A/N: One-shot for now but may write more once I finish my other main stories if anyone is interested.
A/N: I own nothing you recognize. Just having fun.
It had been a long and difficult day. All Carmen wanted was to do was get home, eat whatever Mama had left in the oven for her, take a hot shower, and sleep until she had to go to work again. So why were her feet leading her over to where Sensei Lawrence was sitting in front of his apartment, having a drink?
"Got another?" she asked, pointing to the Coors bottle in his hand.
"Sure," he nodded, reaching in the ice chest beside his chair. "Sit." He pointed at the seat beside him. It was the old metal loveseat style that left her so close that their legs were touching when she sat down.
She took the beer he held out, took a long drink, then laid her head back against the seat.
"Hard day?" He asked.
"I lost a patient," she said. "It doesn't matter how long I've been a nurse, I'll never get used to that."
"You work in pediatric oncology, right?" He asked, remembering that she'd told him that once.
She nodded.
"Are you ever supposed to 'get used' to losing those patients?" he asked. He reached over, intending to just pat or squeeze her hand in sympathy but as his long fingers curled around her delicate ones, he didn't want to let go,
She gave a small smile. "There are those that think so." She laced her fingers through his. "I know we aren't supposed to get attached to our patients, but they're kids and they're in the hospital for months at a time. It's hard not to sometimes." She laid her head on his shoulder. "Where is your guy tonight?"
"The same place yours is," he replied. Ever since the start of the summer, Robby had actually been coming for visitation. He knew LaRusso had something to do with that, but whatever got him there, Johnny wasn't going to complain. "They're at Hawk's playing some online video game against the Topanga dojo kids because according to Miguel, 'Those Topanga pansies want another ass whipping and can't wait for a tournament.'"
"Have I thanked you lately for the lovely language karate has taught my son?" Carmen laughed.
"He's a teenage boy," Johnny grinned. "It was already there, he just wasn't brave enough to use it in front of his mom."
"I'm proud they were able to settle their problems," she said. "I'm happy Miguel has a friend here. I know he was lonesome being the only kid in this apartment complex. Besides, it was very grown up."
"Yeah, maybe one day LaRusso and I will be that grown up," he gave wry smile. The boys had come to a truce after one, Robby found out that Johnny hadn't told them to attack his shoulder, two, that Johnny was actively trying to change some of the less honorable behaviors in the cobras, and three, LaRusso's daughter went to New Jersey for a few weeks
"Baby steps," she replied with a grin already feeling better. She didn't know why there was bad blood between Johnny and Daniel LaRusso, but the idea of the two of them fighting seemed to be a running joke between the boys. She laid her head against his shoulder and he responded by putting his arm around her shoulders and shifting slightly so that she could lean against him. She rested her hand on his knee, absentmindedly running her fingers back and forth over the faded denim jeans. She wasn't sure how long they stayed like that, neither talking, just letting the quiet of the courtyard surround them. It was nice. She'd honestly forgotten that it could be that nice in a man's company. Since Miguel's birth, she'd had a string of bad first and second dates with men who either lost interest upon finding out she was a mom or who thought because she was a mom she'd be desperate enough for a man that she'd do, or let them do, most anything to keep them coming round. To be fair, she had had three decent boyfriends that she was serious enough about to introduce to Miggie. She'd just drifted apart from the first two, but the third she'd left behind in Riverside. They'd tried to do the long-distance thing, texting, talking on the phone, and him driving up once for a weekend of really bad sex. Seriously, it hadn't been that bad in Riverside, what the hell had happened? Could he not perform west of Burbank? She had to catch herself from laughing out loud at that thought. She wasn't sure how she would have explained that to Sensei Lawrence.
Johnny leaned his head against Carmen's noticing that she smelled like vanilla, cinnamon, and surprisingly, hand sanitizer. Or maybe not so surprising given her job. She was looking up at the sky with her dark curls spilling over his arm, her right hand occasionally lifting her bottle to her lips, her left rubbing his knee in intoxicating circles. The silence was light and comfortable as they didn't need any words to just enjoy the warm night air and the feel of another person beside them. In that moment, all the trouble with Kreese and the dojo, Shannon and the custody hearings, or LaRusso and well, whatever bullshit he was going to drag up this week, didn't matter, didn't exist. All that mattered, all that existed, was Carmen, her head on his shoulder, her hand dancing across his knee, and the smell of vanilla, cinnamon, and just a hint of hand sanitizer clinging to her skin. Her breathing had slowed and evened out as she relaxed into his arms. If not for her hand moving, he would have thought she'd fallen asleep when she suddenly sat up straight and pointed at the sky.
"Did you see that?" she asked. "Did you see that shooting star?"
"You can't see the stars in Reseda," he chided with a snicker. "There are too many street lights. It was a plane."
She turned to face him with a smirk pulling at her lips. He was probably right, but she wasn't ready to concede the point. "Well, I like seeing shooting stars and I have had a very long and difficult day. So, I am going to choose to believe that I saw a shooting star, even in Reseda. Now, John-Boy, did you see that shooting star?"
Her smirk had become that full wide smile he loved to see and Johnny found himself smiling along with her. "Yeah, Baby, I saw it," he said, the term of endearment slipping from his lips unchecked. He pulled her back into the crook of his arm and kissing her temple. "If you saw it, I saw it."
"Thank you." She put her hand back on his leg and snuggled into him. They stayed there another hour or so until Carmen really couldn't keep her eyes open anymore and their beers had long been gone. She stood and stretched before turning to face him, finding her lips just inches from his as she looked up at him. "This was nice. We should do it again sometime."
"Yeah," he agreed, his voice soft and low.
Before she could change her mind, she put her hands on his waist, pressed up on her tiptoes, closing the few scant inches between their lips for one beat, two beats, three beats before she felt his hands on her shoulders, then down her back, pulling her closet, kissing her harder. Four beats, five beats, six beats, and she stepped back, breaking the kiss and practically danced across the courtyard to her door.
"By the way," she said, pausing at her door to turn back to him. "I prefer Corona."
"Sissy shit," he called back with a grin.
Still...
Three days later, Miguel wrinkled his nose as he looked in Johnny's fridge to grab he and Robby a Dr. Pepper. "Since when do you drink Corona, Sensei?" he laughed. He shut the door and walked back over to the couch, tossing Robby his drink before starting their movie again.
"I don't know," Johnny answered from his chair. "I probably bought it when I was drunk." The boys, engrossed in Star Wars again, never saw the smile that danced across his lips.
Please R and R.