*November 2016*

"This is going to be great, I can see it already!" TJ cheered with a big smile on his face, clapping his hands one time. "A day having the whole Jackson family under the same roof, sitting at the same table." As a present for Joseph and Katherine especially, TJ, Taj, and Taryll planned this year's reunion day down to the last detail, intending to bring every single member of the Jackson clan to the one place where it all began. Gary Indiana. All sons and daughters, each grandchild and great grandchild, shall be present. Not only it will be great, it will be awesome!

"Yo, TJ!" His brother, Taj called out coming inside the hotel room, grinning. "I just got off the phone, uncle Jackie and aunt Janet are coming too! They getting on a plane tomorrow morning, aunt Janet's bringing her husband too."

"That's too cool!" The two brothers beat up a high five. "Man, we almost got everyone! Do you realise what an amazing day will that be? I can't wait!" All three of them including their father were overly excited about this. Tito had a hard time though, and he broke out of contact for a while with his parents due his big mouth and the risk of accidentally spoiling the surprise.

"Hey, yo!" Taryll joined them too "Uncle Jermaine, uncle Randy, aunt LaToya, and aunt Rebbie are already in Gary. They staying at a hotel with their kids, and they are going to prepare all the food so when we bring Katherine and Joseph everything will be ready." Taking out a list they made together (they are so many it's hard to remember them all without forgiving about someone) he crossed many names off.

Taj walked over to his brother as they kept looking over the list to see who else was missing. "Oh, man! We have everyone coming except uncle Mike and his kids. Prince, Paris, and Blanket. Do they even know? Has anyone told them yet?" He asked them curious. If they want the surprise to be perfect, then they need to have all of them present. Not the whole family minus a son, minus three grandchildren.

"I talked to uncle Mike a few days ago." TJ said packing some clothes and other stuff into a traveling back. "He said he'll do everything that's in his power to come and asked me if I could go and pick up his kids. He wants to surprise them. Lord, I swear I can't wait to see everyone's reactions and I can't stop saying it either!"

"Ok. Give us a call when you reach them." Taj said, helping his brother take his luggage outside. "And don't worry about your kids, we'll help Frances out as much as we can."

"Yeah, and the last unsolved bits of our brilliant plan?" Taryll added. "Consider them done!" TJ smiled gratefully, remembering his wife's complains about leaving her alone with four energetic kids to handle while they were saying their goodbyes. Then he hugged his brothers goodbye, the three wishing each other good luck with their plans.

"Alright, TJ, thank you for letting me know." Michael said, speaking over the phone with his nephew who just told him everything about the reunion day surprise."I'll do anything that's in my power to make sure I'll be there on time." Currently the team was taking a break from rehearsing. And Michael was in his cabin enjoying some rare peaceful and quiet moments. And a sandwich too.

"Cool. Grandma is gonna be so happy when she sees you." His nephew replied. A muffled sound was heard and followed by an incoherent word. "Oy, daddy's not the target anymore! Now it's mommy's turn! Go bother her!"

Michael giggled. This moment of interruption brought back some old memories. "I was in your shoes once, you know, when my kids were little. They were so amazed at how tall I am and how short they are comparing to me that they created the contest 'climbing daddy', whoever reached first the top of my head could officially become the world's greatest hiker that ever existed."

TJ laughed openly, while picking up his youngest in his arm, his daughter climbing her way on his back with her arms tied around his neck. "Must've been a pleasure, I imagine."

"You don't even know. You walk normally to the kitchen one moment and the next you try to keep yourself steady so you won't fall and hurt the three children who try to climb you up... TJ? Have you spoken to any of my appleheads yet?"

The response that came was negative. "I wanted to, but then my kids busted in so... I didn't get around to make the call. If I don't give them 100% of my attention, my little monsters transform like werewolves during full moon."

"Good." Michael breathed out with the first real smile of the day spreading on his face. "I trust you'll go and pick them up yourself. Look, whatever you do, don't tell them I'm coming. I want to surprise them..."

"You miss them, don't'cha?" The youngest son of Tito asked, softening up.

"Oh, you have no idea how much." The King of Pop groaned, throwing his head backwards, taking the last bites of his sandwich. "Take my advice when you feel terminated by fatherhood. Kids can absorb all of your energy, nerves, patience, other things like that... but when the sun starts coming down, and you watch it together... you realise that if you were given a wish, you'd change nothing. They take a lot, but also they give you back just so much more. Even after all these years I can still say, it's all worth it and better than everything I ever imagined."

"Thanks uncle Mike. l'll keep that in mind." High pitched screams which were silenced by the sound of a breaking vase made TJ groan in frustration and caused Michael to laugh again. "Oh god, that's not even mine! I gotta go uncle Mike, either I pay for this, either I spend the following hours glueing it back together... right now it's option two until I find out exactly how expensive this ugly thing is."

"Alright..." he ended the call, still smiling. And he kept smiling while staring at the phone's screen. A picture with his three most favorite. His eyes glanced in the mirror for a short moment, and he spotted his manager leaning on the door way "Oh, hey Bill. I didn't see you there."

"I just wanted to let you know that break's over in ten." Bill explained. "Then I heard you talking about your kids, and I saw you happier than you've been in a while... I didn't want to ruin the moment."

"Thanks." Michael's smile got even brighter "Just so you know, the smiles, the happiness, the brightness? That's their magic working on me. When they were young I used to have a very hard time punishing them whenever they did something bad. Because they'd give me such a pitiful look, stare right into my eyes, and I'd melt all over them ending up hugging and kissing them."

"How come this doesn't surprise me?" Bill asked chuckling. He met the kids when they were toddlers, which made it easy for him to imagine and way funnier imaginning Michael's strict attitude going soft in a snap of fingers. He could even see the children giving their father the big teary and pleading eyes with the trembling lower lip over the upper one.

"And they knew, the little devils. They knew if they did that I won't be mad anymore and that's why they were doing it." The musician added on an accusing tone, the smile never leaving his face. He was glowing again for the first time in months. And it was wonderful. "My staff and I used to playfully call them in our discussions the troublesome threesome. When Prince, Paris, and Blanket work as a team, there's absolutely nothing in the world able to stop them."

They shared a laugh for one more moment, before the manager sighed deeply. He hated that he had to do this. This will only ruin the mood. This will hurt Michael, and there is no other way, but to say it straight away. "MJ, can I be honest with you?"

"Go ahead." And just then, Bill had to press the freeze button.

"I don't think you'll be able to make it to that party."