Discovery

Chapter 8

Cam was surprised to say the least when she opened her front door to find Booth standing there. Ever since he had broken it off with her after the Epps case he had limited their exposure outside of work to the occasional drink at the bar, or a meal together at the Diner.
"Seeley, What are you doing here? Do we have a case?" "No, I just wanted to ask you some things."
"Okay, come on in." Cam stood aside and let the FBI agent into her house, confused, and just a tad worried. She could see in Booth's eyes that something was wrong, and it was scaring her. She closed her front door and walked into her living room. Booth was sitting on her couch, rubbing his face wearily with his hands.
"Do you want anything to drink? A beer, Coffee?" "A beer would be great, thanks Cam."
Cam nodded and got two bottles out of the fridge, before returning to the living room and sitting beside her oldest friend, giving him one. They both opened their drinks and took a swig.
"Do you remember, just before she disappeared, if Carmen was acting weird?" Booth asked. Cam's eyebrows both rose questioningly.
"Wow, what brought this on, Booth?"
"Just answer the question, Cam. And no, this is not part of an investigation, I'm just asking out of curiosity."
"Oh, okay then. Well, I knew that she'd been sick in the week before, and she'd looked pale, even paler than usual, since just after you left. She was a little nervous, on edge. The first day she didn't go to college I thought that she was just taking a sick day, but when she was gone for the second day, and she hadn't called me I got worried and called her parents, and they told me that they'd fought and she'd run away. Why?"
Booth didn't say anything, but ran his fingers through his hair. It made his theory about Carmen's reasons for leaving sound plausible, very plausible. He pulled out the print out of the email, and handed it wordlessly to Cam, who opened it up, and read it, her eyes widening with every word she read.
"Please tell me this isn't your idea of a practical joke, Seeley."
"It isn't, Cam. Trust me, it really isn't."
"Booth, if this is true then..."
"I've had a daughter for almost half my life, and I've ignored her existence, which pretty much puts me in the running for worst father of the year award."
"Seeley, stop it. You didn't know. No-one knew. "
"It was obvious. You know how much Carmen's parents loved her; it would have to have been something significant for them to kick her out like that."
"That's not the point Seeley. You were away, and you aren't psychic. You couldn't have known. Besides, what could you have done if you had known? You were nineteen, Seeley. You were an enlisted solder, fighting in a foreign country. At the time, were you ready to be a father?"
Booth paused, before shaking his head. Being partially responsible for the upbringing of his brother was one thing, but being an actual Dad was something that was completely different. Hell, there were days with Parker that had Booth doubting his ability now.
"What happened to Carmen's parents anyway? The last time I saw them was when they buried her body after it got found. This might be why they kept giving me freaky looks the whole service, as if they blamed me. Oh, they probably do."
"Seeley, stop it. Stop blaming yourself. I read in the paper a few years ago that Carmen's dad died, it was in the obituaries. I don't know about her mom though."
Booth let his feeling of grief flicker across his face, before he stored it away in his head. He remembered Carmen's dad as one of the funniest guys he ever knew, always laughing over some joke, but at the same time so devoted to his daughter. Carmen's death would have shattered him.
"Thanks for the beer," Booth sighed, placing the empty bottle in the coffee table. Cam nodded.
"Any time you want, Seeley. What are you going to do about" Cam glanced at the email in her hands. Booth shrugged.
"I don't know, I'll send her an email back, and see what she says. I've got no idea what I should say, I mean, what do you say in a circumstance like this?'
Cam shrugged, unable to offer her friend any help. BtVS/XO BtVS/XO BtVS/XO BtVS/XO BtVS/XO
Willow logged onto her email account the moment she turned on her laptop, and grinned when she saw the reply to her email waiting in her in-box.
"He replied," She squealed excitedly. Giles lowered the book he had been reading and surveyed the young red head's face. She was beaming brightly, the first real smile he'd seen on her face in a long time.
"What did he have to say?" Giles asked curiously. The rest of the group hadn't arrived at the library for the research session yet, so it was just the two of them.
Willow cleared her throat and began to read, "Dear Willow," she began,
"I was surprised when I received your email, and a little shocked. The last day I saw Carmen was the day I shipped out, back in 1991. I loved her so much, and when I came back, I fully planned on proposing to her, but she was missing, and then she was found, and I had to move on. She was a wonderful woman, and I think of her often.
You mentioned living in Sunnydale. Is it nice there? Do you have many friends? What are your favourite subjects at school?
You probably want to know more about me, considering it's highly likely that I am your dad. I work for the FBI (which you already know, considering you sent this email to my work account) and I work with Dr. Temperance Brennen, who is a forensic anthropologist (which means she studies bones and is able to tell all this stuff about the person the belonged to, including how they died). I guess we should think about getting the truth confirmed or denied. The best way to do this would be a DNA test, which will be made difficult because of the distance between us. What I need you to do is to get a cotton bud, and swab the inside of your mouth with it. Don't let anyone else touch it afterwards. Put it in a plastic container and seal it. Then put it in a box and sent it to this address.
C. Saroyen
Medico-legal department Jeffersonian Institution Washington D.C.
Dr. Saroyen, or Cam, was a friend of your mother and I when we were in high school. I've shown the email to her. Other than your mother's parents she was the last person to see your mom before she left.
Feel free to email back, I would like to know more about you. Seeley Booth.
Willow was smiling as she read the last part of the email, and immediately clicked to reply to it, as Giles smiled. Agent Booth sound like a kind and supportive person, exactly the kind of person he imagined Willow having as a father, or at least what she deserved for a father.
Willow hesitated before she began to write out her reply, suddenly unsure of what she should write. Dear Agent Booth,
It's great to hear back from you, and that you're taking this seriously (I was kind of worried that you wouldn't have a clue who I was talking about, or that you would just ignore it.) You asked lots of questions, and I'll answer them the best that I can.
Sunnydale is an alright place to live. The weather's nice, but I like the winter time more than the summer time, because I have red hair and I burn really easily. Also, summertime means there is no school, which I don't like. I'm a school kind of person. I like English, maths, and science classes, but my favourite class is computers, partially because I really like computers, and also because our teacher, Ms. Calender, is really nice. In case you were wondering, my least favourite class is PE, because I'm not very co-ordinated, and I tend to look spastic (Giles says that I should put a translation in, just in case you aren't used to speaking Californian teenager. Spastic means silly or stupid)
By the way, Giles is our school librarian. He's English, and very smart about books (But he hates computers, which means that I'm his official how to girl on all things computers (except now he goes to Ms. Calender a lot, which I don't mind. He goes all shy and blushes and polishes his glasses and stammers (Just like I do when I try to talk to boys, except I don't do the glasses thing, because I don't wear any))
And, I realize now that I am babbling. Sorry about that, I told you I do it all the time. Now, I think there's two of your questions answered. I'm study/net girl, and Sunnydale is a nice place to live. Right, next question.
I have two main friends, and a heap of sort of extended friends.
My best friend's name is Xander (short for Alexander, but no one calls him that, including the teachers and his parents). We've been best friends since Kindergarten. He's really funny, and makes me laugh, even when I'm feeling sad. Last year, our other best friend, Jesse, was killed. It was really sad, and it kind of forced the both of us to grow up and realize that the world is not a very nice place for those who are too naive of the risks. The day that Jesse died, a new girl came to school, her name is Buffy. She's my other main friend. She's really cool, and is almost as good at coming up with witty jokes as Xander. She's the fashionable one of us three, mainly because neither Xander nor I are overly fashionable, while she's very up with what is 'in' because she was born and grew up in L.A.
I have other friends too. There's Xander's girlfriend Cordelia, who used to be a real bitch, but has grown up and matured a lot since she and Xander started going out. I've been going through a hard time lately with the whole being adopted thing, and she's been really helpful and nice.
My last major friend is Buffy's boyfriend, Angel, who is a little older than the rest of us. He doesn't go to school, but he's really smart, and he looks out for us and I think he kind of looks a lot like a younger version of you. Is your family Irish bu any chance? Maybe you're related (or we're related, whichever.) He's kind of like an over protective big brother towards me, even though Xander really doesn't like him (Mainly because before he and Cordy were going out he had a big crush on Buffy, but she was more interested in Angel.) He's also very clever, and knows heaps about history and foreign languages, although I'm kind of not looking forward to showing the others a photo of you, because they're going to freak out because of the resemblance, which you can kind of understand. I mean, how would it be for your best friend to find out that her father is the spitting image of your boyfriend. It would give you a major wiggins (translation: Wiggins means bad feeling.)
There I go again with the babbling, and the Californian teenager speak.
Other than that there are the odd people you say hi to in the corridor when you see them, and the ones that actually reply (Which aren't many, I'm not miss popular) and, of course, Giles the librarian, and Ms. Calender. My group spend a lot of time in the library (which I don't understand, because I'm the only one that does my homework in there, but I guess it's quiet, and no-one else goes in there, so it's our own little area)
Giles is like a dad to most of us, since Buffy's dad lives in L.A. with his old secretary, Xander's dad pretty much lives at one of the local bars or passed out on the couch, and my dad (well, you know, adoptive dad) spends about a month in Sunnydale every year. (Cordy's dad is still around but Angel's dad died years ago)
Um, okay, I started babbling again, and didn't realize how long this was getting. I will do the DNA test after I send this, and send it so that it makes the late mail run (there's a express parcel run on Saturday nights down here, which is convenient, don't you think?)
Anyway, I should go. Hope your not getting into trouble for having, you know, non work emails being sent to your work address. Do you have a non work email that I could send the next email to?
From Willow.
Willow read over the message, double checking that nothing was mentioned of the supernatural. Satisfied, she clicked on the send button, and hurried off to see if Giles had any clean cotton buds.