[MJ Fanfiction] Whatever Happens (Sequel to "What Happened That Day")

Part 54: Taking Back Control

Michael's point of view

The car ride back to Neverland was very quiet. I was deep in my thoughts, June didn't say one word, and Caleb fell alseep again on the back seat. The poor guy was exhausted, and I couldn't imagine what Stephanie put him through. All of these lines across his face told us he went through hell for the last month, and that was probably why I asked June to offer him a roof where he could sleep peacefully, without being scared that something—or someone- would pop up out of nowhere.

I understood why June couldn't forgive him, nor forget what he did. He contributed in making her life a living hell, he betrayed her. If it was only about this, I knew she would, eventually, forgive him, but with what happened with Pit, then I wasn't sure she would be able to forgive him for that. Let's be honest, what he did was horrible, and I could never be able to forget about this, but I can forgive, and I know June is a forgiving person as well. She'd probably need more time, but I had to keep the faith. She needed him, and he needed her. Simple.

When we arrived at Neverland, I asked Tiana to show Caleb's new place. I indicated him that there had some fresh clothes in the closet of the master bedroom that he could put on. The clothes he had on were stained, like he had been wearing them for days. Seeing him this way hurt me, and I couldn't leave him this way, even after everything he did. As a young man, he made some mistakes: some huge ones; but there are never mistakes, always lessons.

When we stepped inside Neverland's main house, June declared she needed a shower. As protective over her that I was, I decided I would follow her up there because I was too scraed she would break down once again. I helped her put some plastic around her bandaged arm so that it wouldn't get wet, and stepped into the shower to help her wash her hair and body because it wasn't easy for her to do so with her injury. When we were finished, we got dressed and waited downstairs in the living room for the police to arrive.

"Why do you have such empathy for Caleb?" she asked, totally out of the blue, with her head on my lap while I was playing with her still wet hair.

I sighed, looking down at her, "This is who I am. You know I have empathy for people."

"How can you be so forgiving, Michael?" she asked, sitting up to look at me. "I can't understand."

"I'm not asking you to understand me. I just see things differently than you do."

"Clearly. You weren't there, you didn't witness the way he walked away; like he didn't give a single shit about me, about Pit. He looked at us, his eyes never left us, but still, he walked away. How horrible is this?"

"It is horrible, but you need to understand that he isn't the one who shot Pit. Stephanie did. The only responsible for what happened to Pit is Stephanie. She's the one who pulled the trigger, right?"

"Yes. But is she the one who told the press about that night I brought Crystal to the hospital? No. Caleb did this on his own."

"You act like you want to take him responsible for everything. He's not the bad guy of the story. Paulina is, she is the one who pulled the strings from the beginning, not him."