~ Michael's point of view ~
. . . Would I rather be in bed right now? YES . . but work calls and I hope and pray to god that it won't take long. I don't want to leave Ashley alone all the time . . . she needs someone by her side and I wanna spend as much time with her as possible. .
I park the car and walk inside . . . . "Night, everybody!" I rush to my office and take off my jacket . . . "MICHAEL!" Trevor just rushed into my office "Hey Trevor, sorry . . I came as fast as I could, what happened? what's the emergency??" . . . The look on his face scares me . . why is he shaking? . . "Michael . . I didn't wanna beep you at first but I felt like I had to . . . I spent 10 whole minutes debating on whether I should call you or not . . I'm not sure how to start this. . umm. . . your brother, Mike . . . ."
"What about Mike?? is he here?!! did something happen to him??" - "He was rushed here after having a heart attack . . . he's in the emergency room and . ." Before he can even finish his sentence, I push Trevor out of my way and rush to the emergency room. . . My heart is pounding . . what happened to him?? why did he have a heart attack?! . . . I can't even breathe right . . . I often had dreams about this very situation. I always prayed for this to never happen but I guess even your worst nightmares can become your worst reality. . . . let this be a dream . . . oh god please. . don't let this be reality . . . . .
4 hours later . . . .
I'm sitting next to Mike's hospital bed waiting for him to wake up . . . . the last 2 hours were the worst 2 hours of my life . . . never will I ever forget Mike's body laying on that bed . . . shirt ripped open . . We were FIGHTING for his heart to start beating again . . . . I saw my life flash before my eyes and I don't think I have one tear left in me . . . . I'm all cried out . . if I keep crying then I'm pretty sure blood will start coming out of my eyes. . . . Mike has booze, MDMA, cocain and THC in his system at this very second. . . . . his mouth is dry. . . his lips are almost white and so is the rest of his face . . . his heart is ok now but I'm still gonna watch him until I'm sure. . not leaving this hospital . . even if it means staying awake for over 30 hours . . .
I take his hand and brush it up and down my cheek. "Why do you do this Mike?. . why?? . . you were THIS close to dying!! do you know that?? HUH!? do you know that?!!! how can you do this?!!" . . another tear rolls down my cheek and falls down on his chest. . I softly wipe it away and kiss his forehead. . . . . . He can't hear me but I have to tell him what's in my heart or I'll break down. . . "I nearly broke down in there Mike!!! your heart stopped beating so many times, I stopped counting after the sixth time!!! . . don't do this ever again, you hear me?!!! NEVER AGAIN!!!" I rest my head on his shoulder and look up to the heart monitor. . . . .
30 minutes later . .
~ Mike's point of view ~
I slowly open my eyes . . . . where am I? . . . my chest feels numb. . . my head is pounding and my mouth feels so dry. . . . . . what happened?! I look to my right . . . I see Michael sleeping on the hospital bed next to me. . . . I wanna sit up but I can't . . . . I can feel my legs but I can't feel my upper body. . . Michael wakes up and looks at me. "Mike!!!" He jumps off the bed and rushes over to me. "How are you feeling??" - "My. . my chest hurts"
. . Michael prepares something on the desk . . then he walks back to me and takes a seat close to my bed. "Close your eyes" I let out a moan of pain "Ah . . why?" I look at his left hand . . A syringe . . . "I'm gonna inject pain killer medication. . look away" Michael knows I hate the feeling of syringes. . . ."One, Two, Three and done" He pulls out and puts the syringe back on the desk. . . "Michael, what happened to me? why am I here?" He gives me a serious look as he takes off his green doctor's glove. "Drugs my dear . . . drugs . . . you just can't keep your hands off of it. . . why do you do that to youself? why Mike? why??" - "Now I remember . . I was with Rick . . ."
"Mike . . I don't think I ever felt emptier in my entire life . . . . WHY do you do this to yourself?! why?!!! I WANNA HEAR ANSWERS!!!" . . Michael's eyes are completely red and swollen . . looks like he cried for hours . . . "Michael, I don't know . . it felt good at that moment, I didn't know I would end up here!!!!" - "WELL YOU DID END UP HERE, DIDN'T YOU?! . . Mike, you had a massive heart attack! . . your heart stopped beating over and over again, do you have any idea how close I was to running out of the emergency room because I couldn't stop crying?!!!! . . my vision was blurry, I couldn't even see the heart monitor . . all I saw was my life flash before my eyes . . . DON'T YOU EVER think about taking any of these drugs again because if you do, you can be sure that I'm done with you . . . NEVER again do I wanna go through what I just went through 2 hours ago!!!" He starts crying . . I wanna cry too but my chest is so heavy, even breathing hurts . . . . .
"Michael I'm sorry . . ." - "I hope you're sorry for yourself Mike . . . you're gonna stay here for at least a week and at home you'll be staying in bed for two more weeks. . your heart is exremely weak and I don't want you to risk another heart attack . . . once you had one, you're at a higher risk of getting another one!" - "Can I smoke?" . . . Michael looks at me "Are you serious right now??" - "I'm just asking . ." Michael fakes a laugh shaking his head "You did not just ask me that question!!!!? you wanna know if you can smoke?!! YOU ALMOST DIED from a massive heart attack and you're think about smoking?!! If you weren't so weak I would slap you in the face right now!!!!" . . . The door opens . . his nurse is standing there wanting to hand Michael the phone "Doctor Metford is on the phone Doctor Jackson" - "I'M BUSY!!!! I'M NOT TAKING ANY PHONE CALLS RIGHT NOW! THIS DOOR AND MY OFFICE IS CLOSED FOR EVERYBODY RIGHT NOW!!!!" . . . the nurse quickly closes the door again . . .
"Michael . . . I'm sorry . . I don't wanna do this again, I promise . . . really" I start crying . . . . Michael slowly walks back to my bed and sits down on the chair. "I don't wanna take drugs anymore, I'm done with them and this time I really mean it . . I PROMISE! ='(!!!!" Michael takes my hand and squeezes it gently as he looks at me with tears in his eyes. "Michael I wanna change my life. . I SWEAR . . I don't wanna live like this anymore, I don't wanna party anymore, I wanna be like YOU and make something out of my life . . . . I promise" He gently grabs my face and kisses me right next to my nose underneath my eye. "And you can do it! . . I'm with you, I BELIEVE IN YOU!!!" . . Michael puts his head on my shoulder and starts crying. . after a little while he gets up, leans over my chest and kisses me right where my heart is . . . . "God gave you another chance Mike . . take it and make it" - "Michael I wanna hug you . . but I can't move . . please just hug me. . . please"
Michael wraps his arms around me carefully and pulls me close to him. "As I was fighting for your heart to start beating again, the very same time I was fighting for my own heart not to stop beating . . . when I saw on the monitor that your heart stopped beating for the third time, I was close to breaking down . . . Mike . . . when your heart stopped beating for the sixth time, all the other doctors gave up, they walked out of the emergency room . . . but I knew you weren't gone. . . I could feel it . . . my heart was burning and I did what it told me to do . . . . I grabbed you and I hugged you as hard as I could . . . and believe it or not. . your heart started beating again. . . ."
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(6 MONTHS LATER)
~ Michael's point of view ~
I just came home from work . . . . the smell of amazing food makes my mouth water. Ashley is the best cook . . . after my mom of course. "Honey! you're back early, I'm so glad" I take off my jacket and lay down on the couch "Yea, I'm so glad to be home, I missed you" . . . Ashley lays on top of me and kisses me softly. "My poor baby . . . you desesrve a night of total relaxation. . . how about a bath?" - "I don't think that's a good idea . . . I'm sure I will fall asleep in the middle of it" I get up and walk over to the crib. I gently take him out and sit down with him on the couch. . . . "Hi little one, I missed you all day" I give him a gentle kiss on his chubby little cheek. . . he's such a beautiful boy . . . I love him with all my heart. It's Ashley's birthday tomorrow and I have something special for her . . . We eat dinner and get ready for bed . . . it's late and we're both tired. "Good night honey" She gives me a kiss . . I kiss her back "Good night sweetheart . . I love you" . . . I found in Ashley what I was looking for all my life. She's a warm, gentle, loving. . . I could not ask for more . . . . she's my rock and with her my life is finally complete. .
She kisses little Michael Junior good night and turns off the lights. . . . . "Ashley, dear . . . I'm tired but you know. . I was missing you all day. . ." She giggles and lays on top of me. "Oh did you? . . I missed you too" We kiss each other and before I know it I'm inside of her, giving her all my love. . . .
NEXT DAY
I'm standing in the kitchen fixing lunch for everybody . . . my parents, Mike and his girlfriend are coming . . . it's Ashley's birthday lunch and I hope it'll be amzaing. She deserves the best birthday ever . . .
All our special guests arrived. We're sitting on the patio enjoying the beautiful warm sun. Mike looks good and happy . . . . he moved in with Cassandra 2 months ago. . . . she's 7 months pregnant now. When Mike got out of the hospital 5 months ago he turned his life around and started living. I helped him along the way and I couldn't be more proud of him . . . he in college now, can you believe that? :') . . . MY brother! . . CRAZY MIKE . . . in COLLEGE! I keep reminding him how proud of him I am. He will make something out of himself. . . . he's on the way and nothing is holding him back. . . I know Cassandra plays a role in this too . . . . she took him back after all the things he said and did . . . she sure must love him a lot . . . I'm glad they found back together . . . Mike is gonna be a father in about two months and he's proud of it! . . . . . I remember the phone call when he first told me about Cassandra being pregnant . . . how badly he wanted her to abort it . . how he HATED the idea of being a father . . . . and now he couldn't be happier about it . . . .
"Alright. . . it's my turn to say something!" I get up and look around the table "Thank you all so much for coming to Ashley's 26th birthday lunch . . we're celebrating the woman I love" I look at her and smile. . she's got tears in her eyes "Aww Michael" . . . . "I love you Ashley, happy birthday sweetheart" We all sing happy birthday for her. . she's crying happy tears . . . I'm holding Michael Junior in my arms. Mike grabs the knife and walks over to the cake . . "Happy birthday bla bla bla, yea yea yea, I need this cake and I need it now, I'm starving" . . We all start laughing . .
. . Everybody gave Ashley their present . . . . now it's my turn and I'm quite nervous. "Here it is, dear . . happy birthday" She opens the little white satin box . . . "OH MY GOSH . . . this necklace is sooooo beautiful!" She jumps up and kisses me "Honey, I can't even . . wow . . this is the most beautiful present anyone has ever given me =')" . . . . Mike interrupts the emotional moment "Can I have another piece of cake?" . . Ashley gets up . . "Wait everybody . . . I have a present for Michael" She walks inside and gets a big envelope "I've been hiding this envelope for 2 months and now I wanna give it to you honey, now that we're all together . . I love you, happy non-birthday to you" . . . . "A present? for me? oh gosh . . sweetheart . . you shouldn't have, it's YOUR birthday not mine" - "Open it honey . . please just open it"
. . . I open the envelope and read the baby blue colored paper with Michael Junior's picture on it:
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Dear Michael . . .♡
I wanna start off this letter by saying how much I love and care about you. With you I have the life I've always wanted. Thank you for being in my life and thank you so much for loving me. . . I can't tell you enough how much I love and apprecaite you and your lovely family. I love your sweet parents and your brother Mike as if they were my own family . . . honey . . . let me give you something from the heart. . . the first night you kissed me I knew right then and there what I'm going to tell you right now:
I want YOU to be Michael Junior's father . .
. . legally . . the other two papers in this envelope are the adoption papers
Love, Ashley ♡
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