Chapter 11

Willow hurried through the slowly darkening streets of Sunnydale, glancing nervously at her watch before shooting a quick glance over her shoulder to ensure that she wasn't being followed. She'd chosen not to cut through the cemetery that lay between her house and Sunnydale High, even though it would have cut a good ten minutes off the time it took her to walk to the library. Willow was fairly certain that it was still too light outside for vampires to be out and about but it was best to be cautious rather than end up getting her neck chomped. Besides, she knew that, in her mental state, she would never be able to pay attention enough to her surroundings if she did cut through the cemetery. Even walking to the Scooby meeting had possibly been one of Willow's less brilliant ideas.

Willow's head was full of thoughts. Thoughts about what she had learned that day about her biological family. How her mother and sister had died while in protective custody and how she'd been taken away from her father by corrupt hospital officials and prejudiced doctors. Willow was glad that the men responsible were dead — because then she didn't have to worry about her father seeking revenge or her own anger at the situation getting the best of her.

Willow had been happy growing up in Sunnydale with Ira and Sheila — well, most of the time. Xander had made it enjoyable and Willow couldn't imagine what it would've been like to grow up without Xander and Jesse. Willow guessed that Special Agent Gibbs would have been around a lot more, had he had the chance to be her father, than her adopted parents had been. Even only taking into consideration the way that he had crossed the country for the sole purpose of coming to meet her, it appeared that Willow had been raised by the less caring parents, who had ignored her plea for them to come home after Jesse's death. They had instead chosen only to send her an email, explaining that having the people you care about die is part of growing up and that what did she expect when she chose to be friends with such rabble as Xander and Jesse.

Willow realized with a start that she had reached the high school. She'd been so preoccupied that she'd just let her feet carry her there. Willow shook her head and hurried around to the back entrance door that would get her directly into the library through the stacks. Just as she expected, the heavy door was unlocked, so she heaved it open, and slipped into the library. She let the door close behind her before she hurried through the stacks and down the steps into the main library.

Xander, Giles, Cordelia and Buffy were already there.

"Willow, what's with the rush?" Xander asked. Willow flopped into a seat, gathering herself for the bombshell she was about to drop on her friends.

"Ah, no reason, no reason at all. Nothing scary happened. I just found out that why the NCIS agents are here, that's all. Well, not just, I found out this morning, and they've been talking to me all day. It has nothing to do with the Hellmouth, or at least I'm pretty sure it has nothing to do with the Hellmouth," Willow nervously babbled, her voice getting slightly more high-pitched.

"Willow, breathing is good," Buffy gently reminded, crouching down in front of Willow. Xander squatted down beside Buffy while Cordelia and Giles watched curiously.

"Why is Tony here, Willow?" Xander asked.

"Tony's boss is my dad… My biological dad."

"You're adopted?" Buffy's jaw dropped.

"When did you find out… You never told me?" Xander looked hurt. Willow bowed her head guiltily.

"I'm so sorry, Xander. I was scared you'd be hurt, because we used to pretend we were adopted when we were little, and the whole time it was real, and now my dad has come, and I think he wants me to go back with him…"

"You've known the whole time?" Xander asked

"Yes, ever since I was about seven," Willow admitted. Xander pulled her into a hug.

"I'm sorry for making it seem like you couldn't talk to me about it, Willow," he said. "I'm sorry that I couldn't help you."

"It's okay, Xander. It didn't matter then. My real parents were complete strangers to me. I could have walked past them in the street and I wouldn't have known them. It's only now that I've met one of them that it means something."

"So, you're saying that Xander's cousin's boss is your father? Well, that is quite a coincidence," Giles commented, refocusing the topic.

"And he came the whole way across the country from Washington DC to see you? Wow, he must really care about you." Buffy smiled.

"I know, I mean, he's only known for a week. I know the Rosenbergs wouldn't come across the country if I needed them. I asked them to come back when Jesse died, and they said no."

"Bloody Americans," Giles quietly cursed, although they all heard him anyway.

"I've got to say, I agree with Giles," Xander said. "So, what did they say? What happened? Tony's boss looked kind of scary."

"He wasn't that bad. I mean, when they walked in and were all serious-looking, I thought that they'd gotten onto us, and figured I was the weakest link, or something. But then Tony went into the kitchen and was chatting on the phone and Special Agent Gibbs — that's my dad — started talking to me about what it was like growing up here and what my family was like. I told him I knew I was adopted and he asked if I'd ever learned anything about my biological parents. I said no, and he told me about my mom. It was so sad. She died the day I was born. She saw a drug deal that went bad and one of the guys got killed. They put her and my sister into protective custody and tried to bring my dad back, but he was off fighting in the war — I don't know where exactly — and they couldn't get in touch with him. They moved my mom to a different safe house because they were worried that I might be getting close to being born and the new safe house was closer to the hospital. Someone from the drug deal shot the driver of the car and it hit a patch of ice on the road and the car crashed into a tree. My sister died on impact and my mom was really badly injured. They would never have been able to save her, so they got me out, because I was still okay. The CEO of the hospital and the doctor who was in charge of my mom decided that I should be put up for adoption because they decided that my dad couldn't be a good father because he was a marine and I was given to the Rosenbergs. My dad was told that I died in the car crash and he started to work for NIS, which became NCIS a few years later."

Buffy blinked tears from her eyes, and Giles had his handkerchief out, polishing his glasses but discreetly dabbing at his eyes with it as well. Xander just looked shocked.

"But, that's so wrong, so… unethical," Cordelia protested. Willow shrugged.

"It doesn't matter; they aren't going to be punished, since everyone involved in the situation is dead."

"Did they catch the guy who caused your mom and sister's death?" Buffy asked. Willow paused.

"Well, officially no, because he jumped the border back to Mexico pretty much straight away, but my dad did tell me that he went after him, and, well, unofficially, he got what he deserved."

"Not that I condone murder, or anything, but in some cases…" Giles said, and the rest of the Scoobies nodded slowly in agreement.

"How old was your sister?" Xander asked

"She was eight. Her name was Kelly, and I look a lot like her, except she had dad's eyes and I have mom's. I'm the spitting image of my mom. My mom's name was Shannon… Shannon Gibbs."

"Willow Gibbs. It sounds nice."

"My mom named me before she died. She gave the paramedic that took her into the hospital the boy's name and the girl's name she and Dad had picked out, because she didn't know what she was having. The paramedic passed on the message to the nursing staff."

"So what's your dad's name?"

"Leroy Jethro Gibbs, although everyone just calls him Gibbs, and only his dad can get away with calling him Leroy. His team is kind of cool as well. They all came over this afternoon so they could meet me, well, Tony already had met me, but Ziva and Tim hadn't."

Xander grinned, "I swear Ziva is a Slayer. She's kind of scary… in a good way," Xander hastily added, seeing the look on Buffy's face.

"She can't be a slayer, there can only be one, well, two at the moment with Kendra, but there is not a slayer for every country in the world."

"Unfortunately, it would make my job a lot easier if there was." Buffy sighed.

"I think it's just her Mossad training. They're supposed to be really scary and intimidating. She probably could kick all of our butts, if she wanted to, well, except for Buffy and Angel, because they have, like, super strength."

"I won't argue with you there, Willow," Xander agreed.

"Tim's a bit of a geek, like me. He's even better than me with computers; he went to MIT and all that. He and Abby are the team's go-to people for anything more technologically advanced than sending an email," Willow told the Scooby gang.

"Who's Abby?"

"Their forensics expert. She's back at NCIS, but she made them promise to tell me she says hi. She calls me Gibblet." Willow giggled.

"Oh, I get it. You're Gibbs' daughter, so you're Gibblet. Nice." Xander caught on slowly. Cordy rolled her eyes

"Duh, Xander, even I knew that before you explained it to me."

"What's going on?" Angel asked, having crept in silently. Xander jumped violently.

"I swear, someone needs to get you a cow bell. Don't do that."

Angel smirked and Giles rolled his eyes, "Angel, please stop teasing Xander. I know you enjoy it but he's going to go on about it all night now."

The girls snorted as Angel chuckled. "Alright Giles. What's been going on? Any news on those NCIS agents?"

"Yes, actually," Cordelia replied while Buffy went up to Angel and gave him a hello kiss.

"The boss of them, Special Agent Gibbs, is my dad. He came across the entire country so he could come and meet me," Willow said. Angel's eyes widened slightly in surprise.

"So, good news, they aren't here to specifically investigate something Hellmouthy. Bad news, we're going to be the center of attention anyway," Buffy summarized.

"Nothing out of the ordinary there, really. I mean, whenever there is something happening in Sunnydale, you five always seem to be in the middle of it," Giles said, pinching his nose.

"But that's where the action is, Giles." Buffy smiled.

"That's all well and good when demons are involved. But when the demons are not involved, I don't quite believe your involvement is necessary," Giles replied. Willow grinned.

"Giles, it's the Hellmouth, the demons are always involved."

"Be that as it may, I do wish you all would focus on the task at hand, which at the moment is keeping Willow's father oblivious to what we are doing here."

"Easier said than done," Xander said. "I have a feeling that these NCIS agents are going to be a lot more immune to the old lets-ignore-everything-that-has-no-plausible-explanation thing that the local police seem to have."