1st of October, 1992
Brooklyn is 26, Michael is 34

Brooklyn: We entered yet another orphanage. Michael said he had to see these children before going onstage in Bucharest.

He excitedly greeted the bigger children, laughing at something one of them said.

I loved seeing him with children. He was always happy around them.

I felt a little hand tug on the bottom of my shirt; a little girl held it in her small hand. She looked young, maybe five years old.

"Play?" she asked, and pointed towards some toys in the corner of the room.

I smiled, "Of course."

Reading her name tag, it said her name was Adelina.

"You have a beautiful name." I said as I watched her quietly build a castle from a few blocks.

I was hoping she'd understand me.

Adelina was a very beautiful. She had dirty blonde hair that was pulled back in a neat ponytail, a set of shiny blue eyes, and a smile that made you fall in love.

I noticed the orphanage's owner walk towards our direction.

"What's her story?" I asked her.

"Her mother left her here when she was three. That's all we really know. The mother didn't give us any information. She just begged us to take her. I never understood why, Adelina here is the sweetest girl."

It broke my heart.

"I wish we could adopt her. I wish we could adopt each one of these children." I admitted.

The owner looked at me curiously, "Why don't you?"

"We suffered a loss that still hasn't healed."

Her eyes traveled to my stomach and I instantly knew she has heard about the miscarriage.

Just like every person in this world.

I saw Brandon walk towards me, "We'll be late to the show if we don't leave now."

I nodded slightly and stood up.

"Goodbye, Adelina." I waved to the little girl.

She wrapped her arms around me and I blinked away the tears.

~

"Do you mind if I don't go on tonight?" I asked Michael.

He turned his head from the car window to look at me, "And why is that?"

"I'm just not in the mood to perform tonight." I lied.

Truth was, guilt was starting to creep into my head again. The visit at the orphanage made me a bit too emotional, and I couldn't get the thought of what could have been with Destiny out.

The cute little Adelina made my heart flutter. And seeing Michael hold the little children effected me.

He was going to be such a great dad.

I quickly looked away so he wouldn't see me shed a few tears. I hurried to wipe them off before he could realize I was crying.

"We all have days when we're not in the mood to perform, but we gotta do what we gotta do. The boss said everyone's performing." my husband chuckled.

"I'm married to the boss."

"Well, he also said you need to perform tonight because he knows you'll regret it if you don't."

"Please, Mike. I'm not feeling too well." I lied, again.

I hated lying to him. But telling him the truth and bringing down his mood wasn't even something I considered.

"Okay, fine," he sighed. "But you'll be going to the hotel. Brandon, you'll make sure she gets into bed."

I saw Brandon nod towards Michael.

As I looked out the window I saw that we were nearing the venue.

Michael made sure to kiss me before he was taken by Michael Bush to get ready for the upcoming concert.

~

I looked up at the hotel room ceiling, drowning in my own thoughts and tears.

It's been almost a year, I should move on. We'll have more children, right?

Sniffling, I turned over to the nightstand to pick up the phone so I could call the reception desk.

I quickly asked the lady to connect me with the USA, and I dialed my dad's number.

"Hello?" his calming voice soon answered.

"Hi, daddy." I smiled.

"Brooklyn! I'm so happy to hear from you, sweetheart! How's tour?"

"It's great."

"I'm glad you're having fun. Where are you right now?"

"Bucharest."

"Ooh, sounds fun," dad said. "Wait, aren't you supposed to be onstage?"

I sighed.

"What's wrong?"

"Michael and I were at an orphanage today... And I met this cute little girl named Adelina. She was so beautiful, dad. All I wanted to do was take her with us and make her ours.

But then I remembered that we lost a baby not so long ago and I don't think we're ready for anything right now. Everything has been so great, and Michael's greater than ever but I don't know how to tell him I want to try again.
How can I tell him I want another baby when I killed our first one?"

"Brooke, you didn't kill your baby. If God decided you shouldn't have her, then he probably has other plans for your future children." he said with seriousness.

It's always God somehow.

Even Michael said it was God that took Destiny from us, because he wanted her beautiful soul for himself.

"What if God never meant for me to have children, dad? What if I do get pregnant again, and miscarry? I'll be giving hope to everyone again. I don't want to let Michael down." I told him.

"Sweetheart, it's not going to happen again." dad told me.

"You can't know that. My body is jacked up." I mumbled.

"Don't say that, Brooklyn."

"But it's true. If it wasn't for my stupid body Michael would have been a daddy right now."

"He will be a father. You're going to give him children, that's something I can promise you."

~

It was nearly 12 AM when Michael walked into the suite.

The door shut closed, and his footsteps got closer and closer.

I felt his weight on the bed as he plopped down, grunting as he did.

"First time I'm completely wiped out after a concert, can you believe it?" he mumbled into the pillow.

I sat up and took off his Fedora, putting it on the nightstand next to him.

I kissed his cheek, "Go to sleep."

He turned his body to face mine, and frowned when he saw my tear-stained face.

"Do you want to tell me why you've been crying?"

"No."

He sighed, wiggling himself inside the warm blanket. I felt his long legs tangle with mine as he pulled me closer.

"Tell me." Michael whispered.

"You need to get some sleep, Mike. We'll talk in the morning."

I tried turning away from him, but his arms and legs that were wrapped around my body avoided me from doing so.

"I won't be able to sleep if you don't tell me what's wrong." he put his lips to my neck. He gave my skin long kisses in hopes it would calm me.

But all his touch did was make the tears form again.

"I- I want to try again." I stuttered.

~

Michael: I pulled away from Brooklyn's neck.

"Try again?" I questioned.

"For a baby." she looked at me with teary eyes.

I didn't know what to say. Of course I wanted more children, ever since we lost Destiny I wanted to ask her if we could get pregnant again.

But I couldn't do it to her, it was still so fresh. And if it didn't work, then everything was going to be messed up again.

"I knew I shouldn't have said anything." Brooke said, wiping her tears.

"No. No, no. It has been on my mind as well... A lot. It's not that I don't want it, because I do. More than anything," I hurried to reassure her. "You couldn't even imagine the number of times I thought of you being pregnant again. It made me want to get you in bed and make the sweetest love to you until you tell me you're pregnant."

She smiled, "I met this little girl today at the orphanage, she was the cutest thing ever. She was so quiet, but I fell in love the moment I saw her. She made me thing about Destiny and how I want to give you children so much. You deserve children, Michael."

My wife then frowned.

"What if losing Destiny was God's way of telling us to give up?"

"How could you even say that, Brooklyn? We're gonna have children, you'll see. But let's just wait, I don't want us to get our hopes up so fast. Once tour is over, it's gonna be on the top of my to do list to have another child with you."

Yes, there were moments when I've doubted God's decision to take our baby away from us. But he always took the good souls to himself.

"That's like a year away." she sighed.

"I know, but let's make this time for us. To enjoy together, just the two of us." I said.

Brooklyn nodded and pressed her lips against mine.

~

2nd of October, 1992
Brooklyn is 26, Michael is 34

Brooklyn: I was standing in the clouds. Everything was white around me.

"Mommy?" I heard behind me.

Turning around, I saw a little girl with big brown eyes and caramel skin, curls framing her beautiful face. She was smiling; a smile that resembled Michael's.

"Mommy!" she ran up to me and attacked me in a tight hug.

I hugged back the unknown girl, thinking of who she might be.

"Don't you recognize me, mommy? It's me, Destiny."

"Destiny? But how-"

She cut me off, "Why are you and daddy replacing me?"

"Replacing you?" I questioned.

"Yeah, you were talking about having another baby, right?"

Destiny looked at me with her brown eyes.

"Don't replace me, mommy." she started crying.

I didn't know what to do. There I was, holding my dead baby girl who seemed all grown up.

"But you left us." I whispered.

She pulled away, "God said he wanted me with him."

I opened my mouth to speak, but closed it when she started fading away.

"Destiny, baby, where are you going?" I tried clutching her. But, I failed, and she kept fading.

"He wants me to go back. I love you, mommy. Tell daddy I love him, too."

My eyes shot open. I was breathing heavily, all lost in the dream I had.

"Babe?" Michael asked with a groggy voice. "Did you have a nightmare?"

"I- I don't know." I answered, still shaken.

He sat up and turned to me.

"What did you dream about?"

"Destiny. I was holding her, Mike. She was all grown up, and she looked just like you. She cried and asked me why we were talking about replacing her. And then she faded away, saying God wants her back.

She was so real." I mumbled.

Even though I couldn't see him, I knew my husband was frowning.

I felt so guilty. Was I really trying to replace her?

~

We entered the hotel kitchen to eat breakfast along with the crew.

"Where were you last night, Brooke? Mike looked alone on stage." Greg smiled when we sat down.

"She wasn't feeling well." Michael answered for me.

"You missed a great show. It was amazing."

I nodded and looked around the table. Last night's events crept back and made me lose my appetite.

"Eat." Michael whispered in my ear.

I shook my head, "I'm not hungry."

"Yo, lovebirds!" Dorian made us look at him. "No secrets."

Michael rolled his eyes and took a bite of the sandwich he made himself.

"What do we have planned for today?" I asked.

"Um, we have a break, remember? We talked about it two nights ago. You're really out of it." Greg told me.

I shut my eyes closed, then realized he was right.

"We're boarding a plane in two hours." Michael informed.

"It's nice to know."

He shrugged and kept eating.

~

Michael: I looked out at the changing colors of the clouds as the sun was starting to set.

We've been on this plane for the last ten hours. Everyone was sleeping around me, it was so quiet.

I thought Brooke fell asleep as well, until I felt her pull on my arm,

"Can we forget about last night?"

"What is that supposed to mean?" I looked at her, my eyebrows furrowed.

"About having another baby. I've changed my mind."

I sighed and looked back outside. Disappointed wasn't even enough to describe how I was feeling.

I wanted to try again so much. I couldn't come to her and ask her to have a baby because I thought it was too soon.

And it was, even if she suggested the idea. I knew she would regret it sooner or later.

"Not even when the tour is over?" I asked, still hopeful.

"I don't know, Michael. Maybe. That dream effected me," she answered. "I... We're trying to replace her by just talking about it. I wouldn't have dreamed about it if it wasn't something that bothered me."

"You wouldn't even know it bothered you if you didn't dream about it." I mumbled, a bit frustrated with her.

"You have every right to be upset."

"Damn right, I'm upset, Brooke! You can't just get my hopes up, and then bring them down! I have stopped myself from asking you to have a baby because I thought you weren't ready, do you know how hard it was for me? I want to get you pregnant so bad, I want us to try again.
I want us to move on from Destiny, because we both know she's not coming back! She barely knew who we were, okay? There's no way she could make you doubt the decision to have another baby! You were right, you shouldn't have said anything. Especially if you didn't mean it."

I heard groans from behind us, letting me know people had woken up from my tantrum.

Shit. I forgot we were with other people. Learn to control your mouth, Michael.

"That was harsh, Mike." Greg's voice said clearly.

I looked down at my hands that formed into fists.

Brooklyn took her eyes away from my angry expression, and stood up.

"I'm sorry for having feelings." she said.

I felt my face muscles soften when I saw her start tearing up.

My wife quickly disappeared to the back of the plane and the bathroom door slammed shut.

There was a hint of regret inside me, yet I was glad I said that to her. She can't just toy with my feelings the way she did. It seemed to me like she didn't even care about what I felt by doing that.

I pulled my knees up to my chest and tried to hide my sniffles from the people who surrounded me.

~

When we landed in LAX, I hurried to get off the plane.

Steve was waiting for Brooklyn and I right at the bottom of the stairs of the plane, ready to take us home.

A few minutes into the ride, she leaned over to Brandon to whisper something to him.

"Consider it done." my head of security said.

She leaned back in her seat and looked out the window. Her eyes were puffy and red, making me want to apologize.

But I wasn't sorry for anything I said. The hint of regret I had from before disappeared.

"I'm going to my dad's for a few days, so we could both cool down." her voice cracked.

"Okay." I said flatly.

I knew the ride wouldn't take long if we were driving to Joshua's house, because he only lived about thirty minutes from the airport.

And soon enough, Steve stopped the car in front of the familiar gate.

I watched Brooke as she opened it. Her dad was waiting for her there, ready to give her a hug.

The sight of them soon disappeared as the car took off.