Willow almost bounced in excitement as she sat in the passenger seat of Booth's SUV as her father navigated the streets of Washington, heading towards Rebecca and Parker's house. She couldn't believe that she was about to meet her little brother face-to-face for the first time. She wondered if he looked similar to the picture she now carried in her wallet, his big brown eyes shining, his toothy grin and the mass of blond curls.
She wondered if he would like her or if he would resent her for taking his dad away from him, for making him share what had previously been just his and no one else's. Willow imagined that Parker and her father were close. The way Booth spoke of Parker with such fondness in his eyes, as well as everyone else's comments about Booth as a father, indicated to Willow that Booth thought the world of his little boy.
Willow was drawn from her musing when Booth pulled the car into a driveway and cut the engine. Willow looked up at the house. It was an ordinary, middle-class kind of house with a white picket fence and flower beds decorating the front garden. She smiled when she saw one of the curtains move, as if someone had been peeking out at them. She got out of the car, following Booth along the path to the front door, swallowing nervously. What should she say? 'Hi, I'm Willow, and I'm your big sister'? Willow cringed as Booth knocked on the door, and she heard the sound of running feet from within the house. She was just glad that Parker already knew about her, so it wasn't going to be so much of a shock when he saw her. From what Booth had said, Parker had been eagerly awaiting her arrival
The door clicked and opened, revealing a tall blond woman and a small boy. Willow guessed the woman was Parker's mother, Rebecca, but her eyes flew to the little boy. He looked so much like his picture, angelic blond curls framing his face, deep brown eyes that were exactly like their father's, the wide smile that seemed to light up his entire face.
"Daddy, you're here. And you must be Willow. I'm Parker, we talked on the phone, and Dr. Bones was there too. You're really pretty, just like in your picture that you gave Daddy to give to me. I put it up on my bedside table. Mommy says that she'll get me a nice frame so it doesn't get anything slopped on it and get all messy," Parker babbled, stepping over the threshold and out onto the front porch so he was closer to Willow. "I didn't sleep much last night, I was too excited about meeting you today."
"Does that mean that you need to go to bed early tonight?" Booth joked and Parker turned to face his father, the most adorable pout on his face.
"Daddy," Parker whined, rolling his eyes. Booth laughed and scooped his son up, kissing him on the forehead. Parker squealed and burst out laughing. Willow grinned as she watched, although she made a mental not to try to never let Buffy… or Angel, see Booth and Parker playing together. It would be far too cruel for them.
"You better come inside. It's very cold out there," Rebecca said, stepping aside. Booth led the way, still carrying Parker in his arms. Willow followed shyly.
"I'm Rebecca, Parker's mom," Rebecca introduced herself to Willow and offered the teenager her hand to shake. Willow took it and shook hands, smiling politely.
"It's very nice to meet you, Rebecca. I'm Willow, as you might have guessed."
Rebecca laughed. "Parker's been so excited about you coming to visit Seeley. He's always wanted a sibling and having his sister come and stay for Christmas has just made this time of year really exciting for him."
"I hope he hasn't been too much of a handful," Willow hedged in apology, watching Parker eagerly chatting away to Booth.
"Oh, no. Just an excited little boy. I'm glad you're here, Willow. Parker's my little boy and anything that makes him this happy makes me happy."
Willow was saved from responding, which was going to be difficult because she could feel her cheeks going all red, when Parker ran up to her, having finally been put down by Booth.
"Willow, come and seem my room, I want to show you some stuff."
"Okay, Parker." Willow let herself get dragged upstairs, leaving a smiling Rebecca in her wake. Booth stood beside his former girlfriend.
"She's nice… very sweet. Does she look like Carmen?" Rebecca asked. She and Booth had been together when Carmen's remains had been discovered, so she knew a lot about Carmen. Rebecca had even offered that, if Parker had been a girl, her middle name would be Carmen.
"Oh, yeah, but then she's shown me pictured of her when she was little and you can see a resemblance between her and Parker."
"Must be you in there too then. She cares about you both so much. What… what is her other family like?"
Booth sighed. "Her parents aren't around much and they both spend a lot of time on lecture tours but she's really close to her friends. They're her real family. I couldn't take her away from that… Not permanently, at least. She'd never forgive me for it."
Rebecca smiled, remembering a younger Booth who would have made a challenge for Willow's custody, regardless of what the young girl wanted. Seeley had grown up so much since Parker had been born and had learned that his children's happiness came first.
Speaking of his children's happiness, Rebecca smiled when she heard both Parker and Willow laugh, the sound rolling down the stairs from Parker's room. Booth gestured up the stairs.
"I probably should go and check on what they're up to," he said and Rebecca nodded in agreement. Booth headed upstairs, walking through Parker's open bedroom door. Inside the typically messy room, Parker was showing Willow his extensive collection of toys.
"Hey, buddy, I was thinking that before we head home for lunch, we could take Willow to the park. How does that sound?"
"Yeah, you'll love the park, it's so fun. Hang on and I'll just get my bag, oh, and I have a present for you too." Parker picked up his packed backpack from the foot of his bed and passed it to Booth. Booth slung it over his shoulder as Parker opened up a drawer and pulled a wrapped bundle from it.
"Hey, Parker, it's a bit early for Christmas presents," Booth pointed out. Parker simply looked at him.
"But it's not a Christmas present, Daddy. It's a welcome to the family present from me. Mommy helped me pick some of it out and she helped me wrap it, because she's good at that, but I did most of it."
"Okay then," Booth relaxed as Parker handed the present to Willow.
"Aw, thank you, Parker." Willow said, carefully opening the package. Inside was a picture that Parker had obviously drawn himself, that had been framed. There were three people in it, which Parker had labeled as being himself, Booth and Willow. Also in the bundle was a red Christmas bauble with glittery green writing on it spelling out Willow's name.
"When you said on the phone that you never had a Christmas tree to decorate, I said you can help decorate ours. Now you have your own special decoration to put on the tree," Parker explained. Willow felt her eyes well up with tears at her little brother's thoughtfulness.
"Thank you, Parker. They're both perfect," she said before she hugged him. Booth watched on, smiling fondly as his two children hugged for the first time. He was so proud of Parker and his thoughtfulness and made a mental note to thank Rebecca for going along with Parker's plan. He knew it meant a lot to Willow, especially given the tears he'd seen in the teenager's eyes.
Yes, Parker had definitely earned a few special treats with how he had treated Willow and Booth fully intended on delivering.
The trio walked downstairs once Willow and Parker had separated and Booth had mouthed his thanks over his children's heads on the way out the door. Rebecca waved them away, she herself being touched by her son's determination to getting Willow a welcome to the family present that was so considerate.
She, Booth and Willow were lucky to have a little boy like Parker in their family.
BtVS/BONES
Willow walked in between Booth and Parker as they approached the park that they'd headed for after leaving Parker and Rebecca's house, smiling fondly down at Parker as he beamed happily up at her. The playground was similar to the ones in Sunnydale and Willow was unable to avoid subconsciously taking note of any prospective places where a vampire, or any other individual with unsavory intentions, might be hiding, even though it was broad daylight.
They were all bundled up in coats and hats and Willow's breath came out in little puffs of vapor. There wasn't any snow lying on the ground, but there was an iciness in the air that Willow wasn't used to.
"Can I go play now, Daddy?" Parker asked. Willow watched as Booth seemed to scan the surroundings, assessing any potential risks to his son and daughter before finally nodding.
"Sure thing, buddy."
"Come on, Willow." Parker tugged on Willow's hand a few times before he took off towards the playground. Willow glanced questioningly at Booth, who nodded encouragingly, before she took off after the younger boy. Parker squealed in delight as Willow chased him around the playground. Booth smiled as he watched them chase each other, Willow deliberately slowing down to make it easier for Parker to catch her, and so Parker had a good turn at being caught as well. She was also actively slowing the game down, reducing the risk of Parker slipping and hurting himself. There weren't many other children around because it was so cold outside, so it didn't matter that Willow was strictly speaking a little too large to be on the playground.
Willow threw her head back as she ran, laughing. She could feel the darkness that had been her life on the Hellmouth slipping away and she felt more carefree than she had since Jesse's death. She felt Parker wrap his arms around her from behind and they tumbled to the ground, Parker quickly letting go.
"Willow, are you okay?" he asked, fear rich in his voice, obviously convinced he had hurt her. Willow shook from her laughter, giggling to herself happily as she rolled over onto her back.
"No, Parker, I'm fine. It's okay." She smiled. Parker let out a relieved sigh before Willow lunged up and caught hold of him and began to tickle him. Parker squirmed and laughed in delight. From where he stood, Booth couldn't wipe the smile off his face as he watched his son and daughter… his children, play together. He had been worried that Parker would be jealous and that Willow wouldn't want to play or spend time with her younger brother but his fears had been groundless. He got out his phone and snapped a few pictures of the pair playing, capturing the wide smiles upon their faces to his phone's memory before he sent off copies to Rebecca and Bones, knowing that they would both appreciate it.
After a while of watching Parker and Willow playing, Booth shivered and glanced at his watch, deciding that it was time for him to gather up his offspring and head back to his apartment for some hot chocolate and lunch. Booth walked over to the playground to the monkey bars, where Willow and Parker were hanging upside down next to one another, their faces red from the blood rushing to the heads.
"Hey guys, time to head home. We'll have some hot chocolate and some lunch. How does that sound?"
"Yum." Parker climbed down and Willow followed him as Parker skipped off towards the SUV. Willow followed at a more sedate pace, her cheeks steadily becoming less red as her body readjusted to being the right way up again.
"You tired?" Booth asked. Willow smiled wryly at him and nodded.
"It's been a while since I've played with kids on playground equipment, probably not since I was twelve or something. I mean, sometimes Xander, Jesse and I used to play on the playground equipment when we were older, but not at the same time as little kids. It was kind of like Halloween."
"What happened?" Booth asked. Willow shrugged, realizing that she was going to have to heavily modify the story to leave out the supernatural elements of what happened that night.
"Buffy, Xander and I got roped into volunteering to take the little kids trick-or-treating by the principal. We had to dress up and everything. It was good, though. For the most part they behaved themselves."
"Who, the teenagers or the kids?" Booth asked jokingly. Willow laughed.
"The kids," she told him. Booth nodded in acceptance of the story.
"So, what did you go as? Witch? Vampire? Fairy Princess?"
"I was a ghost," Willow said. "Traditional, and easy, not to mention, not being spandex or leather."
Booth whipped his head around at the comment but Willow didn't look eager to elaborate, so he didn't push it.
Parker waited for them by the car and they all climbed in once Booth had unlocked it.
"What are we doing tonight, Daddy? Anything special?" asked Parker from the back seat.
"Uncle Jared's going to come around for dinner tonight, buddy, so he can meet Willow. I thought we might have a movie night after dinner. How does that sound?"
"Yay!" Parker beamed.
"Willow?" Booth asked as he drove. Willow looked at Booth. "Sounds great. Sorry, I didn't realize you were asking me as well."
Booth let the comment slide but he was frowning internally. Maybe things weren't as good as he thought they were. Willow seemed to have fallen for Parker's charms and was obviously caring for him just like any girl would care for her little brother but she still obviously carried insecurities about how Booth felt abut her. Booth hoped that, given much love and attention over her holidays, he might be able to convince Willow of her importance in his life.
A.N. Hi there, sorry it's been awhile, it's been a crappy couple of weeks. Starting back at Uni, and it taking a while to get back into the study swing of things, and then my dog got sick, and had to get put down, but hopefully things will get better.
Anyway, I hope you've enjoyed this chapter. Thanks to everyone who has been reviewing, and to my beta reader.
Hope to be able to write more soon.
R.W.
