Discovery

Chapter 15

Giles dropped Booth and Willow off at her parents' house and she led the FBI agent to the front door.

"Your parents aren't going to mind me staying here?" Booth asked. Willow smiled and shook her head.

"No, they don't know. They're in Paris at the moment, lecturing at Notre Dame, so I don't think they're going to find out."

Willow opened up the door and let them in, leaving her invitation unspoken, just in case. Booth stepped over the threshold easily, so Willow relaxed marginally. She led him up the stairs and showed him the guest room, pointing out the kitchen, the lounge room, her bedroom and the bathroom along the way, before she left him in the room and went down to the kitchen to boil some water for coffee.

Booth glanced around the house. Although it was pleasantly warm outside, the house felt cold to him and unlived-in. Although there were plenty of ornaments and paintings hanging on the walls, there were no personal touches, no photos that decorated the walls or tables, no mother's or father's day gifts that had been made by Willow when she was younger. There was nothing unique about the house and Booth found it slightly unnerving.

He went back downstairs, having left his bags up in his room, and found Willow in the kitchen.

"Would you like something to drink?' she asked.

"Coffee is fine," Booth said and Willow quickly made up the drink. Then she led him into the lounge room.

"So, what would you like to talk about?" Willow nervously asked.

Booth took a sip off his coffee and bit his lip. "You have a younger brother," he told her. "His name is Parker and he's six years old. I have joint custody of him with his mother and he comes and visits me sometimes on weekends."

Willow smiled happily. "What's he like? Does he look like you? What about his mom? Does he know about me? Does he want to see me? Does he hate me for stealing his Dad? You weren't supposed to have him this weekend, were you? Wow, I've got a little brother. That means I'm the only Scooby with a sibling, unless Giles has a brother or sister, but then he never mentioned having one. Of course, Angel had a little sister, but yeah..."

Willow faded off when she saw the look on Booth's face. His mouth hung slightly open, as if he was in shock.

"Um, yeah, did I mention that I babble?" Willow grinned sheepishly.

Booth laughed. "I get what you mean now. Did you even breathe during that?"

Willow smiled shyly, shook her head and Booth chuckled.

"In answer to your questions, or as many of them as I can remember, Parker likes sports, especially soccer and playing catch. He likes science and loves going to the Jeffersonian. He looks a little bit like me but he takes a bit after his mom as well. Here, I have a photo of him." Booth took a photo out of his pocket and gave it to Willow. Parker had picked out the photo himself, insisting that 'Daddy gave it to Willow so she knows what I look like.'

"Aw, he's so cute. He looks like you, I think."

"I don't know, I saw the photo of you in one of your mother's books when you were about his age, and I think he looks a bit like you. He's very excited about having a big sister and he really wants to see you at some point, whether it means him coming here or you coming to visit me at some point, if you want to. I just thought this first time it would be better for it to be just me coming to see you. He doesn't hate you for taking me away and no, next weekend is when I have him when we'll do Thanksgiving together."

"Oh, that's okay then. I wouldn't want to cut into his time with you because little boys need lots of bonding time with their dads and, since you don't get to see him very often, it wouldn't be good for him to miss out but it's not an issue, so it doesn't really matter... and I'm babbling again. Sorry, I'm kind of nervous. I've never done this before. You know, talked to my dad for the first time. Well, technically, it's the second time but I was, like, one the first time so it doesn't really count."