flashback!
— september 1988; new york, new york

isabella sighed as she began erasing a piece of her sketch that she was working on. while she was sketching a design, johnny sat beside her, watching remote control while drinking a beer. he would occasionally look over, smiling as he watched bella draw little fashion sketches in her notebook.

"you've erased the same line like five times already." johnny said, chuckling before taking a swig of his beer.

"it wasn't five times, it's been four times." bella laughed as she continued sketching.

"what are you working on anyway?" johnny said, turning the volume on the television down, as mtv went to a commercial break.

"just another random little sketch. i kinda got bored in class, so i just started drawing." bella said, grabbing the cherry coke from the table and taking a sip.

"that's new." johnny chuckled. "you're not one to space out during class."

"i was kinda getting a headache, so i took a break from writing notes and just decided to sketch instead." bella said, not taking her eyes off the notebook. "besides, jenna's got all the notes."

as bella continued her sketch, johnny looked at her, admiring her as she bit her lip in concentration. bella chuckled as she noticed her boyfriend staring.

"stop staring, you're gonna distract me." bella giggled, trying not to turn to the side.

"y' know you look so cute when you're all focused." johnny smiled.

"whatever." bella laughed, placing her journal down  and walked over to the kitchen to grab popcorn.

while bella was in the kitchen, johnny grabbed her journal, admiring her sketches. the thing about bella's little sketches was that she never finished them. as johnny flipped through the pages of her journal, he smiled as he looked at the only sketch that was actually complete.

"hey, that's invasión of privacy, y'know." bella laughed.

"you're so talented, babe." johnny smiled as he walked over to bella, wrapping her arms around her waist.

"you think so?" bella smiled.

"yeah, i know so." johnny said. "you're gonna be the best fashion designer-person ever."

"baby steps, babe." bella chuckled, pecking his cheek. "but thank you."

⊱ ────── {⋆⌘⋆} ────── ⊰

"well, look who decided to join us for breakfast." chrissy said, turning to find bella walking into her apartment, tossing her purse on the sofa. "i'm glad your morning jog worked up your appetite."

"i'm just glad to see you out of your apartment." lillian said, pouring herself a glass of orange juice.

"i was gonna drive myself crazy." bella sighed as she took a seat next to jenna and across from lillian. "so, to release some tension, i went over to the beach and just started running, then i realized how much i missed my morning runs at the beach. i hadn't done that in a long time."

chrissy placed a plate with an omelet in front of bella as lillian passed her a glass of orange juice. while bella ate, chrissy grabbed a magazine and flipped the pages before landing on an article on fashion week.

"while i have you here, i thought you might like to see this." chrissy said, placing the magazine in front of bella.

"no." bella said, shaking her head and pushing the magazine away. "i'm not reading it."

"oh c'mon, at least read the first sentence." jenna said. "you can't keep avoiding it much longer."

"oh yeah? watch me." bella said, closing the magazine and handing it back to chrissy.

"you're seriously not gonna read anything?" lillian said, grabbing a newspaper with another article on fashion week.

"no." bella said.

"watch this." chrissy muttered to jenna and lillian, before turning back to bella, who was almost done eating her omelet. "so you're gonna run from this? just like you ran after the divorce?"

"don't start with me, christina." bella said.

"honey, you have to let it go." jenna said. "it's all in the past now, you're a new person and it's a fresh start."

"i know it hurts, but this the calm after the storm. you're healing now, so take it a step at a time." lillian said, handing her the magazine. "consider this step number one."

bella took a deep breath as she flipped the pages of the magazine. as she landed on the article, she felt her heart race and palms sweat. she began reading the article, her heart dropping at the mention of her name. she continued reading the article, which praised her work. she felt relief as she looked at the photographs of her show, smiling.

"oh wow." bella said, tears forming in her eyes.

"people are loving your new line." jenna said, pouring herself more coffee.

"now tell me, was it worth it?" chrissy said.

"oh, stop it before i cry." bella said, chuckling. "i still got it."

"hell yeah, you do!" lillian said, embracing bella. "okay, now step number 2, get to the office for some celebratory drinks."

⊱ ────── {⋆⌘⋆} ────── ⊰

"i cannot believe you remembered." stevie said, as johnny handed her a bag of sour gummy worms, which was her favorite snack. "i haven't eaten these in years."

"yeah, i bought 'em at the gas station on my way over here." johnny said. "i remember you used to eat them all the time when you were little, so much that your mom would get pissed at me for letting you eat an entire bag."

"so you do remember?" stevie sighed, opening up the bag, eating a gummy worm. "and i take visiting robby in juvie with me and uncle bobby just slipped your mind?"

"i knew you'd bring that up–"

"dad, you knew about this." stevie said. "you can't keep avoiding this any longer. i know you feel guilty about miguel but robby's also in deep shit too, and it's your fault."

"i didn't plan on staying, but rosa caught me and asked me to stay, so i felt like i had to." johnny said.

"i know what miguel means to you, i do, but robby's your son." stevie said, her voice slightly breaking and her eyes watering. "this is a mess you created. you knew this was bound to happen when you let kreese back in."

johnny watched as stevie wiped the tears from her eyes, his heart breaking even more as he watched his daughter cry. the fight had affected a lot of people, including stevie. she was hurting just like he was, but he knew deep down that she was right about robby.

"i think i also owe you an apology." johnny said. "i brought you into this mess and i know you're feeling it too, so i'm sorry."

"thanks dad." stevie said. "before the whole fight thing, i was actually having fun. sorry about the dojo, but i did tell you so."

"yeah, yeah." johnny said, grabbing a sour gummy worm from the bag. "i guess its true what they say, kids do know better."

"look, if it's any consolation, i'll help you out." stevie said. "but before anything, you gotta see robby. it's not fair to him. i know where you can find him."

"thank you, kid." johnny said, taking some more gummy worms.

"don't screw this up."

⊱ ────── {⋆⌘⋆} ────── ⊰

stevie placed her sunglasses on and continued to flip through the pages of a rolling stone magazine while ashley, mark and aiden set up the volleyball court. after a hectic week, between the fight and fashion week, stevie and the girls needed a break and a beach day.

"there's just something about days at the beach that are so soothing." daisy said, leaning back on the chair.

"tell me about it." stevie chuckled, placing the magazine down. "there's just so much shit going on nowadays that i miss these beach days."

"yo daisy! where's the volleyball?" aiden called out.

"it's in the car!" daisy exclaimed. "go get it yourself!"

"gimme the keys, genius!" aiden said, causing daisy to roll her eyes and stand up from her chair.

"i can never relax with these people." daisy groaned, earning a laugh from stevie. while stevie continued flipping through the magazine, she felt somebody approach her. as stevie placed the magazine down, she looked up to find alex.

"hey stranger. this seat taken?" he smiled.

"well, daisy was sitting there but she went to grab something." stevie chuckled.

"oh, i'll get another chair." alex said.

"nah, it's fine." stevie smiled. "she's probably gonna be back there for a while arguing with aiden, so you can chill here, if you want."

alex smiled as he sat down on daisy's beach chair. the pair sat in silence as stevie continued reading the magazine and alex put his earbuds on, listening to music.

"is that ratt?" stevie said, looking over to the blonde.

"yeah, invasion of your privacy." alex smiled.

"that's my mom's favorite album!" stevie chuckled. "and it's also one of my favorites too."

"i didn't take you or your mom for a ratt fan." alex smiled, pausing his music.

"my mom loves ratt." stevie said. "ratt and madonna are probably her two go-to artists."

"i swear, i learn something new about you every day." alex smiled.

stevie laughed as she then turned her attention back to the magazine. there was an awkward silence between them again as alex tried to think about another conversation starter. things had been a little awkward after their last conversation, which he dreaded. alex took off one of his earbuds, offering it to stevie as she smiled.

"you wanna listen?" he said. "lay it down is playing."

"sure, i love that song." stevie said, putting the earbud on her right ear.

alex looked over to stevie, who was humming and singing along while reading an article in the magazine. the blonde smiled as he heard her smooth signing voice. alex always loved to hear stevie sing, it put him at ease and always made him smile. he put his glasses back on and leaned back on the beach chair, tapping along to the rhythm.

as the song finished, the next song on alex's playlist was cherry bomb by the runaways. stevie smiled as she put her magazine down and looked over to alex.

"you've gotta be shitting me, you have this song?" she said. "i love cherry bomb!"

"yeah, i remembered you mentioning that it was one of your favorites, besides these chicks are total badasses." alex said.

"well, i'm flattered that you remembered." stevie smiled. "they are pretty badass."

"hey lovebirds! let's play some volleyball!" mark called out, snapping alex and stevie out of their thoughts. "you two can listen to music some other time."

the pair stood up as stevie returned the earbud to alex, placing her magazine in her tote bag. "thanks for sharing your music." she smiled. "you got some pretty good tracks."

"thanks." alex smiled. "so you ready to lose at volleyball, lawrence?"

"oh, you're so on, davis."

⊱ ────── {⋆⌘⋆} ────── ⊰

bella laid on her mother's sofa, while looking through the channels. after having drinks at the office, she thought a lot about what the future held in store for her after this collection. now that she was designing again, she didn't want to stop, but it's hard to design when you don't have any inspiration.

after not finding anything to watch, she turned off the television and tossed the remote to the side. she then stood up and walked over to the kitchen, where her mother was making dinner. "need any help, ma?" she said, sitting on a stool.

"the lasagna's done, you can get it out of the oven for me." lisa said. "i thought you'd continue the celebration with the girls."

"nothing beats your lasagna, ma." bella smiled, grabbing oven mitts to grab the lasagna. "besides, i needed time away from work."

"so that's why you're hanging around here now." lisa chuckled.

"ma, c'mon." bella laughed. "alright, i've been feeling a little homesick and i don't have any inspiration at the moment so i thought i'd hang around here."

lisa nodded as she grabbed some plates, along with some silverware. "well, although i don't find north hollywood aesthetically pleasing, i'm glad to have you home." she smiled.

"i feel like i haven't been home in ages." bella said, serving herself a piece of lasagna.

"you hated being home." lisa laughed. "you were always out and about, whether it be with chrissy or johnny, you were almost never home."

"those were the days." bella smiled. "you need any help with anything, ma?"

"why?" lisa said.

"i just thought i'd help you out around here." bella said. "y'know, running errands, doctors appointments, whatever you need."

"i'm fine, you go do your thing." lisa said.

"i'm free for the next couple of months, i have nothing to do and i have no inspiration, so just let me help you out." bella said.

"alright." lisa said. "it would be good to have you around here."

"you missed me, ma?" bella smiled.

"more than anything, honey."

⊱ ────── {⋆⌘⋆} ────── ⊰

the bartender handed chrissy and johnny their beers, as chrissy paid the bartender. "stevie told me about the whole thing with robby. how'd it go? did you see him?" she said.

"i don't wanna talk about it." johnny said.

"if it's any consolation, you were doing good with the dojo." chrissy said, taking a swig of her beer. "you're a pretty good sensei."

"thanks, chris." johnny said.

"so how'd it go with bella?" chrissy said. "i heard you two worked it out. that's good. you two needed to air things out."

"she told me about new york." johnny said. "about how the nerves got the best of her and about her ex. what the hell did he do to her?"

"it's a long story, but he went to see her and that kinda shook her up." chrissy said. "but she's doing better, you haven't spoken to her?"

"nah." johnny said. "she has a lot goin' on, might as well give her some space."

chrissy took one last swig of her beer before standing up and heading to the bathroom. as the bartender handed johnny another beer, he looked up to find kreese walk in and order a drink, causing the blonde to tense up.

"thought i'd find you here." kreese said. "by now i'd figured you'd be over your little temper tantrum and we can talk like adults."

johnny stood up, ready to fight him, but restraining himself once he saw a police officer walk in and order a chicken sandwich, which would take 3 minutes.

"you got 3 minutes." johnny said, as he and kreese sat down.

"you're in a bad place and i probably put you there, but you gotta understand that it was for your own good." kreese said. "i never wanted to hurt you, i only wanted to help."

chrissy stepped out of the bathroom and spotted the two men sitting at the bar, talking. she stayed back as she didn't want to face kreese and instead just tried to listen to their conversation.

"you did the impossible. you brought cobra kai back to life, you brought me back to life." kreese said. "but then you started leading those kids down the wrong path, so i had to step in. i kept trying to warn you, but you didn't listen. you got distracted, so i had to act. now it's time for you to come home."

johnny grew angrier as he listened to him talk. he heard what he had to say, but he was growing tired. "you may hate my guts, but i will always be your teacher." kresse said. "i know you more than you know yourself and there's only one way to get your out of this funk: the way of the fist."

"you were the best, johnny and you can teach it to these kids, you've done it before. so when our boy comes back, we can help him get up on his feet." the man continued. "and as for the girl, you lost once because of her, don't let it happen again. she's pretty, but she's not worth it."

"go anywhere near miguel, his family, bella, or my daughter, and i'll kill you." johnny said.

as the bartender then handed the police officer his order, johnny turned to kreese, signaling him that it was time to go.

"looks like my time is up." kreese said, finishing up his drink. "think about what i said."

as chrissy walked back to the bar, the two watched the sensei leave. "what'd he want?" chrissy said.

"nothing." johnny said.

"you worried he might get to bella or stevie?" chrissy said. "i know he blames her for the tournament."

"he won't." johnny said. "not while i'm around."