Three's Company 1/5 "R" W/T/B

["amberbensonfan" <AmberBensonFan@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Okay, I don't think I've send this to the list yet and I hope W/T/B 
is accepted here. This is the first story I ever finished. I split 
the story into parts because of the size - just thought it'd be 
easier for people on slower connections. So, without further ado...

~~~~~~~~~~~

Three's Company; Four's Family
By AmberBensonFan 

Disclaimer: Unfortunately I don't own any of the characters in here 
other than Joy. Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy own everyone else. No 
infringement is intended.
Distribution: Just email me and let me know so I can put a link to 
you on my site and keep track of where my stories are. You can 
contact me at AmberBensonFan@xxxxxxxxxxx or through my site at 
www.megawitches.net 
Feedback: PLEASE! This is my first complete fic so any feedback you 
can send is most appreciated. Be honest, I can't make it better 
without honest feedback.
Pairing: W/T/B, X/A
Rating: PG-13, probably and R for the occasional fight and language, 
angst, and some violence.
Angst Alert: Along the way this story contains the action of rape. 
It is not really described in any type of detail.
Summary: When Buffy, Willow, and Tara finally admit their feelings 
for one another, their union brings about an unexpected change.
Notes: This story isn't exactly canon. It takes place after "The 
Gift" but (there are going to be possible SPOILERS coming into the 
rest of this sentence so WATCH OUT) it doesn't have Willow getting 
addicted and W/T never broke up or fought over the magic. Special 
thanks to SpikesGrrl and WilTar for beta reading this for me and very 
helpful feedback.

~~~~~~~~~~

Willow and Tara followed behind Buffy as she made her way through the 
dark graveyard, stealthily making her way in between the lines of 
white stone. The two witches hung back a few feet, their hands 
intertwined, talking aimlessly about their day and occasionally 
stealing sweet kisses from one another.

Buffy, with her `slayer-hearing' picked up on the conversation, but 
more importantly, she picked up on the light smacking sounds of their 
lips meeting. With each kiss she cringed, her stomach tightening. 
She stalked onward, praying that some idiot vampire would dare take 
her on so she'd be distracted from the two loving witches.

Willow was her best friend and it's not that she didn't like Tara, 
nor did she have a problem with the two women being together. In 
fact, that's where the trouble lay. She loved her best friend, but 
she also loved Tara, and that love had long ago crossed from mere 
friendship to longing for a more intimate relationship.

She knew she was out of her mind and chalked it up to her 
resurrection. Her mind was scrambled; her emotions were haywire. 
The two witches were always there for her and she convinced herself 
that her thoughts and feelings for them were just some 
miscommunication between her mind and heart. At least, that's what 
she tried to tell herself, but if she was completely honest, her 
feelings had begun to surface before her death. In fact, the day 
that Willow told her that she and Tara were more than just friends 
her initial reaction was hurt. Not hurt that her best friend was 
with a woman, nor was it over the fact that her friend had kept this 
information from her for so long. No, she was hurt because for years 
she had loved Willow and devoted her life to her, and yet she never 
stood a chance. 

She wanted to hate Tara, she really did. Unfortunately, there was no 
hating the blonde Wiccan. She had her chance when Tara's family came 
to town to reclaim her. She could have easily handed Tara over to 
them, held Willow back; telling her it was for everyone's own good. 
She could have consoled the redhead, soothed her pain, and helped her 
forget about Tara. By then it was too late. She knew there was no 
turning back for Willow. Tara held onto Willow's heart so completely 
that Buffy once again sacrificed herself for the happiness of her 
friend and stayed far in the distance where their relationship was 
concerned.

She had used the Initiative as an excuse, Riley as a false 
impression. She hid behind them from Willow and she knew it hurt her 
friend. No matter how much in love with Tara she was, Willow always 
turned to Buffy for guidance, especially now that she was entering 
into a whole new type of relationship, but Buffy couldn't bring 
herself to face her friend. It hurt too much to guide her friend 
into the arms of another woman, while she secretly wished it were her 
own arms wrapped around the small form.

She was so lost in her thoughts, more so than usual, that she didn't 
even hear the attackers until after the first blow landed. And it 
was a strong hit at that. The bat crashed into her ribs, sending her 
to the ground in an instant. She had to struggle to take even the 
tiniest bit of air into her aching lungs. The vampires didn't waste 
any time. As soon as the Slayer was laid out in front of them, they 
jumped on her, kicking, punching, and pummeling wherever they could 
get their strikes to land.

It took a second for the witches to realize exactly what had just 
happened. Buffy always knew when an attack was coming, way before 
they ever did, so to see Buffy getting beaten down caught them off 
guard. After just a second of catching their thoughts, the witches 
lunged head first into the fray.

Willow and Tara used physical force to break themselves into the 
circle surrounding the fallen slayer, but they knew there was no way 
they could fend off the swarm of demonic night crawlers on their 
own. Turning to check on the status of the Blonde warrior, they knew 
they were in trouble when Buffy made no attempt to get up. Her eyes 
were open, her breathing came in erratic gasps, but she didn't move.

Willow and Tara joined hands and the circle of vampires flew apart, 
sending demons in every direction. "Get her up," Willow shouted to 
Tara as she concentrated on the palm of her hand. A small light 
began to glow and Tara bent down to pull the Slayer to her feet. She 
could feel the warm blood down the slayer's side, but couldn't 
determine how severe the wound was, or even it's exact location. 
Behind her, a vampire managed to send a crossbow bolt sailing by, 
luckily Buffy's weight threw her off balance toppling her to one side 
at the same time, but the bolt left it's mark, skimming a path across 
her arm, leaving a slash of blood in its wake. She really didn't 
have time to think about it as she struggled to bring Buffy back to 
her feet and started to make her way back through the cemetery. 

Willow let the ball in her hands grow larger, but when she saw the 
crossbow bolt heading for Tara she nearly lost the spell. She saw 
Tara topple to the side and the bolt continue its path onward. That 
split second distraction cost her, though, as another vampire managed 
to sneak up on her blind side and slash her arm with his knife. Her 
rage fueled the ball in her hand and the light erupted sending 
sunlight throughout the entire graveyard, dusting not only the cadre 
that surrounded them, but all others who were stalking that cemetery 
as well.

Willow didn't let herself dwell on the success with the spell that 
caused her a great deal of trouble. She saw Tara struggling with the 
Slayer, who had yet to get her feet under her and start using them. 
She rushed to them, taking Buffy's other arm and wrapping it around 
her neck. The two witches carried, well, more like dragged, the 
slayer back to the house.

Dawn was already sleeping by the time they walked in the door, so the 
witches tried to be as silent as possible as they pulled Buffy up the 
stairs to the bathroom. Now back at her own house, the slayer 
started to get some of her strength back and was able to help herself 
scale the stairs.

Once in the bathroom, Willow and Tara immediately pulled Buffy's 
shirt off to examine where the blood was coming from. The quick jolt 
of being stripped sent a shearing pain through Buffy and she grabbed 
her side with both hands, doubling over in pain. The girls were 
instantly at her side, holding her up, and Buffy eventually began to 
straighten, placing her soiled hands on each of their arms for 
support.

Tara draped Buffy over Willow so she'd have a clear look at Buffy's 
side. She ran a clothe under the water and began to gently wash away 
the blood and grime to reach the wound. It was a nicely sized gash 
along her ribs where the bat had struck and Tara reached into the 
medicine cabinet for some ointment, a needle, thread, and bandages 
and quickly set to work cleaning and sealing the wound.

Once cleaned and after each witch checked the other, they aided Buffy 
to her room, easing her onto the bed. A small fever began to make 
its way through the Slayer's body, something she was used to. Often 
times her body would throw a raging fever into the mix to help burn 
out any viruses that might make their way into her system. This was 
one of the reasons she was able to heal so quickly, but it didn't 
come without a cost. The fevers would always make her delirious, 
almost like she was drunk, but usually no one was around her other 
than Giles when this happened and she had nothing to fear.

Now, however, the witches hovered over her, Tara lightly sliding her 
hand along Buffy's forehead, trying to gauge the fever. She was 
concerned that it seemed to increase steadily and expressed those 
concerns vocally to Willow. "Don't worry. Happens all the time. 
Heal faster." Buffy spoke up in broken sentences.

"Does it normally get this high, Buffy," Tara asked, concern in her 
voice.

All Buffy could do was nod before a wave of shivers assaulted her. 
She burrowed further under the covers, pulling them up to her chin 
and tucking them around herself to form a cocoon. "Cold. So cold."

"That's the fever. You're body is just trying to cool itself off," 
Willow offered, her mind kicking into gear, pulling up information 
from her various health and biology classes.

"W-w," Buffy started, smacking her dry lips together trying to wet 
them, "water, please." She croaked out.

Willow jumped up and went to the bathroom. A moment later she 
returned with a cup full of cool water. She started to ease it down 
to Buffy, but realized the slayer was getting more of it on herself 
rather than in. She looked to Tara who merely nodded and then pulled 
Buffy into a sitting position. She slid her body behind the slayer, 
wrapping her legs around the muscular form and eased the shaking 
slayer back. She took the glass from Willow and eased it up to 
trembling lips.

It took a while, but Tara managed to get a good deal of the liquid, 
now room temperature, down the slayer's throat. She was starting to 
push up, when Buffy suddenly groaned a complaint. "Stay. Please," 
she asked, her voice still hoarse as her fever raged on.

Tara looked to Willow and they shared a moment. Willow got up and 
went to their room and came back carrying extra blankets and 
pillows. She settled Tara first, making sure she would be 
comfortable as she cradled the slayer through the night and then sat 
back trying to figure out how she'd lay down. "Maybe I should just 
lay on the floor," Willow whispered the suggestion to Tara.

Buffy had a bout of shakes and as Willow leaned over to check on her, 
the slayer pulled her down on top of her. "Cold. You. Warm." 
Years of being with Buffy had taught Willow to understand that she 
was helping to keep the blonde warm and figured it was the least she 
could do. Soon enough, the slayer was in a sandwitch. 

Hours passed and Tara watched Willow sleeping contentedly wrapped 
around the woman below her and her heart ached. She knew that Willow 
loved Buffy and always had. It was one of the first things they 
talked about when they first got together because Tara was afraid she 
was stepping in between something. Willow admitted her feelings for 
her best friend, but shrugged it off saying that Buffy was a friend 
and nothing more would ever happen. Buffy didn't love her like that 
and never would; besides, she was happy right where she was with the 
blonde Wiccan.

Tara couldn't blame Willow. To watch Buffy in action was magickal in 
itself, but to see Buffy just being herself was something far beyond 
words. The slayer was always there, apocalypse or not. She loved 
all the Scoobies, cared for them, mothered them. Tara was just as 
affected by Buffy as Willow was, but kept that fact hidden, even from 
Willow. How would it look if she admitted similar feelings, 
especially after knowing that Willow loved the slayer just as much? 
Not to mention that Tara was torn, believing that she was betraying 
Willow just having these thoughts.

As though the slayer read her mind, she snuggled further into the 
warm body behind her, nestling deeper into the legs surrounding her. 
It took everything Tara had to suppress the moan that desperately 
wanted to escape. Her face flushed and her breath hitched, but when 
Buffy leaned her head back and began to nuzzle into her neck, Tara 
couldn't stop the groan that came. 

Willow was nudged awake as Buffy shifted in her sleep, but her eyes 
sprang open when she heard Tara. At first she thought Buffy's weight 
was too much and was hurting her, but as her mind cleared away the 
haze from sleep, it registered that was a different kind of moan. 
Her head shot up and green locked with blue.

Tara slapped a hand over her mouth and thought Willow would never 
forgive her, especially as she saw the redhead's eyes narrow, not out 
of malice, but as though she was concentrating intently on something.

"Willow, I..." Tara started.

"You," Willow gulped, "you. Buffy." It appears that the years with 
Buffy not only allowed Willow to understand the broken speech, but 
rubbed off on her too. 

All Tara could do was nod, knowing what Willow was trying to say. 
She didn't have to use words because Tara could see it in the green 
eyes pinning her down. She was waiting, dreading the seconds that 
past, expecting a storm of rage to hit her, but it never came.

Buffy filled the silence between them as she nuzzled further into 
Tara's neck. The witch could merely close her eyes at the contact, 
damning herself further because Willow was watching the whole scene 
unfold. She cursed herself for being so weak and not able to fend 
off the arousal that was bolting through her body, but her eyes shot 
open as soon as Buffy mumbled, "Oh, Tara."

Willow's eyes raged. How dare her best friend betray her like this? 
All this time Buffy had the hots for Tara and Tara felt the same way 
and never said anything. Willow was about to unleash holy terror, 
ready to scream and shout, but Buffy unconsciously put an end to 
anything that was to come from Willow's lips but a groan not 
dissimilar to Tara's. Buffy stroked Willow's sides, catching the 
underside of her small, perky breasts. A subconscious smirk spread 
along Buffy's lips and she groaned, "Mmmm, Willow. So sweet."

This time the shock of what just happened was shared by both women, 
the reality of the situation slamming into them full force where they 
both jumped out of the bed. The suddenly jostling pulled Buffy from 
her dreams and she too jumped up, grabbing a stake from her 
nightstand, armed and ready. Her eyes took in the whole room in an 
instant and then noticed her friends on the other side of the bed. 
They held hands, but quickly let them drop to their sides, not sure 
what to really do.

"What's going on?" Buffy asked, wincing a bit in delayed pain from 
her side now that things weren't immediately life threatening.

"Um, you know, um," Willow looked to Tara for help.

"Ah, we just thought we'd go back to our room, sorry for bothering 
you," Tara said, grabbing Willow's hand and pulling her from the room 
in a bolt.

"Um, okay," Buffy said to an empty room. She laid her stake down and 
quickly studied her side, noting the considerable amount of healing 
that'd already taken place. Satisfied, she crawled into bed, closed 
her eyes, and tried to focus her thoughts to bring back the dream she 
was so thoroughly enjoying. A second later her eyes shot wide open. 
Her dream. Her friends rushing out of the room. No, they couldn't 
know. Well, they were witches; maybe they stumbled into the 
dreamscape. Maybe she was talking in her sleep.

Buffy jumped up and silently made her way to the room down the hall 
from her, but stopped halfway. Her slayer hearing picked up every 
word of the conversation.

"Tara, what do you feel for Buffy?" Willow asked, her voice clearly 
agitated, but not accusing.

"I'm sorry, Willow. After you told me about your feelings for Buffy 
and then I got a chance to really get to know her, I thought it 
wouldn't be fair of me to share a crush on your best friend with 
you. I just thought it was some hero worship thing and that it would 
go away."

"Apparently not. Look at the way you were groaning when she was 
nuzzling you."

"Hey, you were feeling the same thing when she was stroking your 
sides." Tara shot back. They were debating the issue of what had 
just happened, but by no means was this a fight. 

"The question is, do we pretend that we didn't hear what we heard and 
assume that it was just the fever talking or do we confront Buffy 
about not only our feelings for her, but her feelings for us?" Willow 
asked, her mind running off into a million different pathways

"I think we need to talk to her. If we don't get it out into the 
open.... we know... she doesn't know.. and we know she doesn't 
know... ya know?" Tara offered.

"Okay, fine, we talk. What happens though? We both feel the same 
about Buffy, she obviously feels something for us in return... how 
much of something.. well.. umm... who knows... but what... about us?" 
Willow asked, fear creeping into her voice.

Tara closed the distance between her and her lover in a split 
second. "Oh, baby," Tara said, holding Willow close to her, gently 
stroking the soft red hair. "No matter what I love you. More than 
life itself, I love you." She pushed Willow away from her, holding 
her at arms length, so she could look deeply into the green eyes she 
loved so much. "I'm confused. I love Buffy, yes. Why? I don't 
know. But I love you, Willow, never doubt that. I'd die for you."

"Me too, baby, me too," was all Willow could let out as she fell back 
into Tara's arms. They hugged, letting tears fall from their eyes, 
followed by kisses that laid claim on each other.

Buffy stood outside in the hallway, guilt slashing through her more 
effectively than any sword ever could. She nearly caused her two 
friends to break up because she couldn't keep her mouth shut during 
her dream. Just having them both so close was overwhelming and while 
her body fought the pain, fever, and injury, she was left open and 
was unable to censor herself like she normally did. She knew they 
were going to talk to her, but she knew it would mean bad news was on 
the horizon. Her mind was reeling, conjuring up all sorts of 
images. Willow and Tara would want to move out because they'd be too 
uncomfortable. How would she explain that? What would Dawn say? 
She loved them both so much, to lose them would really hurt her and 
it was her own fault. She noticed the talking stopped and decided to 
just head back to bed when a soft voice brought her attention back to 
the door in front of her.

"But what do we say to Buffy? Hi, Buffster, we know you were 
dreaming about us and we feel the same way, let's hop into bed 
together?" Willow asked. She was being sarcastic, Buffy knew, and it 
hurt.

"What do you want to do?" Tara asked. The tone caught Buffy a little 
off guard. She knew Tara would leave the ball in Willow's court, but 
it sounded like Tara already had a plan going through her mind. She 
edged closer to the door, almost touching it.

"I don't know. I would never leave you for her and I know you'd 
never do that either, but I don't know what to do about the fact that 
we both feel the same way. I mean, I never gave it much thought 
because I always just assumed that Buffy saw me only as a friend. I 
never knew she felt like we do, too. I mean," Willow stopped mid-
sentence, her eyes raised to Tara's. They plead with her, begged her 
to help, to give her the answers.

"Baby, do you want to be with Buffy?" Tara asked.

Buffy was leaning against the door now, her ear pressed hard against 
the wood. She didn't need to be that close, but the conversation 
took an interesting turn and she was using the door, more for support 
to keep herself standing, than anything else.

"Not it if means losing you," Willow answered instantly.

"That's not what I asked. I asked if you wanted to be with Buffy?"

Willow looked at Tara like she had just grown another head. 
Considering this was Sunnydale, it was highly possible, but then 
realization began to hit home. She narrowed her eyes, again not with 
ill intent, but more in the way someone does to see something more 
clearly. "Do you want to be with Buffy?" Willow asked. She caught 
on to what Tara was heading for and turned and tables on her lover.

"I want whatever you want," Tara answered in an equally evasive way.

"That's not what I asked," Willow returned with her lover's own 
response.

"Fine, on the count of three we'll answer at the same time. Yes or 
no. Yes, you want to be with Buffy or no, you don't want to be with 
Buffy." Tara offered logically.

"Okay. One," Willow let out with a breath.

Buffy thought that one second lasted a minute.

"Two," Tara said.

If Buffy leaned any harder against the door she'd wind up pushing 
herself through it.

"Three! YES!" Willow and Tara shouted at the same time.

That was all the door and Buffy could handle. The slim wood holding 
the door closed buckled under the pressure and split sending the door 
flinging into the room, quickly followed by Buffy who went sprawling 
onto the floor in front of the two witches.

They jumped back a step, startled, but looked down to Buffy. Buffy 
refused to look up knowing she'd been caught red handed.

"Buffy?" Willow asked tentatively.

"Um, would you believe I was heading to the bathroom and tripped and 
fell into your door?" Buffy asked, still refusing to look up.

Tara put her hands on her hips and looked down at the slayer who was 
turning red all over from embarrassment. Willow and Tara barely had 
a second to realize that both of their answers were yes before Buffy 
wound up on their floor. Now that Buffy was remaining silent and 
refused to look at them, Willow and Tara looked to each other as it 
dawned on them what just took place.

"You?" Willow asked.

"You too?" Tara asked and nodded her answer to Willow, who responded 
in kind.

"I guess now's as good a time as any to have that little chat." 
Willow offered and bent down to take Buffy's hand in her own.

Tara followed suit, taking Buffy's other hand and pulled the Slayer 
to her feet and guided her over to the bed where the three of them 
sat down, Buffy in the middle. She stared at her feet, fiddling with 
her fingers nervously.

"So, I guess you heard, huh?" Willow asked.

Buffy nodded slowly.

"I guess now the last question that remains is do you want to be with 
us?" Tara asked.

It was just established that Willow and Tara were willing to share 
themselves and their relationship with Buffy, but they still didn't 
know if Buffy was willing to do the same.

Again all Buffy could do was nod, almost like a child being scolded, 
though this was very far from what was actually happening and it took 
the slayer a moment for that fact to register. Normally she'd be 
able to make split-second, life-saving decisions, but for some reason 
her brain seemed to be stuck in the mud and took its time to wrap 
around the concept that was just presented to her.

Willow placed an arm around Buffy, nothing more than a sign of 
support and friendship, a sign of soothing comfort. It was all Buffy 
could handle and she broke down into the warm arms that held her. 
She cried on the shoulder she had always turned to in times of need 
and let out all the pain she'd harbored since her rebirth. As Willow 
held her, Tara stroked Buffy's back and began to gently sing to her, 
words she had sung to them not to long ago, "What can't we face if 
we're together. What's in this place we can't weather. There's 
nothing we can't face." Buffy slowly lifted her head, recognizing 
the words as her own, and gave Tara a small smile.

"I can't get in between you too. You guys have something really 
special and I can't break that up."

"You're not breaking us up. We want to share what we have with you."

Willow knew there was little they could say that would quell these 
fears of Buffy's, so she did the only thing she could think of. She 
reached up and took Buffy's face in her hands and leaned forward, 
laying a gentle kiss on trembling lips. At first Buffy didn't 
respond to the caress, it barely registered, the touch was so soft. 
Soon, as the fog in her mind began to lift, she pressed into the 
kiss, opening herself to it, allowing everything she felt for the 
smaller woman to come through in that simple action.

Willow curled her fingers into Buffy's hair and opened her mouth, 
letting her tongue search for Buffy's. With her other hand she 
pulled Tara to them. Not needing to be told twice, Tara took that as 
her cue and leaned into Buffy's back and began to lay soft kisses 
along the slayer's throat. She could feel the pulse beneath her lips 
practically triple in pace and couldn't hold back the small smirk 
that played across her lips. She added some pressure to her caresses 
and playfully nipped at the smooth skin.

It didn't take long for the moans to start and Buffy slowly turned 
from the kiss with Willow and faced Tara. She slid one hand along 
the blonde's soft cheek, studying her eyes and leaned into the kiss 
her. Tara immediately opened herself to Buffy and Willow took over 
Tara's previous position, kissing Buffy's neck, while stroking her 
back and sides.

Buffy ran her hands along Tara's shoulders and arms, slipping them 
underneath the fabric and back up. Skin touching skin, sending 
blazes of arousal shooting through both the blondes. Tara slid her 
hands under Buffy's shirt and laid gentle strokes across the taunt 
muscles of Buffy's stomach.

Buffy began to gently lower them so they lay on the bed, each girl on 
their sides so they could maintain contact. Willow reached across 
Buffy and began to stroke Tara's skin, delighting in all the new 
sensations.

Soon enough, clothes were discarded and the trio lay in each others 
arms, loving each other. No one getting any more attention than the 
next person, complete unity between them. Passions quickly began to 
peek and with an earth-shattering cry, all three let the rush flood 
through them, the room filling with light and surrounded them before 
slowly fading and then disappearing.

They held each other, letting their rapid breathing calm down to a 
more stable, steady rhythm, and then they drifted off into a sleep. 
Buffy was left in a state of peace she hadn't felt since before she 
was called as the Slayer. Willow remained calm, her dreams taking her 
to lovely places, but Tara remained troubled. Something happened. 
Something major and life changing, but she couldn't quiet place what 
the problem was.

Her dreams took her to a meadow, a stream rolling across the middle 
of it as far as the eye could see in either direction. There was an 
old wooden bridge connecting the two sides in front of her, but as 
she peered across the stream, she could tell the two sides were 
drastically different. Her side was soothing; a sensation of safety 
surrounded her, but the other, though exactly the same in appearance 
sent out a feeling of change. She knew that if she crossed that 
bridge she would change forever and as she took one step towards it, 
a hand took her by the wrist. She turned to see Buffy and Willow 
there beside her.

"You cannot cross alone." Buffy stated.

"To cross you must do so as a whole person." Willow added cryptically.

"Once crossed, there is no going back, you will have made a decision 
that will not just affect you, but all those around you." Buffy added.

Tara looked away from her friends and back to the bridge. Something 
was pulling her, telling her that though it represented a major 
change, it was not necessarily a bad thing. She turned back to her 
friends and saw complete love, devotion, and trust in their eyes. 
She played over what Willow had just said in her mind. "Cross as a 
whole person," she mumbled, mulling it over. She nodded and took the 
hands of her friends, no, lovers, and as a trio, they stepped onto 
the bridge and began to cross. A blinding white light filled her 
eyes just as she made the first step onto the other side and when she 
opened her eyes again she was back in the bedroom, but she could feel 
something was different, though what it was she did not know.

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

After untangling themselves and sharing some awkward moments as they 
threw on some robes, one by one they showered and changed. Tara, 
being the first done, went to the kitchen and began to prepare 
breakfast. Dawn sat at the island with a bowl of cereal in front of 
her, pushing the little circles around in a sea of milk, looking 
rather dejected.

"What's wrong, Dawnie?" Tara asked.

"Buffy didn't come home last night," Dawn answered.

"Oh, she did, but she was, um, she was in our room." Tara answered, 
trying to sooth the young girl's worries without giving away too much 
of what had transpired that night.

"Why?" Dawn asked, simply cutting to the chase.

"Um, would you like some pancakes?" Tara asked trying to side step 
the question until she could get her own thoughts in order.

"Sure," Dawn answered, jumping up and dumping her bowl in the sink.

"Can you set the table?" Tara asked, hoping to keep the teen 
busy. "Four place settings."

"Great, Buffy's joining us?" Dawn broached, trying to swing the 
conversation back to why her sister spent the night in Tara's 
room. "Why didn't she sleep in her own bed? She get nightmares or 
something?" Dawn offered.

Tara took that as an easy way out. "Yes, she's joining us for 
breakfast. She got a little hurt while on patrol and she started 
having some bad dreams so we took her to our room to clean her up and 
help her rest," Tara said trying to focus on cooking and prayed that 
was enough to pacify the curious teen. She knew that if the three of 
them were going to enter into any type of serious relationship, even 
if their current sleeping arrangements remained the same, their 
friends would find out soon enough. It's not like Tara or Willow are 
shy about showing their affection for one another in public and it 
wouldn't be fair to any of them to have to hold back with Buffy. 
They needed to really talk about this and find out how to bring the 
matter up to their friends, especially Dawn since she lives with 
them, surely she'll catch on faster than the others will.

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

Breakfast went well, especially after Tara nudged Buffy under the 
table when Dawn asked about the nightmares. The slayer caught on 
quickly and covered for Tara agreeing that her dreams were not 
pleasant, but nothing more than dreams. Other than that, there were 
no problems. Dawn was sent out to school and it was then that Tara 
finally got a chance to get Willow and Buffy alone.

"Guys, can I grab you for a second before everyone leaves for the 
day?" Tara asked.

Willow was about to let loose a comeback to Tara grabbing them, but 
figured Buffy might still be a bit uncomfortable with things so she 
simply bit her tongue and nodded.

Tara walked into the living room, the others following behind, and 
everyone took a seat. "Dawn was asking about you today," Tara 
started, looking to Buffy. "As you figured out, I told her you were 
having nightmares, but what occurred to me was that there are bound 
to be questions if we continue a relationship together." Tara 
finished, but then quickly added, "Which I definitely want to 
continue, if you guys do too."

"Yeah, Tara's right. It's only a matter of time before someone 
figures out that our relationship has changed. Especially Dawn. So, 
do we come clean now or do we wait and just see how things go?" 
Willow joined the conversation.

Buffy had a far away look in her eyes, her thoughts running wild, 
smashing into each other. Her doubts plagued her, but what she felt 
last night kept pushing those doubts away. Now she had to face the 
reality of the situation. Should she take the easy road and just 
call things quits, accept what happened as a one-night stand, or, 
should she fight for what she knew deep down was a loving 
relationship with two beautiful women? If she stayed in the 
relationship she would undoubtedly have to face the music of telling 
Xander and Anya, which she knew would just amount to smut filled 
jokes and their sex filled minds would just conjure up mental images 
every time they were around. But then how to tell Dawn that her 
sister was not only gay now and in a relationship, but in a 
relationship with two women, who were already together? Women that 
Dawn looked up to and admired. She knew that Dawn turned to Tara 
more often than her; that her little sister saw Tara a mother figure 
and she really didn't mind that. She knew Tara was a wonderful woman 
and would never do anything to intentionally hurt Dawn.

Her thoughts continued their course until Willow caught her attention 
by calling out to her, waving a hand in front of her face and 
snapping her fingers. "Wha? Sorry, I guess I just got too lost in my 
own thoughts," Buffy stated.

"Buffy, if this is something that will be a problem for you, we don't 
have to do this. We could," Tara left her sentence unsaid. She 
didn't want this to become a one-night stand. That alone would cause 
it's own problems between the three girls, but at least it would stay 
just between them and wouldn't be cause for any possible disruption 
with the other Scoobies.

"No, it's not that," Buffy answered quickly to calm Tara's fears. "I 
mean, I knew that getting involved in something like this was bound 
to cause some major wiggins in people... but, this isn't the weirdest 
thing we've all seen... Hello! Hellmouth! I mean... seriously! But 
really, I do want to stay with you guys. I do. I know we could tell 
Xander and Anya, though you know that's just going to open every 
possible door to them for sex jokes and you know Xander's just going 
to let his mind run rampant with mental images. Have you guys seen 
the way he watches you when Anya's not around and you guys are all 
with the cuddlies? I can just picture him having a field day with 
this. Still, that's not really my main concern. They're Scoobies. 
They love us all individually and want us all to be happy, so I know 
they'd accept us, even if not at first, but they will eventually. 
It's Dawn. She's had such an unstable home life from the get-go. I 
mean, between having a sister that's a slayer, dealing with all 
things hellmouth-ian, getting kidnapped at least once a week, then 
with mom dying, and problems with the house, and then Giles leaving, 
and me, well, you know. I don't know if knowing her sister is a 
lesbian and in a relationship with two women at one time is a healthy 
thing for her." Buffy rambled. She said more just then than she had 
since she's been back.