"Hello?" I answer groggily. "I'm moving back to LA." A voice says. "Who is this?" I ask, my mind still fuzzy from no sleep. "It's Michael. Wake up. Did you hear me? I'm coming back!" He says excitedly. I check the time and it says 7:30 AM. Michael has always been an early bird. "Mike, that's great I'm happy for you. This couldn't wait til the sun rose though?" I yawn. "I want to go back on tour." He says. My mind jolts awake. "What?!" I say a little louder. "I don't know about tha-" I stammer "just say you'll go with me?" He says hopefully. I sigh. "Give me like 3 hours to sleep and I'll call you back." He chuckles "ok, I'm sorry to wake you." I practically drop the phone and sink back into my pillow. I woke up later thinking it was a dream but it wasn't. "Good morning beautiful, how'd you sleep?" Michael says, his smile almost showing through the phone. I chuckle slightly, standing in front of the mirror. "I am the opposite of beautiful right now but I slept amazingly." "Ahh, you're always beautiful to me. Wanna see my new home?" He enthuses. "How?" I say in a muffled tone, my toothbrush stuffed in my mouth. "Come over, I told you I was moving back to LA." He says. My eyes widen "you're here already?" "Yeah! 100 north Carolwood drive. Bring your butt over here and help me unpack!" I laugh and wipe my mouth. "Can I wash my ass first?" "Wash your mouth out too..." He chuckles. I hang up, take a shower and throw on some clothes. I walk into my daughters room. She's sitting listening to music singing her little heart out. "Hey!" I smile, tickling her side. "Where are you going mommy?" She asks, pushing back a tendril of curls. "I'm going to your uncle Mike's house. Wanna come? Prince and Paris are there! And Blanket.." I smile. She nods excitedly her eyes lighting up. She runs off the bed and grabs her shoes.

Michael opens the door and welcomes us with a big hug. His hair grew a lot. Almost as long as it was back in the 90's, it was pretty attractive on him. Angel roams around looking for the kids while Michael and I unpack. The house was already furnished, Michael just wanted to bring some of his own things for a personal touch. After about 2 hours of unpacking, I sit on a box and grab my water bottle off of the floor. "So.. What's this about a tour?" I ask. Michael chuckles, "it's just an idea, it's not solid yet." He shrugs, pushing a box beside me to sit on. "But you wanna do it?" He nods, taking another sip of water. "Why?" I ask. There had to be an underlying reason why he wanted to do this. He smiles, "why not?" "I can give you plenty of reasons, you're older... You're already established as the king of music... There are so many reasons.." I count out. "Well. That maybe true but, I want my kids to know why I do what I do and who I am. They're getting to the age where they can start to understand. Angel is too! Don't you want her to know who her mother really is?" I nod. "Besides, I could use the money...I'm not the richest these days." He mumbles. "What do you mean?" I ask. He gives a deep sigh. "Do you remember that woman I hired a couple years ago to take care of my finances? I found out she was paying for an apartment in my name, through my bank account. So I had to fire her. Then there's Joseph." I gasp. "What'd he do?" "He's been trying to get me a manager, and I told him I don't want anyone he works with I wanted Frank Dileo back. I tried to get a gig in Vegas, but they wanted 7 shows a week! I know I'm not as great as I used to be, I need breaks. I can't just go on stage and sing kumbaya, I'm Michael Jackson... People are signing things under my name without my knowledge so I'm in debt up to my ears... and I refuse to put my kids in that debt." "Wow Mike. Why didn't you call me?" I whine. He shrugs, "I don't know Jay. You know I like to think I can handle things on my own. That's why I moved to Virginia. I had to clear my mind..." He sighs "I feel better now, I've got a clear head and I think a tour would be the answer. I've just gotta find the right promoter and I need my partner in crime." He grins. I side eye him and slightly smirk, chuckling to myself. "Fine." I giggle. He needed this bad and I knew he wanted to do this. "I think Kenny Ortega would be great as a co-creator." Michael smiles. "Let's find a promoter first and then we'll get into planning" I smile back. We go back to unpacking his things until Angel and I head home.

"Hey...where'd you guys go?" Brian smiles at us as we walk inside. "Michael moved back in town, we went to go see him." I lean in to kiss him. "Oh. ...ok." He says. I could see the attitude forming but I decided to ignore it. I watch him as he angrily cleaned the kitchen, slightly amused. I place a hand on my chin. "How would you feel if I went on tour again?" I ask. "Let me guess, with Michael?" He asks, his back still turned to me. "Mhm" I smirk. I sit on the counter behind him, my leg swings and wraps around his waist. He lets out a sigh, "Jayla...I'm not in the mood." He pushes my leg down and goes back to wiping the counter. I pout and hop down "fine." I groan, stomping out the kitchen. Later that night I lay down in bed as I feel Brian creep behind me wrapping his arm around my waist. I remove his arm and hit him with his own words. "I'm not in the mood." I was sick of his attitude, it was like he didn't want Michael and I to even be friends. I refuse to have this discussion with him again. He kisses the back of my neck. "I'm sorry babe..." His arm manages to reach around me again until I remove it. "I'm going to sleep Brian.."I say sternly. He lays on his back, "I'm trying Jayla..." "Not hard enough." I say rolling my eyes.

February 2009 (37 years old)

Michael, Kenny Ortega and I sat in the back of the car contemplating this decision we were about to make together. "Are you sure you want to do this?" I ask Michael. "Yes. I kinda have to. But I'm ready." He replies. I nod and we exit the car to walk inside AEG's building to sign the contract of his tour. We walk into Randy Phillips' office and shake his hand. "Mr. Jackson, Mrs. Pearson, Mr. Ortega. Thank you for coming in. On behalf of AEG Live, we are ecstatic that you guys have decided to come to us to promote your comeback tour. As we discussed over the phone earlier, you agreed to do a tour consisting of 20 shows in London at the O2 arena?" He asks. "Yes that's correct." Michael nods as Randy scribbled on a sheet of paper. "Michael also said something about recording the rehearsals for his own personal documents. Is that in the contract?" Kenny asks. "Yes." Randy smiles. "And this is it. This will be my last tour..after this I am retiring for good.." Michael says waving his hand. "You should call it that..'This Is It' you've been saying it so much." Kenny suggests. I nod in agreement, "that's it then! 'This Is It!'" Michael says. We all read over our own contracts and sign them. Michael sighs as we walk outside and Kenny pats his back. "Here we go again." He smiles. "We'll figure out our schedules within the next week or so.. Until then Michael's gotta call a press conference." He says. He walks off a huge smile on his face. I look at Michael and grin, grabbing his hand in excitement. "We're going on tour! Are you excited?" I squeak. He sighs. "You think people will come?" "Hell yes! The king of pop going on his final tour? If I wasn't famous I'd go! Mike, this tour will be historical." I reassure him.