Mouse and Applehead - Part 12b
Been working damn hard on this, but I finally managed to not only finish a chapter for this, but I also finished the next part for Conspiracy, which I will be posting after this. So, here's the next part for Mouse and Applehead, in which Annie does something she never thought she'd do, Maggie begins to uncover something about Michael, Bad tour related stuff, and somebody is geting married.
Title: Mouse and Applehead
Author: shinigami518
Rating: PG-13 (but will go into the R territory at times)
Warnings: Swearing, the occasional violence, future talks of attempted rape, abuse, and some racism
Disclaimer: I do not own anything in this story except for Annie, her family, and her friends. All music used is owned by their respective owners, writers, and singers. I also, unfortunately, do not own Michael. If i did, he would still be around, playing with his children and making all of his fans happy.
Summary: Late 1979, Michael, after the release of Off the Wall, is longing for a friend. He walks alone at dusk in hopes to find one. He discovers one in the form of a little girl named Annie. This would lead to a long lasting friendship that spans three decades, featuring highs and lows, including: an obsessed older sister, an overprotective father, "Billie Jean", haters, alligations, death, and the pitfalls of being friends with the (currently not as of the time this starts) King of Pop.
Links to last part at my journal: Part 12a
Less than a minute later…
Annie stormed out of the house towards the family car, a young woman on a mission: to get to where Michael was immediately. Alison and Maggie were right behind her, the younger of the two carrying the former’s doctor bag.
“Ann! Annette Joyce Craig, slow down! This’ll do him no good if you head over there like this!” Alison shouted, calling Annie by her full name.
“I told him not to overdo it last time I talked to him, for god sakes, and what happens? He gets fuck laryngitis or all things! He never listens. Never ever listens to a damn thing I say sometimes.” Annie muttered loudly, trying to open the car only to realize it was locked.
“Annie, calm down. Getting upset like this wont help Michael.” Maggie told Annie, walking up to her.
“And what do you want me to do then!?” Annie snapped in annoyance, making Maggie flinch, but stand her ground behind Annie.
“Well, calm down for one thing. You’re acting like an overly protective girlfriend or… almost like Aimee.” Maggie told Annie coolly. Annie froze the second Maggie mentioned their oldest sister, who still was at the mental hospital. The most recent talk with her doctor had pretty much confirmed their fears: Aimee was pretty much incurable. She was completely obsessed with Michael to the brink of insanity that the sheer thought of her not being near him or someone else in love with him drove her off the deep end. The idea that she might be acting like that made Annie pale drastically. She slowly turned to face Maggie, a look of fear on her face.
“Am I… really becoming like her?” Annie asked slowly.
“A bit, but not entirely.” Maggie replied truthfully. Alison then reached over and took Annie’s left hand into her own right hand.
“Look, Annie, I know you’re worried about Michael and upset that he’s sick, but you won’t do him any good going over there on this emotional bender you’re on right now.” Alison told Annie calmly, but compassionately.
“I can’t help being worried about him, though. After everything he’s been through - the fire, vitiligo, whatever the hell Joe did to him, what Aimee tried to do, and whatever Maggie believes he might have - he doesn’t need anymore suffering.” Annie sighed. Alison looked confused with the new info about Maggie and stared at her youngest daughter.
“What do you think he has, honey?” Alison asked Maggie.
“I’ll explain later.” Maggie replied. She then muttered “Thanks a lot, Ann” under her breath before speaking out loud again. “Right now, we better go and see how Michael is and how bad his vocal chords are.” Maggie suggested.
“Right. Let’s get going.” Alison nodded before making her way to the car. Maggie then leaned against Annie and slapped her arm lightly with her hand.
“I told you I wasn’t completely sure of my findings, so next time, keep your trap shut.” Maggie softly hissed at her sister.
“Well if you didn’t act like it was something life threatening and weren’t so serious about it, then maybe I wouldn’t be so damn worried about him!” Annie whispered harshly before she stormed away from her and entered the car.
“Do you really love Michael that much, Ann?” Maggie wondered to herself, following right behind her.
>>>>><<<<<
Michael was with his parents at his soon to be completed home he had purchased a short time ago that he had been calling “Neverland”, so that was the destination for the three women. The three met up with Katherine first as soon as they arrived at the main house, which was already completed, where they learned some of how Michael was from the elderly woman. Joseph, however, wasn’t all that accepting of Annie and Maggie’s presence and said that the “two little sluts” should leave before they did anything else to his son “like their whore of an older sister tried to do”. Alison fought hard the urge to take Joseph down a few pegs in a verbal argument, but kept her calm as she tried to explain that Maggie was her assistant and Annie was there for emotional support. The two continued to argue with Katherine trying to play peacemaker, siding with Alison in the argument.
Maggie, meanwhile, decided to drag Annie away from the adults and into the other room.
“Mags, what the hell are you doing?” Annie asked once the two were a good distance away from their mother, Katherine, and Joseph.
“Arguing isn’t going to help Michael get better. Hasn’t that ass realized by now that neither of us or Diana would do what Aimee tried to do?” Maggie remarked, clearly annoyed as she glared at Joseph in disgust.
“Some people can’t let some things go. So what now?” Annie sighed. Maggie then held up their mother’s doctor bag she was still holding.
“Well, I still have this, why don’t we go find Michael?” Maggie suggested.
“Maggie, that’s so unlike you.” Annie remarked in surprise. Maggie started to blush softly.
“W-well, I wanna see how he’s doing and how bad the laryngitis is. Joseph sure isn’t gonna let mom near him right now, so why don’t the two of us go while he’s arguing with mom and Mrs. Katherine.” Maggie explained.
“I can’t really argue with that logic.” Annie shrugged, looking bemused. She then took Maggie’s free hand. “Then let’s go find Mi-.” Annie started to say, turning to go into the hallway…
…And bumped right into Miko, who had just entered the room, looking for the two.
“Ouch!” Annie winced, pulling back and rubbing her nose.
“Hi Miko.” Maggie broke her hand hold with Annie to wave at the man.
“Next time, make a sound when you’re nearby, huh?” Annie stated, fixing her glasses.
“What’re you two doing here?” Miko asked the two teens.
“Mom wanted to check on Michael and we came along to help her.” Annie replied, finally fixing her glasses correctly on her face.
“And Joseph’s objecting to mom bringing us ‘two little sluts’ with her.” Maggie added. Annie flinched at Maggie using the exact words the older man said.
“Did you have to use his exact words, Mags?” Annie asked, quite annoyed. “That’s why we ditched the adults. So how’s Mike?” Annie went back to talking to Miko.
“The doctor at the hotel we were at said his vocal chords were inflamed. We had to cancel the shows this week and reschedule them.” Miko explained to the two.
“Damn.” Maggie cursed softly. “Can we at least see him?” Maggie asked. Miko nodded silently in response and led the two away from the arguing trio to Michael’s room. Miko closed the door behind them when they reached the room and he allowed them to enter.
The first thing the two teens saw when they entered the room was Michael sitting on his bed, sketching in a notepad. He was wearing a cerulean blue button up shirt over a red t-shirt, black jeans, and, of course, white socks, his loafers set aside by his bed. His jet black hair was pulled back in a loose pigtail. At first he didn’t see Annie or Maggie, but a few seconds after the two entered, he glanced up and smiled upon seeing them. He then mouthed ‘Mouse! Mags! Hi!’ happily.
“Michael!” Maggie exclaimed, rushing over while still carrying the doctor’s bag.
“We came as soon as we heard.” Annie followed half a step behind Maggie. Michael embraced both girls, cupping the backs of their heads while hugging them. He was clearly happy to see them, but couldn’t voice his joys verbally.
Maggie then pulled away from the hug, frowning. “You idiot!” Maggie stated briskly. Michael winced. “How the hell did you manage to lose your voice? We’ve told you several times - Mom and several others, too told you - that you had to conserve your voice before shows!!” Maggie scolded him in a very mature, almost angry mother-esq tone as she placed the bag on the bed.
“Took the words right out of my mouth - no pun intended, Mikey. But seriously, what happened to your voice?” Annie asked, bemused by Maggie’s words and tone. Michael flipped past a few pages on the tablet he had set aside, and began to write in it in order to respond. After a few seconds, he handed it to Maggie, who then proceeded to read it out loud to Annie and herself.
“‘Roadies were having a party. Jen, Sheryl, and Darryl wanted’ - Jen being your guitarist, right?” Maggie started to read, taking a moment to ask Michael a few questions. Michael nodded. “And Darryl and Sheryl those backup singers we saw during rehearsal?” Maggie asked, getting another nod in response. She then went back to the written response. “‘-wanted me to ‘loosen up’. Roadies got me drunk, Jen said I sang a lot. Said I sang…’ Whoa!” Maggie paused again in surprise.
“What?” Annie queeried. Maggie glanced at Michael, then back at the tablet in shock.
“‘Said I sang Billie Jean at least 27 times without messing up’.” Maggie replied, reading what was written. Annie whistled, clearly impressed.
“Well that would explain the voice loss. Honestly, Mike, that’s pretty stupid of you to do.” Annie remarked, then noted. Michael mouthed ‘I know, I know’ in response. Maggie handed Michael back the tablet.
“No use crying over spilt milk. What’s done is done. Might as well do some preliminary checks on you.” Maggie stated, going back over to the bag and opening it. Michael stared at the younger of the two teens as if she was crazy. “Hey, I’m here to assist mom in checking on you. So don’t give me no lip or those looks, I’m trying to learn how to be a doctor, remember?” Maggie stated. Annie shook her head, trying not to laugh as Michael relented and leaned back on bed, letting Maggie practice being a doctor on him. Annie then let her gaze wander around the room where she noticed something near the window.
A beautiful, ceramic vase filled with paper flowers, the flowers that Annie had made for Michael over the years.
She couldn’t believe that Michael actually kept them over the years as she walked over to them. Once she was close to them, she noticed that each stem had a little tag attached to them, noting the date he received them from her.
“He kept them all… after all this time?” Annie whispered softly to herself. She then took a look at one of the tags on one of the flowers, a familiar yellow rose. She paled slightly when she noted the date that was scrawled on the tag: February 3rd, 1984. The day he came back from the hospital after his accident. The day that Aimee started her decent into madness. “Even from this day, you kept the flowers?” Annie asked softly to herself. She turned to look back at Michael and realized that Alison was now in the room, along with Katherine. Annie quickly, but carefully, moved away from the flowers, leaving them be.
She mentally reminded herself to ask Michael about the flowers later in the future.
>>>>><<<<<
Alison did confirm the laryngitis diagnosis and said Michael would be better in about a week as long as he didn’t try to speak too much to further inflame his vocal chords. Michael did want Annie and her siblings to come and visit him on the weekend so he could ‘tell’ them about what happened on the Tour so far and Alison agreed, but not before telling the rest of her children about Michael’s condition and telling them not to aggravate it.
The weekend came, and Annie, Maggie, Tommy, and Paul were over at Neverland, hanging out with Michael as he wrote down some funny moments that happened during the tour with Maggie reciting what he wrote to her brothers and sister.
“Michael?” Maggie asked, her face in her hands after reading out one of the moments Michael wrote. Michael let out a soft ‘hmm’ in response. Maggie dropped her hands to her lap. “How on earth did you not notice that your fly was down?” Maggie continued. It was Michael’s turn to hide his face behind his hands, the tips of his ears turning red from embarrassment.
“Man that must’ve been really embarrassing, Applehead!” Paul remarked.
“Not like that one guy at Kevin and Caroline’s wedding. Remember him? The drunk who tried to sing “Billie Jean”?” Annie noted, digging through a bag she brought for the wedding album Alison put together with Kevin and Caroline. Kevin and Caroline had gotten married in February on the 18th, avoiding the classic cliché of getting married on Valentines Day. Michael, unable to make it, sent a special video of him giving a special dedication for the two and performing “Human Nature” live, the song being Caroline’s favorite song by him.
“Was it really bad?” Tommy read the comment Michael quickly wrote.
“Mikey, I kid you not, he actually sang, and I quote, ‘Dun Ber Ber Ber Lee’ and ‘Buttercup a day, hey hey’.” Annie replied. Michael let out a mute giggle while Tommy and Paul laughed. Maggie shook her head.
“So how was New York City? You performed at Madison Square Garden. That must’ve been pretty cool.” Maggie asked Michael, hoping to change the topic of conversation. Michael nodded, showing some hesitation.
“What happened? I heard you sang with Stevie Wonder. Was it totally awesome?” Tommy asked, laying on his stomach on the floor, kicking his legs back and forth casually. Michael writes his response on the tablet and handed it to Maggie, starting to blush.
“…Tatiana kissed me.” Maggie read in surprise.
Annie nearly dropped the photo album she had retrieved from her bag.
“What?” Tommy and Paul both asked.
“She kissed you!?” Annie said incredulously. Michael nodded.
“What’s wrong with that? Aren’t you two together?” Maggie was confused. Michael shook his head “no”. “When did this happen? Before or after the show?” Maggie questioned Michael, wanting to know the full story. Michael mimed singing, then kissed the tips of his fingers in response.
“During?!” Tommy exclaimed.
“Eww!” Paul looked disgusted.
“How- How did this happen? What did Frank do? What did you do?” Annied asked, clearly flustered. Michael, still blushing. took the tablet and wrote again, this time much more than what he previously wrote.
“Why is it so bad that Tatiana kissed him? I mean, I know it’s gross, but what’s wrong with it?” Tommy asked innocently.
“She was told not to do it during the tour. Just to hug him at the end of ‘The Way You Make Me Feel’.” Maggie replied.
“I guess she wanted to have fun since they were at the Garden.” Annie bitterly said. Michael handed the tablet to Maggie to read.
“‘She kissed me during the second verse of the song. Supposed to flirt a lot and not kiss. Frank was angry’ - angry is underlined several times - ‘and she was fired. Sheryl’s now taken over her roll in performing the song’.” Maggie read, making note of some of Michael’s little add-ons in what he wrote. She then looked up from the notepad. “That’s it.” She noted. Michael looked away. “Michael? Applehead, don’t blame yourself. She did that on her own.” Maggie told Michael.
“Not that I blame her.” Annie muttered a bit too loudly, causing both Tommy and Paul to stare at her along with Maggie, who raised an eyebrow. Annie realized what she just said and covered her mouth with one hand in shock. “Oh God, I’m turning into Diana.” Annie moaned, lowering her hand.
“Now that’s scary.” Tommy stated.
“But yeah, she’s the one who broke the rules. She made her bed and now she has to sleep in it.” Annie continued, regaining her composure.
“I know…” Michael nodded, speaking softly. All four siblings stared at Michael in surprise. It was the first time since he came home that he spoke.
“Your voice?!” Tommy exclaimed.
“Michael, you shouldn’t-.” Maggie started to scold Michael, going into her maternal tone of speaking.
“I can speak, but not a lot. That’s what Alison said.” Michael stated, his voice rough and soft due to his vocal chords still bad. He then sighed softly. “And I do feel bad. Tatiana was my friend and I hated seeing her go.” Michael went on.
“But she did something she was told not to do. She was told not to kiss you during the tour and she did. She screwed up. Let’s drop the subject and move on, shall we?” Maggie told Michael calmly.
“Sometimes it’s hard to control the urge to do something like that.” Annie softly, but angrily, stated.
“What d’you mean?” Paul asked, confused.
“Just… Just forget it…” Annie shook her head, standing up and exiting the room. Michael stood up, grabbing the pen and tablet, and followed her, frowning.
“Do you think she meant herself when she mentioned those urges?” Tommy wondered to Maggie.
“Wait, you know about the kiss?” Maggie exclaimed in disbelief.
“What kiss? I saw Michael nearly kiss her before the tour started and she said they couldn’t be together and only be friends. D-did they kiss before?” Tommy replied, then asked his sister.
“N-no, that’s-.” Maggie started to say, quickly shaking her head. She then sighed. “Just drop it, Tommy. You and Paul are too young to understand.” Maggie told the two.
“Understand what?” Paul blinked.
“I’m almost 11, Mags.” Tommy noted.
“It’s… complicated.” Maggie groaned.
“Oh, one of those things.” Tommy gave a slight nod.
“Yeah…” Maggie sighed, flopping down next to him and then falling backwards, lying on her back.
“I never understand anything around here.” Paul muttered in annoyance.
Next part, which I've already starting to work on, will deal with Moonwalker, especially Smooth Criminal, and the show Annie and Maggie mentioned.
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