Moments with Michael

Performance with problems part 1

It's the year 1993, and there's only four days till Michael is gonna perform at the Soul Train Awards. He have been rehearsing a lot with his team, and they're really good! You and Michael have been married for two years now.

I'm sitting in my room, just relaxing with a book and a cup of tea. Michael is in another room, dancing and rehearsing for the upcoming performance. The dancers actually left half an hour ago, but Michael insisted on continuing. He's such a perfectionist, can't take anything not 100% perfect for good enough. That's why he's always training, always learning. Because he wants what he does to be perfect, because he wants to be the best. I smile a little at the thought. He could just ask me, and I would tell him that he already is the best. The best person I have ever met. 

Normally he don't rehearse his performances at home, but right now the studio is being rebuilt, and they had no other place to be. And since he has a big dance-room, and all the needed equipment, he decided that they could just do it here.

I keep on with my book, and it's getting really exciting, when I hear it. A scream. It's Michaels voice, and it's coming from the dance-room. And to make it even worse, it was clearly a scream of pain. I quickly get up and run to the room as fast as I can. When I get there, my heart nearly stops. I see Michael laying on the floor, a look of pain on his face.

"Michael! What happened!?!" I ask him frightened, while hurrying over to him.

"It's... my ankle" he manages to get out. He's trying to be calm, but it's clear to see that it hurts. A lot.

"I'll call the doctor!" I immediately says, getting my phone from my pocket before even finishing my sentence. Michael just nods a bit, while I type in the number.

It feels like an eternity, before the doctor picks up the phone. When he finally does, I quickly tell him what's wrong, and asks him to come over immediately! Unfortunately, he has another patient right now, but he's almost done, so he can be here in 20 minutes. I thank him and hang up the phone.

"The doctor can be here in twenty minutes" I tell Michael. He just nods, white in the head. "We gotta get you to our room" I continue. He nods again, and takes my hand. I put an arm around him, trying to help him up without hurting him further. He clenches his jaw tightly, doing his best to not make a sound. It honestly pains me to see him suffer like this, but we have to get him to the bed, where he can lay down.

Slowly, step by step, we goes toward the bedroom. I support him as much as I can, trying my best to not let him stand on his right leg. We finally get to the bedroom, and Michael just falls down into the soft mattress, white in his face of pain. I sit down on a chair beside him, caressing his face softly with one of my hands.

I think Michael can see how worried I am for him, because he says: "Don't worry, Gry. I'll be up again in no time"

"But it hurts you, Michael. I don't like when things hurt you." I answer slowly, like a child talking to my father.

"Neither do I, sweetheart." He says with a little smile "but it will soon be okay again. And as long as I have you, nothing can really hurt me!"

I smile at the last part, and blushes a bit. He just have his way with words, it touches my heart every time. I slowly bends down to kiss him, but right as our lips meet, I hear a knock on the door.

I quickly sit back up, startled over the sudden interruption. After a second to clear my mind, I go to open the door. It's the doctor, of course. One of the security guards must have showed him up. I let him in, and he goes directly to Michael.

He begins looking at his ankle and asking him questions like "does this hurt?" and "what about this" and "can you stand on it?", while Michael says yes and no and clenches his fists hard to not let out any sound.

Finally the doctor is done with the checking, and he says: "You've sprained your ankle, Michael, and very badly. I'm gonna put it in plaster, and you have to be careful the next couple of weeks. No dancing, no walking without crutches, and try to rest a lot and hold it high"

"But I promised to perform at the soul train awards in four days!" Michael protests, but the doctor just shakes his head:

"I'm afraid you're gonna have to cancel that."

Michael opens his mouth to protest again, but no words come out. He don't have anything to say. The doctor turns to me: "Mrs. Jackson, you're gonna have to make sure he relaxes his leg and doesn't do anything he'll regret later"

I nods seriously, and he says goodbye and goes out of the door. I sit down beside Michael, and he looks definitely not happy.

"I can't perform! He can't say that, he doesn't know! I have to, they can't get a new one this close to it!" Michael blurts out angrily.

"Michael, don't worry. We'll... come up with something. I don't know exactly what, but... we're gonna figure it out" I tell him calmly.

He just looks at me without saying anything. He certainly doesn't look happy with the situation, but after a few moments, he seems to accept that it's just how it is right now, and calm down a bit.

"Okay." He says, taking a deep breath. "You're right. We're gonna figure something out."

I smile at him, happy to see that he takes it this easy. "You want me to get your book?" I ask him, and he looks at me and nods with a little smile. I smile back at him and runs my hand through his messy hair, before leaving the room to get the book he have been reading the past days. I find my own book too, and goes back to the bedroom with them. I give him his, and opens my own to find the right page. I just closed it without a single thought to bookmarks or anything before, when I heard him scream. Annoyed, I flick through the pages to find out where I got to, and I'm just about to start reading, when I notice that Michael's looking at me. 

"What?" I ask him

"I think you owe me something" he says, and my mind goes all blank.

"What? Why?" I ask him again, and he continues:

"Right before the doctor came in..."

And then I remember and I giggle.

"You want a kiss?" I ask him innocently

"Yes, I do" He answers, looking up at me with those irresistible puppy-eyes. I roll my own eyes at him, but nevertheless does as he asks and bends down to kiss him.