flashback!
— september 1995; miami, fl

it was finally the end of a long shift for bella. she let out a frustrated sigh as she clocked out and tossed her apron aside. once she arrived in miami, the first thing bella did was find a job, in order to have enough money to support herself and her 4-year-old daughter. bella started working at a local denny's, where she met lillian who worked on the same shift as her.

bella walked behind the counter and to a table where lillian and the other workers were splitting their tips. "this shift felt eternal, i swear." bella said as she plopped down next to lillian while melissa, another waitress, did the math and separated the money.

"all that counts is that it's over now and we get to go home." lillian said. "and you can go home to your baby girl."

"alright, math's done." melissa sighed. "here's everyone's money, go crazy and good night."

melissa passed out the tips to everyone as bella placed hers in her wallet. lillian drove bella to her apartment, as she didn't want bella taking the bus so late. upon arriving to her apartment, she was greeted by her daughter, who was sitting on the couch watching tv.

"hey stevie, what are you doing up?" bella said as she sat down next to her daughter on the sofa. "it's late, babe."

"i can't sleep." stevie sighed as she held her purple plush bunny. "i missed you mommy."

"i missed you too, sweetie." bella said as she embraced the little blonde girl. "i'm home now, it's okay. let's go tuck you in."

bella carried stevie in her arms as she walked over to the small bedroom. stevie hopped onto her bed as bella placed the covers over her daughter while stevie hugged her stuffed purple bunny. "you feel better, hon?" bella smiled at stevie.

stevie nodded her head as bella ran her fingers through her blonde hair. "can you sing to me, mommy?" the little girl whispered. "the song you always sing."

"stevie, it's late." bella sighed.

"please. i promise i'll go to sleep." stevie pleaded as she batted her small green eyes at her mother.

"alright." bella said as she placed a small kiss on her temple. bella took the small girl in her arms and began to run her fingers through her hair as she began to sing fleetwood mac's landslide.

since stevie was a baby, she grew up on classic rock music, considering both johnny and bella's music taste. she was practically raised listening to fleetwood mac because of both bella and her grandma laura. landslide had become a lullaby to her as bella would sing it to her as well her grandmother.

stevie softly yawned as she began to softly close her eyes. she cuddled into her mother's arms while bella placed a small kiss on her temple. the brunette sighed as she held her daughter close to her. "good night, sweetie." bella said. "i love you."

"i love you too, mommy." the little girl whispered as she shut her eyes.

⸻

"please tell me you've listened to this one. this one's easy." sebastian smiled as he tossed a def leppard cassette to stevie, who was looking at some vinyl records in a box. after having lunch together, the pair went into a record store and began to test each other's music taste. "hysteria, 1987."

"of course, this one's been engraved in my head since i was a baby." stevie chuckled as she held the cassette in her hands. "my dad's probably played this like a billion times."

"alright, what's your favorite song?" sebastian said as he walked over to where stevie was.

"animal. yours?" stevie said as she grabbed a cassette tape.

"ooh, tough question, but if i had to choose, i'd have to go with rocket." sebastian said.

"good choice. it's my turn now." stevie smiled as she handed the blonde a madonna cassette. "madonna, 1983."

"of course i have, my mom was a huge madonna fan." sebastian replied. "favorite song off madonna?"

"lucky star and, or holiday." stevie said. "yours? no wait – let me guess; borderline?"

"it's burning up actually." sebastian chuckled as stevie placed the tape back. "i stumped you, so i win."

"i didn't agree to that." stevie laughed as she attempted to grab another cassette but was blocked by sebastian.

"alright, you get one more just for fun." seb smiled as he grabbed a fleetwood mac cassette. "rumours, 1977."

"i was raised on fleetwood mac, so hell yes." stevie laughed as sebastian handed the cassette to her.

"alright. your favorite song is – let me guess; dreams." seb smirked.

"actually, it's songbird." stevie smiled as sebastian put his head down in defeat. "and now we're even."

"how can you not like dreams? it's a classic." sebastian argued as he placed the cassette back as the pair walked out of the record store.

"i love dreams, but songbird just has sentimental value." stevie smiled as she got into sebastian's car. "my grandmother sang it to me one night when i was a baby, so ever since then, it's reminded me of my grandma."

"ahh, makes sense." sebastian smiled as he drove stevie to her sherman oaks apartment. "well, miss marianne, you do have a superior taste in music and i don't say this often."

"why, thank you." stevie smiled as she placed her sunglasses on her face. on the way to her apartment, stevie's phone began to ring with an incoming call from momma 💞. she declined the call as she sighed and ran a hand through her hair.

"everything alright?" sebastian said as he pulled into the parking lot of the apartment complex, looking over to the blonde.

"yeah, it's just a spam call." stevie said as she placed her cellphone in her back pocket. upon parking the car, seb helped stevie out of his car and walked her to the apartment. "well, this was fun. i had a really great time, thank you."

"we should really do this again." sebastian smiled as he looked into stevie's soft green eyes. "well, i know you have to go with your dad, so i'll call you?"

"i'd like that." stevie smiled as sebastian placed a small kiss on her temple. "i'll see you later, seb."

"see you around." sebastian smiled as he placed one last kiss on stevie's temple before he left. stevie walked into her apartment and was greeted by her yorkipoo, lola who was barking and happy to see her. today's date with seb kind of distracted stevie from everything that was going on around the dojo and with her mother.

before she headed over to the dojo, she made sure to feed lola. stevie shoved her phone in her back pocket as she grabbed the dog food for her small dog. after feeding lola, she grabbed her purse and headed over to reseda.

⸻

"alright, take it easy, stevie." johnny said to his daughter who was practicing her punching. "what's up with you?"

"nothing, i'm sorry." stevie said, taking a breath. "i was just letting off steam."

"you're not one to randomly start punching. something happened." johnny said as miguel stepped on to the mat. "what's up?"

stevie sighed as she grabbed her water bottle, taking a sip. "it's nothing. it's just stress from work." she sighed as she walked back into the office. "your turn, kid. you got this."

stevie drank some more water before plopping down on the desk chair to take a breath. it had been a while since she's trained or done karate with her father. she was first introduced to the sport when she was a toddler as her father and uncles would play with her and teach her some moves. stevie enjoyed training with her father, it was their father-daughter time.

while stevie scrolled through her instagram feed, she saw a girl walk into the dojo. the blonde walked out of the office and into the main dojo, while the teen girl stood at the edge of the mat. "no yoga til' 5. no matter how bad you need it." johnny said.

"i'm actually here to join karate." the girl said. "i saw online that there was a session today."

"i appreciate you coming in, but there are no girls in cobra kai." johnny replied.

"why not?" the girl said.

stevie sighed as she walked onto the mat, with her arms crossed. 'dad taught me, a girl, karate. why wouldn't he train another girl? cobra kai could use a girl or two' the blonde thought to herself.

"yeah dad. why not?" stevie said, defensively as she crossed her arms.

"the same way there aren't women in the army. it doesn't make sense." johnny said as stevie scoffed and rolled her eyes.

"alright, we need to have a little chat." stevie said as the three stepped off the mat and into the office. "excuse us for like 2 minutes."

the three walked into the office as stevie sat down on the desk chair, with johnny sitting on the desk. "don't give me the sexist bullshit, both of you." johnny said. "i'm just saying, women aren't meant to fight. they have tiny hallow bones."

"um – excuse you?" stevie scoffed in annoyance.

"aren't you desperate for new students?" miguel said as he sat on a filing cabinet.

"yes, but this isn't a knitting class. this is a dojo–"

"the kids at school call her names and make fun of her–"

"that's what happens when you eat an entire box of twinkies every day." johnny said.

stevie ran a hand through her hair as she rolled her eyes at her dad's comment. "her dad's isaiah robinson, hall of fame lineman for the chargers." miguel explained.

"wait – what?" stevie said. "that's her dad?"

"yeah, so you're saying its generic? her love for twinkies comes from her dad?" johnny said sarcastically.

"dad!" stevie snapped.

"no! i'm saying her family's loaded." miguel said. "and she's a paying customer. you need the money right?"

stevie looked over to her dad as he nodded his head. "tiny hollow bones?" stevie argued. "you trained me and how many times have i kicked your ass? you also taught mom and she kicked a guy's ass outside a nightclub, not to mention, she's kicked your ass multiple times. so i beg to differ."

"i knew you'd get all defensive." johnny said as he stood up and walked out to the dojo. "your mom kicked a guy's ass? when?"

"long story short, some drunk guy tried to grab her outside the copa back in new york and she right-hooked him and kicked him with heels." stevie chuckled as johnny smiled. that's the bella he remembers.

the three walked out of the main dojo where the girl was standing, quietly. "take off your shoes and hop on the mat." johnny said. "okay, after further review, i've decided to allow female students, but if you wanna be in cobra kai, you can't act like a girl."

stevie scoffed as she rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "not this again." she muttered to herself.

"what do you mean? how do girls act?" the girl questioned.

"ah, don't give me that." johnny sighed. "y'know all emotional, loud, complain-y. never letting you finish a sentence."

"dad!" stevie exclaimed.

⸻

stevie sighed as she softly knocked on the door of bella's apartment. bella and stevie were finally going out to eat together, after trying to make plans for so long. as her mother answered the door, stevie felt a little bit of relief.

"hey hon." bella smiled as she looked at her daughter.

"hey mom." stevie softly smiled as she walked into the burbank apartment. "you look busy. how's everything going?"

"it's getting there." bella sighed as she took a drag of her cigarette. "it's better that it was a few days ago, i'll tell you that."

"that's great." stevie said giving her mother a small smile. "so you ready to go?"

"that's tonight? oh shit, i had scheduled something with jenna tonight." bella sighed as she ran a hand through her hair, while stevie sighed. "i'm so sorry honey, i've been going crazy with all this–"

"no worries, mom." stevie said. "i shouldn't be surprised that you chose your work over me."

bella let out a loud sigh as she knew that she had let her daughter down. "stevie–"

"no, mother. you can't say sorry this time and expect for me to not care." stevie said as her voices began to break.

"stevie, i know and i'm sorry." bella said as her eyes began to water.

"no, you don't know." stevie said with small tears running down her face. "you were everywhere, ma! this has been since forever and i'm over it. i hardly ever saw you and when i did, you tucked me into bed and went off to who knows fucking where with your model friends. you weren't there for me or dad when we needed you because you were too busy doing tequila shots–"

"i don't care what your father says because he wasn't there for me either when i needed him. he was out at the bar for hours until his drunk ass decided to come back home." bella said as she slightly raised her voice. "you're complaining about me being out? what about him, huh?"

"at least, he was there when i graduated high school. where the hell were you?" stevie cried. "if memory serves, paris fashion week was more important that your daughter's graduation."

"oh please, stephanie. he was fucking hungover–"

"but he made the effort to go. you were in paris fucking france." stevie said as she cleaned her tears. "if i ruined your life, just say so–"

"you did not ruin my life." bella said as tears streamed from her eyes. "you made it so much better, for me and for your dad."

"you sure do have a nice way of showing it." stevie sighed as she cleaned her tears. "anyway, when you're done with all this, just let me know or don't. it's no sweat off my back."

bella sighed as she took a long drag of her cigarette while she cried. she knew that she had failed stevie and it killed her. bella's job often became an obsession to her, which was often the subject of the arguments that she and johnny had, but when bella felt alone, which was often, she would work herself to the bone as a distraction.

although this was an accomplishment, her hectic work schedule put a dent in her relationship with her daughter, and she regretted it every single day.