*Summer 1977*

LAX Airport

11:00 a.m.

The loud sound of bustling feet and chatter plagued Nicole's ears as she sat in the middle of the busy LAX airport. She tapped her foot impatiently against the floor, while obnoxiously chewing on a piece of gum.

It'd been nearly an hour since she arrived, and still no sign of the plane. After glancing down at her watch, she turned to look out of the window, managing to upset her even more.

However, just when she was about to give up, she felt a sudden tap on her shoulder.

"Excuse me, Ms. Nicole, but the plane has finally arrived, Mr. Ja-" before the guy could even finish his sentence, Nicole was already out of her seat, running straight for the terminal.

No more words needed to be spoken, because she knew exactly where to go, and didn't even waste any time to ge there.

Although almost out of breath, Nicole ran as far as her feet could carry her, pushing people out of the way, until she found the double doors to the exit.

She felt her heartbeat suddenly pick up, as she exited the building. Just as she was told, the private plane had landed and the passengers were already exiting.

Her eyes scanned each and every one of them, but sadly she didn't see him anywhere. But she wasn't going to give up hope just yet, there was a possibility he could still be on the plane gathering his things, so she waited.

As she slowly moved forward, she was met with big smiles and greetings, from those who passed her by. Not wanting to be rude, she gave them a small smile, but not once did she lose focus on why she was there in the first place.

Suddenly, the first sight of a slightly big afro instantly caught her attention. That is when she saw him, there he was dressed up in black bell bottoms, and a white button down t-shirt.

She felt her heart instantly skip a beat, the second his eyes landed on her and a warm smile appeared on his face.

"M-Michael! Michael!" she suddenly heard herself yell. For some reason, she just couldn't contain her excitement any longer, she needed to be near him.

Michael's smile grew bigger at the sound of his name being called, he'd recognize that beautiful voice from anywhere.

"Baby!" he shouted back, instantly dropping his bags down to his feet and took off runnning in her direction.

Nicole didn't waste any time meeting him halfway, running as quickly as possible.

Those who stood around watched in awe and confusion, as Nicole jumped into his arms, but they didn't care. Michael only welcomed her and spun her around in circles, all the while giving her loving kisses all over the face.

"Michael I've missed you so much!" she said breathlessly, while in between kisses.

"I've missed you too, I couldn't wait to get off of that plane and be with you, I love you so much," Michael cooed, as he nestled his lips into Nicole's neck.

"Ohh Lord, here they go again," Tito mumbled to himself, with a roll of his eyes.

Hours later, back in Encino, both Nicole and Michael lied sideways atop a picnic blanket, while engaged in conversation. Well, at least Nicole was anyway.

"...And she would just not shut up about it! You have no idea how annoying my mother can get whenever you guys are on television! It's almost as if she is an even bigger fan than I am," Nicole giggled.

However, she quickly stopped when she noticed Michael staring at her.

"Wha-What? Why are you staring at me?" she asked.

"I'm sorry, I don't mean to be staring you, you're just so beautiful to me," Michael replied shamelessly.

Nicole couldn't help, but blush from the compliment, causing her cheeks to turn an unwanted shade of red.

"Oh Michael," she gushed, dipping her head low, so that he couldn't see her blush.

"Oh Michael, what?" Michael giggled. He then leaned forward and lifted her by the chin, so she could look him in the eye.

"Nothing Michael, you ju-" Nicole started, but Michael quickly cut her off.

"Come here," he interjected, and pulled her closer to him. WIthout anymore words being spoken, he laid a soft kiss on her lips.

Nicole closed her eyes and instantly became putty in his hands, as she willingly kissed him back. A sigh of satisfaction escaped her lips, when she felt Michael part her lips with his tongue, in order to deepen the kiss.

"Michael!" the sound of Latoya's loud shrilling voice, startled Nicole and she instantly broke the kiss. Her eyes bucked and she quickly pushed Michael away.

Michael was a bit surprised by this action, but he didn't protest, he just cut his eyes up at his sister, who was now hovering over them with crossed arms, "what do you want Toya? Can't you see I'm a little busy right now?"

"Well, I don't mean to break up your little love fest here, but Joseph sent me out here, because he said he wanted to speak with you right away, and that Nicole needed to go home," Latoya said briefly, before turning on her heels and leaving.

Nicole quickly glanced down at her nails and sighed, "umm, well Michael I guess I'd better g-" she was prepared to get up, but was stopped by Michael pulling her back by the arm.

"Nicole wait, whe-where you going?" he asked, unknowingly tightening his grip around her wrist.

"Michael, I have to go! Besides, Lord knows what might happen if Joseph ends up coming out here himself," Nicole stressed. Even though, she never really spoke to Joseph herself, she could tell by the way Michael described him, that he was no joke.

"You don't have to leave every time he's around, you know that," Michael said, in a much darker tone.

"Michael, it's not that at all, it's just i-it's getting late, and I'm pretty sure my parents are probably wondering where I am right now. So I'll just go, but I'll be back tomorrow," Nicole assured Michael, before laying a soft kiss on his cheek.

Michael slumped his shoulders and looked to the ground, "alright," he huffed.

"Hey, I promise I will be back first thing tomorrow morning, ok?" Nicole kneeled down to cup Michael's face in her hand, and kissed him once again on the cheek.

Michael glanced up at Nicole and smiled, "ok."

That night, Nicole aimlessly picked at the food on her dinner plate, as her parents Denise and Richard babbled on and on about things she could care less about.

"Nicole, honey are you alright? Are you not enjoying your meal?" Denise questioned, she couldn't help noticing her daughter's sudden silence.

"Yeah I'm fine mom, I'm just not that hungry anymore, may I be excused?" Nicole asked, as she placed her fork down on the table.

"Sure honey, that's alright."

Nicole smiled and stood up from the table, "would you like for me to take care of the dishes mama?" she offered, politely.

"No sweetie I can handle it, but are you sure you're alright dear?"

"Yeah mama I'm fine, I'm just a little tired is all, I'm going to call it a night," Nicole kneeled down to kiss both her mother and father on the cheek, before retreating down the hallway to her bedroom.

Unfortunately enough for her though, she wasn't able to fall asleep until a few hours later. She couldn't seem to figure out why, but all she thought about was Michael, and what exactly did Joseph need with him anyway.

Whatever it maybe, she knew it was very important, considering Michael hadn't called yet like he normally would every night.

However, as seconds turned into minutes and minutes turned into a couple of hours, she eventually gave up and fell asleep, while holding the phone close to her pillow.

***

Tap! Tap! Tap!

Once Nicole had fallen into a deep sleep, not even the little unknown tapping sounds coming from her bedroom window could wake her. That is until, little taps turned into big harsh knocks.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The loud banging eventually caught her attention and caused her to jump up out of her sleep.

"Wha-What?!" she gasped loudly, her heart now beating as hard as a drum.

She directed her head to where the noise were coming from, and was surprised to find Michael standing on the outside of her window.

"What in the world?" she mumbled, before throwing her covers to the side and climbing out of the bed.

She lifted the window and stuck her head out, "are you out of your mind? Do you have any idea what my father would do to you if he caught you trying to sneak inside of my bedroom?" she hissed.

But Michael just laughed, "I'm sorry, I just couldn't bare waiting til morning to see you, I had to come see you now," he confessed.

"Michael," Nicole paused to look back at her alarm clock, "it's damn near two a.m. why aren't you in bed asleep?"

Michael furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, "I thought I j-"

"No! Just sshh! The only thing you got to worry about is my father killing you, once he catches you inside of my bedroom," Nicole all, but whispered.

"That's a risk I'm willing to take," Michael teased, with a big smile plastered on his face.

"Fine, but if my father comes in here it's your funeral," Nicole said, throwing her arms up in surrender.

"Ok! Ok! Well, if you're that worried then I just won't come in. How about you just come out with me?" Michael, who was now leaning against Nicole's window, offered while holding his hand out to her.

But Nicole wasn't buying it at all, "uh huh, and where exactly would we go?" she questioned, with both her arms crossed.

"I know a place," Michael assured her, but she wasn't willing to give in just yet, and it showed as she raised both of her eyebrows in response.

"What? Come on, don't you trust me?"

"You know I do," she finally replied.

"Well, the only way I'll know you're telling the truth is if you follow me."

Nicole quickly glanced down at Michael's hand, and didn't think twice about it as she gently grabbed ahold of it and quietly climbed out of her window.

Once she was safely outside, Michael gripped her hand lightly, and the two began running down the street.

At first, Nicole had no idea where they were headed, and since Michael wasn't going to open up his mouth, she chose to follow him anyway, and prayed that no one would catch them.

A few minutes later, the two came up on an empty park, that was surrounded with trees.

"Here we are," Michael announced, to Nicole's satisfaction.

Thank God. Nicole thought to herself. She had to pause to place both of her hands on her knees just to catch her breath. She hadn't the slightest idea on how far they ran, but she was just happy that she didn't have to run anymore.

"Michael where are we?"

"We're at a park, we've been here before don't you remember?" Michael asked, his hands now intertwined with hers.

Nicole scrunched her nose and lowered her eyebrows, "no, not really."

"Well, I guess that's not important, just come on," Michael then pulled Nicole by her hand and guided her to one of the big trees. He sat against the tree and pulled Nicole between his legs, where she rested the back of her head against his chest.

"So Michael, why did you bring me here?" Nicole asked, as she reached for Michael's hand and intertwined his fingers with her own.

"I told you we've been here before, and besides I like to come here sometimes, just to get away from it all," Michael shrugged.

"Well Michael, as long as I'm with you I don't care about nothing else," Nicole assured Michael, and brung her hand up to softly caress his face.

This gesture caused Michael to blush uncontrollably, and place his hand against hers.

For the remainder of the night, Michael and Nicole spent time talking about all and nothing, and finally when two or three a.m. came they hadn't realized just how late they'd been out.

However, Nicole knew that she needed to get home before her parents awoke, so sadly, they had to end their night rather quickly and head back to her house.

Once she reached her window, she made sure to be quiet and climb through it. But when it was Michael's turn to return home, she suddenly became sad.

"Ok, maybe I should head home now, before mother wakes up. If she finds out I'm not there, she'll have a fit," Michael joked lightly.

Nicole just laughed, but she didn't reply.

"Alright well, I'll see you tomorrow," Michael leaned in to kiss Nicole on the cheek, and was prepared to leave, but was suddenly stopped by Nicole grabbing ahold of his arm.

"Michael wait! Umm, you think you might want to come in for a little bit?" she heard herself say, with a little bit of uncertainty.

"But I thought you sai-"

"I-I know what I said, but I want you to come in," Nicole interrupted.

Michael sighed and stuffed his hands down in his pockets, "are you sure? What if your parents wake up? I don't want to get you in trouble."

"Michael, I want you to come in," Nicole repeated, this time her voice was slightly low and sensual.

"Umm a-alright," Michael grabbed ahold of Nicole's hand and climbed through her window, without giving it a second thought.

The next morning, Michael had to slip away from Nicole's bedroom, before she even had a chance to wake up. He'd spent a few minutes watching her peacefully sleep and almost couldn't tear his eyes away from her, even when she constantly shifted underneath him and snored loudly in his ear.

None of that mattered to him, she was always so beautiful in his eyes, even on her bad days. He didn't want to leave her in such short notice, but he had a very busy day ahead of him and he could only imagine what Denise or Richard would do, if they were to catch the two in bed together. So, he gave her one last kiss on the cheek, before disappearing through the window.