It all started in Gary (Indiana) with a letter letf on the sidewalk by a girl with long hair and the most beautiful eyes.
"For Michael, the show business wasn't boring or scary anymore because everywhere he went, Aria was with him. She was in every...
"It's half past midnight. No one should be here." Michael says and looks back at Aria, she's scared but trying to play it cool. "Stay here." He stops walking. "I'll go check."
Aria ignores his suggestion and follows him into the kitchen, finding out that after all Stephanie is the one in there. "Damn, Steph." She says and Michael puts his hands on his hips, smiling. "You should be home! It's so late." Aria pulls out a chair and sits on it.
Stephanie is leaning against the counter with a tissue in her hand. Michael's face gets serious when he realizes that she is crying. "Stephanie," he approaches. "W-What is going on?" He grabs her hands as she sobs.
Aria stands up and comes near them. "C'mon Steph, we're here with you. You know you can talk to us whenever something is wrong." Aria smiles to bring her some comfort, but it's useless.
Stephanie has been in their life since Aria and Michael were both twelve years old. She worked for the whole Jackson family back then, but when Michael built Neverland he kinda wanted her for himself only, mainly because she was such a good friend of his. So, Stephanie is not just a maid, she's family too, more than anything.
"Oh," Steph let's out a painful sigh. "Go to sleep you two." She wipes her tears and forces a grin. "I'm sure you don't want to hear the lamentations of an old woman." Stephanie says and walks to the door but Aria gets in the way and closes it.
"First of all, you're not old. You're 64 and you're still kicking our butts." Aria holds the doorknob. "You're not leaving." She says. "We're worried about you." Aria doesn't hesitate and hugs Stephanie. "Talk to us..." Aria whispers.
"My daughter called..." Steph begins.
"Olivia?" Michael gasps. "She called?"
"Yes, Jonathan was..." She couldn't even say it out loud. It's too much.
Jonathan is her 9 year old grandson. Olivia, her daughter, moved to Japan 3 years ago and since then - not a single call was made. Until tonight. Steph's relationship with her daughter wasn't great: it all came crushing down when Olivia got pregnant at 17 with Jonathan and didn't want to take a single piece of responsibility - she wanted to give the baby up for adoption but Stephanie did not allow it.
So Jonathan was basically raised by Steph. She would bring him to Michael's house everyday since he was 1 year old and both Aria and Michael loved the boy: they would help Stephanie take care of him, they played with him and watched him grow for 6 years. One afternoon, Olivia came by the house, took the boy and told her mother that she was going to marry and live in Japan.
"What happened to Jonathan, Stephanie?" Michael's voice sounds desperate and fragile, like he's going to breakdown at any second. "What?" He places his hands on her shoulders and shakes her gently.
"He was diagnosed with CF three months ago." Stephanie finally reveals and Aria feels her heart sink. "Olivia was too damn proud to call me sooner!" Steph screams and it takes the three of them by surprise. "I'm sorry." She says, inhaling loudly and grabbing her head. "The doctors there say that there's nothing that can be done with his case." This can't be real, Stephanie repeats over and over in her head.
Michael falls on his knees and starts crying uncontrollably. His gentle hands covering his face are trembling. Aria squats down and put her hand on his head. "There's nothing that can be done?" Aria asks, trying so hard to hold back her tears - someone needs to keep it all together and right now, that someone is her. Stephanie nods her head negatively with the saddest of looks on her face.
"Bring them here." Aria speaks all of a sudden.
"What do you mean?" Michael questions and Aria keeps rubbing his back. Stephanie holds her breath and stops sobbing.
"We can't give him up..." Aria helps Michael stand up. "We won't." She whispers and lets her tears fall down. "The first thing we'll do in the morning is book them both a flight to Santa Barbara and... and we will talk to the doctors here." She takes her hands to her hair, still thinking. "Yeah, that's what we're going to do, okay?" Aria walks in Stephanie's direction. "And the doctor will know what to do. They'll cure him. Jonathan is going to be fine." She kisses Steph's wet cheek.
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The next morning; 6:55 am
Michael opens his eyes. He's about to stretch his arms when he sees Aria and Stephanie sleeping next to him on the couch. Last night, Michael decided to put on Stephanie's favorite disney movie and watch it with a giant bowl of popcorn next to them to keep their minds off the tragic situation. Apparently, they all fell asleep.
He gets up carefully and runs upstairs to his bathroom. Sometimes he finds himself running for no reason, it's probably out of habit. When he's on tour that's basically what he does all the time, run around to be wherever he needs to be.
Michael brushes his teeth and washes his face with fresh water. The dark circles under his eyes are very noticeable so he grabs a light concealer and applies it. After putting his hair on a ponytail, Michael gets back downstairs and starts to prepare a simple breakfast for the ladies.
Michael loves to cook. It's sad that he doesn't get to do it that often. Sometimes is really boring to have people do everything for you all the time.
After about 15 minutes, he places everything perfectly on the table next to the couch. "Good morning, beauties," he rubs both of their arms and Stephanie is the first to wake up. "Hey, Steph." He gives her the biggest smile. "I made this for you two."
"Oh, Michael. You shouldn't have bothered to do that." She sits up, trying not to move too much. "But thank you, dear." She thanks him while yawning.
"Well, that's a good a sleeper." Michael comments and looks at Aria. He's about to shake her up some more but Stephanie stops him.
"Don't, she's probably tired. Let her sleep some more."
"You're right. I'll put her in bed." Michael grabs Aria smoothly. "I'll be right back." He makes his way to the stairs. Michael smiles, imagining himself taking Aria to their room like this, but with both of them in total different outfits.
"Michael..." She slightly opens her eyes, just enough to be able to see him.
"Shhh..." he keeps walking up. "I'm putting you in bed, you can go back to sleep." Michael pushes the door with his foot and walks in, laying her on the bed.
"But Jonathan..." Aria tries to open her eyes again but she can't - the curtains are open, letting in a blinding clarity.
"I'm going to take care of it now." He closes the curtains. "Rest, okay?" He smiles and she nods wearily. "I love you." He whispers and kisses her forhead. Michael waits a few moments to see if she would reply but he only hears her heavy breathing.
Then he walks into the living room again."Is it good?" Michael asks as he sits next to Stephanie on the couch.
"It's delicious, Michael." She answers with her eyes closed. "I need to teach you to cook more someday." Stephanie wipes her mouth. "You can't feed your family one day just with mixed eggs and baked beans." Their laughs fill the room.
"Yes! I want to learn more!" He giggles and then fixes his eyes on the phone that's on hallway. "I think we should call Frank right now. He can book the flights." Michael sighs and makes his way to the phone.
