Discovery

Chapter 6

That night, Willow lay on her bed in the guest bedroom of Buffy's house, gazing thoughtfully out the window at the stars.
"Are you alright, Willow?" Joyce asked from the doorway, holding two mugs in her hands. Willow jumped, having not noticed Buffy's mother.
"Yeah, I'm okay."
"Buffy told me about your mother. I'm sorry."
"It's okay, it's not like I knew her. It's more my dad that I'm worried about."
"Your dad?" Joyce walked into the room and handed Willow one of the mugs. Willow inhaled and smiled as the delicious scent of Joyce's hot chocolate wafted up at her from the mug.
"Yeah, he's an FBI agent in Washington DC. He works homicide cases with Temperance Brennan, you know, the author."
"Oh, that's quite exciting. I have one of her books, it's very good."
"Yeah, it is. The thing is, I don't know how I should go about contacting him, or even if I should. I mean, he was only eighteen, he was about to go to war. It's been a long time. And did I mention that I found a photo of him on the FBI database, and he looks a lot like Angel. The others are going to be so freaked out. I mean, my Dad looking like a slightly older version of Angel, even though that's kind of impossible, but you know what I mean, that's just weird, even by Hellmouth standards."
"Willow, I think you should do whatever it is your heart tells you to do. Stop thinking, and just let your heart guide you," Counseled Joyce, "And in regards to your father resembling Angel, well, maybe he's a distant descendant or something? Angel did live a long time ago, It's highly possible that he has relatives all over the world. Just think, if your father and Angel are related, it means you've had a blood relative in Sunnydale this whole time."
"But I always think. I never let my heart guide me." Willow said in a small voice.
"Maybe it's time for a change." Joyce said with a smile. Willow hesitated, before nodding nervously.
"Okay. I'm going to contact him; I just don't know how I'm going to do it." Willow said, her resolve face falling into place, before she let it drop for a moment.
"Xander isn't going to take it well, he doesn't like Angel. If he starts calling me Brood Girl or something, I'm going to hit him."
"Why does Xander not like Angel anyway?"
"He's jealous that Angel has Buffy. Or, at least, it used to be that, but now it's more of just because Xander can't let go of the way he used to feel about Angel. I don't get it, I mean, Angel's always been nice to us."
Joyce nodded understandingly, "One thing I know, Willow, is that trying to understand the mind of a male is both tiring, and ultimately, an impossible task. I've had many years of practices, and I still can't do it. Maybe Xander will surprise you."
"I guess so" Willow admitted
BtVS/XO BtVS/XO BtVS/XO BtVS/XO BtVS/XO
Willow stared nervously at the computer screen, drumming her fingers nervously on the computer desk in front of her. It was a typical Friday night, and the Scooby gang was in the library researching, or rather, Giles, Cordy, and Xander were researching, while Buffy and Angel were out patrolling. Xander and Cordelia had arranged to meet them at the Bronze once Patrol was over.
Willow and Jenny were the only ones in the library that were not researching. Willow had decided that she would email her father, using the contact email address she could get off his FBI file, and Jenny would be providing moral support for her.
Willow had chosen email for four simple reasons. Firstly, she knew that if she was on the phone she would be highly nervous, and babble uncontrollably, and would be impossible for her dad to understand. Secondly, she could have a plan f what she was going to say and stick to it with a email, which would prevent babbling, thirdly, his email address was on his file, and his phone number was not, and fourthly, Willow was sure that the news she was set to give him would probably be a huge shock, and he might need time to process the information. To stop Willow having to repeat herself, which would probably promote further babbling, an email would be easier because it could be reread, printed out, reread again, and referenced.
Willow exhaled nervously and began to type into the empty new message box she had brought up. She had decided that she would link it up to her private email, the one she used for non hell mouth related activities and messages. She knew that the FBI would be able to track the email down to the Sunnydale high school library computer, which would most probably lead them right to her.
Jenny patted her shoulder reassuringly as Willow read the email off the scrap of paper she had written it down on.
"s dot booth at sign Hoover dot FBI dot us dot gov." As she read it, Willow typed it into the addressee box. Then she clicked n the subject box.
"Um, what should I put here?" she asked out loud.
"Something that will get his attention," Jenny advised. Willow nodded and typed.
IMPORTANT! PLEASE READ
"That will do nicely." Jenny smiled. Willow nodded and clocked onto the main message box. She let out a breath that she hadn't realized that she was holding, before beginning to type.
Dear Mr. Booth,
My name is Willow Rosenberg. I am sixteen years old. I live in Sunnydale, California, and I am in my Junior Year of High school at Sunnydale High.
I recently found out I was adopted when I found my adoption papers up in our attic when I was cleaning up. I wrote to the adoption company that my adoption was done through, and they gave me the name of my mother and of my possible father as well. My mother's name was Carmen Stuart, and the name that she put on my Birth certificate, and on the adoption papers as my biological father, was yours. I was born on the seventh of October 1991.
I am sorry that I have dropped this on you so suddenly, and that I have dredged up the past. You're probably happy with a family on your own, and now I come along. I shall understand completely if you don't wish to have anything to do with me. I just thought you should know, although you possibly do already know. Just in case you didn't know, like I did up until a few weeks ago, I'm letting you know now.
Sorry, I have a tendency to babble when I'm nervous, which is why I'm doing this by email. If we were on the phone, you probably wouldn't be able to understand me.
If you want to get in contact, I can be most easily reached on this email address.
Yours Sincerely,
Willow Rosenberg
Willow glanced over her shoulder at Jenny, "What do you think?" she asked. Jenny nodded. "It tells him everything you wanted to say."
"Okay then," Willow smiled, before she hit the send button, and sent the message off into cyberspace.
BtVS/XO BtVS/XO BtVS/XO BtVS/XO BtVS/XO WASHINGTON DC, HOOVER BUILDING
(Yay, finally into Bones Territory)
Seeley Booth dropped into his office chair, letting it spin once, before he faced his computer switching it on. Even though it was a Saturday, he had been roped into heading into the office by the large stack of reports and other paperwork that had accumulated during his and Bones' last case, which they had solved yesterday.
Booth logged into his computer and sighed, running his eyes and stretching his back. At least he wasn't supposed to have Parker this weekend.
Booth's eyes flickered over to a framed photo of his son that he kept on his desk. Parker beamed at him from beneath the glass, his blonde curls tousled from the game of touch football he and his dad had just shared. The photo always made Booth smile. Today was no exception.
Booth smiled and turned back to his computer, getting onto his email, like he did every morning when he logged onto his computer. He hoped there would be a new message from Bones, although she rarely emailed him, preferring to all him, or just come and see him. Sweets, on the other hand, always was sending Booth, and the rest of the squints, for that matter, emails, usually just joke emails that made their way around offices. Booth liked them, and if he thought they were particularly funny, he would forward them on. If not, he deleted them.
Of course, Sweets also sent annoying messages to Booth and Bones about when their next session was. They were always deleted straight after reading.
When his in-box opened, Booth let out a sigh of relief. No emails from Sweets, but no emails from Bones either. Just one from his boss reminding him about when his reports were due, and one from a certain Willow Rosenberg with a subject that said "IMPORTANT! PLEASE READ."
Booth frowned, and checked his Virus protection program was on and functioning 100 percent. Once before he had clicked on an email from someone he didn't know, and had gotten a virus onto his computer that had tried to delete all of the evidence files and case reports on his computer. Thankfully he'd had back ups of everything, but he'd gotten into trouble with his boss. He'd learned from the mistake.
Cautiously, he clicked on the message. It opened up quickly, which informed him that it was short, and not very big. It was reassuring, since he figured Viruses would be fairly large, and take a long time to load up.
The message came up on his screen, and Booth read it, his mouth slowly dropping open as he read. He reached the end, and read it through again, then a third time.
Memories came flooding back to him of the small, impish red head that had held his heart throughout his junior and senior years of high school. Carmen Stuart had arrived at the high school Booth and Cam attended at the start of their junior year, and had quickly become friends with him. Booth had quickly become infatuated with the petite red head with the enchanting smile and the green eyes that Booth could so easily get lost in. By Christmas time of their junior year, Seeley and Carmen had been going out. Booth had looked after her when her beloved grandmother had died, and she'd helped him watch out for Jared. Booth's pop had loved the girl like she was his own granddaughter, and approved immensely of her. She went to the same church as the Booth family, and quite often the Booths and the Stuarts sat together. Throughout their senior year they had gone out, and Booth had taken Carmen to the prom. They had even got into the same college. Carmen was their high school valedictorian, and Booth had cheered the loudest at the end of her speech. That summer they slept together for the first time, and had discussed getting married, but both had decided that they would wait until after college. College had then started, and Carmen had flourished in the academic environment. Booth had majored in sports, but he had already begun thinking of following in his father's and grandfather's footsteps and joining the army. Carmen had supported him in his dream, and they had celebrated when he had been successfully enlisted. She, along with Pops and Jared had waved him off at the airport when he'd shipped out in May, and when he came home, Jared and Cam had told him that only a couple of months after he'd left, Carmen had dropped out of college and disappeared. No one had seen her since. Then, years later, he'd been called in to identify her body, found several years after her apparent suicide.
This girl said she was born in October 1991. The timing certainly matched. Booth blinked, realizing all of a sudden that, for the last sixteen years, he'd possibly had a daughter. He wondered what she looked like. He hoped she looked like her mother, with the rich red hair, and emerald green eyes.
Booth read the email again, and then hit the print button. He grabbed the printed email, and clicked out of his email account, locking his computer for security, before he hurried out of his office, determined to go and see a certain young psychologist.