Discovery

Chapter 5

Lunchtime at Sunnydale high found the Scooby Gang, including Jenny, and excluding Angel, in the school library, clustered around Willow. Willow had pulled up the missing person's report for her mother, and the attached report for her death so the others could take a look. Buffy and Cordelia both had tears in their eyes as they read, and Xander was unusually quiet. Giles had taken his glasses off and was polishing them. Jenny hand a comforting hand on Willow's shoulder.
Once they had finished reading, Buffy, Xander, and much to Willow's surprise, Cordelia pulled her into a group hug. Giles and Jenny watched as the three older teens comforted the slightly younger one, offering support and reassurance to their distressed friend. The four of them, worlds apart in some ways, and yet so alike in others. A Slayer, a hacker, a cheerleader, and a class clown, bound and united together by the Hellmouth, and their own unique friendship.
Willow was the first to pull out of the hug, her eyes moist with tears, "Thanks guys" she whispered, "it means a lot to me. Hopefully my dad's going to be in a more alive state than my mom." Willow let a small smile cross her face
"That's the spirit, Wills," Xander grinned supportively. Willow nodded, and turned back to her computer, getting out of the missing persons site, and following Xander's instructions to getting into the military database.
By the time lunchtime was over, Willow had only just got into the site. She had a spare, thankfully, and so did Xander. Buffy and Cordelia went off to class together, as did Jenny, who had to teach, leaving Giles and the two teens in the library. Giles went into his office to do some research, not that it was needed, but it gave him something to do while the teenagers were using that god fangled machine.
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Willow and Xander sat side by side in front of the computer as they searched for Seeley Booth. They had to go to class soon, and Xander was getting annoyed. It was slow work. Willow was getting anxious, fears and doubts chasing one another through her head. With a sigh, she pushed the keyboard away from her and leaned forward on the desk.
"Wills, what's wrong?"
"He probably has a perfectly fine life without me, Xander. He's probably married, with kids. He's not going to want me. Like I said this morning to Ms. Calender, he isn't going to want the child he fathered just out of high school. I could wreck his life by contacting him. What if he never got over my mom leaving, and blames me for her death. What if he's dead too? I don't know how I could go knowing that both my biological parents are dead." Willow babbled, getting more and more distressed with every word she spoke. Xander hushed her soothingly.
"Shhh, Willow, It's going to be okay. You dad is going to love you, and if he has kids then they're going to love their really cool big sister as well, alright. He was nineteen when you were born, Willow. I kind of doubt that he was already married at that point of time, so it's not like your parents were having an affair. You aren't going to wreck his life. It'll be okay, Willow. Even if he is dead, you've got Giles, and Buffy's mom, and Ms. Calender. They all treat you like you're their daughter anyway. And you have us, me, Buffy, Cordy and Dead boy. We all love you too, Willow, well, in the non boy-girl sense... You know what I mean."
Willow giggled at Xander's awkwardness, 'Thank-you Xander." She softly whispered as Xander pulled her into a hug. The bell rang in the background, and Giles came out of the office to see them off to their next class. They both picked up their bags and books, and hurried out.
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After school, Willow and the rest of the Scooby gang met in the library once again. Willow and Xander continued on where they had left off on the computer's military database, while Buffy, Giles and Cordy researched. Ms. Calender came in once she had finished cleaning up her classroom so she could help, and spend some time with Giles.
Willow sat up in her chair, focused intently on her search as she flicked through the long list of names. The problem was that they didn't know what unit or battalion Seeley Booth had been in, only his name, and the year. Giles had suggested that possibly that Willow's father hadn't been a solider at all, and that her mother hadn't known what he was, or had lied. Xander and Buffy had shot him glares at his tactlessness. Even Cordy was shocked he'd said such a thing, and she was the Queen of Bluntness.
Willow ignored the comment, following her gut instinct once again, since it had proved so accurate with her search for her mother. Xander stuck beside her, offering insight and suggestions that he remembered from his short one night stint in the army on Halloween.
Xander was watching Cordy as she read one of the heavy tomes when Willow let out an excited squeal beside him.
"I found him, I found him. Kind of, sort of." Willow's excitement faded as the rest of the group joined her.
"What's with all the gaps in the information?" Cordy asked as she studied the page. Willow shrugged, and everyone looked at Xander.
"What?"
"Hello, you're army guy, you know all this." Cordy reminded her boyfriend.
"Oh yeah, it's because he's joined another agency after being in the army, and that agency requires his past information to be confidential." Xander said.
"Another agency? Like what?" Buffy was confused.
"CIA?" Offered Xander
"FBI?" Willow suggested
"MI6?" Giles added. The teenagers rolled their eyes.
"This isn't Britain Giles." Buffy reminded her watcher.
"So, what do we know about Mr. Booth?" Ms. Calender asked, interrupting an argument before it could start.
"He enlisted early on in 1991, and was shipped out to places unknown by May 1991. He was a member of the Army Rangers. He came back to the states in 1996. That's all it really says. His pictures even blurred."
"That's alright, Willow, the resemblance you bare to your mother is quite remarkable." Giles said, polishing his glasses.
"Thanks Giles." Willow smiled.
"That's quite alright, Willow. Now, we need to have a think about what organization Mr. Booth joined upon returning home."
"I don't know." Xander admitted, his military knowledge exhausted. He was back to being food run boy.
"I've been following my guts a lot on this one, and I think FBI. I could be wrong though." Willow commented. Giles and Buffy shrugged.
"FBI sounds good to me." Buffy said. Willow nodded and opened up her laptop, where she preferred to do her hacking off when she was doing slightly more illegal things, to avoid being traced. She'd designed and installed so many anti tracing programs on her laptop that it was highly unlikely that she would get traced while hacking.
She got onto the net and began the familiar process of hacking into the FBI's database, just like she had many times before. Giles closed his eyes.
"I'm pretending I'm not seeing this. This is definitely illegal. I disapprove of hacking immensely, and do not condone it. There, I've tried to talk you out of it. Continue on, Willow"
The teenagers all laughed and Ms Calender giggled "Very funny Rupert, I see you've been corrupted."
"Jenny, I was corrupted long before any of them," he pointed at the teenagers, "were even in school. I do believe they just bring out my inner rebel."
"I'm in" Willow stated, interrupting the two adults, "Shouldn't take too long to find him, the FBI database is really good for finding people."
"Go for it, Wills" Buffy encouraged.
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By the time Angel arrived in the library, greeted by Buffy with a passionate kiss, Willow was very close to finding her father. The group was huddled together around her, and the tension in the air was thick. Cordy clasped Xander's hand in hers tightly, and Angel wrapped his arm around Buffy's slender shoulders, holding her close. Giles and Jenny hid their joined hands from the group, although the entire group knew about their budding relationship anyway. Willow clicked and typed her way through the database, letting a wide smile spread across her face as she drew closer and closer to finding her biological father.
Finally, she lets out a breath that she hadn't realized she'd been holding as the page loads. There was his name. Special Agent Seeley Booth of the FBI. They all looked over the page.
"Wow, Wills, check out Captain America." Xander laughed. Buffy, Cordelia and Willow all laughed. "Wow, he works homicide cases, kind of like we do here." Cordelia commented.
"That explains why you're so good at the investigation-y stuff, Will. You get it from your dad." Buffy added. Willow nodded.
"According to this, he is posted in Washington D.C." Giles took off his glasses and polished them. "That's such a long way away," Willow softly said.
"Oh My God, it says here that he works with Forensic Anthropologist Temperance Brennan." Cordy gasped.
"You mean, THE Temperance Brennan?" Willow's jaw dropped as Cordy nodded. "Wow" Willow gasped.
"Who is Temperance Brennan?" Giles stage whispered to Angel and Jenny. Angel shrugged blankly. Jenny rolled her eyes.
"She's an author, she writes crime books that are based on her real work as a Forensic Anthropologist." She explained to the two men.
"Gosh, Giles, she's an author, you know, of books. I would've thought that you'd know all about her." Buffy lightly teased her Watcher.
"Yes, well, Crime novels about Forensic Anthropology are not exactly required reading at the Watcher's Council." Giles said. Everyone else laughed, except Willow, who was absorbed in the page.
"Hey Dad," she softly said.