CHAPTER 17

Hi. Quick message from me. I'm not going to be able to update as often in the next little bit probably. I've been really sick the past week but because of a massive covid test shortage in canada, i only managed to get tested last night. I tested positive so am in bed trying to recover as soon as possible which means I'm going be writing a lot less.

Johnny did not say a single word the entire way back to L.A. Him and Robby merely stared silently out of the car window in front of them, their minds floating out of the confines of the vehicle. Johnny silently stewed in anger. He couldn't believe the situation he was in. It was like his kryptonite. As someone who was always first through the door, solved every problem guns blazing, to know that the more he tried to push, the less success he would have. He realised that there was virtually nothing he could do for Miguel as no matter what he said, however much he apologised, Miguel didn't want him around right now. And Johnny had to respect that. He had been too scared to go look for his own father so had instead leaned entirely on Kreese. Not that he felt like he was the Kreese of Miguel's life. But he couldn't get too angry at Miguel for doing something that he had wanted to do but hadn't had the balls to do when he was younger. The most Johnny could do was hope that he stayed safe, and in the meantime, continue to work on his relationship with Robby, which despite everything, was actually going pretty well. Even though Mexico had been a big fail on the Miguel side of things, it had definitely brought Johnny and Robby a lot closer together, as they had talked more in the past few days than they had… well, since Robby was born. They had managed to get over the worst of their issues with each other, with Robby beginning to trust his father more and more.

They finally arrived in L.A late that night, and Robby had asked Johnny to drop him off somewhere before Johnny went home, and as Robby stepped out of the car and breathed in the L.A air for the first time, he felt relief course through his body. Though he would never admit it, that Mexico trip was scary, even for him. He had never been in a situation like that before, where he knew that every morning he woke up could potentially be his last. Johnny had been completely oblivious to that aspect of it, understandably so given how much he wanted to get Miguel back, but Robby had been forced to feel that worry every day he was there and now that he was back home, he felt much, much better. He just needed to do something before he could go back home to his mom's place and fall asleep for the next 24 hours.

Robby had asked Johnny to drop him off at a now pretty familiar compound, and he quickly walked over to the house in the corner, a smile creeping onto his lips as he came closer to the front door and slowly knocked. It swung open a few moments later to reveal Tory. Her face, previously filled with a combination of stress and exhaustion, lit up when she saw him there, and Robby felt her ams immediately wrap around his neck and pull him into a painfully tight embrace. At that moment, Robby felt the final lingering knot of worry inside crumble at the feeling of hugging Tory again. The fear of not making it home disappeared, and Robby felt himself return the embrace. Tory had been extremely worried about Robby every second he was gone. She wasn't so much worried about something happening to him and Johnny together, but she knew that if they found Miguel and shit went down between Miguel and Robby, if Johnny stood by Miguel's side, Robby would more than likely walk away from both of them and alone, risk himself being put in a lot of danger. She had heard from him on the first night he was there, but not in the nearly 48 hours since, so she had had to throw herself into work and helping her mom and brother to keep her mind off where Robby was.

"Oh, I'm so glad you're okay." Tory murmured, her lips pressing against Robby's. "How was Mexico?"

Robby didn't say anything, but his slight shudder upon thinking about Juarez was all that Tory needed to get her answer.

"That bad, huh?" She commented. Robby shrugged.

"Let's just say it wasn't sipping mojitos on a beach in Baja like my mom's old trips to Mexico." Robby replied.

"You end up finding Miguel?" She asked, concern evident in her voice. Robby narrowed his eyes slightly at his girlfriend's amount of worry towards his arch-nemesis but he shook off the slight feelings of jealousy.

"Well, kind of. My dad found him and talked to him but Miguel didn't want to come home. He was pretty adamant about it too. So I doubt he's coming back anytime soon unless he truly wants to."

Tory nodded, lingering worry still in her eyes as she thought about Miguel at the hands of the dangerous men he was currently with. She knew Miguel well. He might know what to do or so to keep himself alive and well, but there was going to come a point where his true self would become obvious. He wasn't the kind of ruthless robot-machine like the gang he was with were. He was just some calm, soft-spoken kid, and she just hoped that when his father's gang learned that too, they didn't treat him like an enemy.

"Anyways, how have you been? What did you do the past 3 days?" Robby asked. Tory shook her head.

"Same as always: work, looking after my mom and brother, that's pretty much it."

"How are they doing?"

"Pretty well. Brother just finished school yesterday so he's really excited for the summer. And my mom's actually been feeling really good lately."

"That's awesome." Robby smiled, seeing the delighted look on Tory's face at the mention of her family doing well. Tory nodded and looked at Robby, taking a deep breath before asking him…

"Hey, do you want to meet them?" Tory suddenly asked. Robby raised an eyebrow, completely taken aback by the question.

"You want me to meet your family?" Robby asked, shocked. Tory, misreading his reaction, quickly tried to verbally backpedal.

"I mean, you don't have do if you don't want to. There's no pressure or anything." She stammered. "It's just my mom's been asking to meet you for a while. Like I said though, no pressure if you don't…"

However, before she could finish her sentence, Robby interrupted her.

"I'd love to…"

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Johnny arrived home much later that night. It was pitch black in the compound as his Dodge Caravan (well, Daniel's Dodge Caravan) finally pulled into its familiar parking spot outside his house. As he arrived home and knew that he'd be facing Carmen pretty soon, although it had been her idea for him to come home, he still felt like a failure. He had promised her that he would get Miguel back and he had failed, simple as that. He could keep telling himself that there was nothing more he could do as he did everything he could shy of just kidnapping Miguel and throwing him into his van and driving him home, but that small voice in Johnny's gut still mocked him, calling him a failure. And the voice sounded like a different person each time. It could be Sid. Could be Kreese. Could be Miguel's dad. It alternated between all of the enemies in Johnny's life.

The blonde Eagle-Fang sensei forced himself to push the voices down as he got out of his car and walked into the center of the compound. For a moment, he stopped right there, equidistant between his house and Carmen's. The number 1 house on his left, the number 2 house on his right. If he had managed to bring Miguel back, he knew that they would be bursting into Carmen's place triumphantly. But having failed his mission, his cheeks were still hot with shame and he didn't know whether he'd be able to face Carmen. Not that she'd blame him. It's just that every time he'd look at her, he'd see that night after the tournament, when he promised Carmen that he'd bring Miguel back.

"Everything's gonna be fine. I'm gonna find him and I'm gonna make sure he's safe."

That's what Johnny had told Carmen. He had told her, swore to her, that he'd bring her boy home okay. And to fail in the way he did… he didn't know if he had the energy to face her. No, he had to face her. She deserved that much at least.

So Johnny walked over to the house marked number 1, and he knocked on the door. No answer. That was strange. Normally even if Carmen's mom was asleep by that time, Carmen wasn't. He tried knocking on the door once more but when nobody answered, Johnny realised that the door was unlocked so he walked in himself.

The apartment was deathly silent when he walked in, all lights off. For a moment, Johnny figured that both of them were asleep so he should just come back tomorrow, but then suddenly, he heard movement coming from within Carmen's room. Having to fumble and stumble his way around in the dark, Johnny secretly thanked God for all the times Miguel had invited him over for meals as his familiarity with the apartment was the only reason he had walked straight into a wall. It was that dark, but Johnny eventually managed to feel his hand grasp the doorknob of his girlfriend's room and slowly turn it, stepping inside.

Johnny looked up to see Carmen pacing forward and backwards across the small room, her back to him. She was clearly agitated, worked up about something. Johnny knocked on the door frame as he walked into the room.

"Hey." He murmured. At the sound of his voice, Carmen spun around to face him. As she did, her face went through a sequence of different emotions, but the end result was that fear filled her eyes.

"Hey, Johnny." She mumbled in a voice no louder than a grave whisper. She was worried about something, terrified in fact. Because she had found out something that evening, something that would not only change her life forever, but also would change the lives of everyone around her, including Johnny's.

"Are you okay?" Johnny asked, concerned as he noticed her pale facial expression. Something about Carmen certainly seemed off, and he was worried as to what.

"Johnny, um… sit down, please. I need to tell you something." Carmen stammered. Johnny nodded and sat down on the edge of Carmen's bed, pulling her down beside him, and taking her hands in a soft gesture that he only ever did for her.

"Sure, what's going on?" Johnny said. Carmen looked at him, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath to try and still her rattling heart.

"Um… I really don't know how to say this." Carmen murmured. "You how the past week I've not been feeling very well?"

Johnny nodded.

"Yeah, you had that stomach bu… no way…" Johnny's voice trailed off and his eyes widened as he put everything together. Carmen feeling sick. Needing to tell him something. And the most telling sign… she had the same terrified look on her face that Shannon Keene had 17 years ago. Johnny felt his jaw fall agape as he watched Carmen nod.

"Johnny, I'm pregnant…"

Johnny's face blanched in shock. He felt his hands begin to tremble. He felt both a flash of heat and a wave of shivers rush through his body. Carmen was pregnant! He was having another kid! Johnny had no idea how he felt about this. On one hand, he had screwed up with his last child in an unimaginable way, and that was before his life had gotten so much more complicated. He was 0 for 2 right now with Miguel and Robby as he knew that even though things were improving between him and Robby, it would only take one massive fight for Robby to walk away again. Was it really in everyone's best interest for Johnny to be around to screw up a third kid?! But on the other hand…

Seeing the panic on Johnny's face, Carmen nodded.

"Look, I'm going to tell you from now that if you don't want to, you don't have to be a part of the child's life."

Johnny looked at her, confused.

"W-w-wait? What?" Johnny stammered.

"I mean I do really want you to be a part of this baby's life but given that we aren't even married, I can't force you to do so."

Johnny barely heard her, his mind still spinning. Carmen nodded, understandingly.

"I know it's a LOT to take in, Johnny. Trust me, I'm still struggling with it too." Carmen murmured. "Look, I'm going to get you a glass of water and we can talk about this some more, okay?"

With that, Carmen stood up, but just as she had a hand on the door handle, she heard Johnny's voice from behind her.

"I want to do it." Johnny's quiet but firm voice called. Carmen slowly turned around to face him, eyes wide.

"What?"

"I want to do it. I want to be a part of the baby's life…"