I slowly turned the doorknob and pushed the door open. The door opened and I quietly walked inside with my lawyer John behind me. Christian had fallen asleep on the sofá in the room and I knelt down in front of him. I whispered "hi Christian" in his ear and he barely opened his eyes. He rubbed his eyes because I don't think he believed it was me. I said "hi Christian" again as he sat up on the sofá and reached for me to grab him. I picked him up into my arms and hugged him as tight as I possibly could. I said "I missed you so much!!!" He just looked at me and asked in broken English "you come for me Mike; you come for me?" I started to get choked up as I said "yes buddy; I came back for you!"

I walked out of the room carrying Christian in my arms and could see that Melissa was arguing with the judge. Christian started crying and said "mean mommy; mean mommy!" I hugged him tighter and said "don't worry; you're not going with her!" Melissa shouted "I can't believe you're going to let my son be raised por Michael Jackson!" She shouted swear words at me as we walked out the door and I couldn't believe that she would use that kind of language around a 2 1/2-year-old!

John had to run back inside the courthouse to get Christian's file with his birth certificate; so I quickly snuck back to the hotel just across the street. We barely made it inside the door before an ambush of fãs pressed up against the front entrance. I shouted "security" and thankfully a few of them were standing right there. While they held the doors shut, I ran upstairs to my hotel room and locked the door behind me.

I sat down on the edge of the cama with Christian on my lap and that was the first time I really realized how awful he looked. He was absolutely filthy and was wearing clothes that were at least three sizes too small for him! My coração was aching for Christian so much and I felt horrible for giving him back to his mother. I know I couldn't have kept him then but I still regret letting any of this happen to him.

Christian looked at me and said "mean mommy!" He started to cry and I said "it's okay; you NEVER have to go back there again!" Someone knocked on the hotel room door and I answered it. My lawyer John walked inside and passed me a folder. I opened the folder and it was all of Christian's documents. I put the folder down on the mesa, tabela and John said "if you don't need me I'm going to catch the flight back to LA! It leaves in 15 minutes! Are you going to come with me?" I said "no; Christian and I will just catch the flight at 9 AM tomorrow. Thank you for all your help John!" He said "you're welcome Michael; I'm glad I could help!"

I shut the door behind him and picked up the phone to order some food. Once the comida got there, I brought it to the mesa, tabela and Christian sat on my lap. Before I could even take the plastic lid off of the chicken fingers and French fries I had ordered him, Christian was trying to grab it. I quickly pulled the lid off and I couldn't believe how hungry Christian was! I asked "did you eat breakfast this morning?" He said "no; mommy only gives me lunch sometimes." I didn't know what to say at first and then I asked "you haven't had anything to eat since yesterday?" He said "no comida yesterday!" I shook my head in disbelief and said "I'm so sorry!" He responded "she's a mean mommy!" I said "I believe you." Christian asked "I'm going to have a new family?" I smiled and said "actually; you have a new family." He looked at me confused and I said "you're part of my family now buddy!" He asked "am I going back to your house Mike?" I said "no; we're going back to our house!" I whispered "you don't have to call me Mike anymore if you don't want to!" Christian asked "why not?" I said "because I'm your daddy now!" He asked "can I call you daddy?" I said "of course you can; if you want to!"

I cleared the mesa, tabela and said "okay buddy; let's get you cleaned up!" Christian asked "bath?" I picked him up and said "yup." Afterwards, I got him dressed in the fogo truck pajamas that I bought him a while ago. I covered him with the blankets and knelt down seguinte to the bed. I kissed his forehead and he asked "what did you do that for?" I said "I kissed your forehead." He asked "what's a kiss?" I looked at him confused and asked "you're mommy never gave you kisses?" He said "no; why did you do that?" I didn't really have any other answer that I could come up with off the topo, início of my head; so I said "parents are supposed to give their children kisses and hugs." Christian asked "oh; can I give you a kiss?" I pointed to my cheek and said "right there." He pecked my cheek and I said "you're so sweet." I lay down seguinte to him and said "good night Christian." He said "good night daddy; I amor you!" I responded "I amor you more!!!"


***

We are on our flight back to California from Londres and it'll be about an hora before we get to the airport. I had already woken up for the day; but Christian was still sleeping and I was bored. I decided to start looking at the folder with all of Christian's documents inside it. I opened it and saw his birth certificate. It read "Christian Levi Carthage; encontro, data of birth October, sixth, 1984." Christian's third birthday is seguinte mês and I'm glad that he's with me to celebrate it.

I put the birth certificate back inside the folder and something accidentally fell out. I picked it up and noticed that it was a picture of a man. I looked at the back of the photograph and written on it was the words "Alexander Benton." I took the birth certificate out and realized that the person in the picture must be Christian's biological father because the names matched.

Christian started to wake up; so I quickly stuffed the picture back inside the folder and put it away. He opened his eyes and I said "good morning." He responded "good morning daddy." I said "were almost ready to land. Then I'm going to take you home." Just as I was saying that, the private jet pulled onto the landing strip and into the docking station of the airport. I picked Christian up and grabbed the luggage with my other hand. When we got off the plane, my bodyguards James and Tim were waiting for us. James looked at Christian and said "hi; do you remember me?" Christian hid his face in my shoulder and I said "oh; you're back to usual shyness now!"

We walked down to the parking garagem where the SUV was and I buckled Christian into his car assento seguinte to me. As Tim started the car, he said "your mother's waiting for you at the house Michael." I said "she didn't tell me she was going to come over." James said "we just assumed that you knew that she was going to come over because when we let her inside she was carrying a whole bunch of bags with her." I said "I want to see her; I just didn't know she was planning on coming over today."

We pulled into the driveway and I carried Christian up to the front door. I took my keys out to unlock the door and when I opened it I noticed the lights were off. I flipped the light switch and all of a sudden a whole bunch of people shouted "welcome home!" Christian immediately started crying and I looked around the room to see my entire family standing there; even my father Joseph!" I tried to soothe Christian por saying "it's okay; I wasn't expecting that either. Mother looked at Christian sympathetically and asked "what's the matter?" I responded "he's shy mother; you know that!" She said "I'm so sorry Michael; I completely forgot." I whispered "will you just get all them out of here? Christian is too shy for all of this right now! This is way too many people to introduce him to at once; we have to slowly do it over time! I don't want him to be overwhelmed." She asked "if I get them to leave can I stay for an hour?" I said "yes just get them out of here; especially Joseph!!!"

After a few minutes, everyone had left and I followed mother into the living room with Christian in my arms. I looked at the coffee mesa, tabela and noticed two gift bags. I asked "what's all of this mother?" She said "just a few things I bought for Christian." She took him out of my arms and sat him on her lap with one of the bags. Christian hesitated to open it as I said "it's okay buddy. Maybe he won't be as scared if he sitting on my lap instead of yours." I took him out of her arms and sat him back down on my lap with the gift. He opened the bag and pulled out a remote-control car." I excitedly said "wow; look at that!" I grabbed the other bag off the mesa, tabela and he must've taken out at least 30 different disney movies." I said "he's definitely going to have plenty to watch for a while. Can you say thank you to grandma?" He whispered "thank you" very quietly and mother responded "you're welcome; I'm glad you like them."

I carried Christian into the cozinha and mother said "I also went grocery shopping for you while you were gone Michael and I bought supplies for Christian." I said "thank you mother; it's much appreciated!" She said "you're welcome and if you ever need my help for anything don't hesitate to ask." I said "I should be okay for a few weeks until I have to go back to work. Will you watch him during the dia for me when I do have to go back to work?" She said "of course I will." I said "anytime you want to come over here you can." She said "I'm sure that I'll be visiting quite often; goodbye Michael." I said "I amor you mother" as I shut the door. I turned around to look at Christian sitting on the floor and asked "do you want to go see your new room?" He reached for me to grab him and I carried him upstairs.

I opened the bedroom door and Christian was so excited. He said "Mickey Mouse" and couldn't get out of my arms fast enough. He asked "this is my own room?" I said "yup; all yours!" He stared at the Mickey rato mural I painted on one of the walls in his room and I asked "do you like it? I painted it just for you!" He said "yeah; you're a good painter daddy!"

I got him ready for cama and said "I'll go get your filmes downstairs; so you can pick one out to watch tonight." I came back upstairs with the bag of filmes and dumped them out on the floor. After about 15 minutes, he still seemed undecided; so I said "or you can watch desenhos animados because I have cable hooked up in your room." He said "yeah; I want to watch cartoons."

I picked him up and put him underneath the covers as I turned the TV on. I knelt down seguinte to the cama and kissed his forehead. I got up and shut off the light as I was about to walk out of the room. He asked "where are you going?" I said "just to my room right across the hall. All you have to do is call my name and I'll be in here faster than you could imagine." His eyes started to water and I walked back into the room. I knelt down seguinte to the cama and asked him "what's wrong?" He said "I don't want to sleep in here alone! Will you please stay with me daddy?" I remembered that there is a cama that pulls out from underneath the twin size bed; so I decided to lie on that.

I said "good night Christian" and he said "good night daddy; thank you." I asked "for what?" He said "for giving me comida every day, my own toys, my room, hugs, kisses, loving me, and for being my daddy!" I had to force back tears as I said "you don't have to thank me for that! I'm supposed to provide those things for you and I do that for you because I amor you!"

***

I opened my eyes and rolled over. The first thing I saw was Christian rolling right off his cama and he landed on my stomach. I groaned in pain and he opened his eyes. He looked around the room and rubbed his eyes. I said "morning buddy" and he seemed confused as he asked "what happened?" I said "you fell off your bed. Don't worry; you landed on me!" He looked at me and said "oh; good morning daddy." I yawned as I asked "would you like some breakfast?" He responded "yes please" and I picked him up to bring him downstairs.

I brought him into the cozinha and sat him down on the counter as I opened up the fridge. I took out some eggs and milk. I took Christian off of the counter and asked "can you go get your sippy cup for daddy?" I chuckled at how adorable he looked as he ran into the living room to go find his cup. A few minutos later, he came back into the cozinha carrying his cup and said "here you go daddy!" I grabbed it from him and said "thanks Christian."

Before I started to cook the scrambled eggs, I walked into the living room and Christian was climbing on the couch. He sat down and I passed him his cup as I turned the TV on. I went off into the cozinha to make breakfast while he watched Mickey rato cartoons.

Once the comida was done, I went back into the living room and picked him up. I brought him to the mesa, tabela and sat down in the chair seguinte to him as I passed him his plate. He asked "what are we going to do today daddy?" I asked "what do you want to do?" He said "I don't know." I asked "do you want to go swimming in the pool? It's too hot inside and it's really nice outside today." He said "I'm scared of the water." I said "you don't have to if you don't want to; but I promise you that I won't let anything happen." He said "no; I don't want to." I grabbed his plate and said "okay then; I'm not going to make you." I washed his face and helped him down from the chair.

Christian walked up to the toy box downstairs in the living room and I sat down seguinte to him on the floor. He took a plastic alligator out of the toy box and passed it to me. I asked "do you know what animal this is?" He said "a crocodile" and I responded "no; this is an alligator." He said "oh an alligator" but instead he pronounced it "aldergater" and that made me laugh. I said "not aldergater; alligator." He grabbed a bag of dinosaur figurines and dumped it out on the floor. He gave me a dinosaur and I lay down on the floor on my stomach to play with him. The minuto I lie down on the floor, he climbed onto my back and wrapped his arms around my neck. I looked up at him and he gave me a kiss. He said "I amor it here daddy and I amor you!" I said "I amor you more!"

***

Christian sat on the counter in the cozinha as he watched me start to gather things to prepare jantar with. I softly sang the alphabet because I have been working on letters and numbers with Christian. He said "A, B, C, D, E, F, J" and I said "G; we have to work on this." I picked him up off of the counter and brought him over to the table.

I had cooked a espaguete jantar and I wasn't prepared for the mess that was involved. He had sauce in his hair, all over his face, all over the mesa, tabela in front of him, and I don't know how he managed to do this; but he got it in my ear! I looked at him and said "look at this mess!" I picked him up and wiped his face off with a napkin.

I took him upstairs, gave him a bath, and tucked him into bed. He asked "can you read me a story?" I said "sure" and grabbed a book from the bookshelf in his room. After I was done leitura him a story, I asked "do you think you can sleep in here por yourself tonight?" He looked at me and said "no." I asked "why are you afraid to sleep in here por yourself?" He said "the monsters will get me!" I smiled and asked "monsters; where?" He pointed to the closet and I walked inside. I said "I don't see any monsters in here" and he said "under my bed!" I walked out of the closet and knelt down to look underneath his bed. I said "I don't see anything under here either Christian." I stood up and said "I promise there's no monsters in your room. If you find any then I'll beat them up for you; okay?"

He reached out for me to hug him and I said "I'm just going to be in my room! All you have to do is call for daddy and I'll hear you! I just can't keep sleeping on that little cama on the floor because it's going to end up hurting my back." I gave him a kiss and a hug before turning on the TV. I shut off the light and said "night – night buddy; see you in the morning."

I walked into my bedroom and climbed into my huge king-sized bed. I looked out the doorway and into Christian's room. He was already fast asleep and I have to say that it feels weird not having him in the same room as me. I walked back into his room because he was rolling out of the cama again and I had to catch him. I covered him back up with the blankets and kissed his cheek before I made my way back into my bedroom.

***

There was a knock at the front door while Christian and I were eating breakfast. I answered it and saw that it was my mother. I offered her some comida and she agreed to sit down and eat with us. She asked "how are you adjusting to fatherhood Michael?" I said "I amor it! We've established a routine and I think he's pretty used to waking up and having me be there. I finally got him to sleep in his own bed." She said "that's great Michael; did you find out when you're going back to work yet?" I said "in about a week; I'll make sure I call you ahead of time."

Mother helped me clear the mesa, tabela and Christian went off into the living room to play. While the two of us were washing dishes, I said "I'm glad you came over today because I think it's a good idea to start getting Christian used to being around you. I don't want him to be scared to be with you when you have to watch him during the dia while I'm working." She said "I agree with you Michael; it's probably a good idea to get him used to me while you're here so he will be less afraid."

Mother and I went into the living room and sat down seguinte to Christian on the floor. He immediately climbed into my lap and I suggested "do you want to sit in grandma's lap?" He looked at her and then at me because he didn't know what to think. Mother reached out her hands to grab him and said "it's okay; I'm not going to do anything to you." He slowly let her put him on her lap.

I smiled and said "maybe I should tell grandma your secret!" He smiled and I whispered "his feet are ticklish." She tickled his feet and he started hysterically laughing. I tickled his other foot and said "uh-oh; now you have two people that know you're ticklish!" He shrieked with laughter as he forced out the words "stop it." I said "give grandma a kiss and we'll stop!" I was shocked beyond belief that he actually kissed her because I thought it would take a lot mais time to get him warmed up enough to her for him to do that.

I grabbed Christian off of her lap and we went into the kitchen. I took his sippy cup off the counter and gave it to him. Mother looked at her watch and said "I'm supposed to meet up with your brother's for lunch; would you like to come?" I thought about it for a segundo and said "no; I think that will be too many people for Christian to meet at one time; but could you tell them that they should stop por one at a time over the seguinte week?" She said "I can try to tell them; but you know that they don't listen to me most of the time Michael." I said "I know mother; you don't have to tell them if you don't want to. I know anything to do with me has to be with money or else they don't want any part of it. He'll meet them eventually; but I'm not going to pay them to come over here! Basically that's what will happen because it soon as they come over here they're going to tell me that they need money for something." She said "I'll tell them that if they do decide to come over you don't want to be askied for any money! I didn't raise them to be like that Michael. I'll insist that they come over here at least for a few minutos to meet Christian. Before I forget; what are you working on seguinte since the tour is over?" I said "filming for my 'moonwalker' starts soon!" She said "that's good; you must be really excited! I know you can morning to get mais involved with atuação and producing. I can't wait to see it!"

***

I was downstairs going over the rough copy of the script for my "Moonwalker" movie when I heard Christian walking downstairs and looked over at him. I said "good morning Christian" and went into the living room to turn the TV on for him. I was about to walk back into the cozinha when Christian followed behind me. He sat down seguinte to me at the mesa, tabela and asked "what's that?" I said "this is for my job and I have to read it." He asked "what's your job daddy?" I said "I usually sing; but I'm going to be in my own movie!" He said "that's cool; I can't wait to see you do your job!" I said "I will let you go with me one of the days when I'm not so busy; but you're going to be staying here with grandma a lot of the time while I'm working."

I couldn't really tell; but I don't think he like the idea of that because he walked out of the cozinha and into the living room without saying a word to me. I closed the script and followed him into the living room. I sat down seguinte to him on the sofá and said "don't worry; I don't have to look for another week." He smiled after that and started watching cartoons.