"But either way, I got you in my DNA."

[slowsouthernstyle]

Who: Jesse Hartley and Cillian O'Donovan
What: A simple twist of AncestryDNA
Where: Hartley/Turner/Casey Home, NYC
When: After this and this

Jesse finished loading their bed clothes in the washing machine when he heard the doorbell chime and checked his watch for the time. The morning had started out pretty badly and time really got away from him but he wasn't foreign to a bit of chaos from time to time. There was just more than their fair share of it in the family lately. At least Merlin was being discharged from hospital, which was a weight off everyone's mind now he was on the mend.

Then Jace had a seizure when he went to the grocery store with Nana Turner, so Jesse had turned down shifts at work for the rest of the week so he could take care of him for what would inevitably be a few days out of action. Jace slept most of yesterday away but he was really struggling with is functioning, so needed Jesse's help with everything. When he woke up that morning, he was a little more lucid but ended up having an accident in bed when his brain misfired the messages to his body. He was feeling pretty miserable and wanted to go back to bed to sleep once Jesse got everything cleaned up and remade the bed. Jesse gave him a kiss and a cuddle, tucking him in and telling him to just call out if he needed help. Jesse would keep a close eye on him anyway, in case there were any aftershock seizures.

Regardless of that, he still had every intention of keeping his promise to Merlin to reach out to Cillian for a chat. Even if it was just to get a bit more information and clarity around who he was and what intentions he had. He hoped that it helped allay some of Merlin's anxiety about the whole thing and help him make the massive decisions he faced. He spent a lot of time with Merlin the evening before last, asking him what he wanted to know of Cillian and if there was anything he wanted Jesse not to get into. No matter what happened, it was going to be difficult. Jesse knew that, having gone through meeting his own paternal biological family. Luckily for him, that all turned out pretty amazing but he knew it could just have easily gone the other way.

He went to answer the door and as soon as he opened it, couldn't help being surprised to not find someone standing there but sitting... in a wheelchair. There was no doubting it was guy in the photo from AncestryDNA that Merlin had shown them, though, so he smiled and offered his hand. "Cillian? I'm Jesse. It's nice to meet you in person."

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[somethinglikemagic]

Cillian wasn't sure what he was expecting in 'one of Merlin's brothers', as Jesse had introduced himself by text. Despite much urging and even an attempt to dare him from his younger sister to stalk Merlin and his family online, Cillian had resisted. It wasn't him and it wasn't how he wanted to start any sort of relationship with his son, if he even got the chance to have that. This didn't guarantee anything. In fact, it sounded like Merlin wasn't sure at all, hence why he had asked Jesse to speak with him before he made any big choices. Of course, he had revealed to his own family that Merlin, the laddie who had cropped up on his AncestryDNA match as his freaking biological son was one Merlin Blake (nee Larson), who was not only the sidekick of Justin Campbell, a huge young triple-threat teen superstar, but also married to Brandon Blake, a mid-twenties-ish start of a excessively popular TV show. It just so happened - of course - that not only were Cillian's sisters both fans of both but so were others in his family. It was beyond a mindfuck. Cillian still had barely processed any of it. He was too distracted by the fact he knew the kid who was his biological was sick in hospital with complications of a disease that could absolutely run in families, so he likely passed it on to him via his genes. Still, his sister ended up texting with him late the night before to say she couldn't resist a bit of stalking herself and although she obviously found a lot on Brandon, she didn't find a whole lot on Merlin or his family. Even his Wikipedia page and Broadway profile were threadbare with basic facts. The only real mention she could find of anything significant was that it was Merlin who outed Brandon when his life was on the line following a stem cell transplant for leukemia where Merlin himself was the donor, and interview where he referenced finding out he was adopted in his late teens and scoring another big brother in the process. He said nothing else of his family, biological or otherwise. Although Cillian was peeved his sister went against his wishes, he was relieved to hear Merlin obviously valued his privacy and worked to maintain it, which was the feeling he got after talking to Brandon that day. He didn't know how to do any of this, let alone be a biological father of a guy who was obviously a celebrity but preferred to hold the celebrity world at arm's length. Hopefully, that would make the whole process easier, if that was even possible.

What he definitely wasn't anticipating was for Jesse to look like a supermodel. Brandon had too, obviously, but more in an of an edgy way. Jesse looked like he could step onto the frontpage of any fashion magazine as a Calvin Klein model and shit all over the other models. For some reason, he expected him to look like Merlin. There was definitely a resemblance there, though, so Jesse had to be a biological brother, so likely shared a mum. He didn't want to make any assumptions, though. As far as he was concerned, that was why this meeting was happening, so no one made assumptions. He shook Jesse's hand with a smile. "Cillian," he confirmed. "It's a pleasure t'meet ya', mate. Are ya' really sure it's okay with ya' husband poorly? As ya' can see, I'd more than understand the reality o' livin' long-term with a serious injury. I'm also a doctor, so I understand the challenges o' epilepsy, for patients and carers both. I don't wanna impose."