Cobra Kai: A Family Affair

18

The mood in the Cobra Kai dojo the next morning was mostly happy due to their huge victory over the Miyagi-Fangs but one person was not happy with a certain part of their mission:

"I hated that. Lying to Tory. I can't believe you made me do that." Kyler told Shawn, clearly he had lost the race for the crown of Cobra Kai and had to take orders from Shawn, the new King Cobra.
"Did she buy it?" He asked.
"Yeah. But I don't think Robby did."
"That doesn't matter. In fact, that's even better it'll cause a rift between them. You and Piper said it would be too hard to beat Tory and Robby together so we'll just break them apart; then they'll be weak and sad and distracted and then we'll be able to beat both of them."

/ /

Tory knew what time Cobra Kai practiced at and went for when it ended as it was the only place she knew where to find the person she was looking for. However, she didn't want to be seen by the rest of Cobra Kai so she hid in the alley until she saw them all leave.

Tory knocked on the back fire exit door knowing he would be in the back dojo by now.

"Victoria?" Her father asked quite surprised to see her there.
"Is Silver in?"
"No, he left class early today. Do you want to come in?" He asked. Tory wasn't actually sure if she wanted to but she figured she'd have less chance getting caught than she would standing outside.
"Didn't think you would come back here."
"Well, I didn't know where else to find you."
"I'm either here, at the firm (the address is on the back of that business card I gave you), or at home (I bought a place here after I moved back). I can give you the address of that..."
"That won't be necessary." She cut him off. Once inside she looked around, it had already changed a lot in such a short amount of time. Tory circled back around to look at her dad. "Did you tell Cobra Kai to attack everyone else but me?" She asked him.
"No, I just told them not to attack you." Mike informed her before pausing for a moment figuring out why she would have asked that question "But I take it they found a loophole." Tory nodded. "Can you find out if Kyler knew about it, before it happened I mean?"
"Of course. Anything else you need? Help with your mom? Any kind of support I can give, financial, moral, parental?" Tory scoffed at the last one shaking her head 'no' in response and leaving.
"How am I supposed to let you know what I find out?" Mike shouted after her but received no answer.

/ /

That night, Carmen proposed a [dysfunctional] family dinner for the Diazes and Lawerences. Whilst they were eating Miguel asked if Robby had heard from Tory. Johnny slapped his forehead mouthing "Why would you ask that?" Robby had spent most of the day moping over the fact that he and Tory had their biggest fight ever rather than his defeat from Cobra Kai. "I've called her a couple of times (well more like a dozen) but she hasn't answered any. I think she's mad at me because I don't believe that Kyler didn't know about the attack.
"I saw Tory today." Carmen spoke up.
"What? At the hospital? Is she okay?" Robby asked worriedly.
"Yes, I believe so. I mean she looked fine. She wasn't my patient I just saw her in the corridors of the nephrology department."
"Wait... isn't that the medical term for kidneys?" Robby realised.
"Yes. How did you know that?" It was Carmen's turn to question him.
"It's not Tory. It's her mom." Robby realised standing up and calling her again.

Robby took the Eagle-Fang mobile and raced to the hospital. Once there he hurriedly followed the signs to the nephrology department.

Spotting Tory sitting in a chair in the waiting area with an unfocused look on her face as she was lost in her thoughts, Robby approached gently. "Hi." He greeted her with a kiss on the cheek.
"Hi. What are you...? How did you...?" Tory stammered surprised to see him there.
"Carmen saw you today whilst she was at work. What's going on? Why didn't you call me? Or answer one of mine?" Robby quizzed as he sat down beside her.
"I thought you were mad at me." Tory told him.
"I thought you were mad at me." Robby repeated. They both sighed and laughed lightly at their stupidity, leaning their foreheads together as an apology like rabbits.
"As for what we're dealing with, I'm not really sure. I've been here most of the day and they've barely said anything." Tory explained. "That means it's bad, right? I mean, it was bad this morning: I didn't know what to do, I couldn't help her." Tory rambled crying.
"Shhh." Robby soothed picking her hand up and rubbing the back of it. "You called the ambulance that was helping."
"Yeah until she sees the bill." Tory said through her teeth.
"Where's Brandon?" Robby asked and Tory pointed over to the boy lying across 3 chairs asleep. "The nurses kept him busy most of the day - took him to the paediatric department - they have toys there."

Tory and Robby's head turned towards the sound of someone coming through the doors, recognising her mother's doctor, Tory stood up.
"Hello Tory, sorry to keep you waiting so long, I was waiting on your mother's blood test results."
"And what do they say?"
"Maybe we should step into my office to talk about this."
"No we're talking right here." Tory snapped. Robby stood up behind Tory and began stroking her arms as well as placing a kiss on the back of her head. This was to comfort her but also to prepare for Tory lashing out at anything the doctor said. The doctor looked between them for a moment recognising that the boy was helping Tory stay calm which he mentally thanked him for. "Your mother's condition has deteriorated significantly I'm afraid. The priority now is getting her new kidneys and moving her on to the urgent list."
"Are you saying her kidneys are failing?" Tory asked quietly despite how grave Katherine's health problems seemed they hadn't actually reached that stage yet.
"Yes." The doctor confirmed glancing down. "I'm so sorry. I know it's devastating news." Tory was lost for words at that.
"She'll be okay though, now that she's on the urgent list the next matching kidney that becomes available is hers, yes?" Robby questioned. The doctor was still unable to look at them. "I'm very sorry, but we can't proceed with the transplant until the virus is out of her system. So that means not moving her onto the urgent list just yet."
"No way."
"So you're saying that we have to wait for her to get better and then wait for a match?" Robby clarified speaking up for his girlfriend who was in shock.
"My hands are tied. It's standard policy."
"So how long is this gonna take for her to get better then?" Tory snapped.
"It's impossible to say. We could try anti-virals, but she's weakened - her immune system has already been compromised with the amount of treatments she's had."
"No! Put her, put her on the list. We'll take the risk. I mean, what's the alternative?"
"No you won't, will you?" Tory sadly realised. "So if a kidney becomes available right now then you're not going to give it to her." She said with her voice breaking on the last word. "She has to be strong enough to withstand the operation and the recovery." The doctor explained. Robby looked down understanding but god knows he would never say that to Tory.
"So what are we gonna do?" The doctor glanced at Robby for help. "We're just gonna let her die?" Tory cried and even the doctor looked slightly emotional.

Somehow Robby and the hospital staff convinced Tory to go home for the rest of the night. "Please tell me you drove?" She begged Robby who nodded. "I'll carry Brandon."
"No, I got it." Tory defended, soon all Brandon was going to have is her so she thought she might as well get used to it.

Amazingly, Brandon slept through all of the shuffling in and out of the car and difficulties putting his seatbelt on.

Once Tory came out of his room from getting him settled, Robby resolutely told her "I'm staying." Some conflicting emotions crossed her face. "What?" He asked.
"The selfish part of me wants to say 'good', but this isn't your mess Robby, you don't have to deal with this." She said trying to give him an out. Robby's heart broke for her. He knew where she was coming from, everybody always seemed to abandon them, especially when things got rough, but he was going to prove to Tory that he wasn't like that. Robby wanted to tell her so badly that he loved her and would never leave her but he knew that now probably wasn't the best time for declarations of love; Tory probably wouldn't be able to take it in properly and then if she didn't say it back... well it was probably best for both of their mental health's if Robby kept his feelings to himself, he thought. So he settled on with just repeating what he had already said "I'm staying."

A/n: You know what they say, 'things always get worse before they get better'. Although now that I'm thinking about what the next couple of chapters are going to cover they all seem on the 'worse' side 🤣. So if anyone has any fun/comedic/lighthearted ideas feel free to comment - our characters need some light in between the darkness.