Being with Michael: Part 1 (Book Two)

Chapter Fifty Six

The phone rings in Michael's hand and he rushes to accept the call coming from an unknown number, which he hopes is the hospital's.

"Hello?" Michael answers quickly with an exhale.

"Michael?" Jonas says on the other end with a cautionary tone covering his worry.

"What'd they say? Do they know if she's going to be okay?" Michael's words combine into one large blur as he waits impatiently for the news.

"Uhmm," He can hear Jonas scratch his chin. Jonas is uncomfortable sharing this with Michael, this is more suitable for a doctor. You know, the one who's job it is to tell families this kind of stuff.

Michael persists, "Tell me what it is, Jonas."

Then Jonas realizes the reality of the situation. "You know, I haven't even known you for a full day, and yet here we are, me possibly telling you one of the most important things in your life."

Michael stops cold and his heart starts racing. His hands get clammy with nervousness. What exactly makes this one of the most important things in my life? I already had that with the first crash...

"What is it?" He asks again.

Inside the hospital, Jonas sits down in a chair in the waiting room. He slumps back against the chair, hoping that being in a relaxing position will actually make him feel relaxed. He's nervous about this one, not for Michael exactly, but because he cares about Paige. He was around her for almost six years, even longer than Michael's been around her. Sure, he hasn't seen her for four years, but he's kept track of her making sure she's okay. And he was secretly devastated when he heard about her accident.

Tonight wasn't the first time he had seen Michael. The first time he saw him was at the hospital when he stood amongst the crowd and the Jacksons came out and spoke in front of the frantic crowd of fans. Initially, he was unsure if Paige was in the proper hands, but when he saw the horror in Paris' eyes and the devastation in Michael's, he knew she was in better hands than he, or any of her old friends, could provide for her because they had the money and power to ensure she was taken care of. Now, he's not quite sure if that's even enough.

He lets out a big sigh and shifts in the chair. "She's back in surgery right now," is all he can make out in the beginning.

"What! For what?!" Michael demands.

Jonas pushes his overwhelming emotions aside. "When they examined her once she was inside, they found blood in her hair and when they looked, they found blood coming out the back of her head. I told them about the crash and the coma, and they didn't even stop to look at me before they rushed her back."

Michael shakes his head in denial even though no one can see. "Noo... this can't happen again! It can't!" His mouth trembles as he starts to cry, but he holds it back because he doesn't want Jonas to hear.

"I'm sorry," Jonas say softly. It's all he knows to say.

Michael's voice is coarse after his mouth going dry. "What else is there?"

Jonas breathes into the phone. "That's all. They haven't come to tell me anything yet."

As he says this, a doctor walks up to him and he says, "Hold on."

Jonas pushes the phone away and the doctor offers his hand. Jonas shakes his hand, but looks at the doctor to try to find the doctor's emotion to infer what the conversation will be about.

"Hello, I'm Doctor Lewis. You're Jonas, right?" The man says.

Jonas nods, "Yeah. That's me."

Lewis puts his hand in his pockets and tilts his head up, as if he is examining Jonas like he would a patient. "Paige is back in surgery right now. They're also trying to run tests. Scans that can show the activity in her brain, see if there's any damage. Unfortunately, in her state, we had to put her under anesthesia. This is actually a concern considering her past incidents you mentioned. Our hope is that her brain has recovered enough since then, so that this will not double the damage that might have occurred tonight."

Jonas hears "tests" and "damage" and he only has one question: "When will we find out the results?"

Lewis puts his head down, "A couple hours. It'll be morning before we know anything. You might as well make yourself comfortable."

Jonas gives a slow nod as he takes the information in and Lewis walks away, off to the next family. Jonas looks around at all the other worried faces in the room, What are you worried about? Is the person you're here for in critical condition, too?

He remembers the telephone in his hand and puts it back up to his face. "Michael..."

"Yeah?" An overly concerned voice responds from the other end.

"I just talked to the doctor. His name is Lewis. He said we'll be here 'til morning. They're running tests on her to look for brain damage. They're worried about the accident before and if it affects this. She's under anesthesia, which, and I'm going to be blunt with you because I know that's what I would like, can be bad since she was once in a coma. They don't know how she's going to respond, and if she does in fact have damage, how her brain will repair itself."

Michael's mentally and emotionally crushed. Could this be worse than the first time??

He sits in silence like a zombie for a while, the emotions too intense to even feel. Then he sees a truck pull up beside the car. The side of it reads CNN, a news station. "Shit!" Michael says to Jonas, "CNN is here. How did they find out?!"

Jonas tries to look out the window, "Some people were staring, they must have recognized her."

"They're going to try to take advantage of this." Michael says to him before hanging up the phone. He pushes the seat in front of him forward and opens the door before climbing out of the car.

He jogs around the truck and a camera turns on him. The TV reporter quickly tries to raise the microphone when he realizes who it is. Michael tries to run past them, but with no success.

"What's happened, Michael? What does this mean?" The reporter presses.

"Let me get to my wife," Michael says, trying to push the camera away. He eventually gets past the camera, but it justs follows him from behind.

"Is this going to be as drastic as the last one?" The next question that comes from the reporter's lips.

Michael's emotions snap then. He was able to contain it before, but now all the memories from the hospital are flooding back. His eyes begin to water and he turns to just look back at the reporter, letting him know that he is in no condition to talk.

The reporter stops following and Michael walks inside the door to search for Jonas. Jonas stands up and walks over to him, and after a short pause, they give each other a hug. Both of them pat each other's backs and let out slight sobs. The others in the waiting area look around for answers. "Is that who I think it is?" "Is that Michael Jackson?" "Oh. My. God. Can you believe this, Karen?"

One of the younger girls in the room lifts her phone and snaps a picture of Michael and Jonas hugging and then another one when they pull away, with Michael's tear-stricken face visible. She looks out the window and spots the CNN truck still outside. She gets out of her seat and walks outside just as the reporter and cameraman are packing up to go. "I have something you might want," she says to them.

The reporter and cameraman both look at each other and then at the girl, with their eyebrows raised in suspicion. She smiles at them and turns her phone to them, showing the two pictures she took. The reporter smiles back at her and asks, "Is there a way you can send those to me?"