CHAPTER 2

I'm really sorry I wasn't specific before. In this story's universe, the events of the Karate Kid DID happen, but the events of Cobra Kai DID NOT. Miguel and Sam's generation graduated from high school without the karate war that is happening on the real show.

"I want you to know I don't normally go home with guys I've met in bars." Sam said as her and Miguel walked up the stairs and towards Miguel's apartment.

"Oh, good. That makes two of us." Miguel joked. Sam giggled as Miguel unlocked the door and swung open the door. When they walked in, Sam looked around, surprised. The apartment was extremely empty. It was a studio apartment, and other than a small TV, a couch, a kitchen table and a basic kitchen, there wasn't much more than that. There were no photographs, no certificates on the wall other than a small SEAL trident.

"Wow, this is um… sparse." Sam remarked as Miguel took her coat and hung it on the coat rack.

"Yeah, you know, I've only been here for about a year, a year and a half, so…" Miguel replied as he walked over to a cupboard.

Sam then saw a tiny mattress in the corner of the apartment. No sheets, no duvet, just a plain mattress and a pillow. As Miguel made up the couch for her, putting a sheet, blanket and pillow on it, she pointed to his mattress.

"That can't be comfortable for you." Sam remarked. "You ever consider getting an actual bed? It would do wonders for your back."

"Nuh-uh. All the monsters hide under the bed." He joked. "Besides, it's better than a standard issue cot."

"Right. You're a SEAL?" She asked, pointing to the small trident insignia on the wall. Miguel looked at her and nodded.

"Yeah. Yeah, I am." He said, proudly. He never told anyone that he was a SEAL - it would seem like kind of a brag or a flex as many considered SEALs to be some of the most badass men in the world and he didn't want it to come off that way - but if some asked him, he would answer honestly. A common misconception about SEALs was that they had to keep their occupation secret. They didn't, but they weren't about to kiss and tell what they do to everyone around them.

"Wow. That's amazing. I heard it takes a lot of hard work to become a SEAL." Sam remarked. Miguel shook his head.

"Not really. You're a child psychologist, right?"

"Yeah. Why?" Sam asked.

"Well you must've spent years and years of your life in college getting an undergrad and a graduate degree. Way longer than the time I spent training to become a SEAL."

"Yeah, but like it must be really physically tiring. It can't be easy." Sam said. Miguel shrugged.

"Eh. You know what they say? If you love what you do, you don't work a day in your life." He stated. Sam was slightly taken aback. Her whole life, whenever she had heard of Navy SEALs, she had always made them out to be guys who trained extremely hard, but then more than reaped the rewards of it when they would brag about it to try and pick up girls. Miguel didn't seem that way though. Being a child psychologist, Sam was excellent at reading people and from Miguel's tone and body language, she could tell that he was proud of being a SEAL, but he wasn't proud because it gave him the opportunity to brag about something. He was proud because being a SEAL was who he was. It was a part of his identity. And he had nothing to prove to anyone.

Sam glanced over at Miguel's shelf in the corner of the living room. On the shelf was the only personal artifacts he had evident in his place: a picture of him and two adults, presumably his parents. Next to the picture, was a tiny Christmas tree - no taller than 1 foot tall - and it was plugged into a socket on the wall but not turned on.

"That is one very, very small tree." Sam remarked as she pointed at it. Miguel chuckled.

"Oh, yeah, they-they gave those to us at work." He replied. Sam walked over to the switch and turned the tree on so it lit up green and red. She smiled widely at him.

"Here. Brightens up the place." She said. Miguel nodded.

"Yeah. Yeah, it does." He replied, not looking at the tree, but looking at Sam's radiant expression. Her smile was indescribable. It was like nothing he had ever seen before. Sam then walked over to the couch that Miguel had made up for her, and she sat down on it.

"Couch is comfy. It's a little rough around the edges, but… I see some potential." She said, not really talking about the couch but talking about its owner. Miguel understood the double-meaning and he smiled faintly.

"Yeah?" He asked. Sam nodded.

"Yeah…"

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The next morning, Sam woke up at around 9 am to an empty apartment. She yawned and slowly opened her eyes and stretched. Despite sleeping on a couch, she had had an absolutely amazing sleep. It took her several moments to remember everything that happened the night before, and she couldn't help but smile when the memories came back to her. She had met the most amazing guy the night before, but wait… where was Miguel? His mattress in the corner of the room was empty and because it was a studio apartment, she knew that he was nowhere in the apartment.

Just as she was starting to get slightly worried, Miguel walked into the apartment, and when he noticed she was awake, he smiled and walked over to her.

"Good morning!" He exclaimed. "Merry Christmas!"

"Merry Christmas." Sam smiled as she rolled off the couch. "Where have you been?"

"Gym." Miguel replied. "I wake up at 4 in the morning and I get my workout done early."

"4?" Sam groaned. "That's crazy!"

"Well, it's not as bad as during SEAL training. Back then, we had to wake up at 3:30." Miguel stated.

"Jesus! You couldn't pay me to wake up before 7! I don't know how you wake up at 4!" Sam exclaimed.

"I mean it's just my normal morning routine. I've been in the military for 8 years. It's become normal for me." Miguel said.

"Well, you do you!" Sam laughed. "Is it okay if I use your shower real quick?"

"Yeah, go ahead. There's a fresh set of towels in the bathroom cupboard." Miguel said. Sam thanked him and walked into the bathroom. She took a quick shower before emerging and walking into the kitchen, where Miguel was sitting at the table. He handed her a cup of coffee, which she accepted gratefully, and she smiled at him. She had smiled A LOT in the past 12 hours. More than she had in the past month.

"Hey, in case I haven't said it yet, thank you so much for having me here last night." Sam said, for possibly the thousandth time.

"You have said it. About a million times already. And it's no problem at all. You were an amazing houseguest." Miguel replied. "Now, I'm starving. Let's go get a bite to eat, huh?"

Sam nodded.

"Sounds great. Where should we go? I'm not from here so I don't know any restaurants in the area." She asked. Miguel smiled.

"I might know a place…"

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Half an hour later, Sam took their seats in an extremely grubby diner. As someone who grew up in a pretty rich household her whole life, she hadn't really gone to cheap restaurants like these before, and she normally felt a bit uncomfortable in places like these. However, with Miguel, she felt completely safe. He had a presence to him that not only made her feel safe, but he also had a calming aura around him.

"Oh, hey Miguel! Merry Christmas!" The waiter exclaimed as she came over to take their order. Miguel smiled at her.

"Hey, Sally! How's it going?" He asked, cheerfully.

"Well, I'm working on Christmas day. How do you think it's going?" She grumbled. She then noticed Sam for the first time and turned to Miguel. "Wow, Miguel! Nice catch! And here we were thinking you were gay because we NEVER see you with a girlfriend."

Miguel rolled his eyes and turned to Sam.

"Sam, this is a friend of mine, Sally Higgins. Sally, this is Sam. She is not my girlfriend, thank you very much." Miguel stated. Sally nodded.

"Yeah, that sounds about right! She's waaaaaaaay too hot to be your girlfriend. Like waaaaaaaaaaaay..."

"Okay, I get it!" Miguel laughed. "Could we please order now?"

Sally nodded.

"Sure. What would you two like?"

The two ordered food shortly after, and when Sally was gone, Sam turned to Miguel.

"I'm guessing you two know each other pretty well?" She remarked. Miguel chuckled and nodded.

"Yeah, I've been coming here every day I've been off-duty for nearly 8 years now." Miguel stated. "I know pretty much everyone in this diner."

"What? All 2 other people who are sad enough to be spending Christmas Day in a diner?" She asked. Miguel laughed.

"Damn right." He replied.

"So, Miguel, anyone special in your life? Girlfriend? Wife?" She asked, casually, but intrigued to hear the answer. Miguel laughed and shook his head.

"Nah, I wish. When you do what I do for a living, dating is really the last thing in the world you think about." Miguel replied. Sam was happy yet crestfallen at this. On one hand, she was ecstatic that Miguel wasn't seeing anyone, but she was slightly disappointed when he brushed off dating life so quickly.

"What about you? Who's the lucky guy back in the Big Apple?" Miguel asked. Sam chuckled.

"Well, for me, the lucky guy is the takeout menu and the TV. Between my job and hanging with my friends, the time that I get to myself I just want to chill."

"Right. I mean you probably have the only job more stressful than mine… trying to get kids to open up." Miguel joked. Sam giggled and nodded. The two of them had an amazing Christmas day breakfast together (Miguel got an enormous stack of pancakes and Sam got a similar sized portion of Waffles), and at the end of the meal, when the cheque came, Miguel reached for it to pay, but Sam held it back.

"What, do you really think I'm going to let you pay for my meal?" Sam asked. Miguel chuckled.

"Why not? Feminism?" He asked. Sam nodded.

"Yeah! Something like that." She responded. Miguel shrugged.

"Well I thought the whole point of feminism was that women were supposed to be able to do whatever they want." Miguel remarked.

"Yeah, it is." Sam said.

"So if I'm offering to pay for your meal, no strings attached, my gender shouldn't matter. Isn't it just the smart thing to do to accept it?" He asked, coolly.

"Well, um…" Sam was speechless. Miguel had a point. He was a lot smarter than he let on. She stammered to form an answer but luckily, her phone rang with her dad calling at that very moment. "Look, as much as I'd like to debate the concept of feminism, because I really never, ever get tired of listening to good-looking, 20 something year old, middle-class guys debating the finer points of intersectional gender theory, my dad's calling me so I need to get this."

"Hey, you're the one who decided to get political." Miguel remarked as Sam stood up and began to walk away to answer the phone. He then realised that she hadn't paid her part of the cheque yet. "Hey, wait, wait, I thought you weren't going to let me buy your meal for you!" He called as she began to walk away. She slowly turned back around and grinned widely at him.

"Did I say that? Yeah, I haven't bought my own meal since I was 16. I consider it reparations for my gender." She laughed, before picking up the phone. "Hey, dad."

"Hey, sweetie!" Daniel exclaimed. "Merry Christmas!"

"Merry Christmas, dad." Sam replied. "How's your morning been?"

"Well, it might be 11 in Virginia but it's only 8 here. We're only just waking up. Your brother wants to open his presents right now so we don't have long to talk!"

Sam laughed. Her brother Anthony was 18 years old but he had grown up into a pretty entitled guy so it was just him to want to open presents immediately, despite the fact that he was legally an adult.

"That sounds about right." She remarked. "So how's everything else?"

"It's pretty good. I managed to book you on a ticket on this afternoon's flight home. It's in 4 hours and it'll have you in L.A by 8 pm."

Sam looked back at Miguel, who was chatting with Sally, and she took a deep breath.

"Actually, dad, you know what? I'm really sorry but I don't think I'm going to come home for Christmas this year." She said.

"You're… you're not?" Daniel stammered.

"Nah, I'm spending it with someone else." Sam said, smiling as she looked at Miguel.

"You got a boyfriend or something?" Daniel asked, getting slightly upset. His baby girl wasn't coming home for Christmas for the first time ever!

"Maybe something." Sam murmured. "Merry Christmas, dad."

Sam hung up her phone and walked back to Miguel. He smiled at her when she sat down.

"Hey! Did your dad manage to get you on a flight?" Miguel asked. Sam shook her head.

"No. Unfortunately, it was fully booked." She lied. "Would it be okay if I stayed with you a little while longer? I know we just met yesterday so feel no pressure to say yes. I'd be happy to book into a hotel for…"

"No!" Miguel exclaimed, a little too quietly. Slightly flustered and blushing, he shook his head. "I mean no, don't book into a hotel. I've got the next 3 weeks off work and you're an awesome guest. I'd love to have you!"