Interested Parties

After the dinner at their paternal grandmother's house, Sam and Dana spent the night at Jesse's place and hid their smiles in their coffee the next morning when Baywatch-worthy lifeguard Jill dropped by to check on him since he hadn't called or been by the beach in a while. They watched Jesse smile with just enough chagrin and say, "Yeah, you know how it is when the prodigal son returns… everyone wants a piece of me."

"I can believe that," Jill laughed, looking a little like she wanted a piece herself.

Glancing at Sam and Dana, she smiled and turned back to the good looking doctor. "Well, if you're okay, I guess I'll see you around."

"Definitely," he smiled at Jill, already guiding her toward the door as she indicated she was ready to leave, "I did say to you that I had a lot of time on my hands for the time being. I'll be back on the beach before you know it. Thanks for the concern, Jill."

"Anytime," she said on her way out.

Jesse placed his mug on the table, still very unaware that his family was watching him with amusement. Facing them he smiled and said, "That was nice of her to stop by and check on me."

Dana laughed. "Too bad we were here!"

Sam chuckled.

"What?" Jesse was lost.

"We totally ruined whatever plans she had for you," she told him.

A small frown marred his otherwise smooth forehead. "No way. She was just being friendly. We don't have that kind of relationship."

"Only because you won't let it happen," Samuel put in. "You have this stand-offish European thing going on."

"What?" his brother said again, this time with a laugh. "No, I don't."

"You do, but we Americans are way less subtle."

Jesse laughed, thinking back to the way Jill had addressed him the very first time they had met. "You think." Pause. "But I am not stand-offish."

The trio were ready to leave his apartment a few minutes later to have the third reunion at the airport. They were going back to Long Beach and some Teabs were on their way to Russia so they had planned connecting flights that went through San Francisco just to get a chance to see 'the other Murray boy'.

Though it was a brief meeting, they all expressed gladness at his return and hope that they would see each other again in the near future. It left a broad smile on Jesse's face. The thoughtfulness of their efforts was not lot on him and it had been great seeing them all. His joy at being back in America just kept increasing.

"I wish I had family like this," Dana said, as they strapped in for take-off. She had just commented on what an incredible thing it was that his family had done for him so far, welcoming him home the way they had.

"You do have family like this," Sam said placing a kiss on her cheek. "You're a Murray too."

She smiled wanly. "I guess so."

"No guesses. Sam's right," Jesse told her. "Our family is welcoming and loving not only because it's been a while since I saw them. It's a part of who we are and essentially everyone gets treated that way. I suppose I had forgotten that, being away for so long, but it is how Dad raised me and obviously how Mom raised Sam, too. Everyone matters."

"But it's on both your dad and mom's side," she insisted. "I wish my dad's side of the family was half as loving as yours, babe," Dana finished with tears in her eyes.

Sam put an arm around his wife and kissed her again. "I'm sorry, baby."

Jesse knew that this was a particularly sensitive topic for Dana because she and her twin had been borne out of wedlock when her father had cheated on his wife with their mother. While her father had always provided for them as children, they had been secrets until they were old enough to face the truth. Even though Dana's father was now divorced and he acknowledged his children, his family did not. It still hurt Dana at times like this when the Teabs and Murrays displayed such love and acceptance and Jesse could understand why. The idea of being rejected and scorned by people who shared your bloodlines was inconceivable.

The brief flight touched down and riding in the same car once again, they all headed to the Murray home. On the way there, they passed through the business district where Pearl's office was.

"There's the café I was talking about the other night," Dana said. "Have you spoken to Pearl yet?"

"Set up a date?"

"Yep."

"Cool. She's an awesome human being.

"Hm," was all Jesse said, already thinking of the Teabs' reunion scheduled for that evening.

Samuel, nearly always on the same wavelength as his brother, asked him, "Are you nervous about tonight?"

"Mm… I am."

"They're going to love you. We're way worse than the Murray's," Sam laughed. "For all the pretentious airs everyone always think we must have, we're a down to earth, frank bunch of people."

"They'll pinch your cheeks- and your butt," Dana warned, laughing too.

"What?" Jesse said incredulously.

"Better believe it."

"It's like a rite of passage," Dana teased him.

"Well, tell me who exactly does the pinching?" Jesse chuckled. "If it's those twins from Washington, I'd be ok with it. If it was one of the boys, I might get a little worried."

Sam roared with laughter. "Shania's married now and her sister Nellie runs an upmarket lounge… she would pinch your butt."

"Hell, she offered me a job once," Dana revealed with a grin.

Sam turned to her in surprise. "She did?"

Dana's eyes widened innocently. "I never told you?"

"No. You forgot to mention that detail."

"Hm, I guess I did."

Jesse laughed from the back of the Lincoln. He was glad Dana wasn't upset about her family affairs anymore.

He hated seeing women cry.

Many of his patients had been females who had tried to hide behind the haze of drugs and alcohol to avoid dealing with their issues. The last stages of treatment, when all that remained were the difficult matters in sober people, there were always tears. Something in his nature caused a part of him to melt in such situations. But more often he shut down.

It was strange but Jesse suspected it had to do with the knowledge of how addicts also knew how to manipulate people and bargain with tears. He now had a protective mechanism that allowed him to perform without bias to pain or tears. When he wasn't in doctor mode, he was more likely to falter.

Grateful it wasn't an issue now, Jesse could see his brother and sister-in-law were happy. That was enough for him. He believed that Sam did a great job of taking care of his wife and he suspected that lot of effort was made to ensure that Dana didn't focus too much on where she came from so that she always felt as if she belonged somewhere.

They got Sam and Dana's house and Jesse said he was going to do some emails in the study. He nearly laughed at the relieved and eager look the two exchanged but he knew if he said anything, they probably wouldn't do it. He heard them head toward their bedroom like guilty teenagers as soon as he closed the door on the study.

He knew from experience that there was something about making love on a lazy afternoon that made it special, but with no one to explore the concept with he turned his mind to his emails. Then, once he was through reading and typing, he stretched out on the futon and took a nap.

His mind wandered to the coming week where he would be able to spend time with the intriguing Pearl Guthrie and he wondered if she was the type to indulge in some sensual exploration when in a romantic relationship. The idea of her open to kisses and caresses made Jesse a little restless, so he shut down that line of thinking, remembering what Sam had said about the kind of girl Pearl was. She most likely wasn't going to fall into intimate encounters. And that was a darn shame. Her personality, her looks and even her voice were designed to be enjoyed and appreciated in every way possible, Jesse thought with a chuckle.

Jesse wasn't sure why he was so curious about her, but since the very first time he had met her in the doctor's office Pearl had kind of put distance between the two of them. He knew that the first time she had done so, she had misunderstood his meaning and it was a little silly but he wanted her to see him in a better light. Naturally, it shouldn't have bothered him at all, but there was something about her that kind of pulled him right out of his natural way of doing things, which in this case meant only pursuing someone who wanted to be pursued.

Not that he was pursuing her, his mind pointed out as he began to drift off. She was just too appealing to ignore completely.