Jax rubbed his hands tensely as he shifted on the beige sofa, barely able to concentrate as he waited for Caitlin to return with Abel, whom she had gone to pick up from Erin.

He was grateful for her trust that she let him wait in her apartment so he could prepare a little better to tell Abel the truth. Would he do the talking? Or was it better if he let Caitlin do the talking and explain everything? How would Abel even react?

His son wasn't even four yet, who knew if he would even understand what was going on. On the other hand, he had spent enough time with Abel to know that his son was attentive and understood things that some kids his age didn't.

But it didn't matter how nervous he was, the joy of finally being able to tell his son who he was was far outweighed. And as much as he would have wished Caitlin's marriage had lasted, he was glad it didn't. Otherwise Abel would be calling someone else dad now. Now, however, there was a chance that Abel would soon call him dad.

A smile crossed his lips at the idea.

When he heard the key turning in the lock, he took another deep breath and rubbed each side of his nose with the side of his fingers before he looked at the door that led into the living room. Abel was already running up to greet him.

"Hi Jax!" Beaming, the almost four year old climbed onto the couch next to him and let his feet dangle. "Look, Mommy and I just found them!"

Pleased with Abel's open manner towards him, he looked into Abel's hands, which he had formed into a bowl, and looked at a few stones, while Jax just chuckled. It was nice and refreshing to see how the simplest things made kids happy.

"Wow, they look great, buddy", he said enthusiastically, ruffling Abel's blonde hair. "I like this one", he added as he tapped on one of the darker stones.

"You can have it!" With his tongue pressed intently against his upper lip, he opened Jax' hands after letting the stones fall into his lap and then placed two stones in Jax' palms. "These are yours now. I already gave one to Mommy, too."

"He did", the redhead said with a smirk, who had been watching the scene from the velvet chair opposite the couch, and showed him the stone that Abel had given her. "Stone collecting, along with leaves, is his passion."

"I can see that", Jax replied with a laugh, his gaze briefly lingering on Caitlin, whose soft, heartwarming laugh was like music to his ears.

Why was he so excited about everything this woman did? Shit, she didn't even have to do anything for him to like her. He could spend hours simply watching her or listening to her gentle voice that was already imprinted in his mind.

"So." Caitlin put the coat that was lying on her lap aside before resting her elbows on her knees, now also looking a little nervous. She couldn't wait any longer, afraid that she could change her mind. "Abel, would you please listen to us for a moment?"

Abel, who was busy sorting his new stones, looked up and nodded eagerly.

"Do you want to tell him?", the redhead asked, looking at Jax, who kneaded his hand nervously.

Jax nodded slightly, the corner of his mouth turned up. "I think I can explain it better. So yeah, if it's okay for you, I'm gonna do it."

He turned more to Abel, who was looking up at him curiously, impatiently waiting to hear what the two adults wanted to tell him. Jax scooted a little closer to him and now rested his elbows on his legs as well, his hands folded and placed against his forehead as he thought about how best to start.

"It's okay, you don't have to be nervous." As Abel patted his arm, trying to take Jax' nervousness away, the blonde looked at the little boy and swallowed quietly.

How could he give him away back then? How could he ever agree to Abel being taken away from him? And at the same time he noticed once again how well Caitlin had raised him and how caring Abel was, which meant that Caitlin had done everything right, whom he looked at for a second.

There were already tears in her eyes, probably because she was so touched by Abel's kind nature. And he could understand.

"Come on, tell him", she encouraged him with a brave smile. "He's yours too."

"Huh?" Confused, Abel looked up at Jax, who was now giving his son his full attention.

"You know, sometimes people do things that they later regret and then feel really sad about. And that's exactly what happened to me", Jax began, still searching for the right words while pushing his hair back. "When you were a baby, you lived somewhere else, with me. And do you know why?"

Abel shook his head, trying hard to understand everything. But until now he found it all a bit confusing. "No why? And where was Mommy?"

"Your mommy was here in Ireland. And before that, you lived with me because I'm your dad, Abel. Unfortunately something happened back then and I lost you here in Ireland..after which your mommy found you and always looked after you until I found you again last week." Jax's voice became quieter and increasingly nervous as he studied Abel's facial features closely.

"You lost me?!" With a gasp, Abel looked up at Jax, whose story was starting to make sense. However, Abel was still not able to fully understand everything. But he had recorded the most important thing. "So why didn't Mommy call you when she found me?"

"Because I didn't know your daddy back then, sweetie", Caitlin chimed in, getting up from the chair and sitting down on the empty seat next to her son. "It was all a bit complicated, you know? But what's important is that Jax found you again and you can finally get to know your dad, right?"

There was relief and concern in Caitlin's watery eyes, one hand resting gently on Abel's back. Jax looked at her for a while, not missing how emotional this moment was for her. Nobody knew how Abel would react, whether he would even understand it and Jax understood how much nerves this conversation must have cost Caitlin.

Without thinking twice, he reached out and placed his hand on her leg. "And I'm glad your mommy found you, no one could've looked after you better than she did", his gaze remained on Caitlin, whose throat only let out a quiet sob.

The fear that Jax wanted to get rid of her now that Abel knew the truth had been on her mind the whole time. Turned out that fear had been just in her head. Instead, he even put in a good word for her, which she really appreciated.

"Don't be sad, Mommy!" Startled, Abel looked up at his mother and put his hand on her leg, right next to Jax', and widened his eyes. "Why are you crying?"

"I didn't want you to get all worried, I'm sorry", she sniffled, quickly wiping a few stray tears from her pale pink cheeks, then placing a hand on Abel's cheek. "I'm not sad, sweetie. I'm just happy your dad's back, you know? Now you finally have one you can spend time with, too."

Even though she knew Abel was happy, she had never missed the way he looked when he saw other children with their fathers. Whether on the playground, in the cinema or while shopping, Abel's eyes always stayed on the children who were out with their fathers.

"So you're crying because you're so happy?", the boy asked, still slightly worried, not quite sure whether he should believe his mommy. But when she nodded, he showed her a toothy smile. "It's okay, mommy. I'm happy, too"

"Are you?" Jax questioned hopefully, uncertainty written all over his face. "I know this is probably a lot for you all at once."

"Yeah, I am", Abel nodded enthusiastically, his smile reaching his eyes that shone with excitement. "Now I have a daddy and a mommy, just like the other kids!"

"I'm so glad you're happy, sweetie." Caitlin's emotion-filled voice spoke again before she pulled Abel into a hug and held him close, his breath tickling her ear as the four year old giggled and wrapped his little arms around her neck.

"Love you, mommy", he said happily before pulling away from Caitlin and crawling over to Jax before planting a kiss on his cheek. "And you too. Should I call you daddy or Jax?"

"We love you too, baby." Caitlin broke out in tears again. Tears from earlier flowed down her cheeks again. All her emotions were probably going crazy, which was understandable in such a situation.

But Jax also had to swallow when Abel came right up to him and kissed his cheek. He didn't question anything, accepted things as they were and was happy. Before the conversation, the blonde had gone through every worst case scenario about how this conversation could have ended here. He didn't expect it to go so well.

Now Jax was even more relieved and pulled Abel onto his lap before caressing his cheek with the back of his fingers. "I'm glad you're happy, buddy. You have no idea how much I missed you and how much it hurt me not to see you for so long", he croaked, his eyes moist.

"And you can call me whatever you want. If you want you can call me dad or daddy, I would be happy. But it's totally fine if you want to keep calling me Jax", he assured his son, running a hand over Abel's head. "But maybe we should ask your mommy if she's okay with that first, okay?"

"Now you can always see me whenever you want", the almost four year old beamed, who didn't quite understand that Jax didn't live here and wouldn't just move in now, that's how Abel imagined it. But first he looked at his mommy and smiled sweetly. "Can I call Jax daddy now? And is he moving in with us?"

"Of course you can if you want." Caitlin's weak smile faded at Abel's next question, she looked at Jax uncertainly, then back at her son, whose small hands she clasped in hers. "No sweetie, Jax isn't moving in with us. He doesn't live here but in California, that's in America."

"But if he's my daddy then he has to live with us", Abel stated confused and furrowed his eyebrows. "Are we moving in with him?"

"No baby, we won't either." She sighed softly when she saw a glimmer of sadness flash in Abel's eyes. "But we're flying back with Jax in a few days so you can spend more time with him and meet the rest of your family. They're all looking forward to meeting you", she said, trying to cheer up her son a little.

"I want to meet everyone", he said with a shy smile, tilting his head to the side. "And then daddy's coming back with us?"

Now it was Jax who spoke up, seeing that Caitlin was at the end of her answers and didn't know what to say to her son. But he saw that she didn't want to break Abel's heart with the truth that he and Jax wouldn't see each other that often.

"You know what, buddy, now we're going to fly to California and you'll get to know everyone. And then your mom and I will plan everything else, okay?" He looked encouragingly at his son and placed a kiss on his head. "Why don't you pick out some games you wanna bring with you, hm? We'll be right with you and can pack for our little trip, okay?"

"Okay!" The big smile on Abel's face was back as he climbed off Jax's lap and ran excitedly to his room. Only when the tapping of his little footsteps could no longer be heard did Jax speak again after taking Caitlin's hands in his. "I hope that was okay, I didn't know what else to tell him."

"No, don't worry, that was okay." Caitlin waved her hand and sniffled again. However, this time out of desperation. "He already got attached to you. It will break his heart if we fly back home without you."

"I don't know how, but we'll find a solution, okay?" Jax slowly ran his thumbs over the smooth, soft backs of her hands as he looked at her intensely, even if he himself had no idea how they'd do it.

"I hope so, I really do", she just whispered and found herself in Jax's arms a few seconds later, where she simply accepted his closeness and calmed down surprisingly quickly, while he tried to take some of the worries that were plaguing her away.