Disclaimer: I blame marathons of Karate Kid movies on TV for making me writing fanfic of it, haha.
Story: Terry thinks and talks about the re-entrance of John Kreese into his life with his wife. Danielle LaRusso was just sick of it all and never wanted anything to do with Cobra Kai ever again. They were at a sort of crossroads now and have to navigate what it'll mean for them and the future.
Set as a genderbent AU of the Karate Kid movies/Cobra Kai (set during season 4).
Spoilers: Yeeeessss. Yes, yes, yes. Especially Cobra Kai, season 4.
Warnings: Age difference, violence and language …
Pairings: Terry Silver/Fem!Daniel

Let Sleeping Dogs Lie

"I'm not saying anything."

"You don't need to," Terry muttered.

But his wife wasn't looking at him and kept stirring the sauce. He winced and felt his age then.

"You're upset."

She sighed and turned off the stove, turning to face him finally. She looked weary and resigned.

"I'm not going to tell you what to do, Terry," she told him gently. "I know Kreese is your friend and you two went through a lot together. But I'm not involving myself in this. Not again."

Terry watched his wife lean against the counter and stare back tiredly at him. After everything they've been through, he was still surprised that Danielle had agreed to give him a second chance and even eventually agreed to marry him. But now John had come back into his life and was threatening to ruin everything he'd rebuilt since that stupid mess years ago.

"Dany," he said softly, walking over to her and gripping her hands. "I'm not about to go join John in his fight against his former student."

She laughed but there was no humor in it. "I don't honestly want anything to do with either of them. There's…just a lot of history to unpack. Honestly, I'm just glad Cheyenne was here to face him," she admitted, though at least smiled a little. "It was a little funny to see Kreese's face when she offered him one of the tofu skewers and when Jack talked about his jawline. Though I'm also thankful that she agreed to pretend to be your partner without asking questions…"

Terry smiled and pulled her into him, embracing her. "We're fine. I'll finish up here and join you back at our home."

It was about time he settled back at home. He'd been traveling so much for the past year and a half that he'd missed a lot apparently, and now this whole thing with John and even Cobra Kai had popped up. Danielle hadn't let him know what was going on (though their daughter was the one in the main heat of it all, given that Danielle wasn't involving herself except to help out Sam and continue teaching her Miyagi-Do).

He frowned though. "I may not be Sam's real father, but…I wished she'd talked to me about all this when it first started. I had been Cobra Kai too, after all, and I could have talked to her about it."

Danielle patted his arm, pulling away. "She didn't want to talk about it at all, even with me. Now it's evolved to the point where Johnny's student and our daughter went to the hospital and Cobra Kai is breaking into our home, and –"

"W-wait, wait, wait," Terry stopped her, feeling his nerves alight even more than they had from the moment he saw John again. "What's all this? I didn't hear anything about all this?"

Danielle gave him a sheepish look. "You were busy working and traveling; you'd only just came back this week and I hadn't wanted to distract you with issues on the home front." Then she grimaced. "And I admit…I didn't…I didn't want to bring up Cobra Kai and then Kreese up to you again," she became slightly cagey and a haunted look entered her eyes, one that made him flinch. "I didn't want to bring back things that should be better left alone."

"I understand," he murmured, knowing that their past was playing up between them. Danielle's face softened, even as she looked away from him tiredly.

"Terry, if you want to work with Kreese and do this, I'm not going to stop you," she said suddenly, voice firm. He watched her closely. "I know you miss it, the whole karate and teaching it. You might even miss him. So…if you're going to go help him, go help him."

Terry stared at her, torn about it and feeling conflicted inside. Goddamn, he missed karate and the feeling of power and adrenaline he'd gotten from it. Maybe not the rush of coke junking him up at the same time, but he remembered the feeling of being on top of things and kicking ass. And his dream, his and John's, of having a dojo (and branching out and spreading Cobra Kai's glory) had been the only real thing he'd ever really wanted to do, really wanted in life…up until he met Danielle and then realized she was the one he wanted.

"Only to teach," he muttered. "I just want to bring Cobra Kai back to what it was…to how it should have been from the beginning. Focusing all that emotion, the anger and energy, and channeling it, controlling it…that's how it should've been. The real message in Cobra Kai's teachings just got lost somewhere along the way…"

And remembering his time with Danielle when he'd taught her, he'd most definitely realized that after he grasped how fucked up he'd been and how he messed that one up. After that tournament, he'd had a lot of time to ruminate and think about things, and he had to confront himself with the fact that he had fucked up majorly and also that he was fucked up. Rehab had been hell after that, as well as having to carry his business and name through scandal and tanking stocks.

And then he'd come back to Danielle nigh a year and a half after he'd come into her life like a bulldozer, quietly asking for forgiveness, if not a second chance. She'd screamed, she'd cried, she'd hit him…and he stood there and took it, until she calmed down and told him with red eyes and tear tracks down her face that she missed him.

Then he'd broken down and admitted how much he missed her too.

They weren't together after. No, no matter how much he'd wished it, how much he'd wanted it to be then –that's not how it worked out. They were friends. Well, they had to work their way back to being friends and overcoming what had happened…But finally they were and Terry told himself to be content with that.

But then Danielle started dating and inwardly it stewed and grabbed hold of the caged animal still roaring inside of him, that he'd had to quiet every time. He bid his time –cobras didn't always strike first, contrary to the dojo's motto. So she dated, broke up, and the cycle repeated and he was still there as always. Then Danielle got pregnant and Terry didn't leave, even though Samantha's father was a dumbass bastard with no guts and had left as soon as the news was given (he'd found him and beat his ass until he was sorry he'd ever come around Danielle). He supported Danielle through everything and finally won her back.

Now it was threatening to tip over and break into a million pieces, depending on his choices.

Terry took Danielle's face in his hands and smiled slightly, hiding the edge of darkness that he knew was still there, buried deep inside and what she'd once known and had experienced once upon a time. He kissed her lightly and looked her in the eye.

"I'll come home soon. I'll be there to be by your side. I'll talk to Samantha and help her through this. And I promise…if it gets too much with John, I'll make sure things are done."

Danielle still gave him a small smile and her eyes weren't as bright as he'd grown used to seeing, but he wasn't making empty promises.

Cobras shed skin and perhaps it was time to shed a weakness he'd long kept –he'd paid his debts over and over and there was only one debt he would forever owe and one weakness he'd allow.

That was his wife; Danielle who he almost lost once already.

John should have let sleeping dogs lie.

Started 12/31/21 – Completed 1/2/21

A/n: Soo…wow, am I ecstatic to find more Terry/Daniel fics! When I first entered into the fandom years ago, it was practically dead and there was no fics for Terry, much less for this pairing. Super, super glad that that's changed now and I've got lots of fics to enjoy ;-;

And yes, I may or may not have written this as I was binging the new season of Cobra Kai on New Year's Eve and hadn't even watched to the end XD That might mean I was writing while watching the episodes…