A/N: I own nothing you recognize. Just having fun.

A/U: Johnny and Shannon have two children. Robby and Laura.

Laura was laying on the sofa, texting Eli while watching TV. He hadn't been in school or at Cobra Kai in two days. He said he was well and insisted that he wasn't mad at Johnny, just that he'd taken a few days off. She was relieved but still worried. She hadn't seen him since she'd kissed him and even his texts were unusually brief.

"Laura, Sweetie," Shannon said. "You need to go do your laundry."

"Ugh," she moaned. "I hate going to the basement alone. Can't I wait until Robby gets home?"

"No. It needs to be done now," Shannon replied. "You and Robby are out of towels in your bathroom."

"Fine," she sighed but didn't get up.

"Don't you think you should do what your mother says?" Gerald asked from the kitchen.

"I will in a minute," Laura replied.

"Now," he said, firmly.

"No," Laura rolled her eyes.

Gerald walked over and snatched the phone out of her hand. "Go now," he said.

"What the heck?! Give me my phone." She jumped up from her seat and tried to grab her phone but he held it away.

"Go do what Shannon said. You can have your phone back when you're done," he said.

"You can't do that," Laura cried. "Mom!" She looked to Shannon for help.

"Just go do the laundry," Shannon said. "It won't take you ten minutes to gather it up and run it down to the laundry room and Robby should be home before you have to go back and get it."

Laura shook her head in disbelief. She couldn't believe her mom was letting this happen.

"Go," he demanded.

"You're not my Dad. You can't tell me what to do," she snapped, grabbing for her phone again. "You're barely even her boyfriend."

This time when she grabbed for the phone, Gerald caught her arm and jerked her to him roughly, putting his face inches from hers and squeezing her arm painfully. "I know I'm not your loser dad. Do you want to know how to tell the difference? I'm fucking here." His right hand came down painfully across her backside before he shoved her away. "Now go do the laundry like Shannon told you."

Laura looked at her mom but Shannon was studiously looking at her phone. Defeated, Laura stumbled to the bathroom and began to gather the laundry together. When she left the apartment, Shannon turned to Gerald.

"Honey, Johnny and I don't use corporal punishment on our kids," Shannon said.

"Yeah? That's probably why one is a two-bit drug dealer and the other is a mouthy little brat," he replied. "Neither one of them have any respect for you or their father. They don't have respect for anybody." He crossed the room and pulled her into his arms. "I'm sorry. It just makes me mad when I see them treating you so disrespectfully. You know Robby's not going to change at this point, but Laura could still be a great kid if she just had the right guidance. She needs a strong man around to show her the right way and we both know she isn't going to get that from that jerk-off she calls Dad." He kissed her. "Don't you want her to be a good kid?"

Shannon nodded. "Just don't be so..., physical with her, okay?"

"I was a little too rough," he agreed. "I'm sorry."

Laura made it to the laundry room before collapsing. She dropped the basket and fell to her knees in front of the closed door. Her breaths came in ragged gasps and she felt as though she couldn't get enough air. She pressed one hand against her throat, the other arm wrapped around her stomach. She felt like she was going to be sick. Tears flooded her eyes as a sob tore from her throat followed by more and more until she felt like she couldn't get it back under control. She wasn't how sure she stayed like that, but finally, she was able to wipe her eyes, put the laundry in a washer and go back upstairs.

"I want my phone," she told Gerald.

"I'll give it to you when I'm ready," he replied, not even looking up from his laptop.

"You said I'd get it back when I did the laundry," she replied.

"And you still didn't go do it then," he said. "You'll get it back when I decide. Don't ask for it again. Go find something else to do."

Laura looked at Shannon, but she already knew her mom wasn't going to help. "Fine," she muttered and turned to go to her room.

"What?" He said, grabbing her wrist and stopping her.

"Yes, sir," she snapped, snatching her wrist away and stomping to her room. Just wait until Robby gets home. Robby would put a stop to this. He wouldn't hit Robby and Robby wouldn't let him hit her. Robby would make mom get rid of him. But Robby wasn't home before Laura had to go back to the basement and he wasn't home by dinner and he wasn't home when Laura was sent back to her room after dinner. He didn't come home until after Gerald and Shannon had gone to their bedroom for the night.

Laura cracked the door to her room when she heard keys in the door. She breathed a sigh of relief when Robby came in. She flung her door open and practically threw herself against his chest, wrapping her arms around his neck before he could even get the door locked again. "Where were you?" She cried, her voice breaking over the words. "Where were you?"

"I had to take something to Encino for my boss," he replied, hugging her back. "Are you okay? Didn't you get my texts?"

"No. Gerald took my phone because I didn't go do the laundry. He said I could have it back after I did it, but he wouldn't give it back," she explained. It was on her lips to tell him about being hit, but the short of breath feeling came back and she couldn't force the words out. The more she tried, the more she hyperventilated.

"Hey!" Robby held her at arm's length so he could see her. "Are you okay? What's the matter?"

She ducked her head, suddenly ashamed. She tried to control her breathing and bit down on her lip to keep from crying.

"Laura, what happened?" Robby asked, growing alarmed.

"He just wouldn't give me my phone back," she said, hating the weak way her voice sounded even to her own ears.

"We'll see about that," Robby replied, tensely. He didn't buy that Laura was upset to the point of hyperventilating over her phone, but if getting her phone back would help, he was going to do that. "Here, sit." He led her over to the sofa, then went and pounded on Shannon's door, not really caring if they were sleeping or whatever else he might have been interrupting. "MOM!" He kept pounding on the door until Gerald opened it.

"I want Laura's phone," Robby demanded, his hands clenched into fists at his sides.

"She can have it before school in the morning," he replied, shutting the door.

Robby's arm flew up, catching the door and ripping it from Gerald's grip, throwing it open. "Give me the damn phone." His face was hard and his eyes cold. "That is my phone. I bought it. I pay for it. And you are going to give it to me or I'm going to come in there and get it."

"Oh, just give him the phone," Shannon said, bringing it to the door. "Here, Baby." She held it out.

"You go back to bed," Gerald said, pointing at Laura.

Robby looked over his shoulder at her. "Stay. I want to talk to you." He snatched the phone from Shannon. "Just so we're really clear on this," he said, stepping up to Gerald. "This is my phone. I bought it. I pay for it and I intend for Laura to have it. Its so she can get in touch with me anytime she needs to. If you ever interfere with that again, you'll be sorry."

"Yeah, right, Tough guy," Gerald mocked before slamming the door.

Robby handed the phone to Laura and sat down beside her. "Here, Lou-Lou. Are you going to tell me what happened?"

She shook her head slightly and said, "He was just being really mean. I was probably just being a baby about it. Thank you for getting my phone." She looked down at her phone but didn't open it. "He was just being so mean," she whispered.

"Well, we won't have to deal with it for much longer," Robby told her. "I'm going to get us out of here. Just hang in there for now. I'm working on it, okay?"

She nodded.

"Don't worry about them," he said, hugging her. "You know I take care of you, right?"

"Right," she gave a small smile. That was the first time she'd heard Robby include Shannon in 'them.' "Can I stay out here with you for awhile?"

He nodded. "You want something to eat?"

She shook her head and laid down on the sofa.

"Okay, well, I'm starving, so I'm going to fix a sandwich and then we'll watch a show," he said. "What do you want to watch?"

"Firefly?"

He rolled his eyes, then smiled and nodded towards the TV. "Dial it up."

Laura was asleep before he came back from the kitchen. He threw a blanket over her and settled into the recliner beside her for the night. That was how Shannon found them the next morning.

"Don't you think their relationship is a little strange?" Gerald asked Shannon before she woke them up.

"What do mean?" she asked.

He shrugged, "I don't know. Just something strange about how close they are for teenagers. Like the phone deal. What teenage boy is that possessive about his sister's phone?"

"Oh that," Shannon replied with a wave of her hand. "That has to do with Johnny taking her phone as a punishment back when he was paying the bill. It's more of a way to stick it Johnny than that he actually cares about her phone. I wouldn't worry about that."

"Yeah, maybe," he replied watching Robby warily.

Please R and R.