Title: You Are Not Alone

Author Name: OneShotWonderment

Rating: PG

Dedication: To Michael Jackson: Rest in peace, Michael. We will miss you dearly, but you will continue to rock our hearts forever!

Notes:

- Lyrics (Italics) from the song, "You Are Not Alone" by: Michael Jackson.

Disclaimer:

All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of OneShotWonderment. OneShotWonderment is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Kevin Lucas was placing his books in his locker when he first noticed Macy Misa coming down the hall. Then, as she was drawing closer and he shut his locker, he waved to her but Macy didn't wave back… in fact she didn't seem to notice him at all. This, in itself, was odd but excusable; the frown on her face was not. The eldest member of the band Jonas tilted his head and examined the girl further as she stopped in the middle of the hall for no reason. Macy Misa seemed sad, in fact, she seemed to radiate sadness from her very being. Kevin could not stand to see the usually happy and bubbly girl in such a state; he approached her knowing very well that was risking life and limb by doing so.

"Hi Macy!" He chirped from slightly behind her left shoulder. His mere presence should cheer her up, Kevin reasoned, after all she was Jonas' #1 super fan. Automatically his arms shot out to catch her; he'd grown used to her normal initial reaction to him and his brothers. In fact, he found it kind of cute…. Except she didn't faint or even seem to notice he was there. This was getting way too weird. "Macy?" Kevin questioned grasping her shoulder and shaking slightly.

"Huh? Oh. Hi Kevin." Her greeting lacked any of its normal cheerful, fan girl, squeal-iness. It only served to worry him more. The bell rang and Macy jumped as if she'd never heard the sound before and it scared her. Then, she shook her head sadly and raced off to class, not giving Kevin a chance to ask was wrong. He stood there for a moment longer and then headed off to his own class with a small frown on his face. He would ask Stella later surely she would know.

It wasn't until the lunch break to Kevin managed to see Stella. "Stella!" he shouted desperate to stop her from entering the noisy lunchroom and disappearing into the crowd. OF course they sat at the same table together but so did Macy and he wanted an answer before seeing the sad brunette again. The blonde stopped, turned and walked to him.

"Hi, Kevin. What do you need?" Why did Stella always assume he needed something? She never asked that of Joe and Nick. Did she think he was needy or something? He almost asked until a certain sporty brunette entered his line of vision just before entering the lunchroom and remembered his purpose.

"What's wrong with Macy?" Stella raised a delicate eyebrow at the question and Kevin couldn't fault her. It was no secret that Macy was merely a friend of a friend. This was the first time any of the Lucas Brothers had actually expressed concern for Stella's best girl friend. This definitely suspicious behavior especially of Kevin who is very… float-y. He often didn't notice when there was something wrong with his siblings; which made his picking up on Macy's dour demeanor, even odder.

"Why do you want to know?" Stella asked and then her eyes widened in horror as she considered his reasons. "Kevin Lucas, if you're planning some sort of joke or whatever on her, I swear to the fashion gods I will make you regret it." Kevin flinched at the threat though not from what she actually said, because everyone knew there were no such things as fashion gods, but because a girl he'd known since he was a child thought him capable of such evil. One would have to be evil to hurt Macy Misa.

"I would never do that, Stella." He defended a sad tone to his words. If Stella thought he was capable of that… what a bad person he must be.

"Oh," Stella soothed lightly through her right arm over his shoulders. "I know that, Kev. I was just checking." Kevin pushed his slight hurt away for the moment. If the two were much later to lunch people would start to worry, and then Joe would start to worry and Joe worried was a bad, bad thing, and he still had a question he had to get answered.

"So…umm…what's wrong with Macy?"

"Have you seen the news last night or this morning?" Stella questioned as the duo started with the lunchroom. What did the news have to do with Macy? But, if he wanted an answer he was going to have to deal with Stella's attempts at answering.

"No. We got in pretty late from a concert last night and kind-of overslept this morning so we had rush here."

"You didn't listen to the radio?"

"Joe had a headache." He answered as way of an explanation and Stella nodded. Joe got these massive headaches have even the slightest sound before his migraine medicine kicked in and he was in pain all day.

"Michael Jackson died last night." The blonde stated pushing the door open with Kevin following two steps back on her left. This was why Stella was more Joe's friend then his; she was much too confusing. With her, it was like figuring out a puzzle every time she spoke and Kevin just didn't have the attention span for that.

"I don't get it."Kevin replied simply as they started down the steps into the main area of the cafeteria.

"Michael was her Jonas before Jonas. Her first fan site was on him…she still maintains it, I think." Stella shook her head, her blonde curls bouncing and attracting Joe's attention from across the room, to get her thoughts back on track. "Anyway, she's taking it pretty hard. Her mother called me this morning and asked me to come pick her up and bring her to school today because Ms. Misa was afraid her daughter would get in an accident if she drove. She'd been crying all night and when I got there she looked horribly. Eyes rimmed red from crying and it was obvious she hadn't slept. Only my amazing skill at the magic make-up saved her today. I mean-"

Kevin tuned out Stella's speech about why she should also be the band's make-up artist and just focused on his feelings of sadness. Michael Jackson was such a good musician and it was because of him that the music landscape is what is today. Poor Macy, he thought. It had to be hard for her if her Michael…what's the word again?...fandom love was anything like her Jonas fandom love. No wonder she's so lost today. His heart squeeze in sympathy and sadness both for her loss and every other Michael fan (himself included).

Kevin fished his blue video iPod out of his pocket and quickly switched the playlist as he and Stella arrived at the table. The group of three already seated was eerily quiet as the missing two finally arrived. Normally, the table was abuzz with Macy's nervous, because she was eating lunch with two of the cutest guys in school who happened to be members of her favorite band and she didn't want to talk about Jonas to much so she discussed everything else under the sun, chatter while Joe and Nick inserted a comment here or there when they understood what she was talking about.

Stella started toward the seat next to Macy but Kevin snagged it at the very last second. Joe looked ready to bite his head off for taking something from (secretly) beloved, Nick looked confused for a second before deciding his eldest brother was just being quirky again, Stella took the seat Kevin usually occupied beside Joe (which brighten the middle aged band member's mood considerably) with an understanding look in her eyes, and Macy didn't notice anything. She was far too busy studying the invisible grain of the red table at which they sat.

Kevin spun the dial on his iPod to turn it up, placed the small digital device and matching earbuds on the table, and pressed play. Michael Jackson's voice, beautiful in a way different and unmatched by anyone else, filled the air surrounding the table.

"Another day has gone

I'm still all alone

How could this be

You're not here with me

You never said goodbye

Someone tell me why

Did you have to go

And leave my world so cold"

Luckily the music didn't attract the attention of the tables surrounding theirs or the teachers assigned to lunch duty, who would have snagged his iPod in an instance. Joe and Nick looked utterly lost. What was Kevin up to this time? Sometimes, they simply didn't get their older brother. Stella smiled a brilliant smile. Kevin was one of the honest-to-the-heavens kindest guys in the universe.

"Everyday I sit and ask myself

How did love slip away

Something whispers in my ear and says

That you are not alone

For I am here with you

Though you're far away

I am here to stay"

Macy looked up from the table's surface shocked. How…after arriving at school today she'd discovered that she'd left her iPod on her desk this morning, in rush to gather her things so as not to make her best friend late for school, so she didn't even Michael's music to comfort her in her grief. She nearly jumped when she felt an arm wrap around her shoulders and pull her into the person's side. The scent of heaven hit her nose that second her head laid on his shoulder. Kevin.

"But you are not alone

For I am here with you

Though we're far apart

You're always in my heart

But you are not alone"

"I grieve with thee." Kevin quoted, though from where he didn't know, simply as she cuddled further into his embrace. His simple statement unleashed a flood of tears even she hadn't known were waiting to be released. Her shoulders shook with the force and she turned in her seat so she could wrap her arms around her anchor.

"'Lone, 'lone

Why, 'lone

Just the other night

I thought I heard you cry

Asking me to come

And hold you in my arms

I can hear your prayers

Your burdens I will bear

But first I need your hand

Then forever can begin"

Kevin was shocked into stillness for a split second before he responded to her movement by wrapping his second arm around her as well. He could feel the gazes of his brothers, Stella, and everybody at the surrounding tables looking at them now but he couldn't care about that now. All he had room for at this moment was the quivering girl in his arms.

"Everyday I sit and ask myself

How did love slip away

Something whispers in my ear and says

That you are not alone

For I am here with you

Though you're far away

I am here to stay"

The brunette sobbed soundlessly into the crook of Kevin's neck. She knew she must look ridiculous to everyone who knew why she cried and to everyone who did not but she couldn't bring herself to care. She was in mourning; image always suffered when one was mourning. After the news last night, Macy had darted up to room to cry. Her parents wouldn't have understood so she'd cried alone. Of course, she'd considered calling Stella. The blonde would've sat with her and pretended to understand why Macy was in tears over a man she'd never actually encountered, but the brunette didn't want fake sympathy…no matter how noble the intentions. When she left the house this morning she'd thought her tears all cried. She hadn't realized how much she'd needed comforting and support until Kevin offered it.

"For you are not alone

For I am here with you

Though we're far apart

You're always in my heart

For you are not alone

Whisper three words and I'll come runnin'

And girl you know that I'll be there

I'll be there"

Kevin didn't notice the few tears that slipped out of his eyes into Macy's hair as the song and Macy's anguish continued. Nick, Joe, and Stella sat at the table completely mystified. Kevin was comforting someone. The eldest brother had always been bad at that. In sixth grade they'd been assigned service learning at the nursing home and Kevin had managed to make the saddest patient in the whole building so sad that she tried to flee the room…after only two minutes. Stella examined the scene in front of her closely and, if anyone had been paying her any mind, they would've noticed the mischievous matchmaking gleam in her eyes.

"You are not alone

For I am here with you

Though you're far away

I am here to stay

For you are not alone

For I am here with you

Though we're far apart

You're always in my heart"

"It will be okay, Mace, I promise." He whispered in her tresses so quietly that the athlete barely heard them. She sniffled slightly as her tears slowed but didn't stop. She turned her so that she was facing the eldest Lucas brother's neck instead of his shoulder. Kevin heart skipped a beat when her eyelashes and warm breathe brushed his naked skin. "I-I know it seems like it won't right now," He started without having the rest of the sentence thought up but she saved him from having to coming up with it.

"It has to." She whispered. "It hurts too much." Kevin's arms wrapped tighter around her and Macy sighed. She'd been waiting for like ever to be held like this by a boy and now she couldn't properly enjoy it because she was so sad. The world just wasn't fair…but that had been proven last night, hadn't it? Macy clenched her jaw and squeezed her eyes shut. No! She'd ruined Kevin's shirt, and everyone's lunch, already. She wasn't going to do anymore damage to her fragile relationships with these people today, if she hadn't already ruin it that was.

Kevin felt her tense and rubbed her back softly. She was trying to be brave. If he had to guess why he'd bet on her reason being that she thought that her show of weakness was going to send him and his brothers as far away from her as possible. How did he go about telling her that wasn't possible? How he did let her know that he was sad too, not that his sadness was by any means a match for hers but still, and that he got that she felt whole-heartedly for everything things she cared about? How did he tell her that was one of the great many things that made her the most special girl he'd ever met? How did he tell her that he wasn't going anywhere (and neither were Joe and Nick)? How?

"For you are not alone

For I am here with you

Though you're far away

I am here to stay"

Macy tears started to slow again at Kevin's sweet administrations. Her breath came out in shudders. God, she couldn't even control her emotions for a minute! It was ridiculous to feel this distraught because a singer, whom she'd never met, died. It was just…she'd grown up listening to Michael's music. She'd learned all his dances moves and put on little shows for her parents. His music had been her childhood, pretty much and when she'd finally gained her website skills her first topic was a no-brainer. She hadn't cared when the rumors began to circle about him and it had injured her to report about them on her fansite. To this day it didn't sway her opinion on him or his music. Michael's death felt like the death of her past and she didn't want to lose him or it. Plus, she'd secretly held out hope that he'd release another album one day and now…now there was no chance of that.

Kevin opened his mouth and hoped somehow what came out of it next would assuage her fears concerning him. Macy opened her eyes in surprise as Kevin's voice sung the lyrics alongside Michael's vocals flowing from the teen pop star's iPod.

"For you are not alone

For I am here with you

Though we're far apart

You're always in my heart

For you are not alone... "

As the last strains of the music faded away Macy unwrapped her arms from her friend (and absolute favorite Jonas band member), settled back into her seat, and turned to face Kevin. She noted that there were no mascara smudges or anything on his attire thankfully. She'd have felt so guilty if he had had to walk around the rest of the day in a shirt covered with make-up. "Thank you." Such a simple statement and defiantly not conveying all that she meant but for now it would have to do. Kevin smiled, unwrapped his left arm from her front but kept his right one wrapped around her shoulders, grabbed his iPod, turned the volume down to an acceptable level and offered the still watery-eyed brunette the right earbud. She accepted the earbud with no hesitation and plugged it in.

The rest of that lunch period was spent in silence aside from the slight humming noise of vocals Stella, Nick, and Joe could hear from Kevin and Macy's earbuds. The iPod-less three were too shock by the tender moment they'd just witness to utter a single word which was fine by Macy and Kevin. They were more than content to listen to Michael's voice with Kevin's arm around Macy. Macy sat her head on Kevin's shoulder with a sad-happy sigh and Kevin decided that he preferred this way more than playing twenty-questions with their friends about what just happened.

A/N: I hope you liked this. Please no Michael flames, alright? I happen to feel as Macy does about him. This fiction was actually part of me grieving process so...uh...yeah.