8th of October, 1996
Brooklyn and Janet are 30, Michael is 38

Brooklyn: "They're here!" Janet chirped.

She helped me up and we walked to the front door.

"Daddy!" Kate squealed when she saw Brandon. She ran to him with her little feet.

He caught her in his arms, "Hey, baby girl."

Janet hurried to join their hug.

Michael got out of the car after him. Instead of coming to hug me, or even say hello, he opened the car door wider, and helped Lisa Marie out.

My mouth opened a bit in surprise. I knew he let her stay with him a few more days, but he didn't tell me he was bringing her.

Her kids hopped out after her and clutched her hands.

Was I mad? Yes, furious. I couldn't believe he brought her, especially when he was coming home for such a sensitive occasion.

Deciding to not show how angry I was, I approached him quietly.

He pulled me close, burying his face in the crook of my neck.

"I'm sorry for not telling you... I'll explain everything. Just let me show them to the guest house." he whispered.

"I'm coming with you. I don't trust her." I mumbled.

"No, you're going to sit down." he ordered.

My husband placed a tender kiss on my lips, then turned back to Lisa and her children.

I was too doubtful of this whole thing, so I followed him.

Be nice. Or at least try to.

"Michael, who's that?" Lisa's daughter asked, pointing at me.

I grabbed Michael's hand and smiled down at her.

"This is Brooklyn, my wife," he told her. "Brooke, these are Riley and Ben."

Riley's blue eyes scanned me, "Are you pregnant?"

"I am."

"Is it Michael's baby?"

"Riley, that's enough." Lisa scolded.

"Lisa." I said dryly.

Michael gave my hand a squeeze as if to tell me to act nicely.

"Hello, Brooke. Good to see you." she smiled.

What a fucking lie.

"Are you going inside?" my husband cleared his throat.

"No, I said I'm coming with you and that's what I'm doing."

He sighed since he knew there was no point in arguing with me.

"Let's go."

The whole ride to the guest house I tried getting Michael's attention away from Lisa and her kids.

I had a bad feeling about them being here. That along with the fact that that bitch tried ruining us.

When Steve stopped the car, everyone fled out. I was about to follow when Michael stopped me.

"Brooke, stay." he said.

I scoffed as he closed the door after him.

Steve looked at me through the rare-view mirror, "He's just being his generous self."

"It's not him I'm worried about. It's her."

~

Michael: "Oh, my God! Mommy, this place is huge!" Benjamin looked in awe at everything.

"Wanna know a secret?" I asked him.

He nodded excitedly.

"There's a giant bed in the bedroom upstairs you can jump on."

"Let's go, Riley!" he screamed, taking his sister's hand.

Lisa smiled at them, then turned to me.

"Thank you for doing this." she said.

"No problem. You're welcome to stay here as much as you want." I told her.

"Wouldn't that disturb Brooke?"

"She really shouldn't be bothered if you're all the way here." I assured.

"Thank you." she said again and hugged me.

I was about to place a kiss on her cheek, but she turned her head and our lips locked.

She had a tight grip on my collar and avoided me from pulling back.

Eventually I pushed her away. I wiped my mouth, "Damn it, Lisa! What the hell?!"

"Sorry?" she shrugged.

I shot her a glare, "You're lucky I feel bad for you."

With that, I left the guest house.

I opened the car door and saw Brooklyn jump a little. When I sat down next to her I avoided her worried looks.

"Mike?"

Ignore her.

"Is that- is that lipstick?" she asked, turning my head to face her.

She ran her thumb over my lip, probably smudging the red lipstick Lisa wore.

"She kissed you." my wife stated.

She let go of my face and looked out the car window.

"I don't get why you're helping her, after everything she did. And now she kissed you. Again. I sure hope you didn't think she changed, because she definitely didn't. She was a bitch then and she's a bitch now."

"Brooke, her husband is beating her. She's terrified." I said.

"But that doesn't give her the right to fucking kiss you, Michael! Let alone cling onto you for a week, then invade our home!" Brooklyn rolled her eyes. "Do you know how bad it looks when you leave me pregnant at home and have a married woman with you on tour? You hold hands with her, you protect her. I don't care about the press thinking you're cheating, but your own family thinks that you are!"

I stayed silent. She was right, yet I couldn't admit it. I was really only trying to help Lisa.

As soon as the car stopped in front of the main house, Brooke walked out.

She stormed into the house, totally ignoring my mother's and Janet's calls.

~

Brooklyn: I breathed in and out as I tried to calm myself down.

The warm water around me relaxed my aching body.

No stress, no stress, no stress.

The more I told myself not to stress out, I stressed out even more.

I had such a bad migraine. With Lisa Marie here, with this pregnancy, and the anniversary for Chris's death, my head was pounding.

I looked down at my bump and sighed, "I'm sorry if this makes you die."

"Don't talk like that." Michael's voice was stern.

He stood with his hands in his pockets and looked down at the floor.

"Michael, please get out. I don't want us to fight." I said, closing my eyes.

"Then we won't fight."

When I opened my eyes again, my husband was taking off his clothes.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"I'm taking a bath with my wife and son." he answered.

I moved forward so he could sit, then leaned on him.

"Do you think I cheated?"

"No, but she kissed you and I am feeling a tiny bit betrayed," I admitted. "I'm just scared that you'll give all your attention to Lisa and her kids when your return home was supposed to be for me... For baby Michael..."

Michael put his hands on my bump, "It is for you."

"And it's not like you're here for long, either." I said.

He kissed my forehead, "I know, I'm sorry. Lisa might be a bitch, but she's still human. I couldn't leave her alone with her kids. Understand that, please?"

"Ugh, stop being so good." I groaned.

"You're complaining?" he questioned, pulling me closer.

"Just this once." I smiled.

He returned the sweetest smile and kissed me.

I pulled away when I felt the baby kick.

"Do you feel that?"

Michael nodded excitedly.

"Wow," he gasped as the kicks got stronger. "Keep going, baby boy."

"We have an appointment in two days." I reminded him.

My husband was way too concentrated in feeling our baby.

"Huh? Yeah, I know." he murmured.

I rolled my eyes and put my head on his shoulder, trying to relax.

~

It was around 10:30 PM, and Michael and I were in bed, watching some movie we we really weren't paying attention to.

He was busy admiring my growing bump, while I was thinking about peanut butter.

I've been craving it for the last hour.

"Hey, Mike? You think you might be able to get a peanut butter sandwich?" I asked.

"Do I have to?" he whined.

I nodded, making him groan and get up.

As I waited for him to come back, I had a strange feeling in my gut, like something good wasn't right.

It wasn't the baby, because he was kicking hard. I just couldn't put my finger on it.

Suddenly, I heard something break downstairs.

"JACKSON YOU SON OF A BITCH!" a man yelled. "YOU TOOK MY WIFE AND MY CHILDREN! I SWEAR, I'LL KILL YOU!

I hurried to run downstairs, only to find Danny Keough pinning my husband to the kitchen wall.

"I think I saved her, Danny. You've disrespected her as a woman, you don't deserve her!" Michael told him, trying to swing a fist towards his face.

He hit Danny's jaw pretty hard, making him stumble back.

"Michael." I breathed.

"Well, look what we got here. Does she know you fucked my wife, Jackson?" Danny said.

"Call security." my husband mouthed.

I saw him suffer another punch to the face before I backed out of the kitchen.

Taking the nearest phone, I dialed the security office number.

"Bill speaking."

"Bill! Someone broke into the house, he's hitting M- Michael." I told him.

"I'm on my way." he said and hung up.

"WHERE ARE THEY, JACKO?"

I returned to the kitchen, seeing Michael with a busted lip.

"Danny, let him go." I said calmly.

"Why the fuck should I?! He took everything from me!"

I sighed, "He was just trying to help... Now, please, let him go."

Just when he started to loosen his grip on Michael's shirt, Bill and Dan burst into the kitchen.

They grabbed Danny, who started cursing them out as soon as they dragged him away.

~

Michael flinched as I dabbed a cotton ball soaked in rubbing alcohol into his bruised knuckles.

"Sorry." I apologized.

"How the hell did he get past the gates?" he asked, sounding furious.

His bruised lip had swollen up badly.

"No talking. And put the ice back on your lip." I ordered, pushing his left hand that held the bag of ice into his face.

"I need to get this place better security. I can't have people coming in and out of our home whenever they want. It could be dangerous for you." he went on, totally ignoring me.

"You kind of did bring this upon yourself, Mike." I mumbled.

"Excuse me?" he blinked.

"Maybe if you didn't bring Lisa here non of this would happen. The only reason Danny came was to get his wife-"

Someone cleared their throat, "Is right here."

Lisa Marie stood at our bedroom door. She was dressed in a silk robe that fell over her shoulder, and exposed her bra strap.

Whore.

"I'm sorry about Danny. I had no idea it would go this far." she said.

"It's okay, Lisa." Michael tried to give her a smile.

I tried to ignore her presence. But then she took a seat on our bed next to my husband.

Now that crossed a line.

"Lisa," I growled. "Get the fuck out of my house."

She rolled her eyes, "As you wish, your majesty. I'll be at the guest house if you need me, Michael."

Lisa walked away, not before placing a kiss on Michael's cheek.

He looked at me with apologizing eyes.

"Just make sure you put the ice on that bruise. I'll get a bandage for your hand." I told him.

As I took out a bandage from the cabinet in our bathroom, I felt a little lightheaded. I washed my face and that did the job.

Michael was where I left him, with the ice on his lip.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, why?"

"You're looking a little pale."

"I'm fine." I lied. My head was spinning.

I took his right hand and wrapped the bandage neatly around it.

"There." I kissed it.

"Thank you, baby."

"Now, about that lip..." I sighed.

"There's nothing a little makeup won't fix. Karen will take care of that tomorrow before we head to the cemetery."

I totally forgot about that.

"Right. I think it's time for me to go to bed." I said, getting up to brush my teeth.

Wrong move.

Immediately I fell back down on the bed and my vision blurred.

"Brooke?" Michael worriedly said, putting his big hands on my back. "What's wrong? Is it the baby?"

I shook my head since I could feel my baby in there, kicking and living.

"I'll get you some water."

A few deep breaths made it all better. My vision cleared, and I felt everything coming back to normal.

I gladly took the glass that Michael offered.

He had the most worried look on this face when I looked up at him.

"I'm fine. I was probably just on my feet too much today." I reassured.

"That means bed time for mommy and baby Michael." my husband said, taking the glass from me.

"Are you gonna be okay?" I asked.

"I'm perfectly fine, babe. Get some sleep." he answered, stroking my hair.

~

9th of October, 1996
Brooklyn and Janet are 30, Michael is 38

Michael: "I love you, daddy." Jason said, placing a single rose next to Chris's grave.

He went back to his place next to Cynthia and she hugged his shoulders.

We all put flowers around my brother-in-law's grave, then said words of prayer.

"May he rest in peace." mother said.

I tightened my hug around Brooke as she let out a whimper.

I rubbed her arm in hopes it would soothe her. I myself couldn't believe a full year had gone by since Chris's death. A full year without him... It absolutely crushed me.

I wiped the tears that threatened to escape. I had to stay strong for my wife, no matter how much it hurt.

He's in a good place.

~

10th of October, 1996
Brooklyn is 30, Michael is 38

Brooklyn: "A steady heartbeat... Good position... I have to say, he's looking great, even amazing. We are clear for week 19." Dr. James smiled, showing Michael and I our baby boy.

"The only thing that concerns me, Brooke, are your blood results. Your BP is really high... Has anything happened this past week that could've caused this?"

"It's been an eventful couple of days." I told her, looking at Michael who had a guilty look on his face.

Karen really did a good job on hiding the wound on his lip. It was barely seen.

"In that case, no more. Keep going with the bedrest, okay? Drink lots of water, and try to avoid unnecessary stress." Dr. James ordered.

I nodded and covered my bump after she cleaned off the gel.

"Did you hear that, baby boy?" Michael chirped when we sat inside the car. "Just stay in there four more months and you're all set to be holding you and loving you."

I sighed deeply when I remembered he was leaving tomorrow early in the morning. I won't see him for almost three months.

"Why can't you push back a couple of shows? This is so unfair, I want you home." I whined. My hormones were totally acting up again.

"You know I can't, babe... But hey, you know Lori, your understudy? She'll never compare to you. She's pretty bad, actually." he said, trying to make me feel better.

"Don't say that," I smacked his chest. "Remember, I helped you choose her."

He sighed, "Sorry."

The car started and we were on our way home. I really didn't want to be home, since Lisa Marie was still there.

Michael told me she'd be staying for a while in the guest house. I don't mind it when he's home, but I'm afraid I'll claw her eyes out or something as soon as he's gone...

I've seen her roam the property of Neverland quite a lot with her children, but she never came near the main house after the incident with Danny. It still bothered me, a lot.

She was in my home, no matter how far she actually was from me or my husband. I had zero trust in her, and I knew sooner or later she would do something.