Discovery

Chapter 14

Willow was almost bouncing up and down with nervous energy as she, Giles and Xander stood in the arrivals area of the airport, waiting for Booth's plane. Giles had volunteered to drive Willow to LA in order to collect the FBI agent from the airport and Xander had come along, eager to catch his first glimpse of Willow's dad and to see if he looked as much like Angel in real life as his picture did.

Giles and Xander watched as Willow bounced.

"Please tell me you did not give her coffee," Giles dryly said, taking his glasses off to polish them. Xander rolled her eyes.

"Of course not. I may not get Willow-standard grades but I'm not that stupid. Hey, Willow, who gave you coffee?"

"I haven't had any coffee," Willow protested, "I'm just nervous. Why is it that every time I'm nervous, people ask me if I've had coffee? I mean, am I not allowed to nervous because, hey, this is the United States. It's a free country. People are allowed to be as nervous as they like. I live on a Hellmouth, nervousness tends to keep people alive. And what about terrorists? Everyone is nervous about them these days, so why aren't I allowed to be nervous about meeting my dad for the first time in my life?" Willow babbled almost too fast for Xander and Giles to understand, which said a lot, considering Xander always could understand Willow, especially when she was babbling.

"Did she breathe once through that speech?" Xander asked. Giles shook his head.

"No, I don't think she did."

"You done, Willow?" Xander asked gently.

Willow nodded. "I feel better now." She shyly smiled. Xander pulled her into a warm hug.

"You're going to be fine, Will," Xander reassured.

"Why does everyone keep saying that to me?" Willow mumbled into Xander's jacket.

"Because it's true," he replied.

Overhead, the speakers announced that the flight from Washington DC had landed. Willow snuggled closer to Xander and he held her tighter.

"It's okay, Willow," he murmured into her ear. Willow nodded before pulling away, watching and waiting for people to start coming through baggage claim. Willow had no way of telling when the people from her father's flight started coming through. Giles held a sign with the FBI agent's name on it, although they all knew what he looked like. Then Willow felt her breathing catch as she saw him emerge, duffel bag slung over one shoulder.

"Congratulations, Willow, your dad just came first in a brood boy freakish look-alike competition." Xander smirked as Agent Booth spotted them and began to walk over.

Seeing that Willow had appeared to freeze up at the sight of her father, Giles stepped forward.

"Rupert Giles. Special Agent Booth, I presume."

"Yeah," Booth replied, his eyes fixed on Willow, taking her in.

"Welcome to California, Agent Booth. I am the librarian at Willow's high school and I am also in charge of the study group she and her friends are in. She asked that I drive her to the airport today."

Booth glanced at Giles, nodding. "Nice to meet you. Willow's told me a lot about you."

Willow shook her head, coming out of her temporary mind-freeze.

"Hi," she squeaked.

"Hey, Willow, nice to meet you face-to-face at last."

"Yeah. This is one of my best friends, Xander."

"Hey."

"Hi," Xander replied shortly, studying Booth intently with distrust evident on his face. Willow discreetly elbowed him in the stomach.

"Have a nice flight?" Xander continued, deciding that he'd be nice for Willow's sake.

"Not too bad."

"Do you have everything you need to collect?" Giles asked. Booth nodded his head.

"Alright then, we should get back to Sunnydale. It is a long drive back and I would like to be back before sunset."

Willow walked beside her father as they followed Giles and Xander out of the airport.

"Have you been to California before?" Willow asked.

Booth nodded. "Yeah, a couple of times. Have you ever been to Washington before?"

Willow shook her head. "I've never been out of California. My parents... Well, you know, the Rosenbergs didn't like taking me with them when they went away."

Booth frowned at that piece of news. Parker had traveled more with him than Willow ever had with her parents and he didn't even have sole custody. Heck, depending on how this trip went, he was considering bringing Parker with him the next time he visited.

Willow ducked her head and hid her face behind her curtain of red hair as they walked through the parking garage, her nervous returning full blast. Xander noticed the gesture and sighed. This wasn't awkward at all, was it?

"So, Agent Booth, what do you have planned for your trip?' he asked conversationally, trying to break the ice and slight tension that crackled in the air around them.

"I would like to get to know Willow and to meet some of her friends," Booth replied honestly, still debating whether or not he liked the dark-haired boy. Xander nodded, accepting the answer. They were silent until they reached Giles' car. Giles opened up the trunk for Booth's bag, grateful that he'd cleared out all the weaponry that usually took up residence in his car. He had a feeling that the discovery of a large amount of weaponry by the FBI agent would put a dampener on the meeting between father and daughter, even though the weaponry was all legal.

Willow and Xander climbed into the back seat while Giles and Booth sat in the front seats. Giles started the car and headed of the car park exit.

"What kinds of cases do you work on, Agent Booth? Willow's never said what area of the FBI you work in." Giles asked politely as they drove out of the car park and out onto the highway.

"I investigate homicides. Mainly ones where the remains have had some amount of damage," Booth replied, not going into much detail, "I work closely with a forensic anthropologist and her team at the Jeffersonian Institute in D.C."

"Cool," Xander commented from the back seat before he turned to Willow. "What's a forensic anthropologist?" he whispered. Booth heard the question and grinned. Few people knew just from her job title what it was she actually did.

"Someone who studies the bones of people who have died to find out how they died, what their lives were like, who they were and, if they were murdered, who did it," Willow quietly explained to Xander. In the front seat, Booth was quietly impressed at the accuracy of her response, even though he had mentioned it in an email. She probably had already known. His daughter was obviously just a little bit Squinty.

And he was proud of it.