*June 25, 2009*

Los Angelese, California

9:00 a.m.

Tania hummed a tune to herself as she maneuvered around her kitchen. Her three month old daughter Jayla, lied fast asleep in her car seat, which sat atop the kitchen counter.

She was doing her normal morning routine, before taking her daughter down to see her father, Michael.

"Tania?! Tania?!" she heard her husband Evan call out, from the living room.

"I'm in the kitchen!" she yelled back.

The yelling must've disturbed Jayla, because she started to squirm in her seat, whining and whimpering.

Tania immediately dropped what she was doing and walked over to her daughter, so she could scoop her up in her arms, "oh no! What's wrong with mama's baby?" she cooed.

The second she put the pacifier into the baby's mouth, she quieted down.

"Aww, you just wanted to be held? That's all huh? You just needed a little love from your mommy is all," Tania cooed, as she slightly rocked the baby in her arms.

A big smile came across her face, when Jayla's little hand wrapped around her finger.

"Tania did you hear me calling you?" Evan asked, as he walked into the kitchen.

Tania turned around, never once taking her eyes off of her daughter, "yeah I did, but Jayla started crying so I had to tend to her," she replied, as she rubbed the top of Jayla's forehead.

Evan walked over to Tania and kissed Jayla's chubby cheek, "oh, well before I head off to work, I just had to let you know that Ciara called this morning." he said, referring to Tania's twin sister.

Tania lifted her head, "really, well what did she want?"

"I don't know, but she said it's real important and that you need to call her right away," Evan shrugged.

"Yeah ok, I-I'll do that," Tania said, nonchalantly.

"Alright well I'm off to work, I'll see you later on today. Please don't forget to call your sister, and when you get the chance tell Michael I said hello," Evan pecked Tania on the lips, before exiting the kitchen.

"Alright honey I love you!" Tania called after him.

"I love you too!" he yelled back.

When Tania heard the sound of the front door closing, she refocused her attention on Jayla, who'd fallen back to sleep.

Tania tiptoed over to the counter and lied her baby gently inside. Once she was settled in, Tania laid a soft kiss on her cheek, "alright baby, now your mommy can actually get some work done," she uttered to herself.

"Now what was I supposed to do first?" she whispered, as she tried racking her brain.

"Oh yeah! Call my sister!" Tania went into her purse and pulled out her cell phone, so she could call Ciara.

"Knowing that girl, she probably hasn't gotten any sleep which means she'll be cranky all day," Tania mumbled, while shaking her head.

She sighed deeply before pressing the talk button and putting the phone to her ear.

Meanwhile, Ciara lied at the end of her bed, while staring up at the ceiling. She slowly turned her head to look at the clock on her dresser, it was damn near ten a.m. and she still hadn't gotten any sleep.

She lifted a hand to her face and sighed, "dear God, why can't I get any sleep?" she whined.

From when she was just a teenager, Ciara was diagnosed with Insomnia, something she'd inherited from her father. Luckily enough for him though, she was the only one out of his five children to actually have it.

Just like Michael, Ciara had been placed on medication to contain her sleeping patterns over the years. However, Ciara's condition wasn't as severe as her dad's, so she didn't have to deal with it as much.

She would have episodes, every once and a while, which consisted of her staying up at all hours of the night, well into the morning time.

Back when she was a little younger, her episodes would be a lot more aggressive, considering all of the stress and drama her and her family endured.

But it suddenly began to slowly subside, the older she became. Which is why Ciara was left feeling confused, the last time she had an episode this bad, was when she was seventeen.

Something was definitely wrong, she just couldn't seem to put her finger on it. But why else would she be up all night tossing and turning?

Ring Ring! Ring Ring!

Ciara hopped up and went to answer her house phone, which was ringing uncontrollably off the hook, "hello?" she answered, dryly.

"Well, is that anyway for you to answer the phone for your husband?" she heard her husband Sean joke over the phone.

However, she wasn't up for the jokes this morning, the only thing she really wanted was a good night's rest, and since she couldn't get that, everyone around her was going to feel her wrath.

"What do you want Sean?" she asked rudely.

Sean raised his eyebrows at her tone, "well, what I want is for my wife to have a better attitude when she answers the phone, what is wrong with you anyway?" he chuckled.

Ciara palmed her face and sighed, "Sean, it's nine a.m. I have to meet my daddy and my sister later on to discuss some business. I am running on no sleep right now, that's what's wrong with me."

"Well baby, is it your insomnia?"

Ciara leaned back in her bed, "I'm assuming so."

"I thought you said you didn't suffer with that anymore?"

"I don't! I honestly don't know why I can't get any sleep. All I know is, the moment I came back home from meeting with my dad and sister, I got into our bed and just laid there. All. Night. Long," Ciara stressed.

"Well, do you have any medicine to help with that?"

"No I don't, if I did I would be asleep right now. But anyway, how are my babies doing?" Ciara asked, completely changing the subject. She was referring to her seven month old twin boys, Michael and Jermaine.

"Well, they're awake, and if that isn't self explanatory I don't know what is."

Sean's comment made Ciara giggle, "stop it now, my babies are not that bad."

"You're only saying that, because you ain't here with them. You don't have to deal with them like I do."

"Aww, I wish I was! I miss my boys," Ciara pouted, as she picked at the comforter on her bed.

Just two weeks ago, Sean and the boys took a trip down to San Francisco, so he could visit his parents. Ciara decided to stay behind, because she had a lot of work to do.

Back in March her father Michael or as the world knew him the incomparable King Of Pop, announced a big comeback tour after shying from the public eye for over ten years. Not to mention her sister Tania, who'd given birth to her daughter around the same time.

A month after she'd given birth to her sons, Ciara had to return to the studio to finish working on her self-titled CD "Ciara", which was set to be released sometime in late July.

Ciara had so much on her plate she barely had time to herself, but just like Michael, she was a workaholic, and didn't believe in giving less than her best. So the only thing she could do was suck up her pride and get the job done.

As bad as she wanted to be with her children, with them being gone she was able to catch up on a little bit of sleep.

"Well, you won't have to miss them for too long, because we'll be home in a couple of days honey." Sean assured Ciara.

"Can't wait," Ciara replied, while smiling sweetly.

"But what about me? Don't you miss your loving husband?" Sean joked, which made Ciara laugh.

"You know I do baby!"

Suddenly, her cell phone began to vibrate loudly, from her dresser. She leaned over and picked it up the second she seen Tania's name flash across the screen.

"Oh honey, let me call you back! This is my sister calling and it's very important."

"Alright I love you baby."

"I love you too," Ciara replied softly.

"Try to get some sleep for me ok?"

"I will, kiss the kids for me!" Ciara said lastly, just before putting the phone down on the hook. She then answered her cell phone and placed it to her ear, "hello?"

"Finally, I almost thought that you wasn't going to answer the phone," Tania joked.

Ciara rolled her eyes, "whatever I just got off of the phone with Sean, and besides this is your first time calling me back," she defended.

"I know it is, I was kind of hoping you would be asleep right now though," Tania answered concernedly. She was completely aware of Ciara's condition, mainly because she was the only who would stay up all night talking to her until she fell asleep.

Tania definitely hated those days, and would never want to go back, but Ciara was her sister and she would do anything for her.

"Do I sound asleep Tania?" Ciara retorted.

"No, but I was hoping you would be, by the way my husband told me you called, and I figured it had something to do with your little sleeping problem. Considering you never get up this early," Tania explained.

"Well yeah, I was thinking about calling daddy, but I kept him up damn near half the night, so I figured he would be sleep right now and I didn't want to bother him," Ciara shrugged.

"So instead, you chose to bother me?" Tania asked.

"Oh of course, you know how I do," Ciara shot back.

"Well you need to do something, because you know we have a very busy day today, and we got to meet up with daddy too."

"Trust me I know Tania, I've been trying to sleep all morning, but believe me nothing is working," Ciara groaned, while shaking her head.

"Well, what's wrong?"

"I don't know, I just been tossing and turning since last night and this morning when I woke up I just felt...weird."

"What do you mean?"

"It's really hard to explain, but like I said when I woke up this morning, I just been feeling weird and it's, because of that is why I can't sleep." Ciara shrugged.

"Well, that's weird what do you think it is?"

"I wish I knew Tania, I really wish I knew."
                                       ***

Hours later, Ciara ran around her house like a bat out of hell, trying to get ready for her day. When she got off the phone with Tania, she was able to get at least a hour and a half of sleep. It wasn't much, but it was enough to help her get the day started.

Now here she was struggling to do her hair, while also doing her makeup. Once she was done with all of that, she would head down to Michael's house, then to the studio.

After getting dressed, Ciara raced downstairs to grab herself a quick bite to eat. The twins may have been the daughters of a worldwide superstar, but you wouldn't be able to tell by the way they lived.

Ciara lived in a two story four bedroom home, and unlike most of the people in her family, she didn't have a busload of maids and butlers working for her. Anything that had to be done around the house, was usually taken care of by her or Sean.

Meanwhile, Tania lived in a modest three bedroom home, not too far from where Ciara stayed. She was a lot more simple than Ciara though, she spent most of her time out of the public eye and more so into her family and her schoolwork than anything else.

Needless to say, the girls wasn't going to let their last name affect their way of living. From the time they were little children up until adulthood, Michael always tried his best to make their lives appear normal, and when the girls were able to move out on their own, they continued that.

Ciara placed her purse down onto the counter and went into her pantry, to find something to eat. She finally settled on a simple piece of toast, and just popped it into the toaster.

Just as she was heading to the refrigerator to grab herself something to drink, her cell phone went off. The loud ring startled her, and she jumped a little.

Her phone had been going off for awhile now, but she didn't have the time to stop and answer it. She grabbed her chest and breathed deeply, to settle her heartbeat.

After putting the cup down, she walked over to her purse and searched for her phone. When she picked it up, her eyebrows furrowed, "Uncle Jermaine? What's he calling for?" she mumbled.

Without giving it much thought, she answered the phone and put it to her ear, "hello? Hi Uncle Jermaine," she said, as she grabbed onto the cup, and went to open the fridge again.

"Ciara, I've been trying to get ahold of you all morning, where are you right now?" Jermaine asked, his tone serious.

Ciara pulled out a big jug of OJ and poured some into her glass, "I am really sorry about that, but I've been ripping and running all morning. I am so pressed for time, because I have to go meet up with my daddy and Tania in a f-" she started to ramble, but Jermaine quickly cut her off.

"Ciara I need for you to come down to the UCLA Medical Center, please? It's urgent."

Ciara quickly lowered the glass from her lips and furrowed her eyebrows, "urgent? What do you mean? Is there something wrong with grandma?"

"No Ciara, I'm afraid it's far worse than that. It's uhh i-it's Michael."

Ciara felt her heartbeat suddenly speed up at the mention of her father's name, "m-my father? What's wrong with my father?" she questioned.

She wanted to believe that her uncle was only kidding, but she knew it to be true, the second he opened his mouth and said, "the ambulance just left Michael's house with him in it. That is why I need you at the hospital right now, please Ciara this is very serious and I'm afraid it's not looking too good."

The glass Ciara held in her hand, suddenly slipped and fell to the floor, shattering into a million pieces. Her entire body, just fell numb, as Jermaine's words managed to play over and over in her head.

Her father was being taken to the hospital in an ambulance? It sounded so surreal the more she thought about it, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't possibly believe that it was all a joke.

Once she snapped out of her daze, she snatched up her purse and her keys, before hurrying out of the front door. She ran as fast as her feet would carry her to her car, before climbing in and speeding out of her driveway.

Meanwhile, Tania was already on her way to Michael's house. After she dropped her daughter off by Evan's parents, she immediately hopped back in her car, so she could get her day started.

"This just in, the King Of Pop has been rushed down to UCLA Medical Center..."

Tania damn near lost control of her car, when she heard those words coming through her radio, "what the hell?" she leaned over to turn the volume up, so she could listen clearly.

"He was found unconscious in his bedroom this morning, and after a few failed attempts of trying to resuscitate him, the paramedics were called and they are heading to the hospital right now..."

Tania quickly shut the radio off, because she couldn't bare to hear anymore. Suddenly, her hands started to shake and tears clouded her vision. Finally, she decided to just pull over so she could get herself together, before she would end up crashing.

"Oh God, oh dear God please don't let this be true," she whispered with tear filled eyes.

No sooner had those words left her mouth, did her cell phone suddenly begin to ring. She grabbed her purse from the back seat and frantically searched for her phone.

"H-Hello?" she sniffled.

"Hello? Hello? Tania? Tania where are you?" it was her Uncle Marlon.

"I'm in the car Uncle Marlon, where is my dad? What happened to my daddy?!" she asked, as more tears streamed down her face.

"Tania, please calm down I need you to be calm if you're driving on that road."

"I can't calm down! These people on the radio talking about my daddy is on his way to the hospital! What the hell is going on?!"

"T-Tania just meet us down at the hospital right away!" Marlon replied, but Tania could barely hear him with all of the commotion going on in the background.

She ended the call, threw her phone into the passenger seat, and sped down the street en route to UCLA.
                                         ***

Answers. That is all Ciara wanted as she impatiently waited for someone to open their mouths and speak.

She and her family had been sitting in the waiting area for over an hour, and yet no one had said anything about her father's condition. With both her legs crossed and her hands sitting in her lap, she tried her best to calm her nerves.

She silently prayed to the Lord up above, that Michael was ok. He was her world, and just the thought of losing him, brought unwanted tears to her eyes.

However, she knew that she had to remain strong for her family. Especially, for her little siblings Prince, Paris, and little Blanket. They all were seated next to Tania and their grandma Kat while crying.

Unfortunately for them all, they were the ones who were in the house, when Michael was found unconscious in his bedroom. When Ciara learned that Prince had even discovered Michael's body, she was absolutely livid. Mainly, because she wasn't there when they needed her most.

She could only imagine, how traumatic that must've been for all of them, which is why she was so angry. Even the touch of her Uncle Jackie's strong hands on her shoulders, as he rubbed them slowly to calm her down, didn't help any.

Needless to say, Ciara was tired of waiting, and she felt that at any second she could explode. She scanned the room discreetly, as her feet tapped angrily against the floor.

It was so quiet in there, that you could hear a pin drop. She was actually surprised, that for the first time ever, no one in her family knew what to say or do to fix the situation. They were all at a lost right now, and there was nothing to be said.

Her eyes landed on her mother Nicole, who was trying her best to console Katherine, and shamelessly rolled her eyes and scoffed. Honestly, she didn't know why she was here in the first place, she hadn't been apart of the family, since her and Michael's divorce back in '91. No since in pretending.

It was no secret, that Ciara didn't care for her mother, but she knew now wasn't the time nor the place to let it be known right now. Not while her father was somewhere in this very hospital, fighting for his life.

"Ok family, let us all gather around and pray," she suddenly heard Katherine say aloud, as she stood to her feet. Ciara knew that she was suffering, more than anybody here, because at the end of the day Michael was her child first, and to see her trying to be brave for the family was all Ciara needed.

Although hesitant at first, the family stood to their feet and gathered around in a circle, so they could pray Michael back to health.

Just as Katherine was about to open her mouth, one of the doctor's came waltzing down the hallway, catching all of their attention.

Ciara didn't waste any time walking up to him. Unlike everybody else, she didn't have the time to listen to some doctor beat around the bush, about her father's condition.

"Umm, excuse me, can you please tell me where Michael Jackson is and how is he doing?" she tried to soften her voice a bit, so she wouldn't come off as strong.

"I can only share that kind of information with his family," the doctor said, arrogantly.

Ciara lowered her eyebrows in confusion, "well in case you haven't noticed this is his family, and I am his daughter. So I will ask you again, where is my father?" she asked, her teeth clenched. She was at her wits end now, and she couldn't believe that this man had the nerve to be rude with her.

"Cia-" Jackie started to say, as he scrambled over in her direction, but the doctor quickly cut him off.

"O-oh I am t-terribly sorry about that Ms. Jackson, I didn't meant to offe-"

"Look doctor, there's no need to apologize, can you just tell us how Michael is?" Tito suddenly shouted out.

The doctor paused to look at the entire Jackson family with sad eyes, surely they weren't prepared for the news, that he was about to give them.

"I-I-I t-there's no easy way for me to say this, I-I'm terribly sorry, but we've done all that we can for Michael he-he's gone."

Ciara suddenly felt her entire world come crashing down, at the sound of those words. She was so shocked and in such disbelief, that even the sound of Tania's loud bloodcurdling cry, didn't give her the strength to move.

Her feet were glued to the floor and she just stood there, as the doctor's words played in her head, continuously.

Her father. The one man she looked up to. The only man she ever trusted, loved, and admired more than God himself was long gone from her. She swiftly remembered of the last conversation they had on the telephone just the night before, and just like that in the blink of an eye he was gone.

Could this be a dream? she thought.

However, the sound of Tania's loud wails and her fists pounding angrily against the lobby's walls, confirmed that this wasn't a dream, but a living nightmare.

Tears suddenly clouded Ciara's vision, as she felt her hands and body slightly shake from all of the anger and pain she had built up inside of her.

When her eyes settled on the man, who was responsible for all of this, something inside of her caused her to snap, "you did this," she seethed, her voice low and dark.

Before Jackie even had a chance to stop her, she was already halfway there. However, Nikki suddenly stepped in and blocked her path, "Ciara stop! Please! Michael wouldn't want you to act this way, so just calm down!" she pleaded.

But just the mere sight of her, only made Ciara get angrier, "get away from me! Why are you even here huh?! Why?!"

"Ciara please!" Nikki cried helplessly. She didn't care how angry Ciara was, she just wanted to be there for her daughter more than anything.

She tried reaching out to Ciara, but she only jumped, "no! Don't touch me!" she screamed aloud, startling nearly those around her.

However, Ciara didn't care, she was both hurt, angry, and sad all at the same time. She needed to take her frustrations out on somebody, and Nikki just so happened to be there making herself a potential target.

Her chest heaving up and down, Ciara stared at her mother with the upmost disdain, "you are every bit as responsible as the man who did this to my father! So don't you dare come near me! I hate you!" she screamed.

Her words were like daggers to Nikki's heart, but she knew that Michael's death was causing Ciara to say those things, so she just ignored it, "Ciara please don't do this!" she tried reaching for her again, but Ciara only moved back more,

"No! No! You might as well had injected him with that needle yourself," Ciara spat coldly.

By this time, the entire room had grew quiet, as all eyes remained on Ciara and Nicole. Everybody in the family knew about their rocky relationship, but no one thought Ciara would ever take it this far.

But Ciara could care less about what anyone thought of her at this point, as she turned back to shoot one last evil glare her mother's way, before storming out of the hospital.

No one even bothered to go after her, mainly because there wasn't nothing they could say, so they just let her be.