CHAPTER 24

As Miguel stood on the Larusso driveway, he didn't walk up onto the front porch and ring the bell. It was 11 at night so he knew that probably wasn't the best idea. Instead, he walked around to the side of the house, where he knew Sam's bedroom was, and sure enough, the lights were on so he could see right in. And as Miguel's eyes swept around the room, looking for her, he noticed something. Every trace that they had ever dated was gone. No picture of them on her nightstand. No Senor Octopus on her dresser. None of his sweatshirts that she would steal to wear lying around the room. Seeing these things caused a stab to go through his heart. It was just made evidently clear that their relationship was over. Sam wasn't in her room yet, but a couple of seconds later, as if on queue, Miguel watched her walk in. He was pretty concealed in his spot outside so she couldn't see him, but Miguel watched her walk into the room and over to her bed, where she lay down and pulled out her phone, beginning to text someone. Once again, no lingering sadness in her eyes gave any indication that she still cared about him at all. She had moved on.

Miguel was about to raise a hand to knock on her window but as he did, sensing the movement outside, Sam looked up and stared right at him. Somehow, she didn't spot him, but Miguel looked into her ocean-blue eyes and he suddenly felt himself transported to a time 6 months ago…

"Really? You want to take on the All-Valley champ?"

It was mid January, a few weeks into the wildly unsuccessful team up of Daniel Larusso and Johnny Lawrence, and Sam and Miguel had stayed late after training to train together. They said train, but it was really more them laughing and messing around in the dojo than actually getting any training done.

"I love how you call yourself the All-Valley champ but last I checked, I'm 2-0 against you." Sam remarked back. Miguel laughed and shot to his feet, pulling Sam up too.

"Okay, let's do this!" Miguel exclaimed. Sam nodded and the two got into fighting stances, pretty sloppy ones mind you as neither was really preparing to fight. The past few weeks, they had been so busy with training and trying to keep their senseis together that they had barely had any time to spend together.

"Ready… first to 2 points… let's go." Sam said, and the two walked towards each other, ready to fight.

Miguel threw the first strike, a definitely not full power combination that Sam easily managed to parry with her own. They went back and forth in the flirtatious fight for several moments, with Miguel steadily retreating at the combinations his girlfriend was throwing at him, until he soon found himself with his back pressed against the dojo wall. Sam quickly had his arms pinned to his sides and she then leaned in and pulled him into a kiss. When they broke apart, she smirked at him.

"Point Larusso. 1-0." She stated. Miguel laughed and nodded.

"Okay, if that's how you want to play it." Miguel murmured, and the fight restarted. This time Sam struck first, a swinging roundhouse that Miguel managed to catch in mid-air. From her, he used his leg to sweep her other one, catching her before she hit the ground and gently placing her on the mat. Flat on her back, Miguel lay on top of her and leaned in, kissing her until they had to break apart for hair. Then, as their faces were merely a few inches apart, he winked at her.

"Point Diaz. 1-1." He grinned. Sam giggled and nodded, and the two then got to their feet.

"Okay. 1-1. Next point wi-"

"Ow!" Miguel's voice interrupted Sam, and her head shot up to see her boyfriend clutching the top of his back, grimacing in pain.

"What's going on? Is it your back? Should I call someone?" Sam asked, extremely concerned. This was the first time she had seen him react like this.

"I'm fine." Miguel murmured, but his pained tone told otherwise. "The doctor said this might happen on occasion. I just need to walk it off."

But as soon as Miguel took a few steps, the shooting pains increased one-hundred fold, to the point where he could no longer stand, and he dropped to his knees in pain. Terrified, Sam hurried over to him and helped him sit down on the ground, before she ran over to the other side of the dojo where her dad had brought an icebox full of ice packs. He knew they'd be needing them with Johnny's training, and she counted her blessings that he had done that as she pulled an ice pack out and ran back over to Miguel, handing it to him.

"Here. Use this." She instructed. Miguel nodded and placed it on the ground directly behind him, before lying down on it so his back was pressed against it. He let out a small sigh of relief as the pain slowly began to dissipate slightly.

A long silence filled the air for the next few minutes, as Miguel could practically hear Sam's mind whirring. She was clearly deep in thought about something. After about 10 minutes, Miguel pulled the ice pack off him and slowly stood up.

"See? Good as new." He murmured, before taking a step towards the ice cooler and immediately having to limp because of the lingering pain. He forced himself though to walk all the way to the ice cooler, try to get moving again to try and ease the pain, and then he walked back over to Sam and sat back beside her. "Okay, maybe not new. New in about 48 hours."

Sam didn't say anything. Her face didn't give any indication that she had even heard him as she was so consumed by her thoughts.

"Hey, can you promise me something?" Sam suddenly said, breaking the silence. Miguel turned to her, confused.

"Promise you what?" Miguel asked, curious.

"Just promise first." Sam murmured. Miguel raised an eyebrow.

"Sam, I can't promise you anything if you don't even tell me what it is." Miguel said, before putting an arm around her. "What's going on?"

Sam took a deep breath and nodded.

"Okay, here it goes. Look, Miguel, I know you're training hard to try and get back in time for the tournament…"

"I'm going to get back in time for the tournament. There is no 'try' about it." Miguel stated. Sam sighed.

"Yeah, look, I get how much you want to compete. And if anyone can make it back in time, it's you. I've never met anyone before that has your resilience and ability to believe in yourself when all the chips are down. But it's just… I also remember what it was like when you were in a coma. I remember how much of a hell it was not knowing if today was the day you would wake up, or today was the day you would ultimately flat line."

"Sam…" Miguel murmured quietly, but Sam raised a hand to stop him.

"You know, people like Robby, people like Tory, they're not going to care about what you went through. They're going full-power no matter what. If anything, they're going to try and target that injury, target that weakness. They want you back in that coma."

"So… what? You want me to not compete in the tournament?" Miguel asked. Sam shook her head.

"Not necessarily. All I'm asking is that when you're training in the next few months, or when you're deciding whether to fight or not, please I beg you, don't let yourself go too far and end up wrecking your back. Because I don't want to lose you again."

Sam had looked down as she said this, her eyes refusing to make contact with Miguel's. She stared at her feet, waiting nervously for Miguel's reaction. Was he going to get angry? Upset? Say that she wasn't supporting him? Because she was asking him a hell of a lot, especially for someone that she had only just started dating again. Because at the end of the day, she didn't know how Miguel felt about her but she knew that she wanted to be with him for a long time. And she couldn't do that if he ended up wrecking his back and she ended up losing him forever.

Suddenly, Sam felt her hands fill with Miguel's, and her ocean eyes shot up to face Miguel's chocolate ones.

"I promise. You're never going to lose me, Sam…"

Tears rolled down Miguel's cheeks. He had always prided himself on being a man of his word, but he wasn't. You're never going to lose me, Sam. That's what he had told her. That's what he had promised her, sworn to her. But he had been wrong. He would end up breaking that promise when he stayed in Juarez. How was he supposed to face her now, look her in the same eyes he had looked her in when he had made that promise all those months ago? He was too weak, not man enough to go inside and face her. He had been through so much in the past 24 hours that he didn't think he'd be able to take another beating, verbal or physical.

"I'm so sorry, Sam." He whispered, his vision of her through the window being blurred as his tears blocked his eyes. He stood there, silently sobbing, for what seemed like an eternity, before slowly turning and walking away from the house, back down the driveway and into the waiting cab.

"Sir. Are you okay?" The cab driver asked him, concerned, as he saw Miguel's distraught face. Miguel, breathing shakily, shook his head.

"No. No, I'm not okay." He whispered.

"You want to talk about it? You know they say cab drivers are the new bartenders." He remarked. Miguel sighed.

"You know, not even a little bit. Could you just take me home, please?" Miguel said, his voice more tired and worn than ever before. The driver nodded, remembering the original address Miguel had given him, and he turned and continued driving down the road, towards his compound in Reseda.