Disclaimer: I do not own Karate Kid or Cobra Kai. I only own my OCS. Anything you may recognize belongs to its original creators and owners.
Jack felt too excited to sleep. He had been trying so hard to fall asleep the last hour, but with no luck. It was Christmas Eve and his mother had just tucked him in after allowing him to stay up a little later. He knew he had to go to sleep so Santa could visit, but the five-year-old couldn't manage to sleep.
After a while, Jack got out of bed and went to the door of his bedroom, grabbing the doorknob and twisting it as slowly as he could so it wouldn't make a sound as he opened it. He knew he was supposed to stay in his room until morning, but it seemed so far away, and he knew it was possible that Santa came already. He didn't see the harm in a little peak.
He tip-toed his way down the stairs and into the family room. He hid behind the couch when he noticed his mother was down there, putting a few gifts under the tree.
"What are you doing here?" Jack heard his mother say. He didn't dare move; in case it wasn't about him. "Jack, I know you're down here," She came around and found her son crouched down behind the couch.
"How did you…?" Jack asked. He couldn't believe his mother heard him. "I was quiet,"
"It's a mom superpower," She answered.
"Why couldn't you get a cool one?" Jack pouted. "Like flying?"
"Not sure about that one," Julie laughed slightly. "And you know what I'm also not sure of? Why you're down here when I put you to bed an hour ago?"
"I couldn't sleep…"
"Santa's not going to be able to come if you're not asleep,"
"He hasn't come yet?" Jack noticed the plate of cookies on the table. That meant he hadn't come yet and there was still time.
"Not yet," Julie shook her head. "But if you get back upstairs and go to sleep, there's still time for him to come,"
"But I tried really hard…" Jack frowned. "I can't,"
"Well, I might know something that might help," Julie offered her hand. "Come on,"
Jack took his mother's hand and followed her into the kitchen. She got out some milk and then started to heat it up.
"Is there enough for Santa?"
"I'm sure he doesn't mind sharing a little," Julie poured the milk into a cup for Jack and then took him to sit down in the family room where the Christmas tree was. She grabbed a blanket and wrapped it around Jack as took a few sips of the milk.
"How is this gonna make me sleep?" Jack didn't get it. Milk never made him sleepy as far as he could remember.
"Just give it a few minutes," Julie said. "My mom would always make this for me when I had trouble sleeping and somehow, it always seemed to work," She then placed a small, wrapped gift on Jack's lap. "We also had a tradition of opening one gift on Christmas Eve," Julie looked at the clock and it was a minute away from being midnight. "Maybe it's time we carry on that tradition,"
"I can open this now?" Jack asked as he set the milk down.
Julie nodded. "If you want to,"
Jack didn't hesitate to pull the wrapping paper off and then opened the box, pulling out a hawk stuffed animal. He smiled and hugged it. "It's like Angel?" Jack knew the story about Angel and how he got his middle name.
"It does, doesn't it?" Julie nodded. "I figured my little angel needed an angel of his own," She put an arm around Jack, pulling him closer. "But you can always give him another name if you want,"
"I like Angel," Jack chuckled a little, snuggling into his mother's arms and holding his new toy close.
Not too long after that, Jack's eyes started to feel heavy, and he suddenly felt really tired. It wasn't long before he couldn't fight the sleepiness any longer and let his eyes close, getting very close to falling asleep. Before he was completely out, his mother carried him back upstairs and tucked him into bed.
"Merry Christmas, baby," Julie placed a kiss on his forehead. "I love you,"
"Love you too…"
Jack was startled awake with ice water being poured on him. "What the fuck?!" He snapped, wrapping his arms around himself and shivering. He looked at his foster father who was giving him the same scowl he had since he had been placed with him.
"You're lucky it wasn't hot coffee," He grabbed Jack by the collar of his shirt and Jack turned away slightly, getting a big whiff of the bourbon on his breath and then pulling out of his grip. "If you're not outside in five minutes, I'll come back with some hot water,"
"What for?" Jack asked. "Bringing in a Christmas tree?"
His foster father laughed. "You think you're funny, huh?"
Jack shrugged as he was still shivering. It had been rhetorical. Most foster parents he had stayed with didn't have much spirit for the holidays, but this one was another story. He was like the Grinch.
"It snowed last night,"
"Really?" Jack remarked, sarcastically, giving a shocked expression. As if that would be a surprise. They were in Boston.
"I need you to go out there and clear my truck and the driveway,"
"Because you aren't capable," Jack mumbled.
His foster father grabbed him by the neck. "You have two minutes, and I better not find you back in here," He squeezed his neck a little tighter for a few moments before he let go and left the room, leaving Jack coughing and trying to catch his breath.
Jack didn't waste more than a few moments and went downstairs. He grabbed his sneakers, his coat, and his hat and put them on. His coat was thin and had a few holes in it, but it was better than no additional layer. He stepped outside, the cold hitting like a hard punch in the face and it got worse as he trekked through the inches of snow. It got into his shoes, and it only took a few minutes before he couldn't feel his toes anymore. He started brushing the snow off his foster father's truck and then trying to break the ice that was on the windows.
"You scratch my truck up, and you'll be dead,"
Jack turned to his foster father. "How the fuck do you expect to get the ice off?"
"Sounds like a problem you'll have to figure out," His foster father smirked as he took a sip of his steaming hot coffee. "Gonna be hard to drive my truck out of here with all this snow,"
Jack stopped for a moment, rolling his eyes, and then went to grab the shovel. He started shoveling the snow off the driveway, each time, getting slower as he quickly was getting winded. He only managed to get a small bit of the snow off before stopping to take a breath.
"Who told you to stop?"
My lungs… Jack forced himself to keep going, only making it a few steps before he slipped and fell on the ice, the shovel going flying and hitting the front end of his truck.
"Son of a bitch!" His foster father yelled, running over to his truck. His hood had a big dent in it from where the shovel hit. "You are going to be sorry,"
Jack didn't have time to get to his feet before his foster father grabbed him be the hair and dragged him back. He got on top of him and started hitting him. Jack put his hands up to block him and then in a moment with adrenaline hitting, he kicked him hard in his core, which allowed him to get out of his grasp. He threw snow at him, to knock him off balance so he could get to his feet, which left him able to do a roundhouse kick. His foster father fell back, slipped on the ice and hit his head.
Jack ran back inside the house, as quickly as he could, he grabbed his bag and stuffed what little he could into it. He grabbed his foster father's wallet and took the cash that was in it, and then went back outside.
"You're dead," His foster father was almost to his feet.
Jack didn't waste any time before running off as fast as he could. He didn't stop for what felt like miles and until he saw a bus station. He went in and up to the station to buy a ticket.
"Where are you heading?"
"Whatever gets me out of here fast…" The woman gave Jack a strange look. "Somewhere warm?" He didn't care where he ended up as long as it was far away from here and before his foster father or social services could track him down.
"Your bus leaves in five minutes," The woman gave him a ticket for the next bus departing the station and it looked like it was heading west; this was his one-way ticket to freedom.
A/N: Merry Christmas! So, currently, Jack, Julie's son, isn't with her and there is a reason for that, which will be revealed in time. In the present time, Jack is fourteen and he is portrayed by Leo Howard. And now that he is heading west, he'll have to end up in California soon enough.
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