"Um, Mike? I'm not so sure about this…" Ramona bit her lip as Michael led her to the next ride.

Michael turned around with a quirked eyebrow and he grinned at the look on her face. She was being taken to Michael's personal favorite ride, the Zipper, and Ramona just turned pale looking at it.

"What are you afraid of? It's perfectly safe!" he said, taking a step closer to her.

"Safe? It is flinging those people around as if they were inside a toddler's hotwheels car!" she gulped and then frowned when Michael started laughing. "What the heck is so funny?"

"And here I thought you couldn't show emotion," he mocked her.

"What emotion?" she asked, completely dumbfounded. She didn't have a clue.

Michael put his hands on her shoulders and waited for her to look into his eyes. "Fear."

She stood, unmoving, trying to process what he had just said. She felt fear? Michael rolled his eyes and grabbed her hand and pulled her toward the ride. "Wait…" she called to him.

He shook his head and kept his grip on her. "You can pick the next ride, I promise." Ramona sighed and gave in. She was actually surprised that it wasn't as bad as she thought it would be. However, when the ride was over and they climbed out of the little car, Ramona had to lean on a nearby wall. Michael giggled at her. "Wanna go again?"

"How about no," she said, not even looking at him. "You owe me big time. What's next on the map?"

Michael pulled out the map of the park. They had decided to start from the front of the park and work their way back. The next on their list had them both grinning in excitement. It was called The Xtreme. It had a variety of flips and turns and it stood about 80 stories high.

Michael and Ramona took one look at it and then smiled at each other. "Race you!" Michael yelled and took off running.

"Hey! Cheater!" Ramona laughed and chased him to the roller coaster. Once they were being seated, Ramona noticed Michael had sat next to a little boy. She smirked at him and took her seat behind him next to another man. She reached forward and knocked Michael's hat off of his head.

"Hey!" he turned and scoffed at her. "Quit picking on me or I'm gonna tell!" he whined and then laughed.

Ramona smirked. He was transforming into this little kid and she felt like it was because of her. It felt really good. Once the roller coaster operator announced the ride was about to start, Michael threw his hands up in the air. "Weee!"

The little boy sitting next to him rolled his eyes and snorted. "Michael, we haven't even started moving yet."

Ramona bit back a laugh after seeing the look on Michael's face. "So?" he said and stuck out his tongue. The little boy just laughed at him and made him grin from ear to ear. It was amazing how much children affected him.

Once the ride was over, they looked over the map again. As Michael studied the surrounding rides, Ramona caught a glimpse of a movie theater. It read: "Captain EO in 3D"

"Oh Michael…" she sang. He looked up from the map and she pointed at the theater. He took one look at it and he frowned.

"No." he went back to looking at the map and Ramona pulled it down and gave him a sad look.

"You owe me, remember?" she said with her hands on her hips. "And this is my pick. What are you afraid of?" she mocked him.

He shook his head at her and looked down, blushing slightly. "I don't know, there's something about seeing myself coming at…well myself that just bugs me."

Ramona giggled. "Oh come on, it can't be that bad."

"Have you ever seen yourself on the big screen with a crowd watching it with you?" he asked, folding his arms.

"Okay, fine I will make you a deal. Since I have never seen this movie, we can watch half of it, and if it bugs you that much, we can leave early."

Michael rolled his eyes and she pouted. He grunted and finally agreed and Ramona dragged him to the front row and put on her 3D glasses. Michael glanced at her before sighing and putting his glasses on.

A few minutes into the movie, Ramona was embarrassed. She thought Hooter was adorable and Michael looked cute in his space suit, but every time Michael's face came on screen, he would grunt or cover his face or make some random comments. People around them kept shushing them.

"Ugh, that part had no emotion. I should have used more emotion there…" Michael grumbled.

Ramona reached over and covered his mouth. "You are going to get us kicked out if you don't shut it."

"Oh that's a joke. Kick Michael Jackson out of his own movie?" Michael smirked and then laughed at his own joke. Ramona shook her head and then got up to leave.

"Okay, then let's go find another ride."

Michael followed her out of the theater and he watched her expressions for signs of anger. Just as he feared, her mask of no emotion was back on.

"Are you mad at me?" he asked.

"No." she said plainly. "Where to next?" she held up the map and he took it from her.

"Be honest with me. Are you mad?"

Ramona sighed and looked at him. His eyes were filled with worry and a bit of regret. She loved to watch his eyes when he spoke to her face to face. She shook her head and he put his hand on her face, pulling her closer to him.

"I'm not mad, Michael. I understand you were put in an awkward situation. I guess I should have thought about how that would have made you feel. I'm sorry," she whispered. Her heart skipped a beat as his eyes traveled to her lips and he slowly moved forward. Her eyelids began to close when he paused, nearly an inch away from her lips, and a huge smile plastered on his face. Ramona turned to look at what caught his attention so fast and saw a group of Disney characters in costume walking around together.

"Look! It's Mickey, and Donald, and Goofy too!"

Ramona shook her head and smiled. "Go have fun," she pushed him toward the characters and laughed as he ran without hesitation toward them. She laughed when she noticed that Goofy was dressed like Michael. He had on the red military jacket and a single glittered glove. "Priceless…" she mumbled as she pulled out a video camera she borrowed from Michael, without him knowing of course.

Just as she hit the record button, he began dancing with the characters and laughing like a child. This was just too good to miss. She bit her lip and her eyes watered. What was this strange feeling she had? She wasn't sad, so why was she crying?

"Here, allow me to hold the camera and go join in," Derek walked up behind her and startled her.

"Oh, it's okay. You go have some fun while you can," she said.

"Ray, come on. How often do you get a chance to dance with your best friend and a bunch of Disney characters?" he asked. She hesitated before smiling at him and handing him the camera.

"Thanks Derek," she ran toward him and nearly tackled him as Derek recorded every moment of it. They danced with the characters like a couple of nuts and laughed and hugged. Ramona felt such an odd sensation in her heart and she kissed Michael's cheek. They both blushed a bright red before they finally bid their farewells to the Disney gang.

Michael paused before turning back around. "Hey Goofy," he said. Goofy turned around and looked at him. "I appreciate what you're trying to do with your image, but next time, just leave the Michael Jackson stuff to me, okay?"

Goofy put his hands over his eyes and Michael grinned. As he began to turn back, Ramona pointed back at Goofy and laughed. Michael turned back to see Goofy and the rest of the gang trying to dance like Michael. Goofy even attempted the Moonwalk before falling over.

The following day…

"Michael? Where are you?" Ramona wandered around Neverland looking for him. He had just called her from her house and asked her to come over. She arrived about 20 minutes ago and had searched nearly every room in the house before she ran into Marie. "Have you seen Mike?"

Marie stopped cleaning the dishes for a moment and smiled at Ramona. "He just headed out back. Try looking in his favorite tree."

"How am I supposed to know which one is his favorite? I don't even know how many trees there are on this ranch," Ramona said as she slapped her forehead with an open palm.

Marie bit the inside of her cheek. She guessed Michael hadn't told her about his tree yet. "Just go out by the pool and look for a tree that stands out above all the others. You cant miss it."

Ramona gave her a strange look before heading outside. She glanced at every tree, trying to find the one that stood out to her. She wandered toward the pool and looked around for another 5 minutes before her eyes caught site of the biggest, fullest tree she had seen. She eyed the branches in awe. She was definitely going to have to write about this.

"Wow…" she breathed as she walked backward until she was underneath the shade of this magnificent tree.

"Boo," a voice from behind her made her jump and she turned around to see Michael hanging from a low branch, upside down.

"I hate it when you do that," Ramona grumbled. Michael smiled and climbed his way up the tree. Ramona walked to the trunk of the tree and put her hand on it. "Michael, this tree is incredible."

"Come on up," he called.

Ramona smiled and made her way up into the branches until she reached the thick branch where Michael sat. He reached his hand out to her and she took it, being pulled up to sit next to him on the branch.

"Look down."

Ramona looked at him for a moment. "Isnt that the last thing you want to say to someone who is afraid of heights?"

"Are you?" he asked.

"No," she said and then giggled at his scrunched up face. She glanced down and looked at everything around her. The sun was just beginning to set and sunbeams were shining through the thick branches of the tree. It almost looked like they were sitting in a painting. "It's so unreal. It's like a painting made by God himself," she whispered. She leaned forward a little too far and almost slipped. Michael grabbed her arm and chuckled before he turned to rest his back on another branch.

"Come here," he said softly. He pulled her back against his chest so she wouldn't fall. Ramona leaned her head back against his chest and relaxed. What was this new feeling she felt? She was so warm being in his arms like this. She couldn't make sense of it, and that scared her. Before she could say anything, Michael sighed deeply. "This is my Giving Tree."

"Giving Tree?" she asked.

"Yes. I discovered this tree about a year after I moved here. This tree gives me so much inspiration. I love sitting on this branch and watching everything around me, and listening to the sounds of nature," he spoke softly. Ramona had a hunch he was speaking straight from his heart.

"What kind of inspiration can this tree give?" she asked.

"Any kind you need. For you, it could be a whole new start for your stories you write, or maybe a new series of columns for the paper. For me, it inspired me to write songs."

"Really?" she asked. She was surprised he was so open with her and she wondered how many people knew this about him. No one seems to know how sweet he really is. Ramona really wished more people saw this side of him.

"Really. I wrote Heal the World in this very spot," he paused when she raised up and faced him. She was clearly surprised by this. "I also wrote Black or White here. You should come out here on your own sometime and see what this tree can do for you."

He smiled sweetly at her and brushed a hair behind her ear. She caught herself eyeing his lips once again and that odd feeling of warmth came back. "Michael…"

"Mikey bear, where are you?" a voice called from the bottom of the tree.

"Oh no, not Cruella," Ramona grumbled.

Michael giggled and shook his head. "You've been talking to Dunk too much. Let me go down first and distract her so you can get away."

Ramona nodded and watched as he worked his way down the branches. She had to make sure she did it like him so she wouldn't fall and hurt herself. She winced as she felt a few punches on her hands. She looked down and noticed ants were climbing up her hands and arms and they were biting her. She slapped them away and scratched her hands while more ants worked their way onto her neck and shoulders.

"Little buggers, get off of me," she growled softly. She began a fast descent on the tree, stopping to slap at the ants that just wouldn't leave her alone. She glanced around before she got too low on the tree to make sure Lisa was no where in sight. When she felt it was safe, she continued her way down until the ants began biting her neck and just above her breasts. She let go of the branch to slap at them and fell the rest of the way down, hitting the ground chest first.

Her scar began to burn like a wild fire and she flipped onto her side in the fetal position, trying to regain her breath. She made herself roll onto her knees and sat like that for a moment before the ants began biting her again.

"Ray, you alright? I saw that nasty fall!" Janet came out just in time.

"The ants are trying to devour me!" Ramona growled as the slapped at herself and scratched. She stumbled to her feet and gasped when the sprinklers popped out of the ground and began spraying the lawn. Janet and Ramona both shrieked at the cold water before jumping out of the way. "Well, that takes care of the ants," Ramona said, panting.

"That's good to know," Janet laughed. "Come on, let's go get you dried off and go out for a while. Mike will be stuck with the devil woman for a while."

"Oh?" she asked. "I feel sorry for him. Do you think we can just stay in tonight? I'm pretty tired," Ramona said, yawning a bit. Janet giggled.

"If you want to. I'm not sure how long Mike will be kept away this time. He is shooting a new video and Cruella is supposed to be a big part of it," she nearly snarled at the thought.

"Well, it's about time he made a new video," Ramona snickered. "What song is it?"

"You Are Not Alone," Janet said.

"I adore that song. It calms my spirit when I listen to it. I used to play it when I lived on the beach. It went well with the sunset."

Janet smiled and hooked her arm in Ramona's. "Alright, enough about my big brother and his evil fiancé. Let's go to your place and pick us out some movies."

Ramona smiled and nodded as they headed off toward her house.