So I'm John Lawrence's son

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That morning the sun was already burning brightly when Daniel opened the closet in the hallway, looking for the blue shorts he wore to train. He frowned, his hands searching the shelves, until he stopped, his eyes fixed on the empty space where the shorts should be. "Sam!" he called, his voice echoing through the house as he went down to the kitchen, where she was drinking coffee, her hair still tousled from sleep.

"Hi, Dad," she said, her tone casual, but her blue eyes caught his serious gaze as he leaned against the counter, arms crossed.

"Where are my blue shorts?" he asked bluntly, his eyes narrowing as he looked at her. "And before you say you don't know, your mother told me she saw Jack's car yesterday, and on Friday too. He was here when we got here, wasn't he?"

Sam swallowed, her blue eyes widening for a moment before she looked away, her mind spinning as she tried to come up with an answer. "I… borrowed it from a friend," she said hesitantly, but Daniel shook his head, not buying her story.

"A friend," he repeated, his tone firm. "Sam, I'm not an idiot. It was Jack, wasn't it? What was he doing here on Friday? And how are you dealing with all this, with Cobra Kai behind him?"

Sam looked up, his blue eyes flashing with frustration. "Yeah, it was Jack, okay? He was here on Friday, but nothing bad happened. And I'm dealing with this my way, Dad. He's not the problem!"

Daniel took a deep breath, concern hardening his expression. "Your way? You know what that dojo did to a lot of people we know. I'm going to talk to Johnny about this, Sam. I don't want that kind of influence bringing more trouble to our family."

Sam stood still, her chest tight with tension as Daniel walked out of the kitchen, leaving her with her coffee growing cold in her hand and anger mixed with worry growing in her stomach.

During a break at school, in the West Valley High cafeteria, Tory Nichols stood with Kyler—who had joined Cobra Kai a few days ago, still proving himself at the dojo—and a few others, their narrowed eyes fixed on Sam, who was eating with Jack at a table far away. She decided to act on the previous day's threat, spreading a new rumor to reignite the rumors. "You know, I saw LaRusso leaving Sullivan's building Saturday morning," she said loud enough for Sam to hear, her venomous tone disguised as casualness as she spoke to Kyler. "Messy hair, you know? What kind of girl does that?"

Sam stopped, spoon frozen in her hand, blue eyes flashing as she heard murmurs start all around her, heads turning in her direction. Jack, sitting nearby, noticed the tension in her and grabbed her arm, his good hand firm but calm. "Never mind, Sam," he murmured, green eyes serious. "It's not worth it now."

But inside her, anger for Tory burned, her stomach churning as she tried to ignore the stares. Jack felt his irritation toward Kyler and Tory grow, but he kept his face neutral, his fist clenched under the table. The rumor had spread, but it hadn't exploded like Tory had wanted, leaving her unsatisfied and planning something bigger.

After school, Tory texted Sam: "If you've got the guts, come out to the old parking lot behind the school. Let's settle this." Sam, already on edge from the rumor and her conversation with Daniel, showed Jack the text in the school parking lot. "She wants a fight," Sam said, his blue eyes blazing with determination. "Let's settle this."

Jack hesitated, his arm still tender with the protector, but nodded, his green eyes steady. "Okay, but we're coming with you." Sam called Chris and Demetri, their friends from Miyagi-Do, while Jack followed beside her, tense under his T-shirt. Tory was already in the deserted parking lot, an abandoned space behind the school, with Kyler (the Cobra Kai newbie), Mitch, and Eli "Hawk" Moskowitz—his red mohawk gleaming in the late afternoon light—plus two others from the dojo, making a larger group than expected.

The fight began when Tory charged at Sam, fists clenched, yelling, "Think you can have it all, LaRusso?" Sam blocked the first blow with a Miyagi-Do move, landing a kick to Tory's thigh, nimbly dodging a punch, staying unharmed as Tory retreated in surprise. Jack charged at Kyler, knocking him down with a punch to the chest, but Mitch and another Cobra Kai joined in, taking advantage of the arm's weakness with the protector. "Look at the bad arm!" Kyler scoffed, recovering, as the three surrounded Jack.

Jack fought off the three of them, his good arm blocking a blow from Mitch, but his injured arm—still weak from his old injury—was too weak to keep up. Kyler punched his protected arm, drawing a grunt of pain from him, while Mitch kicked at the same spot, the protector cracking under the force. The third boy elbowed his injured arm, the impact ripping the protector off and opening a deep gash, blood streaming down his face as Jack fell to his knees, the three of them pounding away at his already injured arm, the blows leaving it more bruised and bleeding.

Sam saw it, blue eyes wide, and yelled, "Jack!" as he dodged Tory with a spin, landing a punch to her face that knocked her back. Hawk charged at Demetri, the two exchanging blows—Hawk with quick Cobra Kai kicks, Demetri blocking with Miyagi-Do but taking a punch to the shoulder that knocked him down. Chris held off the other Cobra Kai, but the fight turned into a 4-on-6 melee when another one appeared, overwhelming the Miyagi-Do group.

Miguel came running in from the main parking lot, seeing the fight getting out of hand, and yelled, "Stop it!" He threw himself between Sam and Tory, pushing them away from each other as Chris helped Jack to his feet, his arm bleeding and dangling, his face contorted in pain. "Tory, stop!" Miguel yelled, his eyes wide as he grabbed her shoulders, but she pulled away, her face red with rage.

"You're not the boss of me, Diaz! This isn't over, LaRusso!" Tory turned, walking away with Kyler, Hawk, and the other Cobra Kais, leaving the parking lot in silence as the Miyagi-Do group gathered around, panting. Jack leaned against Chris, his injured arm shaking, blood dripping onto the ground as Sam approached, his blue eyes full of concern.

"You're hurt really bad," she said, her voice firm but strained, looking at the deep cut and the bruised arm. "Come home with me, I'll help you clean it up."

"Okay," he murmured, his tone dry, his face pale with pain as he leaned on her to walk to the Impala.

Sam drove the Impala to the LaRusso house, his hands steady on the steering wheel while Jack sat in the passenger seat, his injured arm resting in his lap, dried blood staining his shirt and the seat. The house was empty when they arrived—Daniel and Amanda out, probably at work, and Anthony at school or with friends. Sam pulled into the driveway, helping Jack out of the car, his arm hanging over his shoulder as they walked in the back door.

In the downstairs bathroom, Sam grabbed a damp washcloth and a first aid kit, the silence between them broken only by the sound of running water as she wiped the blood from his arm. "That's bad," she said, her blue eyes focused as she ran the washcloth carefully over the cut, his arm swollen and purple where the protector had broken. Jack stood still, his face tight with pain, his green eyes fixed on hers as she worked, her closeness bringing a warmth that contrasted with the coolness of the washcloth.

"Thanks," he said quietly when she was done, placing gauze over the cut and wrapping a bandage around his arm. "You didn't hurt yourself, did you?"

"No," she replied, her blue eyes softening for a moment. "I can handle myself. But you… you shouldn't have faced those three."

"I wasn't going to leave you alone in this," he snapped, his arm throbbing as he stood, following her into the living room.

They settled on the couch, Sam turning on the TV to a rerun of Smallville , an old show that was playing again, the familiar sound of the theme filling the room as Clark Kent appeared on the screen. Jack was on his side, his bandaged arm propped up on a pillow, while Sam sat nearby, her blue eyes fixed on the TV for a moment before turning to him. "You're quiet," she said, her voice soft but curious.

Jack shrugged with his good arm, his green eyes fixed on the screen as Clark saved someone from a burning truck. "I'm thinking," he said, his voice low, hesitating before continuing. "That business at the dojo… at Cobra Kai… it's starting to get pointless to me. After today, I don't know if I want to stay there."

Sam turned to him, her blue eyes widening for a moment before softening, her hand resting on the couch as she stared at him. "Really? Why?"

"Because of this," he said, lifting his injured arm, his tone dry but heavy. "And everything else that's going on. It's not about fighting anymore, it's about... I don't know, chaos. It doesn't make sense to me." He didn't say the rest—the guilt of being in the dojo that had hurt his imprisoned stepbrother, of being with his ex-girlfriend while all this was happening—but the weight of it was there, in the green eyes that flicked to the TV.

Sam was quiet, her mind reeling from the fight and what Daniel had said earlier, but also from the relief of hearing Jack speak like this. "Maybe you're right," she said, her voice low. "But… what now?"

"I don't know now," he replied dryly, his gaze fixed on the screen as Clark flew for the first time in the replay. They continued to watch, the silence returning, but the conversation hovering between them like an unspoken promise.

Some time later, the sound of the front door opening cut through the air, followed by Amanda's voice: "Sam, we're here!" Daniel and Amanda walked into the room, their bags for the day in hand, their eyes widening as they saw Sam and Jack together on the couch, Smallville paused on the TV. Jack, his arm bandaged and his shirt stained with dried blood, looked out of place next to Sam, who jumped up from the couch, blue eyes wide.

"Hi, Mom, Dad," she said, her voice firm but strained, as Daniel frowned, his eyes fixed on Jack.

"Jack?" Daniel asked, his tone thick with surprise and suspicion. "What happened to you? And what are you doing here?"