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. Johnny is Miguel's stepfather but not his sensei.

CHAPTER 4

So that was exactly what they did. For the next couple of weeks, they did exactly what they said. They did everything they wanted to do together. They spent every waking minute together, relishing in the time they had before they knew they had to call it quits. But time was a real bitch, and soon, it was the night before Sam left for New York again. She was staying in a hotel room that the two of them had checked into earlier that week as the small, single mattress just wasn't cutting it for them anymore, and the two of them had agreed to end their relationship there. It was a relatively amicable split as they had both known it was coming, but both of them were still hurting inside. It had been the best 3 weeks of their lives. Being together was like nothing they had ever experienced with any of their exes.

"And that was it." Miguel said, as he finished telling his best friend and fellow SEAL Eli Moskowitz the story of their breakup. The two were in Eli's apartment, and they both sipped their beers as they talked. Although SEALs were forced to always have their brothers' backs in the field, due to all of the time they spent together in training and in missions, they often formed bonds like actual brothers and were there emotionally for each other like brothers. It was hard not to, given that they were constantly risking their lives for each other whenever they were on missions. They might be badass on the outside, but at least some of them at a softer core on the inside. Like a watermelon. Tough skin on the outside. Sweet on the inside.

Eli was Miguel's best friend in the world. The two had known each other for 8 years. They first met when they were in basic training together, and they both rose through the ranks side by side to go to where they were today, although Eli was one rank lower than Miguel.

"Man, I'm sorry. That sucks." Eli said.

"Yeah, I mean we both knew it was coming." Miguel said, taking a sip of beer.

"Look, I understand that you guys had to break up eventually but why today?" Eli asked.

"She's leaving tomorrow." Miguel stated.

"Yeah, but as of right now, she's still in town." Eli shot back. Miguel nodded.

"She is. But like…"

"Yeah! So you spend one more amazing day together!" Eli exclaimed. "Miguel, think about it this way. If you knew that you were going to lose your leg tomorrow, would you sit on the couch and cry about it? Or would you run and jump and do some awesome air kicks while you still can?!"

Miguel eventually nodded and smiled, taking out his phone.

"Awesome air kicks, here I come." He muttered, before dialling Sam's number…

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"So we can sit around and cry, or we can run and do awesome air kicks before our leg gets chopped off!" Miguel exclaimed, explaining his theory to Sam later that day. He had asked her to meet him at the bar where they first met, and she immediately sprinted over there when she got the call. Like him, she didn't want their relationship to end yet, and she listened eagerly to his idea.

"I've got a few questions." Sam stated once Miguel was done explaining. "First… so we're sharing the leg?"

"The leg's a metaphor." Miguel laughed. But Sam wasn't done yet.

"But how can the leg be well enough to do awesome air kicks one day, and yet still so sick that it needs to be chopped off the ne…"

Miguel cut her off by kissing her, and she instantly reciprocated it. When they pulled away, she sighed.

"I don't know, Miguel." She murmured. That kiss had just reminded her of how much she cared about him, and how much harder it would be for her to go home.

"Come on! We've had a good run! We need to go out in a blaze of glory!" Miguel exclaimed.

"Well, what would you want to do?" Sam asked.

"Well, what did we talk about doing these past few weeks but never get around to doing?"

"Ooh, go to the Shenandoah National Park at sunset." Sam said.

"Drive along the Skyline Drive." Miguel stated.

"See some monkeys at the zoo." Sam added.

"Go to that French-Vietnamese place we keep passing and say we want to try." Miguel added.

"Wow! We better get going!" Sam exclaimed, tugging him out the door.

And that's exactly what they did. The National Park. The Skyline Drive. The Zoo. The restaurant. Well, they did that in their minds. In reality, they just spent the whole day and night having sex in Sam's hotel room.

After their amazing final night together, the next morning, it was finally time for Sam to go. Miguel drove her to the airport that morning. Her flight was taking off from Virginia Airport in 2 hours, and it would have Sam home in New York in a couple of hours.

The two walked into the entrance of the airport together, and Sam turned to Miguel, who had been pretty quiet all morning.

"Well, I'm glad we got to spend the day doing awesome air kicks." Sam said, referring to Miguel's earlier metaphor. Miguel chuckled and nodded.

"Yeah, I was almost too tired from all the sex." He joked. She giggled and kissed him.

"I'm going to miss you so much." She murmured.

"Yeah, me too." Miguel replied.

"And hey, you know, if I'm ever in town or you're in New York and we're still single…"

"Even if we're not." Miguel joked, trying to undercut some of the awkwardness he was feeling. Sam laughed and nodded. She kissed him one more time before stepping back.

"Goodbye, Miguel." She murmured as she started to walk towards the Airport Check-In Desk.

"Goodbye, Sam." He whispered as he watched her walk out of sight, before leaving the airport…

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"So yeah. I'll probably never see him again but damn it it was a good 3 weeks." Sam told her childhood best friend and roommate Aisha Robinson the next morning as Sam woke up the next morning in their apartment in New York, still day-dreaming about the blissful 3 weeks she had just spent with the most amazing guy. "Anyways, that was my Christmas. How was yours?"

"It was pretty normal." Aisha replied. "My mom jabbering on and on about me hiring a security guard because she thinks if I live in New York, I'm gonna get mugged. My dad yelling at his TV during Boxing Day NFL action. Definitely not as eventful as yours by the sounds of it. You seem like you're really into this Miguel guy."

"I'm not going to lie. I was. He was really amazing." Sam said.

"Are you in love with him?" Aisha suddenly asked. Sam nearly dropped the box of cereal she was holding when she heard that word. She had never really been in love before. Even during a 2 year relationship with Robby, Sam didn't truly love him. He wasn't the person she wanted to spend her life with. But Miguel… Miguel could be.

"Aisha, we only knew each other for 3 weeks." Sam said.

"That's not an answer." Aisha replied. "Do you love him?"

A crimson flush reddened Sam's cheeks. She couldn't deny it anymore.

"Okay, I might have small feelings for him…" Sam stammered. Aisha's eyes widened when she noticed the unfamiliar, blushing expression on her friend's face.

"Oh, my God! You are so smitten!" Aisha exclaimed.

"Am not!" Sam shot back, unconvincingly.

"Yes, you are!" Aisha said. "Admit it! You love him!"

"Okay! Fine! I love him!" Sam snapped. Aisha's gleeful expression faded when she saw the pain in Sam's eyes. Although it had only been 3 weeks she spent with Miguel, their split had hit her harder than anyone could have expected. She was in a lot more pain than she originally let on. "It doesn't matter anyways. I live here and he lives anywhere in the world on a moment's notice."

"So try long distance." Aisha stated, bluntly. Sam shook her head.

"We briefly talked about that. We both said that long distance is nothing more than a method teenagers use to get laid before college. Long distance doesn't work for anyone."

"Sure. But from the sound of things, Miguel isn't any ordinary guy. And you definitely aren't any ordinary girl. If he cares about you as much as you clearly care about him, the two of you will make it work."

"So what do you want me to do? You want me to fly back to Virginia, knock on his door and tell him how I feel?" Sam snapped, sarcastically. Aisha nodded.

"Well… yeah." Aisha replied. Sam's jaw dropped.

"You really think that would work?" Sam asked, curious and more hopeful now. Aisha shrugged.

"Well, I don't know anything about Miguel so I can't give you a definite answer. But what I do know is that you'll never know if you don't try, and there's only one way to find out…"

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THUD! THUD! THUD!

Miguel viciously threw blow after blow after blow at the punching bag as he worked out in the gym that morning. Boxing was one of his best ways of relieving anger and sadness, and he was feeling both of those things. Why did Sam have to leave so soon? She was the most incredible woman in the world! Miguel hadn't felt that way about anyone before, and having it ripped away from him so quickly felt just cruel.

After spending hours beating the crap out of the punching bag and when his limbs no longer responded to his brain from exhaustion, he went home and took a shower. Just as he turned off the water, he heard footsteps coming from inside his apartment. Miguel's hair stood on his end and his body tensed up in fear. He grabbed the first weapon he could find, wrapped a towel around his waist and tiptoed out of the bathroom. As he turned a corner into the living room, he saw it was just Eli, and he relaxed. Eli chuckled when he saw Miguel.

"Ah! Please don't… plunge me to death." Eli remarked. Miguel looked at his left hand and he realised that the 'weapon' he had taken from the bathroom was just his toilet plunger. He blushed.

"Shut up." Miguel muttered. He quickly ran into the bathroom, changed into some clothes, and walked out to meet his friend. Eli was staring at the back wall of Miguel's apartment when he walked out, because in the center of the wall was a massive hole.

"Jeez, what happened here?" Eli laughed, pointing at the hole in the wall. Miguel scowled.

"I don't know. You know, the wall and I's families are in feuding gangs. The wall killed my father so I needed to get my revenge." Miguel snapped, sarcastically.

"Dude, are you good?" Eli asked, concerned. Miguel sighed.

"Fine." Miguel snapped.

"It's that chick, isn't it?" Eli remarked. "Sam, right? She's the reason you've got your panties in such a twist."

Miguel sighed, his anger dissipating.

"Whatever. I really don't want to talk about it." Miguel muttered. Eli chuckled.

"Wow. I'd LOVE to meet the girl who got Ice Pack to lose his chill." He remarked. Miguel rolled his eyes. Ice Pack was his nickname in his platoon due to his extremely calm, cool composure under fire, but none of that was evident at that moment.

"Look, it's nothing. Okay. Just drop it." Miguel snapped. Eli shook his head.

"No! I'm not dropping it! Because if this chick messes with your head and it causes you fuck up in the field, it's both our asses that are getting blown up." Eli stated. Miguel sighed and nodded. He knew that Eli was right. One mistake in the field could easily cause them to get killed.

"Okay. Fine. What do you want to talk about?" Miguel snapped.

"Well, do you love this chick?" Eli asked. Miguel shrugged.

"I don't know." He murmured. "We only dated for 3 weeks."

"So? It's scientifically proven that chicks know if they love someone within 8 minutes of knowing them. You got 3 weeks with this chick, who seems way out of your league. What does that tell you?" Eli remarked. Miguel looked at him, slightly entertained.

"You do realise that's not true at all, let alone factually proven." Miguel replied.

"You have no proof." Eli grinned. "Anyways, here's what you do. You get your ass onto the next plane to New York. You go talk to her. If she feels like you do, you got yourself a girlfriend. Worse case scenario, if it was just a fling for her, you get some closure AND you get another weekend of great sex."

Miguel rolled his eyes. Eli always gave him the most blunt advice in the world. He didn't sugarcoat for anyone. That was exactly why he was one of Miguel's best friends in the world.

"Think about it. But not too much." Eli said, before walking out of the apartment. Miguel sat on the sofa, his previous anger forgotten, as he thought deeply about what Eli had just told him. Despite everything, Eli was right. He needed to go to New York and see Sam! Even if she didn't want to have a relationship with him, at least he'd get closure and his mind wouldn't be a mess when he was back in the field. Miguel stood up, grabbed a bag, and he headed out the door. However, he didn't make it two feet. In his rush, he didn't notice someone standing in the doorway, and he clattered right into them. As the two stumbled backwards and faced each other. Miguel's eyes widened when he realised who it was… it was none other than Sam!

"Um… Sam… I… Uh… What are you doing here?" Miguel stammered. Sam looked at him and she took a deep breath.

"Miguel, I need to tell you something." She said, holding herself together when in reality, she was a bundle of nerves and her mind was all over the place. "These past 3 weeks we spent together… they were 3 of the best weeks of my life. You're like no one I've ever met before. I know it's really, really soon to be saying this but, I… I think I love you."

There was a short silence as Miguel took in what Sam had just said, but the silence to Sam had lasted an eternity. She was about to turn on her heel and sprint away when she felt Miguel take her hands in his and look into her ocean-blue eyes.

"Well, that's good because I think I love you too." He replied. Sam beamed at him, relieved, and she kissed him passionately.

"I know it never works for anyone, but do you… do you want to try long distance?" Sam asked, nervously.

"Are you sure? Because my job…" Miguel said, unsure. Sam smiled at him her typical infectious smile and Miguel couldn't help but smile faintly back.

"Miguel, trust me, I could get 1 one-line message from you a week, and that would be better for me than going out on a date everyday with another guy." Sam said. Miguel grinned wider now, wrapping his arms around her waist.

"All right, let's do it! We can beat the odds!" Miguel exclaimed.

"Odds, shmodds!" Sam remarked.

"It's gonna work. We're gonna make it work! It'll work!" Miguel stated, kissing her again. "I love you."

"I love you too…"

Next chapter is the start of a bit more action in the story I promise. So far, things have just been setting the scene, but with Miguel in the military, I can have a lot more action when he gets back from vacation