Three days later,
Neverland Ranch, Los Olivos, CA.

Michael's point of view

I sat there, in the living room of the main house of Neverland, while some sound ingineer was providing me with a microphone which he attached to my shirt. I nervously fiddled with my fingers, not able to take my eyes of off the door-frame. I hoped June would come through that door before the cameraman gives me the thumbs up to begin my statement.

As Karen was finishing my make up, Carson came in the room while on the phone with whoever that was. I felt kind of relieved to know that he would be there to assist me, but it didn't prevent a rush of anxiety to wash over me just to think that I would be all alone in front of the camera.

But I knew I had to do it.

June told me the night prior that she would be there for me, but the fact that I was about to start and that she wasn't there yet stressed me out. I needed her to be there, because I knew that just her being here would help me a lot to get through this. I wasn't ready to let the world know about my private life, but I needed to do that so that, hopefully, the drama would be over.

I understood she had to work though. Today was the day she was assigned the models she'd be training to succeed in the field. She was really looking forward this day. From what she told me, she visibly had her favorites already.

"We're rolling in fifteen minutes!" one of the crew member yelled through the crowded room.

"I can't do this alone," I mumbled as Karen arranged my hair. "John!" I called after my manager who was still handling business on the phone.

"What is it, Michael?" he asked once he was in front of me, covering the phone with his hand.

"Can you try to call June? She should be here by now," I nervously said.

"I'm on the phone with Levine, Mike, I can't," he explained to me, and I frowned. "He wants to make sure what you're going to say is appropriated."

Michael Levine is my publicist. He is the man who takes care of my image, if you could say. He is the one person who helped me go through all of the horrible rumors that were spread about me.

"It is. We looked over my speech at least a hundred times with John. Tell him this, and just hang up. I need to know where June is before this starts."

John did as he was told, and handed me the phone after he hung up, "Here, hurry."

I nodded my head, and dialed the familiar number while leaving the crowded and noisy room. After two ringtones, June finally picked up her phone.

"Hey, where are you?"

"Fucking traffic jam!" She yelled through the phone. "We've been stuck for thirty minutes, we just got out. Please tell me you're not done yet?"

"I'm only about to start," I tried to say in a reassuring voice. "Are you far away from here?"

"Wait a sec babe," she told me. "Are we almost here?" June asked Pit, the sound of her voice a little muffled.

"If I break the law, we could be here in ten," I heard Pit answered.

"Then break it, I don't want Michael to go through this alone," she answered in that same muffled voice, and a huge smile spread across my face. "Step on the gas, buddy!"

My baby girl.

"Baby?" She asked in a clearer voice. "We'll be there in ten, don't worry."

"You guys be careful. Tell Pit not to play the speed demon."

"We're speading on the freeway, boy," she said, and I could picture the smile on her face. "See? I can use your songs too."

I chuckled slightly, "be careful, okay?"

"We will. And you stop being all nervous. This is gonna be fine, baby."

"Okay. I'll see you in ten minutes," I told her before hanging up.

***

June'spoint of view

As Pit parked the car in front of the main house of Neverland, I hurried inside, hoping that we weren't late.

It was the big day. Carson moved heaven and earth to have a filming crew from the ABC headquaters available in such a short notice, and he succeeded.

Michael was a nervous wreck because it wasn't like him to do this. He was about to let people know about his private life, and to lose some of his privacy. I was happy he did it though.

"We're rolling in nine, eight, seven..."

When I pushed the door of the living room open, the cameraman was counting down, and a few people in there put their finger on their mouth to motion me to keep quiet. I closed the door quietly behind Pit and I, blew a kiss towards Karen, and the both of us sat in two empty chairs that stood just behind the camera.

My stare crossed Michael's, and I gave him the thumbs up and a reassuring smile. He smiled a little back at me, and finally it was time for him to speak up, and read the little speech I helped him prepare on the teleprompter that stood just beneath the camera.

"Hi, this is Michael Jackson," he began with a little shy smile.

His voice was even more high-pitched than usual, as everytime he has to speak in public.

Cute.

"First of all, I would like to thank all my fans around the world for the enormous support you've shown me throughout the years. Your support means the world to me, I wouldn't be there without you, and for this, I thank you," he stated, and my heart melt at his words and his angelic face. "Ever since Bad came out, I've been working on another album, and I am pleased to announce you that the wait is almost over. I hope you'll like it, because this album is much more personal than any other one I made," Michael declared, stealing a glance over at me, which caused me to grin.

He is perfect.

"Second of all, I'd like to clear all of those rumors that have been in the press for too many years. Never did I buy the Elephant Man's bones, but I do feel a strong connection with Joseph Merrick. Never did I ask June Wellington to leave the country because I didn't want to see her anymore. Never," Michael said, putting empathis on his last word. "Then, as much as death can be scary, never did I try to become immortal by any scatterbrained ways. Finally, no. I do not bleach my skin. I'm a black American, and I am proud of who I am. I don't understand why the press is so interested in speculating about my appearance, anyway. What does my face have to do with my music or my dancing?," he rethorically asked. "Don'tbelieve what you read, please. This is garbage, and those people create lies just to make money. The medium are really good at making you believe everything they want, but you need to believe in what you see, not what you hear. Please," he practically begged, and then shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "Now, I am here to reestablish the truth," he went on, clearing his throat.

Herewe go, I told myself.

"On 16th October 1988, I married Jessica Courtney Harris, a kind, strong and sweet woman who fought all her life to provide her son the life he deserves. She certainlty is one of the greatest mother I got to meet in my life. Her enormous heart made me love her. At some point, I thought I was in love with her, but unfortunately, I realized I wasn't, as much as I tried to be. I never fell for my wife. Stupid, you'd say? And you're certainly right. Jessica and I's wedding was over before it even started. As I feared to get older and end up alone, we married a month after we both first met. She helped me feeling less lonely, and I helped her take care of her sick son. Through the months, she became essential to me, and I couldn't picture my life without her. I tried to fall in love with her, but I guess you don't choose who you fall for, and someone else had my heart already," Michael said,and I looked down at my lap. "Jessica is one of my closest friends, and I'll always be thankful for making me feel better during the time she was my wife"

This was the brightest idea Michael's publicist and him had: making Jessica look as the hero so that she can flatter her ego in the press.

"The point of this all, is to tell you, before the press misrepresent my words and call me a liar, that Jessica and I filled for divorce about a month ago. This wedding was getting nowhere, as we weren't in love with each other, so we both agreed that a divorce was our last option. It was ridiculous of us to stay married for two years, knowing that we weren't made for each other," Michael said, shaking his head. "Today, Jessica left the state of California to be away from all of this madness. I'm asking you to respect her privacy."

I grinned at my man, proud of his speech. He was perfect, I never thought he would be that great, considering he's not comfortable with interviews or statement like this one.

As I was about to clap my hands togther, Michael opened his mouth again.

Huh? This was supposed to be the end of his speech.

"What is he doing?" I whispered to Pit who was sitting beside me. "It's supposed to be the end!"

"I don't know, but he must know what he is doing," Pit answered back in my ear, and I couldn't stop looking at Michael with a frown.

"Jessica is living her life on her own, and I am living mine, and we are perfectly fine with the situation. I'd be delighted if she could be as happy and in love as I am today," he smiled, and gave me one of his sparkly stare.

I was kind of taken a back, because Michael never told me he was planning on saying that. I was glad he did though, because maybe this would allow us to go out in public together again.

"For years, I've been in love with the same wonderful, breathtaking woman, and I think that may be the reason why I wasn't able to open up completely to Jessica. Today, I am truly the happiest man in this world because I have everything I need, and I am surrounded by love wherever I go," Michael said, giving a bright grin to the camera."To my fans, I love you all, and thank you again for your support. May God bless you all. Goodbye," he finished with yet another smile.

"And... cut!" the cameraman yelled through the room. "That's a wrap!"

The room became alive and noisy again, when I tried to make my way to Michael through the crowded room. When I spotted him, he was talking with Carson, and they seemed to have some freaking serious conversation, so I stayed a little back, enough to catch some of the conversation.

"Why did you say that at the end? It wasn't necessary to add more fuel to the fire, Mike. What were you thinking?" Carson hissed, while Michael was buttoning the top buttons of his shirt back.

Michael sighed heavily, looking down, "I'm tired, John. Tired of hiding, tired of fighting with people who try to break us appart. I'm just fed up with everything, and I just want to be happy for once in my life, and live my life the way I want to. Can't you accept that?"

"Of course I can. I just hope the press won't tear you appart because of this. I know this hurts you when they criticize you, or call you weird and everything."

When Michael looked back at John, he finally noticed me, and a huge grinnspread across his face.

"I'll be alright," he mumbled, walking past his manager to come and join me.

"Hey, where are you going?" Carson called in the distance, but Michael didn't look back at him. His sparkly eyes were on me, and they seemed to be focused only on me.

When he reached me, he took my hand in his, and dragged me out of the nosy and crowded room to lock us up in the bathroom.

"Babe, what are you -"

Michael didn't let me finish my question, and pressed me against the closed door before crashing his lips on mine. His hands were on my hips, while I automatically wrapped my arms around his neck, responding to his slow, sensual and loving kiss. I melted in his arms, enjoying the movie scene-like kiss we were sharing. Our lips and tongues were moving in slow motion, like we wanted to take all the time we needed to love each other, without a care in the world.

As we were kissing, Michael slided his hands up to my neck, brushing them on my belly and breasts on their way there, and then cupped my face with his large hands before pulling away from me. It took me a few seconds to open my eyes as the feeling of his lips lingered on my own.

"Hi," I stupidly said in a whisper with a large smile plastered on my face.

I sounded like I was high, really.

"Hi,"Michael answered with the same smile as me, chuckling.

He grazed his thumbs over my cheeks, studying me while licking his bottom lip. My eyes were on his lips, and I had a hard time looking away from them. All I wanted was to kiss him again, and take off his clothes right here and there.

I left my trance when I noticed Michael's lips were moving. I slightly shook my head from side to side, and took my arms off of Michael's neck to place them around his waist.

"What did you say?" I asked, looking up at him.

"I asked you if I was good out there?" he chuckled, and pushed a strand of hair out of my face.

"Oh damn, yes you were," I dreamily said, playing with the buttons of his black button-up shirt.

"Are you happy?"

"Iam more than happy, baby. This time is going to be our time, okay?"I said with certainty.

"Sure gonna be," Michael smiled down at me, and kissed my lips again.

"Uh-uh,wait," I said, breaking the kiss. "Why did you drag me in there, by the way?"

"Duh? Don't you think it would have been a little bit awkward to kiss you the way I just did in front of everybody?"

"So this is not because you didn't want everybody to see us together?"

"I'm not afraid of this anymore. That's why you and I are going out tonight, as our first official date," he cheesed.

"To-Tonight?" I sttutered, a little bit taken aback.

"Yeah, is there a problem?" he frowned, caressing my cheek with the back of his hand.

"Emily is throwing a party tonight, you know, to welcome the newbies. There's gonna be a lot of high-profile personnalities such as Diane Von Fürstenberg, Donna Karan who came all the way from New York for this, and my girls are there too... I didn't see Naomi and Brooke or even Tara for ages, and I really do miss them," I pouted, looking into Michael's eyes.

"Wait, Brooke is in town?" Michael asked me, raising his perfect eyebrows.

"Yeah," I slightly chuckled. "Apparently you didn't know either. She's such a shitty friend at times," I chuckled again. "But I love her though, and I really want to see her tonight."

"I miss her too,"Michael admitted with a sigh. "It's been like four years I didn't see her while we used to hang out together a lot. She's just as child-like as I am," he chuckled slightly.

"I know, baby," I said, hugging his waist tighter.

As I rubbed Michael's back, my head rested on his chest, listenning to his heartbeat, an idea popped into my head, and I immediately pulled away from his chest to look into his eyes with a grin on my face.

"You know, I may need a date to go there tonight, and you..." I pointed at his chest, my grin turning into a smirk, "... my dear Mikey, are the only man I want to go out with. So, will you come with me?"

"Don't you need to ask Emily first?"

"What? She's not my mother. If I want you to come with me, then you'll come with me."

As Michael was about to open his mouth to say something back, Carson's knocking on the bathroom's door interrupted him.

"We should go,"Michael said, inches from my mouth. "Call Emily to see if she's okay with that, and tell me what she said. I need to go back in there."

"Will do," I smiled, and brought Michael's lips to mine. "Go."

"I love you," he said and pecked my lips. "I'll be fast."

"Take your time baby boy. I love you too."

He laid one more kiss on top of my head, and headed outside the bathroom to meet an angry manager.

"Hey John," I friendly waved, smiling.

"Mmh, don't 'hey John' me, I'm pissed," he said, narrowing his eyes at me. "This man has obligations, you know?"

"I know, I'm sorry, sir," I grinned again. "It won't happen again."

Michael giggled next to his manager, and finally, John couldn't keep his smile for himself, and gave me a little smirk.

"You're lucky you're cute," Carson shook his head. "Now go away before I kick your ass for distracting him!"

I laughed at him, and stole a quick peck to Michael before running away from them, giggling like a seven-year-old.

As I went into the kitchen to grab something to drink, I heard my name being called behind me, and I recognized Pit's voice.

"Hey princess, where have you been? One second you were there, and the other one you just disappeared," Pit said, catching up with me. "You forgot that," he told me, handing me my purse.

"Yeah, sorry buddy. I was in a um... a rush," I giggled, taking my purse from his hands. "Thanks."

"A rush, uh? A rush to do what?"

"Congratulate my man," I whispered, wiggling my eyebrows at him which caused him to chuckle.

"Naughty girl," he shook his head from side to side, as I sat at the kitchen island with my bottle of water in my hands. "Why are you here all alone?" my friend asked, sitting across from me.

"Because Carson shooed me away. He said I was distracting Michael," I laughed.

"He wasn't completely wrong, apparently," Pit chuckled.

"True," I smiled. "I'm happy this is all over. We can finally be together without fearing that the press is going to say atrocities about us."

"Do you really think this is going to make them stop?" Pit asked, raising an eyebrow. "I don't think so. But people know the truth now. If they're stupid enough to believe whatever is said on TV or in the press, then it's their problem, not yours."

"Yeah, you're right," I sighed. "I'm happy Jessica was cooperative and accepted what Michael said. I mean, Michael would have done it even if she disagreed, but the fact that she accepted allowed us to avoid useless drama."

"It's weird though, don't you think?"

"What are you talking about?" I asked, confused.

"I don't know...the girl claims she is in love with Michael, and makes you clearly understand that she hates you, but she still want to help you two be together?"

"Maybe she's not that stupid, after all," I shrugged. "Or else, she has ulterior motives."

"I'll go with the second option."

"What kind of ulterior motives could she possibly have?"

"I don't know. Money, maybe? You know she's a gold-digger. She showed it when Michael and her had to sign the divorce papers."

"Yeah I know, but Michael didn't tell me about her asking for money, so I don't know. I came to think that she just did that to be forgiven."

"Keep her in acorner of your head. She's an evil bitch," Pit warned me, and I nodded.

"I will," I smiled at my friend's concern.

"So, when are you and Mike doing your first public appearance together?" he enthusiastically asked to lighten up the mood.

"He wanted to invite me out tonight for dinner, but I have this party."

"I know, I'm coming too, you know," he laughed at me.

"Oh yeah, right," I chuckled. "Anyways, I told him I wasn't available, and then I asked him if he would be my date for tonight."

"You did?" Pit smiled brightly. "What did he say?"

"He accepted right away," I smiled back. "So yeah, we're going out public tonight. Plus, Brooke will be here, and he really misses her too."

"Is that okay withbEmily if you bring him?"

"Michael asked me the same question. You really think I should call her to ask her?"

"Princess, he's Michael Jackson. If he goes there, people, and when I say people I talk about the newbies mostly, are going to freak out. Do you realize how famous he is?"

"I didn't think about that," I admitted. "I'm calling Emily."

"Wise decision."

As I took my phone out of my purse, Pit stole my bottle of water from me, and drank from it.

"Eww, now you can keep it!" I exclaimed, making a face.

"Come on, I'm no toad!" he protested.

I shook my head at him, and put my phone to my ear once I dialed Emily's number.

"Hello?" her sweet voice answered after the third ringtone.

"Hey Emily, it's June!"

"Oh June, did you forget something here?"

"No, no. I just have something to ask you about tonight."

"Sure, what is it?"

"Um, how many people is there gonna be?"

"I don't know, one hundred and fifty people maybe."

Oh man.

"Can I come with someone... important?" I asked, unsure of my use of words.

"Of course, you can! And what do you mean, important?"

"Like, Michael Jackson important?"

"What the fuck?" she practically yelled through the phone, and I nearly dropped it. "You're coming with Michael Jackson? You guys are back together? I thought he -"

"Watch ABC in an hour or two. You'll understand everything," I declared, referring to the statement Michael recorded earlier.

"Oh my God this party is going to be the party of the year! So much famous and successful actresses and performers are -" she cut her sentence short and said "uh-oh."

"What is it?" I asked, noticing the uneasiness in her voice.

"We've got a problem."

"A problem? Could you elaborate?" I asked, and Pit frowned.

"I already told you that your girls are coming. Naomi Campbell, Brooke Shields and...Tara Leigh Patrick."

"What? What is wrong with Tara being here?"

"She's coming with Prince, June."

Oh no.

"Prince? As in Purple Rain Prince?"

What? Tara, with Prince? What the fuck?

"Yes. As in Michael's most famous rival."

"You do read tabloids too much, Emily," I nervously chuckled. "They're cordial, and they have a lot of respect towards each other, it's going to be just fine."

"Are you sure? I heard Prince hooked up with Michael's former lover, Tatiana Thumbtzen, and that they almost killed each other for her."

"This is garbage, don't listen to it. Michael and Tatiana have never been together. They were just friends."

"Still. For me Princa and Michael are rivals. They're the two most infulent performers in the field at the moment. We can't deny this."

"It's gonna be fine," I reassured, trying to reassure myself as well. "Could you please tell the newbies he's coming, and not to be all over him? You'd be a real sweetheart."

"I will," she assured.

"Okay, thank's. I'll see you tonight, at eight on the dot. And don't forget to watch ABC in an hour or two."

I quickly hung up, and looked at Pit before smacking my head on the table in despair.

"Fuck. My. Life," I said, banging my head on the table between each word.

"What's the deal with Prince?"

"He's coming tonight. He's a friend's date and he's my man's ennemy."

"You said they were cordials, what's the big deal?"

"The big deal is that Prince asked me to be the lead dancer in one of his video clip, and I didn't tell Michael yet."

"What the actual fuck? Are you serious?" Pit almost yelled, and I motionned him to shut the hell down. "What did you say? Yes? No? And why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't tell anybody because I don't fucking know what to do!" I hissed, once again banging my head on the table. "This isn't lying, right?"

"Um, it's just hiding the truth, I guess?"

"Thank you," I sighed in relief. "Should I tell him as soon as I can?"

"Do you want him to learn this from you, or from him?"

He has a point.

Not even a week ago, Prince's manager gave me a call on my cell, asking me to call him back, which I did. He offered me this opportunity, and I told him that I needed time to think about it as my life was a little bit crazy at the time. He gave me two weeks to think about it, and I still didn't find the balls to tell Michael about it, knowing the kind of relationship he has with him.

I tried to think about something that they both had in common, and besides the music, the only thing was... Frank DiLeo.

What a great topic to talk about in a conversation.

_____________

Hey guys!

You can check out my new Imagines Book if you want too. That'll be great :)
Hope you'll like it!
Much love,

Julie