~Michael's POV

Every year, since her mother's death, Rayne has been taking trips to visit her mother's grave on her birthday. She says it's the time of her spiritual connection to her mother and the only time she can spend with her. I never question it. I'm glad she can get close with her mother now, even if it is through death. I can only hope that won't be the case when it comes to my father.

While Rayne is on her trip, Camille is with me while I'm recording my album. Luckily, because my baby is such a bookworm, it doesn't take much to keep her busy.

I wrote down my lyrics for my title track, "HIStory" the last song I'd be working on before the big release.

"Mike, you've got a phone call. It's from Rayne." Bill peeks his head in.

"Daddy can I talk to mommy?" Camille pops her head up from her coloring book.

"Yeah sure, let me talk to her first to make sure everything is ok." I say grabbing the phone from Bill. "Hey, how's it going?"

"I'm on my way home. Dad isn't feeling well. His assistant just called and told me he's going to a hospital. Can you go and check on him for me please?" She asks in a worried tone.

"Yeah. Which hospital? UCLA?" I ask

"I believe so. Thanks Mike, I'll be home as soon as I can." She says briefly, hanging up the phone much to Camille's dismay.

"Bill, I need you to drive us to UCLA." I say explaining everything to him as we settled in the car.

"Grandpa's sick? Let's get him some soup daddy!" Camille exclaims.

I chuckle, "that's sweet, but grandpa needs a doctor right now. We'll make him some soup after he comes home."

We pulled into the back way of the hospital, I held Camille on my hip. "Daddy, I wanna walk." She groans. She's becoming so independent, I have to make myself let her grow up, but I'm just not ready.

"Once we get inside ok?" I ask, she nods in response.

I love to watch Bill get into his security mindset, he turns into a completely different person. He places an arm around us as Leon covers behind us.

"Ma'am I'm bringing Michael Jackson and his daughter inside to visit Gary Fleeson. What room is he in?" Bill asks a nurse.

"Oh... Mr. Fleeson.. He passed away about 30 minutes ago. I'm sorry." I over heard the nurse reply. Bill drops his head sadly.

"Oh God." I sigh. "Rayne is gonna be crushed" She was still on her plane and wasn't due back in another 3 hours. How was I gonna tell her this?

"Excuse me? Can I ask how?" I stop the nurse before she walked off.

"He was dealing with pneumonia and he was trying to medicate himself. He was getting sicker instead of better."

I walked past his assistant and tapped him, "you haven't called Ray yet have you?"

"No. I'm trying to bring myself to do it..." He sighs.

"Don't. I'll do it."

He nods almost releasing a sigh of relief.

I ran my fingers through my head and sighed. "Ok let's go."

"I thought we were going to see grandpa?" Camille asked. How do I tell my daughter her grandfather is gone?

I sigh, "Grandpa is.. Sleeping" I hesitate, placing her back in the car.

"Oh.. Ok." She agrees.

On the ride home I contemplated calling Rayne and just telling her. But I wanted to be there to hold on to her. I can't take listening to her cry over the phone, I never could. I feel like I can't do anything about this pain she's about to endure. She doesn't even expect it.

I was surprised she didn't call me as soon as she landed, she walked in and dropped her bags at the door. I wasn't sure if she knew anything about her father, she was so quiet, I couldn't read her.

"Hey baby." I mumble.

"Hey." She muttered, "I couldn't get in contact with daddy. He's ok right?" She asked almost as if she already knew the answer.

I sigh deeply, bringing her into my arms as she settled on the bed beside me. "Your father, passed. I'm sorry baby." She stops and looks at me.

"Ok. So tomorrow I've gotta start working on things.." She sighs, laying her head on the pillows beside her.

I didn't like how calm she was. This was not the reaction I was expecting at all. I stared at her while she laid there. Her eyes weren't even shut. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah. Just sleepy."

"... Ok.." I sigh laying next to her, wrapping an arm around her.

"Mike. Can I have some space? Just a little. Please babe?" She asks quietly.

"Yeah. Sure, sorry.." I respond, moving over. She didn't move a muscle last night. I couldn't do anything but worry about her.

***

"I'm going to go to the funeral home and talk with the guy about my dad. I'll be back later." Rayne says heading towards the door.

"Ray, you've been doing a lot all day. Take a break." I groan. She really had done everything, when it came to her father, in two days.

She sighs, "Mike I'm his only kid, so everything is gonna fall on me. With you needing to work on your album, I have to be there for Camille. So I wanna have everything done. I'll be fine."

"I can take a quick break, just so you can get some sleep." I urge her.

"I'll sleep later." She says, and without another word she walks out the door. I sigh once more. With Camille in school, I had a lot of free time to work on my music. I sat in front of the soundboard finishing the last of my album and I couldn't focus.

I sat there trying to figure out the best way to explain death to my 5 year old daughter. How did I explain that grandpa was not going to wake up? I was also worried about my wife. Her reaction was short, but she was restless, she wasn't sleeping. How can I help her? She's lost both of her parents.

Camille came in along with Rayne right behind her. Her face still emotionless.

"Hi daddy." Camille greets, placing her backpack on the couch next to me. Rayne sat down beside me and leaned her head on my shoulder, I could tell she wanted to talk.

"Camille take your bag in your room. I need to talk to mommy ok?"

She nods her head grabbing the apples and peanut butter I placed on the table for her earlier, taking them with her.

"Everything ok?" I began.

"It's a lot to do. Calling family and telling them has to be the hardest part. I still haven't told Camille. I don't know how she's gonna deal with it..." She sighs.

"How are you dealing with it? You're doing so much moving around, you haven't stopped to take a breather." I lean my head on hers.

"I'm ok." She answers shortly. I knew she didn't wanna talk about her feelings. "Can you help me tell Buggy?" She asks.

I nod my head and she called her downstairs. I pat my lap for her to come sit and take a deep breath. I knew I would be the one doing most of the talking.

"We wanna talk to you about grandpa."

"Is he better?" She asked enthusiastically.

I groan. "No baby he's not.."

"Why not?" She asked.

"Grandpa was not feeling good and.. He got really sick.. So sick that he couldn't get better.. He died." Rayne says.

"What's 'died' mean?" She asked, as we expected.

"To die means.. When someone doesn't feel good, they sleep for a long time, but they don't wake up.." I explain in the best way I could.

"Remember how I explained how grandma was watching over you all the time, but you could never see her?" Rayne places her on her lap. Camille nods. "Well that's what grandpa is doing now. He's always watching you."

Camille still didn't fully understand but she knew he wouldn't be around anymore. "So he's in heaven with grandma?" She asked.

"Yeah." Rayne responds.

"I can't wait to go to heaven to see them!" She chuckles.

"You won't be going to heaven for a VERY long time little one." I respond. "But they will always see you right down here."

"Ok.." She sighed. "I wish he could come back and visit. I'm gonna miss grandpa."

Rayne chuckled to herself before standing to make her way upstairs. "Me too baby."

After preparing Camille for bed, I walk in the room to see Rayne laid on the bed. She was supposed to be sleeping but her eyes were wide open as always.

"I can't sleep." She says, rolling on to her back. I hover over her quietly, gently pushing her now shoulder length hair behind her ear. I can see her eyes practically begging for me to kiss her. She wanted me to show her love and affection and as much as I wanted to give her what she wanted, I couldn't do it. I kissed her lips softly.

"I'm here for you." I say.

"I know." She says back, wrapping her arms around my neck to bring me into another kiss. I trace my hands down her body slowly as I felt her rise her torso onto mine. I nuzzled my face into the crook of her neck, leaving kisses across her warm skin, as she whispered "I need you" into my ear. I gave her all of me, and that wasn't even enough of what she deserves.

***

Rayne's POV

The next morning, Camille and I head over to my father's sister, my aunt Cathy's, home. We knock on the door as my aunt opens the door in tears at the bad news of her brother. "Oh Rayne!" She exclaims holding a tissue to her face. She locks me in this long embrace before allowing my daughter and I inside. We were welcomed by more of my dad's family, a lot of people I wasn't too familiar with. Camille squeezed my hand tightly out of nervousness.

"Is that Gary's daughter?" A man yells out.

"Yes Reginald, it is."

"I haven't seen you in almost 20 years, look at you!" He says hugging me tightly. "How old are you now?" He asked.

"36." I respond awkwardly. "I wish you all could've met my husband Michael."

"Wait a minute, you're married to Michael Jackson?" My aunt Cathy asked.

I nod my head politely, "for almost 5 years."

"We don't see you in the magazines that often. But I saw you on the TV and I thought that was you but it's been so long." She chuckles.

"It was me." I chuckle.

"Who is this little angel right here?"  Reginald asked, kneeling down to my daughter who was hiding between my legs.

"This is my five year old daughter Camille." I smile, she's my pride and joy.

"she looks just like your mother Tammi." Cathy relents.

"I know." My dad's family was not a fan of my mother at all. "Camille, don't you wanna say hi?" I ask. She shakes her head no, still clutching me closely.

We sat with the family for a while, talking about my father and learning more about each other. My mother kept me away from this side for a long time and my father never took the time to reintroduce me to anyone. The only person I remembered was my Aunt.

"It was so good to see you guys, I promise I'll stay in better contact. Thanks for all your help Aunt Cathy." I smile, holding Camille over my shoulder while she slept.

"It's no problem Rayne, we'll see you at the ceremony." She smiles.

When I pulled into Neverland, I was crowded by paparazzi at the gate, waking up Camille. "How are you dealing with the death of your dad?" One screams. Ignoring them, I pull inside as the gate closes behind me.

"Why do those people ask so many questions?" Camille asks sleepily.

"They just wanna know things about our life. But you don't have to answer." I reply annoyed.

I pick up Camille and carry her upstairs laying her into bed. "Mommy, grandpa won't ever come back?" She asks.

I sat there, hanging on to my tears that I hadn't shed since my father passed away, wishing I could give her the answer we both wanted. There was no easy way to explain death and I know she wasn't completely understanding it. I sighed, "no baby, unfortunately not. But he'll always love you and he'll always be watching you." I kiss her forehead and clamor downstairs to Michael planning his first music video for his new album.

"Hey." Michael smiles, as I sat on the couch propping my legs on his lap. "What do you think of going to Brazil?"

"That would be really nice. Is this for your music video?" I ask.

"You know I hate those words. But yes for my short film."

"Sorry, it would be a nice change of scenery.. For all of us."

Michael stares at me for a while and pulls me into his arms, holding me tightly. "You're dealing with this so well. I wish there was something I could do to make you happy. But I know there isn't right now."

I finally gave in and cried, I held onto my husband and cried, releasing all my emotions in an overwhelming amount. "I wanted to keep it together for Camille, she's starting to truly understand what's going on... And she's getting sad about it." I sniffle.

"You wouldn't be able to hold it for long. Camille is a growing girl, she was gonna learn about it sooner or later. There are just some things we can't protect her from." Michael says hugging me tighter as I sniffled into his arms. He pecks the top of my head softly.

"My father is really gone." I sob one last time.

**These past few chapters haven't been about Michael that much but these next few will be all about him! No worries!**

Thanks for continuing to read, I promise I'll be updating a lot more quickly!