Willow waited until she and her father were safely inside her house before she let out the breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding.

In hindsight, the dinner hadn't been the disaster it had the potential to be. Booth hadn't questioned the resemblance, only joking that now he understood why Willow had queried the possibility of them being related.

Joyce had been quite shocked by it at first but had seemed to calm down, and she appeared to have been happy to chat away to Booth at one end of the table while Angel and Buffy quietly chatted at the opposite end. Willow, Xander and Cordelia bounced from conversation to conversation or had their own conversations in between. Willow was pretty sure that Booth hadn't noticed the way Angel had not eaten.

It looked like Sunnydale Syndrome had sort of kicked in to a certain extent and Willow was kind of grateful. It had made everything run more smoothly, at least for Booth and Joyce anyway. Willow had been incredibly nervous throughout the whole thing, even though Buffy had been giving her reassurance throughout the whole ordeal.

"Did you have a nice night?" Booth asked her. Willow nodded.

"Yes, did you?"

Booth shrugged. It had been a bit formal for his liking but the company had been good, except for Willow being incredibly tense beside him the entire time. Booth had forced himself to relax and enjoy himself for Willow's benefit, trying to show her that he approved of the group of people she had integrated herself with.

Joyce had been very nice, but Booth was sure that Willow's tenseness was connected to his and Angel's… resemblance.

Naturally, at the start, it had been unnerving, seeing someone who was almost the spitting image of a younger version of himself, but Booth had found himself picking up on the differences between them (and trying not to focus on how old he felt looking at the younger man, especially since Angel had a teenaged girlfriend).

Booth was more tanned than the other man, which was apparent straight out. Angel was very pale, even compared to Willow, who was fair-skinned because of her hair color, and he looked obviously younger than Booth. Other than that, there was little difference.

Still, Booth got the impression that Angel was more of a scholar than a fighter, because Joyce had made the comment that Angel and Buffy had met when he'd tutored her in history. Booth would never have been able to do that.

Booth privately didn't approve of Angel and Buffy's relationship but he knew he had no real grounds to interfere, other than the obvious age difference. Angel looked to be the more submissive one of the relationship and from what Booth saw, he couldn't picture the relationship moving onto the next base, so to speak, any time soon if Angel had any say in it. As it was, Booth was just glad that Willow wasn't the one in the relationship with the older man. He'd watched Angel and Willow interact throughout the evening and found that he agreed with what Willow had said of the relationship she shared with the older man. Very much one of an older brother and his younger sister, or maybe cousins, a very appropriate relationship as they were possibly related, and after meeting the guy, Booth found that it was nigh impossible that they weren't related.

If it wasn't for the obvious age difference between him and Angel, Booth would have been questioning whether he had an identical twin brother out there.

At least he got the better name of the two; he was never going to whine about being named Seeley ever again.

"Yeah, it was alright. Buffy's mother was nice," he answered Willow's question.

"Yeah, she's very nice. She's been looking after me since my parents left town last time. She makes really good hot chocolate, with little marshmallows." Willow babbled, smiling happily. Booth smiled back; obviously his little girl was feeling a little more relaxed now that she was at home.

BtVS/BONES

Willow was sad to see her father leave the next morning, loaded up with copies of photos of her growing up and promising to keep in touch. In the few short days that they'd been together, for the first time in her life, it felt as though she was with family. Sure, Xander, Buffy and Giles were like the family that she'd built herself, along with Angel, Ms. Calendar, Cordelia to a certain extent and Joyce, but it was as if her body had known that Booth was connected to her, that they were linked in the bond of a father and daughter. For the first time, Willow felt like she'd really experienced the love of a father. Ira had cared about her but in the years that Willow could remember, he had become increasingly absent from her life and she had not felt really connected to him. Sheila was the same.

Now though, Willow knew what it was like to have a father that would always be there for you, even though he was so far away most of the time.

Head bowed, with the photo of Parker tucked into her bag carefully so she could show it to the others, Willow headed to school. Even though she'd left her home later than she did normally, she still had plenty of time, so she walked into the library.

Buffy and Xander were already there, sitting on the tables telling Giles about the dinner the previous night.

"Hey Willow," Xander greeted cheerfully.

"Hi Xander," Willow replied, putting her bag on the floor and dropping into a chair.

"Willow, we're just telling Giles about the dinner party last night. Mom was happy."

"Did Angel find it weird?" Willow asked.

Buffy shrugged. "A little but then, he's kind of used to weird."

"Does weird usually come in the form of a thirty-something-year-old human guy that looks almost exactly like him, though?" Xander joked and Buffy nodded, conceding that Xander had a good point.

"All right, I think he was a little unnerved. It was kind of freaky though. Seeing them together. Your dad handled it well though."

Willow nodded. "I think he was a bit shaken by it. He was really quiet last night, like he was thinking really hard."

"See, there's another difference between them. Willow's dad thinks." Xander snorted. Buffy leaned over and hit him in the arm again.

"Ow, Giles, did you see that, Buffy hit me."

"Tattletale," Buffy pouted as Giles rolled his eyes.

"Buffy, do try and refrain from hitting other students. Xander, I suggest withholding your comments on Angel until you are out of Buffy's reach."

"Gotcha." Xander nodded, rubbing his sore arm. At that point, the bell tolled and the three students got up and left the library, heading off to class.

BtVS/BONES

At the end of the school day, the Scoobies found themselves in the library. Xander didn't want to go home and Cordelia had something to do. Buffy was training with Giles and Willow was doing her homework and trying to persuade Xander to do the same. Eventually the dark-haired boy gave in and pulled out his books, starting to work.

The library was quiet, except for Giles coaching Buffy as they trained. Willow quickly finished her homework and, seeing that Xander was probably going to need her help soon, logged onto her emails to fill in her time. There was nothing new in her inbox but Willow glanced at her watch. Booth was probably still in the air but that didn't mean that he couldn't have an email from her waiting when he got back to work.

Or maybe it would be too needy and clingy? Willow considered it before shrugging and opening up a new message. She typed Booth's email address into the recipient box and then clicked on the message box.

'Hi Dad,' she typed.

'I know you haven't been gone for long, but I just thought I'd give you something to read when you get into work tomorrow.

I've finished school for the day but we're in the library, because I'm helping Xander with his homework. He's doing okay at the moment, so I thought I'd just type out an email.

How was your flight? I'm not sure how long it takes to fly from L.A. to Washington D.C., so you might have landed by now (its four o'clock my time), or you might not have.

I showed Xander my picture of Parker today. He thinks that, apart from the hair and the eyes, he looks a lot like me when I was younger. Xander thinks that Parker sounds very cute though. I think he's a little jealous that I have a little brother.

I really hope I can come and spend Christmas with you and Parker. Is Washington D.C. pretty at Christmas time? All I've seen are pictures, and it looks pretty in those. I want to meet the people you work with, especially the people at the Jeffersonian, because what they do with using forensic science to solve murders sounds really cool. It's kind of like CSI, but only better, because you're my dad and you're the hero that gets to go in and arrest the bad guys.

Sorry, I'm babbling.

I was talking to Buffy and Xander and Cordelia today, and they all had fun last night. Buffy said that her mom and Angel both had a good time too, but I haven't spoken to him today because I've been at school and, naturally, they're not here.

I hope you're okay and that, if I don't email you again before then, your Thanksgiving weekend with Parker goes good. Tell him I say hi and Happy Thanksgiving. Tell the people at the Jeffersonian that too.

I have to go now; Xander's just started on his trig homework. He's going to need my help pretty soon.

Lots of Love from your Daughter,

Willow'

Willow hit the send button and closed down the internet browser before she turned to face Xander.

"Need some help?" she offered. Xander looked over at her pleadingly, not even needing to vocalize how stuck he was.

Willow smiled and began to talk her way through it with him, having long ago figured out how to make math make sense to her best friend.

"What were you doing, once you finished your homework and before I needed your help?" Xander asked in between answering Willow's questions. Willow smiled.

"I just sent my Dad an email, that's all."

Xander smiled. Even though the way Willow's father looked so much like Angel, he was happy for her. He'd seen how happy knowing Booth had made Willow, how much happier she'd been ever since she'd started to email him. Xander had seen the way Booth had looked out for Willow, always ready to protect her, looking out for her. Xander could tell that Booth cared about Willow the way every parent should care about their child, the way Willow's adopted parents had failed to care about her, the way his own parents had failed to care about him, the way Buffy's dad had failed to care about her, the way Buffy's mom cared about her and the way Giles cared about them all.

Xander answered the last few questions Willow had asked him, scribbling down answers in his book before Willow smiled brightly at him.

"There you go, you're done."

"Really, so am I." Buffy beamed, sipping from a water bottle as Giles wearily unstrapped his mitts, collapsing into a chair.

"You okay, Giles?" Willow asked. Giles shook his head.

"I will be. You all head home. I shall see you tomorrow."

"Okay then." They all grabbed their bags, and left the library through the back door, just in case Snyder was lingering.

Walking together, they walked towards Xander's house first and dropped him off. Then, Willow and Buffy continued on.

"Willow, Mom wanted me to tell you that if you want you can come and stay with us again now that your dad is out of town, you're most welcome. I think she wants you to come and stay."

Willow shrugged. It was nice to stay with Buffy and Joyce. Nicer than staying in an otherwise empty house.

"Alright, if you're sure it's okay."

Buffy nodded, "Yeah. We'll go past your place and get some clothes for you to wear and then we'll head home, okay."

"Sounds good."

Willow ran up to her room when she got to her house, grabbing the school books she would need for the rest of the week and clothes to last for the rest of the week. She put them all in a bag and, satisfied that she had everything she would need, locked up the house again, meeting Buffy at the front door and heading off together. Buffy chattered away about her plans for what they could do over the next few nights while Willow listened intently, smiling at her best friend's words. Everything, it seemed, was good.

A.N. Thank you for the feedback I have been receiving about this story. It's been very good. I'm sorry about the slow updates, but I've been busy with Uni studies that I have just started, and I'm kind of overwhelmed. Hopefully things will settle down soon. Not sure when the next update will be though.

R.W.