There For You - Cobra Kai x OC

5.3) Playing With Fire

Third Person's POV:

Gaby stood nervously in front of the LaRusso's door. She took a deep breath and wiped her hands on her shirt, "C'mon, just knock. It's not that big of a deal," she mumbled to herself.

After a few more seconds of anxiously staring at the door, she finally worked up the nerve to knock.

Almost immediately she heard someone say, "Coming!" before the door was opened.

"Gaby, hi. I wasn't expecting you," Amanda said in surprise, but smiling nonetheless, "I'm glad to see you."

Gaby smiled back nervously, "Hi, I'm glad to see you too. Um, is Daniel home?"

"Yeah he's in the living room," she answered, "Come on in, sweety."

As the two of them walked over to the living room, Amanda said, "Y'know, Daniel told me about the conversation you two had. I just wanted you to know that everything he told you, it applies to me too. I love you and there's nothing that can happen that would change that. I will always be there for you if you need me, okay? I don't ever want you to feel like you're alone or like our love and support are conditional."

Gaby stares at her for a moment, her eyes shining with tears, "How can you say that? After everything I did to Sam? To everyone?"

"Oh, honey," Amanda looked at her sadly, pulling her into a hug, "You're just a kid. What you did wasn't right, but doing bad things doesn't make you an inherently bad person. You're a good kid, you just had some pretty terrible teachers."

"She's right," they heard Daniel say from behind them. 

Gaby pulled away from the hug to look at him, and he continued  "I think the most important thing Mr. Miyagi ever taught me was that there's no such thing as a bad student, only bad teachers. You're not a bad person, Gaby, and just the fact that you feel guilty about what you did is proof of that. Silver and Kreese do horrible things, they manipulate, groom, and take advantage of children without a single ounce of regret or guilt, they're the bad people here, not you."

"You all keep saying that, but it's hard to believe it," Gaby paused and took a deep breath, "But, I want to make things right, so I came here to tell you that I think I'm ready to give therapy a try."

Daniel smiled at her, "That's awesome, Gaby, I'm so proud of you. It takes a lot of courage to go out of your comfort zone like that."

Gaby smiled back and was about to reply when she saw something in their backyard.

"OH MY GOD!" She screamed, her eyes widening in shock, "THERE'S A NAKED MAN IN YOUR BACKYARD!"

Amanda gasped and quickly slapped her hand over Gaby's eyes, "Daniel! What did I tell you about Chozen using our pool naked? You've traumatized our niece!"

Daniel rubbed his face with his hands in exasperation, "I swear I talked to him, I'm sorry you had to see that, Gaby," he said before walking over to the backyard, probably to go lecture Chozen.

Amanda sighed and took her hand off of Gaby's face, "I can't believe that just happened. C'mon, let's go to the kitchen, maybe I can make us some tea."

Gaby chuckled, "I'd like some tea."

A few minutes later, Daniel and Chozen—who was now wearing a bathrobe—joined them in the kitchen.

"Um, hi," Gaby greeted, still feeling kind of awkward about what had...happened before.

"Hello," he greeted back, "You are champion, yes?"

"You watched the tournament?" Gaby asked, starting to feel slightly embarrassed.

"Yes," he responded, "Daniel-san tells me that you have left Cobra Kai. That's good. Like you, I thought I had lost my honor. Eventually, I understood that no one can take honor from you. Only you can take honor from yourself. Everyone can change, and everyone can restore their honor. Trust me, I have done worse than you."

Gaby looked at him for a moment; even though that definitely caught her off guard, it felt surprisingly nice to hear. "Thank you," she said earnestly.

He bowed at her in response and then walked out of the room.

"He's kind of odd, but he seems nice," Gaby said after a few seconds of silence, "Also, I know that he basically said the same thing you guys have been saying, but something about him telling me that kind of made me feel hopeful, I guess. I don't know why, but I think I really needed to hear that from someone who doesn't know me like you guys do, someone who's less biased I guess."

"We understand, Gaby," Amanda said, "That's honestly why we suggested that you should see a therapist. It'll give you an opportunity to talk to someone who's completely unbiased."

Gaby nodded, "Yeah, I think it'll help me a lot. I'd like to start going soon, I just wanna make things right."

"Of course, Amanda and I will start looking at some therapists in the area. We'll let you know when we find one so you can set up your appointment times," Daniel said, smiling at Gaby. He was so proud of her for taking this next step, he knew more than anyone what training with Silver could do to your mental state and the fact that she was willing to be vulnerable and "weak" in front of them was a huge step in the right direction.

*****

A few hours later, Gaby was walking into her apartment complex when she was suddenly tackled into a hug.

"What the hell!" she shouted before she saw who had hugged her, "Oh my god! Miguel, what are you doing?"

He let go of her, and realizing what he had done, he quickly explained, "Sam told me that you decided to leave Cobra Kai. I was so worried after what happened the day of the tournament, I guess I just couldn't help myself. Sorry," he said sheepishly.

Gaby smiled at him, "It's alright, it's me who should be apologizing anyway. I've been such an asshole to you and you've been nothing but nice to me, so I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Miguel reassured, smiling back at her, "I'm glad to see that you're feeling better. How's your dad doing?"

Gaby sighed, "Not great. He's in a coma right now, but the doctors said that he still has time to wake up before we should start to worry, so I'm trying to be as positive about it as I can be."

Miguel winced, "Gosh, I'm so sorry Gaby. I can't imagine how you must be feeling right now."

"It's alright," Gaby said, not really wanting to talk about it right now. "Um, it's getting pretty late so I think I'm gonna head inside."

When she started to walk towards her apartment, Miguel shouted, "Wait! I saw that you came here alone, and your mom's car isn't in the parking lot. Are you home alone?"

"Uh, yeah-"

"Do you wanna come over for dinner," he quickly asked, cutting her off.

"I...I don't think that would be a good idea," Gaby replied, already starting to feel anxious at the though of having to face Johnny and Carmen.

"If this is about Johnny-" Miguel started, but Gaby quickly interrupted.

"It's not just about Johnny," Gaby said before sighing, "I just... I'm not ready right now"

"Oh," Miguel looked down, feeling disappointed.

"But, maybe later?" Gaby offered.

Miguel looked back up at her and smiled, a hopeful look in his eyes, "Yeah, later."

*****

A/N: Hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Have a great week! :)

Published: 08/11/24

Words: 1,283