Author's Note: Hey guys! Okay, so Thursday I watched Oprah because Jackie Jackson was on there. So I kind got inspired by watching it.

Rose Garden

Chapter 13: Meet the Family

1988 (Amanda's POV)

Michael is absolutely gorgeous when the sun comes through the window and lights up his face as he is sleeping. I lay there, in his bed, with my arm wrapped around his bare chest, looking up at him.

He stirred and made a cute sighing noise, I grinned.

Ever since I've been at Neverland, I think I've only stayed a whole night in my room twice. Every time he calls me in his room at night to assist him to the bathroom or something, I end up staying. Last night was kind interesting, though.

"Amanda," I heard Michael call out in agony.

I slid out of my bed, "Coming!"

I opened the door to Michael's room to find him sitting on the ground beside the bed, his head in his hands. I leaned down beside him putting my hand on his cold shoulder. He looked up at me, his eyes clouded with tears.

I sighed, "What happened?"

"I needed to go to bathroom to get some water from the sink, but when I tried to get up legs kind of buckled and I fell," a tear rolled down his cheek, I wiped it away.

"It's alright Michael; I'll get you some water. It's nothing to cry about," I said quietly.

He took a deep breath, "It's not that. It's been two weeks since it happened. Don't you think the pain and inability to move should have stopped? Don't you think the nightmares should have stopped?"

Michael would have nightmares almost every night about his father beating him, "Michael, he beat you hard, I thought he killed you."

I helped Michael back in bed and went to the kitchen to get us both a glass of water. Walking the halls of Neverland alone at night was kind of intimidating. I got back to Michael's room and went up to the loft to give him his water.

He took the ice cold glass from me and gulped it all down, "Thank you."

"Your welcome. Good night. I love you," I said walking towards my door, taking a sip of my water.

"Amanda," he said, I whipped around to face him.

He sighed, "Would you mind staying with me tonight."

I went over to his bed and climbed in beside him. I took a big gulp of my water, and then sat it on the bedside table. Michael kissed the top of my head.

He began stroking my hair, "You're so good to me. I don't deserve you. I love you."

"I love too," I leaned up and kissed him.

Our kiss became more heated and I hadn't felt Michael being this passionate since that fateful night. He quickly stripped me down and I was completely naked lying beside him. I tugged at his pajama bottoms and he took them off. Now he was in his underwear, running his hands up and down my body.

I broke away from his lips, "Michael I don't want to hurt you even more."

He looked deep into my eyes as if he was looking into my very soul, "Baby, you won't hurt me."

He pulled his boxers off and I rolled onto of him. He grunted, and then relaxed again. Soon our bodies were moving as one slowly; I didn't want to hurt him and he didn't want to hurt himself.

When it was over I rolled off of him and wrapped my arm around his chest, our moist bodies touching again.

He stirred beside me, and then opened his eyes, "Good morning, love."

"Morning," I said.

"So I was thinking, you haven't even met my siblings yet," he said.

"Oh, that's okay, I don't have to meet them," I said thinking about our meeting with his parents; we all know how that ended.

"My parents won't be there," he said.

I sat up and moved my hair back out of my face, "I don't want to."

"That's too bad. They're coming over today at noon for lunch and some fun," he said smiling and winking.

"Michael," I slapped his chest.

"Ow!" He rubbed the place on his chest where I slapped.

He put his hands on my waist and began tickling my lightly, he was sitting up in front of me now.

I giggled, "Michael!"

I pushed him back on his back and straddled his waist with my legs, "So, you feel better, uh?"

"I guess I do. Last night really helped, it's like therapy for this pain," he said smiling at me, showing all his blinding white teeth.

I sighed, "Therapy?"

"Yep. And I want to schedule an appointment with you almost every night for the rest of our lives," Michael said getting up and flipping me so that he was on top of me.

I was laughing, "Michael, stop," he was placing ticklish kisses down my neck.

"We need to get ready," he said getting off of me and slowly walking to the bathroom.

Noon came too soon; Michael and I were sitting on the couch in the family room. One of his arms was around my shoulders making me very close to him. I tried not to bring attention to my shaky hands, but Michael noticed it when he grabbed it to hold.

"You have nothing to be nervous about," he whispered in my ear placing a kiss to my cheek.

We walked over to the door hand in hand; Michael opened it to reveal a line of people.

"Hello, I'm Rebbie. You better be treating my little brother well," She said hugging me; I smiled when we pulled away.

"She is definitely treating me right," Michael said to Rebbie, then turning around and winking at me.

A man walked in and hugged Michael, "So that means you got some last night."

I saw Michael turn bright red and look down, biting his lip.

The man turned to me, "Hey there, sweet thang. I'm Marlon."

"I'm Amanda," I said

Marlon took my hand and placed a kiss on it, "It's a pleasure to make you acquaintance, Amanda."

"It's nice meet you too," I said grinning.

One by one I met seven of Michael's brothers and sisters. Marlon, Tito, Randy, and Jermaine were really nice, they liked to joke around and give Michael a hard time. Rebbie and LaToya were kind of quiet around me, but Janet could probably talk for twenty four hours straight, she promised to take me shopping soon to have some girl time. There was one more bother for me to meet who hadn't arrived yet.

We all heard a knock at the door and Michael brought me along to answer it, standing there was a relatively tall man wearing dark wash blue jeans, a black button up shirt, and black aviator sunglasses.

"Hello, you must be Amanda. I'm Jackie," he said grinning at me.

"Yeah, nice to meet you Jackie," I said.

In one quick second Jackie had his arms around me in a tight hug, "I'm so glad Michael has found someone like you, you make him so happy."

We pulled away from each other, "I'm glad I found someone like Michael. He makes me happy."

"I like you Amanda," he said, with a friendly smile.

Jackie was definitely going to be my favorite brother, "I like you too, Jackie."

He started laughing and so did Michael, I looked around in confusion, "What's so funny?"

"Nothing," Michael said through his giggles.

I sighed, "Did I do something wrong?"

"No," Jackie put his arm around me, "I just thought of something funny and Michael knew exactly what I was thinking."

I was quiet; obviously there was some kind of inside joke about me.

"It's not about you," Michael said, reading my mind.

Jackie got the last of his laughs out, "It's just that you're the only girlfriend who's actually liked me. Michael's other girlfriends before have thought I was…um…a suck up maybe. It's just funny that you like me."

"Michael's other girlfriends! Ha! They've all been trash," Tito yelled from the living room.

"Let's go have some fun," Michael said taking my hand in his.

1998

"So you're really my daddy," I hear Tara ask Michael, who is sitting across us in the local café.

Michael swallowed the bite of sandwich he had taken, "Yes Ma'am."

Tara sighed and leaned her head on my arm. I knew she was tired, it was getting late and her, Michael, and I had been hanging out all day. It was awkward being around him again. I know that he sensed something was up, I had barely talked to him today, I guess it was just weird seeing him again.

"How come I haven't met you until now?" She said.

"Well..uh..your mom and I, our relationship didn't work out and I lost contact with her until a few weeks ago," he said glancing over to me every now and then.

Tara yawned, "How long are you going to be here?"

Michael grinned at her, "About three weeks."

"Then you'll leave again?"

"Yes, but we'll see each other again real soon. My tour is over in about two months," Michael said finishing his soup.

Tara had been asking him questions all day and I was really getting annoyed with everything. Maybe it was a mistake to contact Michael.

"So, how come you and mommy aren't married?"

"That's enough questions for one day Tara, it's time to go," I said butting in.

I grabbed her hand while Michael went to go throw his stuff away. We walked out to my car; I made sure Tara was buckled in the back seat before walking to the other side of the car to get in the driver's side. Michael slid in the passenger seat. I got on the interstate to take us to our house.

I kept my eyes focused on the road because the silence in the car was killing me. Michael was staring ahead quietly into the darkness.

I checked the clock; it was ten thirty, "Its way pass Tara's bedtime."

Michael looked behind him, "She's asleep anyway. I think she had fun today."

Michael had offered to take us both the zoo and have some fun on Coney Island, "Yeah, she did."

Another bout of silence ran through the car, Michael's voice sounded again, "How come you didn't let me answer Tara's question about us not being married?"

"Because Michael, then she would start asking how we had a baby if we weren't married. She's nine years old, I don't want her knowing about those kinds of things yet," I said quietly.

Michael didn't say anything else, I pulled into my drive way and turned the car off.

When I went around to the other side of the car Michael already Tara in his arms. I grabbed his luggage from the trunk and he followed me inside.

When we got in the living room I pointed towards the hallway, "Tara's room is two doors down to the right."

Michael came back out of her room, "I tucked her in."

"Thank you," I said, motioning for him to follow me.

I put his stuff down in the guest bedroom, "I know it's not like your room, but it's the guestroom, so,"

"It's perfect," he said smiling at me.

I quickly looked away, "Well, goodnight."

He sighed, "Goodnight Amanda."

I went across the hall to my room and got ready for bed, I was soon in a deep sleep.

"Amanda," I heard someone whisper.

My eyes fluttered open to Michael staring over me, I sat up, "Michael, what time is it?"

"It's two in morning," he replied, "I need to talk to you."

I was now sitting across from Michael, Indian style, "What do you want to talk about."

"I want you to tell me the truth, why didn't you talk to me today?"

I sighed, "Michael, I, it was weird being with you today. I mean it's been, what, nine, ten years since we were together."

"Do you regret it?"

"What?"

Michael grabbed my hand; I pulled it away, he sighed, "Us."

"No, when I was with you I was having the best time of my life."

"Then why did you leave?"

"Michael, it's complicated. I got scared because I knew one day that the same thing that happened to my mother was going to happen to me. She drilled that into my head my whole life. Even when I married Daniel she said, 'Amanda, one day you're going to come home and he'll be gone.' That's why I encouraged Daniel to move us to New York, I wanted to get away from her instilling that pain in me every day. When she died a few years ago, I felt awful, I ran away from and didn't even get to see her in her final years," I felt myself tearing up, but I was not going to cry in front of Michael.

He was quiet, I don't think I answered what he was fully asking, "I really did love you, Michael. I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you."

Michael got up and walked out of the room, I lied back down and cried for a few moments, then decided to go and find him.

When I walked in the kitchen, I saw him sitting at the table with a tear running down his cheek.

He turned to me, "Why didn't you stay? Why couldn't we have had forever? When I read in your letter that you had gotten married, my heart broke. I thought that one day I would meet you again and we could continue where we left off."

I sat down at the table beside him; I put my hand on his, "That's the past Michael. I love Daniel."

"Do you?" He asked in an angry whisper.

Michael stormed off to his room; I followed him and shut the door behind me, "Yes I love him! Why would I marry someone that I don't love?"

"You loved me, why didn't you marry me?" Michael yelled back at me.

"Because I was scared, how many times do I have to explain this to you?"

"Do you still love me?"

I sighed; Michael yelled again, "Well, I still love you! Do you love me?"

I didn't say anything. I couldn't answer him, I couldn't lie to him. Yes, I loved him. I've loved him since the day I met him.

But, I'm married to Daniel; I finally found my voice to yell back at him, "I'm married! I DON'T LOVE YOU ANYMORE!"

Within a second his lips were moving with mine. During the first few seconds of our kiss all the memories of us flooded back into my head. When we first met, the concert where I danced with him and he kissed me in front of thousands of his fans, everything, I remembered everything.

I wrapped my arms around his neck as his tongue entered my mouth. Our tongues danced together, we sat down on the bed.

He hovered over me; I ran my hands down his chest.

He gripped my shirt to pull it over my head, but I stopped him, "I can't do this, Michael."

I got up and went back to my room. I sat down on my bed and felt the sobs overcome me and spill down my cheeks. I started shaking violently at my stupidity for leaving him. I love him. I'm still in love with Michael and there was no way I could overcome this feeling inside me.

Author's Note: How did you guys like that chapter? Review please!