Discovery

Chapter 37

Willow closed her eyes and tilted her head back against the headrest of her seat on the airplane that carried her back to L.A. She reflected on her journey and on the memories she had created... visiting the lab, going to the park with Parker, the snowball fight that she, Parker, Booth, Zach and Sweets had all participated in on New Year's Day, the smiles that broke out on the faces of Booth, Parker, and the Jeffersonian team as they opened up her gifts for them, the grins of anticipation on their faces as Willow opened up the small gifts the team had gotten her. Willow had been surprised when Angela, Zach, Hodgins, Sweets, Bones and Cam had all given her a gift.

Willow lifted her hand, feeling the warmth of the green scarf that Hodgins had given her (having confessed that Angela had picked it out for him) along with a sketch Angela had drawn of Willow, Booth and Parker together. Willow was already planning on framing the picture and hanging it up in her bedroom in Sunnydale. Her gaze dropped to her carry-on bag, stowed safely under the seat in front of her, which contained her gift from Dr. Brennan, two of the forensic anthropologist's books, which she had signed before giving them to Willow.

Cam's gift to Willow had been more personal, however. A small photo album containing photos of Willow's mother, both alone and with others. Hodgins had laughed at a few of the images that had Booth in them but the other squints all thought it was a touching gift. Willow knew that she would treasure it forever, images of the mother who had been forced from her comfortable life because she had fallen pregnant with Willow and had later died alone, sick and malnourished from her inability to support herself financially.

Zach too had chosen something deep and meaningful to give to Willow. The little carved wooden animal he had shyly presented to her was tucked in her suitcase, along with the note on which Zach explained that in some cultures, the wooden carvings was presented as a token of friendship. It was a very sweet gesture and, as Angela commented, so very Zach-like.

Now, though, she was leaving the Jeffersonian behind and returning to California. Willow had called Buffy, Xander and Giles the previous day and had been relieved to discover that things had been relatively quiet on the hellmouth over the Christmas break. Still, Willow knew that it would most likely be the calm before the storm and that the next supernatural menace to threaten the world's continuing existence was never far away.

Shifting restlessly in her seat, Willow retrieved her book and opened it up to where she was up to, immersing herself in the story that Dr. Brennan had weaved using clever plot points and the knowledge she collected through the cases she solved. One day Zach had told her about Angela's belief that Brennan based her characters on her teammates. Now that she knew the members of the team more, Willow agreed with the artist completely and wondered if, in a future book, there would be a character based on her. She felt her face go red at the prospect. The idea of thousands of people reading about her, or a character based on her, made her mouth feel dry. Still, it would be something to talk about back in Sunnydale. Willow was certain that Cordelia hadn't been the inspiration behind a character of a novel written by a widely known and read author.

BtVS/BONES

Zach hesitated before he tentatively knocked on the door to Booth's office. He knew what he was about to do would probably lead to him being fired from the Jeffersonian and could get him imprisoned, or even killed if the master... Gormagon learned of it before he was captured. Despite all of this, Zach knew he had to do it. It was his duty, to his country and to his friends and family.

Initially, what Gormagon had told Zach had made sense and had appealed to Zach's logical nature but then Zach had met Willow, at some point during their discussions while they toured the Jeffersonian had Zach realized the truth... that Gormagon was grooming him to become a murderer and Zach had been, in a way, rationalizing murder.