Discovery

Chapter 16

That evening Willow cooked dinner for her and her dad before they sat down together at the couch and ate. Once they had finished eating, Willow pulled out the photo albums of her growing up and shyly placed it in front of Booth. Booth flicked the book open and felt his heart melt at the picture of baby Willow that graced the front cover. She was obviously a newborn, only a few days old, if that. Already, tufts of red hair stuck out from the sleeping infant's head and her fingers curled around the blanket she was wrapped in. In the corner of the page was a birth announcement, obviously cut from a newspaper.

Sheila and Ira Rosenberg are pleased to announce the arrival of the new addition to their household: Willow Danielle Rosenberg, born on the 7th of October, 1991, weighing 6 pounds, 9 ounces.

Willow had been a lot smaller than Parker had been when they'd been born, but then Booth guessed that eating well might not have been a high priority for Carmen when she'd been running away from home and struggling to find a roof over her head. Rebecca had been very well-looked after throughout her pregnancy by comparison.

Booth opened the next page and saw photos of various people holding baby Willow, including Ira and Sheila as well as people that he didn't know. Willow pointed out her grandparents and her great-aunt, who had all died during her childhood.

As the pages were turned, the baby in the photo grew up, usually alone doing something cute. The photos were captioned and Booth saw photos that were supposedly Willow crawling for the first time, standing supported for the first time, taking her first steps. Her first birthday was heavily documented with cards tucked into the book securely.

The photos continued on into Willow's second year of life, thinning a little from the first year but still plentiful. Willow looked a lot like Parker when they were both younger with the obvious exception of her hair and eye color.

With each page that Booth turned, the photos of Willow showed how she grew up into a little girl. There was a photo of her and her parents on the first day of kindergarten and the next photo, obviously taken at the school, featured Willow and a little boy coloring together, smiling happily.

"That's me and Xander. He's been my best friend ever since my first day of kindergarten."

"It's a long time. I'm glad he's been such a good friend for you."

"He's... he's always been there," Willow said. "Buffy's always been there too, for as long as I've known her, but I haven't known her for as long as I have Xander."

"How old were you here?" Booth asked, looking at the next photo, one of Willow sitting on a slide.

"I was four. I started a year early because my parents thought I needed the interactions with other children and I was smart enough to start my education. I was already able to read basic words then. I was counting well and I was writing a little."

Booth smiled, proud of his daughter's early achievements in an academic environment.

"I guess that explains why you're a little younger than the other kids in your year level."

"Yeah, Xander's a full year older than me and Cordelia's birthday is next week, so there's 11 months between us. Buffy's birthday is in January though, so it's not so bad, and Angel, um, we've never heard when his birthday is but he doesn't really celebrate it. And, well, he's a bit older than us anyway."

Booth frowned. "How much older?"

"Um, er, I think he's maybe in his mid twenties, but it's okay though, because he and Buffy aren't doing anything, um, kinky. Yep, no kink or naughty no-clothes time for Angel and Buffy. He's very responsible and he doesn't act like he's that much older. He's kind of quiet and he broods a bit. A lot, maybe. He's really cool though, and he looks out for us, he's like my big brother. And I'm babbling. I'll stop now."