The phone call came when he was surrounded by nearly the entire Murray and Gunhill clan.
Conversation petered out when Jesse stood up abruptly and left the room without a word to anybody. Pablo ran after him, immediately leaving his toys on the carpet with Cindy and Barrett's youngest.
"Pablo!" Caitlin cried indignantly, but he was hot on the heels of his dad.
The door to Grandma's study closed just before he got in. With a frustrated cry, he kicked the door.
As Pablo was reaching futilely for the handle, the door swung open again. Looking up, Pablo saw Papa- he'd stopped calling him Jesse ages ago- a phone to his ear. Reaching his other hand up too, he waited to be carried.
Holding the phone between ear and shoulder, Jesse picked Pablo up. Then the tall man closed the door and went to sit down, holding the precious little boy in his arms.
"So, there's bad new first," his agent said briskly.
Jesse's heart stopped.
Pablo frowned. Papa's heart was beating very fast. It only did that when he was scared. Every time he almost got in an accident and Papa snatched him to safety, he'd hold him against his heart and Pablo would feel the thud-thud-thud-thud on his face.
The only other time his heart had crashed against his ribs like this was when the Pearl was sick. That didn't happen often- not since she'd gone to hospital.
But, Pablo thought, he'd just left her in the family room. She was fine. Did that mean he, Pablo, was in danger? That made the little boy frown. Why was Papa so scared?
His heart must be hurting with the way it rammed against his solid chest. Absently, Pablo tried to ease the pain by gently rubbing his dad's chest where he could feel his heart. It must've been helping because Papa paused to kiss his hair. At least it helped for a little while and then his heart began racing again. If possible, more than before.
The next thing he knew, Pablo felt water on his hand. Looking up, his brown eyes grew wide.
Papa was in a lot of pain! He was crying, his free hand over his mouth. The other arm held Pablo very close. Soon the little one forgot to pet the beating heart. Instead he was trying to squirm loose from the near-vice grip and wipe away tears.
"Are you sure?" Jesse asked, his voice broken. He took a ragged breath, trying to halt the sob that wanted to rip out of his chest. "Okay. Thank you."
Vaguely, Jesse felt little hands touching his face but he couldn't quite process. It was all happening too fast.
"Rachel," he barely whispered, "can I please call you back a little later? I- I just need some time to process- this." He took another ragged breath.
Rachel's voice was understanding and soft. "Of course, Dr Murray. I'm sorry, I should have suggested that. Call me when you're ready."
"Okay," he croaked. Little hands and arms were around his neck.
Jesse hung up and dropped his cell phone. "Oh, God!" he cried out, hugging Pablo to him.
The young child hugged him back.
"Papa?" Pablo said in a small voice.
"I'm sorry, mijo," Jesse said, his voice full of emotion, stroking the back of Pablo's head.
Pablo squirmed. Papa was holding him too tight.
Jesse stood up, water still slipping out of his eyes. Pablo frowned, but held on, one hand on Papa's face, trying to dry away the tears. But they kept coming.
Papa sniffed once, twice, and roughly wiped his eyes. Taking three deep breaths, he walked to the study door, opened and headed back to his family.
The minute they saw him, talking stopped again. Pearl stood up, alarmed at the frightened look on Pablo's face and at the sight of Jesse's red eyes.
"Baby?" Vivienne said sharply. "What's happened?"
Everyone demanded an answer. Dana had tears in her eyes, a worried expression on her face, seeing that her brother-in-law had clearly been crying. When she heard the one word ripped out of his throat, she covered her mouth with both hands to stop a sob from escaping.
"Pablo," the deep, ravaged voice managed.
"What about him?" Pearl rushed to his side, now, trying to pry his arm from the child's back. He obviously didn't realise he was holding the child very tight.
"He's-" his eyes closed, tears falling hot and fast. "God, I can't believe this is happening."
"Jesse, honey, talk to me," Pearl said in a low voice. "What is happening?"
No one moved.
Jesse shook his head, still too overcome, and Sam gasped, anticipating an almost physical blow.
When he didn't speak, Pearl squeezed his arm. Jesse looked down at his lovely fiancé and tried for a tremulous smile.
"Pablo," he said, taking another deep breath and letting it out, "is officially my son."
For a split moment after the announcement there was silence, as Pearl looked at Jesse, a smile spreading across her face. In the next minute, Dana's sob became one of relief and Sam's breath was released in a long hiss. Barrett and Cindy fell back in their seats relieved, the twins high fived, Todd said 'yes!' and Vivienne jumped up, suddenly unfrozen.
Running to her son and grandson and god daughter, she hugged them all as best as she could. Kissing her son, tears filled her own eyes. Pearl took Pablo from Jesse and he turned into his mother's arms and they cried together. The relief of the battle being over was clearly more than he could express any other way. He couldn't bear it silently. He'd been so strong this whole time and now he was feeling it all in waves, and it was overwhelming.
Pablo tugged at Pearl's shirt. When she looked at him, she couldn't help smiling. "Papa is fine, little one," she said in Spanish.
"Is he sick?" he asked anxiously in English.
Genevieve, who had been watching the small family with barely contained emotion, couldn't help herself. She got up and grabbed the boy. "No, you sweet boy, your dad isn't sick." Whirling him around, she told him he would be a Murray forever.
His son's scream of delight when he finally understood, roused Jesse out of his stunned state. The moment Genevieve put him down, Pablo dashed toward Jesse. The man picked him up mid-step and threw him in the air. Catching the giggling child, Jesse finally smiled.
"Do you want to stay with me forever?"
"Forever and ever and ever!" Pablo exclaimed.
"Good." Kissing his forehead. "We can do that." His eyes met Pearl's, where she stood a few feet away. He reached out his free hand. "Come here, honey," he said softly.
Pearl walked over to him and he hugged her to him and then kissed her in front of his whole family.
Coming up for air, he heard Pablo's giggling and Barrett's wolf whistle. Vivienne was looking on happily, hugging her sister beside her.
"I plan," he said clearly, his voice almost back to normal, "to marry her as soon as she'll have me, guys."
"Woo hoo!" Todd cheered, grinning broadly. When she looked at him, he winked.
"I just need to find the right way to ask her," Jesse chuckled under his breath, as his family reacted to his second announcement.