Soul Mates

Title: Triad
Series: Soul Mates
Author: Ravenhawk
Rating: PG-13
Setting: During season 5
Disclaimer: I don't own these characters. They belong to Joss Whedon. Neither I nor any website on which this story appears receives any compensation for this work.
Distribution: Anywhere, just ask.
Feedback: Yes, please. I'd love to hear from anyone who's following this story.
Pairing: Willow/Tara/Xander
Summary: Willow, Tara, and Xander settle in together and Giles is told about their relationship.
Warnings: None
Note: Thanks to Pete and Spellbound for reading this part over for me. Also, thanks to those of you who reviewed the last chapter. I really appreciate it!

****

The next few days after their conversations with Buffy and Joyce passed quickly and, as far as Tara was concerned, pleasantly. They moved the rest of Xander's things out of his apartment, and by the middle of the week, he'd finished getting settled in with her and Willow. Even though Xander had been living with them already, after they left his apartment behind for the last time, things felt... different. Like he was really a part of their home now. When the three of them got back to their apartment that night, and Xander finished putting his things away, Tara felt as though a major turning point in her life had just been passed.

And if she was a little nervous about that, it quickly faded - just being with Willow and Xander helped her relax. The more she considered the idea of Xander living with her and Willow, the more at ease with it she became. And as she went to sleep that night, cuddled together with them, she found she was really looking forward to what was ahead for them.

The next morning, they had breakfast and showered in turn. Tara went in last, and when she was finished, she dressed, putting on a long blue skirt and a dark green blouse, and made her way to their spare bedroom. She stepped inside, smiling as she caught sight of Willow sitting at the desk in front of her computer.

"Hey honey," Tara said. Willow had the window open, and Tara took a deep breath, savoring the fresh air as she walked over to stand next to her. Willow looked up as she approached, smiling back at her, and Tara leaned in toward her, giving her a kiss that was meant to be quick, but ended up lasting for a few seconds.

"Hey," Willow replied when they separated. She smiled, looking into Tara's eyes, and ran her hand down Tara's arm, giving her hand a gentle squeeze.

"What are you up to?" Tara asked.

"Well, I thought I'd check around online and see if I could find anything about our relationship," Willow replied.

Tara chuckled. "So did you find anything out?"

Willow nodded. "Sure did," she declared. "A few things, anyway. For one, the relationship we're in is called a triad."

Tara was about to reply when Xander walked into the room. "Hey, there you are," he said, walking over to join Tara by Willow's desk. "What's up?"

Tara grinned. "Willow was just telling me about how she was doing research online about the kind of relationship we're in," she said.

"We're a triad," Willow said brightly. Her eyes twinkled with excitement, and Tara knew the reason for it. She'd learned something new and was eager to share it with them.

"Yeah?" Xander said. He obviously also knew the source of Willow's excitement, since he smiled at her and grabbed a chair from the table that was set up next to the desk, pulling it over to him. "Makes sense, I guess," he continued as he sat down facing Willow and reached for Tara, tugging at her arm. She giggled and allowed him to gently pull her into his lap, and Willow reached out and laid a hand on her knee as Tara settled herself.

"What else did you find out?" Tara asked, resting one hand on Willow's and wrapping her other arm around Xander.

Willow's enthusiasm dimmed a little at the question. "Well, a lot of it was about the problems people in these kinds of relationships have to deal with," she said.

"What kind of problems?" Xander asked.

"Jealousy's a big one," Willow replied.

"Hmm," Xander said. "So if you were to see me do this...." Without warning, he pressed his lips to Tara's, and she gasped, startled, as he gave her a deep, passionate kiss. After her initial surprise had passed, she kissed him back, and they stayed locked together for several seconds.

After they pulled back from each other, Xander winked at Tara, then turned back toward Willow. "....Would you be jealous?" he asked, grinning.

Willow giggled. "No," she replied with a shake of her head. "I'd just think it was really sexy."

Xander laughed, and Willow leaned in and gave him a quick kiss. Tara smiled at her as Willow sat back in her chair and squeezed her hand gently. "So what other problems did you find out about?" Tara asked.

"There's also the way other people react to the relationship," Willow said. Then she frowned slightly and fixed them with a serious look. "Speaking of which, we still need to tell Giles."

"Hey, about that..." Xander said. "Why don't you let me handle telling him?"

Tara looked at him, surprised. "You mean, by yourself?"

Xander nodded. "Yeah. I mean, I don't want to exclude you guys," he said. "But I think it might be easier for him if I told him one-on-one. Not that I think he'll have a heart attack or anything, but it'll probably be a little uncomfortable. At least at first."

"So you want to do it?" Willow asked.

"Yeah," Xander replied, meeting Willow's eyes. "Giles and me, I think we bonded a little, last year." He gave a slight shrug. "You and Buffy were off at college, you were starting a new phase in your lives, and we...."

He trailed off, but there was no doubt in Tara's mind about what his next words would have been. *We got left behind.* Willow obviously realized that too, since her expression turned slightly guilty and she shifted uncomfortably in her chair.

Seeing this, Xander took her hand, squeezing it gently. "Hey, it's okay," he said. He smiled at her, and after a moment, Willow relaxed a little and returned the gesture. Tara hugged Xander with the arm she had wrapped around him even as she gave Willow a sympathetic look. What had happened had happened, and nothing could be done about it now, but still....

"Anyway," Xander said after a moment, putting the uncomfortable subject behind them, "I think it'd be best if I talk to Giles alone. I mean, if it's okay with you guys."

Tara glanced at Willow, who nodded. "It's okay with me," Willow said. "Honestly, I was feeling a little awkward about the idea of talking to him anyway."

"It's fine with me too," Tara said. "You guys know him a lot better than I do."

Xander nodded. "Okay then. I'll swing by the Magic Box after work today and talk to him," he said. "Which means I'll be a little late getting home today," he added after a moment's thought.

"That's no problem," Willow assured him. "Take all the time you need. And good luck - I mean, not that you'll need *luck,*" she added hastily, "random chance isn't really a factor here, it's not like Giles is going to say 'Well, I'll just flip a coin to decide how to react to this....'"

Tara laughed as she trailed off. She still couldn't believe how cute Willow could be sometimes. Xander obviously felt the same way, since he chuckled, smiling at Willow with genuine affection.

"I know what you mean," he said. "But I appreciate you wishing me luck anyway."

"Really, though," Willow said, her expression turning serious, "I hope it goes well. I know he's important to you."

"Thanks," Xander said. He held Willow's gaze for a moment, and Tara moved her hand up to rub his shoulder. Xander turned toward her, smiling, and kissed her neck softly.

Then he glanced at the clock on the wall and turned back with an exaggerated sigh. "Well, as much as I hate to get up here," he said, flashing her and Willow a quick grin, "I need to get going. Don't want to be late for work."

Tara smiled at Xander, then stood up, turning to face him and Willow as they rose from their chairs. "Have a good day at work," she said, moving in toward him and giving him a quick but intense kiss. When she moved back, Willow stepped forward and kissed him as well, her lips lingering on his for a moment.

"We'll see you later," Willow said after they separated.

"Yeah, I'll see you tonight," Xander said. "And have a good day at school." He smiled at them, then turned and walked out of the room.

After he left, Willow turned to sit back down again, but Tara caught her arm, stopping her. As Willow turned back toward her, Tara pulled her close, pressing her lips to Willow's. They stayed locked together for a long moment and Tara lost herself in her girlfriend's taste and the way she felt against her. When they finally broke their kiss, Tara gave Willow one last quick smooch, then stepped back.

"What was that for?" Willow asked, smiling.

"Do I need a reason?" Tara teased.

Willow laughed. "No. Not at all," she said.

"Good," Tara replied. She held Willow's gaze for a moment, then turned and picked up the chair Xander had moved earlier. "Now, I should get some studying done before we have to go to class," she said, setting the chair back down at the table and sitting down.

Willow nodded. "Yeah. Me too." She shut down her computer, then sat next to Tara at the table. This was the place they did most of their schoolwork, so their books were already laid out on it, and Tara opened her Eastern History binder as Willow reached for her Calculus notebook. She gave Willow a quick smile and reached for her hand, and they laced their fingers together as they turned their attention to their notes.

****

*Okay,* Xander told himself. *Nothing to be nervous about here. I'm just going to have a conversation with Giles. Nothing I haven't done hundreds of times before.*

He was standing on the sidewalk in front of the Magic Box, and had been for the last ten minutes. It was a little after five o'clock, so there were a fair number of people passing by and even the occasional person entering or leaving the shop. Beyond the occasional glance, none of them paid any attention to Xander, and they didn't really register with him either - he was too concerned about the conversation he was about to have.

Even though he'd assured Willow and Tara that he could handle this, now that it was actually time to tell Giles about them, he was suddenly feeling a lot less confident. All the anxiety he'd felt about telling Buffy last weekend was back, and it wasn't a good feeling. At this point, he was just hoping he could get through this without making a complete ass of himself.

Xander abruptly shook himself out of that line of thought. He had to do this sooner or later, and the only thing he'd accomplish by standing around out here would be to make his nervousness even worse. So there was no sense putting this off any longer.

Besides, the sooner he got finished here, the sooner he could get home to see Willow and Tara.

He strode forward with purpose and opened the door to the shop. The familiar jingle of the bell at the entrance greeted him as he stepped inside and closed the door behind him. There were a few customers around the shop browsing through the shelves, but overall the place wasn't too busy at the moment. Xander looked around for Giles, but didn't see him, so he walked over to the counter and nodded at the slim, dark-haired girl standing behind the register.

She looked up at him as he approached, and he smiled at her. "Hey, Lisa," he said. Giles had hired Lisa shortly after he'd opened the shop a few months ago, and Xander had talked to her several times when he'd been over here since then. She was nice, and he liked her well enough. She'd accepted his and his friends' semi-regular visits to the shop easily enough, even if she didn't know the reasons for them, and if she'd thought there was anything strange about them, she'd never mentioned it.

"Hi, Xander," she replied, smiling back at him.

"Is Giles around?" Xander asked.

"He's in back," Lisa said. "Do you want me to get him for you?"

Xander shook his head. "No, I'll just go on back and see him. Thanks," he replied.

"Sure thing," Lisa said. She smiled at him again, then turned back to the catalog on the counter in front of her. Xander made his way to the door to the shop's back room, and after a brief pause, he opened it. He stepped into the training room to find Giles sweeping up along one wall, and he looked up as Xander entered the room.

"Hey, Giles," Xander said, closing the door behind him.

"Oh, hello Xander," Giles said. He leaned the broom he was using up against the wall and turned to face Xander. He'd taken off his jacket, but Xander was amused to note that, even though he'd been sweeping up, the rest of Giles's clothes didn't even look a little bit rumpled. One of these days, he'd have to ask him what his secret was.

"Are you busy?" Xander asked. "I can come back." He didn't want to; now that he'd worked up the nerve to come and talk to Giles, he really didn't like the idea of having to do it all again later, but....

Giles shook his head. "No, that's not necessary," he said. "I was just doing a bit of cleaning. Buffy should be coming by later to train."

"Hey, speaking of that," Xander said, "are you ever going to tell Lisa about what we do? You know, that Buffy's a Slayer, and all that?"

"I'd considered it," Giles replied. "I suspect she knows a great deal of it already, or at least has suspicions. I don't believe she accepted my explanation that Buffy is heavily into college athletics," he finished with a meaningful glance toward the punching bag.

"Oh, come on, it wasn't that implausible," Xander said. "I hear the competition among gymnasts can get pretty darned nasty these days."

Giles chuckled. "Well, at any rate, it seems that now the issue is moot," he continued. "She's given me notice that she intends to quit at the end of the month."

"Really?" Xander said. "That's too bad. What are you going to do when she leaves?"

"I suppose I shall have to find someone to take her place," Giles said. "If need be, I can run this place myself, but I wouldn't like to try doing so for very long."

"Well, is there anything I can do to help?" Xander asked. "I mean, I already have a job, but I could help out. You'd probably want to keep me away from the magic stuff, but if there's anything else...."

"No, that's quite all right," Giles replied. "Your assistance in getting this place ready for opening was invaluable, and I greatly appreciate it. But you needn't worry about how things are going here at the shop. I'm certain that I can manage."

Xander nodded. Giles probably wouldn't have too much trouble finding someone to take Lisa's place - it hadn't taken him very long to hire her, after all. But he'd figured he should offer to help out anyway.

"So what brings you here?" Giles asked. "I hadn't expected to see you today."

"Yeah, there's... something I need to talk to you about," Xander replied. He paused, glancing around the training room. "Is there someplace we can sit down?" he asked.

"Certainly. We can use my office," Giles said. "Follow me." He retrieved his jacket from the peg on the wall he'd hung it on, then put it on as he turned toward the door Xander had come in through. Xander fell in step behind him as he passed back into the main area of the shop. Giles took a brief look around and then, satisfied that there was nothing that needed his immediate attention, headed for the counter. Lisa was helping a customer, so Giles simply nodded to her as he stepped behind the counter and opened the door to his office.

Xander followed after him as he stepped inside, and Giles closed the door behind them. His office was small, but there was enough room for Giles's desk as well as a small table and a few chairs. Xander sat down in one of them, and Giles took a seat in front of his desk. He turned the chair to face Xander and leaned forward slightly.

"So, what did you wish to talk about?" Giles asked. Xander could see from his expression that Giles knew that he had something serious to tell him.

Well, it was probably best to just be direct. In his experience, beating around the bush usually led to a lot more trouble than it was worth. "You know how Willow and Tara are together, right?" Xander asked.

At Giles's answering nod, he continued. "Well, now I'm with them too," he said. "We're all together. As in we're-all-in-a-relationship together."

"Oh," Giles said. He blinked, but otherwise gave no outward sign that he was taken aback by what Xander had just told him. "I see."

*I have to hand it to him, he has a great poker face,* Xander thought. "We just thought we should tell you," he continued hurriedly. "You know, we thought it'd be the right thing to do. None of us wanted you to find out the way you found about Willow and Tara. I mean, that was major badness all around."

"Well, I... I do appreciate the consideration," Giles replied. He paused, and Xander watched him carefully, trying to judge his reaction. When he didn't say anything else, Xander spoke again.

"So, if there's an emergency or something and you need to find me, you can reach me at Willow and Tara's apartment," he said. "Our apartment now, I guess."

"I'll remember that," Giles said, nodding. Then he fixed Xander with a serious look. "I must say, this is very unexpected," he continued.

"Yeah, I can see why you'd say that," Xander replied. "A couple of weeks ago, I wouldn't have believed it myself."

Giles looked at him for a moment. "So.... I certainly don't wish to pry into your personal matters," he said, "but, is this a serious relationship?"

Xander rested one arm on the table next to him. "Yeah," he said. "This isn't just the three of us having fun for a while. It's serious. There's something between us - between all of us - and we're going to try to make it work."

Giles nodded. "Well," he said after a moment's pause, "if all of you are serious about this, I wish you the best of luck."

"So.... You're okay with this?" Xander asked.

"Xander, it's not for me to approve or disapprove of your personal relationships," Giles replied. "Or Willow's. Or Tara's, for that matter. You have your own lives, and if all of you have truly decided that this is what you want... then I hope you will be happy together." He smiled at him, and Xander returned the gesture, feeling not a little relieved. He hadn't really thought that Giles would react badly to being told about his, Tara, and Willow's relationship, but it was nice to have that confirmed nonetheless.

"Well, thanks," Xander said. "I really appreciate that. I'll pass it on to Willow and Tara, and I'm sure they will too."

The important part of the conversation was done, but there was one other thing that Xander was curious about. "So, Giles," he continued after a moment, "Willow, Tara, and I were talking about this with Ms. Summers a few days ago, when we told Buffy. And she mentioned that she'd seen a few relationships like ours back when she was in college. So, I was just wondering if you'd seen anything like this yourself."

Giles chuckled. "Yes, there were several... shall we say, non-traditional relationships in my social circles when I was younger," he said. "But believe me when I tell you this, Xander, you do *not* want to look to any of those relationships for lessons as to how to handle your own."

"Ah. Gotcha," Xander replied. "Well, I just thought I'd ask." He stretched his arms out in front of him. "Anyway, I think I should get going. Tara and Willow will probably be wondering how this conversation went."

"Well, I'll see you later, then," Giles said.

"Yeah, see you later," Xander replied. He stood and walked over to the door. He rested his hand on the doorknob, but before he could open it, Giles spoke again, stopping him.

"Xander...." Giles began, and Xander turned to face him again.

"Yeah?" Xander said.

Giles looked him in the eye as he continued. "Thank you for showing me the courtesy of coming to tell me this."

"Like I said, we thought it'd be the right thing to do," Xander said. "Willow and Tara were going to come too, but we talked about it and decided it might be less awkward if it was just me."

"Well, you were probably right about that," Giles said. He studied Xander briefly, then smiled. "I still remember that first day in the library, when I told you and Willow about the supernatural and you offered to help Buffy. Sometimes it's hard for me to believe that you're adults now."

Xander chuckled. "Sometimes it's hard for me to believe it, too."

TBC...