To the Moon and Back (MJ fanfic)

Transition

"Yeah, Tom?" Michael addressed Mr. Maxwell when we came into the dinning room. It was clear that they worked with each other often.

He let out a breath. "Well, Mr. Jackson, everything has been signed, sealed, and is on their way to be processed as official documents in your estate." He smiled, "Congratulations, it's a boy."

"Thankyou," Michael smiled, laughing. "This is great news!"

"Have you discussed the name situation?" He asked, holding his brief case at his side.

Michael visibly stiffened, biting his lower lip. "Um... not quite..." He said quietly, looking very much deer-in-headlights.

From the sudden posture change in Mr. Maxwell, I knew that he had accidentally brought something up that he wasn't supposed to.

"What name situation?" I looked between the two men. "You want to change Liam's name? To what?" My brows furrowed. "He's had the name Liam for almost six years, it was my Grandfathers name," I shrugged. "I don't see why we'd wanna change his name --, Oh..." It suddenly hit me.

"Yeah..." Michael looked at me from behind his eyelashes, almost shyly.

"You want him to take your last name." I said in realization.

"Yes." He nodded, quickly adding. "It was just an idea I had. We don't need to talk about this right now." He said softly, watching me.

"No," I assured him. "No, it's fine. We can discuss this right now, Michael." I looked up, giving him a reassuring smile. "You want him to be William Alexander Jackson?"

His eyes lit up, hearing the name aloud. There was no hiding his excitement, no matter how aloof he tried to appear. He nodded his head tentatively. "Very much so, yes."

"Or you can always hyphenate." Maxwell cut in. "William Alexander Rhodes Jackson." He suggested, shrugging his shoulders.

"No..." I bit my inner lip, lost in thought. "That's too long."

"It was just an idea that I mentioned to Tom in passing, Emily." Michael said shrugged, and I saw Maxwell give him a strange look. "It was nothing. You don't have to think about that right now."

"No, Michael." I looked up at him. "Is this important to you? For Liam to have your last name?" I asked gently, already knowing the answer.

"Yes, I'd like for my son to have my last name." He replied softly. "But you don't need to make any final decisions about that now. Just think about it. Please."

"No, no." I shook my head. "If it's that important to you, I'd love for Liam to take your last name." I smiled reassuringly.

Because I was beginning to understand Michael, I knew that this wasn't some macho 'I'm the man of the house, and my son's taking my last name' type of thing. He wanted Liam to have his last name for sentimental reasons, and I loved that he cared enough to want to do that. Liam was his only child, and he needed this. It was the cherry on top of the entire process. Liam was officially part his and he was proud of that, and he wanted to show it off as much as he could under the circumstances, and if he wanted him to be a Jackson then so be it - the child already was. He wanted the Jackson name to live on through Liam, and that alone was more than I could have ever asked for, even if the name wasn't attached to a such a famous entertainment family.

"Really?" Michael said softly, looking at me with an odd expression. "You'd do that for me?"

I was beginning to realize that I'd do anything for him, but I settled with a small nod, feeling my mouth turn up at the corner.

A smile appeared on his face that was different from the other ones I had seen before. Perhaps it was because I just pulled the rug out from under him again, but I was certain that I wanted to spend my entire life learning how many types of smiles he had, and seeing them upclose.

"Well then that's perfect." Maxwell cleared his throat, as Michael and I turned back towards him, realizing there was another person in the room. "The official papers for changing his name on all of the child's legal documentation will be processed as soon as possible as well, Mr. Jackson and Miss Rhodes." He smiled, hesitating for a moment. "The only thing left is the DNA test."

Michael rolled his eyes murmuring 'Oh, Lord, here we go again' under his breath.

I turned towards him in surprise. I thought he wanted that to be done. Actually, I had assumed that he insisted on it as much as he did the other things.

"It's only mandatory, Mr. Jackson, just so we can say we did it." Maxwell assured, sounding like they had had this discussion a million times before.

"I just don't understand why we need it though." Michael argued in a polite manner. "I know he's my child. Anybody can just look at him and see that he's Michael Jackson's son. There's nothing that a piece of paper will tell me that I don't already know. I don't know why they keep insisting I do it. It's silly." He shrugged like it wasn't of the consequence.

"I understand your feelings about this, Mr. Jackson. And I agree with you, but don't think of it as ill will against you and the courts..." He paused. "Think of it has the icing on the cake. After you do this - and it is legally known to be a fact that he is from your DNA - then it is all over, there's nothing more to do." He smiled. "It's just the means to an end."

Michael looked like he was about to argue again but I cut in, moving beside him and holding his larger hand in mine. "It's fine, Mr. Maxwell." I smiled politely at him, and then looked up at Michael whispering, "It's just a precaution." I assured him.

His posture relaxed a bit but he still looked warily at his own lawyer.

"Liam needs a haircut, anyways." I tried to lighten the mood, squeezing Michael's hand. "This way it's killing two birds with one stone." I laughed some.

Maxwell smiled at me, thankful for my cooperation, "Good. Whenever you're willing, we can send them into the lab. It'll only take about one or two days maximum."

"Great." I smiled, taking holding Michael's hand.

"Thankyou." Michael said again, and with a nod of his head he left the room and then the home.

"So what now --" I began to look up, but Michael caught my face in his hands, surprising me with a soft but quick kiss on the mouth. It wasn't exactly the type of kiss I had been talking about earlier, but I guessed that one would have to wait when we had alot of time to ourselves.

"I've never believed even for a second that Liam wasn't my son." He said quickly.

"I know." I assured him, but still happy to hear him say it. "Like he said, it's just a precaution. Just so they can say you did it."

He nodded, staring down at me silently.

My hand went around one of his wrists and I let it hang there, enjoying his touch. "You really want Liam to take your last name?" I asked softly.

He nodded. "Yes... but I understand if you don't want it to happen quite yet. It's a very big step, and he's only been here a day --"

"I want him to take your last name." I interjected softly.

"Really?" He searched my eyes.

"One-hundred percent. If you're happy than I'm happy, Michael. After all he is your son too."

"He is my son too..." He repeated in awe. He swallowed, wetting his lips before look back at me. "There's something that I needed to say... Emily, I --"

There was a knock on the door and then a lot of commotion outside of the dinning room. We both turned our heads, and Michael's eyes widened, hearing the muffled voice.

"What?" I asked quickly. "Who is it? Is it more of your staff?"

"Not exactly." He shook his head, biting his lip. "It's my Mother."