well?"

He sighed, interlocking their hands together. "He says we need 4,000 pesos."

"4,000 pesos?" Emmy raised her eyebrows, turning her phone on again. "How much is that?"

"That's, like, a million dollars," Johnny complained as the three of them walked into a nearby shop. 

"Uh, more like $200," Emmy corrected after doing a quick search online. 

"And we still only have about half that," Robby sighed. 

"We're not gonna find Miguel without the van," Johnny solemnly said. 

"Well, we can maybe find a cheap rental?" Emmy suggested. 

"What the hell's a rental?"

Emmy looked to Robby, face full of defeat. "I give up." He rubbed her hand with a tight lipped smile. 

Suddenly, Johnny placed his arm out in front of them, stopping them from walking any further. His eyes were stuck on something to their right, and they looked in that direction, seeing two men sat across from each other. 

"Place your bets!"

They watched as people handle in crumpled up pieces of cash to a guy, cheering on the men. 

"That's a Red Savina," Robby said. "That thing'll burn a hole right through you."

Johnny raised his eyebrow at him. 

"Mom and I watch Hot Ones on Youtube."

Then they watched as the man tasked with eating the spicy food, flung out of his chair, meaning he lost. Then the money was shoved over to the other man, meaning that he won. 

"This is our shot to get back on track," Johnny stated. "If you see me about to choke, cover my mouth so I don't spit it out."

"I'll shove in another one if I have to," Emmy snorted and Johnny stepped forward to go participate, but Robby stopped him. 

"Wait. I'll do it."

"No, you're not," Emmy interjected. "He's the one who got us into this mess. Plus, I'm not kissing while you have super spicy pepper breath."

"This is our best shot," Robby simply said. "I know I can win."

And then he walked away, getting into the chair. 

"Can he die from this?" Johnny asked. 

Emmy huffed. "No clue."

They both gave each other nervous glances before walking up to Robby's side to support him. Emmy placed a hand on Robby's shoulder. "Please don't pass out."

He let out a breath, taking his first pepper between his fingers. "I'll try."

And just like that, Emmy watched as Robby got redder and sweatier with each pepper he hate. It was almost like a horror movie. She hated what was going on but she just couldn't look away. And as the jar full of a pile of bright, red peppers began to diminish, her grip on his shoulder tightened. 

As Robby chewed through the last pepper, eyes squeezed shut from the pain his mouth was in, he forcefully swallowed it, open with eyes with a big exhale. 

"That's my boy!" Johnny shouted encouragingly. 

"Are you okay?" Emmy leaned down to look at his face. 

"I'm alive," he grunted out. 

"That doesn't make me feel any better!" she hissed, lightly smacking the back of his head. 

"Look at the gringo sweating like a pig. He'll be dead before the second round," the man smirked.

Emmy straightened her back, eyes glaring into him. "I don't what you just said, but I don't like your tone."

She felt Robby place a hand on her back, and she glanced down at him, seeing his eye narrowed at the man. "One more. Give me the hottest pepper you got."

Emmy eyes widened. "What? Are you crazy?"

The man also didn't seem to expect it, his head slowly raising up from its tilted position. "El dragón!"

The girl watched as everyone surrounding them murmured and gasped in shock from his words, and she was starting to worry that maybe this wasn't the best choice for him. 

"Are you sure?" she bent down, eyes raking his sweaty face. "We can always find another way."

"I'm sure," the look in his eyes contrasted the way he looked at the man sitting across from him. "Don't worry. We're getting that van back. Trust me."

Emmy thickly swallowed but nodded, placing a hand on his shoulder and gave a tight squeeze. "Okay. I'll trust you."

He placed a hand on top of hers, giving it a softer and more comforting squeeze back. Then he slowly pulled away as another man brought out a jar with two bright red peppers inside. The man carefully unscrewed the lid off of the jar, delicately placing it on the table. 

He then grabbed some small tongs, reaching in and pulled out one of the peppers, placing it on Robby's side and his opponents. 

"We're going all in," Johnny slammed down the money he had onto the table. "Todo!"

Robby took a deep breath, grabbing his pepper. "You got this. I'd bet on you any day of the week."

Robby seemed to ignore his dad's words, only bringing his hands together in a prayer like position with the pepper in between. He shut his eyes, taking deep breaths as he raised his hand up and down, and back and forth. And after a few seconds, he shoved what looked to be the pepper in his mouth, aggressively chewing. 

Emmy's eyes didn't leave him as he struggled through the bite, fist slamming down onto the table as his face twisted in pain. She was visibly worried as he was flooded with sweat, and even more when he swallowed the pepper down. "Are you okay? Do you feel okay?"

He let out a heavy breath. "Never better."

The man looked shocked that Robby endured the pepper, face emotionless as he quickly grabbed his pepper and shoved it into his mouth. He started off smug, before his face dropped as the heat hit him, and he began to shake his jacket on him. Everyone watched intently as he squirmed before lunging for his glass of milk and downed it, the liquid spilling down from the sides. 

Emmy lit up, jumping up and down as she shouted in excitement. "Yes!"

She and Robby looked at each other with bright eyes, and in that moment, Emmy didn't even think about how he had eaten multiple spicy peppers and bent down to kiss him, but right as the gap was about to close, she felt something cold spray onto her. She gasped, snapping right back up and looked down at her shirt and pants, seeing droplets of milk on them. 

"Dickhead," she grumbled. 

✸

"Eli would love this place," Emmy muttered to herself as the three of them walked into El Hoyo Verde.

But Johnny was not very amused. "Look at this MMA grab-ass bullshit. Hector the Salazar. You know him?"

The man he asked merely mumbled that he didn't know English, paying absolutely no mind to him. 

Emmy sighed. "This feels pointless."

"Don't lose faith, Pinky," Johnny told her, walking up to another man. "I need man. Hector the Salazar."

This guy just aimed air punches at him before completely ignoring him again. Johnny immediately gave up, moving further into the building. 

"You were saying?" Emmy rolled her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest. "What makes you so sure that he's gonna even want to come with us?"

"Hector is a shitty dude. I'm sure you know best about shitty dads and wanting to get away from them," Johnny commented

Emmy looked at him in disbelief, finger jabbing into his side causing him to jump. "Not funny."

"It kinda was," Robby chuckled. 

She scoffed. "Like you know any better."

"Hey!" Robby playfully scolded her. "What's up? You've been grumpy the whole car ride over."

"Maybe because some people don't know when to shut up at 2 in the morning when people are sleeping," Emmy glared at the father and son. 

"We were father-child bonding, Pinky. You should try it some time."

"I'm gonna kill you!"

"Emmy!"

✸

"Woah."

Emmy stared at the fighting ring, pausing when one of the participants was thrown into the chain fence surrounding it. Her eyes were blown in awe, and she couldn't help but admire the two fighters. 

"Don't tell me you like this place," Robby said. 

She gave him a sheepish look. "Sorry. I can't help it. They look badass."

He placed a hand on her back. "I think that's your Cobra Kai talking."

Emmy gave him a small smile before looking away and turned back to the fighting ring. They hadn't had a talk about Emmy's decision with leaving Cobra Kai. I mean , sure, she was done with Kreese, but she didn't know if she could abandoned the one thing in her life that she had control over. 

She almost wanted to laugh. Of course control was all she could think about. Thanks Sensei Kreese. 

"Miguel!"

Johnny's voice snapped her out of her thoughts, and she glanced at him, seeing him looking up towards the second floor. She followed his gaze, seeing a familiar head of hair and a white jacket walking along the top. Her eyes widened and her lips parted. "Oh shit."

Johnny pointed to where Miguel was, letting Robby know and the three of them began to walk forward to get to him, but three men got in their way. 

"Move," Johnny told them. 

"You're not getting near Hector," one of them said.

Johnny still tried, hands grabbing his arm and tried to push him out of their way, but the man pushed them off of him. Johnny felt that fire burn in him, along with his desire to get Miguel back, so he struck the man right in the nose. Emmy gasped, hand covering her mouth. 

Everyone around them began to stand up, tuned into the incoming fight. Johnny then went to strike him again, this time going for a kick, but the man caught his leg under his arm. The fighter then punched Johnny in the gut and lifted him up before slamming him onto the ground. 

The man went to stomp on him, but Johnny quickly rolled out of way, getting to his feet. Robby stared angrily at the man and lunged forward, but Johnny stopped him. "No, Robby. I got this. Just stay there."

And almost immediately after, the man grabbed onto the back of his shirt, spinning him back around. Johnny blocked the fist that swung his way and wrapped his arms around the man, lifting himself up and the two were now in opposite sides. Johnny got the upper hand, restraining his arm and landed a kick to his side and face, causing the fighter to fall onto the people behind him. 

But he quickly got back up, and another man came up from behind Johnny, holding him in place. The fighter then gave multiple blows to Johnny's midsection, causing the blonde man to fall to the ground with a groan. 

Everything was a blur to Emmy as she was frozen in place, her natural instinct to join the fight nowhere to be seen. Johnny was soon on the ground with a ripped shirt and a bloody nose, and she tried to think of something to help him without getting hurt. 

"Robby!" she exclaimed, turning to her boyfriend. "The pepper!"

The boy immediately got her idea, digging in his pocket and pulled out the shriveled pepper. He quickly tossed it to his dad who caught it, and smushed it into the fighter's eyes, causing him to yell in pain and let go of him. 

Johnny stumbled back onto his feet before delivering a spinning kick to the fighter's face, and he was finished. 

Emmy held back her excitement as she clenched her fist and pumped them into the air. She then grabbed Johnny's arm, pulling him back. 

✸

"Who knows where he could be by now," Emmy sighed, arms resting on the driver and passenger seat as she looked in front of her. "Hector could be driving him to the other side of the country for all we know."

"We're gonna find him," Johnny firmly stated. "I don't care if we have to drive across the country. We're gonna find him. Got that?"

She just sighed and nodded, the car driving down an empty road as she saw a boy walk out of a shop in a familiar white jacket. She furrowed her eyebrows, leaning forward as the car drove closer to him. "Wait, is that ⎯ "

Johnny didn't let her finish her question, only throwing his door open and jumped out. "Miguel!"

And then Emmy's heart stopped. She could see the absolute heartbroken expression on Miguel's face as he looked at Johnny. Her face was fully dropped with any emotion as she didn't know how to feel. 

Johnny held out his arms and Miguel didn't hesitate to embrace him into a hug. Johnny immediately wrapped his arm around the teen boy, holding him like a father would. 

Emmy could see Miguel absolutely breakdown in Johnny's arms and shoulder and without thinking she swung the car door open and rushed out. 

Robby, hearing the sound, looked back at her and his eyes widened as she got out of the car. "Emmy!"

She didn't listen to him, her legs moving on their own as she surged forward, stopping a few feet from Johnny and Miguel. Miguel looked up from Johnny's shoulder, and his face dropped at the sight of her. His arms loosened, and Johnny must have felt it as he pulled away from the Diaz boy.

Johnny turned around, seeing Emmy stood there. 

There was a few seconds of pure silence, no one making a single move or sound as Emmy and Miguel stared at each other. And before they knew it, Emmy's eyes filled with tears and she let out a sob. Robby stood close behind her, wanting to make sure she didn't try to hurt Miguel or do anything similar. 

They all watched as Emmy rushed up to Miguel, and the boy wanted to back up, but he couldn't move, his feet cemented to ground. He waited for her to punch him, slap him, kick him, tackle him, anything. 

The last thing he expected was to feel the familiar action of Emmy LaRusso's warm embrace.

His arms laid frozen at his side as he heard her cry into his shoulder. 

"You scared me you fucking asshole," she sobbed, arms tightening around him. 

His arms slowly began to rise up, and he hesitantly hugged her back. But once he knew that this was Emmy being genuine, he didn't hesitate to squeeze her back, eye filling with tears once more. 

AUTHOR'S NOTE !

bet you didn't see that coming