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 7

The show must go on

The show must go on, yeah

Inside my heart is breaking

My makeup may be flaking

But my smile, still, stays on

The next morning, Miguel was going on a jog around the Naval Base in Djibouti. The Queen song 'The Show Must Go On' blared through his earphones at maximum volume. Miguel ran in time to the beat of the song, his legs forced to speed up as the song was a fast one. Around an hour into his run, Miguel slowed to a halt right beside the mess hall as he saw Lieutenant Anderson waving him over. His Lieutenant had landed in Africa the night before and Miguel didn't know that he was there. As Miguel walked over to him, he also noticed a man standing beside him.

"Congratulations on another successful mission, Diaz." Lieutenant Anderson said to Miguel as Miguel saluted him out of respect.

"Thank you, sir." Miguel replied.

"Diaz, I'd like to introduce you to Rear Admiral Jankowski." Lieutenant Anderson said. Miguel's eyes widened when he heard the man's rank. A Real Admiral was 3 ranks above the Lieutenant, so the man was clearly very high-up in the Navy.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Rear Admiral." Miguel said, saluting him. Jankowski nodded.

"The pleasure's all mine. Your reputation precedes you, Diaz." Jankowski replied.

"I'm flattered, Rear Admiral. Can I help you with something?" Miguel asked, politely.

"Rear Admiral Jankowski is a very prominent figure in the counter-terrorism program we have going on in Afghanistan."

"Wow, that's awesome." Miguel said. "But I'm still slightly unsure about how this involves me."

"Well, Chief Petty Officer Diaz, I'd like you to come aboard with us. A year of you based in Afghanistan, and working from the Kandahar base."

Miguel's jaw dropped. Miguel had been on missions of various lengths all around the world before, but his home base had always been in Virginia. And now he was being asked to move to Afghanistan?! How was he going to explain this to Sam?! SAM! He couldn't do this to her! Dating a SEAL was hard enough, but someone who permanently lived half a world away would be impossible!

Miguel shook his head.

"I really appreciate the offer, sir, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to decline." Miguel said. "I don't think I could be away from home for a whole year continuously."

"This is because of your new girlfriend, isn't it?" Jancowski asked. "Well, we are prepared to offer you three years of being stationed at home and only travelling for short-term missions if you complete this one year in Afghanistan."

Miguel furrowed his eyebrow in confusion.

"How the hell do you know about my gir… Eli." Miguel growled. He remembered that conversation him and Eli had had right before they deployed to Somalia, and how Eli had mentioned that Miguel had a new girlfriend. That's exactly what the military did. They find things you care about and use them to manipulate you to do their bidding.

"In case you're wondering, Mr. Moskowitz received the same offer last night and he's already accepted it. So, are you in?"

Miguel thought it over for several moments, before reluctantly nodding.

"Okay. I'm in…"

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Sam paced around her apartment nervously three days later. It had been nearly 72 hours and she hadn't heard a thing from Miguel. It was her day off from work, so she had been on her phone all night and all day waiting for a message from Miguel to let her know that he was safe. Although they had only been dating a month, she felt tethered to him in a way she didn't understand. She loved him so much, and that resulted in a LOT of worry.

Aisha and Moon, her two best friends, were sitting on the couch and turned to her.

"Sam, sit down and watch some TV with us!" Moon exclaimed. Sam shook her head.

"Nah, sorry. I'm just…"

"Literally sitting by the phone, waiting for a call for Miguel, which could potentially not be for days." Aisha stated. Sam sighed.

"Look, Sam, it's nice that you're worried about him, but you're not helping anyone by sitting by the phone." Moon said. Moon had grown up and smartened up a lot since high school. Although she wasn't a psychologist like Sam, she used her kindness and excellent people skills to be an amazing public school kindergarten teacher. "Just sit down and watch some TV. When he calls, you'll hear the phone ring."

Sam eventually nodded and sat on the couch next to them. Moon threw her blanket over the both of them.

"So, what are we watching?" Sam asked Moon.

"Stranger Things." Moon replied.

"Yes, you are." Sam remarked. "But seriously, what are we watching?"

"No, the show is called Stranger Things." Aisha laughed. Sam's face made an O in realisation, and she settled deeper into the sofa. The group sat, stuffing their faces with popcorn and watching the suspense show for several hours. Then, at around 2 pm, Sam's phone rang. Because the girls were previously engrossed in the horror show, they all screamed in shock and surprise as the phone rang. Sam's eyes widened when she realised… it could be Miguel! She looked at the Caller I.D and saw that it was in fact Miguel.

"Guys, I gotta take this." Sam said, before running out the room and answering the phone. She was extremely nervous as she clicked accept call on Facetime. For all she knew, Miguel's legs could be blown off. But she relaxed considerably when she saw Miguel smiling at her. She beamed back.

"Hey, Sam." Miguel smiled.

"Miguel! How are you?! Are you okay?! Are you hurt?! Are you in the States?! Is your mission over?!" Sam showered Miguel with a barrage of questions, and Miguel only waited until she stopped talking before answering.

"Um… I'm good. My mission is over. I'm not injured, but really shaken up."

"Are you okay? Did something happen?" Sam asked, concerned. Miguel read between the lines and knew what she was asking. She was asking if any of his men died during the mission. Miguel shook his head.

"Nah, everything's okay. I was about 5.73 seconds from having my ass blown sky-high though." Miguel slipped out before he could stop himself. He noticed Sam's eyes widen and her hand clasp over her mouth in horror, and Miguel stammered to correct his mistake. "I'm mean, I'm fine. None of my team got injured so everything's good."

Sam took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She knew how difficult this relationship would be going in, but hearing first-hand that the person she loved was putting himself in harm's way was a whole new level of hard.

"Well, is there any way you and your ass can make it out to New York anytime soon?" Sam asked hopefully. Miguel's facial expression immediately answered her question and she looked at him, crestfallen. Something was seriously wrong. Miguel looked miserable. "What's wrong?" She asked him. Miguel took a deep breath.

"Well, due to my good service record for the past 8 years, I've been granted three years of being stationed at home and only travelling away for short term missions." Miguel said. Sam's heart soared. Miguel would be home for three years! Her face quickly dropped though. That was great news, but Miguel didn't look happy.

"What's the catch?" She asked, reading his mind. Miguel sighed.

"As you've probably seen in the news, over the decade or so, ever since 9/11, tension has been rising in Afghanistan as terrorist groups have increased."

"Yeah, I know. I just read an article about that in the news. What does that have to do with anything?" Sam asked, her heart pounding.

"Well, right now, I'm in Djibouti Naval Base because it's pretty close to where my latest mission just was. I'm being flown to Kandahar, Afghanistan tomorrow morning for a longer deployment there." Miguel said. Sam slowly started to see where Miguel was going, and her heart raced in fear and anxiety.

"How long are you going to be there for?" She asked.

"Sam, I… um… to earn my three years stateside, they want me stationed there, in Afghanistan, for a year…"

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"A YEAR?!" Sam cried. "There's gotta be some kind of mistake!"

Miguel shook his head.

"I really wish it was. This is the reason why more than 90% of SEAL marriages end in divorce, let alone unmarried boyfriend-girlfriend relationships. I go where they want me, no questions asked. I completely understand if you want to break up. I mean, I'm not about to ask you to wait a year, having only dated you for a month and a half."

Sam looked at him for several moments. Tears had filled her eyes, but they quickly vanished moments later and were replaced by an expression of deep thought.

"Well, what does this one year deployment entail?" She asked slowly. "Are you being completely frozen out from society? Like do you get a phone, or are you completely isolating?"

"Oh, no, no! I 100% get a phone! I get a couple of days off too just like any other job. The only thing that has changed is that I'm going to be living abroad for a year permanently and I'm going to be at the government's constant beck and call for any missions that come up." Miguel replied. "But Sam, I'm not going to make you wait. We've only been dating for less than two months!"

Sam slowly nodded.

"True. We've only been dating for two months. But the past two months with you has been better than the two year relationship I had with my ex. I never knew how much I could love someone until I met you. Even though we live a world apart, you make me feel so cared for and loved. I'd be really stupid to give all that up."

"Look, Sam, that's really sweet of you to say, but trust me, I've seen how toxic relationships have gotten for the guys around me. It's not as easy as you think."

"Oh, trust me. I don't think it's gonna be easy at all." Sam stated. "I already know I'm going to spend many nights crying into my pillow, cursing God and asking why you aren't there. Going to sleep to an empty bed. Waking up alone. Spending birthdays, Thanksgiving and other holidays alone when everyone I know is spending it with their significant other… it's all gonna suck. But you know what that is?"

"Hell. You're literally describing hell." Miguel remarked. Sam rolled her eyes.

"No, dummy! The fact that despite all of that, I'm always going to care about you just shows how much I love you. This isn't just a two month relationship for me, Miguel. This could be it for me. I want to spend my life with you. I love you more than I could've imagined. I want to have kids with you. Grandkids with you. Grow old with you. And you know the best part?"

"What?" Miguel asked, confused. This was NOT how he was expecting the conversation to go.

"The best part is I'm saying all of this to you and unlike 99% of guys in this world, you haven't freaked out and hung the phone up on me." Sam finished. Miguel chuckled and ran a hand through his hair.

"No. No, I haven't because I feel the exact same way." Miguel replied. "But I don't want to put you through all the shit that comes with dating someone who's in the military abroad. Like for example, what if the internet cuts off in our military base and doesn't come back on for several weeks? For all you'll know, it could be that my base has been attacked and I'm dead. And having to deal with that for a whole year…"

"Woooooow, Miguel. It's almost like you don't want to date me anymore!" Sam exclaimed. Miguel shook his head.

"Just laying out all the cards on the table." Miguel said. Sam nodded.

"I know. But I still want to be with you. There's practically nothing you could do that would make me not want to be with you."

Miguel still looked slightly unsure. Not that he didn't want to date her. He REALLLLLLLLY did. But seeing every SEAL around him's relationships blow up made him cautious. He didn't want a messy breakup as he didn't want to hurt Sam, and he couldn't afford to get distracted in the field.

"Sam, I've seen like a million of my friends' relationships crash and burn because of the job." Miguel murmured.

"So let's be that one couple that doesn't." She smiled. Miguel couldn't help but smile back.

"All right! If you're sure…" Miguel said.

"We can totally beat the odds!" Sam exclaimed. Miguel nodded.

"Damn right, we can…"

So basically, the next chapter jumps to a year later. I know that I'm skipping a massive amount of time, but trust me, a lot of what happens in that time comes back as flashbacks later in the story. I don't want to spoil the story so all I can say is that although it looks like a massive time jump (which it is), you won't be completely left in the dark as to what happened in that time.

I got a couple of questions asking whether the story is based solely around Miguel, or around both Miguel and Sam. Unlike the other stories I've written, this one, when they are apart, is based around both of their respective perspectives.

One more thing, I know the story sounds overly cheerful right now. Trust me, a LOT of drama and action ensues in both Miguel's job, as well as his relationship with Sam