"I can see you
standing next to me
In and out
Somewhere else right now
You sigh
Look away
I can see it clear as day
Close your eyes
So afraid
Hide behind that baby face"
____
Cigarette Daydreams by Cage the Elephant
C H A P T E R O N E
Maeve was glad that her family was finally together.
Robby and Johnny were getting along better than ever.
But there was one tiny problem.
And that had to do with the new part of their family.
Miguel ran away to Mexico to find his dad.
Carmen was terrified when she found out.
Maeve was currently at the car with her half brother, waiting for their dad to come out of the kiosk they found in Mexico.
They were on a mission to get Miguel back home safely.
Only Robby didn't know about it and Maeve wasn't going to be the one to tell him.
She had argued with Johnny about it, but it only resulted in him turning up the music and ignoring her.
Johnny finally came out wearing bright red sunglasses with the tag still on and a plastic bag in his hand.
"Got us some choice supplies for the next leg of our road trip."
Yeah that's what he called it.
"Mexican Cokes." Johnny began.
"I think they're just Cokes." Robby chuckled.
"Mexican candy, Chicharrons." Their dad continued.
"And just picked up this badass cell phone. It's got sixty minutos on it. That's like 300 American minutes."
"Right." Maeve looked amused.
"And I got you a little something to say 'welcome to Mexico'."
He handed Maeve a small dog figure with a hat on. Maeve furrowed her brows.
"Don't tell me it's offensive. We brought it in Mexico. It's their idea."Johnny warned her before turning to Robby.
"Here. Gift number two."
He handed Robby a shirt that said 'FBI' on the front.
"Turn it around."
On the back it said 'Female Body Inspector'.
Maeve rolled her eyes with a smile.
Johnny chuckled, proud of his gift.
"Isn't that great? I got one for me too."
Robby put the shirt down with a small smile
"So, what are we actually doing here? Don't say it's a family bonding thing. We could've done that 500 miles ago."
"You told him." Johnny turned accusingly to Maeve.
Maeve gasped.
"I did not!" She exclaimed.
Johnny turned back to Robby who looked confused.
"Look. This is a family bonding thing. There's just something to take care of first."
"Great. Let's get going." Maeve stole the red sunglasses off of her dad and hopped onto the backseat.
While they were driving Johnny finally told his son the real reason they went to Mexico.
"You've got to be kidding." Robby exclaimed annoyed.
"You have every right to be upset." Johnny tried to calm him down.
Maeve listened silently in the back. She didn't want to be part of this argument.
"How could you take me down to Mexico and not mention once we're coming to get Miguel? 'Come on Robby, let's go to Mexico. Come back with some stories.'"
"I wasn't bullshitting you. I wanna fix our relationship. But when I heard Miguel was in trouble, I had to do something. I just couldn't leave you at home. I'm done doing that." Johnny tried to reason.
"Besides, I need your help to find Miguel."
"My help? Do you even have a plan? Besides you have Maeve who could've helped you."
"Yeah, but I needed some extra help and of course I have a plan. Miguel's looking for Hector Salazar. I know were the kid gets off the bus. That's our first stop." Johnny explained.
"When we get there, what do you plan on doing?" Robby didn't look convinced.
"I'll ask around if anyone saw Miguel."
Maeve leaned forward.
"Dad, seriously?" She asked.
The girl thought he actually had a plan or at least a lead.
"That's the big plan?" Robby asked.
"Of course not. We come up dry, I'll check the Mexican phone book."
Maeve's mouth hung open.
"Oh my god. You drive me over a thousand miles to check a phone book? Might as well put Miguel's face on a milk carton." Robby complained.
"They still do that?" Their dad asked.
Maeve groaned and covered her face with her hands.
"I could be at home with Tory. Coming with you was a mistake." Robby turned to look out of the window.
Johnny sight.
"All right. I'm sorry, okay? I thought this trip would help the three of you mend your relationship."
Maeve furrowed her eyebrows at that.
Why did she have to mend her relationship with Miguel. They talked and now they were fine. Well, kind of.
"When we get to the bus station, if you wanna buy a ticket home, you can go. I don't want you to go home, but-"
"Dad, watch out!" Robby yelled suddenly.
Maeve didn't see what happened, she only felt the car jerk to the right and going off road.
Her head hit the back of Robby's seat as Johnny hit the break.
Maeve groaned and held her nose that was now bleeding.
"Fuck." She said.
"Shit! Are you okay?" Johnny asked them, looking at Robby before turning towards his daughter.
"No." Maeve muffled.
"Aw shit." He grimaced as he watched her stuff her nose with unused napkins.
————
Robby was taking a look at Maeve's nose as their dad made his way towards the trunk and opened it.
"Where did LaRusso hide the lug wrench?" He asked himself and started looking around.
Robby sighed rolling his eyes and moved forward to opened a side panel.
Maeve raised her eyebrows impressed by that.
Her nose had finally stopped bleeding and was now only a bit red.
He pulled out the lug wrench and handed it to Johnny.
"I lived in here, remember?" He asked.
"Of course I remember." Johnny said softly looking sad and disappointed in himself.
Maeve gave Robby a look.
"Yeah, I remember too. You jumped me at work, remember that?" She asked following them around the car.
"No, you jumped me first." Robby said annoyed.
"Did not. You came at me and I only defended myself."
The girl crossed her arms as Robby rolled his eyes at her with a small smile.
"How the hell did you get this car anyway?" The boy asked, now leaning against said car.
"I went looking for you." Their dad said crouching down in front of the front tire and getting to work.
"After you went missing, me and LaRusso tried to find you. We found this hunk of junk instead." He stopped working looking up at them.
"We found some pissant driving it. We chased him to a chop shop. Ended up fighting the douchebags that stole it."
"I had no idea." Robby said, his eyebrows furrowed.
Johnny sight looking up at his son.
"I know I haven't been there for you Robby. More times that I can count. But I've also failed Miguel. Hell, I'm the reason he ran off in the first place."
Maeve tilted her head to the side in confusion.
He stood up.
"I'm out here trying to fix my mistakes so I don't have to live with regret. If you're serious about making things right, you can start by helping Miguel. I know you have your fair share of regrets when it comes to him."
Robby lowered his eyes.
"I'm gonna call Carmen. I'll be right back. Finish taking these off."
Johnny handed Robby the tool and went a few steps away from them.
Robby looked guilty as he watched their dad walk away.
Maeve put her hand on his shoulder as he crouched down to finish what Johnny started.
"Hey, I know this isn't easy for you. It wasn't for me either. But he deserves our help. He deserves happiness." She told him, thinking of all the times her dad had struggled in the past just to make her happy.
Robby nodded slowly listening to Johnny's conversation with Carmen as Maeve made her way to the back of the car.
————
After the car was fixed they finally got to their destination.
Johnny went to ask someone if they saw Miguel while Maeve watched Robby take his rucksack out of the car.
"All right, the next bus leaves in a few hours."
Johnny opened his wallet and gave him some money.
Maeve watched them sadly.
"This'll buy your ticket. This is for some drinks and snacks."
Johnny nodded at his son and went towards the beach.
"Where are you going?" Robby asked.
"Ticket guy thinks he saw Miguel talking to these surfers. I'm gonna go ask around."
"Sorry I dragged you into this, Robby." He said as he made his way towards the surfers.
Maeve sighed, getting frustrated.
"Come on. He's right. You want him to make things better, but won't do it yourself. Have a good ride home."
She made her way towards her dad.
He was just explaining Miguel's appearance.
"I gave him directions, yeah." A blond man said in an Australian accent.
"Great. Can you tell me which way he went?" Johnny asked.
"Might be easier if I show ya. Got a map."
Maeve frowned. This seemed to be a bit suspicious as the guy behind him already had the map and a pen in his hand.
Maeve watched suspiciously as the other surfers watched them.
"Here we go. So he was heading here."
Her dad suddenly turned around twisting a man's arm that was holding his wallet.
"That's a bad idea." He kicked him in the stomach, before turning back to the blond man.
Maeve held her hands up ready to fight if anything would happen.
"All right, what's the scam? Give me some bum address, try to steal my wallet?"
The man chuckled.
"No, the address is real. As for your money, I'm gonna end up with it either way, mate. So we can do it the easy way or the fun way."
Maeve scoffed. He hadn't seen nothing yet.
"Listen, asshole, you have fife seconds to tell me wich way that kid went, or I'm gonna take that surfboard and shove it so far up your ass your friends are gonna be surfing you.
The stranger chuckled again.
"The fun way. Good."
"Yeah. The fun way." Johnny agreed.
A man went to grab Maeve from behind, but she saw him coming and immediately fought him, kicking him to the ground.
Meanwhile some other guy tried to strangle johnny from behind, but was kicked off of him by Robby.
The three of them nodded to each other.
"Would you look at that?" The Australian said, going in for a punch, but their dad blocked him and kicked him to the ground.
Now they were all fighting.
Maeve was surprised to see how easy it was for her to kick their asses, wich no doubt had to do with all the training she did when she was still in Cobra Kai.
As she kicked her opponent in the face, she turned around to watch her dad smash a radio in the blond Australian's face.
They were all breathing hard.
"Adios, dickheads."
—————
Maeve came out of the little kiosk they found on their way back to the car, two colas and a beer in her hands and a pack of chips.
She approached the car and handed two of the bottles to her dad and brother, sitting down next to them.
They held the cold bottles to the areas on their body's that got hurt during the fight, although Maeve thought they were being a bit dramatic.
"This trip was a disaster from jump." Johnny told them after a sip from his beer.
The half siblings on either side of him looked up at him.
He turned to Robby.
"You're right. It was a mistake to bring you."
Maeve looked down at her feet.
"No, it wasn't." Robby immediately said.
He rolled his eyes. "Okay. I mean, some of it was. Technically, you kidnapped and transported a minor across the border."
Maeve gave Johnny a look that said 'I told you so', making him shove her lightly with his shoulder.
"But we got a good story out of it." Robby said smiling.
"Yeah. We did." Johnny smiled back.
"The bus will be here soon. You should go. Both of you."
Maeve looked up shocked.
"I don't want to leave." She told him determined.
"This is my mess to clean up." Johnny took another sip of his beer.
"You're right. But... I'm gonna stay too. You're trying to make things right. I wanna help you."
Maeve smiled at him and took one end of the map that Robby was unfolding, so all of them could look at it.
"At least now we know where we're going. X marks the spot, right?"
"All right." Johnny smiled at them.
He put his arms around his kids and together they watched the sunset.
————————
First Chapter done, let's go!
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