Michael stood at the top of the stairs and he felt the phone to his side begin to buzz. He uncrossed his legs from indian style and his daughter had text him.
'I brought you a surprise..'
He smiled and he calls out to the girls,
"Paris is coming!!"
Shania comes from around the corner in her pants suit she wore when guests were in the house and her arm still rested in a sling. She ran to the other girls and Faith was downstairs setting the table. Dee heard Shania shout from the dining room door and she smiled wide
"PJ's coming!"
Faith stopped what she was doing and she fixed the silver Neverland broach on her chest.
They all flocked to the door and they hear brakes engaging in the driveway. Paris hopped out in her white sunglasses and flowy maxi dress. New tattoos lined up her sternum and she smiled seeing the girls.
"Heeey!" She smiled and they all came close, as they approached, the passenger door opened as well and they couldn't believe their eyes.
Prince Jackson stepped out, shutting the door and they froze. He wore a gray beanie that covered the back of his neck and a black blazer jacket was buttoned around his waist. He dressed similar to his sister and Faith spoke with tight quiet lips,
"Why haven't we met him yet?"
"Beats me..." Shania mumbled non chalant and Paris came over, she hugged their neck still giggling and she spoke,
"What's up guys?"
They kinda shrugged as their attention was elsewhere, and Paris chuckled seeing them feel awkward around her brother and how he has no idea what's waiting inside.
"Yeah sorry. This is Prince my brother."
She puts her hand next to her mouth to say in secret,
"I tried to tell him but he won't believe me.."
Prince comes over and he shakes their hands,
"Pleasure." He says but he was distracted from taking in his childhood home. Paris took his arm and she half smiles,
"Kinda looks the same right?"
She asked looking at all the flower beds and the windows looking in.
Prince nodded and he took off his sunglasses,
"Yeah. Brings back a lot."
"We'd offer you a tour but I take it you won't need one." Faith says shyly and Prince nodded.
"Yeah. I know this place all too well.."
They walked up the stone steps and they opened both massive doors leading into the foyer. Guests snapled pictures of the clock and their chatter was muted from the swinging of the dining room door.
Prince and Paris looked around and he chuckled,
"God. It has not changed.."
The girls looked to each other and Dee spoke saying,
"We tried to keep it as real and as familiar as possible."
Michael stepped out from his room and he knew exactly who was hear without even looking over from the bannister.
"Prince..." he whispered and he hid himself. He shys over to the end of the railing still hidden in the far hallway and he peeked.
Paris hung onto his arm and Prince stood in awe to what he used to remember. Michael blinked and he swore he could still see them as toddlers climbing up and down those steps each morning.
Paris noticed her father's spirit and she smiled to him. She waved and Prince noticed confused.
Dee, Shan and Faith all look behind them to see nothing but knew exactly what she was doing. She pulled him by the arm and he leaned away unsure.
"Come on.." she said and she lead him up the stairs.
Dee, Faith and Shan lingered behind to give them space and knew they were headed to Michaels bed chambers.
Michael rushed back into his room and he was unsure how he could do this. After his death, he knew his son would have to carry on without him and it was hard knowing he was here now only by the encouragement of Paris.
"In here.."
She takes away the velvet ropes away from the door and Prince shook his head,
"Paris...that's his room-"
"We don't let anyone inside, so we won't let anyone in to bother you. We haven't moved anything. We left it as is.." Shania assured
Paris nodded to coax him to step inside and Dee clicks the rope back onto the rail behind them, they promised to keep everyone away and Paris closed the door.
Prince stood infront of his father's fireplace mantle and he breathed,
"I didn't know he kept most of this.."
Michael had kept many pictures of his children across the mantle shelf and Prince picks up the one from his fifth birthday.
He wore a party hat with vanilla cake frosting all across his face as his father cleaned him up laughing.
Prince half smiled and Paris knew where Michael stood. In the back, next to the piano awkwardly. She steps backwards, standing next to his side and she smiled but stayed quiet.
"Would you ever wanna talk to Daddy again, Prince?" She asks slyly and he steps further down the mantle, taking in all the photos.
"Well yeah, of course I would."
She looks to Michael smiling wide and Michael sighed. He lets himself be seen and he fixes his form to something familiar. His hair was long and to his shoulders, he wore a black button up and a ring on his finger.
He spoke soft so he wouldn't startle his son and he says outloud,
"What if I told you, you could..."
Prince was haulted from all movement and a cold chill ran rampid up his spine with the speed of sound.
The sound of his father's voice.
He looks into the mantle's long stretched mirror and he sees Michael standing next to Paris in the reflection. His eyes shot black being so wide and he spun around with the small framed picture hitting the hardwood.
"Paris!" He jolted and Michael stepped forward calming him with steadying hands,
"Prince, Its okay. It's just me."
He couldn't just be calm he almost screamed, "Paris! Get me outta here!"
Paris comes next to her father and she says,
"Prince it's okay. It's daddy, look. He's here with us. This is him.."
Prince looked terrified and conflicted and stared into what he wanted to believe was his father. Prince was startled and Paris comes to try and calm him but he refused.
"This is fucked!" He shouted and he bolted. He tore the door open and he kicked the velvet rope to the side. The girls stood at the end of the hall and he pushed them aside in a furious shove.
"Thanks for telling me." He snarled and the hostesses were speechless. Paris ran after him and she shouted down the steps as he stormed towards the front door.
"I knew it was a mistake bringing you here!"
He spun around and Michael loomed outside his door. He stood hidden in hallway and he listened to his grown children now argue.
"Then why'd you ask me to come huh? Why didn't you just bring Blanket?"
He was seething and Paris became hysterical trotting down the steps,
"Because I thought you'd wanna see our father!!"
"You mean your father!!"
Prince screamed and Michael cringed.
He held his heart like it had just broken and the girls were sure it had.
"What the fuck is that supposed to mean!!" Paris said with tears now pouring and she sobbed outloud.
Prince slammed the door behind him and the house shook. Paris held her mouth but she didn't make a sound she held onto the rail and the girls didn't know whether to comfort her. She wiped her face and she took the shoulder bag she carried and slung it furious to the door. It crashed into a vase making the shatter twice as loud.
Michael comes and he pulls his daughter close. She sobbed onto his shoulder and she sputtered,
"I'm sorry, Dad. I just thought- maybe..you'd wanna see him."
He hushed her and rubbed her back. He shushes her cries and he says,
"I'll fix it. I will. But you have to stay here. You should calm down before you try and mend things."
She nodded and he wiped her face. He looks her up and down and he noticed her revealing blouse. It was staying closed by the corset strings loosely tied alone and he shuddered,
"Paris Elizabeth, you will change or you will put on a jacket."
She looks down to her chest and she says,
"Oh yeah, I got new tattoos see?"
He shielded his eyes and she giggled along with him.
"Me and the rest of LA can, Paris. Change, I'm serious.."
She nodded and he headed down the steps. He shakes his head unsurprised to the knocked over vase and he goes to pick up her shoulder bag with a thousand stitched on logos and he smiles.
'The Flaming Lips' , 'Rush' , 'Motley Crue' and so many others. Michael smiled and he mumbled, "I taught you well."
He goes to flip the bag back on its strap and from the large pocket rattled a bottle. It rolled on the floor and Michael chewed his lip now enraged to her new found habit. Paris paid no attention as her and the hostesses chatted on the steps. He slid her illegal bottle of Xanax into his pocket and looked to her disappointed over his shoulder.
~~
Michael figured Prince was in the car and he pulled on the door handle. He couldn't see inside the tinted high truck but the door was locked.
He sighed and figured Prince was upset about the shock. Prince probably never thought he'd see his father again but the comment questioning whether he was even his son was hurtful. Especially now that they couldn't see each other whenever they liked.
Michael walked along across the cobble stone walk way that lead into the illustrious back garden and he looked for his son.
He heard a twig snap as he passed by a tree. He stopped and he looks up into the tall tree that sat in center of the garden.
Prince sat indian style in one of the bigger branches and Michael leaned against the trunk. He stayed quiet until he speaks,
"How'd you climb this tree?"
Prince shrugged and he answers lowly,
"Learned it from the best...."
Michael nodded and he wanted to say something he's held back for years. He sighed and he says,
"I'm sorry, Prince."
Prince stopped his gloom and he looks down through the brush and his father went on,
"I'm sorry that I couldn't have given you the life that you deserved before I died."
Prince closed his eyes and now he knew what regret felt like.
"I'm sorry that sometimes all I did was work. You were so young and sometimes I didn't want you to go through what you did."
Prince crouched down to begin his way down the tree and he landed with bent knees beside his father.
Prince fixed his beanie and it still took him just a second to look into Michael's eyes. He was just as he remembered him and it still knocked the wind from his lungs.
"You-..."
Prince stuttered in fear and he still stumbles on his sentence.
"Prince.." Michael eased. He used his illusion and he held his son's shoulder.
Prince found himself unafraid. He almost smiled but he knew he had to be serious. Prince Michael thought in his fathers death, the media would fianlly let his soul rest but the reality was very unfortunate.
He takes an envelope from his blazer pocket and he fidgeted with it in his fingers.
'LOS ANGELES FAMILY SERVICES'
A paternity test. The letter was unopened. Michael blinked and he looked sternly to his grown son. Prince sighed and Michael urged him to sit down infront of the pond.
Prince spoke fast and he asked,
"Are you my dad or not?"
Michael cringed to such a question and listened to his ramble. He went on but Michael stopped him,
"Prince get to the point."
Prince said plainly without hesitation,
"Theres this guy. Omer Bhatti. Do you know him?"
Michael nodded and he held the bridge of his nose, annoyed how he knew this would come up eventually.
"Do you know him?"
Michael nodded.
Omer Bhatti was a frequent visitor to Neverland before the trial in 1992. Omer's mother was a backup dancer to Michael's touring career and he stayed close as a friend when discovering Omer's mother, Pia, had cancer. But Michael was never involved with Pia physically. They adored each other as friends but Omer had a father that was still close to Pia.
"I did know Omer. He was very close to me at a point."
Prince felt his knees quiver and he felt the heartbreak setting in,
"But Prince, do you know what being a father really is?"
Prince shook his head and took his best guess answering, "Yeah, you love your kids and raise them to be adults."
Michael shook his head and he says, "No, Prince." His voice became serious and grave and he explained,
"You've already got it all wrong."
Prince felt confused and he waited for Michael to explain. "Being a father means to get a woman pregnant and she has your child. That's being a father. But Prince, I am your Dad. I was there when you took your first breath and I raised you from the ground up. Whether you share the blood that ran through my veins , is irrelevant. Don't you see?"
Michael took his son's hands and he says, "You, Paris and Blanket were my life. Those times when we ran away to Bahrain to escape the world, I was only thinking of you. You were my children. Only mine. I've heard those awful stories before about paternity tests and people being unsure. But their doubts are their prerogative. You are my son and that is what you need to hold believe. Do you understand?"
Michael held the world in his eyes and Prince tried to hide his quivering lip. Michael crossed his arms as Prince finally nodded unable to speak and Michael told him,
"Go ahead, open your letter son.."
Prince stared down and the crease across the envelope that held the results and he goes to tear away. Something stops him and he only held it firmer in his grip. He never understood how Michael could be right about absolutely everything and Michael sat there watching his turmoil.
Prince stopped and he tore the letter half by half into fourths. He ripped the envelope and the inside letter into shreds and let it dance away in the breeze across the garden. Prince looks over unafraid to lock eyes with his father and he spoke,
"I'm sorry. You shouldn't be sorry. I wasn't man enough to understand to be grateful for what I was given, I only focused on what I didn't receive. That letter won't change anything. And it certainly won't change the fact that I am a Jackson and I always have been. Dad, I'm sorry."
Michael's forgiveness shown through in his soft smile and he gripped Prince's hand. Prince's lip quivered and Michael spoke, "It's okay to cry son, it's okay. You can be sad here with me."
Prince's tears rolled and he spoke in stutters with his uneasy breath,
"I'm not sad, I'm happy. I'm happy I came home."
They met in a fatherly hug and Prince was sobbing into Michael's shoulder. He held his first born close and he tore the beanie away to hold his head.
"Welcome home..." Michael told him and Prince tried to contain himself.
He took a deep breath and he wiped his glassy eyes. He exhaled and says,
"I can't go back in there looking like this."
Michael cringed and he says,
"Listen, son. You better apologize to your sister. Who taught you to act like that? I sure didn't."
Michael stopped and he knew he shouldn't scold. He digressed and he eased, "But-" he sighed and finished, "But you're a grown man. And I am very, very proud of you, Prince Michael. You are my first son."
They met in a hug again and they stood to walk back inside. Michael urges him to pick up the shreds of paper before the squirrels try to eat it and they strolled back to front
"So is that truck yours, Prince?"
Prince follwed beside his father and he answered,
"Yeah. Paris wanted to drive it today, so I let her."
Michael nodded and he says,
"Leave Paris here, I've got a bone to pick with her."
Prince squinted his eyes and he says,
"Why?"
Michael started back towards the mansion and he stops the bottle of Xanax from rattling in his pocket,
"You'll know."