FIC: Three's Company 2/5 "R" W/T/B

["amberbensonfan" <AmberBensonFan@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

DISCLAIMERS IN PART 1

"Buffy, I know you're worried and we're willing to do whatever you 
need us to do to make sure you and Dawn are safe and happy. But just 
know, Dawn is not a little girl anymore. She is a teenager, a young 
woman, who is strong and independent. She has handled everything 
that's been thrown at her. Yes, it may have some freak-factor to it 
at first, but how could growing up in a home filled with love be a 
bad thing? And not just you loving her, we love her too. That can't 
be bad, can it?" Willow answered back with her own question.

Buffy knew Willow and Tara loved Dawn. That was evident in how they 
cared for her, raised her really, especially while she was gone for 
those six months. She also knew that Dawn loved them just as much in 
return. Perhaps Willow had a point. Perhaps growing up in a loving 
home wouldn't be so bad after all. "Okay, let's just play things as 
they are now. Wait to see how everything goes. Test everyone, get a 
feeling for how they'd react without really saying anything outright 
about anything right now." Buffy offered.

Willow and Tara nodded and then stood. Tara looked at the clock and 
then to Willow. "You have class in a few minutes, honey. You better 
hurry up or you're going to be late." She kissed Willow and then the 
red head ran upstairs to get her stuff for school. "Buffy, you're 
going to be late to work if you don't get your butt in gear," and 
Tara gave her a similar kiss, plus a pat on the butt to get her 
moving. Tara ran up the stairs to get her things for school and 
within a few minutes the trio were downstairs and piling into the 
car. Buffy drove like a maniac, okay, so that was fairly normal for 
Buffy, but she was in a rush, which made for an interesting event. 
She dropped the witches off at the campus and then rushed to her 
job. It really was a miracle how she hasn't gotten into an accident 
yet with that jeep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next few weeks passed by uneventfully. An occasional hint was 
tossed out once in a while to Xander and Anya about their 
relationship, but for the most part, everyone remained clueless. 

It wasn't until three more weeks passed and the triple relationship 
was about six weeks along that everything began to unravel. Anya 
began to pick up on things, studying the way the three women would 
act around each other. After the clues were dropped, it got her mind 
kicking into gear and as she watched them together, the pieces began 
to fall into place. She brought the matter up to Xander who shrugged 
it off as Buffy just getting back into the groove of things. In 
fact, he was happy that she was so close to Willow and Tara after her 
long stint of being so distant with everyone. Still, Anya's idea 
began to grow in his mind, initially as a fantasy, which he kept 
strictly to himself. He too began to watch the girls and quickly 
became confused. Were his fantasies playing tricks with his head or 
was Anya more accurate than he first thought. Maybe the five of them 
should sit down to talk.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Buffy came barreling down the stairs; something clutched tightly in 
her hand. "Dawn!" She called out frantically. "Dawn, where the hell 
are you?" Buffy ran into the dinning room where she saw Dawn sitting 
there with Willow and Tara going over some homework.

"What?" Dawn whined back.

"What is this?" Buffy shoved the empty box to her sister. 

Dawn picked it up, studying it, "It says right on the box, Buffy. 
Home preg..." What she was holding in her hand finally settled into 
her mind and she looked up to her sister's burning eyes. "Oh no! 
Don't you dare try to pin this one on me. I'm not the one who bought 
this." Dawn jumped up, ready to engage her sister.

"Buffy," Tara called meekly from her chair.

"Oh yeah? Who else here would buy one?" Buffy shot back.

"Buffy," Tara tried once more a little more forceful, but still 
little more than a whisper. Willow heard her though and looked over, 
her eyes squinting trying to figure out what her lover was trying to 
get out.

"Well, it certainly wasn't me and I doubt it's Willow or Tara's," 
Buffy stated logically.

"Buffy!" Tara jumped up, slamming her hand onto the table. She 
didn't want Dawn and Buffy to fight over something she carelessly 
left evidence of. Everyone around the table was startled into 
silence and all eyes fell onto Tara. She slowly sank back into the 
chair; her head low, hair covering her eyes like she had so long ago 
on the day she first met Willow. "It's mine," she whispered.

"I'm sorry, I could have sworn you just said it was yours," Buffy 
asked in a sarcastic statement. "Tara, you don't have to cover for 
Dawn."

"Dawn, maybe it's best if you went upstairs and finished your 
homework there. With your headphones on," Tara added.

Dawn really wanted to stay and find out why Tara was taking pregnancy 
tests, but she knew if it was anything important they would have to 
tell her and apparently no one knew anything yet anyway, so with a 
humph she went off to her room. 

Buffy slumped into a chair and Willow kept her eyes firmly planted on 
Tara. "Tara," Willow called tentatively.

"What's going on, Tara?" Buffy asked. She knew it was ridiculous, 
but she was hurt, thinking Tara was with a man and cheating on her 
and Willow was a pain she'd rather not deal with right now. 
Especially after things were going so well between them. 

"I'm, well, after I missed my period, I couldn't think of any reason 
behind it. Then I just got this strange feeling and decided, well, 
might as well take the test. At least that way I can discredit that 
fear and move on. Well, as you can guess, I can't move on." Tara 
said, still hiding behind her hair.

"How?" was all Buffy got out. She wanted Tara to admit to any 
infidelity and then they could decide how to handle it.

"I don't know."

"Tara, honey, this is something pretty major. How do you not know?" 
Willow pushed gently. She didn't want Tara to think she was accusing 
her of anything, but surely you'd remember how you got pregnant.

"I don't know," Tara stated once more and then looked up, taking a 
moment to look into each of her lovers eyes. "I haven't been with 
anyone but you guys. Maybe it's a false positive. They happen all 
the time."

Buffy got up and went to the phone. "Buffy, what are you doing?" 
Tara asked, fear in her voice.

"Hi, I'd like to make an appointment. No, not for me, for a friend. 
Pregnancy test, yes. Well, she took a home test, but would like to 
know for sure. Tara MaClay. Okay, yeah that's fine. Okay, see you 
then." Buffy hung up and faced her lovers. "There's only one way to 
be completely sure so you have a doctor's appointment tomorrow after 
class."

Tara wasn't sure if she should be grateful or pissed at Buffy for 
taking control and setting up the appointment. Then again, it's what 
she does. Buffy takes control of situations and fixes them and Tara 
knew she couldn't hold that against Buffy. "Thanks," was all she got 
out.

"Honey, why don't you head upstairs and rest, I'll be up in a little 
bit, okay?" Willow offered. She knew Tara had been tired lately and 
this conversation seemed to drain her completely. Now she knew why. 
Tara just nodded and went to their room while Willow and Buffy sat 
across from each other.

"You know, this is the hellmouth," Willow started but left the 
thought hanging until she got a sign from Buffy to continue.

"How do we find out whose behind this?" Buffy asked. If this was not 
something Tara consented to, then someone was going to pay dearly.

"Lets find out if there's anything to find out in the first place," 
Willow responded in a dizzying sentence. Oddly enough, however, 
Buffy nodded, already understanding that they would have to wait for 
the results from the doctor tomorrow before they could move forward 
on this.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"So, Ms. Maclay, this is your first visit with us?" the doctor asked 
idly as he consulted his chart. Tara nodded, knowing he couldn't see 
her, but she knew he wasn't really expecting an answer. "Okay, and 
you think you might be pregnant. Are you menstrual cycles usually on 
time?"

"Yes, like clockwork." 

"Okay, and when was your last cycle?"

"8 or 9 weeks ago. I was due last month, but I missed it, and it 
doesn't look like it's coming this month either."

"Hmmm," the doctor murmured as he made some notations on his 
chart. "We're going to take some blood work and then a pelvic exam. 
The results should be available in about an hour. If you'd like to 
wait while everything is processed you're welcome too, or I can have 
someone call you with the results." He snapped on some gloves and 
eyed the two women standing protectively on either side of the 
blonde. "Um, are you sure your friends won't be more comfortable in 
the waiting room?" He wasn't used to an audience.

"Yes, that's fine, lets just get this over with please," Tara 
responded. She was already too nervous about what was waiting on the 
horizon to explain why Willow and Buffy were staring over her 
shoulders.

With a shrug the doctor went to work, helping Tara's feet into the 
stirrups and began his examination. After a few moments he pushed 
his chair back and pulled the gloves off. "Everything looks fine. 
I'll get the blood drawn now and we'll take it from there," he 
finished while making final notes in her chart.

He left the room and a few moments later a nurse came in. She helped 
Tara take her legs down and sit up. She set up a small tray with 
gauze, alcohol pads, and needles with vials. She swabbed the 
blonde's arm, tied a tourniquet around her upper arm, and lined up 
the needle. "Relax, darlin', it'll just pinch for a second." With 
that, she dove in; the needle embedding itself and the blood was 
pulled forth into the glass containers. After taking two canisters 
full, the nurse pulled the needle out, released the tourniquet, and 
then placed gauze over the puncture. She cleaned up the area and 
informed Tara she could get dressed and go home to wait unless they 
wanted to stay.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

The girls made it back to the house and Buffy immediately took up 
pacing the length of the living room.

"Buffy, you're making me dizzy," Willow stated, already tired from 
watching Buffy wear a hole into the carpet. Buffy looked up and gave 
the red head a half-hearted, apologetic smile and sat down in one of 
the chairs. Her nervousness couldn't be contained and was released 
by her leg bouncing up and down. Willow just rolled her eyes and 
brought her attention back to Tara.

When the phone finally did ring all three jumped, but it was Buffy 
who answered it. "Hello? Oh. What? I don't know if now's a good 
time. Hang on, Xander, there's another call coming in." Buffy hit 
the flash button on the phone to connect to the second call. "Hello? 
Oh, yeah, hang on." Buffy handed the phone to Tara completely 
forgetting Xander. Tara took it with trembling hands.

"Hello," Tara said and then just listened. "Yes, thank you," Tara 
finally said and then disconnected. The phone rang again and she 
answered it. "Hello. Oh, Xander, sorry about that. Yeah, she's 
right here, hang on."

Buffy took the phone, "Xander, I have to call you back, okay? Yes, 
I'll call you, bye." She hung up and was on her knees in front of 
Tara in a flash. Willow turned on the couch next to Tara and took a 
hand in hers. "Well," the slayer asked, unable to wait a second more.

"I'm," Tara took a deep breath, "I'm six weeks pregnant."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Later that night a Scooby meeting was called and all were in 
attendance, including Dawn. Buffy paced again, but finally sat down 
and looked at everyone. "Well, I'm sure everyone's wondering why 
we're here." She took a breath and before she could continue, Dawn 
beat her to the punch.

"Does this have anything to do with the pregnancy test you found?"

All eyes shot to Buffy except for Tara who remained staring at the 
table, finding anything on it extremely interesting.

"Thanks, Dawn," Buffy said not at all grateful for her sister's 
question. "But, yes, it does." She knew that was as far as she 
should go with this. The rest was up to Tara and she let her eyes 
fall onto the quiet blonde.

"No sense in beating around the bush. I'm six weeks pregnant," Tara 
stated simply.

"That's great!" Xander offered in an overly joyful shout, but calmed 
down when he realized he was the only one happy. "Isn't it?" He 
eyed Tara and saw that she was clearly troubled.

"Well, this definitely takes the heat off the three of you," Anya 
stated bluntly.

Willow, taken aback by the comment, didn't know if she should press 
the ex-demon for an explanation or not in front of Dawn, but the 
teenager answered her question for her.

"Yeah, what's been going on with you three lately?"

Buffy slumped deep in her chair, so much for the heat being taken off 
them. She really didn't want to have to deal with both of these 
problems at the same time, but there was little she could do to get 
around it. The three women looked to each other and silently they all 
came to the same conclusion. Now or never.

"We're involved," Buffy allowed without detail.

"Like orgasm buddies?" Anya asked.

Buffy rolled her eyes and groaned. "Anya, Dawn's sitting right 
here," she warned.

"Well, it's not like that, really," Willow started, trying to explain 
their unconventional relationship without getting into explicit 
details, especially in front of Dawn. "We love each other. The 
three of us. We love each other." Willow rambled.

"So, you guys are like, together?" Dawn ventured. She knew what she 
wanted to say, but couldn't really get her mind to come up with the 
words to express it.

Buffy turned to her sister, "Dawn, you know Willow and I have been 
friends for a long time now and Tara and I have been friends for a 
few years as well. Over those years all our feelings grew and 
changed, and, well, the only thing I can say, that I want you to 
hear, is yes, we love each other."

"So, when did this happen?" Xander asked.

"The night Buffy got hurt," Willow answered.

"Six," Tara started to add to the answer, but stopped dead in her 
tracks, her eyes shooting back and forth between Willow and Buffy.

"Six weeks ago," Buffy and Willow finished the statement at the same 
time.

Silence slammed into everyone at the table until Buffy finally broke 
it with a stuttering denial. "No, no that can't be right. No, maybe 
it was..." her mind stopped thinking.

"It's possible," Anya offered vaguely.

It took a moment before what Anya said settled in, but Tara was the 
first to seek more information. "What do you mean, `it's possible?'"

"Well," Anya started, getting excited that not only was someone 
listening to her, but also wanted her to continue. "See, you all 
keep saying you love each other, yeah great, but did you take into 
consideration that we're dealing with mystical beings here. Two 
witches and one slayer. And, let's not forget that this is the 
hellmouth here. If you guys, um," Anya cast a look to Dawn, who was 
watching her, riveted to the conversation. "Um, if you guys um, 
well, hell, had sex, that alone couldn't do it. Not like if you were 
with a guy, in which case, you could get knocked up even the first 
time if you're not practicing safe sex," Anya gave Xander a goofy 
look that said, `I'm proud we practice sex in any way, including 
safely.' "Anyway, for two women, or well, in your case, three women 
to get pregnant, you need to share blood and you need to be 
completely in synch with one another. You usually have to perform 
some chants and stuff, but considering the mystical power between the 
three of you, it's possible you wouldn't have to do that part."

It took a few moments to widdle away the excess of Anya's babble, but 
soon enough they figured out that they needed to exchange blood and 
have sex, but when did they share blood? It took a few more minutes 
for the memory to resurface. The three of them in the bathroom, 
Buffy doubled over in pain holding her bleeding side and then her 
reaching up, grabbing onto Willow and Tara's arms to stable herself. 
The blood on her hands mingling with the wounds on their arms from 
the crossbow bolt and sword. Their blood joined them together and 
they finished the requirements by making love shortly after her fever 
broke.

"So, are you saying Buffy and I are the daddies?" Willow asked, 
though she followed a similar train of thought as Buffy and already 
knew the answer. She just needed to hear it said out loud so it 
would help sink in.

"Um, yeah, pretty much." Anya offered.

"Buffy!" Tara shouted from across the table and before anyone 
realized what happened, Buffy had already hit the floor with a loud 
thud. Everyone huddled around her afraid for their friend. Her eyes 
fluttered a bit and then slowly opened to see everyone hovering over 
her.

"Buffy," Willow asked softly.

"Will, what a weird dream I just had."

"Not a dream sweetie," Tara said, leaning closer to her lover.

Buffy groaned and Willow took charge. "Okay, everyone back up, give 
her some air."

Xander and Anya stood up and took their seats again. "Go figure. 
The hellmouth can throw anything it likes at her and she barely 
blinks, tell her she's going to be a dad and she faints like a, well, 
like something fainty." Xander finished; the wind out of his sails 
due to the lack of quick wit.

Without ceremony, Willow and Dawn managed to get Buffy back into her 
chair while Tara went into the kitchen to fetch a glass of water. 
The slayer accepted it gratefully and downed the liquid in one 
gulp. "I'm okay now, just a bit of shock, but I'm good."

Willow and Tara stayed nearby just in case while Dawn took her seat 
once more. "So I guess you're keeping her?" Anya asked.

"I never considered anything otherwise," Tara asked, a bit more 
forceful than she intended.

"What makes you think it's a she?" Buffy asked, trying to follow the 
conversation, but it was taking some effort.

"Because, honey, there's no man involved, therefore no Y chromosome 
to worry about." Willow offered, the answer easily falling into the 
academic area, a place she was most comfortable in.

Buffy just stared at her, the words made sense, she knew they did, 
but to process anything beyond things in their simplest terms was 
beyond her at the moment so she just nodded, pretending to 
understand. She figured it'd all make sense later.

"Oh, that means there's a baby shower, with lots of presents to be 
had," Anya announced gleefully.

"Yeah, hon, but the presents go to Tara... and Willow... and Buffy," 
Xander informed awkwardly.

This seemed to deflate Anya's excitement a little bit, a little 
disappointed that the presents wouldn't be for her, but she was still 
excited nonetheless. 

"Um, what room are we going to use as a nursery, all of them are 
already used up?" Dawn asked, her innocent mind reeling.

"Well," Willow started, "we were thinking that Buffy could move into 
our room with us, now that everyone knows what's going on."

"Oh, oh, and I can take Buffy's room so you guys can use mine since 
it's closer to you."

"Aw, Dawnie, that's very sweet of you." Tara offered with an 
affectionate smile.

"Plus I always liked Buffy's room more," Dawn allowed meekly.

"Probably because it's the easiest room to sneak in and out of at 
night," Anya stated simply, not realizing she just may have caused 
Dawn some trouble.

"Oh, no you don't," Buffy started, her protective instincts kicking 
in for her little sister.

"I swear, that's not what I meant. I mean, it's bigger, more room 
for my stuff. You know, growing teen, collects lots of junk, you 
know the deal," Dawn debated back, trying to salvage what Anya nearly 
destroyed in one swoop.

"Plus it would mean the room would be closer to us," Tara offered, 
trying to help Dawn. At the same time, however, Tara gave Dawn a 
look that said, `I'm helping you out, don't screw me on this.'

Xander picked up on the growing tension and thought it was time to 
defuse the situation. "Well, it's not something you have to worry 
about right away. Maybe let Dawn stay in your room, Buff, for a 
little bit and see how it goes. If she's responsible you can keep 
the arrangement that way. If not, you can chain her to the bed every 
night."

"Good idea," Buffy conceded and then looked sternly at Dawn. "Xander 
may be joking about the chaining you to the bed part, but I'm not. 
You and I will talk more later on, for now, let's just get past the 
basics."

"Should we call Giles and tell him the good news?" Dawn asked, hoping 
to push the focus off herself and into less hostile territory.

Everyone looked to Buffy. Giles was, after all, Buffy's watcher and 
if anyone was going to call him and share the news it would be 
Buffy. She nodded, "I'll call him in a few hours. The time 
difference and all," Buffy offered as an explanation as she looked at 
the clock on the wall. "Speaking of time, isn't it way past your 
bedtime, Dawn?"

"Yeah, yeah, time for the `adults' to talk." Dawn intoned. "You know, 
I'm going to be an aunt soon, how's it going to look to my niece if I 
have a curfew and bedtime like she does?"

Buffy chuckled. She knew Dawn had a point. Leave it up to the minds 
of youngsters to point out the obvious. "Don't push your luck. I'm 
already allowing you a try-out with my room. One step at a time."

"Um, which brings me to my next question," Dawn pressed. She was 
stalling, everyone knew it and at Buffy's raised eyebrow she knew she 
was treading on a thin line. "No, seriously, I have a legitimate 
question. Um, where do I sleep tonight?"

Buffy lowered her brow, acknowledging that Dawn's question held merit 
and then looked to Willow and Tara. Her lovers looked back, but left 
the ball in her court. This was her decision. "Sleep in your room 
tonight, Dawnie. We'll work out the logistics of everything 
tomorrow, okay?"

"Sounds good to me." With that Dawn made her rounds to everyone at 
the table. She hugged Willow and then Tara again wishing them the 
best of luck and giving congratulations. Buffy was next and received 
similar well wishes. Anya and Dawn shared a slightly awkward hug and 
then Xander, her crush. To him she whispered, "Thanks for covering 
my back."

"Anytime Dawn, now get your butt to bed before Buffy kicks it," he 
joked.

Anya and Tara went to the kitchen to bring out some coffee and tea, 
allowing Dawn time to get upstairs and out of earshot so the real 
discussion could begin.

Xander leaned his arms on the table, holding his steaming mug of 
coffee and started the more serious questions. "So, what are your 
plans? I mean, Tara, are you going to be a stay-at-home mother? 
Willow? What about school? Buffy? The slaying?"

The three of them knew it was only a matter of time before the full 
reality of the situation set in on just how much responsibility this 
new change to their lives would be.

"Well, my situation is kind of moot, but I guess that's good because 
that means I can be here to watch the baby during the day."

"I could check with school and see about getting into an accelerated 
program, doubling up on credits and stuff to graduate early and then 
get some work with a computer firm or something. Remember those guys 
who were trying to recruit me back in high school during career day?" 
Willow asked, focusing her question to Buffy and Xander who were 
there.

"I guess I can keep attending classes, maybe take some extra ones 
like Willow until I have to take off. Maybe I can do some of those 
telecourse or distant learning courses and keeping studying from 
home." Tara offered. She didn't really want to stop going to 
school. She knew she'd wind up in dead end jobs for the rest of her 
life without a degree to help her along.

"The Doublemeat Palace doesn't bring in a lot of money, especially 
since I have to work it around the slaying, but I can try to find 
something else that'll pay a little more. Don't know how much good 
that would do considering I barely made it out of high school," Buffy 
offered.

"What about the three of you in one room?" Anya questioned.

The room was silent for a moment, no one really sure if this was a 
serious question or just something that Anya's sex-crazed mind wanted 
to know about. "I guess we're gonna need a bigger bed," Willow 
offered as a joke.

It seemed to ease the tension in the room and the friends shared in 
the joy that was soon to come into the world. For that night the 
hellmouth was forgotten, all was right, and happy memories and laughs 
were shared around a table of close friends.

As Xander and Anya left for the evening there were still some matters 
left to clear up. Buffy still had to call Giles to share in the good 
news and after the fun conversations she just shared with her 
friends, she was in a good mood to share the exciting news, but 
first, Tara and Willow wanted to discuss the situation with Dawn so 
the trio took a seat in the living room.

"Buffy, we know how protective you are of Dawn and it's a good idea 
to give her a chance to prove herself by allowing her to stay in your 
room." Willow started.

"She also had a point about being an aunt," Tara finished, letting 
Buffy take things in at her pace. They did not want this to come off 
as a tag team effort to undermine Buffy's authority as Dawn's 
guardian, no matter how much they felt like equal guardians to the 
young teen.

Buffy nodded, knowing where this conversation was going. Her lovers 
were always more willing to cut Dawn slack and she knew, deep down, 
that she'd been unreasonable with some of her demands on the teen. 
Still, it was she that had to go out each time and fend off the evil 
of the world. She knew better than anyone what was out there and 
using Dawn's more recent lapses in judgment, she wasn't sure how much 
leeway she could extend to her sister. She needed her to be more 
responsible, especially with a baby coming into their lives, but 
they'd have to take it in steps and work their way up to the bigger 
stuff, and she expressed these thoughts to her lovers.

"We understand, Buffy. Just remember that with teens, the more you 
push and restrict them the more they're going to push back," Tara 
gently guided. She didn't want to tell Buffy how to raise her sister 
and she knew why Buffy was so protective, but she also knew what it 
felt like to be repressed and to long for trust from her family to 
take on more responsibilities than simply being a house slave. Tara 
took on a far away look and though she didn't need to speak her 
thoughts out loud, Buffy and Willow seemed to be tuned into her 
feelings and knew what she was saying without having to say it.

"Thank you, Tara. I know what you're saying and I'll talk to Dawnie 
about things tomorrow. For now, let me call Giles. Do you guys want 
to stick around to share in the news? Trust me", she said semi-
sarcastic, semi-in fun "I swear you'll be able to hear him clean his 
glasses from here, the moment I say it... if he doesn't have a heart 
attack first"

Willow smirked, and added, "Yep... I can see it now... the first 
recorded Slayer-Kills-Watcher, No Vampires In Sight case... We'll be 
in the history books, with the Council, after this." All three 
girls gave a small nervous laugh at this, knowing none of this was 
meant to be mean, but needing those previous seconds of delay, before 
they actually had to make the call.

The women nodded and Buffy got up to make the call. "Hello?" the 
distinctly British voice came across the line.

"Hey, Giles," Buffy called cheerily into the line.

"Buffy! Isn't it rather late on your end of the world? Is 
everything okay? Everyone safe?" Giles asked, fear creeping into his 
voice. It generally was something serious to warrant his slayer to 
call him.

"Actually, everyone's great. We have some good news. Really good 
news, actually." Buffy put her hand over the mouthpiece and 
whispered to her lovers. "Why don't you girls pick up the other 
phones so we could tell him at the same time," Buffy suggested.

"Buffy? Buffy are you still there?" Giles called out onto the line.

"Yeah, sorry Giles."

"Hey, Giles," Willow called out as she picked up her extension.

"Hello, Mr. Giles," Tara added.

"Ahh, hello ladies. It's good to hear from you. So, I hear there's 
news to be had?" Giles asked, anxious to get to the point. Though 
Buffy assured him it was good news, he was still nervous.

"We're pregnant!" The three girls yelled into the phone at the same 
time.

A thud and then dead silence met their ears.

"Giles?" Buffy asked. "Giles? You okay? Hello?"

There was a scrapping noise and then Giles cleared his throat. If 
she closed her eyes, Buffy could envision him taking his glasses off 
and cleaning them. "Um, yes, s-sorry. Um, all three of you are, um, 
well..."

"No, no," Willow offered.

"Tara's the one who's pregnant," Buffy filled in.

"I'm not sure I follow you. Willow and Tara performed some type of 
spell?" He asked, his mind trying to wrap around the news. He feared 
Willow's powers, alone they were far more powerful than he thought 
the witch even knew, but combined with Tara's own skill her powers 
were immeasurable. But where did Buffy come into all this.

"Well, Tara and Willow were together, as you know, but as it turns 
out the three of us were each harboring feelings for one another and 
that finally came to light during one of my feverish times and we've 
been together for the past six weeks." Buffy offered.

It took Giles a second for it to settle in, but he was more concerned 
with the fact that Buffy went through one of her fever 
spells. "Buffy, are you okay? You were obviously hurt," Giles went 
on.

Buffy cut him off to sooth his worries, "Yeah, I'm okay. Healed 
right away. Turns out we unwittingly put together some spell because 
we're all mystical or something."

"Yes, I'm familiar with the spell. Well, um, congratulations are in 
order I suppose." Giles responded, though his tone did not sound all 
that congratulatory. 

"Giles?" Buffy asked, her voice lowering at the end of his name, 
indicating she had picked up on his tone and wanted to know what his 
real feelings were.