Tayler's POV:

As I laid in the hospital bed I kept replaying Michael and I's conversation.

He really asked me to marry him.

I was so in shock. This was something I truly wanted when I first saw the Jackson 5 on TV; little Michael always caught my eye and I would look for him every time the brothers were on TV.

Now he finally asked me to marry him, something I've been dreaming about. Hell something all girls have been dreaming about, which is to marry a Jackson; however, here I am declining the offer.

I couldn't stop the tears that flowed once he left and the reality of being a single mother hit me. Although I know Michael meant what he said when he said he'll be there for Elijah, in that moment and now I couldn't help but feel alone.

Especially with Elijah crying at the top of his lungs. I was so overwhelmed and begin to cry myself. Luckily the nurses came in and settled him for me and even showed me how to breast feed him. But soon after they took him to the nursery with the other babies to monitor him because tomorrow might be the day we get to go home. I was excited, but scared. I mean can I really take care of him by myself?

It is now where I really feel bad about what I said to Michael, but it needed to be said. I knew he only wanted to marry me because of Elijah. Michael and I barely talked about marriage, we never really talked about marrying each other. We only discussed the idea of being married one day in general and how nice it would be if we were to, but never talked about it seriously. In addition to that and Michael being a ghost during my pregnancy, the idea of marriage was really far from our reach.

We really aren't ready. I love Michael with all my heart, but I want him to marry me because of that same feeling I have for him.

Love.

Pure unconditional love.

Just picturing the look on Michael's face when I told him no, broke my heart.

Mixed with sadness, guilt, and confusion my tears were made and begin sliding down my red cheeks.

And once they started, it seemed as if I couldn't stop them.

"We're back!"

I heard Donna's voice before she turned the corner with my Dad in tow behind her. They came barring gifts such as a bouquet of flowers, a teddy bear, and three balloons, two of which that said "Congratulations" and the other that says "Its a Boy!"

But the gifts couldn't cheer me up and I couldn't wipe my tears fast enough before they had a full visual of my face.

"Aww baby what's wrong now? Is the baby ok? where is he?" Donna asked as she approached me.

She sat on my bed and my dad sat on the couch. I noticed that he hasn't said a word to me since Elijah was born, but I was too caught up in my own drama to care at this point.

"He's fine." I sniffed.

"They took him back to the nursery, they said we can go home tomorrow if he will get through the rest of day and night without any complications." I explained as I wiped my fallen tears.

"That's great news, so why are you sad?" she asked as she rubbed my right leg.

"Michael asked me to marry him and I said no." I said as I lowered my eyes hoping the tears wouldn't come down.

I heard my dad sigh as he sat back on the couch and Donna sighed as well.

"Then he left." I added.

"What the hell do you mean he left?" Donna slightly shouted.

"You just gave birth to his son and he just up and leaves? You know what I knew this shit was going to happen, I even tried to tell his mama; but noooo she want to believe her son is so innocent. That nappy headed boy ain't been there from the start and now he wants to show up like he cares and leaves all because you didn't want to marry him! That is no excuse."

"It wasn't like that, he was just hurt. Besides he'll be back." I made up an excuse for Michael.

Truth be told, I didn't know when or even if he would be back. However, if I know Michael like I think I do he will be back.

"He was hurt? and what were you while you carried his son? He want to marry some damn body hell marry his son. That's who he needs to be there for anyhow."

"Donna that's enough." my dad spoke up.

"We don't know the circumstances, Michael probably had something to do. He probably left because of the situation, may be he wanted to clear his head. You never know." my dad added.

"Oh my God Ed! what the hell do you keep sticking up for this kid. It is our daughter who is laid up in this damn bed anyway because of him and it is because of him she had to go through this thing by herself. Now he is doing the same damn thing he did from jump and that is disappear. Shit I knew the boy could sing and dance, but I see he has a talent for magic tricks too. His ass keep disappearing. That's one hell of a trick." Donna spat.

I hiccupped a cry because what she said was really hurtful. May be Michael is going to be absent again. May be he doesn't want to be around, unless we are married. I know how much his religion means to him, may be he is just scared of what the church will say or do. I just feel like I let him down.

I need to stop being so hard on myself and stick by my word, but I can't help it; I love Michael so much.

"And its that same kind of love that made you lie in the first damn place!"  my consciences reminded.

"Donna I'm not sticking up for nobody! You and I both know Michael is a good kid and its because of this dumb ass mistake that you are questioning his character and thinking that our child is so perfect!." my dad said.

I looked up at him with my mouth agape.

I always been a little sensitive when it came to what and how people talked to me, so when he said dumb ass mistake I couldn't help but be hurt. Was he talking about Elijah? Elijah is many things, but anything related to mistake or anything negative for that matter is not one of them.

"Eddie Holland! You watch your goddamn mouth! Now I don't care what the circumstances are at all, he needs to be there for his son and our daughter. How can you just sit up there and be angry at her for this? Why can't you just be her father, she really needs us and you are being selfish!" Donna said.

"I'm being selfish? what about her? Did she stop and think about this at all? Did she ever consider the consequences? Did she think about anyone involved? Both families?" my dad questioned.

This time the patched up damn broke again and my face flooded with tears, its true I am selfish. I didn't think at all and now I am not thinking about what Michael wants or what is best for Elijah, which is to have a family.

"Look what you did! Can't you see she's going through enough right now." Donna scooped me in her arms and rubbed my hair back.

"She's the one that started this shit here, not me!" my dad defended.

"Oh grow the hell up!" Donna turned and pointed at him.

"I don't have to take this shit."

With that my dad got up and headed for the door.

"Oh I see you and Michael are the same! You are both good at getting your asses up and leaving." Donna yelled as he closed the door.

"I'm so sorry Donna. I didn't- I didn't-I didn't want this to happen" I cried harder.

"Shhhh its ok baby, I'm here and we are going to fix this. Don't you worry, I will always be here."

She kissed my head.

I slowly begin to stop crying and eventually tired myself out. I was almost drifting off to sleep.

Hopefully I am able to find peace here because God knows I can't find it in the real world.

~

Encino Compound: The Jackson Home

Michael snuck up to his bedroom using the staircase that whined down from his bedroom to the side yard of the house. He didn't want to come in contact with his family because the last thing he needed was Joseph really getting on his case all over again. However, Michael knew being in the privacy of their home that it probably will be much worse than it was at the hospital.

"Michael!" Janet screamed as she seen her big brother come through his balcony doors.

He quickly ran over and covered her mouth while sitting her on his lap while he sat on the bed, in one quick move.

Janet being the little sister that she is giggled and licked the palm of Michael's hand.

"Ewww Jan, that's so nasty." he scrunched up his face as he wiped his hand on his cover.

"What are doing in my room anyway and jumping on my bed? I told you about that, you have your own bed to jump on. Stop using mine." he said.

"Yeah but yours is so much bouncer and I was waiting on you to come home." she replied.

"Awww you missed me?" Michael smiled as he tickled her a bit.

Michael had an undying love for Janet, his baby sister. True he loved all of his siblings, but it was little Janet who stole his heart.

"Not really." she answered once he stopped tickling her.

"But I was waiting on you to ask you if its true that you have a baby?"

Michael sighed and bit his bottom lip looking down at Janet's stomach, trying not to make eye contact with her.

"Is it true?" she  asked.

"Where did you hear that from?" he inquired, knowing the answer already.

"Mother and Joseph told everybody that you and Tayler had a baby. They said he is a boy. Is that true too?" she questioned.

"Yeah, its true." Michael answered.

"Awww man, I wanted a niece this time. Its too many boys in this family." she pouted.

Michael chuckled at her facial expression.

"That's not nice Janet. You still are going to love him right?"

"Of course I will." Janet answered honestly.

"So it shouldn't matter if he is a boy or girl. You should love him, treat him, and play with him the same way you would if he was a girl." Michael stated.

"Michael I can't dress him up or play dolls with him or do his nails."

Michael giggled at the slight attitude Janet gave him. Janet was always a character, on and off stage.

"No you can't but you can teach him how to dance, and how to sing, and how to have fun."

"Now that I can do." she said as she flipped her hair that was really up in a bun while her other hand rested on her hip.

The two shared a laugh, but that was quickly interrupted with Joseph barging into Michael's room.

"Janet go downstairs and wait for us to leave." Joseph commanded.

Not wanting to get into any trouble, she hopped off of Michael's lap and scurried out the room.

Joseph closed the door and walked a little closer to Michael.

Michael's breath got caught in his throat, but the feeling of nausea came over him at the same time; putting pressure on his throat to point he felt as if he was suffocating. His heart was beating out of chest. Just the look on Joseph's face made Michael believe he could smell fear, and that scared Michael even more. To stop his hands from fidgeting he clasped them together and rest his elbows on his knees as he leaned forward waiting for the wrath of Joseph.

"Michael come downstairs please!" Katherine's voice called out to him.

He sighed in relief, but still was captivated by Joseph's stare.

"Michael come here please!" she called out to him again.

Joseph sighed opening the door, walking out.

"Come on boy." Joseph said.

Michael jumped up and made his way down the steps behind Joseph.

Once he got to the living room he noticed all his siblings were there.

"I thought you were home. How is the baby?" she asked.

"He's fine, Ed called and said he will be home tomorrow." Joseph answered before Michael had the chance to. Honestly this was news to him, but he was excited.

"Awww that's so wonderful." Rebbie gushed.

"So what's his name?" LaToya asked.

"Yeah Michael I forgot to ask, what is his name?" Janet added.

"Elijah. She named his Elijah, Prince Michael is his middle name."

Too embarrassed to say his last name or just not wanting to think about the situation, he avoided saying it.

"That is sooooo cute!" Rebbie said.

"Well congratulations man, got yourself a little boy." Jackie congratulated.

"Yeah Mike, Welcome to club fatherhood." Tito said.

"Y'all have to see him he looks just like Michael. He has Michael's nose, he has those long fingers and feet just like Michael had, and the soft jet black hair Michael had. He is so beautiful." Katherine commented

"Mother when can we see him?" Janet asked.

"Yeah when can we see him Michael?" LaToya questioned.

"Yeah Mike I can't wait to meet the little man." Marlon commented.

Michael stifled a smile and bit his bottom lip because now all the attention was on him.

After what happened earlier he didn't even know if he could see his own son, let alone his family.

"I'm not sure, but I will call her and ask." Michael lied.

He didn't have any intentions on calling her, he was too scared. What would he say? He was so nervous that she would either hang up or not pick up. He even thought about her picking up, but denying him of seeing Elijah.

"Oh Mother I have the best idea, why don't we have a small welcome home party for her. We didn't get him anything so we might as well get him some small gifts and at the same time we get to meet little Elijah." Rebbie suggested.

"Oh Rebbie that's perfect! I know she had a hard time doing this by herself so this will be perfect and show her that we support her one hundred percent." Katherine agreed.

"I just have one question. Where the hell is this all supposed to be? Not at this address it won't." Joseph smugly said.

"Joe stop being so mean, its a wonderful idea. This allows the kids to see him and we get to show our support." Katherine reasoned.

"Katie I understand that, but I am not going to sit here and act like I am ok with all of this. And I'm not going to allow this family to just pretend that this whole thing didn't start as a lie! This is not something that we condone and you know this isn't right." Joseph said.

The living room once full of excitement and eagerness was now filled with tension and quietness.

"No matter how this came about this baby is still family, he didn't ask to be here so we will welcome him in with open arms. Plus it will give us a chance to talk to the kids one on one." Katherine said.

Joseph sucked his teeth, not wanting to argue with his wife about the issue, he finally agreed. Everyone begin cheering and the girls begin to toss out ideas of what to do for tomorrow.

Michael smiled on the outside because of the support his family wanted to give his son, but on the inside he was nervous. He knew Tayler probably wouldn't agree, especially not at the last minute. So he decided to go back to the hospital and make peace with her, and to convince her to come over his house tomorrow with the baby.

As he walked toward the door he was immediately stopped by the sound of Joseph's voice.

"Where are you going?" Joseph asked coldly.

The whole room grew quiet again and once again the attention was on Michael.

"I'm going-I'm going to the hospital to tell her about the party and to check on Elijah." he nervously said as he placed his hands in his pants pocket.

"That's not important right now, we got work to do. That can wait, we have to go rehearse." Joseph said.

"But that's-" Michael tried to rebuttal.

"No buts, nobody told you to have him. You still have work to do and he can wait." Joseph said.

He clapped his hands and told everyone to get a move on. They had to go to the taping of their new variety show.

Michael should have known this was not going to be easy. Not only did he have to deal with Tayler stopping him from seeing Elijah, but now Joseph was going to be a problem too.